Disclaimer: Not mine. Still. Of course. Obviously. Sadly. Enough said...

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has continued on to the official Chapter 1. I appreciate it. I really do. Anyway, here it is. Much more kind than the prologue...although still a bit angsty. I would still love reviews telling me what you all think, and I welcome any ideas on how to make it better.

I know that this is a fairly short chapter, but I'm still kind of getting into the "swing of things" as the saying goes, and I haven't quite found my element yet.

Oh yeah, and this isn't Beta'd. I have been my own editor this time around. So all mistakes are mine and mine alone.

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Chapter 1: Never a Dull Day

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0700hrs 11/13 – 1 week previously

"Daniel, I don't care how fascinating those manuscripts are," came the drawling voice issuing out of the elevator as the doors swung open. "Sleep is important. Very important. Bed, now, if you want to go on the mission at 1600."

A resigned and extremely exhausted Daniel slouched out of the elevator, his hair mussed and his eyes clouded with sleep deprivation behind his glasses.

"Morning Sam," he yawned. "If I were you, I wouldn't let Jack know you stayed on base all night too," he said, lowering his voice as he passed her.

"Wasn't planning on it," the blonde haired major replied, grinning. "Of course, I did actually sleep last night."

"In your lab," protested Daniel, rolling his eyes as he brushed past his friend. Sam shrugged innocently, joining her CO in the elevator. He eyed her suspiciously as if trying to determining whether or not he needed to send her off to take a nap as well.

"Morning Sir," she said brightly, punching the button indicating level 22.

"You're heading to the Commissary," Jack O'Neill said shrewdly. Sam shrugged, saying, "I didn't grab any breakfast on my way out of the door this morning – I came in early today."

"As in, stayed all night?" quipped Colonel O'Neill.

Sam grinned then replied, "Maybe. But I did sleep, unlike Daniel."

"Just make sure you're awake for our mission!" O'Neill called out to her as she exited the elevator. "You know how important it is to be wide awake so you can study all those pretty trees that…" The door slid shut again, effectively cutting off whatever else it was the Colonel had been saying.

Sam chuckled to herself as she strode into the Commissary. It was never a dull day when you had Colonel O'Neill as your CO, she'd give him that.

~SG-1~SG-1~SG-1~

Sam heard the unique thumping sound of a staff weapon being discharged and immediately dropped to her stomach. The tree branch directly above her head exploded into a dozen smoldering fragments, the smell of charred wood permeating the foggy air. She rolled sideways, taking cover behind a fallen log, crouching down on her knees behind the rotten wood.

With one fluid movement, the major straightened her torso, sighted, then pressed the trigger of her P90, releasing a spray of bullets into an oncoming Jaffa.

"Got any ideas Carter?" Colonel O'Neill asked, dropping down to join her behind her 'impenetrable' wooden wall.

"Not really Sir," Carter replied. "Just try to get the hell outta here and back to the gate."

"Thank you Major," replied the colonel sarcastically. "I hadn't thought of that one."

"Colonel O'Neill," came Teal'c's voice crackling over the radio strapped to the colonel's vest. "A small contingent of Jaffa appears to be attempting to outflank you."

Sam chanced a glance past her CO, barely having time to register the fact that, indeed, a group of Jaffa were nearing their position, attempting to overrun them. Colonel O'Neill fired, sending a multitude of flying metal shards burying themselves into flesh. The Jaffa fell, blood pooling beneath their limp forms, soaking the ground with the essence of coppery life.

Sam wrenched her attention back to the front just in time to see a Jaffa warrior aiming his weapon straight for O'Neill's turned and unprotected back. Reacting on instinct and adrenaline, Carter lunged to her left, knocking her commanding officer to the ground, rolling to get out of the line of fire. Colonel O'Neill looked up, shooting the offending man between the eyes, then nodded at his 2IC, silently thanking her for the save.

"Is it just me or do these Jaffa seem to be able to actually aim?"

"It's not just you Sir," Carter replied, flattening herself against the ground again as another blast of energy whistled over her head.

The slight rustling of a holly-like bush at the edge of the small clearing caught her attention. Her gun snapped up, ready to fire if it was a hostile, but she waited for a visual before she shot down whoever it was.

A rather small figure with disheveled brown hair and glasses hanging askew on the bridge of his nose came scurrying towards Sam and Jack. Daniel dropped down to join her and the colonel.

"Teal'c and I couldn't hold the path," he told them, breathing heavily. "There were just too many of them."

"Well, our 'go-around' plan didn't exactly work out either," replied Jack, his voice sour.

Suddenly, all around them, the forest fell silent. O'Neill carefully raised his head, peering over the edge of the log. Nothing was moving.

"This doesn't seem like a very good complication," Sam said quietly, her brows knitting together. Daniel opened his voice to say something else, but just then, something was thrown behind their makeshift barrier.

Sam barely had time to register that it was a round, metal canister with small, black seals punched through the surface, when the metal spirals blocking the holes slid open. A gas began to issue out of the hollow container, the white tendrils mixing with the swirling eddies of the fog billowing around them already.

The next thing Carter knew, the world was spinning around her crazily, bright flashes of red exploding behind her eyes. Her hands moved to cover her mouth and nose, but it was too late. The last thing she remembered were her eyes rolling back into her head, her shoulder slamming into the hard ground.

Then darkness descended into her world.