"So now we wait?" Jack asks, when Jolinar has left the signs in the right place.
"Now we wait," Jolinar confirms. She dips her head, giving Sam control.
"We should find a hotel. Like we mentioned earlier, this can take weeks," Sam says.
"Okay. Know any good ones?" Jack asks.
"Jolinar knows a few. She suggests we should take something in the mid-range, so as not to draw attention to ourselves, but at the same time not directly slum." Sam tells him.
Jack nods. "Sounds good. Pick one."
"Follow me." Sam, following Jolinar's directions, walks with sure steps through the mess of streets, taking them to a nice guest house off the largest street.
After a short discussion with the landlady, they have two connected rooms. Sam uses one of the necklaces she has brought to pay for the first week.
~We should get some more valuables. We will need them if we are to pay for information. I am sorry for not thinking of it before.~ Jolinar says as they walk up the stairs to the rooms.
~No, that's okay. Where will you get it?~ Sam hands one of the keys to Jack.
~There are several secrets caches for stranded Tok'ra to take advantage of. I will search out one of those. There is actually one on this world."
~That's neat!~ Sam unlocks one of the rooms. "The rooms are connected by a door, so we can meet without having to go out of the rooms."
"That's good. Okay, Daniel, Teal'c, and me take the other one, then you and General Carter can take that one." Jack says.
They check out the rooms, and find them quite nice, even if there is not a lot of extra luxury. Each room holds two sturdy wooden beds, with clean if course bedding. There is also a table and four chairs in each room, as well as one set of drawers and a closet.
Sam dumps her bags just inside the door and walks up to the table and lits the oil lamp there, since the single window does not let in enough light to really light up the room. She lits another lamp on the drawers and one beside the bed.
"Okay, not bad. I've been in worse places." Jacob says, throwing his bags on one of the beds and then going to close the door out, and using the key to lock it from the inside. "We're safe here, right?"
"Jolinar says yes. There is not a lot of crime here, except petty theft."
"Yeah, I wasn't thinking of that - I thought more of those Goa'uld, and their Jaffa."
Sam smiles. "Right. Well, as we talked about earlier, it's Heru'ur's planet, but he hasn't visited - that Jolinar knows. His Jaffa are here to collect tribute right now. They should leave soon, so we just keep out of their way. Other than that, well, there could be occasional Jaffa who comes her to buy something, but they won't be a problem. At least not unless we search them out and challenge them."
Jacob nods. "Okay, then." He walks over to a door and open it. "There's a small bathroom - I didn't think they had something like that."
Jolinar takes over. "Many planets have plumbing of one type or another, but only the rich have access to them. And the better guesthouses and hotels, which was one reason more not to take one of the poorer ones."
"Oh, I agree." Jacob closes the door to the bathroom again.
Someone raps on the door that separates the rooms, and Jolinar goes to open it. "Colonel."
"Jolinar." Jack nods. "Place looks nice enough, but the only way out besides the door is the window, and we're on the second floor. Which is good, since that means it's harder for someone to get in that way, but..."
"We should be safe here. No one has a reason to suspect us - unless we behave strangely. The Jaffa are preoccupied with collecting the tribute, and travellers and traders are too important to the local economy for the people here to report us, as long as we behave reasonably normal."
"Okay. So what now?" Jack asks. He enters Sam/Jolinar and Jacob's room, followed by Daniel and Teal'c.
"We stay here, for now. I will go out late this evening and place some markers that indicates to my contacts that I want to talk. After that I will leave to find some more valuables."
"What?" Jack frowns. "Valuables? How?"
"To pay for information, mainly. And other things, depending on how this works out."
"I repeat, how?"
Jolinar rolls her eyes. "I am not going to do anything illegal, or even particularly dangerous. The Tok'ra have caches with valuables hidden on various worlds, including this one. Useful if someone ends up stranded and unable to contact the others."
Jack nods. "That makes sense. Okay, but you're not leaving to do that alone!"
"I can take care of myself - and my host." She grins. "Samantha wishes me to say that she can take care of herself, thank you very much. The case is, we will be better able to do this on our own. A larger group will only call attention to themselves."
"You just want us to sit here and do nothing?"
"For now."
"Like hell we will!" Jack says. "We're coming with - and that's how it will be!"
Late that evening, Sam/Jolinar and Jack left the guest house. It had taken a long discussion to get Jolinar to agree to let Jack come, but no more than that. Daniel, Jacob, and Teal'c remained in the hotel room.
They have both hidden a zat under their clothing, and walks slowly along the streets. There are still other people out and about, but not as many as there had been earlier that day.
"Stay here," Sam tells Jack. "Jolinar needs to place out some marks and symbols that will tell her contacts that she wants to meet."
Jack considers arguing, but nods instead. "Okay. I'll keep guard here."
Sam disappears into the dark alley, and Jack looks after her for a moment, then leans against the wall and tries to tell himself that they will all be safe. This city worries him, somehow.
"All done?" Jack asks, when Sam returns almost two hours later.
"Yes. Now we should go get the valuables."
"Isn't that better to do tomorrow?"
Sam shakes her head. "Jolinar wants to do it now. Tomorrow it may be difficult."
"Why? Did you see something suspicious?"
Sam takes a deep breath. "It's nothing."
"Carter! I'm your superior officer!" Jack exclaims. "If there is something that's important to the team's safety, then I need to know."
"Jolinar saw someone she recognizes, at a distance. A Goa'uld."
"Did he see you? Sense you?"
Sam shook her head. "No, he was too far away. Listen, we should get the valuables. Jolinar suspects the Goa'uld may be sent here by Heru'ur, in order to become his vassal. Right now he only has a small number of Jaffa to protect him, but more will almost certainly come tomorrow, with the rest of this entourage. Since the palace is in the city, no one will be able to easily sneak out unseen, at least not for the first several weeks. After that it will calm down, but the Goa'uld will almost certainly show off first, and take various security measure after the planet has been "partly free" for so long."
"Wonderful. Awesome! Why can't we just leave?"
"We went to the Stargate." Sam lets out a sigh. "It's guarded."
"And you didn't think I needed to know immediately?"
"I would have told you when we returned to our rooms. Jolinar thinks we're in a hurry."
Jack shakes his head. "We need to talk about your priorities, but I suppose she's right. Let's go get those damn valuables. If we're stranded here for who knows how long, then we should make sure we won't run out of funds, I guess."
They left silently into the darkness, Jolinar leading the way.