Author's note: Sorry about the wait on this chapter... injuries have plagued me the last day and a half!

OOOOOOOO

Well, things were definitely looking bad, now, weren't they? Jack hated standoffs – especially when he was in the middle of them. Before he could say anything, though – which might or might not have diffused the situation – the first man spoke up again.

"Drop your weapons and release the boy."

"That's not going to happen," Jack said. He didn't mind so much releasing the boy, but there was no way in hell he was going to drop his weapon.

"We're not here to cause trouble," Daniel said, speaking up. "We just wanted to talk…"

"So you steal my son?"

The statement was followed by a chagrined look – as if the man hadn't actually intended to let that out and it had slipped. Of course, Jack could understand that; now that they knew Taylor was the guy's son, they definitely had the advantage over him – if they'd intended to cause any trouble, anyways.

"We didn't steal him," Daniel answered – before Jack could. "He was following us – and got hurt."

The man looked at his son, and Taylor flushed slightly, averting his eyes. Telling his father quite plainly that they were telling the truth. The weapon in the man's hands lowered perceptibly.

"Are you all right?"

The boy nodded.

"I fell."

"He broke his leg," Daniel said. "But it's better."

"Daniel…"

Jack didn't like that. These people didn't know how it had gotten better, and Jack wanted to keep it that way. The last thing they wanted was to answer a lot of questions. Especially since they had questions of their own to be answered.

The archeologist looked over at him, but before he could say anything, the man spoke up again.

"Who are you?"

"We're peaceful explorers," Daniel said. "From a place called Earth."

"And the Jaffa?"

The looks at Teal'c were downright mistrustful – although Jack and the others were used to that.

"He's peaceful, too," Jack said. "He's a friend. An ally."

None of them looked all that convinced, but Taylor spoke up.

"He helped me…"

While the boy wasn't all that happy about being caught doing something that he wasn't supposed to have been doing in the first place, he did want to be released, and figured the best way to have that happen was to act as intermediate between the two groups. It was his fault that they had met, after all. And he really wanted to get back to village and off his leg.

"What are you doing here?" The man asked, not completely reassured about the Jaffa, but willing to let that drop for a moment.

"We're explorers," Daniel repeated. "We're always looking for new people to meet, or new allies."

"Traders?" one of the others asked, looking at the packs on their backs.

Daniel shrugged.

"Perhaps. If there's anything we have that you could use. And if you have anything we could use. What we really want," he said, "is to find out about your people – and tell you about ours, if you're interested."

The group still looked suspicious, but the weapons had all been lowered – somewhat – and SG-1 no longer had any of their weapons pointed at the natives, either. Which helped a great deal. Of course, SG-1 had the dogs, which were already pointed at the natives, so they didn't need weapons.

"We can discuss this." The man said, shrugging. "But I am not the only one to decide." He watched them for several long moments, obviously still making up his mind what to do about them. "Give me my son."

Daniel looked at Jack, who nodded. It would be an act of good faith to let him have his boy back. Besides, Jack didn't want to keep the kid, anyways.

Being closest to the two, Ian raised his P90 just a little to cover Daniel as the archeologist helped Taylor hobble over to his father, and the man slung his bow over his shoulder, the arrow that had been notched going into a quiver that was attached to his waist by some kind of leather cord. He reached out and took Taylor from Daniel, taking his son's weight and quickly checking him for any signs of abuse. Aside from the splinted leg, however, there was none.

"We'll take you to the village," he decided, scooping his son up into his arms. He was a fairly lean guy, but was obviously stronger than he looked, because he held the boy easily, splint and all. A gesture with his chin divided his group of warriors neatly. Half of them ranged on ahead, with a couple of them running off – to warn of their approach – and the other half coming over to stand somewhat to the rear of the group.

Jack scowled, but didn't say anything. He could understand why they weren't greeting them with open arms and a welcome wagon – if things were reversed, he'd have been a lot worse. Especially if it had been Jake or Shawn in the enemy's hands. Besides, he wasn't worried. These guys didn't seem to have anything worse than bows and spears – which they weren't actually pointing at them. If they proved to be devious, SG-1 would be able to fight their way out – and Daniel could just try to figure out his burning rocks on his own. Or with Ian and Sam to help him.

"Lead on," he said, trying to look as friendly as he could. Which wasn't all that easy considering the great big walking tooth factory he had standing at his side.

The man nodded, and the group started walking – the same direction that Taylor had been taking SG-1 in the first place, which proved that the boy hadn't been leading them on a wild goose chase. Daniel fell into step beside the man, while Teal'c moved back to walk on Jack's left – with Jack (the dog) on his left – while Ian moved back to walk on Jack's right, the Cadet watching everything that was going on around him cautiously.

"What do we call you?" Daniel asked Taylor's father. "I'm Daniel Jackson. You can call me Daniel."

"My name is Braxton."

"Braxton?"

"Yes." He looked back at the others, who understood that he was asking for their names, as well.

"I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill," Jack said, answering for all of them. "This is Ian Brooks, and Teal'c."

He caught Daniel's gaze for just a minute, and knew Daniel was thinking the same thing he was.

When had they ever met an alien with a British accent named Braxton? This group was far more interesting than they'd assumed they would be – and even Jack was intrigued.