Exposed
This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a court of law.
To borrow a phrase: Stargate SG-1 no mine......no money, no sue, please?
AN: Sorry it took so long to update, but here it is!
"I don't know why we go to see that stuff" Sam said, shaking her head.
"It's fun, Carter" Jack explained, "I know fun is a difficult concept for you to understand, but it is what normal human beings do" Teal'c lifted an eyebrow and Sam just smiled. She was used to his mild jabs at her off duty entertainments by now. They'd gone to see the newest sci-fi flick, a sore disappointment to them all, except Jackie who had been fascinated by the special effects. They'd then retreated to a restaurant slash bar called P.J.'s. It was an "atmospheric" establishment with nice little secluded corner tables and dim lighting.
"Hey, where'd Daniel go?" Sam suddenly asked, looking around for their friend.
"Daniel Jackson and Jackie O'Neill are playing darts in the corner" Teal'c answered, nodding to their right. Sam and Jack diverted their attention to the dart board, half hidden in shadows. It was far enough away that they couldn't quite make out what the two were saying, but Jackie's laughter was easily discernable. Daniel was teaching her how to throw darts. When Daniel turned his head they could all see he had a broad grin upon his face as well.
Sam sipped her beer. Teal'c tilted his head. Jack took a seat on the bar stool.
"What's up with that?" Sam asked him. He shrugged.
"Don't know" he answered.
The next day, Jack considered Daniel from across the table in the briefing room. General Hammond had called them in the night before, surprising them all. He had been the one to insist that they take some time off.
"I'm sorry to have to cut your time off short, but we've just received some information that I thought might require SG-1's particular talents" he told them all as he joined them from his office.
"What's that, sir?" Jack asked, "A house drop on the wicked witch of the west?" The General ignored his comment, as had become his habit, and passed out the files he was holding.
"This jar was found at a dig in Greece" he started to explain, "The archeologist that found it didn't know what to make of it. He sent it to the London Museum for study. They determined that it was made of some kind of metal not found on Earth"
"Naquida" Carter said immediately.
"Yes, Major" Hammond nodded, "The jar has since been stolen, by whom we don't know"
"Who's this archeologist guy?" Jack asked. He hadn't even bothered to flip past the picture of the jar. They'd had to deal with jars before. The last one loosed the Goa'uld Osiris on the universe.
"His name was Bartholomew..."
"Carright" Daniel interrupted, "I know him. Well, I knew him. He was on a dig in Egypt that I went on as a student"
"Do you believe that he could be the culprit, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked.
"The Bart Carright I remember was a shy, quiet man. I couldn't imagine him stealing a match, let alone a valuable artifact from a large and well guarded museum" Daniel answered.
"Another Goa'uld?" Carter suggested.
"It's a distinct possibility, Major" Hammond replied, "That's why I'm ordering SG-1 to Idaho"
"Idaho, sir?" Jack repeated.
"Yes. That's where Dr. Carright lives, or lived, at any rate. It's a place to start the investigation" the General elaborated.
"Wouldn't London be a more likely place to start the investigation, sir?" Carter inquired.
"Unfortunately, that's not possible at the moment, Major Carter" the General didn't explain anymore about it. They were about to adjourn when Daniel suddenly recognized something.
"I've seen this before" he said. Carter lowered back into her chair and Jack cocked his head to the side.
"Hmmm?" he said. Daniel looked up from the photograph he was studying. It was a close up of the markings engraved on the jar.
"The people at the London Museum said it was a mixture of four different ancient languages. They said it was gibberish, probably just mere decoration."
"No, no it's not" Daniel said. He was still engrossed with the photo.
"Where have you seen this before, Doctor?" Hammond was forced to inquire.
"Jackie" Daniel said, tearing himself away from the photo, "Jackie was working on a project one of her professors gave her. She decoded it and needed some help translating the message."
"You mean this is in some sort of code?" Hammond asked, "And the Colonel's sister decrypted it?"
"Yes" Daniel nodded.
"Go Jackie" Jack said. Everybody ignored him.
"What did it say, Daniel?" Sam asked.
"Cursed to destroy themselves, the bearers of snakes" he answered, "I asked her where her professor had gotten it, and she said it was from some kind of manuscript that had been in family for generations. I was going to do some research."
"Colonel, we need your sister in here" Hammond said.
"Uh, she'll be in class just now, sir" Jack told him.
"Which class?" Daniel asked.
"Quibble class?" Jack replied with a shrug.
"That's the professor that gave Jackie the code" Daniel reported.
"Colonel" was all Hammond had to say.
"We'll...go pick her up from school, sir" Jack answered.
Jackie was just leaving class when they found her. There was a sea of college students pouring out of the room and down the hallway, hindering their passage.
"Jackie!" Daniel ended up calling to catch her attention before she turned the other way.
"Daniel!" A bright smile lit up her face as she recognized who had called her name, "Jack!" A somewhat less bright smile, "Sam" and now a confused look, "Teal'c" And she finished it up with a worried expression, "What're you guys doing here?" she asked slowly.
"Actually, we were hoping to get word with Professor Quibble." Daniel told her, "Is he still in there?"
"Yeah" Jackie answered, "But, why do you guys want to talk to Dr. Quibble?" she asked, "What happened?"
"Something about some code" Jack said, "We'll tell you later, c'mon" He pushed her toward the room she'd just exited. It was a bright room, looking as if it had just been refurbished with all kinds of new gadgets, carpeting and desks. An older man stood at the front of the room, stuffing a couple of books and stacks of loose leaf paper into his satchel. He used to be tall, but was somewhat hunched now. He had tufts of white hair sticking out at odd angles and a pair of what looked like antique spectacles on his nose. He was dressed in a three piece tweed suit.
"Dr. Quibble?" Jackie said loudly, startling the poor man. He turned and squinted at them.
"Ms. O'Neill?" the Professor acknowledged her.
"Uh, this is my older brother, Jack" Jackie said.
"Imaginative parents you must have had" the Professor replied in a crusty voice. He waited for them to get closer before giving Jack a good up and down look.
"Hmm. Much older brother I'd say" He gave Jackie a look, "Not much family resemblance either" Jack and Jackie exchanged a look. They'd never looked much alike, Jackie having inherited their mother's round face and height, Jack being an almost exact replica of their father.
"Hmm...Mr. O'Neill" Quibble held his hand out and Jack shook it, "A pleasure to meet you"
"Colonel, actually" Jack corrected him, feeling the need to say something to impress the old man.
"Colonel, really? Hmmm...how interesting. You know, young Ms. O'Neill here may be the finest student I've seen pass through one of my classes. Do you know she's broken every single code I've thrown at her?"
"Well, that's good to hear" Jack replied, "These are my colleagues, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Dr. Samantha Carter, and...Murray." He chose to use Sam's civilian title in light of the reaction he'd gotten from his own. Maybe two doctors would impress him more than a military rank.
"Dr's Jackson and Carter?" Quibble pushed his spectacles up on his nose, "Doctors of what, might I ask?"
"Uh, I have a doctorate in archeology" Daniel replied.
"Astrophysics" Sam added.
"Hmm...interesting. I must say, you keep in good company, Ms. O'Neill" Quibble nodded at the young woman.
"Now, what may I help you with, young people?" the old man asked, moving around to the other side of his desk and taking a seat.
"Actually, we've come to ask about an assignment you gave Jackie" Daniel told him. This was his type of jungle and Jack let him take the lead.
"An assignment you say?" Quibble responded.
"Our final project, Doctor" Jackie provided.
"Ah, yes. I've been giving that particular code to my students for years" Quibble answered, "No one has of yet broken it. I'm sorry to say that I myself have been unsuccessful, even after all of this time"
"Is that so?" Daniel looked surprised and confused. Jackie looked somewhat embarrassed.
"Ah. Well, then, you'll be wanting to give my little sister an A" Jack commented. Quibble looked up quickly.
"What? Are you saying that she's broken it?" he asked excitedly.
"Yes" Daniel answered slowly. Quibble stood up, pulling the spectacles from his face.
"Where? Where is it?" he asked, abandoning his desk and rushing toward Jackie.
"Uh, I have it here" Jackie replied, digging around in her backpack and pulling out the three ring binder. She handed it to the professor and he flipped through the many pages she'd scribbled across until he found the final translation.
"'Cursed to destroy themselves, the bearer's of snakes.' Ah, a curse!" he exclaimed, "But I don't understand. No, no, this makes no sense" He took the notebook back to his desk and sat down again.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked as they all crowded around the desk.
"Hmm...interesting. Why would someone want to put a curse in code, eh, young Doctor? Usually, a curse is engraved to warn off potential saboteurs"
"That's true" Daniel agreed.
"I cannot believe that you have done this, Ms. O'Neill. You are indeed the best cryptologist I have ever seen, indeed, that I have ever heard of. No one that has ever seen this has ever been able to crack it." He pulled Teal'c toward him and pointed to the photocopy that he had provided all of his students, a photocopy of the original code.
"You see here, there are four distinct forms here. This is the Greek, and this the Egyptian, and this, this is Sumerian cuneiform. But these other markings, I don't know these. They seem to simply be superfluous, a distraction from the rest of the puzzle" Teal'c merely lifted a brow at the old professor. Daniel was reading over the man's shoulder and immediately recognized the "distraction" symbols as a dilution of the Ferling language. He refrained from commenting, however.
"Doctor, Jackie mentioned that you got the code from an old manuscript, a family heirloom of some sort" Sam said. Quibble looked up at her. He'd quite forgotten that the rest of the group was there.
"Ah, yes, yes!" He pulled his satchel toward himself and pulled out an old book. It looked as if it should really be kept in some kind of museum or antique store. It was leather bound, and the only adorning feature was a large David's star emblazoned on the front. He flipped the cover back and riffled through the delicate pages until he found the one he was looking for. He then lifted the book and handed it gently to Daniel, trusting the archeologist would have the proper concern for its handling. Daniel read the page carefully before handing it back.
"That's very interesting" he commented.
"Hmm...yes, it is, isn't it?" Quibble agreed.
"Doctor, do you have any idea where your family got this?" Sam asked, having pulled the book to herself to give it a look.
"No idea, I'm afraid. It has been in the family library since before my grandfather's grandfather" the Professor answered.
"Any chance we can borrow this thing?" Jack asked, touching one of the pages while Carter looked it over. Quibble suddenly grew very quiet and rose nobly from his chair. He rounded the desk and flipped the book shut. He seemed to be deliberating for a moment. Then he lifted it and held it out toward Jackie. She slid a look at her brother, who only shrugged.
"Take it, child, take it!" Quibble ordered. Jackie quickly accepted the book.
"You may keep it, my dear" the old professor told her. Jackie's eyes widened.
"But, sir, I couldn't..."
"Nonsense. That book has been in my family for eons. None of the Quibbles have ever been able to decipher its secrets. I have no children to pass it on to. I want you, the girl who finally broke its code, to have it" he told her with an air of nobility and honor bound duty.
"Thank you, Professor." Jackie said. The old man shed the cloak he'd donned and turned back to Daniel.
"Now, out with you, out with you. You've no doubt important business to be about. Jackie, I'll not expect you next class. Hmm...there's nothing I could teach you now"