Chapter Text
Colonel Jack O'Neill stood in the gate room, absentmindedly fiddling with a pocket on his vest. Teal'c and Major Samantha Carter stood patiently beside him. He sighed. He was feeling noticeably less patient than usual for this mission to get underway. The sooner they departed, the sooner they could come back. Ancient ruins amid hot, humid, dense rainforest, likely teaming with interesting alien critters, was not his ideal off-world trip. Far from it. He'd done jungle. He didn't like it.
"Danny!" He shouted, loosing his patience finally.
Dr Daniel Jackson came running into the gate room, fastening his bag up and hefting it onto his back.
"Sorry, sorry, I went back to fetch a book that I think is going to come in useful in case we have some cross-over with the pre-columbian, ceramic and pre-ceramic period cultures of South America, going by what the Jaffa said..."
"Yeah, yeah, clearly." Jack rolled his eyes and sighed again. "Right. Are we all ready kids?"
Daniel nodded. The other two shifted their weapons in their grasps in readiness.
"And..." he pointed casually to the gate and stepped forward, thinking there should be a new military hand signal for 'proceed through Stargate'. 'Come' and 'advance' and even 'point of entry' just wouldn't cut it.
They were hit by a wall of hot wet air on arrival. Jack was instantly covered in a sheen of sweat. It was like walking into a sauna fully dressed.
"Phew," Daniel exclaimed, pulling at his collar.
Even Carter groaned a little. They had worn lightweight green camo BDU's, fully expecting the heat, but severely underestimating the humidity.
They were here on the planet designated P3X-299 due to rumours from some rebel Jaffa that there were some interesting ruins. Something was keeping the Goa'uld away but nobody could be more specific. A UAV they'd sent had spotted what was likely to be the ruins, 11 klicks NNW. 11 klicks of dense rainforest.
Jack stepped down the unusually steep, high steps from the gate, into a large clearing. Lanky, top heavy trees surrounded the clearing, rising up from dark thick undergrowth. Mist hung low in the air, clinging and rising reluctantly from the flat topped trees and fading into a hazy sky.
He looked around at his team. Daniel had already stripped off his tactical vest and jacket and was running in circles around the gate, studying the ground and yelling something about Nazca lines. Carter was trying to look unbothered by the heat, but was unzipping her tactical vest and jacket.
Teal'c was scanning the jungle, actually looking mildly uncomfortable for once. Jack checked his compass. He'd been informed, at length, about how the magnetic field of the planet meant that North didn't point to the North Pole, but magnetic North, which was somewhere else entirely. But the ruins were NNW of magnetic North, which was all that mattered to him.
"Right. This way," he said, making a start towards the edge of the clearing. "T, bring up the rear. Come on Daniel."
Daniel argued back and started talking excitedly about South American Pre-Columbian cultures, but he ignored it and soon the archaeologist was behind him, in step with Major Carter.
"Keep your eyes out for critters," he said, standing at the edge of the impenetrable looking jungle.
"What is a..." Teal'c started to query.
"Critters," Jack answered. "Bugs, creatures, crawly things, giant spiders."
"I don't mind spiders as long as they're not the metal kind," Carter quipped. He had to agree. Although he wasn't a big fan of the webs. There was something hugely unpleasent about running face first into a huge spider web.
There didn't appear to be a path, or a road, or any other kind of means of getting from here to there that wouldn't involve brute forcing it through the undergrowth.
"Don't suppose anyone packed a machete?" Jack sighed. This was going to be one of those missions.
It became immediately apparent that it was going to take longer than expected to find the ruins. Pushing through gigantic leaved plants and dense wiry shrubs while trying not to trip over the tangling roots and thick carpet of fern, was ridiculously time consuming. Not to mention the curling web of stems and vines intertwined between the trees. After only a couple of klicks, Jack was drenched, from his own sweat as well as the thick misty air. He had a few scratches on his face from plants that had been unpersuaded to give way so easily.
"Sorry Carter," he said, turning around to see his Major's face with a large scratch across it from where a branch had sprung back at her. Oops. She just glared mildly at him.
"Uh, Teal'c buddy? Get up here, you're taking point."
He had to acquiesce. Teal'c was way more suitable for this. Daniel and Carter stood in limp silence as he swapped places with Teal'c. It was much too hot for chatting, or even bickering. That suited Jack fine. They moved out and Jack found it noticeably easier to pass through jungle that already had three people through it.
"T, you ok up there?" he called, feeling slightly guilty watching the large man up ahead wrestling a bush.
"I am fine O'Neill."
He briefly considered ordering Carter to take his place in the rear, but knew she would suspect him of trying to go easy on her. And she'd be right of course.
After three exhausting klicks, Teal'c suddenly stopped.
"I believe we have found the ruins," he said stoically, not showing any hint of fatigue.
Jack came alongside him and surveyed the scene. Despite the name 'ruins' being highly applicable here, the old buildings and stones rather impressively filled a large clearing at the confluence of two small rivers. Not that he'd ever tell Daniel that he'd thought it impressive. There was an awful lot of it, spread out, and overgrown. Daniel was already examining the nearest stone.
"Keep your eyes peeled folks," he said, and gestured for his team to advance.
They carefully made their way into the clearing, between rows of rough square stone pillars carved with simple shapes and lines, past low, rough stoned walls in lines of small squares, and blocky fallen archways. What used to be smooth paving was now broken and overgrown. Vines and creepers tangled over pillars. Small trees grew from what might have once been houses. Hazy sunshine pierced the heavy mist. The air was still and silent aside from the gurgling and splashing of the river running along the western edge. It was azure blue and crystal clear, small and fast, dancing over smoothed stones and then plunging into deep cool looking pools. The other river was slow flowing and wide, an unappealing greeny brown colour and murky with the banks full of weed and rushes. Where they met, a mess of green and blue eddies battled, the more powerful green murk winning out, flowing steadily on into the jungle. The ruins sat neatly in the middle, left to nature and forgotten.
Jack perched on a smooth cut low wall, taking his jacket off finally, and putting his tactical vest back on. Daniel hurried around, running his hands over carvings, pulling note books out of his bag. Jack didn't need to tell Teal'c and Carter what to do. They stood nearby watching the jungle. Growing impatient, Jack risked asking Daniel a question, hoping, against all previous experience, that the answer would be succinct.
"So Daniel, do we stick around, or have we got a long trip back to the gate?"
"What?" Daniel appeared from behind a large square pillar. "Oh. Um. Yes! We have to stay! It's amazing. There are similarities here with the Nazca culture on Earth, despite the very different environment. And! And..." He leapt over to another pillar, this one round and more intricately carved. "There is evidence of Ancients being here too, which is fascinating. Was it an old Ancient settlement that was reused? Or were they possibly sharing this place? And how..."
"Yes. Fine. Thank you Daniel," Jack interrupted with a fake appeasing tone. "Keep working. Let me know if you find anything of significance. And by that I mean, something I might find interesting. Got it?"
"Absolutely."
"Good."
With that sorted he turned to the other two, who were looking more disheveled by the minute. Not that either of them would complain, sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. Carter for example, was still in full BDU, her only submission to the heat being her undone vest and jacket zippers. He sighed at her.
"Carter. Take some damn clothes off, for crying out loud. You're wilting faster than lettuce at a Texas barbecue."
She shifted uncomfortably. "Is that an order sir?"
God damn it! She smirked at him and he humphed in return and went to find the best place to set camp.
"We're setting camp here," he called to them once he'd found a suitable spot on soft ground, under the shade of a small tree with some handy defensive walls close by. They put up two tents and dumped most of their gear. He sent Carter off to watch Daniel while he and Teal'c went to check the perimeter. He felt strangely uneasy, walking along the riverbank, watching the rainforest with the mist reaching for him across the water. He stopped to splash water over his head, keeping an eye on the thick undergrowth. He made a note to take a dip later.
He met up with Teal'c to compare notes. The big guy had an uneasy expression on his usually stoic face, which worried him a great deal. Teal'c was unflappable.
"What's up T?"
"I do not know O'Neill. It is just a feeling."
"Spill it."
"I am experiencing the sensation of being watched."
The simple, straightforwardly spoken sentence instantly put him on edge, which he then hid behind a professional nod of understanding.
"Stay sharp." He patted Teal'c reassuringly on the shoulder.
"I will endeavour to do so."
"Carter?" Jack called on the radio.
"Sir?"
"Stay alert. Teal'c's spider sense is tingling."
"Sir?"
"Tell you later."
"Yes sir. Copy that."
Jack's eyes were now glued to the jungle. Where it had seemed almost pretty with the sunlight streaming through the leaves, making shafts of light through the mist, it now seemed dark and foreboding. The trees with their high canopies seemed to loom out towards them. But nothing moved. Even the air was still.
"Have you noticed," Jack asked, back at camp later, "How quiet it is?"
"Yes?" Daniel said, as if it was obvious.
Carter had crooked her head, looked up, and a little furrow appeared between her eyebrows.
"I didn't notice before," she said, looking back at him. "It's almost too quiet."
"Unnaturally quiet?" he asked cautiously.
"Not necessarily. Maybe there's very little animal life here."
"Is that not most unusual for an environment such as this?" Teal'c asked.
"I have found some references to animals in the iconography on some of the larger stones. But they may be mythical rather than native creatures?" Daniel said.
"What kind of animals?" Carter asked.
"Mostly birds and cats, which is typical of Nazca, and other similar cultures."
"No spiders," Jack smiled at Carter.
Seeing as it was evening, going by Earth time, Jack declared it dinner time, despite it still being bright daylight. They ate cold MRE's and didn't bother with a fire. They were all too hot to want one, and it would have been tough with the damp anyway.
"I hate to ask Daniel, but..."
Daniel raised his eyebrows in anticipation.
"Found any cool stuff yet?"
"Well..."
"Wait! I mean... Found any cool weapons, any clues leading to cool weapons or instructions on how to make cool weapons?"
Daniel paused. "Well, noooo but..."
Shame.
"We did find some writing that indicates there may be a science laboratory somewhere here," Carter interrupted, with the kind of enthusiasm she reserved for gadgets and sciency Carter stuff.
"Somewhere... not ruined?" Jack asked, gesturing around him at the tumbled down walls.
"In the past, we've tended to find these places underground, so there is a good chance its here somewhere."
"Good news," Jack said.
When it looked like the sun was not going to set anytime soon, they drew straws to see who would have to share a tent with the snoring Jaffa. Jack had invented the game as a way of dealing with his conflict over not wanting to order Carter to share with one of the other guys every single time, while equally not being comfortable in ordering her to share with him either. This was just easier, and he could pretend it was about Teal'c and his relatively new need to sleep, albeit loudly.
Daniel drew the short straw.
Before bed Jack ordered his team to 'wash that stink off'. Nobody wanted to share a tent with someone saturated with old sweat. So they stripped and took a dip in one of the deep pools of the smaller river. Carter went up stream somewhere, and was ordered to keep her P90 within arms reach. The pool was just deep enough to squat and be submerged up to your shoulders. It was also, surprisingly and delightfully cool. It was tempting to just stay in there. After his wash, Jack dried off as best he could and put on a fresh pair of boxers, being unable to bear putting on anything more than that, despite having to share a tent with Carter.
Carter wasn't shy exactly. It's just that things were a little awkward sometimes, knowing that there was a (mostly) unspoken attraction there and having to pretend it didn't exist while sharing a tent. But they had a routine to make it easier. Carter went to bed first, and Jack always gave her 30 mins to get into bed before coming in himself. She'd usually be on her side facing away from him, either pretending to be asleep or reading or making notes. This time she was lying ontop of her open sleeping bag, going over notes she'd made during the day. He couldn't guess what they would be about. Since it was still almost unbearably hot, she had also stripped right down, wearing only a sporty looking bra and panties set. Jack decided to forgo the sleeping bag altogether. He fell asleep with his t-shirt over his head, trying to keep the light out.