STARGATE SG-1: Do No Harm by Karen Miller Page A

Fraiser’s given you the all-clear take a four-hour break then re-evaluate the current mission slate. We’ll discuss your recommendations at 1630, after which time you’ll be off the clock too.”
    “Yes, sir,” she said.
    “Colonel?” he added, standing. “We’ll continue in my office.”
    “Yes, sir,” said Jack, and shoved his chair back. “Welcome home, kids,” he added to his team. “Play nicely while I’m with the principal. No picking on Carter, Daniel, just because she burst your bubble. I mean, it’s not like you’re not used to having your bubble burst, right?”
    “Colonel,” Hammond said again before war could break out. “Let’s go.”
     
    “Hey. I thought you were supposed to be re-evaluating team assignments?” said Daniel’s cheerful voice from the lab doorway.
    Sam held up a finger, keeping her eyes on the mass spectrometer readout. “ — seventy-two — seventy-three — seventy-four —
damn
.”
    “Ah — not that maths was ever my strong suit,” said Daniel, “but I think seventy-five comes next.”
    “No,” she sighed. “What comes next is Game Over, Back to the Drawing Board, Forget about Collecting a new Patent you Loser.” She shoved the readout away. “Oh, well. It was always going to be a long shot.”
    Daniel came a little further into her lab. “What was?”
    “That bizarre tree sap SG-12 found on G3D-221. Initial tests revealed some amazing adhesive properties but the mass spec and gas chromatograph test results show unacceptable levels of — ” She stopped. “Daniel, your eyes are glazing over.”
    He grimaced. “Not on purpose. Why aren’t you — ”
    “Because I’m still waiting for some UAV data. Why do you care? Why haven’t you gone home?”
    “I’m going, I’m going.”
    “Yeah, it looks like it. Daniel, did you want something?”
    “Ah, no. Not really,” he said, picking up a page of readout and pretending it made sense. “Only, you know, to say sorry about the temper tantrum.”
    The nasty little knot of tension in her gut unraveled itself. Until that moment she hadn’t realized how pissed she’d been at him. “It’s okay. You were disappointed, I get that. And we will go back. You were right, those rock carvings could be important. They’re just not important enough to drown for.”
    He grinned, ruefully. “Yeah, well, maybe. Anyway, I really am sorry.” Then the grin faded. “So. What do you make of this strike team thing?”
    Ah hah. The real reason for his visit was revealed. Not that the apology wasn’t sincere. Daniel was sincere the way the sun was hot. But his sensitive emotional weather-vane always pointed Due O’Neill… and not surprisingly, given Hammond’s announcement, she suspected it was now oscillating between ‘poor Jack’ and ‘run for the hills’.
    “I think it’s a good idea. God knows we need the help.” She pulled a face. “You got the memo? About Jake’s memorial service?”
    “Yeah. I’m starting to hate the sight of my good suit.”
    She knew how he felt.
    “
Anyhow
,” Daniel added, visibly derailing incipient grief. “The strike team. This Colonel Dixon, joining SG-1. You don’t think — ”
    Oh boy
. “Daniel, no. What’s the point? Dixon’s coming. The colonel’s going to react the way he’s going to react and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
    Daniel stared. “You’re not worried?”
    Idiot. Of course she was. The black hole incident and its aftermath had left scars on all of them. The colonel’s silent reaction to losing Frank Cromwell had been… frightening. Almost out of character, for all she truly understood of his character. Daniel had said it was like stepping back in time to the awfulness of his first encounter with the Stargate — and a Jack O’Neill determined to erase unendurable pain with death. Okay, a lot of water had thundered under the bridge since then, but even so…
    “I’m concerned,” she admitted. “But the colonel is far too