"Aw come on Jacob - we're keepin' this one!" Jack looked pleadingly at the older man, hoping to appeal to the human half of the Tok'ra double act. Jacob smiled and patted his shoulder.

"'fraid not Jack. My people called your people... a deal was made. The Tok'ra need this ship more than you do right now. Get over it."

Jack slapped his cheek with the flat of his hand as he turned away in frustration. It was a running gag between him and Jacob Carter, but deep down, it really did irritate him that they never seemed to keep a hold of a Goua'uld mother ship for more than a handful of hours. He was about to shift up a gear and try whining a little when Teal'c appeared at his shoulder.

"MajorCarter has finished her assessment O'Neill. To her sure knowledge, the ship is not booby-trapped. Not is there any sign of sabotage. She can find no reason for its apparent abandonment."

Jack gesticulated vaguely at the walls. "Not gonna find a very large metallic spider in my bath then?"

"There are no replicators on board. We have made a complete sweep. All areas are accessible and safe."

"No Space Ninjas...?"

"None."

Jack reached over and squeezed Teal'cs impressive right bicep in a friendly manner.

"In which case, if no-one objects, I'm gonna go check out the facilities. Where's Daniel by the way?"

Major Carter came through the door wiping her hands on a rag. "He was a little tired after crawling though the maintenance ducts to get up here sir. I think he crashed out in one of the staterooms."

The ship had been powered down when they found it floating abandoned in space. Only auxiliary power was working which meant that they had been forced to crawl through about three miles of service tube wearing space suits and breathing apparatus to reach the engineering section and switch the lights back on, so to speak.

Daniel had been up the whole night before working on some research project, and the day before, he had been off world with SG-12 on some mountainous planet, hiking thought the foothill in search of the local witchdoctor. He head been bushed before this mission even began so Jack decided to cut him some slack.

"Fine, lets leave him for the moment. Jacob, you and T take the helm and put us on course for your secret rendezvous. Carter, see if you can squeeze some more juice out of the power cells. We need to get the rings working. I'm taking a bath."

"Yes sir." said Carter pulling a large tool kit out from the pile and watching her CO limp towards the door. Sometimes he looked 10 years older than he actually was. A bath would do wonders for his aching back and knees but she didn't have the heart to tell him that the Goua'uld didn't use water.

"Aw crap!" Jack stood naked in the middle of what he was sure had said `washroom', though he never pretended to be any good at translating Goua'uld chicken scratchings! That was what Daniel was for. He had pressed every godammed button he could find, tried asking out loud for the shower to come on, jumped up and down a few times hoping to trip some hidden motion sensor, but all to no avail. He had found nothing that even remotely resembled a bath, but here at least there appeared to be a showerhead. Or more accurately, several showerheads, mounted high on the walls all around the large tiled room.

Sighing in frustration, Jack wrapped his black T-shirt around his hips and snuck out into the corridor. This area of the mother ship seemed to house the System Lords private suite. There were several rooms that featured huge circular sleeping dais covered in rich silks and cushions. He had located Daniel in one earlier, face down on the silk, snoring like a pig and spread-eagled in a most tempting manner! But Jack had manfully resisted and continued his search for a bath.

Now he needed his linguist to translate the shower instructions for him so he trotted down the ornate gold corridor, praying that Carter didn't come round the next corner and catch his ass swinging in the breeze.

He made it almost to the door of Daniel's room when Carters voice boomed out of the speaker grid right next to his head, making him almost leap out of his skin. His grip on the black cloth faltered and the T-shirt slipped to the floor and he steadied himself against the bulkhead.

"Sir - we have a problem. Artificial Gravity is about to cut out. You should try and grab hold of something."

Jack bent to retrieve the shirt just as there was an enormous lurch and he began to float towards the ceiling. He tucked in his legs and twisted round to swipe at the grid.

"Yeah thanks for the heads-up Carter. A little late maybe, but thanks anyway!"

"Sir do you need any help? I could come and..."

"No!" Jack shouted in a panic. He was floating about stark naked, the last thing he wanted was for Carter to see how any part of him looked in Zero-G. "I'm fine. Daniel and I will sit it out here until you get it fixed. How long will we be bobbing about?"

Carter hesitated then said firmly, "Depends what you consider more important. We can't have air, heat light and gravity all at the same time."

Well they couldn't do without air and heating and light were more important than his dignity right now. He pushed off gently against the wall and thumped into the door of Daniel's room.

"Okay - do what you can. Danny and I will sit it out down here till you fix it."

"Right sir"

The door opened on his second attempt and he propelled himself inside. The sight, which met his eyes was quite the strangest he had ever seen. The silk covers and cushions that had been adorning the bed all floated around the room, heading upwards to where Daniel, still fast asleep, drifted lazily across the star field outside the huge force field maintained window. Jack grinned and slapped the door closed then using as little force as he could, kicked off towards his dozing lover.

Daniel couldn't believe how comfortable this bed was. It almost felt like sleeping on air. He arched his back, feeling the gentle brush of fingers across his stomach that told him he was no longer alone in the bed. His sleep-fuzzed mind told him that Jack was here, but he hadn't felt the bed dip as it always did when Jack snuck in beside him. One eye opened cautiously trying to zone in on Jack's location.

"Shit!" suddenly fully awake Daniel shook his head to clear his faulty vision. No - that didn't work, still hanging upside down form the ceiling! He heard Jack snorting with laughter somewhere above him and twisted to get a better look. This brought his lack of clothing right to the front of his mind as parts of his anatomy floated off at a tangent!

"Ever had sex in Zero-G Danny?" he husky voice asked. Two arms wrapped around him from behind and drew him backwards into a tight embrace.

"Jack?" he asked cautiously.

"Who were you expecting? Teal'c?"

Daniel twisted round and grinned. This really was an interesting way to wake up and he wondered how Jack had managed it. Then he began to wonder how they were both going to manage it. Jack seemed to read his mind.

"Its all a matter of momentum Danny." He whispered against Daniel's rapidly flushing skin. They wrapped their arms and legs tightly around each other and lazily rolled across the ceiling in an aerial ballet. When Carter's voice echoed from the wall speaker again, they chose to ignore it in favour of their current mode of communication.

"Sir, things might get a little bumpy while we negotiate this asteroid belt - are you and Daniel holding onto something solid?"

Jack looked down at his hand, trapped between their entwined bodies and grinned.

"Oh yeah," he giggled, "Very solid indeed!"

Daniel snorted loudly and they were propelled against the force field window, which crackled and tossed them back into the centre of the room.

"Did the earth move for you Daniel?" Jack asked solemnly. Daniel pulled him closer and claimed his mouth in a searing kiss. His voice was deep and husky when he pulled back.

"It may have wobbled a little yeah."

Then the lights went out and they floated in complete darkness, with only the twinkling starlight behind them. After a moment of silence Carter's embarrassed voice issues from the speaker again.

"Er sorry sir - two out of three aint bad?"