'My only weakness, is knowing your secrets
and holding them close, and hold them tight.
I know the way to silently make you
smile with my eyes, when you're trying to fight.'
"When You Find Me" ~ Joshua Radin
"We really should get T-shirts printed," said Daniel, swatting at yet another mosquito.
Too late. He was too late. Again.
He stared at the ornate wooden box, Scrambler-sized hole in the frame, and Jack's discarded green cap.
Remnants taunted him: a sleeping bag and crumbs from some freeze dried meal. The campfire wood just outside the tiny, shed sized temple was still warm.
I missed him by less than an hour. He retrieved this Scrambler less than an hour ago.
"Too late, Jack," said Daniel. "Why are we always too late?"
The unmistakable "whoosh" of the 'gate answered him. Daniel set the box down and stepped out of the temple.
He shaded his eyes against the planet's murky sun, a muted butter colour. Lush grass whispered under his boots. Though no birds filled the skies, fairy-like insects licked nectar from thistle plants.
The stargate was set between the temple and a flanking of dense forest. Daniel prayed no animals lived in this area.
A motorized whirring whomped through the horizon. The MALP trundled down the steps, its camera head twisting in every direction.
Daniel's heart soared and, with a little laugh, he waved. After a pause, the claw attachment snapped together and out again, like the MALP was waving back.
"Daniel?" came Sam's tinny voice. "You okay?"
Daniel put his hands on his knees to be at eye level with the camera. He grabbed a black radio that had been strapped to the MALP. Bringing it to his lips, he clicked the receiver button. "Alive and empty handed."
An audible sigh of relief crackled. "Thank God."
The balm of her voice made Daniel light headed. "I didn't know how much I missed you guys until I ran away."
"Just a like a kid," Sam snarked, her voice full of a smile.
Daniel grinned like an idiot. "You got my message, I see. Hope my Houdini act didn't cause too much fuss."
"Well…the IOA isn't concerned about it because they flubbed up on their end too. Majorly."
"How?" asked Daniel, frowning. "I just called to ask you about inter-planetary trackers."
"It…the IOA…"
"Sam?" Daniel prompted. Sam was a woman of action and dizzying intelligence—hesitation was rare.
"They have a leak."
He blinked. "What? As in…a mole?"
Sam sighed again, so loud it nearly maxed out the bandwidth. Daniel tapped the squelch button. His palm sweat around the radio.
"This is a long term case of sabotage, Daniel. They've had a mole since that failed operation two years ago. They didn't order it. Someone went so far as to call you and Jack in for that mission, disguised as an IOA mandate."
"Wha—No." His head spun, a reeling miasma of denial. "That can't be true."
"Daniel. Think about it. This makes too much sense. We even found drugs in O'Neill's house—containing a powerful naquadah synthesis. They dulled Jack out of his wits long enough to escape the planet. We still don't know why, but I thought I'd give you a head's up in case you find him and he's…not himself."
"You mean when we find Jack."
"Right," Sam corrected herself. "Sure."
Daniel adjusted his glasses and squinted up at the sun. One of the insects settled on his watch, fluttering at the reflective surface. All around him lazed warm scents, fragrant flowers and an earthy pine smell. This planet was peaceful and uninhabited.
Daniel breathed in deeply, felt no better for it, then let it out.
For the first time since Abydos, Daniel marveled that he was talking to someone half a galaxy away. He felt like Sam was right there in front of him when in fact he was the only soul alive for light years.
"Wait a minute," said Sam. Her voice sharpened. "Trackers?"
"Yeah, about that…I'm, well, I'm not the only one on Jack's trail. There's a tactical team that—"
"I thought I heard the 'gate engage," shouted a harsh voice.
"Over here!"
Gruff voices loomed from the woods and twigs snapped under heavy steps.
Daniel shot to his feet. He had only seconds to switch off the radio and dash across the meadow. The toe of his boot hit the temple just as three black-clad men tromped out of the trees.
Daniel crouched behind an altar and peered over its lip.
Not the only soul for light years after all.
Despite his racing heart, he smiled.
I don't have to track Jack—I just have to keep up with these men. Why not let the bad guys do the dirty work for a change?
When Daniel flipped the radio back on, he thought he had a wrong frequency. He winced, dialing the volume down. It sounded like a cat on the other end, hissing, spitting, and…swearing?
"Sam?" Daniel whispered.
More swearing, plus Walter's frazzled tone in the background. Daniel only hoped the three men hadn't heard it.
"Sam, what are you—?"
Sam sounded close to tears. "Don't you ever scare me like that. You hear me? Not now. Not after…"
"Radios. Sam, I'm so, so sorry. I wasn't thinking."
Daniel flashed back two years in his mind, the hellish nightmare that Sam and Teal'c had only been able to hear via radio. They had sprinted three miles only to come upon the bloodbath.
Another pause ensued and Daniel could physically hear Sam push down the nexus of emotion.
Daniel waited patiently, eyes on the tactical team surveying the MALP and arguing over some hand held device.
Several rasping breaths later, Sam was able to match Daniel's harsh whisper. "If you turn that radio off again so help me—"
"I won't. I promise."
"What happened? Who was that man I heard?"
Daniel scratched at a nick on his ear and arched an eyebrow. "Remember that tactical team I was talking about? Turns out they're still here. I wish I could figure out how they're tracking Jack, even without being on the same planet. It's why I called in the first place."
Another silence, this one filled with Sam's mental calculations. Daniel relaxed. This non-sound he knew like the inside of his eyelids. SGC's soundscape wafted in the background.
Daniel's finger ached from holding the radio button down but he didn't dare take it off. It trembled with the knowledge that this was his only lifeline to people that cared whether he lived or died.
"They can't," Sam finally said. "No long range wave length would work across such distances."
Daniel licked his lips, salty with a nervous sweat. The three men had removed the DHD cover. They tapped the hand held device against several crystals and it chirped loud enough for Daniel to hear almost six meters away.
He startled. "Sam? You still there?"
"Always."
"Sam, can crystals store previously dialed coordinates? Like redial on a phone?"
"Absolutely. We've used it before, actually—"
One of the men shifted a crystal and the wormhole disengaged in a rush. All three men cheered.
The event horizon dissipating froze the breath in Daniel's lungs. Sam's cut off voice rang in his ears.
"Sam?" Daniel's voice broke. "S-Sam?"
Nothing.
The smallest of the three men began punching in new coordinates. Daniel watched in shock. The other two had moved, giving Daniel a perfect view of the lit up symbols. He mentally noted the positioning.
It was the perfect angle, better than a front row seat.
A wormhole engaged with the familiar whoosh. Light shimmered off insect wings and Daniel's lenses. Part of him wanted desperately to just wait for Sam to redial, to sit tight.
But this was it.
My only chance.
The tactical team filed through, leaving him alone yet again.
Daniel closed his eyes. His jaw tightened. Opening his eyes, he got off his knees and bolted for the stargate—
Both hands cradled the radio to his chest.
"Daniel? Daniel?"
"It's shutting down," said Walter.
Sam clutched at her own radio. She kept it tight to her face to hide a tremble in her lips. The wormhole evaporated, along with Sam's last reserve.
After an endless moment, she set the radio down on the console. Sam's fingers twitched over its surface. Before she walked away, she met Walter's eyes.
"That radio doesn't move," she whispered. "If someone so much as eyes it the wrong way, I want to know. Got it?"
Walter almost scoffed. "Over my dead body is someone touching it."
Daniel will call again. He has to.
Walter nodded, and Sam realized she'd said this out loud.
Sam went down the steps in a daze. Cam was combing through IOA personnel files with Bowman and Teal'c. Lam worked floors above on figuring out the drug synthesis.
People passed Sam in the hall, chattered greetings, but she didn't hear one word of it. It took three floors for her to realize where she was going.
Sam made it to Daniel's guest quarters before her legs finally gave out. She sat on the edge of the bed, forehead in her hands. The base's central heating hummed like a giant bumblebee.
She envied that all the men in her life could cry where she couldn't. That now, when she needed to process most, her spirit was a dry well.
A meaty arm pulled Sam close to an even meatier chest.
"When was the last time you slept, Samantha Carter?"
"Teal'c?" Sam blinked, bleary, at the contours of his T-shirt. She hadn't even heard him open the door. "No one on this team has slept."
"But you longer than us," said Teal'c. "By my estimation it has been over forty eight hours."
Sam's eyes hardened. "I won't rest until our boys can."
"Samantha Carter." Teal'c's voice was little more than a breath. He cupped Sam's head and brought it to his shoulder.
"Teal'c, if we don't stop this mole—"
"I am here, Samantha Carter."
"Daniel's counting on me—"
"You are not alone."
"And I never signed up for this. Landry just left and dropped this in my lap—"
"Rest, Samantha Carter. Sleep."
So she did. Sam closed her eyes. She was out before she realized that the wet spot on Teal'c's shirt meant even he was crying.
