87

Planning Stage

General Hammond had had a far from peaceful night as well. People were starting to get a little edgy from being confined in quarantine, but he didn't feel that he dared to lift it, yet. And that was far from the entire scope of his worries. Something that he hadn't told O'Neill was that the bureaucrats had finally okayed giving Evree asylum. About three hours after she'd left. But now, in light of that note, things had changed.., again. He had always had a sneaking suspicion that Evree might have had altruistic motives. Given that, she simply could not be allowed to sacrifice herself on their behalf. In that long distance conversation he'd had with the Carter's and Teal'c, he had deliberately drawn Jacob out, trying to find out if there were others who felt the same way.

But why did it have to be Anubis? Hammond felt that his people would have far better odds of survival if he threw them, unarmed, into a lion's den.

&&&&&&

Evree stared out at the moving panorama of stars without seeing them.

"Oh, Draylea," she murmured. "What am I to do now? I cannot give Anubis that which he desires. It would be a thousand times worse than if I had done so for Ahriman. And what is to become of me? Of us?"

"You have no need to worry for me." Draylea's thoughts echoed serenely in her mind. "I am still attractive, and Anubis' Jaffa are still men. I will remain near you."

"Foolish child," Evree scolded gently. "If you had the wit, you would find a way to put as much distance between you and Anubis as possible."

"I won't leave you, Evree." The host sounded stubborn. "I will let nothing short of death separate us."

&&&&&&&

Hammond had put a lot of thought into things, and had arrived at some hard won decisions. He knew he was exceeding his authority on this, but by the time Washington gave him a green light, it would probably be way too late.

He had come to the conclusion that friend or foe, Evree could not remain in Anubis' hands. The might and size of his army had already reached terrifying proportions. But since there was still some question as to where Evree's sympathies lay, they couldn't just go in and destroy Anubis' queen as they had before. It was going to be a mission that redefined the term 'surgical strike'. It was going to be at least as delicate and dangerous as brain surgery.

Now it was time to get the surgeon prepped.

&&&&&

O'Neill gazed into the tank full of baby symbiotes. "They don't seem to be moving around much today," he observed. "Are they all right?"

"Physically they are fine, at the moment," Marvath answered. "I have been monitoring them most carefully. But they refuse to take sustenance."

"How do you feed them?" Jack let his curiosity sidetrack him for a minute.

"The liquid contains easily assimilated nutrients," the Tok'ra explained. "They should be thriving on it. But while it is there, ready for the taking, they avoid ingesting it."

O'Neill's attention drifted back to the tank. "Hey, kids," he said, for once not feeling awkward about it. "Your mom asked us to take care of you. She wants you to be healthy." He paused, trying to think of why they would stop eating. "Don't worry about your mom. We're going to get her back. Soon."

If he didn't know better, O'Neill would swear that the little Goa'uld heard him, and more to the point, understood him. Whether it was just a physical reaction to the stimulus of his voice or what, they started moving with more vigor than they had the past hour he'd been there.

Marvath started checking the complex array of readouts attached to the tank. "It worked," he remarked in awed tones. "They are taking in the nutrients. How did you know?"

Jack looked sheepish. "My mother had to go be with my grandmother just before she died, and she was gone for a week. After a few days, I went on a hunger strike. I figured that if I was starving to death, Dad would go get her."

Marvath allowed himself to be curious, now that the newborns no longer seemed to be in any danger. "What happened?"

Jack laughed. "Dad psyched me. He went along with the gag. And sure enough, it wasn't long before I got sufficiently hungry to cave in. You skip a couple of meals when you're ten and it feels like you haven't eaten in forever."

"Yes." Marvath smiled as he turned back to his readings. "The young always have fast metabolisms."

O'Neill turned his attention to the tank once more. "They do seem to be a little livelier than when I got here," he remarked.

"How do you intend to keep your promise to them?" Marvath inquired.

"I don't know," O'Neill admitted. "But I'll find a way." His expression became incredibly bleak for a moment. "I don't like letting kids down." He turned and left before Marvath could ask why.

&&&&&

"I had thought that we were going to go and attend to Ahriman," Evree pointed out. Anubis had begun pressing her about taking up her duties as a breeder. "It is little enough satisfaction to allow me after years as his chattel."

"I have my reasons for remaining in this part of space for the moment," Anubis answered. "And I am anxious to begin adding to my army."

"Your army is already quite large," Evree replied. "I wish to be able to savor my revenge. And I want what was promised me before I deliver on what I promised you." She hoped that Anubis would overlook the fact that she had not actually promised him anything, unless you counted tacitly.

Anubis stared at her long and hard. "You are quite willful," he remarked, surprisingly mildly. "But a bargain is a bargain. You shall not have to enter the tank until such time as I can attend to the nuisance that is Ahriman."

As he left, Evree let a heart-felt sigh of relief escape. Another reprieve. But once Ahriman had been disposed of, she would have no further recourse, no way to put Anubis off any further. She could not, and would not, breed for him. But what to do?

&&&&&

"It's a very dangerous mission," Hammond finished up his proposal. "And since I don't have time to get official sanctioning for it, I'm going to have to make it on a volunteer basis."

"I volunteer," Jack said, almost before the words had left the general's mouth.

"Me too," Daniel added.

"Are you sure that it's wise for you to go, Dr. Jackson?" Hammond asked. "Considering how you and Anubis have clashed in the past. And you're human again. Much more vulnerable than when you were ascended."

"Well I hadn't intended on walking right up to Anubis this time," Daniel answered. "And since we do have some history, I feel like I owe him one. More than one. Stealing his new queen ought to be just about right."

General Hammond turned to the other volunteer. "You're sure too, Jack?" he inquired. "I know that you always had mixed feelings where Evree was concerned."

"Not mixed enough to want Anubis to have her," O'Neill replied. "And maybe if we have her around a while longer, my feelings won't be so mixed. I'll either learn to like her, or I'll kill her."

"I hope you're just joking on that last part," Hammond said sternly. "Because after the brass gave us permission to give her asylum, they'd rake you over the coals alive if you harmed her."

"I haven't yet," Jack responded mildly. "Do we have a plan here, or do we just arm ourselves to the teeth and make it up as we go?"

&&&&&

"There was another message from Earth," Jacob announced as he rejoined Sam and Teal'c. "Sorry that I didn't call you, but there wasn't time."

"What did they say?" asked Sam eagerly. She could take being in an alien place, or, if she had to, even sitting around doing nothing. Just not both at once.

"Evidently they've decided to give Evree the benefit of the doubt," her father replied. "Col. O'Neill and Dr. Jackson are going to infiltrate Anubis' ship and attempt a rescue."

"What changed General Hammond's mind enough to 'give her the benefit of the doubt'?" Teal'c queried. "It is my experience that when the general makes up his mind, it takes something of great import to change it."

"Evree left a note," Jacob explained. "Apparently she wrote it some time before she gave birth to her young. And there was also a personal message on it for Col. O'Neill." His eyes flicked away from the pair for a moment.

"What did that message say?" Sam asked. She'd known that Evree had had feelings for Jack even if she wasn't sure herself what they were. Maybe the note would clarify things a little.

"They didn't say," Jacob answered. "But it seems to have been enough for them to decide that she shouldn't be with Anubis."

"A good tactical decision if nothing else," Teal'c agreed. When Sam looked askance at him, he elaborated. "Anubis' army is of alarming size. The last thing that any of us would want to see is how he could increase it with a new queen."

"I guess the personal stuff kind of distracted me from the military applications," Major Carter admitted sheepishly. "But you're right. Of all the disasters I can think of, Anubis having someone else to breed more super soldiers for him has to hit the top ten."

"Number one on the hit parade, unless I miss my guess," Jacob conceded. "I offered any help that we could, but General Hammond said that he didn't feel comfortable lifting the quarantine just yet."

"But he's letting Jack and Daniel break quarantine to go rescue Evree," Sam pointed out.

"He said that if they have been infected, then he has no misgivings about spreading a plague on Anubis' ship," Jacob replied. Both he and the general had agreed that it was best to maintain the quarantine, and Samantha would too, when she had time to think reasonably. "But he still didn't want to risk the two of you, or the Tok'ra." He added that last on to remind his daughter that they were not the only ones who would be at risk.

Sam looked ready to say something, then shut her mouth. She walked over to the table where Jacob and Teal'c had already spent quite a few hours. She picked up the deck of cards and started shuffling them. "Spit in the ocean, or five card stud?" she asked.

&&&&&

"Well," Evree muttered, more to herself than even to her host, seeing as it was only the two of them. "We are agreed that I cannot help increase the size of Anubis' army. That would defeat everything that I've worked for. Besides, he might go back on his word and destroy O'Neill..., I mean the Tau'ri."

The host, despite not having been directly addressed gave a little mental snicker. If Evree thought she could fool the body she was in, then the one who was really being fooled was the Goa'uld queen.

"Perhaps I should kill myself." Evree started mentally garbing herself in the robes of martyrdom. But she wanted the galaxy to be a better place. For her children, the Tau'ri, and in fact, everyone that did not wish to destroy it.

"And leave me?" Draylea asked pathetically. "I think you are getting ahead of yourself, Evree. There may still be other options."

"Such as?" Evree demanded. "I am here, cut off from any.., I won't say friends, but any who would possibly aid me. And I refuse to aid Anubis. What else is there but death?"

"I think that O'Neill will come to rescue you," Draylea answered. "He likes you."

"O'Neill?" Evree would just admit that she had some feelings for O'Neill. But she couldn't bring herself to believe that they were even close to being mutual. "You must be delusional, Draylea. O'Neill has, for the most part, good manners, that is all. He loathes me and all my kind."

"You're just afraid that if you believe that he likes you you'll be disappointed," the host pointed out. "Wait a while longer, Evree. Anubis did say he would wait until he's dealt with Ahriman."

"And what if he comes in here within the hour and says that he has done just that?" Evree inquired. "I have no way of gainsaying him. And I sincerely doubt that O'Neill, even if he were to come to my rescue would be here in time enough to be of any aid."

"O'Neill will come for you," Draylea repeated firmly. "Wait and see, Evree. Besides, if you want to be coldly logical about it, the Tau'ri can ill afford to have you breeding for Anubis."

"There is that," the Goa'uld mumbled dispiritedly. She had found the other notion infinitely more attractive. "Are you sure that O'Neill likes me?"

&&&&&

"Do you have everything?" For all that both O'Neill and Jackson were seasoned gate travelers, and that he had seen them off on literally hundreds of missions, Hammond was feeling edgy. He didn't like sending people into situations that he knew were this dangerous. But it was the only one that he thought he could live with.

"We should have," Daniel replied distractedly. He was trying to remember the layout of Anubis' ship and where the most likely place would be for him to hold Evree.

"We're loaded for bear," Jack agreed. "Or, Goa'uld, really." He looked into Hammond's eyes. "Don't worry, sir. We'll bring her back alive."

"Just you make sure that you come back alive," General Hammond directed. Then, seeing no other reason to delay, ordered, "Open the iris."

This would have been impossible to do, dialing to a ship in space gate or no, save that they still had the coordinates that Anubis had sent Evree when she had left. They had very cautiously verified that the ship was still there. Getting back would be easier, at least as far as dialing gate coordinates. Getting to the gate within the ship might constitute something of a problem.

"Wish us luck," Jack said jauntily. He had perked up considerably ever since Hammond had proposed the mission.

"Godspeed gentlemen," Hammond said solemnly, and watched them walk into the water surface of the wormhole.