Author's note: Since today is my birthday and I'm not sure of my schedule (and I have to work) I'm not sure if you guys will see more than one chapter from me today. So enjoy it!

OOOOOOOOO

After they all geared up and before they headed to the gate room, it was no surprise to any of them that they made a stop at Sam's lab. She already knew they were going, of course, and for how long. And she knew that Jack would worry about her and Jake while he was gone as much as she would worry about him. And she was determined not to let him see just how much she hated the thought of him being gone.

"It's not raining there, is it?" She asked with a slight smile as he told her where they were going and why.

"I don't know," he admitted, looking over at Daniel, who was standing by the door with the others to give them their privacy. "Daniel?"

"The probe indicated the weather's fine," the archeologist answered.

"For now," Jack said, sarcastically, turning back to Sam. "Once we get there, though, it'll probably start raining and hailing…"

Sam smiled.

"Then you'd better take a coat."

"Heartless woman."

Ian snickered from the doorway, and Sam's smile grew.

"Hurry back."

Jack nodded.

"As soon as we can, Sam."

He kissed her softly, then, as the others all found something interesting in the hall to do, and pulled away from her a moment later.

"We'll barbeque when I get back, eh?"

She nodded.

"I'll buy some steaks."

Then she looked down at Jaffer, who was standing beside Jack, and she knelt and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

"You keep an eye on him, okay?"

The big lab rumbled deep in his throat, and licked her ear – which was the only part of her he could get to. Sam released him and stood up again, and Jack hesitated, torn as he always was between staying with her and doing his duty.

"If you need anything, call Hammond… or Thorpe. SG-3 is on downtime and he'll be around…"

"I will." She smiled. "Keep Ian out of trouble – and don't let Daniel wander off."

Jack snorted.

"Why not tell me to stop the sun from rising in the morning?"

He caught her hand and gave it a squeeze, and headed for the door, trailed by her chuckles.

"Let's go you guys."

The sooner they left, the sooner they'd get back.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Okay… P3X-95-A officially blows."

Daniel looked over at Ian. The six of them had just emerged from the gate, which had deactivated behind them, and were standing at the top of a very slight incline. Surrounded by trees.

"You know, there's nothing wrong with trees…"

Ian scowled.

"Except that they conceal everything – and people can hide behind them, and so can wild monkeys or something…"

Jack looked at Daniel.

"Are there monkeys on this planet?"

"The probe didn't see any – and neither did SG-10…"

"See?" Jack said to Ian. "No monkeys."

They all stepped off the incline – which might at one time have been a huge earthen alter now that Daniel had had a chance to look closely at the crumbled rock and dirt around them. Trained as he was to spot that kind of thing, he could now see what they hadn't been able to see in the pictures sent back by the probes and brought back by SG-10.

"Well… someone knows about the gate – or knew about it, anyways."

"Why do you say that?" Jack asked, looking as well. All he saw were rocks and dirt.

"Because the gate is sitting on what might have been an alter – although it might just have been a way to raise it higher than the ground level, too…"

"It does not look like an alter," Teal'c said.

"Well… no," Daniel said, kneeling down and idly pushing Jaffer out of the way when the black lab came over to see what he was looking at. "But it might have been. The earth here isn't in a normal position…"

"Maybe none of it is on this planet?" Ian said, looking down as well, but nowhere near as interested as Daniel.

"Well, let's check the place out," Jack said, deciding that he'd looked at the ground enough for just then. "Teal'c, you and Jack take left flank. Ian, you take Jaffer and go right, Daniel and I will take point."

With the dogs on either flank, they wouldn't really have to worry about someone coming up behind them unseen – at least he didn't think they would – and he knew Jaffer could keep Ian out of trouble as well as he could, which would leave him free to watch Daniel.

The others nodded, and took their positions with Jaffer trotting over to walk beside Ian, his nose on the ground one moment and in the air the next, testing the gentle breeze that was coming into their faces. Ian veered off towards the right with Jaffer, his P90 in a position that he'd be able to bring it to bear if he needed to.

The trees were really thick – although they didn't have as heavy a canopy, so there was a fair amount of sunlight filtering down through the leaves and branches – which made walking difficult, but far from impossible. He watched as Jack and Daniel headed for their position on point, and could just see Teal'c and Jack (the dog) making off for the left, Jack's tail wagging furiously as he caught the fresh scents on the breeze as well.

Behind them, unmoving and incredibly silent, a small face peered through a screen of bushes, watching them warily. He looked behind him, as if debating something, and then looked forward once more, finally stepping through the brush and silently moving forward, a small spear gripped tightly in one hand.