Chapter Ten
"So...what's all this about 'I'll tell them who you really are'?"
"It's nothing, Jack."
"Some how I doubt that 'nothing' is Stenson's only card to play. Why would he make an empty threat like that?"
"To annoy me." Gabriel grumbled.
"If that's the truth when he comes back in a day we simply won't lower the shield. Problem solved. Right?"
Gabriel didn't answer right away. He looked to Sam and she smiled sadly. Daniel mentally yawned, not having gotten much sleep the night before. All in all he didn't seem overly worried about Stenson. Gabriel wished he had the same confidence.
"Gabriel?" Jack asked. "Any reason we can't just keep the shield up? Or better yet set it close enough to splatter him the next time he comes through?"
"Sam..." Gabriel trailed off, hoping she'd explain.
"Sir, Idlewyld is relatively close to Earth."
"How close?"
"Well within the Prometheus's range. They could be here in a matter of months."
"And do we have something here worth making the trip for?" Jack asked skeptically.
"Daniel and I."
"Thinking awfully highly of ourselves aren't we?"
"Stenson knows that I can tap into the Ancient Knowledge locked in Daniel's mind."
"And how does he know that?"
"Because he watched me do it in my memories."
Jack pinched at the bridge of his nose in frustration. Gabriel kept his eyes cast to the floor as ashamed of divulging information to Stenson. In his younger days he would have been able to fight something as simple as a memory disk. However even thousands of years after his torments he still had never fully recovered his strength.
"Can I talk to Daniel about this?" Jack sighed.
"Only if you want me to wake him up."
"He fell asleep?"
"Yeah."
"Okay...he's not worried about all this?"
"No. He doesn't believe that your government is willing to spend the billions of dollars it would take to come here and launch an attack."
"What do you think?"
"Personally, I'm surprised he's not on his way here already."
"You think Stenson's that desperate?" Sam asked.
"Not desperate...smart."
"Whoa, hold the phone there..." Jack growled.
"Jack, never, ever, ever underestimate your enemy." Gabriel interrupted. "He's seen more of Daniel's past than you have, he's glimpsed the power of the Ancient Knowledge, he knows that I hold the key to immortality itself. No matter what you may think of him, he is a cunning foe."
"He certainly gave me enough rope to hang myself with." Jack muttered in agreement.
"Exactly, don't think it was pure chance that enabled him to swoop in take over the SGC the second you slipped up."
"O'Neill," Teal'c suddenly spoke up "I suggest that you allow me to kill this man the next time he steps through the Stargate."
"As much as I relish the idea, T, now that I hear we're in striking distance of Earth I really don't think we should be murdering American Military. No matter how much I may hate him personally."
"I do not understand. This is not slaughter, it is self-defense."
"The government won't see it that way. And if it is one thing that will push the Brass into giving the Prometheus the 'go ahead' it would be seeing us as a threat and getting a little revenge to boot."
"Particularly since Stenson is the son of a Senator." Sam added.
"He is?" Jack asked. "Which state?"
"California."
"Ouch."
"Yeah, he has some serious pull in the White House."
"No wonder Stenson made it so far."
"O'Neill, what is our plan?" Teal'c demanded.
"I don't know." Jack admitted. "For right now Carter and I are going to get some jell-o, then I suggest we all just sleep on it."
"Jell-o?" Teal'c replied with a raised eye-brow.
"There's always room for jell-o, T." Jack smiled.
"I do not see how that solves our problem."
"Push comes to shove we can always leave Idlewyld." Jack shrugged. "Stenson can't search the whole Galaxy for us."
Gabriel nodded sadly, fearing that it was going to come to exactly that. Sam stepped up and gave him and encouraging hug before leaving with Jack. Teal'c glared at Gabriel for a moment before taking Ishta's hand and leading her away. Gabriel looked around the empty Gateroom and sighed.
"Your mercy has really messed things up, Daniel." Gabriel said to himself. "Not that it's your fault. It's mine. I should have been stronger when he was prying around in my memories. I just...I just didn't have much fight left in me."
Leaving the Gateroom Gabriel began to stalk the halls of his home. He didn't even know why he so desperately wanted to stay here, to build a new life here. The stone was soaked in memories only a few of them good.
"I gave in to Stenson too quickly. I honestly didn't think I was going to survive and I didn't want to suffer any more than I had to. I'm sorry, I should have known you'd come save me."
Daniel was a lot easier to talk to when he was sleeping. Gabriel had wanted to talk to him about Stenson ever since he discovered that the man was still alive. He had wanted to tell him just how much the Area 51 man knew. But he'd never found the courage.
Gabriel dragged his hands through his hair compulsively. He hadn't been paying attention to where he was going and suddenly came to an abrupt stop. Looking up he stared at the barrier in his way.
"Oh no." Gabriel breathed in horror. "Daniel...I...I'm so sorry..."
Before him was the ornately etched white wall. Gabriel reached out and touched the script just to make sure that it was real, that he had actually ended up here. When the right symbol was pressed and it sensed that Gabriel's blood was near it started to glow. Gabriel jerked his hand away and tears slipped from his eyes.
"You haven't been leading us here...I have."