Daniel tugged his hat down farther to block the sun. Sansara, Chandani's planet, was tropical – hot and humid. Humid meant insects. Nasty, annoying, creatures who usually spent their time buzzing around his face, driving him nuts. He'd give anything for a good, old desert planet right about now.
He glanced behind him to see Chandani walking, side-by-side with Sam, holding a quiet conversation. She seemed so small and delicate in the BDU's, especially beside the statuesque major. It would be good to see her in her native saris again.
He thought back to their last conversation alone, weeks ago in the infirmary. She had avoided him since that time. Maybe she was convinced she had made a mistake in naming him the future father of her child. He would have to watch her and see if her demeanor toward him had really changed or if she was just setting him up. Daniel had a hard time trusting women who were sexually aggressive towards him. It seemed to him that they always wanted something more from him than just sex. Shyla had wanted him to stay and marry her. Hathor used him as a means to produce goa'uld larva specifically to turn humans into Jaffa. He shivered with revulsion at the memory.
"We should be at the temple in another 30 minutes." Jack swallowed a mouthful of water as he continued to march. "We'll make camp at the edge of the jungle just in front of the temple. That way we can scatter into safety if the goa'uld show up again."
As usual, Jack was correct about the time it took to get to the temple. Dusk was just falling, but the temperature was still up. It wouldn't cool off much during the night with all the moisture in the air. Daniel patted his jacket pocket, checking for the allergy medication Janet had given him. Good, it was there. Without that he would become totally miserable on this vegetation-gone-wild planet.
Chandani returned to her rooms in the temple. She had been gone for over three weeks and needed to check on the temple. She called her servants and instructed them to prepare a bath and set out her clothing. The BDU's may be practical for soldiering and hiking, but her sari was soft and lightweight. Perfect for the muggy climate.
After the camp was set up, Daniel and Sam gave Jack a run-down on what they intended to do tomorrow. Daniel had a pretty good idea that the statue itself held the clues they needed to find the Three Stars.
XXXXXXXXXX
"OK, let's take this one Star at a time." Daniel and the group were set up in the temple around the statue. "If we look at what he's holding in each hand, I believe that will help us find the Three Stars. "The Sudarshan is the 'wheel of life' that Vishnu uses to protect. I think that represents the force shield that protects the planet when the Three Stars are in the halo."
Moving to the next hand, Daniel continued, "The Panchajanya is the conch shell, which represents the creation of life. I believe this represents the Star of Knowledge, the Medha Rohini. Sam, this is the one Chandani said that you need to find." Turning to the priestess, Daniel asked, "Is there any place on this planet that your sacred texts describe as the origin of the waters of creation?"
Gazing into Daniel's eyes, Chandani was lost in thought. Suddenly, she began walking toward the western wall of the temple. "Here," she pointed. "This writing gives directions to such a place. It is the head of the Dharmika River, deep in the jungle. There is a waterfall that is said to be the place from which all life flows. But no one has ever been able to find it. Many have tried, but none have returned."
Sam turned from the wall to face Colonel O'Neill. "Sir, maybe we can get the general to send us a UAV to fly over the area. It might help locate the head of the river."
"Daniel, do you think all the Stars are on this planet?" Jack removed his baseball cap, squeezed the bill, and placed it backward on his head.
"I think that's entirely possible."
"Just yes or no, Daniel."
"Um, yes. All indications…"
"Atch," Jack cut off the beginning of Daniel's long explanation with a wave of his finger. "Teal'c and I will hike back to the gate and ask Hammond for a UAV. We should be able to use it several times to locate the other places where the Stars might be hidden. We'll be back by dinner tonight. Meanwhile, you three work on the locations of the other two stars." Jack nodded to Teal'c and the two men left the temple to begin the hike back to the gate.
By the time O'Neill and Teal'c had returned from the gate early that evening, Daniel narrowed the search using the inscriptions on the walls of the temple.
XXXXXXXXXX
That evening, Daniel organized the three teams. Sam and her dad would look for a waterfall at the head of the Dharmika River. They would use the UAV in the morning to find the head and estimate the distance. Chandani believed it to be a two day hike. Their radios worked for quite a distance, but Jack wanted to be sure he could maintain contact at all times.
Chandani and Teal'c were to search where local legend located the original lotus flower on the planet. Chandani said it was a two-day walk from the temple.
Daniel and Jack would look for his star within the ruins of an ancient fort, about a day's hike. They were all to meet back at the temple in five days, enough time for each team to retrieve their star.
XXXXXXXXXX
The next morning, the three teams set off in separate directions. The UAV had confirmed Chandani's information about the distance to the waterfall and had found the ruins Daniel needed within about a day-and-a-half walk. Each team gathered their equipment and set off.
XXXXXXXXXX
"So, Daniel, what do you think about our lovely priestess?" Jack was bored already and teasing Daniel was always good for a few moments of diversion.
"She's OK." Daniel knew this game well and he wasn't going to be bated.
"She sure seems to have the hots for you. Notice how she's always watching you? Checking out your bod?" Jack's smirk spread across his face in anticipation of Daniel's embarrassed reaction.
"No, Jack. Actually she's pretty much been ignoring me since she got out of the infirmary." Daniel felt confident that would wipe the smirk off Jack's face.
"Really? She seemed pretty hot for you before. I guess a near-death experience can really change a person's idea of who's sexy and who's not. Think she'd prefer a distinguished colonel?"
"You mean an old guy with bad knees and grey hair?" Now it was Daniel's turn to smirk behind Jack's back.
"Keep walking, Daniel. We've got a long hike ahead." This conversation had not turned out the way Jack planned at all.
Yeah, that shut him up. Daniel settled into a steady stride.
They reached the ruins about noon the next day, quicker than expected, and Daniel set about poking through the rubble, while Jack set up camp and walked the perimeter.
"Boy, Danny. When they said ruins they weren't kidding. Pretty much a pile of rocks." Jack hoped Daniel could find the blue diamond quickly. He seriously wanted – no needed - a long, cool shower. Three days hiking in the jungle was enough to make a man really hot and stinky.
"Yeah, this may make it harder. Jack, maybe you could help. I'm looking for a mace like this." Daniel flipped through his notes until he came to a sketch he had made from the mace held by the statue Vishnu in Chandani's temple. "It might be a statue, a metal object, a carved relief, anything."
Jack studied the sketch, nodded his head, and set off to begin searching the far side of the ruins.
Just before dusk, Jack called out, "Hey, Danny! I think I found something."
Daniel scurried over the rubble to where Jack squatted. He peered over Jack's shoulder and saw what appeared to be a carved, metal handle poking out from beneath a fallen pillar.
"Here, help me move this so I can get a better look." Daniel moved to one end of the five-foot long marble pillar and Jack to the other.
"Daniel, this would go a lot faster and be safer if we could find something to use as a lever."
"Yeah. We're in the middle of a jungle. There must be a tree branch… Here!" Daniel pointed to a six-foot long, thick branch lying off to the side.
Both men picked it up and together they wedged it under the marble pillar.
"On three. One. Two. Three." Jack and Daniel leaned with all their weight on the branch. With a groan and then a sharp snap, the pillar shifted and the branch broke, throwing the men into a heap.
Daniel jumped up and examined the metal under the pillar. They had successfully moved the marble column enough to allow Daniel to extricate the metal object.
He held up a heavily carved mace – with a blue crystal inserted on the end.
"The blue diamond?" Jack could see the fiery light dance from within the heart of the stone in the waning afternoon light.
"Jack, this is incredible!" Daniel was enthralled by the workmanship of the mace.
"I'm with ya on this one, Danny." Jack gaped open mouthed at the size of the blue stone.
They turned their heads to stare at one another, as each realized they were talking about different things.
"Jack, you're so…"
"Daniel, you're such a…"