When Jolinar is away...
Sara's diary
I certainly didn't expect the surprise at the gateroom today, certainly not the multiple ones. The Tok'ra came to call with more bad than good news. It was only good because Charlie was among their contingent, but even a visit from him was on the bad side.
He now looked fourteen years old.
Let's see if I can properly recall what Janet and Maureen told me. When the Re'tu were force growing him apparently the accelerated growth continued and what was an eight year old soon grew to his teens. His symbiote, Basif, did slow his growth, but it took the work of Linea to arrest it so that Charlie wouldn't be in his twenties by the time Jack and I remarried.
Unfortunately this wasn't the only bad news the Tok'ra came with as they told us Sam's dad was caught by Sokar. Now Jack and the team are off to go rescue him, and from what Jack was saying without the backup he wanted.
However, afterwards when SG-1 sent a report from Vorash that the Tok'ra are trying to contact Aris Boch and hope he shows up. They had also reported that a Group Captain Alan Carter had safely arrived and is ready to go with them.
Toto gave me the update on who Group Captain Carter is and I had to laugh. I never realized the Carter clan was so large and wide spread. Though not as much as SG-13's Ray and his extended family going international ranging from Swiss to Scottish to Russian. I guess he left the Carter line Australia, with the rest right here in the go old US of A.
There is her Uncle Vince Carter, Gunnery Sergeant US Marines, retired I think, her Great Uncle Andrew J. Carter, Technical Sergeant, US Army, definitely retired and a World War II veteran, then there is her Cousin Jack Carter, U.S. Marshal, and now Toto tells me that this Alan Carter, who is involved with the Moon Base, is her cousin.
Apparently Andrew Carter's era of family who fought in the war, one of them settled down in Australia, which is eventually where Alan Carter, Group Captain in the Royal Australian Air Force comes in. Well, formerly RAAF. He's an astronaut now, and famous for being the first Australian in space, though not the first Australian born, that honor went to Philip Chapman.
Anyway, he knows Helena's husband John. Flown with him on the shuttle, which is where they met and remained in touch. Now if that isn't a case of small worlds, Alan was instrumental in getting Sam's childhood friend John Crichton's Farscape project off the drawing board. He had to go to Australia to get part of the Farscape module built though, and it's where John jr. is at now. Definitely either a small world or a case of cosmic nepotism.
Which reminds me, Claire has been less-than-forthright with spilling about any further 'contact' she's had with one retired astronaut Colonel John Robert Crichton, Sr., I'll need to ask about that soon. I think love in the air, and my next door neighbor better keep me informed.
Speaking of love in the air, Janet tells me that she and a certain Roger Healey of SG-10 have been seeing each other. She thinks Cassie approves, which is a major step for Roger, no pun intended for Major Healey.
I'm writing all of this to take my mind off the fact that, as Jack puts it, he's off to go to Hell. I think I like Daniel's name for the planet better, and will henceforth call it Ne'tu. This shouldn't be any different than any other impossible mission SG-1 has gone on, so Jack will be back. I know it, I have to know this. I'm signing up for it after all. This won't be the last dangerous mission he goes on and as the future Mrs. O'Neill I better make sure I know what I'm letting myself back in for. Unlike his career with special ops, I know most times what his missions are about. I hope it makes it easier to bear rather than harder.
I suppose this makes the offer to go off world something for me to do instead of just waiting for Jack to get back. Not that this wouldn't be what I would do but this time Charlie wanted me to be there for him while Linea and they hope Maureen, would go to where the Tok'ra are to work on a drug that would calm a symbiote in the presence of a Re'tu.
It's suppose to be a stop-gap measure as it won't let the Re'tu able to spy around the Goa'uld, but would let the Tok'ra and Re'tu met. It would let Charlie able to visit the place he considers home. I know the Tok'ra have their own motive and all, but while I would never see Reetalia as any kind of home for myself, I can understand Charlie doing so. He was born there, its where his 'mother' made him.
Drey'auc is going along of course, along with SG-6, and Maureen with whom Linea especially requested. I do understand the General's hesitation about sending either of us to where Linea is, but the Tok'ra vouch for her, and for me, most of all, Charlie wants me there. He's not my Charlie of course, but he's a Charlie I have grown attached to. Of course when Jack gets back and finds out I went to where Linea is he's going to go ballistic. But he's a big boy now, he'll get over it.
Let's just hope I do get back for him to get over it.
Drey'auc's day
I feel I have purpose when General Hammond entrust me with the safety of those he sends out through the Chappa'ai. SG-6 seems glad to see me, it has been since P2Q-463 that we have worked together, but I see in their eyes they are ready to trust me.
The insistence of Sha're to come along surprises everyone but Linea, who actually is happy she wants to come along. They have a bond of shared experiences for while one had been called the destroyer of worlds, the other has had a Goa'uld as their master, the false gods are certainly destroyer of worlds.
Helping both Sara and Sha're dress in BDUs occupy my time as we get ready to go on our journey, and I can tell both are trying to remain calm in light of their husbands off on an explicitly dangerous mission and knowing they may not be here for them upon their return. It is a disquieting thought I also have as Teal'c would be expecting me upon his return, and depending on which of our missions finishes first, he may end up arriving back before our return.
Still he will appreciate this, it is a possibly the next step in a Tau'ri-Tok'ra-Re'tu alliance.
While we are traveling among allies, I still think it prudent to go with both Zat'nik'tel and Kara'bashaak'tak, what the Tau'ri call a staff weapon. I do not understand Sha're's reluctance to bring along one of the Goa'kesh'sha, not at first, but then it comes to me. It holds memories of her as Amonet's host, she is reluctant to put on the hand of the gods unless she needs to.
This means her safety is further entrusted to me.
We arrive at Vorash greeted by Garshaw of Belote which shows us how important the Tok'ra see this, but Maureen Robinson and I notice that one we expected to see is not here. "Where is Ma'chello?" I hear Doctor Robinson ask, "I would have thought he would be apart of this."
"He has accompanied the party to Ne'tu in hopes of upgrading the Tel'tak they took with the stealth system that more modern Tel'tak appear to have," I note that Garshaw is not happy about this decision, but either whatever storm brewed by what troubled her calms or her host Yosuuf decides to speak. Of course the voice tells me immediately it is Yosuuf speaking.
"Come. We want to thank you for coming at this very important stage of an alliance that could radically change the Tok'ra's struggle with the Goa'uld."
"I know we were close to a solution, but I thought that was still months away at best," Maureen Robinson speaks in her gentle and calm manner, one that I find has its own strength, yet nurtures as she does.
"Ma'chello and now Linea have altered that time table," all of us easily recognize that Garshaw speaks again, whatever temper she was in now gone, "It is why we am less than pleased he went along. He may be young again, but he should not risk himself in the field."
Rings surprise Sara, Sha're and Maureen Robinson as they fly up out of the ground below us. I had a notion they were here by the way the Tok'ra were gathered around us. I imagine their sudden appearance and our disappearance have shocked SG-6, but they soon join us still carrying Doctor Robinson's equipment.
"You see Ma'chello is close to a device that will filter out or mute the...vibe a Re'tu gives which is so painful to ourselves," which I note she does not say symbiote as it the symbiote Garshaw who speaks, "However Linea believes she has come up with an elixir that will desensitize us to the Re'tu presence. It will not help Re'tu spy on the Goa'uld but it would let us meet with the Re'tu and of course Charlie to visit his homeworld as he wishes."
I see this pleases Charlie whose hand had not left Sara's since we started our journey through the Chappa'ai, just as Sha're's hand had not left Linea's.
Sha're's story
Linea's hand hasn't left mine since we walked through the Chappa'ai and I can tell she is both happy to see me again and excited about what she has done. She gives my hand a reassuring squeeze when the rings rise up to take us down to the Tok'ra base. I certainly did not expect them, nor did Sara or Mau'reen as their surprised gasps mixed with mine. Drey'auc either knew what was coming or she has mastered her Jaffa stoic front they present to all even the false gods.
"It was the least I could do, and did provide a challenge to me that required creation instead of destruction," I hear Linea speak calmly, perhaps proudly, yet her hand holds onto mine for strength. She still battles her demons and the shadows they have left in her heart.
"Garu has been of great help stilling the part that likes to destroy," I feel her hand relax a bit with this truth, "Just like arresting Charlie's accelerated aging. I had a head start on that with my work with Darkhol and the effects of aging. From there an arresting agent was found after a bit of study...now desensitizing a symbiote without making one groggy or too numb...that is quite the challenge, which is why I wanted you to come Dr. Robinson."
Letting go of my hand, Linea turns to Mau'reen, "I saw that you have some innovative thinking when it comes to this. I'm hoping you can provide the final step we need."
I have watched Jan'et and Saman'tha work like this and some of it I grasp and it interest me, much of what I see now does not and I find myself by Sara and Char'lie often. Particularly when they run another test on the boy. Sara and I will hold his hands why they use devices, some like the Ka'kesh'prim'ta, but I see it is clearly not. I think this is something Linea and possibly Ma'chello have devised for themselves.
"I think that is it for me right now," Mau'reen admits and though I did little but help comfort Char'lie with Sara I feel the hour is late.
I do see Linea wants to continue, such words on her lips, but she does not speak them. Unlike the other Tok'ra, Anise who does not seem to care that we are tired.
"We are so close, perhaps just a little longer," Anise starts but then her voice changes from that of the Tok'ra, I try hard not to think demons, to her host, I understand her name is Freya, "Forgive Anise. She is just excited. We shall continue in the morning."
"Dan'yel...Dan'yel do not believe him! It is a trick Dan'yel! A trick! I am alive Dan'yel! That is not O'Neill! Not O'Neill!"
"Not O'Neill!" I scream waking to concern faces all around me. Linea, Sara, Mau'reen are there looking at me as well as Char'lie and Anise of the Tok'ra. Words leave my mouth before I stop them as I see in their eyes the lack of belief, "Apophis, he lives and has my Dan'yel!" While Drey'auc holds me, which is why I didn't see her immediately, I see some doubt fading. First from the Tok'ra and then the others.
"But he died at the SGC...Teal'c carried his body to the Stargate to give it to Sokar, right?" Mau'reen asks hoping as I would have, that the demon was still dead.
Basif speaks through Char'le's lips and I keep from shuddering recalling the Tok'ra are not demons, "We believed it was always likely that Sokar used a Sarcophagus to revive him to torture him. I just...Sha're how do you...know that Apophis is alive?" The Tok'ra's hesitation heralds the doubt that I see take root in their eyes again.
"Ina'kalesh," Kosh's voice drifts over the heads of those around me, and they all turn to see the Vorlon standing there where they hadn't noticed him before it seems.
He was looking at Sha're directly, which caused the others to look back at her. "We had legends of them long ago, but it was said that Ra commanded them to be killed whenever they were found. Dan'yel would know more, I think he found more information about them while we lived among our people."
"Sha're Jackson are you well?" Teal'c's voice surprised both Drey'auc and me. Neither of us knew he had returned, or that Kosh had gone with him in the first place. "I am Teal'c," answering I feel the slightest movement from Drey'auc and feel so selfish and ashamed. I know she wants to go to her husband and greet him, yet caring for me she won't leave my side.
Right now I don't really want her to either.
My Dan'yel is in the hands my demon's lord and I feel weak and ready to fall in despair without Drey'auc's strength, and Linea's and Sara's around me.
"There is an old Jaffa legend that Master Bra'tac had told me when I became First Prime of Apophis of one order he did not expect me to ever have to carry out. That was if I was to find any of the Ina'kalesh I was to kill them, whispering because the Goa'uld fear them."
"It was back about five thousand years ago, there used to be many Ina'kalesh or soul-bonded," the voice of Garshaw walking into the crowded bedchamber with many parting to give her way. Her hands held before her formally she walked up to the foot of my bed and knelt to talk to me, "The Ina'kalesh were two beings carrying half of the same soul. They shared a bond with each other, and it is said they were bonded together for all eternity. The Goa'uld destroyed them, seeing them as a threat. For when a Goa'uld took some of the Ina'kalesh as hosts and it only ever lead to that Goa'uld's death because the separation it caused the host and their mate to suffer was overwhelming."
"Jolinar was believed to be one of the first of our kind with Lantash, and we treasured them more for that beyond anything else for it showed we are not Goa'uld," Anise added words that I sensed was to share in the knowledge spoken, for the look in her eyes said the information Garshaw told us was Anise's to give. From what I remember from yesterday, she is a historian, like my Dan'yel and better than most.
If Garshaw paid her any heed I did not notice as Garshaw turned from me to look at Sara and Mau'reen, perhaps because they are women of the Tau'ri, or so I surmised from her next words, "We believed that their host Rosha and Martouf shared in this and it is possible that it passed onto Samantha Carter."
From Anise's eyes, I see that she had -not- intended to share that information.
Sara was not alone with the widening of her eyes, but she was to speak first, "Did anyone think to tell her this crucial information?"
"It was legend, and a hope. There is no way to know for sure with her and Martouf anymore than to confirm it with him and Rosha. It is not something we may test for," the words seem bitter for Anise to utter them.
My eyes went passed her and others followed as we looked at Kosh who was the first to call me such.
"The wind had already blown and the dust settled," he replied to the unasked question.
"A Vorlon never gives a straight answer," I hear Anise comment without the others paying her heed. I think they share her exasperation but wish Kosh's good will and so will not speak what is on their tongues and in their hearts.
I think Garshaw thinks Kosh has nothing forthcoming and so she rises to direct the moment elsewhere, "We must meet. Teal'c you have news for us?" I watch as Teal'c inclines his head and most of the Tok'ra move to leave and after a shared look with his wife, he follows.
Kosh remained, as well as Drey'auc, Sara, Linea, Mau'reen and Char'lie. I see SG-6 outside of this chamber looking in anxiously. "Don't you need to go too?" I hear Sara ask Char'lie and Linea, my friend shaking her head, but it is her host who speaks, "We are not on the High Council yet."
"Yet?" Sara asks before I do.
"I believe Linea will earn us the right, just as Char'lie will if an alliance can be forged with the Re'tu," Garu speaks through Linea's lips.
"If?" came Ma'chello's voice as he walked in past SG-6, "We will succeed in developing a filter for us and a mask for the Re'tu and since they hate the Goa'uld, we hate the Goa'uld, an alliance -will- form. Hatred of the Goa'uld makes strange bedfellows isn't that a Tau'ri saying too?"
Sara smiled, I could see what would have been a giggle with other women, "Yes, Ma'chello that is."
"I think I solved the phasing problem, which may help me solve the Re'tu mask as well," he started to share with Anise as the two of them left.
Soon I stood by Drey'auc after she shared a farewell with her husband and we watched the Tel'tak lift up into the skies with a very unhappy Ma'chello standing with us. "I know Anise can handle what I've done it's that I only -just- made it work."
"But you're needed with the demonstration model of the Tun'rak'a'tak, Ma'chello. You and Nfar must be ready to travel with us to meet with the Re'tu when it is time," Garshaw reminded him and somehow I felt that time was near. It is perhaps why Kosh stayed with us instead of boarding the Tel'tak with Teal'c, Alan Carter, and Aldwin.
It was much later in the day when Sara, Char'lie, Mau'reen and Linea joined Drey'auc and me as we wondered the Tok'ra complex. Linea quickly took me into her arms and I could feel her sense of accomplishment, excitement and triumph.
"We've done it. Something to ingest that will let our symbiotes still sense the Re'tu but not be in pain. Ma'chello has is mask ready and if Mau'reen and I could get a live Re'tu to help participate we might come up with something a Re'tu could take instead of relying on some device."
"Nothing wrong with technology, Linea," Ma'chello sounded to my ears as slightly offended.
"But it fails, chemistry does not," she insisted in what appears to be an old argument, "Your Tun'rak'a'tak is still unreliable, nor could it even be used to cloak us."
"It's not a cloak, it's like a...tuning fork. It adjusts the Re'tu so that their 'vibe' does not disturb or even be sensed by a Goa'uld. I think the Tollan have what I need, if I could only had time to work with them on it."
I could not help the giggle that escaped from my lips. Ma'chello still sounds as testy as the old man that he once was to me, and from his grin at me, I think he believes so too.
"Aris Boch has arrived," a Tok'ra named Jalen I think, announced after finding us. I suspect she was only looking for Ma'chello and Linea because she seemed to only briefly acknowledge us.
When we arrived at the council chamber Aris Boch was talking with a Tok'ra I believed I heard was named Korra. Dan'yel told me about their time when the bounty hunter had SG-1 and let them go.
"Doc!" Aris turned to notice only Mau'reen at first, "Please tell me you have something for me." I could see in his eyes that despite his flippant tone he really wanted to hope.
"Actually Mr. Boch I am onto something that I hope with Linea's help," I saw him flinch at the name, "I should well be on the way to first synthesize roshna and then provide a cure from it."
"Until then, Aris Boch," Korra said gesturing at several cases was brought in by a few Tok'ra I hadn't met yet, "We have procured these for you."
"What does this mean for us, Linea?" I ask because I feel his arrival does signal something important. I overhear Korra explain what the 'Destroyer of worlds' is doing here with the Tok'ra. Reaching out to put my hand in hers I squeeze it as I realize she is trying to ignore the words of Aris Boch and think of anything else but her past.
"He is going as Charlie's guardian when we send him to Reetalia. The Rebels might try to block Charlie's return home and any of us might be mistaken for an enemy. In fact, so Charlie might. Hopefully Aris Boch will be able to," Linea then squeezed my hand, "And then we'll go after him once he's signaled they are ready to talk."
Realizing we are not going back to Earth, I hope my Dan'yel will understand when he returns and does not find me there and he will return. I know it, I have to believe it.