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Jack scooped Daniel up in his arms cradling his friend protectively against his chest and scanned quickly for a defensible position. "Carter, we're about to have company," he whispered urgently nodding towards the door. He ushered her ahead of him and moved back to duck down by a bank of machinery with Carter and Teal'c. Daniel's body felt unusually small and light in his arms and feverishly hot. Jack spared a worried glance at the boyish pale face of his friend. In hindsight, maybe coming through the Gate for one more tour of the Galaxy hadn't been such a smart idea – especially when they had virtually no weapons and no backup coming to help out. He didn't bother thinking about the fact that they had had no other choice at the time. At the end of the day he had spent a lot of time as the leader of this group of people and old habits die hard – especially the one where he felt responsible for keeping his team safe.

The door slid open and two men and a woman all dressed in a pale green one piece type of uniform cautiously entered the room. One of them, a man with a deep voice, called out a command in another language and abruptly the transparent walls brightened enough to light up the whole room.

Abruptly the crystals in the room began to glow brightly and one by one, beginning with the smallest, they began to disappear.

The woman made a surprised exclamation and watched as the last of the crystals – the largest one that had been beside Daniel, also faded and disappeared.

Jack felt his eyebrow lift in surprise. These guys looked human – with maybe a hint of added colour. The deep voiced one was the eldest of the trio and bore a broad streak of deep blue through his black hair. He moved across to take a guard stance by the door. The second man bore a streak of orange and blue in his hair and he continued forward into the room waving a small device in one hand and watching the readings it gave off. Jack didn't have to place bets to guess that the small device in the guys' other hand was a weapon.

The red and blue streaked female said something in a language that Jack didn't know. She picked up an object from the floor and waved it at the leader by the door, speaking rapidly in the foreign language. Jack thought she might have found the remains of Daniel's glasses.

The blue and orange streaked man continued walking forward but his weapon was held higher now as if he suspected he would find someone.

Jack knew that they were about to be discovered. He shared a worried glance with Teal'c and Sam before carefully laying Daniel down on the floor behind him. He took a breath and stepped partially around the machine, doubting that it was the smartest move that he had ever made, but then, apparently, he wasn't really up to 'smart' today. "Hey there. I hope you guys don't mind unexpected visitors."

The guy stared at him with wide eyes and the palm weapon was help in fingers that clenched whitely around the device. The other two people stepped forward cautiously, until they had all four of the team in their sights – and in their weapons range.

Teal'c took a very cautious step forward placing his body between them and DanielJackson's prone one. The strangers tracked his movements with their hand held weapons. Teal'c made an attempt at a reassuring smile – something that he had never quite perfected - as the strangers simply held their weapons all the tighter.

"Me'ane, keseri de len?" demanded the deep voiced guy – obviously the leader of the trio.

Jack stretched his unfamiliar face into a smile. "Do any of you people speak English by chance? Or Arabic? I could do Arabic, or a little Spanish maybe, only Daniel here usually does the meet and greet thing and he's a little busy growing younger and healthier at the moment."

Sam stepped up beside him with her own friendly smile on her face. "Hello, ah, Jack's right, we don't mean you any harm."

The female of the trio touched a small device strapped to her wrist. "Decha," she ordered, guesturing at her mouth and then back at Sam and Jack.

Sam frowned. "I think she wants us to keep talking. I'd guess that device she's got is a learning translator of some sort."

Jack smiled at the trio. "Um, fine then. Hi there, nice to meet you folks. We're sort of here for a visit. We, well our friend Daniel here, found a book and a puzzle in it that he just had to solve. You'd understand about Daniel's bad habit of needing to solve puzzles if you knew him. Anyway, he found the Gate to Annwyn or something and since the place we were in was about to become our tomb we decided to pop over for a little sightseeing – you know, seeing as this place was supposedly the land of milk and good health and such. Unfortunately, we had a little problem in transit and got a little banged up against that nice glowy glass wall of yours and we seem to be getting a lot younger for some reason, so if you guys could maybe send us back home again, maybe with an added air supply and some digging tools, we'd really appreciate it," said Jack trying to mimic one of Daniel's harmless and reassuring smiles.

The female frowned at him quizzically. "Defar, ke ne fer tia Astria Porta," she murmured glancing at them with wide eyes. She glanced back the leader, who nodded his head at her curtly.

Teal'c knew what was about to happen. He stepped forward to defend his friends but was not fast enough.

The weapon in the female's hand discharged a wide beam of blue energy and all three slumped to the floor beside the still body of Daniel.

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Short chapter - but it's all I could manage. Still recovering from a bad bout of flu. Thanks to all who sent well wishes. Hope I have you all intruiged enough for more what with the team all unconscious and all - he he. Reviews are appreciated.