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Chapter Twenty-Three
The Tokra
It was well past midnight when I slid into the seat of the only occupied table in the mess hall with a huff. I let out a groan and promptly banged my forehead against the table top which made the pile of dirty dishes on one end of the table rattle.
"Something troubles you Erin Clark?" Teal'c's deep voice rumbled.
"How'd you guess?" My own voice was muffled from where I had my mouth pressed against my hands.
"I am usually the only one in here at this time of day." He replied, his fork clinked against his plate as he took a bite of whatever he was eating.
I raised my head and gathered my hair, which I had taken to leaving down rather than in ponytail when not on mission, and pushed it to one side of my neck. I avoided Teal'c's deeper question about what was really bothering me by talking about what had happened today. "I just put Cassie to sleep in one of the guest rooms. She went around the base to visit, General Hammond gave her a huge piece of cake during the hour I left her with him and by the time I came to get her she was so hyped up on sugar I had to take her down to the gym to play with Ferreti's team to work off all that energy. Who knew that Hammond was such a spoiler of children?" I said with a halfhearted smile.
Teal'c's deep throated laughter echoed in the empty mess hall as he took another bite of what I saw now as a piece of pumpkin pie. I glanced at the pile of plates and realized he must have eaten all those pies himself, and there was still six more spread out on the adjacent table to our's.
"What's with all the pies?" I leaned back in the chair and nodded in the direction of the deserts.
"I find they calm me after a hard day."
"Mind if I have a piece?" I pointed at a cherry one.
He quirked his eyebrow, thinking, then reached over and placed it in front of me. "Something else is bothering you." He pressed.
"It's nothing" He just kept staring. "Really" Still staring. I groaned. "Ugh, you know me to well." I picked up a fork and jabbed it in his direction accusingly then I stabbed the pie in front of me. "I'm about to start my shift outside Klorel's cell." I chomped down on the pie but, as everything else tasted to me nowadays, it was tasteless.
Teal'c leaned back in his chair and pressed his fingertips together giving me his full attention so I could continue. If someone told me two years ago that I was about to have a heart-to-heart with a Jaffa who also happened to be one of my best friends I would have told them to go get their head checked out for a concussion. Now it was hard to imagine my life without the grumpy yet lovable warrior.
"Maybourne has been petitioning General Hammond to have Skaara transported to his facility. Again. That asshole already nearly cost us you." I was referring to the incident a few weeks ago when Teal'c had been stung by an alien bug, because of Maybourne's zealous pursuit of Teal'c after he had escaped we had almost been too late.
"Has General Hammond spoke to you about this?" Teal'c asked.
"Oh yeah, apparently Maybourne doesn't even have the guts to come to the SG-C to negotiate, something about fearing for his safety."
Teal'c's eyes lit up as he remembered what Jack told him about what happened after he went missing. Jack had asked Hammond for permission to punch Maybourne in the face, but as he was part of the military it was illegal.
Lucky for me I wasn't military and Hammond had given me permission. The punch came right when he first suggested taking Skaara out of the SG-C in addition to Teal'c. He had crossed the last line and I repeated Jack's query to hit Maybourne. Hammond knew what Skaara meant to me, he glared at the Coronel for a moment before he said, "Granted". Maybourne only had a second to let his face contort into shock and outrage before my fist collided his face. It had been satisfying to feel his nose crack. Last time I saw Maybourne he was still sporting a nasty bruise under his left eye from my fist.
But as good as it was to revisit that memory I was still had reality to contend with.
"I…I just don't know what to do." I gulped as a fresh wave of tears threatened to break free, I seemed to be crying a lot these days. "Today I had yet another meeting with some of the surgeons Hammond brought in to consult on Klorel's removal. They said the exact same thing that every other doctor has been saying for weeks. Based on the only other known case of removing a Goa'uld from a host; Kawalsky, and we both know how that ended; they don't advise any surgical attempts to remove Klorel. So we can't get him out of Skaara, and he may not be able to stay here much longer" I choked up, I was about to tell Teal'c what I've never told anyone else, not even Dani. "Klorel tells me what he does to Skaara, day in and day out. He…" I couldn't bring myself to repeat the scenarios Klorel has described to me, the way he talks about how he constricts along Skaara's spine to simulate being on fire, freezing to death. I sure wasn't going to talk about how Klorel taunts me, when he says Skaara calls out for me, begging for me to help when there's nothing I can do. "He's torturing him. Even if by some miracle we free Skaara, I'm afraid to think about what, if anything, will be left of him. And if we don't find a way then Maybourne is going to come and cart him off to some torture chamber to try to extract information out of him." I slammed my hand down on the table, sending what was left of my pie flying off the table.
Teal'c watched the plate clatter to the ground and glanced up at me. "Sorry." I said, though I wasn't really sorry at all.
"I understand. As Master Bra'tac has told me many times, 'Do not dwell on what you cannot change but focus on what you can.''"
"Thanks Teal'c."
We both sat quietly for a moment thinking, and in my case praying to any god out there who hadn't forsaken me.
Suddenly the mess hall door slammed open and Daniel came running through. "There you guys are!" He shouted, annoyingly energetic and alert for this time of night.
"If it's not the end of the world Dani, go away."
"The General's just called a briefing and trust me you're going to want to be there for it." Dani replied.
Teal'c and I looked at each other for a moment then down at our comfort food, neither wanting to leave. "Let's take the pies with us."
"Indeed." And he picked up another pumpkin pie while I reached for an apple one.
Daniel made to protest, Hammond didn't like food in the briefing room, but as I passed Dani on the way out I glared up at his face and held up a finger to stop his protest, "Say nothing." I was already in a sour mood and his cheeriness was kinda pissing me off.
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When Teal'c and I had walked into the meeting with pie Hammond's face bore a small scowl but even he didn't dare to take away the Jaffa's food. He began the meeting, pointedly not looking in our direction where we were munching on the pies, and explained why we were there. Apparently Sam had had a breakthrough in her search for answers in the Tok'ra memories Jolinar had left her.
At the first mention of the Goa'uld my appetite evaporated and I pushed my mostly uneaten pie away from where I was sitting. I couldn't taste it anyways.
"You don't think it was just a dream?" Jack asked as he leaned across the table to pour himself a cup of coffee. He shared my skepticism of all things Goa'uld.
Sam was adamant in her response. "No, Sir. It was real. I could tell."
Hammonds frowned across the table at her, the air force wasn't built on feelings. "You could tell.
"Yes, Sir." She seems at a loss for words to explain her experience. "I… I don't know how, exactly, but I could tell."
"So we're supposed into buy this…ESP, or whatever it is?" Jack asked taking a sip of his coffee.
"O'Neill," Teal'c spoke up while pushing his now empty plate away. "When a Goa'uld infests its host, their minds intermingle, become as one. It is possible that portions of Jolinar of Malk-shur remain in Captain Carter's mind."
I couldn't repress the shudder that ran down my back. How much of Klorel would remain in Skaara if we managed to free him? How much damage would be done?
The rest of the team was oblivious to how Teal'c's words had affected me and continued to speak.
"These Tok'ra were on the run. They may be in trouble. Now, if we want to find them again, we should find them before they move on. They may still be at these coordinates." Sam directed her attention to Hammond, all but pleading for a mission to follow.
"Sam," I said leaning forward and bracing my forearms on the table. "I know you want to trust these Tok'ra but you said their eyes glowed, that they had taken hosts. Are you really sure that they're what Jolinar said they were?"
Without a beat Sam replied. "Yes." There was no doubt at all in her voice.
Jack scoffed. "Yes? Just yes? Could you elaborate a little?"
Sam shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry Colonel. I know it's hard to understand. I don't really understand it myself, but I am sure. I…I just know."
Teal'c spoke up in Sam's defense. "According to Jaffa legend, the Tok'ra are the Goa'uld resistance. Their stated goal is the destruction of the System Lords and a change in the ways of the empire. They are hunted and despised by the Goa'uld."
"Well, at least they're my kinda guys!" Jack joked.
Sam ignored Jack's outburst and leaned in so she could address Hammond directly. "General Hammond, if I may. My vision is the only lead we have to go on. Shouldn't we at least check it out before they move on?"
Hammond raised his gaze to Jack. "Colonel?"
"General?" Jack asked back.
"I'm prepared to send SG-1 through to the coordinates Captain Carter saw in her vision, if you agree." Jack's outright frown caused Hammond to pause.
"Colonel," Sam interjected, "I know you're skeptical about these things, but I am confident that I am right on this one."
Jack stood silently for few seconds, pondering what to do. After a moment he sharply nodded his head. "Let's check it out."
Dread filled my chest. In all my life I'd never met a Goa'uld who I thought was remotely trustworthy. And the one who Sam seemed to trust, that one whose information we were now using to find to rest of its kind, had threated Cassie my little girl who was sleeping two floors above us. That was something I couldn't forgive or forget, no matter how much Sam said this was a "good" Goa'uld. They had destroyed most of my family. This was a trap, I was sure of it, I just had to be ready when the snakes sprung it.
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As the briefing ended Jack caught my arm on the way out and pulled me aside. "I was going to put this request through to Hammond but I wanted to ask you first." He said quietly like he was communicating a secret.
"Request what?" I asked.
"That Kalen be on our team when we go to check Carter's planet out."
I stiffened and shifted uncomfortably. "Please don't"
"Why?"
"You're asking for my opinion on the matter so you obviously know something's going on, Jack." I hissed.
"Well what is it?" He pressed.
"Things have been weird between us since we got Skaara back." I said recalling all the subtle hints he had been giving off for weeks before and I was just to freaking blind to notice. Kalen cared for me more than a friend, and now that we had recovered my fiancé he hadn't spoken to me expect for basic pleasantries. "Just please don't."
Jack studied my face and I hoped he saw how desperate I was. "Alright. But when we get back we're going to talk about this and figure it out. You need to be able to work in the same room with him at some point."
"I know Jack. Just not on this mission, please?"
He frowned down at me, clearly displeased. "Okay, gear up. We leave in twenty."
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The coordinates of the planet Sam had provided led to a desert planet. It reminded me so much of Abydos that my heart ached for home.
"There is no evidence of footprints or tracks of any kind." Teal'c announced after he had made his way around the gate and DHD. "If the Tok'ra were here they have not been near the Gate in many days."
Jack stepped down off the platform and patted Teal'c shoulder as his passed him. "Ah, where's that yellow brick road when you need it, eh Dorothy?"
All Jack got in response was a raised eyebrow. If Jack was going to use references he should at least use one from movies he had actually shown to Teal'c, The Wizard of Oz not being among the ones Teal'c had seen.
"There's some sort of dunes over there." Sam shouted pointed to a spot way off in the distance.
Jack signed and began walking towards the spot Sam had indicated. "Dunes it is."
We walked for about ten minutes and there was still no sign that anything living had ever lived on this planet.
"No one's walked here in a while." Dani pointed out the smooth sand dunes that showed no sign of foot prints.
Teal'c planted the end of his staff on the ground and surveyed that surrounding area."The Tok'ra are known for their ability to mask their trails. They are, as you say, stealthy in their actions."
No sooner had he spoken than at least a dozen vaguely human-like shapes burst out of the ground and surrounded us. We found ourselves at the business end of several Jaffa staff weapons. Jack and Sam bent low to the ground in a common military tactic and aimed their P-90's upwards. Teal'c leveled his own staff at the hostiles but there were so many that he kept moving his aim from one to the other. Dani and I ended up standing back to back with our handguns, which seemed measly at the moment, aimed directly in front of us.
"Yeah, stealthy would be a good word, Teal'c." Dani quipped.
So much for "nice" Goa'ulds.
Author's note: I'm going to be trying something new with my end notes. I'm going to be asking y'all questions and I hope you feel free to post them in the comments and reviews.
So here's the first question: If you could travel to any planet in the known Stargate system where would you go and why?