Chapter 74 - Forestalling
Calmah Tealc gave Sam and Jolinar a thrill, walking through into its safe fields and buildings. It was one of the few habited planets like it, and to Jolinar at least it was worth the cost to make it so. Sam savored the grass that tickled her feet through her sandals, felt the sun through the cloud cover, and the difference was welcome.
Both Nirishi and Creot had arrived from Dorieth that day, and Kronon soon joined them. Home-made tunics unlike the ones they'd worn as slaves adorned them,
"You cannot understand the power that is now in our hands," Creot said, gesturing to Sam with wide eyes.
"No, not really," Sam said honestly. "But shouldn't you be focusing that power, not exulting in it? Pride goes before a fall."
"So it does," said Nirishi with a rise of one eyebrow. "You are wise, Devret."
*For giving a cliche from your world...well, it helps our point.* Jolinar's tone stayed ironically light, though.
"But we can send the Goa'uld cowering in fear," Kronon protested.
"Fear is not good in this case," Sam said, shaking her head and facing all three of them. "They have the numbers to crush you; if you back them into a corner, make them afraid, they will strike out with all they have left. For now, let them think you a small victory."
"I am not so sure that will succeed," Nirishi said cautiously.
"That's also true," Sam said, sighing. "But focus on defense and maintaining good structure and alliances."
She saw slight nods, and thought that would be good enough. "May I see what you have so far?"
Jolinar was not surprised that Kronon had much less desire to do so, and much less loud zeal overall. *The Jaffa are proud, if nothing else.*
~Yes, but I keep thinking that surely they'll open their eyes.~
*Some have. Not all.*
But those thoughts faded as they walked the streets of Calmah Tealc, and Sam spoke of roads and civilizations and the need for the former as well as running water. She felt frustrated that she didn't know more, and Jolinar worried about the Tok'ra ability to help, since all their society revolved around technology that they could not give or teach.
Some things were already in place, though—rationed supplies divided equally among all people, persons set up to be magistrates for small concerns, and a census already underway.
Still, Jolinar feared that they could not accomplish enough before conflict destroyed them, somehow. Sam remembered her own history of the United States, and decided to put her hope in the scrappy but motivated innovators on the turf they'd won.
Near the middle of the day, however, as their mission seemed done, Jolinar saw Inchen approach her.
"May I have a word?" he asked, and the enthusiasm was less than usual.
"Of course," Jolinar said, worried lines around her mouth.
"It is Abydos," Inchen admitted, looking her full in the eye. "And all our people, who are not yet gathered and accounted for."
Jolinar almost stepped back a pace, as the implication hit her then. "Certainly," she said. "It was our plan all along to return you to your home-world." But they'd forgotten that in the alliance of more than just Abydonians.
"All of us here have too many concerns to do the work," Inchen said, face lightening a little at her assurance. "But if you can merely find them out, perhaps we may bring forth the issue of Abydos to discuss."
Jolinar nodded. Inchen put out his hand to her arm and bowed his head in thanks, hurrying back to his work now that he had her promise.
~Do you remember, this was why we got in this position in the first place,~ Sam said, connecting the past six months in that moment. ~Just rescuing Sha're led us all the way here.~
*And they barely need our help anymore, which is some relief to me,* Jolinar said. *Do you think—is it possible that Vala might join us in this task? They may recognize her, but they are so close to us that I do not think she would be in any danger. I think Vala is ready for it.*
~We'll see,~ Sam said, as Jolinar made her way back to the gate.
ooooooo
"Dan'yel, have you seen Rodney?" Sha're asked, peeking into Daniel's lab in a Jack-ish kind of way.
"Uh, no," Daniel said, pausing to look up at her. "What has he done now?"
"Well, I shall find that out once I find him," said Sha're. "He has Shifu."
"Oh," Daniel said, with a blink of shock. "Why would—what made you choose him?"
"I did not have time to find you this morning, if I wished to avoid lateness, and he was the first person I saw who I could trust."
"Oh god," Daniel muttered, with a slight smile that was yet apprehensive. Then, he looked up again. "What would you be late for?"
"My final meeting with Dr. Mackenzie," Sha're said, smiling broadly. She stepped into the room, hands half spread. "He has cleared me for my new position."
On Daniel's blank expression, she gasped, a little color rising to her cheeks.
"Oh, I had forgotten that you did not know," she said with a half laugh. She came over to him, eyes alight. "I am now an official SGC intern, Dan'yel."
"Oh—r-really?" Daniel said, caught off guard both by her words, and by suddenly noticing the SGC patch on her previous patch-less BDUs. Her hair was pulled back in a knot at the base of her neck, too, and she looked professional.
"Yes, really," Sha're said, smiling and resting her hands on his arm. "Shifu and I spent so much time with Jean as she worked on the—naquadah therapy, I think she called it? I learned much, and she said I had a good mind for such work. Your people had me seeing Dr. Mackenzie for 'acclimation' visits, and so I asked him if I could be cleared to work here, so that I might have something to better fill my days."
Daniel was admittedly distracted by the glow in her face, making her look like a true goddess to him, but he wasn't sure he understood her words. "You've only been here two and a half months," he offered, confused.
"Yes, it is true," she said, still smiling down at him. "But according to him, I have overcome 'culture shock' much faster than he would have imagined. He believes I am fit to work in a learning capacity, and though I did expect him to say that, I am glad to finally have it said. But you look at a loss."
"I am lost," Daniel admitted. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, rubbing there for a second. "So—you can work here now?"
Sha're laughed quietly. "Yes, that is the core of it."
"You know, you don't have to, you aren't required to," Daniel said, suddenly worried for her motivation.
"Dan'yel, you really have not understood," Sha're said, tipping her head to one side. She leaned a little closer, a smile quirking her mouth in a bow. "I wish to do it. I asked for it. I am a part of this world now, but I did not have a work—now I do. I may even work for you, if you need it," she added at the end, with a dance of one eyebrow.
Daniel bit back a little smile. "Good, good," he said, bringing his other hand to rest on hers. "I feared for you, sometimes, in this strange place. I am glad you have found a place."
"I will always find a place," Sha're said, contemplative for a moment. "I always promised myself that. But this place was prepared for me—all those nights on Abydos when you told me of your home, of carts that moved on their own, of writing on every wall and chair and wrapper around food. And then Sa'm, when she didn't even know that I listened closely to every word she spoke of Earth. Her father too—him I could ask questions, make notes in my mind. By the time I got here, Dan'yel, it could not seem all that strange."
"And so that's your goal, blending in here?" Daniel asked curiously, turning in his chair to face her better.
"Mm, I think I like science," Sha're said, a smile of imagination on her face. "Better than history, I am sorry. I like atoms."
"And I'm sure they like you back," Daniel teased. "And Shifu? Shall he be staying with me more often?"
"No more than before," Sha're said, standing up as she remembered her child. "Janet showed me a baby chair that will allow me to rock him with one foot while I sit or stand, and even if he demands to be held, I may yet work my mind. It will be of no issue."
"You have no idea how wonderful it is to hear all that," Daniel said, squeezing her hand as she prepared to leave. Even as all might be crumbling around, Sha're still found the good luck.
And as she went off to find Mckay, it was yet another reason to hope that the luck of the SGC itself would hold.
ooooooo
"I have something you might want to do," Sam said, reporting back to the Tok'ra base and Vala. "It is offworld, out in the fresh air, and it is helpful."
One of Vala's eyebrows rose, but she said nothing.
Then, Sam felt the urge to say more, put more meaning into her idea. And Jolinar didn't object, letting Sam take the lead. She sat down next to Vala. "I knew another person who the Goa'uld took. Her name was Sha're, and Amonet took her for a year."
She was surprised, though, to see the mask drop from Vala's face. The other woman's eyes seemed startled.
"The Tok'ra helped her, like you," Sam continued. "But Quetesh kidnapped her people from their planet, and so Jolinar and I said that we would help free them. It wouldn't be the same as helping Sha're be free of Amonet, though, so we couldn't tell the Tok'ra High Council."
"You lied?" Vala broke in, clearly not happy with this. She sat up straighter on the bench in the hallway where the talked.
"No..." Sam said slowly, wondering if she could make the distinction clear to Vala, someone so fresh back to the world that every morality was black and white. Jolinar almost found it refreshing, just not at the moment. "Everything we said was true, from a certain point of view."
Vala bit her lip, however, and frowned.
"Well, what mattered to us was that Sha're's people were our responsibility," said Sam. "It's why Jolinar and I fought Quetesh." Strange, though, Jolinar pointed out—those were Jolinar's thoughts, and Sam hadn't been so easy to accept them in the beginning either. Sam wondered why she brought it up, though, and continued to speak to Vala. "And now—they're all scattered among her worlds, and they've asked for our help in gathering them together. If all goes well, we can return them to their homeworld, and Jolinar and I will have fulfilled our promise."
Vala gave a slow nod, the frown fading.
"And, we were thinking," Sam started, slightly hesitant, "that this is laying to rest Quetesh for good. All the problems she caused, we'll put to rights. At least, symbolically. You deserve the chance to do that, if you want to take it."
Vala glanced up at Sam. "It is a little close, isn't it?" she asked, a hint of pain on her face.
"The Abydonians are an amazing people, Vala," Sam said, putting her hand on Vala's knee and looking her in the eye. "They have spirit and good will, and will not treat you as anything but yourself, not when it is all explained. It'll be a good kind of close, closure I hope. And I'll be there the whole time—that's the point. I'd kind of like to have a partner, actually."
"I had guessed that you worked alone," Vala said, the pain gone from her face even though she absently twisted her hands in her lap.
"Well, we can, Jolinar and I," Sam admitted, tipping her head.
*Alone?*
"It's not really alone," Sam amended. "But yes, it can be nice like that. Just...I thought you might be interested."
Vala gave a laugh then, a dry one, but still a laugh. "Some day I will find such things for myself," she said, with a hollow smile.
"I would hope so," Sam said, her own voice on the verge of a chuckle. She smiled, her eyebrows slightly raised as she waited for Vala's answer.
"But I am interested in fresh air," Vala said, and she nodded her head towards Sam.
"Good," said Sam, able to sound bright after hearing such an admission. She'd learned not to push Vala for more than this. ~Just like dealing with you, almost.~
*Hmm,* was all Jolinar's comment, but she didn't deny it.
Now that she and Vala were past confrontation, there was less walking on eggshells. Sam didn't know how anyone could deal with that on a regular basis; she was just not born to be a trauma counsellor. But she could be supportive, and the sparks of strong will and quirks she saw in Vala made her want to see more of them. Maybe this mission would bring out the true person who had almost been lost. And also, it would almost be like teamwork, and that was a constant that Sam didn't want to lose.
Jolinar had a moment of worry for the Abydonians, as they prepared to leave in a day's time. Of all the worlds where they were known to be, it was possible that some of them had not been freed in the chaos. They might have to sneak in and break the Abydonians out. Sam doubted that it would be a difficult task, given the elapsed time, but even if they merely had to gather them all together, the mission would take serious thought.
Sam helped Vala with her clothing, then. The woman was nervous about her appearance, understandably. Jolinar knew the feeling all too well, and Sam had the recent past to recall. They found a more billowy tan robe, something designed for a sand world where sand upon skin would grate. It did not even hint at what Quetesh had tried for, though, so it was an accurate choice. Sam found a scarf of a slightly more silky fabric, though still the cream tan color, and when Vala had wrapped it tightly around her hair, she looked in the mirror and the corner of her lip quirked up.
"I'm still a little surprised at how much there is to find here, for a group so devoted to war," Sam said, commenting on their dress. She herself was going in a dark linen dress, equally flowing but more styled. Jolinar smirked in her head, but they were both a little surprised to see Vala's hint of a smile at it too.
*No, you were quite right about this,* Jolinar said. *This mission is going in the right direction; we can all feel it, and it improves the mood.*
The morning after that, they were quite ready to ring up to the gate freely, and have Shan'ak open a wormhole to Calmah Tealc. The time difference only accounted for a few hours, and it was a good day on the other side. Sam breathed out, relaxing, just as Vala breathed in deeply. Sam had forgotten that she'd seen little but crystal walls for many days now, and Quetesh had not been outdoors often before that. The sun did her an immediate good.
And then it was to business. Vala had little to say, just kept to Sam's side as she spoke to the people she needed to. The introduction was short, and as Sam had promised the Abydonians barely gave a start at the two-woman team who was helping them.
By the end of the day, Sam and Jolinar and Vala had talked to as many of the Abydonians on Calmah Tealc as they could, and had gone to Dorieth to find the rest. Vala was quieter on that world, and even Jolinar could sense more tension as they moved through the crowds. But that night they sat around a torch fire, and talked over what they had heard.
"For the most part we're in luck," Sam said. Somehow, it was nice to have a reason to speak aloud, rather than just in her head. She'd probably spoken more in the past two days than whole weeks before; the more they talked, too, the more Vala seemed to relax. Jolinar assumed that it was an appreciation of openness, and Sam had no reason to object. "Shumnan, the breeding world, is the first obstacle. I'm not sure when they'll be ready to interact fully with the other worlds. The flagship is being transferred to the Tok'ra home-world, so we'll have to contact them in a couple days. Dorieth has the majority of them, and those who were on the ships have mostly settled on Calmah Tealc."
"What of Runya?" Vala put in, pointing to one of the notes on Sam's datascreen.
"Yeah, that might be an issue," Sam said, and scratched her head. "We've only hearsay that the few who were sent there are still there, so it would require a quiet mission. Get in, find them, get out. There might be resistance, though really it's the getting out part that always has problems." Jolinar sighed, concurring, in her head.
Vala didn't have the basis for understanding, looking curiously to Sam. Sam swished her hand in Vala's direction, and explained. "There is always only one exit, the gate. You never know if you've been tipped off, or if the guard's changed, until you get back to it. It's bad enough on your own, but when you're helping prisoners escape..."
"And you do not take precautions, because the Tok'ra have limited resources," Vala said, nodding, starting to understand the more Sam talked through things. Jolinar had noted her swift mind first, and guessed that seeing evidence of it was what endeared Vala to Sam now, and had not in her early recovery. However, the recollection made Sam feel a little guilty, and so Jolinar did not dwell on it.
"That's always the problem, isn't it," Sam sighed, and looked into the flames.
"Can I?" Vala asked then.
Sam looked across the fire to her. "Can you what?"
"Be a precaution," Vala said. "There is no point in you taking on such a risk, not when I can stay hidden by the gate and keep you informed." She tipped her head. "At least, that would seem logical."
"Of course it's logical," Sam said, with a bit of a smile. "I didn't realize it would be possible. You would do that?"
Vala glanced down at her hands, then back to Sam. "This is the first day that these hands have been mine to use to give, not take away. I don't want to abandon the feeling."
"We'd never say no to help like that," Sam said. "And you can have a radio and camouflage and everything—yes, it should go well if we have that."
Vala just looked back into the fire and smiled to herself.
*Isn't it always like this, the mission being exciting, and the clean-up not so much? Even this task, we had to make into a mission before it became interesting.*
~Well, yes, a little,~ Sam said. ~If you know all the variables, what's the point? That's engineering, not science.~
*It is not war either,* Jolinar said.
They had not created the uncertain situation here, however. Risk was simply a required element. This time, it would be nice to have more certainty, no matter what happened. Going solo got tiresome after a while.
ooooooo
"What is it now?" asked Jack with resignation, as SG-1 arrived to the tune of the unauthorized incoming wormhole klaxon.
"If they knew that, it wouldn't be unauthorized," Mckay snarked quietly.
Jack let it stand, being that Hammond was there.
"No iris code," the technician offered. They all watched from behind the glass as the blue light prepared to emanate from the gate, even as the iris closed.
Daniel noted that Teal'c had brought his staff weapon, just before noting Mckay inching closer to the control panel. If it weren't for his need to be involved in everything, Daniel had no doubt that Mckay'd be perfectly suited to controlling the stargate himself.
And then, the iris opened, and the wormhole looked naked.
"I did not give the order to open the iris," Hammond blustered sharply at the technician.
"And I didn't open it," the technician answered, hands rising innocently. He swiftly brought them back down, though, pressing the keys to close the protective barrier. It barely responded before opening again.
Mckay now stood directly behind the technician, as Hammond said firmly. "Get that iris closed!"
Daniel watched the wormhole, but then heard Mckay all but snap at them, "Oh that's pointless, the computer is just overriding it!"
Then Daniel stepped forward, knowing it was too late. "Um, guys?" he said, looking down at the ramp and the wormhole. "General?"
A small person had arrived through the gate, clad in simple brown and with a hood over its face. It didn't look like anything Daniel had seen before. It didn't move as the SFs pointed their weapons, and Hammond and SG-1 moved swiftly down to the gateroom itself.
Daniel couldn't help after all this time to have a bad feeling about it, even knowing nothing. They stepped forward toward the extremely short person who'd forced its way onto their doorstep. Daniel noticed that Jack had his hand on his sidearm, Dixon following his lead.
They both jerked the weapons audibly as the person pulled back their hood, revealing the face of a small bald boy-child. And then, Daniel assumed, they all must have felt silly. But how...what...?
Hammond didn't waste time. "He needs to be searched."
"Teal'c," said Dixon, not turning his eyes from the strange child. "That naquadah treatment you got...it would work here too, right?"
"It would indeed," Teal'c said in a low voice. The other SFs in the room kept their distance, guns trained, as Teal'c walked forward. Daniel watched him bend closer to the child and say in a rather soft voice, "What are you called, child?"
The boy didn't answer, nor did he shy away from Teal'c. After a moment, Teal'c stood up straight again, towering over the boy. "He is neither Goa'uld nor Jaffa, GeneralHammond."
There was a sense of cautious embarrassment for all this fuss, especially as the boy simply stood in his surroundings, hands at his side, eyes wide and innocently blinking. But they had to know—
"What is he, then?" Dixon asked, frowning.
The boy simply opened his mouth, and said calmly, "I am here to warn you."
Once again, Daniel's feeling was all too accurate.