A/N: Here you go. I'm not going to bore you with a lot of talk.

Disclaimer! It's been said.

Warning! You'll shoot your eye out. (So how many of you know that reference?)

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Jack reached up slowly to depress the button on his radio. "Go ahead," he said.

"We've picked up a transmission. It's giving away your location."

Jack's eyebrows raised and he met Carter's wary gaze. "Oh?"

"There's a good chance Ba'al has already discovered where you are."

"Thanks, Major Grant," Jack said calmly, "but we already figured that one out." He released the button on his radio and turned around so he faced the figure standing in the entryway to the control room.

"It must be nice to know you have such a dedicated group of men and women looking out for your well-being, General O'Neill." Ba'al smiled smugly. "It's just too bad that dedication doesn't always translate into competence."

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The Ninth Chevron

Chapter Thirty-Six

"You're like bad Mexican food, Ba'al," Jack said. "The minute you think you're done with dinner, it comes right back uninvited."

Ba'al chuckled and stepped fully into the room. Several Kull warriors followed him. Jack had a sneaking suspicion all of them were the genuine article.

"Oh, come now, General," Ba'al said. "You can't say it hasn't been just a little fun." He looked pointedly at Carter and winked.

Jack felt rage bubble up, but forced it back. "Oh, a hoot," he said sarcastically.

Ba'al looked around the room, his smile growing wider. "Magnificent," he said. "There were times, I must admit, I wondered if I would ever see it." He ran the palm of his hand across a panel.

"You won't live long enough to use it," Jack said.

This earned an outright laugh. Ba'al walked casually along the walls of the room and wagged his finger playfully towards Jack. "That's why I like you so much, O'Neill. Your sense of humor. I have to say, I'm going to miss it."

"Am I to assume this is the evil man you spoke of?" Aisa asked. Neither her posture nor facial expression had changed.

Carter nodded. "This is Ba'al."

Ba'al bowed a greeting and continued around the room. He leaned through the doorway at the back and nodded with satisfaction when he saw the Stargate. His drones remained just inside the entrance at the ready.

"You are Goa'uld," Aisa said.

Ba'al's eyes flashed. "I am."

She shook her head. "There are safeguards against…"

"Indeed there were. It was apparent my dear friends here had quite the difficult time reaching this room." Ba'al turned to Carter and bowed. "I am thankful for your efforts to lead the way so valiantly. It made my travel here quite effortless."

"You will not be allowed to use the weapon," the hologram declared.

Apparently finished with his exploration, Ba'al finally made his way over to Aisa. He waved his hand through her to assure himself his assumption was correct and then leaned in close to her face. "You cannot stop me."

"You do not have the ability to turn it on."

Ba'al pointed to Jack. "No, but he does."

Jack stood up straighter. "Not on your life."

"He could not, anyway," Aisa said. "He was able to activate the systems for the station, but the weapon must be initialized using a component that is no longer here."

Ba'al's eyes lit with recognition. "Jacob Carter."

Aisa nodded.

Ba'al stood in place. His eyes stared ahead, but his attention seemed to be focused inward. Jack wondered what was going on inside that twisted brain. After a moment, Ba'al stood taller and turned to look at the group. He smiled again.

"Damned Tok'ra," he said. He walked past Anise toward Jack, purposely brushing roughly against her shoulder as he passed. "You can't trust 'em, can you O'Neill?" He stopped at the bank of computers just in front of the General and leaned his elbow casually against its surface. He turned and looked back at Anise. "Always looking out for themselves, am I right?"

He flicked his eyed back to Jack again. "How's the alliance gone so far, huh? Do they play well with others, or do you find yourself always getting the short end of the stick?"

"I'm touched you're so concerned we're getting a fair shake, Ba'al."

Ba'al nodded. "Oh, but I am concerned." He drew his gaze once again to Anise.

Jack couldn't be sure, but he thought Anise shifted uncomfortably under Ba'al's stare.

"You see," Ba'al continued, "I've had my share of dealings with the Tok'ra." He glanced at Carter. "And I do mean dealings." He grinned and stood tall. "Take this latest one, for example…"

"The latest one?" Carter asked.

"You didn't know?" Ba'al said with feigned surprise. "Why, Anise—you didn't tell them?"

All eyes turned to the Tok'ra. She stood silently and glared at Ba'al.

"No doubt she didn't want to damage your peoples' relationship-- that has up until now proven to be such a lucrative arrangement-- by coming to you with something as inconvenient as the truth," he continued.

"The transmission," Carter said. Her eyes narrowed on Anise's face. "It's you, isn't it?"

Anise nodded. "I can explain."

"She can explain!" Ba'al hooted. He strutted up to Anise and put his arm around her shoulders. "Why don't you explain to the nice Tau'ri how your people betrayed them?"

"We did not betray them," she said tightly.

"Oh? I'd be curious to see what your definition of the word is, then," Ba'al said. He looked to Jack. "She's been lying to you for quite a while, O'Neill. It's her fault you're here."

OoOoOoOoO

Colonel Reynolds crouched behind the felled Tel'tak, eyes on the trees around him. He hated waiting. They'd tucked Pierce inside the damaged ship for safety just before the sound of crunching grass and breaking twigs had sent them to ground.

They hadn't heard anything since. The entire forest was still. Unnaturally so, Reynolds thought. The calm before the storm. He didn't know how many drones had pushed past their line at the clearing, but even a few would present a challenge. The battle had already drawn out longer than anticipated and the charges on their disruptors were starting to fade. Half of the men had been forced to switch to projectiles; bullets that wouldn't do a damn thing to take down a drone.

And they had to hold the line. There was only one more place to fall back to, and he'd rather not take this battle to SG-1's doorstep.

Just ahead, something in the trees moved. Reynolds reached up to his radio. "Heads up," he whispered. "Visual contact at one o'clock."

"Copy, sir," Garcia answered. "Visual contact at three and five o'clock."

"I've got three at nine and ten," another man reported.

A sharp blast took out the tree directly behind Reynolds. He glanced back at the sizzling bark. "We've been spotted!" he called into the radio. Another blast, then another whizzed past him, followed by sound of the SG teams' return fire.

"They're on the move!" he heard Garcia report.

"Hold 'em back! Don't let them break through!"

OoOoOoOoO

Cam's ship shook with the impact of glider wreckage across its hood. "Whoa!" he called. "That was crispy!"

"Try not to cut it so close next time, will ya?" Griff snapped from behind.

"Just making it interesting," Cam said with a smile. "Prometheus," he said into his helmet. "It's getting a little tight out here. How soon before you have a go?"

"The Tok'ra Tel'tak should impact the Ha'tak's generator in thirty seconds."

Cam nodded.

"Five gliders making a run for Prometheus," Griff called from behind.

"Where?"

"Under her belly. Four o'clock."

Cam looked at his view screen and spotted the blips. "Got 'em." He rolled away from his current position and targeted the lead bird in the attacking formation. "Fox two."

The ship kicked a bit as Griff launched a missile. Cam watched its progress on his screen and out his window. The missile made a straight flight right into the lead ship. It exploded in a ball of fire and took out two more.

"We've got two more," Cam said.

"I'll take the one on the left," he heard.

"Fine, blue seven," Cam answered. "I've got the other."

"All clear for weapons fire," the weapons officer from Prometheus reported. All the F-302's disengaged and rushed out of the line of fire. A flash of light shot from both the Prometheus and the Daniel Jackson at the same time. Cam watched the beams streak toward the Ha'tak. The ship inside the shield collided with the Ha'tak at the same moment the two energy weapons crossed the horizon of the shield. The explosion was massive. It shot flames and debris into space and the shield winked out.

Cam gave a shout and pounded his fist against his window. "That's the way it's done!"

"Bogey is getting away," Griff reminded him.

"Right," he said, still smiling. He rolled the ship toward the escaping glider and put on a burst of speed.

Behind him, the Ha'taks, having lost their protection, moved apart and released the rest of their gliders.

OoOoOoOoO

"You mislead them, twist things around," Anise said, frowning at Ba'al.

"Well, I don't see you doing any talking," Daniel said.

Anise sighed and shrugged away Ba'al's arm. She stepped toward the team and lowered her gaze. "The Tok'ra have known there was a weapon from the beginning. I misled you regarding how badly injured the Tok'ra who accompanied Selmac on the mission was. He did escape and manage to find us—me, actually—on a planet nearby. I was on a scientific outing when I recognized him. I brought him back to the Tok'ra base where he told us everything."

Carter shook her head. "I don't understand. If he told you everything, then why all the subterfuge? Why not just come here and be done with it?"

"Two things prevented us from doing just that. Our friend could not remember where the weapon was. He was injured much of the time he was here and his perceptions were clouded."

"And the second?" Teal'c asked.

Carter tilted her head. "Dad."

Anise nodded. "You are correct, Colonel Carter. Your father took measures to make the weapon not only unreachable, but also incomplete. Even if we found it, we could not make it work."

"Where does jumbo jerk here fit into all of this?" Jack asked. He jabbed his thumb towards Ba'al.

"There were not two Tok'ra in attendance during Jacob Carter's mission, but three."

"This just keeps getting better and better," Jack said.

Ba'al moved to the wall, where he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, seemingly satisfied to watch.

"We learned that the third died during interrogation."

"So, you set out to find out if he told Ba'al anything important."

Anise nodded. "I was dispatched to make Ba'al an offer in exchange for information regarding the weapon."

"What did you offer him?" Carter asked.

"A truce," Anise said, "and complete disclosure on both sides in regards to anything connected to the whereabouts of this moon."

Daniel shook his head; his voice was tinged with anger. "You betrayed us."

"It was never our intent to do so. When we had learned everything we needed from Ba'al, we planned to kill him. He was to never have stepped foot in this room."

Bra'tac's eyes narrowed. "The information that caused the Jaffa to attempt the assassination… that was you?"

Anise nodded. "The Tok'ra have known about your spy for some time and merely leaked what was necessary to instigate his activation."

"Then you have betrayed the Jaffa as well," Teal'c said.

"We were trying to right a wrong--"

"You were trying to cover your asses," Jack said.

"The retrieval of this weapon will safeguard this galaxy for everyone."

"Yeah," Jack said, "and I'll bet you were going to run right out and tell us everything once you found the moon."

Anise had no answer. She just stepped forward, a little desperation in her voice. "I never meant for it to go this far. We never meant for it…"

"But it did," Carter interrupted. There was a sudden understanding in her eyes. "You didn't know where the weapon was. The only information you had to share in regards to its whereabouts was that my dad was here."

Jack's head shot up as he followed Carter's reasoning. "You gave Ba'al Carter." Anger bloomed in his chest. His head felt suddenly hot and he balled his hands into fists.

"We did not know what she knew, and Ba'al promised to release her as soon as he learned the extent of her collaboration with her father."

Carter's voice was calm. Cold. "But you knew," she said. "You knew how he'd 'learn' that information and you still told him where I was." She raised her eyes to meet Anise's. "Did it ever occur to you to just ask?"

"We couldn't be certain you'd tell us, and once the question was presented…"

"We'd know about the weapon and you'd have to share," Daniel finished for her.

"And I suppose once you and Ba'al learned Carter didn't know anything, you had her injected with the enzyme so she could be tracked and then gave us enough information so we could go on your little scavenger hunt for you." Jack said. He took a step forward, but was stopped by Carter's warning look. She was right. They weren't in any position yet to act.

"Initially, no," she said. "We did not want you to gain any more information than Colonel Carter already knew. Ba'al's questions were to be vague and unrevealing… but there was a mistake."

"One of many, I am sure," Bra'tac said.

"One of the guards who first interrogated Colonel Carter let slip guiding information."

Carter nodded. "He told me Ba'al was looking for a power source to dial using nine symbols."

"Exactly. Once he revealed that information, we knew you wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to discover the rest. There was no way to avoid your involvement from that point on, so our priorities changed from keeping you out of the loop to ensuring that you never became aware of how much we were involved."

"And you see how well that worked out," Jack said sarcastically. "It would have been easier if you'd just killed us."

She looked pointedly at Jack. "We are not barbarians, General."

He crossed his arms. "Oh, I'm beginning to have some serious doubts about that."

Anise pursed her lips and continued. "I was to stay behind and pass along information to Ba'al. We had to keep up the ruse so he wouldn't suspect anything. His assassination would have assured our ability to retrieve the weapon and keep from you our unfortunate choices of late."

"Your people sure have a funny definition of loyalty," Daniel said.

"Dad was right to hide the weapon from you," Carter said with controlled anger.

"The important thing is," Ba'al interrupted. He pushed himself away from the wall and walked back into the center of the room, "…that she was a good little Tok'ra and did everything she was told to do." He stopped in front of Carter and looked down at her defiant face. "So I know you have the missing piece of the puzzle."

Carter's eyes flashed and she produced an overly sweet smile. "You should know by now, Ba'al, that I'm not going to give you anything. You played your hand too early. You should have waited until we powered up." She turned and shook her head at Jack. "And I thought he was supposed to be smart."

Ba'al's demeanor changed instantly from smug to angry. He hauled back with his fist to hit her in the face.

Carter reached up defensively and deflected the strike away with her forearm. He was much stronger than she was, though. He pushed against her arm and she flew back against the panel behind her and fell hard to the floor.

He stood over her as she pushed herself up. He sneered. "I've had enough talk. I want that crystal, Colonel Carter, and if you won't give it to me, I'll just have to take it." He raised his hand and Jack saw that at some point he'd slipped on a hand device. Ba'al's eyes narrowed. "Which will it be? Acquiescence or agony?"

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Two more plus an epilogue to go!