EARTH—SGC
Hammond loved uneventful days. Quiet, serene, almost boring … he didn't quite know what to do with himself.
It was only going to get quieter, but probably not until after a very loud meeting between two members of SG-1. Colonel O'Neill was coming to the base to pick up Doctor Jackson who had worked through the night, something the colonel was more than a little upset about. Already, the archaeologist's roller-coastering emotions had put most of the personnel on alert. The general had asked some of the airmen to stop by Daniel's office occasionally to bring him food, coffee or just to check on his general welfare. The reports weren't good. Once he was angrily throwing coffee mugs at the wall. Another time, he was near tears. One airman said he heard laughing once, but it was the report that mentioned Daniel saying how the very weave of his uniform hurt his skin had Hammond worried.
The general smiled at the mental image of Jack O'Neill forcing a stubborn Daniel Jackson to rest and eat. Those two indomitable wills in concert with each other was a tremendous force to be reckoned with. Opposed, you've got the makings of an apocalyptic head-on collision, and with Doctor Jackson in his current physical state, it would definitely be a week Hammond was glad he wouldn't have to witness, no matter how entertaining it might be.
"General," Sergeant Davis called him over the intercom, "incoming wormhole."
Hammond hurried to the control room. No SG teams were scheduled to return. "Signal?"
Davis waited a moment, then answered. "SG-1 signal. Abydonian sub-signal. Transmission only."
Hammond reached down and activated the monitor to receive the MALP image. It was a good thing they had left one behind on Abydos. General Hammond would never forgive himself for threatening to send a bomb through … but that was then. This was now. Within moments, the picture of the Abydonian gate room appeared on the screen with Kasuf standing before the MALP.
"Master Kasuf, this is General Hammond. It's good to see you again, sir."
"Thank you, General. Please excuse my haste, but is my good son there?"
Hammond motioned to a nearby airman to call Daniel on the telephone and advise him that his presence was required in the control room. "He'll be here in a moment. How are things on Abydos? No trouble, I hope." Jackson didn't need any more trouble.
"No, there has been no trouble. It has been quiet since my daughter died, may she rest in peace."
Kasuf's voice was steady, not the voice of a grieving parent. He had been able to deal with that pain well enough. "That's good," Hammond said gratefully. "Things have been rather busy for us, your son-in-law in particular."
"You have important tasks. It is not a simple matter to fight the Goa'uld," the Elder commented. "I shall not keep Dan'yer long. I require his assistance on a political matter."
"Political?" Daniel asked breathlessly as he ran into the control room. Hammond surmised that he must have run the entire way.
"Good Son, the Council is convening in a few hours to discuss terms of a new trade agreement with our neighboring cities. I cannot cast your vote in this. Can you return home?"
"Yes, I'll be right there." Daniel volunteered before asking the general for permission. Seeing Hammond's quickly permissive nod, he said, "I'll let the general tell Jack I won't be going fishing today."
Kasuf didn't answer, just nodded and stepped back.
"I'll send him through the Stargate immediately," Hammond said into the microphone just as the wormhole disengaged.
"Sergeant, dial up Abydos."
"Yes, sir."
Before Daniel could turn to leave, the general stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Are you feeling well enough to do this?"
Daniel flexed his fingers. "Right now? Yes, sir. I don't feel … too out of sorts at the moment. I should be all right for a little while."
"What would you like me to tell Colonel O'Neill?" Hammond had been the bearer of bad tidings to his second-in-command on more than one occasion, but this time would be priceless.
Daniel didn't have to consider an answer. It was already on the tip of his tongue. "Tell him I'll be back as soon as I can, and then we'll go catch that really big fish." Tired as he was, as wound up as he was, Daniel realized he really wanted to go back home to Abydos before going on that vacation with Jack—now that he was no longer adverse to the idea of going fishing. It was easier to say that Jack's idea of fun and his were slightly different.
"The one that's this big?" Hammond grinned as he spread his arms apart.
"Oh, you've heard of it?" Daniel returned, smiling.
As Daniel turned to leave, Hammond said quickly, "Doctor, I'd strongly suggest you taking your weapon with you." Hammond said quickly. "And a GDO?"
Daniel looked around, as if deciding what to do when Sergeant Davis opened a drawer and gave him a spare sidearm, holster and an extra SG-1 GDO that he kept in case of emergency—and with SG-1, there were always emergencies. Daniel quickly took the items, put them in his jacket pockets, gave the sergeant and the general a thanking nod, then without further delay he rushed down to the gate room, up the ramp and through the Stargate.
"Sergeant Davis, I have to make a phone call to Colonel O'Neill," Hammond told him.
"Yes, sir," the sergeant answered.
"Oh, Sergeant, I don't know anything about extra GDOs being kept in drawers without authorization. It's not exactly regulation."
"Yes, sir," Davis smiled as he turned back to the control panel.
~o~o~o~
Daniel stepped through the wormhole onto the gate platform on Abydos. Just as he did so, he felt something fall onto the back of his neck. He reached up to brush whatever it was off, but there was nothing there. He dismissed it as his imagination. Kasuf was waiting for him, a small smile on his face. If Kasuf was smiling, that meant that the visit wasn't meant to be just business. Kasuf would turn it into a family trip before it was over.
"Good Father," Daniel greeted Kasuf.
"Good Son, I am glad you are here. There is much to be done, and time is against us."
Kasuf sounded more urgent than before. "I thought you just needed my vote for the trade agreement. Did something else happen?"
"Yes," Kasuf said as he brought his left hand out from his robes. Something shiny was wrapped around his fingers and palm, something very familiar. Kasuf's arm reached forward toward Daniel, the ribbon device flared directly at Daniel's forehead, dropping him to his knees in intense pain.
"Varos!" A familiar, disembodied voice rang though the gate room. "Enough. I do not wish him harmed. At least, not yet."
Daniel's eyes blinked as the immediate pain stopped, but the lingering ache remained. The pain was too pronounced—the Blood of Sokar was being channeled with it. His head felt like it was splitting open!
Kasuf … no. It couldn't be! It wasn't Kasuf. How could Kasuf use a ribbon device unless … no. Not his father-in-law, too! Not all of his family!
Daniel could barely move through the overwhelming pain. He had learned enough about ribbon devices to learn about the different settings. Some stunned, some killed, others just hurt. Obviously, the one Kasuf was holding was set to a painful stun.
"Impressive," the familiar voice said. "You still have some control. Yes, you have been subjected to our personal weapon several times before. You have learned to use the effects against it, haven't you?"
Damn. It was Apophis. That's who owned the voice. With a mighty effort, Daniel looked up at the creature standing before him, looking down on him with disgust and some impatience. Oh, yeah. It was Apophis. Dressed in his garish red attire, he would be considered overdressed at a costume party. "You know," Daniel said as he moved around trying to regain complete control over his limbs, "you really ought to get a new tailor. The one you've got has been dressing you like a drag queen on a bad day." He saw Apophis' eyes blaze at that. "Or maybe it's not your tailor," Daniel said, trying to gain control of the conversation as well. "Maybe you just prove the old adage that you're ugly and your mother dresses you funny."
Apophis easily walked over to Daniel and backhanded him into the Jaffa he hadn't realized was standing behind him. Good thing he was still kneeling on the ground or he would have landed on his backside, not that Apophis' second punch didn't send him there immediately after it was delivered. "I shall enjoy making you suffer," was Apophis' lame threat.
The little bastard really needed to get new material. "Suffer?" Daniel asked. "Have you been watching those bad B movies on the Late Show again?" Right. Keep on doing as Jack always told you to do. Make jokes, good, bad and in-between. Don't let him know you're scared. Hell, don't let him know you're terrified.
Apophis laughed. That was never good. The Goa'uld raised his hand and waved for someone to come closer. Now what did he have in mind? Did Apophis—oh, no. Matters just got worse. From behind a column in the gate room came someone Daniel had never expected to see. It was an Asgard. Someone who was supposed to be helping Earth against the Goa'uld was working with a Goa'uld? Daniel was in big trouble.
He should have given his assignments to Robert and gone fishing.
The Jaffa standing behind him dragged him unceremoniously to his feet and pushed him forward. Daniel was forced to follow Apophis, the Asgard and Kasuf—who was inside Kasuf? Varos, was that his name?—out of the gate room. Behind him, he heard what could only be classified as a derisive snort. He turned to see more Jaffa and Skaa—no, not Skaara. It was Klorel getting into step behind him. What next? The hosts were his family! This was the family that he would have gladly given up his life for. Now they were hosts for parasites who were going to delight in killing him or worse. Daniel knew that was going to happen. He'd angered more Goa'ulds than he wanted to think about, and Apophis had just grabbed him by using the one bait he couldn't resist: family.
He knew where they were taking him. As they made their way toward the small room off the main corridor, Daniel thought to himself, 'Jack, please tell me you've decided to come here instead of waiting for me to come back.' He knew it was a useless hope. He was trapped.
They entered the small room single file. In the center, it held an altar that had been used ages ago in ancient sacrificial ceremonies that had been outlawed after the fall of Ra. Blood still stained some of the stones, giving them a reddish hue, a brilliant contrast to the sand colored stone that covered Abydos. Daniel knew that those colors could be some of the last he ever saw in this lifetime.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
EARTH—SGC
Hammond was almost amused at Jack's irritation. Almost. Just because Jack wasn't happy that Daniel's trip home had delayed the catching of the fish this big didn't mean that the colonel had the right to make everyone miserable—but he was trying. He was grumpy and growling at everyone, snapping at anyone who dared to speak. Hammond was ready to politely ask him to leave the control room and find something productive to do.
"Colonel, why don't you take a break?" the general suggested. "It could be hours before we hear anything from Doctor Jackson."
"You know he won't tell Kasuf about the Blood of Sokar," Jack stated bluntly. "He's gonna be yo-yoing up and down the emotional scale, and no one's gonna know what's wrong with him."
"I don't think you have to worry about that. Master Kasuf is a very wise man. He'll know the moment Doctor Jackson starts behaving out of character that something is wrong. He'll ask—"
"And Daniel will tell him. Kasuf is the one person he'll never keep anything from."
"He'll be fine, Jack, but you're starting to annoy the masses. I'll let you know if we hear anything from Abydos—"
The alarm sounded at that moment, preventing any further conversation.
"Incoming signal," Sergeant Davis called out as the wormhole stabilized, grateful for any distraction from the fuming colonel. "It's the Tok'ra."
General Hammond nodded his agreement. "Open the iris."
"Here we go again," Jack said unhappily. "First, Daniel postpones our vacation, now the Tok'ra are going to grace us with their presence. Life can be so much fun."
"Colonel?"
"It's always the same, General. The Tok'ra show up, get us to do something they don't want to risk their own necks for, and we're the ones that almost get killed."
"Not necessarily, Colonel. This might just be a social call."
"With all due respect, sir," Jack said sarcastically, "if I believed that, I'd be buying swampland in Arizona."
"So noted," Hammond told him. "Would you be interested in a bridge in Brooklyn?"
They watched as several Tok'ra stepped through the event horizon, but they only recognized two. The first was Donan, a lab assistant. The other was Malthus, a Tok'ra scientist.
Oh, boy. This wasn't going to be fun.
~o~o~o~
"Excuse me," General Hammond angrily interrupted his visitor. "You want to exhume the body of Doctor Jackson's wife, and you believed that he would give permission for you to do so?"
Malthus could feel Mordecai's 'I told you so' speaking loud and clear in his mind. He gave his host a quick nudge as he felt Mordecai sit back and listen. He had no doubt that his host would be telling him exactly what to say and what not to say during this meeting. Mordecai, being human, had a better rapport with other humans than Malthus did; however, he was giving Malthus the chance to present his request. "General, I don't believe you understand the significance of having access to a—"
"No. I don't believe I do understand." Hammond sat back and laced his fingers together. Resting his joined hands on the table, he said, "Please explain."
'….Be polite, Malthus. And humble. General Hammond does not look pleased …' Malthus took a deep breath as he tried to take his host's words to heart. It was better to yield to the wisdom of experience than to allow his own pride to take control of him. Mordecai would not allow him to damage the Tok'ra/Earth relationship but would be granted some leeway.
"General, there are only a few Queen Goa'ulds in existence. There are many Goa'uld queens, they are the rulers or mates of the pharaohs, but only the Queen Goa'ulds themselves have the ability to reproduce. One symbiote in one hundred thousand will be born a queen, and that one symbiote is highly sought after by all System Lords. This guarantees that a System Lord's bloodline will survive."
"Yes, we've been briefed about Goa'uld bloodlines," Hammond said.
Jack leaned forward, his unfailing stare pinning Malthus in his seat. "Why do you want to dig up Sha'uri?"
"There is a chance that I might be able to continue my research. General, Colonel, you must understand that Goa'uld symbiotes do not have the ability to reproduce as prolifically as humans. Only queens are born with the ability, and symbiote numbers are decreasing. My small sample of genetic material is gone, and I am only one of a very few trying to discover new and varied ways to increase our numbers or affect the numbers of Goa'uld symbiotes. Without new material, I will not be able to continue my research to discover and duplicate the genetic difference that allows only queens to produce offspring."
"That's it?" Jack asked.
Malthus waited a moment. 'Mordecai?'
Malthus could sense Mordecai weighing the options of telling the truth or keeping secrets. Finally, Malthus heard Mordecai's advice. '….Tell him, Malthus …'
'I cannot tell him about my other research.'
'….You don't have any choice …'
The silent conversation between host and symbiote lasted mere moments, so quickly that no one else in the room knew that it was happening. "No, Colonel. There is more. I've also been searching for weaknesses in a Goa'uld's bloodline in order to find more subtle ways to defeat them."
That one statement caught the general's interest. "What do you mean?" Hammond asked.
"If we can determine the distinct genetic traits present in a queen's bloodline, we might be able to engineer a compound that will target the symbiotes of that bloodline, thereby killing the enemy without killing any of our own people."
Jack and Hammond were silent for a moment, then Jack muttered, "A smart poison. Kill the bad guys and leave the good guys standing."
"Yes," Malthus answered.
"You still haven't answered about why you want to dig up Sha'uri," Jack reminded him.
The Tok'ra took a deep breath, then said, "Amaunet is not a rare name among the Goa'uld. The original Amaunet was a Queen and mate to Amun-Ra. There have been several powerful System Lords with that name, but nothing certain is known about the fate of the Queen herself. She seems to have disappeared in history. The Amaunet who took Doctor Jackson's wife—"
"Sha'uri," Hammond corrected him.
"I'm sorry?" Malthus was thrown off track by the unexpected interruption. "I don't understand."
"Doctor Jackson's wife was named Sha'uri. She helped lead the rebellion against Ra on Abydos. Her father is Kasuf, the Chief Elder of Nagada, the capital city of Abydos. Her brother is Skaara who was also taken as a host by a Goa'uld named Klorel. Make no mistake. She was an innocent woman kidnapped and tortured by the Goa'uld. Let me remind you to not lose sight of the fact that we are talking about a human being whose importance cannot be understated. She's a lady, not a lab experiment."
'….He's telling you to show respect …' Mordecai's voice scolded.
'I can see that. Doesn't he realize—'
'…. Malthus, you're casually talking about dissecting his friend's wife! Were you really expecting them to just hand her body over to you with smiles on their faces? …'
Reflecting on his words and attitude, Malthus realized that he might have appeared callous by the Tau'ri. Perhaps only another scientist could wholly understand his viewpoint, but General Hammond was not a scientist, neither was Colonel O'Neill. "I'm sorry. I did not intend to belittle the tragedy that fell on Doctor Jackson and his—Sha'uri. I do realize that losing her must be difficult for him."
"It has been," Hammond said, his voice taking on an angry edge. "She died two months ago, and he's still grieving. Your coming here at this time to ask him to exhume her so you can run tests is the height of insensitivity and shows an inhuman lack of sympathy."
Malthus did not miss the subtle message that Hammond was conveying. Just because he was a Tok'ra did not mean he couldn't follow the rules of civility. Malthus felt Mordecai's nudge. He knew the timing was bad, but time was his enemy. Soon, he wouldn't be able to salvage any viable samples.
"I didn't realize that such a short time had passed since she died. I thought it had been longer."
"Well, it hasn't," O'Neill's angry voice all but shattered Malthus' confidence. "And we're not letting anybody with a snake in his head hurt Sha'uri anymore. She's dead and buried. Let her be."
"Colonel, as I was trying to explain—"
"Explain? You want to dig up Sha'uri and butcher what's left of her because of Amaunet so you can keep playing in your lab! Try harder," O'Neill ordered.
Malthus chose his words carefully. He needed to get past Jackson's watchdogs first. He hadn't anticipated this much resistance. "The rumors surrounding Amaunet have been varied for many millennia. As I said before, several Goa'ulds have used the name. That in turn has caused problems in tracing the history and genealogy. We have tried to discover the truth, but Amaunet's life has always been a well guarded secret."
"We have reason to believe that Apophis' queen was the same Amaunet that was mate to Amun-Ra. There have always been rumors that Amun-Re had refused to father any children with Amaunet because he feared his offspring would conspire against him. Other rumors state that they spawned more symbiotes than any other pair. Some held that Amaunet refused to have offspring with him because of his disloyalty and would only give her permission for certain queens to be impregnated by Amun-Re. Still other rumors persist that she could bring about offspring without the assistance of a male-hosted Goa'uld. There was one that stated that she was the mother of all Goa'ulds, not Hathor, but that rumor has been proven false. All we do know is that Apophis and Amaunet have never produced symbiotic offspring during the time they were together, and we do know that she gave Apophis permission to mate with a few queens over the millennia. Klorel was the son of another Queen Goa'uld. We just don't know which."
"Our records do not have Apophis' mate positively classified as a queen, but it is more than possible. In fact, I would say that it is likely. Ages ago, the pharaohs would not divulge who the mothers of their offspring were because it was necessary that they mate with more than one queen in order to secure the highest chances of preserving their genetic line. Keeping the queens' identities secret meant that other System Lords had great difficulty in determining exactly how many offspring a Goa'uld sired because none knew how many queens or which queens a pharaoh seeded. As you can imagine, these queens were and still are in very high demand. They are as sought after as planets are during a conquest. In order to hide her identity and not be hunted, Amaunet may have only claimed to be a Goa'uld queen although there is a very good chance that she was a Queen Goa'uld. A small sample of genetic material would allow me to perform tests that might identify her status and, if she was a queen and produced as many symbiotes as we think she may have, I can isolate the genetic anomaly that differentiates her bloodline from others. Once that is done, I can create a method of destroying that particular bloodline, thereby destroying her entire line."
Malthus could see the interest in the faces sitting around the conference table. A chance to destroy the Goa'uld didn't come along every day of the week.
"So, let me get this straight." Jack started counting off Malthus' points on his fingers. "One, you want to dig up Sha'uri's body. Two, you want to run tests on her to see if this particular Amaunet was a Queen Goa'uld or just your average run-of-the-mill Goa'uld queen. Three, if Amaunet was a Queen Goa'uld, you want to take Sha'uri's body, dissect it and run as many tests as you can until it decomposes completely. Four, you want to try to come up with some kind of chemical warfare that's gonna take down her bloodline because if she is the mother and grandmother of a lot of Goa'ulds, you could use a smart chemical to destroy them all in one fell swoop without risking any Tok'ra because I'm guessing that you're obviously not part of Amaunet's bloodline. Is that about it?"
"Yes, Colonel. That's it."
"Uh, General, you want to take this?" Jack asked Hammond.
Hammond took a deep breath. Malthus had been told that generals were at a disadvantage since insubordination from them wasn't permitted; however, a politely worded but strongly motivated disagreement was allowed. "Malthus, I'm sure you understand that any chance to stop the Goa'uld is one that we should take under any circumstance," there was a pause, how was the general going to phrase the next part? "but no matter what the benefits you could derive from taking genetic material from Amaunet, there is no way I can endorse your recommendation or approve of your plan to exhume Sha'uri Jackson's body. The decision to allow you to do so ultimately belongs to her family. Doctor Jackson will say no, but he wouldn't make such an important decision as telling you 'no' without speaking to his father-in-law. Master Kasuf will deny you permission but he will ask me for my opinion since he'll be told that you came here first instead of going to Abydos. I will have to tell him that I cannot agree with your plan. I won't hurt Doctor Jackson further. I have no doubt that they will not give you permission. I can assure you, sir, Sha'uri will not be removed from her grave."
"General Hammond," Malthus tried to begin again.
"Forget it," O'Neill interrupted him. "I know for a fact that Daniel won't let you anywhere near Sha'uri's grave. And if you even try, Daniel won't be thinking of the Earth/Tok'ra Alliance. He's gonna be thinking just how good it's gonna feel to pop a few bullets in you."