CHAPTER FIVE

"Unscheduled off-world activation!" The sirens rang throughout the SGC and prompted Jack to jog into the control room.

"Walter?"

"Incoming communication, sir. There appears to be a video feed," the sergeant answered.

"Let's see it."

Walter input the proper sequence and the console screen activated. An attractive dark-haired woman appeared.

"Hi there," she said in an accented voice. "I'm looking for Daniel Jackson."

"He's not home at the moment, can I take a message?" Jack replied.

The woman gave Jack a smile as she leaned over the camera, offering a nice view of her cleavage to those on the receiving end.

"You must be the Tau'ri leader. From what I see, I may just have to pay Earth a visit one of these days," she said with a wink and a smile.

Jack cleared his throat. "And you are?"

"Vala. Mal Doran. Daniel and I go way back."

The name instantly brought to mind Daniel's mission report after the Prometheus was hijacked. From the looks of her though, it seems that Daniel may have left out a few details.

"So I've heard. The Prometheus incident."

"Good times. Well, I have a . . . proposition for him," Vala said, tilting her head to the side.

"Dare I ask what this is regarding?" Jack asked.

"I'll only deal with Daniel. He can find me on this planet. I will be here until sunset tomorrow and no later. And I've taken measures to ensure you won't take me prisoner again so don't bother sending the cavalry."

"Excuse me, ma'am, but last time you and Daniel met, you hijacked our ship."

"Can't blame a girl for trying, can you? Besides, you got it back."

Jack kept staring at the screen after Vala's image disappeared. He looked over at Walter who gave him a shrug. She was an interesting one. True, she kicked the crap out of Daniel and tried to steal Earth's only spaceship. But she also went out of her way not to kill any of his people. That had to count for something. And she clearly knew her way around the galaxy. If Daniel's Prometheus excursion had taught them anything, it was that there was plenty going on in the galaxy that they had no idea about. They needed intel on what—and who—was out there.

Jack sighed. He was pretty sure getting entangled with this Vala Mal Doran, was going to be a huge headache. But he figured it might just be worth it. And the fun part was going to be breaking it to Daniel. Oh yes, he was absolutely looking forward to that conversation, he thought as a smirk formed on his face.

o-O-o

"Vala Mal Doran? As in, THAT Vala Mal Doran?" Daniel asked.

"Yup," Jack replied with a smile.

Daniel was so hoping to never hear that name again. He remembered every second of his encounter with her on the Prometheus, as he was suddenly aware of every spot on his body where she had kicked, punched, and burned him. "Fruitcake" had been his assessment at the time and, thinking back, even that was too kind.

"Why would we . . . why exactly . . . why?" he stammered.

Jack was amused at Daniel's reaction. "She knows the galaxy, Daniel. A lot better than we do. And maybe she's got something that can help us."

Daniel glared back at Jack. "You can't seriously be considering trusting that woman."

"She may be a con artist and a thief, but I don't think she's dangerous. And with the right incentive, maybe we can work out a mutually beneficial relationship."

Daniel huffed. "She seemed pretty dangerous to me," Daniel responded, his pride wounded more than anything else.

"Just see what she wants, Daniel. We haven't agreed to anything."

"How do you know this isn't some trap to capture me and use me as her sex slave or something."

Jack shrugged. "From what I saw, that wouldn't be the worst fate I've ever heard."

Daniel shot Jack a look and Jack smirked.

"SGs 3 and 6 will go in first, do a security sweep and secure the Gate. They'll watch your six."

Daniel rubbed his hand over his face.

"Daniel, if she wanted to kill you, she would have done it on the Prometheus. Somehow, I think she believes she can trust you. You do have that effect on people."

Daniel sighed, resigning himself to the decision. Just what he needed—a nutcase alien who seemed to want to have sex with him and beat the crap out of him in equal measure. He supposed Jack was right. But the sooner she was out of his hair, the better.

o-O-o

Jack stood by the elevator as the doors opened. Hank Landry stepped out, wearing a brown aviator leather jacket over his blue uniform.

"Nice of you to dress for the occasion, Hank," Jack said, shaking the other man's hand.

"Never figured you for one to stand on ceremony, Jack," Hank responded.

Jack patted Hank on the shoulder as he turned to walk down the hallway.

"Let me show you to your office."

"Music to my ears."

They walked together down the long corridor. When they reached his office, Jack shut the door and gestured for Hank to take a seat.

"What'd'ya got for me, Jack?" Hank asked eagerly.

"Well, let's see. You'll need to restaff SG1. I've tapped Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell for team leader, but he doesn't know it yet. He's still recovering but should be ready for duty soon. Teal'c's left the program, but he will remain our liaison with the Jaffa High Council. Daniel's heading to Atlantis but I haven't given him the official okay yet. I'd appreciate it if you could torture him until the last possible second about that. He's off somewhere negotiating with his leather-clad girlfriend about some Ancient buried treasure. Carter's gone so the net IQ of this place has dropped a few points, but Lee is a smart guy, even if a little too scientist-y. Reynolds and Dixon are your senior command staff. You can trust them. They know what they're doing. New chief medical officer starts next week—a civilian, Dr. Carolyn Lam," Jack said as he read the name off the file on top of his desk.

At the mention of his daughter's name, Hank stiffened slightly but tried not to let it show. He had been surprised to find out that she had applied for the job, though he wasn't surprised that she had gotten it. He always knew his daughter was brilliant, ever since she began mixing her own potions to cure her stuffed animals' ailments at the age of 5. He was proud of her, though he could admit to himself that he had little to do with her success. To say that their relationship was strained would be an understatement. She resented him for abandoning her and her mother to his work with the Air Force and never let him forget it. He was hoping their working together would be an opportunity to rebuild that relationship. She must have known he would be leading the facility when she accepted the position. That was encouraging.

"Let's see, what else?" Jack continued. "Siler will save your ass more times than you can count, and Walter is . . .well, Walter. Best to keep him happy or he'll make your life miserable. Other than that, try to limit planet-threatening disasters to once every 6 months or so. It's a hell of a lot of paperwork."

There was a knock at the door before Walter's head appeared. "Whenever you're ready, Generals."

"Ah. Walter here is going to give you the grand tour. Give him the full hour he's paying for Sergeant."

"Yes, sir," Walter responded flatly as he stepped out of the small room.

"Hank, this is all yours as of 0800 tomorrow. You got a day full of briefings with all the department heads starting at 0830," Jack said, rising to his feet.

Hank followed his lead and stood up. "Looking forward to it."

"Take care of these folks. They're the best," Jack said as he put his hands in his pockets.

"You have my word, Jack," Hank said, as he walked out of the room.

o-O-o

Daniel paced around the briefing room while Colonel Reynolds sat at the table, his hands folded in front of him. They both turned as General Landry opened the door from his office and entered.

"Dr. Jackson, I presume," Hank said as he walked toward the man, offering his hand.

"I am. You the new guy?" Daniel said as he shook the General's hand.

"General Hank Landry. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

"General, sir," Reynolds said as he snapped to attention.

"At ease, Colonel." Hank took his seat at the head of the table. "So, how'd it go?"

Reynolds sat down and Daniel slid into the seat across from him at the large conference table.

"She says she has intel on a tablet that can lead to an Ancient buried treasure. The deal is simple—she brings us the tablet, we split the treasure," Daniel explained.

"Well as fun as that sounds, Earth is not really in the market for 'treasure' at the moment."

"Yes, I know that, General. But the last Ancient tablet we came across promising 'treasure' led us to Atlantis . . . eventually. I'm thinking this 'treasure', if it exists, is more likely to be Ancient technology, weapons, knowledge—things that I'm sure you know could make a big difference in protecting Earth and furthering our knowledge of the universe."

"So you are actually recommending agreeing to this?"

"Trust me, General, I'm the last person that wants to have any dealings with this woman. But if she can deliver what she says she can deliver, it could really help us. And if she can't deliver it, it's no loss to us. She's not asking for anything until after the treasure is found."

"Then why approach us about this at all? Why doesn't she just find the 'treasure,'"—he put the word in air quotes—"herself and leave us out of it?"

"My guess is that she needs our help. If this supposed treasure exists, it is likely very hard to access. As far as I can tell, she has no home planet, no team, no army, no resources at her disposal. Transactional alliances are probably the only reason she's made it out there this long."

"Do we have any reason at all to trust her?"

"Uh, no. No, we don't. But she can be reliably counted on to act in her own self-interest, that's for sure. And this would seem to be in her self-interest."

"Reynolds?" Hank said, turning to the other military man in the room.

"I don't believe she's trying to hurt us, sir. She could have easily killed us all on the Prometheus and took great effort to keep us alive—stranded on a barely functional Goa'uld cargo ship adrift in space, but alive. But I wouldn't trust her as far as I could throw her, sir, that's for sure."

Daniel nodded his assent and looked at the General.

Hank sighed. "Well I am sure I will live to regret this, but I guess you have a go. You can make contact with her and let her know that we have a deal. But any funny business and there's a cell in the brig with her name on it."

"Understood, General."

o-O-o

Jack placed the tapes into the box slowly and methodically. He hated this. He hated Washington, hated cities, hated politics, hated politicians, hated military elites in pressed uniforms who stayed comfortably far from the action. He hated that he would be so far away from Sam. He wasn't looking forward to any of this.

I'll give them two years, he reassured himself. That was the time he committed to when he accepted the position, and it would be enough time to refocus the mission during this new galactic peacetime and find a suitable person to replace him. Two years. Then he planned to retire in peace as far away from Washington D.C. as was humanly possible.

"Helloooo," came the voice from his living room.

"In here, Daniel," Jack called from his spare bedroom.

Daniel's form appeared in the doorway. "Hey. Looks like you're almost done."

"Yup," Jack responded unenthusiastically. "And I think I deserve a beer for my efforts."

Daniel held up the six pack in his hand.

"Nice," Jack said and walked over to the kitchen. He dug around an open cardboard box until he pulled out a bottle opener. He walked back into the spare room and found Daniel sitting cross-legged on the floor, beer in hand. Jack grabbed a bottle out of the pack and eased himself down across from Daniel. He leaned against the wall as he popped the cap off the beer. He tossed the opener to Daniel.

The two men sat in silence for a few minutes. Jack gulped the beer in his hands while Daniel sipped his.

"When do you leave?" Daniel asked.

"Flying out tomorrow," Jack said as he tossed the bottle cap toward the garbage bag hanging off the doorknob.

"You sound real excited about this," Daniel said.

"Yeah, well, hanging around Washington D.C. playing nice with a bunch of stuffed shirts is exactly what I wanted to do with my life."

"You'll do great, Jack. Really," Daniel said honestly.

Jack leaned his head against the wall behind him and sighed.

"You're the last of SG1 left here, Daniel. You gotta hold down the fort," Jack said as he brought the beer bottle up to his lips.

Daniel felt an ache at Jack's words. It was truly the end of something incredible and he missed his friends intensely at that moment.

"At least until you go to Atlantis," Jack threw in casually.

"Wait, what?" Daniel said, snapping to look up at the older man.

"I approved your transfer. Daedalus leaves in 4 weeks," Jack said as he leaned forward to grab another beer.

Daniel stared at Jack in stunned silence for a moment. Then he felt the excitement bubble up and he couldn't keep the smile off his face.

"Consider it my parting gift to you." Jack smiled back at him. "Try to avoid the life-sucking aliens while you're over there, will you?"

Daniel didn't answer. He just sat there, grinning.