"I'm Julia, Dr. Jackson," the red haired woman seated at the table said. "This is Ivan," she introduced the thin man to her right, "and Paul. We will be your judges."
"The pleasure's all yours," Daniel rejoined causing a frown to appear on each of their faces. 'Hanging around Jack way too much,' Daniel thought to himself.
"You disappeared on us, Dr. Jackson" his female questioner said.
"There was nothing in the oath I took that said I couldn't leave," Daniel reminded her.
"Then a few weeks later, you're reported dead," Ivan added.
"That ended our interest in you," Paul explained in a heavy French accent.
"Yeah, about that. Why have you come after me now?" Daniel asked. "Not that I'm not flattered by all the trouble you've gone to to get me here..."
"Your friend came to us with an interesting story," Julia informed him.
"My friend?" Daniel asked.
"Me, Daniel," a familiar voice from behind him said. "Did you think I would just accept that bull shit story you fed me in the hospital in Egypt?" Stephen asked.
"Stephen, you don't know what you're talking about," Daniel pleaded.
"I know you found something, Daniel," Stephen responded, "and I know you're hiding it. I know something's happened to Sarah, and that you're lying to me about it. That made me wonder what had given you your crazy ideas to begin with."
"And that led him to us," Julia finished. "We were astonished to hear you were still alive, Dr. Jackson, after being declared dead."
"Ah, yeah, well. About that," Daniel temporized. "The Air Force hired me to do some translations, but I went native on them during the mission. Met a girl. Settled down. They declared me dead to avoid any uncomfortable questions about where I'd gone."
"And then you were suddenly alive again," Julia continued as if he hadn't spoken at all.
"My wife was kidnapped," Daniel explained carefully thinking through his answer to avoid saying anything that would get him shot once the rest of SG-1 found him. "The Air Force was after the same group that took her. So I hired back on in the hopes of finding my wife."
"And did you?" Ivan asked continuing the questioning.
"Yeah," Daniel admitted.
"And yet you stay with the Air Force," Paul stated.
"You didn't say anything about a wife, Daniel" Stephen accused.
"She was shot attempting to rescue her," Daniel explained. "She died in my arms a couple of years ago. I don't like to talk about it. As for staying with the Air Force, I want revenge." It was a plausible excuse. Daniel just hoped they bought it.
"And what have you told them about us?" Ivan asked.
"Nothing," Daniel assured them. "I swore an oath."
"Oaths can be broken," Paul rejoined.
"You haven't explained your friend Sarah's disappearance, Dr. Jackson" Julia reminded him. This reminder was accompanied by a glare from Stephen. "Dr. Raynor told us such fascinating things...like the fact that Sarah's eyes glowed."
Daniel swallowed uneasily suspecting that the tone of their questioning was about to change. "I can't tell you about that," Daniel said. "I swore an oath to the Air Force that I wouldn't reveal their secrets. I didn't reveal yours to them. I won't reveal theirs to you."
"We shall see about that, Dr. Jackson" Julia informed him nodding to the man with the cart.
"Stephen, don't let them do this!" Daniel screamed as he thrashed in the chair. "For God's sake, Stephen! God damn it! I thought you were my friend, Stephen!"
"Sarah was my friend, Daniel" Stephen said. "I thought she was your friend, too."
The man who had brought in the cart moved forward with a pair of scissors in his hands to cut Daniel's shirt off. Daniel's shoes came next, and his bare feet were placed in a tub of water. A minute later, Daniel began to scream.
