Author Notes: Glad everyone is still enjoying!

Chapter 8

Bureaucracy was a bitch. Of that much, Jack could be pretty much certain. It had been two weeks since they had been landed smack dab into this political nightmare. If this had happened but a little while ago, of course, there wouldn't be this much trouble. Look at Teal'c. He had fitted in just fine, and he'd killed lots of decent people in his service to his false god. How was this situation any different?

Apparently, it was. According to the Tok'ra and IOA at least. Thankfully, the former had been forced to drop the matter officially, due to the original agreement that Earth and the SGC would have primary control over the matter. Nevertheless, they were barely any further forwards politically.

That was not to say there had been no other developments. Jonas had recovered sufficiently enough that Janet had allowed him to be moved into the same room as the others. Not that she was particularly happy about it, but she conceded that keeping him separate from the only people he knew would only cause undue stress and hinder his recovery. She was appeased by the reluctant agreement that Jonas would not be sleeping on the floor with the others. The group themselves had been relatively cooperative, adhering to the rules and barely complained about the forced confinement. At least, they had managed to get the incidents down to a day apart now before someone made a move one of them deemed threatening. Mostly, it was Vala who caused the trouble. And Jack could hardly say he was surprised. The SGC personnel had developed a nasty habit of forgetting to mention key details to whichever IOA questioner it was that day trying their luck.

Nevertheless, Jack knew that this situation could not last. With any luck, they would be making some headway today. Woolsey would be tied up with Hammond for the majority of the morning to go over whatever new crap those suits had come up with now, finally giving Fraiser the opportunity to speak to all of them without observation of unwanted parties.

When Jonas' blood test had come back, there had been some rather unusual results, results that had prompted Janet to subject blood samples of the others to a more thorough testing. It had conjured a few theories, but she could only confirm these by talking to all of them. This was precisely what had brought Jack and the good doctor to the door of the six people who had been made no more than prisoners in a facility that had once been a home to two of them.

As soon as they entered the room, Daniel and Renn were on their feet. Janet held up her palms, "Please, sit down, we just need to talk to you."

Vala snorted, "Talking is all we've done since we got here. Not that it's got us anywhere."

Jack shrugged, "No arguments here. But there are lots of things that are out of our control. We're on your side. Let the doc help you."

There was silence for a few minutes, before Daniel finally nodded. Janet took a breath, knowing she was about to ask the question that had been at best met with a stubborn silence, and at worst with Vala's fist. "I need you to tell me how it was you came to be in the service of Neith."

"No." Renn replied bluntly.

Beren nodded, "If that's all, you can leave us to our cell."

Janet tried to make her case, but Jack was more interested on the interactions of the two furthest from them – Jonas and Kera. He looked much better, thankfully, but it was not this that had caught Jack's attention. The silent girl was holding Jonas' gaze, and had grasped his hand, a pleading look upon her face. Jonas was frowning in confusion, shaking his head almost unnoticeably. Kera then frowned in turn, shaking her head once, before dropping her grip on Jonas' hand and nodding her head decisively.

Jonas bit his lip, and then his shoulders seemed to sag in defeat. He turned to Fraiser, "It's a rather long story. Perhaps you could specify what you need to know?"

Vala turned to stare at Jonas incredulously, "They don't need to know anything, Jonas."

Janet, however, took what she could get and ploughed forwards, "What I mean is, do you remember anything of your lives before Neith? Only I found some rather anomalous chemicals in all of your blood, and it is very possible that she could have found some way to suppress your memories."

Renn scowled, "There was no before."

Jack scoffed, "So you could tell me where you grew up? Who your parents were? Your friends?" He couldn't help his gaze lingering on Daniel.

Beren, however, looked thoughtful, "How would she have gone about taking our memories?"

Janet sighed, "Unfortunately, the Goa'uld do possess the technology to implant memories, and take them away. It is easily possible that this chemical could have nothing to do with your memories, but if it is, there is a chance you could begin to remember." Jack only just managed to hide a wince. This chemical was the last thing they were laying their hopes on for Daniel and Jonas remembering.

Janet watched as Daniel's clear gaze swept each of the others in turn to gauge their reactions, before finally resting on Renn and Vala's thunderous ones. He sighed, and shook his head, "I'm sorry, but we cannot help you."

Jack was about to explode, and likely finally let slip the truth about Daniel and Jonas, direct orders be damned, but he was beaten to it, "No!" Jonas had slid to his feet, coming to stand next to Daniel, "These people saved my life, and if we don't make some sort of step, nothing will change, and then how is it any different? What if Neith was worried I'd recognise something if she used proper Goa'uld technology? Beren always said that it never made sense for her to continue to feed us that disgusting stuff every day. What if she was drugging us? After all, it's not like she could have kept on knocking us out during the day to give us injections once she integrated us into her palace."

"Jonas..." Vala stepped forwards, taking his arm, "They're just nightmares-"

"They're not just nightmares!" He spat in frustration, "What if, what if these people are right? And we had a life before the facility? What if I'd met another woman, Goa'uld, whatever, before Neith? What if my dreams are memories?"

Jack could hardly dare to believe it. After all, Jonas had barely spoken three words in the past two weeks, preferring to leave it to the others to talk, "Wait, wait, back it up there. This woman – think you can describe her?"

"No, enough, that is enough!" Renn snapped, "You will leave now!"

"Yes, it is enough!" Jonas wrenched away from Vala, "I refuse to let this place become a prison like the last two times! For the first time since I can remember we're in a place where my skin doesn't crawl! Daniel asked that we trust these people, and I trust his judgement. The woman – she's dark haired, and her eyes glowed, just like Neith. She's...smiling, but it's not right, and she's talking to me, but I can't make out what she's saying. All the while, I'm just standing there, and there are coloured lights everywhere. And others...people, but not people. Wrong people."

"This is foolish!" Renn grasped Jonas' shoulders, "Don't you see? It was just a dream borne of Drek's murder and Neith's presence."

"Nirrti." Jack managed to choke out, his mind whirring.

Jonas' head snapped towards him, and so did Daniel's, both men's eyes shining with a fleeting clarity before they were shrouded in confusion, "What?"

"The Goa'uld – her name was Nirrti. She's dead now." He shrugged helplessly, "You met her. She tried to screw around with your DNA, and I guess that's an experience that's hard to let go of."

Everyone had gone completely still. Vala spoke slowly, "How could you know that?"

"Colonel..." Janet's voice was low and held a warning.

Jack shrugged again, "Screw Woolsey and his IOA. He remembered Nirrti – that is proof enough for me that they're still in there." He turned to look Jonas directly in the eye, "Your name is Jonas Quinn, and were a member of my team before you were captured by an unknown enemy, all wearing masks. At the same time, another of my team, a Doctor Daniel Jackson, was thought to have been killed by them. Apparently we were wrong."


"That went well." Sam commented dryly after Woolsey had stormed from the room.

"As well as could be expected under the circumstances, Major." Hammond conceded tiredly. "When can you get the report together, doctor?"

Janet frowned for a second, "A week? It's hard to say, sir. Now they're not ingesting whatever it was that Neith was giving them, the chemical should start to leave their systems."

"And then maybe they'll start talking to us again." Jack huffed.

"Well, you didn't exactly break the news gently, Colonel." General Hammond pointed out.

"It's very likely we've only scratched the surface on what happened to them over the past year and a half," Janet agreed, "But if we can start to help them regain their memories, then hopefully the IOA's case for them being a danger should begin to hold less sway."

"Any time estimate on that, doc?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, I mean, Jonas is already starting to remember, isn't he?" Sam leant forward anxiously.

Janet Fraiser sighed, "It's impossible to tell. Without knowing about the other four's history, I can't begin to make an estimate, but there is a notable difference between the memories of Jonas and Daniel, despite them both having less than savoury previous experiences with the Goa'uld. It is very possible Neith's drug never fully took effect in Jonas."

"Did Jonas Quinn not say that Nirrti mentioned that he was 'different' from humans of Earth?" Teal'c pointed out.

Janet nodded, "It seems to be a running theme with Langarans, possibly due to the Naquadria experiments in the early days of their planet. I couldn't say, but it does seem that the chemical is leaving Jonas' system faster than the others. It won't be an easy process regardless, though, for any of them. Their memories are unlikely to return in a neat package, and they will also no doubt begin to remember some other experiences from their earliest time with Neith." She sighed, running a hand through her hair, "In point of fact, it could take up to three months for their blood to be completely cleansed of the chemical, especially if their bodies don't have any way of breaking the compound down like Jonas' does. Whatever it was that she gave them, it seems to have created a blockage in their neural pathways between their long term memories of before any of this, and their newly formed memories of Neith's training and their time in her service.

"Three months?" Jack groaned, "Can't you speed it up?"

"Three months is the general time in which red blood cells live for. Short of a blood transfusion..." She trailed off. "I'm sorry sirs, but all I can suggest is to help them remember the old fashioned way. Surround them with familiar activities, objects, people. Of course, that will only help with Daniel and Jonas."

Hammond sighed, "Thank you doctor. Dismissed, all of you, get some rest." The group made to rise, "Not you Jack, I need to speak with you first."

Jack followed Hammond into his CO's office, and shut the door behind them, "Look, sir, I know I shouldn't have let slip about how we knew them, but you can't just-"

George held up a hand, "That's not what I wanted to see you about. God knows we needed something to kick the IOA out of the rut they had dragged this whole fiasco into. If anything, I should thank your relaxed attitude on censorship."

"Oh. Well, thank you. Sir."

"No, I wanted to ask you what you thought of the other four."

"General?"

"Well, they'll start to remember too, and we have no idea what kind of situations they could bring up."

Jack frowned, "Daniel and Jonas wouldn't trust them so much if they were really a threat."

"They don't even know who they themselves are, Jack, how can you say their ability to judge characters is up to scratch? For God's sake, the reputation of these people..."

"I hear Teal'c had a pretty formidable rep himself before we came along." Jack pointed out.

"I can't and won't risk this base, Colonel." Hammond locked eyes with his second in command.

Jack nodded once, "I'll keep an eye on them all, sir, and tell Teal'c and Carter to do the same."

General Hammond nodded, satisfied, "That's all I ask Colonel."

To Be Continued...

Author Notes: Would love to see any words of wisdom from you all!