Chapter 38 - Bluff

*You were not what he was expecting,* Jolinar said as she assembled their make believe pouch for journey back to Quetesh's world. *I do not know what he thought in detail, but that much I know.*

Sam didn't reply; she knew that as well.

*But you were not surprised, and do you feel guilty for it?*

~I don't want to talk about it.~

*Very well. To our mission at hand then.*

Jolinar once again took control, not only of Sam's body, but also the role. Sam felt the small changes without fully knowing how to describe them, and it felt good to be back in this. A little excitement and purpose after a wait that had been personally disastrous. Even the armor of the Jaffa was worth that.

The gate opened and they walked through to the familiar grounds of Quetesh's world. The temple was still unfinished, the activity still high, and nothing seemed to have changed in the six days since they left. All appeared well.

Instead of trying to contact Kasuf, Jolinar made her way with quick strides to the temple itself, glancing around for the positioned Jaffa. As the traffic to and from the temple seemed just as great, and as she recognized the same faces in the same positions, she took her place just inside the front steps. *We can only hope that we have not been missed.*

The day wore on as it had before, with still little to note as they held their position. While waiting for the Abydonians to be returned, there was only so much they could do. It worried Sam, though, that they had yet to form a plan that would accomplish their entire goal, or even get them along the path towards it. Not that she expected they would have one, but not even to attempt it rubbed against her calculated side. Things would have to play the course a little longer before they tried to alter it.

As the sun fell from its zenith, Jolinar drew nearer to the inner court of the temple as Sam's curiosity about it grew. It was too precise for something that was only intended for aesthetic pleasure, too vague for any complicated machine that Sam was familiar with. Aside from Goa'uld crystals perhaps, but that was still a piece of complicated technology inside. Hearing Sam's active thoughts, Jolinar looked up and around, trying to understand what Sam saw while giving her more opportunity to do so.

"Jaffa, kree!"

Jolinar snapped to attention at the sharp cry only a few feet off. Toc'no, their commanding Jaffa, stood with a fearsome look on his face. Sam didn't like it, and bit back her words at the occurrence of exactly what they had feared.

"Your absence has been marked for several days," Toc'no continued, closing in on their position with the marked aggression of authority. "And what possible explanation is there for that?"

"The business of our lord Quetesh is not all explained to you," Jolinar said evenly, her chin just below level.

Sam froze, cursing herself for letting Jolinar take lead in this part. ~No, no, damn it, you have to apologize.~

"So you believe you have higher authority, do you?" Toc'no said, walking dangerously closer to Jolinar.

She held her ground and looked him in the eye. *Samantha?*

~Look down a little, but don't evade him,~ Sam hastily provided, wondering how they were going to save this. ~Be invisible, be unremarkable.~

"I only do what I am commanded to," Jolinar said.

"And I don't believe you," Toc'no answered. "I think that your strange behavior went by unnoticed until you pushed it too far, but I know what you are now." He was up in her face, eye to eye, spitting out his last words: "A traitor."

Jolinar flinched. "I am not," she answered with a hiss.

"It does not matter, there are more where you come from," Toc'no continued.

~Now what?~

*I am not—*

They both paused in shock as Toc'no thrust his hand towards their symbiote pouch, almost doubling over as he struck the prosthetic and all the force traveled through into their gut. Jolinar gritted her teeth.

Toc'no stood for a moment, absorbing what had just happened.

*He would have killed us, taken the symbiote and our life along with it.*

"Spy?" Toc'no was paralyzed, eyes wide and mind analyzing, deciding before he acted—but his hand was straying towards the dagger on his belt.

Jolinar couldn't let it get that far. In the second before he could finish, she flipped her own dagger out and plunged it up through his symbiote pouch and deep into his chest cavity, slicing through everything in her way. Sam felt her hand deep in a dying man's body, then ripped forth covered in both red and grey-green blood, and her mind froze.

Instant regret followed, as Jolinar's field of vision widened to see the watching slaves and other Jaffa approaching. A large audience to her act of preemptive self defense, unforgivable without special cause.

~What have we done?~ Sam whispered.

*Murdered our commanding officer for the sake of the mission, and are now left stranded.*

~It can't be an act of passion...~ Sam trailed off.

*Correct, it must be calculated,* Jolinar thought, hastily gathering herself. She stood up tall and let her steely eyes drift along the line of open-mouthed slaves. Two Jaffa had heard the noise, and came forward with staff weapons drawn. "Do not be foolish," she spat at them, not even drawing her own. "Toc'no was weak, even to the point where he sought to challenge the will of his own god for the sake of his precious pride. I could not in all conscience allow our great god Quetesh to be so misrepresented."

As Sam sought to block out the sensation of a slight breeze blowing on their damp hand, she had to say to herself, ~She's good.~

The other Jaffa hesitantly let their weapons rise, unsure of what had just happened but not willing to make a quick judgment and let it be wrong.

Jolinar had her new strategy in seconds. "You," she said, pointing to a servant carrying a water jug. "Bring that over so that I may wash this worm's blood from my hand. And you next to him—clear this carcass away and purify the floor." She plunged her hand into the water jug, letting the red-grey stain cloud away into it. Shaking it dry over the body of Toc'no, twitching no longer, she let her back grow rigid again and walked over to the Jaffa.

"Toc'no was a good leader," said one of them, but his eyes shifted just slightly.

"All leaders have their prime; his was unfortunately short, but there is no mourning for it," Jolinar said, voice low, staring him straight in the eyes. "Until our lord sees fit to arrange otherwise, I shall take his place. Unless you have any objections." The last words came out severe and lingered in the air.

"We all serve our god as best we can," said the other Jaffa, looking almost convinced by Jolinar's ruse.

"So we do," Jolinar answered, letting her aggressive stance lessen to a gravely serious one. "And that is all that matters in life or death."

"We can be glad he did not have to face humiliation from our god," the Jaffa muttered to his still hesitant companion.

Toc'no's supporter glanced once more to Jolinar. "So be it," he said firmly.

"We will make this a world that our lord can be proud of," Jolinar continued, a determined, proud smile creeping at the corners of her mouth. It was persuasive enough, and the Jaffa stood willingly to attention. "Bring me all the information that Toc'no was privy to," she said. "And tell your fellow Jaffa of the news. I will be waiting for your return in my new quarters." As much as one could sweep away in clunking Jaffa armor, Jolinar swept down the steps in quick, decisive movements, using Sam's height to all its advantage as she did not even deign to look at the slaves.

~God, what have we done?~ The kernel of misgiving that Sam had sensed from Jolinar was beginning to grow and join with Sam's fear, threatening to overwhelm at any moment. They needed to get out of the spotlight, now.

ooooooo

Daniel's mouth twitched in a smirk as he stopped to look in the office a few doors down from his. "So, you're one of us now," he said, nodding towards the papers scattered across the desk.

Robert Rothman looked back up, smile crinkling his short beard. "I guess," he answered with a shrug. "I was taking everything home until I figured out my apartment state..."

"But you stay here long enough to make it more worthwhile to keep it here, yeah, I know," said Daniel with understanding. "Any projects yet?"

"Meyers has me cataloging his notes," Rothman admitted, hand hovering just above the mess on the table.

"You can assign that?" Daniel pondered.

"I'm the junior archaeologist," said Rothman. "Which is odd given that I'm older than you."

Daniel half rolled his eyes. "You should see our head astrophysicist—and our head engineer. We seem to attract the young and crazy."

"Well, if the world is crazy, why not?" said Rothman, grinning. "I heard Jordan came down for a visit of his own."

"He joined us offworld, actually," said Daniel. "Have you been assigned to a team yet?"

"Oh no, no." Rothman shook his head vigorously, then readjusted his glasses. "I made it very clear to your recruiters that I didn't want any danger."

Daniel glanced away for a second and stuffed his hands in his pockets, conflicted on how to tell Rothman that the base was share to its own dangers, often no less than offworld. But in the end, it would probably be better, though possibly crueler, to find out on his own. By the time you got that far, there was no turning back, and you didn't really want to.

"So I assume you'll be leaving pretty regularly," continued Rothman. "Any planets of special interest?"

"Actually, one of our team's down, and so we'll be taking some time off," said Daniel, looking back up. "There's a pretty good ratio of scientific discovery and since that's the sort of thing that the government is most interested in, we don't want to take the chance of missing anything." He finished with a barely audible sigh.

"I guess history and archaeology don't turn up very 'cool' things, militarily speaking," said Rothman, using the slang word with unease. "No big weapons, no special drugs."

"Not yet," Daniel amended, with a slight smile. "But in this galaxy? It wouldn't at all surprise me, given what we've already found."

"You mean the aliens?" Rothman asked. "The really advanced ones; yes, Dr. Meyers was very fascinated by telling me all about them. Sound a bit scary, if you ask me."

"Were they the Goa'uld or the Asgard?" Daniel asked for clarification.

Rothman shrugged. "Have to admit, I haven't figured all that out yet."

"Ah, so you haven't gotten to the interesting stuff yet," said Daniel in a knowing tone. "Well, as soon as you're done, I have a whole new side of aliens to show you. Other than Teal'c," he added as an afterthought.

"Do you have decent coffee?" Rothman asked hopefully.

Daniel nodded, and the invitation was essentially given and accepted. "Well, I have my own cataloguing to be done, and no research assistant...I'll see you later then, Robert." One hand still comfortably in his pocket, he took out the other one to give a solitary wave before turning to leave.

"Sure," Rothman called cheerfully after him before sighing and plucking at the seemingly random papers on his desk.

During the few steps to his own office, Daniel made a few decisions. One, only Dixon was allowed to be introduced to Rothman. While his old friend was intelligent, it was in a simple, straightforward way, which would have been quite good had it not been paired with an equally simple personality. Together, he came across a bit dull, tryingly so, to those who didn't know him. Mckay and Jack didn't take well to anyone even remotely grating, and what was likely to irritate one would irritate the other; Daniel wouldn't take the chance here. And Teal'c? Well, it was a bit like rolling dice to guess who he'd like, but as Rothman wasn't ready to meet him yet, that settled that.

He entered his office satisfied without even remembering why, as he became quickly engrossed in the backlog of information on and surrounding his desk. Ever since joining this place, he'd never had a lack of work to fill up time, and it didn't look like that would ever change.

ooooooo

Sam wasn't shaking, didn't find her muscles trembling, and something kept telling her that she was detached from her body. Jolinar had a quick form of determination that got her past all the stares, past all the crowds, and she now went up the stairs to the second floor of Toc'no's house where she shut the door and almost collapsed onto the chair. Maybe they weren't so disconnected after all.

*I cannot believe what I have done.*

~Neither can I.~

*If there is but one strong dissenter, then we will be in terrible danger of death, or possibly worse.*

Sam flinched. ~And yet you gutted that man.~

*Had he lived even a second longer, he would have spoken the words that would have sealed our fate then and there.*

~You couldn't have zatted him?~

*It would not have been proper. His death had to be one of swift punishment.*

~Jolinar, I can still feel his blood on my hands!~ Sam felt her mind reeling, and Jolinar wasn't unaffected. She lowered her head, resting it in her hands.

*You have never killed like that.*

~No,~ Sam whispered back. ~I did not want to. I did not think that—~

*It is not always like that,* Jolinar answered the half spoken question. *But sometimes, it is necessary.*

~That's almost worse, that I can't see another way for it to have gone down.~

*Then let us put aside that point; I am sorry to have caused you trauma, but there is a much larger situation that should be causing you fear. And that is that we have vaulted ourselves to authority on this world.*

Sam felt Jolinar give up control, and found that as soon as she could take a few deep breaths, the world started to clear up. ~You never were good at playing submissive, were you.~

*Which was why I needed your advice and input.*

~Perfect. Another communication error, and this time look what it causes?~

*And you don't even know half of it yet. This is a high profile world; Jaffa and slaves pass through many times each day, and Quetesh is spending an exorbitant amount of her limited resources on this temple. Toc'no, while not her first prime, was among her top commanders, and we have dared to take his place. Not only are we now responsible for the entire population and function of this world, but we will have to face Quetesh some day.*

~Damn.~ There was no bite, no emotion to it. ~I should have jumped in sooner, taken control.~

*It might not have worked, if you hadn't had an alibi,* Jolinar countered.

Sam appreciated the attempt, a little out of habit for Jolinar, but still thought it was a valid point. ~So what do we do now?~

*This is no longer a low profile mission. It was doubtful before, given the level of importance to Quetesh that the Abydonians apparently have, but all doubt is firm now. We cannot do this without it being well known to Tok'ra operatives on other worlds.*

~You mean they might know it was us?~

*It is not a certainty. But yes, it would appear very suspicious if they cared to look. Regardless, it will be a huge blow to Quetesh both practically and for morale. The only thing we can do at this point is limit the damage; keep the world running as well as before, perhaps more efficiently.*

~Aiding a Goa'uld...that hurts,~ said Sam.

Jolinar hmmed, but added, *It may not be all bad. Today was the worst, I believe.*

Sam was inclined to trust Jolinar's intuition, especially when it came to this, even though today had been a shocker. She wasn't going to forget Toc'no and the way she sliced the life out of him; but maybe she could make that stain on her record worth it. The Abydonians were even more in their reach now, even if so many other things were not. And at this point, Sha're's wrenching disappointment had further added to the burden on Sam to make this one thing right. She could not stand being responsible for destroying Sha're's life twice.

Outside her mind, there was a sound at the door. Sam stood up to attention, remembering that she was fearless and proud and not giving Jolinar back the control this time. "Enter!" she called out with a hint of snap to it.

"You will find all the relevant documents in this room," said the Jaffa upon entering with a bow. "The people are now aware of your new position, and any further information and problems will be brought forward to you first."

"Good," said Sam shortly, with the briefest of nods. "I am proud of your expediency."

"I give my all for my lord, and whoever is representative of that divine power deserves no less," answered the Jaffa.

Sam looked him in the eye, and she didn't even need Jolinar's intuition to see the honesty there. "That is all," she finished.

The Jaffa bowed and left.

*I am impressed, Samantha.*

~Not that it means much.~

*It will mean much when you are able to influence something, considering how much will be impossible for us. We cannot free Kasuf, or the Abydonians, with this power. In fact, we must do exactly the opposite.*

~I understand that.~

*At least we may return to the Tok'ra without fear once this is settled; privileges of leadership.* Sam heard no lightness in her tone, only heavy acknowledgment of the one easy thing this had proved.

~You're trying to hide what a huge mistake this was, aren't you?~

*Not willingly.*

Sam sighed, closing her eyes for a few seconds. The shock of Toc'no's death was already fading, Jolinar's resignation seeping over to smother Sam's wracked nerves. And Sam welcomed it, almost in spite of herself; Jolinar had killed to save them both, save the Abydonians, maybe even the Tok'ra. Aside from the method, Sam couldn't say she wouldn't have done the same—just maybe not in time. That wasn't the cause for Sam's frustration.

~So, let's get a plan, then. What the hell, exactly, have we gotten into, and how are we going to deal with it?~

Sam could almost hear Jolinar's relieved sigh, and maybe even a grain of dry humor. *It is a deep, fiery hell indeed, but not insurmountable. We're not doomed yet.*

~Always good to hear,~ Sam answered.

She didn't even think to contact Narim as Jolinar pored over the papers, translating the Goa'uld for Sam so that they could quickly understand all that they had been bluffing to before. The further they went, the less commentary, leading Sam to the obvious answer that Jolinar had had no real idea of what Toc'no had done for this world. They had not taken on an easy task.

Had Sam chosen to make her unconscious rise to active thoughts, she would have known for sure that she and Jolinar were evading, even if it was the right time to do so. But her unconscious had worked before to keep her quietly unworried about everything all at once, and that was not changed. It was just getting harder to focus on one problem to the exclusion of others—ironic, given Jolinar's temperament and its influence on her. Sam's unconscious made it happen, though.

That night, Sam and Jolinar fell into sleep in the bed of a man they had killed almost with their bare hands. And did not dream about it. They sought to keep rule of an entire world; there was no time for emotions, no time for regrets, no time for dreams.