Van stepped away from the Gate and looked around. "Well, SG-12 was right, this is definitely Goa'uld architecture."

"And why are we here?" Lee asked.

"Because General Carter thought it deserved a closer look. SG-12 gave it a once over to make certain the city was uninhabited but they didn't do anything further. They returned and reported their findings to the General." Mal stepped past Van. "Kain, go with Oliver and head south, Van and I will head north. Check in with us in thirty minutes."

"Yes, sir. Let's go, Ollie." Lee started away from the Gate.

"Don't touch anything!" Van shouted after her.

She turned so she was walking backward. "Relax, Van, I have survived for twenty-six years without your direction. I think I can make it at least another twenty-six!"

"Yeah, those first twenty-six were on Earth far from Ancient technology you could mess with!" he shouted back as Mal hauled him away.

"He has a point, you tend to touch things you shouldn't."

"Wow, thanks for taking my side, bro."

Oliver shrugged. "Hey, it's the truth and you know it. Do you want me to remind you of the carnival incident when we were eight?"

"Hey, that big red button was begging to be pushed and it wasn't my fault. Not entirely, I mean how stupid was it of the attendant to leave that ride unattended?"

He rolled his eyes. "Right, how could I miss that it totally was not your fault."

"Let's go check this dump out so we can get out of this place before I die of boredom. I have no idea why we have to take a closer look at this place. There were other SG teams available? This seems kind of boring."

"SG-1 is the flagship team, if there's any reason for General Carter to believe there's something of interest here then she'd logically send her best team to investigate."

Lee kicked a rock. "Yeah, I guess. Not as exciting as killer squirrels though."

He shuddered. "I'm so glad I wasn't here for that little adventure."

"Come on, Rocky was cute when he was snoozing."

"You named the killer squirrel?" he asked as he pushed his way into a building.

"Yup, you know like Rocky and Bullwinkle?" Lee followed him in. "Fancy."

Oliver dusted off a console he found and peered at it. "My Goa'uld isn't great but I think this is a lab of some sort."

"I hope they weren't studying anything awful."

Oliver slapped his radio. "Van, I think we've found a Goa'uld lab."

"We'll be right there. Don't let Lee touch anything!"

Lee got on the radio. "Your faith and trust in me is heartwarming, Evander."

"Who got us trapped in the Ancient defense outpost?" Van asked.

"Had to bring that up didn't you?"

"Yes."

Lee glared at Oliver. "If you nod or agree with him in any way I'll disown you. I will no longer have a brother."

"Carnival," Oliver replied in a sing-song voice.

"I hate you," Lee muttered and wandered away from him. There were shelves and computer terminals and equipment she couldn't identify. It was all boring, at least in her opinion. As frightening as Rocky had been, she'd rather be fighting giant squirrels than exploring a moldy old lab. A cough escaped after she blew a layer of dust from a workstation. She waved a hand in the air to dissipate the cloud of dust motes. The surface was covered with various items, most of which she couldn't begin to fathom what their use was. She picked up a small jar and inspected it. The lid was partially broken so the contents were exposed. She sniffed the contents but it didn't smell like anything.

"What are you doing? Van said not to touch anything!" Oliver snatched the jar from her hand and set it back on the workstation. "No touching and definitely no sniffing things! We have no idea what any of this stuff is, it could be dangerous!"

"Come on, this stuff is old I'm sure there isn't anything in here that can do any harm."

He snorted. "You've read the mission reports from the other SG teams so you have to know that's a ridiculous statement. Now, go guard the door or something and don't touch anything else!"

"Fine, Mr. Cranky." Lee stalked over to lean against the wall beside the door as Van entered the building.

"Wow, I wonder who this lab belonged to." Van wandered over to where Oliver was studying a small tablet device. "Find anything that will tell us what this place was?"

"I think all of their notes are on here but my Goa'uld is iffy. If it was Ancient it would be easier, but there was little call for me to concentrate on Goa'uld while I was working at Atlantis, I know just enough to get by. I should probably do a little refresher." He handed the tablet to Van.

"We should probably take this tablet back with us so I can study it. Are there any more of them?" He glanced around the darkened laboratory.

"There's one on the workstation over there," Lee told him and pointed to the station she'd been searching.

"Let's check all the stations, maybe each Goa'uld working here had their own project and therefore their own notes." Van set the tablet down and moved away to fetch the tablet from the workstation Lee had indicated, he moved back and placed it with the one Oliver had found.

Oliver nodded. "That seems like a logical assumption. Though didn't most of the Goa'uld work alone? They weren't known for cooperating with one another."

"It could have been a group of lesser Goa'uld that were working for one of the more prominent ones."

"I suppose so," Oliver said.

"So, what have the nerd twins discovered?" Mal asked Lee as he stepped into the building.

She scowled in the direction of Van and her brother. "I wouldn't know since I'm not allowed to touch anything."

He chuckled. "Relax, Captain, once they determine it's safe you can touch things."

She snorted. "Whatever."

Mal eyed her. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, why?"

He shrugged. "Your face is very pale."

"I'm fine, sir, promise."

"All right. I'm going to check on the boys, we should get going soon." He moved away to round up Ollie and Van and herd them out of the lab.

"But we haven't really found anything yet! You didn't give us long to look around!" Van protested.

"We should take any control crystals we find, we could use them!" Oliver added.

"I'm sure General Carter will send a science team back now that we've determined everything is old, moldy, dusty, and probably harmless. Let's go, you can study the things you found when we get back." He gave them both a shove toward the door. "Let's go, boys, move it."

Lee trailed behind them. Now that the Colonel had brought up that she didn't look good she suddenly felt like crap. "Psychosomatic," she muttered. He told her she looked sick and obviously her brain had dwelled on that and now decided she was indeed sick. She'd get him for that later.

"Captain, let's move it back there!" Mal yelled.

She hurried to catch up to the group as she passed him, she socked him in the arm.

"What the hell was that for?"

"You had to go and say I looked sick now I feel like crap, so thanks for putting that into my head."

"Hey, it's not my fault you're sick."

Oliver raised a hand. "I suppose it wouldn't do to mention I don't feel well either?"

Van took a giant step away from them. "Uh, maybe we should leave them here and send the doctor back to take a look at them? What if they caught something in that lab? Oh my God, do we all need to be quarantined?"

"Relax, Van, I'm sure they're fine. It's probably something else entirely, do you feel sick?"

Van was silent a moment as if he was taking stock of exactly how he felt. "Actually I feel great."

Mal nodded. "I feel fine too." He grinned at Lee and Oliver. "Maybe it's a twin thing. She gets sick so you get sick."

"That is a fallacy, we do not feel everything the other one feels," Oliver snapped.

"Van, dial the Gate." Mal grinned as Van dialed. The Gate connected and he gestured toward it. "Let's go, you two."

"I hate you," Lee muttered before she stepped through the Gate. Oliver followed and Mal waited until Van stepped through to follow.

He exited the Gate and found himself standing beside Lee who was breathing deeply. "Captain?"

She held up a finger and continued to take slow, deep breaths. Mal was about to ask her again if she was all right when her eyes rolled back and she crumpled. He caught her before she hit the ramp. "We need a medical team in here now!" he yelled.

"Whoa, hey, Oliver!" Van struggled to grab Oliver as his legs gave out and he fell. "Oliver, talk to me, what's wrong?" Van shouted.

Oliver stared at him blankly before he lost consciousness.

Van looked at Mal. "I told you something was wrong! We should have stayed on the planet!"

Dr. Grayson and his team ran through the door into the Gate room. "What happened?" he asked as he examined Lee.

"I have no idea. They were fine, we found a Goa'uld lab, we poked around and then we left," Mal explained.

"Did you open anything?" Delaney asked.

"No, Van and Oliver found some of those Goa'uld tablet things but that was it." He looked over to where another of Dr. Grayson's team was looking Oliver over. "What's wrong with them?"

"I don't know. I need to get them down to the infirmary so we can run some tests. Let's move them to the infirmary, we can't do anything here." He stepped back as his team got Lee and Oliver onto a couple of gurneys and hurried from the room.

"Colonel Hughes, what happened?"

He looked from the door to General Carter. "I have no idea." He looked over to where Van stood still staring at the door. "Van, go through those tablets and see if you can find anything those snakey bastards were working on that might cause this!"

"Right, yeah, I'll see if Dr. Jackson can spare anyone to help." He hurried from the room.

Mal looked back at Sam. "I need to be in the infirmary in case they wake up maybe they moved something. If they touched anything we can send a team back to do some tests."

"Go ahead, Colonel. As soon as Dr. Grayson can give you any kind of diagnosis I want to see you in my office. I need you to fill me in on what took place on the planet."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Go ahead and be with your team."

"Thank you, ma'am." He ran from the Gate room. If either of them died ... he broke off that thought. No one was going to die, the Doc would figure out what was wrong and he'd fix it. He had too. This was why he'd kept to himself for so long. He knew how badly it sucked to lose someone you cared about. When his father died it tore his heart out. There was little affection left in him for anyone else. When his mother remarried it did more damage to his wounded heart. He couldn't understand how she could remarry and forget the man she professed to have loved so deeply. He understood now, he got that there was always room for more love in your life, you simply had to acknowledge it when you found it. You had to let it in. He'd done that with this team. He cared about them and if he lost any of them it would hurt. A lot. It didn't matter how he'd felt when he began this job, they were no longer simply his coworkers, they were his friends and more importantly, they were his family.

He stopped in the doorway and watched as the medical personnel bustled around the room carrying out the doctor's orders. In the center of it all were Lee and Oliver, silent and still. Each in their own hospital bed, covered in a white sheet as the team examined them. They didn't protest when they were stuck with needles, they remained unconscious. Both were deathly pale and it worried him. He remained back out of the way, he needed to be here but that didn't mean he was going to interfere. He simply needed to see them and to know what was going on.

He would remain here until there was some sort of news. Whether it was good or bad. He'd be here.