Chapter Twenty-six
"You look terrible, my friend." Shamda said bluntly.
"Thanks." Daniel smiled.
"What brings you back to us?"
Shamda offered the members of the team a murky looking liquor. They all politely turned down the offer. Shamda shrugged and poured a glass of it anyway. He offered the drink to Daniel once more, recalling that he used to like it. Daniel refused again, the mere scent of the stuff was making him nauseous.
"I need to know if anyone has come through the Stargate in the past few days."
"Yes, a woman." Shamda nodded. "Rea'beka."
"Rebecca?" Daniel repeated.
"Rea'beka." Shamda corrected.
"Did she want anything from you?" Daniel asked.
"The same thing you wanted." Shamda chuckled. "Some clothes."
"What?" Jack asked without thinking.
Shamda got up and went to a pile of various cloth in the corner of the tent. He lifted up a pair of dark green fatigues. Jack took them and riffled through the pockets, but he found nothing.
"They didn't fit, or suite, her very well at all." Shamda explained.
"Was she..." Jack paused "was she wearing anything on her hand?"
"She wore an odd gold bracelet with the stone on the wrong side of her hand."
"What?!" Daniel asked in shock. He turned to Jack. "You gave her a hand device?"
"I didn't give it to her...Carter did."
"Me?" Sam said indignantly.
"Look, it doesn't matter how she got it." Jack said dismissively. "The point is that she has it, and that makes her dangerous."
"I'm starting to question that." Daniel mused.
"Excuse me?"
"I'm starting to question if she's actually dangerous, or if she's misled, or having her hand forced."
"Daniel, she tried to kill you."
"But she didn't." Daniel pointed out. "She let me go."
"Completely insane." Jack countered.
"I don't think she wanted that."
"Daniel may have a point, Sir." Sam added. "If it hadn't been for her help I don't think he would have survived."
"I can't believe what I'm hearing." Jack growled. "Teal'c, buddy, you're still on my side, right?"
"This Rea'beka can not be trusted." Teal'c agreed.
"I didn't say she had to be trusted." Daniel said exasperated. "I just meant that we might want to hold off on shooting her on sight."
"Then why are we going after her?" Jack asked bluntly.
"Because something tells me that whatever she's trying to do she's in over her head."
"And we're not?" Jack protested.
"Just trust me, Jack. We have to find her."
For a moment nothing was said. Shamda looked back and forth between the two men and then poured himself another drink. Jack searched Daniel's expression and furrowed his graying brow in thought.
"Daniel..." Jack said slowly "you don't have the weird victim disorder, do you?"
"What?"
"Stockholm Syndrome." Carter provided.
"No." Daniel said quickly. "Don't be absurd, Jack."
"Am I?" Jack asked seriously.
"Who is this Stockholm?" Teal'c asked.
"It's when a victim falls in love with their abuser." Daniel explained. "But trust me, this isn't the case. She barely said a dozen words to me, most of the time I was just lost in my own mind."
"Then why are we chasing after her?" Jack asked again. "If she's in trouble: who cares?"
"Any place that takes ripping open the minds of an Ascended and an Ancient descendant to find is worth going to." Daniel snarled.
Silence fell over everyone once again. Jack thought about what Daniel had said and simply nodded. Daniel turned to Shamda and thanked him for the information and said good-bye. Getting up he left the tent.
"Sir, are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Carter, if you think you can stop him, be my guest."
Jack got up and went after Daniel. Teal'c gave Shamda a shallow bow and followed the other two. Sam found herself alone, feeling like she was the only one left on the team with any common sense whatsoever. However she got up and said her good-byes to Shamda as well. If the others were going to step blindly through an unknown Address, she wasn't about to be left behind.
As she caught up with the others she had to admit that she was far more curious than afraid. Daniel wordlessly stepped up to the DHD and dialed in the first Address that Jack had given Rea'beka.
The Gate didn't seem to want to engage the first cryptic Symbol. However after spinning back and forth a few time it found the Chevron and locked. The rest of the Address dialed as it should and the violent vortex snapped out at them. Daniel looked at the open wormhole and then at Jack.
"Trust me?" Daniel asked.
"Hey, I'm the one who remembered the Address." Jack replied as he unlatched the safety on his P90. "So if anything we're trusting me...which is a scary thought."
Daniel smiled and walked up the steps to the open wormhole. Teal'c came up beside him and they disappeared through the Gate together. Sam and Jack exchanged an all too familiar glance. Jack took a breath to say something, but thought better of it. Together they walked up to the shimmering pool of blue.
"Here goes nothing." Jack said and stepped though the event horizon.
"...or rather everything." Carter commented before following.
The trip through the black iciness of the worm hole was just as unpleasant as ever. However, it didn't last very long and Sam soon found herself on the far side of the Gate and the quite possibly the Galaxy. A fact that never ceased to amaze her.
She took a quick inventory to make sure that everyone was there and that there was no immediate threat. Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c were all there, and they were all just staring. Sam followed their line of sight and was instantly rendered speechless.
"Oh, wow..." Sam breathed "that's not something you see everyday."