A/N: This is a quick update! I was going to make this part longer (and actually GET to Australia) but since there's a nice break in the action and I'm going to be a bit busy soon (with my own outside, boring life), I thought I'd give you what I've got!

Thanks for the couple of reviews I got since my last post – I realise you all haven't had long, but I'd appreciate some more feedback! Bookworm: I'm shocked you find another's pain so hilarious… but then, it was quite amusing – did you like my crack about inflight movies? Dietcokechick: You're going to laugh, but I swear it took me a good five minutes looking at your screen name to figure it out – had me confused as anything. I'll try to be good and detailed about Australia (with Jack interjecting before it gets too boring)… you should get your ass down here sometime – it's a great place!

Here we go again!

Chapter VI - Tjukurpa

Jonas reached for the coffee sitting on the table amongst the complete chaos that was all the research material he had printed on indigenous Australian mythology and cultural history. He gulped the murky brown liquid within the mug only to discover that – yet again – it had gone cold. Where had all the time gone? He was about to stand up to head for the mess to get yet another refill when he heard a timid knock against the open door.

"Jonas?" Sam looked at him apprehensively, unsure as to how he was going to react.

"Sam. Hi." Jonas was wary, and waited for her to make the first move.

"How's it coming?" Sam asked quietly, noticing that although his nose looked a bit red, there didn't seem to be too much swelling.

"Yeah, not too bad." Jonas leant back into the chair, placing the unwanted beverage back on the table in front of him carefully so it didn't spill. "What are you doing up so late?"

Sam looked at her watch again, reassuring herself that it was, in fact, morning. "It's 6am Jonas – have you been up all night?"

Jonas whirled around to look at the TV and computer monitors behind him and saw with shock that it was indeed the next day. "I guess so. There's a lot of information – it's really quite fascinating."

"Yeah." Sam twisted her lips slightly as she gathered the strength to apologise for her actions. "Listen Jonas, about last night…"

"Are you alright?" Jonas cut her off before she could force anything else out of her mouth.

"Huh? Um.. yeah." Sam looked to the floor, ashamed. "I'm really sorry. I really didn't mean to hit you – I didn't even realise I had until some time later – I was… preoccupied."

"Anything I can help with?" Jonas looked at the woman standing before him, concern filling his face. He didn't for a minute think she'd attacked him on purpose, and he knew it must have had something to do with Jack… but he'd learnt enough during his short time with them not to get in the middle. He let Sam decide.

"Not at the moment." Sam smiled weakly. "Thanks though, you don't know much I appreciate your understanding." Sam was in fact incredibly grateful for Jonas' discretion, and found herself in admiration again of his wisdom and warmth.

Jonas nodded before turning to the TV screen behind him, thinking about the day ahead. "You know it's spring in Australia?" He nodded towards the weather channel broadcast. "Apparently an unusually warm one – they've already had a spate of bushfires and it's not even December yet."

"Bushfires? You mean forest fires?" Sam looked to where Jonas was indicating and saw the disquieting footage of ordinary people trying to protect their homes from towering flames.

"Yeah, but that's what they're called in Australia – since they destroy the bush and not the forest." Jonas indicated to the screen again. "That one's just outside Melbourne. They've had temperatures at around 105F for nearly a week now – only getting down to the high 80s at night."

"Hostile country." Sam remarked, taken aback by the harsh environment.

"No worse than some parts of our country." A familiar voice made Jonas and Sam turn around to see Jack standing in the doorway behind them. "Hey guys." He added. "Jonas-"

"Don't worry about it Colonel." Jonas waved his hand in the air. "There's a fair amount of stress circulating at the moment, I shouldn't have-"

"Be that as it may," Jack spoke deliberately, "You didn't deserve to have your head bitten off… so for what it's worth, I'm apologising."

Jonas looked to both Sam and Jack, seeing the evident tension in their faces. They were praying he wasn't going to ask too many questions and he knew it. Shaking his head slightly he put their behaviour down to being 'one of those things' and granted them their wish. "Ok Jack, apology accepted." He smiled, seeing the look of relief on their faces. "So I take it you're back on board for the mission?" The grin that spread across both their faces told him he that was indeed the case. "Good. We need you." He looked at the TV screen again. "Sam tells me it's morning – you guys hungry?"

"Is the Pope a catholic?" Jack's face had lit up with the prospect of sustenance. "Well, you'd wanna hope so anyway…" he added to no-one in particular as they all traipsed out of the room and down towards the mess. He noted with some amusement that Jonas was gripping what looked like a dead cup of coffee in his hands. The guy was turning into a Daniel clone, to be sure.

General Hammond slumped into the chair at the head of the briefing table, willing the paracetamol tablets he'd just taken to take effect. A four hour video-telephone conference with the Australian Prime Minister, opposition leader and head of the armed forces, with the US President taking part, had not been his idea of a good time at five am that morning; and yet it's what he had done. Predictably enough, Prime Minister Howard expressed a certain sense of disbelief at hearing of the Stargate Programme. Worse still, he was incensed at having been kept in the dark about it for so many years – the Australians considering the USA one of their key allies, above even Great Britain. He'd just have to deal with it. There was no way a country with roughly the same sized economy as Texas was going to be privy to every bit of classified information from the American side of things.

At least he'd acquiesced to the President's request that SG1 travel to Australia to try and determine what the exact nature of Uluru was – not that the Australian government was going to help much in liaising with the indigenous community. The general sighed heavily as he looked at the expectant faces sitting before him. They weren't going to have an easy mission, even if Baal didn't show up.

"Colonel," Hammond's voice was commanding, but still soft. "Am I to assume that you are in fact fit for duty?"

"Yes sir," Jack replied uneasily, hoping he wouldn't be forced to do a psych evaluation or anything like that. "Wouldn't miss it for the world." He glanced at Sam, who had been looking at him but looked away quickly. He was sure she'd been anxious about his answer. He had heard her breath catch when General Hammond addressed him. He shook his head and returned his attention to his superior officer. "I take it by the look on your face the Australian authorities have been briefed?"

Hammond reflected that he must look tired and thought for the umpteenth time how he wouldn't accept that kind of comment from anyone but Jack O'Neill. But then, no one other than Jack would be so cheeky. "As much as was possible, Colonel," he replied tiredly. "We have clearance to use the Pine Gap Joint Military Defence Facility, 19 kilometres south of Alice Springs, and roughly 300 kilometres north of Uluru. Of course there is a sizeable American contingent on site at the facility, but it remains owned and run by the Australian government."

Sam nodded understandingly at the General's words. "That's an intelligence facility isn't it sir?" She asked, not really waiting for an answer. "It is used to monitor satellite intelligence gathered from Asia and the Middle East." She indicated to the other members of SG1. "What about Uluru, sir? How do the Australian authorities feel about us taking over their most popular tourist destination?"

General Hammond chose this moment to distribute the rather thick files that he had brought into the room with him. "Well Major, that is exactly where you might encounter some political difficulties." He nodded for them to open their files. "As you can see in this information, the relationship between the Australian government and the indigenous population is not without its tensions. Uluru is officially owned by the local Aboriginal Anangu tribe, after it was returned to them by the Australian government in 1985. Although these people object strongly to the idea of foreigners – including non-indigenous Australians – approaching the monolith, it was part of the agreement that they allow people to do so."

"Why don't they want anyone going near it?" Jack felt he had to cut the General off before he bored them all to death with the monotonous information.

"They believe it's a sacred site, Colonel." Jonas jumped in, leafing madly through his enormous pile of information on Aboriginal culture. "They believe the rock is actually hollow underneath, and contains an energy source called Tjukurpa, there since the Dreamtime." He ignored the intrigued expression on Sam's face and the raised eyebrow on Teal'c's as he continued. "Funnily enough, Tjukurpa actually can be roughly translated as the spiritual essence of a physical form or being – tying in with the theory concerning a possible naquada store."

"My God Jonas that's amazing?" Sam couldn't contain her excitement at hearing this. "I can't believe we never discovered this before!"

"Was not DanielJackson's area of expertise more centred on Egyptian mythology, MajorCarter?" Teal'c countered calmly. "It is therefore not unusual that he would not have been aware of the significance of this site."

"Right." Jonas nodded to Teal'c, before turning to Sam again. "Besides, it's been established that the Aboriginal culture is much older than Ancient Egypt – the earliest remains that have been found are thought to be 40,000 years old – well before we thought the Goa'uld were present on Earth."

"Ok!" Jack held his hands out to both Jonas and Sam in an effort to stave off another flurry of debate. "So it's a great discovery and all… what does this all mean for our mission?" He asked the question pointedly at General Hammond.

"Only that you will have to tread very carefully, Colonel," the General replied gravely. "I do not want any diplomatic incidents over this – and the President has assured the Australian Prime Minister that we would do our best not to offend the native inhabitants of the Uluru region."

"Ahh… politics." Jack leant back in his chair and rolled his eyes. "Give me a hostile alien planet any day…"

General Hammond coughed to get Jack's attention again. "Yes well, we have an aeroplane waiting to take you to Australia. I suggest you read up on all the information contained within this file on your way there. The equipment and weaponry has already been transferred onto the plane." He turned to Jonas. "A Mr Douglas Goonagulla will meet you in Australia. He is the Australian expert on Indigenous Affairs and a native of the Northern Territory." Turning to Jack, he added: "He will be with Colonel Brian McGregor of the Royal Australian Air Force and Major Michael Fletcher of the US Army. You will travel with these people to the Pine Gap base and work with them – they have full clearance in this matter and are being briefed as we speak."

"Yes sir," Jack felt a slight irritation at having new people to work with on this mission. The last thing he needed was for some idiot who knew nothing of the Goa'uld to stuff everything up. He would have to find a way to keep them busy once they'd provided all the information they could.

"Well then, you're dismissed people. Godspeed." General Hammond stood and the others in the room followed suit. As they left, he reached his arm out to place his hand on Jack's shoulder. "Wait a minute Jack," he said softly. "I want a word."

"Yes sir?" Jack looked at him questioningly, his eyebrows half-way to the moon.

"I know you don't' working with outsiders Jack – don't think I didn't see that flicker of annoyance before," he grinned at the greying man standing in front of him, who was now looking decidedly sheepish. "But you're going to need these people – there are a lot of issues surrounding this site and we can't afford an incident."

"Sir, with all due respect," Jack couldn't help it, but the references to politics incensed him. "None of those issues will matter if Baal lands a mothership in Australia and starts blowing the place apart looking for naquada."

"You're right Colonel," Hammond nodded, releasing Jack's arm from his grasp. "The president has all the SG-teams on high alert and on the ready for Baal's arrival. See that you get to the bottom of this mystery before he does."

"Yes sir." Jack saluted lazily before swaggering out of the room to find the others and head out of the base.

TBC

A/N : Ok. So now we know a little bit more about the history behind this idea. I swear all that stuff about Uluru is more or less true! There's a website (that this stupid thing won't let my type out normally): "www (dot) crystalinks (dot) com (forward slash) ayersrock (dot) html" if you want more info!

I'll try to update as soon as possible… but in the meantime, PLEASE REVIEW! Especially if anyone has any thoughts about how the hell we're going to access the naquada stores under what is the most massive rock on Earth… there are caves in Uluru… but I think that'd be too simple…