Paws in the Moonlight
By Ael L. Bolt

Rating: PG
Genre: Scifi/Supernatural
Summary: SG-1 discover the origin of a legend, on an up-close-and-personal level. Meanwhile, someone is trying to sabotage the SGC.

Author's Notes: I had hoped to have this thing totally written by Halloween, but it seems that's not to be, so here is part one to keep you amused for now. Please let me know what you think.

The wolves were waiting when they came through the Gate, circling the magic glowing portal. The instant Jack saw them, he brought his P90 to bear on the creatures, Sam following suit. Teal'c held his weapon at the ready, as always, but did not assume a threatening combat stance. Daniel, on the other hand, made no move towards his weapon at all, instead stepping closer with his ever-constant curiosity.

"For God's sake, Daniel!" Jack hissed at the archaeologist.

"They're not threatening us," Daniel calmly replied and continued his slow advance, hands outstretched and opened in a non-threatening manner to the seated wolves. "Hey there," he continued in a soothing tone.

"Are you trying to talk to those things?" Jack asked in disbelief, P90 unwavering.

"I think they're intelligent," Daniel said, slowly gesturing towards the wolves. Now that he was looking, Jack could see that parts of their fur had been dyed in patterns with beads interwoven. The alpha male, a large white specimen, had an eagle's feather attached to the side of his neck.

Coming to a stop in front of the wolf, Daniel kneeled down to be at eye level. "I'm Daniel," he told it, tapping his chest.

In an unmistakable gesture, the wolf bowed his head to the human before raising crystal green eyes to inspect the visitors. Daniel held perfectly still as the alpha circled him.

Jack tightened his grip on his gun, ready to fire if the beast made any threatening moves towards any of his teammates. "Daniel, you better know what you're doing," he muttered.

Apparently satisfied with what he saw, the alpha turned to the other wolves and yipped once. Without hesitation they got to their paws and bounded into the dark forest.

Daniel barely noticed their departure, entranced by the piercing gaze of the alpha. Slowly, unsure of his reception, he stretched his hand out to the wolf.

A flash of something in its eyes was the only warning he got before sharp teeth sank into his skin. Daniel yelped and pulled his hand free, jumping back from the alpha.

Jack opened fire, bullets raking the ground at its paws, trying to drive it away from Daniel so he could get a clear shot.

"No!" Daniel yelled in alarm. "Don't hurt him!"

The wolf, looking almost taken aback, took the opportunity to make a break for the forest. Jack cursed as it vanished into the dark cover of the trees.

"You okay?" Sam asked, coming up next to him but not relaxing her guard.

Daniel looked down at his hand, still trying to grasp what had happened. The wolf's teeth had punctured the skin just above his wrist, leaving rows of bleeding wounds.

"You are injured," Teal'c observed in concern.

"I'll be fine," Daniel protested, digging out a strip of gauze and clumsily trying to bandage himself.

"Here, let me," Sam offered, and Daniel let her wrap it snugly over the wound. "We should get that looked at; there's no telling what kind of bacteria that thing was carrying."

Daniel hadn't considered that, but he still felt like there wasn't anything malicious in the alpha wolf's actions. "Okay, I guess so," he conceded.

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"Well I don't see any signs of infection," Janet announced after a careful inspection of Daniel's hand. "We'll wait for your bloodwork to come back before letting you go off base, but for now you can go to the debriefing."

"Thanks." Daniel hopped off the gurney and exited, unsurprised to find Jack hanging around in the corridor. "Here to walk me to the briefing room?" he teased.

"Very funny." Jack gave him a stern look. "That thing could've taken your whole hand off; you're lucky it only bit you. What were you thinking?"

"I was doing my job," Daniel replied, swiping his access card for the elevator.

"Somehow I think I missed 'petting the wildlife' on the job description," Jack pointed out, prodding the elevator floor button.

"I was communicating," Daniel replied, rolling his eyes. "As in making it so we don't have to shoot potential friendlies, especially when outnumbered."

They were almost to the briefing room when everything abruptly came into sharp focus: sight, smells, sound, everything. Daniel stumbled slightly, catching himself with a hand on the wall and closing his eyes for a second.

"Whoa, you okay?" Jack's worried tones echoed loudly in his suddenly-sensitive hearing, and he winced at the volume.

"Yeah," he forced out, straightening with some effort. "I'm fine, Jack."

Jack looked like he didn't believe a word of it, and Daniel looked as bad as he felt, he couldn't blame him. "As soon as the debriefing is done, your ass is going back to the infirmary," he ordered, then raised a finger to head off his friend's protest. "Ah! Infirmary, Daniel."

"Yes, Colonel Dad, sir," the archaeologist muttered, ducking a swipe at his head, grinning.

Throughout the debriefing, Daniel felt unexpectedly on-edge. He knew the other noticed his restlessness but they said nothing. His senses remained almost unnaturally sharp, except for colors, which were becoming slightly less vivid. The old dust burned his nose and he sneezed repeatedly, interrupting Jack's report.

"You sure you're okay?" Sam asked in concern.

"I'm fine," he insisted, embarrassed. "It's just allergies."

"Does anyone else have anything to report?" Hammond asked, drawing attention away from the archaeologist's predicament. When no further information was forthcoming, he continued, "Doctor Jackson, report back to the infirmary. Dismissed."

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"So, Doc, he's fine, right?" Jack said as he strolled into the infirmary, teammates in tow.

Janet looked up from her microscope with a somewhat puzzled look on her face. "Actually, sir, Daniel's blood is showing signs of a virus, but not a type I've ever seen before."

Everyone turned to face Daniel, who looked startled. "But I…" he trailed off as Janet snagged his sleeve and hauled him over to an infirmary bed to examine him.

"Be honest, Daniel, this is very important," she said sternly, looking him in the eye. "How do you feel?"

Daniel briefly considered lying and insisting he was fine, but it was obvious they weren't buying it. "Everything seems…weird," he admitted hesitantly, struggling to find the words. "It's hard to explain, I just…it's like…"

"Take your time," Janet told him, taking his temperature.

"It's almost like I've been, I dunno, living in a bubble for my whole life and now I'm not in it anymore," Daniel finally said. "All my senses…you wouldn't believe how much I can hear, and smell…!"

"What about your vision?" Janet inquired, immediately turning her examination to the inside of his ears. "I can see you're squinting with your glasses still on."

Daniel fought the urge to pull away from the embarrassing intrusion, in front of God and everybody. Instead he took off his glasses and looked over at an eye chart on Janet's office door, twenty-five feet away. "Smallest print on that eye chart says 'copyright 1996 Vision Works.'"

Teal'c moved over to the chart, silently reading the tiny print at the bottom corner of the poster. "It is indeed as DanielJackson has said," he affirmed, turning to give the archaeologist a strange look. Even Daniel was a bit shaken, and he dropped his glasses onto the bed.

"It's a lot sharper than even before I needed glasses," he said, the weirdness of the situation starting to make him nervous. "It's not perfect though…at first I thought it was my imagination, but colors are getting duller."

"All right, everyone out," Janet ordered, gathering up medical equipment. "I'm going to run a full set of tests, which may take awhile."

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"She can't find anything wrong?" Jack repeated skeptically as they moved through the lunch line. "I find that hard to believe."

"Nothing wrong," Daniel emphasized, heaping his tray with roast beef. "She did find differences in my physiology but nothing negative yet."

"See, it's the 'yet' part that worries me," Jack said, eyeing the sheer volume of meat on Daniel's plate. Deciding to stop the archaeologist before he took it all, he reached over to grab the fork away.

Both men were taken by surprise when Daniel jerked his food away protectively and literally growled at the colonel. There was a tense moment in which something new flashed in Daniel's eyes, then it was replaced by embarrassment. "Sorry, I…I don't know why I just did that."

"Daniel…you sure there's nothing wrong with you?" Jack repeated in concern, keeping his hands well away from his friend's tray lest Daniel actually bite him this time.

Before Daniel could respond, there was a blur of motion and a gunshot. Daniel's face showed sheer surprise, then he slowly toppled over, food scattering as the tray fell from lifeless hands. Jack stared in horror at the blood that saturated the archaeologist's jacket, right over his heart and spreading on the cold concrete floor.

Full of rage and grief, Jack sought out Daniel's murderer and found him with an arm around a civilian woman's neck, still-hot gun pressed to her temple. "Don't try to stop me or the precious civvie gets it!" the man snarled, yanking the scientist backwards towards Daniel's motionless body. No one dared stop him.

End part one.