Author's Notes: Some time ago, I mentioned that Mac was going to meet Daniel and Teal'c in Chapter 21. I guess I messed up on that because you will see that this is not the case – it has been moved to Chapter 22. I had to add this chapter in to have the story moving smoothly.
Nightmares came with the territory when your job required you to go out and face the enemy on a regular basis. Jack sometimes wondered why he never got used to them, having dealt with so many of them over the years. But he hadn't and he found himself sitting on the edge of his bed in a darkened room, trying to rid himself of the memories of the one that he'd just had.
He knew what had brought on this one. The stress and the worry of the three teams facing problems on that planet, along with the worry over Daniel's medical condition and Mac's kidnapped daughter. He had a lot on his mind, what with everyone expecting him to pull a rabbit out of his hat to make things better.
He sighed as he checked his watch for the second time since he woke up. It was only four-thirty, 0430 he corrected himself wryly. He decided to get up and go see if anything had happened in the Gate room during the last six hours.
He arrived in the control room 25 minutes later and was surprised to see Dixon sitting in one of the chairs reading what looked like a mission report. "Colonel," he said in greeting.
"Good morning sir," Dixon replied, trying to hide his own surprise as he got up out of the chair. "I couldn't sleep," he said in anticipation of Jack's unasked question. "So I thought I would come here in case something came up."
Jack nodded in understanding. He knew that Dixon was feeling the same frustrations that he felt at not being out there with those teams. If Dixon's team hadn't been out enjoying some much deserved down time, they would have joined SG-3 and 5 on their rescue mission. "Any news?" he asked.
"Nothing yet sir," the technician on duty replied.
"They're probably getting some sleep," Dixon said.
Jack nodded in agreement. It would be what he would have done if he had been in charge of one of those teams, as there was no use trying to find anything in the dark, assuming, of course, that it's dark on the planet right that moment. He hoped that this was the case, because the alternative was something he refused to think about, especially when the alternative involved Jaffa and Bigfoot.
He glared at the Stargate before going over to the coffee pot to fill a cup with the dark liquid. It was too early for breakfast so Jack decided to tackle the pile of paperwork waiting patiently for him in his office. It should keep him busy for a little while, maybe even take his mind off his worries. Fat chance, he thought to himself.
Two hours, a stack of completed requisitions and a warm breakfast later the klaxons blared, alerting the base that the Stargate was being activated. Jack jumped out of his chair and flew out of his office the moment they sounded, running down the stairs to find out what was going on. The technician had just announced an off-world activation when Jack came up to stand behind him. "SG-3's IDC sir," the technician said.
"Yes!" Jack shouted. That meant that at least one of his missing teams was no longer missing. "Open the iris," he told the technician. "Get a medical team down there just in case."
"Yes sir," said the technician.
Jack waited tensely, his attention solely on the wormhole. He had just decided to order the technician to activate the MALP's camera, when the MALP in question came through the Gate followed by Colonel Reynolds and the rest of the people who had gone to that planet. Jack breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Carter come through the Gate, followed closely by Daniel who was being supported by Teal'c and Harper. His relief was short lived, though, seeing how pale Daniel looked. He turned and practically ran toward the Gateroom to greet his friends and to find out what happened.
"Hey guys!" he greeted them. "What took you so long? All present and accounted for?"
"Yes sir," Reynolds said. "Even those that got lost." He actually looked sheepish, Jack thought with a grin, the relief he felt flowing through him. He looked over at Carter as the medics moved in on Daniel, who was now sitting on the ramp.
"Carter?" he asked.
"We had moved away from the ruins and Daniel was dragging behind, looking at an artifact that he had picked up," she began, knowing exactly what he was asking, "when all of a sudden we heard this deep growl and Daniel yelling. We used our weapons against the animal, but nothing seemed to stop it. We kept shooting anyway and it finally left. Daniel has several deep scratches on his arm and a few on his back."
"They're there Jack," Daniel said triumphantly. "I saw them, we saw them. We just had to look past the smoke on the water." Daniel's face was flushed and Jack's worry for his friend increased tenfold.
"I did see a man while I was there, O'Neill," Teal'c said in Daniel's defense. "He was not near the water, though. It would appear that Daniel Jackson is correct in his assumption that humans dwell there."
"We'll talk about this later," Jack said. "We'll debrief at 0830," he told the three team leaders as he and SG-1 followed Daniel and the medics to the infirmary.
Daniel was going to live, according to the doctor who had cleaned and bandaged the scratches and injected some antibiotics into Daniel's IV to help battle the infection that had set in. She insisted that Daniel stay in the infirmary for a few days so that she and her staff could keep an eye on the infection, as well as watch for any side effects that could appear due to the alien environment the animal lived in. They were all well aware of what that meant, and the only one who argued with the doctor was Daniel. He was insisting on going back to the planet and Jack had to finally order him to shut up about it. Of course, Daniel being Daniel, only kept his silence for about five minutes before he started up on the subject again. Jack decided at that point that he really needed to get some work done and left Daniel to the tender mercies of the doctor and her nurses. Sometimes it was just easier to walk away, he thought with a grin.
He headed for the briefing room hoping to find someone there who could fill him in on what went down on that planet. No such luck, though. Jack settled for waiting in his office, where he had several projects that could help him pass the time. It was all a matter of choosing which project he should work on: requisitions, correspondence or that ever-elusive trick he was trying to master with his yo-yo. Considering the relief and the good mood he was experiencing, he decided on the yo-yo.
The time passed quickly, which was good because Jack was about to go crazy with the waiting and wondering. Yet he was destined to wait even longer, as Carter was the only one, besides Daniel, who wasn't there yet. He understood why she was late. She probably wanted to get cleaned up after her ordeal on that planet and she had stayed with Daniel until he was settled in, but the suspense was really getting to him.
She finally showed up ten minutes late, with her hair still wet from her shower and mumbling her apologies. Jack just nodded and began asking questions to find out what the hell happened out there.
"I wasn't able to gather enough information to determine what caused the communication blackouts," Carter said in response to Jack's first question. "Although I do think it had something to do with the fog. The communication problem began when we moved farther away from the Stargate, which coincides with the appearance of the fog. It's strange that the fog covers a good portion of the area away from the Stargate and the ruins, but not in that area at all," she mused.
"Since when does fog affect radio signals?" Jack asked, bringing the topic back to the communication problem.
"I'm sure that there is more involved than just the fog," Carter replied. "We would need to go back there with specialized equipment to conduct some tests to find out exactly what the problem is."
"Like that's going to happen," Jack snarled. "What exactly happened out there Carter?"
"Well sir, once we got to the planet, we immediately headed toward the ruins," she began. "Daniel found something he wanted to study and we brought it along with us. We had gone maybe two clicks when an animal attacked him. Teal'c and I shot at it, but nothing seemed to stop it. I tried the zat, but that didn't work either, although we were finally able to get it away from Daniel."
"Once we were able to distract the animal," Teal'c continued for her, "we came back to the Stargate. Colonel Carter dialed out, but Jaffa came out from behind the trees that flanked the Stargate, cutting off our escape route. Several Jaffa ran after us and we escaped by running into the fog."
"The fog provided adequate cover, but it resulted in us getting lost," Carter took up the story. "The planet is a fascinating place, though. The plants changed their appearances with the weather. One species in particular changed colors depended on whether it was in daylight or fog. It was Daniel who finally suggested that we mark the trees to help us determine if we were walking around in circles."
"What about these people Daniel insists are out there?" Jack asked.
"We saw someone out there," Carter said. "He was there one minute and gone the next. It was very creepy. Whoever lives on that planet learned a thing or two from the plant life. This ability to disappear may be a potential asset to us sir."
This might be something the Tau'ri could put to good use, Jack thought, provided whatever it was didn't kill them in the process. "Relatives of the Nox?" he asked.
"Well, he didn't look like the Nox, other than that, I don't know," Carter replied. "I would like to make another visit to that planet to find out more about the plants, the communications problem and the disappearing people."
"And the Jaffa. Let's not forget the Jaffa," Jack added sarcastically.
"But sir, there is so much we could learn from that place. If we could just spend some time there, I know…"
"Carter," Jack interrupted, his tone telling her the subject was closed.
"Yes sir," she said as calmly as possible, although Jack could tell she wanted to argue the point. They both knew that she wouldn't have to. Daniel had already made it his mission in life to go back, and Jack did not look forward to dealing with Daniel when he wanted something.
"Colonel Reynolds," he said, "What's your story?"
