AN: At long last, some actual action! Thanks Skunk and Hedgehog for reviewing!

OSCOSCOSC

Chapter Nine: Museum Robberies

"Excuse me, Miss?"

Daria glanced up from the map she was going over when Danielle spoke. "Yes?"

"There's a pair of gentlemen here to see you, Miss," the maidservant said. "They're waiting downstairs."

"Send them up, then."

Danielle curtsied and left the room. The Tau'ka bent back over her work, making an occasional note on the map as she studied it, or cross-referencing something with the thick stack of papers next to the map.

The door opened again, and she heard footsteps.

"Tek-ma-tek, Mr. Holmes, Dr. Watson," she said automatically without looking up from her work.

"Pardon?" That was Watson's voice.

Daria looked up, confused. "What?"

"What was it that you said, Miss Nelson?" Homes clarified.

She frowned. "Oh, 'Tek-ma-tek'. It's a greeting." She mentally kicked herself. No need to make the detective any more suspicious than he already was by speaking Goa'uld. "It means 'friends well met'."

"I see," Holmes replied, looking bemused. "I would surmise that it is part of your native tongue."

The Tau'ka nodded. "Please, sit," she told the two men. "How might I be of service?"

"Actually, we came thinking we may be of service to you."

Daria raised an eyebrow, nodding for the detective to continue.

"There will be another Museum robbery tonight."

The other eyebrow shot up. "How did you find out?"

Holmes smiled. "I deduced it, naturally. The attacks always take place three weeks apart. It has been twenty days since the last one. Of course, it follows that another will take place tonight."

Daria nodded. "The Hawks tend to go with one strategy until someone makes it unusable. Good work, Mr. Holmes."

"Have you looked over the lists of stolen artifacts?"

"Of course I have."

"Have you noticed any connection between what was taken?"

The Tau'ka sorted through her papers and pulled out a sheet with a list written on it. "Everything taken was dated from the Middle Kingdom, or older." She tapped the list with a fingertip, turning the information it contained over in her mind. The Goa'uld had only ruled on Earth until the end of the Middle Kingdom, in fact, their removal had triggered the beginning of the fully-human New Kingdom. She glanced at the list again. Terref had been right- just about everything on the list could be used as a weapon. "It's all very dangerous," she told the detective. "The ancient Egyptians were pretty advanced when it came to weaponry." That was the best she was going to be able to do as far as warning her comrades about the deadly nature of the stolen artifacts.

Holmes handed her another stack of paper. "This is a list of the Museum's entire Egyptian collection," he said as she scanned it. "Can you pinpoint what they might go after tonight?"

Daria studied the list carefully. Then something occurred to her. "Are you going to try and set a trap for the Hawks?" she asked suspiciously.

Holmes and Watson glanced at one another. "Well, of course," Holmes said. "The entire point of this operation is to catch your Hawks, is it not?"

"You aren't setting a trap without me," Daria said flatly. "And that is final." She was not about to let them do that. The Hawks would make mincemeat out of these two if they tried.

"Please, Miss Nelson, be reasonable," Watson said.

"I am being reasonable," she replied. "The Black Hawks would kill you both."

"And they wouldn't kill you?" Holmes inquired mildly.

"They could try." She looked from Holmes to Watson and back. "You know I'm combat trained, Mr. Holmes," she said. "What you probably don't know is that I am fully capable of breaking a man's neck if I'm so inclined. That's the kind of fighting I know- the kind of fighting the Hawks know. Neither of you would stand a chance."

They were staring at her, she realized. Holmes only looking a little bit less startled than his friend. Despite that, she spitted both of them with a fierce glare that would allow for no arguments.

The detective sighed. "Very well, Miss Nelson."

Watson spluttered indignantly but was silenced by a look from his friend. Daria watched the two of them for a moment, then went back to her list. Picking up a pen, she circled two items. "Based on what they've already gone after, I'd say they will try to take one of these tonight."

Holmes looked at the two items she had circled and nodded. "We can set a guard on these. I'll take the position by Abydonan sculpture, and Watson can stand watch with you at the ceremonial staffs."

"Actually, I think Dr. Watson needs to be with you, Mr. Holmes," she replied. "I work better alone." She would do anything she could to increase Holmes's and Watson's odds of survival, and that meant not allowing them to stand guard on their own. The detective sighed, seeming a little bit irritated at her constant meddling, but he nodded. Daria briefly wondered what the detective knew, or suspected, about her and this entire situation.

"We need to be in position tonight by ten-thirty," Holmes said. The Tau'ka nodded.

"I thank you for your help, Mr. Holmes, Doctor Watson." The detective waved a hand dismissively.

"Not at all. It's merely an interesting puzzle."

If he really knew what was going on, Daria thought, he wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it. He doesn't realize his entire planet is at stake in this.

"Tonight, then." she said.

"Tonight."

OSCOSCOSCOSCOSC

The Royal Museum had a truly impressive Egyptian collection, Daria saw as she slipped through its darkened corridors late that night. Holmes and Watson stood waiting for her next to a display of an ornate sarcophagus. Daria glanced at the inscription on it, pleased to see that it was an actual coffin rather than one of the restorative devices so favored by the Goa'uld.

"Miss Nelson, I presume?" Holmes asked as she approached. The question was not unreasonable, dressed as she was in her dark sneak clothes. She nodded, settling the strap of her sheathed broadsword more comfortably across her shoulder. The weapon was a fair-sized one, although a bit too heavy for her taste. Watson looked at the blade and nodded to Holmes.

"You were correct, as usual," he said. At Daria's questioning look he explained, "Holmes predicted that you were trained with a sword, Miss Nelson."

'And of course I was right, Watson," the detective replied. "With those calluses on her hands, how could she not be?"

Daria glanced at her palms. "You have good eyes, Mr. Holmes. Shall we get into position?"

Holmes nodded. "Very well. Do be careful, Miss Nelson."

"You too." With that, she left the two humans and slipped down a side corridor. Her position was by a set of what were labeled as 'ceremonial staffs'. She knew them to be, in reality, four staff weapons, nasty devices that fired bolts of deadly energy from their bulbous tips. Jaffa were trained to use them as both distance and melee weapons. From experience, she knew that a blast from one of those weapons could put a good-sized hole in a stone wall.

In the interest of getting the drop on whoever came after the staff weapons, Daria levered herself into a crouching position on top of a tall, sturdy display case. Very few people ever thought to look up for danger, so being above an intruder's line of sight would keep her hidden as well as any other method of concealment. The case creaked a little under her weight as she clambered on top of it, but it seemed to hold without any real difficulty. She drew a short-bladed knife from a sheath hidden inside her left sleeve and settled in to wait. She intended for nothing to get by her tonight.

To her continued dismay, Terref had still not sent her any word of what was going on at his end. Despite her continued attempts to contact him, he remained as hidden to her as the Black Hawks. She was starting to grow worried that something might have happened to the Shadow Agent in the two weeks since she had received his note.

An eternity seemed to pass as she waited, crouched on top of the case like a roosting bird of prey. Several times during her vigil she carefully brushed the minds of Holmes and Watson, trying to get a sense of whether or not anything was going on at their end. It wasn't a very successful attempt- she wasn't one of the True Telepaths, and neither human had any trace of Com-Pathy. All she managed to pick up was a faint sense of boredom from the doctor.

She was about to shift position, her left leg having started to go to sleep, when she heard a faint noise. Someone was walking down her corridor. She heard enough to know that the footsteps didn't belong to either of her companions. The Tau'ka tensed, ready to spring.

A dark-clothed figure turned the corner, passing by the case Daria perched on on their way to the stand of staff weapons. She pounced.

Underneath her, the figure seemed to burst into a thousand scraps of shadow. Daria hit the floor hard, accidentally plunging her knife blade into the wooden floor. The tip pierced the hard wood and sank in several inches.

An illusion? she thought, disoriented from her sudden failed attack and the impact against the ground. Neither of the Hawks can do illusions! The Tau'ka had just enough time- and presence of mind- to fling herself into a sideways roll as a thrown dagger flew through the space her head had just occupied. She scrambled to her feet and gestured, plucking the new blade from the air and calling it back to her hand.

Something big slammed into her, knocking her back to the floor and the blade from her hand. She thrashed and twisted under the heavy weight, managing to get a knee up into something soft. Her attacker gasped and struck out blindly. Fingernails clawed at her face, leaving several deep scratches. The wounds were superficial, but stung fiercely.

"Claw me, will you?" she snarled. Reflexively, she shifted, but only partially. The Tau'ka lashed at her attacker with a hand that had been modified to that of a gryphon, with sharp talons. She made contact, and her assailant howled as he rolled off her, one hand pressing against a set of fresh cuts in his upper arm. Daria released the partial shift and scrambled to her feet, reaching up to draw her sword.

Her attacker was male, she could see from the way he moved. He was of compact height and build, dressed in dark trousers and shirt, his face partially hidden by shadow. But what she saw of his face was enough.

"Terref?"

The Shadow Agent's only response was a swift standing kick that landed solidly in her stomach. She dropped her sword and doubled over, wheezing as he attacked again. Daria stumbled back, tripping over her first knife.

"Meddling fool!" Terref hissed in Goa'uld. "You idiot girl, what are you doing here?" He loomed over her like some sort of wrathful god, a second dagger in one hand, blood trickling from the cuts on his arm.

The younger Tau'ka gulped and rolled away, coming back to her feet to get into a ready position. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

He looked at her disdainfully, the light from a streetlight just outside the nearest window glinting coldly off of his topaz eyes. "Doing what the Council won't let us do," he growled. "Claiming our ancient home."

Daria's mind spun. What was he talking about? Why wasn't Terref letting up his attack? "Terref, what are you talking about?"

"The Hawks want this world, Daria Noclaf. They will get it. The humans must die."