Title - Holding The Line

Part One - Hindsight

Summary - The threat that takes you completely by surprise is always
the worst. (Team)

Category - Apoca/futurefic

Warnings - Spoilers for S9 (episode 1 only).

"What if the world needs saving because I screwed up 'cause you weren't here in the first place?"

Cameron supposed he had doomed them with those very words. He could kick himself. It was akin to the 'what else could possibly go wrong?'
curse that was uttered invariably before something else would go
wrong.

He figured there was no use berating himself now. There were a
lot of sins he would have to make up for and he could compile a list
and set about making amends as soon as he could find a way out of
the pitch black cell both he and Daniel were being held in. He wished Daniel were awake, if only to berate him for the cavalcade of
errors in judgment he had made since he had taken on SG-1.

Unfortunately, Daniel wasn't obliging.

Cameron had his hand splayed on Daniel's chest. It was the only way he could reassure himself that the heart beneath was still thumping.
He couldn't see and with the ringing in his ears he couldn't hear a
damn thing. For all he knew there were others in the cell with them
so he would die before he broke the tenuous contact he had with the
archeologist. He had inherited these precious people and he felt he had let them down so very badly.

O'Neill would kick his ass.

xxxxxx

"There's something... not right." Daniel said, the telltale line of
concern etching itself between his brows.

"Behold our resident linguist." Sam snorted, not even looking up
from the laptop she was wrestling from her pack. Cameron was
watching the two scientists as Teal'c walked the perimeter and he
was still amazed by the level of comfort and understanding shared by
the three people he now accompanied through the Stargate. He ached for the kind of bond they shared and although they strived to
include him, which he was grateful for, he still didn't feel like he
was quite there yet.

Then Sam turned a wry grin his way and he felt reassured.

"Didn't anyone else notice something a little... off." Daniel was
making a helpless gesture with his hands and Cameron was now
watching him carefully. Sam might've mocked, but Cameron actually
understood Daniel's predicament. He had spent years being urged to
put things into their simplest terms from just an impatient glare
from O'Neill that he now naturally did it, even if it rendered what
he was trying to say nonsensical.

Cameron felt a little pang of sadness.

O'Neill might have actually understood what Daniel was getting at.

"Elaborate." Cameron said simply, resting his arms on the butt of
his P-90 and turning his full attention to Daniel.

Daniel blinked for a second, like he didn't know what to do with
someone who was actually inviting him to continue. He recovered from
his initial shock and became more animated.

"The Kerroan people were simple farmers the first time we came through the Stargate and further anthropological studies have not brought to light any advancements in technology since then. Suddenly with the Goa'uld gone they have started to show signs of an increased understanding of science and technology." Cameron noticed Daniel also had a habit of speaking rapidly when explaining something, like he was worried someone was going to cut him off before he got to the good part.

"You don't think they're just quick learners and were suppressed by
the Goa'uld to the point where they couldn't advance?" Sam asked,
still not looking up. Cameron could hear the gentle tapping of Sam
working. She was cataloguing a piece of equipment in one of the
Kerroan temples that seemed a little too advanced for them, but was
missing the usual hallmarks of Goa'uld or Asgard.

"Of course that's possible. Actually, we're expecting with the
Goa'uld as a threat eliminated, a lot of societies will start to
develop naturally where they had been artificially retarded. For
example, when we first went to Abydos, the people were banned from
reading and writing. You can imagine that kind of thing would stop
them developing at a normal rate."

Cameron was starting to understand why Daniel needed to be focused
sometimes. "And you get the hinky feeling because...?"

"Because these people seem to have made a technological evolutionary
leap of a couple of hundred years and they're trying to hide it."
Sam had turned her head to regard Daniel as well now, curiosity
burning brightly in her eyes. Cameron realised that her dismissal of
Daniel's earlier ramblings wasn't exactly that, but rather she had
learned when to tune in.

Basically, at the point where what Daniel said was getting
interesting and wasn't just a prelude.

"Wait, you got that just from the ceremony we were at? All I got
was that they like to dance and also, might I add, indigestion from
the overcooked meat they were passing around." Cameron said, holding
his hands up.

Daniel made a patient face which made Cameron feel like an errant
student.

"Yes."

"All righty then. Colonel, you got what you need?" Cameron asked,
looking at Sam, who nodded. "Cool. Then we get out of here."

"We can't just leave." Daniel protested.

"Sure we can. I get anyone picking up on hinkiness and we high tail
it out. I trust your judgment Jackson and if your weird-o-meter is
singing a tune then that's good enough for me."

"I didn't mean-"

"Teal'c." Cameron barked into his radio. He could see Teal'c a
little way off in the distance turn and raise a hand.

"We're leaving. Head for the 'gate."