Tropical Paradise Lost
A/N: In my reality, this story took place just before the episode entitled "Grace". I think it makes some of "Grace" a little more understandable and it also gives us insight into why Sam eventually pursued a relationship with (gag) Pete. There's some subtle S and J in here and the epilog of the story is what I think should have happened at the end of "Grace". Since this is NOT an AU story I couldn't really put in the BHK and other things that every shipper would like to read, because I want to stay true to what really happened in the show. I believe that S/J were together in season 9 (see " A Hint to the Powers That Be") and that we will actually SEE them together in season 10. Having said all of that, I hope you will read the story and that you enjoy it.
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On a small, tropical island, a hundred thousand light years from Earth, a Stargate kawooshed to life for the first time in nearly 100 years. Four intrepid explorers, wearing green Battle Dress Uniforms stepped through the shimmering event horizon and looked around in awe at their surroundings.
"Wow!" Daniel exclaimed, "the UAV photos did not do this place justice!"
The group looked out on a vast expanse of white sand beach and pristine turquoise water. Palm trees framed their view of the ocean from the Stargate and a tropical breeze blew off the water and cooled their faces.
"Major," the leader began, "how far is it to Daniel's ruins?"
"A little over 16 klicks, Sir. Bearing two seven zero."
"16 klicks! Why do they always put the ruins so far from the gate?" The leader muttered.
The large, dark man with the gold tattoo on his forehead spoke. "O'Neill, there appears to be a path here in the direction of the ruins. Should we not proceed?"
"Yeah, Teal'c you take point, Daniel, you've got our six." The tall, handsome leader adjusted his ball cap and the four explorers began their long trek to the ancient ruins.
After three and a half hours of hiking, the sky darkened and the group suddenly found themselves in the middle of a tropical downpour. A warm, heavy rain pounded straight down as the breeze died. At first it felt good, giving the sensation of standing under a warm shower, but soon their uniforms were totally soaked and the group began to feel quite uncomfortable.
"Jack, I think I remember a small shack up ahead in the UAV reconnaissance photos. At the time I thought it looked like a way station halfway between the gate and the temple. If we can find it maybe we can stay there until the rain storm is over."
"Yeah, fine, Daniel, whatever. I just want to get out of this rain."
As the group trudged on, the wind began to pick up and the temperature dropped. The explorers were now starting to feel a chill as well as the uncomfortable wetness of their clothes.
"O'Neill!" The large black man called out, "I believe I see the shack that Daniel Jackson spoke of!"
The group began to run and soon found a bamboo shack in a small clearing in the dense tropical jungle. The shack was built up on stilts, with a thatched roof, a small porch, and wooden shutters.
"Check it out, Teal'c." O'Neill ordered.
Teal'c nodded, climbed the steps to the small porch, and lowering his staff weapon, pushed open the door of the shack.
"All clear!" He shouted back to the rest of the group who hurriedly followed him into the structure.
It took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the dark interior of the shack, but once they did they found a small table and four chairs, woven grass sleeping mats on the floor and a fire pit, complete with dry fire wood.
"Daniel, start a fire and then let's get out of these wet clothes."
"Um, Jack, I'm sure this storm won't last too long and I'd really like to get to those ruins."
"Daniel," his tone was a warning, "we still have about 6 klicks to go to get to the ruins, the storm doesn't seem to be letting up, and we're losing daylight. Your ruins will still be there tomorrow."
The younger man knew the leader was right. He quickly set about starting a fire so the group could dry off and warm up.
The blonde woman pulled a clean, dry, black t-shirt out of her back pack. "Um, Colonel..." She said as she held up the garment.
The Colonel shrugged out of his back pack, pulled out his own clean, dry t-shirt and said "Let's go change on the porch and let Carter change in here."
After changing into her dry t-shirt and dry socks, Sam padded to the door, opened it and said "You guys can come back in now."
The four explores sat at the table and discussed what they knew so far about the planet they were on.
"Sam," Daniel began "did the UAV or MALP show any signs of human inhabitants other than the village that was north of the Stargate?"
"No," the woman replied "the village was all we saw. We didn't even see any activity in the village,"
"Do you suppose that the occupants of this planet are gone? That no one lives here anymore?"
"That is highly unlikely, Daniel Jackson. This hut is in good repair and appears to have been used recently."
"I agree with Teal'c, Daniel. While the Stargate and the temple appear to be unused, I think the inhabitants of this planet are still here."
"Well, I for one want to meet them," Daniel began.
"Yeah, how did I know you were gonna say that!" Was Jack's sardonic reply.
As Sam and Daniel continued their conversation, speculating about the inhabitants of the planet and what they would find at the ancient temple, Jack stepped outside on the porch to watch the storm.
After a few moments, Teal'c followed him. "Do you sense danger, O'Neill?" He asked as he stepped out on the porch and stood behind his friend.
"Not exactly, T. I just think we shouldn't get complacent just because we haven't seen any signs of Jaffa here." The Colonel stated, never looking away from the rain that pounded down around them.
Teal'c inclined his head slightly in agreement and returned to the interior of the shanty. As he entered the hut Teal'c noticed that Daniel was pouring over reconnaissance photos of the ruins and Sam was sitting on the floor, her knees pulled up to her chest. She was resting her chin on her right knee and staring into the fire. She looked up when he entered the room.
"What's the Colonel doing?" She asked.
"He is watching the storm. I believe he is concerned that it may intensify."
Sam nodded absentmindedly and looked back to the fire. After a moment she unfolded herself from her position on the floor and went to the porch to join Colonel O'Neill.
"Hey," she said softly as she came out onto the porch.
The Colonel turned to look at the beautiful blonde woman. "Hey." He replied.
She went to stand beside him and both the officers stared out at the raging tropical storm.
"How long do you think it will last?" She asked.
Jack put his hands on the porch railing, leaned out, and looked at the sky. "I don't have a clue," he replied as he pulled himself back under the shelter of the porch, "but it's starting to get dark."
"I'll take first watch," she said as she handed the Colonel an energy bar.
Jack looked briefly into Sam's eyes as he took the energy bar from her. She smiled at him and then looked away.
"What's Daniel doing?" He asked.
"He's studying the photos from the UAV."
"Ah!"
"Yeah, pretty boring."
After a time the members of SG1 settled in for the night. Sam took first watch, Jack second, Daniel third and Teal'c took the last watch.
As the sun began to rise Teal'c came into the cabin and awoke the Colonel. "O'Neill, the sun is coming up and the storm is over."
"Ok, good," came the groggy reply. "Carter! Daniel! Time to get up campers!"
After a small breakfast, the group cleaned the cabin so no traces of their having used it remained, then they set off down the trail toward the ancient temple and ruins.
Two more hours of hiking and they finally reached their goal. Daniel became giddy with excitement as he began to examine the ruins. He was talking a mile a minute to no one in particular and video taping at the same time.
Teal'c and Jack set up a perimeter and Carter went off to help Daniel.
"Look at this, Sam!" He said excitedly pointing to the writing on one of the walls. "This indicates that this whole island was nothing but a vacation spot for the Goa'uld! They brought humans here to be their slaves and cater to their every whim, but there was no permanent contingent of Jaffa stationed here because all the system lords used this place. They would bring their own Jaffa with them while they were here."
"How was it that they didn't fight each other over this place?" Sam asked.
"Apparently they all signed some sort of treaty, this was considered neutral territory..."
"Yeah, but we all know how good the Goa'uld are at keeping their word..." Sam began.
"I know. It appears that there's nothing of value here to the Goa'uld such as technology or naquada, so they stopped coming here almost a hundred years ago."
"What about the slaves that were here to serve them?" Sam asked.
"They left them here." Daniel replied.
Daniel went back to studying the writings on the wall and Sam wandered off to a larger, open area in the temple.
"Daniel," She called after a moment, "there's a ring transporter over here. It looks like it hasn't been used in ages."
Back outside the temple Teal'c suddenly became aware of people coming down a different path than the one they had used.
"O'Neill!" He called. "A group of natives is approaching."
Jack ducked into the temple. "We've got company, kids!" He shouted to Daniel and Sam who scrambled out to join Jack and Teal'c.
Four natives approached, two men and two women. They were dressed in Polynesian style outfits, grass skirts for both the men and women, bikini type tops and shawls for the women and the men were bare chested. Both the men and women wore bracelets made of flowers around their wrists and ankles and had sandals on their feet. Each of the natives wore a necklace with a different colored stone about the size of a quarter.
SG1 stood together at the top of the steps leading into the temple. The four natives stopped at the bottom of the steps and placed the items they were carrying on the bottom step. One of the men stepped forward, covered his eyes with his hands and bowed deeply.
"We welcome the return of our gods!" He said with a smile.
"Oh, no, no!" Daniel moved down one step. "We're not gods, we're explorers. This is Jack, Sam, Teal'c and I'm Daniel."
The man looked confused. "You came through the ring of the gods. You are gods. Only gods know how to use the ring."
"Um, no...anyone can use the ring. Even you. We can teach you."
"That is forbidden." The man said.
One of the women stepped forward. "You are here at the temple of the gods, our grandfathers have told us that this is where their fathers always came to wait on the gods."
The other woman stepped forward "We have brought fruit and wine." She indicated the gifts on the bottom step. "What else do you desire, my lords?"
"Oh for cryin' out loud!" Colonel O'Neill exclaimed, "we are not your lords. Call me Jack. She's Sam, he's Daniel and that's Teal'c."
"But he is a warrior for the gods." Kona said as he indicated Teal'c.
"I am no longer in the service of the Goa'uld. They are false gods and I wish to live free."
The four natives looked at each other with confusion so Daniel jumped in. "Um, what is this place called and what should we call you?" He asked.
The four natives looked at each other for a moment. This was not something they expected from the gods. Finally the man in charge said "The name of our village is Kanaka. I am called Lopaka and this is my wahine, Nika."
"Daniel?" Jack questioned.
"Um, wahine, that means wife...in early Polynesian.
Lopaka continued, "This is Kona and his, ...what was the word you used?"
"Wife." Daniel repeated.
"Wife." The man tried out the word. He indicated the other woman "This is Lailene. She is the ...wife of Kona."
"We're pleased to meet you." Sam said in the most pleasant voice she could muster.
Teal'c bowed.
"What can you tell us about these ruins?" Daniel inquired with a wave of his hand toward the temple behind him.
"This is where the gods always came to rest. Our people would come here to serve them. The gods would stay a few days and then they would leave." Lopaka replied.
"We have taken images of the writing so we can study them later. Right now we would really like to see your village." Daniel enthused.
"You do not wish to stay here and have us wait on you?" Lailene asked.
"No, we would much rather get to know you and your people," the archeologist replied.
"Daniel, do you think that's wise?" Jack asked in an aside.
"Jack, there's nothing here. There's no technology, no artifacts left behind, only the writing on the walls and we have video of that. The people are much more fascinating."
Colonel O'Neill looked at Major Carter as if to ask for her input.
"I agree, Sir. The fact that the Goa'uld left these people here and haven't been back for a hundred years is of much greater significance and who knows what we might learn from them."
"I concur." Teal'c stated simply.
"Alright. Lopaka, can you take us to your village?" Jack asked.
"You wish to be our guests?"
"We do."
"It is a long walk," Nika stated. "We should eat and drink before we begin." She again indicated the terra cotta bowls and jugs on the bottom step.
"Very well." Jack replied and the members of SG1 descended the steps and sat on the next to the bottom step with the bowls and jugs on the step below them.
"You should join us." Daniel said.
The four natives sat on the ground in front of SG1.
"You must eat and drink first." Teal'c stated.
All the members of SG1 turned to look at Teal'c, but no one said a word.
Jack turned back to the natives. "Yes. You must eat and drink first."
The natives did not question the order, but instead each took a piece of fruit and a sip of the wine from one of the jugs. When Teal'c was satisfied that the food was not poisoned he took a piece a fruit and the rest of SG1 followed his lead.
After their brief meal, Jack stood up, rubbed his hands together and said "Well, campers, to Oz?"
"Oz?" Lopaka asked as he got to his feet.
"What the Colonel means is we would like to go to your village now." Sam interpreted for the locals. She looked at the Colonel and he shrugged his shoulders at her in his "you know what I meant" look.
As they followed the natives to their village, Daniel was full of questions. He discovered that Lopaka and Kona were two of the village elders and that there were a total of five elders. As the conversation continued, the villagers began to feel more at ease with the strangers and were soon asking Daniel questions.
Sam and Jack were bringing up the rear when Jack said to Sam sotto voce "So, what,...this place is a Goa'uld time share?"
Sam smiled at him and repressed a giggle, "Essentially, yeah."
Lailene asked Daniel "Sam is Jack's wahine is she not?"
"What? Oh, um, no. Where we come from they are soldiers and they aren't permitted to... um...well, no."
"That is strange," replied Nika, "because they care very deeply for each other."
"How do you know that?" Daniel asked.
"Well, we all have our gifts." Nika stated. "You are smart and good with people. Jack is strong and a leader. Teal'c's strength is his loyalty to his friends and Sam is intelligent and compassionate."
Daniel looked at her with his mouth hanging open. "You've known us for less than two hours. How do you know all that?"
"I told you, it is my gift."
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