Fandoms: Stargate SG-1/Bones (tv show)
Author: Karen
Characters: entire SG-1 original team,
Seely Booth and Dr. Temperance Brennan
Prompt: #82 Cave
Feeback address: karrenia_rune@yahoo.com

Word Count: 1,120
Rating: General

Link to my Table: http://karrenia-rune.livejournal.com/21721.html?mode=reply

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and all related or mentioned characters belong to Gekko pictures and its respective producers; they are not mine. 2. Bones is the creation is the creation of Barry Jospehson and Hart Hanson, and does not belong to me.



"The Thunderstones" by Karen

Tourquay, France, present day

The rental car had been left behind at the bottom of the steep embankment leaving the two FBI agents to climb up to the summit on foot. In the background Dr. Temperance Brennan and Agent Seely Booth can overhear the muted conversations of the French guides that are working on the ancient site. Temperance hopes that despite having to work alongside a dispatched team from the United States Airforce, which is a fact of the current mission that she can not quite wrap her mind around, that the reports will bear out.

During her years working on various missions and digs during her years in graduate level anthropology, she had come across articles in scholarly journals that spoke of the caves in France with ancient paintings that dated back almost 5,000 years, supposedly left behind by a nomadic tribe of Celts.

Booth, on the other hand, is still smarting from the suspected blow to his authority and when it was announced that the pair would be working alongside Colonel Jack O'Neill from something cod- named Stargate Command.

Booth had made a point of expressing his displeasure. His exact words 'Why in the hell would high muckety-muck military brass want with a bunch of moldy old bones, and why would us, the FBI, have to deal with them?"

After having worked several missions with Booth now, Temperance knew better than try to either defend or support the assignment and decided to err on the side of caution and let Booth's temper simmer over. Based on practical experience it was better to wait until Booth, if not exactly happy with the situation, at least he would be able to deal with it.

Meanwhile Jack O'Neill and his team met up with the FBI agent, and the forensic scientists at the entrance to the caves.

Daniel, lagging behind the others on his team, stopped to fumble through his equipment and pull out a manila folder containing his notes and observations from their briefing and his own research. Bets were good on the chance that these caves contained remains of an ancient and long since abandoned Gou'ald center of operation thousands of years ago.

"We're looking for objects termed 'thunder stones' according to the notes left behind by the Tok'ra," Daniel said.

"I don't suppose letting our esteemed law folks in on the big secret will make this op go any faster," Jack wondered, shuffling his feet.

"It's a delicate balance sir," Sammantha Carter nodded. "Either we let them in on the Star Gate operation 100 percent, this has its own pros and cons, or we fed them a piece of the truth, one at a time."

"It was a rhetorical question."

"I know that, it's just that they're more than likely more than curious about why the Air Force would take a sudden interest in Western European Anthropology, aside from our having a resident anthropologist and linguist on the staff."

"OH, I guess that's my cue, huh," Daniel fumbled through his folder, shuffling through pages of his spiral-bound notebooks. "

"Did you know Dr. Brennan when you were in graduate school, Daniel?" Carter asked.

"I may have heard of her, but I never knew her personally," Daniel replied.

"What about these stones?" O'Neill prompted.

"These are no ordinary stones, they've be dug up all around the globe in different eras, and each time they've manifested a variety of unusual properties." Daniel replied.

"How so?" Carter asked.

"Well, as you're aware my expertise runs more to the Egyptian and Sumerian histories and mythologies, but from the smattering in Western European myths I did hear of an ancient godlike race known as the Tuath'a de Dannan; they were the gods and goddesses of the ancient Celts. Among those legends were three stone objects, the Spear of Lugh, a weapon that never missed its target, the Cauldron of the Dagda, basically your average Horn of Plenty, and the Stone that would make sure a king's rule was blessed."

"So what you're saying that any weapon or object of power crafted out of this special stone was going to work no matter what?" Sam said.

"Exactly." Daniel nodded. "Dating farther back than the Celts these strangely shaped masses of stone, some rudely chipped, some polished, the larger called objects considered
thunderbolts, the smaller arrows, all of them weapons which had been hurled by gods and other supernatural beings."

"I wouldn't put it bast our snake-headed friends to tap into a legend and use to it their own advantage," Jack remarked, rubbing the stubble on his cheek. "They're very sneaky like that."

"We will soon find discover that for ourselves, O'Neill," Teal'C added.
"The Gou'ald are known for exploiting any and all advantages," Teal' C said.

"They're here," Carter added.

"About time," O'Neill said, shuffling his feet and looking down into the entrance to the cave system, noting that the light in western horizon had begun to fade and despite his own inclination he would have preferred to do his cave spelunking in daylight rather than at twilight.

"You bring our cave exploring equipment?" Booth asked.

"You'll have to excuse my partner, Booth really is not a people person," Dr. Temperance Brennan replied,

"Oh come on, I'm great with people," Booth muttered.

"Let's not go there." Tenperance muttered.

Leaving behind all any necessary equipment that would not be necessary to make their descent into the cave system bulky and difficult. Both teams removed their backpacks, and tied and wrapped around their waists lengths of industrial strength ropes, dispersed flashlights to everyone and passed through the barrier the blocked the entrance.

O'Neill went down first, followed by Sam, then Daniel, with Teal'C bringing up the rear. Booth and Dr. Brown formed their own team of two.


The interior of the caves was very dark, what little light seeped down from above barely adequate to see by and both teams immediately thumbed on their flashlights, waving them around to get a 360-degree view of their surroundings.

It was dry but surprisingly free from a thick coating of dust, the beam from their flashlights playing favorably over the fantastic cave paintings of which the caves in France were justly famous for.

In the back of his mind, O'Neill was glad they had chosen too late at night for this little expedition, and that way they would not be hampered with tourists getting in the way.

The floor was even and only once in a while marred by broken crevices where the movement of the earth and endless drip of water from the overhead hanging stalactites pooled on the floor.

"I hope you find what you're looking for, Colonel O'Neill," Booth remarked.

"I hope so, too," O'Neill nodded. "Otherwise, aside from a fabulous way to spend a long weekend, we might be wasting our time."

"If you were given your preference on how to spend your weekend off, what would it be?"

"You're going to wish you hadn't asked him that," Carter said.

"I'll take my chances," Booth replied.

"I'd rather be fishing," O'Neill smiled.

"You have no idea what's it like to listen to him go on about fishing," Carter smiled.

"I'm still trying to get my team to accompany me on a fishing trip, so far no takers, but I've come close."

"Do you have any stories about the one that got away?" Dr. Brennan smiled.

"Maybe." O'Neill smiled, thinking as he did so that Dr. Brennan had not turned anything at all like he had pictured a FBI agent. She was pretty and smart, and had a good head on her shoulders; not only that she was very attractive. 'Not that we're going to put that in the mission report, are we, Jack?" he thought and shoved the thought to a back corner of his mind.

"Let's go," Dr. Jackson eagerly added.

The air smelled dry and clean, which was most likely the reason the paintings and should they find any, the fossilized human and mammoth remains had been so well preserved.

For about an hour or more both teams were able to traverse the chambers together, only once in a while clearing a low access way into yet another chamber in single file. Booth and Teal'C, among the tallest in the group, forced to duck to avoid banging their heads overhead stone lintels capping doors.

"Watch your heads," Booth said, turning his head and glancing back at other members of the exploration party.

At the very instant that he said it, the line around his waist that bound him to Dr. Brennan went taut and then all forward progress stopped completely. Booth stood in vast cavernous chamber whose walls had been carved right out of the living rock of the cave system.


The walls glittered with a slivery crystalline rock contrasting with the gray granite and brown rock the formed the other parts that they had already come across.

Behind were he stood, Temperance also stood in awe at what she looked at.

When she used to be in the study of ancient civilizations and peoples strictly for the scholarly and informative nature of the discipline, and it is only recently that she can appreciate and understand how important that her work have a practical application. Otherwise she would not be here, now, applying her anthropology knowledge in the interest of foresenic science in the FBI.

However, in the back of her mind, she is still awed by what she can see all around her. In niches and in embedded into the rocks is a veritable cache of ancient stone weapons and tools.

"I don't believe it," she whispered.

"Neither do I and I'm looking right at it," Dr. Jackson murmured as he came up to stand alongside of her. "If I didn't know any better I'd say that that spear is a spitting image of the legendary spear of Lugh."

"Lugh who?" Booth asked, irritable and out of sorts.

"The sun god of the old Celts," Temperance explained, "One of the oldest and most important of all hand weapons. The blade should be about fourteen inches in length and be flame-shaped mounted on an ash pole of about seven feet."

"From the research that I read the Spear of Lugh was so powerful that the last of the Druids that held out against the encroachment of the Romans and the spread of Christianity had it stashed away in some obscure monastery, never to be seen again, supposedly." Daniel shook his head and waved his the beam of his flashlight over the length of the spear. "Amazing."

"Don't get too worked up, Daniel, it could just be an elaborate reproduction, one designed to be part of the tour for visitors to the caves," O'Neill said.

"Possible, but according to the map the guides gave us, we're way off course for the paths marked out for tourists," Carter added.

"Remind me again, what were the other objects of power?" O'Neill asked.

"The Cauldron of Plenty and the Stone of Destiny."

"Right. So we found these 'thunder stones', now what?" We got spears, and swords, all different lengths. We make a catalogue or put these in a museum somewhere."

"And watch them gather dust?" Dr. Brennan replied.

"Seems to me that's all they're doing here," Dr. Jackson said.

Booth stepped forward, crossing the space that separated their huddled group from the mount where the spear stood upright; hilt first embedded in the stone, stretching out his hand to grasp the weapon. As soon as his fingers so much as brushed the metal, a shock traveled from his toes, up through his legs, into his body, and the resulting shock sent him hurtling full length across the room until he fetched up against the far wall. "Well, it the name is well-earned. He sat up and rubbed his neck.

"You okay?" Dr. Brennan asked.

"When I figure out what just happened I will let you." Booth smiled.
"That was a shock, literally."

"Some kind of security force field?" Carter asked, intrigued.

"Daniel, you did say it that those ancient boys, the Druids, wanted to find a way to protect the Spear, right?" O'Neill asked.

"Yes, but I don't remember exactly how they went about it."

"How do we get these thunderstones out of here, if we can't get our hands on them?" Dr. Brown wondered.

"Here, let me try," O'Neill offered. "Whether you believe it or not we actually do have some experience in this area." Jack stepped forward ignoring the sidelong glances of the two agents and wrapped his hand around the hilt, wincing in anticipation of an electrical shock. Jack grinned and glanced back at the others waiting on him, and what might happen next. When nothing did, aside from a tingling and the fine dark hairs at the back of his neck stood on end. Jack shrugged his shoulders and took firmer grip on the spear attempting to tug it free from its stone bed.


A buzzing began in his ears and grew gradually louder approaching a level of an entire swarm of bees in frenzy. Jack pulled even harder, grunting from the unexpected weight of the weapon.

It popped free with a definite pop like the sound of a cork popping free from a wine bottle. Jack stumbled backwards and nearly collided with Doctor Jackson, who steadied him. Jack turned around the spear dangling from his right hand; his free hand stuffed into his trousers pockets. "Bingo."

"Bingo, I do not understand," Teal'C said, the fine lines of his brows furrowing into an almost horizontal line.

"You and me both, big guy," Booth muttered under his breath. "It's a damn spear and we're in giant cavern that looks some dead guy's dream of an ancient arsenal."

"It's complicated," Carter began, 'but we're going have to ask what we be allowed to take the spear and any other items back with us to Colorado and Stargate Command."

"I'm not going to like this, but you guys were authorized by the higher-ups," Booth said.

"I would like to take any and all items, including the spear back to the lab for carbon dating and testing, it's a matter of procedure," Dr. Brennan added.

"We understand," Carter replied.

"Good, just so we're on the same page once we leave here," Dr. Brennan nodded.

"Works for me," O'Neill added.

Title: Dry as Dust #4/100
Fandoms: Stargate SG-1/Bones #2 of 2
Sequel to "The Thunderstones"
Characters: Temperance Brennan and Seely Booth (Bones)
Original SG-1 Team
Prompt # 84 dry

Dry as Dust by Karen

Temperance Brown had seen bones, many, many bones throughout her career as first an antrhopologist and later as in the foreseniscs crime lab of the
FBI; but she had never seen fozziled remains preserved with this degree of perfection as these.

Embedded into the hilt of the spear as well as used as a design motif for several daggers and long swords was the coiled form of some kind of heavy-bodided snake with a neck that stretehed out like a fan.

Curious and a little disturbing. The weird thing about the bones was the fact that those little snaky desings cropped up in the bones as well. That definitely should not happen, even to people dead and gone centuries ago.

She had run the carbon dating computer model on them so many times than she could recite the data gathered in her sleep.

Which should be more than enough to submit a report and put this case to bed, so to speak, so why then is she is still not satisfied to release the information and the dusty old relics to the dispatched team of Airforce officers. Something does not add up here, and she wishes she could so readily figure out exactly what that something is.

She's worked with Seely Booth long enough to know that he is as anxious as she is to get the answers to their questions, but not to the point where he is breathing down her neck trying to read the data over her shoulder.

It's an annoying habit of his that she told him when they first met that she would not put with, and he did as she asked.

"Anything yet, doc," he interrupted, with that annoying, knowing grin, 'Cause by my watch inquiring minds want to know' stage went by over an hour ago."

"Actually, yes," she replied. "I was just considering the best way to phrase this. Were you ever a sci-fi fan before going into law enforcment?"

"Yeah, but that's just between me and you."

"Well, have I got an eye-opener for you. I finished running the carbon dating and all the other tests on the bones and artifacts we found in those caves."

"And? Booth prompted, noting the fine lines in furrowing her brow.

"And that spear is giving off a lot more kinetic energy than it should ever since Colonel O'Neill put his hands on it. Weird and puzzling don't even begin to cover it."

"Maybe they know something we don't." Booth suggested it causally before it finally clicked inside of his head what bothered him most about the entire assignment as well as the military officers.

"They're playing it way to cool, withoholding information about bones and rocks, and I don't like it."

"I assume that means you want to get to the bottom of whatever it is that they're hiding from us?" Brennan said.

"You read my mind." He smiled.

"Well, I don't think the Airforce, no matter what kind of
secret project they're running out in Colorado would go to all this trouble for a bunch of Dark Ages Celtic artifacts."

"Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't at least one member of the team they sent some kind of Egyptian archaelogist, at least I remmeber reading that in the file they sent over to the main office."

"Yeah, that would be Doctor Daniel Jackson, and he's got credentials in other fields such as lignuists and antrhopology. I knew I recognized that face from somewhere. It's been a while, though."

"What did you mean about the sci-fi part. I don't know much about the Celts, but I do know that they were good at making tools, weapons, and other stuff. But not to the point where it merit the rating of alien tech, right?"

"I would think that, also, if not for the weird energy readings I'm getting off of this stuff. So, folks, your guess is as good as mine right now." Dr. Brennan shook her head, peeled off her white plastic lab gloves and wiped her brow with the back of her hand.

"Those energy readings, are they dangerous?" Booth asked.

"No, no," Brennan muttered, "jus very puzzling."

Meanwhile Colonel Jack O'Neill and his team sat cooling their heels in room dubbed 'the Waiting Place, which was essentially a small staff break currently empty of all occupants except for them.

"For crying out loud," O'Neill muttered, "What is taking them so damn long?"

"Relax, sir," Major Carter said, "Look on the bright side, at least if anything does go wrong, or they start asking questions, we'll be covered that we followed the procedures that they asked of us."

"Remind me again why Hammond wanted us to find thse artifacts?"

"Because the Tok'ra believed them to be connected to the Gou'ald and they want them retrieved."

"Right..." O'Neill replied, "Much more of this I think I'm going to start breaking out the lyrics to "Somewhere over the rainbow."

"Ah, let's not, Sir," Carter haistly said.

"Why not?" Teal'C asked.

"One, because Jack can't sing, Teal'C," Carter said, "Two, because I've heard that song one two many times that I can recite it in my sleep. And three, giving these Feds the impression that we're crazy is not going to help our chances of getting out of here with the artificats."

"You know, when she's right, she's right." Daniel smiled.

Jack groaned. "Don't have to tell me twice."

"They are our allies, after all, Jack. And looking at from thier perspective it's not such an unreasonable request. I'd like another look at that spear myself," Doctor Jackson added.

"Not now, Daniel," O'Neill said.

At that moment both agents entered the room, the former carrying a printed out sheaf of doucments, the latter carrying a box with a sample of the bones that held the embedded snake design in his arms.

"Well, well, here we are." Booth announced. "Let me get right to the point there seems to be a failure to communicate between our departments, which is fine, we're in law enforcment and you're in the buisness of protecting our country. "

Seeley Booth had just opened his mouth to add a stinging rubke for keeping him, his partner and department in the dark when he paused and noticed that the big fellow, Teal'c's hat had slipped down on his head to show the top of his forehead. Etched into the skin there was a large golden sigil in a script that he had never seen before. "Okay, that's different'' he thought.

"I fail to see the point," Teal'C interrupted.

"Its his way of getting us to 'fess up and tell him what makes those bones in the box so important," Carter said.

"We must not!" Teal'C lurched to his feet and shoute: "We cannot risk the chance of the weapons might fall into the the wrong hands or gain the knowledge of how to weild them reaching our enemies."

"Dude, you have got to stop doing that," Daniel said.

"Weapons?" Dr. Brennan echoed.

"Uh, Dr. Brennan, he just means the ancient weapons, you having historical and monetary value, you know how it is," Daniel began.

"I don't think I buy that any more than you do, Doctor Jackson. Why don't you try the truth for a chance, hmm?"

"I don't know about this," Daniel whispered.

Look, the truth is we need the stuff more than you do right now, and we need to get out of here as soon as possible," Jack said.

"And yeah, they're weapons, and I don't care how old they are. The entire truth behind why and how we
learned about them is classfied, and I don't think you'd
believe us if we told you everything and we can't."

"Look, if you want your boss to contact our boss, fine and
dandy, but like Colonel O'Neill said, we're just not at
liberty to reveal everything we know or suspect about the
weapons," Carter added.

"I just might." Booth shrgged and set the box down on one
of the tables. "I changed my mind, I really don't want to
know the full details of what you folks are ut to. Just take the stuff and get the hell out of my sight."

"I don't like it, but I guess I can live with it," Brennan
said. "I'd hate to take the fallout if this decision backfires on me, so whatever happens I don't want learn that they're beingb used for the wrong reasons, you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Ma'am." Jack nodded.

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 belongs to Gekko Film Corp, MGM, Glasner/Wright and Double Secret Productions; as do the characters; they are not mine. Bones is the creation of Hart Hanson, and takes place around the most recently aired season 2 episode “Stargazer in a Puddle”.

Note: written for the live journal challenge community 100 situations prompt #58 dinner. The story picks up shortly after where ‘Dry as Dust’ left off.

“By Invitation Only” by Karen

The crates containing the artifacts hauled away from the caves in Southern France were finally neatly labeled, sorted and classified. Despite the objections of the FBI officers, and the French authorities at the Charles De Gaulle airport.

Colonel Jack O’Neill still couldn’t quite figure out what the FBI would want with a bunch of rocks, despite the fact that carbon dating work that Dr. Temperance Brown had done on them and the weird energy surge that he felt run through his torso just in the few seconds of contact that he had with the spear, cauldron, among the pile.

Daniel Jackson had insisted on personally escorting the crates from Paris, and if Jack had not pulled rank and pointed out the illogic of traveling in the cargo hold along with the rest of the passenger baggage during the trip from France back to Colorado Daniel would have done that just to be certain nothing happened to the artifacts.

There was something to be said for commitment, and then there was just sheer craziness, Jack thought as he sat down in front of the computer terminal in his room and stared at the screen where he had just finished putting the finishing touches on his post mission report.

Elsewhere, Daniel was faced with a unique dilemma: To all appearances that artifacts that had at one time been the handiwork of the long vanished race of nomadic Celts were nothing more than rocks, valuable rocks in the market of antiques, and in his previous employ as an anthropologist and archaeologist, would be quite valuable.

The Celts, like previously and even more ancient civilizations, had apparently had had contact with the alien Gou’ald; the mystery of what had transpired during the contact remained just that; a mystery.

Daniel reached up and stretched to relieve the strain on his back and legs for having stood in one place for so long.

He sighed and glanced around, Egyptian, Sumerian, Babylonian mythology and artifacts he understood, hell, he even had a decent working knowledge of Gou’ald and Ancient technology; Celtic, not so much.

In the back of his mind Daniel briefly toyed with the idea of contacting his old friend and colleague Dr. Temperance Brown.

Daniel wondered, considering how the SG-1 team’s previous encounter with Dr. Brown and her colleague in the FBI had gone, if she would be willing to discuss in more detail her knowledge of Celtic mythology and culture.

“I just might be able to convince General Hammond to allow me to contact here, and if he does agree to it, all we’ll need to do is go through the security checks. The only problem being, how do I do that without giving away too much information about the Stargate?”
Or why I need the information about the Celts in the first place?”

Interlude

Washington DC. The Forensics Lab

“I still don’t understand why you let those Air Force jerks walk away with the haul from the French caves,” Agent Seeley Booth remarked as he paced up and down the narrow hallway, fuming.

Only half-listening to her partner and colleague the majority of Dr. Temperance Brennan’s attention focused on the digitized illuminated manuscript copy. There simply hadn’t been time to secure a paper copy. Instead she had resigned to using a restored copy using a painstaking process.

“It was not as if they gave much choice in the matter,” she replied without looking up to face him, knowing that if she did so it would add fuel to the proverbial fire.

She leant over the machine and traced the words on the pace that dealt with the three most valuable treasures of the Tuatha de Dannan; the Spear of Destiny, the Stone of Fal, the Sword of Nuada, and the Cauldron of the Dagda.

The others were just as fascinating of course, but she could not afford to become distracted by traveling down side paths.

The artifacts found in that cave in southern France had attracted the attention of the United States Air Force, albeit an obscure branch, and one whose representatives who had come in search of these old stones, had been most insistent about coming, using her and Booth’s assistance in obtaining them, and getting back with them, with very little to no explanation given for why they needed them or what would happen to them afterwards.

To Temperance’s way of thinking all of that added up to one thing,: wheels within wheels, and given her own profession and her own natural bent for curiosity and getting down to how, and more importantly why something worked; hell, it almost came as second nature. She would solve this puzzle or she would know the reason why.
Meanwhile back at the Cheyenne Mountain Base

Daniel entered General Hammond’s office. “Sir, do you have a moment?“ he asked.

General Hammond looked up and smiled, “Of course, Dr. Jackson, I was just about finished reading your mission reports and then preparing for the debriefing,” he paused and added. “I’m still not certain that the site itself was a previous Gul activity site, but…” he trailed off. “I’m sorry, what did you want to talk about?”:

“Well, that more or less does lead in what I wanted to ask you about. It’s just that, well it’s like this…”

“Out with that, son,” Hammond gently coaxed the younger man. Dr. Jackson’s long-winded manner of getting to the point was well-known and it seemed best to prod him along a little bit.

“You see, if you recall, when we worked with the Jeffersonian Institute in recovering the Celtic artifacts, one of their people was a young man whom I knew back in the day, and I think that if I’m going to be able to glean any more information about the artifacts, I might need to contact her again.” Daniel shrugged with a sheepish grin on his face.

“I figured I should ask you before I made any attempt to contact her, not wanting to let slip too much about what we’re all up to around here, if you know what I mean?”

“I understand both your concern and commend you for the concern about the security of our operation here,” Hammond nodded.

Encounter

One would think that after nearly a year of working side by side with Agent Booth she would have become more at ease or least tolerable of his manner of taking charge. It had annoyed at first, and to be fair, he had been equally annoyed with her. She had resented the intrusion into her life and work, but a job was a job, and she would be damned if she would allow an irritant to side track from a job completed well and in the time required.

In that past year and a half she and her team of foreseeing anthropology experts had been a part of some very weird cases, bones she understood; however, real live people were much more complex.

Take this Chelsea Cole: Given the documents and paper work that she had left behind, there had been several Xeroxed copies of pages from an old Celtic manuscript, the Book of Leinster, complied in circa 1160 and now kept inn the Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

As odd a coincidence as that might have been under other circumstances, given her own Irish heritage, she had work to do and time was running short in which to accomplish it.

The book also made reference to the Four Treasures of the Tuatha De Dannan, as well as to something that the late amateur astronomer and full time anthropology graduate student had called only the “Ancients. There were odd anomalies among the woman’s notes as well.

There were markings and symbols that given the evidence and formation of the brush strokes dated back much farther than the time span when the Celts and their various spin-off tribes. She straightened up for a few seconds to take a breather and give the muscles in her back a break, and then reached up to brush away a strand of hair that had fallen down over her eyes. “Unless I am very much mistaken and my eye for detail has gone the way of 8-tracks and bell bottoms, I think some of these symbols are Ancient Egyptian.”

“You have gotta be kidding me!” Booth exclaimed startled out of his loose-limbed stance by the wall, strolling over with an easy grace. “Again, every clue, and trail we travel down in trying to solve this case, just leads to a bigger mystery. Whatever happened to the good old days when someone was murdered, we find the killer,, than get a trial, and sent to jail; end of story.”

“Too bad, that only works in an ideal world,” she replied with a sigh.

“I’m lead to believe that our Air Force visitors knew much more about this situation than they even led me to believe.

“Do you think they were the ones responsibly for Cole’s death, maybe she was close to discovering whatever secret project they working on and killed her in order to silence her.” Booth paused and cocked his head to one side thinking the matter through. “I mean, it’s possible. Bones, come on, think about it.”

“You‘re nuts. “I don’t believe that for a minute. “ She walked over to him and placed one hand on his shoulder, a task made even more difficult that she lacked nearly a foot in height. “I knew Dr. Jackson, remember, the man may be driven, a work-aholic and a bit of a social geek, but he has a good head on his shoulders. If he vouched for them, that’s all I need.”

At that moment her boss, Dr. Jack Hodgins entered the room, “Bones, you’ve got a phone call on line 101, and I think you might want to take it in your office.”

“Thanks,” she replied and nodded to both men as she stepped out of the lab.

***
She walked down the hallway greeting her friend, Angela, on the way to her office. Then stepped inside to take the call. She down behind her desk and picked up the receiver. “Dr. Brown here, may I ask who’s calling?”
“Temperance, it’s Daniel Jackson, and I know it’s been a quite a while, and we never really got a chance to catch up while I was there. How have you been?”

“As well as can be expected.” she replied. “Daniel, if you must know I was just discussing that very thing with my partner, Agent Booth. And this matter of the Celtic artifacts has got me very intrigued if not confused.”

“Tell me about it,” Daniel sighed and she could hear both the mingled frustration and excitement about unraveling yet another mystery in his voice even through the phone line and the distance.”

“Where are you calling from?” she asked

“From an internet café just outside of Colorado Springs, Denver.”

“Look, it’s gotten to the point were I’m just going to come right out and say it,” Daniel sighed. “I need your help. “As you know by now I’m working with the Air Force, albeit a special branch, and I can’t really go into too much detail about why we needed those artifacts; but if you’re interested and can come out here, I, I mean, we, could really use your help in this matter.”

“Dr. Jackson, you always were such a sweet-talker. It brings back such fond memories of our days together in graduate school.”

Temperance paused and thought over things, it might be difficult to clear a leave with her boss and Agent Booth, while he was her friend and partner as the FBI liaison, he didn’t dictate where she went or who with, and despite her better judgment, she really did want to unravel this mystery, and if it might traveling half way across the country, so be it. “I think I might able to swing that,” she said aloud.

“Great, wonderful in fact,” Daniel said. “How soon do you think you could make it out here, just give me a time and a date, and I’ll book the reservations under your name.

“Oh, you really don’t have to do that.

“Look on the bright side, Temperance,” Daniel laughed, “It beats having to fly military air, trust me on that.”

“I guess you have a point after all.” How about next Thursday at 8am sharp. I prefer a window aisle.”

“Hell, I’d give you first class if I could my boss to approve it,” Daniel said. “I’ll get write on that and have the tickets and reservation confirmation emailed to you straightaway.”

“Sure, you big softie, go ahead and try to swing that.” she replied.

“And Temperance, thank you,” Daniel added.

“You’re welcome. Just don’t let the hype fail to live up to the real thing, okay.”

“Sure, I think I’ll be able to swing that. Oh, by the way, just to give you a heads up, you’ll need to pass a security clearance check, but don’t worry it’s just part of the routine.
Thanks again. And she heard the phone line go click as he hung up.

“Security clearance, well he is with the Air Force none, although what they would do with an anthropologist and linguist is beyond me, but I want another stab at those artifacts, really I do. Now, I’ll just need to clear it with my boss.”


Encounter
Friday morning at the SGC base, Daniel had been a little bit impatient for Temperance to arrive at the Colorado Springs airport and he still wasn’t certain how much he should tell her about what he did as a civilian expert at what she would no doubt rightly assume was a military operation.

His concerns were only mildly alleviated by the fact that she arrived without her FBI escort, and quite eager to get another crack at deciphering the mystery that surrounded the artifacts.

During the short drive from the airport to the ground level entrance to the Cheyenne Base, they had had a chance to catch up, and he had been surprised that she had not only been through her own share of strange experiences during the brief tenure as the forensic anthropologist with Agent Booth’s FBI office; but one she wanted to discuss in more detail with him. Anecdotes and references to memories of the time they had spent together in graduate school, however, also occasionally crept into the conversation.


Interlude

Temperance entered the room designated as the evidence room, pretending not to notice the armed air force enlisted men who stood at either side of the room’s entrance. She heaved a sigh and decided that it was just a matter of the nature of the place in which she found herself.

In the back of her mind she decided, “Deal with it, girl, after it all, it’s just a precaution, and if I can put up with Booth, I can deal with it like they were there like the table, the closet, and other sundry items; just two additional pieces of furniture.

The only difference these pieces move, talk and are armed. Best to watch my step.” She thought about it a little longer, darting a quick searching glance at Dr. Daniel Jackson, and decided that he friend and former classmate appeared remarkably at ease among all the military surroundings.


“Well, what have we got here?” Daniel asked, breaking her wandering thoughts.

Temperance started and then recovering her composure she replied. “If my research is correct, we might be looking at the recovered and long thought to be nothing more than legend, Four Treasures of the Tuatha de Dannan, from Irish mythology.”

“What were the four treasures,” Major Carter asked.

“The Stone of Destiny, the Spear of Light, the Cauldron of the Dagda, and the Sword of Nuada.”

“What did they do, and do you have any idea what might be causing the energy surge we felt earlier?”

“According to legend, the first, also known as the Stone of Fal, predicted each new king of Ireland.” She frowned and paused to reach up and brush a loose strand of brown hair out of her eyes. “The Spear of Lugh is supposedly infallible; it never missed its target once it was accurately aimed and thrown.”

“Now that would be a trick,” Colonel O’Neill remarked.

“Less is known about the final two treasures, although the Cauldron of the Dagda is featured in a lot, and I do mean, a lot of artwork dating from the Celtic Period and even into the modern era. It is said to be able to feed an army and never go dry.”


“From Findias the ancient Celts brought the Sword of the Nuada, or Claimh Solias. No one ever escaped from it once it was drawn from its sheath, and no one could resist it.”

“Dr. Brown, how much of this is drawn from legends, and how much is actual fact?”

She turned to Colonel O’Neill, “ You’re kidding me, right? Now, that would be a trick.”

“Temperance, “ Daniel added. “We’ve learned that it’s best to humor him, whenever he gets like this.”

“Great, just great,” she added. “You were there in the cave when our recording devices first detected the initial energy surge, and up until now I’ve not been able to determined exactly how and why it occurred. I take it, you’ve felt that energy again.”

“Not as strong as the first time,” O’Neill reluctantly admitted, ‘but it’s definitely there.”

“What does it feel like?”

“Only one way to find out for certain,” Daniel said, shrugged and stepped forward to grasp the sword by its worn hilt. At first he could barely move it, and Dr. Brown stepped forward to help him, wondering as she did so, if this was one of growing list of bone-headed things she had down in recent days when it came to solving the mystery of the artifacts. “Why the hell not, “ she muttered under her breath.


The sword was surprisingly not as heavy and awkward to handle as she had anticipated, although it did require both she and her friend, Dr. Daniel Jackson to lift it and mount on the stone pedestal designed to accommodate it.

The tingling sensation that Colonel Jack O’Neill had first stated he had felt upon making contact with the spear, they felt it as well.

At first it was quite mild, almost a tickle then it gradually became more intense, beginning at the base of the skull and traveling down through the roots of their hair, to the spine, and then through their stomach and terminating at the soles of their feet. It did not actually hurt, but it was rather uncomfortable.

As the sensation continued neither she or any of the others that held on to the spear, the cauldron, and the stone could feel their limbs as being attached to their body. In her perpherial vision she noted the concerned looks on the faces of Daniel’s friends and colleagues, and wondered, not for the first time, what the hell have I gotten myself into?’

As the energy continued to surge through both of their bodies, spurting and darting from the point of contact with the sword’s hilt and their two hands meeting point, gradually all awareness of their physical surroundings ebbed away.

Her vision first went white hot, then cold and black and when she was able to see again, she found herself standing in the midst of a wide open plain, covered with wildflowers. In the sky above her a new moon floated along like a ship on an open sea. Daniel Jackson stood beside her, apparently as equally dazed and confused as she was in what had happened to them.

Approaching like a growing thunderstorm they both could hear the tell-tale drumbeat of horse hoofs, and the growing cloud of riders coming closer to where they stood on the plain. Daniel walked over to her and placed his hand over hers. Nervous and uncertain what to do, she allowed the point of the sword to dip and almost made contact with the ground.

Daniel offered a brave but tremulous little smile, meant to be reassuring.
Coming down the slop the riders came into view, they were not all alike in appearance, most were heavy-set, blond, muscle-bond, everything she had expected to see in a Celtic warrior; the one thing that did not fit her carefully constructed image was a golden sigil carved into the center of their foreheads.
Turning to Daniel she almost want to shove his calm face into the dirt, ‘what the hell is wrong with him?


“Jaffa.” muttered Daniel under his breath. “Figures.”

By this time Temperance had more or less managed to recover his considerable poise and her frustration with not being unable to understand why and how this was happening had almost prompted her into dropping the sword and slapping that smug look off Daniel Jackson’s face. “Well, do you mind clueing in the rest of the class?” she griped.

“It’s a vision, a vision of the past, and it if you’re going to slug, please try and do so before the vision peters out, otherwise, we might be stuck here,” he mildly replied.

“The sword’s uh energy field allowed us to share this vision of the past, and I suspect it’s also our connection point to our, uh, real selves.”

“I think I got that part, thank you.”

The riders by this time had come within half of a football field’s length of their position and begun to set up camp.

“Can they see us?”

“I don’t think so. Maybe, not unless we initiate the contact first,” Daniel replied.


At the particular instant an irritable tug on their beings caused the a mist to form to before their eyes and with almost audible sucking and popping both Daniel and Temperance reached down to grab onto the sword’s hilt and hung on as they were pulled out of the vision and back into where their bodies stood ramrod frozen straight in the evidence room at the SGC.

Conclusion

“Welcome back,” Colonel O’Neill greeted them.


“That was weird,” Daniel shrugged. “Well, weirder than usual for us, around here.”

“I got into my chosen field to explore history, not become a part of it,” she replied shaking her head to clear it of the inevitable cobwebs.”

“How long were we gone?” Daniel asked.

“Almost three hours,” Carter replied. “It’s unknown right now just what kind of effect, that energy surge has had on both of you. I think it might be a good idea if you were both were checked out by Dr. Fraiser.”

“Do I have to,” Daniel griped.

“Is he always like this?” Dr. Brown asked.


“Pretty much,” Carter smiled. “Go, and don’t make me turn that suggestion into an order.”

“All right, all right, I’ll go.”

“I will too,” Dr. Brennan added. “Call them what you will, what we just experienced, either vision or hallucination; it should definitely be checked out by a medical professional. Lead the way, Daniel.”


“I am so outflanked on this.”

“Yes, yes, you are.”

Continued in chapter 4: First, Do No Harm prompt #58 dinner