Chapter 57 - Stray Ends
Sha're sat with Shifu in the mess hall as Daniel walked in. She had a file folder open on the table before her, a pita sandwich in one hand and another cradling Shifu as he fed sheltered beneath her scarf.
"Today a good day?" he asked, interpreting her look of peaceful fascination.
"Mm," she said through a mouthful of the flatbread. She glanced up. "But not yours?"
Daniel frowned. Surely he didn't look that bad. He glanced down at himself, just to make sure.
"You forgot your glasses," she said, catching his confusion and smiling.
That explained the slight blurriness. Daniel rubbed at the spot where they should be on his nose. "Oh. Yeah, I guess it was a bit tough."
"Sit then," Sha're beckoned.
Daniel took the seat opposite her, leaning his arms on the table. He sighed, then realized he didn't even know he'd wanted to.
"Well?" Sha're asked, curious. She put down her pita and closed the file, fixing her attention on him.
"Just Mckay and Jean," Daniel said. He still didn't know exactly what they were doing, only that while they could keep the bickering up all day without actually losing their temper, he had gotten overwhelmed. "They convinced Hammond to let a team extract the Ancient device from the planet, so they could bring it back here and study it."
"What do they wish to find?" Sha're asked. Shifu moaned underneath the shawl, and Sha're adjusted him and herself while Daniel found the words for an answer.
"Oh," he said with another sigh. Sighing felt good. "They're convinced that the device should have some information left over if they can just access it. I think they're trying to find an easy way to artificially use Jack's DNA, but they may have gotten past that. I don't know. There was an occasional phrase or two that needed translating, so they wouldn't let me leave."
"Oh, poor Dan'yel," Sha're said, softly but amused. "You haven't eaten, have you?"
Daniel blinked. How had he forgotten that? It would explain his dull mood. "Uh, no."
"First your eyes, and now your stomach," Sha're said. "Dan'yel, Dan'yel."
He smiled, a little sheepish but mostly glad of the reminder, then looked over her shoulder to see a head pop around the corner.
Sha're seemed to catch the change in his face. "What is it?" she asked, then turned around.
"Jackson," said Mckay, terse but bright in tone. "We need—"
"Nothing," Sha're said shortly. "We are eating, Rodney, and that is that. I will send him your way when he is ready."
It was short and sweet, and Mckay's mouth did a half-closing thing before he said anything. "Yes, well—wait, no—"
"Come, Dan'yel, let us see what's on the menu today," Sha're said, standing up and gesturing for Daniel to follow her.
Daniel smiled, and almost shrugged to Mckay behind her back. But he didn't want to draw attention to her handling of the situation, especially because he was merely grateful for it. And that food did look good.
Even Rodney didn't follow Sha're once he had been dismissed.
ooooooo
Two Jaffa dead, that was their casualty list. A handful of smaller injuries, but it was the deaths that were important. Especially since they were still masquerading as Jaffa.
Sam and Jolinar didn't waste a moment to take in the expanse of the disaster, at least not outwardly, as they sorted the uninjured into work groups. All that afternoon, and the rest of the evening, they only saw the basic needs taken care of. Some cleared paths to get through areas. Some arranged quarters for the injured. Some took care of the necessities of water and food, since sleep was less a priority even at this point. By the time evening arrived, Jolinar was ready to instruct the night shift on more particular clean-up.
That was the moment that they remembered that Quetesh didn't know yet. It was a bit of a mistake, but easily corrected. The Jaffa were all standing, waiting for their new orders.
"Corrifin," Jolinar said. "Though our god Quetesh sees all, it seems that she did not consider to look and watch over those who serve her well." She let the words hang, though did not add any look or tone that might suggest another meaning to her words. They were intelligent enough to understand even if they didn't know why.
"Then I will go to inform her," Corrifin said, catching the obvious meaning.
They barely noticed as he trudged up the road to the gate. The broken road. Jolinar gritted her teeth for having to deal with that in the days to come. They couldn't spare time to fix it, not when the fields and village were in such a mess.
At last they were all tasked with something, and Jolinar felt the need to walk up to the ruins themselves. A putrid stench lingered above them, mingling with the smoke that still hovered around. The ruins themselves were heated, not only from the sun, but from their conductive nature. Carefully, trying to keep balance in their clunky armor, Jolinar stepped through, looking around.
~Curious?~
*If it was a device, then there would be some kind of crystalline programming.*
Sam doubted anything would be there, but Jolinar looked anyway, still curious. The foundation was the only thing left standing, though, and everything else had been scattered in pieces darkened by the explosives and soot.
~I hope Quetesh doesn't want us to rebuild this.~
*She does not possess that kind of patience.*
~Good, because it'll be bad enough to clean this up.~
Jolinar exited the ruins and walked down the road, noticing with displeasure the sharp cracks in their road. The fields below had suffered some, mostly in the fall of soot and debris shards. Water would wash most of it away, but it would take some skill to get the proper amount that would wash away the scraps without flooding. Also, the metal would have to be collected and taken to a refinery—naquadah alone was difficult to gather, but any resource could not be wasted.
The next time they talked to someone, Sam realized that the sun had fallen several degrees, and it was late afternoon. Corrifin returned, approached them, and bowed to offer a small computer screen.
Jolinar slightly raised an eyebrow.
"I did not speak to our lord directly, as expected," Corrifin said. "But her servant, Tirnin, vowed to carry the message, and he returned later and asked that you be given this."
Jolinar had been giving Corrifin a steady eye, but at the name Tirnin she could not help but glance down at the computer. Martouf and Lantash were taking quite a risk to send information this way, which could be either a good or a bad sign. Were they in disfavor, or so deep and trusted that they couldn't afford to risk it? It was not the time for that, though. "We can only hope that our god sees fit to notice us now," Jolinar said, eyebrow thoroughly risen and emphasis on the last word.
Corrifin took in her words, bowed again, and returned to his previous duty.
They were too curious to wait, so Jolinar stepped to one side and activated the device. It called for a simple Tok'ra password, and then had a brief document inside.
*Oh my.*
Brief it might be, but information was there in plenty. Tirnin had been busy.
ooooooo
"Um, Daniel?" Clare Tobias was at his door, surprising him. The engineering department never needed him.
"Yes?" he answered.
"Jean sent me," she said, looking slightly cautious. "And...the magic twins have actually got something for you."
"The what?" Daniel asked with slight laugh.
"They needed my help breaking the device down," said Clare, grinning. "Or, well, Mckay was going to go at it, but Jean distracted him with jello so I could get in first. Oh, you meant the name? It's nothing, just that they've been doing a lot of interesting stuff together. Not really magic, but genius definitely."
"No, I understand nicknames," said Daniel. "What exactly have they got?"
"A bit of something that looks like programming, but they're not sure if it's Ancient text or some kind of symbolic language," said Clare. "And I'm good with programming languages once I know them, but identifying them is a bit tricky."
"Yeah, sure, I'll be down in a minute," said Daniel, getting up from his chair. Again, he wondered why she was there. "Is there a reason they didn't call or come up?"
"Jean thinks you're frustrated with them because they've been using you a lot on this," said Clare, shrugging apologetically.
Daniel nodded, and didn't answer as he followed her. He didn't want to be frustrated, that was for sure. But with Shifu staying up all night wailing, and Mckay on top of him the next morning—well, he hadn't been at his best. The honeymoon period of this new SGC, and his new family, was wearing off faster than he could track it.
Somehow that didn't matter, though, when he had the actual text in his hand.
ooooooo
~This almost the whole plan laid out, honestly.~ Sam had absorbed all the information in the small information packet, and how just needed to repeat it out in order.
*Quetesh had a plan, that is sure.*
~So all we need to know is exactly how the stealth attack is going to go, because everything else is simple. How she's going to take out all the leaders on Ba'al's ships...I don't know, it's quite ambitious.~
*The Tok'ra could manage it. Which is the point, I suppose, but Quetesh is apparently willing to stoop to that. She needs to, if she wants his fleet. They would self-destruct before surrender, unless she can demonstrate her weapon.*
~Well, her chances would certainly be better without leaders. Take out the leaders, the Tok'ra are blamed, and then the rest of the fleet can be lured to the planet and forced to surrender.~
*Without the weapon, though, that plan becomes half obsolete.*
~Is there a way she could use that love drug that was mentioned more extensively? When we went up against Hathor, it was devastatingly effective.~
*I do not know. But as it seemed she was drawing near to having both the stealth and the weapon ready, I think it will take some time to switch plans.*
~And in the meantime, we get this Jaffa thing rolling.~
*Martouf says that he believes that Quetesh's leniency might have worked against her for some of the Jaffa, and they may be open to seeing other views.*
~Okay, so that means we need to contact Bra'tac. Do you know the address to Chulak?~
*Someone among the Tok'ra does.*
~Okay, let's get this going then.~
*What we don't know, still, is how Quetesh reacted. But we could hardly change anything in that case, so it is more a matter of curiosity.*
~Exactly.~
Jolinar had been just about to say that—perhaps Sam was more like her than she knew.
ooooooo
After a short reconnection with the Tok'ra to get the information for Chulak, Jolinar hooded herself to hide Quetesh's mark and disappeared during Dorieth night. After bearing the tattoo for so long, it had stained itself deeply into their skin, becoming semi-permanent. Chulak's early morning made for a bit of psychological jolt, but that was not so bad.
Finding Bra'tac did not take long. Neither Sam nor Jolinar knew what he'd been up to, but the planet looked fairly at rest. He eyed her cautiously, but it soon became clear that he had not been totally informed of what had happened with Sam. Only that she had been taken, and as Bra'tac had heard of the Tok'ra before, he accepted that with minimal doubt.
Their mission, however, made him more skeptical.
"I do not know your allegiances, much as I would wish to believe you," he said after Sam explained all she could. They sat in Teal'c's old house, though by Drey'auc and Ry'ac were not present.
"Listen, I'm not going to ask for information about any contacts you have," Sam assured. "I just need your advice on who I should be looking to turn on Dorieth, and how to go about it. Surely you have experience by now."
Bra'tac eyed her from beneath his grey brows. "That information could be useful to the Goa'uld."
"So could most things," Sam said firmly. "But either these Jaffa will die in conquest, or we can free them—your choice. Either way, though, Quetesh will not survive."
"A part of me wishes to believe that you are a well-trained spy," Bra'tac said, his voice carrying a dangerous tint that sounded like slight amusement. "But I have been accustomed to believing the Goa'uld to be less subtle, and that is hard to shake."
"Will you help?" Sam asked.
Bra'tac leaned closer. "If the Tok'ra are willing to prove to me their good will. I will give you nothing on this visit, but leave me a device that may contact you."
Sam paused. "You could use that information against us."
"Or find out that you are truly communicating with a System Lord," Bra'tac countered. "But trust is something I require before I give you mine."
Sam frowned, but he didn't asked for much in the end. Just that she let herself be held captive, without a weapon, and let him hold a staff weapon to her head as he interrogated her. Jolinar was skeptic, but Sam was leading on this one—she didn't think she had anything to fear from Bra'tac, and certainly nothing from herself. Still, her heart didn't stop pounding until some time after Bra'tac lost the steely glint in his eye as he looked fully prepared to blast her head off at the first wrong answer.
It wasn't much of a test, but it satisfied Bra'tac for then. Sam only had a few hours left before she needed to be back on Dorieth, but Bra'tac made the hours worth it. She and Jolinar left Chulak mid-morning their time, and returned when only a couple hours of night remained on Dorieth. They felt exhausted the next morning, but it had been worth it.
Surprisingly, it was the little things that made the difference. A few looks here, some words there, a delicate manipulation of tone. Those who were well-entrenched in their ways wouldn't notice, but Sam started to notice that some of the more difficult Jaffa might be using bluster to hide doubt.
Day by day, the pieces of their broad plan were spread out among the planet, as they looked forward to the day when they would all fit together into the perfect puzzle.
ooooooo
To Daniel's relief, Mckay and Jean didn't find much in the leftovers of the Ancient device, and the SGC moved on to other tasks. Jean started work in R&D, and Mckay went back to updating the SGC's defenses.
Dixon stopped by Daniel's office more than usual now. At first Daniel hadn't given it mind, until he realized that the conversation always went in a parenting direction. It was subtle, so Daniel hadn't really expected it.
"It's very different now," Daniel admitted one day, leaving the file of Ancient information he was organizing alone and leaning back in his chair. "I can't just—focus the way I used to."
"Well, I have good news and bad news," said Dixon, comfortably leaned against the door. "Good news is, that fades the older they get, and the less immediate trouble they are for you. Bad news is, something about that's always here to stay. Your single and productive days are over."
Daniel nodded, with slight weariness. "I honestly never considered that before." Then again, he'd only joined in the first place for Sha're—but even after that, he'd never considered children, or what they might do to things.
"Join the club," snorted Janet, walking into the office right as Daniel spoke.
"You have a kid?" Dixon asked, surprised.
"Yes, of course," said Janet crisply. "Were you not here when Cassandra came?"
Dixon shrugged. "Sorry, I don't pay that much attention to gossip."
"Well, I can't fault you for that, sir," Janet said, walking over to hand Daniel a file. "Daniel, I hope you don't mind, but I did an allergy test on Shifu—Sha're approved, of course. He appears to be clean, surprising given that he was born on another world."
"Thanks," said Daniel, shuffling the file to another place on his desk.
Janet paused as she was leaving, turning around. "Oh, and speaking of Cassandra, she would like to stop by and see Shifu if that's all right."
"Of course," said Daniel. "It's been a long time since her last visit, hasn't it?"
Janet nodded, her lips pursed. "Yes, well, things were tough for a while."
Daniel had almost forgotten how connected Cassie had been to—. "Just bring her along any time," he said.
"There really are a lot of kids," Dixon mused. "We're becoming a family business."
Daniel chuckled.
ooooooo
They were a little too blunt, but thankfully it wasn't the Jaffa who noticed. After a couple days of dropping the starting points of Jaffa rebellion, the Abydonians started to catch the hints not meant for them. They started to speak more boldly, offering excuses or alternatives on occasion, though only when Sam and Jolinar were around.
Worse, it wasn't just the Abydonians. Sam and Jolinar quietly and carefully molded their leadership style to be more revolution-friendly, but even they couldn't go too far. Definitely not yet.
*It's too fast,* Jolinar said, after they only barely avoided a confrontation with Sheryen over another almost-rebellious slave. *It has to be all at once, slaves and Jaffa alike, or it will backfire.*
Sam decided that now was the time for direct. Inchen, one of the most outward of the Abydonians, made yet another bold move—and Sam had him brought to her quarters. For all outward intents and purposes she was teaching him a lesson, but instead she made sure of her assumptions.
Yes, he did suspect her of being a spy. And yes, she confirmed it. He looked bright, just not bright enough to lead a rebellion by himself.
"We're not letting you do it on your own," she said, looking him straight in the eye with her tone low but firm. "It would be disaster. But we have a plan, and if you just slow down and take it with a little less enthusiasm, it'll work for you too."
Inchen's eyes were wide, hope and surprise and maybe a little fear all mingled in them. He swallowed. "I will tell them."
Sam realized that she might have been too conversational. Her tone tightened. "You cannot betray that you know anything, or it will prove the deaths of many. Do you understand this?"
The bit of fear rose in Inchen's eyes, but he nodded swiftly. "Only a few know," he said, his tone low as well. "We know that there is danger."
"More than I can protect you from, remember," said Sam. "Especially if you defy my Jaffa in this manner."
When she dismissed him, it was a relief to see him return looking deflated.
*They cannot know too much, of course, but it would be simpler if they were aware that we need the Jaffa on our side as well.*
~They can't handle that much to keep discreet; they're too honest.~
ooooooo
Discretion mattered more than they had bargained for. Only a day later, and the Tok'ra home-world itself contacted Sam and Jolinar. Nothing had been heard of Quetesh, or what her reaction or solution to the disaster on Dorieth was, so they were hesitant to return. However, the Council seemed to insist.
The Council chamber looked strange to Jolinar after almost three weeks away. Three weeks in the sun and the dust and the grit of hard labor. It was like a breath of home, but a home they didn't want to see until their mission was complete.
"Why were we recalled like this?" Jolinar asked. "It is not a good time."
"So we heard," said Garshaw. "Your business with the temple could prove...interesting. But we do not fault the move, especially since our other operative approved as well."
Jolinar tried to read her face, but failed. Selmak and Ren'al stood behind her, but their expressions were too calm to have anything.
"It is your other improvised action that we must speak on," said Garshaw, taking a breath. "You and the other operative collaborated on a plan involving the Jaffa. The Council was hesitant to even think about it, but we trusted your judgment. You spoke to one you believe is a leader of the Jaffa rebellion?"
Jolinar nodded once.
~How could she guess that we met with Bra'tac?~ Sam asked. They hadn't even told Martouf or Lantash.
"An attack against Apophis was led today, by his own Jaffa," Garshaw said, her eyes set and cool. "One of our operatives witnessed the entire thing, and was near to being in danger."
Jolinar frowned. "We only spoke with Bra'tac two days ago," she said. "Surely it is a coincidence."
"We cannot know for sure, only that this has not happened before," said Garshaw. "And didn't seem likely to happen."
Jolinar's frown deepened. "Any action was his prerogative."
"Which gives us great concern about this move," Selmak said, stepping forward. "We understand your intent, but the Jaffa are unpredictable in the manner."
Sam spoke next. "They aren't going to risk anything that could turn back on them, not at this stage. That event won't be repeated for a while, I'm sure. It's just to spread the word."
"And make the Goa'uld suspicious of everyone, compromising our network," said Ren'al, but her tone wasn't heavy.
"Only in the worst case scenario," Sam said. This was her idea, after all, and she'd been mulling it over for weeks now. "But the Goa'uld may just as easily consider their lieutenants and the Jaffa separate, as the Tok'ra did before now. But how mighty we can be if beneath the surface we are allied."
No immediate answer came, as neither Sam nor Jolinar could really expect.
"We will do nothing but watch and wait for now," said Garshaw. "But we do not wish you contacting the Jaffa again, lest they be encouraged to the point of foolhardiness, even if you intention is otherwise. And we are issuing a broad order to limit reports, if indeed the Goa'uld grow more wary."
Sam nodded, and the briefing ended.
"There is not too much to worry about yet," said Selmak in a low tone, putting a hand on her back as he turned to follow Garshaw and Ren'al as they left.
"I certainly hope not," said Sam.