Wow…thanks to all my reviewers for your enthusiasm! I regret to inform you that this chapter is not much longer than any other one I've posted, but I'm working on it, I swear.

Enjoy!

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Jack was so stunned by the fact that he was speaking to people from Earth's future that he was unprepared when the shouting and running started. He jumped and instinctively reached for his gun, but he stopped himself, realizing that, for one, he didn't have his gun, and that he wasn't actually there.

Instead, he took in the scene before him. People were running to and fro, shouting out things like 'temporal anomalies' and 'no sign of an alien presence in the vicinity.' Jack had to laugh at that one assessment – he was standing right next to the practical definition of an alien, and they couldn't pick him up on their scanners.

One crewmember, a young-looking Asian man, appeared distinctly nervous as he keyed commands into his console. Come to think of it, Jack thought he looked kind of like Daniel did when he was having an accident-prone day.

Jack was surprised once more when a blond-haired, blue-eyed man suddenly stuck his head in Jack's line of sight. The man smiled, obviously amused at Jack's startled expression, but his grin quickly turned to a scowl as he spoke.

"The name's Tom Paris. Listen – Jack, right?"

Jack, startled out of 'diplomacy mode,' snarked back, "No, I'm the Easter Bunny."

Tom looked at him quizzically for a moment before continuing. "– Anyways, I consider myself somewhat of an expert on the 21st century, and I know for a fact that in 2001, the year you claim to be from, Earth didn't have the technology or the alien contacts to do something like this," he said, gesturing at the holographic Jack. "So, where are you really from? And what kind of trick are you trying to pull?"

Jack was tempted to laugh at his paranoia, but he recognized the look on Tom's face and wisely decided that truth was the order of the day. "Listen, you might not believe me, but I am from the year 2001. I can't tell you why I have this technology until I have permission from my superiors –"

Tom snorted at that.

"–but there is a reason, I can assure you. I'm not trying to pull one over on you guys or anything; I'm just trying to help."

Tom considered him for a minute before nodding. He looked Jack in the eye and grinned a bit. "I was pretty sure you weren't an imposter, but I had to check anyways."

Jack was intrigued. "Oh, yeah? How'd you figure that?"

Tom gestured at Jack's pants. "I've never met an alien who could make a proper pair of blue jeans."

That startled a laugh from Jack and he smiled as Tom turned away, presumably to resume his job, whatever it was. All it looked like he was doing was tapping the flat surface in front of him, but there must have been some level of skill involved in whatever it was, because the man had an intense look of concentration on his face.

Jack turned back to the Captain to ask her, and he was a little bit surprised to find that she wasn't there any more. He looked the dark-skinned man seated in the chair next to the Captain's for an explanation.

The man smiled kindly at him, shaking his head. "She went down to Astrometrics to look at some of the readings. To be honest, I think she forgot that you were here."

When Jack looked a little offended by this news, the man hurried to reassure him. "It's not that she doesn't think what you have to say is important, but she always gets a little caught up in scientific problems."

"I know exactly how that goes," Jack replied, thinking of Carter and her penchant for forgetting to eat or go home when she had a new doohickey to study.

The man chuckled a little and then grinned a little. "Looks like we have a little in common, despite the time gap."

"Yeah, about that; what year are you guys from? 'Cause I'd love to fly one of these babies." He gestured around the bridge, impressed with what he saw. "It's better than a mothership any day."

Jack watched as the man suppressed his confused look at the word 'mothership' before he answered Jack's question. "The last time I checked, it was sometime in November, 2377. Of course, it's harder to keep track out here when we don't have anything to compare it with. I mean, the computer keeps track of the objective date, but occasional anomalies and spatial disruptions can skew the subjective timeline, so no one is quite sure what day it is. Usually we just wing it."

Jack, if he was honest with himself, had tuned out about the time it started sounding scientific, and had only clocked back in when he realized that the man had finished speaking. "So, I guess that means no chance of ever getting one of these ships for myself then, huh?"

"Probably not," the other man said ruefully.

His expression suddenly shifted to one of curiosity. "Forgive me for prying," he asked, "but you seem awfully calm about all this. I would've thought you'd be at least a bit confused, or surprised."

Jack shrugged. "Nah. I've been there, done that. Besides, not much surprises me anymore." If only he could tell this guy some of the adventures he'd had as leader of SG-1…the poor guy'd probably have a heart attack.

A sudden beeping caught Jack's attention and he glanced around before realizing that it came from his end of the connection. "Oops. It looks like I've overstayed my welcome here."

"Wait!" The man looked almost frantic as he reached toward Jack, forgetting for a moment that he was a hologram. "Don't go! You're our only clue to what's happening right now!"

Jack groaned and rolled his eyes. "Listen, I'm just going to pop back in and talk to Thor for a minute, all right? Together we'll come up with some way to help you guys."

"Do you have the authority to do that?" The man obviously didn't believe that Jack had the sort of influence that could get them any of the help they needed.

"Don't worry, Commander. I've got plenty of pull where it counts." Jack was sure that Hammond would love to help these guys out, considering the kind of things the SGC could learn from them.

The Commander looked distinctly relieved. "Thank you," he said sincerely, "and call me Chakotay. We are so grateful for any help you might be able to provide."

"Not a problem. Helping out-of-luck spaceship crews is all part of my job description." And with a wink, Jack disappeared in a flash of light, relishing the confused look on Chakotay's face as he vanished.

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