TITLE: Drama and Angst on an Alien Planet
AUTHOR: Sam Carton
EMAIL: Stardoor@hotmail.com
CATEGORY: Drama, Angst
PAIRING: none
SPOILERS: none
SEASON / SEQUEL: any
RATING: PG
CONTENT WARNINGS: none
SUMMARY: Just like the title says - drama and angst on an alien planet.
And I don't really hate Daniel... it was just what occurred to me at the time.
STATUS: Complete
ARCHIVE: Heliopolis and here
DISCLAIMER: No, the characters aren't mine. I have never owned SG1 in any way shape or form and am certainly not likely to in the future! This piece of fiction was written strictly for fun and no profit was made from it. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.

Daniel Jackson was lying on his back for some reason. He couldn't, for the life of him, work out why but wasn't going to argue. He guessed it must be morning as usual, opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a simple room of some kind, but his sight was too blurry to make out anything but the high ceiling. He went to get up but found he could not. He looked down and found that he was tied to a rough bed of some kind. His head hurt...

OK, Danny, get a grip... he reasoned with himself. This is just some bad dream - you'll wake up in a minute...

Daniel shut his eyes, then opened them moments later. This definitely was not a dream... He tried to think back to what had happened to him but found he had no idea of how he had come to be tied down. He frowned and tried to struggle free, but found the bindings cutting into his wrists and ankles. He figured he was barefooted or something from the way they chafed. He was concerned as to how that came to be the case. He looked to his left and then to his right, but only saw rough wooden slatted walls and a sloping thatched roof. Sunlight was streaming through a square hole towards the far end of the roof, while the dirt floor was completely plain save for a small round table in the centre. He could just make out a solid wooden door, breaking up the monotony of the slatted walls...

Daniel struggled some more but found himself getting nowhere.

How did I get here? He wondered. He did not recall going through the Stargate, he did not recall being briefed... nothing... He was concerned about the nature of the people who had lain him here, and as for his team mates...Anything could have happened. He winced once again and he struggled with the ropes tying him down. The searing pain was off-putting but he had to get out of this place somehow...

"Where the hell is Daniel?!" O'Neill heard himself say. His head was spinning, he did not know where he was and he was cranky as hell about it. Carter and Teal'c seemed to be just fine and that pissed him off even more. He glared at the man before him - he was tall, very well built and holding a vicious looking weapon. O'Neill, Carter and Teal'c on the other hand were dressed in simple tunics and trousers, their hands and ankles bound, and they were in some kind of dwelling with solid looking walls. Too solid for O'Neill's liking. That gave him another reason to be in a foul mood.

"Because of your trespass to our world we demand the sacrifice of one of your number."

"One of our... Hey! We didn't know we were doing anything wrong - you could have just thrown us back through the gate!" O'Neill protested. "In fact... give us back our team member and we'll vanish through that gate quicker than you can say... disappear!"

"Our rules stand. You will be returned through the gate. You will tell your people never to venture here." The man with the weapon looked down at O'Neill with intense dark eyes, his dark toned face framed with neatly cut black hair. O'Neill rose to his feet and took several steps to their captor until he was directly in front of him. It was just a shame their captor was several inches taller than O'Neill, which took the edge of his intended intimidation.

"OK, we've learned our lesson. Surely Daniel doesn't need to die because we happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." O'Neill demanded.

Their captor sneered, then dealt O'Neill a harsh blow across his face, sending him sprawling. Teal'c rose to his feet. O'Neill looked over to him, wiping blood from his nose.

"It's no good Teal'c," O'Neill said, wincing. Their captor turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him. O'Neill heard the sound of a heavy latch being bolted. O'Neill sighed deeply, sat against the wall and grabbed the bottom of his tunic between his hands.

"Daniel... why does it always have to be Daniel?" O'Neill said.

"We must find him." Teal'c said. "First we must find a way to escape."

"That's a definite." O'Neill replied.

At that moment, Daniel was still struggling with his bindings, but was sure they were becoming looser and looser. The whole situation was beginning to give him the creeps. The room reminded him of a ceremonial area, similar to the like he had seen when he was on Abydos...

Abydos.

He would have given his life savings, his artefacts collected on various trips and even his place on SG1 just to be back there and not in this situation. He could hear voices outside the building. He struggled more, feeling the ropes cut deeper and deeper into his wrists. Sweat poured down his forehead. He could feel his heart rate rise. He did not like this situation - not one bit... He knew he had to get away somehow...

He wriggled some more and found the bindings slacken some more. He pulled his hands out of the bindings, then wriggled from underneath the bindings across his chest. He sat up and dealt with the bindings around his ankles, then jumped to his feet. He was aware of the blood seeping from where the binding had cut into his skin, and tried to ignore the searing pain. He had to get out of this place... He went to the door, and peered through a crack in one of the slats. There were four tall men, dressed in black, one of whom held an ornate looking knife. The others carried swords. Behind them were a congregation of about twenty five people, Daniel guessed, looking sombre with their heads bowed. Daniel took a deep gasp of breath and let it out slowly, then looked around frantically for an exit somewhere.

The walls looked tight as a drum... leaving the only alternative exit being.... Straight up.

Daniel looked at the supporting beams and guessed he had as much chance with climbing up to the nearest alternative exit as he did with the strange mob outside. He dashed over to the supporting beam to examine it and found that it was engraved with various carvings. Ceremonial, he guessed, but for once, examining the relief was not his priority. He guessed he could climb it... He hoped he could...

There was no time to debate the matter with himself any further. Wishing he had O'Neill's military training and thanking heaven he was smaller than Teal'c, he set about his daunting task.

Once he was climbing, it was not so bad.

As long as he did not look down...

Daniel could hear chanting from beyond the door and tried to quicken his pace, but found his footing slipping. He wanted to freeze where he was but refused on the grounds that there was a string chance it would lead to his death. Figuring that would be very bad indeed, Daniel pressed on, reached the top and then had to reach over to the hole in the thatched roof.

I cant' do it!!! His mind screamed. I just can't...

Daniel Jackson - get a grip on yourself, and get to it!! Daniel could almost hear O'Neill's voice urging him on in his mind. Yes, sir... he thought, an image of the Colonel's stern statement flashing though his mind. It would be shame if O'Neill had to find another scientist who annoyed him as much as Daniel guessed he did at times.

Every muscle in his body was tense as he forced himself to look over to the hole in the thatched roof, realising he would have to grab some of the binding holding it together and somehow swing himself over and up...It was just so far down... If he slipped, it would be the end...

I have to do it... Daniel ordered himself and proceeded to grab the bindings, feeling cod sweat over his body as he climbed away from the supporting beam. Gripping the bindings, he climbed, monkey like, to the square opening, just wanting to be on firm ground again.

He did not know how he managed to haul himself up and out of the hole, he only knew that just as the door had opened, his foot had slipped, and he had come close to crashing down onto the ground below. He hauled himself onto the roof of the building, shaking all over, tears of frustration and relief streaming down his face. He wriggled along the top of the thatched roof, then realised he had to get down somehow.

Sweat matting his hair, he struggled down the thatch to the point where it ended and jumped. He landed badly on his ankle and tried not to scream as pain seared through the joint and up his leg. It made no difference to the fact that he had to get out of the area and fast. He could hear sounds of uproar in the building, which meant they would come looking for him. Daniel made an attempt at running in the first direction that occurred to him - away from the building. He soon came to a large river, spanned by a well constructed bridge. He dragged himself across the bridge, aware of a wind whipping past him. He looked up and saw clouds forming above him.

Great, a storm... this just gets better and better... he thought. He dragged himself onwards, saw a small settlement, and laid eyes on several horses. Daniel sighed. He couldn't ride a horse to save his life. He guessed that now would have to be the time he found out how...

He went up to one of the beautiful black and white beasts, untied it's tether and tried jumping upon it's back. It was hard considering his ankle injury, but it had to be done. Daniel managed it after several attempts, then managed to manoeuvre the horse into a direction away from the village. It started to trot, then sped up. Daniel clung to its mane for dear life, the adrenaline levels in his body threatening to shake the life out of him. He heard shouts from behind him. The owner of the dwelling had heard sounds of a commotion, Daniel guessed, and was running out, pitchfork in hand. Daniel could also see the congregation and its leaders running in his general direction. Daniel was scared as hell at the speed the horse was running at, but couldn't complain considering the angry mob waiting to end his life.

"Jack... Sam... Teal'c... where the hell are you?" Daniel rasped, gripping the horse's mane and hoping he could stay on long enough to evade the hostile indigenous people of the planet. Daniel's horse cane to a hedge bordering a field. Daniel knew what was coming next. The animal took a graceful leap.

"Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell..." Daniel murmured under his breath, feeling a horrible surge of yet more adrenaline as they sailed through the air and landed on the other side. The horse broke into a run, while Daniel wondered how much longer he could hold on for.

O'Neill's nose had stopped bleeding at long last. Teal'c was pacing the floor. Carter was trying to work out just how they had ended up in such a predicament.

"There's a hell of a commotion outside." Carter said, listening at the door.

"Tell me about it. Wonder what's happening." O'Neill replied. "Wait a minute... it sounds like something's screwed up for them pretty badly."

"I am wondering whether Daniel Jackson has escaped." Teal'c said.

O'Neill had a thoughtful statement on his face.

"Yeah, that would about wreck their day." he said. "I sure hope that's what's happened. I'd hate to see Daniel end up dog food."

At that moment, the door burst open. Carter jumped away and stood by the wall. Teal'c pretty much stood to attention. O'Neill looked on with curiosity.

"You will tell us at once of how your companion escaped!" The Cartere dark haired captor appeared. O'Neill raised his eyebrows. Carter tried not to smile. Teal'c looked on with interest.

"We'd tell you if we knew." O'Neill replied.

"You have until sunrise to find him. Should you not, we will send our hunting dogs to end your existence. Bring him to us and we will supply you with the antidote."

"The... antidote...?" O'Neill found himself practically croaking.

"To the poison we administered to you when you arrived. We will supply you with the antidote on delivery of your companion. But I must warn you - without it, you will be dead by sunset tomorrow."

Daniel was lying in a ditch. The horse had thrown him. His head was bleeding and white hot pain seared up his right arm. He winced and tried to sit himself up. The world spun and he felt sick. His ankle hurt. His wrists were bleeding. His ankles were in pretty much the Cartere way and he was so tired... He was so sore... He curled up into a foetal position and tried to breathe normally. He was shaking all over. Something was wrong - he had been on numerous gate missions, and had been in many situations where he had barely escaped with his life...while he had not exactly felt wonderful after the experience, he did not recall feeling this bad... He could feel a fever overtaking him. The plants and general forest vegetation around him was having its usual effect - he kept sneezing. His ribs hurt. He must have either bruised them or cracked them when he fell. He just wanted to shut his eyes and sleep...

...Which could possibly lead to his demise, courtesy of the inhabitants of whatever township it was he had just evaded.

Daniel forced himself to stay with it and sat himself up. He needed a stream, anything he could wash his wounds in. He needed bandages, too - but he guessed his makeshift clothing would have to do.

"OK, team. As far as we know, Daniel stole a horse - at least, that's what village gossip lead us to believe. We have until sunrise tomorrow to find him. At sunset tomorrow, it's curtains for us unless we hand Daniel over to them - only I don't much feel like doing that. The gate is heavily guarded and we don't have the GDO."

"We're pretty screwed." Carter said.

"You could say that. Now, if anyone has an idea of how to get us out of this mess - I'll be glad to hear it."

Carter and Teal'c said nothing.

"That's what I was afraid of." O'Neill said. He looked towards a large field, bordered with forests, hillsides and small settlements in the distance. "According to our sources - he headed thisaway."

The team began their march towards where they hoped they would find their colleague.

Daniel ended up following his new found four legged companion. He dragged himself in the general direction the horse took and found that it had tracked down a stream. Nausea threatened to engulf him, and floored him more than once, but he pressed on. He felt his legs give way as he neared the edge, then drank deeply from the clear waters. He started washing his wrists in the cool, refreshing water, then heard a voice. It was faint at first, but grew stronger. He turned to see who had spoken.

In his exhausted and distressed state, Daniel found himself looking up at the smiling figure of his wife, Sha're. He blinked away tears when he laid eyes on her.

"Sha're... You... you were killed...?" he rasped.

She looked at him quizzically and bent down to stroke his hair.

"My Daniel... what has happened to you?" her accented voice asked him.

"I... I threw up," he said, realising he sounded like a little lost boy. He looked up at her with wide blue eyes. "They're out to kill me... I'm hurt... all over..."

She crouched down until she was at eye level with him. He looked deep into her eyes, taking in their sparkle, taking in every detail of her form. He reached out a hand to her. She reached towards him...

...And in an instant, she faded away to nothing.

Daniel stared into the thin air before him, trying to make sense of what he had just seen and realised he was in worse shape than he had at first realised. He guessed he had been hallucinating, but in a bittersweet way, he didn't mind it at all.

He turned his attention to his wounds. The last thing he needed was an infection of any kind. However, what he did need was a route out of this situation.

"OK, we'll each take a route and meet back here in an hour." O'Neill said. The team set off in different directions in the forest, finding that the tracks from Daniel's horse had petered out into nothing due to the thick amounts of vegetation that surrounded them on every side. Carter took the left route, O'Neill took the centre, and Teal'c took the right.

Each of them followed a rough trail, encountering pretty much the Cartere vegetation wherever they looked. Carter came across a stream, clear and fresh, running across her path. It was small enough to step over, with the path leading onto a clearing, light streaming through the tall trees that formed a canopy above her head. She looked for evidence of her team mate but could find none.

O'Neill, on the other hand, could find every evidence of life. It was like he'd chanced upon every bug the lousy planet possessed. He didn't know what was worse - knowing he had poison in his system - or experiencing the irritation of being stung every time he moved.

Teal'c moved silently through the forest. He stepped cautiously through the vegetation, hoping he would encounter his team mate. He could hear sounds of something in the distance and paused to listen. Wild birds chattered overhead. The path was well used. There was no indication of whether Daniel had been there an hour ago, or that he had ever been there.

It was like, as he had heard Colonel O'Neill say on occasions, looking for a needle in a haystack.

Daniel felt that it was time to move on. He would return to the village at nightfall to attempt to rescue his team mates. So... he might be captured and killed. With the way he felt, he didn't care. He rose to his feet wearily, staggered and landed flat on his back. It hurt like hell. He got to his feet once more and forced himself to commence his journey across the stream.

His legs refused to hold him up once more and he found himself staggering once again, trying to grab something - anything - that would stop him falling in the direction of the water.

Moments later, he felt hit engulf his face, his shoulders, his back. He tried to find the strength to lift himself up, but to his horror, his hands only found the soft mud at the bottom of the water. It was deeper than he had thought. His lungs screamed for oxygen as he struggled to free himself, but the more he tried, the worse the situation became.

"Daniel!!" Carter gasped, grabbing the Egyptologist's still form by the legs and hauling him out of the river. She turned him over and checked his body for vitals.

He didn't have any.

Her mind on autopilot, she set about attempting to revive her colleague. He was in pretty poor shape, and was cut and bruised pretty much all over, but as long as Carter was around, this forest would not be the last thing he saw...

O'Neill heard Carter's voice and ran in the general direction he guessed it had come from. He picked up his pace, darting past trees and bushes, the odd fallen log, and hoped he was running in the right direction.

At least it was away from those damned insects.

He sure hoped Carter wasn't in any major danger - that was the last thing the team needed in their present situation - weaponless and pretty much with no idea of where they were.

After what seemed like too long, he came across his colleague, crouched down. As he neared, the situation became apparent.

"Carter - what happened?"

"Colonel - get here and help me!" Carter ordered. Seeing what was going on, O'Neill lent assistance at once. It seemed like no matter how they tried there was no sign of life from Daniel.

"Danny, you son of a bitch! Wake the hell up!!" O'Neill yelled, having performed what seemed like way too many chest compressions on his colleague in order to get his heart started again. He grabbed Daniel by the shoulders and shook him, slapped him across the face, then composed himself a moment later, poised to get back into action again when...

Daniel coughed, gasped and doubled up. He lay there, coughing and trying to get his breath back. O'Neill sighed with relief, and saw Carter do the Cartere. Daniel lay on his side, gasping hungrily for breath and shaking. Carter was watching him intently. Daniel's breathing calmed, he slowly opened his eyes and registered the appearance of Carter's tunic. His first thought was that one of the villagers had tracked him down and went to get up with a start. A pair of hands on his shoulders restrained him. Disorientated and confused, Daniel fought to get free.

"Daniel... Daniel, it's me - Sam..."

Daniel heard the voice, then looked away from the colour of the tunic and upon the face of his colleague.

"Sam...?" He gasped.

"Easy... don't you say a word. You had a close call." another voice said. Daniel looked over to see O'Neill wearing the most relieved statement on his face Daniel had seen in a while.

An hour later, Teal'c had re-joined his colleagues. O'Neill had taken on the job of patching Daniel up. Although the archaeologist had done a good job of dressing his wounds, his little excursion in the river had not done much for his efforts. He sat quietly against a tree, dozing occasionally, under O'Neill's watchful eye.

"OK, we're all together. Now what do we do?" O'Neill asked.

"Get the hell out of here." Daniel rasped.

"OK, Danny." O'Neill ruffled Daniel's drying hair. Daniel looked up at him, trying to glare, failed and went back to looking dazed.

"He's right. If we can at least get back through the gate, the medical team can get to work on an antidote." Carter said, thinking aloud.

"An... antidote?" Daniel stammered. "What do you mean - an antidote?"

Carter looked over to him, her face serious.

"They dosed us up with some kind of poison and gave us two choices. Well, three, I guess. One, we return you to them by sunrise tomorrow, they sacrifice you and let us go home. Two, we don't come back, they set their dogs on us and let them do the job and three..." Carter's voice trailed off. She paused. "And three. They don't find us... we don't go back and... the poison does the job for them."

"Great. We're dead either way. I may as well have drowned."

"It's not over until it's over, Daniel." O'Neill glared at his colleague. "We're going to get out of this, one way or another."

Daniel got the message and gave a small nod in agreement.

"In order to travel through the Stargate, we will need the GDO. We must ascertain where the village inhabitants have taken it and retrieve it." Teal'c said.

"Neat idea..."

"We must wait until nightfall. The villagers will be preparing for our return, thus meaning their attentions will be focused elsewhere."

"Neat idea, Teal'c. I'll go along with it. Any other bright ideas?"

"Teal'c's plan sounds pretty good to me."

"OK, we go with Teal'c's plan." O'Neill said. "Now all we have to do is figure out a way of getting to the village, finding our gear and not being seen."

"We will know which dwelling our supplies are being kept in. It will be the most heavily guarded." Teal'c stated.

"Oh, great." Daniel shook his head and sighed.

O'Neill shot a wearily glance over to his colleague, who seemed intent on providing more doom and gloom than anyone should have to handle.

"OK, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." O'Neill said. He was about to continue when he heard a sigh and a quiet thump. He looked over and found that Daniel had fainted. Teal'c went to check Daniel over while O'Neill tried to ignore the beginnings of a tension headache. "I reckon he could do with some of the health benefits Junior gives you, Teal'c."

Teal'c glanced over to O'Neill. "Daniel Jackson would not wish to be a Goa'uld host."

"Ah, hell - I wasn't being serious..." O'Neill began, trying to curb how cranky he felt. He shrugged. "Never mind. Patch him up, and make it quick - we have to get moving. Time is, as they say, of the essence."

"The next thing we have to do is find the Stargate."

"Look for... something like a temple... the people here... don't seem that advanced...they probably don't... understand it... I hope..."

Carter looked over to where Daniel was lying, pale and motionless, but back in the land of the living. "Makes sense to me. I didn't remember seeing the gate anywhere in the town... and from what I remember from the SGC, the pictures from the probe were fairly dark... if only I could remember more..." Carter guessed that the fuzzy feeling in her head was to do with the poison in her system. She guessed that the Cartere thing was to blame for the Colonel's increasingly crabby mood.

"If only they'd just told us we weren't welcome and kicked us back through the gate!" O'Neill said. "As it is, we've got one hell of a reconnaissance mission on our hands. Daniel, how are you doing now?"

"I'll live." Daniel said, managing a weak smile.

"Great. General Hammond would have my ass if I came back without you. Again." O'Neill had a mischievous glint in his eye for a second, but that was as long as it lasted. Moments later, the team were preparing for what they hoped would not be the last excursion of their lives.

"Sorry for all the trouble I'm causing." Daniel said as they walked back to the village. He was clinging to Teal'c for support, as his legs kept threatening to give way. Even though Daniel was in a pretty sorry state, they were not going to risk leaving him in the forest. If they had a chance to leave, it would be together.

"Unless you jumped through the gate with a sign around your neck saying capture me, you don't have anything to apologise for."

"And..." Daniel's voice wavered. "Thanks for saving my life, guys..."

There was a murmur of "you're welcome" from the team. Daniel's voice broke the silence once again.

"I really don't know what I would have done if you guys hadn't have turned up when you did..."

"Daniel, will you cool it. Please. You're light headed because of the poison."

"Poison. Oh... that..." Daniel murmured and collapsed again.

O'Neill sighed and looked very depressed indeed. At this rate, they would be lucky to get to the village, never mind the Stargate. He felt moisture on his face and looked up at the sky. Grey clouds were gathering above, and the wind was getting up to say the least. It looked like a thunderstorm was heading their way, which was another reason for O'Neill to be angry as hell. And added to that, the crap the inhabitants of the planet had so "kindly" inserted into his system was driving him nuts - headaches, stomach cramps, a general feeling of nausea... O'Neill wanted to pay back those guys... and pay them back good. He checked Daniel over and was pleased when the linguist opened his eyes and looked around uncertainly.

"Daniel... you passed out again."

"Jack..." Daniel murmured.

"We've got to get moving. Hate to do this to you, Danny, but -"

"We have to get out of here." Daniel said quietly. "Bet you anything I just feel lousy because I'm allergic to the... whatever it was..."

"Add that to the list of hundreds of things, huh?"

Daniel nodded, and accepted O'Neill's assistance as the Colonel helped him to his feet.

"OK, team. Let's hit the road."

"Oh, I just feel so... lousy..." O'Neill said, as they hovered behind one of the perimeter walls surrounding the residential section of the village. They were crouched in a tight circle, ready to consolidate ideas as to just how they would get their hands on the vital pieces of equipment they needed. Daniel had shut his eyes and collapsed quietly onto the ground. O'Neill had winced and then shaken his head slowly.

Carter checked Daniel over, shook him gently by the shoulder and eased him back to the land of the living. He was looking worse and worse, and now had the kind of paleness in his face that she would associate with zombies from late night B-movies. Daniel looked blankly into space, took a deep breath, and then coughed violently. He righted himself, and then tried to keep his mind on the task in hand.

O'Neill did not like the village one bit. He did not like its inhabitants. He could not stand the way that the scent from the forest seemed to hang in the air all around them. And he hated the fact that he could barely see ten feet in front of him and did not have any night vision goggles. He looked over to Teal'c, who was pursuing an alternative direction to where they assumed their equipment was being stored. Teal'c still looked just fine.

Which O'Neill had to admit he kind of envied.

He hadn't liked leaving Daniel at the perimeter of the village, either. There was no way he would be going anywhere without supervision given the way he'd passed out more times in the past few hours than O'Neill had done in his life. He had to give the guy credit - he was keeping going as much as he could. Carter wasn't in a brilliant mood, either, and the pair of them had come close to going for each other's throats ever since they had left Daniel at the perimeter of the village.

"Just wanna go home..." O'Neill murmured under his breath, speaking more to himself than anyone else.

"You think you're the only one?" Carter said in an equally quiet voice.

"You think you're not?" O'Neill shot back.

"Wanna prove a point?!" Carter said, raising her voice a little.

"YES I DO!!" O'Neill yelled.

"Do you wish to get us all killed?" Teal'c said, looking back to his teammates.

"No." O'Neill said, feeling for all the world like a reprimanded school kid. "Better find our weapons the thieving little... little... villagers saw right to steal."

"I'd like to kick their sorry asses right about now." Carter remarked.

"So would I." O'Neill said. "Oh, well... best make like Sherlock Holmes and get detecting."

"Yeah I don't want to stay here a minute longer than I have to..." Carter said. Seeing the Colonel's statement darken, she quickly added, "and I know I'm not the only one who's thinking that right now."

Their scouting around proved to be successful. Despite a few too many close calls for their liking, Jack, Carter and Teal'c were able to locate where their weapons, plus an all important GDO were located. Then it would a matter of getting to the structure n which the gate was housed, somehow hold off the villagers, as they were bound to hear the thing turn and the event horizon activating would be a giveaway anyway.

Why do Stargates have to be so noisy anyway? Mused O'Neill as he made his way to the perimeter of the village with his teammates. If the people who made them are so smart, then why couldn't they have shoved a little volume control on them, too?

O'Neill sincerely hoped that Daniel was still where they had left him, and would not put it past the young archaeologist to go wandering of in search anything that caught his attention. Not that he looked like someone who could wander that far given his present state of health. They had made it into the building when they were aware of a presence behind them. Maybe it was the poison in their systems slowing their reflexes down, or maybe the villagers were just very quiet, but O'Neill, Carter and Teal'c turned and found about ten of the villagers staring intently at them.

"Oh, crap." O'Neill sighed. "Now what?"

"This is now what."

It was too dark to make out which of them had spoken, not that it mattered. The villager raised a hand in some kind of command and there was a scuffling from behind one of the huts. Two more villagers appeared, clasping a near-limp figure, who was trying to escape despite his obvious illness and exhaustion.

"Daniel..." O'Neill groaned.

Despite protests, escape attempts and frantic bargaining with their captors, O'Neill stood before Daniel, zat gun in hand. There was no point in trying to overwhelm the villagers. There were just too many of them. O'Neill, Carter and Teal'c had not been able to get to the weapons. Carter had the GDO, which was something at least. The villagers had dismissed it as a mere trinket, something that made Carter breathe a sigh of relief. They were in a massive wooden hut with an altar at one end and a circle drawn in the centre. SG1 had been dumped in the centre and were now under the watchful eyes of about fifty of the villagers. O'Neill had been suspicious of why he had been asked to choose a weapon of his own, and figured that you couldn't go far wrong with a zat gun. He would have used it the moment he had been allowed to pick it up, save for the fact that one of the villagers had a knife pointed straight at Carter's throat. The incentive provided for O'Neill to co-operate had made O'Neill want to vomit. Or was that the poison in his system? He didn't care. He just wanted to go home.

Getting back to the present, O'Neill regarded the zat in his hand and contemplated on wasting a few members of the audience, but as he was hopelessly outnumbered, where was the point?

"According to our customs, we demand that you sacrifice your companion." The town leader stated.

O'Neill glared at him angrily, wishing they would just leave Daniel the hell alone.

"Is that really necessary? We're heading home anyway - it's not like we ever want to see this place again."

The leader raised his sword and pointed it at O'Neill. "It is one life for several."

O'Neill looked at Daniel, then at the zat gun, then at the leader.

Wait a minute... O'Neill thought. These guys have probably never seen one of these things in action before. As far as they know, one hit and you're history. At least, that's what I hope they think. If their customs are this strict, they will never have given their victims a chance to use their weapons...

"Daniel, I'm sorry." O'Neill raised the zat gun. He looked up at the village leader. "Fine. I'll do it. It's not like I have much choice."

Daniel's eyes widened in shock, then a glimmer of realisation crossed his face. It was clear he didn't like the look of what was coming to him, but realised that there was simply no other way around it. Daniel saw Carter look away, he looked at Teal'c, who seemed to have an statement of distaste somewhere in the depths of that stony demeanour he displayed.

O'Neill took aim, felt like a total rat and pulled the trigger, figuring that at least it was a way for Daniel to be free of pain for an hour or two.

The blast caught Daniel full on, instantly laying him flat out on the floor. O'Neill looked at his colleague, eyes full of regret, then aimed a filthy look at the town leader. The town inhabitants backed away, startled by the brilliant flash from the zat gun.

"You got what you wanted - now just let us go back home." O'Neill said. "Or you might just be next."

"That will not be necessary. You have done our bidding. We will now permit you to leave, but first... the antidote."

Two cloaked men stepped out from the depths of the crowd, presenting Carter, O'Neill and Teal'c with small vials of a deep green liquid. It looked foul and tasted just as bad, but no matter how bad it was, it sure beat the alternative. O'Neill, by now suffering from cold sweats and blurred vision, hoped like hell the antidote would stay in his bloodstream long enough for Doctor Frasier to identify what it was and administer it to Daniel, who he felt had been through enough by now.

"We will now escort you to the portal." The village leader informed O'Neill.

"We want to take our colleague's... body... with us. We want to give him a decent... send off... in accordance with our... customs." O'Neill said, forcing himself to say the words.

"It is not necessary." The village leader protested. "Our customs demand that we dispose of the body."

"Our customs deem that it is necessary. Our friend's life has been sacrificed according to your wishes and customs. We wish to adhere to customs of our own." Teal'c said. He walked towards Daniel, picked him up and hoisted him over his shoulder. "We wish to leave as soon as possible. Our people will wish to know that we are safe."

O'Neill felt glad that Teal'c had spoken up. He was beginning to get sick and tired of hearing about customs, sacrifices and threats. In fact, he had to admit he was just plain tired. Everyone had been to hell and back, and while O'Neill could feel the antidote taking effect, he still felt like crap. Looking at his colleagues, he could see they weren't feeling that great, either.

SG1 were escorted to the Stargate, which stood in a stone temple, heavily guarded, with an array of weaponry within arms reach for its personnel. Carter walked up to the DHD and programmed in the address and wished the wormhole didn't take so long to form. She just wanted to leave the planet, and never see it again. A simple wish, maybe... but she was sure she was not the only one who felt that way. She looked at Daniel's still form and hoped he would survive the trip home.

Moments later, the team stepped through the gate and commenced their journey back to the safety of their own world.

Hours later, and he had no idea of how many hours, Daniel awoke in the infirmary, found himself staring at the ceiling and then looked around, blinking to clear his vision. He looked down at the bandages over his wrists, and registered that he felt like hell in general. The last thing he remembered was O'Neill... and the zat gun... and the flash of light...

It was merciful in a way. The alternative would have been to go through the gate and land on the ramp, which would have been painful considering how bruised and battered he was. His head still felt like hell, so he wasn't exactly sorry to have missed the whole wormhole travel part, either.

He lay still, trying to remember just what had happened. A chill went through him as he thought back to when Carter and O'Neill had rescued him from the stream... and the look of relief on O'Neill's face. He must have come really close to losing his life...

He tried not to think about it, but the memory kept coming back to haunt him.

"Hey, Danny."

Daniel's visions of the past were interrupted by a familiar voice. He looked up to see O'Neill standing over him, hands in pockets, and an amiable smile on his face.

"Jack..." Daniel said. He took in the image of his colleague's appearance right down to... a white bandage around the colonel's head. Daniel was puzzled, and wondered just what had happened.

"Well, you look a hell of a lot better than you did." O'Neill said.

"I feel like hell... sick and stuff like that..." Daniel said, finding that the whole act of speaking made him feel ten times worse than he already did, even though it served to lift his spirits.

"That'll be the antidote. Doctor Frasier had a job on her hands but she managed to get it to you just in time. It'll take a couple of days for your system to clear, but you should be fine."

Daniel raised his eyebrows. "Anything's an improvement on how I feel at the moment."

"I don't know... are you a grand master at damaging yourself or what?" O'Neill said in a good-natured manner. "You did a swell job on yourself. Cracked ribs, concussion...your medical report sounds like a family health dictionary!"

Daniel smiled at the thought. "What about you, then? What happened to your head?"

"Uh... I banged it pretty hard when I..." O'Neill paused, and Daniel was sure he saw a blush appear on the Colonel's cheeks. "I... tripped on the ramp when we came back through the gate." O'Neill had to force the last words out.

"You tripped on the ramp?!" Daniel started to laugh but regretted it instantly as his ribs protested. "And you call me accident prone...?"

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