Tapes
~*Selmak*~
In the Tok'ra mess hall, Jacob eats a sandwich. He is much more relaxed than he has been, and I feel it in his entire body. He's not so tense. His body chemistry is returning to normal, fairly quickly with my help. He's actually enjoying the food.
I'm sorry, he thinks. I almost ate the whole sandwich. He retreats to share with me.
You can have it.
He comes forth again, then takes another bite.
I'm glad you are feeling better.
Selmak. He smiles as emotions flood through him. Good emotions. Don't let me cry!
I laugh at his panic. He doesn't need me. He has better control of his emotional responses than most humans, which he learned long before I was in his head. Still, I help him.
Thank you. He laughs. Sam is going to be alright.
Yes, she is.
Zar didn't destroy her. I…was…
I know. I was scared for her too.
Jacob begins on the dessert.
~+~+~.
He stops by her quarters, and Aldwin intervenes.
"Councilor, Lantash and Malek are not comfortable allowing people into their quarters."
After the Delek incident, only certain people are allowed even near their quarters.
"It's alright," my host assures. "I came to see Sam."
"I will tell her." He leaves.
A few minutes later, Jacob is smiling as he sees Sam.
"Dad."
"I still have work on Earth. I wanted to say goodbye before leaving."
"Say hi to Mark for me." She hugs him, then pulls out an envelope. "I figured you would return soon." I didn't have much time to finish, but-"
He laughs.
"What?"
"This is thick. How many pages is this?"
"Eighteen pages."
Jacob smiles, and they hug before we leave for Earth.
~+~+~.
"George." Jacob greets when the other man walks into O'Neill's office.
"Jacob." He smiles, looking to O'Neill. "General."
"General," O'Neill greets in return.
"How is Colonel Carter?"
"I haven't seen her since she ran off with the Tok'ra," O'Neill answers, clearly not happy.
"She is recovering, mostly by focusing on her husbands. She'll visit soon enough," Jacob answers. "The incident with Delek has delayed her return." He looks back to O'Neill. "Speaking of which, you are still investigating who they heard, right? Many of the Tok'ra are angry about this."
"We're narrowing it down," O'Neill replies. "Korra is practically breathing down my neck."
"I've been fighting to reinstate the treaty, officially. The fact that you had someone betraying us doesn't help."
"I was the first to approve his entry into Stargate Command," George says, quickly taking blame.
"Look, I'm not blaming either of you or anyone else on this base, but now that…information happens to go to the wrong people and Delek gets killed? And the fact that he was the biggest opposer to the treaty makes it worse. Even Einar suspects that it was deliberate, and until a few days ago, he and Per'sus were for the treaty." Jacob sighs. "I don't need to tell you the importance of their opinions."
"What does Councilor Per'sus think?" George asks.
"I don't know." You might want to answer this. Jacob closes his eyes.
I take over and open them. "Per'sus has always seen the value in forging new friendships and keeping alliances. You contacted us in what you call 1998. Only two years later, the treaty was signed. You have Per'sus to thank for that. Most everyone else thought we moved too quickly."
"That's good, isn't it?" O'Neill replies.
"Per'sus has also always greatly valued the opinion of his hosts, and as Jacob has informed you, Einar is having second thoughts on this alliance."
"What happens if they disagree?" George asks.
"Then they would each argue their case, but based on current opinions, the Tok'ra would likely vote to cut all contact from your people."
"Wouldn't Per'sus' opinion be valued more?" O'Neill asks, which makes me have to stop myself from sighing in response. "I mean, Delek didn't seem to value Jacob's."
"That's an issue he has with the Tau'ri in general…" I pause. "An issue he had. He thought you were dangerous." I turn to him. "Einar joined us when he was only a child. For nearly 150 years he has been with us. He grew up in our tunnels, learning and embracing our ways. For 140 of those years, he has been our leader, and he has proven himself time and again. There is not a single Tok'ra that sees his opinion as less valuable. I cannot stress the importance of your investigation enough."
They don't respond, but I see that they understand. I give control back to Jacob.
"Now," Jacob says, looking to George, "that's not why I asked you to come here."
~+~+~.
"Dad!"
From cutting contact to being excited to see him. Mark's greeting makes Jacob quite happy, and the two embrace.
"Hello Mark, Betty."
Betty also embraces us, and we sit down.
"I have good news." Jacob smiles. "Not for a good reason, but…"
Mark frowns, but Betty looks positive. I can see her worry.
"Well, Betty, you know that Mark learned something in the infirmary."
She nods and takes Mark's hand.
"And you both know, you had to be protected."
"General O'Neill said that danger will likely pass soon."
"Yes. We're working on that. The one who ordered his men to your house has been killed. It may take a while for his soldiers to know that though, and that is why you are still here."
They know this, I think.
I am getting to the point. "There are others out there though. They have no interest in you. They don't even know about you, but if they did… That is why you need to move."
They nod, knowing this, and they aren't happy about it.
"That's also why you will be given clearance to know more."
"I don't have to hide anything?" Mark is relieved.
"Not from Betty, but right now, your kids are young."
"They might talk," Mark agrees.
"What can they possibly say that would be dangerous?" Betty asks.
"First, you both need to sign non-disclosure agreements."
That's not an issue. They both read carefully before signing. After, Jacob hands the agreements off to be kept…wherever they would be kept.
"That's a lot of penalties," Betty says in worry.
"Betty, you are going to think I'm joking. I thought it was a joke when I first heard this." Jacob pauses. "Aliens are real."
~+~+~.
It takes a while to convince Betty that we are telling the truth, and talking to me helps. The information we give is minimal, but by the end she believes us.
"So you are a good version of these…golds?"
"Goa'uld."
"Goa'uld."
"Yes. I am the same species, but I am not a Goa'uld."
"And Sam has one of these people too?"
I wiggle in joy. People. She called us people. Not creatures. Not snakes. Not things.
"Yes."
"And her husbands," Mark adds.
"That is partly true," I correct. "Martouf and Amb are her husbands, and they do have symbiotes in their heads, but the symbiotes are equally her husbands."
"Sam has four husbands?" His eyes are wide.
"Yes."
"And Dad approves of this? Four men? I never thought he would even approve of one."
That makes me laugh.
I feel mocked. Give me control.
I close my eyes, and release control to him.
Jacob smiles. "Normally, no. Not one man, and certainly not four. All of them though, have risked their lives to save mine, and I've known Amb and Malek longer than Sam has. Hell, she only knew Martouf and Lantash for a day longer than I have, but… Speaking of them…"
~+~+~.
After, it's time to go see if O'Neill has found anything.
I feel like I betrayed Martouf and Amb, my beloved host admits.
I would like to see your family meet them, to interact with them, but they need to know then, and we both know that they would rather not have to be the ones to tell people. Betty will be respectful, and they both understand that Martouf and Amb are getting help.
George has left, and O'Neill is in his office. He's watching a video with Korra.
"Jack."
"I think we found them."
Jacob walks over.
"They have already admitted to talking about Delek." He rewinds the video, then plays it for us.
Malek and Lantash leave the infirmary, and I watch as Malek hugs Lantash. Lantash retreats, and Martouf kisses Malek.
Another camera shows two men of Stargate Command approaching from around the corner. They stop when a woman approaches, and one of the men stops. The other follows suit.
Flirting on the job, I think with some amusement, recognizing the body language. Though it's silent, I can also see some of the words spoken. The woman is clearly receptive, flirting back. I half expect her to drop her papers so that they have to be picked up.
She becomes more serious, and the video is clear enough that I can see what she is saying.
"Oh, Colonel Carter has returned."
Nice that my daughter's safe return is an afterthought, Jacob thinks in annoyance.
The men react with joy, but their backs are turned towards the camera. Meanwhile, from around the corner, the three definitely have Martouf and Malek's attention.
"Pete too. And Lantash and Malek."
The men seem to ask a question.
"They might have left already." She shrugs and leaves.
The two men continue talking, and I walk my fellow Tok'ra. I watch their expressions darken, and I am quite sure I see Malek mouth "Delek."
They know.
The two men leave.
Jack stops the video after everyone has left.
"Lantash and Malek heard them from that distance?" Jack looks to us. "I know your hearing is good, but that's around the corner and across two hallways."
"They definitely heard them," Jacob replies.
"It is clear that this was an accident," Korra says. "If we can show this to the council, I believe they would agree." He smiles slightly, as he was always for the alliance, especially after SG-1 saved his life.
"Give us the tapes," Jacob says. "Anise will find a way to convert it to a form that the council can see."
"We can convert it," O'Neill replies.
"They need to be sure that the evidence wasn't tampered with. Not just these, but following the movements of your three officers and the Tok'ra for the duration of our stay. Make it clear to the council that your two men had no idea that they were even heard."
O'Neill frowns.
"We'll return them after we are done."
~+~+~.
The videos have been turned to holograms. Anise was even able to use the multiple camera angles to make an almost 3D recreation, which we watch on top of a table. It is rather strange to see, but it helps to illustrate the whole situation at once. We can see Lantash and Malek reacting, and we see just how far away they were from the three Tau'ri as they spoke.
Einar watches intensely. His expression is hard to read. Like Jacob, he has excellent control over his emotions.
After, he watches holograms of the videos, basically what I watched, but also converted into a holographic format.
"You are positive that their recording devices were not tampered with?" He asks after.
"They recorded on what they call film or tape. You can see the images on the tape," Anise answers.
"I want to see this film."
Jack isn't going to be happy, Jacob think when she offers Einar a box of film that has been removed from the cassette tapes.
Einar examines each carefully, looking at every image.
I admit I am impressed, Jacob thinks. I'm quite certain that Garshaw would have left this to Anise and others.
Which is really what he should do, but I suspect that he feels he owes this to Delek and Toma. Delek was supposed to mature and eventually earn his way back on to the council, not accidentally get himself killed.
"Has Ren'al examined this?" Einar asks as he's looking at the last roll of film.
"Yes. She does want to look at it again."
"Of course. Let both her and Ocker examine the film. They need to see that it was not a deliberate attack on Delek." He puts the film back. "Summon the other councilors."
She bows slightly, then takes the film and leaves.
"You have concluded that it was an accident then?" Jacob asks.
"Yes. Per'sus and I found no evidence of tampering. The two Tau'ri never even saw Malek and Lantash." He sits down.
Jacob sits by him.
"Thank you for your part in this investigation."
"I'm just glad that this was resolved so quickly."
"A sign that the Tau'ri take the possibility of a new treaty seriously."
Jacob nods, happy to hear that from Einar.
The other council members come in.
"We will share the evidence, then… Per'sus and I will get much needed sleep."
That makes Jacob smile.
That sounds like a good idea, I admit.