It was a typical briefing at seven AM, typical except in Jack being a bit more irritable than normal. Maybe he accidently got into the decaf. Even more unusual was Sam. She was also edgy. Everybody in the room passed it off as being a woman and that this was just a mood thing, combined with the unusual amount of enemy contacts lately. Maybe they all needed a bit of a rest.
"P3X-626 is barely inhabitable. Environment suits are advised, but it appears barren, a forming planet." Sam was showing a video and an environmental chart of conditions. "I would suggest we send in a geological unit to study its conditions. We might get . . ."
Alarms and flashing lights interrupted the briefing. The base's entire electrical system was malfunctioning. The sirens were turning off and on. Clearly this was not an alert, but a system failure. Jack threw down the pencil he was playing with and mumbled something under his breath. Daniel put his head on the table, also fatigued by the recent elevated activity.
General Hammond looked at Sam. "Go see what's going on," he said in a frustrated voice. This was no deliberately triggered alarm. Sam acknowledged and turned for the door. She hesitated as she started walking through the doorway, startled.
She looked at the soldier standing outside on guard, then looked to Teal'c. Teal'c was alert and had a look of determination on his face. "Teal'c, I think I'll need your help." She looked scared. Jack stood up immediately, a look of fear on his face, sensing the same thing Carter did.
The guard's eyes lit up and he spoke in the double voice of a Goa'uld, but strangely melodious. "Oh dear. I've been discovered, and by a superior force. I suppose the wise thing to do would be surrender to the second most beautiful warrior I have met," he said with a smile, almost a laugh. There was nothing sinister in his laugh, more like parent playing hide and go seek with a toddler and just got caught. With that he handed his weapon over to a shocked Sam. He put his hands behind his head and walked into the room with Sam following. Everyone was now on their feet.
"Major Carter, may I suggest you hand the weapon to Colonel O'Neill and search out the source of the disturbance, but please give us a few minutes before you backfeed what you find." If only all the Goa'uld were this easy to capture. Something was definitely up. This Goa'uld wanted to be found? And wanted Sam to find the source?
Teal'c and O'Neill ran to grab the Goa'uld, who gave no resistance. Carter was confused by the comment and easy capture. She better stay alert and watch her back.
The Goa'uld's eyes glow again and in normal voice addressed the group, "General Hammond," then with a hint of a snicker finished the title, "of Texas." He gave the General a proper salute and gave Jack a half-hearted one with a little bow before continuing, "peace friends. We only have about 2 minutes to safely talk here. Beyond that I cannot offer any guarantees. They will only be getting, um," a sly smile comes across his face, "television and radio for that long. We have only controlled the timing of the inevitable, as I am confident Major Carter will discover, and some slight tinkering on our part with this room's monitoring to ensure secrecy. Can we go to Adventure World to talk safely?"
Hammond waved Carter out. She looked at O'Neill with a questioning look.
O'Neill gave her a nod, "we have his weapon. I think we can handle him. Watch your back."
Carter walked out with a concerned and confused look on her face, not quite sure what was happening. Maybe it was a dream and she would wake up soon.
The Goa'uld pointed to the name on his uniform, "My people usually call me Master Goulet. You can call us Goulet. You have been infiltrated by a great enemy."
O'Neill responded sarcastically, "is that a little overconfidence I hear?" The 'capture' was way too easy, like he wanted to be captured. How many others were around?
Goulet responded calmly in Goa'uld double voice, "the greatest enemy is the one from within. Check the weapon. It is what you call blanks. I suggest you give it back before the cameras and bugs kick back in. It is not a good idea to, how do you say it, tilt the hand too soon."
O'Neil sarcasticly responded, "that's tip the hand." Jack cautiously checked the weapon, first kicking out a few rounds. Blanks. He took the magazine off the M16 and looked at it as Goulet continued.
Goulet responded casually in an almost melodious voice like one would use at a party, "tip, tilt. We wish to assist you with both the NID and the Goa'uld. We will talk later. I wish to go to Adventure World and examine it. It sounds like a good place to also get rid of the NID, am I correct? It is also time for the Goa'uld to learn that they are not gods. With much power comes much responsibility. By the way, there are three others here who will show themselves and assist you as soon as the Major does a little basic exterminating and then three to pick up on the way to Adventure World."
All looked surprised. "So there are seven we know about. How many others?" Jack was not to be taken in by a Goa'uld.
"That is it."
Jack checked the ammo clip again and cleared the chamber. Blanks. Goulet submitted to a search and they found only a wallet with some very good fake ID and the usual credit cards and a few hundred dollars "My wonderful wife is a painter and she sold a few paintings to a studio in New York City," Goulet offered. Goulet took the weapon and resumed his position, but inside the room and the rest sat down, watching this strange visitor. The glitch kicked in an out on occasion.
About an hour later everything went silent and a few minutes later Carter returned into the briefing room. As she passed Goulet standing guard he gave her a wink when she looked at him, careful to use his eye away from the camera. She looked around the room, took a chair and examined the ceiling. Everybody was watching her, except Goulet, keeping proper guard on the room. She didn't find what she wanted and jumped up on the table, to the dismay of the group, curious about Sam's behavior. She pulled a flashlight from one of her utility pockets and lifted a ceiling panel, using the flashlight to search the ceiling.
She spotted her target, looked above and then below, then back above, making sure of her target. She looked around again, and gave a sigh of satisfaction. "Only one." She came down and asked for help moving the table. Goulet looked her way, but Teal'c was already moving the heavy table for her, pushing chairs over in the process. She jumped up on the table again, pulling down the ceiling tile, exposing the camera, pulling it down for all to see.
Goulet became interested in it, examining it with apparent curiosity and ignorance. "What is that?"
Sam shook her head in disbelief and confusion, "It's a surveillance camera and mic."
She started to yank the wires, but Goulet stopped her, "Wait! Shouldn't we be nice and wave goodbye first?" The response was mixed. Sam shook her head, trying to get her mind engaged in this weird behavior from a Goa'uld. Hammand gave a disgusted, "oh brother." Teal'c tilted his head as he turned his head in Goulet's direction. Daniel, not quite sure if it was a joke responded in a hesitant, "um, okay I guess," and started to wave. Jack responded by reprimanding Daniel.
Goulet opened the door and called the nearby guards to the conference room and instructed them, "Could you please wave goodbye to whomever is on the other end of that camera?" pointing toward Sam. Confused, they obeyed. Goulet gave a big smile and an exaggerated wave, putting his hand to his lips and kissing them goodbye. Sg-1 and Hammond didn't know what to think. With the real guards in front of him, Goulet let the Goa'uld take control with the obvious glowing eyes, deliberately getting the attention of the viewers on the other end of the camera.
Finally Daniel joined back in. Teal'c also joined in with his native bow, and Sam, getting in the playful mood pointed the camera to her face and kissed the mic before cutting the wires. Sam looked around on the wires and found a Goa'uld-like device. She pulled it off and held it out to Goulet.
"That's the only Goa'uld-like device you'll find. Very simple, actually. We used it simply to ensure a few minutes of privacy, and feed them some television signals. You can keep it," Goulet responded in a casual manner with a wave of his hand.
Sam turned to Hammond, "we're loaded with surveillance devices. Some of them were improperly installed, piggybacking our systems. It caused a short that drove the systems nuts! I back fed them and traced them to what appears to be NID. They've been monitoring us for some time. I also found a few devices on several personal laptops, too. This room is clean . . . now. Someone inside is working for them. The only additional thing I found was this strange device." She tossed the device on the table.
Goulet dismissed the confused soldiers and sat down, picking up the device and handed it to Hammond. "Keep it as a small token of our friendship." Leaning back, casually placing his hands behind his head he casually continued, "I think it is time for a break. What do you say we all go to Adventure World together and relax? I think we had enough excitement for one day on the job." General Hammond dismissed the guards, who now recognized Goulet as a Goa'uld and reluctantly left.
O'Neil looked at General Hammond who shrugged, mouth open. Hammond, caught off balance responded, "I could use a break. Besides, I'm curious to find out what interest the Goa'uld have in an amusement park, of all places. Besides, we have others we need to find." Hammond gave Goulet a concerned look.
Dr. Jackson finally spoke up, "maybe they're interested in the secret spy training base there?" adjusting his glasses.
O'Neill sarcastically responded, "Daniel! You're not supposed to know about that!"
Jackson playing along in his geeky way responded, "sorry, I heard you and Carter talking about it yesterday," adjusting his glasses.
Goulet responded in a mocking shock, "Oh! We thought it was actually a secret interstellar missile base and we wanted to find the secret entrance!" After regaining control of his deep laughter Goulet responded in Goa'uld to General Hammond, "we will meet my team of three on the way out. How many guards would you like for them?"
The group was walking down a hallway with nine guards following. Three technicians approached the group. The lead technician excitedly addressed Goulet, "Sir, I assume we are ready? This corridor has already been cleared. All the vehicles, personal vehicles included, still have their bugs and tracking devices intact, as ordered. We found a vehicle with a malfunctioning listening device in the carpool. A soldier has it waiting for you. We did a little extra work on the computer running the entry to the base while we were waiting. We tightened up the accuracy and efficiency of the hand scanner."
Goulet smiled and gave them each a hug, addressing them as friends. He leaned over to Hammond and spoke, "it is good to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. We will have better, more plausible avoidance techniques in a very crowded public place. Let's go pick up the others at the playground in town."
O'Neill, Carter, and Jackson responded in unison and surprise, "playground?" Hammond was speechless, just shaking his head.
Goulet's host spoke to Jack, "please tell me about this thing called fishing." Jack was very cynical of this Goa'uld. He didn't take his eyes off this strangely cooperative Goa'uld.