"Oh… this is not good…"
The planet they gated to – at least the part of the planet the Stargate was on – was mountainous. And not just a little mountainous, either. They emerged from the Stargate on some kind of ledge that was only about thirty feet wide with a sheer rock cliff rising up behind them and the Stargate and a lot of empty air in front of them. When they went over to look down, they found they were looking way down, and there was a drop of what seemed to be several thousand feet under them.
Jack looked over at Ian, who had paled just a little under his bruised face.
"You're afraid of heights?"
"What makes you think that?"
Daniel had walked over as well, and had gingerly looked over the edge of the cliff. And had promptly moved back towards the Stargate, joined by Jaffer and Jack (the dog).
"That's a pretty big height, Jack," the archeologist said. They already knew he was afraid of them, so there was no sense in pretending otherwise.
"It's not that far down…"
Ian prudently stepped back to stand near Daniel.
"Far enough."
He was well aware that he wasn't going to bounce back up if he fell over the edge.
Jack smiled, slightly, and he and Teal'c came over to stand by the others, looking around – mostly up.
"Anyone see any sign of a road or anything…?"
It was a rhetorical question, really. They were on a ledge. There wasn't a road anywhere, and unless they sprouted feathers, none of them were going anywhere.
"Hi, Jack."
The voice behind them startled all of them, including the dogs, who whirled immediately, heads low and teeth bared. Jack and the others were a little slower, but Jacob Carter simply stood there, waiting for them to get over their surprise and for the dogs to lower their hackles a little. He definitely wanted to make sure they knew he was a good guy before he did anything else.
"Jacob…"
"How did you get there?" Daniel asked, finding his voice. "There's no-"
Jacob smiled, amused at their confusion, even though he could easily understand it.
"Watch."
He took three steps backwards, still watching them, and vanished into the side of the mountain. And reappeared only a moment later.
"It's a fake wall…" Daniel said, impressed. It certainly looked real.
"Yup." Jacob's smile grew. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"Yeah."
Ian walked over, followed by Jaffer, who watched Jacob suspiciously. The big lab knew Jacob, but he didn't like being startled, and he wasn't quite ready to forgive and forget just yet. Jacob held his hand out in front of him.
"Hey, Jaffer…"
The lowered tail wagged a little.
"What's going on, Jacob?" Jack asked. "New kid on the block causing trouble for the Tok'ra?"
Jacob nodded, sliding his hand along Jaffer's muzzle when the lab finally decided it was okay to be friends again.
"For us, and possibly for you guys. Come on inside, and I'll tell you all about it."
As they started to file past him, Jacob reached out and stopped Ian.
"What happened to you?"
Ian scowled.
"Don't ask."
Jacob looked over at Jack, who had an amused expression on his face. Not quite a smile, but definitely not a look that said it had been something serious.
"He went to camp, Jacob. That's all."
"Camp? Really?"
"Yup."
Ian's scowl grew. Why not put out a fucking memo and let the whole universe know?
"You mean with little kids and all that?"
"Yup."
"And no one had to-"
"It was camp, Jacob," Ian interrupted. "And they made me go or I wouldn't have."
The cadet strode through the seemingly solid wall of the mountain, furious even though he knew Jack was only teasing. The whole camping nightmare was still a sensitive issue with Ian, or he might have found it more amusing – although chances were, he wouldn't.
Teal'c followed Ian immediately with Jack (the dog), and Jacob held back, his eyes glittering with mirth. He knew Ian, and had for some time, and while Ian might be angry – and it was obvious that he was – he wasn't all that concerned about the flaring temper. That was part of Ian.
"What? Did he say the wrong thing and get ganged up on by an entire group of kids…?"
Jack bit back the chuckle, and shook his head.
"Actually, there was an accident, and he helped rescue a little girl. But if you don't want the air to get so cold it starts snowing inside your mountain, you might not want to mention it within his hearing. It's a sensitive subject…"
"I never would have guessed…" Jacob said, amused, still, but willing to take Jack's advice. He shrugged, and then turned his attention to more serious matters. "Come on, Jack. There are things you need to let George and the others know about."
With that, he turned and led O'Neill and Jaffer into the mountain as well.
OOOOOOOOOO
"Colonel O'Neill and the others left?"
Sam looked up from the report she was writing to find Janet standing at the door of her lab. She nodded.
"About twenty minutes ago."
"They're going to see Jacob and Selmac aren't they?"
As chief medical officer, she'd been told about the mission in order to have people available in case something went wrong. She just hadn't realized that they'd already left, until she went looking for Ian to check on his cut forehead.
Sam nodded, again.
"Yeah."
"Why didn't you go?"
"I have things to do here."
Janet frowned, not fooled for a minute. It wasn't like Sam wasn't a genius who couldn't catch up on anything she was doing – and she'd never missed out on a chance to see her dad before.
"That's it?"
"Yes."
But there was a hesitation that plainly said that wasn't it.
Janet shook her head.
"This isn't like the last time, Sam," she said. "I'll bet Jacob never lets anything like the last time happen again. There's probably no safer place than wherever they're meet-"
She was interrupted by the sound of an alarm blaring through the SGC, and a voice over the loud speaker that was plainly trying to stay calm.
"Doctor Fraiser to the embarkation room! Doctor Fraiser, please report to the embarkation room with a trauma team!"
Janet wasn't the only one who headed for the door at a run.
