(Roeskva, thank you for the review.)
Part 8, The Message
"Part of it concerns Euhen," Sam replied. Her voice lowered. "No survivors." She heard steps moving closer towards her, and she knew it was Martouf. She soon felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's not safe for them to check on us yet-"
"Which means the Goa'uld are still above us," Garshaw added.
Sam glanced over to her. "They don't expect to find survivors here... Olokun is behind the attacks."
"Cordesh is always running to a system lord," Martouf said in disgust.
"He is working under Olokun, who appears to have some equipment left by Anubis. Cordesh identified a few spies, and Olokun has used the Ancient brain interlink device to gather more information."
"So, he's getting information every time he captures someone new." Jack stated.
Martouf held an expression of dismay. "Do you know what it does?"
"Yes, it accesses memories." His tone showed the sympathy he had for them in this situation.
"Yes, but do you know what it does to aTok'ra?"
Jack knew he was missing something. He looked towards Daniel and Teal'c, wondering if they knew what Martouf meant. They seemed not to. "I figured it did the same."
"To the host, yes. The symbiote..." Venom filled his words. "The process of implanting the device crushes the symbiote. The host feels their soul mate die before being...left alone, captured, strapped down...violated by that machine." He closed his eyes, and Lantash took control. "It was once done to a fellow Tok'ra while we were undercover."
Sam moved to hug him, and she felt him put an arm around her. "You couldn't help..." She didn't know the details, but she was sure they couldn't.
"Anubis figured out the location of our base, how not to be detected. We had to let the Tok'ra know."
"Anubis never suspected you?" Daniel asked.
"Either that or he didn't notice us to begin with. I don't know which it was... We realized that a fellow Tok'ra had been captured. We sent the message. It was all we could do."
Jack frowned. "You didn't help him?"
His eyes flared. "If we had risked going near him, if he had seen us, that information would have been downloaded into the computer. Martouf and I would have been caught. If we didn't send that messages, many Tok'ra would have died, and if I remember correctly, you were on the base at the time."
"So was I," Aldwin added.
"The host was killed as soon as Anubis was finished." Knowledge that gave him both regret and relief.
"I would imagine they'd be eager to use that device on a member of the high council," Garshaw added.
"Which means..." Per'sus looked upward. "It's going to be a long time before they give up. We're going to be here for a while."
"Is there anything we can do?" Jack asked, wanting to do something to help their situation.
"No. If they detect any signs of life, it will make them all the more determined. We need to wait it out. We'll have to collapse the tunnels if we detect them getting closer."
"We can go lower," Jack suggested.
"We're lower than the Tok'ra have ever gone," Aldwin informed. "We are not exactly at a safe level now."
"Good to know." Jack was irritated that after being here for almost a week, he was learning that now.
Lantash sat down and picked up Iasis, holding her close. "Tok'ra are suffering."
"We cannot help them," Malek said. He looked to Sam. "Is there anything else in the message."
"No." Sam knelt next to Lantash.
It was quiet for several minutes, to the point where it was getting uncomfortable. Jack finally spoke up. "So, we are just going to wait here?"
"We can still pass the time with stories of how we blended," Aldwin said. "I believe it was Martouf turn."
Lantash looked up. "He's not in the mood, but I can tell you Rosha's story." It would be a good way to get his mind off reality for a while.
to be continued...
