A/N: Thank you, everyone, for your heartfelt comments and messages; I truly appreciate it! I am a little ahead with writing (I always have more written than published because then I can let the text breathe a little before I re-read it and thus I can find the most egregious mistakes, though I'm sure I still miss a lot!), so for now I can continue publishing. Writing is going slowly, but I'm on my way back to the pace I used to have, I hope. It'll just take some time.

Chapter 31, part 2.

"What do you think he meant?" Carter asked, watching Alice in a penetrating way that made her uncomfortable.

"I don't know," she said. It was only half true; Varrel's comment sounded menacing, ominous, but also almost… sexual. And the way he stood too close to her, invading her intimate zone, it was unsettling. "Hopefully he recognized my usefulness and wants to bring me in closer into the fold."

"Mhm." The general didn't seem convinced. "I have half a mind to pull the plug on this operation."

Alice looked up in alarm. "You can't. I'm closer than ever—Rianna becoming a Second gives me opportunities we've never had before. It's been months with no trace of Jareth and I may finally be able to cast a wider net and use those contacts to target him—we can't give up now!"

Carter sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I know catching him means a lot to you, and knowing what I do, I don't dispute the importance of that, but killing yourself over it will not solve the problem. You know there is no more dangerous place in this galaxy right now than the room that has Varrel in it. And you want me to send you there, alone, with no backup and no extraction strategy!"

"I've already been in the same room as Varrel and survived," Alice reasoned. "If he wanted to kill me, there's hundreds of ways he could do this. He doesn't have to be in the room. And if I don't go when he calls me, I might as well send them a letter saying hey, I'm a Tau'ri and I've been playing you all for fools for months!"

Carter grimaced. "Fine, but you're not going alone. That request is denied!"

"There's no reason to risk Rodriguez' life as well," Alice retorted. "Varrel told me to bring the data to him, the kid can sit this one out."

"He's been your shadow everywhere you went for all this time, it would be suspicious if you left him behind this time," Carter disagreed. "And I'm not negotiating this one with you, Major—it's an order."

Alice swallowed a very inappropriate response. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good." The general nodded, sat back up and tapped a folder that's been lying on the desk in front of her. "Now, let's talk about your next article."

"Anything to change?"

"Just a couple minor things—out of overabundance of caution. I don't think anyone would notice, but let's make sure we're totally clean in this regard." She opened the folder and handed Alice a wad of papers. "I've highlighted it here. Other than that, it's ready for submission. You can present it at your next conference."

Alice sighed, leafing the pages to spot the red markings on the page. There were only two passages Carter struck through. "Where am I going this time?"

"Lincoln, Nebraska. I know, not very glamorous, but a lot of people in the field will be there and it's a good, not too high-ranking forum to introduce the concept."

Alice nodded pensively, thinking about the last time she had been in that city, to attend Malcolm Spinner's funeral. It seemed like that was in another life, but his death still hurt.

"I'm not doing it for glamour, am I?" She replied, shrugging. "I go where you tell me to, ma'am."

Carter chuckled. "Yeah, right. If that were true you wouldn't be traipsing around the galaxy with Alliance leaders."

"I didn't exactly have a say in that," Alice reminded her. "He just showed up."

"Mhm." Carter stood up, prompting Alice to get to her feet, too. "Overall, good job, Major, as always."

"Thank you, ma'am." She hesitated and then added: "I just wish it didn't have to involve so much death…"

"That wasn't your fault. Ellis was a little late sending the troops down, we didn't expect so much opposition in the orbit."

Alice half-shrugged and half-nodded, noncommittal, but didn't respond. She should've found a way to stall.

"The important part is that we managed to get Iris through," Carter added. "With her there, the Destiny crew's chances of survival go up significantly. This was an excellent plan with excellent execution, Alice. You should be proud of yourself."

"Yes, ma'am," Alice replied, unconvinced. Sure, the android made it through, part of the supplies did as well, even though the operation didn't go as planned; but the operation didn't go as planned. Lately it seemed like Alice couldn't quite do anything well enough—if one part worked out, another was screwed up. Like the whole New Light mission; it was supposed to bring her closer to Jareth, but he was as elusive as ever, even after ten months of diligent work. It sucked.

"You've got some skills on the grill, Sergeant," Alice complimented and took another bite of the burger.

Watson grinned widely. "I tried to bring my A-game for you, ma'am."

"And that salad is fantastic, Mrs. Watson," Alice added towards his wife, a pretty black woman with an impressive weave of hair.

"Oh, you're too kind!" The woman replied, visibly pleased that her husband's boss seemed to enjoy their cooking. "Your cornbread is excellent, too, Major."

Alice laughed. "I wish it were mine—it's my roommate, Deanna, who made it. She's right over there." She pointed towards one of the tables at the far back of the recreation area, where Dee was sitting with Morgan, deep in conversation. The two have seemed to click immediately and the boy hasn't left her side since; Alice didn't know how she felt about her teammate and roommate getting together, but at least they seemed happy, so far at least. It was hardly two hours since the start of the event. "I'm not really much of a cook."

"I'm sure you are too busy for that!" Mrs. Watson said, with a teeny tiny echo of pity in her voice, as if she thought not being able to cook well was a personal failing. Maybe it was—Alice never really bothered to learn much aside from the most basic stuff.

"Mooom!" A girl of maybe six years of age ran up to them, pink ribbons in her wavy hair, pink dress and pink shoes making her look like a Barbie commercial. "When are we gonna see fireworks? I want fireworks!"

"We have to wait until it's dark, Lucy," her mom explained patiently. "Go play with Peter, the time will fly by!"

"I don't wanna play with Peter, he's boooring!" Lucy complained. "Mom, play with me!"

"Alright, we'll play for a little while," Mrs. Watson gave in, waved to her husband and Alice and they both walked away towards a big inflatable castle, where, Alice knew, the mom would stand aside and watch her daughter bounce around.

"She's a sweet kid," she told Watson.

"Yes, my sweet little demon child," he quipped. "I don't know why it is like this, but if there's two kids, one is always a little angel and the other is a fiend from the bowels of hell."

"Wonder which one I was," Alice said, amused.

"Oh, please, ma'am, I refuse to believe you were anything but a little cherub," he contradicted with another grin.

Alice laughed. "I doubt general Carter would agree, especially after the thing yesterday."

He shook his head, growing serious. "Well, ma'am, I don't doubt that she worries. We all do—I don't like it when you go off the grid like that. We're supposed to be your backup."

She shrugged. "It is what it is, Sergeant." She then noticed someone else approaching. "Hey, Daniel."

"Got anything good around here?" Doctor Jackson asked, grabbing a plate and looking at the table full of food, contributed by members of the SGC and their families.

"Watson's burgers are excellent," Alice recommended, her own plate clear by now.

"Oh, I wouldn't say no!"

"Coming right up." Watson put the raw meat on the grill. "How do you like yours?"

"Medium rare, please." Daniel sat down in front of Alice. "How's it going? Not a bad turnout, is it?"

"Yeah, not bad at all," she agreed. "Especially for the first such affair. It was a really great idea."

"Sam's trying to promote bonding among the staff." Daniel smirked. "I'm trying to imagine Jack at a thing like this but my imagination is not good enough."

Alice chuckled. "Not a fan of community events, is he?"

"You know it. Sam isn't, either, really, it's all in the name of fostering good relationships in the Command. 4th of July seemed like a good place to try it."

"Well, I'd say the attempt was successful," Alice opined, looking at the throng of people crowding the area—all SGC members and their families or friends.

"Here's your burger, sir," Watson called and Daniel stood up to grab it. "If it's all the same to you, I'm gonna go check in on Peter."

"Sure, Sergeant, thanks." Daniel brought his plate back to the picnic table Alice was sitting at. He sat down in front of her and sent her a measuring glance. "So how are you?"

"I'm fine," Alice replied automatically and then saw Daniel cock his head to the side and raise his eyebrows. "I'm really okay."

"I heard it got a bit dicey yesterday," he pressed.

Alice shrugged. "When is it not?" She asked philosophically.

"Right." He shook his head and took a bite out of his burger. "Hm, this is really well done!"

"I thought it was supposed to be medium rare," she quipped, but the joke was so lame even Daniel didn't crack a smile.

"So you're planning to follow through? Visit Varrel in his den?"

"Refusing would blow my cover. I don't have a choice."

"Or maybe you don't want to consider another choice," he suggested. "I know this mission's important to you."

Alice sighed and looked up to the graying sky. "You have no idea."

"Maybe I do," he contradicted quietly. "I lost my wife to the Goa'uld, remember?"

She looked back at him. Of course he'd know… "Yeah. Maybe you do." But you didn't see your future kids that would never be born… and her death wasn't your fault.

He nodded solemnly and for a moment they were silent.

"Have you heard about Childes?" He asked after a bit.

"No, what about him?"

"He's coming home, permanently," Daniel revealed with a bit of an odd expression. "After that last fuck-up which resulted in Atlantis having to escape by the skin of their teeth and relocate again, the IOA decided he was done."

"No way!" Alice was taken aback. "Never in a million years did I expect them to pull back their golden child!"

"Well, from what I understand, it was really the member-states' decision," he explained. "Essentially, after being briefed on what happened, our president called a few other heads of state and they pushed their representatives to reverse their initial decision on Childes. The IOA wanted to give him a slap on the wrist and blame Sheppard, you know."

"That last part doesn't surprise me at all." Alice sighed. "I'm glad our president is not an idiot." She grabbed a bottle of orange juice. "Want some?"

"Yes, please."

She poured two glasses. "Is there any indication who's gonna replace him?"

Daniel smiled bashfully. "Well, actually, they asked me."

She almost choked on the juice. "What?"

"Hey, if that's your level of confidence in me, maybe I should say no…" He quipped.

She shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous—I'm just shocked that the IOA could've made a decision so quick—and such a good one at that!"

"Again, I think the suggestion came from above them. Not everybody there is too enthused about it. They know they can't control me the way they did Childes."

"Well, boo-hoo." Alice grinned. "Finally Atlantis may have a chance to actually make some progress in their fight against the Wraith again. With you at the steer…"

"It's not a done deal yet," he added modestly. "May still blow up."

"But you want to do it," Alice noted. "I thought the point of leaving SG-1 was to focus on your research."

"Yeah, well… research is always gonna be there." He smirked. "And it's Atlantis we're talking about. I was the one who found it, or at least found the way to get there, but I've never spent any significant amount of time there. Feels like it's the universe righting a wrong, you know?"

She chuckled. "Sure. Well, I know you said it's not a done deal yet, but either way, congratulations, Daniel. There's no one else I think could do a better job. I'm just selfishly sad that you're not gonna be around much anymore."

"I'll come visit," he promised, smiling warmly. "And, you know, you were there for three years. If you've got any tips for me…"

Alice laughed. "Don't get killed!"

"Aye, aye, that one's for sure!" He agreed gleefully. "But, seriously, anything you can tell me ahead of time—about the people and anything else, I'd be grateful."

Alice nodded. "Well, there's bound to have been some changes in personnel since I left, but I'd be happy to share what I can."

Varrel's compound was an old Goa'uld temple—and thus, it oozed luxury. Golden walls, gilded pillars, striking high ceilings adorned with elaborate murals of Goa'uld conquests, crystal chandeliers, velvet and silk upholstery—and men and women in elegant dress floating around like ghosts of the past, not too different from human slaves the ruling Goa'uld would've kept to serve him. Alice and Rodriguez, in their dusty and well-worn leather getups, would've looked like an eyesore in the surroundings—except their guide was just as unkempt. He spoke little the whole way over in the Tel'tak and now led them through the maze-like corridors silently and at a brisk pace.

Finally, they reached a door through which he ushered them without ceremony, into a room as lavish as any other they've seen on the way, furnished with sofas and armchairs and complete with a large table creaking with the weight of food; at first glance, Alice noted at least six varieties of fruit only available on specific planets, but most likely there were a lot more imported goods there. The room wasn't empty of people, either; at least a dozen men and women in standard Alliance attire sat or stood around, talking to each other, and looked at them as they entered. Alice recognized a few of them from her work as the Alliance's preferred tekkie.

"Wait here," their guide told them and then promptly disappeared.

"I guess we can help ourselves," Rodriguez said aloud, for the benefit of the others in the room—he was good at keeping up the pretense in subtle ways.

"Varrel's generous," Alice noted, following him to the table.

"Hey, Nova!" One of the people she vaguely remembered from a job a few months prior approached them. "Fancy seeing you here." There was clear curiosity in his voice. "Got business with Varrel? You've come up in the world fast!"

"It's more like he's got business with me," Alice replied arrogantly, picking up a fruit that looked a bit like an apple but tasted like bitter kiwi. "I'm just really good at what I do."

He laughed a little nervously. Alice suddenly remembered his name: Sander. "Oh, I heard about the Destiny thing. Too bad it didn't work out—but I guess the fact that you managed to open the Ring and not explode the planet is quite impressive."

"Quite!" She huffed. "No one except me could've done it! And it's not my fault that the Tau'ri fucked up the ship's life support system so badly—or at least, that's what we think happened."

"I see you haven't lost your confidence," Sander smiled, still a bit anxiously. As she discreetly looked around, she noted that everyone in the room seemed a little on edge.

"It's well-earned," Rodriguez put in, speaking with his mouth full. "Nova kicks ass."

Another uneasy smile. "Oh, I'm sure."

"What brings you here, Sander?" Alice asked, on high alert now. Something wasn't right.

"Oh, you know, I was summoned so here I am!"

Summoned. Well, Varrel could have a plethora of reasons to summon people to him, of course, but usually this would be his Seconds or special experts, like herself; Sander was a member of the Alliance, but from the lower echelons, she thought, and his presence here—as well as those others she could recognize, none of whom were particularly high on the Alliance ladder—did not bode well.

"Is it normal for this many people to be here at once?" Alice asked, pretend nonchalance in her voice. He noticed it and nodded, as if agreeing that the situation wasn't good.

"I have no idea, Nova. I've never been here before. But you and I both know that if Varrell summons you instead of your Second, it must be big."

Before Alice could respond, the door opened and a frail-looking woman in a flowing dress came in and approached them.

"Varrel will see you now, Nova Ray," she said.

Alice and Rodriguez both stood up, but the woman shook her head. "Only Nova Ray."

"Where she goes, I go," Rodriguez immediately protested.

"Only Nova Ray," she repeated, and her eyes were scared.

Alice put her hand on the lieutenant's shoulder. "Stay here, Levi. I'll be back soon."

He looked at her as if he was going to argue so she glared at him sternly. He pursed his lips but nodded. "Fine. You better be back before I eat all of this, though." He waved at the table, staying in character.

"You know, I can almost believe you could," she quipped, and then turned around and followed the woman out.

It was a short walk this time, down some stairs and across one more corridor. The door to this room was different—just as ornamental, but it looked sturdy, reinforced. There was a panel on the right that opened when the woman touched it. She gestured for Alice to enter, but remained behind herself.

It was clearly a control room of some sort; consoles and screens lined the walls and culminated in a holographic interface embedded within a towering obelisk in the middle of the room. Right next to it was a raised chair, like a Goa'uld throne, only with added plush upholstery for comfort. At this moment, no one sat in it, though; they were all standing in a semi-circle to the right.

Varrel, looking as handsome and pristine in his black leather outfit as the last time she saw him, stood in the middle, flanked by every Second Alice knew of and a couple she didn't recognize. Rianna was there, closer to the edge of the group, a clear warning in her eyes. Feeling incredibly self-conscious, Alice squared her shoulders and walked up to them.

"Nova, thank you for coming," Varrel said, stepping out and extending his arm to shake her hand. It was more of a squeeze, though, not forceful, but quite longer than she expected. "I hope you didn't have to wait long."

"Just a few minutes," she said as he finally released her hand. "This is quite the welcoming committee."

"As long as you're here, I thought you might as well meet everybody," Varrel explained lightly, but made no move to actually present them to her, from which she deduced he wanted them to have a good look at her. "We were in a middle of a discussion when you came. We got an interesting piece of information. You know Tau'ri, don't you?" He shot her a penetrating glance that instantly made her uncomfortable. Just what kind of information was it?

"Not really. I've had a chance to talk to some of them back when I lived with the Tok'ra," Alice replied, not hiding her nervousness. Even Nova would've been thrown with this turn of events. "Why?"

Varrel nodded at one of his Seconds, a blonde woman around Rianna's age; Alice knew this must have been Francesca.

"For the past year or so, the Tau'ri have been combing the galaxy looking for—something. We're not quite sure what, but our intel says they are asking some bizarre questions. They are particularly interested in cases of unexplained disappearances and people acting strangely after being gone for a while."

Alice blinked, letting her surprise at the Alliance's interest in their search for Jareth show; Nova wouldn't have a clue what Francesca was talking about. "How oddly specific," she commented, raising her eyebrows.

"That's what I thought. Tau'ri rarely do things without reason, as maddening and saintly as their reasons might be, so we decided to look into it, as well," Varrel added with a little smirk. "I tasked Francesca with getting to the bottom of it."

"We still don't know what exactly they are interested in," the woman continued. She looked quite uncomfortable speaking about it, though, and Alice wondered if it was because she thought it beneath her to explain herself to a little nobody like Nova, or if there was a more sinister—and dangerous—reason. "But we've found evidence that such things do happen in random parts of the galaxy. At first it was just one quadrant, but now it appears to be more wide-spread—and, hence, harder to track. Still, now and again, we find someone with a peculiar set of… symptoms."

Alice frowned. It worried her why they were telling her all this. "What kind of symptoms?"

"Some people turn against their own," Francesca explained. "Some appear to behave like they're not themselves—do not react to any questioning, just do what they need to do and disappear through the Chappa'ai. It's usually buying or sometimes stealing resources—what for, we have no idea. We managed to detain a couple of people showing such odd behavior and as soon as we got them into a cell they just… stopped."

"They died?" Alice knew it wasn't what she meant, but Nova wouldn't, so it was a valid question.

"No, not dead. They just… don't react. To anything. They sleep, eat and shit, but that's about it. I've never seen anything like that."

"Okay, that is very odd, I admit—but why are you telling me all this? I'm a tekkie, I don't know anything about people," Alice said, deciding it was time to risk it and ask the question bluntly. Nova wouldn't like to be kept in the dark.

"That's clear." Varrel's little smirk reappeared on his face. "But that's not the end of it. We recently learned that one of our own went through a similar thing. His story is exactly the same—he disappeared, then went against our own, was captured and ended up in that altered state. Except then he disappeared again and came back good as new. Has been out there doing his job swimmingly ever since."

Alice fought back the urge to react. The story was eerily familiar. "So? Isn't that a good thing?"

"No. We think when he disappeared the second time, he was with the Tau'ri," Francesca put in. "In fact we know it."

"Tau'ri fixed him?" Alice asked, hoping her distress would register as nerves or surprise.

"How could they have done that?" Varrel responded with a question of his own.

"How the hell should I know?"

"You know the Tau'ri."

"I knew a few of them years ago, man. I have no idea what's going on or why the Tau'ri are involved in it." She let her anxiety come out as anger. "I'm not the right person for this. You've got a ship that needs fixing, an artifact that doesn't work, even an uber-complicated Ring question, I'm your gal, but this? Nuh-uh!"

Varrel nodded, as if this was exactly the reaction he'd been expecting. Then he turned to Francesca. "Bring him in."

Alice felt almost nauseous watching Francesca raise a communication device to her mouth and repeat the order Varrel just gave. A few moments later, the door opened and two men came in, dragging a third between them. Wrinkled face, multiple scars and no pinkie finger—Castor looked exactly the same now as the last time she saw him, almost a year ago, when they were seeing him off after giving him a new (though used) Tel'tak. He'd sent some customers her way since, but they haven't actually met until now.

He was sagging, propped up by the two men who dragged him in, his head lolling. He didn't look injured, but Alice knew this was quite illusory—the Rod of Anguish didn't leave visible marks on the body. He was awake, though, but it was difficult to ascertain if he knew what was going on.

"Do you know him?" Varrel prompted, looking at her closely. Did he know? Did Castor reveal all about Alice and Rodriguez being from Earth, about their hunt for Jareth, about Alice's plan to infiltrate the Lucian Alliance? He must have—why wouldn't he? He was clearly tortured for some time, there was no reason for him to keep it to himself. And that meant Varrel knew from the start that she wasn't who she said she was—and he lured her here… and made her split up from Rodriguez. Now they were both in mortal danger, in the lair of the enemy, with no hopes of escape. And if it were just her, she could even accept it—she had known the risks. But what about Rodriguez? He was her responsibility. However bleak the situation was, she had to try to get him out of it, by any means necessary. And, for now, it meant continuing with the charade until they decided to stop it.

She wasn't able to keep all the emotion out of her face, she was sure; she needed to answer Varrel's question in a way that would explain it. So she let her voice crack a bit as she replied. "Yeah, that's Castor. He was one of my first customers, recommended me to people, got me some good deals."

Castor lifted his head as she spoke and she saw his eyes trying to focus on her. He didn't speak, though. His breath was rugged, laborious, punctuated by little grunts of pain with each exhale. The men that had dragged him in let him go now, and he dropped onto his arms and knees heavily.

"He's a traitor," Varrel announced, his voice emotionless, but his face set in ruthless resolve. "He conspired with the Tau'ri. He's been feeding them intel about us." His gaze shifted to Alice. "You know what the punishment is for that?"

She couldn't help turning pale. Alice and Nova were now, finally, a single person, as she replied: "Death." Was she proclaiming her own?

Varrel nodded severely and turned back to Castor.

"Do you have something to say for yourself?"

Castor's eyes cleared a little as he threw Alice one last glance, hung his head and inhaled hard. "Please… I have a family…"

"You should've thought about them before you got in bed with the Tau'ri," Varrel said coldly. "Now you're gonna pay the price. And everyone else who ever thinks about betraying the Alliance will think twice about it." He turned to Alice and pulled his Zat.

There was nowhere to run—and if she did, she only would be dooming Rodriguez. So she stayed still—even stopped breathing. And then Varrel extended his arm and handed her the Zat. She looked down at it, not understanding—and then it suddenly clicked and she lifted her head so quickly, something in her neck cracked. Varrel was watching her, his eyes penetrating, his signature little smirk playing on his lips.

The world seemed to stop for a moment as all the possibilities filled her head. But in none that she could think of were all of them alive by the end of it. Sure, she now had a Zat in her hand—but there were a dozen Seconds around, each armed with one, too, not to mention that Varrel had another on his other hip; and then there were the two men who brought Castor in. There was no way she could shoot her way out. If she refused, they would most likely kill her and Rodriguez. This was so clearly a test—all this time she thought they were onto her… maybe it would've been better. At least she would've been spared the decision. But the decision was really easy—she had to follow through if she wanted to keep herself and Rodriguez alive. But it was also impossible. She couldn't just kill a man in cold blood—and one who had helped her so much… Yet she had no choice.

She faced Castor slowly. His eyes were still cast down. He muttered something under his breath, but she didn't catch it. She lifted her hand, exhaled, and then pulled the trigger, twice in quick succession. There was no reason to prolong his suffering, at least.

The dull thud as his body hit the floor was deafening in her ears. And then—silence. It seemed to go on forever, but it couldn't have been more than a few seconds before Varrel spoke again.

"This is the way all traitors end up," he said dispassionately. "This is the way all those who oppose us end up." But he didn't really mean us—he meant me.

"Hear, hear," one of the Seconds piped up, and his cheerful tone grated on Alice's nerves like nails on a chalkboard.

"All right, this piece of business is dealt with," Varrel announced nonchalantly. "Remove the carcass and get back to your duties. Francesca, you know what to do with the others."

As the men grabbed Castor's body to drag him away and the Seconds started to disperse, Alice kept standing, rooted to the spot, the Zat in her hand. Varrel made no movement to take it from her until the room emptied and they were the only two remaining.

"Congratulations, you passed," he told her, reaching out for the weapon. She didn't let him take it out of her hand, though; instead, she whipped around, stepping up so close to him that they were almost touching, and put the Zat to his chest.

"Never. Make me. Do this. Ever again!" She rasped, letting her genuine emotions come out again, because Nova would feel them, too. "I'm not a murderer!"

He didn't seem thrown. He simply put his hand on the Zat and pulled it down, along with Alice's arm. "You're cute when you're angry, Nova. But don't ever threaten me again." This time she let him take the gun. He holstered it, but didn't step away from her. She could reach for it and shoot him so fast… but then she would still be trapped in the middle of a huge Alliance compound with no clue how to escape. Even if she managed to get Rodriguez and retrace their steps back to the Tel'tak, there was no guarantee it was still there—and there was no shortage of Alliance troops all around.

"I'm a crook, Varrel, not a murderer," she reiterated, her voice cracking at the end a little.

"You've never killed a man before?" He asked, smirking at her. She wanted to punch that smirk.

"Not like that. I'll defend myself if I have to, but this—"

"This is no different, Nova. This man betrayed our organization, threatened our very existence. We had to defend ourselves."

She turned her head away from him. "Feels very different."

"Feelings have no place in this line of work, Nova." He finally stepped back from her and turned around. He walked towards one of the consoles. "I think you have something for me."

Without a word, she pulled a crystal out of her pocket and handed it to him. He inserted it into the console and for a long moment, neither of them spoke as he ran through the contents of the memory bank.

"This looks much better organized than Olan's original research," he praised. "I can almost follow it."

She puffed and shook her head, but didn't say anything.

He chuckled. "Are you gonna be mad at me for long?"

"Right now I'm contemplating if I shouldn't just disappear and never have anything to do with the Alliance again as soon as I leave here," she replied crankily.

His smirk came back, but his eyes were hard. "That would be a pity." He pulled the crystal out and threw it unceremoniously onto a counter by the wall. "I told you, Nova, I like you. And now I know I can trust you. More or less."

"Yeah, but I still haven't decided if I can trust you," she spat angrily.

This, apparently, surprised him, because he raised his eyebrows. "You don't think I'm trustworthy?"

"I think you have my life in your hand and I don't like it," she answered truthfully. "At any moment you could decide that I did something wrong or offended you and I'm dead."

"I'm not unreasonable, Nova. Don't screw with me and you'll be safe."

"Like Tallis was safe?" She shook her head.

"Tallis was scheming against me," he revealed casually, leaning on the console and crossing his arms. "He was greedy. He didn't just want to be the first of the Seconds—he wanted to upstage me, take my power away. He forced me to approve that mission on Langara and I don't like being forced to do things, Nova." His tone was menacing now, vicious. "His failure gave me a good excuse to eliminate him. He was a threat to me, and that made him a threat to our whole organization."

"I didn't know that," she admitted, thinking about how he was convinced he was the organization.

"No reason you should, Nova. I don't usually explain my decisions to my subordinates."

"Why tell me, then?" She asked, almost fearing the answer.

One corner of his mouth lifted in a crooked smile. "I want this partnership of ours to work, of course." He pushed himself off the console and came closer to her; she half-expected him to try to touch her, but he made no such move. "I've been watching you for months. You didn't think it was really Rianna's idea to invite you to the fold, did you?"

"You told her she had an eye for talent, congratulated her for bringing me in," she reminded him. "Were you just praising yourself?"

He laughed. "Maybe a little. She did bring you to my attention, initially, so it wasn't an empty praise, though. Rianna's one of the good ones. It helps that she doesn't have quite the power or influence Tallis did. It'll keep her grounded, at least for a while."

Alice nodded pensively. "Must be lonely, always thinking about how everyone is out to get you."

She didn't like the look he gave her. "You have no idea, Nova." Then he turned around abruptly and walked back towards the console. "I have another job for you."

The sudden change of subject was interesting, but Alice filed it under to be analyzed later. "What kind of job?" She asked carefully.

He chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't ask you to kill anyone again—at least not anytime soon. Come with me." He pushed a button on the console and the wall behind him split open, revealing a hidden passage.

What now? She thought, but followed him through the dark corridor and down a flight of stairs into a big, high-ceilinged room. It was empty—except for a Stargate in the middle, and the DHD right next to it.

"Interesting place to house the Ring," she commented and saw him smirk.

"You're a smart one." He walked closer to the Gate and then turned to face her. "Make it work."

This surprised her. Why would he have an inoperative Gate? It was clear why it was here—like a secret tunnel out of a castle, it was supposed to be his way out in case of an attack from outside. Although it also opened a way for someone to attack from inside… unless nobody knew it was here.

"It's busted?" She asked, approaching it herself to have a look at the DHD. "How come? I don't see any obvious signs of damage."

"It's not damaged," he confirmed. "Just won't work."

She frowned, the technological mystery piquing her interest despite the circumstances. "Was it already inoperable when you first came here or did it happen after?"

"It wasn't here when I first came here."

She looked at him, taken aback, and then it dawned on her. "Oh! You brought it here from another planet!"

"Very good, Nova." He smirked at her and she barely restrained the urge to roll her eyes. "But I've tried almost every address I know since then and it just won't connect. Power is there, it lights up, but it never goes beyond that."

She nodded. "Obviously."

"Not so obvious to me," he said coolly. "Explain."

"You're trying to make a connection to somewhere but the Ring doesn't know where it is." She saw that it didn't click for him yet, so she continued: "A Ring address is made of seven symbols, right? Six known points in the galaxy that define the target point—where you want to go. The seventh symbol is the point of origin—where you are coming from."

"I'm a rather smart individual, Nova." Varrel sounded sour. "I know this—everyone knows this. I've been using the seventh symbol correctly, I assure you—it's the only unique one on the control device."

"Yes, but it's only a symbol," she explained patiently. "It's configured for the original planet where the Ring was at, if you just took it from there, it's still thinking that the physical coordinates didn't change. That's why you can't establish a connection. The Ring's moved, but you haven't updated its coordinates."

"I see." Varrel didn't look much appeased. "Ba'al used to do this—move Rings around a lot."

"Yeah, but Ba'al was a Goa'uld. I'm sure he knew how to update the new planet's coordinates into the control crystal."

He cocked his head and looked at her penetratingly. "And can you do that?"

She shrugged. "I've never tried before. But I'm pretty smart, so with a bit of time, I don't see why I couldn't."

He seemed mollified, now. He even cracked a smile. "I like your confidence."

"Of course I will need this planet's exact location in space," she said lightheartedly. "And then—"

"No."

She raised her eyebrows. "How do you want me to update the coordinates without the coordinates, then?"

He smirked. "Easy—you'll teach me how to do it."

She blinked quickly. "What?"

"I told you, Nova, I'm pretty smart, too. You figure out how to do it, teach it to me and I'll do the actual update here."

She huffed. "Well, okay, then. But that's gonna cost extra." She saw his intense eyebrows go up, so she added: "I still have to make a living, man."

He chuckled softly. "Of course. You have that boyfriend of yours to think about." His tone was clearly mocking now.

"You mean Levi?" She shook her head. "He's not my boyfriend. More like my little brother."

"No boyfriend, then? Good." His words were light, but she didn't like the way he looked at her. I like you, Nova, he'd said. Damn, why was everyone in this galaxy so thirsty? "Don't worry, Nova. I'll make sure you're adequately compensated for your efforts. It's a promise—and I never break my promises."

"I appreciate that," she said, nodding. "I'm still gonna need some time to look into this problem."

"Of course." He turned and started walking away, back towards the control room. "You take all the time you need."

"Should I inform Rianna when I'm ready?" She asked, following behind him.

"No. Rianna won't know about the Ring here. Nobody will. Understood?" He stopped mid-stairwell to throw her a warning look.

"Very well," she agreed and they resumed their walk. "How do I contact you, then?"

He didn't respond until they were back in the control room. Then he pulled out something from a drawer in a counter by the wall and handed it to her. "Use this with any of our systems and it'll connect you to me directly."

She lifted the small crystal encased in a silver net to have a better look. "You're giving me a Mifta?"

He smirked. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Nova. It's downgraded—you can use it for secure communication, but nothing else."

"Neat. Thanks." She put it in her pocket. "Anything else?"

His smirk turned a bit predatory. "Not this time. You may go."

She nodded and turned to walk away, but before she was at the door, his voice stopped her. "Don't take too long, Nova. I'm not a patient man."

She didn't respond, but opened the door and started on her way back to where she'd left Rodriguez.