Daniels Protegy
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PAIRINGS: Daniel & Other
SUMMARY: Daniel's been following the work of another archaeologist. But she has something that surprises them all.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own them, I just love them. This is purely for fun. Please don't sue.
FEED BACK: Would be great. This story isn't finished, and it would be nice to know if you want it to continue.
NOTES: I had this idea that was kicking around my head, and it wouldn't go away until I'd written it down.
TIMELINE: Haven't really got a fixed idea of time line. Jack runs the SGC, Shua're is dead (sob) and the Goa'uld are still a pain the nect.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Cherie looked at her watched, and cursed. She hadn't realised it was so late. A little after nine. No wonder it was dark outside. She jumped the small fence at the bottom of the communal garden that all the residents in her block shared, and made her way in via the back door.
As Cherie ascended the stairs leading to her top floor apartment, she automatically checked the little "precautions" she always placed. The small loose paperclip, and the long hair strand that were strategically placed on the treads of the last flight of stairs had been moved. Cautiously creeping up the final few steps, she approached her front door, and listened. At first she heard nothing, and then she heard the tell tale squeak of her desk drawer. Never removing her gaze from the door, she automatically reached for the large wooden bookend on the hall table next to her door.
Carefully, so as not to alert whoever was inside, she turned the door handle, and snuck into the hall. The layout of her apartment meant that there was a narrow hall about 6 feet long, before she would enter the lounge area where her desk was.
The shuffling sound of paper and documents was louder now, and Cherie was even more annoyed at the disturbance of her private space. Heart pounding she carefully peered around the door way, and saw a male figure seated at her desk, his back towards the door. Without thinking any further, she launched herself into the room and hit him with the bookend, just as he began to turn towards her. The man sprawled sideways, and fell out of the chair. Suddenly she realised she'd actually given out a loud yell as she'd approached. She raised the bookend with 2 hands this time, ready to bring a crashing blow to his head, when strong hands gripped her wrists from behind her back, and disarmed her, throwing the bookend to one side.
Her anger and frustration boiled over, and she kicked out at the person behind her, making sure the heel of her boot scraped painfully down his shin. Grunting in discomfort her attacker changed his grip, forcing her arms down, and pushing her to the floor.
By now, the first man had managed to raise himself up, "Don't hurt her Teal'c." he said, his hand cradling the rapidly growing lump on his skull.
The man referred to as Teal'c lifted her up and pushed her over to the small sofa next to the desk, and she fell ungainly across it.
"Are you hurt DanielJackson?" Teal'c asked in a concerned voice to his colleague.
Right now Cherie didn't care who was hurt, as long it wasn't her. "What the hell are you doing in my apartment?" she asked, changing position to view the pair warily.
They seemed unlikely burglars. The first man was tall, with a mop of brown hair that was extremely dishevelled. The second was probably the largest black man she had ever seen. He wore a trilby hat, but it had been dislodged in the flight, suddenly she noticed the markings on his forehead. It looked familiar.
The man she had hit, withdrew his hand from his head, and seemed surprised to find blood there. "We were looking for you. You are Cherie Lewis aren't you?"
"Danieljackson, do you require medical assistance?" the black man asked, seeing the blood.
"I'll live."
"Not always" he responded.
"Daniel Jackson, as in Dr Daniel Jackson, the Archaeologist?" Cherie asked.
Daniel nodded slowly, and winced. "Ah …. You've heard of me?"
"Oh my God", Cherie moaned, she hid her face in her hands. "I don't believe it."
Daniel carefully lowered himself into the desk chair again, "I'm sorry we .. uh … broke in" he finished lamely. "I've been following your work for sometime, and rather than wait outside, I thought we'd wait in here."
"You've been following MY work?"
Teal'c moved to the kitchen area, and begun hunting in Cherie's freezer for some ice. Seeing Daniel was actually in real discomfort, Cherie begun to soften. "Look, I'm sorry I hit you. I thought you were after my research. I've had break-ins in the past, and I guess I get mad".
"Did you not consider that there may be more than one person to confront?" asked Teal'c handing Daniel a makeshift icepack.
"Actually no." Cherie looked slightly abashed. "I just didn't want my files being taken again." She looked at Daniel. "What exactly did you mean when you said, you've been following my work?"
"I've read your papers regarding the translation of the inscriptions at Tell Abqa'in, and I heard you were involved at the excavations at Qena." He pulled a folded printout from his pocket, "this is your work isn't it?"
"How'd you know about Qena? Data from that dig is still being collated. And I was only there a few weeks." She opened the paper. "And how on Earth did you trace this to me. This was put up anonymously on an archaeological discussion board"
Daniel smiled. "You mentioned a couple of things in there that made me think it was you, and then later, I posted something you replied too. That clinched it."
Cherie looked at him, staring him right in the eye, "have you any idea what I've been through in the last 3 years. Those self righteous bastards in academia refused to give me my doctorate because I had referred to an early paper of yours. I was asked to leave the dig at Qena, because my interpretation of the evidence there didn't match their expected results. Other archaeologists don't want to work with me, because they are afraid to be association with my name. I've read your early work, and agree with it. I have been trying to find evidence elsewhere to back up your theory. But now I can't even get space on digs, because I'm a laughing stock." Cherie paused for breath, "and you!" she spat, "you drop of the face of planet."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Danieljackson did not …"
"Don't say it Teal'c" Daniel interrupted.
Cherie looked at Teal'c,. "That symbol, it's Egyptian isn't it?" she stood up so she could study the markings, lifting his hat, "looks like gold, and it reminds me of a snake. That's the symbol of .."
"Apophis." Daniel finished. "Look I would love to explain more, but right now isn't the time. I really want to talk to you, but you're going to have to trust me for now. Do you think you can do that?"
"Well, despite you breaking in to my apartment, and going through my desk," Cherie nodded slowly. "If you wanted to hurt me, you could have done so already. Also, I doubt my work is as advanced as yours, so all in all, I think I can probably trust you."
Daniel grinned. "The local museum has some interesting Egyptian artefacts. I'd like to show them to you. I'd also like to see your work, perhaps you could bring your latest files with you."
"OK." Cherie went into the kitchen, and picked up a litter tray. Noting their confused looks, she laughed. "I don't have a cat. This is clean litter with a touch of lemonade, just to make it look real." She emptied it into the bin. Taped to the inside of the tray, was blue sealed document bag. "I figured most people aren't going to poke around a litter tray looking for my files".
Teal'c was impressed. "An intelligent safeguard."
"You mean, wise precaution." Daniel corrected.
"Indeed".
- - - - - - - - - -
They had left Cherie's apartment, and only after she had reinstated her "precautions" on the stairs, made their way to Daniel's car, waiting half a block away.
Cherie was seated up front next to Daniel. Teal'c seated in the back. "What sort of artefacts does the museum have?"
"You'll see soon enough. There are some interesting texts that I want you to look at." said Daniel.
"Alright. But I'm not sure what you expect. I'm not really an expert on Languages."
"It's not just languages, sometimes you just need to be able to recognise a period in history, or a place," said Daniel confidently.
"Why do I get the feeling you aren't telling me everything."
"Because at this stage, I can't. But I promise you'll be safe, and you can leave anytime you want." Daniel assured her.
Cherie cast a glance at Teal'C. "So Teal'c, what is your area of expertise."
"I am a warrior".
Daniel visibly winced. "What my friend is trying to say, is that he is highly trained in ancient fighting techniques. Ah, he's kind of a soldier."
"Oh my gosh. You're working for the army aren't you?" she said. "Is he your body guard? What do the army want with an Archaeologist?"
"We are currently employed by the US Air Force," corrected Teal'c.
"Teal'c, you aren't helping. Look it's a long story, and one I can't really go in to now, and he's not my body guard. Look why don't you tell me about how you became an archaeologist."
Cherie stared out of the windscreen, not looking so much at the neighbourhood they were passing, but back into her own past. "My mother was British and was visiting Egypt on holiday, when she got lost in Cairo. Anyway, after wondering around for a long time, not sure what to do, a man approached her, and offered to help, he was a local archaeologist and guide. He was a native Egyptian, and very kind. He was working on a dig in Egypt as a Research Assistant. He took her back to her hotel, and then out to dinner etc. Anyway, by the time she returned to England a few weeks later, she was pregnant. She thought he had considered it a holiday romance, and didn't try to contact him again. About a year later, he came to England looking for her. He was some what shocked to find he was a Daddy. Mum married him, and travelled back with him to Egypt, where he was working on another dig. I was brought up in the trenches. Helping clean items where I could, and everyone teaching me about the language, the life and the history." She sighed. "It was wonderful. I never realised that there was life outside of archaeology. Eventually I was sent to school in England, living with my Grandparents. I was about 6 years old and didn't know how to use a knife and fork. Dad had taught me to read hieroglyphs, and a couple of other dead languages, Mother taught me English. They died in a car crash when I was 16."
"I'm so sorry", said Daniel. "I lost my parents too, I was younger than you, but it's not easy at any age."
Cherie shrugged, "it was a long time ago. Anyway, I then ended up working for a pittance at small museums across the country, getting my hands on as many Egyptian artefacts as possible. It was while I was working at an obscure museum at Caerphilly in Wales that I came across an old crate of Egyptian papyri, and objects. It looks like they should have gone over the one of the larger American museums, but they had been mis-delivered. The joke was, some one had written Caerphilly on the crate, when they mean Carefully."
Daniel smiled, "That must be best one I've heard of. I knew about a crate for Boston, MA, that ended up at Bolton in England. I didn't realise it happened that often."
"Yeah, well, I was looking at the papyri, and strange symbols were printed on it, that I'd never seen before. Also the language was slightly off. I spent weeks working on the translations on the quiet, and eventually translated only a few fragmented pieces. What I found made me investigate further, and eventually sometime in the late 90's I found a very old paper of yours, which discussed the origin of the Pyramids. Your ideas seemed to fit what I had translated. But no one would take my work serious." Cherie glanced at Daniel. "But I guess you found that out too. Anyway, completely by chance one day I found some pictures that reminded me of the strange glyphs I had seen on one of the papyrus. But they weren't glyphs, they were star constellations. I managed to identify about 4 or possibly 5, but the rest … well, let's say, I prefer Archaeology to Astronomy."
"You identified star constellations from the old papyri?" Daniel asked incredulously.
"I know it sounds silly, and I don't know what they are for, but they do match." She held up her folder. "Look, I couldn't take the originals, but I took photos – no one knew. I went back to the museum a few years ago, and the old curator told me that the crate had been put back into storage. But he knew I was interested in the items, and although it was really naughty, he had managed to keep something back for me, that he knew I had always been interested in. Because the crate had never been catalogued as part of the museum inventory, he knew they wouldn't miss it."
"What did he give you?" asked Teal'c.
Cherie reached up to her neck and removed the necklace. "This. As soon as I saw it, I realised that this had similar markings on to the star constellations I had seen on the papyrus. There are 6 markings around the edge."
Daniel reached over and took it from her, trying to drive and look at the necklace at the same time. "I think we need to stop for fuel," he announced as he spotted the lights of a service station in the distance.
Pulling in to the garage, he told Teal'c and Cherie to go and get some coffee. As soon as they were out of the car, he called SGC on his mobile. "Hi Sam, it's Daniel. Look, this girl Cherie, she has far more knowledge than we originally thought. She's seen gate addresses written on papyri, and worked out they are star constellations. I think we should bring in her in to the SGC. Will you go and ask Jack? OK, get back to me. Thanks."
When Cherie and Teal'c returned, Daniel was standing next to the car. She handed Daniel a paper coffee cup. "Teal'c said you took it strong, hope that's OK. Er, how's your head?"
"I've had worse lumps." Daniel looked at Cherie, and sighed. "Look, Cherie, I will be honest with you……" He was interrupted by his mobile. "Er, just give me a minute." Daniel wandered off talking animatedly into the phone.
"So Teal'c, you have a very unusual name." Cherie said. "Where is it from?"
"I am from Chulak"
"And Chulak is where? Sounds Moroccan?"
Danield returned saving Teal'c from answering. "OK, Cherie, that was our boss at …. Well where doesn't matter. Anyway, he has said I can show you some of the Egyptian stuff I've been working on back at base. I'd really like you see it?
"What about the museum items?" Cherie said confused.
"Well, I think you might prefer to see the other items."
"Other items? Can you be more specific?" Cherie said. "That's a little vague."
"I rather you see them and tell me what you think they say or are. It's a little test if you like. Please?"
Cherie looked at him, his eyes reminded her of a puppy, all pleading and hopeful. "You said 'base', I presume a military base?"
"That is correct." said Teal'c. "It will take a several hours to reach it."
Cherie nodded her assent. "OK, but only because I want to see the Egyptian stuff."
Daniel opened the car door for her, "believe me it's worth it."
The journey took a little over 3 hours, and Cherie had fallen asleep. Teal'c had taken over driving, and Daniel was intently studying the necklace.
"Danieljackson, do you recognise the markings?" Teal'c asked quietly, trying not to disturb Cherie.
"I'm not sure. It's almost like they are reversed somehow."
"That's because they are." Cherie rubbed her eyes. "I was awake don't worry. I think they are reversed, so when whoever wore the necklace looked in the mirror, they were readable."
"That's brilliant!" exclaimed Daniel. "We're almost there."
Cherie was somewhat surprised by the security leading upto the base. "What is this place?"
"It was used as a nuclear bunker for a while, before we took it over." Daniel answered.
As they reached the main gates, Cherie was surprised to see they were allowed straight through.
"Sam phoned ahead and gave us clearance." Daniel said.
"Who is Sam?"
"You'll meet her in a minute."
Cherie was getting slightly confused and a little anxious. "I don't understand why a military base employs an archaeologist, and keeps Egyptian artefacts here."
Daniel took her arm, and guided her through the maze of tunnels. "I know it seems odd, but please bear with me."
Teal'C left them to advise Jack and Sam they had returned.
Cherie was eventually led into Daniel's work area. "Sorry," he apologised. "I wasn't really expecting guests." He quickly grabbed a couple of items of clothing and threw them in a cupboard.
Cherie wouldn't have noticed it the items had been pink underwear; her entire focus was given over the variety of objects cluttering up Daniels bench. "Are these what you wanted me to see?"
"Well yes, but I wanted you to see this first." Daniel led her over to a photo pinned to the wall. "Can you read that outer ring portion?"
Cherie studied it carefully, her lips moving as he read the words to herself. "Well, I'd like my books to confirm it, but something like 'Here lies Ra, …. Entombed…. No not entombed, er .. sealed and buried … for all eternity, something door way, no not doorway, more like Stargate."
"Hi Daniel", said a voice female from the door. "Good trip?"
"Sam, she can read it.!" Daniel gestured excitedly towards the picture. "She read the cover stones."
Cherie looked embarrassed, Sam took pity. "Hi Cherie, I'm Sam."
Daniel looked apologetic. "Sorry, Cherie, this is Colonel Samantha Carter. Sam, this is Cherie Lewis."
They shook hands politely. "I understand you managed to 'hit' Daniel."
"Ah, yes, well, he had just broken into my apartment."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Teal'c neglected to mention that."
"Sam, you're missing the point. Cherie can read the inscriptions. She can help with the translation work."
"Well, let's see what the General says about it." Sam offered.
Daniel began to pull out some photos. "Cherie, what do you make of this?"
Sam suddenly realised, that Cherie was completely lost in the translations that surrounded her. A bomb could explode in the corridor and she wouldn't notice. "I guess I'll leave you guys to it."
Daniel and Cherie didn't even notice her leave.
"Well that looks like a set of directions." .
Daniel nodded, "read it out loud."
Cherie shrugged. "OK. together with …."
"Sorry, try it in Egyptian."
Cherie started again, "Hena pen …."
"It's pronounced 'heena'."
"But the accepted standard is 'hena'." She said confused.
"Look, I know what you've been taught, but you also accepted that some of it wrong. You said yourself you thought my ideas might be right. I can't tell yet, how I know, but I know the correct pronunciation is 'heena'. " Daniel said. Seeing her sceptical face he explained, "Until relatively recently no one knew how Egyptian words were spoken. I've spent a long time with a culture that still uses the correct pronunciations. I'd like you to try to learn them too."
"I've spent some time in the remote parts of Egypt, and often found some of the words were changed. I guess like 'Tom-ma-to' and 'To-mate-to" in English." Cherie looked again at the photos, and at Daniel. "Oh Henry Higgins, teach me."
- - - - - - - - - -
It was around 10.00am when Sam ventured back to Daniel's lab the next day. She met General Jack O'Neill heading in the same direction.
"Are you going to visit Daniel's new protégé," she asked.
"Well, I thought I would see what our boy wonder was up to. Tell me, Carter, is she as good as Daniel thinks she is?"
"She practically translated the cover stones without any reference to a book. She even called it Stargate, not doorway to heaven."
O'Neill stopped, "why do I sense a 'but'?"
"No but's Sir, she's really that good." Sam hesitated, "I'm just concerned about Daniel. I haven't seen him this excited about anything since we met these people on PX329, where they showed him how to read the stones around the gate."
"Ah, I knew there was a but." They continued their walk.
As they approached Daniel's lab, O'Neill noticed Teal'c approaching too. "The gangs all here."
Entering the lab, Sam's initial reaction was one of concern as she found Daniel slumped over his desk. She called out loudly and quickly reached over to check for a pulse. Daniel jerked awake, a piece of paper stuck to his cheek. "What's up!"
O'Neill was surprised to see a figure occupying the military cot where Daniel often slept. "Daniel?" he questioned, as the figure emerged from under the blankets, revealing a very tousled Cherie.
"Well, it got kind of late, and we were still working, so I offered Cherie the bunk while I continued checking her translations, and I guess I fell asleep too." He tailed off. "Sorry."
Cherie climbed out of bed and offered her hand to O'Neill. "Hello. I'm Cherie Lewis".
"As in Muffin the mule?" O'Neill offered shaking her offered hand. "Never mind. I'm Jack O'Neill."
"I wondered how long it would be before someone mentioned that awful TV show. General O'Neill isn't it."
"Well, Daniel has never called me General, so I guess you can call me Jack too."
"Cherie, if you come with me, I'll show you to the ladies room,." said Sam, making her way to the door.
Cherie followed meekly. "I guess I do need a bit of brush up."
After the ladies had left, O'Neil glanced at Teal'c and realised that he was trying very hard not to smile at Daniel's obvious discomfort. "So Daniel, I think the nurses are going to be very upset to hear about another girl in your bed."
"Jack, it's not like that." Daniel protested. "It got late, and I realised I didn't know if a room had been prepared for Shau'ri, that's all."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow.
"Shau'ri?" Jack questioned
"Cherie." Daniel hastily. "Her name is Cherie."
Teal'c and O'Neill exchanged glances. "Are you OK Daniel."
"I'm fine, I just …" Daniel looked at them, "I've just woken up and I need coffee!"
Jack held his hands up in mock surrender. "OK Danny Boy, calm down. I'll get you your caffeine fix, just settle down a minute."
Jack wondered over to the coffee pot that Daniel wasn't supposed to keep in his lab. Quickly he threw out the old coffee grounds, and set a new pot on to brew.
Daniel was trying to get the documents on his desk into some resemblance of order. "She's good Jack. Really good. She could halve the amount of the time needed on some of these documents".
Teal'c caught several papers as they slid off Daniels desk, "Have you not told her the truth of the Stargate DanielJackson?"
Daniel caught the look on Jack's face. "Don't worry Jack, I haven't told her a thing. I just asked her to look at the papers, and translate them. She has no idea about the G'oauld."
"So what's your plan, Danny." Jack asked.
"I want her to work here."
"That I got." Jack rested his hands on the desk. "Tell me why."
"Because she can help. She can read Ancient Egyptian, almost as well as I can. She speaks fluent Arabic and Egyptian, as well as French and German. I've seen her work, and its probably only a matter of time before she works out that Aliens have visited Earth or the wrong people hear of her."
Jack looked up. "You mean the NID?"
Daniel shrugged. "I don't want to be alarmist, but she told us she's already had break-ins at her apartment. Her research has been stolen before and I think she would be a real asset to the SGC."
"Daniel. Yesterday when we discussed her, you were going to just speak to her. See what she knew. Then you called and said you wanted to bring her here. Now you want to hire her!"
"There's something else Jack."
"Enlighten me."
"She wears an ancient Egyptian necklace, made of naquadah, that is engraved with a gate address. One that doesn't appear in the Ancients database or in the chamber on Abydos."
Jack sighed. He knew he'd already lost this argument.
- - - - - - - -
"So Cherie, Daniel told me that you've spent some time on digs in Egypt," said Sam, trying to make polite conversation.
Cherie nodded, and continued to wash her face, staring at the mirror as though she was surprised to find her reflection there. "I was there earlier this year, for a few months. There is usually a dig going on somewhere there where they don't mind taking a few students. Something tells me you aren't an archaeologist though."
"Nope, sorry. Military."
"Right." Cherie dried her face, and tried to pull her hair into some resemblance of order. "Have you know Daniel long?"
"About 8 years now."
"He stopped publishing about then. Let me guess, that's when he came to work here?"
Sam shrugged. "I think so. Why?"
"Oh it's just I could never work out what happened. When I found his papers, for my research, I was just surprised everything stopped so abruptly. I thought he would have done more." Sighing at her reflection, "I'm done. I think this is as good as its going to get."
Sam smiled. "You look fine. Shall we collect the boys and get some breakfast?"
"Thanks Sam. I didn't realise it had go so late."
- - - - - - - -
Cherie was surprised to find jello on the menu for breakfast in the Commissary.
"Do people really eat that at this time of the morning?" she asked, just as Jack helped himself to one. "Er, never mind."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"I believe CherieLewis does not think that Jello constitutes a nutritional meal," said Teal'c, taking a large stack of pancakes.
"Hey, unlike some people, I've been up a while. This isn't breakfast for me!" protested Jack.
SG1 and Cherie took their places at one of the larger tables.
"Perhaps you could tell me what your last dig was Daniel?" asked Cherie.
Daniel threw a small glance at Jack. "Well to be honest, it's been a while? I'm mostly doing research at the moment."
"Oh. OK. Well, could you tell me about the dig you were on at Abydos."
Sam and Jack spluttered their juice.
Cherie was startled at their reaction. "What did I say?"
Daniel smiled. "Don't worry Cherie. They aren't as familiar with the cities along the Nile as you. I don't think they were aware I spent a few years there doing my Thesis."
Sam and Jack recovered themselves. "Oh that Abydos," said Jack.
"You mean there's more than one?" said Cherie. "Well at least you got your doctorate. I guess I will need to start from scratch again."
Jack held up a spoon, and waved it vaguely in Cherie's direction. "How would you feel about putting it on hold for a bit?"
"Why?"
"Daniel thinks that perhaps you could help us out here." Jack shrugged. "I just thought you might be interested."
Cherie looked puzzled. "But I was under the impression the stuff Daniel was doing, was his own research."
Jack nodded. "Mostly it is. But occasionally we have some other finds that Daniel doesn't always have time to get to. The Air Force pays reasonably well, and we might even be able to sort out your Doctorate problem."
"What's the catch?"
"We want a closer look at that necklace of yours." said Jack.
Cherie closed her hand over the pendant. "Really? Why?"
"It could be nothing, it could be something. We'd just like to study it for a little while," said Sam. "It's made of a very unusual mineral."
"Is it?
"Look Shau'ri, I asked you last night to trust me. For the moment can you trust me a bit longer?" said Daniel. "It might be important."
"Shau'ri?" she asked puzzled
Daniel blushed and looked embarrassed. "Sorry Cherie. I keep confusing your name with the Egyptian variant Shau'ri."
Cherie didn't look convinced. "I really don't know about this."
"Don't make a decision right now." Said Sam. "Take some time. Work with Daniel on the translations and let's take it from there."
"I'll think about it."
- - - - - - - - - -
Back in Daniels office, Cherie was rummaging through Daniel's notes. "I can't believe you actually begun to make some headway in the translation of Linear A!" she exclaimed. "Why haven't you published anything?"
"It's not that straight forward," said Daniel. "I mean, most of my work is classified."
"Speaking of which," said Jack as he walked through the door. "I have a lot of forms for Cherie to sign."
Cherie looked up from Daniel's notebook, "really, what are they for?"
Jack cast a glance at Daniel, "if you want to know what we do here, and I mean the whole enchilada, you need to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement. I figure how can we expect you to trust us, if we won't actually tell you anything. Sign these and Daniel will explain everything."
"Including how you know how to speak Ancient Egyptian when no one else does?" said Cherie.
"That too."
"Deal." Cherie quickly reached for the folder and signed where Jack indicated. Once done, she turned to Daniel, come on then, spill the beans!"
"OK, you know those cover stone you translated ……"
- - - - - - - - - - - -
"….. and this is the Stargate," said Daniel, pointing through the briefing room window to the gate in the room below.
Daniel, Sam and Teal'c were showing Cherie around the base.
"Wow." Cherie gazed at it. "Oh my god, I can see some of the symbols from my necklace on the stargate!"
"The symbols create a kind of address. We know of hundreds of addresses from various sources, but we've not seen the address on your necklace before," said Sam.
In the gate room, a team were getting ready to depart. At that moment the Stargate inner ring started to move one of the Chevrons locked.
Cherie watched mesmerised as ring rotated, she was taken by surprised when the gate vortex appeared and she jumped back startled.
"That's normal," said Sam reassuringly.
The team below adjusted their equipment for a moment, and then strode confidently up the ramp and through the blue circle of water.
After the final team member had entered the gate, it shut down, and a metal cover slid over the front of it.
"Is that the Iris you mentioned?" said Cherie.
"Yes, it's pure ….." started Sam
Jack held up a hand. "Don't over load the girl Carter. I think Daniel teaching her stuff for hours on end it quite enough."
"Yes Sir."
"So Cherie. What do you think?" asked Jack.
"It's real. It's actually real." Cherie shook her head. "I didn't quite believe it until now. And Daniel was right. The pyramids, aliens, everything."
Jack shrugged, "we try not to let it go to his head."
"Why do you need me? It's obvious that I'm way out of my depth here." She said.
Daniel perched himself on the edge of the table. "Actually I don't think you are. OK your pronunciation needs a little work, but nothing that won't come with practice. The fact is you already know most the important languages we use here."
"You also read the cover stones, acurately, something that had defeated archaeologists working on this project for years, before Daniel translated them." Sam added.
"DanielJackson would not suggest this unless he believed you were capable of undertaking such a task, CherieLewis." Said Teal'c quietly.
She looked over to him. "I'm beginning to feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland. I've fallen down a rabbit hole and am having a strange dream. You didn't say before, but Chulak isn't on Earth is it?"
"No CherieLewis, it is my home world many light years from Earth." Confirmed Teal'c.
"Teal'c joined us to help us fight the Goa'uld and free his people from slavery." Said Daniel. "There are many other people out there in the Galaxy too, some more advance, and some not. We try to meet people and make alliance. Mutual trade where we can."
"Can I travel through the Stargate?" asked Cherie.
"Maybe. One day." Said Jack.
"I won't lie to you Cherie," said Sam. "This is not your average job. This base and the people on it are sometimes the only thing that stops the Earth being taken over by the Goa'uld, and even we've been lucky on occasion. Working for the SGC may be the most exciting thing in the world, but it's probably also one of the most dangerous. We've all been injured or worse. Working on base is safer than off world, but not by much."
Cherie nodded. "I see. Thank you for your honesty. I really don't know if I'm cut out to work here, but…." She paused and reached up to release her necklace. "I do know that if this can help you, you should have it." She held it out to Sam. "please, I really hope it helps."
Sam took the necklace and smiled. "Thank you."
Cherie looked again to the Stargate. "Not getting my doctorate was worth it. For the chance to see this." She nodded to Daniel. "I would like to have another look at those documents, if that's alright."
"It's fine. Go ahead, I'll catch you up."
After Cherie left the briefing room, Jack looked at Sam. "Did you really need to tell her about how dangerous it is here?"
Sam knew he was teasing, "at least I didn't tell her how many times we've all died! That would have freaked her out."
"Do you think the necklace itself is significant?" asked Daniel.
Sam studied it a moment. "Well, it's definitely naquadah, but not very pure. There are also some strange indentations and raised markings on the back of it, almost as though it 'fits' something."
"Like a key?" said Daniel, getting up to examine it. "Teal'c, have you ever come across anything like this before?"
"It is not unusual for the Goa'uld to disguise technology as other jewellery or other objects. This could indeed be a key. Much like your swipe card technology today."
"So if this is a key, where is the lock?" asked Jack.
Daniel shrugged. "I have no idea, but the gate address inscribed on it must be important. Jack, I'd really like to look at the other artifacts that were with the necklace, they could be relevant."
"You want to go to England?" Jack shook his head. "Let me think about it." He held up a finger as Daniel started to protest. "No Daniel. I'm not saying no, I just want Sam to investigate the necklace at this end first. Perhaps she can find something interesting."
"Yes Sir," said Sam.
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Please let me know what you think? I have a few ideas of where this is going, but nothing concrete at this stage. Please let me know if it's worth continuing.