Events on the Horizon: A Stargate Sequel

Chapter 16

Daniel

The hot desert sun was beating down on my neck as I tried plugging ports into the damaged DHD panel. I heard the muffled yells from Jack to hurry while my sweaty hands were moving as quickly as possible. I heard the buzzing again of the panel and dialed in back home slamming my arm against the center button. The gate whirred and staff weapons fired at me from Jack and Teal'c's ledge as they came running up with Sam firing back behind me. The puddle kawooshed out, disintegrating two of the Jaffa who almost struck us, and we rushed through.

"Close the iris!" Sam shouted out with staff shots firing back through the wormhole. The metal snapped closed and I bent over bracing myself on the handle of the ramp to catch my breath.

"Well, that didn't go as expected." Jack pulled his pack off and handed it to a nearby soldier.

"We can count PX8-156 off our list for a ZPM," I reached up rubbing the slight burn on my neck. "And what was that the locals said about a missing sun? Because I sure felt the heat of the two they already had." I handed my pack and weapons off and followed Jack out the gate room. Teal'c started off to the armory and Sam motioned to us she would be going to the showers.

"I didn't catch the sun thing. Carter deals with suns and their disappearances. Not me." He was heading in the direction of Hammond's office and I knew I wasn't needed so I swerved and went to my office down the opposite hallway.

Eleanor was bent over my desk, wearing a camel turtleneck sweater underneath a plaid knee length dress. Her ginger hair twisted into a bun at the nape of her neck with a golden leaf comb I recognized as one Catherine Langford had given her when they met last weekend. She was scratching away with her pen on one legal pad and cross referencing it with something else on my desk. I cleared my throat and she looked up at me beaming. The sweetness in her smile rivaled even the taste of sun ripened strawberry jam on my tongue every time I saw it spread across her beautiful freckled face.

"You're back so soon?" She asked, bouncing over to me. "Not that I'm complaining, but usually that means you either found what you wanted," she paused, giving me an incredulous look. "Or?"

"We did not." I grimaced and she gave me a quick peck before going back to my desk.

"You are unharmed though? Everyone is okay?" She looked down at the papers in front of her again and went back to scribbling.

"Everyone is fine, I'm going to head over to get some burn gel from the medical bay and then," I checked my watch and went back up to see her there on her elbows, head in her hands looking over papers deep in thought.

"Mhmm?"

"I love you," my voice was softer than expected and she turned her head back to me with a suspicious look glinting in her eyes. I could walk through the lushest forests and never find a color that would compare to that shining back at me in them.

"Did something happen you're not telling me?" She stood up and a smile crept over my lips.

"Just the usual, scorching deserts, hallucinations, barely scraping by staff blasts."

"Go see Janet," she tsked. "I need your expert opinion on something when you return." She spun back to the papers and I saw her lips mirror mine in a small smile.
Later that afternoon as she and I were both shuffling through the translations on my desk as Jack walked in.

"Hey, I got a memo that I have 5 days of use or lose leave, which means that you have vacation time you need to use up as well Daniel."

"By when?" I murmured looking over a book and pointing the grammatical differences in the text compared to the scanned tablet Eleanor had shown me.