There were no problems for SG-1 this time around and Jack was relieved when their IDC showed up on the computer monitors in the control room. They had been gone three days and he was starting to get worried about them, considering what had happened to them the last time they were there. "Open the iris," he told the technician on duty.
The iris opened and Jack decided to go down to the Gate room to meet his friends. He was anxious to find out about the important stuff, like what they had learned from the people on that planet, such as their origins and how they were able to disappear into thin air.
He walked into the Gate room just as Teal'c and Carter walked out of the wormhole. His heart skipped a beat when Daniel didn't show up immediately behind them, but calmed down when the archeologist meandered through the event horizon a minute later.
"Well, it's about time!" Jack said in greeting. "I was starting to get a little worried about you. Did you bring me back a t-shirt?"
"Glad to be back sir," Carter replied, her eyes lighting up with her smile. "I was able to procure some soil samples and some preliminary data regarding the communications problem. I believe I may have an answer for you in that regard once I input the data into the base's mainframe. We've also determined…"
"It's them Jack!" Daniel interrupted with an 'I told you so' look on his face. "We were able to meet with several of the people living there and they've confirmed that they are descendants of the people that disappeared from Roanoke Island four hundred years ago."
This news had Jack grinning, as well. History had been one of his favorite subjects throughout his lifetime, although his academic studies tended to concentrate on the military aspects of the world's historical events. That didn't curb his fascination with other historical events though, and he'd spent many hours reading and learning everything he could get his hands on. He knew better than to let his friends in on this secret, though. He'd learned a long time ago that the less people knew about him, the better off he was.
"I can't wait to hear all the details," Jack told him. "Any problems I need to be aware of?" he asked. It didn't hurt to be cautious.
"No sir," Carter responded, "Nothing major to speak of."
"Something minor then?" he asked, intrigued by what she wasn't saying. He should have known that something would happen. The members of SG-1 had a tendency to get into trouble in even the most routine mundane missions.
"Permission to get cleaned up and checked out by the Doc before we get into this sir?" Carter asked, causing Jack to get a little nervous.
"Colonel," Jack said, almost as a question. She didn't answer and Jack tried one more time, "Avoiding the question?"
"No sir," she said with a sigh. "It's just that we've been out there for three days and I'd like nothing better than a hot shower. It's all I've been thinking about since yesterday." She gave him a pleading look and he gave in.
"Well now that you mention it, I have been meaning to talk to you about that," he said with a small smile.
"That bad huh?" Daniel asked, grinning back at him.
"To what are you referring O'Neill," Teal'c asked as he handed his weapon to an SF.
"Just go," Jack said, using his hands to shoo them out the door. "The sooner you guys get checked out and cleaned up, the sooner I get to hear all about your little adventure and minor problems."
"Major problems Jack," Daniel said before turning to walk away, leaving Jack wondering what was going on.
"Wait," he said turning to follow Daniel out, "Major problems? Daniel? What'd you mean by major problems?" Daniel kept on going, looking back to smile at Jack who was seriously considering hurting his friend. He hurried to catch up, fully intending to bug them all to death until he got an answer.
Jack knew he could get really annoying if he put his mind to it and had started in on his old teammates while they were being checked out in the infirmary, but the doctor kicked him out telling him that he was interfering with her staff. He knew that it was really because she had a thing for Daniel and had picked up that Daniel was clearly aggravated. Jack decided to wait until he was in his own territory before taking up the battle again.
"So tell me, what happened on that planet this time around?" Jack asked when he had finally gathered all the members of SG-1 together in the briefing room.
"The people living on that planet are the descendants of the Lost Colony," Daniel said, launching immediately into what fascinated him the most. "We were able to talk to them and they told us their story. According to Martin, the leader of the civilization we found on P4X-903, the story passed down from his ancestors tells of strangers coming to their village with strange weapons. They were forced to travel a great distance over land and water to a craft that resembled a large pyramid. The strangers, whom we now know as Jaffa, had no qualms in killing those who struggled or were too weak to make the trip, mainly because they were able to gather more slaves as the journey progressed."
"The people were herded onto the mother ship and were treated as animals for months until they were finally told they could leave the ship," he continued. "They were still slaves though, and were forced to build a new settlement and to worship Maltac, the God that had brought them to their new home. They lived as slaves for many years before the residents took up a rebellion led by a man named White Wolf. It seems that the colonists and the Indians that had been taken hostage on the trip to the mother ship had banded together to fight for their freedom."
"White Wolf?" Jack asked, thinking of the animal that had attacked Daniel.
"Apparently the Native American word was too hard for the English speakers to pronounce, so they anglicized it," Daniel responded. "In fact, the language the people now speak is a mixture of English, Native American and Goa'uld, while the original languages were preserved through those who were taught to speak them."
"So what happened during the rebellion?" Jack asked, trying to steer the conversation back toward the history of these people. Daniel would be more than willing to ruminate on the subject of the linguistic accomplishments of these people for hours if Jack let him.
"They succeeded," Daniel replied with a frown, apparently annoyed that he didn't get to elaborate further on that subject. "It took several years, but they were able to overthrow the Jaffa. Maltac knew when he was beaten and left them to their own defenses. By this time, though, the people had learned a lot from what the environment had to offer and they rebuilt their lives. Of course, they continued to live in fear that Maltac or one of his kind would come back, so they built their homes along the banks of the river where the fog completely hid them from view. Check this out," he said as he slid a tape into the video slot and turning on the monitor.
Jack watched as the camera panned the landscape. A forest of trees gave way to a river that flowed through it, the fog swirling around and on top of it creating an illusion of smoke rolling across the water. "There!" Daniel exclaimed, stopping the video. "See it?" he asked, gleeful anticipation dancing in his eyes.
"Smoke on the water," Jack said as he stared at the screen. The whole scene had an eerie feeling to it and Jack wondered if he would be seeing specters coming out of it.
"Yeah," Daniel said with a smile. "Look closer Jack, toward the right side of the screen."
Jack forced himself to look away from the mesmerizing movement of the fog and took a closer look at the area Daniel wanted him to look at. It took him a moment of really studying the monitor before he saw it. A man stood there in plain sight, staring at the visitors. Jack had to squint to really see him, but he was there in all his glory.
"They are only invisible because they are camouflaged," Jack commented, still staring at the monitor. "They dress in the colors of their surroundings."
"The fog makes it even easier for them to hide," Carter spoke up. "They just blend right in. This is why we couldn't see them when we first went there."
"Their homes are built along the banks of the river and covered with the leaves of the plants that grow in it," Daniel added. "Most of the fog you see on that river is really the leafy part of a plant. I mean even the plants blend in!"
"The recent arrival of the Jaffa have made the natives restless," Teal'c said. "They know who they are and what they represent. The Jaffa's arrival on the planet not long after SG-5 arrived only caused them to be more suspicious of us."
"Did you encounter any stray Jaffa?" Jack asked.
"We were told that they had left," Carter replied. She looked so tired, Jack thought as he stared at his former second in command. He planned to send her home the minute he got all his answers. From the look on her face, he didn't think she would put up too much of fight.
"The Jaffa did indeed leave," Teal'c said. "I believe that once they realized that there were no people there and that the living conditions were not favorable, they left to find a better planet to claim for their God."
"Didn't get a chance to do any recruiting, did you?" Jack asked.
"I did not," Teal'c responded with a small smile.
"We found a dead Jaffa while we were there," Carter added. "Apparently they were not able to chase away the locairn either."
The what? "Locairn?" Jack asked.
"Bigfoot," Daniel translated.
"Oh. I knew that," Jack said.
"Um, yeah," Daniel said. "Anyway, we think that with the combined factors of the fog and the animal that is hard to kill, the Goa'uld gave up on that planet, deciding to try his luck elsewhere. Martin and his people are not going to let down their guards, though. They've learned from their ancestors that it wouldn't be in their best interest to do so."
"Their ancestors were the members of the Lost Colony?" Jack asked. It still boggled his mind that those people were descendants of the English settlers of Roanoke Island.
"Yes," Daniel said with a smile. "According to Martin, the story goes that the very first village built in their new location was called Croatoan, named after the island their Governor would find them had they stayed on Earth. The thing that clinches it though, is the fact that a girl born in every generation of Martin's family is named Virginia, after the very first settler born in the new country, as Martin had called it."
"Virginia Dare," Jack supplied, having realized it before Daniel finished speaking. He hated to admit it, but he was just as fascinated with this subject as Daniel was and his mind was full of questions that begged to be answered. The trick was to act cool so that Daniel wouldn't realize it.
"Virginia Dare," Daniel repeated smugly. "The first white child born in America. The fact that she was Governor White's granddaughter and the wife of White Wolf guaranteed their descendants would be the leaders of their new home."
"They are not as technologically advanced as we have become," Carter said, before Jack could even ask one of the questions on his mind. "They still cling to the old ways of their ancestors, with evidence of both English and Native American cultures showing up everywhere. It's pretty interesting to see how they combined their traditions and learned to live as one group, while the two cultures here on Earth are separated and distrustful of each other."
"Were there any doohickeys for you to bring back to study?" Jack asked, knowing Carter would have begged to bring it back if she had to.
"No," she said with a grimace and a shake of her head. "I did try to get them to let me study a weapon they've devised that actually kills the locairn, but Martin insisted that they needed it for protection. "
"Bummer," Jack said, feeling her disappointment. Weapons were on the top of his 'gaining new technologies' list.
"Yes sir," she replied, trying to stifle a yawn. "My thoughts exactly."
"What about the communications problem," Jack asked, deciding to speed things up so that he could send Carter home to sleep for a week, knowing full well she'll be back in her lab by tomorrow, come hell or high water.
"I've not been able to analyze the data that we've collected sir," she responded. "I'll work on that this afternoon and let you know…"
"No you won't Colonel," Jack interrupted. "You and the rest of your team are going to get some much needed rest. That information will be here when you get back."
"But sir…" Jack just stared at her with determination and she backed down. "Yes sir," she said reluctantly.
"Go home and sleep," he told them, but aimed his words at Carter. "I'll see you in a couple of days."
Carter nodded while Daniel opened his mouth to protest, but Jack was having none of it. "Go," he demanded, and was pleased to see them finally give in and leave the room. He didn't know for how long, but at least he won for the time being.
It wasn't until he was settled back in his office that he realized he hadn't gotten an answer to what the minor problem had been. He supposed he would have to wait for the written reports to find out. It couldn't have been too bad, he rationalized, otherwise they would have surely told him about it. At least he hoped that was the case.
