Chapter 5
Moments later, Sam stepped out of the event horizon, shook off the familiar cold, and turned to watch Daniel's arrival. It wasn't until she turned back to give Siler the all clear that she saw him. She stiffened, glancing over at Daniel, who apparently hadn't noticed yet. What was he doing here? And, more to the point, where did he get the unmitigated gall to show up again after the way he'd left?
"Sam?" Daniel's voice interrupted her thoughts. "What's up? You look like you've just seen a ghost."
She exhaled sharply. "I think I have."
Daniel scanned the control booth, and Sam sensed the instant he saw Jack.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Daniel kept his voice low, but it was tight with controlled anger.
She didn't bother to answer, merely shaking her head and starting down the ramp, intent on making it to the infirmary before having to face Jack. She knew she couldn't avoid him forever, but she could certainly delay the inevitable for a few minutes.
It was mid-afternoon by the time she'd finished with her exam and had a shower, her mind churning the entire time about what she was going to say to Jack when she saw him. Her temptation was to avoid him altogether, but she knew that wasn't going to happen. It was a safe bet that he would be invited to sit in on the briefing that was scheduled to start in fifteen minutes. Retired or not, nobody would deny Jack O'Neill access to the SGC. Besides, it had only been a little over three weeks since he'd left. With a sigh, she collected a pen and notepad from her workbench and headed for the conference room. There was no point in trying to put it off any longer.
Daniel had gotten there before her and was already sitting at the table, doodling on a legal pad. He looked up when she came in, his expression tense, eyes dark with emotion.
"Hey, Sam," he said. "Medical go okay?"
She grinned at him. "You're asking me? I'm not the one who spent fifteen seconds glued to a cliff!"
"Yeah, well, since you're asking, I'm fine." He smiled back at her. She seated herself across from him, and they were both writing notes for their mission reports when the door opened and Jack came in. Sam, out of long habit, was on her feet and at attention before she remembered that he was, officially at least, retired. Feeling slightly flustered, a little off balance, and royally pissed at herself, she sat back down and buried her face in her notes, desperate to hide a flush of embarrassment. Damn. This was so not how she'd wanted this to go.
Daniel apparently had no such difficulties. "Never thought I'd see you around here again, Jack." His voice was coolly polite, revealing nothing of his feelings. Sam mentally gave him a gold star for grace under pressure.
"Carter," Jack nodded over at her. "Daniel." There was caution in his voice, as though he half expected one of them to come at him with fists flying.
Sam, determined to maintain some professional distance from the situation, settled for nodding back.
"Where's General Landry?" Daniel asked.
"Emergency leave," Jack said simply. "The Pentagon needed somebody in here who already knew the ropes, so—" He lifted his hands, palms outward in an expression of good faith. "Here I am."
"Here you are," Sam said with a decided lack of enthusiasm.
She felt Jack glance sharply at her before taking his seat at the end of the table, but she didn't look up. Let him wonder.
"So," Jack said, "Where's Teal'c?"
"He stayed on Dakara to do some work with the Jaffa," Daniel answered.
"Oh?" Jack looked over at Sam. "How long?"
"He didn't say," she answered, "beyond telling us that it isn't forever."
Jack pondered that for a moment, and then flipped open his notebook. "So, kids, tell me about your trip."
Funny, Sam thought, being called a "kid" didn't used to bother her this much. This time, though, she found she had to resist the urge to call him a condescending bastard. Go figure.
"Standard mission," said Daniel. "There's some type of device built into a cliff wall about twelve clicks from the gate."
"That's quite a hike," Jack said. "Or did you use a tel'tak?"
"We walked it, Sir," Sam said. "No other transport available at the time."
"That explains why you elected to stay the night."
"Yes, Sir. We cleared that with General Landry before we left. Didn't know how long the mission would take."
"So what about this device?" Jack said. "Does it do anything cool?"
Sam and Daniel exchanged a glance. "Cool, Sir?"
Jack sighed. "You know what I mean, Carter. Does it have military or civil potential, either for us or for the Jaffa?"
"Hard to say, Sir. I didn't get a good look at it."
"But you said…"
"I'm the only one who got to see it close up," Daniel interrupted. "The device is built right into the cliff wall. There's barely enough room for one person to get to it, much less two."
"It didn't occur to you to take turns?"
"We would have," Sam said, "but after the earthquake, we didn't think it would be such a great idea."
Jack's slightly raised eyebrow was the only indication that he'd noticed her sarcasm. "So, Daniel?" Jack swiveled slightly in his seat to direct his full attention to the other man. "What's the story?"
Daniel shrugged. "It's impossible to say right now. I need time to analyze the video before I can give any useful answers."
"Surely you've got a guess."
"No, actually. I don't." The terse answer notched up the already high tension in the room.
Sam waited, wondering whether Jack was going to tackle the elephant in the room or ignore it.
"So what's your suggested course of action, Colonel?" Jack finally asked, professional facade solidly in place.
Ignore it, apparently. Aloud, she said, "I'd like a geological survey done on the area before we go in again, Sir."
"Fine. I'll send SG-7 over to take a look." He turned back to Daniel. "In the meantime, I'd like to hear your analysis of the artifact as soon as possible."
Analysis? Artifact? Sam bent her head to her paper, scribbling something inane about the briefing and effectively hiding her expression from Jack. Normally, he would have just asked Daniel to take a look at the video and get back to him. The man was rattled.
"I'll get it done just as soon as I can," Daniel said.
"Good."
And that was that. Jack ended the briefing, and five minutes later Sam sat down at her workbench with a sigh of relief. Well, she thought. That was fun.
