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Ch 27: TENTERHOOKS

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Back on P8X-539

"It's the gate alarm," she spoke quickly as they both started jogging towards the Gate clearing.

Both veteran field officers peered from just inside the leafy foliage into the area surrounding the 'Gate.

Alert and with weapons ready.
Neither of them spoke or made a sound.
Their experienced eyes scanning and assessing the scene before them.

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The minutes slowly ticked by.

They both scanned the area around the Gate for any movement.

Everything was silent.

Nothing moved.

The Gate was silent.
No wormhole formed.

A few of the alien rabbits waddled into view.

A few alien rodents that looked like strange squirrels chattered from the branches of the trees.

But they did not let the apparently quiet innocence fool them.

No, they waited patiently.

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Five minutes passed.

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Then ten.

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And still nothing.

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They exchanged silent glances, but neither of them had any additional information.

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A silent and painstaking half-hour passed.

And still they waited.

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The interminable patient-waiting of the field soldier.

One of fighting boredom at the same time as the edginess of the unknown.

Was something out there?

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And they waited.

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Finally, Jack signaled that he was going to take a look around closer to the 'Gate. He silently ordered her to stay put and provide cover.

Nodding her understanding, she watched intently as he crept out into the edges of the clearing.

He moved slowly and kept low.

Stopping frequently and scanning the area around him, he looked for any indications of anything out of the ordinary. Anything where it shouldn't be.

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And then he froze...

Staring at the ground near the 'Gate....

She watched him...
...trying to figure out what he was seeing...

Then she saw him relax a little and stand up.

He looked over to where he knew she was and gestured for her to come and join him. Remembering his radio, he reached over and grasped it, "Come on over, Carter. You've gotta see this."

Reaching for her own radio, she replied, "On my way," and she carefully stood up and walked cautiously out into the clearing. Still watching for anything out of the ordinary. Any signs that things weren't as they appeared.

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Walking slowly over to join him, she continued to scan the area while watching Jack carefully.

Finally standing by his side, she looked in the direction he was pointing.

...To where two of the alien rodents were calmly chewing on a piece of the wiring to their 'Gate alarm system. Finally she relaxed a bit and raised her eyebrows, "Well it's better than Jaffa visitors," she offered.

"Can you fix it?" he asked.

She reached down and shooed the creatures away. Taking a closer look at the damage, she nodded, "I think so... and then we'll need to devise a covering of some sort to protect the wiring and equipment from future... attacks like today."

He nodded his agreement. "Allright, you stay here and provide cover while I give the clearing a once over... just in case," he directed.

Nodding silently, she stood at the top of the 'Gate steps while he carefully scoured the clearing in a complete circuit. Looking for any signs that anyone other than themselves - or small rodents - had been in the area recently. After an hour of careful scrutiny, however, he relaxed again and returned to join her at the 'Gate.

"Nothing," he stated.

Nodding her understanding, she recommended, "Well, how about if we head back to camp and take care of what we left out? We can pack a lunch and some tools and then come back and I can see about fixing this."

"Sounds like a plan," he agreed and they fell into step as they headed across the clearing.

Stopping just at the edge of the clearing, they both looked back once more at the silent 'Gate. "That was... exciting...," she appraised.

He quirked an eyebrow at her questioningly, but then just gave her a small sardonic smile. "Sure am glad that it didn't happen in the middle of our weekend vacation."

She tried unsuccessfully to smother a grin as they headed down the path to their camp.

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TBC

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Author's Note: The segments Alarm, Hope, MALP, UAV and Tenterhooks, came to me as an idea for a sequence of short chapters that interwove Jack and Sam's experiences and Daniel and Teal'c's.... to pull them closer together instead of feeling so remote and removed from each other... and to add a little suspense... :) Muse wanted to be wicked and post one short chapter every other day, but I couldn't do it... I think it would have driven me nuts as a reader... so I figured there'd be other readers out there like me... who want to know... NOW!

Longer chapters coming... in fact, Chapter 28 and 29 are each looking fairly lengthy...

Special thanks to all who've reviewed (and put up with Muse's antics).

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Stargatefgangurl and janissima were correct... it's now time to get


Back to building the ship...