Stargate Millennium: Legacy

by StargateMillennium

Earth knows about the stargate. A plan to form a new Alliance of great races is now in motion. Tensions between allies are at an all time high and threaten to destroy what they've built. An old enemy has returned. And with Millennium reconnected with Earth, Wolf Pack will need to try to preserve the legacy of the heroes who came before them.

4. The Calm

In a building in Millennium, a bald man limped through the hall. He still had bullet holes in his chest from his encounter with Hailey and Arcturus. Normally he would go heal up but his master had summoned him. He entered the office, looking upon his master that sat in the office chair. The masked man was playing with a blue gem in his hand. But upon his subordinate walking in, he put it away.

"Sitri..." the Director welcomed. "You look worse for wear."

Sitri knelt down before him.

"My master," he said. "I fear I am not the bearer of good news."

"Really?" the Director asked. "And here I thought you got shot for the fun of it. Though I must wonder how my own disciple was bested by a human woman, one he was sent to monitor and nothing more."

"It was as you feared, my lord," Sitri said. "The expedition appears to accept the belief Carl Grogan committed suicide after becoming rash as a result of the chemical spill. However it appears Major Hailey does not accept that explanation and has begun investigating his death. It seemed she may have found some piece of evidence or information we overlooked."

"And so you felt the need to take action," the Director sighed, shaking his head. "And in the process you may have compromised our presence."

Sitri said nothing. The Director's accusations were absolutely true.

"She had the help of another," Sitri explained. No excuses, just facts. "Samanya Arcturus came to her aid."

"Arcturus?" the Director repeated.

"Yes, I believe Major Hailey, fearing for her life, recruited Samnya Arcturus for protection. My...attack has confirmed Major Hailey's suspicions to both of them."

Even with the mask, Sitri could tell the Director was angry. And that was rare.

"Fool..." the Director hissed. "There were many options on how to handle Major Hailey. We could have found a way to sabotage the evidence, make it appear she had nothing or even send her after nothing. But thanks to you, you have confirmed her suspicions."

"I accept my punishment, master," Stiri said, bowing his head. The Director rose from his chair, holding up his right hand, a gauntlet covering it. While it had a crimson gem at its palm, it was not golden but instead black metal. He held the black kara'kesh out, the gem glowing for a moment. But he then put it away.

"You may yet redeem yourself," the Director concluded.

"Yes, my lord," Sitri said graciously as the Director returned to his chair. "I am your humble servant. What is your thy bidding, my master?"

"If she has informed Samanya Arcturus then she may have informed others as well," the Director said. "I want you to find out how many and who."

"My lord, forgive me," Sitri said. "But that is many potential humans, everyone she has interacted with. And now that she is aware she will take great efforts to hide her movement."

"Then you best get started. Do not take action. Investigate and report your findings to me."

-.-

On one hand, Nova was glad the Jaffa Nation and its citizens had drifted away from wearing rags and drab robes. On the other hand, shehad mixed feelings about the new fashion. They had to blend in with the crowd so they got clothes to help them blend in.

Nova wore a black leather corset, one that was a nightmare to put on thanks to the laces down the front. Atop this she wore a black dark purple tailcoat, the flaps of her coat reaching down to her knees, touching the top of her boots. She holstered her guns at the back, hidden beneath her coat.

Nova had asked about wearing metal armor but only the jaffa wore those so they would stand out if they wore that in the human settlement. It was a shame too. Nova was admiring all the different armor designs the jaffa had depending not only on the Goa'uld they served but the rank they held.

The lower ranking jaffa had a series of interconnected metal plates form a sheet down the front and back of their body and a massive metal collar covering their shoulders and chest. One rank above that, the metal sheet would incrementally grow larger and the collar would grow smaller so that the sheet would cover the chest. These jaffa also has proper shoulder guards. Some jaffa had had segmented suits of plate armor. And Nova didn't have to be a historian to recognize lamellar armor, armor woven from rectangular pieces of metal. Judging from the design of their armor and the emblems on their heads, these were the former jaffa of Yu or Amaterasu.

But as amazing as they looked, Nova had to acknowledge that Ha'kar had a point. They could not stand out.

Next to her, Peterson was fumbling with his vest.

"Great," he mumbled, looking at his MP7. "Where am I supposed to hide this?" Nova's long coat gave her the perfect place to hide her weapons, especially with how small they were, but Peterson didn't have this.

Nova tossed Peterson a shoulder cape. It was a fur shoulder cape as opposed to the cloth ones some of the jaffa guards wore but it fit with the human attire and gave him a hiding spot. Peterson attached the cape to his left shoulder, letting it hang and cover his arm. Peterson attached his holster to his left hip, hiding his MP7 and hand blaster.

"And I think we're ready," Nova said. She walked over to the door and gave it three hard knocks. Ha'kar opened the wood door, looking at the duo. His helmet was on though his face plated was retracted.

"You are ready?" he asked. "Follow."

Ha'kar thumped his spear on the ground before marching away. Nova glanced back at Peterson one more time before following.

"So I assume you have a plan," Nova said as they made their way through the castle corridor. "I mean, you don't expect us to just wander around, what's the place called, Idirs? Without knowing what to look for?"

"We have traced the kassa distribution to a pub near the town square," Ha'kar said as they stepped out of the tower and onto the castle wall. They still had a ways to go but they were outside for the time being. Nova glanced over the wall and across the bustling town. The sun was still rising in the distance, not quite morning but not yet noon.

"So we just have to weed out the dealer from a general location?" Peterson asked.

"I fear we could not narrow the search further," Ha'kar answered. "The humans do not trust the jaffa and hence why we've requested your assistance. If you conduct your search in that area, I believe your search will bear fruit."

"You're hoping us being human would give us an edge that your jaffa can't," Nova concluded. They walked up to the next tower, a pair of metal doors sliding open to reveal a small stony chamber within.

Nova wondered why they were walking into a small stone room but she followed Ha'kar without question. The chamber had a single oil lamp hanging from the ceiling that provided light. And Nova could see a familiar panel on the wall next to the door, similar to what she's seen in images of the control pales in Goa'uld ships. Ha'kar pressed two buttons and the metal door slid close. Nova could feel the room begin to move, lowering quickly.

"Do we at least get a more specific plan on what to do?" Nova asked. The only thing she could think of right now was to ask around for kassa dealers and something told her that wasn't going to work.

"I fear not. The Grand Guard's presence is limited in Idris. Once you reach the pub, you will be on your own."

"Grand Guard?" Peterson repeated. "You mean the guys with shoulder capes?"

"Well if these the humans distrust the jaffa as much as you say, that's probably for the better," Nova commented.

They reached the ground floor, the room coming to a stop and the metal doors opening. They stepped out into the main hall and began walking toward the door. Nova took one last look at the regal lobby with its hovering orbs acting like a flying chandelier and carpet covering the floor. Nova turned around and looked at the massive wooden door they were headed for. At first Nova was expecting some sort of mechanism to open the door. They were way too big for a human being to open. But then she remembered how much stronger jaffa were.

Ha'kar pushed on the massive wooden door, the structure creaking as it opened. Light poured in from the city as the open air filled Nova's nose.

Peterson and Nova stepped out, letting Ha'kar close the door behind them.

"Follow," he said, marching off.

Nova couldn't get a good look at the city from the air, so she appreciated the opportunity to observe from the brick streets. Jaffa casually walked down the street, many of them with weapons casually in their hands or on their back.

Nova glanced at the lamppost-looking things. It looked like she was right. It was a Goa'uld telecommunication orb. The face of a jaffa appeared, speaking something in Goa'uld before fading.

Nova glanced through the windows into the shops. It was strange seeing these warriors manning a desk with some sort of cash register.

She glanced at some of the items on display. One store was selling clothes. There were vests and tunics on display at the window. Cloaks could be seen at the back of the store. Nova spotted an assortment of robes and dresses. In the next shop Nova could see an assortment of gems and jewelry on display. But considering the Goa'uld made heavy use of crystal technology, she suspected those gems to be various machines and handheld devices.

"Up ahead," Ha'kar announced, pointing at the building down the street. The city street was crowded but it wasn't packed. So Nova could see the stone building at the end, a brick road leading what looked like another castle. Massive archways served as the doors leading in, metal gates raised to allows access. It looked like the building had a glass dome for a ceiling. That ceiling must've been open too since Nova could see ships rising out of the building.

"The vi'kong on platform three will take you to Idris," the jaffa said. "Proceed with the plan. I will be monitoring to ensure nothing goes wrong."

"And if something does go wrong?" Peterson asked.

"Then you will likely die."

"Thanks…" Nova remarked sardonically. "That's…that's reassuring…"

The light of the midday sun vanished when she stepped inside. Yup, this was definitely some sort of starport. Dust filled Nova's nose, probably because of all the dust that gets kicked up when a ship comes or goes. There was another smell in the air too. The closest thing she could compare it to is gasoline, that smell you get when at the gas station. But that definitely wasn't gas she smelled. It was whatever those ships ran on. Or more like whatever gets expelled after they burn naquadah. No, she was told naquadah was a clean source of energy which mean no emissions. She'll have to ask Hailey about this some other time. But she smelled something.

They walked past a post, a Grand Guard standing inside the booth. The jaffa had his staff weapon resting inside his arm and leaning against his shoulder so he could work at the control panel in front of him. He wore a curiass and a gray cape over his right shoulder.

As they approached, the jaffa took his staff and held it out, blocking their path.

Ha'kar let out a long steady sigh. He reached inside a pouch on his belt and took out a scroll. He unrolled it, showing the message on the inside and the official seal stamped on the bottom.

"As you can see, I am here at the behest of the Council," Ha'kar said.

"My brother," the Grand Guard at the booth said. "It is not your business that I contend with. I simply insist that you take that disgusting thing off your head."

Ha'kar did not say anything. He simply retracted the remainder of his helmet into his suit. He was about to walk again but the Grand Guard did not move.

"Why must you Spartan Guard insist on continuing to wear the symbol of our oppressors?"

"Our helmets are not a symbol of Ares but a symbol of war, and we are warriors," Ha'kar said softly back. "In the meantime, I am on business from the High Council."

The Grand Guard gave Nova and Peterson a glance before moving his staff.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Ha'kar said with a bow before walking past. Nova and Peterson exchanged glances before following.

The hallway outside was just a giant loop encompassing something. And when they went inside, she could see what. Daylight flooded her vision again as she made it to a wide open area.

Looking across the platform, it was a wide open area like four football fields. There was a grid of massive pits in the stone floor. Most of the pits had a small crowd waiting around it. Some of the pits had a vi'kong docked inside, either letting jaffa in or out. There were vi'kong lifting off or landing.

Nova looked up at a second floor that looked out across the open field, jaffa watching the ships come and go.

Several Grand Guard marched about, their metal armor clanking as they marched. Each footstep sent vibrations up their body that rattled their metal armor together, creaking a series of clanks with each step.

"Ahead is the vi'kong that will take you to Idris," Ha'kar said.

Nova could see the ship at the far end of the starport. There were two jaffa outside, standing at attention.

Ha'kar walked up to the two, holding out the scroll for the two jaffa. They nodded before going back inside. The vi'kong roared to life as Peterson and Nova got aboard.

"We shall be in touch," Hak'ar yelled as the doors closed.

-.-

Hailey glanced at Arcturus again. The knight stood at attention at the door to Chen's lab, her weapon in sword form and nestled in her arm. Hailey knew she also had a caelum on her person. Normally Arcturus would have them strapped to her gauntlets. But they remained in their casual clothes as to not arouse suspicion, so Hailey didn't know where Sam was keeping her pistol.

"Jennifer," Chen said. "Arcturus isn't just gonna drop dead when you're not looking."

"Sorry," Hailey quickly said, turning away. "I guess I need something to distract me…" She looked around. Chen's lab didn't have all sorts of inventions and technology. He worked with computers so he had a handful of computers. His innovations came in form of programs. In other words, there was nothing in Chen's lab to distract herself with. That was until she looked at Arcturus.

"Maybe I can finally take a look at how your sword works?" she suggested.

"No," Samanya replied bluntly. "As I've said before, the science of our holy weapons is forbidden to all except for Aurox scholars."

"But the scholars are-"

"Jenny," Chen interrupted. "Watch what you say to the woman that can punch your heart out of your chest."

Hailey just threw her hands up in defeat. She's been after Samanya's sword since she got here and the knight's position had not budged. And while she didn't intend on giving up, she didn't feel like spending who knows how long begging Arcturus to let her see the sword.

She looked back at Chen instead, who was typing away at his laptop. She knew she had just agreed that she shouldn't be checking on everyone every few minutes but she couldn't help herself. She went over to the table and picked up the radio.

"Soren, check in," Hailey said into it.

"Here," Soren said gruffly. "Can you ask Doctor Chen for his status?"

Steven stopped, his shoulders visibly sagging. Hailey could practically hear his eyes roll.

"This isn't like the movies," he said slowly. "I can't just go clackety clack clack on the keys for two minutes and say…" Chen's voice trailed off as he saw the test results come in. "I got something…" Chen looked around in confusion when nobody jumped up at his statement. "No, guys, I have something!"

This time Hailey jumped. She rushed over, nearly knocking over Chen to see what he had. But what she saw were just a bunch of numbers.

"Ok, what am I looking at?" she asked.

"If I had to guess…a token. A security activation code."

Hailey finally got a taste of her own medicine. Normally it was her explaining things in a way that nobody could understand.

"I don't get it," she said.

"We were working under the assumption that the virus was set off by accident, that it somehow picked up some signal and mistook it for the activation code. But I think this is the activation code."

"You mean the virus was activated on purpose?" Hailey asked in disbelief.

"Well either that or somebody sat on the button to send the code."

"So you believe the Tok'ra from your galaxy sent the transmission to activate the virus?" Samanya asked. Chen shook his head.

"Even with subspace, not a chance in hell a signal makes it this far let alone a readable signal," he said. "And that's good for us."

"Because if it came from this galaxy there's only two possible locations it could have come from," Hailey concluded. "The only people who can sent that signal are Tok'ra or someone that knows about the Tok'ra and the only people who fit that bill came from our galaxy."

"Exactly," Chen agreed. "They either came with us or are one of us. The fierri have agreed to let us use their planet as an alpha site. Which means the only places this signal could've come from is either there or Millennium."

Finally, Samanya moved, standing up from her chair.

"How would whoever it was know when to send the signal?" she asked, slowly walking over to the duo. "I was under the impression we knew of Typhon's arrival because of their distress signal."

Chen and Hailey exchanges glances, never having considered that before.

"You think Mercer knew ahead of time?" Chen asked.

"How would they know?" Hailey posed the question. "The Ancient communication stones didn't fit the budget." It was one of those things where she didn't know whether to face palm or not. There were a lot of things they wanted to bring on the expedition. From military equipment to science equipment, to picking very specific personnel. It was the reason they could never bring alien weapons on their expeditions. The cost of procuring or producing these weapons mean something else had to be taken off the list for it to fit the budget. She had left half her science projects back on Earth. Sure the idea of leaving behind the communication stones of all things seemed dumb, but who hasn't faced a management that made stupid decisions? So she accepted that answer.

"They lied to us before. Who's to say they aren't lying about that?"

Jennifer put her hand to her chin, her mind already at work devising a plan.

"Alright, what do you need?" she asked. "Can we pull data logs from the control room?"

"Could but wouldn't recommend it. There's no guarantee the transmission was sent from the control room. Not to mention how hard it'll be to pull that without anyone catching us. And that's assuming they didn't clear the logs. I recommend we pull it from the buffer at the base of the com-towers."

Hailey stopped to process. Chen wanted to go the communication towers and extract data from their buffer. It was a situation identical to what she did when she got attacked.

"Alright, take Soren with you," she said. Chen visibly flinched when he heard that.

"Maybe I can take Sam instead," he suggested. But Hailey didn't intend on budging on this one.

"I don't know who these guys are but they know that me and Arcturus are in this together. They see you and her together, they'll know you're involved too."

Chen sighed, forcing a smile on his mouth. He could not argue with that logic.

"Sure," he finally said. He was about to walk past Hailey but she grabbed him by the arm.

"I know you don't like Soren," she said softly. "But please…"

Chen didn't respond. There wasn't anything he could say. He had agreed to let Soren escort him but he knew he couldn't hide his disdain from those closest to him.

"Major Hailey," Soren said through the radio. "Might I suggest you leave Chen's lab and perform a series of visits to the other scientists?"

Hailey stuttered in disbelief. Why would Soren even suggest something like that?

"Soren, if they see me go to them, they might think they're involved somehow!" she exclaimed.

"You can't remain here forever," Soren explained. "And if they only see you interacting with Doctor Chen they'll realize you two are collaborating. By visiting them, there is a chance they will believe you are going about your daily routine in attempt to look normal."

"A chance..." Hailey repeated incredulously.

"I am unsure how I feel putting those not involved in the potential crossfire," Arcturus said.

"We don't have a choice," Chen pointed out. "You two head out first. Pick up reports or something. I'll give you thirty minutes then I'll go join Soren."

Hailey looked around, part of her wanting to protest but another part fearing this was the only way to keep them safe.

"Fine," she sighed. "Make it forty minutes." She walked to the door, pausing to look back at Chen. "And...be careful," she said.

Hailey and Arcturus left the room and Chen immediately got back to his regular work. He figured if there was someone monitoring him it would be through his computer. So he began running his usual programs while tinkering with some cybersecurity programs, which wouldn't be that different from what he usually does.

Forty minutes passed rather quickly, quick enough that Chen considered waiting another five. But he changed his password quickly before logging off the computer. He went around the lab, shoving what he needed into a back pack before exiting.

Unsurprisingly, Soren was waiting for Chen. He stood in the hall, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed and his head lowered. Chen figured out what Hailey meant when she said Soren was discreet. Arcturus would stand out carrying a sword everywhere. Soren knew how to hide weapons. Probably honed his skills from his time as a murderer but he saw no guns whatsoever on Soren. Granted, the fierri was wearing a gray vest but no one would ever look at him and think there was a danger.

But Chen knew Soren had some weapons on his person. Probably a metal wire, a knife, and pistol at minimum.

Seeing Chen approach, Soren looked up.

"Doctor Chen," he said. "Shall we?"

"Sure," Chen said stiffly, clearly masking his disdain. Soren was told to meet Chen as the base of the tower where the lab was at, probably because there was a tram station. Soren stood up and began following the Doctor down the hall.

"We're going to want to avoid leaving a digital trail," Chen explained. "We don't know if someone's monitoring the arks so we're going to take a tram to central tower then take stairs the rest of the way up."

"Understood," Soren said in a low voice. They left the tower, heading for the city streets. The city may have had an atmospheric shield but that didn't mean the Alliance left the streets open. Millennium could be considered city comprised of a single massive building. Even the so called 'streets' were interconnecting tunnels and halls. Spacious tunnels and halls that were practically two stories in height but tunnels and halls, nonetheless. The walls of every hallway were the walls of a building, a door leading in and windows overlooking the hallway. There were some parts to spice up the layout. There were circular plazas with a dome atop of it. There were courtyards with balconies and intertwining staircases. And there were stairs leading to the trams were on the lower levels, ready to help take members of the expedition to certain areas of the city.

Soren followed Chen down the stairs to the lower floors. The tram stations were very similar to the streets above, but noticeably more cramped with a much lower ceiling. It looked very much like a fancy subway station. The stairs led to a shopping section with the ticket booths at the end to lead down to the trams. And once they were past the ticket booths, they stood awkwardly in the dim light, waiting for the tram to arrive. The platform was a long rectangular chamber, a holographic band running in front of the tram rails.

Chen could see Soren occasionally glancing back behind them to make sure they weren't followed. The place was dead silent so hopefully that would at least give away any footsteps.

"What's the word?" Chen asked Soren.

"Nothing so far," Soren said softly.

The holographic band flashed green, the alien text changing to indicate an incoming tram. The silver cylindrical pod appeared out of the dark tunnel. It sprayed a silvery mist as it emerged, slowing down from supersonic speeds. Finally it came to a stop not with a whistle but with a hum.

The doors opened and the two got on.

The trip to the central tower was uneventful. They exited the tram in the central tower tram station. They took an elevator to the top of the tower, above the gateroom, all the way to the top.

The top of the tower was a maintenance room. It was where engineers stored their equipment for fixing any technical issues. The expedition had organized it to suit their needs.

But it also had a door to the outside for any equipment damage. Chen walked up to that door and pressed the button, the sliding door opened to the walkway outside. This high up even with artificial atmosphere produced some pretty strong winds.

"One moment," Soren said. He walked over to the door that lead in. He first went to the other side, popped open the control panel, and removed a crystal. He then went to the inside and pressed a button on that panel and closed the door. Chen could tell Soren had disabled the door panel on the outside, making it harder to open the door from that side.

"We good?" Chen asked.

"Not just yet," Soren replied. He paused and looked around as if he was searching for something. Finally he found it. He went over to the side and pulled out a bag of sand. These sand bags were primarily brought for utilitarian purposes like if they ever needed to make cover or if they ever needed a weight. But Soren didn't need the bag. He just needed what was inside. He took out a knife and sliced an opening in the canvas bag. He grabbed a handful of sand and sprinkled it over the ground in front of the door. He was very deliberate with his motion, waving his arm and evenly spreading the sand in a fan-like motion. Then he would step sideways and do the same again. When he reached the wall, he would step back and move the other direction. "Wait outside," Soren said. Chen obeyed as Soren continued sprinkling sand in across the ground. Finally, he stood outside and sprinkled sand on the inside. The wind blew the sand closest to the door away but it still left sand all over the room.

"You know someone has to clean that up," Chen said.

"If we are followed, we will know when we return," Soren explained. "Work fast," he ordered as he closed the door.

Chen took a nervous glance over the rail.

"Oh, just two hundred stories above the ground," he muttered. "How bad could this be?"

Normally Chen could just not look down but that was no longer an option. Because of the way Millennium was designed, looking out meant looking down upon another city. No matter where he looked, he was looking down. His only hope was to just focus on the golden clouds between the arms of the city.

He let out a deep sigh and started walking across the platform, his hand tightly gripping the rails.

The rest of the city may have been pretty, but the walkways at the top of the tower were built to be utilitarian. Back on Earth, radio towers could have ladders leading to the top. Being larger and taller, the Alliance could fit in stairs and walkways instead. Civil engineers would probably marvel at the usage of geometry, support beams holding up the walkways and the walkways being used as even larger support beams. But to the untrained eye it is a mess of bars and beams with metal platforms acting as walkways.

Chen warily looked over the railing. Sure, this was better than having a ladder, but he was still exposed to the outside air several hundred meters of the ground. And while the environment was controlled by the station, they still couldn't stop wind from being created this high up.

He glanced down and grimaced. That was a long drop. A LONG drop. And looking out at the other cities was no better. He was out in the open especially in relation to the other buildings. Martin had commented before that this city would be an urban sniper's wet dream.

"This place sucks," Chen muttered. "We're high up with no cover. I'm just waiting for a sniper to pick one of us off."

"You can put those fears to rest," Soren said. "If whoever this is shoots us, they will raise suspicions over our deaths."

"Fine and dandy and, oh wait, I won't care 'cause I'll be dead," Chen retorted.

"It means it is unlikely they would choose to shoot us or they will alert others to their operations. It will be difficult to cover up a death caused by one of your rifles. They are more likely to attack head on, possibly try to throw us off to make our deaths look like an accident."

That statement made Chen look down again, imagining someone hurling him over the rail and him just plummeting to the bottom.

"Just great…" he muttered. He had made it to the tower, the control box just ahead. He just had to reach it.

Chen gripped the railing tightly, walking over to the interface. He took off his backpack and took out a tablet, pulling out a few wires. He also pulled out an adapter, something to plug into the Alliance interface that can also connect to their computers.

"So why are we here?" Soren asked, watching as Chen plugged the tablet into the interface.

"There are dozens of towers on Millennium," Chen explained, typing something into the tablet. "But there are only five that can send a subspace signal like that. But messages are complex and signals are simple. We need to convert the message into a signal. That's where the buffer comes in. The message gets stored in a buffer, then translated into something that actually can be transmitted." Chen's fingers began typing away at the tablet. "Signals get lost when they get sent, so machines have something called TCP, essentially to make sure the receiver gets the entire signal and in the order where it's sent. When it comes to Alliance tech, this buffer right here is where it happens."

"I assume you'll have to find the right signal as well?" Soren asked.

"Unfortunately. We do subspace tests with subspace signals so…" Chen's voice trailed off. Soren had snuck up to being right behind him, looking over his shoulder. And Chen wasn't sure how comfortable he was with a former mass murderer breathing down his neck. "Little space, please…"

Soren back up as requested. Though Chen did notice the fierri holding a sawn-off shotgun of some sort. Where the hell had he been hiding that this whole time? It wasn't an Earth sawn-off either. It was probably one of the fierri weapons.

"Unfortunately these guys aren't just sending signals," Chen continued. "They're actually using our signals to carry their messages which means they would need someone on the inside at both the sending end and receiving end."

"How has this buffer not been cleared if its data yet?" Soren asked.

"Well, truth be told, only a handful of people know about this. It was a recent discovery."

"The buffer was a recent discovery?"

"No, even we use something similar, converting electrical signals to radio signals and the transmission control protocol and whatnot. What's different is that the Alliance records all their signals. So these shadow people didn't know to clear the buffer of the signal logs. It's like wiretapping."

"Wiretapping…" Soren repeated.

Chen muttered in annoyance. He forgot Soren was an alien.

"Never mind," he said "What's curious is that Mercer knows that the Alliance records everything in their buffer. Which means the Conspiracy should know. Yet our mystery bad guys don't."

"So you believe a third party and not these Tok'ra you speak of?" Soren asked.

"I've worked with the Tok'ra before and personally I'd like to think they have more integrity than to off our own people."

"Let's say you do successfully compare the signals and find a match. What would be our next step?"

"Well, it would confirm Hailey's suspicious about a mystery bad guy. If he did use these towers to send out a subspace signal, I might be able to ping the different computers that have used this tower lately. And…done." Chen pulled the chords back out and quickly shoved everything messily into his backpack. "Now let's get out of here."

-.-

Elsewhere in the city, the Director sat in his chair in front of his laptop, reading the files that went past. He was not too enveloped in his work to notice a man walk into the room.

"I see you've recovered from your injuries, Sitri," the Director commented.

"I once again express my utmost gratitude for forgiving my failure," the man said with a deep bow.

"Long-term success supersedes short-term failure. Now report on your findings."

Sirtis reached into his long coat and took out a holographic projector. He placed it on the table. After a moment, an orange hologram appeared showing the faces of multiple members of the expedition.

"These are the humans Major Hailey is closest to," Sirti reported. "Hailey could have turned to any one of them for help." There was a click and the image changed. "These are the ones she has interacted with over the past three hours. At the moment Steven Chen is our primary suspect."

"Why is that?" the Director asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"Doctor Chen's set of skills would make him useful in uncovering more about Charles Grogan's demise. Also, he is spending a strange amount of time with Soren Stavig, someone who Doctor Chen resents. When I went to follow them, I found my path blocked by sand scattered across the floor. The way it was scattered was very methodical, evenly distributed wave motions. If I attempted to cover my footprints, it would be obvious. I could not pass without revealing my presence."

"You think the sand was placed to try to see if they were being followed," the Director concluded.

"I do not know why the warrior Samanya Arcturus became involved, but I believe Major Hailey has sought out Doctor Chen for his skills and Soren Stavig to protect them."

"Shame…" the Director said, clasping his hands together. "We cannot cause too many accidents or the humans will become suspicious. Cleaning out four may present a problem."

"The others appear to be following Major Hailey," Sitri said. "If she calls off the search, the others may follow. You expressed a desire to convert her."

The Director leaned back in his chair, contemplating the idea.

"And how do you intend to do this while she is being guarded by Samnya Arcturus?" he asked. "We only have one young available. And a failed attempt will expose our operations to more than just them."

That was the only idea Sitri had. If he couldn't convert Hailey to silence her, then he was out of ideas.

"Then how may I serve, master?" Sirti asked.

The Director paused, continuing to think about the situation.

"For the time being simply report your findings," the Director said. "I will see what can be done."

"Yes, my master," Sirtis said with a deep bow. And without another word, he left the room.

-.-

"There it is, that same waveform," Chen pointed out. "Once again piggybacked on an outbound signal, one sent to the Typhon. It looks like we were talking with the Typhon not long after it reached our galaxy."

They had made it back to Chen's lab where he and Hailey were going over the results.

"So we were right, Mercer knew about Typhon coming," Hailey said.

"Guess we can also assume he and his buddies have Ancient communication stones then. They got word of Typhon coming and once it was here, they started talking the old fashioned way."

Hailey stopped to think.

"Alright, so we know someone is sending encrypted signals piggybacked on our official messages. Is there a way to figure out who?"

"Can we not locate the tower responsible for this 'piggyback'?" Soren asked. "We know this tower sent out the signal. Which tower modified the signal?"

"None of the towers are responsible for the piggyback," Chen explained. "You can't send a signal that modulates another signal, at least not with any precision. You need to modulate it before sending it." Chen paused when he realized what this meant. "Which means we can use this to our advantage."

"How?" Hailey asked.

"I can look at the buffer and find the machine ID of the computer that sent the transmission. So either a person at that computer made the modulation changes or a program on it did."

"So how does that help us?"

"Well if it's a person then we have a lead. And if it's a program, then it's probably getting signals from another location, which means I might be able to trace the signals up stream."

-.-

This was new.

Not being on a public transport. Nova's used public transport before. She couldn't even say the experience of riding a craft like this was new. It wasn't a spaceship, even if it was she's been on those too. It was just an airship. What was new was how empty it was.

Judging from its size and from how all the vi'kong looked the same, Nova guessed all these airships were built off an assembly line or something, no larger or smaller ones made for areas of higher or lower traffic.

As a result, the vi'kong she was on was more spacious than needed. The ship was divided into two parts, the cockpit and the passenger section. Nova didn't get to get a good look at the cockpit but the entrance to the ship took her past the door to it. From what little she could see, it was a chamber with a walkway running along the edge, manned by a small crew.

The passenger area was much larger and divided into three floors. The middle and bottom floors were where the passengers sat. The top floor was the observation deck where passengers can take in the view.

With the airship's intertial dampeners, Nova didn't even feel the vi'kong descend. It wasn't until she heard the jaffa pilot speak over the intercom did she realize anything.

"Alak, ana'kalah Idris ashi."

Nova cursed to herself. She knew she should've brushed up on her Goa'uld.

"I have no idea what that means," she said.

"Well he said Idris," Peterson pointed out. "And that's where we're trying to go so…"

"Alright, let's get moving then," Nova ordered, standing up. Her hand blaster and MP7 were strapped to the back of her hip so by this point it was rather uncomfortable sitting down and leaning back since the chair made her guns dig in."

As Nova made her way into the corridor that led to the ramp, she glanced up at the bridge again. Two jaffa were standing with their staffs ready at the doorway, as if they were expecting some sort of hostile takeover. Most of the jaffa she's seen were walking the streets with weapons. But these jaffa looked like they were expecting a fight.

Nova walked through the door, walking down the platform and out of the ship.

She expected the same smell she had when she was at the other starport. What she was met instead was the smell of trash.

Looking around, she noticed this starport was smaller. Much smaller. It only had room for two vi'kong, the other docking station being empty. And there was almost no one waiting at the platforms.

"Thank you," Peterson called back to the ship, but the ramp was already being raised. And within moments, the vi'kong was already flying away. "Wow, I see the service isn't very friendly. Two-star review."

"Let's go," Nova said. "We're a ten-minute walk from the bar."

When they stepped out of the building, the stark contrast between Idris and Abor Lada now obvious. Abor Lada was a fairy tale brought to life. Idris looked like it was just a rundown village. It reminded her of the days when the jaffa were still under Goa'uld rule. There was no technology. Just run-down brick and motor houses with dirt roads connecting them.

"Man…" Peterson said. "This place is a drab. Where's all the fancy tech? The city was full of this stuff."

"Distribution of technology," Nova said. "Back when the Goa'uld were in charge, they hogged all the advanced technology. After their fall, all that technology was distributed to the surrounding areas. Jaffa were guaranteed to have first run of it since they have to operate their ships and vehicles or work inside their palace. But the human populations were as far away from the cities as you could get so, even after the Goa'uld, next to nothing reached there."

The Jaffa cities were a chaotic yet beautiful hybrid of primitive medieval and Goa'uld technology. But the human slums…were just slums. The wooden buildings were decrepit. Some of them didn't even look safe to enter let alone inhabit. There were a lot of tents set up on the side of the littered and dirty street.

"So, how do you intend to find the kassa dealers?" Peterson asked, as they scanned the run-down street.

"We'll head to the pub first," Nova ordered. "We'll get a feel for our surroundings. Then we'll see how we can either draw out or narrow our search."

-.-

The Sanctum: the governor's mansion, a pocket dimension holding the rooms of a mansion where the city governor once resided. Mercer has since claimed it as his own to not only dwell in but to hold secret meetings with the IOA and Tok'ra. But Mercer did have some personal effects brought in, one of them being a grand piano. His fingers strummed across the keys, Metallica's unforgiven echoing through the empty building. The heavy sorrowful melody ended with a heavy press of the keys. Finally, Mercer took his fingers of the piano and rested his hands in his lap.

"I hope you enjoyed the performance," he said to seemingly no one. With that, a person emerged from behind a column as if the shadow behind it had summoned him. "Any news to report?"

"You are not my superior," the Tok'ra said venomously. But Mercer had no reaction. The Tok'ra wouldn't have shown up unless there was something to say. Finally, he spoke. "We have met with the Tau'ri and Jaffa to speak of what's transpired."

"There to confess your sins?" Mercer asked with a sneer.

"There to explain ourselves," the Tok'ra corrected. "No matter what it appears, we hold the Tau'ri with the utmost respect."

"The virus says otherwise."

"It was merely a precautionary measure. We still do not know why it went off."

"Regardless of why, you have betrayed the Tau'ri's trust."

"And we will fight to earn it back," the Tok'ra said defiantly. "As a gesture of good faith, the Tok'ra have agreed to be more forthcoming in regards to information regarding the Lucian Alliance. Considering the Tau'ri need us, hopefully they will come to see we are sincere."

"They need you?" Mercer repeated.

"Yes. If they diplomatic relations between our people were to end, this would raise suspicions and expose their operations."

"And you don't rely on them at all?" Mercer asked with a raised eyebrow. "Need I remind you Tok'ra physiology cannot use the communication stones? They were never made to handle two minds sharing one body. You need the humans to relay you messages back to the Tok'ra Council."

The Tok'ra paused, conveniently forgetting this aspect.

"Then perhaps we need each other," he concluded. Mercer chuckled at this.

"Pray you do," he said darkly.

-.-

Nobody knew anything. In fact, most of the humans seemed downright offended at the idea that they were attributed to the Lucian Alliance and kassa.

"The jaffa sent you, didn't they?" one asked.

"Alas our oppressors have returned to force their will upon."

"Cunning. So the snake-bellies use the lie of kassa being distributed in our village as an excuse to maintain their grip."

"I'm not bothering with emissaries of the jaffa."

Nova had noticed disgusted looks when they arrived. But with them asking, it seemed more and more people were becoming increasingly disgusted with their presence.

After what felt like hours, Nova and Peterson finally reached the pub. But the optimism they started with had evaporated. And between the downtrodden look of the whole place and how rude everyone was being, neither of them were hopeful.

The first thing they did was secure the area around the pub. The left side and back of the pub was surrounded by a fence. She could see a door at the back that she guessed led to the kitchen or a hall close to it. Through the boards she could see a young man in an apron speaking to someone outside her view. From the sounds of it, he was getting yelled at.

"Idiot, child. You have a single job and even that is too much for you. Finish your shift then return to The Castle."

"Well this place seems friendly…" Nova muttered to herself.

There was a gate in the fence so Nova was tempted to open the door just to ask if everything was ok. But this was not her business.

Once they had finished casing the outside, they went inside.

Like the rest of the slums, the pub with dark and filthy. The floor was in desperate need of cleaning and even just stepping on it made Nova feel like she needed to wash her boots. She and Peterson sat down at the counter, still looking around to take in everything.

For a moment the two of them just sat there, still trying to process everything that's happened.

"Wow…" Peterson said as he sat down. "I figured the humans may have issues with the jaffa but, I didn't expect this much.

"The jaffa were enslaved by the Goa'uld, and the humans were enslaved by the jaffa," Nova remarked.

"What, so you're not surprised?"

"Well I expected there to be tension between humans and jaffa. I just didn't expect it to be this bad."

"Don't hold it against them," a voice said. They looked up to see a bald man with a gray circle beard walk past the counter. "So you're the Tau'ri."

"You could tell?" Nova asked.

"Well you're human, but you don't act like most humans. And your attire has more in line with jaffa clothing."

"And who are you?" Peterson asked.

"Oh, I'm the owner," the man said, picking up a glass and beginning to polish it. "Call me Daus. I run this place. One of our patrons came in earlier talking about two human plants asking about kassa.."

"Plants?" Nova repeated. "Oh, they think the jaffa sent us to do stuff."

"Don't hold it against them. Being human in this galaxy isn't exactly a blessing. If it's not the Lucian Alliance then it's kassa dealers. And if it's not kassa addicts then it's sleepers."

"Sleepers?" Peterson repeated. "Sarcophagus addicts? I thought the humans had trouble getting hands on advanced technology. How are you guys getting sarcophagus addicts?"

"Well you only need a single sarcophagus and a savvy businessman," Nova said. "A few were probably scavenged from the Goa'uld."

"Actually two were given to our healer," Daus explained. "But one was stolen. It was a noble action gone awry."

Nova could not help but notice the way Daus talked about the jaffa. The other humans thought they were up to something simply because they were working with the jaffa. But Daus didn't seem to blame the jaffa at all for the sleeper problem.

"You don't seem to have the same hate for the jaffa," Nova observed.

Daus sighed, running a hand over his bald head.

"The jaffa have also suffered at the hands of the Goa'uld," he said. "They're still learning how to run a nation. They may be struggling but I don't believe them to have any real malice towards us."

"But you don't have any hatred for them?"

Daus looked around, making sure no one one listening.

"Look, I won't lie," Daus said quietly. "When I was a kid I was a citizen of a nation that spanned three planets and almost a hundred colonies. But hyperspace-capable civilizations were a threat, so they bombed our planets and our worlds into irradiated wastelands, enslaved the survivors. Almost twenty billion dead. The jaffa took my wife to turn her into a concubine for their master. And they executed my son when I didn't mine enough naquadah for them. Hate the jaffa? I despise them."

"But..."

Daus sighed. It was clear speaking of this brought him a lot of pain. And whatever he was going to say next brought him more.

"But we all suffered at the hands of the Goa'uld. If we want to move forward we need to work past this."

"Maybe you can help us then," Nova said. "Do you know anything about kassa dealers?"

Daus looked around as it he was making sure no one could hear him.

"There is a man named Abur Sin," Daus hissed. "He comes around here every few days. Usually meets some people in the back alley. I don't know if he's your kassa dealer but…."

"It's a good place to start," Peterson said.

Nova had been looking for information regarding the kassa dealers. And now that she had it, she had to be suspicious.

"Why are you helping us?" she asked.

"This was never a hospitable place, but for the first time we can form a life for ourselves," Daus said, shaking his head. "I will not let sleepers or Lucian Alliance thugs take that away."

Nova and Peterson exchanged glances. The solution may have just been presented to them. But that was assuming this Daus was being honest. And Nova could see Peterson asking about that with his eyes. Can they trust him.

Nova hated this. She would usually consult with Steven and Martin over this. Sure, Steven would be suspicious and Martin would be trusting, but it's the reasons why that helped influence her.

She had to make a decision.

"How often?" Nova asked. They didn't have much of a choice. She would just have to prepare for it being a trap.

"He'll be back soon. He wasn't here yesterday which means he'll probably be here today or tomorrow."

"Well I don't think we can wait for tomorrow," Nova said. "What about time? When does he arrive?" She still had to escort the IOA representatives back so she couldn't take too long. And if she did, she would need to check in with the SGC to let them know to send another SG team to get the IOA.

"He usually arrives in the midafternoon," Daus explained.

"What are your orders, Major?" Peterson asked. Nova didn't answer right away. She needed a moment to form a plan.

"And this Sin guy comes into the pub?" she asked.

"Comes in, waits at a table, then usually walks out back with another person," Daus said. "Sometimes multiple people."

"Alright, we'll loiter here," Nova said to Peterson. "Can you give us a signal if you see this Sin guy walk through the door?"

"I can," Daus said enthusiastically. "I'm looking forward to having our town free of that cursed food."

-.-

There were only a handful of areas Chen wasn't allowed in. Those were the higher security sections of the city permitted to only the higher ranking military personnel. And the control room was not one of them. Yet for some reason, he felt like he was doing something wrong when he set foot in the control room.

He nervously glanced around, almost fearing someone knows his intention.

Millennium's day cycle was drawing to an end so there were no new missions or teams to be sent out. There were only a handful of technicians in the room including the wheelchair-bound Donavan. Though the lights were still on, the orange glow of the dimming nebula outside shone through the windows into the control room and gate room.

Chen casually took a seat at computer in the far corner. This part actually was in line which what he usually does. He takes the corner so he could be away from everyone. And now he could work in silence and secret.

He had just logged in when a voice caught his attention.

"Steven, mate!" Charles called out. Chen was definitely on edge. Hearing Martin's voice made him jump and he had to resist to not leap out of his chair.

"Hello, Charles," Steven greeted with obvious annoyance. He stood up to see Martin jog up to him.

"Where were you, I've been looking everywhere for you?" Martin asked with equal annoyance.

"Busy," Chen said. "Look, I might have busy for rest of today so-"

"Corin's leaving!"

Chen bolted out of his seat for that one. Everyone in the control room looked over at the sound of the chair being knocked over.

"What?!" he exclaimed. "When? Why?"

"I think he's not big on us allying with the Ror'char."

Chen had to admit he should've seen that one coming. The Ror'char was the dictatorship that claimed the life of his wife.

"Can you stop him?"

"I've tried but he's hellbent on leaving. He's right now in that memory machine thing to get the important parts of his memory of Millennium removed."

It took a moment for Chen to realize what Martin was talking about with the memory machine. It was the machine SG-1 bought that could alter a person's memories including fabricating or deleting. It must've been part of Mercer's terms. He could only leave as long as he gets important memories about Millennium removed.

"Maybe you can stop him," Martin suggested. Chen felt his heart sink. He had to got stop Corin from leaving.

But he couldn't let this trail go cold. Someone had attacked Hailey so whoever was behind everything knew she was on their trail. And if he left his data, they might delete it.

"Can you at least slow him down?" Chen asked instead.

"Slow him down…" Martin repeated.

"I'm kinda busy," Chen said through gritted teeth. He hated this. He was helping Hailey with something important. A conspiracy that was actively threatening everyone in the Expedition and potentially Earth took priority. Still, he wanted to go to Corin and try to convince him to not leave.

"With what?"

"I can't tell you. But try to stall. I want to talk to him."

"C'mon, what's so important you can't try to stop him?"

"Charles, you have to trust me."

Chen stared at Martin, his gaze unflinching and unblinking. Maritn could tell from that stare that whatever it was, it truly was important.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do," Martin conceded. Martin kept watching Chen as he placed his hands on the table to support himself. There was no hiding the frustration on his face. Could anyone blame him? Corin was planning on leaving. And this wasn't like was going to Earth like Nova. It wasn't like someone moving away. You could always keep in touch with someone moving away. Once Corin's gone, he's gone. There wasn't exactly an intergalactic cell phone service.

"I don't suppose you can tell me what you're doing after you're done," Martin asked.

"Maybe depends on how it turns out," Chen sighed.

"Alright, I'll tie him to the fort until you're done," Martin said. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Uh…privacy," Chen stated. He didn't mean to sound so harsh. But he couldn't work with Martin looking over his shoulder. If those he was going after thinks Martin knows they might take him out. So Chen had to get him away.

"Sure, mate," Martin said. "I'll talk to you once this is all done."

Martin turned around, glancing back at Chen one last time before leaving.

Chen slowly sat back down, running his fingers through his hair. He had to focus. According to the buffer, this was the computer that last sent a subspace transmission, probably part of the ongoing research into deep space subspace communication.

According to the buffer logs, this was the computer. Chen had to be thorough, record every detail so he could review it at his own leisure later.

-.-

Everything was in place. Nova and Peterson sat at a table, waiting for Daus to give the signal. They even had a plate of food on the house to help with the act. Nova sat so she had a clear view of the door, watching people come in and out. After over an hour, Nova was already getting impatient.

She glanced at Daus again as another man walked through the door, a short lanky man. But Daus didn't make any gesture after looking at the man. Wasn't the guy.

Nova glanced at Daus. No one was going through the front door so she didn't expect anything. She was surprised when she saw him nodding, his eyes flicking toward the back. Nova glanced in that direction. There were two men heading for the back door.

Nova looked at Peterson, quickly gesturing in that same direction with her head. The two of them got out of their chairs. Peterson headed for the front door while Nova went to follow the two men. They headed for the back of the pub, past the bathrooms and to the back rooms. They were out of sight from everyone else. They walked past the backrooms and storage rooms and headed for the back door. She watched them go through a door at the back. One of the men, the one with a chain curtain, pause to wedge something in the door. It looked like a brick. That must have been Abur Sin. He then let the door close, the brick stopping it from closing all the way.

Nova reached into her coat, taking out the MP7. She extended its stock and tucked against her shoulder. She pressed herself against the door frame, peeking through the crack. She waited for another ten seconds. She had to wait for Peterson to get into position. He would be waiting for her to make her move first.

Finally, she did. She burst through the door, aiming her weapon at the two.

"Stand to, gentlemen," she ordered. At the same time, Peterson emerged from around the corner, aiming his weapon at the duo. The two men, whipped around, eyes wide with shock and fear. They looked around, clearly contemplating running. "I wouldn't advise that. Keep your hands were we can see them."

The two men held their hands out to the side but that didn't really assure Nova. There could've been weapons in their clothing.

"Search them," Nova ordered Peterson. Peterson cautiously approached the two, his MP7 kept steady. He lowered it as he approached one of the men, a bald hairless man with squinty eyes. He patted him down, taking out a bag of something out of his clothes. He tossed Nova the bag before promptly going over to Abur Sin and did the same. Peterson produced another bag and once again tossed it to Nova. Once that was done, he raised his gun once more while Nova lowered hers so she could get a good look at what was in the bags.

For the first bag she knew what was in it before she even opened it. It was a bag of coins. She tied it back up and set it on the ground as she got to work analyzing the next. She was expecting a bag of purple corn. Instead she found a bag of…leaves. Perhaps leaves wasn't the best term. It reminded her of chopped parsley. It took a good five seconds for her to realize what she was looking at.

"Damn it," she muttered. "It's not kassa. We just busted a dealer of space weed." She looked at Abur Sin then back at the bag she held. What now? They still might be with Lucian Alliance. In which case they would have to hold them. But if they weren't, they would be wasting time and the kassa dealer might be able to get away.

"Get out of here," Nova said, tossing the two bags back at them. The two humans looked at them fearfully before scurrying away. Nova put her hand to her face.

"Now what?" Peterson asked.

"Head inside," Nova ordered. "We'll figure it out from there." She was beginning to think this was a lost cause. The jaffa couldn't find the kassa dealer. What would she be able to?

She and Peterson put their MP7's away before heading back inside.

"Oh, damn it," Nova muttered when she reached the door. That' why Abur Sin had propped it open with a brick. She had knocked the brick out when she burst through and the handle on the outside was broken. So she and Peterson went through the gate in the fence before circling back through the front. Daus was waiting for them to return, looking up when he saw them again and circling around the counter to meet them, still scrubbing the dirty plate in his hand with a wet towel.

He quickly went over, closing the distance so he didn't have to speak too loudly.

"Did you get him?' he asked.

"Weed dealer not kassa dealer," Nova said in disappointment.

"Weed?" Daus repeated.

"Never mind. Either way, he wasn't the kassa dealer."

"Shame," Daus sighed, letting his arms hang loose.

"Isn't that the plate you were washing when we first came in?" Peterson asked.

"Yeah. Damndest thing. One of those days you sometimes get scrub something clean."

That statement caught Nova's attention.

"Can I see that?" she asked. Daus handed her the plate. Nova looked at the streaks on the plate, purple streaks that looked like the plate has absorbed the color. "That's kassa."

It took a moment before Peterson realized what that meant. He immediately pulled out his MP7 and aimed it at Daus. The entire pub fell silent as everyone looked over to watch the commotion.

"Woah, you can't possibly think…" Daus stuttered. Nova considered her options. She felt she could trust Daus but she needed more than just a gut feeling to trust him.

"Stand down, Peterson," Nova ordered.

"Sir?" Peterson questioned.

"If he was who we're looking for I doubt he'd be holding the evidence in plain view of us. Stand down."

Peterson clearly disagreed but obeyed, lowering his weapon.

"Who else works here?" Nova asked.

"It's just me, the maid, and the cook," Daus stuttered, clearly still shaken from having a gun pulled on him.

"Can we speak to the cook?"

"Sure," he said, quickly heading to the back.

Nova could see Peterson was still confused about what was going on.

"I think it's the cook," Nova said. "Think about it. He can sneak kassa into the meals."

"But to what end? Isn't that like a drug dealer giving freebies?"

"Kassa is very addictive. If that cook can get someone addicted then he or someone else can find that person and voila. They have a new buyer."

"If it's the cook, how have the jaffa not caught him yet?"

"Because Jaffa in Idris are a big deal. They rarely come out here and they're hated. So if jaffa show up, it'll be the biggest talk of the town if two jaffa show up. Daus heard about us and we were just asking questions. The cook would be able to hide all the evidence."

Before more could be said, there was a loud crash.

"What the hell was that?" Peterson wondered aloud. He and Nova readied their weapons and immediately headed for the back, Peterson behind Nova. They stacked up on the door to the kitchen. Peterson squeezed Nova's shoulder and Nova gave a nod. They burst into the room, quickly clearing the area. It was just a rectangular room with a counter at the center. But on the ground lay Daus.

"What happened?" Nova asked, rushing to his side.

"Narud," Daus groaned, sitting up. He pointed to the door on the other side of the room. Nova recognized that door. It was the door to the back door. "I'll be fine. Get Narud."

Nova complied. She and Peterson went for the back door. They stacked up before bursting through. They had just finished clearing the area when they spotted someone running into the distance. It was the boy Nova had seen earlier. He didn't even close the gate behind him.

Nova and Peterson burst through the gate, running after him.

"Move!" Nova yelled, shoving past several people. The crowd scattered, clearing a path for both her and the Lucian. Another reason she missed her old team. Even if her and Martin's stamina beat Chen, he was rather good at parkour. Not to Soren's degree but he could traverse these crowded environments. Or maybe she could order Martin to snipe the person in the leg and skip the chase. Since she didn't have his sniping skills she'd have to shoot him center mass which meant shooting him in the chest.

She couldn't think about that. She could only make the chase on foot. The Lucian turned down another alley, one that soon turned into the roof of another building. The land had ended in a cliff, a building built at the base of that cliff so that its roof lined perfectly with the ground above. The pirate leapt off that roof and landed on the next one. Nova stopped herself just in time. She knew there was no way she was making that jump.

Terra had enough of this. She immediately got to work taking off all her weapons.

"Nova!' Peterson called out, quickly catching up, out of breath from the run.

"Here, hold this," Nova muttered, shoving her guns into Peterson's hands. It was her MP7 and Berretta. She would keep her Berretta but the hand blaster was lighter and she needed the speed.

Now free from her excess burdens, Nova took off again. She leapt off the roof, landing on the next one. She had lost ground taking off her equipment. She had to make up the lost ground.

Narud leapt off the roof, hitting the ground and rolling to distribute the impact. Nova leapt off the roof too, though instead of rolling, her feet slipped out from under her when she hit the ground. She growled in annoyance. That meant more lost ground she needed to catch up on. But she didn't have time to think about it. She got back to her feet and got back to the chase. Narud was now taking off down the street, trying to shove his way past everyone. Being behind him actually was paying off. He had to shove his way through the crowd. By the time Nova traversed the same ground, the crowd had parted and let her through.

Suddenly, Narud stopped, whipping around and pulling out a pistol. Nova dove behind some barrels while Narud fired several shots at her. The moment he finished, Nova yanked out her hand blaster and fired back. She hated this. They were in a crowded place. One missed shot was all it would take to kill an innocent person. So she aimed low. If she missed a shot she would hit the ground.

The missed shots send plumes of mud into the air like someone had loaded an air cannon with the stuff. Narud covered his face, realizing the hand blaster had him beat in terms of fire power. As if that wasn't enough, Nova could hear the click of the pistol magazine going empty.

He threw his gun away in frustration and ran. Nova holstered her hand blaster before returning to the chase.

She must've run across the entire town. But, she finally got close enough. She reached out and grabbed the back of his collar. Nova dug her heels into the dirt, bringing her to a stop. But with the pirate still in motion, she felt him yank her arm forward. The two of them came crashing to the ground and tumbling across the dirt.

Nova saw the pirate reach for something at his belt. She didn't know what it was, but she could guess it was another weapon. She grabbed his wrist and pinned it to the ground. The pirate thrashed, trying to get away. He couldn't squirm out but he was able to wedge his knee between him and Nova, shoving her backwards. Terra Nova's hands flew to her gun, yanking it out of her holster. But the pirate was just as quick. He leapt to his feet, grabbing a nearby woman and hiding behind her.

"Stop!" Nova ordered, aiming her hand blaster at the pirate, who had pulled out a knife and held it to his hostage's throat. They were both out of breath and tired. Nova wasn't sure if she could make the shot. Each beat of her heart caused her hands to shake.

"Back off!" Narud barked. Nova froze, her weapon trained on the pirate. "Don't follow," he hissed, stepping backwards. Nova was about to step forward too but Narud jammed the blade against the woman's throat with a vicious snarl.

"I said back off!" he yelled. "I'll do it! I'll-"

A blue bolt of electricity suddenly streaked from the sky, hitting the two humans. The woman let out a startled scream while the pirate let out a strangled cry, his knees buckling as he fell to the ground.

Nova instantly moved in and kicked the knife away, putting her knee on the pirate in case he suddenly got up. She looked up in the direction of the electricity. She spotted a familiar looking jaffa standing on the rooftop, a zat in his hand.

"Well done, Major," Ha'kar said. Nova was covered in dirt and sweat from the run. She knew jaffa had alien levels of physique, but he wasn't the least bit tired at all.

"Wait a minute," Nova stuttered. "Were you there the whole time?"

"I felt it prudent to wait ahead in case he ran."

"You mean you could've zatted him at any time?!" Nova exclaimed in disbelief. She was hot, sweaty, and tired. And she just found out it might've been needless.

"You were putting in so much effort chasing him I thought it would be a shame to intervene," Ha'kar said matter-of-factly. Nova buried her face in her hand, shaking her head in disbelief. "You may take credit for his apprehension if you wish."

Nova looked over to see Peterson run up, carrying Nova's equipment, tired from running the distance.

"What I miss?" he panted, leaning forward to catch his breath.

It wasn't an easy catch but the pirate had been caught. Now it was a matter of getting him back.

The first thing they had to do was disperse the crowd. Ha'kar's presence int he village was not a welcome one with parents quickly carrying away their children as if Ha'kar was going to eat them. Ha'kar took out a communication orb and called for a cargo ship, which arrived in minutes. All of them were ringed aboard and it was back to the capital.

Narud regained consciousness but didn't dare do anything since he was at the end of two guns and a zat. Once they ringed back down into the capital building, two Grand Guard took Narud away.

"So what'll happen to him?" Nova asked, the Grand Guard being less then pleasant with the Lucian prisoner.

"He will be interrogated," Ha'kar said. "You have done us a great service today, Major Nova." Ha'kar made a fist and hit it against his heart with a small bow.

"Do you know if the IOA is finished?" Nova asked. "Once they're done we're supposed to bring them back."

"Actually, it seems that not only are they not finished, they have new delegates."

Nova looked in confusion as Ha'kar began leading them to the stone chamber.

"Delegates?" she asked as the doors slid close.

"Yes, the Tok'ra arrived not long ago. They have been in meeting ever since. After your mission was complete, they have all requested to be debriefed on what has happened."

Nova exchanged glances with Peterson. It made sense to her that the jaffa would want to know what happened since it's their city. And of course the IOA would want to know. But what did the Tok'ra have anything to do with this?

The doors opened and they headed for the council chamber.

"So are they asking for us one at a time or together?" Nova asked.

"On the contrary, the councilors have only requested you," Ha'kar said. This earned a confused reaction. It was only common sense you interview everyone involved to get a full picture. Nova couldn't imagine why only she would be summoned.

The debrief was as boring as could be. Peterson was allowed to wait in a dining hall in the mean time. Nova went in and was face to face with the jaffa, Tok'ra, and IOA. Frankly this whole interview felt like she was on trial. They asked questions and she answered, giving a timeline of what went down. Some of the jaffa asked about the status of the human village, trying to get a clearer picture of what living conditions were.

"After that, Ha'kar zatted the Lucian and took him down," Nova concluded. She looked around the room at the council of Jaffa and Tok'ra Councilors and IOA officials. After catching the kassa dealer, they brought him back to the capital. He was locked up somewhere while she and Peterson were to debrief. What caught her off guard was seeing the jaffa, Tok'ra, and IOA all together to debrief her. She knew there was some sort of meeting going down but she didn't expect the Tok'ra and she certainly didn't expect all three of them to sit in on what was clearly jaffa-only affairs. Kassa dealers in the jaffa nation didn't exactly concern the IOA or Tok'ra.

"I see," the jaffa councilor Mer'rik said. "I believe that will be all."

"There is one more thing," Nova added. "Before we took him down he received a transmission. It said to report back to the castle. Does that mean anything?"

It clearly meant something. The IOA representatives glanced over at the Jaffa and Tok'ra councilors. And the jaffa's stoic expressions wavered. She had clearly caught them with their pants down.

"The castle is a Goa'uld prison," Mer'rick said. "Prisoners were kept alive for…entertainment. A majority of its prisoners were humans. After the fall of the System Lords, the prison fell into the hands of the Lucian Alliance."

"A Lucian Alliance outpost?" an IOA agent asked. There were clearly uncomfortable glances between everyone in the room.

"It is the Lucian Alliance base of operations" a Tok'ra councilor said. This elicited a response. Namely outrage from the IOA.

"I thought we had agreed you would share all knowledge of the Lucian Alliance," a woman close to Nova stated.

"I am sharing this now, am I not?"

"If we know where the Lucian Alliance leadership is stationed, we must attack as soon as possible."

"I strongly discourage this course of action," another Tok'ra from across the room objected.

Before more could be said, Dovelock raised his hand to quiet everyone down.

"Major Nova," he said. "You are now dismissed." Dovelock then turned to Ha'kar. "Ha'kar. I want you to open a line with Stargate Command. We need to contact our superiors. We will summon you when we are done."

"Understood," Ha'kar said with a bow. Nova stood at attention one last time before turning and leaving the room with Ha'kar. The spartan guard opened the door and let Nova out first before following her. The moment they were out, Ha'kar turned to a nearby jaffa grand guard.

"Jaffa, kree," he barked at the grand guard him. "Cre'tok tau'ri."

The Grand Guard put a right fist to his left shoulder and bowed before reaching into his belt pocket and pulling out a communication orb.

Since the order was sent, Ha'kar turned back around and let the Grand Guard to his job.

Nova could not help but noticed Ha'kar was not making his usual remarks. No blank-expressioned insult.

"Is something wrong?" Nova asked.

"The decision to attack the Lucian Alliance base of operations is…unwise."

Ha'kar was silent for a moment. Nova tried to read his expression but got nowhere considering Ha'kar didn't have an expression to read.

"Perhaps the Council or the Tok'ra are bested suited to explain why," he said. Nova was about to ask why but things started clicking in her head.

"So you knew?" Nova asked. "You and the Tok'ra. You've known where the Lucian Alliance headquarters were all along."

"Do your people tell us everything they know of the galaxy?" Ha'kar asked. That statement was almost heartbreaking for Terra. She had been away in another galaxy for so long. She never cared much for the politics of the Milky Way but she didn't expect so much tension not just from the governments of Earth but from Earth's alien allies.

Nova and Ha'kar glanced over as the Grand Guard walked back into the Council Chamber. He didn't say anything but they could both tell that they had Stargate Command on the line.

"I apologize, I have soured the mood," Ha'kar said. "However, you must understand. While most jaffa have the utmost respect for the Tau'ri, you must also acknowledge the recklessness of your actions during the reign of the System Lords."

"I've heard it talked about," Nova confessed.

"Your victory over the System Lords is the product of chance," Ha'kar said. "I know that you do not wish to believe it, but every System Lord you killed resulted in the rise of another more powerful one who would absorb the resources of the fallen."

"Yet we still won. We couldn't exactly sit back and let the Goa'uld do what they want."

"Every System Lord you eliminated increased the chaos of the galaxy. In the past it was the Goa'uld Empire who would suffer the chaos. If you were to employ similar tactics against the Lucian Alliance, it would the Jaffa Nation, the Tok'ra, and every civilization finally liberated from Goa'uld and Ori oppression that will be affected."

"We aren't going to just pop Lucian leaders," Nova argued. "If we take down the headquarters we can take down their entire leadership."

"We kept the location of the Lucian Alliance headquarters secret for a reason," Ha'kar said in a sterner voice than normal. "Major Nova, the Lucian Alliance is not a conventional foe. You cannot simply bomb their capital and expect a surrender."

"That doesn't explain why you don't take down their headquarters."

Ha'kar fell silent. Even on his blank expression Nova could tell he was trying to think of a way to explain things to her.

"You have not felt the full brunt of the Lucian presence," he finally said. "Because we know the location of their headquarters, we been able to monitor their activities. This is why their most ambitious attacks have not been successful."

"If you take out their headquarters, wipe out the entire upper management of the Lucian Alliance, and the Alliance literally falls apart."

"In order to accomplish that you would need to take out every last member of its governing body," Ha'kar pointed out. "If you fail to do that, then the remaining members will scatter, distributing their operations across the galaxy. Their will compartmentalize themselves, make it impossible to take them out in one fell swoop and make it harder to track their operations." Ha'kar glanced back at the departing politicians and diplomats, both human and jaffa. "I hold nothing but respect for the Tau'ri, but you cannot deploy the same tactics as you did for the Goa'uld."

Nova looked away, thinking about what Ha'kar said. She certainly sounded confident, a skill she's picked up growing up. But her doubt was getting to her. She missed being able to consult with Chen, Martin, and Corin.

The two looked over when the Grand Guard returned. The two jaffa exchanged a few words in Goa'uld. The Grand Guard gave another bow and marched away.

"What's the word?" Nova asked.

"Which word are you inquiring about?" Ha'kar asked.

"No, it's a figure of…nevermind. What's happening?"

"I appears discussions will be taking longer than anticipated," Ha'kar said. "You and the IOA will be remaining for the night. We will provide accommodations."

At first Nova wasn't keen on staying. She didn't have a choice but it didn't mean she had to like it. But the room she was assigned was nice. The floor was stone but it had some nice carpets surrounding a large bed. The dressers at the side were empty which was unsurprising since this was a guest room.

The jaffa gave her a change of clothes, some jaffa garments this time, a tunic and trousers made of animal hide and a sash to tie around the waist.

On the balcony was a square mat just barely large enough to sit on. And this was another reason the stay wasn't that bad.

Nova looked up at the sky, awed by the aurora in the night sky. A single giant moon was overhead, a few clouds gently drifting buy. The night sky was a dark blue but there was a silver aurora above her head, dancing like massive shimmering ribbons. And the silver of the aurora and the glow of the moon made it seem like the clouds were also glowing. As she looked across the city, she could see specks of light from all the buildings. On several of the balconies she could see jaffa meditating.

Nova glanced back when she heard three solid thumps at her door.

"Come in," Nova said, walking back into the bed chamber. The door opened and Ha'kar stepped in. No longer in his armor, he instead wore his white robes. "Ha'kar, what're you doing here?"

"I was ensuring our guests are comfortable," he said.

"Yeah, it's all good here," Nova said, gesturing back to the bed chamber.

"Excellent," he said. "I also wanted to apologize for my hostile tone earlier today."

Nova looked at Ha'kar in confusion. Hostile tone? When? The only time she could think of was when they were talking about the idea of invading The Castle. But Ha'kar was calm to the point of stoic. Was that what passed as hostile? And if that was hostile, what did it mean when a jaffa started yelling?

"So what happens if they do decided to attack The Castle?" Nova asked. No more debates of what the right decision was. Just a discussion of what happens.

"I cannot foresee that happening," Ha'kar said. "Us and the Tok'ra are in agreement that attacking The Castle now will only make the situation worse. And hopefully without our aid, your people will not try."

"And if they do?" Nova asked. Ha'kar glanced at her. He didn't have any real expression but judging from his movement she assumed this was the jaffa equivalent of bewilderment or shock. "Hey, I'm not saying I agree with the idea of a solo attack," Nova clarified. "But the decision isn't up to me. It's up to my bosses."

"Let us hope your leaders are not so foolish," Ha'kar answered.

-.-

Hailey burst into the room. But it wasn't Chen's lab this time. It was a security station. The expedition couldn't use all the security stations even in the central city and even the ones they did use were not used all the time. But this one was an unused one. The weapon racks were left empty and the computers were left turned off until now.

When Hailey approached the station, she could see Chen through the two windows since the station also served as the corner of the hall. She and Arcturus went through the door into the lobby. They walked past the seats lining the wall, still watching Chen through the window inside the lobby. The door to the main area was open, letting Hailey burst in.

"You have something?" she asked excitedly.

"I think so," Chen said. "So I grabbed the computer data and was going through the security logs."

"And?" Hailey asked excitedly.

"A Kostas Ivanov was logged in at the time."

"Which means he was involved with Grogan's death."

"I have met Mister Ivonov before," Arcturus remarked. "I find it difficult to believe he would be involved in any manner."

"Same here," Chen said. "Especially since the time when the signal was modified was during his lunch hour. He was having a card game in the mess hall. When he left someone logged back in while he was gone and used his computer to modify the subspace signal that the Typhon picked up before logging out."

"So someone hacked the computer?" Hailey asked.

"Nope, this was local. Someone used his password to log back in"

"Steven, how is that good? There's no digital trail for you to follow."

"Because he left a physical trail instead." Chen typed a few commands into the security console and pulled up a map of the control room, several dots moving about. "We have the life signs data recorded. We have the time and even the exact place this all went down. We can follow the life sign."

"You should include other half of your findings," Soren commented. Chen's head sank between his shoulders.

"Yes, I'm getting there," he said coolly. "So the life sign goes into one of the city's arms. And we think the life signs detectors in the arms have been tampered with since we can't pick up anything. But there is a section of that arm that's using a lot of energy."

"Well Mercer does keep the life support in that section of the city running."

"I know, but this is more energy than just basic life support. There's something there eating energy. Just barely enough that anyone who wasn't looking for anything out of the ordinary would miss it."

Hailey's heart soared. They were so close now, so close to the truth. But, fear still lingered in the back of her throat, the urge to tell Chen to shut it off and run away.

No. Not when they were this close.

"How should we play this?" Hailey muttered. "Sam, what's your take on this?" Arcturus was also a military leader so she could use her input.

"This will need to be a dedicated assault," Arcturus said, stepping forward and looking at the screen.

"Should we inform General Mercer?" Soren asked.

"No, and we must attack as soon as possible."

"Why?" Chen asked. "What's the hurry?"

"When Captain Grogan came close to uncovering their operation, they created an accident to kill him. The longer we wait the more time we give them to do the same to us. And informing the General runs the risk of making them aware of our progress. And if they are already aware, they may do something drastic to keep us silent. They have already failed an attempt on Major Hailey's life."

"So, hit them before they can do anything," Hailey summarized.

"The difficulty is in the approach," Arcturus added. "If they know we are coming they may set an ambush."

"Are there any ventilation shafts?" Soren asked. "We may be able to use the ventilation as our approach."

"Yeah, sorry but we don't bend like you do," Chen snarked incredulously.

"Mister Stavig," Samanya said. "Are you able to navigate through the ventilation?"

"I've looked at Millennium's vents," Soren said. "I believe I can."

"Woah, woah, back up," Chen said. "Just because Soren can go ghost his way through the vent shafts doesn't mean we can. A: we don't bend that way. And B: I still can't imagine climbing through it without making enough ruckus to wake the dead."

"If Mister Stavig can do this then we only need him to. At the moment whoever is responsible knows Major Hailey and I are involved. We still travel through the halls to try to draw their attention. Mister Stavig will travel through the ventilation. Doctor Chen, you will go through the maintenance tunnels. I believe they will not be expecting any intrusion from that direction."

"Oh great, the trash bin…"

"We will breach the room at the same time."

"We will need a method to coordinate other than radios," Soren said. "Even the click of the radio will echo through the vents."

"We'll use ear pieces," Hailey said. "So only we can hear the clicks."

"We must move quickly," Arcturus said. "We do not know how much our enemy knows of us or how they will act. We strike tonight."

-.-

Nova's eyes opened. She was awakened by the sound of running footsteps. She groaned as she rose up out of bed. The first thing she did was look for a clock. Then she remembered she was still in Abor Lada. She doubted the jaffa even understood the value of clocks.

She glanced at the balcony. It was still night and pitch black. It looked like the silver aurora was gone.

She got up and walked over to the door, remembering jaffa didn't have peep holes either.

She opened the door to see several Grand Guard jaffa sprinting down the hall.

"What's going on?" Nova asked a jaffa running by but he didn't answer. Nova reached out to a female jaffa but she didn't even pause. "Hey, what's happening?" she asked another jaffa.

"Korush'nai!" he yelled back at her as he ran past.

"And what does that mean?!"

Nova sighed in exasperation. Something had the jaffa riled up. Finally she saw a familiar face.

"Peterson!" Nova called, running up to him. "Peterson, what's going on?"

"Major," Peterson gasped in surprise. "They approved it."

"Approved what?" Nova asked.

"The invasion! The jaffa and Tok'ra have agreed to help with the invasion. We're hitting the Lucian Alliance headquarters! We're hitting The Castle!"

-.-

A/N: Hello, and how are you? I intend to get back to exploration soon, I just need to wrap up this bit. But, as you can tell, it's about to hit a rather explosive climax. Anyways, so I get to continue expanding the jaffa. I think they're a lot cooler than the show let them be because of budget constraints. I mean, how many of you like at least one ancient warrior? Now imagine that warrior but all their standard weapons and gear had a scifi twist to them. That's the jaffa. And now we get to see how the humans are doing. There was a severe lack of exploration of what happened to the humans after the goa'uld. We get like one scene in one episode. So this intends to expand upon it. I do also intend to make much greater use of sleepers in the future. I thought it be cool to play with sarcophagus addiction.

And finally is the conspiracy side of things. My head is starting to spin trying to remember all the details of who knows what and who trusts who and who has what goal. I actually look forward to having it end. I wanted to try to play with tactics more. It wasn't just Chen and Hailey trying to discover the truth. I included the scenes with The Director to show what he's planning to have a bit of a chess match between the two sides, both of them trying to outmaneuver the other. Hailey doesn't tell ppl because she's afraid of endangering their lives. The Director is happy she doesn't because it means it's easier to hide. Soren leaves sand to expose anyone following. The Director's minion figures out Soren and Chen are involved because sand was left behind. You get the picture.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy. Please let me know what you guys think. Also shoutout to taleanaomi for beta reading this.