Chapter 4

"This is unorthodox, Daniel Jackson." I'm back on the meeting planet with Telak, explaining what I've learned. Teal'c assures me that this Jaffa spy can be trusted.

"The Alliance is unorthodox. Nothing they do makes much sense because they can barely function as a collective. You're on the inside; you know that better than I do."

Telak has to nod in agreement. It's no secret that Earth deals the Alliance crippling blows every couple years. They're not quite as strong or united as they used to be. Odie Ventrell himself was once leader, but fell because of all the in-fighting. He now only controls a small portion of the Alliance. Telak happens to be a spy within Ventrell's ranks.

"You cannot just go to Girardi and expect to be left alone. They have stationed two ha'tak vessels there."

"Why?"

"They're afraid. Ventrell believes the attackers will come back to take what's left of the casa."

"You said there's almost nothing left." Telak nods. "They're paranoid, aren't they?"

"Indeed. Ventrell mistakenly thinks he can regrow the colony and start anew."

"Because his power base is shrinking. Right. He doesn't have any room to expand." Telak bows his head, knowing I've understood. "I still have to go. Those ha'tak recorders are floating in the debris and they might have the answers I need. The Alliance might want to know who attacked their colony, but I need to know more."

The Jaffa considers me carefully. "Why is it so important to you, Daniel Jackson?"

"Earth doesn't want another bloodbath. If we can find out who is destroying planets along the galaxy's outer rim, maybe we can negotiate."

He grunts. "You Tau'ri are a strange people. You can crush the mightiest of threats, yet you seek to 'talk' with your enemies! Why not stand your ground and show force so that no one would dare to challenge you in the first place?"

"Like the Lucian Alliance has so successfully done?" I ask sarcastically. Telak smirks, then laughs aloud.

"You make a point, human."

"We, Tau'ri, like to ask questions first then shoot later. You know that 'intelligence' is just as valuable as a weapon."

Telak thinks on this for a moment. He's like many Jaffa, primed to take orders and do battle. It's been Teal'c's struggling mission to give his people a purpose, especially since no urgent threats to the Jaffa have surfaced before now. Part of that struggle includes educating the Jaffa on how to live life without violence as their primary means of solving problems. "You speak wisely, Daniel Jackson. I will give you the coordinates of Girardi, but you must be warned. Those ha'tak will likely try to destroy you."

"I'm sure they will."

I take my leave and travel to another planet – the Alpha site. General Graham arranged to have a cargo ship there for me.

000

"Darling." So much meaning is wrapped up in the way she says it. Vala is seated, staring intently at me through a video screen. I recognize the flags stationed behind her. She must be set up in the briefing room back home. She's happy and relieved to see me. I don't have to see her face to know it. "How goes the mission?"

"Oh you know," I start lightly, "I've done a little traveling. Seen the sights. Made new friends." I tap the gate room console of the Alpha site absently. Before me the light of the shimmering event horizon brightens everything in the drab, gray room. Various technicians doomed to their assignments quietly go about their tedious jobs.

She grimaces, not in the least bit interested in playing our little game of sarcasm. "And have any of these new friends tried to kill you yet?"

My eyes widen ever so slightly. "Only one!"

"Hmpf." I can tell she doesn't approve. One of the techs seems to scoff.

I let out a little extra breath through my nose and close my eyes. She's too worried about me. I'd better get straight to the point. "Sweetheart, I'm fine. I haven't even gotten a scratch. I do, however, have a promising lead that I need to check out. The ha'tak vessels have black boxes. One of them might be floating in the debris around Girardi."

"Your expression tells me it won't be as easy as getting over there and picking it up."

"No, it won't be. I have to figure out a way to get past the two ha'tak vessels they've left behind to guard the place."

"Idiots. If they'd have done any digging of their own they'd know that the aliens never go back to a place they've hit."

"Tell that to Ventrell. It's one of his remaining worlds."

Vala smirks. "How nice for him."

"Yeah."

"Darling, you know that if I could, I'd be there with you." She strengthens the eye contact she's maintained with me ever since this conversation began. Her eyes have been memorizing my features unconsciously, making sure they never forget my face if I don't return. I know, because I'm doing the same exact thing.

I nod at her last statement. "I know."

"Hmm… perhaps I can still offer you assistance. When were you planning to visit Girardi?"

"This evening, once the cargo ship is loaded with supplies."

"Hmm. Make it tomorrow morning at 0300 hours. I'll need a little time."

"Vala," I say with the warning tone I usually reserve for our children, "what are you thinking?"

"Normally I would be an open book to you, Darling, but this time, you'll just have to wait for the surprise." For the first time since we began talking, she grins. I know that smile. It means trouble.

"Vala," I start again.

She raises her hands within the view of the monitor to placate me. "Now don't worry, Daniel. You would probably approve of what I have in mind. Perfectly effective."

"But not perfectly safe, I presume. Thus your decision to not participate in sharing time."

She grins again. I cringe inwardly. "Mmm hmm." I sigh and give in immediately. I recognize a battle that's not worth winning. The gears were already turning in her head the minute I told her about my next task. She updates me on the children, who are fine and missing me, as expected. We exchange quick "I love you's" in one of the few languages we share that isn't English and sign off.

I need to take a short moment to process everything before I get up to prepare my cargo ship. I sit back in the chair and cross my arms over my chest. The chair squeaks loudly with the shift in weight. I glance around to see if anyone cared, and notice that all of the techs are already looking at me. I offer them a confused furrow of the brow. "What?"

All of them scramble back into their previous tasks, embarrassed to have been caught staring. One of the older techs speaks for the lot. "Sorry, sir, it's just a bit of a shock to see you here." I remain confused. "We've been fairly well-briefed on the things you've accomplished, sir. It's kind of comforting to see that you have ordinary cares just like the rest of us."

"Ahh. Makes me seem more human, doesn't it?"

He nods with a meek smile.

I often forget just how much weight the name 'Daniel Jackson' seems to carry wherever I go. Within the confines of any SGC facility, I'm told I'm some sort of a legend. I don't seem to notice as much back home, but out here in the middle of nowhere, I guess it's news that I'm here. I'd rather these people see me as ordinary so they can get over this strange hero-worship thing they've built up. I don't think I can live up to whatever ideal they hold me to out here. Nor would I even want to. I've got other things on my mind.

"Captain, do you have the equipment to read the black box from a ha'tak vessel?"

He thinks for a moment. "No." He adds, "But I do believe the latest battleships are outfitted with compatible technology. Shall I send for one of them, sir? Perhaps Colonel Carter's ship?" The hopeful look in his eyes tells me that I'm not the only legend floating around like a ghost in these halls.

With an imperceptible shake of my head, I say, "Sure. Why not. Tell her it's for me."

He nods excitedly. "I was planning on it."

000

I'm sitting patiently in the cargo ship the SGC has lent me. It's currently cloaked in orbit around the former Alliance colony. I exited hyperspace early, on the outer edge of the solar system behind a moon, to avoid detection. Even before I had a chance to hit the cloak command, my scanners picked up the signatures of two other ships in the area. Telak's intel is correct thus far.

The ha'tak vessels do very little but sit in their floating parking spaces. To pass the time, I've been taking scans of the debris and the ruined colony below. I've already found the so-called black box, but I have no safe way to get it right now. This old bucket is an easy target without cloaking generators. It would simply take too long for me to de-cloak and ring aboard the box in question without getting shot at.

Twenty minutes before the scheduled reveal of my wife's supposed surprise, the ha'tak vessels begin powering up their engines. I drop my feet off the console and sit up. One ship jumps into hyperspace, and then the next. The planet is unguarded. "Go Vala," I say with a smile. I do one quick pass around the planet just to be sure before de-cloaking.

When I finally do, I nervously hit the commands for the rings. Even a few seconds visible to scanners are a few seconds too long. I have no way of telling when those ships will be back. When I'm satisfied the rings have brought in what I intended, I cloak the ship again. It might be wise for me to fly away now, but I feel the need to check my cargo first.

I put on some heavy gloves and sort through the strange pieces sitting on the floor of the cargo room. They're beyond ice-cold, having been in the dead vacuum of space for so long. "Hello," I mumble. Based on Telak's description, I've found the piece I was looking for. It's not rectangular like one would expect, but rather a hearty black crystal encased in some sort of resin. It's as long as my arm and as wide as my hand. I've never seen a crystal this large, though I wouldn't be surprised if Atlantis was equipped with items like these. Perhaps even larger given the size of that ship.

I smile. Sam will have a field day.

My scanners start beeping. When I look back through the door at my heads-up display, I realize that the others have come back. Time to go.

A warning shot nearly slices through the side of my ship as I sit back down. Crap. I slowly and carefully maneauver toward my would-be attackers. Vala once taught me that ha'taks never expect a cloaked cargo ship they're after to fly toward them. The move throws them off, leaving them to continue firing blind shots into space.

I silently fly right between the ships, so close that I can almost see inside of one. I wait until I'm back behind a moon on the outer rim of the system to jump.

"Whew." The swirling blue of hyperspace allows me a little reprieve. That was almost too easy. I'm not likely to have another one of those lucky breaks for a long, long time. In fact, experience states that my next task will result in nothing but big trouble. I swallow. I've got very little to look forward to now.

000

"No, no… please just let me go."

I barely recognize the whine of my own weak voice.

They don't listen.

A blade slices through me. I feel warm blood gush out and hear it splash onto the floor.

I scream. I've never heard myself scream like that. Never thought that I could. If it weren't for the pain, I'd be chilled to the bone from the sound of my own torture.

When I open my eyes again, spider-like arms are holding the long stick that just cut me in half. It drops to the floor and all I can concentrate on is the loud clatter it makes.

The console is beeping. "Agh!" I jump in my seat and nearly fall out of it. Sweat is pouring down my brow. My hands are clammy. My heart is beating a mile a minute. "Shit," I mutter. I bring a shaky hand to my forehead while the other finds the command to silence the alarm. I don't dare close my eyes, taking in the relative comfort of the cargo ship floor over the memory of my latest nightmare.

My breathing is ragged. It's taking longer to recover from this one. I wrap my arms around myself. Where are these damn images coming from? I demand of myself. My brain has no explanation for this self-imposed mental torture. It's then that I realize I've been crying in my sleep. The tears are starting to dry on my cheeks. "Shit," I swear again.

The console beeps, but this time the sound is different. It chimes in a way to let me know a message is coming through. Maybe that's the best thing for me right now. Human contact should help me forget this latest fear-inducing experience. I slap the button to turn on the receiver.

"…peat. This is the Earth ship Hammond. Identify yourself."

I look up through the window. There she is. It's a beautiful sight from my vantage point. All guns and glory and full of human life inside. It's exactly what I need. I sit up and lean forward. "This is Daniel Jackson. Confirmation code: Sierra Niner Alpha Charlie."

There is a pause on the other end. They're making sure the code hasn't been changed since I last left home. "Daniel?" It's Sam's voice.

"Sam!"

"Good to hear your voice. You're clear to dock." Her ship sends mine instructions and I set the system to follow them automatically. Meanwhile I gather up the black crystal and get ready to open the airlock.

When the door hisses open, there are a few airmen on the other side to greet me. They salute me even though I'm a civilian. I nod, but reserve my warm greetings for the woman I'm about to meet. The airmen lead me through the winding maze of Sam's ship to a conference room on the bridge level.

I'm surprised to see Vala in there.

She jumps up. "Daniel!" She hugs me fiercely.

"What the Hell… wait… you did what?" Her physical contact tells me all I need to know. It was Vala who had arranged for the Hammond to get into a firefight with one of Ventrell's ships nearby the Girardi colony. She had even posed as the ship's commander so she could get on the coms and goad Ventrell into a fight herself. Telak had been right. He really did want to kill her.

The distraction had proven worthy enough for Ventrell to recall his other ships, the very same ones I had been hiding from. To add to the fun, she made it look like the Hammond had taken damage and jumped away like a dog with its tail between its legs. I carefully put the black crystal down on the table and grab her shoulders. "You…"

She grins.

Sam enters and greets me with a fierce hug of her own. "I've missed you both so much."

"I hope we haven't inconvenienced you, Sam," I say.

She just laughs. "Not at all, it was fun," she replies, commenting about Vala's antics while aboard. Sam shares a conspiratorial smile with her female friend. I groan loudly but Sam ignores my complaint. "I saw pictures of Luke and Leah. They're huge!"

Now I'm grinning. "Yup, they're growing nonstop."

"So I hear," she says with a chuckle. Her golden locks sparkle in the light of the conference room. Today she's pulled her long hair into a sleek ponytail.

"Speaking of which…" I turn to my wife. "Where are they?"

Vala stays perfectly calm. "With Jack."

"Jack!?"

"He volunteered."

"What?"

"It's true," Sam chimes in. "Once he heard about Vala's little plan, he offered to take in the kids. Said something about how it might be fun."

I smirk. "Ha. I'm sure he's crying just about now."

Sam smiles wickedly. "That's why I didn't say anything."

"You are evil," I comment good-naturedly.

"So," Sam starts, gesturing to the black crystal on the table, "this is it?"

I pick it up and hand it to her. "According to my contact, yes. This is the black box of a ha'tak vessel."

Sam turns it around in her hands, testing its weight. "I guess I'm not surprised to find it's an oversized crystal encased in trinium alloy."

"Will you be able to read it then?"

"Yes. We've got the equipment set up in one of the labs. I have a team standing by to analyze the data."

Vala speaks up excitedly. "Then let's get it down there. Sam, I'm sure you have other important tasks to keep up with. Don't let us get in the way."

We both stare at Vala for a moment. Sam blinks then lets a small smile form on her face. "Right." She presses a button on the wall pad, calling for one of her people to come pick up the crystal. Turning back to us, "I'm sure you remember where your quarters are. Daniel, you're welcome to stay as long as you need."

"Thanks, Sam." When our friend leaves, Vala grabs my face and pulls me into a long, deep kiss. I don't resist. Wouldn't want to resist.

She breaks the kiss eventually, taking in some air. By now I have her fully enveloped in my arms. I let my nose make contact with hers. We don't have to say anything to know what we'll do next, privately in our quarters.

000

Hours later, the three of us plus one of Sam's scientists are back in the briefing room. The scientist has set up a display of pertinent information on the screen and on individual datapads. I stare at the mess of Go'auld logs and reports about ship functions I know I'll never understand. When I glance over, it looks like everyone else seems to be getting something out of this but me.

"According to this data," Major Herst begins, "the ha'tak vessel was engaged in some sort of battle. Based on the damage reports that were coming in, the fight was pretty one-sided."

Vala mumbles, staring at her data pad, "They had no idea what hit them. Literally."

"It looks like their assailants were using some sort of energy pulse, but other reports say the ship's damage was being caused by projectile weapons," Sam said with interest.

"Anything on who was attacking?" I say, mustering a little patience.

"Oh. Sorry." Sam scrolls through more reports on her pad. "Here." Whatever she's looking at gets transmitted to the holographic display above the table. It shows a basic outline of a ship we've never seen before. The gridlines twist in so many unfamiliar directions, I'm not really sure what I'm looking at.

Sam gets up to point at the hologram. Staring back and forth between it and her datapad, she shows how the energy pulses seem to originate from a portion of the ship shaped like a double-helix. It's an odd configuration for a star ship. The double-helix pattern forms the center of the structure. In what seems to be the back of the ship, the helix collapses in on itself into an assymmetrical mass. From there other structures shoot out all around the helix, as if they were ribs protecting organs. What's more, there are no right angles or hard edges to its design.

"I don't suppose anyone recognizes this," Sam chimes in after a moment.

Vala and the scientist shake their heads no.

I continue to stare at the display. I know I've never seen this before. Not even the MALP caught a clear picture of the ship that set fire to the last allied planet I was on. I'm not getting a strange tingle of familiarity from this picture. For some reason, I think I'm disappointed.

Vala punches my arm lightly. When I blink, I realize everyone's been waiting for me. "What is it?" she asks.

"I've never seen anything like it." Something tells me that I should at least feel, well, something. Like I should have a flash right about now. As if this very display is supposed to unlock all the deep, dark secrets hiding in the recesses of my mind. But it doesn't. The mystery of who these aliens are remains.

"Hey take a look at this," Vala chimes in. She taps at her datapad and it overrides the holographic display. A communication log has popped up. "They tried to hail the other ship before it opened fire." We all see the icon that represents "play" in Go'auld. Someone hits it and sound fills the room.

"Identify yourself."

Static.

"You are trespassing in Lucian Alliance territory. Identify yourself or be destroyed."

Somewhere in the background, another voice sounds, caught in the recording. "Jysef, the other vessel is scanning our colony. It has just sent down a probe."

"Open fire and destroy them."

"Ffjalksjf… sfuifo rueiox."

The recording stops there. "What the hell was that at the end?" Sam's subordinate asks.

"Sounded like gibberish to me," Vala answers. Sam nods in agreement.

I don't reply. I'm frozen, processing the noise I just heard. That was a language. That was an alien language. No discernable separation of sounds. No way for the human voice box to even mimic what we just heard. But it was language just the same. I know. Because I think I've heard it before.

In my dreams.

"Daniel?"

Vala leans over. I don't move.

"Darling, are you okay?"

I think my mouth is hanging open and my eyes are round as saucers. I'm not disappointed anymore. That tinge of recognition I was hoping for is hitting me like a bus right now. And it's scaring the hell out of me.

The wall console beeps. I jump. Sam gives me a strange look then gets up to answer it. "Ma'am, we need you on the bridge."

"What is it, Lieutenant?"

"We're receiving orders from Stargate Command. Another planet is under attack."

No one wastes any time getting up and going. Nervous tension strains every muscle in my body. I keep dwelling on that voice from the recording. It was incomprehensible, yet I sensed the threat in its message just the same. When we arrive on the bridge, a tech brings up the orders sent from Earth.

Sam gives the command for the ship to jump into hyperspace. "We're being sent to assist one of our allies in the region," she explains to Vala and me. We spend a few tense minutes traveling through hyperspace before jumping out into normal space. Scans pick up two ships in orbit around a planet. Both of them are sending down intense beams of light to the planet's surface.

"What the hell are they doing?" someone asks.

I recognize one of the ships. It's the same one as in the diagram the ha'tak black box provided. The other ship is completely different.

"Scan them," Sam orders.

"Sam, we should open fire!" Vala yells. "They're destroying that world!"

I grab my wife's arm. "In the recording, the aliens attacked after they sensed the ha'tak's intention to fire."

Sam nods. "Daniel's right. Powering weapons might provoke them. They haven't opened fire on us yet."

"Colonel, one of the ships is scanning us." This raises an alarm.

"Steady," Sam says, calming her crew.

I can see through the window that one of the ships stops sending down a beam of light to the planet. It's the one that's unfamiliar thus far. It resembles a strange jumble of boxes. The ship's shape is constantly changing, as if the whole thing is expanding. It turns, and alarm bells throughout the bridge begin going off.

"Colonel…"

"I see it, Lieutenant." Sam is busy squinting her eyes at the suspicious vessel. Obviously trying to figure it out.

"We're receiving a signal." After a beat, a tech reports, "It's an extremely short transmission."

Sam turns to look at her communication officer's console. She frowns at it. "It's compressed." She makes some sort of complicated command that makes the transmission comprehensible.

"Ffjalksjf… sfuifo rueiox."

I gasp. "Sam! Jump!"

"What?"

I look straight at the helmsman. "Get us out of here!" The urgency in my voice seems to convince him. His hands are already tapping in the commands as Sam gives the order to comply.

Our hyperspace window doesn't seem to open fast enough. I feel the pull of the ship as we make an attempt to jump. But a huge jolt knocks everyone off their feet or nearly out of their chairs. More alarms start to ring.

"Report!" Sam yells from the floor.

"They just shot a chunk of our communications array off!"

"Reinitiate the jump NOW," she orders.

The window reopens and our bruised ship pulls through.