When Jack, Daniel and Teal'c (and Jack the dog) emerged from the Stargate, Sam and Jaffer were waiting for them near the bottom of the ramp. Jaffer rushed up the ramp to greet Jack as if he hadn't seen him in a million years, and Jack crouched down to grab the lab's head in a rough and completely loving manner.
"Hey, Little Man…" he murmured to the dog, whose tail was wagging so hard it was bound to fly off any minute. "Did you get him here safe and sound? Huh? Didja?"
Jaffer whuffled Jack's face and the two of them shared a private moment while Daniel and Teal'c clamored down the ramp, greeting Sam and taking note of the maintenance crew that was mopping up what looked like blood from the concrete floor of the SGC.
"What happened?" Daniel asked as Jack and Jaffer came down to join them, Jack giving Sam a warm smile that was a caress all its own.
"SG-4 ran into an ambush on their way back from looking at those ruins that we found on X39-091."
"Are they all right?" Jack asked.
"Sergeant Dobbs took a serious hit – and a couple of the security team members got hit as they were covering here, but Janet said Ian made it back in time to pull Dobbs through."
"Ian's out?"
She nodded.
"He'll be useless for a day or so, at least, and that secret is out in the open, now…"
"His healing ability, you mean?"
She nodded again.
"Janet didn't have time to try and isolate Dobbs to minimize who saw what, I guess, and everyone in the operating room saw what he did. That's why General Hammond isn't here right now."
"What's he going to do about it?"
"He's pulled the entire staff into the briefing room and is pretty much telling them that if any word gets out about what they saw – and remember, even the civilians have signed confidentiality papers – they'll find themselves serving the rest of their military career in someplace very cold."
"That's not very subtle," Daniel said.
"It is necessary, however," Teal'c said. "There are several organizations in your government alone that would make things difficult for Ian Brooks were they to learn of his ability – or the other knowledge he possesses."
Which was definitely true, and they all knew it.
"I don't think we need to worry," Jack said. "Hammond's pretty good at getting his point across."
And if he thought it was necessary, he'd throw in a few words of his own later on, maybe even remind anyone who was looking like they might want to spill the beans that crossing Ian was the same as crossing Jack – and Nathan, who was as dangerous as they came.
Of course, it was also true that it might be completely unnecessary to dole out any threats. Ian was one of them – despite the fact that he was so young – and the members of the SGC – civilian and otherwise – stood together and rallied around their own.
Sam nodded her agreement, reaching down and slapping Jaffer's side when the lab rubbed against her looking for attention.
"What did you guys find out?"
"This guy Anubis is definitely a threat," Jack told her as they headed for the door to get out of the way of the cleaning crews. "Jacob had some video of him wiping out a Goa'uld mothership like it was nothing more than a pesky fly."
"It was, indeed, impressive," Teal'c added.
"And your dad says hi," Daniel told her.
She smiled at that.
"Did you tell him I was busy?"
Jack nodded.
"And I invited him to come for a visit, but he said it'd probably have to wait until the whole Anubis thing is taken care of."
"What are they doing about him?"
"So far, nothing," Daniel said. "They're still trying to get information about him. He came out of nowhere as near as they can tell, and until they know some kind of weakness to exploit, there isn't a whole lot they can do."
She looked back at Jack.
"And what did Dad have to say about Ian being called away so abruptly?"
"Oh, he was full of questions," Jack told her.
"Which you ignored."
"Pretty much."
She smiled.
"I bet he loved that."
"Oh yeah."
They'd arrived at the elevator, and she pushed him towards it.
"Go get changed, and I'll meet you either in debriefing if General Hammond is finished with Janet's people, or in the infirmary."
"Sounds good."
OOOOOOOOOOOO
Despite the fact that most of the surgery staff was in debriefing with General Hammond, the infirmary of the SGC was bustling. Five beds were in use; one in the recovery room where Sergeant Dobbs was under evaluation after his surgery, three in the main room of the infirmary where the rest of SG-4 were under observation until the next morning – despite the fact that they'd told Fraiser their own wounds were minor – and a bed in the corner with the privacy curtains surrounding it to keep out noise where Ian Brooks was soundly sleeping and completely unaware of anything going on around him.
This was the bed that Jaffer headed for when he walked into the room with SG-1 less than ten minutes later. Jack (the dog) followed immediately, but his namesake stopped at the bed that was occupied by the commanding officer of SG-4.
"How's it going, Dave?" Jack asked.
Lieutenant Colonel David James gave O'Neill a wry shrug.
"I've been worse. And it could have been a whole lot worse, let me tell you."
Jack nodded.
"That's what I heard. What happened?"
"Just the usual Jaffa bullshit," James said. "No offense, Teal'c."
"None is taken," the Jaffa assured him.
"Ambushed on the way back, though? That's weird, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Even weirder; the Jaffa weren't all the same."
"What do you mean?"
The colonel pointed to his forehead.
"Different tattoos."
"Fighting each other?" Daniel asked, curiously.
"All fighting us."
"Who were they?"
James shrugged.
"No clue. But then, I don't know all the players."
"Can you draw a representation of each symbol you observed?" Teal'c asked.
"Sure."
Teal'c would be able to distinguish which Jaffa belonged to which system lord by the seals were presented.
"Think it might be important?" asked James' second in command from the next bed over.
"Might be," Jack said, shrugging. "Weird things are happening in Jaffaville right now."
