Chapter 7

1900 Hours above ground

The day above ground mixed with night. Not very many people were aware of the changes until they stuck their heads above ground. Hank Landry felt like he missed seeing the weather change since taking this command. It was always a shock to come up expecting sun only to be soaked by rain. He tried to take a walk at least once a day to the surface. It helped him to make sense of his crazy command. Today had especially been crazy.

0800 SGC Conference Room

Vala Mal Doran came bouncing into the conference room. She seemed according to the General to be much better than the shadow he had seen yesterday in Doctor Jackson's office. In fact you probably couldn't tell the difference between the two. She came in and sat next to the senior archaeologist who looked in contrast very tired and withdrawn. They'd obviously been up late but it seems that he was worse off for the activity. It obviously was not romantic concerns that got the young doctor of that the general was sure but to see such hope in the young woman next to him? Well something was certainly up.

"General" the voice came in a clipped professional response. Cameron Mitchell came last taking his customary seat as Teal'c as usual had been first to arrive.

"Alright SG-1, what's the situation with this person who appears to be sending things to Miss Mal Doran?" The customary briefing of a General meant details and Daniel seemed to be the one filling the general in with all of them. He began with the flowers and the text and then stopped after that. "Doctor Jackson?"

"Sir, Vala has an idea that she would like to share" Daniel tensed after saying that. He obviously knew the details. The general frowned. Vala's ideas were wacky at the best of times sometimes they were downright insightful but either way they usually ended up getting everyone involved into trouble. Vala beamed.

"Sir" She began. 'Definitely trouble' thought Landry. She rarely began with sir and even more rarely said it with any kind of sincerity. "I was thinking about my situation and Daniel and I were wondering about how to deal with it. "

"You mean you were sticking to your guns. I was hoping to temper them" countered Daniel

"I want to meet with the IOA and place a proposal in front of them before this whole 'wonko' guy gets out of hand. I know there have been no similar situations in the past and I was wondering why there were no trained personnel outside of the SF's (who do a fabulous job by the way!) to deal with outside threats such as this to the SGC and its personnel. Okay since the Marines and the US Navy have their own investigative force – why doesn't the SGC? I would like to speak to Mr Weasel"

"She means Woolsey sir" countered Daniel. Vala and Daniel have no love lost with the man but this was interesting to say the least. The general didn't believe that this was a bad idea but something about this had Daniel worried.

"Yes, yes Daniel! I think he knows who I'm talking about." Vala countered testily. "I would like to propose a start to the new group. Detective Ryan from the Colorado Springs police department. I would also like to bring in a bounty hunter friend to work with him from off world."

Ah, now the general understood about Daniel's tension. He'd obviously been arguing about this with her last night. It was bad enough to bring an off world bounty hunter into the SGC but to also do a disclosure? This girl was definitely pushing her luck. However, he could see the common sense in it. The off world bounty hunter had the skills to track and capture with knowledge of alien cultures. The police detective had the investigative skills to find the culprit and put context on the evidence. Perfect! Now how to convince Woolsey? There had not been enough happen here to warrant this extreme level of thinking. He sighed. "Vala, you have to understand. The IOA consider what has happened as serious but nothing remotely dangerous has happened to make them take note. I think you have a fantastic idea but until things change we are the ones who are going to have to try and solve this."

Vala stood up angry. She pushed her chair out and stormed up to the general's seat leaned over and poked him. "You know it's alright for you – you are a man and as such you are less likely to be blamed or picked on for things like this. Someone seems determined to start a little campaign to do heaven knows what to me and could somehow end up hurting people in the long run. I had this happen to a friend. It started slow with her and it built up into her death all because someone wouldn't take action early enough. Granted she and I do not come from model citizen backgrounds but I warn you now this is going to get ugly. In fact I would take a guess it already has. If someone outside of this command knows of my background of Qetesh and is thinking of using that as a means to attract my attention – they've got another thing coming! Oh and by the way I'll say this now to save time – I told you so! You didn't listen to me before regarding Nerus and look where that got you! I suppose second times a charm? You've got a daughter – how would you feel if it were her? SHAME ON YOU!" Vala stormed out of the conference room leaving the occupants stunned from her rant. Daniel nodded to the General and left behind her.

Daniel found her 20 minutes later in her old quarters. She sat on the floor with her knees to her chest staring at the vases that had been left in her room. He came in and she looked at him. The question in her eyes was clear – why didn't you back me up? He put his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet while he looked at the floor. He had no answer for her. He knew that the idea would have been shot down. She pointed to the door. He tried to say something but she just looked at him. He closed his mouth. The message was clear – Leave! He just nodded and turned away. "I'll be in the office. When you are ready – we'll talk. I, I'm sorry Vala."

"Obviously not sorry enough Daniel" Her eyes burned into his back as he left the room.

12.00

Vala still hadn't come by. He noticed her absence and the hole it brought with it after they had had any kind of disagreement. She was right to be mad with him. He hadn't backed her up. It wasn't a wholly bad idea actually. It was the prospect of her dealing with the IOA who would have said no and dealing the fallout of that. He felt helpless because he simply did not know how to help. He tried to concentrate on his work and nothing seemed to come to him. He wanted to ask her about her friend, wanted to understand how it had happened. She had been right about Nerus and they had lost her. He didn't want to lose her again not when they had just discovered how to be together as a couple.

15.00

Cameron had called into the generals office on the way to the SF's station. He reported to the general that they had made no progress on the text message. It had been routed via an anonymous messaging website making it impossible to trace. They had no way to access the servers of the website as they had no legal jurisdiction. He reiterated that Vala's idea had merit. The general looked at him. "General, for the moment we have no way of getting the IOA's approaval. Can't we at least do a background check on Detective Ryan so that when we are sure of their approval we can pull him in straight away?"

"Well, I can see no harm in it. You have a go Colonel. Oh and Colonel come in and close the door for a second." Cameron closed the door. He knew that General was taking this seriously. He just forgot Vala's propensity for being unpredictable.

The General "have you seen Ms Mal doran in these last few hours?" the general scowled.

"She's with Carolyn sir. Apparently she asked if some of the SF's could bring some of her work to the nearest medical labs. She attempted to get on with her work only to find someone had taken her ipod and filled it with the song 'Mrs Cold' on repeat. She went nuts screaming and wouldn't let no one else near her except Carolyn. Carolyn had to sedate her. She wouldn't even let us go for Doctor Jackson."

"Where is he?" Asked the general

"Doctor Jackson is in his office. No one has had the guts to go near him to tell him about this latest incident. He'd go mad if he heard about this! I'm going to go down there now to fill him in" answered Cameron.

17.00

He sighed and threw his glasses off his face and onto the table. Carolyn had thrown him out of the infirmary. He'd go back in an hour and stay with Vala all night if he had to. This should not be happening! It was simple callous torture which had kicked off really quickly in the space of a few days. Vala went nuts because it was someone who was trying to get to her directly in her home. She didn't deserve this. He put his face into his hands. He didn't see the creature that slithered around his bench. He only felt a sting and feeling sick. He fell off the chair. The next thing he felt was blackness.