FISHING

Doctor Fraiser hated this feeling.

It was the feeling of utter helplessness. The feeling of uselessness.
The feeling of resentment for the Tok'ra, who she knew would be able
to help her friend, the knowledge that they could and she could not.

She sat down beside O'Neill.

"Hello, Colonel, how are you feeling today?" she asked with almost no
sense of irony. She'd done this so many times with coma patients, she
didn't feel stupid. Not one bit.

She was glad Sam had submitted to sleep again. Janet knew she had
experienced the taste of rest and now she craved it more than she had
known.

"Well, you're sure missing out on some treats," Janet continued into
the silent room. Only the beeps of the monitors interrupted her at a
steady pace. "They've got pink Jell-O in the mess hall today, not to
mention brand new cookies...Sam's still going for her blue Jell-O, of
course, not that she's eaten for a while. Takes the appetite right
out of a person, seeing your Commanding Officer crash. Ah well,
knowing you, you did it on purpose..."

And so she went on, mindlessly speaking about everything and yet
talking about nothing, droning on in hope that Daniel and Teal'c
would return soon.

Sam wasn't sleeping.

She had tried, but instead lay on her bunk staring at the ceiling.
If she had stayed in the Infirmary, she reckoned Janet would've
prescribed a sedative, just to get her to sleep.

In the silence of the room save for the odd sounds of overhead pipes,
gentle knocking at the door sounded loud and urgent.

Sam rolled off the bunk, "Come in," she said.

For a moment the door did not open, Sam was about to open it when in
walked a figure that Sam recognised as the nervous looking Tok'ra who
had accompanied Freya/Anise through the Gate.

"Greetings, Major Carter," he ventured, edging into the room.

"I didn't catch your name," Sam said.
"I am sorry, I am Tor'nyan and my symbiote is Vor'aenai."

"Oh." Sam offered a weak smile.

"Freya told me I should offer my knowledge to your people." Tor'nyan
said.

Sam nodded slowly. "I can get someone to show you where General
Hammond's office is, if you like..."

"Freya also advised that I might speak with you, as you are more
involved with Colonel O'Neill." Tor'nyan said, without hesitation. He
seemed not to notice Sam's discomfort at the word 'involved'.

Sam glanced around, as if looking for an exit, but then submitted and
sat down on the side of her bed. "Yes, I'm sorry, come in, take a seat."

The Tok'ra did so, taking in everything around him, "You are the
daughter of our leader, Jacob, are you not?" he said.

"Your leader?" Sam asked, and then paused. "Oh. Of course...I'm
sorry.... yes, I am. You know him?" Just as the words formed she
realised how utterly stupid they sounded.

"I have not had much contact with him, but all Tok'ra speak highly of
him and Selmac."

Sam offered a smile again; wishing inside this would all just magic
away. But this Tok'ra seemed alright, if somewhat nervous; she
decided to stick with him, he was better than Anise at any rate.

"What do you know about this Kendrick?" Sam asked.

Tor'nyan lowered his head and raised it again so that Vor'aenai could
speak, "Kendrick was a member of Seth's cult. He escaped when your
team infiltrated the compound."

"But that was four years ago." Sam said.

"That is correct. However, Kendrick has been building up his ranks.
Many of Seth's followers fled to other countries in this world, and
he was waiting for the right time."

Ranks, Sam didn't like the sound of that. "And these ranks have grown?" she asked.

"No," Vor'aenai said, "Kendrick was impatient and foolish. He grew
angry at the lack of response from those he rallied. They seemed
disinterested in Kendrick's true cause."

"Which is?"

"Seth knew of the SGC, so Kendrick aimed to start his reign there."

"Ah." Sam paused, going over this information in her head. "You said
he was waiting 'for the right time'. When did he think that would be,
exactly? And why?"

"Unfortunately that was not made clear, although I was closest to
Kendrick during this time, he did not reveal his plans in any great
detail. He often said however, that he would make the SGC pay for
what they had done."

Sam frowned deeply. "What I have done," she murmured.

Tor'nyan looked sadly at the human in front of him, "You must not
blame yourself, Seth's programming of his followers was very intense."

Sam looked up, realising she had said it out loud. "Tor'nyan, I don't
mean to be rude, but...I have something I need to attend to." A
lie. "Could we reconvene later?"

"Of course." Tor'nyan said, "I am sorry if I have distressed you."
"Not at all." Another lie, this time with a smile. Sam stood up and
strode out of the room, as if she had something meaningful to do.

At O'Malley's Teal'c came back inside from the parking lot.

"The vehicle is still parked outside," he said.

"Told ya!" Lenny said.

"Where are the tapes kept?" Daniel asked.

"In there." Lenny replied pointing at a door just off the bar
area, "Go right in, I can't leave the bar."

Teal'c looked around and raised his eyebrow, since the two brawling
men had been evicted, O'Malleys was deserted. At 2.30 in the
afternoon, the place was never as busy.

"OK," Daniel said and walked off, Teal'c followed.

Locating the tapes was easy, each was labelled with the date and time
covered and Daniel grabbed a few, starting with the time Jack had
been in the bar with Kendrick.

As the images played out silently, Daniel ran the tape through slow
search, Teal'c watched and the two of them got enough of a visual on
Kendrick. The tapes also showed the rapidly drunk state of Jack
O'Neill just before Kendrick escorted him out.

More interesting though was the few minutes between Jack going to the
Men's Room and his return, Kendrick was watching Jack's beer with
concentration and a split second of activity just before Jack
returned was live with suspicion.

Daniel took the tape out of the VCR and slipped it into his backpack.

He then inserted a tape labelled with the date and time of Kendrick's
last visit to O'Malley's and hit "Play".

Kendrick, playing the man on the pull role to the hilt, sidled up to
young blond woman who didn't seem to mind the attention. He bought
her drinks, and about three hours later, if the tape was to believed,
the two left together.

Daniel looked on the shelf for another tape and found it, "Parking
Lot: 12am"

Daniel changed the tape in the VCR

The tape showed Kendrick stood with the woman as a cab pulled in,
Kendrick ushered the woman in and the cab slowly pulled away.

Another clue, Daniel thought, ejecting the tape and dropping it in
his backpack. Three tapes to analyse back at the SGC.

Three tapes and a little idea that could trap them a Goa'uld, that's
if Sam didn't kill Daniel first for the idea...

Sam has been at a slight loss once out of her quarters and wandering
around base. She knew Janet was with Colonel O'Neill and might send
her back to bed if Sam showed up. But she had to look busy, she just
couldn't cope with the Tok'ra right now.

'I want my Dad.'

All she could do was trust Anise to bring him to her.

Sam made her way slowly towards her lab. She was on autopilot, it
seemed, and didn't realise until she arrived in the doorway. She
looked around. It was empty, of course. Sam considered switching on
the light, but then decided the dark was better.

She entered the gloomy room, eyes adjusting to the dark, and sat down
silently at the desk.

---

"Sam?" asked Daniel.

"I'm here."

"Sam why are the lights out?" came Janet's voice.

She didn't answer, and Daniel stepped into the room, followed by
Janet and Teal'c.

"Did you find anything?" she asked instead.

"Yeah, we got some tapes, and a bit of Intel from Lenny. Wanna come
with us to the Briefing Room to check it out?"

"Yeah. Sure." Sam got up, stifled a yawn, and followed them out.

In the Briefing Room, Sam sat down at the table and yawned again.
General Hammond entered, gave her a concerned look, and then sat
down. "What do you have for us, Dr Jackson?" he asked.

"A little intel courtesy of the ever so helpful Lenny." Daniel said,
"Teal'c's break up of a bar fight won him over."

Hammond nodded briskly. "What did he tell you?"

"It was more a case of what he let us have."

Hammond raised his eyebrows, and Daniel pressed play on a TV monitor
close to the General.

"That is Jack. Here Kendrick is joining him. If we just skip
forward...there." He pressed pause. "Kendrick spiking his drink."

Sam stared at the screen. She felt angry.

Daniel changed the tape: "This is Kendrick a night after he got
Jack drunk. Here enters girl."

"OK," Sam said, "We're going to catch ourselves a Kendrick."

Hammond turned to look at her. "Major?"

"Looks like he enjoys the company, doesn't it?"

Daniel looked around the table. Sam went on,

"Why don't we catch him in his preferred environment?" she said.

"What are you proposing, Major Carter?" asked Teal'c.

"I'm suggestion taking back a few years of female revolution and
going to O'Malley's to get picked up by Kendrick." Sam replied.

Daniel's eyebrows shot up. Despite all his fears, Sam had second-
guessed him.

"Sam," said Janet in a cautioning tone.

"What? I'm not thinking of going in there solo." Sam said, "The
place will be kinda packed, a good way to get some protection
undercover."

"Major you do know entrapment is technically against the law." The
General paused. "However...as this goes beyond that, I will authorise
this. I am going to send out people in plain clothes to make
sure you don't get into any difficulties." He chose his words
carefully.

Sam laughed, "Entrapment is against the law but then again, I
would've thought almost killing someone is more of a big deal. I
suggest I also wear a wire."

The laugh was a dry one, and Janet detected it easily. "Be careful he
doesn't spike your drink, Sam."

"Yeah, that's a risk I am willing to take." Sam said, her face determined.

Hammond looked between Doctor and Major. "This is extremely high risk,
Major. Therefore I am sending Dr Fraiser in plain clothes along with
security personnel, just in case. You will be given a wire, and the
means to bring Kendrick back. You leave tonight."

Sam nodded. "Thank you sir."

The group dispersed, and Daniel approached Sam, "Are you sure you
know what you are doing?" he asked.

Sam turned to him resolutely. "I'm reeling in a catch," she replied
dryly. Daniel smiled a little.

"Will you be there tonight?" Sam asked. "In plain clothes, with Janet?"

"If you want me there." Daniel said.

Sam smiled sincerely and nodded. "Thank you," she said, and walked
off to prepare.

Sam stood in the locker room, her hair-dripping wet from the shower.
In front of her, her locker door was open and inside was an outfit
Sam had chosen to catch Kendrick.

She felt degraded, but she knew the plan was essential to help Jack.

At least she wasn't going the short skirt and stilettos route.

No, Sam's outfit was one she had chosen for the next downtime. Sam
reached into the locker and lifted out a long lilac floral print
skirt. With that she had a white vest top that had lilac satin ribbon
edging. Topping it off with a cropped denim jacket and a pair of
black kitten heels, Sam added some light makeup and ruffled her hair.

She hated what she was doing.

She stared at her reflection, despising what she saw. It wasn't that
she thought herself ugly; no, it was that she was tarting herself up,
making herself look easy. Sinking so low as this.

"Sam, are you ready?" It was Daniel, outside the locker room.

"Yeah," she called back, "one second." She fixed the wire before
stepping out gingerly into the corridor.

The look on Daniel's face was priceless and if the situation weren't
so precarious, Sam would've teased him about the goldfish
impersonation, but now was not the time.

Janet arrived just in time to rescue Daniel from his loss of
words. "I admire you, Sam," she said. The two women shared a moment
of two self-respecting women. Sam simply nodded.

"Let's get going."

Hammond was there to check Sam out, as was Sgt Davis who had acquired
the wire.

Before Sam was to leave the SGC, Davis set up a test for the wire
and its receivers. "All clear Major," he said.

"Thank you Sgt," she acknowledged.

"A van will be stationed outside in the lot with Sgt Davis there to
overlook everything," Hammond informed them. "Personnel shall drift
in and out as so not to look to suspicious. Dr Jackson and Dr Fraiser
will remain for as long as you are there."

"Thank you, all of you," Sam said.

Hammond nodded, "Just be careful," he said.

Teal'c watched silently as Major Carter left the base with Dr Fraiser
and Daniel Jackson. It was strange, seeing his team-member the way
she was; it was most unlike her, he thought. Most undignified for a
warrior of her stance.

It had to be done, however. If he had been able to think of another
option, he would have voiced it.

He could not go with them: the risk was too great that Kendrick might
sense his symbiote. And so Teal'c stayed, making his way into
O'Neill's med-room, and sitting beside his friend.

"O'Neill," he said quietly, "Major Carter has gone with Daniel
Jackson and Dr Fraiser to execute what you call an entrapment
operation. I am remaining here, for the perpetrator of this crime may
sense my symbiote."

He could almost hear the reply the man in the bed would make: "What,
Junior? Tough luck, T, you're missin' all the fun!"

Teal'c's head lowered slightly as he thought of the times the team
had shared together.