The Hunt for Babylon:
By cheekychaos
Chapter Six:
Daniel stood, waiting anxiously, at the Colorado Springs airport for Lara's plane to come in. After a long talk with General Hammond, he had finally convinced everyone that Lara would be a big help in their current situation. Thankfully, General Hammond had agreed when he heard about some of her exploits.
So it was Daniel's job to bring her in. He was a little apprehensive of Lara's reaction. She was well known as someone who didn't always follow the rules. He wasn't sure what she would do – this was pretty shocking and complicated stuff to deal, as Daniel knew from personal experience.
About five minutes later, Daniel spotted Lara in the crowd and walked towards her. "Hey, Lara." He greeted cheerfully.
Lara was still dressed in her leather jacket and jeans (although another pair this time), with a pair of sunglasses perched on her nose. "Hello, Daniel." She replied in her cultured accent.
"How was your flight?" Daniel asked, as he led the way to his car.
"I caught up on my sleep." At Daniel's startled look, Lara explained. "It's been a rough couple of days."
"Oh." Daniel said. "Yeah, I get those too."
Lara smiled. "So, do I get to meet this mysterious boss of yours?"
"Yeah." Daniel nodded. "Do you have a place to stay? Because we could dump your stuff first, if you want."
"No, actually, I don't." Lara replied. "I wasn't sure how long I'd be staying."
Daniel smiled wryly. "Let's go see the General, then."
"The General?"
"General George Hammond." Daniel explained. "My boss."
Getting into Cheyenne Mountain Complex was deceptively easy. Daniel just flashed his ID at the guards and let him through. Lara followed behind, slightly in awe of Daniel's relaxed confidence, as if walking into a highly classified USAF base was as easy as a walk in the park. Although, considering he worked here, maybe it was. Lara couldn't help but feel nervous at the prospect, herself.
When the pair came to a closed door, Daniel turned to Lara. "This is where I leave you for a little while." He said. "There are a few things you have to sign."
Lara nodded. "I thought as much." Lara said dryly.
Daniel smiled and opened the door to reveal a table, two chairs and a man in military uniform. "Ma'am." He greeted.
"As soon as you're done, I'll take you to see General Hammond." Daniel said.
"Thank you." Lara replied as he shut the door.
Taking a seat, Lara gazed at the man opposite her and raised an eyebrow. "So where do I sign my soul away?"
The officer suppressed a smile and pushed a small stack of forms and a pen across the table. "Not exactly your soul, ma'am." He said. "Just the Official Secrets Act."
"Ah." Lara said, nodding. "So just my tongue then?"
This time the officer did smile. "Don't worry." He said. "It's worth it, ma'am."
"Really?"
"Oh, yeah." The officer replied with feeling.
"Well, then." Lara said, signing the forms. "I'm curious now. Of course, they did say curiosity killed the cat."
"With all due respect, ma'am, I doubt anyone could kill you."
Lara looked up to find the officer grinning at her. "One can only hope." She said, smiling back.
By the time Daniel came back, Lara had signed all the relevant forms. Daniel was now dressed in a pair of olive greens BDU's, to which Lara raised an eyebrow. There was something a little strange about the image, Lara reflected, but they also seemed to suit him. Like he had earned the right to wear them with confidence.
"Hey." He greeted with a shy smile. "All done?"
"Quite." Lara replied.
Daniel led the way downstairs, deeper into the mountain complex and down a maze of twisting corridors. They finally reached a drab green door, on which Daniel knocked softly. "Enter." Said a muffled voice from behind the door.
Opening the door, Daniel stepped through. "Lady Croft is here." He said.
"Please, call me Lara." Lara said as Daniel stepped aside to reveal the people in the room beyond.
There were three men and one woman dressed in military uniforms sitting at the large conference table in the centre of the room, along with a woman and a man dressed in serious black business suits.
"Well, Lara, my name is General Hammond." One of the men in dressed in military uniforms stood up at the head of the table. He was plump and balding, but there was an intelligent gleam in his eyes that was not to be underestimated. "I am the supervisor of this facility."
"Pleased to meet you." Lara greeted.
General Hammond introduced her to everyone else at the table. "Now, I believe you have some information for us." The General said.
Lara raised her eyebrow archly at the wording, and placed the case she was carrying on the table. If the General started demanding, Lara would have something to say, despite the respect Daniel had for him. "How much do you know about the temple in South America?" she asked.
"Not much." The General replied. "Only that a man named Arvin Sloane wanted whatever was in there."
"Well, there's a little bit more to it than that." Lara explained. "The pyramid in South America was a temple designed to protect an artefact known as 'the Tear of the Stars'."
Lara looked around the room at the nodding heads. This was what they already knew. "This artefact is half of a map, the other half being a second artefact hidden in Tibet." Lara continued. Now she had their attention – they didn't know this part. "The artefact was named 'the Heart of the Heavens'."
Lara opened the case and swung it around, revealing the two artefacts nestled together in the foam inside. They gleamed with a rich silver in the light. "Wow." Daniel breathed, getting up to have a closer look. "They're beautiful."
"You said they were a map." Sydney said. "So where do they lead?"
"I believe they lead to the lost city of Babylon." Lara replied.
At her words, Daniel almost fell over backwards. "Babylon?" he asked. He shot Lara a look that spoke volumes of his surprise and excitement. "But…wow!"
Lara grinned back, just as excited. "I know!" she said.
"I hate to interrupt this little celebration." Jack said dryly. "But what does Babylon have to do with this Milo nut?"
"And what about P4X-239?" the General asked.
"That, I don't know." Lara said. "But the city of Babylon was said to have a 'gateway to the stars'. Could Sloane be after that?"
"A stargate?" Sam asked surprised.
"Is that possible?" the General asked.
Lara nodded. "It could be possible." She answered. "Every description I've read describes it as a gateway or portal, which implies its physical rather that spiritual."
"Why would Arvin Sloane seek to find a stargate when he does not know of their existence?" Teal'c asked.
No one had an answer to that. Then Daniel looked up from where he had been studying the artefacts, startled. "These markings!" he said. "Some of them are the language of the Ancients!"
"The people who built the stargates?" Lara asked.
"Well, that confirms the existence of a stargate at Babylon, sir." Sam said to Hammond.
"We cannot let Arvin Sloane find this city." Hammond said. "He cannot be allowed access to a stargate."
"What about Rambaldi?" Vaughn demanded.
"He was an alien." Sydney said softly. "That's why there are references to him on other planets."
Sam looked at her, a slightly shocked look on her face. "Babylon is a city of the Ancients!" she cried.
Jack blinked. "Okay, Carter. Run that by me again." He said. "I thought you just said Babylon is a city of the Ancients!"
Sam blushed slightly under Jack's intense gaze. "Well, sir." She said. "It makes sense. If Babylon was an Ancient city, it would explain the stargate and its disappearance."
"It would also explain Rambaldi's inventions in part." Daniel agreed.
Jack frowned. "How?" he asked.
"Well, one of his artefacts leads to a supposed Ancient city." Daniel explained. "That means, Rambaldi must have either had access to Ancient technology…"
"Or?" The General asked.
"…was an Ancient himself." Daniel finished.
Jack swore under his breath, as did Agent Vaughn. "So what do we do about this people?" Hammond asked. "So far all we have is a lot of speculation."
"I would suggest going back to P4X-239, General." Jack said. "There might be something we missed the first time."
"What about the artefacts?" Lara asked.
"We'll keep them on base for a while." The General answered. "Until we know a bit more about them."
"Are you sure that's a good idea, sir?" Sam asked. "What about the NID?"
"She has a point, sir." Jack agreed.
"What do you propose, Major?" the General asked, knowing Sam well enough to know she had another suggestion.
"That Lady Croft keeps the artefacts with her." Sam said. "From what I've heard, she could certainly protect them."
"I'm not so sure." Sydney said. "Anna will stop at nothing to get what she wants."
"What if she stays with one of us?" Daniel suggested. "Then Anna won't know where she is."
"But what will happen when you go to P4X-239?" Hammond asked.
"Why doesn't she come with us?" Daniel asked. "Having another archaeologist would certainly help."
"Lady Croft?" Hammond asked.
Lara was grinning widely. "Of course." She said. "I've always loved a good adventure."
"That's settled then." Hammond said. "Lara Croft will accompany you off-world. Until then, I want those artefacts studied."
"Yes, sir." Jack acknowledged. "But when do we leave?"
"How long will you need to study those artefacts, Dr. Jackson?" Hammond asked.
"For me to be able to get a clear indication of where and what the map leads to and exactly who wrote it…" Daniel trailed off when he saw Jack's look. "Maybe a day. I don't know."
Then Daniel looked at Lara. "But with Lady Croft's help, perhaps 12 hours."
"Done." The General agreed. "If Lady Croft has no objections?"
"Only that you call me Lara." Lara replied. "Lady Croft sounds so stuffy."
Hammond smiled. "I think we can manage that."
Having finally decided their course of action, everyone left the room rather quickly, intent on their own separate tasks. Daniel led Lara to his lab and office, leaving the others in quiet conversation behind them. Although, Lara thought she heard a few references to chocolate cake, but that could be right. When she glanced at Daniel, she found him smiling.
"Would I be right in saying that your friends are arguing about what to eat?" Lara asked in a low voice.
"Yeah, they are." Daniel replied, his voice conspiratorially soft. "Jack always wants food after a briefing, crisis permitting."
"He also seems to be a fan of chocolate cake." Lara told him, her head cocked slightly as she listened to the conversation.
"Oh, yeah." Daniel agreed with feeling. "Never stand in the way of Jack and a piece of chocolate cake. I learnt that the hard way."
"Really?" Lara said. "What did he do?"
"Let's just say, you only make that mistake once."
Lara grinned. "So, what exactly is your favourite food, Dr. Jackson?" she asked.
"Coffee." Daniel said, without hesitation. "Above all else. How about you?"
"Beans on toast." At Daniel's curious look, Lara explained. "I've tasted food from all over the world, so sometimes it's nice to have something a little boring and very British."
Daniel grinned as he nodded. "I know exactly what you mean."
By now, the pair had reached Daniel's lab and Lara smiled at what she saw. The room was reasonably large, about half the size of the briefing room with a large table in the centre. Here and there, artefacts dotted the tables and shelves. Bookshelves covered every available bit of wall space that wasn't used by either the door or the desk on the right wall.
Books were crammed into the bookcases, the many varied titles catching Lara's eye as much as their excellent condition. Daniel Jackson, it seemed, cared a great deal for his books, a trait Lara always admired. Lara knew how important knowledge was and could not bear to see it treated poorly – whether it was an ancient tablet or a more modern book.
Daniel's desk was covered in a large computer and many open books, maps and the odd artefact. But it was the table in the caught her attention. Sprawled across it were open texts, partial translations, maps, artefacts, photos and copious amounts of notes – so much so, that no part of the scarred surface was visible.
"Wow." Lara said.
Daniel blushed slightly. "Sorry I didn't clean up, but I got a little distracted."
Lara turned to him. "I don't care about the mess, Daniel, but I must say that your collection of books and artefacts is quite impressive. I could almost imagine I'm home standing in here."
"Yeah, but drab green isn't exactly inviting, is it?" Daniel agreed. "That's why I had to cover it with all those books and pieces of paper."
Lara chuckled. "So, where do we begin?"
"Well, we might as we start with what we know about Babylon and work our way out from there." Daniel said.
"I can do that." Lara said. "Why don't you try and translate some of those markings? It might be easier for you, considering your experience."
"Good idea."
The pair settled into work, with Lara making space for herself at the table and Daniel spread out at the other desk, a bright light shining on the artefacts as he studied them. Every so often he would scrawl something down in a notebook, or check one of his other notebooks for a translation. Lara smiled softly as she spared him a glance, before continuing on with her reading.
Most of the books on Babylon described what most archaeologists believed – that Babylon was an advanced city for the time, with legendary hanging gardens that had a complex irrigation system and a mixture of science and religion that promoted respect and harmony for nature and the gathering of scientific, spiritual and medical knowledge. And from what Lara understood about Ancient culture, this sounded almost exactly like them.
After a while, Lara sighed. "Nothing I'm reading changes what we already think." She said. "Or gives us a location."
Daniel nodded absently. "Try the books on the end of the second shelf." He told her.
Lara did as he asked, curious. The books were all old, some written in Ancient Greek and others in Latin. There was even a French book with Mesopotamian translations. "You don't have a problem with any of the languages, do you?" Daniel asked.
Lara smiled. "I've got similar books at home myself, so no, the languages are fine."
Daniel smiled back. "Oh, good."
Lara settled back down to her research, this time using the books Daniel recommended. She sifted through all the information, but didn't find anything knew. She was about to growl in frustration when Daniel made an exclamation. "Got something!" he cried.
"What is it?" Lara asked, putting the book down and coming over to where he was sitting.
"Does this look like a series of gate symbols to you?" Daniel asked, pointing at a small group of symbols etched in silver on one of the artefacts.
Lara peered thoughtfully at the enlarged image through the large magnifying glass Daniel had set up. "It could definitely be." She said. "But what address is it?"
"Not sure." Daniel muttered, as he quickly jotted it down.
"Dr. Jackson, Lara, what are you still doing here?" A voice asked from the doorway.
Daniel and Lara turned in surprise to see General Hammond. He was wearing his jacket and carrying a briefcase, almost as if he was going somewhere. "It's 2100. Even Major Carter has gone home."
Daniel glanced at his watch in surprise. "I didn't realise it was that late." He said.
"Go home, Dr. I'm sure this could all wait until morning." Hammond said.
"Yes, General." Daniel replied.
"Well, goodnight then." Hammond said.
Both Daniel and Lara wished the General a goodnight, before Daniel turned to Lara. "Shall we?" he asked.
Lara nodded. "Yes." She said as she carefully placed the artefacts back in her case.
The pair quickly gathered up their belongings and left the base for the night.
To be continued…