Friday, April 10, 2020, cont.

Jack shot to his feet, his phone securely against his ear. "Vala did what?"

Aqua lifted and cocked her head to the side as if trying to decide from Jack's tone if there was something she needed to be ready for.

Daniel sighed. "The good news is that we found the Hammond on an uninhabited planet with a stargate not too far from Abydos. The bad news is that by the time we got there, she was long gone. She must have sent us the note and then gone through the gate again. We've got techs running through the list of dialing addresses from the DHD, but they're not hopeful."

"Daniel, you vouched for her, and she runs off and steals our ship? Again?"

"Believe me, Jack, I want to catch her as much as you do."

Jack gripped the edge of the marble counter with one hand. "Oh, trust me, you don't want to catch her as much as I do because you know as well as I do that the minute we do, she's locked in a cell in Area 51. Like she should have been the first time."

It wasn't just that she'd taken the Hammond of all ships. No. That was a personal betrayal. One he'd let Sam take care of when she was well again.

No. It was that she'd pretended to be on their side until it didn't suit her agenda anymore, and in so doing, single-handedly botched the attack they'd planned against the Lucian Alliance.

Well, she would have botched it if the Jaffa Nation hadn't hailed the Lucian Alliance ships only to have the supposedly attacking ships fire a couple of shots before they high-tailed and ran.

As much as he hated to admit it, the woman had a point. It had been way too easy. No second wave attack. It felt a little too much like a distraction.

Actually. . .

"Tell Landry to talk to Reynolds again. When I was at the hospital, I saw something in his report that seemed weird."

"Hospital? I thought Sam couldn't have visitors."

Jack sighed. "I was in my car. Daniel, I'm serious. Reynolds had a science team that we declared KIA when a couple months ago."

"And?"

"And they were botanists who were supposed to bring back samples of kassa for study."

Daniel was quiet. "I'm still not getting it."

"It's just a hunch, but what if the botanists weren't actually killed. What if the Lucian Alliance captured them and just made it look like they'd been killed."

"So, between COVID-19 scaling back our operations off world and convincing us to concentrate our focus on averting an invasion which was never going to happen."

"They've been able to work behind the scenes."

Daniel sighed. "I don't know, Jack. That feels a little flimsy."

"Get Landry to talk to Reynolds. Maybe if you go over the evidence that pointed to the science team's death will give you a clue."

Jack felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He'd actually done something to help. Now, it was up to SG-1 and the rest of the SGC to make it work.

"Jack, if we're right—"

"Doesn't change that she stole a ship, Daniel."

"Yeah, but I seem to recall a Colonel who disobeyed an order every now and again. Even got his whole team to go along with it from time to time."

Jack swallowed. "You bring her back, and we'll talk."