Selmac wove her way through the scurry and bustle of the Tok'ra tunnels, avoiding her fellow Tok'ra only most of the time. Crates and boxes were being stacked and shuffled around, their massive weight hitting the tunnel ground heavily and causing strange echoes throughout the crystal tunnels. When the Tok'ra decided it was time to move their base, even when the only impetus was having been in one place too long, there was an urgency and rush to their actions. The Tok'ra did not like to be in flux, clinging to a base of operations, no matter what planet on which it was located, like a child clinging to a security blanket.

"Selmac," a reverberating voice called out, halting the Tok'ra in her tracks and she turned to face the direction of the address. Counselor Garshaw hurried to her, expression harried... Jacob wondered to his symbiote if the woman ever looked anything other than harried. Selmac had no response; even her memory was not that old.

"Yes, Garshaw?" Selmac answered when the Tok'ra woman was at her side.

Garshaw took her arm, primarily to be certain they were not jostled apart in the passageway by Tok'ra brushing by with boxes and containers. "Friend, we have just received word from the surface that Aetom has arrived on the planet. Would you please go up and meet him for me? I cannot be taken from my duties now."

Selmac nodded, "It would be no trouble."

Garshaw released her arm and nodded, "Thank you, Selmac, and please tell Aetom that his report on the destruction of the Goa'uld Montu will have to wait until the Tok'ra base has been established on the new planet... time simply cannot be spared at the moment though his words are important."

Selmac nodded again, almost more of a bow, "He will understand the necessity, Garshaw, and I will meet him as you ask."

Garshaw disappeared in the moving fray again, leaving Selmac to move toward the nearest ring transport alone. For both she and her host, the arrival of this Tok'ra brought disquiet. It was the mission against Montu that his information spurred, undertaken under his advisement, that had cost the lives of not merely Tok'ra but Tau'ri as well. Selmac could not calm to satisfaction the unhappiness that fact brought out in her host, Jacob Carter. Long into the night since learning of the tragedy they spoke of the ill-fated mission. Selmac tried to ease the anger and disappointment in Jacob, but the human was, within his own thoughts, inconsolable, incapable of being deterred from his furious displeasure. There was anger Selmac knew would have to fade with time. Jacob took the blow to the Tau'ri personally... and understandably so. Jacob had had Tau'ri friends among those slain against Montu, and in the aftermath his daughter was in pain. The last hit Jacob hardest of all, made him bitter and mad to see his child suffering.

Selmac reached the transport rings but was made to stop to wait for a load of crates to be taken up before she was able to have her turn, then having to wait again to give the Tok'ra on the surface time to move the boxes out of the transport platform. Jacob was a roiling pit of discomforting thoughts in Selmac's mind. He was hesitant to meet Aetom face-to-face. The Tok'ra had been gone for a very long time; it was always awkward when an operative embedded among the Goa'uld for so long finally returned to the ranks, but it was especially unnerving to see the Tok'ra whose information (through no fault of his own) had been the reason so many good people had died.

Selmac did her best to ease Jacob's worries. She knew Aetom from a time before the Tok'ra in question had left to infiltrate Montu's circle of advisors and could vouch for the symbiote's character. Selmac's reassurances, however, were more or less falling on deaf ears. Jacob himself had never met this Tok'ra, and he knew he would not be able to shake on first meeting the knowledge that he had accidentally led friends of Jacob's to their deaths.

Selmac moved into the transport circle and nodded to a Tok'ra at the wall to the transport room and the heavy rush and mechanical hum of rings surrounded her, white light glaring. When next Selmac was able to see she was on the surface of the planet. Tok'ra near her looked up briefly but then returned to their duties, bent to their work. Selmac turned and walked over the sand in the direction of the Chappa'ai.

The sounds of the packing and moving Tok'ra were a muffled buzz in the distance when Jacob first saw a lone figure moving across the dunes from the direction of the stargate. There was an odd familiarity with the easy posture and movements adopted by the lanky form as it trudged toward Jacob, hands tucked into the folds of clearly Goa'uld clothing as though improvising pockets. When the shape grew closer, slowly but steadily, the gray hair sparked recognition, face coming into range and proving impossibly familiar.

Selmac backed away from her suddenly surging host, unable to have remained in control without resorting to commandeering actions, preferring to simply take a backseat without protest as she was rudely shoved aside by a stunned Jacob Carter.

"Jack?!"

Jack O'Neill sauntered up to Jacob. One of his hands pulled out of the green shirt folds to wave once, "Hi, Jacob."

Jacob gaped, stared. Jack came to a stop in front of Jacob and cant his head slightly to one side, squinting in the midday sun with cavalier ease, strange smirk playing over his lips as he watched Jacob's expression.

"What are you doing here?" Jacob blurted.

Jack shrugged mischievously as brown eyes scanned once over the waves of sand that comprised the current Tok'ra base world, "Thought I'd drop in, see how things were going; love what you guys have done with the place."

"But... you're supposed to be dead."

"Ahh... yes, well, reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

Jacob's shock was dissipating, quickly replaced with demanding curiosity, "Jack, what happened? We were told you died three weeks ago in the fight against Montu."

Jack's teasing smirk at last faded and his expression grew serious, "That's kind of a long story; you mind if we talk about it somewhere else, though? And PLEASE, give me something else to wear that won't make me seasick."

Jacob began flatly, "I'm supposed to be greeting.." then he trailed off, suspicions leaping through his mind and apparently evident by the look on his face.

Jack tapped his temple with one finger and gave another shrug, "Like I said, long story."

"You mean... you have a Tok'ra symbiote?"

Jack barely nodded then his eyes glazed, seemingly a million miles away as he was momentarily caught up in an internal dialogue, then abruptly his attention melted back to focus on Jacob, "That's pretty much the abridged version, yeah. And before you think I've sustained brain damage, no, I didn't sign up for this." His eyes lost focus again, only briefly, then snapped back to Jacob's face, "But I did consent to it eventually," he held up a finger for emphasis, making his next point paramount, "under very explicitly understood conditions." Jack's eyes dropped to his feet, frown creasing lines in his brow, then he sighed, "Look, ah... Aetom wants to talk to you, so... um... ahh, for crying out loud," he took a relenting breath, closed his eyes, and when his head tilted up again his mannerisms were off-center for Jack O'Neill. Not to mention the timber of his voice when he spoke, distinctly inhuman.

"Jacob Carter... Colonel O'Neill has told me of you. I understand you are now host to Selmac. I am honored to meet you."

"Sure.." Jacob muttered, still preoccupied with seeing Jack O'Neill speaking and moving like a Tok'ra, getting the distinct feeling he was looking at an oddity of nature, a two-headed piglet preserved in a jar.

"Colonel O'Neill is correct that I initially took him as a host against his wishes; had I not we both would have died. He agreed to assist me in destroying Montu with the understanding that I would find a new host as soon as possible so that he may return to the Tau'ri. I must speak immediately with the council about procuring a new host."

Jacob felt like he used to when his wife was poking him repeatedly in the ribs for attention and finally had to acknowledge Selmac, reluctant to step back from what was unfolding before him but under duress acquiescing to Selmac's vie for control. He closed his eyes and stepped away, Selmac in command of his voice and body when his eyes reopened.

"It is good to see you again, Aetom."

"And you, old friend, it has been far too long when neither knows the other's face."

Selmac motioned for Aetom to follow her toward the Tok'ra base, the latter falling into unhurried step beside Selmac. "Finding you a new host will not be immediately possible, I'm afraid. We are in the middle of relocating to a new base."

Aetom was quiet a moment then said, "Colonel O'Neill is not pleased to hear that."

Selmac nodded, "From what I know of Colonel O'Neill I can imagine his response to such news. I am sorry to ask him to remain a host beyond the private arrangement made between the two of you, and I am very sorry that you must stay in an unwilling host, my friend."

Frowning, Aetom looked out over the desert, in conference with his host, then looked back at the trail they walked as he answered, "We are both willing to remain blended a short time longer."

"Colonel O'Neill has consented to the delay so readily?"

Aetom gave a small smile, "We have learned in our time together to tolerate one another with a minimal amount of discord. Tell me, where will the Tok'ra go?"

"A small moon in the Pelnami system. It is in fact only a temporary settlement before we have chosen a secure location on the planet itself to build our tunnels. The moon does not possess a Chappa'ai... I regret to tell you that your host will not be immediately able to contact his people; I know that will be a prime concern for Colonel O'Neill."

Aetom nodded grimly, "It is, and in fact he has already asked a number of times since our arrival to communicate with the Tau'ri." Aetom went quiet, expression intense and inwardly turned, then he sighed, "If there is nothing to be done then that is how it is. Tell us what we might do to help."

Selmac touched Aetom's shoulder, "There is much to do, and the sooner it can be done the nearer the time you and your host might find peace. Come, help the others and myself load the tel'tacs."