Lieutenant Mullins sat in the heart of the NORAD Operations Center under Cheyenne Mountain, attending his console with a bored expression on his face. The display before him was continually updating with a list of alerts. The lieutenant attended to each item in turn, doing his best to keep up with the continuing stream from the computer. For each one, he clicked on the row in the display, causing another window to open on his monitor. Sometimes the new window would contain pictures, other times it was graph charts, or sometimes blocks of text. Mullins took a few moments to review each window, clicking on one of several buttons at the bottom of each, sometimes typing text in before he did.
Several other analysts sat at consoles to his left and right, each also attending to computer monitors akin to the one he manned. Mullins yawned as he glanced to his left and right, watching his fellows busily at work, all trying to keep up with the continuous stream of data. He and his fellows were responsible for reviewing the alerts generated by a variety of Air Force early warning systems, including radar nets, satellites, and Echelon alerts of interest to the USAF. Taking in a deep breath, he returned his attention to his console, clicking on the next alert that had arrived in his queue.
The Lieutenant glanced at the darkened picture that popped up on his screen. At first he started to move his mouse over the green "Clear" button, but then hesitated as he looked longer at the photo. He paused at what he saw, sitting up straight in his seat as he clicked upon another button a few times, causing the image to zoom in on a given section of the picture that he highlighted with his cursor.
Mullins stared at the screen intently at what he saw. He then pushed his chair out from his console, turning around. "Colonel O'Sullivan…!" he called out with a concerned voice.
Behind him, a man sitting at a desk looked over from behind a computer monitor. "What is it?" he asked in an annoyed voice.
"I think you'd better take a look at this, sir," the Lieutenant answered, glancing back to his screen.
O'Sullivan sighed and stood up from his chair, walking over to join Mullins at his terminal. The Lieutenant zoomed in again as his superior approached, making the image as clear as he could. The Colonel began leaned down to look at the monitor, grumbling, "Mullins, this had better be good…" As soon as he saw what was on the screen, however, he immediately stopped talking, furrowing his brow.
"What is that, sir?" Mullins asked with a concerned and confused voice. The display before them showed a still picture with a dark field. In the top of the frame, a small portion of the moon visible. In the rest of the display, the sleek gray form of a Goa'uld cargo ship could be seen.
The Colonel didn't answer, but looked at the display for a few more moments in silence. He then reached over and took control of his subordinate's mouse, clicking a few areas of the screen. When a window suddenly popped up, he removed a small device from his pocket that displayed a set of numbers. The Colonel typed in the numbers from the gadget into the lieutenant's computer in the new window. After a few seconds, the numbers on the device changed, but the Colonel paid it no mind as he clicked a button in that window. At that point, both the new window and the one with the photo disappeared.
Standing up straight, O'Sullivan looked down at Mullins. "You didn't see anything here, son," he told the young man quietly in a stern voice.
Blinking in surprise, the Lieutenant hesitated for a moment before answering, "Uhm…yes sir…" The Colonel then walked back to his desk while the other watched for a moment. He then turned back to his display and resumed the tedium of his job.
Upon returning to his desk, O'Sullivan picked up his phone and pressed a few numbers. Holding the receiver in the crook of his neck, he began typing at his computer. After a few moments, he said quietly into the phone, "Yes, get me General Hammond, please."
"Now you must tell me, Sam," Vala began, looking around Daniel at the other woman. The blonde-haired Colonel turned to meet Vala's gaze, raising her eyebrows in curiosity.
Sam, Vala, and Daniel walked slowly down a hallway in the SGC together. Daniel was between the two women, holding hands with Vala. The three had just gotten off the elevator together, with Mitchell and Teal'c continuing on up to the level where the prisoner was held. None of them had said much of anything after they left breakfast, Vala's words being the first of any consequence after leaving the commissary.
Vala continued, asking with a raised eyebrow, "Were you as surprised by what you saw this morning as your Jack was?" The raven-haired woman grinned from ear to ear as she spoke, a smile that Sam immediately joined in. They both had mischievous looks in their eyes as the tension grew in the silence between question and answer. Daniel looked from one to the other with an apprehensive, beleaguered gaze, a small sigh escaping him as the three walked down the length of the corridor.
"Well," Carter began, pausing as Daniel sighed heavily. She and Vala both glanced up to see his expression, each grinning from ear to ear at the tormented look he gave the two of them. "I gotta be honest, it caught me just a little off guard," she answered, looking back over at the other woman. "I mean, the last thing I expected to see this morning was the two of you all cooped up together, half-naked in your own little on-base-love-nest."
Vala laughed musically at Sam's words, while Jackson cleared his throat irritably as he glared at the blond. The two women smile even more at this, the both of them regarding Daniel warmly. "Well," Vala started to answer, "It certainly was cozy enough. Though your facility doesn't have the nicest accommodations I've been in, so I'm not sure I'd recommend it to travelers." She paused, and Daniel turned from Carter to look at the other. There he saw a devilish look in her eyes as she glanced back up at him, continuing, "But the company certainly makes it worth the stay."
Carter laughed at this, even as Daniel peered at Vala, very conscious of the men and women they were passing them in the hallway. He couldn't help but notice the random grin or look from the passing SFC personnel.
"I'll have to take your word for it," Sam answered, grinning widely. She paused before adding with laughter in her voice, "Though at least now I know not to come bother you two before noon."
"That's a good idea," Vala added, "Actually, you're probably best to call ahead first, who knows what you might be interrupting..."
Daniel sighed at this, blushing brightly again. He closed his eyes, reaching up with his free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose under his glasses. "Are you two having fun?" he asked with a measure of fatigue in his voice.
"Always, darling," Vala answered, squeezing his hand tightly and beaming up at him. "How could we not with you around?" She paused, adding with an ironic tone, "You're such a light hearted and easy going fellow." The archaeologist pulled his hand away from his face and looked down at Vala with a sharp glare. She smiled up at him brilliantly, her eyes sparkling as she met his gaze. After a few moments, he sighed and half smiled at her. Her smile grew crooked as she regarded him with warm, dark eyes.
Carter watched the two of them with a fond gaze. She was very happy for them both. While it was clear as day to anyone that Vala still drove Daniel nuts with her antics, it seemed to Sam that he was having an easier time dealing with it – if only barely.
Just about then, the three arrived Carter's lab. As they entered, they saw that a SGC standard-issue vest and backpack were piled on the table. "Hey, that's my gear..." Daniel began as he immediately recognized the equipment.
"Yup," Sam answered, as she walked over to the table and started to open the backpack. "I brought it over last night after I left the briefing room." Grinning at him, she added, "Good thing I did too, since you obviously didn't even know it was missing until just now..." Daniel cleared his throat awkwardly and dropped the subject, embarrassed what she was pointing out. He had been so wrapped up in his time with Vala last night that he had completely forgotten to go back to the Gateroom and gather up his gear.
Vala grinned at the exchange and then looked around the room with its assortment of technology and computers. She furrowed her brow in both interested curiosity and amusement. "So this is where you hide out when you're not off saving the galaxy," she said while still looking about.
Pulling out the crystal reading device from the backpack, Sam looked up at the other woman and grinned. "Yeah, I've managed to burn away a few hours in here from time to time." Vala and Daniel joined her at the table while she started to pull the crystals out from the pouches in the vest.
"Don't let her fool you," Daniel began with a smile, "She's spent at least as much time here as I have in my lab." Leaning on the counter top, he also removed a few crystals from the vest, he added mischievously, "Probably more, in fact." Sam smirked wryly at this, glancing over at him.
Vala raised an eyebrow as she, looked over at Sam. "So," she began, "you both enjoy spending endless hours in solitude to study obscure materials that most everyone else would consider boring and tedious." She paused while Daniel and Sam both looked at each other and shrugged in mute agreement with her assessment. Vala then smirked and asked, "Sam, is that part of why you said the two of you are a couple of geeks?" Daniel furrowed his brow in surprise at Vala's words, looking over to Carter with a raised eyebrow.
His friend chuckled at his look, waving her hand dismissively. "Long story," she told him as she picked up the loose end of the cable hanging off the crystal reader and looked at it. "Hm," she began, studying the plug at its end carefully, though Daniel still peered at her with a leery gaze. "This is sort of similar to the interface adapters I've seen on the computers in a cargo ship."
Vala nodded, "Yes, it's a very similar technology. The main difference is that it's got a few extra data and control filaments in the fiber bundle. Those are needed for passing the higher volumes of data in these crystals than what are typically found on smaller ships. The data is also stored in a slightly different format for the same reason." She leaned over the counter to take a closer look at the plug. Sam offered it for her to see. She nodded then glanced around the room thoughtfully. "I think I can help you make an adapter to interface with your computers. I take it you've already built something for the other, less sophisticated computers like those on a cargo ship?"
Sam nodded eagerly, smiling. "I did, actually, and I'd really appreciate the help. I mean, I could probably get it on my own, but it'd be quite some time to just stumble blindly through it." Vala smiled in response as Carter added, "There's a white board behind you, did you want to start with a diagram?"
"That'd be ideal," the raven-haired woman said brightly, turning and walking over to the board, Sam following behind. Vala picked up a marker and started to draw. "So, these are the main data cable fibers, these are typically used for the core data transfer..." Sam nodded and watched closely, listening intently to every word Vala said. Daniel watched the exchange with an increasingly long face. As the two women stared to draw and talk about the technical aspects of their work at the board, he sighed heavily. Sitting himself on a stool by Carter's bench, he started to play idly with a crystal as he realized that the few hours were going to be excruciatingly tedious and boring for him.
"So what do you think we're going to get out of this guy?" Mitchell asked Teal'c as they left the elevator together. Various SGC personnel went this way and that as the two made their way to the holding cell with their prisoner.
Glancing over at his team mate, Teal'c answered, "It is difficult to say, Colonel Mitchell. From what we have already seen of this new foe, they are both very well disciplined and dedicated to their cause."
Mitchell grimaced at Teal'c's words, sighing. "Yeah, no kidding." He paused for a moment, continuing, "that really freaked me out when the one soldier on Dakara killed himself rather than be taken alive." The Colonel shuddered at the memory of it.
"Indeed," Teal'c replied. Pausing for a moment, he continued with a raised eyebrow and a worried look, "it is most troubling. The Goa'uld's greatest weakness had always been their arrogance. Their insatiable need to dominate and control caused their endless warring with one another and their inability to form a functional society as a race." He frowned, finishing, "If these Goa'uld are as cohesive a group as they seem, then they are a far greater threat than the System Lords ever were."
"So then the obvious question is why these guys are so different," Cam replied, looking up at Teal'c.
Nodding, the Jaffa answered, "That may be one of the better questions for us to focus on, Colonel Mitchell. Though we should not forget to try and identify matters of a more tactical advantage to us."
The two walked on in foreboding silence, too disturbed by their conversation to continue talking about it any further. Shortly thereafter they arrived at a closed door with a very small window and a pair of guards on either side.
"Alright, let's see this clown," Mitchell said to one of the guards, a weary expression on his face. The guard hesitated, he and the other looking at each other with flustered expressions. Mitchell furrowed his brow at this, exchanging glances with Teal'c who raised an eyebrow. "What?" Mitchell asked.
"Uhm," the one guard started, "he told us not to let anyone in..."
Grinning, Mitchell asked, "Who, Landry?" Chuckling, he continued, "The General wants Teal'c and me to interrogate this loser."
"Uh, not the General," the other guard said.
"Who then?" Mitchell asked, sharing a concerned glance with the Jaffa. The guards hesitated, looking unsure what to say at that.
Growing concerned and a bit angry, Mitchell said, "Alright, let's try this. General Landry wanted us to talk to the prisoner. No matter who ordered you to not let anyone in, the General runs this facility and you are under his command." Crossing his arms, he added, "On top of that, I'm a Colonel who reports directly to Landry, and I outrank the two of you anyway. So open up."
The two looked at each other again, the one on the far side of the door shrugging at the other. The one by the door handle hesitated for a moment and then stepped aside, swiping his access card to buzz the door open. Teal'c immediately stepped forward and opened the door, leading the way in with an apprehensive gaze as Cam followed immediately behind him.
The two entered the room to find an two people inside the room. The first was seated behind a plain table, clothed in the typical gray jumpsuit worn by prisoners held by the SGC. The other stood on the opposite side of the table, closest to the door. The table had a microphone, recording device, and camera set up on it. The man standing in front of the table wore a black suit with jet-black hair that was slicked back. He was reading from an open folder he held that was labeled "TOP SECRET". Open hearing the door open, he looked up as the two entered and grinned wryly.
"Colonel Mitchell and the Jaffa." The two looked at each other as the man spoke, then looked back again. "I suppose it was too much to expect that the guards would be able to keep the two of you out..."
"I gotta take a leak," Sergeant Hooper told Marty Keegan suddenly, standing up from his computer console.
Keegan looked over at the other tech with an irritated stare. "Gee, thanks for sharing, Mike" he said sardonically, regarding his fellow with a flat glance.
Chuckling, Mike walked around behind the other. "I'll be quick, I just can't wait any longer." He started to walk away, taking long strides towards the stairs that lead down and out of the Gate Control Room.
"You shouldn't have had all that coffee," Keegan chided him, glancing over as the other left. Without looking back, Mike waved irritably at Marty as he disappeared around the corner.
As soon as the other technician had left, Marty quickly got down from his chair to kneel in front of the console, removing an access panel below his monitor. Looking back at the empty doorway, he reached into his pocket and pulled out something that was small enough to hide completely in the palm of his hand. A light flashed between his fingers, and he reached into the console with the device, watching what he was doing intently.
"I'm telling you Jack," General Landry's voice carried into the room from the hallway, causing Keegan to look back to the door with an intense expression. No one was yet visible in the doorway. Keegan looked back at what he was doing and took the opportunity to make one final adjustment.
"There is no way. Absolutely no way!" Landry's voice became louder still as he and O'Neill turned the corner, with Hank looking back at Jack and making a hand motion to emphasize his words. The other General simply grinned at his friend, watching his face with an amused eye. At the same time, Keegan replaced the panel and sat back in his chair, just as the two Generals looked away from each other and into the Control Room. They saw Keegan sitting at his console, typing at the keyboard with a bored expression.
Landry walked up the stairs as Jack followed behind, answering, "You know, that's what you said last time, but you were wrong then too."
Hank paused at the top of the stairs, turning around to look back at his friend again. "You got lucky that time," he said with a glare, looking down at the other General who was still half-way ascended.
Grinning from ear to ear, O'Neill replied shrewdly, "Luck's got nothing to do with it."
"Oh?" Landry asked with a raised eyebrow, crossing his arms before him. "Care to back that?"
O'Neill lifted his chin at the words, regarding the other General thoughtfully. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"I am," Landry answered firmly with a nod. "Double the usual bet."
Raising an eyebrow, Jack asked, "The spread?"
Grinning, Hank answered, "The Patriots take the Vikings by two touchdowns."
O'Neill continued to climb the stairs slowly, watching his friend intently. Reaching the top step, he tilted his head slightly. "You really think your Patriots can beat my Vikings?" he asked with an amused voice, tilting his head slightly. Hank nodded ever so slightly, not breaking eye contact for a moment. "You've got a bet, Hank," Jack continued quietly, offering his hand to the other General, a glint in his eye.
"Like taking candy from a baby," Landry said softly, a faint grin playing upon his lips as he shook hands with O'Neill.
As Jack withdrew his hand, he answered, "Maybe...Sunday will tell." He shoved his hands in his pockets, grinning enigmatically at his friend.
Chuckling softly, Landry replied, "That it will." He looked over at Keegan and asked, "How's everything going, son?"
Looking back over at the Generals, Marty answered with a smile. "Everything is going just fine, sirs."
Hank nodded at this and glanced once more at Jack, who still watched him with the same smile. Chuckling, Landry turned on his heel and started up the other stairs. "Come on, Jack. We've got a lot to talk about."
Nodding silently, Jack followed up the stairs. He glanced once at Keegan on his way up with an indifferent expression, then looked back to where he was going, disappearing up into the stairwell behind Landry.
"Wake up, sleepyhead."
Daniel grumbled at the sound of the voice, mumbling sleepily in response. Suddenly he felt warm, soft hands rubbing his shoulders and neck. "Come on, you've got work to do." He smiled at the touch, sighing happily. The hands found their way into his hair, fingers gliding through the short strands upon the back of his head. "Besides," the voice added wryly, "I got a lot less sleep then you did, so if I can't take a nap, then neither can you."
At that, one of the hands suddenly found his ear and pinched it firmly.
"OW!" Daniel complained, lifting his head up from his arms upon the lab bench in Carter's lab, looking around with an annoyed and bleary expression. He immediately found it necessary to fix his glasses, which were sitting askew on his face from the way he'd been snoozing. The first thing he saw was Vala, smiling warmly at him with bright eyes that regarded him fondly.
"That's better," she grinned, winking at him. "Besides, why would you want to sleep like that? You and I can sleep much more comfortably tonight, when we're all snuggled up together."
The archaeologist regarded her with an irritated stare, his ear still a little sore from the tweak she had given him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a grinning Sam watching the two of them. Daniel looked at Vala for a moment, considering whether or not to give her the satisfaction of a retort. Instead, he decided to change the subject.
"So I take it you're done already?" he asked simply, looking over at the crystal reader which hummed quietly with an illuminated stone in its slot. Sam chuckled at this while Vala grinned from ear to ear. "What?" he asked hesitantly.
"Darling," Vala answered, wrapping her arm about his shoulders while looking at him with laughter in her eyes, "we've been working on this for the last two and a half hours..." With that she looked away, pointing off in the same direction. Following the line from Vala's finger, the archaeologist saw the clock on the wall, which clearly showed how long the two women had been working...and how long he'd been sleeping.
"Oh," he replied sheepishly, looking back at the raven-haired beauty next to him, who smiled warmly while looking into his eyes with an adoring stare.
"We're only done the first part," Sam said, causing the two to look over at her. She in turn looked over to the computer that now had Goa'uld writing on it, Daniel and Vala following her gaze. "We've managed to interface the device in with our computers, and can access the data we brought back with us." Sighing, she looked back at Daniel and Vala. "Now comes the difficult part – we've got to attack the encryption."
"But at least you can start getting some work done," Vala interjected wryly. "Just think, all of that thrilling, exciting data is there at your finger tips, ready for you to spend endless hours pouring through it, looking, searching..."
"Oh, joy," Daniel lamented, running his fingers through his hair as he looked at the text on Sam's monitor with some apprehension. The screen was filled with the various sundry bits of data and log files that they'd captured while on the Ha'tak. "I think I'd rather be translating the phone book," he said in a somewhat defeated voice.
"Oh come now, darling," Vala answered with a big smile, wrapping her other arm about his neck. "Just look at it as a treasure hunt."
Daniel looked back at Vala with an irritated look. Ignoring her arms about him, he glanced over to Sam and asked, "Can you put the data where I can get to it from the computer in my lab?" he asked.
"Uhm, sure," Carter answered after a moment's hesitation, followed by a shrug as she started typing at her computer.
"What's wrong, darling?" Vala asked with a wide grin, "Don't want us to see you asleep on the job again?" Looking back over to the woman next to him, he raised his eyebrow at her.
"No," he began with a weary voice, answering in a somewhat measured pace. "I'm interested in working in some peace and quiet. If the two of you are going to do as much talking with your next job as you did on this last one, I'll never be able to focus on my part."
Vala raised her eyebrow at this, asking with laughter in her voice, "and how would you know if we'd been talking, yelling, or singing, sleeping beauty?" Daniel opened his mouth to retort but found himself short of anything to say. She grinned then shrugged, withdrawing her arms. "Suit yourself," she said indifferently. "You'll be missing some thrilling stuff, I guarantee you!"
Rolling his eyes, he chuckled, "You can tell me all about it later." Standing up from the stool, he glanced over to Sam, "anything I need to do?"
The blond-haired woman shook her head as she turned back to the other two. "Nope, I've put the data up so you can access it from your computer. I sent you an email with the link." Daniel nodded at this and she added, "I'll keep churning through the various crystals that have the unencrypted data, tossing their contents on the same file store. I'll let you know when it's all done."
Nodding again, Daniel smiled at her. "Sounds good, thanks a lot." With that he started to walk out of the room, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"What, no good bye kiss?" Vala's teasing voice called out to him as he reached the threshold of the door.
Daniel stopped in his tracks and sighed, pausing wordlessly for a moment, his shoulders sagging as he hung his head. He slowly turned around, to see Vala smiling from ear to ear at him, her arms folded in front of her. The archaeologist met her gaze, and she raised an eyebrow at him, tilting her head slightly. With another sigh, he slowly walked over to her, his hands still in his pockets. Coming to stand before her, he replied deliberately, "Good bye, Vala," with an underlying irritation.
Vala wrapped her arms about his neck with an exaggerated motion, leaning her weight against him. He reluctantly wrapped his arms about her waist as she looked up at him with a sultry grin. "Good bye, my Daniel," she answered huskily, staring into his eyes with a warm, yet amused stare, waiting patiently for him to come to her. After a moment's pause, Daniel sighed yet again and did just that, leaning down to press his lips to hers.
Vala smiled even more as she met his lips with hers, immediately deepening the kiss and pulling him closer with her arms about his neck. He hesitated for only a moment, then lost himself in her touch, wrapping his arms more tightly around her waist, squeezing her to him. The two moaned softly together, their tongues entwined and their breath quickening as they kissed each other hotly.
Without meaning to, Sam suddenly sneezed loudly. Two jumped at this, suddenly breaking the kiss. Daniel and Vala both looked over at her, he with flushed cheeks while she with an annoyed stare. By the look of it, the archaeologist had completely forgotten that they had an audience. Vala pursed her lips in irritation, glaring at the other woman.
"Sorry," Sam said meekly, looking like she was about ready to crawl under a rock. Vala sighed just as Daniel slowly pulled away from her. The raven-haired woman turned to look at him as he stepped away.
"I think I'll be going now," Daniel said quickly, looking back and forth from Vala to Sam, "Lots of translating to do, don'tcha know..." Vala's glare at him turned positively hostile as he started to quickly make his exit, the archaeologist trying to suppress a grin as he went. Sam gave Daniel an astonished look as he made his escape, leaving her to face a furious Vala on her own.
The two women said nothing for a few moments after Daniel left, the room thick with silence. Vala continued to stare at the empty doorway he left through, folding her arms, her expression heavy with aggravation.
"So," Sam began, trying to sound nonchalant, though it was poorly done. Vala slowly turned her head to look at the other woman, her steely gaze piercing right through her. Carter hesitated but then said, "Maybe we should get going on the ol'encryption..." She paused and waited while the other woman watched her silently. "What d'ya say?" the blond-haired woman asked with a nervous smile.
Vala stood silently for a few moments, then sighed, shaking her head wryly. "Sure, sounds like a blast," she answered in a flat voice. Walking over, she leaned on the opposite side of the table from Sam. "Where do we begin?"
Jack and Landry walked into the latter's office together, both still grinning over the bet they made down in the Control Room. Landry sat himself in the chair behind the desk, while O'Neill took one of the two chairs on the other side. Glancing over as he sat, Jack gestured and asked, "So how's the chair?"
Sighing, the General frowned slightly. "It's awful, Jack. I just can't get comfortable in it. I keep meaning to order a new one, but I just never seem to have the time."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Jack lamented. "The last one was so much better, but then George came and took it." He sighed, "I ended up with a nicer one after transferring to DC, but it just isn't the same..."
Landry looked at his friend with a grin, "That does sound like George."
"Yes," Jack answered wistfully, looking off into space.
Grinning, Landry asked, "How's it going, running the 303 program?"
The other General sighed, still looking off aimlessly. "Oh, it's just thrilling. We're still trying to build the next Daedalus since sending the last one to Pegasus and losing the Prometheus." He glanced over at Landry, saying with a furrowed brow, "I don't know how many more budget meetings I can take."
His friend smiled slyly, answering, "Well just don't forget why you put in for that transfer." Jack smiled widely at Hank's words, looking away again thoughtfully. Landry paused for a moment, then asked, "Speaking of which, how's the planning going for that, anyway?"
The question elicited a shrug from O'Neill, who raised his eyebrows as he considered it. "Well," he said, "let's just say I'm glad that I'm in DC most of the time." Looking back over to the man behind the desk, he added, "but she keeps me very well informed about the place settings she's chosen, the flowers she wants to decorate with, what we're serving at the reception, or..." he paused, lifting his eyebrows. Landry grinned as Jack sighed again, finishing, "Well, you get the idea."
Hank chuckled at this as Jack smiled slightly. After a moment, O'Neill asked, "How about you? How are things here?"
Nodding, Landry answered, "Doing well enough, I guess. I can certainly say it's the most interesting job I've ever had," he answered with a smile. "Exciting, too. I never imagined I'd be commanding Earth's gateway to the rest of the galaxy...or that such an amazing thing existed in the world." He paused before adding, with a crooked grin, "It really is a good command, Jack."
Tilting his head, Jack asked, "Is that a thank you I'm hearing, Hank?" He raised an eyebrow at the other General as a smile slowly bloomed on his face, accompanied by that same mischievous look in his eyes that haunted Daniel throughout breakfast.
Landry lifted his chin at this, regarding the other warily. He hadn't meant to get so carried away. "Did I mention that Jackson's parcel arrived?" he answered, deciding it was best to just change the subject.
Jack's smile grew even more at this, and he watched his friend silently for a moment, letting the tension build. The two watched each other intently, until Jack finally replied, "Really? What'd Danny say about that?"
"Well," Landry began, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief while being careful to keep a poker face in front of Jack. "he was excited about it, as you might expect – especially now."
"Naturally," O'Neill answered. "So he's going to change his plans, then?"
"Of course," Landry answered, nodding slightly as he leaned forward on his desk. "He kind of has to now, doesn't he?" Jack nodded wordlessly at this, grinning at the other, both of them chuckling. "I told him that I'd help out with that, figured maybe you'd be able to pitch in since you're actually over in DC these days."
Jack opened his mouth to reply when suddenly a soft buzzing could be heard from his vicinity, causing the man to frown intensely. Landry furrowed his brow for a moment before an identical buzz on his person made him grimace and groan inwardly, just as Jack had. Both men started reaching for the Blackberry email devices on their belts even as the second buzz confirmed that they had received a new message.
"I see Hammond made you get one too," Landry grinned wryly at Jack, knowing his distaste for such things.
"The entire senior staff, Hank," Jack lamented, "Now that Hammond's emerged from the Mountain, he's seen how the world does business these days and is determined we're all going to catch up...sadly..." He frowned at his words, fumbling on the device to enter his password. As he did, he muttered, "you know, the techs warned me that if I couldn't enter the right password after six tries, this thing would wipe itself and become useless..."
Chuckling, the other General replied as he unlocked his device, "I know, tempting isn't it?"
Shaking his head as he started reading the email, O'Neill replied absentmindedly, "They lied, it doesn't work."
Landry chuckled lightly, a big smile blooming on his face as he too started to read the email. He quickly began to frown as he read silently through the text, however, as did Jack. Landry sighed as they both continued to read, "Oh, this won't be good..."
"Who the hell are you?" Mitchell asked angrily as he and Teal'c filed in, leaving the door open behind them.
"Agent Michaels, NID." He extended his hand to the Colonel, who merely crossed his arms and glared in response. The man in the black suit grinned and dropped his hand after a moment.
"What are you doing here?" Cam asked irritably, watching the man intently.
Grinning, the man answered, "Well I'm here to interrogate the prisoner, just like you."
"Right," Mitchell answered, "I can just imagine."
Chuckling, Agent Michaels replied, "Please, I'm not CIA and this isn't Gitmo. The NID is a new organization now..."
"Yeah, I'm sure y'all are just a bunch of choir boys now, ain'tcha?" the sarcasm was thick in Mitchell's voice as he cut off the other. Teal'c watched the two silently, occasionally flicking a glance at the prisoner. "How did you even know we have this prisoner? Does General Landry know you're here?"
Folding his arms, Agent Michaels answered, "The NID is kept informed of everything that goes on in the Mountain. It's part of that little thing we call civilian oversight. You know, that minor trifle that you military types find so tedious and inconvenient." Mitchell bristled at the other's assertion and started to say something but Michaels continued, "As to General Landry, yes he knows I'm here. He authorized my performing this examination, actually.
"Funny, he never told me anything about it," Cam snapped back, glaring harshly and suspiciously at the man.
The NID operative smirked, answering, "Well isn't that interesting..."
Cam scowled at the other's words, looking set to fire back at him. Teal'c anticipated the hot response that might issue forth and calmly spoke before his fellow had a chance. "If you have been interrogating this prisoner, then what have you learned thus far?" his voice was flat and unemotional, though he regarded the man disdainfully.
Michaels looked from the Colonel to the Jaffa, hesitating as his cheeky grin quickly dissolved into a slight frown. "Nothing, actually." He tossed the closed folder down on the table with a sigh. "The man is buttoned up tight, he hasn't said a word to me, in fact."
It was Mitchell's turn to smirk this time, crossing his arms. "Well," he began, grinning, "I'm so glad you spent the tax-payer's dollars to come all this way from DC, just to help us out. It's a good thing we've got the NID to ensure we military types do our jobs right."
Now it was Michael's turn to frown, regarding the other two intently. The prisoner sat quietly at the table with his hands folded together in front of him, having watched the exchange in complete silence. As the three in front of him bickered back and forth, the faintest hint of a smile could be seen about his lips as a foreboding look glimmered in his eyes.
The sun shone brightly in the morning sky above the Ancient ruins on PX8-317, it's rays providing little heat to warm the chill air. Eight uniformed men could be seen in a rather wide semi-circle about the Stargate, standing in twos, with one pair standing by the DHD. Near the stone base of the circle, a MALP sat idle as it had for the past several days now.
The two men at one end of the semi-circle had been relatively quiet since they arrived with their team and SG-18 and SG-9. One of them suddenly broke the silence. "I can't believe our mission got scrubbed for babysitting duty." The blond-haired Captain grimaced as he spoke, looking off at the distant tree line near the horizon.
The other standing near him glanced over with an amused eye at his fellow's words. Smirking slightly, he replied, "Come on, you know as well as I do that it wasn't very likely we were going to be doing anything more exciting. The last several planets we hit were duds, just as boring as this one."
The blond-haired Captain sighed at this, glancing back at the man next to him. "Yeah, you're right," he muttered in a defeated tone. "Still, at least on our originally scheduled mission, we had the chance of something interesting happening. Here, it's zero." Looking away back at the tree line he kept grumbling, "zippo, zilch, nada..." As he looked off in the distance, his voice trailed off as he began to stare intently at the forest off in the distance, his brow furrowing in concern.
Reaching into a pouch on his vest, the Captain pulled out a small cylinder that he held up to his eye and looked through towards the forest. His friend watched on with a concerned expression.
"Uh oh," the blond-haired Captain said, pulling his telescope away and looking over at the other, who furrowed his brow in concern.
Landry sighed from the tips of his toes as he tossed his Blackberry down on the desk. "A cargo ship observed heading towards Earth..." His voice was tired as he crossed his arms before him on the desk, leaning on his elbows as he looked across at Jack. "Do you think this is a reprisal?"
O'Neill looked up from his gadget to the other General, raising his eyebrows with a thoughtful expression. "For destroying that Ha'tak?" he asked thoughtfully, to which Landry nodded. Shrugging with an indecisive expression, he answered, "Maybe. Hard to say right now..." Sighing, he started to tap away at his gadget, apparently writing an email. "I'm probably going to have to make some calls before we have that meeting Hammond scheduled in ten minutes." He sighed, furrowing his brow as he fumbled with the keys.
Landry nodded, "You can use my phone. If you need me to leave, just say so."
Shaking his head, Jack answered absentmindedly. "Nah. I've just got to check on a few things before the meeting. Unfortunately, since we're short a couple of battle cruisers, we really don't have anything in the way of defenses." He paused as he studied his device for a moment with a furrowed brow, then added, "Stick around, I might have some questions for you actually. After I'm done we can roll right into the Hammond meeting."
Smiling, Landry nodded, "Alright, then."
Jack sighed as he started to work the scroll wheel on the side of the Blackberry with his thumb, pulling his chair closer to the desk and moving the phone around. Finding what he was looking for on the gadget, he reached over and picked up the receiver. Starting to dial, he asked Landry, "We don't really know anything about these new snakes, do we?" glancing up as he spoke.
"No we don't, but your old team is supposed to be working on that as we speak." Landry picked up his device and returned it to its place on his person. "Though it seemed doubtful that they'll be able to learn much more than they already knew when they returned last night." Pursing his lips as O'Neill finished dialing and put the receiver to his ear, Hank said reluctantly, "From what they were telling me, the really good intel they grabbed was heavily encrypted. They were rather pessimistic about being able to break it..."
Jack nodded silently, a small smile coming over his face. "Carter's working on it," he said simply with finality, with a measure of pride in his voice. Just as he finished speaking, he then turned his attention to the phone and started to talk into the receiver.
Sitting at her lab bench, Sam sighed in frustration as she dropped her head in her hands and closed her eyes, grimacing. At the white-board, Vala looked at Sam in annoyance, dropping her hand from the formula she'd been writing on the board, her fingers clenching the marker tightly. The raven-haired woman's mouth was twisted in a frown as she regarded the other thoughtfully for a moment.
"Vala, that just doesn't make any sense!" Carter protested tensely, still looking down at the table as she continued to rest her head in her hands.
"Sam, I don't know what to tell you. I've tried to explain it several times now...!" Exasperated, she looked back at the board, reviewing what she wrote and shrugging in frustration.
Half of the white surface was covered in formulas written with a green pen that contained greek symbols, matrices, and several other icons written in expressions familiar to mathematicians on Earth. The other half, the side Vala stood at, was covered in equations written with a blue marker. The symbols contained in these expressions and the way they were arranged was all quite foreign to any born upon the third planet from this sun. There was evidence of considerable erasing and rewriting all over both sides, almost like a back-and-forth fight had been going on in writing on the board.
Taking a deep breath, Vala spoke again, trying to sound patient. "Look, I understand that you're having trouble grasping the concepts," Carter looked up at the other woman, glaring at her, "but if you would just accept the foundations I'm trying to teach you, it'll all go much more smoothly."
Sighing in frustration, Sam snapped back, "Vala, it's not the conventions that I've got a problem with." She gestured at the top half of Vala's side of the board, the top half of which was covered in a series of definitions. "It's the logic you're trying to argue." Sitting up, she started emphasizing her words with her hands. "The theorems your trying to establish fly in the face of some well established mathematical principles."
Rolling her eyes, Vala capped the marker and tossed it into the tray at the base of the white-board. "Sam," she began, walking over to the lab bench, "I've been telling you. These theorems are the foundation of Goa'uld cryptography. I know they're advanced for your mathematics, but you need to learn them." Upon reaching the bench, she leaned on the side opposite from the other woman. "They work, and so do the more advanced concepts that build on them. These are just the basics of Goa'uld math." Carter bristled at the word basic, but Vala continued without noticing. "The proof of it is that those vipers have been applying it all in practice for centuries!"
Sam frowned bitterly at the other's words, looking back over at the white board in tense silence. She shook her head, "Well, either way, I need a break." Sighing wearily, she added, "I'm not going to get anywhere just beating my head against the wall like this." She hopped down from the stool and glanced over at the clock on the wall. Another two hours had passed since Daniel left. "What do you say we get some lunch?" she asked, saying further, "it's getting to be mid afternoon already."
Nodding, Vala stood up straight, stepping away from the bench. "That sounds like a good idea," she said with a smile. "Perhaps some food and a fresh set of eyes will help both of us."
Meeting her gaze, Carter returned the smile. "Yeah, I've solved more than one problem by stepping away from it after spending hours just spinning my wheels and then coming back to it later." She chuckled, "more often than not, the answer just jumps out at me."
The two women left Carter's lab and started to walk through the hallway, continuing to talk as they went. "I wish my Dad was still alive," Sam lamented, half to herself. Pursing her lips, she added, "he and Selmac would be a great help right now."
Furrowing her brow, Vala looked over at him, "Why can't you contact this Selmac on your own? Was your father the only one who knew how to reach him?"
Glancing over as they walked, Sam answered, "No, my father was a Tok'ra. Selmac was his symbiote" Vala blinked in surprise at this, turning to look at Sam incredulously. Reading the other's thoughts, Sam added, "he only became a Tok'ra recently. He became Selmac's host about eight years ago, when he was dying of cancer."
"Ah," Vala answered, nodding in understanding. "So naturally, the symbiote healed him."
"That's right," Sam answered as the two turned a corner and approached the elevator. "As it turns out, Selmac was one of their oldest and wisest. His last host was dying, so it was actually rather good timing for the both of them." As they arrived at the elevator door, Carter pushed the button. Continuing as they waited for it to arrive, she said, "He was one of their leaders, actually. My father became very involved in the Tok'ra for the last years of his life." Vala nodded, watching the other as she listened intently.
The doors opened and the two walked into the empty chamber. As Sam pushed the button for twenty-two, Vala asked tentatively, "So your father and his symbiote died recently, then?" Sam looked back at the raven-haired woman beside her as the elevator started to descend, the chamber humming quietly.
She nodded, looking down. "Yes, they died just over a year ago, actually."
"I am so sorry, Sam," Vala said softly, causing Carter to look back over.
"It's alright," the other woman answered, pursing her lips. She paused, then added, "My father was on death's door when we brought him to Selmac, so the last eight years we had were actually a gift." She smiled at the thought. "I had a hard time accepting that when he died last year. I felt cheated of the years I had expected were yet to come, but as time has gone on, it's really started to sink in how lucky I was."
She paused, adding with a sigh, "I just wish I'd been able to see him more. We didn't spend much time together over those years, since we were both so busy." Her smile grew a bit as she met Vala's gaze, finishing, "but these last years were still the best. After he blended, we settled our disagreements and had a really good relationship after that."
Vala smiled warmly at the words. Just then, the elevator doors opened and the two exited together while a few uniformed SGC personnel waited outside to enter in turn. The two women walked past the crowd outside the elevator, continuing along the corridor together quietly, Vala choosing to respect Sam's silence following her telling of her father.
After a while, they turned another corner and Sam glanced over to Vala with a playful smile. "So I guess you mustered up the courage to talk with Daniel last night..."
Looking back at the other woman with a smirk, Vala remembered their conversation about Daniel from the night before. "Hm, what tipped you off?" she answered wryly, the two sharing amused gaze.
As they entered the cafe together, Sam shrugged at Vala's words. "Call it instinct," she quipped with a wide grin. "I've always been good at picking up on subtleties."
"That's quite a gift," Vala chuckled heartily as the two of them approaching the food counter. "Most people wouldn't have picked up on something so inconspicuous as our little encounter this morning." The two smiled from ear to ear together at the memory as they each took a tray and selected their lunch from the array of sandwiches and side dishes.
"Well, I'm really glad things are coming together for you two," Sam told Vala as they carried their trays to an empty table. Sitting opposite one another, the blond-haired woman continued, "It was a total shocker this morning to see it so..." Sam hesitated, struggling to find the right word.
"Laid bare?" Vala grinned, making the other woman look back with a slight blush.
"Something like that," Sam replied awkwardly. "Nonetheless, it's really great to know you two are working things out."
Vala smiled sweetly at the woman across the table, amused by her reaction. She picked up her sandwich, pausing to say with a grin, "I don't think anyone was more surprised than I was. When I first returned through your Stargate two days ago, I would never have guessed that my Daniel would treat me so differently."
Sam smiled knowingly as she swallowed a bite of food. "You didn't see his face when we realized you hadn't ringed back aboard the Prometheus."
Vala raised an eyebrow at this, asking, "The penny finally dropped, hm?"
Shaking her head, Sam grinned and asked lightheartedly, "How did you ever get such a command of Earth idioms?" her voice laced with disbelief at the ability of the raven-haired off-worlder to always come out with the right saying.
Popping a french-fry in her mouth, Vala answered, "Teal'c lent me his entire DVD collection while Daniel and I were bonded. Watched the whole thing."
The blonde-haired woman blinked in shock at this, her mouth hanging open. "That'll do it," she said conclusively as she took a bite of her own sandwich. Teal'c's movie collection was legendary at the SGC. Over the eight years he'd spent living on base without the ability to leave, he'd amassed quite the library. Sam then furrowed her brow and asked, "How did you ever get enough time?"
Grinning, Vala shrugged, "I don't sleep much a lot of the time" She paused to drink her soda and added, "Besides, we didn't leave the base much while I was bonded to Daniel. Since he was more interested in ignoring me and spending endless hours locked up in that dusty old hideaway of his, I had quite a few hours to kill during the day."
Sam nodded in understanding at this, taking a drink of her own soda. As she did, Vala prompted her with a grin, "So you were telling me how Daniel missed me so terribly much after I nobly sacrificed myself for the sake of the galaxy..."
At Vala's words, Carter tried desperately not to laugh and thus spray her drink all over the other woman. Pulling the drink away from her lips and taking a moment to regain her composure, Sam answered, "Yes, well, it's not like he came out and said anything." She paused for a moment, considering, then added, "but he and I have been close friends for a very long time now." Making eye contact with Vala, she smiled, "I could see what you meant to him, even though he was too stubborn to admit it to himself at the time." She took another pull of her drink and said, "I'm glad he finally came around."
Vala smirked at this, answering "So am I.' She paused for a moment before muttering irritably, "It bloody well took him long enough."
Chuckling, Sam answered, "Well, I think you put him off his guard. You're a lot like Jack, and it took a few life-and-death situations for those two to become such good friends."
"Daniel and I had plenty of life-and-death situations," Vala muttered, frowning at Sam's words, "and he was still rather rude to me for all that time, to say the least..."
Smiling from ear to ear, Sam answered, "Yes, and you're also a woman whose interested in a lot more than just friendship. Not to mention you're, uhm..." she hesitated before continuing, "well, you're not shy about your sexuality." The blonde haired woman cleared her throat after she finished speaking, looking away from Vala to take another drink from her soda, flushing slightly.
The raven-haired woman blinked in surprise at Sam's words, pausing for a moment before she laughed aloud. "I suppose you make a good point." The other woman looked up at this to see Vala smiling from ear to ear. Sam smiled in return, the two making eye contact. Vala continued, "Daniel does tend to be the shy type, doesn't he?"
Nodding, Sam replied, "to say the least." She had pretty much finished her lunch, as had Vala. "Still, things seem to be showing promise right now."
Shrugging, Vala answered, "We'll see. I hope so, but it's all so new." Sighing, she added, "I just hope he doesn't change his mind after a while." Sam sat in silence at Vala's words, unsure what to say to that. After a few moments, the raven-haired woman looked over and saw both their plates were empty. "Should we go?" she asked.
"Yeah," Sam answered, standing and picking up her tray as did the other. "You know," she started, "I was thinking about something you said just before we took our break."
Tilting her head as the two walked over to the collection point for the dirty dishes, Vala asked, "What's that?"
Placing her tray in the bin along with Vala, Sam said, "Well, you said the Goa'uld had been using this encryption for several centuries." The other nodded and Sam continued, "I have to imagine, during that time that there had been attempts to break the encryption. That'd be a tremendous strategic and tactical advantage to any System Lord."
Nodding as they exited the cafe, Vala answered with a furrowed brow, "That makes a lot of sense. Where are you going with this?"
Sighing, Sam answered with a defeated tone, "No where positive I'm afraid. If in all that time the Goa'uld continued to use the same crypto, then it probably means that no one ever successfully broke the algorithms." Vala nodded again and Sam added with finality. "If you and I can't even get on the same page with the basic underlying mathematics, what makes us seriously think we can crack it?"
Daniel sighed as he stared dumbly at his computer screen. Closing his eyes, he reached under his glasses with his fingers and rubbed them wearily. He was absolutely sick of looking through the seemingly endless supply of data sheets, log files, and inventories. It had been several hours since he left Sam and Vala, settling into his lab. While he'd learned a few odd bits and pieces they didn't know before, he hadn't come across anything particularly earth-shattering. He didn't feel like they were any closer than they were before he started to knowing anything meaningful about these new Goa'uld.
"Taking a break?"
The sound of Jack's voice broke Daniel out of his reverie. Pulling his hands away from his eyes, he righted his glasses upon his head, looking up at his friend who stood on the other side of his desk. "Jack," he said with a surprised smile, sitting up at the desk. "What're you doing here? I thought you were locked up in meetings all day."
"Ah, something came up so we ended early," O'Neill answered, avoiding Daniel's gaze and randomly picked up one of the various artifacts sitting on the far side of Jackson's desk.
Studying his friend's face, Daniel paused for a moment before asking with a furrowed brow, "What's wrong?"
Jack didn't say anything right away, but continued to idly examine the artifact in silence. After a few moments, he glanced up at the archaeologist with a considering gaze. Looking down again, he put down the trinket and answered quietly, "We spotted a cargo ship approaching Earth."
A stunned look came across Daniel's face as he absorbed the news. "What?" he asked in a stunned voice.
Jack said further, "A satellite picked it up as it passed by the moon. The thing seems to have cloaked itself, we can't find it again."
Furrowing his brow in concern, Jackson thought about it for a moment before asking further, "Do you think it's these new Goa'uld?"
Jack hesitated, before answering, "Hard to say. Maybe, but we don't know more than just that it's out there." He furrowed his brow and continued, "I've got a squadron of F302's flying on patrol up there," he waved his hand vaguely in a generally upwards direction. "Unfortunately, it's all we've got right now. We're short a few battle ships right now, so we'll just have to hope it's the one ship."
After a few moments of silence, Daniel said, "It's because we destroyed their Ha'tak."
O'Neill answered softly, "Maybe." Shrugging, he added, "We don't know yet."
Jackson looked down at his desk with a thoughtful expression. The more Daniel thought about it, the more the whole matter unsettled him and left him feeling very worried...and guilty. He couldn't help but feel responsible, couldn't help but remember how he was the one that argued they should strike at these new Goa'uld so decisively back when they were on the ship.
Jack watched Daniel's face quietly for a moment. "Stop that," he said warningly.
"Stop what?" Daniel said innocently, suddenly lifting his head again to look back up at his friend.
Raising an eyebrow, Jack answered, "You're feeling guilty because it was your idea to take out the ship."
"Am not," Daniel protested, watching his friend intently.
"Are too," Jack answered flatly, returning the stare.
"Am not," Jackson argued further, furrowing his brow.
"Are too," Jack shot back. Daniel pursed his lips, sighing. "Look," Jack continued, "you guys had no choice. You were in a tough spot and you made the best of it to take a good shot at those slimy snakes. More importantly, you all got out in one piece." Daniel's expression lightened a little as he considered Jack's words. "I'd have made the same call if I was there." Daniel raised his eyebrows and nodded slightly, the point registering with him. Grinning, Jack added, "Ya did good."
Daniel half smiled at this, looking up at his friend. After a moment of silence, he replied, "Thanks, Jack."
"Ah, it's nothin," he answered with a grin. "What was I gonna do, let you sit there and sulk all day?"
Daniel smirked at this, regarding Jack with a wry look. "So, since we know they're coming, shouldn't we go on high alert?"
Jack shook his head at this. "No, Hammond doesn't want us to tip our hand. Whoever it is probably doesn't realize that they've been spotted. If we go and circle the wagons, they may just call this one off and come back some other time, when we don't get lucky enough to see them." Daniel nodded in understanding and Jack continued. "Landry and I are spreading the word in our commands all quiet-like. George is working with the Joint Chiefs to do what he can to get other branches of the services ready without making too much noise."
"So we just sit tight and wait for them to do something?" Daniel asked with a slight frown, looking worried.
"Got a better idea?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Uhm," the archaeologist hesitated at this before answering, "Not really, no."
"Well, there ya go," Jack replied. Daniel nodded and looked back to his monitor as Jack glanced back down to the array of oddities scattered around Daniel's lab. The two were silent for a moment, neither with anything more to say on the matter.
Suddenly Jack broke the silence with, "So..." As Jack paused, Daniel looked up with raised eyebrows. The General continued with a mischievous smile, "had yourself a sleepover last night, huh?"
Daniel's expression dropped at this and he pursed his lips. He sighed, glaring at his friend and feeling rather shocked by the sudden topic change. "Boy, there's no putting anything past you, is there?" the archaeologist replied sardonically, feeling somewhat irritated now.
"You know me," Jack grinned at the other, "I pride myself on my powers of deduction."
"Yeah, you're a real Sherlock Holmes," Daniel shot back.
Smiling all the more at his friend's reaction, Jack answered, "Why thank you, Dr. Watson." Daniel chuckled and shook his head, closing his eyes and sitting back in his chair with a tired sigh. O'Neill pressed on, undaunted. "As much as you probably didn't want it to happen, it was good to finally meet the woman that's got you so twisted up in knots."
Daniel looked up at Jack's words. He glared at him, asking, "What makes you think she's got me up in knots?"
Smirking, Jack answered, "Well, you know, this morning kind of gave me a clue."
"There's that stunning power of deduction again," Daniel said dryly.
"Yes," Jack smiled, his eyes filled with laughter. "Impressive isn't it?" The archaeologist sighed, a beleaguered expression coming over his face. "Come on, Daniel. Admit it, you're nuts about this chick."
"Maybe," he replied. "Why are you so hung up about it?"
Jack rolled his eyes at this. "Aw gee, I don't know. Maybe because you've been one of my closest friends for ten years? Maybe because now, seven years since the death of your wife, you're finally getting together with someone?" Daniel began to look sheepish, which only made Jack grin more.
The General paused, watching Daniel closely. The archaeologist sat quietly, unsure of what to say, looking back warily. Then Daniel's expression started to sink as he saw the devilish look grow in his friend's eyes. "Wow," Jack started, his grin turning truly wicked, "you've got it really bad."
Daniel flushed red to his ears at his friend's words, now completely lost for words. Jack smiled in satisfaction at the reaction, regarding the blushing archaeologist with a decided gaze.
"This isn't working," Sam sighed, tossing her pen down on the lab bench. Resting her elbows on the same surface, she dropped her head in her hands, sighing. Vala stood by the white board, pursing her lips while she watched her new friend with sympathy. She let her hand holding the marker fall away from where she'd been writing on the board, and waited patiently for Sam to say something.
Since returning from their lunch break, the two had made considerable progress, or at least that's what Vala thought. The white board was now completely covered with green writing. The same alien symbols written in various expressions that Vala had drawn on the one half of the board before lunch now covered the entire surface, filling almost every bare inch. In front of Carter was a bound notebook, with the same symbols and expressions written out, as well as a considerable amount of notes around the formulas.
When they returned to Carter's lab, they had agreed to start over, Sam asking Vala to teach her as if she didn't know anything about higher mathematics. The blond-haired woman hoped that if she just tried to ignore what she knew, they could get on the same page and actually start trying to apply Vala's knowledge to breaking the encryption. While she'd managed to be an attentive student and things had gone considerably better than the other several hours, Sam couldn't keep suppressed her inherent conflict with Vala's presentation.
"Would you like me to cover that last part again?" the raven-haired woman finally asked tentatively after a period of extended silence.
"No," Sam sighed again, sitting up a bit more straight and looking over at the woman by the board. "I think I'm done for today." She smiled at the other woman, adding, "You've been really great, being so patient with me, but I just can't resolve the fundamental problems I have with your concepts. Things just aren't clicking with what we understand about mathematics..."
Pursing her lips, Vala capped the marker and tossed it on the board's tray. Walking over to the bench, she leaned upon the surface, asking, "I guess we'll just have to pick it up again tomorrow?"
Nodding, Sam looked at her friend with a tired gaze. "Yeah," she said with a reluctant voice. "I guess so..."
Chuckling, Vala asked, "but you're really not looking forward to it, are you?"
The blond grinned, asking back in reply, "Whatever gave you that idea?" At her words, she partly turned on her stool, moving so she could access her computer on the desk perpendicular to the bench.
"Oh, nothing in particular," Vala grinned, reaching over to pull Sam's notebook over. Turning it around, she looked over the many pages of notes that her friend had scrawled so thoroughly. "Sam, these are really good notes," she said with a bit of amazement, blinking in surprise. "I didn't realize I'd talked so much..."
Smiling, Sam glanced away from the monitor to look briefly before returning her attention to the computer. "Thanks. I always did enjoy being a student, it's been a long time since I've had the opportunity." As she started typing away in a terminal window on her screen, she added, "You were a pretty good teacher, I just wish there wasn't this...issue...we keep having..." Her voice trailed off at the end as she became completely absorbed by what she saw on her monitor.
Something in Sam's voice made Vala look up from reading the notebook. She watched her friend stare at the screen, then type a few heavy keystrokes into the computer and stare at the results in tense silence again. Vala silently watched Sam do this several times, each time the blonde's typing became faster and more frenetic, her expression growing more and more concerned.
"What's wrong?" Vala asked with a worried voice, regarding Sam with an intent stare, deeply concerned by Carter's expression.
Hesitating to respond, Carter typed in a few more commands and watched the results before glancing back to the other. "I'm not sure..." she looked back at the screen and typed a few more commands, reading the resulting text. "...but I think our computers have been hacked..."
"What?!?" Vala asked in shock, her brow furrowing as she watched on, helplessly.
Carter typed a few more commands, her brow furrowed in deep concern as she read the results. "Oh yeah, we've been whacked." She said with depressing finality. Pausing for just a moment, she then suddenly jumped down from her stool. Taking fast, wide steps towards the door, she glanced back over her shoulder. "Come on," she said hurriedly to Vala, as she reached the door.
The raven-haired woman watched Carter jump up and nearly sprint for the door in shock, hesitating for just a second as the woman beckoned her to follow. In a flash, Vala was hustling to catch up, asking in a worried voice, "Where are we going?"
"Down to level 28," Sam answered, picking up her pace to a jog. "I need to make sure the core mainframe isn't compromised."
"What, can't you just do that from up here?" Vala asked in reply, the two running along the hallway, nearly running into various people as they went.
"No," Carter answered as they reached the elevator. She punched the call button and turned to the other, "the computer is so well protected that the only way to log into it directly is in a restricted access room down on the same level as the Stargate."
"Shouldn't we tell General Landry?" Vala asked as they waited impatiently for the doors to open.
Sam glanced back at the woman briefly, looking distracted. "We will, but his first question is going to be about the core system. I can't know that until we get down there and see for ourselves."
The doors opened and the two women walked in, saying nothing more. A tense silence settled in as Carter pushed the button for level 28, her face heavy with worry as the doors closed in front of them. The two said nothing while the elevator hummed quietly in its descent to the bowels of the SGC.
The doors opened to the elevator on level 28, Sam and Vala running out even before they were done. Sam charged down the hallways, Vala struggling to keep up. While she prided herself on her fitness, she was amazed at the urgency that bore Carter forward.
The two worked their way through the corridors' various twists and turns, until they came upon a hallway that ended in a heavy steel door with no windows. Upon reaching it, Sam stopped just long enough to swipe her access card, pressing her hand upon a flat panel just below the card reader. After a moment, the panel lit up a pale green color, and a loud click could be heard from the door. Sam then flung the door open and ran in. Vala reached the door as it started to swing close, making her way in behind her friend.
As the door swung shut behind her, Vala was amazed at the room they'd entered. The floor of the room consisted of large white tiles, which were completely featureless. White concrete walls rose up without feature to the 10-foot ceiling. She couldn't help but notice that each corner of the ceiling had a video camera pointing down at the room. On either side of the room were a number of rows of large, black metal cabinets. The doors on these cabinets were covered with a variety of blinking lights and digital displays.
Out of the middle of the room rose a great cylindrical tower, stopping just a few feet shy of the ceiling of the room. At the bottom of the tower, directly in front of the door, was a lone chair that sat seemingly in front of nothing.
Sam rushed over to this chair and sat down. Immediately a display on the tower directly at eye-level with her came to life, lighting up with a bright white background with a slowly spinning 3-D picture of the SGC insigna. A deep computerized voice bellowed out, "Identify yourself."
"Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter," she began as Vala quietly walked up to stand behind her friend, watching wordlessly.
The display flashed after a moment and the computerized voice spoke again, "Enter authorization code for voice print authentication."
Carter immediately responded, "code Alpha-Tango-fiver-nine-zero-zero-Charlie-Baker."
After another few moments, the computer spoke once more. "You have been authenticated. Welcome back, Samantha Carter. Your last logon was fifty days ago at twenty-hundred hours Greenwich Mean Time. Your logon session lasted fifty-three minutes and twenty-eight seconds." At that, a keyboard extended from the horizontal column and the screen turned black with a blinking white cursor.
Immediately Sam reached out and started typing away furiously, entering command after command into the console and reading the results quickly. Vala watched with a concerned brow, not understanding what Carter was doing but waiting patiently to hear the results of her friend's efforts.
After a few agonizing minutes, Vala was about to say something when suddenly Sam sat back in the chair, breathing a deep sigh of relief. "We're alright," she said, "I can't find any sign that the intrusion has reached the mainframe."
"Well that's certainly good news," Vala replied. Carter then leaned forward and resumed typing as the raven-haired woman continued, "I wonder, is there something you can do to protect this computer more than it normally is?"
Glancing back at Vala with a grin, Sam answered as she looked back at the screen. "As a matter of fact, yes." She paused to type a few commands and then added, "I've already started locking down the system to limit access even further. It'll disrupt base operations a little and dampen our communications with the rest of the JWICS network, but at least we'll have bought some time." Carter entered a few more commands before typing one last key that caused the keyboard to retract into the column, which then went dark again.
The Colonel got up out of her chair and turned to leave. Vala followed behind Sam and the two left the room together. On their way out, Sam had to go through the same badge-swipe and hand scan regiment as when they first entered. "Okay, now we tell Landry," Sam said as they walked into the hallway, the door closing on its own behind them.
"What do you think Landry's going to say about this?" Vala asked Sam as they walked briskly through the corridors of the SGC, quickly making their way to the Gate Control Room.
Glancing back over to the other woman with a concerned and distracted eye, Sam shrugged, "I don't know. I'm not even sure what to make of it." The blonde-haired Colonel looked forward again, deeply lost in thought. Vala pursed her lips in silent thought at her friend's answer, saying nothing more.
The two turned the last corner and strode into the doorway of the Control Room. Sam entered first, quickly reaching the stairs, hiking up them two at a time to the monitor-filled room. Vala followed right behind her, but as soon as she passed through the doorway, something started bothering her, making her slow slightly. She was so distracted by what they had to tell Landry, however, she half ignored it as she approached the stairway. Sam was in such a rush that she had put some distance between her and Vala, already almost reaching the top of the stairs even as the other just reached the first stair.
Keegan and Hooper were both standing in the farther parts of the room, each attending different computer terminals. Martin was on the far side of the room, nearest the opposite door leading out of the control room. He was attending a computer with a clipboard full of papers, writing upon them from time to time as he read data from a monitor. The other technician was at the far back wall, busily scrolling through lines of text on the terminal there. As the two women entered the room, Keegan suddenly whipped his head up from his clipboard, turning abruptly to stare at them with an intense gaze as they walked in.
Sam furrowed her brow as she crested the stairs, something suddenly making her feel very unsettled. Her thoughts had been intently focused on what they had to tell Landry, but now she felt a sudden and dramatic panic welling up within her as she crested the stairs. She slowed slightly as she walked across the floorboards, approaching the spiral stairs heading up into the briefing room outside of Landry's office. Her concentration faltered on the matter at hand as something inside of her screamed at her conscious mind for attention, fighting its way to the forefront through the sea of her other thoughts.
Vala reached the top of the stairs several steps behind Sam, and she suddenly lost all focus on her thoughts about their discovery. She felt a sickening, twisting knot in the pit of her stomach, one that she had felt all too recently. Suddenly it clicked in the raven-haired woman's mind what was wrong, what she sensed. It was the same thing she felt back in the hatchery on Kevlin Prime, just before the Goa'uld had attacked her.
She looked over to Sam just as the other woman suddenly froze in her tracks, turning to look back at Vala. The two looked at each other intensely and the raven-haired woman could see that her friend had just realized the same thing. In a panic, they looked across the room at the two techs, only to see Marty Keegan staring intently at them. His eyes flashed brightly as they made eye contact.
With lightning speed, the man dropped his clipboard and drew a 9mm pistol out of one of the pockets of his jumpsuit. Before the papers even hit the floor, he raised the weapon at the two women and fired off two shots.
Vala dove to the floor as she saw the man raise his weapon, his shot digging deeply into her shoulder. At the same time, she looked over at the Sam in time to see her recoil as if she had been punched in the stomach. The force of the bullet knocked her back against the wall, splattering blood everywhere.
"SAM!" Vala cried out, stumbling over herself to reach her friend, half crawling to reach her. As she watched, Carter clutched her stomach, her fingers quickly becoming red with her own blood as she slid down the wall into a limp sitting position. Her friend looked at her with a shocked and pained expression, unable to speak.
Suddenly the base klaxon rang out, the hallways and Gate Control Room filling with a flashing red light. Reacting on instinct, Vala scrambled to her feet and ran over to her friend. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Keegan turn his weapon on the other technician, who had sounded the alarm. He fired one shot at the man, striking him in the head. The other technician flew back from the impact, striking the computers, spraying his blood over the blinking wall of lights as his limp body fell to the ground in a pile.
Vala grabbed Sam by the shoulders and started to drag her behind the spiral staircase going up. As she did, the sounds of booted footsteps came from the doorway behind her. She half realized as she hauled her wounded friend behind some shelter that the SFs from the Gateroom had heard the shots and were now charging up the stairs. As the metal stairs clanged loudly from the heavy foot-falls, Vala stopped pulling Sam, figuring they were under as much cover as they could get right now.
"FREEZE!" she heard one of the SFs yell, "PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPON!" She heard two more cracks of the pistol, and then the sound of a body falling down the stairwell. Suddenly the room filled with the heavy staccato sound of an M-16 firing from the doorway. As she heard the gun fire, Vala fumbled around in her pockets for the Goa'uld healing device she'd acquired while they were on Dakara. Another burst of automatic weapons fire filled the room, followed immediately by the sound of glass shattering. Vala realized that Keegan had taken cover behind the star map in the middle of the control room.
Then her fingers closed around the device. In a hurried panic, Vala pulled it out of her pocket and placed it on her hand, holding it over Sam's stomach. She watched Sam's face as the red light came to life on the device. The woman had a distant look in her eyes, and was having trouble breathing. "Just hang on, Sam," she said quietly with urgency. Suddenly then she heard another two shots from where Keegan was and the sound of another body falling down the stairs that lead into the room.
At this, the room became deathly silent. Vala's pulse quickened as she tried to focus on healing her friend, but she found it difficult as her mind flooded with fear. Gritting her teeth, she tried to ignore the sound of the footfalls that now filled the space. As she started to focus on the healing process, she heard the footsteps stop and the sound of someone tapping on a keyboard. The doors to the Gateroom and the Control Room then closed noisily and she heard the Stargate start a dialing sequence.
Suddenly a strong hand grasped her wrist and jerked her hand away from Sam, ripping the healing device off her finger in the process. Carter gasped as the device suddenly was pulled away, coughing painfully, her breathing becoming labored again.
Vala cried out in pain and frustration as she looked up at Martin Keegan's face. The eyes flashed again, and he spoke in the voice of the Goa'uld. "What are you doing playing with toys that are beyond your kin, slave?" He smirked at her and raised his pistol to her head.
A shot rang out. Vala flinched, but to her amazement she was still alive and Keegan was clutching his shoulder in pain. She looked up past Keegan towering over her to see General Landry leaning over the railing with a smoking pistol in his hand and a hard look on his face. The Goa'uld immediately whipped around with his pistol and fired several shots at the General. Landry ducked behind the cover of the stairwell as the Keegan spun about, however, and the bullets merely struck metal and concrete.
Vala wasted no time at the opportunity, punching Keegan in the groin as hard as she could with her un-wounded hand, her off hand. He half crumpled at this, but managed to stay on his feet, immediately swinging back around and striking her in the face with his pistol, knocking her down into a prone position.
"WENCH!" The Goa'uld cried out in pain as he raised his pistol at her once more. Suddenly more shots rang out from the stairwell, striking Keegan twice in the back. He spun around and fired back at the stairwell for the second time, but the General had again disappeared behind the metal framework. Snarling in pain and anger, Keegan ran away, his blood dripping on the floor as he went.
Just then, the Stargate finished its dialing sequence and the explosive force of the established wormhole could be heard. Vala looked up from where she lay, blood dripping from her mouth as the Goa'uld started to run to front of the Control Room. Keegan fired several times at the bullet proof glass, causing several cracks to form around where the bullets struck in a tight grouping. As he closed distance with the front of the room, charged forward and leaped into the window, his body breaking through the plate glass, falling into the Gateroom.