“Teal’c, what do you make of this?” asked General Hammond.
SG-1 gathered around the video screen in the Control Room to view the MALP transmission from P2X-808, a hot, dry, and dusty looking world. Two Jaffa with staff weapons pointed at the MALP looked it over. Their expressions showed mostly curiosity.
“That’s a new one,” Colonel Jack O’Neill exclaimed cocking his head towards Teal’c. “What happened to ‘shoot first, ask questions later?’”
“I am as puzzled as you, O’Neill. These Jaffa do not seem to perceive any serious threat from the MALP. Perhaps they are aware that its technology is . . .”
“Lame?” interrupted O’Neill. “Never stopped them from shooting up one before.”
The MALP’s camera continued to pan around the gate on P2X-808. A small settlement of simple dwellings could be seen. Outside, children and adults were engaged in games.
“Snakeheads away, mice will play?” queried O’Neill.
“I do not see what mice have to do with anything, O’Neill,” Teal’c responded stone-faced.
Daniel, Carter and Hammond stifled chuckles.
“Letting their hair down while the Goa’uld is away. Oops. Guess that analogy doesn’t work for you so well either, Teal’c,” shrugged Jack.
Daniel rescued a puzzled Teal’c. “I don’t think so, Jack. The gate guards seem almost nonchalant. Teal’c, do you think it’s possible that these Jaffa are free from Goa’uld rule?”
“It is possible, Daniel Jackson. Perhaps something happened to the Goa’uld they serve, and no other Goa’uld has claimed them as yet. I am not familiar with their symbol. I believe we should investigate this world more closely General.”
“Agreed,” said Hammond. “Major Carter, let’s prep the UAV. Assuming we like what we see after reviewing the additional data and recordings from the MALP, we’ll send it out.”
“Yes, sir,” Carter replied crisply. “I can have it ready in one hour, sir.”
* * *
One hour later, General Hammond ordered Sgt. Walter Davis to dial up P2X-808. The mostly invisible presence of the sergeant yielded to his occasional moment of glory: barking out the engagement of each chevron.
The team looked at the further MALP footage with increasing interest. These Jaffa made no effort to interfere with the movement of the MALP. They did act free of the Goa’uld. They appeared to be going about their daily lives with a sense of joy and ease that none of them could remember seeing from a whole community of Jaffa before.
“You know guys, if I didn’t know better – and come to think of it, I don’t – I get the sense that maybe what we’re seeing here is a recent liberation. The initial euphoria before the ‘what do we do next’ stage,” offered Daniel.
“They’re high, Daniel?” arched Jack.
“Kind of, Jack.”
“Teal’c, do you notice or, for that matter, not notice anything which should raise concern?” General Hammond inquired.
“General, something unusual does appear to be afoot. Either we have found a Goa’uld who treats his Jaffa humanely -- a proposition I think highly doubtful -- or we may have found freed Jaffa who are potential allies in our war with the Goa’uld. Major Carter, would it be possible to enhance the MALP pictures for a closer view?”
“Sure, Teal’c.” Carter zoomed in on several Jaffa men playing with young boys, all shirtless.
Teal’c’s eyebrow rose, and his face looked quizzical. “Major, can you enhance the picture to show their abdominal regions?”
“I see what you’re getting at Teal’c,” Carter said wide-eyed.
Teal’c unconsciously put his hand over the pouch where his prim’tah once had been, before he became dependent on Tretonin for his continued survival.
“General, these Jaffa do not appear to carry symbiotes any longer. Their pouches are scarred over. They may present great hope for the future of all Jaffa if they have rid themselves of the Goa’uld larva. Perhaps they have a supply of Tretonin or something else. General, I would like to visit this world as soon as possible.”
“Teal’c, l know this looks exciting,” General Hammond took a cautionary tone, “but we’ve been tricked before. This could be a trap. Remember Urgo’s looping picture of paradise? Let’s wait a little bit and see what the UAV shows. Major Carter, you have a go to launch the UAV.”
Minutes later the UAV was gone. It whizzed through the gate. The gate guards did not try to fire at it.
“The UAV is fully operational General. We’re focusing reconnaissance on a loop of twenty miles around the gate. So far, the planet appears perfectly habitable. Good oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide ratios. Mostly grassland conditions near the gate area. Land rapidly transitions into a deciduous forest relatively nearby.”
“Whoa, Sam,” interrupted Daniel, “can you loop the UAV back towards the forest? I thought I saw the top of a building in the upper left corner a few frames ago.”
“Sure, Daniel. It will take a minute. Hold on.” Sam remotely maneuvered the UAV into position. “You’re right. I’ll take it in closer.”
“The Goa’uld have definitely been here at some point, sir. That’s the top of a pyramid. And there’s another off to the left of that,” noted Daniel.
“I don’t think soooooo, Daniel. That’s a big honkin’ mothership,” said Jack.
“Shall I take it in closer, sirs?”
“Don’t look at me, Carter. The General signs UAV requisition slips!” Jack deferred.
“Yes, do, Major. Nice to know that you’ve actually read one of those budget memos recently, Jack.”
“Holy cow! Graffiti.” Jack was agape.
The rest of SG-1 and General Hammond leaned in closer to the monitor, all looking startled.
“I believe it is, O’Neill. It says ‘Death to the Goa’uld’ among many other less polite expressions.” Teal’c was nearly grinning.
“And check out the pictographs too,” exclaimed Jackson. “Those would appear to be representations of the symbiote . . .”
“Daniel,” Jack interrupted to avert a long winded explanation of the obvious. “I think we all get the universal sign for ‘No snakeheads!’ General, if it’s alright with you, I’d like permission for SG-1 to visit P0X-whatever as soon as possible.”
“Permission granted, Colonel O’Neill.”
* * *
Thirty minutes later, SG-1 returned to the control room in desert camouflage with full gear.
“I have a question, Jack,” Daniel asked. “Seeing as we’re gating right into a settlement, what exactly is the point of the camouflage?”
“To demonstrate our overwhelming coolness, Daniel.” Carter broke into a weak smile and rolled her eyes at Jack’s crack.
Hammond returned to business. “Alright, gentlemen – and I use the term loosely as to some (looking at Jack) – and Major, let’s get on with this. Sgt. Davis, redial P2X-808.
O’Neill playfully parted the event horizon with a flourish of his free hand before entering. It never failed to amaze him, this most incredible amusement ride. By the time he reached the other side, he would be all business. The rest of SG-1 followed.
On the other side, the two gate guards met them with weapons aimed. “Kree.”
There we go with that “kreeing” again thought Jack. Daniel’s “peaceful explorers” speech inexorably followed. While Daniel rattled on, Carter, Teal’c, O’Neill and the Jaffa kept their weapons trained on each other.
Teal’c took the next step. He chanced lowering his staff weapon and greeted the Jaffa.
“Tek matte. I am Teal’c. There are no Goa’uld among us, nor do we serve the false gods. My prim’tah, like yours, is gone. We come in peace and brotherhood on behalf of free Jaffa and the Tauri.”
“Tauri?” One of the guards approached to examine Teal’c more closely. He did not sense the presence of the symbiote in him or among this group. Barely audibly to SG-1, the two guards whispered. “Did not the stranger tell us to consider an alliance with the Tauri if they should come?"
“Guys, I think it would be a goodwill gesture to lower our weapons now,” suggested Daniel.
As SG-1 lowered their weapons, so did the two Jaffa guards. Jack’s version of weapon lowering, as usual, was not quite as complete as the others. His fingers, rarely unengaged in some activity, remained loosely wrapped on the trigger, a precaution often justified by past experience. All breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Jack left it largely to Daniel and Teal’c to find out what had happened here. O’Neill, having steadfastly refused to learn more than a handful of Jaffa terms and not being much of a talker, smiled pleasantly and milled about looking for danger hidden under any dust ball. He found none.
After Jack admitted to himself a lack of that “it’s about to hit the fan” feeling in the back of his neck, he wandered amongst the children and joined their games. His childlike nature stood in stark contrast to his military rank and position.
Major Sam Carter browsed his way. Until Teal’c and Daniel reported their findings, she had little to do. The Jaffa men, much to Carter’s chagrin, did not treat women as equals and would not talk freely to her. So she mostly watched Jack, inwardly delighting in seeing him relax with the children.
Years ago, Carter’s feelings for O’Neill were romantic. It was, of course, forbidden fruit. Acting on it would be practically impossible without either giving up the job they ultimately would admit they loved more. Over time they both also realized that kind of love would be destructive to the team. They had both moved on without ever acknowledging the turnabout directly. In truth, Sam thought the romantic feelings probably persisted longer than they might have otherwise because it was forbidden. Not that either Sam or Jack had fallen in love with anyone else. But Sam had strong attractions to other men: Orlin, Martouf, Narim, and briefly, Ambassador Joe Faxon, from the Aaschen fiasco. She had moved on, or at least was open to the possibilities.
Unlike Jack, Sam’s social life outside work, though limited, centered on other adults. Jack’s social life revolved around his team and kids. He spoke at local schools about the military and the possibilities of exploring space, undoubtedly with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. He played hockey and other sports with them. He donated time and money to children’s organizations.
No, in the end, Sam Carter reminded herself, it was not romantic love. If the last and most painful of Daniel Jackson’s deaths had shown her anything, it was that the four of them had become family. They all loved each other and would die to protect each other. This, unfortunately, was a weakness that the Goa’uld had exploited against them on more than one occasion. But there was little to do about it, except to adhere to the military command structure and show her C.O. the respect he’d earned.
She did wish a bundle of children for Jack someday, however improbable it seemed now. Sam herself was far from ready for children. She loved Cassie and her niece and nephew, but she loved science more. She could not visualize herself as a day in, day out mommy anytime soon.
Sam’s reverie and Jack’s playtime were cut off by Daniel and Teal’c’s approach with two Jaffa. One looked not long past the age of implantation.
“This is She’nac; he is twelve. This is his father, Dan’ac. They have a most interesting story to relate to us. And they have volunteered to submit to any testing, medical or otherwise, to help us understand the death of their prim’tahs and the apparent regrowth of their immune systems,” Teal’c related.
Carter could not contain herself. “But Teal’c, Daniel, do we know how yet? Do they have a source of Tretonin?”
“Patience, Major Carter,” Teal’c counseled. “There is much we now know and much more to be learned. Dan’ac asks us to join him in his home so that we may be more comfortable while he relates the tale.”
Settled comfortably around a table in the hut of Dan’ac, SG-1 listened to his long strange tale.
“We were in the service of Kek until about three weeks ago. The Goa’uld was off world at the time with most of the warriors. Perhaps twenty warriors were left behind, here and at the temple, along with the families of the warriors. Only two of us were guarding the chappa’i, Dor’an and I.
The chappa’i opened. We aimed our weapons in readiness. A small stranger cloaked in the simple robes and hood of a priest holding a plain walking staff entered. We instructed the stranger to drop the staff and raise his hands. He did so. In a voice that sounded like our god’s, he spoke. ‘I am but a simple wanderer. I have important business to conduct with your master.’
At this Dor’an chuckled. ‘As if our god would have business with the likes of you.’ I was not so sure what to make of it, though. The voice unnerved me so like Kek’s was it. We had not been told to expect any visitors but still, it was odd.
Dor’an took the lead. ‘You will see our god only if and when he desires it, not when you demand it. You will come with us.’”
“How original,” Jack muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes.
“I restrained the stranger while Dor’an kept his staff weapon aimed. The stranger offered no resistance. Indeed, the stranger’s presence was one of disquieting calmness and control, as though we were the prisoners.
Dor’an roughly pushed the stranger into a secured outbuilding nearby. The Temple of Kek is a full day’s walk at least. Since Kek was off world and few were there, we decided to interrogate the prisoner here first.
We chained the stranger’s wrist shackles to the wall, again without resistance, and began our interrogation. Then we had the first of many surprises to come. Pulling back the hood of the cloak, the stranger was seen to be a woman. Short haired, muscular, but most definitely a woman. No weapons were found upon her.
She was unafraid of us. Dor’an questioned her repeatedly. She revealed nothing, not even a name. She only repeated her initial statement that she had business with our master. She would speak only with Kek and warned us that we would regret not taking her to him.
Dor’an took this as a personal challenge, I think. He had high ambitions to someday become a prime to Kek. He was insistent. The stranger took numerous blows from Dor’an’s gloved hand. I say this now with great shame. I took no delight in harming a woman. Yet Dor’an made no progress in getting her to speak. We found ourselves at a crossroad. Between her eerie Goa’uldish voice, and her self possession, we began to worry if there was any truth to her claim that she had business with our master. We left her shackled for the night. We hoped that hanging from her wrists for a night without sustenance might soften her stance. We were in no hurry for our master was unlikely to return for several more days.
We examined the stranger’s staff. It appeared to be no more than a simple walking staff. The stranger had, in fact, exhibited a slight limp. Later that night we passed the staff amongst the elders to examine it in case it was a weapon of some sort no longer commonly used. They saw no threat from it.
The next morning came our second surprise. The night sentry reported all quiet. Yet when we opened the door, we found the stranger sitting cross-legged on the floor unshackled. The bars that had covered the rear window were on the floor too; as if to say that she had stayed by choice. Dor’an and I were, I confess, unnerved.
She calmly rose and spoke to us, again in that voice like Kek’s, as if she were in control not us: ‘What no breakfast? I will have to speak to management.’
Dor’an prepared to strike her, but held off as she continued. Her tone was one of impatience. ‘It is clear to me Kek is off world. Let me speak to the eldest Jaffa here, and perhaps I will cooperate.’
Dor’an was put out by her insolence. He went to strike her face with the back of his armored hand. He even laughed as she raised her arm to brace against the impending blow. It never fell. She caught his hand in motion and stopped it dead. Before either of us recovered from this surprise, she had twisted Doran’s arm around, grounded him and seized him by the neck.
She repeated her request to be taken to the elders. She promised no harm would come to us -- her captors! She also promised she would not attempt escape, just as she stayed of her own volition through the night.
It was then, I admit without pride, that Dor’an and I reconsidered our position. This woman, with the voice like our god, was a force with which to be reckoned. Even though we sensed no symbiote, we decided to accede to her request. Dor’an, I think, was happy to escape from his embarrassment and went to seek the elders. Then came the third surprise.
Dor’an returned to the outbuilding to report that three elders, including my father, were gravely ill in the healer’s tent. Their prim’tahs had fled their bodies and were dead. The elders would be dead soon too. The stranger said she could cure them if they wished. Although we did not believe this possible, we considered her offer. The thought occurred to us that these elders had examined her walking staff the eve before. Here they were on their deathbeds. We had handled it too without ill effects, yet the coincidence of their sudden illness was troubling.”
“Wondering if you were next, no doubt,” Jack interjected.
“Perhaps so. In any event, we decided to take the stranger to the healer’s tent. She addressed them respectfully and calmly, again not at all as if she were a prisoner.
But her message was new. ‘I offer your people freedom from the parasites who enslave you. The Goa’uld you serve is a false god. You are old enough and have seen enough to know this true. I will heal you if you pledge yourselves to freedom. All I ask in return is that you bring me before your false god so I may show you the truth of my words. All who wish to live as free Jaffa shall live.’
The healer was livid. ‘What false magic is this you promise? No Jaffa can survive for long without his prim’tah.’
The stranger was firm. ‘My words are truth. Choose freedom or death. Either way your bonds of slavery will end today.’
Dor’an and I did not believe the elders would waiver in their resolve and devotion to our god. We had seen no glimpse of it before. Yet when she spoke to them, they acknowledged the truth of her words. They agreed to try her cure. She would not administer it in our presence. Only the healer remained with her and the elders. I did not know how she did it, but within the hour they began to improve.
The stranger remained in the healer’s home under guard for several hours. By afternoon, the elders’ pouches began to scar over and their bodies became their own again. The elders and the healer then engaged in discussions with her that I have only guessed at since. I believe they enlisted in a plan to liberate us all; together they bravely took the next steps to our new path of freedom.
Dor’an was particularly shaken by what occurred, more so than I. I did not relish the senseless violence I had seen in service of Kek. But Dor’an saw his chances of becoming someone important evaporate before his eyes. He insisted on interrogating the stranger to discover what she had done and how. The elders opposed him arguing that a bargain struck could not be unmade. Dor’an had made no bargain, however. He claimed the right to challenge the stranger. The elders could not refuse. For while they had agreed to the stranger’s plan to rid the Jaffa of the Goa’uld, they had made no promises as to her safety. Nor had she asked.
The stranger startled us by accepting Dor’an’s challenge as though she had desired it herself. She was perhaps three-fourths his height and half his weight. ‘In the battle ahead, one can be only friend or foe. Even among those who accept the cure, you will need to seek out those who are deceivers.’
The challenge took place immediately before all in the settlement. Only simple weapons were permitted. Dor’an had a training staff; the stranger had her walking staff. I do not know how to characterize her style of fighting. She was swift and agile as compared to Dor’an. At times she seemed to fly as she kicked and swung. The end came faster than I would have believed possible. Dor’an was defeated.
He asked no mercy. She offered him a last chance to renounce his false god and be free. He exclaimed he alone would know the glory of Kheb for his service to his god. She broke his neck.
She addressed us all: ‘Jaffa, your prim’tahs will not survive the day. You
must choose now between freedom and death. You have my word that your false god will die, as surely as the prim’tahs have.’
Her words were true. The sickness was spreading as all this occurred. The elders openly denounced Kek as a false god who had enslaved us by trickery, and encouraged us all to accept her offer. Few chose Dor’an’s path of death. The woman and the healer cured all who so desired.
With the help of the stranger, a plan was hatched to dispose of Kek. Upon the return of Kek’s mothership there would be feasts and family reunions. These would provide the perfect opportunity to spread the toxin, permitting quick termination of all remaining prim’tah and – the stranger promised – the Goa’uld.
The elders came to a decision at this point. Upon assurances from the stranger that the Goa’uld could not be resurrected by sarcophagus (she had told no lies to date) and that enough of the cure was available for all willing Jaffa, she was asked to leave. She praised the elders for their foresight. ‘You are wise to avoid replacing one false god with another.’ Indeed, she lost the Goa’uldish voice at this point. Her true voice was no different than yours or ours.
She withdrew from the further proceedings, although she did not leave our world quite yet. She was to remain hidden unless her help was truly needed. It was a virtually bloodless coup from there. The toxin was swiftly spread; the cure was available to those who renounced Kek. Kek never knew what took him down. Those that died with him were mourned as family even though their choices were different.”
As Dan’ac’s story neared its end, Daniel interrupted to inquire if Kek’s host had survived. He had not.
Dan’ac finished his tale. “Only the healer and the elders saw the stranger again. She checked to make sure there was cure enough for those who elected freedom. She advised them that she had heard of Jaffa rebellion from system lords elsewhere. She said that some had allied with the Tauri, and we should consider such an alliance should the opportunity arise.
My father tells me she asked for nothing more than information about chappa’i locations where she could continue her efforts. These were happily provided to her, along with offers of volunteers to help. She declined those offers. ‘I walk this path alone,’ she said. She slipped out through the gate unnoticed while celebrations occurred.”
Sam was nearly beside herself. “Do we have a sample of the toxin or the cure? Do we know its long term effects? Can I speak to the healer? Teal’c, this could eliminate your dependence on Tretonin.”
Daniel was full of a million questions too.
Teal’c was almost giddy, for Teal’c anyway.
O’Neill sat back impressed. He tapped his fingers as he spoke. “Let me get this straight. One woman with a stick waltzed in and did this. Sweet.”
“It is, indeed, O’Neill,” Teal’c agreed. “Master Bra’tac will want to know of this. I think we may have found a crucial weapon in our war against the Goa’uld.”
“More like a lethal weapon, and I think we just missed her,” murmured Jack as he tilted his face and drummed his fingers on his cheek deep in thought.
Daniel turned and teased Carter. “From the look on Jack’s face, you’d think we just lost the missing link.” Carter gave Daniel an annoyed look before she began mentally mapping out her scientific investigations to follow.
Daniel’s mind wandered elsewhere. Although the host had died, was it possible the host could have been cured as the Jaffa had been? Was this akin to Thor’s hammer? Or even simpler? Had that option even been considered?
“Sir, I suggest we report to General Hammond immediately and request a medical team to come out in the morning.” Carter sought to refocus the group as she often did when attentions wandered.
“Okay kids, let’s get back to the SGC for the night. We’ll follow up in the morning. Teal’c, you’ll help me mind my manners before my elders tomorrow, right?”
“I will do my best in the face of daunting odds, O’Neill.” Who said the big Jaffa didn’t have a sense of humor?
That night back on base, O’Neill pondered the day’s events as he wrote his report for the morning briefing. As Daniel had observed, O’Neill’s curiosity was piqued by the stranger. After all, technology was not exactly his strong suit. Their ultimate mission was to kick Goa’uld butt. Well, it was to procure technology and make allies that could help kick Goa’uld butt and defend against a growing list of alien foes. This stranger had something they needed. Heap powerful medicine for sure. Maybe some gizmos and doohickeys too. Who knew what other secrets?
Jack kept mulling it all over. Walks the path alone, huh. Got to respect that. Jack’s main role these days was to cover his teammates' rears and maintain some kind of military discipline over his eccentric team of scientists and non-coms. And while Jack had been grateful for having his six covered many a time, he had rued it as often, as when someone else was hurt doing it.
But what bothered Jack as he wrote his report was nothing so deeply philosophical. Instead, he was frustrated that he had nothing to call this stranger in his report. She had to have a better moniker than “the stranger.” That was a little too existentialist for Jack. How about Jacqueline Chan? Lone Rangerette? How could she have spent over a week on that rock with no one learning her name? That was Jack – focused on all the important information. Hell, even if she lacked camouflage-wear, she sounded like she could meet SG-1’s coolness standards.
She needed to be found, and Jack would make that his follow up mission. It was pretty much the only task left to fit Jack’s talents. Carter would be busy trying to backwards engineer whatever she and Janet found. Daniel would be yakking up the social ramifications for the Jaffa. And Teal’c?
Jack feared that Teal’c might want to stick around P2X-808 awhile. How could he not? A new colony of free Jaffa had been found, a whole new brotherhood for Teal’c. There might be many more. Jack sadly felt the days with Teal’c at his side would become shorter in number with this and similar developments. He would always be a comrade-in-arms, but eventually Jack knew he would leave to fight side-by-side with his own people. He’d been by Jack’s side for many years now and his inside information had been invaluable. But after all this time, Teal’c’s insider information was dwindling and Teal’c certainly knew it. And if this cure was real, he wouldn’t need to depend on the SGC for Tretonin anymore. Jack hoped that part was true. It was precarious for Teal’c, and Bra’tac also, to be in the field while dependent on Tretonin.
All in all, Jack sighed to himself, it would be a while before this mission would close out and he could pursue the stranger herself. If the General even agreed to that as a mission. He would, of course, thought Jack. The Jack O’Neill charm had its uses. Pouting could be an effective alternative, too. And there was potentially much more to be learned from the stranger herself. Getting the gate addresses and information she obtained from the Jaffa elders on P2X-808 was high on the list of Jack’s priorities on their return mission.
They debriefed early the next morning with Dr. Frasier present.
Jack’s report was succinct as always. Details were the business of the rest of the team. “One mysterious Kung Fu fighter. Dead prim’tah, healthy Jaffa, and one less badass Goa’uld. And not a single injury to SG-1.”
Jack yielded the floor to his team for the details. The General and Janet listened with great interest and patience. Meanwhile, Jack doodled a sketch of the faceless stranger with the words, “Wanted: Alive” printed above.
General Hammond opened the floor to consider what should happen next.
“Obviously this technology – the toxin and antitoxin if that’s what we’re dealing with -- are extremely significant, General,” offered Major Carter. “I’m hopeful that we can identify and/or replicate either or both from examining the dead larva, the Jaffa and samples of the cure that the Healer still has. If not, the source would be critical. We just won’t know until we get samples under the microscope.”
“Would it be more effective, Major Carter, to analyze what samples can be found here or to try to find this stranger?” asked General Hammond.
“We’re calling her Caine for now,” Jack informed them all. Seeing blank looks, he went on “Kung Fu, very cool 70’s show starring David Carradine, he walked his path alone.” He added the name Caine to his sketch.
“Umm, okay, Jack.” Hammond pushed them back towards business.
“Well, General, I did speak briefly to the healer. She expressed doubts that this woman . . .”
“Caine,” interjected Jack
“As I was saying, the healer was not of the impression that ‘Caine’ understood the chemistry involved. She may simply be a courier.”
“A Goa’uld-butt kicking courier, Carter,” interrupted Jack. He was entering his infantile mode as the briefing dragged on.
“What exactly did she say, Major?” General Hammond inquired.
Carter’s response to the General was almost whispered, in the hopes that Jack had zoned out. “Well, according to the healer she flat out said something along the lines of ‘I’m a warrior, not a scientist.’”
O’Neill’s head jerked up with a snarky smile told Carter he was not as spaced as he pretended.
“So, I take it then, Major Carter, you think we should gather samples and analyze them in the lab first. Then we should know if we need to find the source of this – what should we call it – medicine, poison, antitoxin? If we can figure it out ourselves and replicate it, I don’t see much point in attempting to follow this stranger.”
“Caine, General.” Jack could be relentless.
“Okay, Jack,” the General brushed aside Jack’s silliness. “As I was saying, Lord knows where the trail could lead given the time that has passed. But in the event we can’t duplicate the toxin or the cure, it would be wise to follow up on the addresses ‘Caine’ obtained from the Jaffa on P2X-808. Teal’c and Jack, you’ll inquire as to those. Major Carter, Dr. Frasier, you have a go to get started right away on your analyses.” They all gave appropriate military assent.
“Anyone else have anything to say here? Doctor Jackson?” General Hammond noticed that Daniel had been uncharacteristically quiet.
Daniel took his turn. Daniel’s face suggested wheels were spinning in his head. “I’m not quite sure yet, sir. This all seems so bloodless and simple. It just seems like there’s got to be more to it than what we we’ve heard. I mean, we’ve got just one woman in what sounds like beggar’s robes with a simple staff. Yet there was the ruse of the Goa’uld voice, the freeing herself from shackles and bars. The toxin and antitoxin must be sophisticated. And regrowing an immune system in a day? Don’t you think we should find this stranger?”
“I agree with Daniel Jackson that we should follow the trail of this Caine,” volunteered Teal’c. There may be many more Jaffa and others prepared to join the fight against the Goa’uld to whom she may lead us. Whether the simple approach she takes is but a mask for more sophisticated efforts underneath does not seem to be of much relevance.”
“Very Marshall McLuhan, Teal’c. The medium is the message,” parlayed Jack. Teal’c was clueless at Jack’s reference.
“All right, SG-1, I’ll take that prospect under further consideration. Meanwhile get back to P2X-808. Take your samples and run tests. Colonel, you, Teal’c and Dr. Jackson work on forging an alliance with these Jaffa and following up other leads to the stranger. There’s also a mothership just sitting there that I’d like to have.”
“Yes, sir. Why don’t we trade them beads for a mothership?” joked the Colonel.
“Jack,” the General continued, “I’m serious. We can help these people rebuild their society with materials and technological help. Why not trade it for value? Moreover, it is the SGC’s mission to obtain such technology.”
“Forgive me, General. But after our fun experience with the stolen glider and our awesome nation rebuilding efforts in Iraq, I think we might be sorry if we succeeded.”
“I must agree with Colonel O’Neill, General. The Jaffa are a proud people who will accept only limited outside intervention in their internal affairs. While I am sure we can gain access to the mothership for study, these Jaffa will not – and should not -- be asked to turn over such a valuable means of self-defense to us. Should they do so, they would be dependent upon us for their defense against the Goa’uld. We cannot provide them with anything comparable.”
“I understand your point gentlemen. See what you can get anyway. After we get some sense of the science involved from the Doctor and Major, we’ll discuss what to do next. Dismissed.”
Mop up on P2X-808 was quick, especially for Jack. Teal’c and Daniel’s remaining involvement was largely socialization, not Jack’s department. Truth was these Jaffa had not yet organized themselves enough for real negotiations to occur. Carter, Dr. Frasier and the medical team took copious samples and obtained some of leftover cure from the healer. After three days they were ready to head back to the lab for analyses.
Back at the SGC, Carter and Dr. Frasier had plenty to keep them busy. Daniel hovered over them anxious to see the results. Teal’c didn’t quite hover but checked in frequently at the lab; he was holding out high personal hope for the future of the cure. Jack was bored and restless. He was forced to catch up on interminable paperwork as relief.
After a week the scientists presented their findings. There was good news and no news.
Carter reported: “The cure retained by the healer appears to operate in a way similar to what scientists hope to find from stem cell research currently going on here. It is not Tretonin-based. The cure does not, as I would have expected, derive solely from Jaffa genetic material. It does partly consist of Jaffa stem cells along with specific DNA instructions for the Jaffa immune system. But we have no clear idea what the rest of the substance is, not even whether it is animal or plant based.
The dosage of the cure required to complete the process is miniscule. Our sample alone would cure at least ten Jaffa and still leave plenty for research. The cure is applied through patches that look like tiny pieces of scotch tape placed inside the prim’tah pouch.
I think we’re seeing some very clever bioengineering and gene splicing in this cure – way beyond that which is being performed on Earth. Sir, with permission, this is outside my expertise. I think we need to hand this to the bio-engineers as soon as possible. Given time, they might be able to replicate or synthesize it.
As to the toxin, there is no real news as to what killed the larva and the mature Goa’uld. The carcasses were entirely desiccated. There are traces of various elements that might have been part of whatever did this, but nothing we could put together to replicate. Moreover, the blood work on the cured Jaffa and the dead host show no traces of a toxin. The only possible clue we have is a substance we found on the dead host’s clothing. It resembles the external casing of something we’ve seen before, Machello’s bugs. But whatever was inside didn’t work the same.”
“What do we know about how the – let’s call it a ‘bug’ pending discovery otherwise – was spread?” queried General Hammond.
“Not much, sir. Lacking live samples, we can only guess. If it’s like Machello’s bugs, then they have to be released from some sort of container. They could spread from person to person contact, and could survive for some time on inanimate surfaces before dying. There is some suspicion that the stranger’s walking staff was a source. The elders had touched it and became ill. But the two guards had also handled it and did not experience symptoms until substantially later. The one difference might be the guards wore gloves. Once released from the staff, maybe it spreads through skin contact only. Bottom line, we’ve got nothing but suppositions as to how the bug works and no real clue what it is.”
“Thank you Major. So as I understand it, we have a cure for some Jaffa. Right now we don’t think we can’t replicate it, but we might be able to given time. Alternatively, it might be more efficient to seek out the source. Can I assume from your comments that we have enough of the material to regrow Teal and Master Bra’tac’s immune systems should they choose to take that risk?” General Hammond asked with optimism.
“Yes sir. And I believe the risk is minimal as compared to dependence on Tretonin. This regrows the immune system; Tretonin does not. We have no reason to think that the cure won’t be permanent.”
“Sam, do we have any reason to believe the cure is specific to the bug?” Daniel asked.
“No, Daniel. In fact, I doubt it. If a Jaffa simply removed the prim’tah and killed it, I believe the cure would work as well. We would need a volunteer to confirm this, but it would be a helluva find if it did work.”
“So, if it does work, even if we never find the ‘bugs’ that were used, the Jaffa can still be healed and refuse or reject prim’tahs?” Daniel queried.
“If we can replicate the cure. That’s still a big if, and it may take years,” Sam cautioned.
Daniel’s mouth opened moments before words came out, his thoughts obviously still coalescing. “Wait a minute, Sam. What you’re saying is the killer and the cure might be separate. This woman walks into town, unleashes a toxin, and then offers life or death depending upon rejection of the Goa’uld as god. She could give them the same choice without the toxin. Is that choice or blackmail?”
Jack was annoyed. “This is war Daniel. These people are enslaved. They’re being used as hatcheries for evil incarnate. If they can’t see the Goa’uld for what they are, are we supposed to let the bad guys win?”
“Jack, I’m just raising the moral question here. I’m not answering it.”
“With due respect, Daniel Jackson, I must agree with Colonel O’Neill. Although I yearned to leave the service of Apophis for a long time, it was not until I believed I had found powerful enough allies in the Tauri before I dared choose to do so. To end this cycle of enslavement, she may need to use coercion to show the Jaffa proof that freedom is possible, and that the Goa’uld is not a god. To expect this woman, a non-Jaffa, to attempt to administer this cure on a strictly volunteer basis is beyond plausibility. Her actions are reasonable. In the end, you must remember it was the Goa’uld themselves who genetically modified the Jaffa to carry their young.
You also fail to consider what would happen to those Jaffa who choose the cure and freedom if those who do not are permitted to live. Their loyalty to the Goa’uld would surely bring slavery and death to the Jaffa again. Under these circumstances, it is not objectionable to coerce the choice of good over evil.”
“Maybe Teal’c. I’m just wondering if there might be another way.”
Jack got up. “Enough Daniel. Right now, we don’t have one sure way to accomplish what this one woman has. General, why don’t we aim straight for the source. The eggheads can do their thing while we do ours.”
“Agreed, Colonel. Based on what we know, this woman may be a powerful ally. She already opened the door with her comments about the Tauri to the people of P2X-808. We’ll start a dialing program on the addresses the Jaffa gave the stranger. Let’s hope the trail isn’t too cold already.”
The SGC found nothing of interest on the first seven planets they tried. Three more weeks had slipped by.
Daniel was less than optimistic. “Has anybody considered that just because the stranger asked for gate addresses and information from the Jaffa on P2X-808 doesn’t mean she used them? We could be searching for a needle in a haystack.”
“Sometimes you have to turn over a lot of rocks to find a diamond, Daniel,” sniped Jack.
At last, on the eighth try, the MALP showed a picture similar to P2X-808. P0X-986 was more forested near the gate. But otherwise, the gate was lightly and, it seemed, casually guarded as on P2X-808. The MALP again was met with curiosity and not destruction by the gate guards. No signs of settlement were present near the gate, however.
The General ordered UAV reconnaissance. A temple structure was located within 30 miles of the gate. It was pockmarked by blasts of some kind. As on P2X-808, the UAV moved undisturbed through the area. No efforts were made to shoot it down. A small settlement outside the temple seemed indifferent to its presence. And again, the people seemed too at ease to be under Goa’uld rule. SG-1 was given the go ahead for additional reconnaissance and possible first contact.
* * *
“Déjà vu, all over again, General,” summed up the Colonel at the debriefing following their visit to P0X-986.
“Not entirely,” objected Daniel. “While the end results were similar, things proceeded a little differently on this planet, Jack.”
Daniel commandeered the floor to relate what they had learned on P0X-986.
“For instance, this time the Goa’uld was on world when the stranger arrived. She was taken into custody immediately at the heavily guarded gate, and then taken on a 30 mile forced march to the Temple in a single day.
Again she was interrogated. Apparently, her responses were mantra-like: ‘I will speak only to he who falsely claims to be your god.’ During one of these sessions, the Goa’uld’s First Prime wondered at the purpose of her walking staff, and used it to strike her down at the knees. Right after, witnesses described lightning bolts shooting from the staff killing him.
On the first day of her capture -- faster than on P2X-808 -- the Jaffa who had captured or been near her began to fall ill. No connection between her and this illness was realized.
The Goa’uld brought her before him to punish her for the death of his First Prime and to question her. The guards say that she suffered the ribbon device as a brave warrior. She refused to answer questions about whom she was or why she was there. When the Goa’uld demanded to know how her staff functioned as one of his guards held it aloft, she said ‘If you’re sure?’ Then the staff discharged into the guard killing him. ‘You asked,’ she told the Goa’uld before he bore into her with the ribbon device again.”
“Forgive me for interrupting, but what kind of moron would have picked up that staff after what happened the first time?” asked Jack incredulously.
“It’s been scientifically proven, Colonel, that boys cannot resist playing with sticks,” Carter said poker-faced.
“Anyway,” Daniel continued, “she next proceeded to bait the Goa’uld: ‘You are no god if you are afraid to face me unshackled.’ The Goa’uld laughed at this, and pawed her body; he promised to show her the true power of her god, and told all how she would soon serve him as a host. But first he would wait until she had recovered from the ribbon device so she could fully feel the pain of becoming a host.”
“Been there, done that, have the t-shirt,” Jack interjected, nodding his head ruefully.
Daniel continued. “She apparently spat and told him he would be dead first. He laughed at her. But the Goa’uld did not return under his own power. He soon fell violently ill and collapsed. His personal guards were also suffering.
While the guard watching the prisoner left to report she had returned to full consciousness, the Goa’uld’s personal guards were bringing him to the sarcophagus. Before they got him inside the box, the Goa’uld fled the host. When the suffering guards turned their attention back to the prisoner, they found her free of her shackles with her staff aimed at them. ‘I have killed your false god. You will die next of the illness you now feel. I will cure only those who renounce loyalty to the Goa’uld.’
Feeling their symbiotes dying, the Jaffa briefly consulted. The Second and Third Primes attempted to avenge their God. She took them out with blasts from her staff. The remaining guards offered no resistance.
She gave the cure to the remaining guards who renounced the Goa’uld. When they were well enough, they together went to the settlement to show the others what she had done. The Jaffa took the Goa’uld’s head on a post.
We know little of her movements after this. Again, she seems to have sought out the healers and the elders to help. As before, she gathered what stargate addresses and information about them she could. She rejected efforts by some to follow her. ‘Your false god is dead. Seek and accept no other in his stead or you will be slaves again.’”
After Daniel finished, Sam reported finding nothing additional on the toxin or cure. She speculated that the bugs used on this planet seemed to act more quickly than on P2X-808. “While the evidence is only anecdotal, it seems this Goa’uld suffered a faster death than Kek. Perhaps the toxin can be delivered in varying dosages or accelerated purposefully. It may even have something to do with touching her directly. I wish we could get our hands on the stuff.”
“Be careful what you wish for Major. Do we know what this substance might do to us? Remember SG-1’s prior experience with Machello’s bugs. I think we should be extremely careful if we do find a sample and follow strict biohazard protocols,” the General cautioned.
“Yes, sir, certainly. But my gut tells me that even if these are related to Machello’s bugs, someone worked out those kinks.”
“That would be good Sam. I don’t relish any more visits by the men in white!” Daniel unpleasantly recalled his stay at the asylum.
Sam raised another concern before the briefing ended. “What about the Tok’ra, sir? Should we not inform them of what we have found? Unlike the Goa’uld, they live communally. Something like this could wipe them out in no time. We don’t know if there would be any way to protect them.”
“And this is a problem, Carter?” sniped Jack.
“Colonel O’Neill,” the General began using his disciplining voice, “while I fully acknowledge that the Tok’ra have not always been forthcoming with us, we do have a formal alliance with them. And they have pulled your ass out of the fire on several occasions. We should at least warn them of the threat. Beyond that, I’m not sure there’s a helluva lot we can or should tell them now. Perhaps we should provide them with the coordinates to the planets the stranger has visited or might visit based on the addresses the Jaffa shared.”
“Yes, General,” agreed Carter and Dr. Jackson. “They could at least avoid those places until we know more,” Carter added.
“Over my dead body!” Jack responded with utter contempt.
“I agree with Colonel O’Neill, General Hammond,” said Teal’c.
“Gentlemen, explain yourselves.”
“You give those addresses to the Tok’ra and their first order of business will be to find and execute Caine.” Jack looked exasperated that this was not obvious to all.
“Why, Colonel?” Hammond asked.
“To save their own bleeping asses! These bugs can’t tell one snakehead from another.”
“That is correct, sir,” chimed Teal’c. “The Tok’ra routinely undertake suicide missions to further their cause. This toxin is a threat to them as much as to the Goa’uld. They would not hesitate to kill this woman to protect themselves. I remind you how anxious they were to sacrifice the lives of their own and SG-1 on Netu.”
“You don’t think they would be satisfied just to avoid the planets we identified as probable targets?” the General asked.
“They would not, General,” Teal’c explained. “Consider that she likely possesses coordinates to many more worlds than we know. The Tok’ra could meet their destruction at her hands anywhere. Given an opportunity, they would not take that risk. They would feel compelled to locate her and strike her down.”
“But don’t the Tok’ra themselves have a similarly acting poison? The one they wanted Dr. Jackson to release at the summit of the system lords?” inquired Hammond.
“Yes, General. But they would not willingly suffer the risk of its use by an outsider,” Teal’c clarified.
Daniel nodded his head to signal a shift in his opinion.
Sam grudgingly nodded at Teal’c’s words, but her concerns were more personal. “General, we at least owe it to the Tok’ra to tell them of the existence of this threat. It might allow them to take some precautions should they inadvertently cross her path.”
Jack was unconvinced. “Major, we risk death by biohazard every time we go through the Gate.”
“But Sir, with all due respect, this is a specific known risk. It could wipe them out.”
“Oops.” Jack rolled his eyes up, not thinking of the hurt Jacob’s death would cause to them all, especially Sam.
“Enough, Jack!” The General was becoming irritated by Jack’s juvenile humor. “I agree with both viewpoints. We have a duty to warn the Tok’ra. The question is how to accommodate everyone’s interest.”
All eyes turned out of habit to “there’s got to be a better way” Daniel Jackson. “Uh,” he hesitated, “I think I have an approach that might accommodate but not completely satisfy everyone.”
“That’s our Daniel,” Jack sported. “How much will it hurt us?”
“Well, actually, Jack, I think you’ll like this one better than the Tok’ra. We tell them what’s going on, but not where. If they are concerned, they can provide coordinates to us to see if a planet is on our visited or potentially visited list.”
“Oh that will really piss them off!” Jack was delighted, and mimicked a basketball free throw scoring.
“Major Carter, I’m inclined to adopt Dr. Jackson’s approach at this time. I’d also like to take some time before we meet again to consider whether we should share samples of the Jaffa cure with the Tok’ra for analysis. They might be able to help replicate or produce it. But given their generally bad relations with the Jaffa, I’m not sure we should pursue that route at this time either.” Teal’c nodded in agreement with the General’s comments. “Major, do you feel comfortable in relaying this information to the Tok’ra?”
“Sir, if you don’t mind, I’d like to deliver this message myself,” Jack volunteered enthusiastically. Sure, the Tok’ra had pulled his ass out of the fire on more than one occasion. But how many of those times were caused by Tok’ra misinformation, half-truths or flat out deception in the first instance. He didn’t wish them actual harm but he reveled in the thought of holding something over their heads for once. “Any problem with that Major?”
Sam shook her head no. She walked a fine line in disputes like this, with strong allegiances to the Tok’ra not shared by the others: Jacob, Jolinar, Martouf. And this was not the type of dispute that Carter often won. She was a laboratory scientist foremost, not a strategist. And ideas to protect the Tok’ra were bubbling in her head. What if these bugs were similar enough to Machello’s to fake them out as had been done to protect Teal’c from death and the others from insanity? Maybe a simple injected protein marker would protect the Tok’ra. She desperately wanted a sample of the bug. If a protein marker fooled this bug, how long after injection would it work? Would the symbiote survive as it had in the Jaffa, or would its entanglement with the central nervous system of the host prevent this? Machello’s bugs hadn’t killed the hosts, but these had. Was that by design or not?
Suddenly Sam blurted a thought aloud. “Could this be the work of the Tok’ra and their poison? Remember the Goa’uldish voice we heard about.”
“I don’t think so, Sam. If she were, she’d be dead too,” Daniel remembered that no antitoxin had been in existence at the time of the summit.
“Maybe they’ve since developed an antitoxin of their own,” Sam said with hope.
Jack dismissed Sam’s idea. “If they had an antitoxin, they’d have taken some major strikes at the system lords with the toxin by now. I can’t see the Tok’ra going out of their way to cure the Jaffa as Caine has.”
“I’m sure we’ll get a sense of that possibility after Colonel O’Neill talks to them, Major Carter.” With that, General Hammond dismissed them.
Days later, SG-7 picked up the trail of Caine. They related the episode on P3R-693. SG-1 was invited to join the debriefing.
Colonel McGee reported: “The stranger arrived purporting to be a simple traveling merchant, with a sack of colorful scarves and trinkets. The gate guards found no weapons upon her and thinking her harmless made no effort to restrain her at first. She was followed of course and her presence reported to the First Prime. Apparently the Jaffa guards grew bored quickly. They had little interest in her trading of cloth and trinkets with the women, and permitted her private time with them.
During this time, the stranger met a bitter woman whose sons had been killed by the Goa’uld for deficiencies in their service. The stranger convinced her to try the cure. No toxin was used. The woman removed the prim’tah and killed it. Within an hour, the woman’s pouch began to scar over and she regained strength. Word of this was passed among the women, and many agreed to accept the cure if the stranger could fulfill her promise to destroy the Goa’uld. It was not long after that the guards, at last, picked up on what was afoot. The stranger was brought before the First Prime.
As before she did not resist capture. Nor did she talk to the First Prime, except to offer the Jaffa freedom from the false gods and to request to be brought before the Goa’uld. She absorbed the First Prime’s blows and repeated use of the pain stick for a while, repeating her offer between each torture but revealing nothing. Then at last she asked the First Prime to stop. She informed him that he and all the Jaffa present had less than a few hours to live if he did not bring her before Goa’uld immediately. He did, in fact, feel a sickness within him, and took her before the Goa’uld. While he knew his god well enough to not expect salvation from his sickness at the hands of this woman, he at least hoped for revenge.
The Goa’uld was typically arrogant. But when the ribbon device failed to give him answers quickly, he did not prolong her torture. His senior Jaffa were quickly succumbing to a crippling illness. He did not know what it was. She did. If what she said to the First Prime was true, to protect his power base and maintain control he had to act fast.
A mature larva was sent for immediately and placed upon her. It would not enter. It squealed and shuddered as it slithered upon her. Unexpectedly, it leapt back into the hands of the Goa’uld, then rose and plunged into the back of his neck. He fell to the floor writhing as the two snakes inside wrestled for control of the host. Then both Goa’ulds fled the body and died on the chamber floor.
Meanwhile, the Jaffa present were dropping like flies, the prim’tahs fleeing their pouches. While the shocked Jaffa watched in horror, she slipped her restraints. The surviving Jaffa swear that her staff flew by itself across the room into her hands. She reiterated her offer of freedom or death. Their god dead at her hands and they themselves dying, most selected freedom.
Before she gave them the cure, she requested information about the Goa’uld’s activities and stargate addresses. These were given. Shortly after dispensing the cure, she was gone,” concluded McGee.
“Anyone but me see a little S&M thing happening?” Jack jested.
Daniel rescued a puzzled Teal’c. “What Jack’s wondering about is that it seems that the stranger – Caine – keeps putting herself in a position to be hurt.”
“I see what you mean, Daniel Jackson. However, I think it more likely it is a strategy. As an outsider working alone, it would be difficult for her to evade capture for long. By offering little initial resistance, she quickly puts herself in position to infiltrate and infect the Goa’uld. She eliminates much reconnaissance. The Goa’uld will bring her before him. It does not sound as though she has total indifference to punishment, but she seems to accept that which furthers her plans.”
“Guerilla warfare, in and out fast. Use the enemies’ predictability against them,” Jack added.
“There’s something else, too,” Carter added. “If the bug is spread as quickly as it seems, the time for the cure is short too. If she’s not in and out quickly, there would be a lot of dead Jaffa. That doesn’t seem to be her intention. And one other thing, we don’t know what she is. She may not even experience pain the way we do.”
Whatever the stranger’s motivation might be, SG-7’s further find was good news all around. Many more Jaffa were free and prepared to rise against the Goa’uld and ally with Earth. Motherships and gliders were becoming available as support in growing numbers. It was working out nicely for the SGC. Goa’uld were being eliminated, along with their larva, in relatively bloodless coups. No SGC personnel were in the infirmary as a result.
All in all, General Hammond was happy to follow up in search of more allies, but on further consideration could not justify too much of a special effort to find the stranger. The SGC’s priorities were changing with the circumstances. Her results allowed a shift in focus to coalition building, intelligence gathering, and acquisition of defenses.
But Jack was not a General. And while he saw the big picture, coalition building was not his thing. Not that he wasn’t forced to try on occasion. And this kind of intelligence gathering wasn’t about SG-1 doing recon in the field. This was “yadda yadda” information gathering. While it was nice not to see Daniel near death for a change and the other team members happily occupied, Jack was restless for some action.
Jack argued the case for continued and speedy pursuit of Caine. “Look, as good as she may be, sooner or later she’ll run into a situation she can’t walk away from. If that happens, we may never find the source of the bug or the cure for the Jaffa. Or that nifty walking staff.” Inwardly, Jack also had some concern that if the SGC dropped the pursuit, Teal’c might leave to pursue it on his own.
“Jack’s right,” agreed Daniel. “We should keep looking.” The problem was the trail grew broader with each new find, with ever more potential addresses to follow. The General could not allow SGC resources to be strained on that singular effort. The Joint Chiefs wanted bigger guns and shields. Liberation of the Jaffa was beneficial, but really, wasn’t that ultimately up to the Jaffa?
Daniel proposed a strategy that acknowledged this. Enlist Master Bra’tac and the Jaffa rebellion to find her. Bra’tac was legendary among the Jaffa. He had no prim’tah left to expose. With a small group of volunteers who would be given the cure the SGC could spare from research, the search could be expanded safely without overburdening the workload of the SGC.
And as Daniel pointed out, it was an opportunity for the correct social solution. The stranger had put the Jaffa in a much better position to oust the Goa’uld. Enough Jaffa had been cured and liberated that the Jaffa would be well positioned to continue her efforts and determine their own destiny, but only if they could find her and obtain sufficient reserves of the cure.
Carter also supported continued efforts to find the stranger. She wanted to lay her hands on a sample of the toxin. “I have another idea. So far we’ve followed up on the addresses we’ve obtained fairly randomly, right? Perhaps we should go back to the freed Jaffa and learn more about them. See if we can find some clue we’ve missed as to where she might go next.”
All agreed it was a good idea. And yet, the stranger had managed to come and go from each of these worlds without even leaving her name behind. How could they step inside her mind and predict where she might next be found? She didn’t seem to want to be found, and yet, something was gnawing at Daniel.
“Dammit. She’s left us a message and we’re just not getting it. She must know something of us and the rebel Jaffa movement. In every case so far, she advised the Jaffa that they had brothers out there in the fight and to be open to alliance with the Tauri. I’ll bet she’s tried to contact us before. But without a GDO . . .”
“We didn’t open the door.” Jack finished for Daniel.
“But wait a minute, if that’s really the case,” Major Carter questioned, “wouldn’t she’d be dead, smashed into the iris?”
“Majorly false assumption, Major,” Jack jibed. “You’re falling for her ‘simple dressed in beggar’s robes carrying a walking staff act.’ I’m betting she tried to send messages or a probe. I’m betting she’s got way more useful doohickeys than we know.”
“So she knows about the iris . . . and left us an invitation to follow her in the only other way available,” Daniel guessed.
“But why not have left something specific? Why refuse help from volunteers on the planets she’d liberated, or just leave behind some way to contact her like an address?” asked Carter.
Jack responded in a heartbeat. “Ever heard of a snake in the grass?”
Teal’c looked puzzled.
“I see what you mean, Jack,” commented Daniel.
“I get to be right for a change, Danny-boy?” Jack feigned astonishment.
“Yes, Jack. While these Jaffa took the choice of freedom, how much could she really trust any of them? These were not relationships built over time. They took no action that constituted a sufficient proof of allegiance – like when Teal’c joined us. She couldn’t risk her sources or her six.”
“Yup. Go to the head of Special Ops 101, Grasshopper,” Jack said proudly.
Seven more worlds the stranger liberated from Goa’uld rule were found, but she was not. The leads she acquired from all these worlds now numbered over 100 potential targets. Prospects began to look dimmer for finding her.
But two weeks later, following Major Carter’s suggestion to revisit the stranger’s path, Master Bra’tac brought back the penultimate clue from P3R-693. No doubt Master Bra’tac’s special manner and sensibilities could be credited for the lead. Rather than focus his inquiries on the information about other worlds the Jaffa gave Caine, he focused his inquiries on her reaction to it. None of the men spotted it, but the healer, a woman who had been present at the disclosure of addresses, had.
Master Bra’tac explained. “Among the numerous worlds revealed to the stranger, the Jaffa described to her a slave factory. There the resident Goa’uld, Babi, with the cooperation of allied Goa’ulds, brings children harvested from humans and Jaffa. These children were taken by force or exchanged by their parents for the protection of the gods. The Goa’uld take them young and train them. Some are immediately put to work as servants. They are challenged to compete for the good fortune of becoming hosts someday. The young Jaffa are indoctrinated to become warriors and carriers of their god’s young. By keeping them isolated from outside influence, the Goa’uld insures complete control over their minds. When the children are old enough and fully conditioned, most are sold to the allied Goa’ulds. Apparently,” Master Bra’tac lowered his head in revolt as he continued, “this world also serves as a pleasure planet for the Goa’uld.”
“Good god!” General Hammond swore repulsed. The faces of the others shared his reaction.
“You think this was so horrible, she necessarily would have gone there?” Carter asked.
“No, Major. Unfortunately, to those who have dealt with the Goa’uld, as we and she have, this is not shocking. Undoubtedly, there are many horrible places among which to choose. I suggest immediate reconnaissance of the world mentioned only because of the reaction the healer saw. While the stranger’s body and words showed no sign of loss of composure as this world was described, the healer saw the woman’s eyes glaze over in such hatred and sadness that it was palpable.”
“General, permission to dial-up . . ..”
The General cut off Jack. “Send the MALP and the UAV immediately. Master Bra’tac, do we know what we may expect to find on this planet?”
Apparently the planet is far from the allied Goa’ulds who visit it. Most travel is by gate. The gate will be heavily fortified. There will be gliders and transports as the temple is not close to the gate. No mothership is likely; this Goa’uld is a businessman not a warlord.”
“SG-1, depending on what the MALP and UAV show, be prepared to depart A.S.A.P.. SG-5 will be ready for back up if needed. Master Bra’tac, I hope we can count on you as well.” The General could.
SG-1 headed for the door, when General Hammond called back to Colonel O’Neill. “Colonel, a word with you please.”
“Sure.”
“Jack, a word of caution. The mission I’m authorizing is to find this woman and obtain information and technology which aids Earth’s defense. Nothing more. So as disgusting as what goes on this planet may be, unless it is absolutely necessary to accomplish the mission, SG-1 is not there to liberate the children. Leave it to her. I know that may be difficult for you to accept. But is it understood?”
Jack glared back with disbelief at General Hammond, who raised his hands with a small shrug to show understanding of Jack’s frustration. Then, with a downward cast of his eyes, Jack rattled off “yessir.” After all, as C.O., absolute necessity was pretty much in his ballpark to determine, and Jack knew how to write a mission report to cover his ass.
The MALP showed an unguarded gate on P3R-014. That was unexpected. Or a good sign, thought Jack. Off to some distance on the left, the MALP showed the remains of a destroyed bivouac. “Looks like our friend may have already been here.”
The UAV revealed a pretty local landscape of very rocky forests, small lakes, and yup, a little old Goa’uld pleasure palace 64 clicks from the gate. The UAV was shot down shortly after approaching the temple. That was not such a good sign. Nevertheless, General Hammond gave the team a go to seize the opportunity presented by an unguarded gate.
Gearing up on the gate ramp, Daniel had some additional information to share with the team, Master Bra’tac and General Hammond.
“I had a chance to research the name of this Goa’uld while getting ready. In Egyptian mythology, Babi was depicted as a male baboon in a state of, shall we say, sexual excitement. Babi was both a dangerous god who was said to live on human entrails and a god associated with sexual prowess in the afterlife. He is mentioned in the Books of the Dead as attending the ceremony of the Weighing of the Heart in the Hall of the Two Truths, waiting with Ammut to devour the souls of those found unworthy. His, um, phallus was depicted being employed as the mast of the underworld ferry.”
“Thanks Danny,” Jack snorted insincerely. “Just the imagery I wanted to start off this trip. Don’t suppose you’d like to lead with your entrails through the gate first. Whatever an entrail is.”
“Those would be your internal organs, sir. Usually means the stomach, intestines, et cetera,” Carter proffered suppressing a giggle.
“Well, let’s hope he doesn’t like fruit loops,” Jack retorted.
The chevrons engaged, and the MALP continued to show the gate area clear. They stepped through to the other side.
Ah, trees. A dense forest of many large trees and rocks off to the right, more than a hundred yards away. Jack liked trees. He just didn’t always like what hid amongst them. Off to the left was a clearing with only scattered smaller trees, shrubs and rocks. Not much cover there, especially for big Jaffa.
Jack thought he spotted movement in the trees. He even thought he’d fleetingly glimpsed a cloak. Then it was gone. “Anybody see that?”
“What?” asked Carter.
“Movement in the trees, two o’clock.”
“No sir. But I’m sure this kind of plant life must support animal and bird life, sir.”
“Carter, humor me one of these days and invent a tricorder,” Jack was only partly joking.
“Do my best sir. What should we do with the MALP sir?”
“You mean the big honkin’ target letting anyone spot us a mile away?”
“Yessir,” chuckled Major Carter. “Send it back or into the woods?”
Jack, never letting his eyes stray from the area of the woods where he’d seen the movement, removed the shoulder fired missile equipment from its cases and stowed the cases in the MALP before Carter disposed of it. “Just park the goddamn thing in the woods.” Jack’s contempt for the MALP was well known, and shared by many SGC officers.
“Traveling light there, Jack.” Daniel quipped. He thought Jack must have had at least sixty pounds of gear.
“Try downing a glider with a berretta, Danny Boy. Fan out. Teal’c, Bra’tac and Danny to the left. Carter, you and I to the bloomin’ trees.”
But as they started to move, they heard the chevrons engage. “Incoming wormhole, crap!” Jack summed it up succinctly. There was no chance of getting into the woods in time. The left side offered closer cover, but it was scattered and not even close to ideal. Jack signaled them left. This was not a good start.
“Maybe it’s a friendly, Jack,” whispered Daniel, ever the optimist.
“Or nearsighted Jaffa,” Jack retorted. They’d have to be pretty nearsighted not to notice the absence of gate guards. Jack’s “we’re in deep shit” feeling worsened.
Four Jaffa stepped through the gate first. They were followed by a column of twenty or so children roped together by hands. Two Jaffa flanked each side of the column of children. Four more Jaffa brought up the rear.
Jack’s heart sank. He signaled his team to stay put for now. His team was too exposed as it was for comfort, and an open assault on the Jaffa with the children there was unthinkable. They were too far for zats to be effective. Jack would somehow have to draw off enough guards for his team to get close enough for zat use. That meant someone, undoubtedly Jack himself, was going to have to play target. And chances were still good they would be captured or worse.
All this clicked through Jack’s brain in a second or two. Luckily for them, the Jaffa had yet to spot them. Then suddenly, across the way from the woods, a Goa’uldish voice boomed. “Jaffa Kree. Several slaves have escaped and are free in the woods. Assist us now. We shall teach them a lesson they shall not forget.”
All but the four flanking guards left the children. Tied together in a strange place, they posed no threat.
“Bloody brilliant,” thought Jack. In an instant, he knew who it was: Caine. Doing what he had known needed to be done, but from a far better position – away from Jack’s barely hidden team and towards the forest. Jack used hand signals to instruct Bra’tac and Teal’c to take out the guards remaining with the children with zats, if possible. They were the most accurate shots and would protect the children best.
He signaled for Carter and Daniel to follow him. Hell, even Daniel could hit these targets. Caine had drawn them off the other way. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
From out of the woods, what looked like bolts of electricity took out two of the Jaffa advancing on the stranger’s position before they had time to react. Then she took out two more who had begun to open fire. Jack and Sam took out the remaining four from behind. Daniel’s aim was, well, game. Meanwhile, Teal’c and Bra’tac used this diversion to slip in and take out the guards remaining near the gate with zats. The children were unharmed.
The stranger emerged from her position in the woods, using her staff as a brace. Although she bore no signs of it on her face, she had a nasty looking staff wound on the outside of her left thigh.
“Ow, that’s gotta hurt,” grimaced Jack in greeting.
“Tauri, I presume.”
“Colonel Jack O’Neill, peaceful traveler from Earth, at your service Ma’am.” He winked at Daniel, having stolen his first contact line. “And by the way, thanks.”
“Thanks to you as well, O’Neill. Can you remove the children to safety? It may be a few minutes before I can reach the gate.” She glanced toward her injured thigh. “If the battle was heard, it may not be long before reinforcements arrive.”
“Daniel, dial home. You and Carter take the kids through and update the General. We’ll be along in a few minutes, I expect. If not, dial us up every hour and hold the gate open a few minutes or so. We may need a diversion to get out.”
“But Jack, I’ve got a million questions,” Daniel complained.
“Not now, Daniel. Get the kids out of here.”
Jack turned to the stranger. “Come back with us. We’ll get you fixed up.” He offered his arm to help support her.
“I will not, O’Neill. My path lies here. Thanks to you, I may begin a new one soon, however.”
Jack looked dumbfounded and found himself wishing Daniel would come back and translate. Instead, Teal’c and Bra’tac approached.
The stranger acknowledged them. “You must be the Shol’vah. Greetings. There is a cave nearby where we may talk safely.”
“We would be honored,” Master Bra’tac oozed charmingly. She stopped and pulled a piece of transparent film from inside her cloak, and applied it to her thigh. She placed her staff behind her back and graciously accepted Master Bra’tac’s offer of an arm for support, and then led the way.
Jack’s pride was wounded. “What am I, chopped liver?” he muttered.
After twenty minutes or so of silent walking through the deep cover of forest, they reached a small, deep, well-concealed cave.
Nice find, thought Jack. She definitely had some recon skills. Manners were another topic, however. Here was charming Jack O’Neill leading a search for her across the galaxy and she was completely ignoring him, focusing on the Jaffa. Oh, well. She did just pull their asses from the fire. Not that they hadn’t helped too.
“I am Teal’c and this is Master Bra’tac. You have heard of us?” Jack would swear that the big Jaffa’s chest puffed out with pride.
“Yes. And now it is time that I pass to you the means by which to truly free the Jaffa from the Goa’uld. But first I wish certain assurances. O’Neill,” she startled Jack out of his pouting “is there anything you would not trust to these brave Jaffa whose works are known throughout the galaxy?”
Jack was sure Teal’c’s chest swelled that time, along with Master Bra’tac’s. “No” was his pithy and honest answer.
“You must promise me you will give your lives to guard the secrets I will share with you today. After I have given them to you, you will leave this world immediately and secure this knowledge so it is not lost.”
“We shall,” Teal’c and Bra’tac promised in unison.
“Then I pass to you today what has been my great privilege and burden. Today this path ends for me, and another begins.”
“It will be no burden, but an honor, to carry on what you have begun.” Teal’c looked mystified by her remark.
Jack didn’t follow that last bit, either. Once again he was missing Daniel’s semantic skills.
But Master Bra’tac showed understanding of what Teal’c and Jack did not: “We accept them both with gratitude on behalf of all Jaffa. May your next path bring you peace.”
She wrote out in the dirt for them the coordinates where they could find the source of both the toxin and the cure. “You shall take every possible precaution to protect this man and his world from the Goa’uld. He will provide you with all you need and more. You will waste no time in procuring this knowledge when you leave here.”
“How will he know to trust us?” Teal’c asked.
“You shall go to the nearest village and ask for the Tinkerer. Address him as the “Maki Tanum.” He will know who you are and why you are there.
Jack silently and ponderously mouthed the words “Maki Tanum.” “Sounds like a fish.”
“I shall assist you on your return through the gate now.” She was all business, that’s for sure.
Jack, feeling dismissed prematurely, snapped. “Whoa! Before we get out of Dodge, assuming we plan to, I have a couple of questions I’d like answered.”
“As would I, O’Neill,” Teal’c agreed.
“What is it you need to know?”
Jack was stumbling for questions to ask. Over the past weeks he’d had so many. Now they were a blur. “Your name would be good for a start.”
“How does a name help you in the fight against the Goa’uld?”
She was baiting him. “Beats shouting ‘Hey you, duck’ if a staff blast is heading your way.”
“I do not require your protection, O’Neill.”
“We ask a name only so we may address you courteously and remember your brave endeavors to our fellow Jaffa.” Bra’tac returned the conversation to a grown up level.
“As you wish. It is Chanah.” The initial sound was blend of a “k” and an “h”.
“You are not Jaffa. If you would not mind, I would like to know how you come to fight to liberate the Jaffa.” Teal’c asked politely.
“To repay a debt of honor and gratitude,” Chanah nodded toward the two Jaffa.
Jack, without any recognition of his own modus operandi in never volunteering more information than necessary when asked a question, found himself annoyed. “Care to explain that?”
“I will do so to honor the memory of Bim’lac. It should be his legacy.”
Chanah told her tale. “Several thousand years ago, my ancestors were slaves. They had just succeeded in escaping their bondage when one of the thirteen tribes was captured by another oppressor, the Goa’uld. They were taken by ship to a new world to serve again as slaves. But my ancestors were resolved never to bow down before false gods again. They resisted, only to be slaughtered in mass. Legend tells that one day the prayers of the ancestors to their true god were finally answered. White light swept down from the sky and the Goa’uld disappeared entirely.”
Teal’c and O’Neill both blurted out “the Asguard?”
“I know not of that name,” continued Chanah, “only that the Goa’uld were gone and my people were left alone for many generations. My world changed much from the ancient times. It became highly industrialized and mechanized providing much leisure time for the people. They became soft-bodied and irresolute in nature.
When I was a young girl, the Goa’uld came again and posed as the chosen one. At first, many believed. But it was not long before his behavior proved otherwise. The Goa’uld reduced our gleaming cities to rubble to eliminate any risk of insurrection through technology. Our populace was decimated. Those who were left were herded into slave labor to mine ore for the Goa’uld and to build shrines unto him.
The mines did not prove fruitful for long, and the Goa’uld prepared to leave. A hundred or so children were taken in ships. We looked down in horror as those ships rained destruction upon the remains of our world.
The children were taken to another planet for placement in the service of the Goa’uld. The natives were Jaffa. We were to be trained for servitude by them, as they had been trained before us.
My only good fortune in all this was to be placed under the tutelage of a Jaffa named Bim’lac. He did that which he needed to survive and keep his family safe. But Bim’lac was not fooled by the Goa’uld. He knew, as my people had, that they were false gods. He tried to give his children and me the tools to survive and liberate ourselves from them when the opportunity presented itself.
It was several years later when the Goa’uld returned with children of a race we had never before seen. The children of the “Oneness with Earth” they called themselves.
Days after they were brought, one of their kind came through the gate. She was captured and killed. Soon thereafter, a sickness began to spread among the implanted Jaffa. Their prim’tahs were dying inexplicably.
Then the people of the Oneness followed in number. They were dressed in simple robes which belied their power and resolve. They had a remarkable style of hand and foot combat. Without weaponry, they eliminated the suffering and still healthy Jaffa alike.
Unbeknownst to all, that first visitor had unleashed a potent toxin which spread among the implanted Jaffa within hours. The prim’tahs began to flee the pouches and die. Every implanted Jaffa would die next – friend and foe alike –including Bim’lac and his children who had been as siblings to me. The Goa’uld would die the same way too. These people had liberated their children and others. But the cost had been high.
It seems that those who came to rescue the children, although possessing a potent toxin which would kill the Goa’uld and its larva, did not know their enemy. They were unaware of how the Jaffa had been enslaved and genetically modified for the service of the Goa’uld. When they learned of it, they were saddened, both for the fate of the Jaffa and at their own indiscriminate killing of an enslaved race. You see, only one among their people truly knew of the Goa’uld and the Jaffa.
I returned with them to their world as did many other children. I had no where else to go. It was then I met the maker of the toxin, the Tinkerer whom I alone call Maki Tanum. He was a scientist. He was not native to the world of the people of the Oneness. He had come there many years prior, a refugee from Goa’uld horrors he would not disclose to them with specificity.
The people of the Oneness told him of the consequences of his toxin and their sadness in causing them. He was unapologetic for the mass destruction it had caused. The Goa’uld and the Jaffa were all evil creatures to him. I spoke to him about Bim’lac and the history of the Jaffa. He was unaware of it. But even then, he felt the result had justified the means. We took him back through the gate so he could see the bodies of the women and children who had died. He was affected by the sight. The only Jaffa he had ever seen or known were the soldiers who wantonly killed his family and people.
I remained among the people of the Oneness and trained for many years in their style of warrior. I had a score to settle with the Goa’uld and a debt to Bim’lac to help liberate those they enslaved. The Maki Tanum possessed a toxin which still had much potential. If only it could be refined or limited in its use to target only the Goa’uld and those Jaffa who could not be turned from the Goa’uld. The Maki Tanum devoted himself to refining the toxin to make its use more discriminate. He also applied himself to finding a way to help the Jaffa survive. At last, one day, he succeeded.
I have been the courier of these agents for several years now. During that time, word came to me of the Jaffa rebellion and the Shol'vah. I sought to contact them through the Tauri, but was unable to do so.”
“Hey, if we knew you were coming, we’d have baked a cake.” Jack was back on form.
“It is time to entrust my knowledge and the responsibility of it to the Jaffa themselves. They must now determine their own fate. My debt is repaid.”
“Excuuuse me. But before we get dismissed again, I’d like to know if there’s anything in this for Earth? Technology, doohickeys, medicine?”
“I’m sorry if I did not make it clear, O’Neill. The Maki Tanum will provide help to the Tauri as well. I did not state so expressly because I thought it understood. My people were of the Tauri.”
“Ohhhh, I kinda missed that somehow.” Jack wore his “am I dense?” look.
“Okay, so what’s next?” he asked, looking to recover quickly.
“You will leave, and I will finish what I came to do.”
“With that bum leg?”
“It is healing well as we speak. I will see you safely through the gate now.”
Chanah started walking as she spoke these words. And true enough, her leg seemed to be healing remarkably fast. That patch would be high on Jack’s doohickey list.
“Look, you don’t have to do this alone. We came prepared to help.” Jack was insistent.
“Indeed, it would be our honor,” agreed Teal’c and Bra’tac.
Her patience was eroding. “What lies ahead is my path alone. You have accepted my terms and now must execute them. If you stay and are killed, this knowledge and its source may be lost to the Jaffa and Tauri forever. You agreed to leave immediately.”
Teal’c and Bra’tac looked at each other and confirmed her words as true. They would do as agreed.
“Ahem. I don’t recall making any such agreement,” Jack interceded.
“O’Neill, if we may speak privately, please,” requested Master Bra’tac. “We must either honor her wishes or not partake of her offer. She does not wish our help, O’Neill. She will accomplish her mission without our help, one way or another.”
“So what will a little help in doing it hurt? I don’t get it.”
“I am saying that I do not think Chanah cares whether she lives or dies. Given that, I do not believe she wishes to expose others to the risks that may ensue,” explained Bra’tac.
“Where did you get all that?” Jack was nonplussed.
“O’Neill, do your ears not hear and your eyes not see? She is a warrior who has lost the will to fight. She has carried on out of a sense of duty. Now that she has passed her information to us, one of her burdens is lifted. Perhaps she is now free to rest. We can only imagine the horrors she has endured before and since her liberation from the Goa’uld. There is much left out of her story.”
“I just don’t see it.”
“Then you do not look. Do you not observe in her voice and mannerisms how she seems disconnected from all but finishing her mission?”
“O’Neill,” Teal’c spoke softly, “as I understand it, you have felt that way before. On your first mission to Abydos.”
At this, Jack went silent.
Bra’tac made the next offer to her. “Surely there is something more we can do?”
“There is. In seven days, send help for the children. They will need medical attention, supplies and relocation. The people of the Oneness will help.”
“We will do that,” Bra’tac volunteered, “and I’m sure the Tauri will also help.”
Jack was strangely quiet, lost in thought. Teal’c knew this meant he was strategizing, but about what Teal’c was uncertain.
Jack found his voice again, a minute or two after leaving the cave.
“Are you sure we can’t do more to help?”
“You know if you’re having second thoughts . . .”
“No man is an island.”
“It’s a nice spot. I could stick around and fish afterwards.”
Through the woods, Jack continued with various ways of offering to stay and help. Teal’c was puzzled why O’Neill did this. He was confident that Chanah would accomplish her mission. He did not see why O’Neill did not respect this.
“I’d be happy to watch your six, you know. Anytime.”
Finally, Chanah had had enough. “Are you always this exasperating, O’Neill?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“It wasn’t a compliment. I’ve had enough exasperating men for two lifetimes.”
“Does that include revivals in a sarcophagus?”
“O’Neill!”
“I’m growing on you, aren’t I?”
“Like a fungus.”
“See, now I know you like me.”
This banter ceased with a hand signal that gate guards were visible through the woods. The MALP was upended at the edge of the woods, the apparent target of staff blasts.
“What is that ridiculous piece of machinery you brought, O’Neill?” whispered Chanah.
“Oh, that. Basically, it’s a radio, camera and air quality tester. I keep begging Carter to shrink it,” Jack replied with embarrassment.
Chanah pulled out a handful of rubbery pebbly looking things and some 4x4” squares of translucent film from her cloak. “Here, O’Neill, for the next time. Gently squeeze a couple and throw them through the wormhole. Touch the screen and you will have audio and video feed, and air quality assessment.”
Jack took the items and handed them to Teal’c. “Get all that big guy.” Addressing Chanah, he explained, “Carter doesn’t trust me with the doohickeys.”
“I am not surprised, O’Neill.”
“Ouch!” Jack pretended to be stung by the remark.
Playtime was over though. With eight guards at the gate, it was time for an exit strategy. Jack had set this in motion earlier. They would wait for the next wormhole to be opened by General Hammond. They would use this diversion to attack the guards from the rear. As long as none were hidden elsewhere, they should be able to take them.
Once the gate was clear, Teal’c would dial and Master Bra’tac would leave first. They had somewhere else to get pronto. Before they made their move, Jack had a few private words with Teal’c, while Master Bra’tac bid Chanah farewell and thanks. Teal’c wished her good luck. Jack was quiet.
The guards went down as planned. After radio contact with General Hammond, the wormhole was shut down so SG-1 could dial home. Teal’c dialed up as Master Bra’tac stood by to go through first. Jack and Chanah were about fifty yards from the gate covering their sixes. Chanah urged Jack forward. She wasn’t leaving; she could guard their rears by herself just fine. Still, Jack insisted on staying further back from Teal’c and Bra’tac than he needed. He was loathe to leave anyone behind, and almost always sent his teammates ahead. Even if Chanah wasn’t quite a teammate, he could not resist seeing her safely out of his watch.
Teal’c got the gate open and sent the GDO code. Bra’tac stepped through. Teal’c started toward the gate, and just shy of it, heard the last thing they needed.
“Incoming gliders, O’Neill.”
Teal’c began to back up from the DHD to the gate, staff weapon at the ready. O’Neill and Chanah were still out in the open. Their only chance was to break for the gate. Jack signaled to her to do so, but she shook off Jack and yelled at him to go. Chanah began to edge towards the woods, which were too far to possibly reach for cover, and then aimed her staff to fire upon the gliders.
“Dammit!” Jack thought. If he didn’t stay and do something, she had little chance of surviving fire from two gliders out in the open. Maybe somehow she’d finish her mission by spreading the bugs if there was anything left of her body, but the odds seemed absurd and what a ridiculous way to end a beautiful career. He decision was made. Rather than break for the gate while Chanah and Teal’c fired cover for him, he too would go after a glider. Good thing he’d carried that shoulder fired missile. He’d have one shot and he needed to make it count. Teal’c’s staff weapon wasn’t ideal against a glider. He had no clue what Chanah’s little lightning stick would do.
Jack took what little cover the DHD afforded and aimed the missile.
“O’Neill, go now!”
“You’d miss me too much.”
The gliders approached. Chanah was first in their trajectory. She fired her weapon at the closest one, and her aim was true. The glider seemed to short out and plunged to the ground. After firing, she had to tumble to evade incoming fire from the second glider. Energy blasts exploded around her.
Jack’s missile hit the second glider. It veered off into the clearing and crashed. Teal’c gave the all clear sign to Jack. Jack checked back to Chanah. She was down, writhing in pain.
“Go ahead, Teal’c. If I’m not back in a few minutes, you know what to do.”
Teal’c didn’t protest. Jack was not letting her throw away her life on his watch. It would have been as if Daniel had let Jack blow himself up on Abydos.
Rushing to Chanah’s side, he could see it was bad. He might have failed already. She was alive, barely conscious, and in obvious pain. “I told you to go,” she strained. Her neck and shoulder were torn open by the blast . She could not go long without medical assistance. The gate would be her best chance, but the wormhole had closed already.
Jack knew reinforcements would be on the way soon. “Crap,” he grunted, as he thought he heard the sound of another glider approaching from far away. Jack did the math quickly: a hundred yard dash to the forest carrying her or a process of carrying her to the DHD, dialing, entering the GDO code and picking her up and carrying her again. It was a no-brainer. He dropped his gear pack, rummaged for some medical supplies, and threw her into a fireman’s carry. He bolted for the woods. After getting into cover of the forest, he stopped to apply first aid before retracing the steps to that cave.
Back at the SGC, Teal’c and Bra’tac stepped through the gate. No one followed. As Carter and Daniel anxiously watched, General Hammond braved the question first. “Where’s Colonel O’Neill?”
As Jack would jest, Teal’c had some “splaining” to do.
“We met resistance at the gate, General. After defeating it, Chanah was injured. Jack went back to assist her. He did not have time to make it to the gate before the wormhole disengaged. He will either attempt to return shortly or, if reinforcements were on the way, will have retreated into cover of the woods. He is aware of a good hiding place there.”
“Whoa, back up, Teal’c. Who the hell is Chanah?”
“General, there is much to tell. I do not think there is much we can do to help Colonel O’Neill before debriefing.”
Hammond kept SG-5 on standby for a search and rescue mission, and then commenced with the debriefing of SG-1.
Teal’c and Bra’tac, neither usually long for words, did indeed have much to tell. They related all they had learned from Chanah. There was something to excite everyone.
Sam and the General were salivating at what they might be able to learn technologically from Chanah’s friend. When Sam was shown the miniature probes and screens, she was momentarily at a loss for words. “If this works, the MALP could be obsolete.”
“Jack must have done handstands at that prospect,” Daniel volleyed. Teal’c nodded to show that he had.
Daniel, on the other hand, was putting together the pieces he’d heard for a lecture on intersecting cultures.
“If Chanah has her history right, her people may be descendants of the thirteenth tribe of Israel which disappeared millennia ago. Her name, Chanah, is Hebrew for grace or mercy. Then she ends up studying under the Jaffa, only to be whisked away into what sounds like a Zen Buddhist colony. That’s one helluva combination. The Tinkerer’s special name – Maki Tanum – there’s something familiar about that too.”
“O’Neill thought it sounded like a kind of fish,” Teal’c noted wryly.
General Hammond steered them back on course. “All right, SG-1, you and Master Bra’tac prepare to leave for the coordinates obtained from Chanah immediately.”
“But Jack,” protested Sam and Daniel in unison.
The General shook his head as if in apology. “Colonel O’Neill had his orders. Unless I missed something, the mission was accomplished and Jack had ample opportunity to make the gate.”
“Yes, General,” Teal’c answered honestly.
“General, you know Jack. He wouldn’t leave her behind injured. And what about the kids?” Daniel was mystified at the General’s hard line.
“Dr. Jackson, we are all familiar with Colonel O’Neill’s personal code of honor. But his motives aren’t the issue. His orders are. There was no absolute necessity for staying on P3R-014 once Chanah was located and the information sought was obtained.”
“But if she was killed, Jack would be abandoning those kids. He could never do that.”
“For all I know Dr. Jackson, she could have spread the toxin when injured or dead. In any event, Jack’s propensity to contort my orders to fit his personal objectives won’t work here. I have a chain of command, too.”
“Earth first?” Daniel at last caught on to the thread of the General’s response.
“Yes, Dr. Jackson. As much I personally can see why Jack chose to stay behind, there will be no return to P3R-014 for the time being, and perhaps not until the seven days Teal’c and Master Bra’tac agreed to expire. SG-1 is committed to following up with this Tinkerer.”
“Seven days! Do we need to wait that long?” Carter was dumbfounded.
“That’s enough SG-1. This is not a democracy. You have your orders. Let’s just hope Jack’s survival skills are in top form until then. Major Carter, get the MALP ready immediately. Dismissed.”
Teal’c and Daniel lingered outside the briefing room, while Carter went off to prep the MALP. Teal’c tried to comfort his confused colleague.
“It was O’Neill’s express order to me that SG-1 proceed to obtain the technology of the Tinkerer as soon as possible. I do not believe you need to be so concerned with his welfare. He has a formidable ally in Chanah.”
“What if she’s dead?”
“She had a healing patch that seemed to regenerate tissue. It was quite remarkable.”
“And if it doesn’t work?” Daniel was looking for problems, not reassurances.
“Jack will have her devices. He will complete Chanah’s mission himself.”
“And if they’re captured?”
“From what we have learned, Chanah has often been captured. She has survived each time. I believe the Colonel will also survive.”
“Teal’c, there’s something you’re not saying here, isn’t there?” asked Daniel.
Teal’c looked uncomfortable. “Colonel O’Neill advised me before we arrived at the gate that he might stay behind, and asked that we go forward without him. He said he’d see us in a few days.”
“Even before she was hurt? That doesn’t make any sense. Why?” Daniel somehow felt betrayed by Jack’s staying behind.
“When Chanah turned this information over to us, she explained how she was ending one path, and was now free to begin another. Colonel O’Neill had concern for her . . . welfare.”
“I don’t see it,” Daniel said.
“It was not only what she said, but how she said it. I believe you may best understand all this by reference to Colonel O’Neill’s state of mind on that first mission to Abydos. “
“The suicide mission . . .” Daniel recalled it well.
“That wasn’t, because of you, Daniel Jackson,” said Teal’c.
“Oh God, you don’t think . . .” muttered Daniel seeing it at last.
“Yes. I believe Colonel O’Neill hopes to be her Daniel Jackson.”
Daniel didn’t much like it, but there was no choice. Jack forced this hand. Any rescue, if Jack needed it, would have to wait. The rest of SG-1 and Master Bra’tac were to visit Chanah’s Tinkerer as soon as possible. It was the deal cut for the information.
A few minutes deeper into the woods, Jack stopped to check Chanah’s vitals again. Her pulse was weak and thready. Jack applied pressure bandages, but feared they wouldn’t suffice. He strained to remember where she’d pulled that healing patch from earlier. It had healed her leg almost entirely in an hour. If he could just find a couple, then maybe she had a chance. If only he’d paid more attention to her doohickeys. After rummaging through numerous concealed pockets in her clothing, he thought he found the right patches. Being Jack, he worried a bit if they might not be the screens that went with the pebbly probe thingies.
Jack kept this stop no longer than necessary. As fast as he could, he made for the cave. They arrived safely. Setting Chanah down, Jack thought he already saw signs of improved breathing and pulse. He’d like a lifetime supply of those patches for those pesky little holes aliens were always poking in him.
He tried to hold her still, but she thrashed as she neared a return to consciousness. The stuff was good at healing but he wasn’t sure if it included pain killers, and if so, how much. It didn’t seem to him to be enough. He risked giving her some morphine. At least that would keep her calm for awhile. Jack suspected there’d be hell to pay when she woke and found him there.
Jack propped Chanah sideways on his lap to keep the injured area as still as possible and clear of hard surfaces. For the first time since they’d met, he studied her face. Pretty. Chestnut hair and eyes to match. Her sleeping face looked softer, losing the hardness of her attitude when she was awake. She probably was a real looker, he thought, before she’d acquired so many scars, outside and inside.
She was a mystery, that was for sure. There was a lot to admire in her deeds. But there was a big, deep dark hole inside her. Jack could relate because he had lots of these holes. One nearly led him to take his own life, but Daniel drew him back from the brink of self destruction. Still, he never shared the burdens of these personal hells with anyone. Why would anyone want to share hell? He wondered was it the same for her.
The morphine gave her a few hours of quiet sleep. As it wore off, Jack could see the nightmares come to her. He heard some names uttered, some with terror, others with grief. He heard her efforts to control herself even in her dreams, repeating mantra like: “I will tell you nothing.” He felt awkward, like a voyeur.
Jack gave her some more morphine and she returned to a more comfortable sleep for a while. At first light, she awoke with her head cradled in Jack’s lap. She was not a happy camper.
“Good morning, glory. Welcome back to the land of the living.”
Chanah was not amused. She was very quiet. Quiet as in pissed as hell. Quiet as in not appreciating his efforts at all.
“Wake up on the wrong side of the bed, did we?”
This man was relentless. She was feeling a type of anger and frustration she had not experienced in a long, long time. She had not even thought herself capable of such feelings any more. She could not even gather the words to begin to speak.
“Cat got your tongue?”
The unmitigated gall of this man. To not respect her wishes and her choices. What right had he? What did she do to deserve this man’s ceaseless optimism when all she wanted was stop feeling anything? Finally, she’d had reached the point where she could stop fighting and have peace at last. Why wouldn’t he just go away and let her die?
In a depleted voice and with a heart in a far darker place than his, she tried to parry to his endless supply of cheery clichés. “O’Neill, do I not speak English properly? How many times did I ask you to leave?”
“That’s the thanks I get for saving your six back there?’
“Who asked you to?”
“My, uh, male bravado?” At least he answered honestly.
“O’Neill, I have more than enough bravado of my own, thanks. I knew what I was doing.”
“Getting yourself killed.”
“Whether I lived or died, all that I sought to accomplish here would be nearly done now. The guards would have taken me. The toxin would have been unleashed upon them, and the Goa’uld killed. You have changed nothing of importance, only delayed the liberation of the children.”
“Do you want to die?”
She paused a moment before responding. “I will sooner or later. It doesn’t matter when.”
“It might to others.”
“There are no others.”
“That’s only by your choice. Trust me, I know from experience.”
She arose, and gathered herself together as if to leave. “It is my choice O’Neill. Please respect it, as I would respect yours. Do not follow.”
“Bullshit. “
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t believe you. If it had been me down by the gate, and I told you to leave, would you have left me there to die?”
“We’ll never know, O’Neill.”
He’d got her number now, he was sure. Well, Bra’tac had told him earlier, but he really could be dense. She would do what she needed to protect others, but she didn’t want to be put in that position. O’Neill understood only too well the pressure of being responsible for the welfare of others and the consequences of failure.
She was now at the mouth of the cave, staff in hand unsteadily walking. “Goodbye, O’Neill. Please do not follow me.”
“You won’t shoot me if I do, will you?”
At this, Chanah stopped. For a moment, O’Neill saw in her face the look of a deer caught in a car’s headlights. Then her voice came out weak and pained. “I will not be responsible for your welfare, O’Neill.” She turned her back to him and quickened her pace as best she could.
O’Neill had hit a nerve. And all of the sudden, he understood her pain. It had been, and still was, his. He had killed someone he loved through his negligence. She lived with a similar pain. For all he knew, a worse one.
“Crap, crap, crap,” O’Neill chastised himself. “Me and my big mouth.” He’d meant to throw a life line. Instead, he threw her off the boat. “Damn it, I’m not Daniel.”
He followed her at a respectful distance. He knew that she knew he was there. But she couldn’t outpace him. She was struggling. No matter how good those healing patches were, the neck was a bad spot for a wound. She’d lost a lot of blood. Plus there’d been that morphine.
Jack had to find a way to get through to her. But more talking without a good strategy would just get him in a deeper hole.
Carter, Teal’c, Daniel and Master Bra’tac observed Chanah’s adopted world from the monitor. The MALP showed nothing of great interest around the gate on P3X-819. No people, some trees, an unharmed DHD, and a great deal of bright light. A series of tall stone pillars paralleled both sides of the gate for fifty feet. SG-1 was given a go.
As they stepped through the far side of the gate, they were awash suddenly in a bath of light emanating from the pillars. No one felt any ill effects from the light, but still they were concerned. As they tried to move forwards or sideways to exit the pillars, they encountered a force shield which prevented their leaving. They were cut off from the DHD.
“I don’t suppose Chanah mentioned this?” Daniel asked looking incredulous.
“No, Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c said, aiming his staff weapon.
“No, Teal’c!” Carter implored. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. The energy from the staff blast might just bounce off the field and fry us.”
“Perhaps, Major Carter. But what alternative methods of escape do we have?”
“You know, Teal’c, I’m not sure we should do anything just yet. I don’t think this light is harmful. I think there are two likely possibilities. First, this is just a force field to hold us here until someone evaluates the risk we pose. We are probably being observed remotely.”
“A slightly more humane version of an iris?” Daniel queried. He’d always been concerned how many potential friendlies had met a smashing death at Earth’s gate.
“Yes. Alternatively, this may be a decontamination field of some sort. We might be getting bombarded with the Goa’uld killing toxin right now.”
“Any idea how long we’ll have to wait before we find out Sam?”
“Kind of depends on which it is, Daniel. Could even be both.”
Moments later, the light shower ended and the force field dropped. No one met them at the gate.
“Okay, well that was interesting.” Daniel looked to Teal’c and Bra’tac. “Any other surprises that you guys know we should expect?”
“By definition, Daniel Jackson, a surprise is something you should not expect.” Teal’c scored a joke at last.
“Well, I think we can safely conclude that we just were decontaminated. If we were Goa’uld, I don’t think we’d be having this conversation.” Sam patted herself on the back.
“Or as Jack would say, roaches crawl in, but they don’t crawl out.” Daniel was proud of his quip, even though it brought to the forefront their concern for Jack’s safety.
But Daniel’s attention was quickly diverted to the pillars. “Hold up guys. This is interesting. The writing on these pillars is akin to Mandarin Chinese. And look at the pictograms below, the swords plunging into the snake. Geez, it’s a Goa’uld. And this is odd. The stones have been shaped and engraved quite recently.”
“Can you decipher what they say, Daniel Jackson?” Teal’c inquired.
“Well, I’d guess that this pillar either records the death of a Goa’uld, or warns of impending death to the Goa’uld. I’d need at least a week or so to translate, and references. Mandarin is not exactly my strong suit.”
“In that case, I suggest we continue on to our destination.” Master Bra’tac was not about to wait on the archeologist’s translations to find the Tinkerer.
“He’s right. Another time, Daniel.” Sam instructed them to move out. Daniel thought she sure sounded a lot like Jack all of the sudden, and looked at her askance.
Sam softened toward him. “Daniel, if you’re right about the writing being recent, it’s likely we’ll have an opportunity to ask the engravers themselves soon. It might save you a lot of time hitting the books.”
“What would the purpose of hitting books be?” Teal’c queried. Daniel and Sam didn’t take the bait. Teal’c knew way more idioms than he would let on, and liked to have his fun as much as the rest of them.
“It might be nice to have a decontamination and force field like that back at the SGC,” Daniel stated.
“I agree,” nodded Teal’c. “General Hammond would be most pleased if we could obtain such a device for the SGC.”
“Oh, sorry Sam, there’s still that Tok’ra issue. I’m sure we’ll find a way around that.” Teal’c’s eyebrow raised in acknowledgement of Daniel’s concern, although his true feelings on the subject of the Tok’ra were as ambivalent as Jack’s.
“Which way from here, Teal’c?” Daniel, realizing he’d put his foot in his mouth, sought to divert Sam away from that can of worms.
“Approximately two clicks north-by-northwest, Daniel Jackson.”
“A nice short walk for a change.” Daniel was already thinking of how easy it would be to get back to examine those pillars from such a short distance.
Their brief walk took them through a hilly, sparsely wooded deciduous forest. It was a sunny, balmy day and this place radiated serenity. While they kept their weapons at the ready, they did not expect to meet any real threat and allowed some measure of enjoyment at the landscape as well as the prospects ahead.
A small settlement of about fifty structures occupying a clearing came into view. The structures were of modest size and looked well constructed of some sort of stucco. The clean lines gave them a timeless look; one could not tell what to expect in terms of sophistication of the insides from the outsides.
The inhabitants went about their business wearing simple garments that might be found among monks or priests of many religions. Daniel quickly observed that in stature, the people were of modest size compared to North Americans. On closer observation, they had characteristics that typically were associated with Asians.
A man walked up to them as if expecting them and offered them greetings. He introduced himself as “Po” and inquired if they were friends of Chanah. After they affirmed this and asked where they could find the “Tinkerer,” he escorted them through the settlement to its outside edge. They were led into a building similar to the others but containing numerous additions. They were presented to the Tinkerer.
The Tinkerer did not look at all like the natives. He was quite tall, over six feet, with white hair covering his head and a neatly trimmed short salt and pepper beard. He thanked Po, and tacitly bid him to leave.
The Tinkerer did not receive them as warmly as Po had but viewed them warily. His eyes stayed focused on the Jaffa, and it was clear he felt jumpy in their presence. He moved towards a workbench and handled a gadget whose purpose was not obvious. They all had some concern it might be a weapon, but as he did not take hold it threateningly, no one took any countermeasures.
Sam and Teal’c turned towards Daniel to introduce them and their purpose as the team had done so often. As Daniel started into his “hello, we’re peaceful explorers” speech, Master Bra’tac politely and apologetically interrupted.
“I can see that our presence here makes you ill at ease, sir. I assure you, we have no desire to do so. We come as friends and allies in the battle against the Goa’uld and to free the Jaffa. Are you not the ‘Maki Tanum’ of whom Chanah told us?”
At the mention of this name, the Tinkerer’s posture and countenance changed. “Then you must be the Shol’vah? Chanah has found you at last.” He stumbled over his thoughts before he started to speak again. “Does Chanah . . . . is she all right?”
“When last we saw her, she was injured but alive. One of the Tauri, Colonel O’Neill, stayed behind to assist her,” said Teal’c.
“She will not have liked that.” He allowed himself a half grin.
“Yeah, about that,” said Daniel, “according to Teal’c and Master Bra’tac she seems to have a problem playing with others.”
“Chanah has always worked alone. She finds it easier that way.”
“Do we need to worry about our friend who stayed behind with her, then?” Major Carter inquired without benefit of the earlier conversation between Teal’c and Daniel concerning Jack’s ulterior motive.
“Oh no, on the contrary. Chanah’s experiences have led her to have a slightly overdeveloped sense of responsibility at times.”
“Sounds like someone we know,” Sam commented then explained, “Colonel O’Neill.”
“Knowing Chanah as I do, I would not worry about the welfare of your Colonel in her presence. My worries,” he said lowering his head with concern, “lie with her future now that she has sent you here.”
The Tinkerer quickly recovered his equilibrium and invited them into his home. “Come, come, We will drink and eat and talk. It has been a long time since we have had visitors.”
He led them from the work area into a living area where they were seated on comfortably stuffed furnishings. The room was decorated sparsely, mainly with functional objects and pictures presumed to be family. He left them for a moment and returned with an Asian looking woman who helped him serve beverages and simple snacks of fruits and bread. When Daniel began to spin with excitement about what he had seen so far, and the many things he wanted to know, the Tinkerer would have none of it yet. “You have come to me seeking many valuable secrets. You will first tell me of your world and your path, before I reveal more of mine.” Daniel shrugged. It seemed fair, even if his gratification would be delayed.
The Tinkerer had many questions for them, particularly the Jaffa. He was most interested in Teal’c’s story. He was intrigued by how Teal’c had made a choice to change his loyalties in a split second, and what the after effects of the decision were. Teal’c answered candidly although in typically stoic fashion. The Tinkerer probed for more. Whether it was to test their honesty or out of simple curiosity, no one was sure. He seemed to take much enjoyment in their company, but was none to anxious to get down to the business end of their visit.
Hours later, after getting a sense of each one of his visitors, the Tinkerer permitted the tables to be turned, and took their questions.
Teal’c and Bra’tac allowed Daniel to take the lead. They had come for something of great value. It would be impolite to press the matter prematurely.
Daniel’s first questions were about the natives. The Tinkerer confirmed what Daniel suspected. They likely were descendants of Asians abducted from Earth by the Goa’uld. There was ancient text to this effect. But the Goa’uld had not been present on this planet for several thousand years at least. The village close to the stargate was inhabited by descendants of the priests who were assigned to protect the “ring of evil” from which the Goa’uld had come and gone in ancient times. The text explained how the ancestors one day rose up and vanquished the “serpents from hell.” They relied only on their innovative method of self defense and primitive weapons.
The serpents from hell did not return again. But a settlement of specially trained fighters was to remain by the gate for eternity as guardians to protect against their return. It is a position of great honor among the villages. For thousands of years, no one came through the gate. Then the Tinkerer arrived.
“In truth,” the Tinkerer began, “I do not think they would have known a Goa’uld had I been one. The legends were sufficiently vague and so much time had elapsed since then, that I think they truly were looking for a half-man half-serpent to come through the gate. Suffice it to say that I did not appear to be a threat then and I was not one.
I was freely welcomed into their society in short order. I took a wife among them, or perhaps, I should say she took me for I was no prize by their standards. We raised a family and lived here in peace and tranquility. The people here, and in the many villages and cities beyond the gate, are content in their simple way of life and do not seek out technologies to improve it. But I am proud to have contributed to them technology which has assisted them through times of famine and sickness, and eased the burden of some of the most menial forms of labor.
When I arrived here, and for many years after, the gate was attended by four of the guardians at all times. Understand, it had been thousands of years with only one harmless visitor -- me. Each year at the end of the summer solstice, all except four guardians working in shifts of two, went on a religious retreat in the mountains for one week. The children stayed behind with the elderly.
As an ill wind would have it, it was during such a week nearly fifteen years ago that the Goa’uld came again. I was off on some expedition or another gathering or trading materials. They slaughtered every adult they found and rounded up all but the youngest of children. They took them, including my son, through the gate.
It was no more than luck that prevented the children from being lost to us forever. One of the guardians, my wife, was severely wounded and feigned death. Physically she could offer no help to the kidnapped children. But she managed to observe the glyphs the Goa’uld entered to leave. She drew them in the dirt before she died.
Upon the return of the guardians, a rescue was mounted. I had known of the Goa’uld and the Jaffa who served them, but I had never shared those horrors with these innocent people. I naively believed I was free of them here. I had buried my head in the sand. I was wrong.
I gave to the guardians who would mount the rescue a toxin that I had been working on for many years. With it, a rescue mission could be mounted which would destroy the enemy quietly and quickly, permitting extraction of the children with minimal casualties to our people. One guardian, the mother of a kidnapped child, volunteered to travel to that world first and disperse the toxin. Many more guardians would follow when the enemies’ defenses were softened.
It all worked as planned. But when the people of the Oneness returned, their joy at rescuing the children was tempered by the great numbers of Jaffa women and children who had died. They had many questions for me. So did one of the young ladies they brought back.”
“Chanah,” Master Bra’tac stated with surety.
“Yes. And that is when my eyes were opened, and a new path began for me.”
“You mean by the senseless deaths of all the Jaffa?” Daniel queried.
“Yes. I had much to learn. And Chanah taught it to me. From that point forward, I devoted myself to refining the toxin and its delivery, and finding a means of restoring the Jaffa’s immune system on the death of the larva. I have, as you have figured out by now, also taken steps to prevent any Goa’uld from ever entering through the gate again alive.”
“So it was a decontamination chamber. I take it the toxin was present.”
“Yes, Major Carter. Had you been a Goa’uld, you would have been dead within minutes.”
“So there’s no need to post guards anymore. I can think of a whole lot of worlds who would get on the list for one of those.” Major Carter spoke the truth, even if she herself was uncomfortable with the risk to the Tok’ra.
“It can be done, Major Carter.”
“So Chanah volunteered to be the courier of the toxin and the cure?” Daniel wanted more.
“Yes, Dr. Jackson. But she had to wait many years before she could fulfill this destiny. When I arrived here, I had a minimum of scientific devices and tools with me. It took me many years to construct my lab, and many more to find the resources to replicate