"You know, I did some research on the name Metaphous," Daniel said, taking a sip of his fourth cup of coffee since they'd taken off from the planet surface on their way to Melonyville.
Mitchell turned from the display, and looked at him, her own coffee cup held negligently in her right hand while her left fiddled with a control on the command chair.
"Oh, yeah? What'd you come up with?"
"Nothing." Daniel frowned. "No reference to any god or goddess by that name anywhere."
"Not all the system lords have been to Earth, Daniel."
"But a large number of them have." He said. "I just find it odd that we've never heard of him."
Talon took over.
"It's not as uncommon as you might think, Doctor Jackson." The deep voice said, patiently. "There are a large number of system lords, and many of them hold planets and territories that are on the very edge of the places the people of the Tau'ri have gone. Metaphous is a major system lord, but he stays close to his own territories unless there is reason for him to stray."
"Like the ambush on you and Colonel Mitchell?"
"Exactly. For him to have joined in, there was no doubt in his mind – and probably all the others – that the ambush was going to be successful, or he never would have stuck his neck out so far. The System lords are belligerent, devious, and ruthless, but they are also cowards for the most part. Hiding behind their Jaffa armies."
The hatred Talon held for the Goa'uld was once more obvious, and Daniel wondered what was driving that hate. The Tok'ra didn't like the Goa'uld, he knew, but this was really beyond anything he'd ever seen from any of the Tok'ra he'd spoken with before. Of course, he didn't ask, assuming that if it were something to be shared, it'd have been shared long before.
"So what about the other one? Paleneous? I've never heard of him, either."
"Same instance," Talon replied. "He controls many territories and one of the largest of the Jaffa armies, but as far as we know he'd never been to your planet, either. Adding his army to the one we already have will be a decisive victory, which is why he was one of the ones I chose."
Daniel nodded.
"So what are you going to do with the Jaffa once we're done and you're a system lord?"
"I'm not sure," Talon confessed. "For one thing, we'll allow the ones that want to go home to their families to do so. If we can figure out a way to do it, Melony wants to use them as a force to start rebuilding some of the planets that they've been decimating. One thing we cannot allow, is for them to join another army, so we'll have to keep that in mind when we eventually take action. There's much to be decided, but it can wait until we've finished the easy part."
"The easy part?"
"Taking control of them is a far easier step than trying to figure out what to do with them once we have them. It's more important, right now, though. If we live through it, there'll be time to figure out what to do with them."
"If?"
Melony grinned, taking control back from her symbiote, who was more than willing to just listen in.
"There's no guarantee it'll work, Daniel. No matter how much I've tried to convince everyone it will."
"Well, that's reassuring..."
She laughed, and Daniel found that that was far more of a reassurance.
...................
They passed the time on the initial flight with Melony showing Daniel around the ship while it flew on Talon's version of automatic pilot. A ship that normally has a crew of one definitely needs to be able to fly itself at times and Fugly was more than capable of hurtling through space without Mitchell at the controls. She gave him the more complete tour, this time, since they had plenty of time to do it.
There was a small kitchen-like partition off from the small room she used as her bedroom – which wasn't all that much bigger than Daniel's. She explained to him that she didn't really cook much – it wasn't something she enjoyed, and wasn't something she was all that good at – but there were times she wanted a hot meal, and this was where she got it.
She showed him the ship's systems as well.
"It probably wouldn't be a bad idea if you learned how to fly Fugly," she told him.
"Why?" He'd never had to fly any of the other ships that he'd been on on various missions with SG-1. Teal'c had usually been their pilot, which was fine with Daniel.
"Because if something were to happen to me, it'd be good if you could get our butts to safety."
"It looks fairly complicated, Melony."
She shrugged. "It's not, really. No different than driving a car. Much."
"Uh huh."
She smiled. "It won't take that long to learn, Daniel, and it's not like there's a whole lot of other things for you to do while we're traveling."
"Good point."
"Just think of it as a big, intricate car, with extra dials and knobs and panels."
"One that can blow up all the other cars?" Daniel asked, smiling.
She echoed his smile and continued the tour, explaining the other ship's systems as well as she could without making anything too complicated. Plenty of time to confuse him later, after all. The life support systems didn't need any help from him – or her, for that matter – so she didn't explain them, but she showed him the command chair and explained the various buttons and panels on the arms, assuring him he couldn't accidentally blow anything up just by touching it. The ship was foolproof, after all.
"Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool," Daniel muttered, closing his eyes when he touched the panel that was supposed to activate the heads-up display. To his relief it came up like it was supposed to, and nothing blew up.
Mitchell laughed.
"We're pretty close to Melonyville," she told him, reading the heads up display, and pointing out to him how she knew that. "About a half hour until touch-down."
"Then what?" Daniel asked.
"Then I show you something no one else knows about."
Mitchell turned from the display, and looked at him, her own coffee cup held negligently in her right hand while her left fiddled with a control on the command chair.
"Oh, yeah? What'd you come up with?"
"Nothing." Daniel frowned. "No reference to any god or goddess by that name anywhere."
"Not all the system lords have been to Earth, Daniel."
"But a large number of them have." He said. "I just find it odd that we've never heard of him."
Talon took over.
"It's not as uncommon as you might think, Doctor Jackson." The deep voice said, patiently. "There are a large number of system lords, and many of them hold planets and territories that are on the very edge of the places the people of the Tau'ri have gone. Metaphous is a major system lord, but he stays close to his own territories unless there is reason for him to stray."
"Like the ambush on you and Colonel Mitchell?"
"Exactly. For him to have joined in, there was no doubt in his mind – and probably all the others – that the ambush was going to be successful, or he never would have stuck his neck out so far. The System lords are belligerent, devious, and ruthless, but they are also cowards for the most part. Hiding behind their Jaffa armies."
The hatred Talon held for the Goa'uld was once more obvious, and Daniel wondered what was driving that hate. The Tok'ra didn't like the Goa'uld, he knew, but this was really beyond anything he'd ever seen from any of the Tok'ra he'd spoken with before. Of course, he didn't ask, assuming that if it were something to be shared, it'd have been shared long before.
"So what about the other one? Paleneous? I've never heard of him, either."
"Same instance," Talon replied. "He controls many territories and one of the largest of the Jaffa armies, but as far as we know he'd never been to your planet, either. Adding his army to the one we already have will be a decisive victory, which is why he was one of the ones I chose."
Daniel nodded.
"So what are you going to do with the Jaffa once we're done and you're a system lord?"
"I'm not sure," Talon confessed. "For one thing, we'll allow the ones that want to go home to their families to do so. If we can figure out a way to do it, Melony wants to use them as a force to start rebuilding some of the planets that they've been decimating. One thing we cannot allow, is for them to join another army, so we'll have to keep that in mind when we eventually take action. There's much to be decided, but it can wait until we've finished the easy part."
"The easy part?"
"Taking control of them is a far easier step than trying to figure out what to do with them once we have them. It's more important, right now, though. If we live through it, there'll be time to figure out what to do with them."
"If?"
Melony grinned, taking control back from her symbiote, who was more than willing to just listen in.
"There's no guarantee it'll work, Daniel. No matter how much I've tried to convince everyone it will."
"Well, that's reassuring..."
She laughed, and Daniel found that that was far more of a reassurance.
...................
They passed the time on the initial flight with Melony showing Daniel around the ship while it flew on Talon's version of automatic pilot. A ship that normally has a crew of one definitely needs to be able to fly itself at times and Fugly was more than capable of hurtling through space without Mitchell at the controls. She gave him the more complete tour, this time, since they had plenty of time to do it.
There was a small kitchen-like partition off from the small room she used as her bedroom – which wasn't all that much bigger than Daniel's. She explained to him that she didn't really cook much – it wasn't something she enjoyed, and wasn't something she was all that good at – but there were times she wanted a hot meal, and this was where she got it.
She showed him the ship's systems as well.
"It probably wouldn't be a bad idea if you learned how to fly Fugly," she told him.
"Why?" He'd never had to fly any of the other ships that he'd been on on various missions with SG-1. Teal'c had usually been their pilot, which was fine with Daniel.
"Because if something were to happen to me, it'd be good if you could get our butts to safety."
"It looks fairly complicated, Melony."
She shrugged. "It's not, really. No different than driving a car. Much."
"Uh huh."
She smiled. "It won't take that long to learn, Daniel, and it's not like there's a whole lot of other things for you to do while we're traveling."
"Good point."
"Just think of it as a big, intricate car, with extra dials and knobs and panels."
"One that can blow up all the other cars?" Daniel asked, smiling.
She echoed his smile and continued the tour, explaining the other ship's systems as well as she could without making anything too complicated. Plenty of time to confuse him later, after all. The life support systems didn't need any help from him – or her, for that matter – so she didn't explain them, but she showed him the command chair and explained the various buttons and panels on the arms, assuring him he couldn't accidentally blow anything up just by touching it. The ship was foolproof, after all.
"Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool," Daniel muttered, closing his eyes when he touched the panel that was supposed to activate the heads-up display. To his relief it came up like it was supposed to, and nothing blew up.
Mitchell laughed.
"We're pretty close to Melonyville," she told him, reading the heads up display, and pointing out to him how she knew that. "About a half hour until touch-down."
"Then what?" Daniel asked.
"Then I show you something no one else knows about."