Disclaimer: Stargate SG1 and it's characters are property of others, I'm borrowing them for my own amusement.
"How did this happen?" General Landry asked Maltim as they entered the conference room and sat in his chair at the head of the table. Sam took a seat next to Daniel as the Tok'ra sat himself into the chair across from them. Just as they were sitting, Mitchell and Teal'c entered the conference room as well, having just been informed of Vala and the host's disappearance.
"It appears that the host was able to overpower our protection detail and acquire a zat'nekitel. We are unsure what happened after that, but apparently he was able to make it to the Stargate with Ms. Mal Doran, rendering many of our personnel unconcience as he fled"
"You don't know where they went?" Daniel asked.
"Unfortunately, he had quite a lead and our people were unable to observe the gate address before the wormhole disengaged."
"Why would he do this?" Cam wanted to know.
"As you may already know, many hosts that have harbored a symbiote are subjected to the effects of the sarcophagus for ages and withdrawal symptoms have been known drive former hosts to insanity, some end up catatonic and many others have perished, their bodies unable to cope with the loss of the sarcophagus and the symbiote to heal them and others have committed suicide. We have tried for many years to counteract the physical and psychological effects of the sarcophagus, but have been met with little success. It is also not uncommon for a former host to be unable to recall any of their previous life before becoming a host, their own memories having been suppressed so far that all that remains are the memories of the goa'uld. In fact, some of these hosts have even been known to take on the personalities of the goa'uld that used to inhabit them, having forgotten how to be their own person."
"Are you saying that he thinks he is Ba'al?" Sam asked as she recalled her own experience as a host. She had only been Jolinar's host for a couple of days and it had taken her a long time to distinguish her memories from those of Jolinar. She could only imagine how someone who had been a host for so long would be so confused.
"Yes, we believe this is what has happened to this host." Maltim acknowledged as he nodded. "After we removed the symbiote, he was extremely agitated and confused, he could not tell us his name, but insisted that he was Ba'al.. However, he did recognize Ms. Mal Doran as Questesh and seemed to connect with her. She worked very hard to convince him that Ba'al was dead and that the memories he had were not his own, but this only seemed to confuse him more and over the course of the night, this combined with the effects of the Sarcophagus withdrawal made him lash out violently."
"This is something Vala conveniently left out last time she reported to me." Landry stated.
"She probably figured that you would make her come back if you thought she was in any danger." Daniel surmised.
"Damn right I would have."
"Ms. Mal Doran was insistent that she wanted to try to help the host regain his own memories. We assigned a detail to offer her protection, but the presence of the Tok'ra was upsetting to the host and she asked that they remain outside of his room."
"Why wasn't the host kept in a more secure facility?" Landry demanded to know.
"We do not jail former hosts." Maltim answered in a sharp tone. "They are victims of the goa'uld and we refuse to treat them as prisoners. We have never had a former host react quite so extremely before, so we saw no reason to take such extreme measures."
"Do you have any clues as to where he might have taken her.?" Daniel asked, trying to diffuse some of the tension in the room.
"Believing that Ms. Mal Doran was Quetesh in his delusional state, he confided in her that he needed to go to Praxyon, an abandoned mining planet where he claimed to have some sort of 'failsafe' device. The Tok'ra have no record of a 'Praxyon' in any of our databases, so I can only surmise that the location of this planet was known only to him and his clones."
"What about the other clones?" Mitchell asked. "Wouldn't they be able to tell us the gate address to the planet?"
"Unfortunately, only two of the clones have survived thus far, the others succumbing to sarcophagus withdrawal or suicide. Of these two, one is in a persistant vegetative state while the other refuses to speak and I'm not sure that he could be of much help."
"I'd like to try to speak with him." Daniel stated determinedly. "even if we can't get anything out of him, it's worth a shot."
"You are welcome to accompany me back, Dr. Jackson, but as I stated already, I do not believe that you will be able to ellicit much from the clone, he is simply too uncommunicative." Maltim pessimistically spoke.
"Have you considered using your memory devices to retrieve the information?" Sam wondered.
"We have. However, given the fragile state of the clone's mind we are reluctant use them."
"We may not have another choice." Landry addressed Maltim his voice raising up a notch. "If Ba'al has some sort of device out there, we need to find it. Even if he isn't Ba'al, he may still know how to operate it and who knows what sort of havoc he may cause."
"I agree, General Landry, but I must clear this with my superiors before we attempt to employ the memory device"
"Fine. You do that and SG1 will go back with you and try to get that address from the clone the old-fashioned way." Maltim nodded his acceptance of the arrangements as the General turned to the four teammates. "Go get geared up and meet back in the gateroom in 20 minutes. Dismissed" Landry rose from his seat and headed for his office.
Less than thirty minutes later, Sam found herself walking back to the Tok'ra city they had just visited the day before. Colonel Mitchell set a quick pace and she had to practically jog to keep up with his long legged strides. She and Daniel walked silently side by side with Teal'c and Maltim bringing up the rear. She glanced at Daniel, worried by his grim expression.
"You okay?" she asked him.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied, his lips pulled into a thin line, looking straight ahead.
"Daniel, C'mon." She knew he was bothered by the situation and she hoped he would open up about it to her.
"It's my fault, Sam. I was the one that suggested to her that she help the host. None of this would have happened if I had just kept my mouth shut." Sam felt the burden of guilt in Daniel's voice. She knew that for all of his skills, he excelled at self-flagellation the most and she sought to assuage his regret.
"You're not at fault here, you know that. Vala's an adult, at least marginally, and she was the one who made the decision to stay and she's the one who told the Tok'ra to keep their distance. You can't keep blaming yourself for things you have no control over."
"I know. But I feel we should have known better by now that we can't leave Vala alone. Someone should have stayed with her."
"Even if someone had stayed with her, that's doesn't mean it wouldn't have happened anyway."
"Maybe." He finally assented. "I just can't help but feel responsible for her. She's like a child sometimes, going off and driving headlong into danger, without fear of consequences."
"Really? You know, Jack used to say the same thing about you and at times, I have to admit, I used to think the same thing too."
"You thought I was irresponsible?" He asked with mock hurt, lightening the mood between them a bit.
"No." She assured him. "Not irresponsible so much as too curious for your own good."
"Ah ha! Now who's the pot calling the kettle black?" He came back with a grin. "I seem to recall a few times where I could say the same thing about you." She smiled a bit at him and shook her head as they approached the city. Maltim caught up with Mitchell and began to lead the way to the building that housed the clones.
Maltim spoke briefly with the guard posted at the entrance before gesturing for the team to follow him. He lead them through a maze of corridors until he stopped in front of a large metal door. He waved his hand over a sensor beside the door and it slid open.
"Perhaps it would be best if only one or two of you entered at a time, this clone has been known to become agitated if he feels crowded." the Tok'ra suggested
"Alright." Mitchell started. "Jackson, you and Sam go talk to the clone, Teal'c and I will wait out here."
Sam and Daniel nodded and entered the room with Maltim. The stark white space was devoid of furniture save for a single bed on which a man sat with his knees to his chest, rocking back and forth. If Sam hadn't known that this was one of Ba'al's clones, she would never have recognized him. His hair had grown long and grey and he was a waif of his former self. His once muscular arms now bony as they held on tightly to his thin legs. His distant eyes stared blankly ahead and his gaunt face bore no signs of acknowledging their presence in the room.
Sam hung back a bit as Daniel handed her his weapon and cautiously approached. Irrationally, Sam wanted to grab Daniel's arm to keep him from getting too close, but she had to remind herself that this wasn't a goa'uld, but just a man and a shattered man at that.
"Has he always been like this?" She asked Maltim.
"Unfortunately, yes."
"Does he have a name?"
"We don't know, he has never told us. His responses have been very limited. He understands us and follows instructions, but we have yet to hear him speak." Maltim turned back towards the door. "I shall leave you, perhaps that will help you to get the address you need." Sam nodded and the Tok'ra left the room. Sam turned back towards Daniel and watched as he continued to draw near to the man on the bed.
Daniel moved slowly like one would approaching a wild animal until he was only a few inches from the bed. He crouched beside him and began to speak softly to the man.
"Um, Hi." Daniel began haltingly, as if unsure of how to get though. He looked to Sam, but she merely shrugged her shoulders as she came up beside him, knowing she wouldn't be much help to him."My name is Daniel Jackson and this is Colonel Samantha Carter. You may remember us." The clone continued to stare straight ahead. "Or not." he conceded frustrated. This was going to be way more difficult than Sam could have ever imagined and she had a feeling that the only way they could ever get any information from the clone would be to take it directly from his head with the memory device. Then again she had to hand it to Daniel, he was good at getting people to talk to him. "Anyway, we need your help. A friend of ours was taken by your, er, uh, Ba'al's hosts and we need to find her." Still the clone maintained his rocking and paid no attention to Daniel or Sam. Daniel sighed and looked up again at Sam.
"We're trying to find a planet called Praxyon." Sam added, while getting the sinking feeling that they were wasting their time here. However, she was surprised when the man suddenly stopped rocking and turned his red rimmed eyes to Sam. She was nearly undone by his haunted expression as his eyes locked onto her. She found herself averting her eyes, uncomfortable with his penetrating gaze. Daniel moved closer to the host and the man backed away.
"Whoa, it's okay, we're not going to hurt you." Daniel soothingly reassured him and the man calmed a bit. "You know where Praxyon is?" He asked. For a moment Sam was afraid that the man would retreat again back into himself, but instead he began to slowly nod his head.
"Can you tell us the gate address?" Sam asked with a spark of hope. Maybe they would be able to get him to speak to them after all. Unfortunately, the man was silent and Sam felt her shoulders slump. "I don't think we're going to get him to tell us anything, Daniel. We should ask Maltim to use the memory device."
"Sam" Daniel stood and turned to her. "We don't know what using the memory device will do to him, it could make his condition even worse. He's already been traumatized enough." Sam knew that he was right. The man's hold on this world was tenuous at best and invoking painful memories would more than likely propel him into full-blown catatonia.
"What do we do now?" She asked him. Daniel sighed and looked to the clone in thought. While Sam had given up on believing that they could get any useful information from the fragile man, Daniel still seemed convinced that he could communicate with him. As if struck by a sudden inspiration, Daniel threw off the pack he had been carrying and began to dig through it's contents until he pulled out a small pocket notepad and a pen.
"I have an idea." He crouched down again beside the clone. "if he won't speak to us maybe he can write the address down." He placed the notepad and the pen on the bed in front of the clone, encouraging him to take it. "Do you think you could write the address to Praxyon down for us?" the man stared at the paper and pen and then looked up at Daniel, his face full of fear. After a few minutes of watching and praying that the former host would take the notepad, it became clear that he had no intention of writing anything down for them.
"Okay, you don't have to write anything down. I have another idea." Daniel grabbed the notepad and began scribbling on the paper before ripping it off and placing it on the bed. He scribbled some more on the next sheet and tore that sheet out as well and aligned it next to the sheet already on the bed. Sam began to recognize what Daniel was drawing as gate symbols and realized that he was setting the symbols in order as they would be seen on the dial home device. The clone watched quietly until Daniel had the entire DHD set before him in little scraps of paper.
"Just imagine that you are dialing Praxyon, all you need to do is point to the symbols." Again the clone sat staring at the pieces of paper without making a move. "Please." Daniel pleaded "our friend is out there with a man who thinks he is Ba'al and he's after whatever is on that planet and you are the only one who knows where this place is. I know that you have endured a lot and that Ba'al hurt you far more than any of us could ever realize, but Ba'al is dead and he can't harm you anymore. It's time for this all to end, will you help us?"
The clone began to tremble as Daniel spoke and Sam could see the tears threatening to spill over his eyes until silently, they began to fall down his bony cheeks. Sam was surprised when he reached out with a shaky hand and began to point towards a symbol. She hadn't expected him to respond to Daniel, but before she knew it, the man had given them the seven symbols needed to dial the planet. When he was finished, the man pulled his knees back up to his chest and buried his head them. His shoulders shook as heavy sobs racked his body. Sam's heart went out to the man and she resisted the urge to lay a comforting hand on his back. Daniel however, couldn't hold back his pity and placed his hand on a shaking shoulder.
"Thank-you." Daniel whispered to him before he let go and cleaned up the papers. He stood when he was finished and fixed Sam with a look that utterly moved her. She could see in his eyes the compassion he felt towards clone and it made her love him all over again. She gave him a wide smile and he returned it.
As they turned to leave, Sam looked behind her at the clone. He was still sobbing and had began to rock back and forth again. Daniel clasped her shoulder.
"I wish there was something we could do for him." She told him.
"Me too, but I don't think there is anything that can reverse this, he's just too far gone." Daniel turned away from the man again and gave Sam a reassuring face. Together they walked out of the room and joined Teal'c and Mitchell in the corridor.
"Took you long enough. You got it?" Mitchell asked.
"Yep." Daniel simply replied.
"Great, let's go get our girl." Cam ordered and the four teammates left the building and headed for the Stargate.
