Daniel looked from the control room at how Jack dismissed Nirrty who was leaving. Jack had said he would be the one who would accompany the Goa’uld to the gate, and for once, Daniel decided not to argue. He has already played sweet once with the Goa’uld and it wasn’t an experience he was willing to repeat.
His brow forrowed when he saw Nirrty saying something to Jack and Jack answering back with a look of pure hatred in his eyes. Then Nirrty left and Jack left the gate room as an hurricane.
‘OK’ thought Daniel. ‘What has just happened?’. He hurried down to try to intercept Jack but he just caught a brief sight of his friend as the elevator doors slid closed.
‘Huh huh. If Mohammed doesn’t go to the mountain…..’ thought as he redirected his footsteps and went to the infirmary to make sure Cassie was well before intending to leave the mountain.
Jack was way down to his third beer when the doorbell rang. He stood up from his armchair heavily and went to the door, having a pretty good idea about who could be at the other side.
"Daniel" he said as the opened door comfirmed his suspicions.
"Jack" Daniel agreed before a shadow of a smile crossed by his face.
"What?" inquired Jack.
"Deja-vu" said Daniel remembering a time when he found himself at Jack’s door in a similar situation.
"Wha…" started Jack but shut up when he remembered what Daniel was referring at. ‘Bad memory you’ve got to choose, Daniel’ he thought bitterly. He sighed and walked inside his home, leaving the door opened, as an invitation Daniel didn’t doubt to accept.
"Sooo….. you left really early today" started Daniel following Jack to his living room.
"Yeah. Kinda tired, you know" Jack answered back from the kitchen. "beer?"
"Sure" replied Daniel. "Can’t deny if you ask me so politely" added with a grin as Jack handed him the bottle.
"You know, Mr. Jack O’Neill, master in politeness and high education" said Jack smirking.
"Yeah, well" said Daniel. The both men felt in an uncomfortable silence. Finally Daniel decided to go to the matter.
"So Jack, what did Nirrty tell you in the gate room?"
"You saw us?" replied Jack
‘Don’t you think for a minute the evasion way it’s gonna work on me’ thought Daniel. "Well, yeah, I was in the control room. So, what did she say?"
"Nothing important. You know" said Jack shrugging his shoulders. "The tipycal crap: Next time I’ll destroy you yaddah, yaddah, dah."
"Jack, do you really think I know you so little?" said Daniel. A flash crossed his mind, ‘not much a foundation, huh?’. Daniel stiffened and shocked his head. Jack had apologized then. Their friendship was solid. This had nothing to do with that.
"What are you talking about, Daniel?" said Jack frowing his brows.
"I’ve seen you a lot of times before Goa’uld who claims our deaths. You’ve never acted like I saw you acting in the gate room, or answering with such an hatred in your eyes."
Jack looked at him pursuing his lips. How the damned kid had come to know him so well? He supposed the same way he had come to know Daniel.
"So, now again, what did she tell you?" asked Daniel again.
"You’re not going to let it be, are you?"
"No chance in hell"
"OK. She told me if she was me, she wouldn’t let her go" said Jack.
"And…."
"I told her I would keep that thought alive."
"A typical Jack O’Neill phrase, so what’s the problem?" asked Daniel.
"You don’t get it, do you?" seeing Daniel seemed lost to the question he continued. "I wanted to killed her right there and right then, Daniel. Ripped her out apart. Zat her a hundred times. But I just let her go. I just let one of them go…."
"Jack……" Daniel started.
"No, Daniel! Don’t you dare tell me we did what it needed to be done!" shouted Jack. Daniel looked at him, remaining quiet. If Jack needed to scream at him, here he was to bear his friend’s mood.
"Now she’s out there, Daniel. And she’s a Goa’uld. And guess what?" he said, disbording sarcasm "Goa’uld DO hurt INNOCENT people. Goa’uld DO enslave INNOCENT people. Goa’uld DO kill INNOCENT people. And we just let one of them free, willingly" Jack finished, his last words just a whisper as he slumped on the sofa.
"We did not let her go willingly, Jack" said Daniel, seeing the torment had passed. "We did it to save Cassie"
"And we may have condemned thousands of INNOCENT people by doing that" said Jack very quietly.
"Jack" Daniel stare at him in disbelief. "Don’t tell me you think we’ve been wrong accepting her trade"
"Of course we’ve been wrong, Daniel! Of course we’ve been!" shouted Jack. "Teal’c was right all the time when he said that accepting what Nirrty wanted, we would be condemning other people of other planets!"
"Jack! It’s Cassie we’re talking about here!" shouted Daniel back
"I know that! But the fact is that our ‘feelings’ have made us vulnerable, Daniel….. and many people are going to pay our vulnerability"
"Oh….. you military sometimes SUCKS!" shouted Daniel standing up and confronting Jack. "Do you know what General Hammond once told Machello? That a price of a human life was infinite! And as far as I know, Cassie is human!"
"But we could have saved so many lives if we just…… and they are also human lives……" Jack said, his voice reterning to the normal volume.
"Jack, we saved Cassie’s life. A life that was in ‘real danger’. Here, we are speculating about the danger that many lives can suffer. But that’s the word, Jack: ‘can’, not will. We cannot be sure Nirrty will get enough power to become one of the big System Lords again…, but we did know for sure that if we hadn’t let Nirrty go, Cassie ‘would’, not ‘could’, have died. As I see, we saved one live. By this action have we endangered other lives? Possibly. Can we know for sure, no." Daniel said sitting again on the sofa.
Jack still standing up, stared at him. Daniel had a point. Possible deaths versus a surely death. But still, what they have done didn’t feel right.
"Still, our feelings made us vulnerable, Daniel. Our concern for….." Jack started slumping again on the sofa.
"Jack. You remember Urgo?" Daniel asked suddenly. Jack looked at him strangely.
"What kind of question is that? How do you want me not to remember such a pain in the….."
"Do you remember when we deduced he was a lifeform?"
"What?" asked Jack seeing that what Daniel was saying made non-sense.
"In the Locker room, we figured Urgo was a lifeform when we noticed a few things." continued Daniel. At Jack blank glance he continued. "he was conscious, self-aware, he had the ability to think independently, and he was afraid of death, but, most impotantly, he had feelings, feelings for himself and feelings for the others. That didn’t just made him alive, but also human. Do you get my point?"
"Not really, kinda lost me there" admitted Jack.
"Jack, what I’m trying to say, is that these feelings doesn’t make us vulnerable. These feelings just make us human, Jack. And if someday, we lost these feelings, believe me, we would be worst than the Goa’uld."
Jack looked at Daniel, understanding finally sinking in. He grinned at Daniel. "You know, once I told you were the conscience of the team. I was right. Thank you, Daniel"
Daniel flashed a grin back. "You’re welcome, Jack"
After Jack’s last comment to Nirrty the idea came to my mind…..
© August 9, 2001 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.