Chapter 59: The Tok'ra Part 4

P34-353J, December 4th, 1998 (Earth Time)

"I think I found a spy amongst the Tok'ra."

Jack O'Neill narrowed his eyes as he snapped his head to stare at Catra. "What?" he asked before he could control himself.

"I think I found a spy amongst the Tok'ra," she repeated herself, nodding slowly.

"So, it wasn't my hearing going bad," Jack quipped even as he grimaced.

"A spy?" Adora asked.

"Yes. I overheard someone talking about us and about the Tok'ra as if both of us were strangers. And he was talking to a communicator or recording device - there was nobody else in the bathroom," Catra replied. She tapped her nose with one finger. "Didn't smell anyone else either."

"Ew!" Glimmer frowned.

"Not that!" Catra rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I got his scent but I didn't catch more than a glimpse of him from behind - those tunnels don't offer many hiding spots." She pouted. "The Horde hallways were better for that. If we get the Tok'ra tunnel technology, we need to keep that in mind."

"Wouldn't that help a spy as well?" Daniel asked. A moment later, he blinked as he got the joke. "Oh."

Jack snorted at his friend's expression. "Yeah. So, you're not sure if it was a spy."

Catra shrugged. "I'm no expert. It could just be a cultural quirk of the Tok'ra to talk like that. But… you don't go to an empty, out-of-the-way bathroom in a decoy base to talk like that if it's perfectly normal."

Jack nodded - his gut agreed.

"Well, we don't know much about Tok'ra culture," Daniel said. "Though it's very likely that they are heavily influenced by their conflict with the Goa'uld, which is fought undercover with spies and saboteurs." He slowly nodded. "Isolating yourself like that could be a cultural quirk."

"I didn't find anyone else doing that," Catra objected.

"There can't be too many Tok'ra in a decoy base," Daniel defended his theory. Or hypothesis, or whatever the science guys called it.

"I noticed two dozen," Catra retorted. "Six guards in the transport room, six guards in the ready room, five people preparing the mess hall and the meal, and the rest attending the Councilors. Plus Anise and Jakar."

"They haven't left for the actual base?" Carter asked with a frown.

"Did you spy on them?" Adora sounded shocked.

Catra smirked. "I didn't. I just took a walk through the base and listened - and smelt. It's not spying if I do what they told us we can do."

Jack snorted again, but he couldn't really enjoy the humour. "Let's go back to the spy. We've got a potential spy amongst our potential allies. And they already know too much." Just knowing that Etheria existed and was about to fight them was enough to lose the Alliance the element of surprise.

"Well, we don't know if he managed to pass it on," Catra said. "He'd need an FTL communication device to inform anyone outside the system. Of course, if he was talking to another spy on the planet, or a listening post - or a ship hidden in the system…" She grimaced. "That would be bad."

"Well, I guess we have to find out," Jack said. "ASAP." If they managed to plug the leak before the Goa'uld got the information, they might be able to salvage this clusterfuck. But could they trust an ally who let a spy into their most important meeting? And what else had the spy already gathered?

"But how?" Daniel asked. "And we don't know if this is a spy," he added.

Not by asking nicely, that was sure. Jack sighed. He really hated what they had to do. "We'll have to talk to our first spy."

Daniel blinked again. "Our first spy?"

"Jakar," Glimmer told him with a grin.

"I thought that you didn't trust him." Daniel still looked confused.

Jack didn't trust or like any spook, snake or not. "He's our best bet to solve this mess," he explained. The odds that Jakar was also a mole were far too low - and contacting him wouldn't look as suspicious to the spy as contacting a councillor would.

"And then we lay a trap for the spy?" Catra grinned again, looking eager.

Jack shrugged. "Perhaps. It depends on the Tok'ra protocols for this." They were sure to have protocols for handing moles - you didn't survive a shadow war for so long without having procedures in place for that. Hell, Jack wouldn't even be too surprised if the snakes already suspected the mole, and this was part of a plan to make him reveal himself. Although he wouldn't be surprised if the standard procedure was to use enhanced interrogation on any suspect - they were dealing with snakes, after all. "Now, let's see if we can contact Jakar without alerting anyone. Too bad we can't just call him."

Entrapta beamed. "We could call him - I just need to get us connected to their communication network!"

Jack blinked. That sounded like…

"You want to hack their comms?" Even Carter sounded surprised.

"Yes?" Entrapta blinked. "Well, we could ask for access, but we're trying to be subtle, right?"

Sometimes, Entrapta was a pain in the butt. But sometimes, like now, Jack loved her.

Adora stared at Entrapta and Sam. "Dinner will be starting in a minute or two," she reminded them. "We'll probably meet Jakar there and can tell him there."

"Aw." Entrapta pouted. "But what if the spy is also there? We can't talk to Jakar without drawing attention, right?"

Adora sighed. "I think we can pass him a message without being spotted."

"A slip of paper or something. Or just ask him if he wants to discuss our secrets afterwards," Catra added with a grin. But she quickly grew serious. "I also need to identify the spy first. If he's not at the dinner, I'll make an excuse to get out and see if I can find him."

"If he's not at dinner, we can just tell the High Council," Daniel said.

"We can't risk that the spy is watching," Jack objected. "And a paper message might not cut it - I think the Tok'ra expect us to continue our meeting after dinner," Jack cut in. "Which means we won't be able to meet discreetly with him and plan things."

"And we don't have time to hack the comms," Bow said. "And hacking them would also be quite rude since we're guests." He frowned at Entrapta.

"But we're helping them," Entrapta retorted. "And I think I can work on this during dinner. I can use my goggles and my hair to work while I eat - I've done it before, no problem!"

"That would be rude as well," Glimmer commented.

"It would be rude? But I would do it under the table!" Entrapta looked surprised. "No one ever minds if Adora and Catra do their thing under the table while we eat or talk."

Adora felt her face heat up. "We're just holding hands sometimes!" she blurted out when the others stared at her. And she was sure they knew that!

"And thighs, and tails, and…" Catra nodded. Adora glared at her, but her lover shrugged. "Glimmer and Bow do the same. Minus the tail, of course."

Adora switched her frown to her blushing friends. Hypocrites!

Then Jack cleared his throat. "Can we skip the handholding debate and focus on how we contact our spy without alerting the other spy?" He looked at Entrapta. "Can you contact him without getting caught?"

"Well, is it rude or not? We're not supposed to be rude, are we?" Entrapta scrunched her nose and then nodded. "But yes, I think I can hack the communications. Their protocols are good, but not as good as Horde Prime's - and if I can work through dinner, that's ample time! I'm not getting shot at either, this time!"

Glimmer sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. "But hacking someone's systems is not just rude, it's generally a hostile act - even if you do it for their own good."

"Does that mean I shouldn't be doing it? Or does that mean I shouldn't get caught?" Entrapta asked.

Adora knew who was to blame for that question. She would have to talk to Catra once they were home. But first, they had to sort this out. She took a step forward. "We should inform Jakar and then let the Tok'ra handle this. The spy isn't a member of the High Council, which means he can inform them without risking that the spy will notice." The Tok'ra had been fighting the Goa'uld in a spy war for a long, long time. They should know how to handle spies. If they couldn't trust the Tok'ra to manage this, they couldn't trust them with anything sensitive, anyway.

"The Tok'ra have survived against the Goa'uld for millennia," Teal'c pointed out. "This will not be the first such spy they have encountered."

Jack didn't like that; Adora could tell from his expression. But Daniel and Sam were nodding in agreement, as were Glimmer and Bow. And Catra…

…was shrugging. "Might even be a plan to see how we react," she said.

"I could find that out if I hack their systems!" Entrapta smiled.

"I don't think we need to do that," Glimmer told her.

"At least not right now," Catra added. "We might want to test their computer security later."

"OK!" Entrapta beamed. "So, I can enjoy talking to Anise without being rude!"

Adora was about to tell her lover a few things about how to treat your allies, but then someone knocked at the door - it was time for dinner. They had run out of time.

"I'll be a bit late - I'll write a message and then slip it into Jakar's pocket," Catra told her with a grin. "Go ahead!"

Adora didn't want to go ahead, but she saw no better solution. "Alright."

But when the door opened, Jakar was standing there. "Are you ready for dinner?" he asked.

Adora wanted to palm her face. They should have expected this!

"Ah, yes… we are, but there's a tiny little issue we need to solve first," Jack said with a toothy grin.

Samantha Carter smiled a little ruefully at the Colonel's antics. If this wasn't Jakar, but Martouf, the levity wouldn't go over well, but the Tok'ra spy had proven to have a sense of humour - probably with a similar dose of gallows humour as the Colonel's.

And indeed, he was smiling as he raised his eyebrows. "Somehow, I suspect that this won't be a little thing, Colonel."

And then he lost his smile when Catra peeked her head through the door and checked the corridor outside, her ears twitching as she sniffed the air and announced. "Clear."

"It seems you expect treachery," Jakar said as the door closed behind him. "And since you chose to tell me, you do not believe it's on the part of the Tok'ra. At least not as a whole."

The Colonel's smile grew a little wider. "It's so nice to work with someone who's quick on the uptake. Yes, we discovered what might be a spy."

And there was only one group who'd send a spy into the Tok'ra's ranks.

"What did you discover?" Jakar asked with narrowed eyes.

"I overheard someone that sounded like making a report in a deserted bathroom here," Catra told him. "He didn't sound as if he considered himself a Tok'ra. I didn't get a look at his face, but I can identify him if I'm close enough."

"Ah." Jakar slowly nodded. "Then we need you to identify him to investigate further. Fortunately, we know all the individuals present in this base - and travel is restricted. So the suspect must still be inside the base. Do you need him to speak to identify him?"

Catra cocked her head. "I just need to be close. It's not one of the High Council."

She didn't say that she could identify the spy by scent, but Jakar would expect that. Or, Sam amended her thoughts, he might suspect some magical or psychic ability like Melog's. That would have thrown some of the Tok'ra she knew for a loop. That they hadn't mentioned Melog yet in the discussions meant that they probably wanted to secure an alliance first before touching on that subject. Or… She shook her head. They had to focus on dealing with the spy, not on hypothetical developments for future negotiations.

"Good. That leaves their aides, the guards and the kitchen staff, but I can work with that." Jakar nodded sharply. "Please come with me now - we can't afford to cause the spy to suspect something because we take too long."

Sam nodded but noticed that the Colonel seemed a bit reluctant. Despite his words, he didn't really trust the Tok'ra to handle this, she realised. Well, that couldn't be helped - they couldn't exactly launch an investigation into the matter by themselves as guests of the Tok'ra. And the Tok'ra knew how to handle spies; this wasn't the first time they had to deal with a mole, even though she couldn't recall any details.

Sam frowned as she realised she wasn't sure if she should be glad or annoyed that she only had fragments of Jolinar's memories about this topic. How could she make sound decisions if she couldn't trust her information? But they were walking towards the dining room. It was time to focus on that, not on the past - or the spy. Even if it was hard.

"Did you construct the dining room for this occasion, or is that like an officer's mess? Do you have officers?" Entrapta asked. "I know that spies generally don't operate like line soldiers, and you're pretty much all spies, right?"

"We have our leaders and commanders," Jakar said. "Though we have a much flatter hierarchy than you have, based on what I noticed as your guest. Much fewer ranks, for one." He grinned. "Shaped by our needs - and, unfortunately, our small numbers."

"Which will grow as soon as you get access to more hosts, or so you've told us," the Colonel said. "Do you have a bunch of little Tok'ra on ice who are just waiting for hosts?"

Jakar laughed once more. "Something like that, Colonel."

And wasn't that a clear hint at them having a queen? Or was it misdirection? Sam really wished she had access to Jolinar's memories to verify this. Although… would any field operative of the Tok'ra actually know such crucial information? The Goa'uld would want nothing more than cripple their enemies' ability to replenish their forces. Kill their queen, and the Tok'ra would die out sooner or later.

"And here we are," Jakar announced before opening a door, revealing a room with a large set of crescent-shaped tables, not unlike the ones in the meeting room. The High Council, and Anise, were present - but so were half a dozen other Tok'ra whom Sam hadn't seen before. No, whom she hadn't seen at the meeting - Martouf was there. And another who looked familiar but whose name she couldn't remember. And…

Her trail of thought was broken when she noticed Catra grabbing Jakar's arm and pointing at the food on a round table in the centre between the two others. "Is that fish? The dish in front of the guy there?" She pointed at one of the unknown Tok'ra.

Ah. Not the most subtle, in Sam's - or Jolinar's - opinion. But Jakar would understand.

So, they had identified their suspect. But having them at the dinner complicated matters somewhat, in Sam's opinion. She didn't know if everyone present could keep up appearances without letting slip tier suspicion.

"Sam! Entrapta! Bow!" Anise made a beeline towards them. "Let's sit down! I have a lot of questions we should discuss!"

Well, Sam thought as Entrapta all but dragged her and Bow towards the Tok'ra scientist, at least for Entrapta, it'll be easy. She doubted her friend would spare a thought on the spy - if she had even noticed Catra marking him.

The dish was fish! Fried fish! Talk about hitting two enemies with one shot! Catra smiled widely as she finished the morsel she had been given to get a taste - it was really good! - before shovelling more on her plate. "You know, this is much better than the Earth-style dinners," she said. "Or the Bright Moon-style dinners."

"What?" Adora cocked her head at her as she filled her own plate.

"What do you mean?" Ah, Glimmer had overheard her - as planned.

"It's one big buffet," Catra explained. "You don't have to wait for a servant to bring you food, you don't have to eat what is put in front of you, you can pick what you like and then load up on it. And you don't insult anyone if you don't eat some inedible mess that some weirdo thinks is tasty."

"It wasn't inedible! Your taste buds are just wired weirdly after having only had Horde rations for years!" Glimmer protested. "And it was one time! We have competent staff who take notes on what people like to eat and what they don't like."

Catra smirked. "Well, but I still don't get fish every meal." She nudged Adora, who hadn't reacted to the little exchange. "Say, what do you think of switching all meals to buffet-style affairs?"

"Oh. Uhm." Adora tried unsuccessfully to hide how she had loaded her plate mostly with some of the marinated meat bits, Catra noticed. "I would think it would affect logistics - since you usually would have more food wasted when people left one kind of dish alone and picked others. And, uh, if you only made enough overall so someone had to eat the worse food, there might be trouble in the chow line once all the good food is gone." And now she was looking at the dish she had left out - some greenish stuff that looked like a partially-bleached cactus and smelt terrible.

Catra sighed and shook her head. "We're guests. Don't eat stuff you don't like," she whispered.

"But…"

"No buts." Catra bumped her with her hip to steer her back to their table. "Besides, our hosts are waiting for you so they can start talking your ear off." Apparently, it was considered rude amongst Tok'ra to talk at the buffet or something. Daniel probably figured it out, not that Catra cared to ask.

"Oh, OK!"

And that was how you handled Adora.

Catra glanced at the spy when they returned to the table. He was eating the cactus stuff, she noticed. And his name was Cordesh - Firnan for the host - according to the introductions. Damn, trying to keep two sets of names for every Tok'ra was going to be a hassle.

"Ah, you like mat'o," Per'sus commented from across the table as they took their seats. They had taken their meals first - as Jakar had explained, to show it wasn't poisoned and so the guests' meals wouldn't grow cold before they ate. Since they hadn't eaten yet, it didn't make too much sense, but then, neither did Bright Moon's table manners.

"The fish?" Catra cocked her head. "Yes, it's very tasty."

"Fish?" The Tok'ra blinked. "Ah. Mat'o is not fish - it's fried mat'a brain."

Catra froze for a moment, staring at her plate. It tasted like fish. Mostly.

"What are mat'a?" Glimmer asked.

"Legless reptiles," Per'sus explained.

So, she was eating snake brains. Catra blinked, then shrugged. Who cared? It was good!

Glimmer, though, stared at her own small portion of mat'o. Hah!

"As we have gathered, let us eat in peace and harmony," Garshaw said.

A moment later, people started eating, and Catra dug in. Everyone else did so as well - though Entrapta and Anise needed a reminder from Sam and Bow.

"So, are all your meals eaten in this style?" Daniel asked after the first bite. "Or is this reserved for such occasions?"

"It is a sign of pride to offer a wide variety of food to your guests," Hen'ru told him.

"And when you aren't hosting guests?" Daniel followed up at once.

"Then you usually just make whatever dish you and your partner - or partners - like," Hen'ru replied with a grin.

Well, that sounded sensible, in Catra's opinion. But she wasn't here to learn about Tok'ra dining habits. So, as Daniel continued to pelt the Tok'ra with questions about their culture and society - nicely abusing the fact that they weren't supposed to talk about the alliance - Catra paid attention to the spy.

He seemed to be torn between trying to follow the conversation between Daniel and the High Council and trying to listen in to what Entrapta, Sam, Bow, Anise and Malinor were discussing.

Good luck, Catra thought with a smirk hidden behind her drink. Her ears picked up the conversation just fine - but it was far too technical to understand, and she didn't think the spy was a scientist either.

Cordesh must have realised that as well since he started asking Daniel questions about Earth society. "So, your planet is divided between many independent countries, each with its own culture and leaders?"

"Yes," Daniel said without hesitation. "Though we have shared rules and values."

"Precious few of those," Catra heard O'Neill mutter under his breath, and she had to suppress a chuckle.

"And Etheria is the same?"

"Yes," Glimmer told him.

"It must be fascinating to live in such a place, but if I may hazard a guess, trying to rule the planet would be very difficult with so many different factions," Cordesh said.

Ah, that was his game - he was looking for weaknesses. As expected.

"We're not planning to rule the planet," Glimmer told him.

"And neither are we," Daniel added.

"But how are you supposed to fight a war with such… disunity?" another aide asked.

"We only take the willing into an alliance," Adora told him. "There are enough people willing to fight."

"Ah."

"Fascinating, To have so many people that you can let them sit out a war against the Empire…"

As the discussion shifted a little, Catra noticed that one of the aides, Martouf, wasn't taking part. He was looking at Sam instead. And his expression… Catra thought it looked familiar, somehow. And pained.

Weird.

More weird food. Jack O'Neill liked to think he wasn't a picky eater - in the field, you quickly learned how to eat anything edible, and the Air Force wasn't a Chair Force no matter what the crayon-eaters claimed - but eating fried snake brain was something only Daniel could enjoy. And Catra, obviously, but, well, she was an alien. No, Jack stuck to snake meat, thank you very much. And some sort of not-quite-sweet potatoes as a side dish instead of bleached cactus.

Not that he was about to ask what exactly he was eating, of course. That way lay the sort of unpleasant realisation that you were living through dessert in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - a lesson everyone except for Daniel learned quickly in Stargate Command.

He bit down on another forkful, chewing slowly while he listened to Per'sus talking to Daniel about the way Tok'ra supply lines worked. Well, they were talking about how they mixed imported food and locally sourced grub, but that was what it worked out to.

He glanced at the spy - Catra hadn't been very subtle with pointing out him. The snake had stopped gathering intel from Carter and the others and was now listening to Daniel spill information about Earth's culture, mainly food and hospitality. Mostly safe topics, then - even though a spy might be able to use some of the information. But that would only matter if they couldn't stop the spy from passing on his intel.

Damn, he hated playing the nice guest while a spook was trying to stab them in the back! He would love to just wander over, then smash the man's face into his plate and just… Jack took a deep breath.

"I see. With the way your society moves around, the only constant food sources are those able to be grown on many different planets - and those so prized, you take considerable effort to source them," Daniel said. "So, your culture's culinary traditions are split between adapting new recipes with every new planet and old traditional dishes that you can only eat on special occasions."

Even a communist snake spy society has to have ways to reward their elite, Jack thought.

"Indeed," Per'sus said.

"It will be interesting to discover how this will change once we have defeated the Goa'uld," Glimmer commented. "Once you don't have to hide any more."

She said it as if this was inevitable. Jack would chalk her confidence up to naivety and inexperience, but the Etherians had been through a decades-long war already. Still, the Goa'uld Empire was different from the Horde.

"You speak as if our victory was set in stone," Per'sus echoed Jack's thoughts somewhat.

Glimmer tilted her head. "We are confident that we'll defeat the Empire, yes. And planning ahead is a good idea. But more importantly, you can't fight a war if you're all about gloom and doom. If you expect to lose, you tend to lose."

"Yes!" Adora chimed in with a nod. "The moral is to the physical as three to one, as one of Earth's greatest generals once said. If soldiers don't believe in victory, they'll believe in defeat."

An alien magical space princess quoting Napoleon… Jack chuckled. "It's not quite that simple," he said, "and we shouldn't be overconfident, but you're more or less correct - we will beat the Goa'uld." Or die trying. Of course, there would be efforts to ensure that even in defeat, Earth would survive. Though more organised than what had happened during Apophis's attack. Just shoving people through the gate, without almost no thought about how they were supposed to survive on the other side, no real preparations to start a self-sufficient colony… Everyone involved had done their best to forget that debacle.

"I want to share your confidence," Garsahw said. "But my experience keeps me from doing so. We've struggled for so long, just holding out was a victory. We've seen our hopes dashed multiple times, and harsh defeats have taught us to expect the worst."

Well, Jack knew what she was talking about. Somewhat, at least - the United States hadn't really fought such a lopsided war on the weaker side until they had started Stargate Command. But Jack had done enough stuff with spooks to expect the worst, too - even if the Etherians tended to make that hard these days.

And his team, of course. Daniel with his enthusiasm and idealism, Carter with her genius and stubborn drive, Teal'c, who had risked it all, abandoned his entire life and changed sides because he had seen something in SG-1 that Jack hadn't, at the time…

He smiled and nodded at Garshaw. "I know the feeling. But you can't just get… stuck in it." He wasn't going to say anything cheesy about losing the future by clinging to the past. His team would probably assume he had been taken over by a Goa'uld.

"We'll see," Garshaw said, obviously still sceptical. Jack wouldn't have expected anything else.

"What can we do to prove to you that we are telling the truth? That we can make good on our claims?" Adora asked, leaning forward.

Per'sus tilted his head at her. "You've made a lot of claims about magic. Such as that it allows you to heal people that even a Goa'uld healing device cannot help."

Adora's face lit up with a smile as Jack suppressed a sigh.

He should have expected that.

"I can heal them, yes," Adora said confidently. She could heal anyone. Then she blinked. "Uh… do you mean a host or a symbiont? We haven't tried yet if my healing power will expel a Goa'uld from an unwilling host, so I don't know what will happen to a Tok'ra."

"The host is dying," Per'sus said.

"Oh." Adora winced. If she accidentally killed a Tok'ra symbiont while trying to heal the host… "It would be safer if the symbiont would leave the host. Just for the healing. It won't take long at all." She smiled as reassuringly as she could.

Per'sus didn't look like he felt very assured, but he nodded. "That can… be arranged."

"Great. Where are they?" She almost looked around but controlled herself.

"They're not in the base," Per'sus told her. "But we can visit them later."

Ah, they were in the real base on the planet - that made sense, of course. Adora nodded. But… could they leave the base here, when a spy was on the loose? Or was that an opportunity to catch the spy? A trap, maybe?

She nodded. "Good."

Wait, had Jakar even told the High Council about the spy yet? Adora hadn't seen any exchange between the agent and the councillors, but she wasn't a spy - she could've easily missed it. And she couldn't ask Catra right now, in the middle of their dinner with the Tok'ra.

She took another bite from the excellent grilled snake meat and sneaked a glance at her lover. Catra looked… slightly annoyed. So, something wasn't right or not going according to how she thought things should be going. Or she didn't like the food - but she'd just gone to get a third helping, so that wasn't it.

It looks like I've made a mistake, Adora thought.

"I thought you needed to… 'unlock' magic on a planet to be able to use it," Garshaw said. "Do you have a magitech healing device?"

Adora shook her head, wincing slightly at the memory of the jungle zombies. "No, we don't have such devices. The one we found, made by the Ancients, ah, didn't quite work."

Catra snorted. "It made zombies."

"Zombies?" Per'sus cocked his head to the side with a puzzled expression.

"It's a Tau'ri name for animated corpses that attack the living. Supposedly fictional, but as we found out, the Ancients managed to create them for real," Glimmer explained. "Accidentally, we think."

"Oh." Garshaw glanced at Per'sus. "That seems… surprisingly inept for the Ancients. The Goa'uld healing devices work, after all."

"We think it was a prototype or something," Adora said.

"Ah." Garshaw nodded again. "And are you working on fixing its flaws?"

"No," Adora said. Not to her knowledge, at least. Entrapta and Sam were working on other projects. And no one else had the skills to work with Ancient magitech.

"But how can you heal people on a planet without magic and magitech?" Garshaw asked once more.

"Oh, that's because I'm She-Ra," Adora replied. "My powers are tied into magic itself. I can always use it." She didn't know if that was the fault of the First Ones or something else, but that wasn't something she liked talking about.

"Her title is 'Princess of Power'," Glimmer added with a grin. "She can use magic in space as well."

"Magic doesn't work off-planet?" Per'sus nodded.

Adora nodded. "Magitech works, though."

"Magic requires life," Glimmer explained. "Or at least the potential for life. And that means planets that can bear life. Magitech circumvents this by using something else as a power source, even though the effects are magical."

"I see," Garshaw said, glancing at Entrapta and the others. "I assume they're already past discussing the fundamentals."

Catra chuckled. "Oh, yes. Entrapta, Sam and Bow are probably already planning devices to augment existing technology with Anise."

That made the councillors wince a little, even Adora could tell. And that made her want to wince since Catra's ears would've picked up what the others were talking about, so that probably wasn't idle speculation.

"You seem unhappy about that," Jack commented. "Don't you trust Anise?"

"She's an excellent scientist," Per'sus said. "Innovative and bold. Sometimes perhaps a bit too bold."

Oh. "Like Entrapta, then," Adora said, nodding.

And that made the others wince more.

"...so we could use a magitech device to enhance your crystal growing technology - and with a decision matrix from a bot, we could have a smart base able to grow tunnels and tools where they want and need them!" Entrapta beamed.

If we manage to refine the Tok'ra technology to include more complex tools, Samantha Carter mentally amended her friend's statement.

"Yes, if your other hypothesises are proven true," Anise said. "Which is a not insignificant assumption - we have been using and refining our crystal technology for a long time."

"But never with magitech!" Entrapta nodded several times. "It's a game changer, as people say on Earth."

"A 'game changer'?" Anise cocked her head in a slightly alien manner. "Do you treat this as a game?"

"It's a figure of speech," Sam explained. "We don't treat it as a game."

"Even though science is fun!" Entrapta agreed. "As long as no one gets hurt seriously," she added.

Anise nodded in apparent agreement. "Yes, it is. And there are few things as satisfying and rewarding as seeing your projects work out and your hypothesises proven true."

"Yes!" Once more, Entrapta nodded enthusiastically.

Sam agreed as well, though she didn't voice it like that. There were a number of more important things, after all. Defeating the Goa'uld. Friends. Family - at least, it was supposed to be more important, even if it might not always work out like that.

She noticed her plate was empty and excused herself to get a bit more food - the dishes were excellent. Some, she hadn't had in quite some time. Jolinar hadn't had them, she corrected herself - Sam had never tasted them before today.

Still, she did like them and started filling her plate with a few more kren and liso'n bits - she particularly liked them.

"Jolinar loved them."

Sam managed not to gasp despite her surprise and turned to face who had addressed her. Oh.

It was Martouf. The Tok'ra she knew the most about, even though it was still very little. But he had been Jolinar's friend, and most of the fragmented memories Sam remembered featured him. And he had just learned of Jolinar's death a few hours ago.

So Sam smiled and nodded. "Yes. I don't remember too much of their life, but when I tasted kren and liso'n, the taste was familiar."

Martouf nodded and repeated himself. "Jolinar loved them. Unlike most of us, who prefer the traditional, rare dishes, she loved the food here." His eyes lost focus for a moment, and his expression grew a little sad.

Her? Jolinar's last host had been male, Sam knew - she doubted she would ever forget the moment Jolinar had entered her, leaving the dying man she had been trying to save. "I am sorry for your loss," she said.

"Thank you." He slowly inclined his head. "Though I suppose, as her last host, you keenly feel her loss as well."

Really? She took a bite or kren to gain some time. "Yes, we weren't, ah, together for long, but…" She shrugged. 'Memorable' would sound trite. 'Traumatising' would be harsh, even if it was true. "I won't ever forget her." She took a forkful of liso'n while her thoughts raced. Did Tok'ra identify with the gender of their host? It wasn't something that had come up in the preparations for this mission - a clear oversight, in hindsight. They had no clue how Tok'ra relationships worked, she realised. How did they handle having two beings in one body?

And asking Martouf about it was out of the question - he was clearly grieving his friend. His sad smile as he must remember…

She blinked as more memories rose inside her. Of Martouf. Of… "Lantash?"

His voice changed as the symbiont took over. "You remember. I wasn't certain since you never said anything."

"I only just remembered," she told him. "Her memories are fragmented. Sometimes, I have a… sort of flash." Likely the result of a trigger. Perhaps she should look into therapy to manage this... No! Therapy would see her benched - the Air Force wasn't in the habit of trusting people with mental problems in combat. But why hadn't Lantash introduced themselves earlier?

"But you do remember us," Lantash said - and reached out, putting his hand on her shoulder.

His touch… she drew a sharp breath as she remembered more. Martouf. Lantash. And… She felt her cheeks flush. They hadn't been Jolinar's friends. They had been their lover.

"And you remember more," Lantash said, staring at her, lips twisting into a faint smile.

She nodded a little stiffly. "I am sorry for your loss," she repeated herself.

"Her memories live on," he said with another sad smile.

Sam froze for a moment. 'Her memories'. Not 'her memory'. Oh, hell! They couldn't think that she was… She nodded again, more sharply this time - the kren suddenly didn't taste as well as before.

They couldn't think that she was somehow Jolinar's successor - or replacement - could they?

"Everything alright, Carter? Something wrong with the food?"

She turned to face the Colonel, glad - very glad - about the interruption. She really needed a distraction right now. "No, the food's great, sir. We've just been… mourning."

"Jolinar was our partner," Martouf said, inclining his head at the Colonel. "It is comforting that part of her lives on in some way, despite the tragic circumstances of how that came to be."

The Colonel narrowed his eyes, and Sam quickly added: "Fragments of her memories."

"Ah." His expression didn't really change - he was still… suspicious. Of her? No. Of Martouf and Lantash, Sam realised. "Partners?" he asked.

"Lovers. Mates," Lantash explained.

The Colonel tensed at the change of voice. "I didn't realise Tok'ra went for such things," he said with a shrug. "You know, lovers."

And Lantash frowned in return. "As our hosts do, we as well fall in love."

"Must be tough, having to share your body and a relationship."

"Not at all," Lantash said. Then Martouf continued. "Everything's shared, Colonel. Between us all."

"Sounds a bit crowded to me."

"It would, of course, since you have never experienced it," Martouf replied.

He was glancing at her, Sam realised with a sinking feeling. Did he expect her to comment on that? The last thing she wanted to do right now was to discuss Tok'ra romance. With anyone.

But the Colonel was staring at her as well.

Before she could even think of what to say to extract herself, a body crashed into the buffet next to them, sending the food flying as the table toppled.

Sam almost cried out in relief at the interruption.