A/N: Writing chapter 13 seemed to have fried more brain cells than I initially thought. No wonder it took me almost two weeks to do this next one. And this chapter was easy enough to do but my mind was sluggish. Heck, anyone can do this even in their half-wakened state! I guess you could call this one a filler. No action. Just plain ol' narrative and a little dialogue. And more hint dropping along the way. Getting tired of hints? Don't worry, I am almost at the end. And whatever happened to that Tok'Ra? Hmm…
Chapter Spoilers: Enigma and Meridian
14
He stepped out of the Stargate and was immediately greeted by the scent and sight of flowers. He quickly turned to see the shimmering watery-blue that was the event horizon slowly contracting in on itself before completely disappearing into thin air.
He frowned. A wormhole doesn't normally behave in this manner. And there was no sound of it disengaging at all. Strange...
He turned around again, the frown becoming deeper as he surveyed the perfect landscape before him. The mildly fragrant scent delighted his senses and he felt quite at peace with his surroundings. He knew that smell but could not quite place it. Was it on some alien planet or was it on Earth? He inhaled deeply and felt a calmness flood his being, something that he had never felt in the years following that terrible day when the Goa'uld had taken the most important person in his life away from him.
He was alone. His companion was nowhere to be found and there were no weapons to defend himself. And to think that he was on an alien planet. Normally, that would make him apprehensive. Normally, there would be others covering his backside whenever he went off world. Normally. But this time was different. He had no reason to be afraid. He knew he was in no immediate danger at all. That he was safe. And that he needed to take this journey alone henceforth.
The sky was a clear blue and a gentle breeze played havoc on his short dark hair, the lapels of his navy blue jacket dancing in the wind. It was hard to determine the time of day but he really didn't care if it was the middle of the day or the dead of night. He slowly descended the platform, all the while taking in the beautiful scenery around him.
He paused upon reaching the grass-covered earth, looking this way and that, trying to decide on which direction he should head off to. The flowers reached up to his thighs and they brushed along his pant legs like a lover's gentle caress. His hand automatically reached up to adjust his glasses, a habit he had come to do whenever he needed the time to think, when he encountered nothing but air in front of his startled eyes.
"Hello,"
He started at the sound, looking directly ahead to see a tall, lean man with dark, golden hair fifty feet away, appearing out of nowhere. His fair features lit up in a friendly smile. He had a mild accent akin to that of an Englishman and there was something hauntingly familiar about the smile and the man himself. At closer inspection, the man seemed to be about his age and was wearing casual clothing, fit for an outing at the park. His hands buried deep in his pants pockets. He was leaning on a large rock outcropping but stood up as the new arrival stopped just thirty feet away.
Where'd he come from?
"Hello…" he greeted back uncertainly. He face was having trouble on what emotion to put forth as he regarded the man. "Where did you… I mean, how… you… I was – "
The man gently laughed as he attempted to put across a hundred questions running through his mind at that moment into one coherent question but failed terribly. He gave up.
"Forget it," he said smiling at himself when he suddenly remembered something else. "Have you seen my companion? She went through the Stargate before I did." he asked, pointing at the Ancient device behind him.
"She went that way," the man answered, jerking a thumb behind him.
"Oh," was all he could say. "Where am I?" he inquired next.
"You'll find out soon enough," the man answered. He turned around and began to walk away. "Come on, we'd best be going. The others are waiting."
"Others?"
The man never broke stride. "Why, yes. We have been expecting you ever since she announced that there will be another welcomed into the fold. A bit doubtful if you would really cross over or not, though."
"The others were doubtful?" he asked again, having no idea what the other man was talking about.
He finally stopped and turned once again to face him, shrugging. "No. I was doubtful if you would remotely accept Ascension knowing how stubborn humans can be at times."
That didn't sound good. "You do?" he quirked an eyebrow.
The man sighed. "Yes, well, do not take it the wrong way. But I think you are not yet ready to Ascend. In time, maybe. Please, hear me out first," he said in a placating tone, raising a hand when he saw the other man looking affronted. "When I said that you are not yet ready, I mean it in the nicest of ways. Based from what I have seen, there are still a lot of things you have left behind that need finishing. A couple more in the future, dare I say. And you cannot do all these once you've Ascended because there are certain rules that we must abide to."
"Well, I don't have much of a choice, do I?" he answered curtly.
"Yes, there is also that." The man nodded in agreement. "If Oma hadn't interfered the way she did, then I guess we wouldn't be having this conversation now, would we? And I wouldn't be here to welcome you at all. I do not usually volunteer myself to be the welcoming committee of the Ascended beings, mind. There's a regular guy for that." He ended, trusting a hand on his hair.
Confusion was clearly written all over his face as he studied the man closely. "Then why?"
"You see," the man in casual clothing strolled back until they were merely an arm's length away from each other, "the reason why I came here is because…" he seemed to hesitate at the last possible moment. "I would like to ask you a favour…"
And that was when he saw the man's eyes. And realization dawned on him that instant.
"… Dr. Jackson."
He slowly woke up to the sound of voices talking nearby. He wanted to get back into his dream, not wanting to let go of it that easily. It felt like if he did, something vitally important would slip right through his fingers and he knew he cannot afford to let that happen.
Now, why would that be? A voice in his still groggy mind asked him.
Daniel ignored it, wanting to get back to sleep. Wishing for the voices and all of them to be gone, leave him be.
"I thought he was just stunned?" a very familiar voice demanded. Even in his half-awakened state, Daniel could easily identify that voice anywhere. "It's been over thirty hours and he still hasn't woken up yet."
"We have no idea how much energy his body has been exposed to, Colonel." A female voice calmly explained. "Daniel may well have been given enough to knock out a bear for all we know."
Yes, Daniel thought, burying the side of his face deeper unto the soft pillow. Make him go away.
He tried to tune out their voices as he once again concentrated on recapturing his dream. What was it again? A planet. The wormhole disengaging silently. Flowers. Scent. A man walking towards him. He was saying something, asking something. What was it?
What was it?
- - - o 0 o - - -
A chilly night breeze accompanied the Jaffa as he entered the tent. Every occupant inside looked up at the new arrival who was searching the sea of faces, nodding every now and then to some of them, for someone.
"Yarek,"
The former First Prime swung his head to the side and saw the Tok'Ra Malek sitting on the ground with a group of Jaffa who seemed to be conversing with him. The prisoners knew that Malek was Tok'Ra and they had kept that information from their captors. Even those who continued believing he was not Tok'Ra but a Goa'uld spy for the new conqueror of this planet had also kept their silence, acknowledging Yarek's leadership.
But the golden-haired man was not Malek. There was a different aura about him. For one thing, this man was sporting an easy smile and his eyes looked livelier than the Jaffa saw last. Gone were the harsh lines on his noble face. His posture was not rigid and stiff, but more relaxed and laid back. And he seemed approachable. No, this was not Malek at all.
Yarek nodded once before approaching the group. He immediately noticed young Nee'chos sitting closely beside the slender man and smiled inwardly to himself.
Nee'chos was one of the youngest Jaffa in the camp, only in his twenty-third year. He had an older brother who had joined the Rebellion, moved by the words of Master Bratac when he and a small contingent of his followers had laid siege on one of Merenptah's outpost where the young man was, urging them to leave the service of their false god and help them free their brethren from enslavement.
His brother had risked his life trying to convince Nee'chos to come and join them as a Free Jaffa. The young-one highly admired his brother so much that he readily agreed to go with him. But they were found out and both were shipped into separate mining camps. It had been almost two years since they had seen each other last.
Nee'chos never left Yarek's side ever since the latter had arrived there a few months ago after a mission gone bad. But it would now seem that the young Jaffa's loyalties were now divided between him and this man ever since that fateful day where the Tok'Ra could've just turned his back on them and leave. Yarek did not mind, in fact he was pleased that Nee'chos had found another individual worthy of his admiration.
"Leave us," Yarek told the group who quickly stood up, leaving the Tok'Ra agent alone, except for Nee'chos who was looking up at their leader attentively. "You, too, Nee'chos."
Nee'chos did as he was told, but not before giving the older man a look of displeasure at being dismissed off-handedly. He sat with another group of Jaffa conversing lightly just a few feet away.
"He seemed to have grown quite fond of you, Danem." Yarek teased as he settled himself on the ground.
"I have no idea if he's attached himself to me or to my symbiote," Malek's host said, chuckling softly. His voice was soft and gentle compared to Malek's deeper and more authoritative one.
"I think to the both of you." The Jaffa stated matter-of-factly. "Malek?"
"Asleep," Danem answered. "Another tent destroyed?"
Yarek nodded. "Yes. Luckily, it was not one of ours. It erupted close to the weapons storage tent thereby damaging it." He saw the Tok'Ra's eyes widen significantly at the news. "No, we were unable to get hold of any functioning weapons and neither did we find your communications device."
"They may have placed it somewhere else," Danem said, thoughtfully. The communications device had been a gift from a technologically advanced people called Tollans. They had shared this device and a few others with the Tok'Ra because they perceived them as equals. Although over the years, their scientists had successfully created a smaller and more compact version of it for easy concealment.
But unlike the Tollans' theirs was only capable of sending out very short messages. Scaling it down to half its original size had been a problem since the large bulk of the device had been allocated for the device's vast memory storage. He and Malek had been given one prior to this mission and it already had a prearranged message in it in case of emergency. After they were captured, the communications device was the first thing that was taken from them.
He shifted the conversation onto their present dilemma. "These occurrences are becoming more and more frequent."
"Indeed," the Jaffa nodded grimly. "And the others are beginning to worry. Even the guards. Ground movement before such on eruption takes place has also never been this bad in the past."
"This place seems to be becoming more and more unstable," the agent thought out loud.
"You think it has something to do with the mines?"
The Tok'Ra shrugged. "It maybe one of the factors but I have to agree with Malek that it is not the cause of all these." He sighed heavily. "If only I still had the device with me."
"We are working on finding out the gate address of this planet," Yarek said.
"Yes, I know," Danem acknowledged with a tight smile. "But even if you do acquire the data, it would still be useless if we do not have the means to send it." He then noticed that the Jaffa was not listening anymore. "What's wrong?"
"Nee'chos is gone."
- - - o 0 o - - -
Two more Jaffa volunteered to help them search for Nee'chos. The guards posted around the mines ignored them as the four set off in different directions.
Danem was thankful that Malek was resting. He was not in the mood to argue with his symbiote. But Malek had also had a rough day between protecting him from the dangerous fumes down the mines, the chilly winter clime up on the surface and mending his broken wrist trying to soften his fall when he tripped over a piece of equipment that was strangely left in the middle of the path he was taking.
He had entered every tent on the area to check if Nee'chos was in one of them. No one had seen the young Jaffa that night. Where could he have gone?
After thanking the occupants of the fifth tent Danem pulled back the flap to depart. A strong wind welcomed him outside and Danem quickly hugged the thick fur coat around his person, trembling a bit as the biting air came into contact with bare skin. There were four more tents nearby and as he contemplated on which of them he would inquire to next, he heard someone calling out his name in a low voice.
Frowning, he turned. Nee'chos was walking hurriedly towards him. "Where have you been? Yarek's been looking for you."
"There is something I wish for you to see," Nee'chos excitedly told him, seemingly pleased with himself about something.
"Later," Danem said, gripping the collar of the coat around his throat, "we must get back to the tent – "
"It cannot wait," the young Jaffa shook his head impatiently as he fished something out from a side pocket and showed it to him.
An astounded Danem stared wide-eyed at Nee'chos' open hand. Resting on it was the one thing that stood between life and death.
The missing Tok'Ra communications device.