Chapter 6

"Sergeant, shut it down, I'm not going to waste anymore of our resources." Hammond stared straight ahead at the Stargate with his arms folded neatly across his chest. His lips were pursed together in sullen concentration.

"Really sir?" Sergeant Harriman looked up to the General from his seat at the console where he hesitated with his hand hovering over the iris control. The blue shimmering light of the event horizon shone brilliantly through the solid glass window, making everything appear to be under water, including the General's features. Walter couldn't believe that Hammond was calling off the search. Hammond looked down over the tops of his arms as he leaned toward the Sergeant's upturned face. The light from the gate-room reflected off of his glasses, and the General couldn't quite read the sergeant's eyes, but his face showed genuine bewilderment.

"Relax Walter. I know what you're thinking, and it's just until we can come up with another solution. That's the third UAV they've shot down, do you have any idea how much those things cost?"

"Bet Siler would know sir. Better do as the General says there, Davis." Jack O'Neill's voice hung in the air behind them. Hammond turned around to see Jack, Teal'c and a very tired looking Daniel standing in the doorway to the control room. Master Sergeant Walter Harriman began to shut down the Stargate without another word, wondering as he always did, if Colonel O'Neill was ever going to get his name right.

"Good morning SG-1, why are you here? I thought you would still be in your quarters getting some shut-eye." The General took a deep breath and sighed out loud. He did not remove his arms from around his chest. The Stargate shut down as the event horizon disappeared with an awesome whisper. The stout man looked across the small space to where SG-1 was standing, and noticed that Jack O'Neill still held the small piece of black fabric in his left hand, wringing it with his fingers.

"Yeah, about that General. Daniel was sleepwalking again, and he had another one of those 'I was energy so I've seen the entire universe' dreams." Jack looked over to Daniel on his left who didn't even roll his eyes in return, the younger man just stood there yawning.

"Want to explain that one Colonel? said Hammond. He wasn't asking.

"General, what Jack is trying to tell you is that I had another vision last night. It was a different flash of memory than the one I had yesterday outside of the medical wing, but it was the same race, I'm sure of it."

"Dr. Jackson," said the General with a practiced calm and his arms still crossed "That was the third UAV we've sent through to PX4-302. It was shot down quicker than the other two. How am I supposed to send a rescue team back to that planet without some intelligence? And if they shot down the UAV that quickly, why wouldn't they shoot down my people if I sent them through the gate?"

"That's what I'm trying to explain to you sir." Daniel said. "The Mor'ei are a peaceful people by nature. They must feel very threatened for some reason."

"And you know that for sure Doctor? After what happened to you and your team, I am not as forgiving. All I real-" The General was interrupted by the sudden spin of the Stargate behind him, and the obnoxiously loud blare of the sirens and alarms that signaled an incoming wormhole. With an annoyed glance upward at the flashing strobe lights, and without turning around, Hammond spoke out loud to the small control room and it's early morning occupants.

"What now? Are we expecting anyone home now, Harriman?"

"No sir. We only have SG Teams 5 and 12 off world today, if you don't include Dr. Frasier's team sir, and neither one is scheduled to report in for-" he glanced at a list on a sheet of paper, which was taped to the desk. " 6 more hours sir.

"Well this oughta be fun." said Jack as he strode forward to stand with General Hammond as the older man turned to face the gateroom again. Teal'c and Daniel followed.

"It's the Tok'ra IDC General."

"Oh Boy."said Daniel.

"DOH!" said Jack at the same moment. Teal'c was quiet and vigilant.

The General simply sighed again, wishing for more coffee. "Well, we had to tell Jacob sooner or later. Sergeant-"

"Already on it Sir." Harriman said with resignation as he slid his palm over the iris control once more. O'Neill and Hammond exchanged brief glances, and then turned back toward the Stargate as the familiar sound of the iris opening caught their attention. What caught them all off guard however, was not the several Tok'ra and Jacob walking through the gate, but the fact that said Tok'ra were carrying two shrouded stretchers between them. Off of one stretcher hung a thick arm dressed in khaki green. It swung limply over the side as the Tok'ra silently made their way down the steel ramp. Jacob looked up at the control room window as soon as he saw that no one was in the gate room to greet them.

Jack quickly pushed his way through the tiny crowd of people who had gathered behind him to watch the Tok'ra's solemn entrance into Cheyenne Mountain. He raced down the few steps as fast as his harried knees would carry him. He heard the little crowd follow him as Hammond used the microphone to order the medical team to the gate room. The doors slid open when the Colonel slammed his hand against the button on the wall, and Jacob was there waiting in his path. But it wasn't Jacob that spoke to him.

"A medical team will not be necessary, Colonel O'Neill. Unfortunately, these men are already dead." Selmak spoke through Jacob's lips, and he showed himself through Jacob's eyes. Daniel and Teal'c and a few of the other personnel from the control room rounded the corner as the light faded away from Jacob Carter's brown irises. Selmak spoke again as General Hammond pushed his way to the front.

"Selmak? What's going on?" Daniel was the first one to ask.

"We were hoping that you could tell us, Dr. Jackson." said Selmak looking directly to Daniel. Behind Jacob, the other members of the Tok'ra set the two stretchers down at the base of the ramp.

Selmak spoke again as he turned to gesture at the covered bodies. The Stargate shut down, and the flourescent lights made sad shadows fall across his face.

"A short time ago, the bodies of two Tauri were sent through the Chappa'i of our new home world. We do not know their identities, but they bear your clothing with your glyph. You can understand our dilema of course." he was making a statement, not phrasing it as a question. Jack rolled his eyes. Selmak moved back into the gate room and walked over to one of the covered bodies. The general and his entourage followed, everyone was looking at the two stretchers while Selmak talked.

"The Tok'ra cannot be held accountable for this, General Hammond. As you are aware, diplomatic relations between our peoples are strained to say the least. You have my deepest apologies for the loss of your men, but their arrival on our new planet has caused more issues amongst our kind than you know."

"Wait..hold on just a minute." Jack shoved around Daniel and past Hammond to get up in Jacob's face. "Don't you think it's just a LITTLE strange that we sent these guys out..ALIVE, not tomention to a completely different planet, and then you show up here with their bodies?"

"Jack." Daniel said flatly.

"We are not accusing you of causing this. Besides, what would you have us do Colonel, leave them in the dirt to rot?" Selmak challenged.

"You know, that's only Jacob's influence causing you to say that, YOU just might." Jack pointed out his finger at Jacob's chest.

"That is your opinion Colonel, but I can assure you, the Tok'ra are not responsible for these men's deaths." Selmak's metallic voice had a bite to it as he leaned down to grab a hold of the coverlet to the stretcher nearest to him. As he pulled off the cover from the body, an audible gasp whispered through the cavernous gate room. The corpse was bloated and swollen...and headless. Jack took a step back as a whiff of the dead body drifted up to him.

"Woah. Yeah, I'd say that's pretty radical even for a Tok'ra. After all, don't you guys actually NEED the head of the person that you're invading? You know, to like survive?" Jack backed up another step, and waved at Jacob to pull the cover back up over the body, when Teal'c spoke up.

"Please wait Selmak." Teal'c moved around the Tok'ra to get a closer look at the body. "The sleeve of this man's uniform bears the patch for the field medical team for which Dr. Frasier was assigned." At this, everyone leaned around to get a better look. Teal'c proceeded to lean in over the body as if the smell of a few days worth of rotten flesh didn't bother him in the least. As everyone watched, he used two fingers to pry the man's jacket open. For the first time, Jack noticed that the man was shirtless as well as headless.

"This man was not killed by any Tok'ra." Teal'c stood back up and turned. He spoke mostly to Jack, but also to Daniel and the General. "He was most likely killed by Ba'al, and sent to the Tok'ra as a message for the Tauri."

"C'mon Teal'c, how in the hell can you know that?" asked Jack.

"Because unless that Marine left here with a tattoo on his chest of Ba'al's symbol, then I'd say Ba'al probably had something to do with it." Daniel had his arms around his chest, but was pointing down at the body. Jack looked back down. An enormous wound the size of a bowling ball covered the man's chest. It was Ba'al's symbol allright, Jack knew it all too well.

"Thank you Teal'c." Selmak said from Jack's left. Teal'c nodded to the older Tok'ra.

"Well...okay, I can see how this guy might have a big dilema, but what exactly is the Tok'ra's problem?" Jack fingered his little piece of fabric very busily. On the surface he was trying to ease some of the tension around him. On the inside, he was seething. If this had happened to these two Marines, then what had happened to Janet Frasier since the last time that she had been seen?

"The Tok'ra must once again re-locate, O'Neill." Teal'c said.

"Why exactly?"

"Because Jack, if Ba'al already knows where the new home world is, they aren't safe there anymore. He must have a spy somewhere." Daniel thought out loud.

The medical team moved in to take the stretchers up to the morgue. As they departed, General Hammond ordered them to notify Dr. Warner immediately. He turned to speak to Selmak.

"Thank you Selmak, for bringing my people home. I know their families will appreciate it greatly." Hammond placed a hand on the Tok'ra's shoulder to guide him out of the gate room, but Selmak didn't move. "Won't you be staying until we have more information?"

"No General, the re-location has already begun, we need to move quickly."

"Uh, Selmak...I know you hate it when we ask, but is Jacob in there? I didn't want to do this in front of everyone-" Hammond looked around at the Tok'ra and also at SG-1, and was cut off as Selmak lowered his head and Jacob raised his. Hammond always shivered when he saw this, no matter how many times it happened. Behind him, he felt, rather than see Jack wince. The Colonel knew what was coming.

"I'm here George. What can I do for you? Speaking of families, is my daughter around here somewhere? I haven't seen her in sometime. I can't stay, but I'd at least like to say 'hello' and 'see you next time' you know?" Jacob smiled at his old friend, but the smile quickly faded as he looked around at SG-1's expressions.

"There might not be a next time, Jacob." George Hammond spoke softly. Jacob's head dipped again, and when it lifted, Selmak's eyes glowed. The Tok'ra sighed, and the metallic bite was back in his voice..

"Very well. Please allow me to send the rest of my people back to our planet so that they might aid in the re-location." Selmak walked ahead of General Hammond and SG-1, straight out of the sliding doors of the gate room. Hammond stalked behind. Jack looked down at his watch, which also happened to be the hand holding the little black fabric. He sighed too, just as Selmak had done. The Colonel looked at the regiment of Tok'ra still standing at the base of the ramp with their beefy arms behind their backs, and then he looked back at Daniel and Teal'c.

"This is gonna be a very long day." he said to the two remaining memebers of his team as he closed his eyes and briefly shook his head. It swam and throbbed, but his bits throbbed worse from where Sam had kicked him. He shoved his hands in his pockets as the three men turned to leave together.

"Of course it is." Daniel dipped his chin to his chest as he said it, an unintentional imitation of Jacob.

"Agreed." Teal'c rang in.

"Yes General, We know very well of the More'i." said Selmak less than 20 minutes later in the briefing room. "The planet Che'ctala has been used as a Goa'uld sanctuary for several hundred years. The More'i hid from the Goa'uld out of fear for much of that time, but when it was discovered that their race communicates solely with telepathy, it was the Goa'uld who began to fear the More'i." Selmak dipped his head again, and Jacob re-appeared.

"And now you're telling me that they have hurt my daughter, and that Janet Frasier is still missing amongst them? There has to be something else going on here George. These people are a very passive race. They don't tend to use violence as a solution to their problems."

"That's what I was trying to tell them before you came." Daniel waved his hand at the team, who were all still standing at the head of the conference table.

"General," Selmak said. "I presume that you still have the healing device? I would like to help Major Carter quickly so that I may return to aid in the re-location of the Tok'ra."

"Will you stop that?" Jack spoke up for the first time in a few minutes. Everyone looked at him now.

"I apologize, Colonel." Jacob said again as he lifted his head.

"THAT. Stop...THAT." Jack waved his hand up and down at Selmak and Jacob. The other men looked baffled.

"Just one of you. Quit switching back and forth like that. You're starting to make me dizzy. And could we please just get up to the infirmary so we can help Carter? We can figure out why this is happening, and find Frasier a lot quicker if Carter is here to help. General, with your permission?" Jack didn't wait for Hammond's permission, he simply strode back out of the room. The General pulled a big breath in, nodded, and followed O'Neill out the door.

As the five men left the elevators on level 22, the intercom sounded. It was a code green in the infirmary.

"What is 'code green' O'Neill?" Teal'c asked as the intercom sounded again.

"That is all hell breaking loose, Teal'c. Wanna take a bet on who the guest of honor is?"

Jack O'Neill sprinted down the hall to the isolation room that was holding Major Carter. The rest of SG-1, Hammond, and Jacob were close on his heels. They rounded the end of the corridor and heard an enormous, metallic crash, followed by several gunshots and then cries of pain. The Colonel stopped so suddenly in the doorway to the iso room that Daniel ran right into the back of him with a loud grunt. Teal'c barely managed to avoid a second collision by stopping shortly behind Daniel, but Hammond and Jacob collided with Teal'c's backside as a result.

"CARTER!" Jack screamed, and immediately put his hands in the air.

A bleeding Major Samantha Carter was in the middle of the room with a gun in her hand. She pointed it straight at the doorway towards SG-1. Her eyes searched the room frantically, and the hand that held the gun was shaking violently as Sam stood amidst a crowd of bodies. Some of the downed personnel were groaning in pain, the others were quiet in either various stages of shock or unconsciousness. Dr. Warner was beginning to stir near the far end of the room.

"Sam, you don't wanna do this." Daniel said calmly. "We brought help for you, look. Your dad is here, Sam. He wants to help you get better." Daniel waved to his right and Jacob stepped into the room. Sam raised the gun higher and pointed it at Jacob. He did not raise his hands, they remained at his sides.

"Hey kid. What's goin' down?" Jacob stepped further into the room, nice and slow.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRGGGHH!" The Major screamed incoherently. No words, only noise. She stopped as quickly as she had started, and fury sparked at the edges of her blazing blue eyes.

"Sam. It's me kiddo." Jacob walked closer to his daughter. "Sam, put the gun down."

Another gutteral sound escaped from between Sam's teeth.

"Jacob-" said Jack in a strong tone of warning. He wasn't watching the Major's eyes, he was watching her trigger finger, and it was getting closer and closer to squeezing off a round.

"Back off Jacob, I'm telling you, she's getting worse. She doesn't know you right now." Jack kept his hands in the air. He saw Teal'c come to his side.

"Wait Jack, let's see if Jacob can help." Daniel whispered.

"Sam, come on. Put the gun down, so we can help you." Jacob was about four feet from Sam now. Then, so fast they didn't see her do it, the Major turned and sprang up onto the bed. She was standing right on the mattress, towering above them, pointing the gun down at them now. Jacob got closer still.

"I think the Colonel is right Jacob, maybe we ought to try a different approach." Hammond said from behind Jack. He'd almost forgotten the General was there.

"It's okay George. I think if I can just get through to her, I might be able to reason with her." Jacob talked without turning his head.

Suddenly, the strangest thing happened. Sam closed her eyes tight. Just as the others were about to spring at her, they heard her talking. Rather, they heard her thinking.

"There is no reason." she spoke to them within their minds. It was so loud, that all conscious personnel within the confines of the room, including O'Neill and Hammond this time, clutched their skulls in pain.

"There is no reason. No help. No hope without the healers." Sam's thoughts were spoken into the minds of the people around her. Her lips didn't move, but it was her voice in their heads. It was the loudest, most painful experience many of them had ever had. Hammond and Jack both sank to their knees, Teal'c doubled over, Daniel backed up against the wall still grabbing his head. Only Jacob stood his ground. Selmak was protecting him from the pain.

"Take me to the healers! They are the only ones who can save me and save Janet! We have to GO NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!" Sam was shouting her thoughts into the others' heads, which seemed to treble the volume in their minds.

"SAM STOP!" Daniel shouted in pain, even though he really didn't need to raise his voice at all.

"GO NOW! GO NOW! GO NOW! GO NOW!"

"Here SELMAK !" Teal'c shouted and Selmak's eyes flashed as he turned back towards the doorway. Teal'c was tossing something to him. He reached out his hands and caught the zat gun with ease. He pressed it into his hand and engaged it quickly, then turned back to look up at Sam.

She was still screaming into their heads as Selmak fired the zat one time. It did nothing. Sam still stood on the mattress of the hospital bed with her eyes closed and her gun hand waving all over the place.

Selmak was about to fire the zat a second time.

"!"

"NO JACOB!" Jack got painfully to his feet, and staggered over to the Tok'ra.

"YOU'LL KILL HER!"

"THEN WHAT SHOULD I DO COLONEL?" Just as Selmak finished shouting, Sam's thoughts quieted. They all looked up at her, and began to lower their hands from their heads. She stood with the gun lowered to her side, and her eyes wide open, staring at all of them. Behind her, Dr. Warner and surprisingly Dr. McKenzie, managed to get to their feet. Both looked like they'd taken a pretty good beating.

"Sam?" Daniel almost whispered.

"The Mor'ei healers can save me." Sam thought out to them all. Everyone flinched as if they had been slapped by a giant hand. The gun fell from Sam's hand, bounced off the bed and landed on the floor. Her eyes closed again, and her body went limp, as she fell forward over the side of the bed. Selmak moved over quickly to catch her before she could fall completely to the floor, and laid her down gently. SG-1 and some of the conscious personnel surrounded the pair. Sam lay motionless, her breathing steady and slow.

"Does anyone want to tell me just what happened in here?" General Hammond spoke softly to the crowd in the room. He wasn't in the mood to shout.

"General, we were trying to examine her. We had given her some sedation, but she fooled us. When we released her hand from the restraint, she began to fight us. It was almost animalistic. Worse than any combative patient I have ever seen." Dr. Warner panted and grimaced as he explained. When the gray haired physician stood straight up, his left arm dangled lower than the right. It looked like his shoulder was out of the socket.

"Right, well I guess that's a mistake you won't be needing to make again. And I suppose it's good that you at least had some sedation in her. I didn't think that zat blast was going to do anything there for a minute." The general turned to Teal'c. "Teal'c would you please go get the healing device for Selmak? Tell the guards to release it on my order." Teal'c nodded and left the infirmary room.

"Selmak, would you mind playing doctor for a little while?" Hammond asked the Tok'ra, unabashed. Selmak only nodded.

"Right then. Let's get Major Carter back up onto her bed, and back into her restraints. Keep them on at all times to keep her from hurting herself. Anyone who's injured, see Dr. Warner, or Selmak." Warner grimaced at hearing his name.

"Um General, if I may?" Daniel stepped up, looking at Hammond.

"What?"

"Selmak, can you look at the marks on Sam's wrists and ankles? I think they are symbols from Che'ctala, but I haven't been able to get a great look at them until now. I think they mean something, I don't just think they are random injuries." Daniel squatted down next to Selmak as he lifted up Sam's right arm to examine her wrist. The marks went all the way around, like a tattooed bracelet. Jack watched curiously as Selmak picked up the other arm. Drs. Warner and McKenzie came around from the other side of the bed and also looked down at Sam.

"I think you might be right Dr. Jackson, these marks appear to be in the language of the Mor'ei."

Selmak bent over and reached for one of Sam's ankles. Another bracelet of the strange language wrapped around her battered leg. "The symbols keep repeating over and over."

"Well..."

Daniel looked over at Jack.

"What's it say?" Jack asked with impatience.

"It says 'Protected One'" Selmak answered.