Chapter 2

The Mystery Delegate

"I'd like you to meet Lady Anne," Jacob said. As soon as he said this, the cloaked figure pulled back her hood, revealing her face.

They gasp (well except Teal'c who would never gasp, and Jacob who knew what to expect) she was only a girl, not more than 17 or 18 years old.

"Jake, what's up with the joke? Why's the kid here?" Jack asked, concerned.

"My name is Anna Katherine; I am called Lady Anne as I lack any other title, General O'Neill. I am here because I wish for the Goa'uld to be defeated and I believe the best way for this to occur is for the Tok'ra, the Rebel Jaffa, and the Tauri to be allies in more than name." She spoke slowly, deliberately and kept her light blue eyes on Jack the whole time. The man who had survived four months in Iraq and had never been intimated by any of the System Lords he had faced found this girl's gaze extremely intimidating.

"Why don't we get started with the negotiations? We have a lot of problems to smooth over." Jacob suggested, seeing that Jack wanted to question Anne more, which would not be good, at least not right now anyway.

"Yasureyabetcha," was Jack's response as he turned and led them to the briefing room, where the negotiations were to take place.

Something, he thought, is really weird about that girl. Maybe she's a snakehead? No Carter or Teal'c would have said something. Besides, Jake seems to trust her and so far, she's said all the right things, but something's off. I don't know what, but something is most definitely off!

"So, where ya from?" he asked suddenly.

"I live on Kalialia, but I was born on Chulak," She responded easily.

"Really? You a Jaffa then?"

"I am human, General O'Neill."

"Host? Former host?" He tried again.

"You want to know why I am considered important by two very different groups, and you want to know who I am so you can decide if you are going to trust me," Anne stated calmly, not batting an eye. "I understand this; trust is not a thing to be given lightly, least of all by you. Please believe me when I say that I would never give up the Tauri nr anyone else to the Goa'uld."

"Lady Anne is correct, O'Neill," Bray'tac said walking into the room with Rya'c. "My lady, it has been too long. You have grown older, more beautiful, and perhaps wiser since I last saw you," Bray'tac bowed low, the admiration and respect obvious in his voice. Rya'c followed suite, and then stepped forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek and a warm hug.

"Annie, it is good to see you again. I hope you and your angels are well?" he inquired kindly.

"We are doing as well as we can Rya'c. Charlie is here with me if you want to speak with him later. I know he's dying to tease you about getting married." Anne smiled at Rya'c; he had been a good friend over the last long seven years. In fact, he was her only friend her own age who was completely mortal.

"Charlie?" Jack asked, his self-control almost keeping his voice from braking. Charlie was not a normal name off world, he thought. It can't be, the only other Charlie out there is the kid who came from the Reetu, and he was now Tok'ra. Yeah, he might be around this girl's age, and he couldn't imagine a Tok'ra and a Jaffa getting along easily. Teal'c seemed to be an exception, he always seemed to be able to put the mission or cause ahead of petty differences, at least until the mission was over and then if you had managed to get on Teal'c's bad side, it was best to run. Of course, he'd catch you, but that wasn't the point. Moreover, he hadn't seen Reetu Charlie with the Tok'ra who'd come. True, Anise and Carter's dad were the only snakeheads there, but it had to be Reetu Charlie they were talking about, right?

"So, uh, where's Charlie?" He asked not quite managing to keep his voice normal.

In the time between his two questions, Sam had been watching her CO. Even though she was engaged to Pete, part of her (most of her, really) was still in love with Jack, and she desperately wanted to help him now. Especially when his emotional shields went down for a few minutes and she could see the pain, grief, love, and fear in his eyes. Charlie, his dead son, was a completely taboo subject, and a name that would be extremely uncommon off world. She wanted desperately to reach out and help him, but those damned regs prevented even that. As quickly as his emotional blocks had fallen, they returned and he managed to get out his second question.

"So, uh, where's Charlie?"