Chapter Thirty Four
"Why have you brought me here, Jon Sheppard?" Todd the wraith growled after they had stepped through the gate. His hands were bound to his side, the bindings wrapped around his waist to prevent much movement.
"Relax, they just need your help, is all," Sheppard replied, his arms resting on top of his P90.
"Then why did they take me prisoner instead of merely asking?" He gave a pointed look to his restraints.
"There was no time to ask and as far as the belt goes...well we just like to be cautious is all," he gave a pointed look to Todd's feeding hand. "Given that you got your little built in life sucking straw back and all." He gave him a fake smile.
"And if I refuse to help?" The wraith challenged.
"Then we'll send you back to Atlantis and you can be on your merry little way." He gave him a knowing look. "But you'll help."
Todd let out a growling breath as he rolled his eyes.
Mitchell, Teal'c, Dr. Keller, General Landry, and Daniel all sat in the observation room watching the scene below them. McKay and Samantha were arguing over something but they quieted as Jon Sheppard entered with the wraith. Dr. Lam gestured for him to make himself comfortable on the gurney and made to release him from his restraints but Carter stopped her.
"No, it's okay," McKay insisted, nodding to the doctor to continue. "He's helping us, Sam. Least we can do is give him a little show of faith."
Carter turned to Sheppard who shrugged. "I guess you could say he's earned that."
She rolled her eyes, removing her hand from Dr. Lam's so Todd could be released. He stretched, then rubbed his wrists. "Thank you, doctor."
"Okay," McKay turned to Todd. "What we're planning to do here--"
"I know what you intend to do, Dr. McKay," Todd interrupted slowly. "I heard your argument and agree that it would be much more effective for you to connect me to the Tok'ra memory device as I will be able to search out specific thoughts and hold onto them longer than the human can."
McKay straightened, giving Sam a look that said 'I told you so' before bringing the device over to Todd. "Um, do you want to...or maybe I should..."
Todd groaned, taking the memory device out of Rodney's hand and implanting it into his head. He held his hand out expectantly. "And the device that will link me to your patient?" He took it from a reluctant Carter and placed it on the other side of his head. "Are we ready to begin?"
Carter nodded to Rodney, who turned the virtual link device on. "Okay, hopefully, Todd will be able to figure out which memories are fake and hold onto those long enough for us to analyze on Vala's end and then remove if necessary."
"I can still hear you, Dr. McKay," Todd grumbled from his position on the gurney a few feet away from Vala.
Rodney jumped. "A little warning that you would still be aware of your surroundings would have been nice!"
"I believe that is what I just gave you," the wraith replied. Flashes of images began to appear on the screen. "It will take a moment for me to get the feel of her mind."
They all waited patiently until the images on the screen of the Tok'ra device slowed. Daniel sat up straighter, watching the scenes play out before them on the screen. The first one was simple enough. It
was from Vala's perspective as she sat in front of a television, clearly curled up next to someone. A large dark hand came down into the pop corn bowl in front of them as spaceships blew up on the television, clearly in surround sound.
Teal'c smiled at the memory, giving a nod to Carter, who had been looking up at them questioningly, waiting for confirmation that the memory was real or not. She nodded in turn to Rodney, who made a note of the wave patterns on the screen in front of him.
The scene changed and Vala was sitting across from Samantha on a bed as they both sipped wine. Carter was laughing hysterically about something and panting the words "And then his--"
The real Carter cleared her throat. "Private conversation. Can we move on please?"
"Very well," Todd conceded, seeming somewhat bored.
The scene changed again to one of Vala's many birthday parties they had thrown her over the course of a few months. Sam smiled, shaking her head at the humorous memory before giving Rodney confirmation that it was real.
"I figured," he remarked condescendingly. "Look, not that we aren't enjoying all of the warm and fuzzy memories here, Todd, but we're looking something a little more on the traumatic side, if you don't mind."
Todd grunted his agreement and the images on the screen changed once more. She was at a nice restaurant with Daniel smiling at her from the other side of the table.
"While I can see how a date with Dr. Jackson might not be the most pleasant affair," McKay sniped, "again, we are looking for something more traumatic. More life shattering, if you will."
Daniel rolled his eyes and grabbed the microphone. "That's the night Vala was kidnapped by the Trust, McKay."
"Oh," he nodded slightly. Well, that's more like it then. Continue," he addressed Todd as he made notes from the screen in front of him. "Okay there!" he called out as the man had jumped out and drugged her, starting to drag her away. "This wave pattern here shows fear. That gives us a good baseline to go on. Now we just need a fake memory."
"I am unable to decipher which memories are false," Todd told them. "How would you like for me to proceed?"
Rodney shifted awkwardly. "Well, there's one memory we know of that Ba'al implanted." He turned a grimace toward Sam. "Your executions." He paused as Sam gave her quiet consent. "Todd, I need you to look for anything concerning the memories of SG1 dying."
Immediately after Rodney gave the command, a bloodcurdling scream came from the screen. Sam watched in horror as the goa'uld pain stick was pressed against her own skull on screen. She watched silently as the fake image of herself begged for mercy. She couldn't hide her reaction when the hand of what they could only assume to be Qetesh sliced her throat open.
"Right, so seeing as how you haven't died any horribly gruesome," he swallowed as his gag reflex kicked in, "and graphic ways lately, I'm assuming that memory is false."
"Right." She cleared her throat. "Do we have what we need to be able to figure out which memories are fake?"
"Yes, I think so." Rodney pointed to the screen. "You see these two distinctly different wave patterns? This one marks a fake memory, and this one marks a traumatic memory. Couple the two together and I think we should be able to sort out the ones that are causing her, um, stress first. We can sort out the rest later, though I have to say I doubt Ba'al implanted anything warm and fuzzy in her brain."
The rest of SG1 watched in silence while Todd finished bringing the rest of their deaths. First Mitchell, who was tortured for weeks by both Ba'al and Qetesh before Ba'al gutted him in front of Vala. Then it was Teal'c's turn. His torture was longer and far worse as he was the "Chauvah". Finally the images changed again, this time to Qetesh kissing Daniel. The whole scene played out before them again, including Daniel's despair at finding out that Vala was a goa'uld.
"Huh," McKay noted as he looked at the screen and the notes on his tablet. "The signature on this one is different." He squinted as he looked at the screen, which was now to the point where Qetesh had her handheld device in front of Daniel's face as she tried to kill him.
Cam cleared his throat and leaned forward. "That's because it's real," he admitted as he cut his eyes to Daniel. "This is when we tried to rescue Vala. Any minute Teal'c and I are going to come busting in before she sends our asses flying. See? There it is," he pointed out as the scene played out that exact way on screen. "Move on, guys. I don't think any of us want to go through that again."
The screen blinked and then the fake memory of Daniel's death played out on screen. They watched from Vala's point of view as her own hands beat Daniel mercilessly before finally reaching out and snapping his neck.
Daniel couldn't help but rub his own neck at the site. "We are removing these as we go, right McKay?"
"Yes, yes, of course." He turned to the wraith. "You want a break or anything Todd?"
Todd gave a wry smile. "I am feeling a bit peckish. Perhaps a snack to tide me over?"
Sheppard sneered at Todd. "Very funny. Keep going, McKay."
"Well," McKay looked to Jon, "now that you mention it I'm kinda hungry myself."
"Rodney," Jennifer warned from her seat in the observation room.
"Right, right, keep going," he muttered to himself. "Just saying, a sandwich would be nice. Continue," he waved to Todd. "I guess we need to start looking for more traumatic memories dealing with Vala herself then."
"Would you like to continue with the deaths of the SG1 at a later time?" The wraith asked.
"We just went through those," McKay mumbled as he scribbled on the tablet.
"Yea, I don't think we need to see those again," Carter added with a shiver.
"I was referring to the second set of deaths in her mind, Colonel Carter," he explained as they both looked up. "It would appear she has memories of you dying in multiple ways."
"Well then, yes, we need to see them," Rodney encouraged with interest. He shrugged. "What? It's intriguing."
"Well, I think I could use a break before watching myself die again," she looked up to the observation room. "General?"
"I agree," he replied. "Meet back here in one hour." He turned to the rest of SG1 and Dr. Keller. "You don't have to sit through this, you know."
Cam turned his attention to Vala, giving a determined look. "We good, sir."
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed as he looked upon Vala with a newfound respect.
"Do you really even need to ask?" Daniel muttered at the General's pointed look before he stood up and made his way into the hallway.
Carter was already standing out there. She gave him an exhausted look before walking towards the elevators with him. "Something tells me this is going to take a lot longer than we originally thought."
He gave a noncommittal noise, still lost in thought.
"Where are you headed?" She asked after a few seconds of silence.
"My office, I guess." He gave a humorless smile. "Kinda lost my appetite after all of that."
"Yea, me too. Mind if I join you?" she pressed.
He came to a stop, lowering his head as he turned around to face her. "Look, I don't really want to talk about what you just saw. I know how it looked--"
"So do I." She licked her lips, hesitating. "I was already there, Daniel. I saw the whole thing."
He blinked. "And you didn't try to stop her from killing me because...?"
She half shrugged. "Same reason you didn't try to stop her, I guess. I froze." She stared off into the distance. "Look, I'm not trying to get you to talk about anything. I just...I don't really want to be alone after what we just saw. I could use the company."
"Yea, I guess I could too," he complied.