The quiet whoosh of the Stargate closing behind them was almost drowned out by the sound of the driving rain; they had stepped from a warm pleasant Gate room into the cold and extremely wet atmosphere of PX3 919 and it made them shiver.

Scrambling to dig out waterproofs wasn’t a good start to the mission, but it beat walking around in an extremely soggy state. It was now standard operating procedure for SG1 to come through the Gate prepared for anything, to leave the waterproofs behind would be like coming through the Gate without their P90’s.

O’Neill shuddered at the thought of his team coming through the Stargate without their guns, with their luck they’d come face to face with a forest of Staff Weapons wielded by the Jaffa of a Go’auld they’d somehow managed to royally piss off.

"Colonel, the MALP readings indicated that there should be shelter about a klick in that direction," Carter said indicating a trail that exited the clearing to the left of the Stargate.

"Ya, think? The same readings said something about fine sunny weather and not a cloud in sight!" O’Neill grumbled fatalistically, sure that this trip could get a lot worse.

He peered over at Daniel who was attempting to subdue his rain poncho into some sort of good order and just succeeded in reminding O’Neill of his son and the production he’d made of the job when he was just six years old.

Daniel finally managed to get his head through the neck hole in the poncho after untangling his glasses from the lining. "It’s much like the weather you’re likely to get in Britain, very changeable, in fact it’s been said that the British have been known to suffer all four seasons in one day" he said seating his glasses firmly on his nose.

"Thank you, Daniel," Jack said emphatically.

"Uhh … what for?" Daniel squinted at him through a clear spot in his glasses.

"For providing the final incentive for Murphy to throw everything at us!!" Jack growled, glaring at him.

"Indeed, one should not tempt providence DanielJackson!" Teal’c stated as he walked past the D.H.D. toward the trail.

Firelight lit up the cavern and revealed a small spring bubbling out of the wall into a pool, where it overflowed into a narrow stream. The stream wended its way across the expanse of the floor and past the boulders that loomed up alongside the cave entrance and away down the hill.

The flickering light from the fire also cast the Celtic knotwork carved around the opening and on the walls into bas-relief.

"This is amazing. Some of this carving has to be no older than 1500 years old and there appears to be a mixture of several languages, including Ogham and Latin here!" Daniel enthused.

"How can you tell?" Sam queried, staring up at the stonework.

"See this piece here? There are definite Christian influences here," Daniel said indicating a stylised cross on one wall.

"And?" O’Neill said, patiently waiting for Daniel to enlighten him.

"Well, I’ve been able to translate this section so far, and remember this is without any reference books to hand," Daniel commented, pointing up at a piece of carving he’d been examining. "It seems to be either an old story or a prophesy about a war leader from far away who would come to … I think it says Avalon. And would take someone named Calladwych home with him to fight in a war…I’ll try and do a proper translation when we get home."

"Daniel, I think Avalon was where King Arthur was supposed to sleep," Jack said faintly.

"Sir, if that does say Avalon, that means that humans were taken from Earth since the Go’auld were forced off the planet, Sir," Sam exclaimed, excited by the knowledge.

"So the question of Who, What and When comes to the fore" Daniel butted back into the conversation.

"And How," Sam said thoughtfully.

"Anyhow, that can wait for another time ‘cause I think the rain’s stopping and we can now get on with our mission," Jack interrupted before he was buried in pleading Scientists wanting to explore the cave system.

Daniel smiled and, using the video camera in his right hand, indicated the walls. "I taped everything before I started," he said, grinning at O’Neill.

"O’Neill, the rain has stopped. Should we not return to our duty?" Teal’c called from where he stood beside the entrance to the cave.

"Coming, big guy, as soon as I get the leashes back on Daniel and Carter," O’Neill yelled back, walking towards one side of the opening.

O’Neill edged his way between two of the boulders and lengthened his step as he passed the largest rock. With his eyes and mind set upon reaching Teal’c, he never noticed a slippery film of mud covering the floor between the rocks.

Jack’s feet flew out from under him and he landed flat on his back with enough force to almost knock him unconscious.

"Jack, are you alright?" Daniel asked, peering over the top of the rock and down at the winded man, who was now flailing around trying to get a grip on one of the rocks to pull himself up with.

"Sir, are you okay?" Carter said as she scrambled round the rock to check out the Colonel.

"O’Neill, are you damaged?" Teal’c called out from the cave opening.

O’Neill’s hand landed on a protruding part of the rock and he proceeded to pull himself up, then fell back as he pulled what looked like a sword from the stone. He grunted in shock as the air exploded from his lungs the second time in as many minutes.

"Oops!!" Jack mouthed breathlessly, mentally running through every swear word he’d ever known, wishing desperately for the required amount of oxygen to make them audible.

He thrust the sword down into the ground and used it to lever himself to his feet, then with one hand holding on to the rock in front of him, he waved the sword in the air. He wheezed, trying to drag air into his stunned lungs and tried to ask where the weapon had come from.

The surprised expression on O’Neill’s face just seemed to be a cross between ‘I knew it was going to be one of those days’ and ‘I’ve had enough. Can I go home now?’

Daniel studied the sword as O’Neill waved it around and the information he’d just read gelled into a certainty. "Calladwych, I presume!" Jackson quipped with a straight face.

Jack froze and stared directly at the sword that showed no signs of having been sticking out of a rock in a damp cavern and by rights should have been extremely rusty. "Oh! Crap!" he finally managed to comment.

The tolling of a great bell almost deafened the four from the SGC, the sound ringing through their heads as if they were inside the bell as it was struck.

O’Neill clapped his hands over his ears, dropping the sword as he did and the noise trying to blow the top of his head into orbit. Jack could see Daniel had his fingers stuck into his ears, he was mouthing something at him and Jack wished he’d taken the chance to learn lip-reading at school. But on the other hand not having to listen to Daniel was on the plus side of things.

He could see Daniel nodding towards the back of the cavern, where there was movement in the darkness; a group of monks in black habits appeared out of the blackness as the bell finally stopped knelling. The sudden silence was almost deafening and the silent stately grace of the monks filing into the cavern sent a frisson of apprehension through the team.

The robed men formed a loose circle around the now swordless boulder and raised their arms in supplication. The air within the diameter of the circle started to glow and a shimmering form appeared standing beside the stone; he was wearing a mixture of Roman and Saxon clothing and had long light brown hair confined by a circlet of gold.

The man reached down and with very little effort pulled a sword from the rock in front of him and brandished the weapon in the air. Then he looked over towards O’Neill and smiled.

The three other members of SG1 gasped when they saw the man’s face, a shiver running through them when they looked at the ghostly younger version of their leader, Colonel Jack O’Neill.

O’Neill’s jaw dropped in amazement when he realised he was looking at the spitting image of… himself.

A sense of wonder filled him as the ghostly figure in old style clothing started to walk towards him. The man stopped in front of him and proceeded to look him in the eye.

Jack studied the man and nodded a greeting. The grin on the younger O’Neill’s face seemed to light up his face, then he took a step forward and melted into the Colonel’s body.

Daniel leaped forward and steadied Jack as he staggered with shock, Teal’c also reached out quickly and firmly grasped O’Neill’s other arm keeping him from landing on the floor of the cavern… again.

Still in complete ghostly silence the Monks turned en masse and sank down to their knees in an act of obeisance before they faded away into thin air.

A ghostly chorus whispered to them from the depths of the cave in a language that O'Neill didn't recognise, but from the expression on Daniel's face he did.

Jack turned his head and looked into Daniel's face. He was thankful for the support after his dizzy spell, but he noticed that Daniel was so astounded by the voices the archaeologist hadn't noticed that he was standing with one foot in the stream.

"Daniel… Daniel, do you know you have a wet foot?" Jack said, nudging him in the side with his elbow.

"No, but you hum it and I’ll fake it... " Daniel snapped back absently, his mind concentrating on translating the Celtic echoing around the cavern.

O’Neill blinked at that reaction and nudged him again "Daniel, come on move out of the stream, you must have a boot full of water by now." Jack said, concealing a smile.

"Uhm! Yeah! Thanks, Jack, I already knew that… I can feel the water soaking into my socks." Daniel answered.

"What did they say?" Carter asked as she stepped carefully over the stream.

Daniel shook his head as if to shake the cobwebs out through his ears. "Well, it seemed to be a form of Welsh and I'm almost sure they said that the Dragon is Rising and Artos Lives…" Daniel studied O'Neill almost as if he were one of his archaeological finds and as such should be locked up in a vault somewhere.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow and examined the way both Daniel and Carter were staring at O'Neill, the looks of amazement quite obvious upon both of their faces.

"DanielJackson, who is this Artos? I have not heard of a Go'auld with this name."

O'Neill sighed and eased his arm free of Daniel's grip, turning to face Teal'c before he answered him. "Teal'c, I doubt you'll get a straight answer from either of this pair, so I'll clue you in on the situation." Jack shook his head gently in exasperation. "Artos, or King Arthur as he's generally known, is a legendary Celtic figure who is supposed to awaken when there's a time of great danger to England. But never mind, I'll find you a book that tells the story far better than I can." O'Neill said quietly, then bent over and picked up the sword, his hand flying to his back as he straightened up again.

"Indeed, O'Neil.l I shall look forward to that." Teal'c replied, starting to shepherd the oblivious scientists out of the cave.

"Well, kiddies. I don’t know about you, but I’m not staying another minute on this planet. Let’s go home!" O'Neill said briskly, slinging his pack onto his back and wincing as he did so, followed his team mates out into the sunshine.

The Gate disengaged as they walked down the ramp toward General Hammond.

"Welcome back S.G.1. You’re early. Was there a problem?" Hammond enquired, wondering what they’d encountered that had them back two days before their time.

O’Neill winced as he turned to look at the General, his hand supporting his back as the nagging pain got worse. "Just a slight slip-up, Sir!" he said dryly.

"Slight! Jack, you went down hard enough to crack bone!" Daniel said in exasperation.

"Oh, yeah...I think I’ve thrown something in my back out, General," O’Neill said, trying to rub the pain in his back away.

The General smiled and shook his head and wondered what his Second in Command had done to deserve something like that. "Head for the Infirmary and have Dr. Fraser see to it, Colonel. S.G.1., your debriefing is an hour after the Colonel get out of the infirmary." Hammond said, grinning.

"Yes, Sir. General, Sir." O’Neill said, limping towards the door with one hand pressing the small of his back and a sword clutched in the other.

"Jack, where did you get the sword?" Hammond queried before O’Neill could get through the door.

O’Neill hesitated, turned to face the General and spoke with a poker face, "Would you believe I pulled it out of a stone...?"