Variance of Luck

"I’m sorry, but could you explain that again?"

"Geez! For a scientist you sure don’t understand anything!" Colonel Jack O’Neill complained taking a swallow from his beer and setting it back on the side table in his living room.

Dr. Daniel Jackson’s face scrunched up as he retorted. "What science is there in men with sticks whacking a puck around?"

"Cute men with sticks," Major Samantha Carter murmured with a grin on her face and a mischievous glint to her eyes that were quite solidly fixated on the television screen. The rest of the occupants turned to stare at her with open surprise.

"Right," Jack murmured. "That was definitely more than I wanted to hear." Carter just shrugged, still grinning, but with a glance in his direction Jack knew she was teasing him now.

"Why do the warriors battle each other when the ‘puck’ is elsewhere?" Teal’c suddenly asked. They turned to see that the game had paused while two hockey players attempted to rustle the shirts off each other’s backs.

O’Neill shrugged, "That’s just part of the game."

"I see."

Grins spread across everyone else’s faces, but the jaffa seemed intent on ignoring them. Jack sighed and leaned back feeling somewhat content. It was nice to spend time with his team in a non-official manor. They didn’t do it nearly enough, but they saw each other so often now, to Jack, they’d practically become his family. Already they’d spent the evening together, watching videos, eating pizza, just chatting, and currently watching a hockey game as the night wound down. Life just couldn’t get any better.

A soft rapping at the door interrupted his growing serenity. Feeling suddenly cheated Jack grumbled, "Now what?" And got up to answer the door. Behind him he could hear Carter curiously question, "Who would be here so late?" Jack wondered much the same thing.

Allowing some of his better fantasies of what he’d do if it were a solicitor to pass through his mind Jack gave himself a minute before actually opening the door. "Yes?" But who he found on his door step wasn’t a solicitor, an Airman to call them back to the base, or anyone else he might have possibly expected.

Dressed in tight jeans a baggy black hooded sweatshirt a size too big, the man standing on Jack O’Neill’s porch hopped from foot to foot keeping his hands tucked under his arms for warmth. The man was obviously frozen, but Jack was too shocked to say anything for in the next moment a face completely identical to his own smirked up at him. "Hey Jack."

For one long second Jack didn’t know what to say, they with a fury of alarm stepped out onto the porch and closing the door behind him whispered in a demanding voice, "What your doing here?!"

Brown eyes glistening with humor, the man easily quipped, "Nice to see you, too."

Jack frowned, giving the man who could have been his twin a quick look over realizing instantly that something was more than normally wrong. Blue colored the guy’s lips and for all the man was practically dancing on the spot to keep warm, it was obvious he’d long since run out of the energy to do so.

With a grimace, Jack met those brown eyes that could very well have been his own and stated stubbornly, "No, it’s not. Why didn’t you call? And for crying out loud pull up your hood before someone sees you, I have company!"

The other man looked startled but was quick to comply. "I’m sorry Jack, I didn’t have time to take the normal route or I would have. I’m in trouble, I need your help."

"Someone doesn’t know, do they?" Jack asked with concern and even a bit of fear that was normally unprecedented for the famous Colonel Jack O’Neill.

Once again the man smirked but responding with full seriousness, said, "No, but I didn’t have anywhere else to turn."

Jack just nodded, then looking back at the illuminated window thought for a moment. He saw the curtain twitch and hoped that no one had seen who his front porch guest was. In any case Jack figured he’d find out in a minute. "Go around back, I’ll let you in in a few."

The man just nodded and jogged off around the house, white sneakers standing out amongst the shadows till they disappeared around the corner. Worried O’Neill scanned the quiet street looking for any signs of trouble, but it was as silent as it should have been. Only somewhat satisfied, Jack stepped back inside, entering the welcomed warmth of his house. They really didn’t get enough time off.

The rest of his team were still on the couches and looked up at him expectantly, but none of them burst out with any exclamations about O’Neill’s double, which meant they most likely hadn’t seen who he’d been talking to. Somehow Jack didn’t think they’d be able to stay quiet if they had realized the man on his porch looked just like their CO.

"Sir?" Carter asked, breaking the silence.

"If it’s alright with you guys, I’d like to call it a night?" Jack half-asked, half-stated.

The members of SG-1 stood up of course, but they seemed reluctant to leave. "You know, if there’s anything we can-" Daniel hesitantly began.

Raising a hand to stop him, Jack smiled at them all. "Everything’s fine. I just got some news I’d rather not and I need time to digest it," he told them, keeping it to the half-truths he was best at. Seeing them open their mouths to offer help again, Jack quickly added, if a bit more forcefully than he’d intended, "Alone."

They all nodded, a slightly grave look on Daniel and Sam’s face as they grabbed their jackets. "Sir," Carter began again as he opened the door for them.

Jack just smiled back. "I’ll be fine Carter."

She nodded and stepped outside, Daniel right behind her. Teal’c followed as well, but not before stopping at the door, pulling on his hat to cover his tattoo, and saying in a matter of fact tone of voice, "Some challenges a man must meet on his own, and others he must not."

Jack grinned, then gripped Teal’c’s shoulder in appreciation. "Thanks buddy."

Teal’c minutely nodded and stepped outside. With a sigh, Jack closed the door behind them. He hated lying to them like that, but like Teal’c had said, some things a man had to do on his own, or almost on his own. With a grim expression he walked through his kitchen to the back door and opening it let his new guest in.

"Thanks." The guy said, stepping into the warmth and pulling the hood off before tucking his hands back under his arms.

Jack just nodded, closing the door and motioning to the table. "Want something to drink?"

"Anything hot."

The man waited in silence as Jack put some hot water on the stove and pulled out a couple tea packets from the cupboard. It wasn’t his usual thing, but Jack had found tea handy to have around. He waited until he was able to place the warm mugs down on the table before sitting and finally asking, "Alight MacGyver, what’s going on?"

MacGyver, O’Neill’s exact look alike, with perhaps a few less worry lines around the eyes, gripped the mug and took a sip with a look of intense pleasure. Jack had to wonder just how long the man had been stuck outside. "I stumbled across something."

"Where?" Jack asked, almost dredging the answer.

MacGyver took another sip. "Oregon."

Jack took an unconscious breath. If the man had said Egypt Jack would have had to kill him if just out of spite!

"Several months ago a contractor digging for some resort several miles outside of Portland discovered what could very well be the discovery of the century." MacGyver began. Jack almost laughed; he’d heard those words more times than he could count in the last few years. Mac didn’t seen to notice Jack’s momentary smile and continued, "A talented Archeologist by the name of James Steel headed up the excavation but was killed shortly after, in an accident." He said the last part with a touch of sarcasm.

Jack regarded the man across from him. The man who looked so much like himself. Then simply stated, "You don’t think so."

MacGyver leaned back with a resigned sigh. He still gripped the mug in one hand, but he wasn’t shaking anymore and the color was quickly returning to his face. "No," He told Jack. "I convinced Pete to let the Phoenix Foundation buy out the land, recompense the contractors and take over the dig." Jack nodded, sounded like Mac. Then Mac shook his head. "I thought at first maybe it’d been the previous land owner wanting to speed things up, but not anymore. I don’t know who these guys are."

"What guys?" Jack asked sharply.

"A few days ago they grabbed me from the site. Wanted information, but I’d swear they knew more about the dig than I did."

"Just how the hell did you end up here, in Colorado?"

Mac laughed, "Actually, this just happened to be where they brought me. Some old warehouse in the middle of town. I broke out yesterday morning and the second I realized where I was I headed here."

"Walking no doubt," Jack grumbled. He didn’t like any bit of what he’d heard and was torn between throwing this man out and helping him. He already knew it’d be the latter; there was too much instinct there to simply ignore. O’Neill stood up pushing his untouched mug towards Mac and taking the empty one around the counter to the sink. "Just how exactly did you find my place? I’ve moved since you last visited."

MacGyver laughed, relaxing even further in the chair as he half drained the second mug. Grinning slyly he replied, "Come on Jack, you know the answer to that as well as I do."

Frowning with discouragement, Jack murmured, "Be grateful I wasn’t at work." Then said louder, "Speaking of which, I can’t skip work, in fact I’ll be gone for the next couple days so I don’t know how much help I can actually be."

MacGyver shrugged, but Jack still caught the keen look of disappointment in the man’s eyes. "I just need a place to lay low till I can figure out what to do."

"What about-"

Mac cut him off, "I don’t want to get them involved, too much danger."

"Gee, thanks for the consideration," Jack griped, but then sighed and even smiled at the man. "Alright, you can stay." Mac grinned back and Jack added with mock admonition. "Just don’t blow up my house while I’m gone!"

The man held up his hand with two fingers pointing skyward. "Scouts honor."

"Like you were ever a scout," Jack retorted with good humor. Why this? Why now? He couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen, that in the end they’d end up risking the truth. But equal were his feelings of protection. And that they should be, Jack realized, Mac was, after all, blood…sort of.

*****

That feeling of unease had only grown over the coarse of the night but Jack hadn’t found any signs that Mac might have been followed, or that ‘these people’ might know where he was. No, the morning looked every bit as normal as the previous one.

He still didn’t like leaving Mac alone, especially since his team was due to embark on a mission today and even if everything went smoothly, which it rarely did, they wouldn’t be due back till tomorrow at the earliest. Sometimes Jack wished he could just call in sick without the full physical required to prove it. Maybe he could convince Janet to forge it for him, or he could try playing on the excuse he used last night…right before a mission? Not without explanations.

Jack sighed and dumping his half eaten breakfast in the trash reached into the fridge for a beer instead.

"I doubt that’s normally allowed before work." Jack didn’t turn around until he had the cap off. It was like hearing his own voice in his head…not too far from the truth really.

"I don’t need another conscience, thanks!" Jack stated, determinedly taking a swallow as if to prove his point. Mac had just entered, dressed now in some of Jack’s clothes and looking far more rested then the day before. If a person walked in right then and saw them together like this, chances were real good they wouldn’t be able to tell the one from the other.

MacGyver grinned and leaning against the counter, questioned, "Still getting the affects?"

"According to my physician, I’m a ‘fast healer.’" But Jack put the bottle down with a bit of disgust. "The stuff barely effects me now. By the time I get to work there won’t even be a trace of alcohol in my system. And what about you? What’s with the hair? Why’d you cut it?" Jack demanded, and then added with a somewhat envious smile, "I liked it long."

Mac automatically ran a hand through the short grays, a self-conscious look on his face. "Ya, that. It looked good long when it was blond, but now that it’s gray…" he left the explanation hanging, then laughed, a soft, good natured laugh. "Things have changed. I would never have expected you to have company over."

"Ya, ya," Jack grumbled but smiled. "They’re my team." He explained, and then asked softly. "How’s your son, Sam?"

"He’s good. He’s safe. Off in England right now actually. Taking a brake on his journalism to get a Masters. Quantum physics. He’s decided to move his journalism into the science field and wanted to have a bit more than pen and paper to help him along the way."

Startled, Jack automatically asked, "Does he know?"

But Mac shook his head. "Thinks he’s just like his dad." With a look between them they left it at that.

"I’ve got to get going," Jack said heading for the door. "Under no circumstances do you open the door or answer the phone. And leave the lights off, as far as anyone is concerned, no one is here, got it?"

MacGyver nodded and grinned, "I got it Jack. This isn’t the first time, you know."

Jack just gave him a look, and then shaking a finger in the man’s face stated adamantly, "I mean it, no blowing up my house!"

Smirking, Mac gave Jack a push. "Go, before you’re late."

Grumbling under his breath Jack finally left, but when he looked back he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d be buying yet another home this year.

The bad feeling was still sitting hard in his stomach once he got on the road, enough that he decided it was worth the detour to the gas station before work this morning. He should have known better than to follow his feelings at this point.

Tossing the pink stuff onto the passenger seat, Jack was so distracted by visions of his house is flame and ruin that he didn’t even realize he wasn’t alone in his truck until he felt the unmistakable pressure of the barrel of a gun being jabbed into his side.

Sighing with resignation Jack left his hands resting on the wheel, he knew this day wasn’t going to be a good one. A hard and gravely voice growled out from the cramped spot behind the front seat, "Thought you’d get away from here did you MacGyver? I didn’t think you were into stealing, I underestimated you."

"You’d be surprised," Jack murmured feeling more than a little disgruntled.

"Close the door MacGyver, we’re going on a trip."

Jack silently chastised himself and internally grumbled, I hate it when my feelings are right!

*****

Sam watched as Daniel silently fidgeted in place. All of SG-1 was waiting in General Hammond’s office. Colonel O’Neill hadn’t shown up this morning and was now at least three hours late. They’d tried calling his home, his cell, the pager, even the hospitals on the off chance he’d been in an accident. In their line of duty, it was just as likely he’d been kidnapped, although she couldn’t think of anything suspicious…except last night.

They’d told the General how Jack had gotten ‘news’ of something that seemed to greatly bother him. Sam personally wondered about that, she’s been the one who’d peaked out the window and saw what looked like some hooded jogger talking to the Colonel. They obviously knew each other but the whole occurrence just seemed odd to her. All they were waiting for now was permission to go searching the manual way. There just wasn’t anything else to go on.

It was yet another ten minutes before the General returned, enough time for SG-1 to have already worked out and refined their hunt and search pattern at least three times over. Settled on a plan of action, Sam and Teal’c were going to try Jack’s house first while Daniel checked out some of Jack’s more common stomping grounds. They were bound to find something.

*****

MacGyver lay crashed out on the couch. He’d drawn all the curtains closed to be sure he wouldn’t be seen, and dutifully ignored the constant ringing of the phone through the morning but it was a testament to how tired he really was when he fell dead asleep. He hadn’t meant to, it just sort of happened. The last few days had been extremely long, and last night had been one of his first times in a proper bed again.

He’d even taken a peak in the mirror this morning and had been pleased to find that all the bruises that had spotted his skin not two days before had all but faded from sight, a few more hours and they’d be gone altogether. He just needed some sleep.

Mac knew he should be thinking about what to do next, but there really wasn’t much he could do yet. He needed Jack’s help, and only Jack’s help. Of coarse, he hadn’t told Jack anything about that yet, and personally didn’t look forward to that particular conversation, but in the mean time he still had to wait till Jack returned. He’d said a couple days, but obviously didn’t know for sure. And as Mac dropped off to sleep he idly wondered just what kind of work Jack did for the Air Force these days.

*****

Daniel pulled open the door of the gas station. It was the first place that had come to mind knowing Jack didn’t normally make any stops before work. He’d just approached the counter, smiling at the young woman who practically beamed back at him when his cell phone began to vibrate.

Pulling it out, he smiled apologetically at the cashier and stepped back outside. The woman sighed with some small resignation but obligingly turned to her next customer. Outside, Daniel flipped the phone open. "Yes?"

"It’s Sam. We found him, he’s asleep on his couch."

"Asleep?" Daniel asked surprised. "That’s not like him."

"I know," Sam replied, worry in her voice. "I guess we all have our bad days. We’re waking him now. I’m sure everything’s fine so I’ll see you back at the base. If it’s not I’ll give you another call."

"All right." Daniel clicked the phone shut, looking idly about, and briefly back at the cashier before walking back to his own vehicle. There was no point in asking if they’d seen Jack now.

*****

It was with muffled senses that MacGyver first heard the noises and trying to wake him, pulling him sluggishly away from his dream. "What?"

"O’Neill, it is time for you to be up."

"Sir? Sir, are you alright?"

O’Neill? Suddenly Mac came completely and utterly awake, jerking upright and startling the two strangers leaning over him. A woman with short blond hair and a tall muscular black skinned man exchanged looks before turning back to him, the woman with concern etched into her eyes. "Sir, Have you been here the whole time? Why didn’t you answer your phone?"

Sir? Phone? "I didn’t hear it," He replied slowly. "What time is it?"

"It is almost noon," The big man replied, and then suddenly smiled, or at least Mac thought it was a smile. "It is good to see you are safe O’Neill."

"Are you okay?" the woman asked insistently.

"Ya, ya I’m fine," Mac quickly replied sitting up further. Truth be told, he didn’t feel fine at all! How the hell am I supposed to get out of this one? He silently demanded of himself. It’s not like I can jerry rig an escape from this! And what happened to Jack? MacGyver quickly weighed the options. He could tell them he wasn’t Jack, and get into far more trouble than imaginable. No, he and Jack had agreed the secret was worth dying over. Was it? Was it really? If the guys who took Jack were the same ones who took him before, Mac didn’t think they would kill Jack. That was some comfort at least. So what now? Take Jack’s place and hope his friend could get out of his situation on his own? Which he probably would. Then Mac looked again at the two strangers waiting for him.

How hard could it be to pretend to be an Air Force Colonel for a day or two anyway? He’d been a GSX Agent, it couldn’t be all so…different…could it? Silently MacGyver wished he could just disappear into the depths of the couch the way pocket change did.

*****

Sam exchanged a worried expression across the table with Daniel for the third time, but after a moment returned her gaze to her Commanding Officer. Jack wasn’t acting like himself, that much was obvious. He told them repeatedly that he was fine, just tired. Hammond had insisted on a quick physical, which Jack had readily agreed to, one of the first indications that he wasn’t feeling himself. O’Neill hated getting physicals and always found a way out of it if he could.

But Janet had pronounced him perfectly fine, and with O’Neill’s assurance that nothing was wrong the General had ordered a go-ahead on the mission. It wasn’t more than a small exploration of ruins anyway; the MALP hadn’t found any traces of anyone living on the planet they were destined for.

Sam wondered if maybe the Colonel was worn out, that whatever the news was last night had affected him more then he was saying. She was seriously considering talking to the General after the briefing and privately suggesting to him that O’Neill might need more time off, but now she wasn’t so sure even that would help.

Very unlike O’Neill, Jack was adamantly paying attention to what was being said. And he kept looking around the table and moving his lips as if he were memorizing something. To her greater surprise, Jack even opened the briefing report and for all intent and purposes looked like he was actually reading it instead of just skimming like he usually did.

There was something else that bothered her even more than the Colonel’s newly tentative behavior. He was sitting slouched in his chair, looking relaxed, but there was a minute edge to his movements, and a slight nervousness in his eyes she’d never seen before.

"Alright SG-1 you have a go." General Hammond concluded. "You disembark in 30 minutes."

"Right," Jack replied, then quickly added, "sir." But even the way he said that sounded off to Sam. Maybe she really should talk to the General about Jack getting some time off after this mission.

*****

MacGyver followed closely behind Teal’c as they entered the oddest room he’d seen yet. He’d winged things before, some times on a constant basis, but even this was almost too much for him. Following Teal’c and Jackson around he’d mostly been able to guess at what to do, and was a bit surprised to find himself now decked out in Army gear, and housing at least one long knife, four grenades, a couple blocks of C-4, and no less than three guns on his personage. It had taken all of his will power not to fidget while dressing. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know how to use guns, he knew how quite well in fact, he just didn’t like them.

Where on Earth were they going that they needed this much firepower anyway? For that mater, Mac still hadn’t figured out where they were going at all. The briefing report had talked about a site with structures, and ruins, even gave the place a designation number, but never actually said where it was. On top of that, it had talked quite a fair bit about rocks and minerals, one of which he’d never heard of before and Mac was sure he knew most, if not all of them, but Naquadah was something completely foreign to him.

Following his ‘teammates’ to the embarkment room, as they kept calling it, Mac kept expecting them to head upstairs at some point; a mountain seemed like a silly spot for a base if they were always heading someplace else. Maybe it was somewhere in Africa, Sudan, or some other place with ruins. But Instead of going up, they only went further down under the mountain to a room with a large metal ring at the far end of it.

It was as he was taking his first steps inside that something huge, wet looking, and blue shot out of the ring and then in reverse as if sucked right back by some sort of back draft leaving a horizontal pool of blue water shimmering within the odd metal structure.

MacGyver nearly jumped right out of his skin and only barely caught himself in time to not cry out in exclamation. As it was, it was a struggle to convince himself to relax enough to smooth his features back to normal. Whatever this was none of it would be new to Jack, he just had to keep remembering that. Ya, sure Mac, he thought sarcastically then wondered what crazy thing would happen next.

Looking behind him MacGyver could see a room up above and placed behind panels of glass where the General was currently standing and leaning down to talk into a mike. "SG-1, you have a go."

"Ready to go, sir?" Carter asked at his side.

Go? Everyone kept saying that. Go where? But MacGyver refrained from asking the obvious and said instead. "Sure, after you, Carter." So far he’d only been able to figure out their ranks and last names. Although he wasn’t sure Teal’c had any other name. In fact, he wasn’t sure about that man at all.

Carter nodded and began up the ramp towards the ring and its glistening pool with the rest at her heals. MacGyver followed after them, if a bit more hesitantly. Go There?!?

He watched as his ‘team’ walked through the ring and disappeared into the depths of the pool. Trepidation, sheer horror, and absolute fascination raged for control within Mac. All too soon he found himself but an inch away from the strange phenomenon and his fingers itched to just reach out and touch it.

All right, Mac, just put one foot in from of the other, you can do this, he coached to himself. "Awww Man!" He stepped through and for a split second MacGyver thought he could actually feel his molecules dispersing.

******

"Just tell us where the artifact is MacGyver!"

"I can’t tell you what I don’t know."

His kidnapper, so internally dubbed Gravel Voice, gave Jack a hard disbelieving glare before punching him rather hard in the stomach. This wasn’t the first such hit that morning.

Jack sagged slightly between the two people holding him and coughed deeply to clear his bruised lungs. "I’m getting real tired of that," Jack grumbled but was only hit again. He thought for a moment that a rib might have cracked.

Not much to Jack’s surprise Gravel Voice had directed him to an abandoned warehouse in the middle of town. Probably even the same one Mac had been at. There they had met up with two more of his buddies and the trio had now taken to trying to interrogate Jack.

It wasn’t exactly a high quality set up. No other bad guys had appeared, and for all these guys had managed to take him at gunpoint they didn’t exactly come off as any kind of professionals. That ruled out any government agency. So who were these guys?

"Why don’t you tell me a bit more about it and maybe I can tell you if I’ve seen your artifact," Jack sarcastically suggested. His supposedly restrained hands were already working at the knots of the ropes and it wouldn’t be long before he had them undone. He might as well try and gleam any information he could from these thugs while he was here.

Gravel Voice made a sound of frustration looking ready to punch O’Neill yet again. Jack just stood there waiting for it, but it never came. Then Gravel Voice began chuckling, a growing insanity in his eyes. Okay, maybe they weren’t thugs, maybe they were psychopaths. "You know someone here, don’t you? We tracked the package here, we know the address you sent it to, and it doesn’t exist! But I know you’re a genius which means someone must have picked it up for you." Gravel Voice leaned in close to Jack and stated menacingly. "This can go the easy way, or the hard way."

"My sentiments exactly," Jack responded, returning the look glare for glare. For a moment Gravel Voice seemed startled, and more than a little disturbed by Jack’s behavior. No doubt it was quite unlike Mac’s had been, Jack realized, but he didn’t care. Mac could get out of situations his way, but Jack had his own method, and the knot was loose enough now that it’d take but a twist of his wrists to free his hands completely.

Gravel Voice stepped back a pace, uncertainty covering his face, which quickly hardened as he growled out. "I don’t have time for your games anymore MacGyver. We’ll find out who has it one way or another, so you can either tell us now or die." At which point Gravel Voice pulled out his gun again.

"Oh, see, now we’re starting to talk the same language," Jack said casually. "In fact I was just about to tell you, you can either let me go-" and he stopped mid-sentence as he let the ropes fall to the ground. In just a couple of seconds, Jack had sharply back-fisted one of his holders in the face, then pivoting quickly, expertly planted his elbow to the back of the head of the other before striking the temple of the dazed first and effectively knocking them both unconscious. They hadn’t tried to block or anything. Yep, thugs. That left one to go.

Jack didn’t wait as instincts took over and he immediately tackled Gravel Voice. His mind registered the sound of the gunfire, even recognized the pain in his side, but it didn’t slow him down any and within moments Jack had the man on the ground, a knee against his back and an arm twisted in place to hold him still, the gun now in Jack’s hand and pressed against the neck of his would-be captor.

-"or I’d have to kill you," Jack finished with a snide smile. "Now, why don’t you tell me who you are and why you want this artifact?" A hoarse chuckled started low in Gravel Voice’s throat, a sound that rose in a quick crescendo to manic laugher. "Care to share the joke?" Jack demanded, feeling quite disconcerted by the sound and a tad light headed.

"You don’t think we’re the only ones looking for it, do you MacGyver?" Gravel Voice asked. He laughed some more, now a harsh bitter laugh that just as suddenly turned to choking.

Jack jerked back startled as foam spurted from the man’s mouth. The guy was dead within moments. Quickly looking around for anyone else O’Neill could only see the other two still unconscious on the floor. How did Gravel Voice get poisoned? It must have been self administered, which begged the question why would he suicide?

Okay, two thugs, and one psychopath!

There was this sharp stitch in his side and looking down, Jack realized with some surprise that his shirt was quickly turning red. He pulled it up to find a small bullet hole in his left side and leaking blood. Feeling behind him he also found an exit hole, which was some small relief, but he was still obviously loosing blood, quickly. He had to get out of here, find Mac, and figure out what was really going on!

For an abandoned warehouse serving as a bad guy’s retreat, it wasn’t exactly fortified as such. Easily finding his truck, Jack quickly headed home, but took several winding routes to get there just to be sure he wasn’t being followed. There wasn’t even a hint of someone tailing him. More and more Jack wondered who those guys were. Were they the same ones who’d grabbed MacGyver before?

Pulling into the driveway, Jack sucked in a breath and quickly headed for his front door. It was awkward getting the key in the slot and the door open without getting any blood anywhere. He really needed to do something about that. The truck would need a thorough cleaning later, too.

"Mac?!" Jack called out, disturbed as only silence answered. Was he too late? Did these ‘others’ Gravel Voice was talking about already get to MacGyver? The real MacGyver? Jack made a thorough search of the house but still turned up with nothing. Not even a cryptic note left behind. "Great, this is just great!" Jack growled out then sighed. His side was numb and he was having a harder time focusing.

He needed to get himself fixed up. He was lucky the bullet had gone through or there would have been complications even he couldn’t fix. No vital organ’s either, just a lot of blood. Cleaned, bandaged, freshly dressed, and full of painkillers, Jack sank down on the couch wondering what next? He had to find MacGyver.

Taking a deep breath Jack closed his eyes and sat thinking. For the longest time nothing came to him. "Damn. Maybe it’s been too long." He grumbled, but then jumped as someone suddenly rang his doorbell. "There’s no way," Jack murmured with disbelief, cautiously rising to answer the door. It’d never been that easy.

It wasn’t Mac, just the mailman, who honestly seemed surprised Jack was even home. "Oh, sorry. There’s a package with your mail that I need you to sign for."

Silently, Jack took the box addressed to him as well as the bundle of envelopes that normally had to be squeezed into his far too overfull mailbox. The mailman looked at the electronic pad Jack was signing and with a smile waved goodbye, disappearing back down the sidewalk towards his mail cart.

"Well I bet we can all guess who your ‘friend’ was, Mac," Jack groused then tossed the package on the couch, and the envelopes, bills no doubt, on the table. But there wasn’t any artifact inside the box, only a food processor he’d forgotten he’d ordered online several weeks ago. "Bout time it got here," Jack grumbled if just to release some of his confusion. This day was only getting better and better!

Letting his head fall back on the couch cushions Jack let out a long sigh. Right now he’d rather just sleep it all off, that or get some better painkillers from Janet. Nothing about this situation felt right, and he didn’t have a clue where to look next.

Then, with a frown, a thought occurred to Jack, and reaching over he picked up his pile of letters. Amongst them was a letter addressed to MacGyver at an address that wasn’t even remotely similar to Jack’s. How it ended up with his mail was something Jack didn’t care to ask. Opening it up, he found an iridescent smooth flat white stone. No markings on the outside, but just looking at it, Jack somehow knew it was alien. "Sweet," he sourly murmured letting it fall into his lap.

Well, first things first. By now Jack could only imagine how his team was reacting. He had to call in, come up with some excuse why he was gone. Then he had to find Mac. The old fashioned way if need be.

"This is Hammond."

"General, I’m sorry I didn’t-"

Hammond cut Jack off. "I’m sorry, who is this?"

"I’m me, sir, O’Neill." Jack slowly said into the phone.

"That’s not possible, I know where Colonel O’Neill is."

"That’s right sir, yes, yes you do," Jack replied quickly, realization hitting him smack full in the face. He suddenly knew exactly where Mac had gone. "In fact sir, we’re not even having this conversation." He hung up the phone before the General could say anything else and snapped at himself, "Now you’ve gone and done it Jack!"

He didn’t have long; the General would no doubt be sending a team over to look into the mysterious phone call right now. That gave him twenty minutes at most. First step was to get rid of any evidence that he’d been here, especially the blood in the bathroom. Next was to pull out the tools he’d need from his hidden stash.

A towel cleaned off most of the blood from his steering wheel and soon enough Jack was on his way to Cheyenne Mountain, via the back pass. There was absolutely no way he was leaving Mac on an alien planet!

*****

This was an alien planet. The thought kept repeating in his head like a broken record. They’d explored half the ‘site’ with still no signs of life. That was just fine with Mac, he wasn’t sure how he’d react if he saw some actual aliens anyway.

"O’Neill, the ruins appear to have been abandoned for some time," Teal’c commented at his side as they wandered the confusing labyrinth of stone corridors.

"They do, don’t they?" Mac murmured out loud, but internally exclaimed, And this is what Jack does for a living?!! Explore alien planets? Mac had had no idea this was Jack’s life. Well, it wasn’t like they went out of their way to talk much. More often than not they went out of their way to avoid each other, really.

Then his eyes caught sight of something familiar and Mac stopped, stooping down to gaze with unadorned amazement at the writing running along the bottom of the passageway they were following. Most of the structure didn’t seem to have any writing anywhere, this was the first he’d seen, and it was just like the writing at the dig in Oregon!

"Jack?" "O’Neill." "Sir?"

It was yet another second before Mac realized they were talking to him and responded. "Right, sorry." Trying to sound as in charge as he could he ordered, "We should keep going. Be on your guard." Personally MacGyver thought it sounded like something a Colonel might say, but the others were still giving him the most peculiar looks.

Then Daniel knelt down to look at what Mac had seen. "Hold on Jack. This…it looks like Goa’uld but…Teal’c?"

MacGyver couldn’t stop himself from grinning. They knew what the language was! Or close to it anyway! Now he really knew Jack could help him out.

Teal’c bent over to look at the writing and rising stated. "If it is Goa’uld than it is of no dialect I have ever seen before."

"Right," Mac stated, if a bit too eagerly. "Let’s see where it goes." For the writing was obviously leading somewhere. MacGyver nervously noted that the rest of the team were now giving each other concerned looks. Guess that means that’s not how Jack acts. Well, nothing else he could do now but continue onward.

Deciding not to wait for them to call him on his faux paus, Mac started walking further down the hall, his ‘team’ slowly following behind.

If this was how the rest of his first trip to an alien planet would be, searching ruins, and discovering new things, than MacGyver decided things wouldn’t be all that bad after all. Unfortunately, there was the other part of off-worlding he had yet to be introduced to, the dangerous part, and the next thing MacGyver knew they were being openly fired upon from behind.

This wasn’t the first time MacGyver had ever been shot at, although it was the first time it was with energy blasts, and frankly, he didn’t much care for it. "Get down!" He called out needlessly, turning back to see what was happening. An energy blast passed by his face so close he could feel the heat radiating from it. The burst missed him and struck the passage’s wall with brutal force leaving a deep scorch mark to rest around a sizable hole as evidence.

Mac wasn’t exactly sure what happened next. He remembered seeing his ‘team’ return fire, then Jackson in front of him was stuck by a blast in the thigh and fell. Mac didn’t think, he just reacted, and grabbing Jackson’s collar yelled out, "Get back! Retreat! Whatever the hell you say. We’ve got to go!"

Dragging an unconscious Jackson with him, MacGyver moved around the corner of the passage into a room. Jogging back he peered around the corner to see what was happening. Both Carter and Teal’c were still holding their positions, half the…aliens? -were dead and the other half looked ready to fall or flee. They didn’t really look like aliens, more like Ancient Native Americans actually, dressed in leather and covered in paint, although they each had identical tattoos on their foreheads. A clan symbol maybe? Teal’c also had a kind of tattoo on his head. Mac briefly wondered if it meant something.

But these ‘Indians’ weren’t firing bows and arrows. They were using long staffs that shot out energy like he’d never seen before. Another blast went slicing by his head and Mac reactively ducked back into the room right before another stuck the ceiling just above the doorway.

A loud rumbling noise filled the air, and Mac instinctually knew what was happening. He dashed back to Jackson to try and offer some protection even as the rocks began to fall and the structure around the entrance all at once caved in.

*****

Carter felt a surge of panic rise inside her as the dust cloud settled revealing the newly blocked passage. What if it had buried Daniel and the Colonel?

"They are fleeing," Teal’c stated coming back up the passageway with his Zat’n’ktel in hand.

Nodding, Carter shifted some of the loose rock from the pile hoping to find a hole. "Colonel?! Daniel? Can anyone hear me?" But there was no response.

"I do not believe the chamber beyond has collapsed, but it might if we start digging." Teal’c said with his unfathomable calm voice.

Sam pursed her lips thinking it over, but it didn’t take a physicist to know Teal’c was right. "There’s hope then. Let’s get back to the Gate. We can get help and come back."

Teal’c nodded assent and turned. But they didn’t make it as far as the gate before another group of jaffa appeared, this one at least twice as many as the first, although dressed just as oddly. Sam had never seen jaffa like this before.

They surrounded the two members of SG-1, biting out the strange words of their native tongue. "Teal’c?" Sam asked keeping her weapon trained on the nearest jaffa.

Teal’c shook his head. "If it is goa’uld, it is an of an odd dialect." And he tried responding in Goa’uld but that only agitated the group of natives that much more.

At least they weren’t firing yet. Sam knew the odds were too good against them, and there wasn’t good cover out here. "Put down your Zat Teal’c." Sam stated, raising one hand and putting her gun down carefully. They needed to remain alive if they wanted to help the others. Teal’c looked disconcerted, but did as she ordered.

******

O’Neill stood at the back door to the SGC. Actually, it was more like a free falling tunnel with a cap and a padlock on top. There were some sensors as well now, this back door had been used far too many times in the past, but Jack knew how to disable those without anyone the wiser. He just hated the climb down. 25 levels was a long way to go.

"I guess I better get started," he said to no one in particular. It didn’t take more than a meters worth of sliding down his rope before O’Neill realized it’d be even harder than he thought as the ache in his side became suddenly quite painful. "Oh, this is going to be fun!"

By the time he reached the level he wanted Jack was breathing in heaves and ready to collapse. Trying to rest for a moment and yet stay suspended, Jack worked at burning through the bolts on door latch. He’d picked a normal unfrequented level to make his brake in, but only luck would get him in unseen. Slowly, Jack cracked the panel open to find the hallway empty and a camera in the corner but facing the other way. There was just enough space for him to squeeze out and into one of the science labs still unseen by the electronic eye.

After that Jack worked his way carefully over to a computer and slipping a disk in began accessing the security systems. Several keystrokes later, Jack pulled up views of the cameras, just as security was seeing them, and then activated his program. He pulled out a remote from his pocket that looked to the casual viewer like some sort of car alarm, something he’d put together a while ago.

He hadn’t really tested this out before, but now seemed as good a time as any. Clicking the remote in the direction of the camera located in the science room, Jack got up and moved into its view. Still standing where he could see the screen on the computer O’Neill looked back, but the screen held nothing more than the empty room.

"Sweet!" Jack grinned and moved back, clicking the second button on the remote. That part wasn’t so easy to test without giving himself away, which he wasn’t willing to do. But it meant he could move about any empty hallway or room unnoticed.

He wondered briefly how Carter would react if she knew he could do this. It wasn’t like he knew how to hack into a computer, and he still had the occasion problem formatting his reports, but you didn’t spend half your life in covert ops and not pick up a thing or two. Chuckling, Jack checked the hall and slipped out of the room.

Fifteen minutes later Jack was dressed as he usually was when going off-world, minus his cap. Mac had left it behind in the locker, and as tempting as it was, Jack knew he had to be even more careful now not to make a mistake. He was still kicking himself over the call to Hammond. Even now he crouched in the empty hallway just outside the gate room wondering how he’d be able to cover this up. Only Davis was at the controls, on station incase there was any unexpected off-world activity but there’d never be a moment when someone wasn’t there.

Mentally shrugging, Jack pulled out the Zat gun he’d opted to bring as extra and with a click of his ‘car alarm’ to ensure the camera would continue to show Davis sitting patiently at the station, O’Neill aimed and fired. The airman sat up with a jerk as the energy encompassed him then sank over unconscious.

Jack hurried in, sliding the Zat gun away and patting Davis on the back murmuring, "Sorry about that buddy." Working quickly, Jack accessed another program, one that would erase any log of his next actions, then fired up the stargate hoping SG-1 had been sent to PSG-239 as planned. If not, he was screwed.

With a grin, Jack waited till all seven chevrons were engaged and the program was already erasing what they were from the screen before he unfroze the camera and dashed down to the gate. There’d be no way he’d be able to cover up the use of the gate, but he could at least leave them wondering who and where.

To the SGC’s credit, Jack could hear the alarms sound right before he disappeared through the wormhole.

*****

MacGyver coughed a few times to clear his lungs of dust. Under him Jackson was also coughing, then groaning as the man unconsciously tried to shift. "Hey, Jackson, you okay?" Mac asked, automatically taking a closer look at the man’s wounded leg.

The upper portion of his legged looked a little scorched and red, but at least it wasn’t bleeding horribly. It was comparatively different than burn wounds or explosive wounds that would have taken the leg right off, which it hadn’t. In fact, the blast hadn’t done much more than burn away the top epidermal layers over a sporadic area, and even the burning had self-cauterized the wound. It was a lot less than MacGyver would have expected considering what a blast did to the walls and ceiling in the hallway. The energy must affect animate and inanimate objects differently, he reasoned. Certainly the greatest damage seemed more from the energy itself, like being hit by lightning, rather than the physical damage of the burn.

Jackson groaned again, his eyes fluttering open, but he was still looking hazy. Mac leaned closer, wondering if there was a flashlight hidden in his vest’s pocket that he could use. "You okay?"

"Jack?" Jackson questioned, then seemed to come more awake and struggled to sit up. He looked at MacGyver with blurry eyes. "What happened?"

"The ceiling collapsed," Mac told him, then turned to get a better look at the room they were in and the amazingly tall pile of rocks sealing them in. "I’m pretty sure the others weren’t caught in the collapse, but I don’t think the passageway would hold up to any digging right now." It was strange. The hallway had been made solely out of stone, and a good portion of this room was the same, but the rest of it, the lower half of it was made from a dusty gold looking kind of metal, even the floor. MacGyver rapped on the ground hearing the thickness in the sound, but hearing more than just solid ground. He had a suspicion these ‘ruins’ lead down rather than up.

Beside him Jackson sighed, half closing his eyes from the pain in his leg and an obvious exhaust of energy. "So we’re stuck here."

Giving the man a grin, MacGyver warmly chastised, "You need to be more optimistic Jackson, there’s always a way out of every place!"

Jackson just raised his eyebrows not commenting.

*****

Carter was a little surprised how big the ruins really were, and just how far around them they were walking. The jaffa natives who’d taken them captive had taken their weapons and vests and tried burning them in a pit, treating the items as if they’d been cursed. It hadn’t gone so well.

After the small explosion that had resulted, Carter and Teal’c were treated as that much more dangerous and were now being led with twice as many fanatic guards as before.

"Why do you suppose they’re taking us around the ruins?" Sam asked Teal’c quietly as they walked.

"I believe they believe the place is cursed. As I believe they believe we are." Teal’c responded. He’d been listening to the natives as they talked on almost a continual basis, but had only been able to pick out a few words.

Cursed. Sam though about that. "Because we came from the ruins." One of the jaffa opened his staff weapon and gestured with it adding several angry words to his motion. Most likely ‘be quiet,’ but Sam just turned to him saying insistently. "We didn’t come from there. We came from the stargate. The chaapa’ai." The native just repeated his threatening gesture and Carter sighed giving up. Communication was Daniel’s front.

On the other side of the abandoned ruins they entered a small town, but the construction didn’t fit anything else they’d seen on PSG-239. Where everything before this had been made from stone, all the buildings here were made from wood. Simple in structure, but covered in elaborate carvings.

They were led through the center of the town, the natives who live there shying fearfully out of the way of the procession. They were all dressed simply in soft leathers or cloth, and they all had the tattoo on their forehead that marked a jaffa’s allegiance to a particular goa’uld. The people here were a symbol of a flower of sorts as best Sam could figure, but neither she not Teal’c recognized it. Then, as they passed two men without shirts, Sam realized something. It startled her so much she actually stopped and had to be prodded back into motion by one of her guards.

She couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed before, but she just’d just assumed…Sam silently chastised herself, then whispered to her teammate. "Teal’c. Do these guys feel like jaffa to you?"

The look on the big man’s face said he’d just realized what had been before them the whole time. "Indeed they do not MajorCarter."

"That’s what I thought," Carter affirmed. There wasn’t a single goa’uld symbiote in any of these people! They were human!

*****

Daniel watched with open curiosity as Jack moved about the room rapping softly on different places along the wall. He’d abandoned half his gear beside Daniel as ‘too bulky,’ which oddly happened to be every one of his guns, and now seemed to be searching for something.

With is leg safely bandaged Daniel leaned back against the wall. He’d noticed, as Jack had, the change in the structure materials, and an idea had been rummaging in his mind trying to explain it. "Do you.." he began, detracted momentarily by his own thoughts before continuing, "You know this could be a goa’uld ship. Crashed here a long time ago and they just built up around it."

"Ya?" Jack returned with more interest than Daniel would have expected. He looked over to see the Colonel crouched before a section of the wall. He pulled out a little red object from his pocket and began using it to fiddle with the cracks in the wall.

"What’s that?"

"I think I might have located a possible door, but there has to be some sort of mechanical switch for it here somewhere."

"No I mean…"

Jack looked up with a grin suddenly understanding and waved the small red object saying, "It’s my Swiss Army Knife. Never leave home without it!"

Swiss Army Knife? Daniel frowned, he didn’t remember seeing Jack ever use it before, but the Colonel was already focused back on what he’d been doing and much to Daniel’s surprise had successfully found a way to unlatch the panel from the wall.

"How did…?" But Daniel let the sentence fall short, confused, as Jack pulled yet a second panel off next to the first. The inner workings of the wall were covered in circuits and wires, and even the kinds of crystals Daniel had seen multiple times within both Ancient and Goa’uld technology.

Jack was giving it a good look over, a thoughtful expression covering his face. Then he carefully pulled out one of the crystals to give it further scrutiny. "These don’t look much like a source of energy as they do a memory storage of sorts. There’s conduits running from one crystal to the next, but it’s not set up right for this to be the power source." He put the crystal back and again looked up the wall. "There’s an amazing lack of rust here. I wonder what exactly these wires are coated in to protect them so well. The fuses look tampered with, but I think I can get the door open."

"You can do that?" Daniel asked with open surprise. He was starting to wonder if the shock to his system had messed up his sense of reality, too.

Jack just grinned at him. "You’ll be the first to find out!"

*****

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10