#

As soon as they took off, Sam excused herself to get changed. Jack was disappointed for two reasons; one, it meant her legs wouldn't be on display anymore and two, it meant he was left alone with her clearly suspicious father.

"So…" Jack started, deciding it might be safer for him if he started the conversation and tried to navigate it into safer territory. "Who did you say we were meeting?"

"I didn't," Jacob answered, his expression carefully arranged to give nothing away. "We'll save the briefing until Sam joins us, Jack. I'm more interested in finding out about these plans of yours."

Groaning internally, Jack shrugged. "Not much too it. Lots of beer, lots of stars. These stars, actually," he added, motioning to the stars flying by the cargo ship.

"Mmm-hmm." Jacob was silent for a moment, and then: "don't you see enough of the stars at work, Jack?"

Not sure if they were actually talking about stars or something else entirely, Jack shrugged. "I never get tired of looking at these stars. Nothing else in the universe compares."

"I see." Jacob glanced at him, but Jack kept his eyes fixed on the screen in front of him. "You know those stars mean a great deal to a lot of people. People who wouldn't be happy if something were to happen to them."

"I'd be one of those people, Dad."

"See that you are, Jack. See that you take very good care of those stars." Jacob's eyes were narrowed, his jaw set. He stared at Jack's profile for another long moment, until the Colonel turned to face him, acknowledging the warning with a nod.

Sam reappeared before either man could say anything, dressed more in a pair of green BDUs she'd taken from her overnight bag. "What did I miss?"

"Nothin'," Jack answered immediately. "Dad was waiting til you got back to brief us." He turned to face Jacob, an expectant expression on his face. "Who are we meeting and why can't they get themselves out of their own mess?"

#

"You've got to be kidding me. This isn't going to happen. Uh-uh. No way. Turn the ship around, Dad, we're getting off!"

Sam had taken Jack's seat at the console, watching him pace the small space behind the seats as he ranted. She shared his frustration – more so in some areas – but she also understood her father wouldn't be asking her to put herself in such a situation if it wasn't necessary.

"What is it about these two Goa'uld that's important?" She asked quietly, eyes continuing to track Jack as she addressed her father.

"They have intel that could be valuable to us, to the Tok'ra and to Earth," Jacob replied evenly. "It's the first alliance we've heard of since Anubis returned that we've been able to be a part of. Thmei and Heset are their names. They're expecting a third Goa'uld, Ament, to join them."

"And Anise was going to go in and pose as this third Goa'uld?" Sam questioned. "If she's already had some form of communication with them, won't they be expecting her instead of me?"

Jacob lowered his head momentarily as he relinquished control of his body to Selmac. "They have never seen Anise in person, and each time she spoke to them over the communication device, she wore a hooded garment that concealed her face. She is confident that they will not know the difference."

"Well, that fills me with all sorts of confidence," Jack said sarcastically. "Anise is confident about it, and we all know she's never wrong, is she?"

"Sir," Sam protested, a warning note in her voice.

Jacob reasserted himself, his eyes flashing but not in a way that signalled the change between host and symbiote. "Just what is your problem with her, Jack? I know you have a problem with a lot of Tok'ra but it seems to be Anise strikes a nerve more than the others."

"I don't trust her, either of them," Jack retorted with a grimace. "She's – they've – not given me any reason to."

"Is this because of the armbands?" Jacob persisted. His suspicions were piqued as he watched his daughter, watched her avert her gaze to the passing stars rather than look at either of them. He noticed her cheeks flush, though, and knew his daughter well enough to recognise it as a bad sign. "Because if it is, I agree that she went about it the wrong way. She should have explained fully before using you all as test subjects –"

"It's not just the armbands, it's everything else that went along with it," Jack said darkly. "There was the whole screw up with the zatarc testing for starters and harbouring that snakehead Tanith even though she knew fine well he was responsible for murdering Shaun'ac. Do you know how many times we almost died because of her? What Teal'c went through? If it wasn't for Anise and that hair-brained plan to use Tanith, the Tollan might still be here."

Sam stilled, her eyes closed. She had known he had an intense dislike for Anise but didn't realise how deep it went. The reminder of the armbands, and the zatarc testing that followed, brought back memories both good and bad. She'd had confirmation that her feelings for Jack weren't as one-sided as she'd thought, but she'd also fired the final shot that killed Martouf and held him in her arms as he died.

How much did her father know about those events, she wondered, and how much was Anise still concealing?

"That's a lot of things to blame her for," Jacob answered after a long moment. "She couldn't have known Martouf was a zatarc, Jack. None of us did –"

"No, but she sure as hell jumped on the idea of having another guinea pig to experiment on after Astor died and her plans to use me backfired," Jack shot back. "You're seriously asking me to trust her with Carter's life now? You're willing to trust her with Sam?"

"We have no choice, Colonel O'Neill." Selmac took over, sensing that the argument wasn't going to get them anywhere fast. "The intelligence that this alliance could provide is invaluable. It may mean the difference between winning this war, or losing it."

Sam opened her eyes just in time to see Jack closed his, frustration and resignation on his face. She wanted to stand up and go to him, to reassure him in the way a Second in Command shouldn't so forced herself to stay sitting. She would have shifted to sit on her hands to keep from reaching out to him if she didn't think it would look so suspicious and wondered if they'd done the right thing by embarking on this...whatever it was they'd embarked on.

If she was finding it so difficult to stay away from him after just a few hours, how was she going to do it after a day, a week, god-willing a year? What about the next time one of them was hurt or missing, or...?

"I go, too." Jack's voice silenced her musings and she looked at him to find him looking at her. He held her gaze, not caring that her father was in the room. "You can come up with a cover story, right? Carter goes nowhere unless I go, too."

#

What do you think? Should Jack go undercover with Sam, or would you prefer the angst of them being apart?
Ps. I can't guarantee there'll be a part tomorrow; I've got a long day of meetings at work so might not be able to sneak in any writing time but I'll do my best!