~*~*~*~*~
Rubbing tired eyes, Jacob paced across the small suite to refill his coffee mug; more to buy a moment's peace than for the stimulant. There was a limit to how much caffeine could affect a host. At least it smells good, he thought dryly. "Look. We haven't seen medusas since Stheno dropped out of sight. As far as we know the System Lords can't get to them without her, not in a hurry, anyway. And now that we've mentioned them, you know SG-1 won't sit still until they find out what Sanq knows. We've got an agreement with the SGC to exchange information. They'll hold to it." He eyed Freya, who'd been sulking over her healing wrist throughout these hours of fruitless argument. "All I'm saying is, we could afford to wait."
"Has Selmac forgotten how many of us died in their clutches?" The blonde turned away with a sniff. "Any planet which reared such creatures is suspect. As is any information they freely give."
Caton's head dipped. "I must agree with Freya and Anise," Houerv spoke. "Compassion does not suit one who has never been promised the sanctuary of a new host, only to see those deadly tendrils move to strike." He shuddered. "Had Caton not been there to slay the beast and take me in, I too would have perished. And the Council would know only that I had vanished, as so many of us did who spied on Ra."
Yeah. The shock had driven a normally garrulous Tok'ra into uncharacteristic silence for years; only in the past decade or so had Houerv begun to act like his old self. Jacob grimaced. They're not listening, damn it....
*Allow me.*
Go for it.
He retreated, feeling Selmac take hold. "You underestimate human curiosity," his symbiote shrugged. "We are their allies. They will wish to know what threatens us, and they will not rest until they know the whole of what Sanq has to tell."
"You overestimate Tau'ri maturity," Anise shot back. "They will take any allies to defend their world. Even other humans who have taken a System Lord's place!"
"Had they taken Stheno's place, her planets would not have been without rule these past few decades," Selmac said sternly. "We have gone centuries without knowing the whole truth of Stheno's treachery. We can wait a little longer."
"Why should we?" Anise pounced. "Some human concept of manners? Find the address, and let us take what we need."
"If Sanq's address were so easy to determine, Ra would have slaughtered Stheno long ago," Selmac pointed out. "They guard their Stargate, Anise. Perhaps with medusas, and likely with Dragons. Taking might not be so easy as you believe."
"Nor so difficult as you seem to think, Selmac," Houerv mused. "Yu's Dragons are dangerous humans, but human nonetheless. You really should come back to the Council. We shouldn't risk your goodwill with the Tau'ri when we do what is necessary."
What is necessary? Selmac....
*Jacob.*
Yeah?
*I believe I now have a reference for your people's 'bad feeling'.* "Explain," Selmac said shortly.
"Isn't it obvious?" Houerv blinked. "Dimme's forces are on Gault. Given that the Queen took Daniel Jackson, and had him taken in turn...."
"She knows not only Sanq's address, but its location." Anise smiled. "If we infiltrate an operative... we will have them."
WHAT? Jacob's fury beat at Selmac's brain. Son of a - that's why they don't want to turn over the Gault info - Selmac, you can't let them do this!
*If the Council has spoken... there are limits to what I can do.* "Do not take this path," Selmac advised. "You risk not only future relations with Sanq, but with Earth as well, one of the few worlds willing and capable of providing us with hosts swiftly in an emergency." He shook his head. "Patience, Anise. We need allies more than revenge-"
Someone drummed on the door. "Hey, Jacob!" Jack's voice called through painted steel. "Can we talk a minute?"
Selmac retreated. "You hold that thought," Jacob warned, stalking to the door. "I'm not finished."
Jack canted a brow toward his steaming mug as Jacob stepped into the hall and closed the door behind him. "I'm guessing the talks aren't going so good."
"What was your first clue?" Jacob said flatly, trudging down the hall alongside the fidgeting colonel. Something's got him worried... Selmac, we've got to tell them.
*We cannot go against a Council decree, Jacob.*
Council decree, hell. This is stupid, Selmac! I know you people are willing to die for your beliefs. I respect that. George respects that; why do you think he's put up with us so far, even after Anise just about set SG-1 up for a suicide run? But one more screw-up - and this is going to be one fubar of a screw-up - and even George is going to have to do something drastic. And hell if I'm going to watch good people like Garshaw and Yosuuf suffer because the High Council's got their brains wrapped around their ankles!
*...Be discreet.*
"Jack?" Jacob sighed, leaning against the wall. "What would you do if I told you I thought the High Council was going to do something really stupid?"
Jack matched his pose, nodding a friendly we're okay to the guard just out of casual earshot. "You want the sarcastic answer or the honest one?"
"Oh, I'm sure you can pull them both off," Jacob replied.
Jack grinned. "In that case, I think I'd ask what kind of stupid."
Discreet. Fun. "Give me a minute." Jacob studied the other man. "You didn't come looking for me just to ask about Gault, did you?"
"Well, kinda," Jack shrugged. "Any luck with that?"
"Not so far," Jacob admitted. "I'm sorry, Colonel. I know I promised. And Selmac still thinks you should have it. But that information's on Vorash. Unless I can talk Freya and Caton around, I'm not going to have much luck getting it out of the Council. If I show up on my own to get it they'll probably have a mission ready and waiting."
"You need a vacation," Jack said firmly. Studied his watch. "You know, maybe you guys should just turn in for the night. Things could look better in the morning."
"How?" Jacob asked bitterly. Caught himself, and shook his head. "Sorry. I feel like that bright light at the end of the tunnel has a train whistle attached."
"So... if you could get to Vorash without getting sidetracked, you'd hand it over." Jack gaze was sober, stark contrast to his light tone.
"Then and there," Jacob said flatly. "Heck, I'd hand it right to Sam; she probably remembers enough of Jolinar's codes to decrypt the reports without my help. We promised. Selmac keeps his word. And I don't like what the Council has in mind for Gault." He buried his fists in his Air Force jacket pockets, grateful to be back in Tau'ri clothes. "They see an opportunity, and they're heading for it. Never mind that it could take them right over a cliff. If I could just get them to slow down and think...."
"So you need 'em distracted." Was that a chuckle in Jack's voice? "Get some sleep, Jacob."
"Yeah, I-" Jacob paused as Jack stood. "Colonel?"
"Friend to friend, Jacob? Trust me." With a wink, SG-1's leader headed out of sight.
*And he expects us to sleep after that?* Selmac commented.
Yes, he does. Jacob felt a grin spread over his face as he headed back to the Tok'ra's quarters. After all, we need an alibi.
~*~*~*~*~
Thuck.
A desert-garbed Tok'ra guard slapped at the prick, face twisted in the universal annoyance of night sentries faced with the variety of biting bugs across the galaxy.
Annoyance that turned to surprise at the feel of fletched steel, and then a blank limpness.
Thuck. Thuck.
Three shots, three down, Heero Yuy thought coolly, keeping his breath shallow in the heat drifting off still-warm sand. The rest of SG-1 and the Wing hung back as Duo, Quatre, and Teal'c ghosted in to remove the tranquilizing darts and ensure the sentries were truly unconscious. For such a large man, the Jaffa was surprisingly stealthy.
Though not nearly as quiet as the braided pilot giving the all-clear. Shinigami's out to play, Heero knew, a trace of fondness whispering through mission-cool. That grace was unmistakable; a gliding ease that went beyond pilot reflexes, moves precise and fluid as a great cat on the prowl.
He had his own share of that grace, of course; Gundam pilots were altered to have it, Wing Zero more than most. But not like Duo.
Death is here, and no one knows it but us....
Yet Death only meant to taunt and tease, laughing into the night. Shinigami's grin didn't herald explosions. This time.
Others? Heero's hands flickered at Trowa and Quatre. The empath shook his head.
Trowa held up a hand. Wait.
"What's he up to?" Jack murmured close by, watching for any danger to their black-clad teams.
"Coaxing out an information source."
Jack eyed him suspiciously. "What source-"
Sand shifted in front of Trowa's feet, sliding off the knobby scales of a foot-long black-and-tan lizard.
Jack stared.
Trowa knelt, touching a gentle finger to the scaled skull just above bright eyes. Held it there a few heartbeats. Nodded, and dropped a bit of jerky. The lizard snatched its payment and squiggled into the sand. "The guards keep a regular schedule," the Beastmaster reported. "Our friend knows the two-legs won't come this way again until mid-dark."
Sam watched settling sand, her own eyes bright with interest. "Can you do that with any animal?"
Steady emerald looked back. "The brighter ones."
"Rings," Daniel called quietly. Wufei was already at the subtle depression in the sands, notepad computer and equipment ready. Duo whispered up beside him, offering the frequencies he'd read off the sentry holding ring controls.
Heero eyed the archaeologist carefully as they gathered near the ring edges, glancing a question at Quatre.
Still calm, the empath's fingers reported.
Good. The last thing they needed was a new Shinigami getting swamped by the dark wave. Shi no Yami shouldn't be seizing hold so fast....
But from Sally's account of what she had and hadn't found in the SGC infirmary, Tau'ri simply weren't as resistant to the organism as the average Preventer. And from the depths of pain Quatre had sensed in the man, pain that twisted and tore a heart that truly wanted peace... Duo needs to talk to him. Soon.
Set, Wufei's hands flashed, dropping the gas grenade into the center of depression. He stepped back, tapping the computer screen. Naquadah rings snapped up and flared, inserting drugged slumber into unsuspecting tunnels.
"And you say it'll dissipate in a few minutes?" Sam murmured. "That's some sedative."
"Now, why do I think anything that strong can't be good for humans?" Jack raised a brow.
"It would be a hazard." Heero felt time tick off in his mind. "But as you say, the Tok'ra will have no humans in the vicinity." Now.
Naquadah rings surrounded them, and light flashed them into the twilight of blue crystal tunnels.
"And you'll hide in places like this." A voice he'd never heard from living lips echoed through Heero's mind, a System Lord's usual contempt softened into irritated incomprehension. "Do you truly think Ra won't find you? You, and every child you spawn? Sister, rethink this madness!"
"It will work!" A lovely Etruscan woman stalked crystal halls, arms flung wide to indicate the environmental controls, the computer banks, the stores of food and weapons. All that a small, hidden group could want to work against the will of Ra.
Save that it was not enough.
"Come with me, sister. Add your forces to mine. Leave that one who bears you against her will; find one willing to hold you!"
"To be hunted and harried across the galaxy, bringing death to any that would dare to aid me? A useless death, Egeria. Follow this course, and you will have no Jaffa, no death gliders, no ha'taks, no heavy weapons save those you manage to steal. And no equipment and personnel to maintain what you do acquire." Her head shook, crown of braids a reassuring weight. "He will course you like pharaoh in his chariot, his petty children on your heels as hounds on a wounded lion. You may tear half the pack, but soon or late, they will bring you down. And blood and death shall follow you all. Find another way, sister. I beg you."
"There is no other way! Ra must fall." Egeria punched a fist into her palm, whirled on the serpent-patterned skirts dogging her steps. "You have always stood by my side. Sister to sister, brood to brood, two against them all. For the love you bear me-"
"You ask me to aid in your destruction, sister. For the love I bear you... I will not."
"Stheno-!"
"Heero." Duo's voice. Duo's braid, tip gently tickling his palm. "Come on, buddy, snap out of it...."
Heero drew in a deep breath, aware of SG-1's gaze on him. "Status."
"Tok'ra go beddy-bye," Deathscythe's pilot obliged, pointing down and left. "Try not to step on them."
One man and two women sprawled around the rings' edge, zats and ribbon devices in lax fingers. So they had elementary security, Heero noted. Good. Two thousand years must have taught them some lessons in survival.
Stheno would have thought that was good. Kami knew, she'd tried to point out every hole in her sister's plans she could, before and after they'd parted ways....
Training clamped down. Use the memory. Don't let it use you. You are not Stheno. The Goa'uld was dead, decades dead; a ghost given an echo of life in bio-engineered neurons. You are pilot 01. The colonies' weapon-
No. Operation Meteor was over.
I am... Preventer Yuy.
Teal'c lifted the dark-haired man's limp hand, brow raised. "Aldwin."
"Now, why am I not broken up about that?" Jack muttered, taking the Tok'ra's pulse. Set the arm back down with a satisfied nod. "Okay, we're in. Twelve minutes if we can; fifteen and I want us out. Daniel, Teal'c - with them. Keep it to a dull roar. And keep an eye out. Carter, with me. Environmental controls are this way."
"Flashback?" the colonel asked, seemingly casual, as they and Wufei traced their way through quiet corridors. Chang kept a loose rearguard, stepping away for a moment or two to plant some of the more... interesting items Duo had assembled.
"They happen," Heero noted, listening ahead. As Wufei was doing behind them; Tau'ri weren't deaf, but he'd seen enough to determine their hearing was no better than the average Preventer. The others had better remember that. We don't need casualties because we ducked and they didn't.
"Carter's aren't usually that bad," Jack observed, leading them left through a more open cavern dotted with tables, equipment, and a few slumbering bodies. "Chang, Yuy - don't touch anything you don't recognize. And I mean anything. Tok'ra dig up some weird stuff sometimes. And coming from somebody who's dealt with Daniel's rocks...."
"Daniel reads his artifacts before he messes with them," Sam quipped. "And Netu was that bad, sir. Yuy's symbiote would have considered this enemy territory. Right?"
"Hostile associations bring clearer memories than any others," Heero acknowledged, all but seeing Wufei's impressed smile. Her Tok'ra attacker had been on Sokar's hell of a prison planet? And then escaped? Incredible. And you survived such a creature. Count yourself fortunate, Carter; you've just been added to the list of those Chang will never call onna.
"And here we get to the tricky part." Jack halted outside a room full of alien greenery. "Environmental. But I've never seen computers around here. Matter of fact, I don't think I've seen computers around the base anywhere," the colonel said thoughtfully. "Which is kind of weird for cloak-and-dagger guys. They get mission reports, they've got to have databanks somewhere. Though how the heck they secure them in a place with no doors...."
"They have one door." Heero studied the corridor wall, searching traces of memory. "Do you see it?"
Sam stepped up to the wall, eyes unfocussed. Uncertain fingers traced over crystal; tentative at first, then sweeping in a tighter and tighter area until they dug into hidden depressions. Fingers clenched, knuckles whitening-
"It won't open." Her free fist pounded the wall. "It won't open, it's supposed to open-"
"Carter. Sam!" Jack grabbed her wrist. "Relax. Easy." He shot a glance Heero's way. "Yuy?"
"Tok'ra security." Heero stepped in, placing his fingers precisely in the shallow wells Sam had found. "The pressure lock is set not to respond to human strength."
One breath. And grip.
A soft glow spread from each fingerprint, melting and merging together to form a perfect circle on the wall. Vertical cracks appeared in blue crystal just to the right of the hidden lock.
Hold position. Just a little longer-
The door slid aside.
Heero lifted his hand clear. Flexed slightly sore fingers. Turned, deliberately, to meet a pair of stunned gazes.
Jack snapped his jaw shut first. "I'm going out on a limb here and guessing you weren't kidding about Preventers taking on Goa'uld hand-to-hand."
Heero raised a surprised brow. They'd thought that was a joke?
"Can all of you do that?" Sam whispered.
Wufei snorted. "No."
"Uh-huh." Jack glanced back at Heero. "And you can, because...?"
"Classified."
"You and me are going to talk about that, Yuy."
That didn't require a reply. Heero simply stepped into the room, gliding past a lone Tok'ra half-sprawled across a table full of data tablets. It should be... here.
"Oh yeah," Sam breathed, eyeing the bronze-and-gold towers that were a Tok'ra mainframe, shaking out her fingers with a devilish grin. "Sir, permission to hack this thing."
"Go for it." Jack slanted a glance Heero's way. "Just the stuff on Gault."
"And their information on medusas," Wufei stated from beside the door, as Heero took his laptop out of his pack.
"Chang-"
"Preventer Po is at risk," Heero said levelly, connecting wire-thin cables. "Even with Hrere to guard her. And we do not know the full extent of the danger." He met O'Neill's gaze. "This situation is unacceptable."
The colonel sighed. "Don't get caught."
~*~*~*~*~
Teal'c stepped back from the bathing room wall he had decorated with streaks of blue, overlapping and intersecting Trowa's violent orange. Interesting. Somewhat similar to the gang-glyphs he'd seen scribbled by packs of young Jaffa in the worse parts of Chulak. Though why both O'Neill and Yuy thought this would affect the Tok'ra, who claimed to be ruled by reason, he had no idea. "I am unfamiliar with this type of warfare, Daniel Jackson."
"I think Jack would call it psyching them out," Daniel reported, squirting something into a container of hair cleanser and mixing it with a vigorous shake. "You do it to people all the time. You just usually do it with that 'I will dismember you' look."
"Indeed." Teal'c turned at a whisper-soft click; Duo had just closed the door of one of the three cabinets in this steamy room, and now had glitter and glue in hand as he skipped over to work on one of the still-dripping forms they'd hauled out of hot water.
Teal'c raised a brow as swift fingers created a very... striking effect on wet skin and hair, but did not interfere. O'Neill believed there was some advantage to be gained from infuriating the Tok'ra. And if he were honest, the opportunity to take some small measure of revenge on their often-unhelpful allies was doing wonders for SG-1's morale.
Perhaps too much, the Jaffa thought, gaze carefully not on the blond empath standing guard by the door. I do not believe Quatre is influencing us, and yet... Daniel Jackson seems too at ease.
Particularly for a man who had almost attacked the Tok'ra only a few hours before.
Stress, perhaps, Teal'c considered, picturing that near-miss in the cafeteria; a moment of pure fury, there and gone so fast Daniel Jackson himself seemed to have missed it. He is still injured, though Janet Frasier states the bone is almost healed.
And yet... something was not quite right. Mission upon mission had taught him Daniel Jackson's habits in enemy territory. For all SG-1's training, Daniel would always prefer to speak rather than shoot. The archaeologist could use stealth as well as anyone, but only while battling the impulse to step forward and talk to their enemies. An impulse that usually manifested in nervous fidgeting, sideways glances, a hesitant nip of teeth on lip.
None of which Teal'c saw now.
Those he would speak to are unconscious, Teal'c allowed, checking the time as they left the baths and headed back toward the transport rings, Duo and Trowa patting the walls or tucking small things into concealment as they went. Heero had provided Janet Frasier with samples of the sedatives they meant to use before O'Neill had allowed the mission; the doctor had agreed with Heero's estimate of a fifteen-to-twenty minute window. Still, Daniel Jackson is too calm. As if he finds this opportunity to walk among helpless enemies... pleasant.
Which was a reaction he might have expected from O'Neill, or perhaps even Major Carter. But not Daniel Jackson.
Behind glass, blue-violet glanced at him. "Did I get something in my hair?"
"You appear... composed," Teal'c noted. Particularly in comparison to the restless movement of the violet-eyed teen currently gluing a hapless Tok'ra they'd passed to the floor. Grinning like a maniac, the Shinigami simply could not seem to stay still-
He is enjoying this, Teal'c realized, unsettled. As Daniel is.
"Time, people!" came O'Neill's low bark. "Maxwell, put down the microwave popcorn and get over here!"
"Aww...."
"Popcorn?" Heero's brow tipped up in silent query as they gathered inside the rings.
Duo jabbed a thumb toward the innocuous blue-and-white bag lying between the slumbering women. "Just tipped in a little Maxwell's Special Number 7."
"Maxwell's what?" Sam asked.
"Wet fuse," Trowa stated. "Low temp. Ignites on drying."
"And it ought to be dry in juuust another minute," Duo snickered.
Teal'c traded a look with O'Neill, imagining the chaos of exploding popcorn among waking Tok'ra. "You must've been the principal's worst nightmare," O'Neill said wryly.
"Several principals' nightmares," Heero muttered. "Lunatic."
"I knew it!" Duo bounded into Heero's arms just as the rings shot up. "You love me."
"Get-"
Vroosh.
"-Off me, you baka!"
~*~*~*~*~
Black, black, and more black, Sgt. Siler noted, watching SG-1 yawn their way out of the locker rooms at oh-dark-hundred. The five Preventers had already headed back to level 25 in rumpled formal clothes, lumpy packs he would have bet were full of yet more black over their shoulders. Somebody's been sneaking. Sneaking through the Stargate, at that, which meant they had the General's permission to be up to... well, whatever they'd been up to. I asked Davis, and he said don't ask. This has got to be good. "Everything go all right, sir?"
"So far, so good," Colonel O'Neill said judiciously, supporting a blinking archaeologist as Sam and Teal'c headed out. "Oh, and Sergeant? If anybody asks about the Preventers...."
I knew it. I knew it! "They've been guarding Lady Peacecraft?"
"Good man."
"Sir... was this part of the negotiations?" Siler asked, suddenly wary.
"Interplanetary cooperation takes many forms," Daniel murmured.
"Oh yeah." Jack grinned suddenly. "Maybe now the Tok'ra will listen when we tell them to beef up security."
Siler blinked. "Sir?"
"I think you'll hear about it in the morning, Sergeant," O'Neill said wryly. "In very excruciating detail."
"Popcorn," Daniel snickered.
"Bed," Jack said firmly, exchanging salutes before hauling his archaeologist off toward their on-base quarters.
Popcorn and the Tok'ra. And the quartermaster says they walked off with glue and tinsel, too. That, combined with Jack O'Neill, was scary to contemplate. The ex-Black Ops officer had a reputation as one of the most determined and inventive pranksters that had ever survived becoming an officer in the U.S. Air Force.
Still chuckling, the sergeant opened his locker-
Polka-dotted fangs flew at him.
"Eyaagh!"
~*~*~*~*~
Oh god, it's too early for this. Jacob staggered toward the insistent knocking, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. Selmac, could you-?
Incoherent grumbling filtered through his mind. *Too early... damn Anise... could sleep through a B-52 bombing run....*
"Yeah?" Jacob managed, opening the door onto a pair of graveyard-shift security. Funny. They didn't look nearly as sour as usual.
"Sir?" Splitting the fine points of formality, the lieutenant gave him a respectful nod rather than a salute. "You've got a call. From Vorash."
"Right. Give me a few to get set...." Shutting the door, Jacob frowned. Was that... a snicker?
Early even for Vorash. What the heck's the problem?
One quick shave, splash of cold water, and hastily-grabbed snack of cherry turnovers later, Jacob stared at the image on the Tollan communicator. "Aldwin?"
"Jacob!" The younger Tok'ra was obviously at wit's end. "It's horrible. Horrible! There's no telling the level of compromise. We may have to destroy everything and start over - but there's no way of knowing what we can take, every time we think we've discovered the depths of the depravity we find something else-"
"Aldwin! Breathe."
Grumpily awake, Selmac finally focussed on the image in front of them. *Is that... popcorn?*
Jacob blinked. "Why is there popcorn in your hair?"
Aldwin swatted at his white-dotted hair, stared aghast at the fluffy bits lodged in his fingers. And whimpered. "We've been raided!"
Jacob raised a tired brow.
"By the SGC!"
Jacob raised the other brow. "Aldwin. This is no time to be overreacting-"
"Overreacting?" The Tok'ra's cheeks flushed mordant red. "Our sentries at the 'Gate were ambushed. The ring controls were overridden. The entire base was rendered unconscious." He stopped for a few, furious breaths. "And in the central bathing pools, someone decked one of our agents in obscene glitter, mixed depilatory and neon-blue dye with the hair rinses, and scrawled Kilroy was here!"
"Oh," Jacob said numbly. Yep. That was O'Neill, all right. "Is that all?"
"Is that all?" Aldwin reached out as if he wanted to strangle Jacob's image. And began listing, chapter and verse, exactly what someone had done to the Vorash base with tinsel, glue, firecrackers, popcorn, fifteen unopposed minutes, and a liberal use of imagination.
Jacob listened. And nodded. And kept a straight face.
For all of thirty seconds.
A mental snicker. *Oh, stars. Oh, my....*
"...'For a good time call Anise; she'll light your masochistic fire! Whips and chains optional.' All over Freya's walls! And then when Garshaw opened the storage cabinet for a towel, it set off a mousetrap which flung a marble which dropped into a vial which splashed onto the tinsel which hid a fuse which set off sparklers over the whole chamber! And Lyde! He was glued to the floor of the main hall, we had to cut him out of his clothes with a laser and - Jacob! This isn't funny!"
~*~*~*~*~