Well, here you are folks, another chapter in the tale. Perhaps now some of you will understand the reasoning behind my plot. Am I devious or am I not? Enjoy! I hope you didn't mind if I asked a friend to help me out in the last chapter, my muse was a bit thin on the ground.

General Disaster.

By LetitiaRichards.

Previously:-

Not that he was looking for trouble; he was just waiting for the other boot to drop. Things were going too smoothly so far; given SG-1's standard luck on missions. He only hoped that if things did go south during this trip, that he wouldn't be a burden to the team.

Chapter 4

They packed up and moved off again, this time Jack took their sixes while Daniel entertained the General. Teal'c took point and Sam walked beside Jack at the rear.

Jack couldn't help but feel sorry for the General when he could see Daniel waving his arms around to press home a point in his obvious lecture for the General's benefit, and could only thank god that he wasn't on the receiving end for once.

He exchanged amused looks with Sam then turned his attention back to surveying the immediate area around them. They walked on, feeling, like they were out for a Sunday afternoon stroll. Jack didn't need anyone to tell him that things were going too smoothly.

It was late that afternoon when they approached the ruins. Daniel wanted to dive in straight away but Jack restrained him, telling him it would be dark soon, and that they needed to check it out first.

He left Sam in charge of the camp site they'd found not far from the ruins, but hidden from view. She pitched the tents with Hammond's help, while Daniel fretted about what, if anything, Jack and Teal'c had found, while he gathered some firewood to heat the water.

"It's my guess Dr. Jackson," Hammond began, "that the ruins have been there for quite a number of years, I doubt very much one more night will make any difference. I am sure Colonel O'Neill knows what he's talking about when he said to wait until the morning. I would have said the same."

Daniel felt the gentle rebuke more than he let on. If it were Jack, he would have argued but he couldn't very well do that to the General, and he was beginning to regret...no regret was too strong a word in this case...wish perhaps... wish that they were on their own. Not that he had anything against the General; he was genuinely a nice man, but with Jack he could be himself. The General's presence was putting a dampener on his behaviour and, he suspected, everyone else's too.

"I'm sorry. Yes Jack's right, and you're right too General. Everybody's right. I...can... It can wait," he answered with a slight trace of annoyance evident in his voice.

Hammond chuckled to himself, but hid his amusement. He was beginning to see why Jack got so frustrated with the archaeologist on occasions; he'd try the patience of a saint and Jack was certainly no saint.

As soon as Jack and Teal'c came back it was easy to see that Daniel was growing impatient.

"Jack?"

"In the morning Daniel!" Jack had said shooting down his expected plea to be allowed to take a peek right now.

"But..."

"Daniel...in case you hadn't noticed, its' already getting too dark to see clearly," Jack sighed.

Jack exchanged glances with General Hammond and knew it was the right thing to do.

Daniel however still wanted to argue, but Jack beat him to the begging questions.

"I said NO Daniel. In the morning. We have three days here, that should be enough for ya!" Jack snapped, growing irritated. He stalked off to the fire and warmed his hands. "Any coffee in that pot yet Carter?" he asked, his voice softening for her.

"Yes sir," she said and promptly poured him a cup of the dark brew, their fingers barely touching when she passed it to him, but the touch meant a lot to them.

He sat down on a fallen log and cupped his hands round it, sipping the beverage slowly. It had grown chilly when the sun had dipped below the distant hills and he was glad that they had brought blankets with them as well as sleeping bags, because they'd certainly need them tonight.

A hand on his shoulder brought his senses back to the present.

"Kids huh?" Hammond chuckled softly. "For fear of repeating myself here... Is he always this eager? Like a kid at a candy store?"

"Oh yeah!" Jack sighed.

Jack looked up at his CO with a smirk, and rolled his eyes heavenwards before he glanced over at Daniel who was sitting as far away from the fire as possible with his head in his notes, trying to read by the torchlight. He knew Daniel was miffed at him, but had anything else been said anything to him while he was away from the camp? It sure looked as if he was being his usual stubborn self, sulking in the proverbial corner. He shook his head and turned back to the conversation around the fire.

They spent a pleasant hour talking while they ate the tasteless MREs. Daniel had finally joined them, being too cold to stay away from the heat. Hammond made them all laugh, including Daniel, when he innocently asked if he was eating chicken when it was supposedly macaroni cheese. At least, it should have been, according to the label. He'd forgotten how bad the meal packs were, not having been out in the field for a fair number of years now.

Jack organised them into watches and then ordered the others to bed as it were.

OoOoOoOoO

"My Lord."

"Speak! What have you to say?"

"I bring news my Lord, of the Tau'ri."

"By their own traitor?"

"Yes my Lord. All has gone as planned. He said they were to be on Protarius 4 as previously arranged. The Tau'ri known as SG-1 and their leader, General Hammond too."

"Then you have done well. Reward the traitor for his trouble and make sure he tells no more lies."

"As you wish my Lord."

The servant stood and bowed, walking backwards away from his god's presence.

Osiris smiled evilly and turned to her First Prime.

"Set a course for Protarius 4 and make haste. We wouldn't want to miss them now, would we?" She laughed at her own joke and stalked back to sit herself on the mounted throne in the middle of the pel'tak, eager to arrive at the planet where she would capture the Tau'ri scum and deliver them to her new master, Anubis.

OoOoOoOoO

SG-11 moved easily towards the Stargate when a Goa'uld scout ship flew over their positions. Major Peterson ordered them to take cover, but his words were cut off in mid stream when he was blasted by cannon fire from the spacecraft; he was dead before he hit the ground.

The ring transport deposited several Jaffa all of whom fired as soon as they were able, taking out most of the Tau'ri team after a brief but intense battle. Only one survived.

He stood up when he saw his contact ring down, and approached unhindered; and unseen, he was silently surrounded.

"Dar'eth! I might have know it. Why have you killed the rest of my team?" he demanded angrily. "That wasn't part of the plan. Colonel Simmons won't be very pleased when he hears about this."

"He will know no different. Your usefulness is over. My Lord Osiris sends her reward."

With that he nodded to his Jaffa escort, who all fired at the hapless traitor, killing him instantly, before he could escape.

Dar'eth examined the bodies to make sure that none of the Tau'ri survived, then returned to his ship with his warriors and headed for Protarius 4 to meet up with his god.

OoOoOoOoO

General Bauer sat behind the desk and browsed through the notes he had been left by General Hammond. There was a knock on the door, and he looked up, rather nervously. Was this the moment he had been dreading?

"What is it Sergeant?" he asked, though he had a good idea of what it was already.

"Sg-11 is overdue sir. Should I dial up PZ7 397 and try to raise them sir?"

Bauer sucked in a breath. The moment of truth was here. He nodded.

"You do that Sergeant. I'll be down in a minute."

"Yes sir!" Sergeant Davis replied and left the room, leaving the General to ponder his actions.

General Bauer swallowed the lump in his throat, he didn't like being a party to this, but he was being paid by Simmons and Kinsey to run the SGC. He had no idea why they wanted him back here, after the last fiasco he wasn't sure he wanted to be here, but his orders were orders and he didn't want to cross Kinsey or Simmons for that matter. People that did that tended not to live too long afterwards.

He tried pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, and hurried down to the control room.

"There's no word sir."

"What about the M.A.L.P?" Bauer asked, trying to sound confident.

Davis rattled the keyboard and the monitors showed why they weren't receiving any messages. The camera revealed four bodies lying around the foot of the steps leading to the Stargate. Each of them appeared to have a staff weapon blast, and each one of them were dead. The robotic probe detected no life signs. A whole team had been wiped out.

Bauer sighed with exasperation and not a little fear too. This wasn't supposed to happen.

Davis sat too stunned to move, as he gaped with disbelief at the picture in front of him.

"Sergeant," Bauer snapped him from his thoughts. "Arrange for their bodies to be retrieved."

"Um...yes sir!" Davis replied and called for a team over the PR system to an unenviable task.

Bauer returned to his office to contemplate if he was brave enough to defy the men who held his card of fate in their hands. Would he be able to bring them down and would they take him with them? Only time would tell, but he couldn't sit back and do nothing. He already owed SG-1 for saving his butt and the planet, and General Hammond had been generous to a fault. He picked up the red phone and waited for it to be answered.

TBC