The Envoy of Escuvar

"We were overpowered, O'Neill."

The white bandage on Teal'c's arm was slowly turning red, but the Jaffa seemed unaffected. O'Neill guessed Frasier wouldn't have let him out unless she thought the symbiote would take of the wound. Carter had been less lucky. Jack whinced involuntarily as she touched her hand to the violet bruise on her left temple.

"Carter?"

"There were seven or eight of them, Sir. They embarked out of a light cruiser class ship and headed for the village. They went straight for the women, and only shot Teal'c when he opened fire."

"They were gone before we could stop them." Teal'c completed the account.

"Goa'ould?" Jack asked.

Sam shook her head, and immediately wished she hadn't.

"No, Sir. They were wearing a kind of full body armour. We couldn't actually see them, but I would guess they were not Jaffa."

"They were not." Teal'c said.

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would anybody fly all the way to Escuvar to steal three girls?"

Jack bit back a sharp retort. At least Daniel seemed back to normal, including the unhelpful questions that led nowhere.

"Any ideas? Anyone?" O'Neill asked instead.

Teal'c poked at his bandage.

"Why would they take Ellen? And leave Major Carter behind?"

Jack shrugged.

"Maybe they just didn't fancy her."

That wasn't strictly his personal view. For his part, he was damn glad she was still here and in one piece, if a little dented at present.

The claxons of the gate sounded before Carter could put her answer together. Moments later, a sergeant showed Medran into the briefing room. He wore the same stained tunic as in the morning. His black hair was dishevelled and there were deep shadows under his eyes.

Hammond seemed a little astounded at the man's appearance, but quickly held out his hand to offer his condolences. Medran barely listened.

"Help me," he burst out.

He was guided to a chair and Carter pressed a cup of coffee into his hand. He took it without thinking and sipped the dark liquid. The bitter taste seemed to restore him to his senses and he looked up.

"Consensus has been reached. Escuvar will accept our losses in the interest of peace." He took a deep breath. "I have tried to persuade the council that such a loss, the loss of our people, is unacceptable, but in vain. We have not the technology to pursue such an enemy, and if we did… We are not war faring people. Escuvar is giving up our people for dead. I…" A smile died on his lips. "I cannot do that." He met the Colonel's eyes. "But neither can I change what has happened. Without your help."

"Perhaps if you'd start from the beginning…" O'Neill murmured.

Medran took another sip of coffee.

"We call them Ousters. They come, every five or six years, and they take, sometimes one or two, sometimes more."

Teal'c raised a scornful eyebrow.

"You knew you were likely to sustain an attack, yet you were undefended. I do not understand."

"There had been no raids of this kind in several decades. Certainly not in my lifetime. We were not prepared…"

Medran ran a hand through his dark hair and closed his eyes. O'Neill almost felt sorry for the man despite himself.

"Yeah, we kinda noticed that. General, I propose we go after those bastards and get the Escuvaran ladies back."

"And Ellen." Daniel added quietly. He could feel the Escuvaran looking at him, the beginning of hope in his pale eyes.

"Yeah. And her," Jack conceded with a side-ways glance at Medran. None of the other Escuvarans had unravelled the way the envoy had after the attack. Perhaps hanging out with humans hadn't been good for his oh-so-advanced brain structure.

"And how do you propose to do that, Colonel?" Hammond asked.

"Oh. That. Medran, do you know where they were taken?"

The Escuvaran, half-elated with the prospect of rescue, slumped back into his seat.

"No. We are not familiar with Ouster technology. They travel fast and without leaving any trace. They could be anywhere by now. They could be dead."

The tension seeped out of Medran's shoulders and he seemed to find something very interesting to look at in the grain of the wooden table.

"Major Carter? Any ideas?" the General asked.

"We could go back to the planet, Sir, and check if the ship left an energy signature behind. But it's a long shot."

She shrugged doubtfully, but it was good enough for Medran.

"Then you will help?"

"Hold your horses. I said we'd try. No promises." Jack rose and patted the Escuvaran on the back in passing. "Carter, get what you need. We leave in two hours."

Carter positioned her tripod in the clearing and pointed the lense of the stratoscope skyward. Ilthen peered dubiously into its mechanical eye.

"And this will tell you where the girls were taken?"

Carter looked at the read-outs and adjusted a few controls.

"Well, it will allow us to trace the ship, but only if I can lock on to the energy signature generated by the ship's reactor."

Ilthen looked blank.

"She means 'yes'," O'Neill put in helpfully.

"Actually I meant 'maybe', Sir. This signature is very faint, I'm hardly getting anything at all. They're certainly not using a naquada reactor in their ship."

"I suppose that's good thing. At least they're not Goa'ould." He grimaced. "And bad, if we can't find them. Keep trying."

O'Neill trotted off. Carter was already fiddling with her controls again, with Ilthen looking over her shoulder, a doubtful expression on his long face.

"You seem tense," he said after a moment, bringing her out of her concentration.

Carter forced a smile. "I'm trying to help find your people."

The Escuvaran digested that and said at length: "Yeroon and Lestarta are lost to us."

"Hopefully not just yet." She squinted into the 'scope, willing the faint squiggly lines in her display to solidify into a decent lock on the ship.

"Our village is consoled to the loss," Ilthen droned on. "The memory of Yeroon and Lestarta will live on in our minds. It would be well for you to accept your loss also."

Carter straightened. "They're not dead yet!"

"How do you know that?" Ilthen asked matter-of-factly. Carter stared at him incredulously.

"I'm sorry, I really need to get to work here. If you'll excuse me?"

Ilthen bowed with a smile, oblivious to the sharpness in her voice. She hunkered back down over the 'scope, furiously twiddling the digital controls. Jack walked across the green, watching her work. After a few minutes silence he said: "Any luck yet?"

"Nope."

He waited for more, but the silence stretched. "Carter?"

Sam gave up on the 'scope. "I don't know, Sir. It's almost as if they don't want us to find them. They're so…"

"Arrogant? Annoying?"

"I was going to say fatalistic. And the cruiser's signature gets weaker and fizzles out completely less than 600 yards from the surface. It's not looking good, Sir."

O'Neill shrugged a little helplessly. He didn't like to see Carter so pessimistic, it wasn't like her.

"Well, keep going. You'll figure something out."

She met his eyes reluctantly. "I don't think we have a choice. If Dr Frasier is right, Daniel and Ellen are inextricably linked by Karttikeya's device. Their brain chemistries have adjusted to one another, they have become interdependent. The Escuvarans have managed to turn down the volume, but we don't know what happens if the signal dies altogether…"

"What are you saying, Carter?"

"Sir, we were hoping the Tokra'h would make sufficient progress in their studies to destroy the link between them safely before it ever came to this. Escuvar was always only meant to be a stop-gap solution, until we could figure out something better."

"Are you telling me that we don't get Ellen back in one piece, Daniel will die with her?"

Carter swallowed and looked away. "It's a possibility."

O'Neill's mouth was a thin line. "Figure this thing out."

TBC… and please don't slate me for the garbled science in this one, I'm the first person to admit I have no idea what I'm talking about.