Daniel had been "on loan" to SG-11 for their last few missions, and from what Jack had been hearing, it hadn't been a very pleasant experience for him. However, General Hammond had insisted on Daniel being the archaeologist for this new team's first missions, because of his experience in the field. Another reason had to be the SGC's shortage of qualified field archaeologists right now - since they'd lost Dr. Rothman on P3X-888, and Dr. Fielding on P6Y-325, the ranks of the base's archaeological team had thinned considerably.

Jack looked over at the SG-11 team - mostly young recruits not too long out of boot camp. Another unfortunate consequence of their recent losses - the SG teams seem to be getting younger and greener. The man leading SG-11, Major Nick Pirelli, was someone that Jack knew wouldn't have had a command just two years ago. He found the man arrogant to the point of irritation - and he hated that Daniel was having to put up with the asshole on these missions.

The tape came on, but the evidence of life was more that of night life - a very naked woman and man doing something in a Grecian temple that certainly had nothing to do with P23-887.

Another man came on-screen in the film. The woman looked up. "Et tu - Brute?" she said in her best porn queen voice.

Daniel clicked off the tape.

"Wow, doc - if we'd known you were having so much fun up there in those ruins, we'd have asked to come along," Adams said, grinning.

Sam glared over at them, but said nothing. A flash of anger went over Daniel's features for a moment as he glanced toward the men of SG-11.

That's right, Daniel, Jack said to himself. Get 'em. You know they're behind this. He shot a look over at Pirelli. Probably a tape from your own personal collection, you son of a bitch.

"Is this some sort of joke, Dr. Jackson?" General Hammond didn't look pleased.

"It is for someone," Sam mumbled under her breath.

Instead, Daniel schooled his features into a passive smile. He removed the tape and laid it on top of the table. "No, sir, it's not. I guess we'll have to do without audiovisual for this particular part," he said, before continuing to talk about the ruins.

"Sir, aren't you going to do something about this?" Sam asked Jack as they left the briefing room.

"Do something about what, Carter?" he asked.

"About what they're doing to Daniel."

"He's a new member to their team, Sam - they're just hazing him a little, that's all," Jack said.

"A little? Today was more than a little. And they threw him in that mud on P29-758," Sam replied.

"He said he fell in - at any rate, they couldn't have know he'd be allergic to whatever was in it."

"An added bonus." She stopped at the corner of the hallway. "What's next - are they going to strip him and throw him in the girl's locker room?"

"I wouldn't say that too loud if I were you," Jack said. "Look, I don't like it, but me stepping in is not the right solution."

"You could stop it, you know," she said.

"Oh, I guess it's one of those he-man, male-bonding things that I wouldn't understand because I'm a woman," she said sarcastically.

Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair. "No, that wasn't...."

He looked down at his watch. Almost time for SG-11 to go to P44-2X9. He found himself wandering up to the control room, where he came to stand beside General Hammond.

"The hazing is getting a little more creative now, I notice, Colonel," General Hammond said, without looking his way.

"Yes, sir," Jack sighed. He watched as SG-11 came walking out into the gateroom. The team went through, all but Daniel and Major Pirelli. Jack watched as Daniel bent down on the ramp to tie his bootlace. Without breaking stride, Pirelli grabbed him by the belt and tossed him headfirst through the Stargate before walking through himself.

That little shit....Jack thought, glancing over at the General, who hadn't been watching at that particular moment. Sam was right - this was getting out of hand. "When is SG-11 due back through the gate, sir?" he asked General Hammond.

"Three days, Colonel - why? Thinking of having a little talk with Major Pirelli?" Hammond asked.

"No," Jack said, turning to leave, "With Daniel."

Pirelli stepped through the gate, looking around cautiously. He motioned over to Adams. "Help Jackson up, will you?" he said. The shove he'd given Daniel had sent him flying down the steps leading up to the Stargate, and he lay none too gracefully at the bottom now.

"Doc - you okay?" Adams asked, leaning over him.

"Where is he?" Pirelli yelled over his shoulder as he looked at the DHD. First order of business - make sure we can dial home, he thought.

"Doctor? There's a doctor here? Good," Daniel replied, holding the back of his head as he looked around for his glasses.

"Get up here, Jackson - this look okay to you?" Pirelli said, motioning to the DHD device. 

"Let me guess - the TKE's right?" Daniel asked.

Pirelli turned, wrinkling his brow. "What did you say?"

"Are the Teaks the native people here?" Jones asked, looking at Pirelli as he handed Daniel back his glasses.

"Leader of this team." The rest of the team gathered around.

"Which team - football, basketball? You're going to have to give me more than that." He looked at how they were dressed. "This is getting out of hand, you know. Looks like you bought out the entire army surplus store." Daniel glanced around. "And we're definitely not in LA - and I've got to get back for class tomorrow."

"You don't know where you are?" Pirelli continued. "You don't remember coming through," he motioned back at the Stargate, "that thing?"

Daniel looked behind him, really focusing now on the Stargate. "My God - what is that?" Daniel said, walking up to the Stargate, and running a hand along the edge of the circle. "How far from campus did you take me?"

"You mean you don't know what that is, Dr. Jackson? Don't remember what this all says?" Adams said, motioning toward the DHD.

"I'm not actually a doctor - yet," Daniel said. He turned around, looking at the Stargate. "You know, I'm pretty good with languages, but this doesn't look like anything I've ever seen." He looked over at the DHD. "And the same symbols, over here on this thing. Where is this place?"

"Shit," Pirelli said, "You just gave me the okay - how could you do that when you didn't even know what it was?"

"You asked me if it looked fine - and it looks fine to me. What it is, I have no idea, but it looks fine."

"Well, I guess this scrubs the mission. We'll need to get artifact boy back to the infirmary. Adams - dial us home," Pirelli said.

"Well, ah," Adams stuttered, "I'm not real sure I - well, Jackson always...."

"I could probably come up with a few of them, sir..." Jones said.

"I remember the first two...." Stevens offered.

"Damn it - search him," Pirelli said, motioning over to Daniel. Against his protests, they frisked him, but didn't find anything remotely like a set of dial home coordinates.

"You guys are really starting to scare me," Daniel said, backing away from the group.

"Jackson, you better not be playing with me - do you or do you not have amnesia?" Pirelli said, getting in his face.

"I don't have amnesia - I know exactly who I am. What I don't know is who you are," Daniel said, jabbing a finger in his chest. "And how you plan to get me back to UCLA before my Ancient Languages class tomorrow."

Approaching them was a group of men, armed with spears. Their dark hair was braided and held back with strips of buckskin, and their expressions were grim and unreadable as they advanced toward the Stargate.  Toward them.

They didn't seem to be hostile - for now, Pirelli thought. Damn - and we couldn't get out of here even if they were hostile. He grabbed Daniel's arm and pulled him along as he walked over to his men. "They're probably friendly - let's just try to communicate."

Daniel pulled his arm out of Pirelli's grasp as he looked at the approaching group. "You even have the drama department in on this one? You guys have got to get another hobby besides tormenting me."

"Why don't you try to talk with them?" Jones said to Daniel.

"I thought you said I was a doctor - now I'm an Indian chief?" Daniel said.

Pirelli hauled Daniel around. "You're a doctor as in doctor of archaeology and linguistics. Work with me, Jackson."

"Archaeology? Like Indiana Jones?" Daniel asked.

"Just like Indiana Jones, yeah," Pirelli said dryly.

"And that thing over there - it's some sort of time travel machine, right? We've gone back to suburban Los Angeles, circa 1800 or something." Daniel continued.

"Want me to shoot him?" Stevens said.

"We can't shoot him - he has to dial us home." Pirelli said in frustration as the troop of natives got nearer. "Just try, okay? Maybe something will come back to you."  He gave Daniel a little push forward.

He pointed to himself. "Daniel," he said.

The man in front of the group looked at him intently, and pointed back at him. "Daniel," he repeated clearly.

Daniel turned and pointed toward the team. "Assholes," he said seriously. 

Pirelli rolled his eyes. "Jackson..." he started.

"Assholes," the man repeated solemnly.

"I'd say we're communicating," Daniel said to the team.

In response, the man started to speak, and spoke for a good two minutes before stopping.  At intervals, the men behind him nodded in unison.  Daniel listened intently as he spoke, his brow creasing in concentration.

"Did you get that, Jackson?" Jones said as the man finally went silent.

"These guys are really good - where'd you find them?" Daniel said.

"What did he say?" Pirelli asked impatiently.

"I have no idea," Daniel said.

Pirelli lost his patience, and walked over to Daniel, grabbing his arm. "We're not getting any closer to home doing this - let's get out of here." He started to drag Daniel away, but found himself and his team surrounded by the points of ten spears.

"Or, you can go with these nice gentlemen," Daniel said, as the group of men surrounded them and moved them off to the south, away from the Stargate.

Pirelli and the rest of the team paced around the inside of the tent where they'd been taken. They hadn't seen Daniel since they arrived.

"Nothing?" Stevens asked, as Pirelli tried to contact Daniel via his radio - not an easy task, since his hands were tied together.

"Nope - it's dead," Pirelli said.

"Don't say "dead"," Adams shot back, pacing restlessly.

"What do you think they did with Dr. Jackson?" Jones said.

"I don't know - made him an honorary member of the tribe? How should I know?" Pirelli said.

"I guess we better hope they didn't burn him at the stake or something," Stevens said.

"Given the way they were looking at him when we arrived, I don't think that's likely." Pirelli walked to the front flap of the tent again, peering out.

"Still there?" Jones said.

"Yeah, they haven't moved. Come on, men - we've got to figure a way out of here." He paced. "We got away from the natives on P56-098, didn't we?"

"Daniel talked them out of using us for their ritual gift to the gods," Jones said. "Right now, I think if these guys decided to tie us to a stake, he'd get out the marshmallows."

"Hey - stop the whole "burning at the stake" conversation, okay?" Adams said.

The men turned as the tent flap opened. Daniel came in quietly, the chieftain they'd met earlier with him. His face was unreadable as he looked toward them.

The chieftain motioned toward the men, speaking several sentences to Daniel. Daniel wrinkled his forehead, trying to understand the phrases, and managed to respond with a few words. The chieftain gave SG-11 a hateful look.

"We're toast," Jones said.

"Quiet," Daniel said suddenly. "Just stay quiet, okay?"

The men fell silent as Daniel and the chieftain continued to try to have a conversation. Finally, the chieftain left Daniel's side and motioned for one of their guards to come inside. The man pulled a knife.

Adams swayed, and probably would have fallen if Daniel had not grabbed his arm to keep him upright. The man advanced toward Pirelli, his knife drawn.

To his credit, Pirelli held his ground as the man grabbed his arm - and cut the ropes binding his wrists together. The rest of the team let out a sigh as their bonds were also cut.

The chieftain said a few parting words to Daniel and clasped his shoulders. He smiled, tried to repeat the words as best he could, and did the same. Once they were alone, Daniel turned to the team.

"Thanks, Jackson - I don't know what you saved us from..." Pirelli started.

"You don't want to," Daniel interrupted. "Listen, this is too much to be some fraternity prank. I don't think you guys could have dreamt this up in a million years."

"So you're ready to listen to what we have to say?" Pirelli said.

"I'd like to - but if what I heard that man say is true - we need to get out of here."

"Why - think they might change their minds about us?" Stevens asked.

"No - they're going to war," Daniel finished.

"Stargate, huh?" Daniel said as Pirelli finished explaining how they got to this planet. "And I deciphered that thing?"

"That's what they told us," Pirelli said.

"And how long did it take me?" Daniel asked, as they made their way through the woods.

"Uh - two weeks, I think," Stevens offered.

"Great - and that was with about fifteen years of knowledge that I don't have any memory of. That's great. Why was I the only one on this team who knew how to do this? That's a pretty dangerous way to travel, if you ask me."

"We were all supposed to be familiar with the coordinates," Adams confessed. "But since you always dialed us home..." he said.

"You know, the way you've been acting toward me since I've been here, I wouldn't have thought that you would have trusted me that much," Daniel said, stopping to rest.

The team was silent. "In fact," Daniel said, folding his arms, "If I had to guess, I'd say I'm probably the team's designated whipping boy."

The team looked uncomfortably at one another. "It's not like that, Daniel," Jones started, "we were just giving you a hard time - hazing you a little. It's part of the military experience."

Daniel looked at him. "I don't think I'm in the military, am I? At least not according to the story you've told me so far." He started walking again, and the team fell in behind him.

"Did - did anything we told you sound familiar?" Adams asked as they walked along.

Daniel sighed. "No - and I'm not sure I want to remember, to be quite honest."

"Jackson, despite the hard time we've given you - you've been a real team player. You've had a good attitude, tried to work with us, and put forth the same effort that you would have on your real team, SG-1," Pirelli said as they walked along. "I can't say I would have acted with as much class."

"You sound like a guilty man," Daniel said, not looking over at him as they walked.

"We're all guilty - and I swear that if you will just remember how to get us home, you'll never have to worry about us hazing you again," he said. He looked at Daniel hopefully.

Daniel stopped, turning to him. "I think that was almost an apology."

"It is an apology," Pirelli said. Hell, might as well go overboard, he thought.

"Well, I accept your apology," Daniel said. Pirelli's heart soared.

"Unfortunately, I still can't remember how to get you home," Daniel continued.

The team arrived back at the Stargate, and made camp for the evening. Pirelli looked over to where Daniel was sitting in front of the Stargate, staring up at the stars. He wondered how anyone could look that peaceful when they were on one side of the galaxy and home was on the other. 

"I'd sit a little further away from that thing if I were you," Pirelli said, as he walked up behind him.

Daniel looked up in surprise. "Why - is it radioactive or something?"

Pirelli sighed. "Trust me on this one, Jackson." Daniel stood up and walked through the circle, looking at it from the other side, before going to sit on a rock away from the camp. Pirelli followed.

"Why didn't you answer my radio calls earlier?" Pirelli said, motioning to Daniel's radio.

Daniel looked at his radio briefly, then took it out of his vest to hand over to Pirelli. "I didn't hear them - it must have gotten broken somehow. Maybe when I fell coming through the Stargate."

Pirelli looked at radio briefly before handing it back to Daniel. "I'll take a look at it later. And try to stay upright from now on - I don't want you breaking anything that will keep you from figuring out how to dial us home."

"Well, coming back would imply that we managed to leave," Pirelli said, standing up and starting to walk back to camp.

Pirelli stopped, his back to Daniel. "I just want to get my men back home, Jackson. You're putting them in danger, and I don't like that."

"I'm putting them in danger? I had an accident. What put them in danger is that you and your men didn't know the dialing coordinates for the Stargate."

Pirelli turned around. "You know, Doctor, the SGC may find value in all your research and your cultural references and all that other shit, but as your team leader your main responsibility to me is in getting that gate open and getting us home - and in that, you failed."

He stalked away, leaving Daniel alone. Daniel stared after him a moment before turning back to look at the stars.

Jack stared out of the control room at the silent Stargate. There'd been no word from SG-11 since they had gone through the gate - they'd missed their first scheduled check-in, and it was getting close to time for another. He acknowledged General Hammond silently as he joined him.

"Still no word?" General Hammond asked.

"None - can we open the Stargate and try contacting them from here?" Jack asked.

"A little nervous, Colonel?" he asked.

"It is SG-11, sir," Jack replied.

General Hammond gave the order and the Stargate whirled into being. Sergeant Davis opened a channel. "SG-11, do you read?" he asked.

SG-11 became quiet as Pirelli silenced them, but they could barely keep still as the message came through the opened Stargate. Daniel, recovering from the shock of seeing the wormhole spin into existence, watched Pirelli intently as he clicked on his radio.

"Command, this is Major Pirelli - we read you," he said.

"Thank God for Air Force protocol," Adam said with relief. "They're checking up on us. We're going home."

"SG-11, you missed your last check-in." Pirelli recognized General Hammond's voice. "Is everything okay?"

Pirelli waited a beat before answering. "Everything is fine, General. We were trying to make contact with a native people and lost track of time." He nailed his team with a hard look as they stared at him, confused. "Our mission is going as planned. We'll check back in later. Pirelli out."

"Command out," Davis said. Almost immediately the Stargate flickered out.

Pirelli gave his men a hard glare. None of them had spoken, but the expressions on their faces clearly telegraphed their disapproval. "Adams, Jones - you have something to say? Stevens?" The men stayed silent.

"I have something to say," Daniel said, finding his voice.

"What were you thinking?" Daniel said to Pirelli's back. "You had a chance to get us home."

"I'm going to get us home," he replied.

"Do I need to remind you that those people warned us they were going to war?"

"No, you do not need to remind me," Pirelli said.

"And that going to war implies that there is another, hostile force around here somewhere looking for someone to kill?" Daniel said.

Pirelli spun around suddenly and hauled Daniel up by his shirt. "What did you expect me to do? Just admit I'd screwed up, that we didn't know how to get home? My career would never recover from that."

Pirelli dropped him and walked away, going to sit on a rock with his back to Daniel. He rubbed his face wearily.

"It's one thing to make a mistake. Don't make a worse one by trying to cover this up," Daniel said.

"Go back to camp, Doctor," he said, not turning around.

Jack's brow wrinkled as Pirelli signed off. General Hammond noticed his look.  "Something wrong, Colonel?" he asked Jack.

"Kind of a quick response, wasn't it, General? Don't you think we deserved more than a "sorry, we lost track of time" when they'd missed one check-in and were preparing to miss another?"

"Do you think something's wrong?" he asked.

Jack frowned. "I'm not sure - but I'd like to be here when they check in again. I want to speak to Daniel."