TITLE:  The Guardian

AUTHOR: Lady Ra

E-MAIL ADDRESS: LadyRa11@yahoo.com

RATING: NC-17

PAIRING: Daniel/Teal'c, Jack/Sara

SUMMARY: A new story in the First Prime Universe.  This starts off two weeks after First Prime ends.  This story will make NO SENSE if you haven't read First Prime yet.  Really.  Trust me on that.    

EPISODE SPOILERS: Anything through season four is game.

NOTE: This is a VERY Jack centric fic, so be forewarned.  If you're looking for a bunch of Teal'c and Daniel goodness, go read First Prime again.  <eg>  This focuses much more on Jack and Daniel's friendship.   Oh, and all that stuff about a Jaffa's insides, I made that up.  John Sheppard makes an appearance, and there's a short Rodney McKay cameo, but it's not really a crossover because Atlantis doesn't exist yet.

DISCLAIMER: Stargate is owned and operated by people far richer than I.  Honor and Praise to the creators.  I love playing with these guys.

DISTRIBUTION: Area 52, and my home site: www.visionsofprettyboys.com, and a bunch of other places, too.  I'm sure you'll be sick of it in no time.

FEEDBACK: No, no, don't bother.  Why would I want to hear that you like a story that took me months to write? 

THANKS: Thanks to my vunderbar alphas and betas.   My stories are always so much better for their hard work.  For this story that includes: Gillyp for keeping Claude European, Dana for encouraging me along the way, and Joolz, Susan, and Hawthorn.  Thanks so much!!

 

A special thanks to Helen for bidding on this story for the Moonridge Auction and for being so patient as I flailed for footing.  <g>

 

And a new thanks to Anthrobat for making me another great manip.  It's at the bottom of the story, but it will totally spoil you, so don’t go look if you don't want to know how the story ends before you read it!   You can let her know how fun it is at: anthrobrat@earthlink.net

 

 

The Guardian

 

Kinsey wasted no time in turning the conversation nasty.  He sneered at Teal'c.  "Who gave you permission to put the symbol for Earth on your forehead?"

 

"I required no permission except from that of the System Lord I serve," Teal'c said imperturbably.

 

"I suppose by that," Kinsey spat out like he'd swallowed a bug, "you speak of Dr. Jackson?" His question was followed by a scathing look in Daniel's direction.


Jack grit his teeth, sure he was going to need dental work by the time this meeting was over.

 

"I do," Teal'c answered again, his tone darkening, eyes growing flinty.

 

"I recognize no Lord in this room except the one true God," Kinsey intoned.  He glared at Daniel.  "You, sir, are an abomination."

 

Teal'c stood up so fast his chair went flying.  "You will not speak to him thus," he commanded.

 

"I'll speak any way I wish," Kinsey said.  "All of you may be fooled by what's going on here, but I'm not.  Dr. Jackson's allegiance has always been suspect, between his time in Egypt and then his marriage to that woman from Abydos, if you can call it a marriage…"

 

Carter gasped.  "Senator," she protested.

Kinsey kept right on talking, "…as it certainly wasn't sanctioned by my God, or by any duly recognized minister of the United States of America."

 

"Senator," Hammond broke in, his hand up to keep Carter and Teal'c from saying or doing anything.  "I'd suggest you leave that subject alone.  You have no right to comment on Dr. Jackson's personal relationships."

 

Kinsey shook his hand at Hammond as if to smite him.  "Afraid I'll bring up the fact that after marrying someone from another planet, he's now engaged in a homosexual affair with another alien?  And this is who you choose to lead us in our holy war?"

 

"Kinsey," Jack growled, unable to keep his mouth shut another second.

 

Like a dog with a bone, Kinsey continued his tirade, his attention back on Daniel.  "You don't represent me, Dr. Jackson.  You never have and you never will.  And that alien inside of you will never be anything but an enemy that should be destroyed.  If I had my way, I'd have that thing pulled out of you for vivisection, lock you in a cell and throw away the key."

 

Daniel's eyes began to glow.

 

Oh, shit, Jack thought. 


Teal'c was livid.  "You touch him," he snarled, "and I will--"

 

"Teal'c," Jack said sharply.  All they needed was for Teal'c to actually threaten the Senator and Kinsey would use all the power at his disposal to get Teal'c locked in a cell as well.  For a long moment, Jack wasn't sure Teal'c would heed his unspoken command to shut up and sit down, but finally Teal'c begrudgingly picked up his chair and sat down.  "Senator," Jack said, wanting to vomit at having to even pretend to be nice to him, "Daniel's among friends here.  You might want to watch what you say."

 

"Are you threatening me?" Kinsey asked with a please-say-yes smile on his face, staring first at Jack, then Teal'c, then Daniel--or Junior--as his eyes were still glowing.  He turned back to Hammond.  "As far as I'm concerned, this command center is in a foothold situation."

 

"You'd have to take that up with the President," Hammond said, his eyes dark with annoyance, "as he is not only aware of the situation, but also supports it."

 

The door opened and Costello, Waite, Sandler, and Morrison came in, followed by Vidrine.  All their eyes were glowing as well.

 

Kinsey's eyes widened in alarm, and he let out a slightly manic laugh.  "You," he said, pointing at Hammond, "have let the barbarians in the gate, and I will be amongst those cheering when they take you away to hang you for treason."

 

"You," Hammond shot right back, having finally lost his composure, "have outstayed your welcome.  General Vidrine, perhaps you would be so kind as to escort Senator Kinsey off base?"

 

"Gladly," Vidrine said, his eyes no longer glowing, but still irate at the source of Daniel and Junior's fear and anger.

 

"You will rue the day you let these aliens manipulate you this way," Kinsey said, almost frothing at the mouth in his impotent anger.  "And you," he challenged Daniel, "you will be punished by the Lord Almighty for your arrogance."

 

Teal'c was standing again, and Costello's and Sandler's eyes were glowing with fury.

 

Jack could see everything quickly going to hell in a hand basket, and the only thing that kept it from doing so was the fact that Daniel somehow managed to keep it together.  "Stop," he said to Costello and Sandler, with a look at Vidrine.  "Violence is not the answer.  Senator Kinsey is welcome to his opinion."

 

Kinsey sneered at him.  "I don't need your approbation, Dr. Jackson.  Do not believe for one second that I am vulnerable to your forked tongue."

 

"All right.  Party's over," Jack said, standing.  He'd had enough. 

 

Hammond was standing as well, gesturing at Vidrine who put his hand around Kinsey's arm and, with a grip that Kinsey had no hope in hell of fighting off, escorted him from the room.  From the hallway, they could hear Kinsey yelling. "Thus sayeth the Lord: 'Because you have sinned against the Lord, your blood will be poured out into the dust, and your bodies will lie there rotting on the ground.'" 

 

Then they couldn't hear him at all.  Jack could only hope Vidrine had killed him.  He blew out a breath.  "Well, that was fun."  His eyes rested on Daniel, making sure he was okay.  The look on Daniel's face told him he was anything but. 


"Why was that man allowed to enter?" Teal'c demanded.  "He is not to be trusted."

 

Costello's and Sandler's eyes were still glowing, showing that Mithras and Sat something or other--Jack could never remember the full name of Sandler's Goa'uld--were in complete agreement with Teal'c's assessment.  So was Jack.  What an asshole.

 

It was Carter who asked, "How much trouble can he cause, sir?"  The question was directed at Hammond.

 

"I'm thinking the fact that he's a complete and utter lunatic might make people less likely to believe him," Jack said hopefully.

 

Hammond's lips tightened as he nodded regretfully to Daniel. "I apologize for subjecting you all to that, especially you, Dr. Jackson, but despite the fact that he's out of favor with the President, he's still the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and still oversees the Stargate program's budget.  It was essential that we find out where he was going to fall on this new state of affairs."

 

"Well, I guess we know now," Jack said sarcastically.

 

"I can't really blame him for the things he said," Daniel began.

 

Teal'c's eyes narrowed again in anger.  "There is no excuse for the things he said."  Then, furious, he added venomously, "Ha' taaka.  Rin'tel'noc."

 

Daniel's eyes opened wide then glowed with Junior's concurrence. 

 

"Yeah," Jack agreed, having no idea what Teal'c said, but sure it was nasty and totally warranted.  "What he said."

 

"Sir?" Carter asked Hammond again.

 

"I don't know the answer to that, Major Carter," Hammond said.  "He is under a security oath, and as such cannot speak to the public about what is occurring here, at least not openly.  And I also agree with Jack that he doesn't come across as completely rational, which may help us more than harm us."

 

"But he could talk to people on the sly," Costello said.  "And they could cause trouble."

 

"Yes, they could," Hammond agreed.  "And he will find people, in fact, probably already knows people who agree with his sentiments about this program.  While I don't believe he can do much harm officially, especially with the President and the leaders of the most powerful nations around the world supporting us, he can and likely will do his utmost to undermine us in some fashion."

 

Jack let out a long and frustrated sigh.  "Well, let's try to leave Kinsey off all our invite lists in the future."  He glanced at Hammond.  "I've still got stuff on him, sir, if it comes to that."


Hammond nodded.  "Understood."  He took in everyone around the room.  "I suggest you all take the afternoon off and unwind.  Again, I'm sorry you were subjected to that."

 

Jack gave Daniel a considered stare.  Things weren't going to be fun in the Jackson suite this afternoon.  Daniel wasn't exactly the most happy-go-lucky guy on the block, and when you threw in Teal'c in one of his I-have-failed-you or I-must-kill-him moods, the damn place would be like a funeral.  "Barbecue at my house," Jack offered.  "You, too," he told Hammond.

 

Hammond smiled his thanks.  "I appreciate the offer, Jack, but I think I have some damage control to do before I can call it a day."

 

"You need some help with that?" Jack offered.

 

"No, you all go on.  I'll have an escort waiting for you up top."

 

"Okie dokie," Jack said.  He looked at Daniel.  "Junior, you okay?"  Daniel's eyes were still glowing unhappily.

 

"I do not like that man," Junior stated emphatically.  "He wishes Daniel harm."

 

Jack couldn't argue the point.  "If it's any consolation, I don't think he has the cajones to actually do anything to Daniel."

 

Costello patted Junior on the shoulder.  "Mithras says we'll all be watching out for him.  Come on, let's go eat."

 

With one last unhappy glance around the room, Junior's glow faded, leaving an unsettled Daniel behind.  "That man has never liked me."

 

"Seeing as the first time you met him you were babbling about alternate realities, I can see why," Jack said with a wry grin.  "And then it didn't help that you were right and saved the world from being annihilated.  He doesn't eat crow very gracefully, and the President made him talk nice to you."


Daniel winced out a grin to the room at large, then smiled tightly up at Teal'c when he moved to stand behind him, hands resting on Daniel's shoulders. 

 

"I will not allow him in the same room with you again," Teal'c avowed.

 

Daniel nodded tiredly and leaned his head against Teal'c's stomach.  After a couple of seconds, Daniel let out a snicker.

 

"The boys talking to you?" Jack asked, astonished at how that thought actually amused him instead of squicking him.  Jack couldn't understand anything the symbiotes said and was just as glad, but he could sense their pleasure in Daniel's closeness, even as they were agitated by his and Teal'c's anger.

 

With another nod, Daniel stood.  "You sure you want us all to descend on you, Jack?" he asked.

 

Jack shrugged.  "Not like I have to pull out the good china."


"Can Sara join us?"


"I'll call her."  Jack was pretty sure Sara would come running.  Once her initial freak out that first weekend was over, she had taken to Jack's weird life like white on rice.  Jack was still counting his lucky stars for that.  He glanced at his watch.  "Give me an hour to pick up some food."  He counted heads.  Team nights were rarely SG-1 anymore.  SG-3 always came along on bodyguard duty, and more often than not, some of the other friendly Goa'ulded humans joined them.  Word got around pretty quickly between the Goa'uld.  He'd get enough food for fifteen.  That should cover any unexpected shows.  Good thing he had a big grill.

 

 

*****

"Daniel?"

 

Daniel turned to find Sara standing next to him.  "Hello, Sara," he said, smiling, always pleased to have the opportunity to chat with her.

 

"Hello, back," she said with a smile of her own.  "And hello to Junior, too."

 

"Junior says hello," Daniel returned, after briefly checking in. 

 

"I've been looking for you," she confessed.

 

"You found me," he said kindly.  "Were you looking for me on your own behalf, or is Jack bellowing for me?"  Daniel could feel Junior's amusement, and Daniel laughed silently with him.  This was something they both shared, their love and commitment to Jack.

 

"For me," she said.  She looked around as if to make sure no one else could overhear them.

 

"Is everything all right?" he asked her with some concern.

 

She nodded.  "Yes," she said after a moment's hesitation.  "Yes, everything's fine.  I just wanted to ask you a question."

 

"A private question?" he asked, sensing her unease, mystified as to its cause.  They were in the kitchen and the likelihood of someone joining them was high.  "We could go sit out front if you want."

 

Laughing, Sara shook her head.  "Paul would shoot me if I let you do that."

 

Daniel rolled his eyes.  The security contingent, despite his fondness for the individual men and their symbiotes, still rankled.  He didn't like not being able to go where he wanted, when he wanted.

 

//Sorry.// Junior thought at him.

 

//No, I'm sorry.// Daniel thought contritely.  //I wouldn't trade you for anything, dear heart.// he added fiercely.

 

Content, Junior settled back down.

 

"Let's just find a quiet spot in the house somewhere," Daniel suggested.

 

Sara led him to the guest bedroom, a room Daniel was as familiar with as his own home.  He sat on the bed, expecting Sara to sit next to him, but she stayed standing, conflict on her face.

 

"Sara, what's going on?" he asked, concerned.

 

She bit her lip, opened and closed her mouth a couple times, then blurted out, "Do you think Jack will end up taking a Goa'uld?"

 

Daniel guessed he should have seen that coming, but he hadn't.  He stared at her for a long moment, not sure how to answer her question.  Finally, he said, "It's been my experience ever since I've known Jack that he does what he wants to do.  Have you asked him this question?"  Daniel was torn, because if he were to be truly honest, he wanted Jack to take a symbiote.  He wanted Jack to be around for a long time, and to have the safety net a symbiote would provide him.  He gave Daniel a lot of crap for getting hurt on a regular basis, but Jack had been hurt just as often, and he'd done his share of dying as well.

 

"No," Sara said.  "I know what he'd say."

 

"What?" Daniel asked.  "What would he say?"

 

"He'd say 'no way'.  He'd say there was no," she put her hands up and made air quotes, "freakin' way he'd share his body with a damn Goa'uld."  Even as Daniel grinned at her for her good impression of Jack, she looked apologetic and said, "Sorry, Junior."

 

Daniel's eyes glowed and Junior said, "No need to apologize.  I am quite familiar with Jack's opinions about the Goa'uld."  There was no malice in his voice, just humor.

 

"You know he's mostly talking about the other Goa'uld," Daniel said to Junior, out loud, for Sara's benefit.  To Sara, he said, "Why are you asking me, then?"  Daniel waited while she marshaled her thoughts.  There was no doubt that Jack was quite vocal on the topic of not wanting a symbiote, but he also had been the first to volunteer when any of them had been in danger of dying.  He also seemed to get quite a kick out of being able to sense the symbiotes, even if he bitched about it incessantly.  If a symbiote chose Jack, Daniel wasn't sure Jack would say no.

 

Sara sat down next to him.  "He'd do it if you asked him to.  He'd do anything you asked him to.  He loves you."

 

"And it's because I love him that I'd never ask him," Daniel assured her.  "I know how he feels about it.  I know he's uncomfortable with the idea of having something inside him with the ability to control him.  I won't ask him."

 

"But if he offers?  He told me he offered to be Chang Hs'ien's host.  He told me about what happened with Mel.  If a symbiote was dying, and you were upset about it, he'd offer."

 

Daniel was glad that Sara hadn't adopted Jack's nicknames for the symbiotes.  Not that Daniel minded, and the symbiotes certainly didn't care as they found almost everything Jack did too amusing for words, but Daniel appreciated Sara making the effort on behalf of his adopted species.  "What do you want me to say, Sara?  That he'll never take a symbiote?  That if one was dying and he offered, that I will always tell him no, and choose him above a symbiote?  I would, so would the symbiote, if Jack truly didn't want one.  None of them want to be in a reluctant host."

 

"But if he wanted to?  If he was willing?" Sara asked, pushing.

 

"I'd be thrilled," Daniel said honestly.  "I want Jack to live a long time.  I don't want to even think about doing this without him."  He touched Sara's arm.  "But I'm able to separate the two, Sara.  I'm able to know what I want and keep clear about what he wants.  I will always respect his wishes.  Always."

 

"And if I--" she stopped, biting her lip again.

 

He didn't sense any anger from her, only confusion.  "If you what?" he asked kindly.

 

"If he…if he became a host, could I?" she blurted out again.

 

Daniel stared at her, momentarily surprised, but then he smiled.  "If Jack took a symbiote, of course you could have one.  Have you actually thought about it?"

 

Sara nodded.  "I'm not a soothsayer, Daniel, but if I had to guess, I'd say that Jack will end up becoming a host because, just like you, he'll want to stick around.  And I don't want to watch him get stronger and stay the same age as I grow old and wrinkled."  She grinned sheepishly at Daniel.  "Plus, I've seen what you and the others can do.  It would be nice to be that strong."

 

Daniel could feel Junior ask for permission to speak, and he figuratively stepped aside.  "Sara," Junior said.  "Any symbiote would be honored to have you as a host.  You are the chosen mate of Jack, who is much loved by all the symbiotes.  And you are Daniel's friend.  You would have many to choose from."

 

Sara cleared her throat, her eyes a little misty.  "Thanks, Junior.  I have to admit the whole thing terrifies me, but everyone who has a symbiote acts as if they've won the lottery."

 

"We are a grateful race," Junior said.  "All we had before Daniel was loneliness and certain death.  He has given us a purpose again."

 

The door opened revealing Jack, who complained, "Hey, you two cheatin' on me?"  Before he even got an answer, he strode across the room and plopped down on the bed between them, his arms around their shoulders.  "Not that I blame either one of you.  Cream of the crop, that's what the two of you are."

 

Daniel's eyes glowed in protest.

 

"Sorry, Junior.  The three of you," Jack amended.  "So, what are you two talking about?  And by the way, Teal'c's stalking around the house looking for you," he added to Daniel.  "People are scurrying to get out of his way."

 

Daniel rolled his eyes.  "If you must know," Daniel said primly, "we were discussing the best way to off you and make it look like an accident."

 

Sara snickered.

 

"Yeah?" Jack asked, actually looking interested.  "What'd you come up with?"

 

"DanielJackson," Teal'c's voice intoned from the door.  "I have been looking for you."  His deep voice was warm and it made Daniel's body heat up.

 

"Hey, Teal'c," Jack said jovially.  "Come on and join the party.  Plenty of room for the four of us."

 

Instead, Daniel stood up, extricating himself from Jack's arm.  Teal'c took that as an invitation to move closer, wrapping his arms around Daniel from the back.  Daniel relaxed into him, enjoying, as always, the strength of his lover. 

 

"Party poopers," Jack pouted.  Then, quick as the special ops soldier he was, he pushed Sara down on the bed and began to tickle her.

 

As she let out a delighted shriek, Daniel turned around to Teal'c.  "I think that's our cue to leave." 

 

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

 

"Definitely indeed," Daniel said with a pleased grin, noting that the tickling had turned into kissing.  He loved that Jack had someone to love.  He loved that they could share that.  He and Jack.  Two people who had spent far too much of their lives alone.  "Come on."  He took Teal'c's hand, and the two of them went out to join the party, shutting the door behind him, hoping that Jack and Sara wouldn't be missed for a while.

 

 

*****

The next night, Sam entered the infirmary.

 

"It's called a hematopoetic cascade," Janet was explaining.  "All our blood cells, our platelets, red blood cells, and all our different types of white blood cells, come from a single pluripotent stem cell."

 

"Am I interrupting?" Sam asked.


Janet looked up from the diagram she'd been showing Barak.  "No.  I'm just teaching Barak about our immune system."

 

Barak nodded his head politely to Sam and she grinned back.  "Hey, Barak."  Then she frowned.  "I've seen Teal'c bleed.  They must have a similar set up to ours."  She pulled up a chair and sat down near the two of them.  This had become a familiar sight, Janet and Barak with their heads together reading some text book or another.  Barak was getting a crash course in understanding how a human body operates.  "I guess I always assumed a Jaffa's insides were sort of like ours."

 

"You'd think so because we look so much alike on the outside," Janet began, only to stop when Barak smiled.  She cocked her head to the side waiting for the explanation of his smile.

 

"Perhaps not so much alike," Barak said, as he looked from himself to Janet.

 

Sam snickered.  While she understood that Janet meant her statement to include humankind as a whole, there couldn't be two people who looked more different than Barak and Janet.  Black, white, tall, short, composed, animated.  But, even if not in appearance, in many ways they were more alike than dissimilar. 

 

Janet mock frowned at Barak, then grinned.  Turning to Sam, she said, "Remember, the pouch for the symbiote takes up the space where most of our intestines are, not to mention other organs like the spleen, kidneys, gall bladder, and liver.  Everything, other than the heart and lungs, reproductive organs, and the brain, of course, are arranged differently in a Jaffa."

 

"How was Hathor able to make Colonel O'Neill into a Jaffa, then?" Sam asked, remembering the Goa'uld queen's attempt to take over the base.  She and Janet, and the rest of the women on base, had so rocked as they'd saved all the men on base from Hathor.

 

"I don't know," Janet said with a frustrated face.  "We got him in the sarcophagus before I could examine him."  She glanced at Barak, "Can a human be made to host a larva?" 

 

"I have seen it happen," Barak said.  "But many of them die.  Even a symbiote can not always keep a human alive for long once a Goa'uld has turned them into a carrier."

 

"So, the colonel could have died?" Sam asked in consternation.  "Did Hathor know that?"

 

"I don't know," Janet answered.  "She'd been in that sarcophagus for thousands of years.  Maybe she forgot the differences between humans and Jaffa.  Or maybe she assumed that all humans had been bred to be Jaffa."

 

"Or maybe she just assumed with the arrogance of the Goa'uld that she would always get her way," Sam said dryly.

 

Janet grinned and held up her hand for Sam to give her a high five which Sam enthusiastically returned. 


Barak furrowed his brow at their behavior.  While Janet started to explain what a high five was, Sam was distracted by a splash.  She glanced at the tank and saw that her symbiote was trying to get her attention.

 

Leaving Janet to her explanations, Sam walked to the tank and put her hand against the glass.  "Hey, Kitty," she said.  She'd adopted Jack's nickname when Daniel told her the symbiote thought it was funny after Jack had taped a picture of a kitten on the tank glass.

 

Ganaskidi brushed the glass where her hand lay.  Sam closed her eyes, letting the just barely there sense of contentment and longing the symbiote sent her way wash over her.  It was happening gradually, but Sam was growing more accustomed to the idea of being a host when Kitty matured. 

 

Feeling very brave, she reached up and put her hand in the water for the very first time.  Ganaskidi shot through the water and coiled around it.  Sam pulled him out, wishing they were cuter.  Somehow it would all be so much easier if they looked like bunnies or chipmunks.  "Hey," she said softly.

 

The symbiote squeaked at her.

 

Grinning, Sam ran her finger down its length.  They were soft; at least they had that going for them.  Not wanting his skin to dry out, she put her hand back in the tank.  Reluctantly, Ganaskidi uncoiled his grip on Sam, but hovered close in the water. 

 

Sam tapped the glass where Tana'oa was watching.  She had a hard time telling most of them apart, but she could always pick him out.  She couldn't tell with the accuracy Daniel could, but she thought he'd need a host soon; he looked fairly mature.  Jack had told her that Tana'oa had appointed himself the tank guardian, and maybe it was his watchful air that made him easier to pinpoint. 

 

It was even easier when Jack was around.  It was as if Tana'oa was at attention when the colonel was by the tank, as if he recognized Jack's authority.  According to Jack, the symbiote was a total wise-ass.  Like drawing to like, Sam thought.  She still thought it was weird that the colonel could sense their feelings. 

 

Just last night he'd been in here with the new representatives from South Africa, Mamello Adannaya  and Zwanga Abidemi.  While they had been talking with Janet and Barak, every now and then Jack would turn and stare at the tank with either a smirk or a scowl on his lips, picking up something from the symbiotes.

 

The South Africans had joined him at the tank and Jack's eyes had widened.  He'd pointed at another close-to-being-mature symbiote.  "He likes you," he'd said to the woman.  Tana'oa had come up close to the glass to watch Jack, as if expecting a report.  For all she knew, Jack was filling him in.

 

Barak and Janet joined her by the tank, interrupting her memories.  Janet pointed at the Goa'uld Sam had just been thinking about, saying, "I think he'll be ready in two or three days."

 

"Did Mamello decide to take him?" Sam asked.  She'd left when the two South Africans were deep in conversation discussing the pros and cons of taking a symbiote. 

 

"Yes," Janet said, "although not before the colonel had to contact Daniel and have him come down so they could talk to Junior.  Of course, that meant Paul and Eric were here with Mithras and Satrughna, and then Brian and Jeff got in on the action, so there was a symbiote sewing circle going on."

 

Sam was sorry she'd missed that.

 

Janet was laughing.  "It's too bad Mithras and Paul can't take their act on the road.  Even the colonel was laughing, and I swear Teal'c grinned a little."

 

"It was most unseemly," Barak intoned, doing a perfect imitation of Teal'c.

 

Sam and Janet stared at him, then both of them burst out laughing.  Janet put her hand on his sizeable bicep.  "You could join their act, Barak," she told him admiringly.

 

Barak shook his head, not understanding.  Sam could relate.  With the life the average Jaffa led, it's not like there was much call for stand up comedy.  "One of these nights," Sam told Janet, "you need to sit him down and let him watch an old tape of Saturday Night Live."

 

Janet shook her head.  "I'll leave that to the colonel.  So much of that humor is off-color, I'd just as soon he had to explain it all to Barak.  I'll stick to the medical stuff."  She looked proudly at Barak.  "He drew his first blood sample yesterday."

 

"Good for you," said Sam. 

 

Barak nodded his head, much as Teal'c did when acknowledging a compliment.  "Tana'oa has agreed to allow me to do a skin--" he stopped, looking to Janet for the word.

"Punch biopsy," she finished for him.

 

"Skin punch biopsy," he echoed.  "Janet has shown me how to use a microscope, and I look forward to studying the cells of a symbiote."


Janet looked just as excited, so Sam simply smiled at them both.  To each their own, she guessed.  "Where's Vijay?" she asked.  Lately, the Indian physician had been in here almost as much as Janet.

 

"She and Abhay made an early night of it," Janet said.  "They're going off-world with you tomorrow," she reminded Sam.

 

"That's right," Sam said with a grin.  She liked both of them so much; it would make for an enjoyable day.  "How's the big tank coming?"

 

"We're having a hard time making it water tight," Janet said with a frown.  "I think I'm going to need to have Siler meet with someone at the Aquarium to see if he can pick up some tips.  It's hard when you can't tell people what you really need a tank that large for."

 

"You can't just say fish?" Sam asked.

 

Janet snorted.  "They want to know what kind of fish, are they salt-water or fresh, where did they come from, what kind of room are you putting the tank in, on and on and on.  They don't want to give you advice without knowing the specifics."

 

"I'll work with Siler on it," Sam promised her.  "I want to see Daniel get in the tank with them."  She couldn’t get over how much they loved him.  He barely walked in the room when they were all at the glass waiting for him.  Having a sudden thought, she added, "I'm sure there have to be some Naval biologists who would jump at the chance of helping out.  I'll mention it to General Hammond." 

 

"Thanks, Sam," Janet said fondly.  "Where is Daniel, by the way?  He usually comes in to say good night to all the symbiotes."

 

"Last time I saw him, he was in a bowing match with Suzuki Ichiro," Sam said with a grin.  Their newly Goa'ulded Japanese representative couldn't seem to get enough of Daniel.

 

"It won't be long before there's not enough Daniel to go around," Janet said cautiously.

 

"I know," Sam agreed.  She'd have to talk to the colonel about that.

 

"Have you heard from your dad?" Janet asked.

 

"Not a word," Sam said.  It wasn't that unusual for weeks to pass without talking to her dad, but Sam had a hard time not reading into it.  They hadn't had a conversation since that awkward one on the ship bringing Jacob back from Baal's planet after rescuing him.

 

"Have you tried to contact him?"

 

"Yes," Sam replied.  "I sent out a message a few days ago, but he hasn't responded."  That wasn't like her dad.

 

"He'll come around, Sam," Janet said consolingly.  "It's not like you did anything wrong."

 

"I know," Sam said.  "I just wish--" she cut off, not sure what she was wishing for.  For her dad's approval?  For some assurance that the alliance between the Tok'ra and Earth wouldn't fall apart?  For Daniel's safety from any possible Tok'ra reprisal?  All of that and more, Sam supposed.  Not for the first time, a part of Sam wished her life was a little bit simpler.

 

 

*****

Late the next night, Jack found himself by the symbiote tank.  It had become a sort of ritual for him, a way to shut down for the night before he left to go out into a world that knew nothing about what was going on here. 

 

He knew he gave Daniel shit about it, but he liked being able to tell what was going on with the friendly Goa'uld.  Maybe it was because they generally felt so pleased with life; Jack always left with a smile on his face, no matter how rough the day had been.

 

Today hadn't exactly been rough, but it had been busy.  In fact, the entire last two weeks had been busy.  Things were heating up.  SG-1, on their last visit off world had serendipitously managed to steal a Teltak which Vidrine was very pleased about--once he got over being pissy about not being the one to steal it.  Along the way, they'd picked up two more Jaffa with friendly symbiotes who, once over their confusion, had been a big help in snitching the ship. 

 

Jack hoped the Jaffa were always that easy to swing over to their side when they had a friendly symbiote, although he wasn't counting on it.  Sooner or later they'd find a Jaffa who chose to stay loyal to their Goa'uld God no matter what kind of buds Daniel and their symbiote were.

 

The pilots were starting to arrive.  He'd spent a couple hours with two of them today, Cameron Mitchell and John Sheppard.  They met the criteria: single and a little crazy.  Daniel had been off-world so Jack hadn't brought up the subject about how part of this gig was becoming a host to a friendly Goa'uld.  He left that for tomorrow when Daniel could spend some time with them.

 

Tana'oa swam up to stare at him.

 

"How ya doin', buddy?" Jack asked him.

 

Tana'oa's report was brief as usual, sort of a blast of emotions that somehow sorted out into individual images.  Everything was fine.  The nearly mature symbiote was excited that he would soon be joining his host.  The System Lord had dropped off some new symbiotes who were settling in well. 

 

At that last image, Jack looked around the tank, seeing if he could identify who was new.  Truthfully, for the most part, they all looked the same to him.  Butt ugly.  Most of them were tangled at the bottom of the tank, sleeping in a big puppy pile.  They'd easily adapted to the rhythm of night and day in the infirmary.

 

Then, in a blink of an eye, they were all awake, the tank almost humming.  Jack grinned knowing Daniel must be on his way.  He glanced toward the door and saw Daniel enter, Paul and Eric close behind.  Jack barely noticed his own two, although he knew they were around here somewhere.  Brian and Jeff were very good at being unobtrusive.  "Hey," Jack said.  "Where's Teal'c?"

 

"He wanted to Kel-no-reem," Daniel said.  Paul and Eric shifted away, giving Daniel and Jack some privacy.  He walked right to the tank, pushed up his sleeves, and put both arms in the water.

 

The symbiotes wrapped around him until not a millimeter of skin was visible.  It never failed to both mesmerize Jack and completely gross him out.  Just the thought of all that wriggling made him want to scratch all over.  "Blah," he commented.


Daniel grinned at him, but then turned back to the tank.  He took an extra moment to stroke the more mature symbiotes, one of which was Tana'oa, and then give Sam's Kitty some attention.  Then, he pulled his arms out, shook them off, dried them with a towel left there for that purpose, and pulled his sleeves back down.  "How was your day?"

 

Jack shrugged.  "Meetings.  We've got two pilots.  I'll want you to meet with them tomorrow."

 

"Okay," Daniel said agreeably.  After another minute of observing the symbiotes, Daniel asked guardedly, "Have we heard from anyone?"

 

"You mean like the Tok'ra, any other system lords, Kinsey or the NID?" Jack asked acerbically.

 

"It's a long list, isn't it?" Daniel said glumly.

 

"Long enough to give me nightmares," Jack admitted.  "And no, not a peep."  Not that that meant everything was peachy keen.  Jack was just waiting for the shit to hit the fan.  He just wasn't sure what direction it would be coming from, and mostly hoped it wouldn't come from every direction at once.  "I saw Claude a while ago," Jack observed.  "He looked a little damp."

 

"He's obsessed with finding Nut," Daniel said with a grin.  "He spent the whole time on Kuokua in the water with Daikoku."

 

"Any luck?" Jack asked, watching as the symbiotes slowly went back to whatever they'd been doing before Daniel appeared, except Tana'oa who stayed on guard, watching him and Daniel talk.  He wondered how much of what they were saying made sense to him, if any, and wondered if Junior simultaneously interpreted for any Goa'uld who might be listening.

 

"No," Daniel answered.  "But, I do have news."

 

Jack pulled his eyes away from Tana'oa, swearing the symbiote had pressed up a little closer to the glass when Daniel made that announcement.  "Yeah?"

 

"Chaka took a symbiote."

 

Jack's eyebrows rose.  That was news.  "He did?" 

 

"Actually, not just him," Daniel amended.  "Three of them did.  Kenal found some mature friendly symbiotes that would have died without a host, and he was so broken up about it that Chaka and Kenal's parents each took one."

 

"Wow."  While he wasn't crazy about Unas in the first place, let alone Goa'ulded ones, Jack had to admit they'd be powerful allies.

 

They stood there in silence for a while, watching the tank.  Jack could tell Daniel still had something on his mind.  He wasn't in a hurry, so was willing to wait his friend out.  In the meantime, he checked in with Tana'oa.  You catching all of this? he asked silently, having no idea if his words would be understood.

 

He got a blast of worry, unusual for the symbiotes.


Jack took another close look at Daniel and decided what he was seeing was sadness.  "What's on your mind, Daniel?" Jack coaxed.

 

"I think I told Sara a lie," Daniel finally confessed.

 

Jack's eyebrows rose.  "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, unable to imagine what kind of lie Daniel would tell Sara, in fact, unable to fathom Daniel telling any kind of lie to anyone other than an enemy.

 

"I told her I could keep it separate," Daniel whispered. 

 

"What are you talking about?"

 

Daniel's lips tightened.  "What I wanted and what you wanted."

 

Those words sounded familiar.  Jack thought it through and finally put two and two together.  "Sara told me about the conversation she had with you."

 

"She did?" Daniel asked, sounding relieved. 

 

"I knew you two were sneaking around behind my back," he griped.

 

Daniel rolled his eyes but grinned.  "What did you talk about?"

 

"You mean, what did I tell her about becoming a host?"

 

Daniel nodded. 

 

"That she was right," Jack said.  "That if you asked me to, I'd do it.  That if the situation warranted it, I'd do it."  He turned to face Daniel fully.  "And that the situation would, eventually, warrant it."

 

Hope and maybe relief flashed through Daniel's eyes.  "I don't want to do this without you," Daniel blurted out.  "I don't know if I can."

 

"I'm not as opposed as I used to be," Jack reluctantly acknowledged.  "They're kinda growing on me."  He tapped the glass, feeling relieved vibes coming from Tana'oa.  Whatever bad emotional mojo Daniel and Junior had been putting out was obviously over.  Daniel and his cosmic guilt.

 

"But--" Daniel started.

 

Jack interrupted him.  "And about that other thing," he said, "You won't have to do this alone.  Not if I have anything to say about it."  He shrugged.  "Besides, if anything did happen to me, you have a cast of thousands to help you out."

 

"They're not you, Jack.  Not even close," Daniel said.

 

Jack caught Daniel's eyes, saw the love and affection there, knew it was in his own eyes as well. 

 

"I meant what I said," Daniel said softly.  "I don't want to do this without you."

 

"I hear you," Jack said.  "I don't want you to do it without me, either."

 

They stared at each other for a long moment, long enough to get entirely too mushy for Jack.  He turned back to the tank.  "So, any of these jokers willing to take me on one of these days?"

 

"Are you kidding?" Daniel asked him incredulously.  "Watch."  He put his hand on the tank again and closed his eyes.

 

The tank almost exploded with takers.  The symbiotes were butting up against the glass in an unmistakable, "me, me!"

 

Jack found himself taking a step back at the barrage of--he didn't even know what to call it--willingness, eagerness, that swept over him from the majority of the Goa'uld in the tank.  There were a few holdouts, Kitty among them, a few other symbiotes, Jack guessed, who had already chosen a host.  "Yikes," he said.

 

Daniel smiled fondly at him.  "Did that answer your question?"

 

"Yeah, I guess it did," Jack said, a little stunned.  He caught a flash of annoyance and stared at the tank, watching as Tana'oa took it upon himself to calm the symbiotes down, brushing against the glass, forcing them all back to their business.  Jack grinned at the symbiote.  "Things a little too unruly for you in there, boss?"

 

"Or he's staking a claim," Daniel threw out.

 

Jack blinked, but then shook his head.  "I haven't felt anything like that from him," he countered.  "And I can feel it when they start shooting their 'you will be mine' vibes to someone."

 

Daniel just shot him a look, but didn't say anything more about it, which was fine with Jack.  It might be sort of a kick that they all were willing, but he wasn't ready to be chosen.  That would make it all a little too real. 

 

"They all like you, Jack," Daniel said after all the symbiotes, for the most part, had resumed their prior activities.  "No, it's more than that."

 

Junior spoke suddenly, "They respect you, Jack.  They call you the Guardian."

 

Furrowing his brows, Jack pointed at Tana'oa.  "I thought they called him the guardian."

 

"He is the guardian of the tank, but you are much more than that."

 

"Yeah sure you betcha," Jack said in his 'whatever' tone.

 

"You are Daniel's Guardian, are you not?" Junior asked.

 

"Yeah, me and a bunch of other people, including Teal'c," Jack said.

 

"Teal'c is Daniel's First Prime," Junior corrected him.  "You are his Guardian.  You are also the Guardian of this institution, of this planet, of our well-being, are you not?"

 

"I guess," Jack said cautiously.

 

Daniel took back over, grinning at the look on Jack's face.  "Don't look so worried, Jack," he said.  "All he means is that you're in charge.  They've just given you a formal name for it that makes more sense to them.  The Guardian."  He punched Jack lightly in the arm.  "And just like you can sense them, they can sense you.  They know how much you care, no matter how much complaining you do."

 

Jack frowned at Daniel, then frowned at the tank.  "No peeking allowed," he groused at them.

 

Snickering, Daniel said, "Too late, Jack.  They've seen your heart."

 

"Damn it," Jack sniped, not really minding.  There were still plenty of people in the mountain he could terrify when he had a mind to.  "The Guardian, huh?"  He sort of liked the title.  System Lord, First Prime, and the Guardian.  An unbeatable triumvirate. 

 

"Did Sara tell you that if you took a symbiote that she'd maybe want one, too?" Daniel asked.

 

Jack nodded.  "How weird is that?" 

 

"She loves you," Daniel said kindly.  "She won't want to give you up any sooner than she has to, just like me."

 

"Okay," Jack said with a frantically waving hand, "you're killing me with the mush here.  Stop it."

 

With a smile, Daniel complied.  They stood there in companionable silence until Teal'c came to collect Daniel.  Jack bid him a good night, and then made his way to the exit, deciding he'd stop by Sara's on the way home.  Maybe it was time to talk her into moving in with him. 

 

 

*****

"Don't move," Daniel gasped, his body over Teal'c's, deep inside.  If Teal'c even shivered it was going to be all over. 

 

Teal'c groaned in return, using his tremendous strength to stay still as a statue, giving Daniel the chance to wrest some control back from their frantic coupling. 

 

Sometimes, they made love slowly, exploring each other, taking the time for words of love and deep, deep kisses.  Other times, like tonight, when they first touched, it was like an explosion, and the clothes couldn't come off fast enough, in fact, Daniel had heard fabric tear.  They fought for the right to touch, to bite, to drive each other absolutely crazy.

 

Slowly, slowly, Daniel backed off from the edge.  He gave an experimental thrust, then stopped as it almost proved his undoing.  Looking at Teal'c didn't help, at his strong back, his perfect ass, hard as a rock but rounded with muscle.  In desperation, Daniel closed his eyes.

 

"You must move, DanielJackson," Teal'c begged.

 

Daniel bit back a manic giggle, finding Teal'c's ongoing use of his full name absurd in certain circumstances, this being one of them.  "You just feel so amazing," Daniel defended himself, stroking in and out, once.  "So damn amazing."

 

"Move," commanded Teal'c, pushing back on Daniel, impaling himself as deeply as he could.

 

Unable not to obey, as it was what his body was aching for, Daniel moved and began to thrust into Teal'c, his body slamming against Teal'c's, every plunge accompanied by a heart-felt groan.  His hand moved around Teal'c's body to grab his lover's cock.  He began to stroke it in rhythm with his own movements, determined to make Teal'c come along with him.

 

The bed was shaking and Daniel hoped it survived the encounter.  With both of them being so strong now, there'd been some breakage in their small apartment quarters.  Worth it, Daniel thought to himself.  So worth it.  That next day, after it looked like a hurricane had swept through the place, he'd put his most prized possessions in safer locations.

 

He heard Teal'c groan from deep in his chest, heralding his orgasm.  Daniel quickened his pace, feeling his own climax approaching.  "Teal'c," he managed to gasp out, and then he was coming, his body shattering as he shot deep into Teal'c's body.  Teal'c, in turn, came all over Daniel's hand and fingers. 

 

Both men collapsed at the same time onto the bed struggling to pull in air.  Being a Goa'uld might have given Daniel strength for a lot of things, but recovering from a mind-blowing orgasm wasn't one of them.

 

He pulled out of Teal'c's body and lay by his side, twining his fingers with Teal'c's.  "Sexy man," Daniel managed to get out.

 

Teal'c grunted at him and squeezed his fingers.  Daniel grinned as he lay staring at the ceiling.  Every time they lay together after having sex, he always thought of their first time, when Teal'c essentially proposed.  "Thank you," he said suddenly.

 

"For what?" Teal'c asked, turning his head to look at Daniel.

 

"For asking me to be with you."

 

Teal'c's brow furrowed.  "Tonight?  I believe tonight was a mutual decision," he added with a small but very pleased smile.

 

Daniel leaned in to kiss him.  "No," he corrected.  "Not tonight.  Back when it started.  When you asked me to become your warrior mate.  Thank you for that."

 

"It is I who am thankful, DanielJackson," Teal'c said, stealing a kiss of his own.  "And now, because of it, we will win this fight against the Goa'uld.  Because you are a warrior like no other."

 

Daniel smiled at Teal'c.  "As are you."  He reached out to touch the symbol of the Tauri on Teal'c's forehead.  "As are you."

 

 

*****

"It's not like that," Jeff Morrison said from the corner of the room.

 

Jack actually startled, having forgotten Jeff and Brian were in the conference room with both him and General Hammond as they had their usual morning meeting.  He must be getting used to them always being around.  "What?" he asked, waving him over to the table.  Jeff had been leaning against the far wall, while Brian had been standing by the rear door.   

 

"What you said about General Vidrine, sir," Jeff explained.  "It's not like that."

 

Jack searched back to what he and Hammond had been talking about before Jeff had scared a decade off his life. 

 

Helping him recall, Jeff said, "You told General Hammond that it wigged you out to see Daniel and General Vidrine getting along.  You asked him if he ever thought the friendly Goa'uld were hypnotizing their hosts."

 

That's right, Jack thought.  It was a stray thought, but one that kept him up occasionally at night.  After spending so long at the tanks last evening and going home in such a good mood, Jack hadn't been able to stop himself putting a possibly ugly twist on it.  It wasn't the first time he'd had this thought, and he and Hammond had even talked about it before once or twice.  But, every now and then, Jack needed to reconfirm with someone whose opinion he respected, who didn't have a symbiote wrapped around his brain stem or in his pouch, that they weren't all being duped.

 

"Would you like to explain your comment, Major Waite?" Hammond asked kindly.

 

"General Vidrine isn't being controlled by his Goa'uld, sir," Brian said sincerely.  "He still thinks Daniel's whacked, and he disagrees with almost everything he says."

 

"True," Jack said.  Meetings with the two of them were rarely peaceful, now that he thought about it.  Daniel was all about the love and peace, and Vidrine was all about the stealing, the spying, and killing if necessary.  Needless to say, Vidrine was frequently all about the necessary.  Jack tended to side firmly with him on that one.  "Okay, so Vidrine isn't a Daniel clone," he admitted.  "But there's still something there that wasn't there before."

 

Brian nodded in agreement.  "I get that.  I do.  I feel it, too.  We all do.  But, it's not hypnosis.  It's like we get Daniel's vision.  The Goa'uld totally understand Daniel, and one of the reasons they love him is because they want the same thing he does.  But, whereas Daniel can only talk about it, the Goa'uld can show us.  They can make us feel what world peace, real universal peace could look like, because that's what they're all about.  They already live it.  They're all about tolerance, and love, and respect in a way that makes you believe that we, humans, can be that, too.  Does that make sense?"  He shook his head.  "I'm not explaining it well."

 

"It's because the Goa'uld are more like Daniel than most humans are," Jeff broke in with a laugh.  "They long for peace.  They long for an end to a way of life that has been inordinately cruel to them.  And we do, too," he added quickly.  "I don't mean to imply that we," he made a movement with his hand that included Jack, Hammond, and himself, "don't want this war to end, but they want it to end the same way Daniel does, for it to end with a true peace, a level playing field, where we all learn from each other from a mutual place of respect.  A place where respect runs so deeply that the thought of warring on each other is intolerable.  Impossible."

 

Brian picked the conversation back up.  "General Vidrine gets that we have a war to fight.  He gets that this is an enemy that can't be reasoned with, can't be cajoled into a new perspective.  And because of that, he'll always fight with Daniel about the way to get to peace.  But, for the first time, I think, for him, and for a lot of others, because of the Goa'uld holding Daniel's vision so clearly, those of us who are hosts can really see the place Daniel wants us to get to at the end of this, and we want it.  All of us.  It's a future worth fighting for.  That's what you're seeing."

 

Jack blinked at Brian, stared at Jeff for a moment, then turned to Hammond.  "That actually makes sense."

 

Hammond smiled.  "It does."

 

"And it's so Daniel," Jack added.

 

This time, Hammond let out a little snicker.  "Yes, it is."

 

"It's like his whole dazzle them with kindness routine, except now it's dazzle them with world peace."  A peace that, before now, someone like Vidrine, in fact, someone like Jack, never thought could ever happen, at least in his lifetime.  No wonder the Goa'uld liked Daniel so much.  For all he was human, he was just like them.  He was like all their hopes and dreams come to life in someone with two legs who could get around.  God bless an opposable thumb.

 

"Thank you for your explanation, Major, Lieutenant," Hammond said courteously.  "Now, would you excuse us for a moment?" 

 

"Yes, sir," Brian said, collecting Jeff up with a head jerk, both of them leaving the room.  Before he shut the door, he told Jack, "We'll be right out here when you're ready to go, Colonel."

 

Jack nodded and when the door shut, sighed.  "You really think I need those guys while I'm here?" he asked Hammond.

 

"Probably not, Jack," Hammond admitted.  "I'll tell them to just be available for you when you head off the mountain or when you go off-world."

 

"Thank you," Jack said with a grateful grin.  "Nice guys, but enough's enough."

 

"And Daniel?" Hammond asked.

 

"He always needs his," Jack grumped.  Then, at a look from Hammond, relented.  "Fine, he probably doesn't need his while he's here, either.  Lord knows, he complains about them more than I do.  Besides, it's not like he can get a hangnail without every friendly Goa'uld running to his rescue."

 

Hammond nodded.  "I'll speak to them tomorrow.  I'm sure they'll be pleased to have some time off."  He leaned forward.  "I know you said it made sense, but did what they said reassure you?"

 

Pursing his lips, pushing his chair back on its rear legs, Jack nodded.  "Yeah, it did.  I keep forgetting that Daniel's not entirely human, you know?  And that was before he joined with Junior."

 

Hammond let out another short laugh, more a cadenced exhale than real sound.

 

"I've been thinking about it, you know," Jack said, surprising himself.

 

"Taking a Goa'uld?" Hammond inquired, doing Jack a favor and not pretending to misunderstand.

 

"Yeah."  Jack squinched his face up.  "I mean, not really, but sort of."

 

Hammond folded his hands in front of him and looked at Jack, encouraging him to continue.

 

"It's just," Jack began, "I sort of figure that I'll end up doing it, you know?  So, why wait?"

 

No comment from Hammond.

 

Jack didn't sense any disapproval, just a gentle waiting, allowing Jack to say what was on his mind.  "But then I think about having this thing in me," he said candidly with a grimace, "and I think I'm out of my mind to even consider it.  Ya know?"

 

"Have any of the Goa'uld singled you out?" Hammond asked.

 

"No, not really."  Jack snorted.  "All of them."  At the general's raised eyebrows, Jack explained, "Daniel asked if any of them would be willing to have me as their host and a whole hell of a lot of hands went up, so to speak.  I guess," Jack said, finally getting to the crux of it, "I want to make sure I don't go off and die and leave Daniel alone, and I figure if I’m gonna do this, I should do it before I get any grayer.  I don't think a symbiote can do the Grecian Formula for Men thing."  He bit the inside of his cheek wishing he felt less like a ping-pong ball about the whole thing.  "You ever think about it?"

 

"I do," Hammond said.  "I've thought about it more than once.  But, it's not for me.  I want to retire, watch my grandchildren grow up and die before them." 

 

Jack could understand that, but he wanted to see what universal peace looked like.  And with the exception of Sara, everyone he considered family was here.  "So, any comments?"

 

"About you becoming a host?"

 

Jack nodded.

 

"Only that I'm not surprised," Hammond responded.

 

"Would it make things harder for you having a second in command with a Goa'uld?"

 

"Possibly," Hammond admitted, "but I'll rest easier knowing Daniel's in good hands.  I've seen this revolution started; I'd like to know it has a good chance of getting to the finish line."

 

Fair enough.

 

"So, what's on your agenda for the day for your team, Colonel?" Hammond said, bringing their personal conversation to a close, which worked just fine for Jack.

 

"Vidrine wants to steal another ship," Jack said, "so we need to pick a likely target.  I've got two pilots who need to meet with Daniel and be talked into letting alien slugs wrap around their brain stems, and Carter is on the look out for Naval biologists to come help build a bigger tank."  The tank was already over full, and while the symbiotes were being good-natured about it, being the little peaceniks that they were, Jack knew they were feeling a little crowded. 

 

In addition, there was a long list of people who wanted Goa'uld, and Daniel was itching to go find nearly mature symbiotes.  They needed a much bigger tank for that.  And Jack didn't even want to get into how wigged Daniel occasionally got at the thought that friendly symbiotes were dying on the Kahlua planet, not to mention Chulak, and god knew where else.

 

"Let me know how things go," Hammond said, standing up.  "I'll be heading to Washington, D.C. this afternoon to meet with the President."

 

"You're not taking Daniel, are you, sir?" Jack asked anxiously.  He had no desire to be babysitting a half-crazed Jaffa, and the President still wasn't one hundred percent behind this First Prime thing, especially if it meant Teal'c going to Washington with Daniel and hanging out glowering in the Oval Office.

 

With a small smile, Hammond shook his head.  "No, not this time.  He'll want to know what plans you and General Vidrine come up with, though."

 

"One of us will call and let you know what the plan is, sir," Jack said, standing as well, feeling a dismissal coming right around the corner.

 

"Please do, Colonel," Hammond said.  "I'll be meeting with the President at four, so try to call before then."

 

"Will do," Jack said.  Most of the day's chores should be wrapped up by then.  "You might want to tell him that we need more pilots.  And we'll need to figure out what we do if they say no after telling a pilot about the symbiote thing."

 

"It's on my list," Hammond assured him.  "I'll speak with Major Waite before I leave about the change in duties," he added as he headed for the door.

 

Meeting over, Jack followed Hammond out the door.

 

 

*****

By mid afternoon, Jack was sitting across the table from their two new pilots.

 

"You want to run that by me again, Colonel?" Major Cameron Mitchell asked incredulously, eyebrows high on his forehead.

 

Major John Sheppard had the same pole-axed expression on his face.  "A what?"

 

Yeah.  Jack should have waited for Daniel to do this.  "Hold that thought," he said, moving to the phone on the conference room wall.  He hung up after paging Daniel. 

 

Mitchell tried again.  Jack had to give him points for that.  "Was that code for something?"

 

Jack bit his lip not to smile.  "Code?" he said, his own eyebrows high. 

 

"Yeah, code," Mitchell said hopefully.  "Like, I don't know, like symbiote stands for sodium pentothal, and brain stem stands for deep hypnosis."

 

"So you thought maybe I was asking you if it was all right for me to drug you and then hypnotize you?" Jack asked, leaning back in his chair.  "For what?  To see if you could fly under the influence?"

 

Sheppard and Mitchell exchanged glances that said, clear as day, they weren't sure Colonel O'Neill was dealing with a full deck.  Maybe Jack should have had Vidrine do this.  Just about now Vidrine could be calling on his symbiote and letting his eyes get all glowy, giving Mack the floor.


Mack.  A great name.  Even better was the fact that it was from one of Jack's favorite Dr. Seuss stories, Yertle the Turtle.  It had become a favorite of the friendly Goa'uld as well, second only to Horton Hears a Who, although it was Tana'oa's favorite.  Tana'oa told Daniel it was the perfect saga--past, present and future--for the unfriendly Goa'uld.  Jack wished he'd had a camera handy to catch the look on Vidrine's face when Mack shared the fact that his name came from a Dr. Seuss character.  Jack had no doubt that Vidrine would have rather kept that little gem a secret.

 

The only thing that would have been better was if Vidrine's Goa'uld had chosen one of those long never-ending Seuss names that used to make Charlie laugh so hard.  Like Ham-ika-Sham-ika-Pam-ika-something or other.  Jack would have paid good money to see that name come out of Vidrine's mouth. 

 

The phone rang and Jack stood to answer it.  "Daniel?" he asked.

 

"Jack," Daniel said cheerily in response.

 

"I need to meet you at the tank with our two prospective pilots," Jack said.

 

There was a pause.  "This is going to be bad, isn't it?" Daniel asked.

 

"Could be," Jack said honestly.  He saw Sheppard and Mitchell exchange another look.

 

"What did you say to them?" Daniel asked suspiciously.

 

"Hey," Jack protested.  "Not everything's my fault."

 

Daniel sighed.  "Give me twenty minutes."

 

"Sweet."

 

"Oh, and thanks for getting me a reprieve from Paul and Eric," Daniel said brightly.  "I was actually able to have a whole hour to myself this morning until Claude came by the office."

 

"Wow," Jack said teasingly.  "A whole hour?"

 

"I told you, he's obsessed," Daniel answered, focusing on Claude rather than himself.

 

"With Nut?"

 

"With Nut," Daniel agreed.

 

"Claude's a nut," Jack said.  Anyone who spent as much time as he did on Kahlua-land under the water was certifiably insane.

 

"What are their names?"

 

Jack gracefully went with the non sequitor.  "Cameron Mitchell and John Sheppard."

 

"Good guys?"

 

"They're pilots," Jack said by way of an answer.

 

"So good guys," Daniel said without a doubt in his voice, making him Jack's favorite person ever.

 

"You betcha," Jack said back.  These guys were all about being heroes.  Most of the time it had paid off and they both had a reputation for getting the job done and bringing back their men alive.  They had a few black marks, too, when things hadn't gone well, but Jack wasn't worried about those.  The program could use guys like these, assuming he and Daniel didn't tag team them into running from the mountain screaming.

 

"Twenty minutes," Daniel said again and hung up.

 

Jack hung the phone up as well and sat back down at the table, staring at the two men sitting across from him.

 

"So, not a code," Sheppard drawled.

 

Jack shook his head.

 

"Aliens, sir?" Mitchell threw in.  "That shit's for real?"

 

"Real as it gets," Jack assured him.

 

Sheppard's turn again.  "So is this like that Star Trek movie, Wrath of Khan?  With those, you know, ear things?"

 

Jack winced and hunched his shoulders as he recalled that scene where they crawled out of Chekov's ear.  "Eww," he said, "those were gross."

 

"So these aren't as bad?" Sheppard asked, hope once again filling the air.

 

"Oh, no," Jack said.  "These are much grosser.  They're a lot bigger."  He held his hands out approximating the size of a symbiote.  When he saw the horrified looks on their faces, Jack winced.  "Shit."  He was doing this all wrong, and if Daniel were in here with them, he'd be giving Jack his I'm-so-disappointed-in-you look.  Jack hated that look.  "They're a lot funnier," he tried.

 

"Funnier?" Mitchell asked, in an almost comically high voice.  "What's that supposed to mean?"

 

"You know," Jack said.  "Funny.  They're funny.  They like Dr. Seuss."

 

This time the look exchanged between the two men was a silent agreement on tactics: who was taking the crazed colonel down and who was going for help.  Jack supposed he couldn't blame them.  He stood up and moved to the door before he ended up being restrained by two majors who thought they'd be doing their country a favor.  "Come on.  Time to go meet Dr. Daniel Jackson."

 

They rose cautiously, Mitchell looking a little disappointed that Jack was slipping out of their grasp.  Once in the corridor, Jack set a brisk pace toward the infirmary.  On their way, they passed General Vidrine.  Both pilots stopped and snapped off a sharp salute. 

 

"At ease," Vidrine said.

 

They both slipped into a more comfortable posture.  "Sir," Mitchell said to Vidrine with just the slightest trying-not-to-be-obvious head nod toward Jack.

 

Vidrine apparently hadn't been practicing his telepathy skills.  "Spit it out, Mitchell, what's on your mind?"

 

Mitchell barely nodded again and leaned in, as if that might make Jack not hear him.  "Is he--"  Mitchell sent a sideways glance at Jack, saw that there was no way he could ask what he wanted without possibly ending up in the brig for insulting a senior officer.

 

"He wants to know if I've got bats in my belfry," Jack offered up helpfully.

 

"Only when he forgets to take his meds," a voice said behind him.  A voice that sounded suspiciously like Daniel.  "Did you forget to take your meds today, Jack?"

 

"Ha ha," Jack said.  "I thought you were meeting me by the tank."

 

"I decided to come look for you, instead," Daniel said in that tone of voice that he always used when, after due consideration, he'd decided one of Jack's orders was just too silly to even be considered.  "General," Daniel said politely to Vidrine.

 

"Daniel," Vidrine said just as politely.  Then his eyes glowed, and Mack said, "It is a pleasure to see you, Daniel, and you, too, Junior."  Mack was an exceptionally polite Goa'uld, in Jack's estimation.  He was always about the how-do-you-do's.  Probably not a bad thing considering how many asses Vidrine had to kiss.

 

"The pleasure's all mine, Mack," Daniel said with an affectionate grin.  "And Junior says hello, too."  His eyes glowed for a second in greeting.

 

Back in control, Vidrine turned to Mitchell and Sheppard.  "Will you be joining the program?"

 

"Uh," was all Sheppard could say.  Mitchell's mouth was flapping, but no sound was coming out.

 

"Hmm," Daniel said with a frown at Jack as if this was definitely all his fault.


"What?" Jack said innocently.  "We were coming down to talk to you and to see the tank."

 

Vidrine was on the move again.  Over his shoulder, he said, "I'm calling Hammond to fill him in."  They'd come up with several great ideas today to relieve the Goa'uld of a few ships.

 

"Okay," Jack said.  "Sir," he added.  Damn.  He always forgot.  He'd gotten lazy around Hammond, who, ironically, was one of the few superior officers who deserved as many sirs as he could get.

 

"Daniel," Vidrine said in parting. 

 

It was funny to watch all the humans who'd become hosts to the friendly Goa'uld.  The Goa'uld hated to leave Daniel.  It manifested in the minute hesitation every one of them had when the human host had someplace to be other than where Daniel was at the moment.  Vidrine was no exception. 

 

"I'll speak with you later, Mack," Daniel said in understanding.

 

Vidrine actually grinned at Daniel, no doubt in reaction to the happy back flips Mack was probably doing.  His eyes glowed and Mack, back in charge, smiled broadly, and said, "Thank you, My Lord."

 

Jack snickered, Daniel smacked Jack on the arm, Sheppard, still the only one of the two pilots able to use his vocal chords, stammered, "My Lord?" and Vidrine, allowing Mack one last look at Daniel, turned and headed off to wherever he'd been heading.

 

"My Lord," Jack mimicked in a mincing voice.

 

Daniel heaved a what-did-I-do-to-deserve-you sigh, and turned to the pilots.  "Hi.  I'm Daniel Jackson.  Which one of you is Major Mitchell?"

 

Mitchell lifted a hand and weakly waved.

 

"So you must be Major Sheppard," he said to the other pilot.

 

"John," the pilot said.  "Pleased to meetcha," he said with a surprising effort at sincerity.

 

"Really?" Daniel asked, surprised.  "Even after talking to Jack?  Usually people want to run for the hills."

 

"Ha ha, again," Jack said in a surly tone.

 

"You have one of those things inside of you?" Sheppard asked, his sharp eyes belying his casual drawl.

 

"I do," Daniel said.  "As does General Vidrine."

 

"Do you?" Mitchell asked Jack, finally regaining the ability to speak.

 

"Nope," Jack said, feeling proud that he hadn't said: hell no.  Especially when he'd actually been thinking about it.

 

"So you can't tell just by looking at someone," Mitchell asked, his brain switching back to the on position.

 

"Most people can't," Daniel said.  "I can tell; anyone who has or who has had a Goa'uld can tell."

 

"And the glowy eyes sort of give it away," Jack threw in.  Before Daniel could say something testy and disrespectful to him in front of a couple of majors, Jack beat him to it.  He threw his arm around Daniel's shoulder, and said, "This here's the System Lord of the Tauri.  Me and him are best friends."  He held up his hand, index and middle finger crossed.  "We're like this."

 

Daniel rolled his eyes, even though Jack could see he was pleased.  Daniel was always pleased when Jack called him his best friend.  Therefore, Jack was happy to say it on a regular basis.

 

"Tauri?" Mitchell tried.

 

"Us," Jack explained.  "Humans.  It's what we're called on other planets."

 

"See?" Sheppard began.  "This whole other planet thing is sort of throwing me."

 

Jack pursed his lips.  "But the glowy eyes thing is okay?"

 

"No, that's sort of throwing me, too," Sheppard admitted honestly.  "I'd really like a beer," he added.  Then, wincing, he threw in a "Sir."

 

"I don't blame you a bit," Jack said, stepping away from Daniel to avoid an elbow in his ribs.  "I think there're some medicinal beers down in the infirmary."

 

"Whiskey," Daniel corrected him.

 

"Whiskey would work," Mitchell said.

 

"Sounds like we have a plan," Jack said, rubbing his hands together with satisfaction.  If he got these guys drunk enough they'd probably agree to anything.  As if Daniel could read his mind, he frowned, but Junior's eyes were glowing with merriment, as if he, too, could read Jack's mind.  "See?" he said with a hand out to Daniel, looking at Sheppard and Mitchell.  "They're funny."

 

This time it was Daniel, Sheppard and Mitchell who exchanged glances, and Jack, with a huff, headed for the infirmary. 

 

 

*****

An hour later, the two pilots while not exactly drunk, but certainly not feeling any pain, were sitting on gurneys staring at the tank.  Jack had wanted to join them in a drink or three but  decided it probably wouldn't be setting a good example to get toasted while on duty.  And yes, the pilots were on duty, too, but it was their superior officer who was plying them with liquor.

 

"Can you tell them apart?" Sheppard asked, his eyes following the symbiotes who were having fun getting thrown about by the eddies. 

 

"Daniel can," Jack said.  "I can pick out a couple of them."  He got to his feet and walked to the tank.  "This, gentlemen," he said, tapping the glass, "is Tana'oa.  He's the tank boss."  He tapped the glass again.  "How ya doin', T?"  He frowned.  "I guess I can't call you T, can I?  I already gave that nickname to Teal'c.  Hmm." 

 

He could hear Daniel snickering behind him.

 

Ignoring his royal majesty, he pointed out a smaller one.  "That's Kitty.  He's Carter's."

 

As if on cue, Carter walked into the infirmary with someone in tow.  Her face looked thunderous.  "McKay, your theory won't work," she snapped at the man behind her.

 

"What do you mean it won't work?" the man bit back.  "You're probably just saying that because you can't possibly understand--What the hell are those?" he yelped, staring at the tank in morbid curiosity.

 

"The Goa'uld symbiotes," Carter bitched, "which you'd know about if you ever paid the slightest bit attention to anything that wasn't all about you."

 

Jack raised his eyebrows.  Carter usually managed to keep her cool better than this.  He didn't recognize the guy and was guessing he wasn't someone sent here to be a host.

 

Daniel got off the gurney and approached the tank.  "Dr. McKay," he said courteously.

 

"Dr. Jackson," McKay said distractedly.  "These are disgusting," he added with a grimace, his hand sort of waving in a they-better-not-come-near-me sort of way.

 

Oh, boy, thought Jack, preparing to get between Daniel and McKay if need be.  Or Junior and McKay.

 

"I mean, seriously," McKay said, clearly wanting there to be no misunderstanding.


"They're not," Daniel said heatedly.  "They're simply a different species."

 

"Yeah," Jack said, shoulder to shoulder with Daniel.  "Besides, they think you're butt ugly, so you're even."

 

McKay gaped at Jack.  "And you are?" in a tone that said it didn't matter, that Jack was essentially the dirt on the sole of his shoe.

 

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, with two l's," Jack informed him, cutting him some slack only because there was no insignia on his BDUs.

 

"Oh," McKay said, giving Jack a once over and, from his expression, not overly impressed.  He turned back to the tank.  "What do they do?"

 

"Apparently," Sheppard said, joining them at the tank, turning it into a party, "they get inside of you and share your body."

 

McKay reared away from the tank and smack into Sheppard.  "Are you kidding me?"  He moved behind Sheppard for protection, peering over his shoulder.  "Why are they here?  Get rid of them."

 

"They're our allies," Sheppard said, part explanation, part what-the-fuck.

 

McKay blinked at Sheppard, then looked at the tank, wincing.  "Seriously?"

 

"Maybe one of them will choose you as a host," Carter said meanly.

 

Putting his hands on his head, then his mouth, then, weirdly over his crotch, he said in a high nervous voice, "How do they get in?  They don't just leap at you, do they?"

 

Jack tapped the back of his neck.  "Through the neck," he offered with a grin. 


"Jack," Daniel scolded.

 

McKay's hands were now around his neck.  He looked like he was strangling himself.

 

"They just want to be friends," Daniel said by rote, as if he knew he was wasting his breath.

 

Scoffing, McKay shook his head.  "No, thank you.  Do you have any idea how valuable my brain is?  No way am I sharing it with someone."

 

"As if one of them would want you," Carter muttered under her breath.

 

"I heard that," McKay snapped.  "And they would so," he added petulantly.  His eyes widened, "Not that I'm offering."  He looked at Daniel.  "They do ask first, right?  I mean, one of them's not just going to jump in me, right?  Not that I could blame them with my brain, but I'm safe, right?"

 

"They would never take a host without permission," Daniel said.  His eyes glowed.  "Do not fear, Dr. McKay, you will not be asked," Junior said with some censure.

 

McKay's eyes opened really wide and he let out a strained whine.  Swallowing, he very reluctantly dropped his hands from his neck and straightened his shirt.  "Right," he said oh-so-casually.  "Good.  Okay, then."  He totally missed Jack and Carter rolling their eyes.  "I'll just get back to my work, then."  He glared at Carter.  "And my theory will work."

 

"Go away, McKay," Carter begged.

 

With a look that was equal parts a defiant who-needs-you and a wistful don't-you-like-me? McKay walked out of the infirmary.

 

"Who was that guy?" Sheppard asked as if McKay was weirder than the symbiotes.

 

"Dr. Rodney McKay," Carter said glumly.  "Astrophysicist, self-professed genius, and all around pain in the--"

 

"I heard that," McKay said, peeking his head in the door, interrupting her.

 

"Go away," she said loudly.

 

Pouting, he shut the door.

 

"Thank God," Carter said.

 

"Hey, at least you know where you stand with the guy," Sheppard said with a lopsided grin.  He held out his hand to Carter.  "John Sheppard."

 

"Samantha Carter," she said back with a nice smile, shaking his hand.  Then she introduced herself to Mitchell.

 

"You the one Kitty belongs to?" Mitchell asked.

 

"Yeah," Carter said, turning to the tank.  She spread her fingers on the tank, and Ganaskidi brushed against it like he always did.  "He's still young, though.  It'll be a couple of years before he's ready."

 

"And you're just gonna--" Mitchell didn't finish his sentence, just touched the back of his neck and winced.

 

She smiled in commiseration.  "It took me a long time to get used to the idea, trust me.  Daniel's been very patient."

 

"Sam," Daniel protested.  "I never asked you to take a symbiote." 

 

"I know," she said, giving his arm a squeeze.

 

"It wasn't you who convinced her anyway, Daniel," Jack said, touching the tank himself.  "It was Kitty, here."  Tana'oa swam closer, bursting with curiosity.  "You better let Junior fill Tana'oa in.  He's dying to know what's going on."

 

"How do you know that?" Sheppard asked.  "Are they speaking some language?"

 

"Jack can sense their emotions," Daniel said.

 

"They call me the Guardian," Jack said smugly.

 

"They do?" Carter asked, her brow furrowed.  "When did that happen?"

 

"Daniel told me last night," Jack told her. 

 

"So you can't actually talk to them?" Mitchell asked.

 

Jack shook his head.  "No.  Daniel can.  Anyone with a Goa'uld can, but I can't.  I can tell you that Tana'oa is always curious, and Kitty thinks Carter's the best thing since sliced bread."  He moved closer and pointed toward one resting in the plants, "He gets overwhelmed by all the activity in the tank so likes to hide, and he," Jack pointed to the other mature Goa'uld, "is impatient to merge with his host.  Who is he going to again?" Jack asked Daniel.

 

"Mamello," Daniel said.

 

"Ah," Jack responded.  "Simba and Nala."

 

Daniel rolled his eyes.  "Jack," he said chidingly.  "I suspect your penchant for giving the Goa'uld nicknames will not be as well received by our global VIPs.  The two South African representatives are Mamello Adannaya and Zwanga Abidemi, not characters from the Lion King."

 

Jack shrugged.  How anyone expected him to remember everyone's names was beyond him.  "I keep telling you I need a list," he complained.

 

Mitchell peered into the tank.  "So you're telling us that we can't join the program, and can't fly alien spaceships unless we let one of these guys live in us, sir?"

 

"Oh, I imagine you can still join the program," Jack said carelessly.  "After all, we can always use more military…on the ground."

 

Sheppard actually winced at that.  "On the ground, sir?"

 

"Not much cause for flying on other planets," Jack explained, "other than alien spaceships, and you won't know how to fly any of them."

 

"Jack," Daniel said vehemently, "they have to choose this of their own free will.  It's not like getting a tattoo."

 

With an innocent spread of hands, Jack said, "They do get to choose.  I'm just letting them know what the situation is."

 

Daniel frowned at him then turned to Mitchell and Sheppard.  "I'm sure this seems frightening to you, especially given Jack's no doubt stellar explanation--"

 

"Hey!" Jack protested.

 

"However," Daniel pressed on, ignoring Jack's outburst, "I can promise you that no one who's become a host has regretted making the decision.  These creatures are very loving," he said, the affection he had for them evident in his voice, "and all they want is a chance to live."  He put his hands on the glass and every symbiote in the tank rushed over to say hello.

 

"So, they'll die if they don't get a host?" Sheppard asked.

 

"Yes," Daniel said sadly.  "They'd been dying for millennia until we discovered them."

 

"Until you discovered them," Jack corrected, smiling fondly at his friend.

 

"I can't stay," Carter piped up, "but Daniel's right.  Ask anyone here who's a host.  They'll all tell you the same thing."  With a nod at Jack and a smile for Daniel, she pointed over her shoulder.  "I better get back to the lab before McKay blows something up."  There were a chorus of byes, and Sam left.

 

Sheppard was staring at the tank.  "He looks pretty mature," he noted, pointing toward Tana'oa.

 

"He'll need a host sometime soon, as well," Daniel agreed.

 

Jack frowned.

 

"Maybe I could have him," Sheppard suggested.

 

Jack frowned some more.

 

"You're just gonna do this?" Mitchell asked, eyebrows high.

 

"Sure," Sheppard said.  "I wanna fly alien spaceships," he added with an excited grin and a waggle of eyebrows.

 

Daniel grinned back at him.

 

"Maybe you should think about it a little more," Jack said, feeling grouchy all of a sudden.

 

"No," Sheppard replied.  "I'm good.  And I'll take him," he said, pointing toward Tana'oa.

 

With a bright grin, Daniel put his hand in the tank.  "Let's see what he has to say about it."

 

"Uh," Jack said.  Weirdly, Tana'oa seemed reluctant to go to Daniel, something Jack had never seen.  "Looks like he's not interested," Jack said quickly.  "Guess you'll have to choose another one."

 

Daniel shot Jack a sharp glance, studying him.  Then he looked at Tana'oa.  Then back at Jack.  He pulled his hand out of the water.  "I believe," Daniel said slowly to Sheppard, "that Tana'oa has someone else in mind, but he thanks you for your offer," he added.  "He says he's sure there will be another Goa'uld who would suit you better."

 

"Okay," Sheppard said with a frown.  "How long will it take?  It looks like the one for Simba and this guy are the only mature ones."

 

Jack grinned at Sheppard.  He liked the guy already.

 

"Mamello," Daniel said in a world-weary tone.  Exhaling loudly, sharing his pain, he added, "There are many more mature symbiotes on Kuokoa and Chulak."

 

"Other planets," Jack explained.

 

Just then there was a loud siren, and red lights began to flash.  "Unauthorized gate activation," came a voice over the loudspeaker.

 

Jack took off for the control room, Daniel, Mitchell, and Sheppard right behind him.  He considered telling them to stand down, but if they were joining the program, they'd be seeing it all anyway.  Plus, Jack had already told them the creepiest thing about this place, and there was no putting that cow back in the barn. 

 

By the time he made it to the control room, Davis looked up and said, "It's Teal'c's IDC."

 

"Excellent," Jack said, breathing through the adrenalin.  "Let him in."

 

The iris dropped and Jack, after telling Mitchell and Sheppard to stay put, headed down to the gateroom to welcome Teal'c, and with him, Bratac.  Teal'c and Daniel exchanged affectionate glances, and the older Jaffa greeted them all. 

 

"I have brought two mature symbiotes," Bratac said, proffering one of the small coolers filled with symbiote-safe fluid that Janet had been handing out like Star Wars lunchboxes.  "I do not know if they are friendly or not."

 

Daniel took the cooler from him.  "Thank you, Bratac." 

 

"I also bring news," Bratac announced, this time more seriously.

 

"Bad news?" Jack asked.

 

"I believe it is," Bratac said soberly.  "I believe Daniel Jackson is at risk."

 

Really bad news, then, Jack thought to himself, especially as he took in the look on Teal'c's face.  "Okay, first we'll take care of those," he said, pointing at the cooler Daniel was holding, "and then we'll talk in the conference room."  Then to Daniel, "Are they happy campers?"

 

Daniel shook his head.  "One of them is unfriendly."

 

"Right," Jack said.  "All of you, out of the gate room," he said to the SFs.  The door opened and he ushered them all out, leaving only Daniel, Teal'c and Bratac, who had his zat out and ready.

 

Jack got back up to the control room to find Sheppard and Mitchell plastered to the glass watching the proceedings below.  Daniel opened the cooler and one of the symbiotes launched itself at him with a shriek.  Daniel batted it away and it skittered across the floor.  Before it could launch again, Bratac shot it three times with his zat.

 

"What sort of weapon is that?" Mitchell exclaimed in sheer envy.

 

"That is a zat," Jack said smugly.  "Very cool alien space gun."

 

Daniel was opening the cooler again, but whoever was in there wasn't coming out.  Crouching, Daniel put his hand in the cooler, speaking softly.  Slowly, the symbiote curled around Daniel's arm, and he was lifted out.  "Hey," Daniel said.  "You're amongst friends now."

 

As if they all took the same class, the symbiote rearranged itself until it's head lay on Daniel's hand, the rest of it's body coiled up his arm.  He was definitely mature, no doubt about it.  Jack tapped Sheppard on the shoulder.  "There's your new buddy."

 

For some insane reason, Sheppard didn't look the least disgusted.  Jack needed to remember to introduce this guy to Paul Costello.  They were obviously cut from the same cloth.  Reaching for the microphone, Jack said, "Okay, show's over.  Everyone back to their stations."


The SFs moved back into the gateroom assuming their positions.  Jack sauntered down the stairs, Mitchell and Sheppard behind him.  By the time they got there, Daniel had put the symbiote back in the liquid. 

 

"Do I get that one?" Sheppard asked.

 

Daniel looked momentarily surprised that Sheppard had apparently meant what he said.  "Let's take him to the infirmary and ask him," he suggested. 

 

Jack agreed.  There was no way they were doing this here.  Not that anyone who worked here didn't know there was funny stuff going on, but that didn't mean everyone needed or wanted to see symbiotes tunneling their way into a human.  Jack had already seen it way too many times and it still creeped him out.  "So, infirmary first, then the conference room.  Good for everyone?"

 

Bratac nodded, and they all trooped off after Daniel.

 

 

*****

"You sure?" Daniel asked again.

 

"Yeah, seriously, man, are you sure?" Mitchell asked Sheppard.

 

Daniel was holding the Goa'uld who was thrumming in Sheppard's direction.

 

"I'll get to fly alien spaceships, right?" Sheppard asked.

 

"You betcha," Jack said.

 

"And they go faster than 200 miles per hour, right?" Sheppard asked.

 

"They go way faster," Jack said, delighted to be in a conversation where he totally got the point.  Hanging with Daniel so long had made the feeling of being lost in a conversation a daily event.

 

Sheppard shrugged.  "So, yeah, I’m sure."

 

Jack had to admire Sheppard's coolness.  He looked at Daniel.  "You're on."

 

Costello was leaning against the tank, grinning like a Cheshire cat, and about five of the symbiotes, including Tana'oa, were paying close attention.

 

"Do you want some privacy for this?" Daniel asked Sheppard.

 

Sheppard shook his head.  "Nah."  He swallowed, letting Jack know he wasn't quite as cool as he was pretending to be.  Clearing his throat, Sheppard asked, "What, um, what do I do?"

 

Jack was glad to see Daniel moving over to him; the waiting was always the worst, and having a peanut gallery wasn't helping.

 

Then, Sheppard was dropping his head, baring the back of his neck, Daniel's hand moved and Sheppard's eyes were glowing, and just like that, Stargate Command had its first human-Goa'uld pilot.

 

The first thing Sheppard did, the same thing they all did, was look at Daniel.  This was the part that always got Jack, how much they all loved him.  Maybe it was because Jack totally got that, and that was without a Goa'uld of his own.

 

Then, Costello was taking Sheppard under his wing, and Mitchell was following them both, looking part wigged out and part intrigued. 

 

"Time for the bad news?" Jack asked Bratac once they were gone.

 

"I am afraid so," he said in apology.

 

"Let's take this to the conference room," Jack suggested.  He found himself spreading his hand on the glass by Tana'oa as he left the room.

 

 

*****

Teal'c settled himself next to Daniel, while Jack sat across from him.  Bratac was at the head of the table, and when Carter slipped in, she sat next to Jack.

 

"Okay," Jack said.  "Lay it on me."

 

Bratac and Teal'c exchanged glances that made Jack's gut clench.  Bratac pulled a scroll out from inside his leather vest and pushed it to Jack.  Opening it up, Jack saw a hand drawn picture of Daniel.  It sort of looked like him, the way a police sketch looks like a criminal.  "I'm assuming it's a wanted poster?" Jack asked.  "What does it say?"  It was written in Goa'uld.

 

Daniel held out his hand, and Jack gave the scroll to him.  Jack watched as Daniel read the paper, wincing occasionally. 

 

"Well?  What?" Jack snapped.  "Share with the class."

 

"Baal has put a steep price on DanielJackson's head," Teal'c intoned.  "And it is a very high price indeed."

 

"But it is worse than that," Bratac added.  "He is also offering to pay for any information about DanielJackson, a newly proclaimed System Lord, as well as his First Prime, the sholva Teal'c."

 

"Damn," Jack said.  That meant Baal already knew way too much.

 

Daniel put a hand on Teal'c's arm.  "I'm not thrilled he knows about you."

 

"He also mentions Barak, and offers to pay for information regarding his whereabouts," Teal'c said.

 

"He's already connected some dots," Carter said.

 

Too many dots.  Jack could tell there was more when Bratac and Teal'c exchanged another glance.  He stared at them, hands up and open, impatiently waiting for the rest. 

 

"He is torturing Jaffa for information," Bratac said with a heavy sigh.  "I fear for our loyal Jaffa.  Many of them know far too much."

 

"Great," Jack said morosely.  "Is that more money than that bounty hunter guy said you were worth?" Jack asked Daniel, pointing at the bounty poster.

 

Daniel nodded.

 

"A great deal more," Teal'c said.

 

"Well, we knew it was gonna happen," Jack observed.

 

"Do you think he knows about the symbiotes?" Daniel asked worriedly.

 

"I do not know," Bratac answered.  "But, despite the danger, many Jaffa will do their utmost to keep us apprised of Baal's movements."

 

"Maybe you shouldn't go out on any missions for a while," Carter suggested to Daniel.

 

Jack snorted.  Right.  Like that was gonna happen.

 

"With Junior, I'm safer now than I was when Aris Boch captured us," Daniel told Sam oh-so-reasonably.  "We've all had a price on our heads for a long time."

 

"And lived to tell the tale," Jack said with some satisfaction. 

 

"I agree with Major Carter," Teal'c said sternly.  "It would perhaps be best if you chose not to put yourself in danger."

 

"Teal'c," Daniel said, "I have to go out there.  I may not know all there is about being a leader, but I certainly know it's not about hiding while other people fight the war without me."

 

"Not for good," Carter gave it another try, "but you could at least wait until we know more about what Baal knows."

 

"And let innocent Jaffa die on my behalf?" Daniel said indignantly.  With a glare, Daniel turned to Jack, "Aren't you the one who said you wanted to take this fight to the system lords?"

 

"Hey," Jack protested, "do you hear me saying you should stay behind?"

 

Daniel thought about it, then conceding, said, "No, you're not," with a nice little smile for Jack.

 

Jack preened.  "That's because I know better."  He leaned forward.  "But, if we do go anywhere, we're taking a lot of extra protection with us."  At the start of Daniel's frown, Jack stopped him with a glare, "And that's not open to debate."

 

Teal'c still didn't look happy, but he seemed willing to accept Jack's compromise, especially as Daniel wasn't arguing other than his slightly sulky expression.  Jack glanced at his watch.  "Can you stay, Bratac?  We could all do dinner."

 

"I cannot," Bratac said with an apologetic air.  "I must return to Chulak.  But, before I leave, I do have some good news for you, Daniel Jackson."

 

Daniel's eyebrows went up, encouraging him to continue.

 

"I believe we have found a host for you on Chulak.  It is a woman healer named Manauc, from Kaufic, a small sea town to the east."

 

"That is good news," Daniel said with a smile.

 

"Now you'll have your own truffle snuffling pig," Jack said jovially to Bratac.

 

Daniel shot him a look, although Junior managed to sneak in a merry glow.  Bratac had a large smile on his face.  Jack had shown him a picture of a pig snuffling truffles the last time he was here.  "I do not believe I will show Manauc a picture of your pigs who snuffle truffles," Bratac said.

 

"Good idea," Daniel said dryly.

 

With that, Bratac stood, prompting everyone else to stand.  In short order they were back in the gateroom seeing Bratac off.

 

As they were climbing the stairs back up, Davis called down to Carter.  "Major Carter?  Lieutenant Sean Lightfoot is waiting to see you."

 

" Lieutenant who?" Jack asked.

 

"He's the new Naval biologist, sir," Carter told Jack.  "He's here to help us build a bigger tank for the symbiotes."

 

"Does he have any idea what he's here for?" Jack inquired, imagining the look on the guys' face when he was given his assignment.

 

"Not the slightest idea," Carter said with a grin.  Turning to Daniel, she added, "You want to meet him with me?  It might make things easier."

 

"I'm assuming he has adequate security clearance," Jack asked, just to be sure.

 

"As high as mine," Carter said.  "He's worked on some top secret projects."


"So, how'd he end up drawing the short straw for this assignment?" Jack asked.

 

"Jack," Daniel grumped at him.

 

"Oh, come on, Daniel.  From top secret projects to building a fish tank?"

 

"He knows Paul Costello," Carter explained. 

 

"Got it," Jack said.  Another one of those.  They were getting thick on the ground.  "And what's with that name?"

 

Still grumpy, Daniel snarked, "You'd rather it be Sean Yertle?"

 

"As a matter of fact--" Jack started.

 

"Where is he?" Carter asked Davis, interrupting Jack.

 

"He's at the main security check-in for level 28, Major," Davis informed her.

 

"Great," Carter said.  "Daniel?"

 

Daniel gave Jack a haughty stare as he passed him, completely befitting his prissy system lord status, and Jack just grinned at him.

 

 

*****

"Um, hi," Sam said, barely remembering how to speak.

 

Sean Lightfoot was gorgeous.  Drop dead gorgeous.  If the last name hadn't given it away, he was clearly Native American, with long black hair tied back, smooth bronzed skin, and about six feet five inches tall.  His eyes were a chocolate brown, and he had a broad friendly smile.

 

Sam knew Colonel O'Neill was giving her a look, probably expecting introductions, but she couldn't stop staring at the vision in front of her.  "Uh," she tried.

 

"Colonel Jack O'Neill," Jack finally said.

 

Lieutenant Lightfoot saluted, "Sir."

 

Jack waved him off.  "We don't stand on a lot of ceremony around here, Lieutenant."

 

"What he means is that Jack doesn't stand on a lot of ceremony," Daniel said with a smile.  Holding out his hand, he introduced himself.  "Daniel Jackson, civilian."

 

Sean shook his hand, smiling again.  "Sean."

 

"And this is Major Samantha Carter," Jack said, nudging her with an elbow.

 

She blinked.  "Right.  Sorry.  I'm pleased to meet you."  So gorgeous.

 

"Major," the lieutenant said in response.

 

"What's with the hair?" Jack asked.


Sam had wondered about that, too.  It was midway down his back, thick and black.  She was surprised the military hadn't insisted he cut it.  For a small instant, she wondered what it felt like, what it would feel like cascading down her body.  As she felt her nipples harden, Sam ordered herself to get it together.

 

"Religious reasons, sir," Sean explained.  "I'm also the Shaman for my tribe."

 

"What tribe?" Daniel asked, as always interested in everything.

 

"Navajo," Sean said.

 

Sam made a mental note to go home and google the Navajo so she wouldn't say anything stupid.

 

Daniel's face brightened.  To Jack he said, "Interestingly enough, the Navajo theory of the origin of man centers around a worm.  An earthworm, but still."

 

Jack stared at Daniel for a moment.  "Only you would know that."

 

"And me," Sean said with a grin for Daniel.

 

"Well, once you find out what you're here for, you'll find that little tidbit of information nicely ironic," Jack said.  He signed Sean in at the security checkpoint and got him a visitor's pass.  "You'll need to sign some confidentiality papers before you go any farther," Jack said, taking the clipboard handed to him by the guard on duty.

 

"I expected as much, sir," Sean said agreeably, starting to sign the stack of papers Jack had handed over.

 

Sam sighed.  Not an ounce of fat on him.  He was in really good shape.

 

"You're drooling," Jack whispered in her ear.

 

Sam had a hand to her mouth to check before she realized the Colonel was having a little fun at her expense.  Pulling it together, she shot Jack a sidelong look and smiled at Sean.  "Ready to find out what you're here for?"

 

"The suspense is killing me," Sean said.  "Major," he added.

 

"Sam is fine," Sam assured him.  If he decided to stay, she'd have to make sure that he wasn't in her reporting structure.

 

"So, you like worms?" Jack asked.

 

Sean shot him an odd look.  "Sure, I guess.  They make good bait for fishing."

 

Daniel's eyes glowed, and Sam wasn't sure if Junior was annoyed or amused.  "We prefer not to be eaten alive," Junior informed Sean emphatically.

 

Annoyed.

 

"He didn't mean anything by it," Sam soothed Junior.  "You can hardly blame him for not understanding."

 

Junior gave Sean a good look, as if trying to decide if Daniel were safe in his presence. 

 

Five seconds later, Costello showed up.  "Hey, Daniel, everything okay?"  Then he saw Sean.  "Sean!  How the hell are you?"  He reached out a hand and clasped Sean's eagerly.  "Welcome to Wonderland."

 

Sean gave Costello a friendly shake, smiling, but his eyes were stuck on Daniel and his glowing eyes.  "For some reason, I really believe you when you say that."

 

"That's Junior," Paul explained, gesturing at Daniel's glowing eyes.  "He lives inside of Daniel."  To Junior, Paul said, "What's going on, Junior?  What's got you all worked up?"

 

"Sean thinks worms make good bait," Jack explained.

 

Paul laughed.  "Come on, Junior.  I personally vouch for Sean.  He's a good guy."

 

Daniel's eyes slowly lost their glow and Daniel blinked.  He winced a smile at Sean.  "Sorry about that.  He has a thing about being eaten."

 

Sean blinked back.  Then, he turned to Paul, questions written all over his face.  Amazingly, Sam thought, it made him even better looking.

 

"Okay, Mr. Biologist," Paul said with a wide grin.  "Time to meet a whole new species.  You ready?  You're in for a hell of a ride."

 

Sean nodded, observing Paul closely.  "You have one, too, Paul, don't you?"

 

Paul's eyebrows rose in surprise.

 

"You can tell?" Sam asked, as surprised as Paul.

 

"I can sense two spirits about you," Sean explained.  "And you," he said to Daniel.

 

"Two spirits," Daniel repeated.  "I like that.  Is it your Shaman training that allows you to sense that there are two of us?" he asked excitedly.

 

"You guys can get all mystical later," Jack interrupted.  "Let's go to the infirmary and let the Lieutenant here get introduced to the gang down there."  He gestured for Sam to lead the way, which was too bad, because she had really wanted some time to scope out Sean's butt.

 

 

*****

Two hours later, after Sean had been regaled with the tale of good and bad Goa'uld, Teal'c and Daniel had retired to their quarters, and Jack had left the mountain, Sean and Sam still sat by the tank.  "Unbelievable," Sean said, for about the hundredth time.

 

Sam grinned at him.

 

"And that one's yours?" he asked, pointing out Ganaskidi.

 

Nodding, Sam put her hand in the water.  Kitty came shooting toward her and wrapped around Sam's wrist.  She brought him out and showed him to Sean.  "He's still young."  She gestured toward Tana'oa.  "They look like that when they're more mature."

"May I touch?" Sean asked.

 

Absolutely, Sam lusted to herself.  As Daniel had filled Sean in, she'd gone to find Janet so Janet could get all hot and flustered, too.  Janet had let out an appreciative woof when she'd laid eyes on him.  Sam held out her hand, implying permission.  "Everyone calls her Kitty, but his real name is Ganaskidi."

 

Sean looked at her in some surprise.  "Ganaskidi?"

 

She nodded.

 

Smiling, he stroked down the length of Ganaskidi who thrummed in response.  "Ganaskidi is one of the Navajo's benevolent gods," he said.  "He is the god of harvests and plenty, and--"

 

"Mists," she said, joining him.  "Yeah, I know."  She'd forgotten it was Navajo, though.  Weird.  She was so taking it as a sign.

 

"Ganaskidi belongs to the Mountain Sheep People," Sean said.  "He can appear in the form of Rocky Mountain sheep.  In ceremonies where the Harvest God takes part, it is believed that the sheep's body has curative powers.  Water from a sheep's eye cures sore eyes, a horn, from a ram, pressed against the patient's head, can relieve headaches."  

 

He stroked Kitty again, saying, "So, here we are, me, a Navajo, sitting in the midst of the Rocky Mountains, petting a creature from another planet, who has taken on the name of a Navajo Rocky Mountain sheep god."  He smiled broadly at her.  "What are the odds of that?"

 

Laughing, Sam said, "I don't think even I could calculate those odds."  With a grin at his star struck expression as he continued to stare at both Kitty and the tank, she teased, "Glad you came?"

 

He slowly shook his head.  "Honored."  He put his hand on the glass.  "I will make you a home as a sign of peace between my people and yours," he promised the symbiotes.

 

Sam found herself blinking against a prick of tears.

 

"They thank you," Paul said from the doorway.

 

"They can understand me?" Sean asked.

 

"Not as such, but they can sense your intentions, and I filled in the rest," he said with a grin as he joined them at the tank.  "Hey, Kitty," he said to Sam's symbiote.

 

With a smile for Paul, Sam put her symbiote back in the tank.  As much as she wanted to hang out with Sean, who was seriously growing on her by the minute, it had been a long day.  "I better say good night," she said to both men.  To Sean she added, "I'll see you in the morning, and we can get started."

 

"I'll look forward to it," Sean said sincerely.

 

Feeling like a high school girl, Sam could feel her cheeks blush.  "Good night, then," she said.  She touched the glass, said her good nights to Vijay who was in Janet's office, on call for the evening, and left for home.

 

 

*****

"How was Washington, sir?" Jack asked Hammond, late the next day after his return.

 

Hammond sighed, unusual behavior for him.

 

"That good, huh?" Jack guessed.

 

"Senator Kinsey has not changed his opinion about Dr. Jackson or this program," Hammond finally said, a sour look on his face.

 

"Is he getting through to the President?" Jack asked, alarmed.  Jack didn't know what the fuck would happen if the President decided to shut this whole thing down.

 

"No, he's not," Hammond assured him, "but Kinsey came as close to threats as he could, without actually saying anything."

 

"More than he was doing that day he was here?"  Kinsey hadn't exactly been all about the balloons and roses when he'd more or less threatened Daniel with righteous vengeance from God, complete with rivers of flowing blood.

 

"He's a clever man, Jack, for all his posturing.  I think he could do this program, and possibly Dr. Jackson, some damage."

 

"From bad PR, you mean?  Dropping a line to the National Inquirer?"  Jack could imagine the mountain surrounded by rabid reporters all wanting to see the 'aliens'.  On the other hand, Jack was constantly surprised it wasn't happening on a regular basis.  Then he thought about Armin Selig, and he wasn't so surprised.  He wondered how many more accidental deaths of civilians could be laid at SGC's door.

 

"More focused than that," Hammond said slowly.  "All it takes is one fanatic with a high powered rifle."

 

"Daniel?" Jack said, the thought making his stomach roil.  "You think there's that much of a risk?"

 

"Possibly," Hammond said.  "I've never been a fan of Kinsey's, but there was something in his expression.  Satisfaction, surety.  I'm not sure exactly how to describe it, but it made me think he's already done something."

 

"Daniel doesn't leave the mountain, then, at least until the housing development is done," Jack said firmly.  "He won't like it, but he'll deal." 

 

"I tend to agree," Hammond said.

 

"Of course, I'm not sure he's going to be especially safe going through the gate, either."  Jack pushed a translation of the wanted poster toward the general.  "Bratac dropped that off yesterday.  That's an English copy."

 

Hammond took a moment to read the content of the message and his lips tightened unhappily.  "Well, we knew this would happen."

 

"Yeah, that's what I said," Jack said, leaning back.  "Now comes the fun part, trying to protect Daniel when he'll want to be off haring all over the place to make sure his symbiotes don't pay the price for his notoriety."

 

That almost got a grin out of Hammond.  "You've got your work cut out for you, Colonel."

 

"Don't I know it," Jack groused. 

 

"We could keep him grounded altogether," Hammond suggested.


Jack shook his head.  "The war's out there," he said, pointing toward the gate room.  "Daniel's right.  He'd be a lousy leader if he stayed under his desk.  Besides, as brutal as the system lords can be, at least they tend to fight their battles face to face, as opposed to hiring some faceless sniper." 

 

Hammond nodded, "I agree.  In a confrontation between Daniel and an unfriendly Goa'uld, I'd put my money on Daniel."

 

So would Jack.  Especially if you threw Teal'c, the rest of SG-1, and SG-3 into the mix.  Let alone any friendly Goa'uld who happened to be hanging around.  Daniel's chances were much better off planet.

 

"Anything else going on, Jack?"

 

"We have our new Naval biologist working with Siler and Carter on the larger tank," Jack said, leaving out the part where Carter was embarrassingly lusting after the man.  He'd never seen Carter go to town like that.  He was looking forward to the next team night so he could give her shit about it.  "Oh, and Major John Sheppard, one of the pilots sent our way, took a symbiote.  According to Paul, the other pilot, Cameron Mitchell, is giving it some serious thought."

 

"That's good news," Hammond said with a satisfied smile. 

 

"With Sheppard on board," Jack added, "Vidrine can pull himself a team together to start regularly grabbing ships.  He's champing at the bit to get going."

 

"I'm sure he is."  He glanced at his watch.  "Anything else?"

 

"Tessa and Kayla anxious for you to get home?" Jack said with a grin.

 

"Tessa has a recital tonight," Hammond admitted.

 

"Then you better get going," Jack ordered.  "Sir."  As an afterthought, he added, "You might want to think about being careful, yourself.  We've already seen how this place falls apart without you in charge."

 

"I'll take that under advisement," Hammond said seriously.  "If there's nothing else, I believe I'll say goodnight."

 

Jack stood, thinking about how true his words about Hammond were.  There were way too many ways this place could be sabotaged.  Maybe he'd have to put a word in the President's ear about getting the general some bodyguards.  Grinning at the thought, Jack went in search of Daniel.

 

 

*****

Sara brought two mugs of hot chocolate to the table and placed one in front of Sam, the other in front of herself.  Then, she went back for the whipped cream.  "Best part," she said with a grin, topping her hot chocolate with a generous dollop of whipped cream.

 

Grinning in complete agreement, Sam topped off her hot chocolate as well, and then scooped out a spoonful of hot chocolately whipped cream and slurped it off the spoon.  "Okay, you ready?" she asked Sara.

 

"Ready as I'll ever be," Sara said, pad of paper in front of her, picking up her pencil.

 

"The important thing to remember about lying is that for it to really be convincing, it needs to be wrapped around the truth.  So, the number one lie, which really isn't a lie, is that we all work for the government, for its deep space telemetry program."

 

Sara wrote down 'deep space telemetry'.  "Got it."

 

"It's all part of NASA's Deep Space Network, which is," Sam grinned, "an international network of radio antennas that support interplanetary spacecraft missions, and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe."

 

Sara's eyebrows went up.  "That's exactly what you guys do," she said in some surprise.

 

"Exactly," Sam said with a grin.  "That's why it's a perfect cover story.  Not that we were exactly what they had in mind when they created it," she snickered.  "While people can find out about the Deep Space Network on line, the government has scrubbers that make sure that we, individually, can't be found through any sort of internet search.  If people try to find out more about Jack, for instance," Sam said, taking a moment to scoop up some melting whipped cream, "they'd eventually find out that he works for the Deep Space Network, but not a whole lot more."

 

Sara wrote down 'Deep Space Network'.

 

Sam pushed over a folder.  "This is everything about the program that's either available for public review, or stuff that you'd likely know being married to someone who works for the program.  You can talk about any of this stuff without getting in trouble."  She opened the folder and showed Sara the papers on the left.  "This is information you can impart with the air of sharing a confidence with a friend or family member, because most people don't know this stuff."

 

Sara shot Sam a grateful look.  "This is wonderful, Sam, thanks.  I haven't even called my dad, yet, which is unforgivable, because I haven't had any idea what to tell him."  She tapped the file, "And not just about this.  Also about Jack."  She grimaced.  "My dad doesn't think too highly of Jack.  He won't be happy we've gotten back together."

 

"Because of Charlie?" Sam asked gently, doing a quick self-monitoring check to see how she felt about Sara and Jack being married.  Not that they were yet, but they would be soon, if Sam was any judge.  To her relief, she didn't even feel a twinge.  Of course, their gorgeous new Naval biologist might have something to do with that, Sam grinned to herself.

 

"Dad never blamed Jack," Sara said, "not really.  It was more how Jack--" she stopped.

 

Sam guessed Sara didn't want to talk badly about Jack to one of his co-workers, and Sam respected her for that.  She helped Sara out, "How Jack checked out?"  At Sara's nod, Sam said, "Jack told me about it."  To make sure Sara didn't feel weird about that, she added, "He told me about it when he wanted my opinion on whether you'd ever talk to him again."

 

Sara stirred her hot chocolate, and then added another dollop of whipped cream to her mug.  "When I thought about my future a year ago," Sara said, "even two months ago, never, in a million years, did I think I'd be back with Jack, back in love, and thinking about getting remarried.  It all still hurt too much."  She let out a breathy laugh, shook her head, and shot Sam a lopsided smile.  "But here I am."

 

Sam did find herself a little envious at what Sara had.  Not Jack, per se, but the being with someone.  "I used to have a crush on Jack," she confessed.  She had decided to tell this to Sara when the opportunity availed itself, just in case someone else chose to spill the beans.  Sam knew she hadn't exactly been subtle about it.

 

Cocking her head to the side, considering Sam, Sara asked cautiously," Used to?"

 

"Very used to," Sam assured her.  "And Jack never felt that way about me.  Not that he can't flirt when he wants to," Sam said, grinning, "but he made it very clear to me, painfully clear," she added with a wince, "that I needed to get my head out of the clouds."

 

"Ouch," Sara said in commiseration.

 

"Actually," Sam confided, "it was a relief to get it said and over with.  I just needed a reality check."  She paused.  "At the end of our first year together, something went wrong with the Stargate system and it threw me and Jack out into what we thought was an ice planet.  Jack was badly hurt, and it's likely he would have died if Daniel hadn't figured out where we were.  We were both freezing to death and were huddled together.  Anyway, Jack kept calling me Sara," she finished up.

 

The story brought tears to Sara's eyes.  "He did?"

 

Sam nodded.  "I don't think he's ever stopped loving you."

 

Sara sniffed, wiping at her eyes.  "That's what Daniel said."

 

"Well, if Daniel said it," Sam said on a half laugh, "then you have to believe it."

 

Sara laughed, too, her laugh a little soggy.  "How did the two of them ever become friends?" she asked, a little mystified.

 

"They are an unlikely duo, aren't they?  I didn't get it for a long time," Sam confessed, "how close they were, especially when I was in the midst of my high school drama and wanting to be numero uno to Jack."

 

"I hate feeling stuff like that," Sara sympathized with a wince. 

 

After making a disparaging noise, Sam nodded, "Me, too."

 

"Don't get me wrong," Sara said earnestly, "I think Daniel's wonderful, beyond wonderful, you all are, and I can totally understand wanting to be friends with him, but he's so different from anyone Jack's ever been friends with."

 

"I can't explain it," Sam said.  "They just clicked.  But, trust me, they get pissed at each other all the time.  I can't remember a mission where the two of them weren't arguing about something."  She shrugged.  "I don't know.  Maybe because they argued all the time about everything, it just became easy to say the truth to each other because they had nothing to lose."

 

Sara considered that over the last of her hot chocolate.  "Does Jack get hurt a lot?" she asked casually.

 

"What we do is dangerous," Sam admitted cautiously, "I'm sure you've figured that out."


Sara nodded, eyes wide and unhappy.

 

"But I can tell you," Sam said, just realizing this herself, "that none of us have been hurt since Daniel took on Junior and turned everything upside down.  Having a bunch of superhuman body guards, Daniel included, has made a huge difference.  Plus, with the Goa'uld healing device, Daniel and the rest of the Goa'uld hosts can heal just about anything."

 

Sara sighed.  "I know Jack's always done dangerous work.  And I know he's been seriously hurt before, but there's always been this big space between what Jack did for a living, and me.  Now it's not there and it all feels a lot more real.  And scary." 

 

There wasn't much Sam could say to that.  It was real, and it was scary.

 

Peering into her now empty mug, Sara said, "And just for the record, Samantha Carter," she grinned, "are you sure you're over Jack?"

 

"Totally," Sam said in complete honesty.  "In fact, I am in total lust over this new guy."

 

Sara grinned.  "Really?  Tell me about him."

 

Delighted to be able to wax poetic about Sean without Jack around to roll his eyes, Sam launched into her new favorite subject.  She'd get back to the rest of the lies later.

 

 

*****

Jack had chosen the infirmary, right in front of the tank, to inform Daniel that he'd been restricted to the base while on Earth.  He thought all of his wormy friends would help lessen the blow.

 

"Because of Kinsey?" Daniel asked, a rare look of intense dislike on his face.

 

"Or whoever else he's infected," Jack said.  "The general thinks he's gonna be a problem.  And knowing Kinsey, he'll let someone else do the dirty work for him."

 

Daniel let out a sigh and focused on the tank, his annoyed expression fading to one of affection as he eyeballed his tank buddies.

 

Jack mentally congratulated himself.  Daniel was willing to put up with almost anything if he knew it was for the good of someone else.  Daniel staying alive mattered to the symbiotes.  Jack wasn't sure what their fate would be if something happened to him.  As the thoughts of something bad and Daniel crossed his mind, Jack swore that Tana'oa glared at him.  Even though he knew it was foolish, Jack sent a mental apology toward the tank.

 

"I can still go off world, though, right?" Daniel asked.

 

"You betcha," Jack said.

 

"I can't never leave the mountain," Daniel argued, "but I'm willing to go along with this for a while.  I won't agree to forever." 

 

"Just until we think the danger's passed," Jack assured him, leaving the time frame nebulous.  Jack actually thought it would pass, eventually.  Even if he had to do something himself to make it go away.

 

Daniel shot him a look, letting him know that the vague answer hadn't satisfied him, but he was willing to let it slide for the moment.

 

Jack was willing to take what he could get.  At least he had Daniel's promise to stay put for the time being.  For the second time in the last ten minutes there was the sound of machinery around the corner.  "How's he doing?" Jack asked.

 

"Sean?"

 

Jack nodded. 

 

Daniel grinned.  "Good, now that Sam's not around to fluster him."

 

Snorting, Jack grinned back.

 

"He's trying different welding materials to see which holds up best against this fluid."  Daniel touched the corner of the tank.  "It's leaking," he said, as he showed his damp fingers to Jack.  "Not much, in fact, slowly enough that none of us noticed, but it is.  The floor's always wet, what with them splashing, and people putting their hands in the tank, so we might never have caught on.  We're lucky he came here," he said solemnly, "or this tank could have just fallen apart."  Daniel put his hand on the glass as if to reassure himself that all the symbiotes were alive and well.

 

Jack frowned at that comment.  "No, shit?"  He touched the corner as well, frowned deeper when his fingers came away damp.  "Does he have any idea how long this tank will hold together?"

 

"He says he'll have the new tank done well before then," Daniel assured him. 

 

They stood there, Daniel with his brow furrowed, Jack with his hands in his pockets.  The furrow on Daniel's forehead grew more pronounced.  "What's on your mind, Daniel?" Jack coaxed.

 

"Sean wants a symbiote.  He wants to stay, and he wants to be a host."

 

"You say that like it's bad news," Jack said, puzzled.

 

Daniel let out a long sigh.  "He's asked for Tana'oa."

 

"What?  Is Tana'oa like the blue light special all of a sudden?" Jack sniped, anxious and not liking the reason why at all.  "What did Tana'oa have to say about that?"  Maybe Tana'oa had said yes, and Jack could put the whole thing out of his mind.  In fact, that would make his whole life a lot simpler.  Despite his thoughts, he still found himself holding his breath, waiting for Daniel's answer.

 

"Tana'oa," Daniel said, with a sidelong look at Jack, "is being remarkably ambiguous."

 

Jack glanced up at the tank to see Tana'oa behaving as if he was following the conversation with avid interest.  Maybe Junior was filling him in.  Jack tried to sense what the symbiote was feeling and picked up some excitement, some anxiety.  Neither was surprising considering the fact he was due to need a host any moment.

 

As if reading his mind, Daniel said, "He'll need a host soon."

 

"Yeah," Jack said.

 

Daniel chewed on his bottom lip for a moment.  "You know where I stand on this, Jack, and I'll, hopefully," he added in typical Daniel honesty, "never pressure you to be a host, but if you know you're not interested, you need to tell him.  It's not really fair to him.  He's turned down two hosts, and I think we both know why.  I'd hate for him to mature and be in urgent need of a host, and--"

 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jack said, waving Daniel to a stop, the situation crystal clear to him.  And he wasn't in the mood to even conjecture about Tana'oa biting the big one.

 

"Or is that what you want?" Daniel asked.

 

Scowling, Jack turned to Daniel.  "What?"

 

Daniel was busy studying Jack.

 

"What?  What?" Jack demanded.

 

"I'm just wondering if you're waiting for it to be an emergency so the decision gets taken out of your hands."

 

Sometimes Jack hated how well Daniel knew him.  "Maybe, sort of," he admitted.

 

"So are you hoping you're around when that happens," Daniel asked, "or that you're not?"

 

Jack wasn't honestly sure.

 

"Should I tell Sean to stick close?" Daniel asked, persistent.

 

Jack was feeling pressured, despite Daniel's pretty words of just a moment ago, and he didn't like feeling pressured.  "Yeah," he said tersely.  "You should have him stick close."  He saw a flash of disappointment on Daniel's face, quickly hidden, and when he glanced at the tank again, Tana'oa was hidden, too, gone to ground amidst the plants.  Jack felt like a first class shit.

 

 

*****

Claude surfaced from the water, annoyed that, once again, Nut had eluded his grasp.  He'd found a surfeit of immature larvae riding the gentle swells of the lake and he'd followed their trail, sure that this time, Nut would be at the end of it.  But, she hadn't been. 

 

The fact that she remained so elusive had convinced Claude she wasn't a friendly Goa'uld.  Surely, by now, word would have gotten to her, and she would have made herself available if she was friendly.  Not that Claude was any less eager to meet her.  It just meant it would take him longer, and he might need to have some of the Goa'ulded Unas help him.

 

He heard a yell, and turned toward the shore.  There were Unas there he didn't recognize.  In his aquatic journeys, this was now the third time Claude had come across different tribes.  Each time, he spoke to them in Unas, and each time they threatened him.  He hadn't quite figured out what he was doing wrong, and vowed to talk to Daniel about it and share with him his welcoming speech to see if, due to poor sentence structure, he was telling every Unas he met that his mother was ugly.

 

Fortunately, as long as he was in the water, and the Unas didn't develop projectile weapons, he was safe enough.  The two young males on the shore were jumping up and down and pointing.  Claude turned around to find an adult and very unfriendly symbiote racing his way.  "I already have one, friend," he told it as, with a lightening quick move, he ripped it out of the water and held it aloft.

 

An idea struck him and, Goa'uld in hand, he swam a little closer to shore.  Both Unas backed away.  Before they got far, Claude ripped the head off the Goa'uld and threw its carcass onto the shore.  "Naan," he called.  Food.

 

That got a response.  Claude wasn't quite sure what kind of response, but there was a lot of indistinguishable grunting, and Claude couldn't make out any words.  He asked Max //Is there more than one Unas language?//

 

He could feel Max paying close attention.  Claude had thought himself a good linguist, or a fair one, compared to Daniel, but that was before he'd been merged with Max.  Max blew his mind on a regular basis with the ease he picked up languages, and then just passed that knowledge right on to Claude.  //They are speaking Unas, but it is heavily accented, and they are using some words I do not understand.//

 

//That must have hurt to say,// Claude teased his symbiote.

 

Max sent him a mental glower.

 

Another unfriendly symbiote swam by, this one focused on its targets on shore.  Again, Claude caught it, tore it apart, and tossed it at the feet of the Unas.  "Naan," he called again.

 

"Naan," one of them finally agreed, picking up the two tails segments, leaving the heads on the ground.  With that they turned around and headed back to wherever they were going.  Maybe afternoon tea.

 

//Hmm,// Claude thought. //Not exactly a stellar first contact, but at least they spoke to me.//

 

Done with his pouting, Max said, //They are foolish to miss the chance to speak with you further.//  Max was Claude's staunchest ally, and he basked in the glow of Max's sincerity.

 

Deciding it was time to head back, Claude began swimming toward Chaka's lake.  It took a while, but he could swim for hours and not get tired, thanks to Max.  As he surfaced near his destination, he heard shouting.  It was Kenal and Chaka, and even from here, he could sense Daikoku's displeasure, and Chaka's symbiote, Jacksun, named after Daniel, was just as upset.

 

Besides Chaka and Kenal, there were four men on the shore.  All of them had Goa'uld in them, and they weren't friendly.  They weren't particularly unfriendly, Claude thought with confusion; they felt sort of weird.  On second perusal, Claude thought maybe one of the symbiotes was friendly, but it was too frantic to know for sure.   He was in the tallest man, and it was he who Kenal and Chaka were yelling at, singling out that one in particular. 

   

Claude strode out of the water.  "What's happening?" he demanded, letting the symbiote tank he'd carried on his back--now full with two friendly symbiotes--slide to the ground.

 

The three older men crossed their arms over their chests, staying silent, however, Claude noticed that their fingers were close to their weapons.  Kenal and Chaka started blabbing away in Unas, their words tripping over each other until it was nothing but gibberish. 

 

Surprisingly, it was the unknown friendly Goa'uld who explained, the tall man's eyes glowing.  "I do not wish to stay in this host," the symbiote blurted out.  "He does not accept Daniel as our System Lord.  He does not intend to take me to him.  He only wanted a symbiote so he could find others of our kind.  He does not like the Tauri or how strong they are becoming with us as their allies.  He does not intend to allow the Tauri to become any stronger.  He wants to stop Daniel Jackson."  The last was said almost in a wail.

 

This must have been a symbiote that Daniel had communed with in the lake on one of his visits for it to already be so dedicated to Daniel.  Or maybe it had just been visiting with Daikoku or Jacksun.  They passed on their love for Daniel faster than the speed of light.  "Who are you?" he asked the men.

 

"We are Tok'ra," the oldest man said.  "I am Lumbel."

 

"And I am Guldia," said the voice of his Goa'uld.

 

Merde, Claude thought to himself.  He'd never met a Tok'ra before, but he'd heard plenty of colorful stories about them, none of them particularly good.  "How did you end up inside him?" he asked the tall man's symbiote.  "And what's your name?"

 

"My Lord has not named me yet," the Goa'uld said.  "This being saw me being held by Kenal, saw that I was ready to take a host.  He told Kenal that My Lord had sent him to become a host.  Kenal is young and took the words for truth.  I took Kenal's words for truth."  The glowing eyes grew angry.  "But it was not the truth," he spat out.

 

"So come out," Claude said.  "I'll take you back with me, and we'll find you another host."  He felt no allegiance to these men who had aligned themselves, if not necessarily against Daniel, certainly not with him.

 

The other three men had their weapons out in an instant, all focused on Kenal.  "If he leaves his host," the older man threatened.  "We will hurt the young one.  It is not our desire to hurt someone so young, but if it proves necessary, we will do what we must."

 

Claude stepped in front of Kenal, running into Chaka who had had the same thought.  "Try again," Claude bit out.  He wished he had a weapon within easy reach.  With Max's help, he might be able to take down one of the men easily, but three Goa'ulds, all with weapons, was beyond him.  And even if Chaka helped, and Kenal got into the fray, which he would, one of them would get hurt, and Daniel wouldn't be happy about that.  Not that he was going to be happy losing one of his symbiotes.  In fact, neither was Claude, and he'd be willing to get a little hurt, even if it pissed Daniel off, to help him.  "Get out of him," Claude told the symbiote.

 

Deciding a different threat might be more affective, the weapons turned on the tall man.  "If you leave him, we will hunt down Daniel Jackson and kill him."

 

The symbiote inside the tall man was so upset his emotions almost bowled Claude over. 

 

"Do you honestly think Daniel will stand by as you steal one of his symbiotes?" Claude asked.

 

"They are not his," one of the other Tok'ra said in anger.  "Daniel Jackson has assumed too much.  We have been fighting this war against the Goa'uld far longer than the Tauri.  We will not stand by as the Tauri become too powerful to control.  They are too young a species to have that kind of power, unchecked.  Especially with someone who is ill equipped to lead them, and has the temerity to take the title of system lord."

 

"It sounds to me as if you are too young," Max said, taking over in his anger.  "Daniel Jackson brings peace.  What do you bring?  Anger?  Fear?  Threats of death if your commands are not obeyed?  You know not what you speak.  If you do this, you will become our enemy.  Daniel Jackson freed us so we may choose our host and our host may choose us, so we may live as one.  By demanding this symbiote stay in a host truly not of his choosing, you deny us that right."

 

"You are the one who does not know of what he speaks," the older man's Goa'uld said haughtily.  "We will end the reign of the Goa'uld.  We will destroy every system lord until there are no more."

 

"Including Daniel Jackson?" Max demanded.  Claude could feel him vibrating with anger. 

 

"If he stands against us," the Goa'uld said firmly.  "He has been invited to join us.  It is his place, indeed, all of you who have taken a symbiote, to stand with us.  We understand war, and it is through that understanding that we will persevere."

 

"Daniel Jackson understands peace, and because of it, we will achieve it," Max said stubbornly.  "You understand war, and thrive on it, and because of this, your war will never end."  He looked at the tall man. "Leave him," he ordered the symbiote.  "Do not be a part of this."

 

The tall man lurched forward as the symbiote ripped out of his body, falling to the ground with a wet thud.  The man hit the ground right after him, gasping in pain, blood geysering out of his body, the light in his eyes dimming.  As a zat blast enveloped him, Claude saw no more. 

 

 

*****

Jack was standing against the wall in the back of the room as Vidrine ran down what they knew about the Goa'uld ships to John Sheppard and Cameron Mitchell.  Mitchell hadn't decided to take a Goa'uld yet, but by the gleam of excitement in his eyes as he listened to the wonders of an interstellar Teltak, he'd be taking one soon.  And, griped Jack to himself, he'd probably want Tana'oa.

 

It had been a fairly uneventful day.  The last time Jack had checked, Teal'c and Daniel were in Daniel's office, working on a translation.  Carter and Sean were out on a shopping trip for stuff for the new tank, Hammond was buried in paper work in his office, and SG-3 was off doing whatever SG-3 did when they weren't on missions or following Jack and Daniel around.

 

For whatever reason, a sort of hiatus was going on, and a lot of their non-Goa'ulded VIPs had chosen this time to go back home and report in.  The mountain felt empty, which suited Jack just fine.  Lately it had seemed as if it might burst at the seams.

 

"This is so cool," Sheppard announced to the room at large.

 

"What?" Mitchell asked.  "What's so cool?"

 

"I know how to fly this.  Well, he does," he amended, pointing at his head.  A lopsided smile formed on his face that made Jack assume he and his symbiote were having a little entertaining chat.

 

"What'd you decide to call him, anyway?" Mitchell asked, seeing as Vidrine didn't seem to be taking it amiss that Sheppard had decided to start talking in the middle of his presentation. 

 

"Flutie," Sheppard said.  "After Doug Flutie."

 

"That," Jack said with great satisfaction from the back of the room, "is a great name.  I get that name."

 

"Yeah," Sheppard said enthusiastically, turning around to include Jack, "and when you get yours," he told Mitchell, as if it were a done deal, "you can call him Phelan."

 

"Hail Mary," Jack said, always glad to be reminded of one of the best moments in football.

 

Sheppard grinned at him in appreciation.  His eyes even glowed a little, Flutie, apparently, liking the conversation.

 

"Gentlemen," Vidrine said, with a slight hint of sarcasm, as if this hadn't been the first time Sheppard had gone off on a tangent, "could we get back to the business at hand?"

 

"Sorry, General," Sheppard said, actually sounding contrite.  "When do I get to fly one of these things?"

 

"Tomorrow," Vidrine said.  "Before our mission on Thursday, I want you to have a trial run.  We'll be heading for the alpha base."

 

"Where's that?"

 

"On another planet," Jack piped in.

 

"So cool," Sheppard said with a beaming grin. 

 

The alarm went off, Walter's voice announcing an unscheduled gate activation.  Jack took off for the control room at a run.  He heard footsteps behind him, but didn't stop to see who it was.  He almost ran into Daniel and Teal'c as they came around the corner from the opposite direction.

 

"Any idea?" Daniel asked.

 

"Nope," Jack said.  "There're only a couple teams off-world."

 

Daniel frowned and looked over Jack's shoulder at whoever was right behind him.  "Flutie?" he asked in some confusion. 

 

Flutie must be ratting his name out to Daniel, and Jack was sure his friend had absolutely no idea who Doug Flutie was.  He'd have to see if he could find a copy of that game, or at least that particular play.  Daniel had no doubt been up to his elbows in sand in Egypt at the time.

 

They got to the control room just as Walter said, "It's Dr. Bausch's IDC."

 

"Let him in," Jack said.  "When was he due back?" 

 

"Not until tomorrow," Walter said.  The iris slid back revealing the event horizon, and Claude walked through, looking very grim, one of the small Goa'uld tanks clutched in his arms, Kenal and Chaka right behind him. 

 

"Hel-lo," Jack said to no one in particular.  The look on Claude's face was enough to tell him something had gone for shit on Kahlua.  Bringing Kenal and Chaka told Jack it was even worse. 

 

"Claude," Daniel said, as he entered the Gateroom, "what's going on?"

 

"We're in trouble, Daniel," Claude said harshly.  "And what I did didn't help.  But first things first.  He needs you."  He handed Daniel the cooler.  "Fix him, and then we'll get to the bad news."  As soon as Daniel sat down at the edge of the ramp, Claude hovered close.  "Am I too late?" he asked anxiously.  "Is he dead?  I stopped sensing him right before we came through the gate, but I couldn't just leave him there."

 

Looking confused, Daniel opened up the cooler.  Jack peered in and saw a lifeless mature Goa'uld symbiote floating in red-tinged liquid.

 

Gasping, Daniel reached in and picked him up.  "What happened?" he asked in consternation.  "Whose blood is this?"  The symbiote moved weakly in his grasp.

 

"Thank God," Claude said gratefully, "he's not dead."  He looked heavenward as if thanking someone, and Max's eyes glowed for a second in an equal relief.


The symbiote was alive, but it was a disaster.  Its emotions buffeted Jack, made his chest tight, and made him want to hug the damn thing.  Daniel didn't look like he was having much luck making sense of it all, other than the indisputable fact that he had a symbiote on his hands that was chock full of fucked up feelings.  Jack tried to work his way through the emotional buffet.  Part of it was this longing, this yearning to be with Daniel, coupled with a disbelief that he was actually with him. 

 

Guilt was the next strongest emotion, a sense of not deserving to be with Daniel.  Jack fought for the right word.  Cringing.  The symbiote was cringing inside.  Then sadness, fear, and that desperate yearning again that put a lump in Jack's throat.   "Jesus," Jack said, his voice sort of strained as it worked its way past the tightness in his throat.  "What happened?"

 

"I'm not sure yet.  I'm mostly getting images."  He looked up at Claude.  "Someone died?"

 

Claude nodded.  "His host," he said grimly.

 

Daniel's eyes opened wide.  "His host died?" he exclaimed.  "How?"

 

More cringing.  Serious, serious cringing.  Junior must be interpreting all of Daniel's words to the symbiote in Daniel's hands.

 

Max answered, "He left his host, and the host died."

 

That must have been ugly, Jack thought to himself with a grimace.  "Why did he do that?"  No wonder the Goa'uld was freaked if he'd killed his host.

 

"Because I told him to," Max said, half apologetic--aimed at Daniel--part I-was-right-so-leave-me-the-fuck-alone, aimed at the rest of them.

 

"Why?" Daniel asked in consternation, still holding onto the symbiote but dunking him in the fluid to keep his skin lubricated.

 

"His host was Tok'ra," Max said, his voice sharing Jack's sentiments about the Tok'ra. 

 

Kenal broke in at this point, speaking in Unas, gesturing wildly.  Sheppard looked like he was sort of following the conversation, Vidrine, not so much.  Vidrine's symbiote obviously didn't come with the language package.

 

"Hey, hey," Jack interrupted when Kenal showed no signs of slowing down.  "What's he saying?"

 

Daniel looked up at Jack and his expression was now equally as grim as Claude's and angry as well.  "A group of four Tok'ra showed up on Kuokoa in search of friendly symbiotes.  One of them found Kenal and fooled him into thinking I'd sent them.  He gave them a friendly symbiote."

 

"Fuck," Jack said.

 

"No kidding," Claude echoed.

 

Kenal's symbiote picked up the story.  Jack could never remember his name, Di-something.

 

"Kenal is young," he explained in as gentle a tone as an Unas' throat could manage.  "He had no reason to believe the man was lying.  And before I could counsel him to wait, this symbiote joined with the host.  I called for Chaka to help as the four men then wanted to take the symbiote away.  But the symbiote did not wish to go once he knew what type of host he was within."

 

Jack started to clue into something else.  This symbiote really needed a host.  Jack was starting to recognize the feeling now.  Sort of like the feeling after you've stuffed yourself sick on Thanksgiving day, sure that if anyone touched you you'd explode into a million pieces of stuffing and mashed potatoes.  "He needs a host bad, Daniel," Jack said.

 

"I know," Daniel said softly.  "But he doesn't believe he deserves one."  He glanced up at Claude again.  "The host is really dead?" he asked again, as if maybe, hopefully, he'd misunderstood.

 

"Very," Claude responded with dour satisfaction.  Then, with a wince at Daniel, he added, "Sorry.  But, you didn't hear what they were saying.  You didn't hear what they threatened that symbiote with.  They said they'd kill Kenal.  They said they'd kill you if he tried to leave."

 

"He was nothing but loyal to you," Max said, in the symbiote's defense, his eyes glowing hotly out of Claude's face. 

 

Teal'c's eyes were looking fierce, as if he'd wished he'd had the chance to throttle the Tok'ra before the symbiote had ripped itself out of him.

 

Daniel curled around the symbiote now, crooning to it, trying to reassure him.  The symbiote was inconsolable, though.  It reminded Jack of Charlie when he was four or five and decided to make Sara breakfast on Mother's Day, and accidentally set the pan on fire.  Sara had ended up burning her hand trying to rescue her kitchen, and while Jack had been smearing her blistered fingers with ointment, Charlie had cried and cried, nothing able to break through his misery at ruining everything.  That was how this Goa'uld felt.

 

"No, no," Daniel said soothingly.  "It's all right.  You're safe now.  There's nothing to forgive, but if you need me to say it, I do, I do forgive you."

 

Eyes were glowing all around Jack, and it didn't take long for Paul, Jeff, Brian, and Eric to come flying into the Gateroom, having picked up on Daniel's distress. 

 

"No, no," Daniel said again, stroking the symbiote, "anyone would be glad to be your host.  They'll understand, I promise."

 

Yeah, Jack could see how the Goa'uld might think his market value had plummeted.

 

"I'll be his host," Mitchell said.  "I mean, whoever he killed was a bad guy, right?"  He looked at Claude, "Right?"

 

"Yes," Max answered.  "He was a bad man.  He threatened our System Lord.  He threatened our new life.  He cared nothing for our freedom."

 

"I mean," Mitchell said, sort of back pedaling, "he's not gonna decide I'm a bad guy, and kill me, is he?"

 

"No," Daniel snapped out.  "He's not."

 

Mitchell suddenly found himself surrounded by annoyed glowing eyes and he put his hands up in an I-come-in-peace-don't-shoot-me gesture.  Jack recognized it well, as it was one he used on a regular basis.

 

"Hey," Jack said to Daniel, risking his ire.  "It was a reasonable question.  And a pretty nice offer."

 

Daniel closed his eyes for a second.  When he opened them he winced a smile at Mitchell.  "It was, and I'm sorry.  And no, none of these Goa'uld would ever hurt one of their chosen hosts.  He was essentially kidnapped, and he chose to be free.  That's all."

 

More cringing from the symbiote.  But the longing continued unabated, and the need for a host grew.  He'd be in serious trouble soon.  "Will he take Mitchell?" Jack asked.

 

Shaking his head, Daniel said, "He keeps saying he doesn't deserve a host."  To the symbiote he said, "I don't want you to die."

 

It was like old Chang all over again but without a happy solution in sight.  "Will he take me?" Jack asked, knowing it was wrong somehow, but having to ask.  He pushed thoughts of Tana'oa aside.

 

Daniel just shook his head, entirely focused on the symbiote.  "No, young one, I can't be your host.  I'm already a host."  There were a few moments of silence, then Daniel's eyebrows went up.  "Someone like me?"  His brow furrowed.

 

Jack snorted.  "He wants someone like you?  Good luck with that."

 

"Someone like you, how?" Claude asked Daniel.

 

Eyes bright with pity, Daniel said, "He wants someone he knows will forgive him."  He blinked a few times, his lips tight.

 

"Shit," Jack said, his mind running furiously over everyone who was on the list to be a host who was a softie like Daniel.  Not that Jack couldn't forgive just about anyone offing a nasty Tok'ra, but Jack would give the Goa'uld shit about it.  Mitchell would, too.  It was just their way.  This symbiote apparently needed some serious TLC, maybe a counseling session or two.

 

Paul Costello snapped his fingers.  "I know just the person.  Tell the little guy to hold on."  He whipped out his phone and dialed a number, his foot tapping impatiently as he waited for whoever it was he was calling to answer.  "Sean?" he said quickly.  "Get your ass back to the mountain as if you had wings."  There was a pause.  "Are your feet moving?  Are you running?  Drop it, we'll go back to get it later.  I mean it.  There's a symbiote in serious trouble and he needs some of your shaman mojo."  Another pause.  "He's dying, Sean.  Hurry."

 

"Sean," Daniel said softly.  "That's a wonderful idea, Paul, thank you."  To the symbiote, he asked, "Can you hang on a little longer?"

 

A surge of longing so powerful coming from the Goa'uld forced Jack to turn away and knuckle his eyes.  The upwelling of more guilt and grief didn't help.  This was one fucked up symbiote.  Jack had to feel bad for the kid.  One minute he thinks he's getting a host and heading to Daniel-land, and the next second everything's gone to shit.

 

And that brought Jack back to the situation at hand.  The Tok'ra had tried to get a friendly symbiote, no doubt in hopes of leveling the playing field.  Which meant they totally got that Earth had a leg up now and the Tok'ra were outmanned and outgunned. 

 

"What were the names of the Tok'ra?" Teal'c asked Claude.

 

Kenal sat next to Daniel and, gently, given his huge hands and long claws, stroked the symbiote.  Maybe Jack would get to see another Twilight Zone faith healing service.

 

"Only one of them," Claude said.  "The oldest Tok'ra said his name was Lumbel, and his Goa'uld was named Guldia."

 

Jack had never heard of them.  To Teal'c he asked, "Sound familiar?"

 

"No, I do not recognize those names," Teal'c said.

 

Jack wondered where the hell Jacob had gotten himself to and if he knew, and even supported, these tactics.  Jack sure as hell hoped not, or Carter'd be out one dad.

 

Hammond finally joined them in the Gateroom.  "Colonel?" he asked.  Jack had seen him look down as soon as he'd arrived, to make sure Jack was there handling things.

 

"Trouble, sir," Jack said.  "The Tok'ra showed up on Chaka's planet, looking for a friendly Goa'uld all of their very own." 

 

Hammond's face tightened.  "What happened?"

 

It was Max who answered.  "This symbiote was misled and he chose a Tok'ra to be his host.  When he found out treachery was involved, and that they meant harm to Daniel and his people, I told him to leave his host, even if it meant his death, and he did as I told.  His host is now dead."

 

"And they let you go free?" Hammond asked, reminding Jack that there were still a few unanswered questions. 

 

"Good question, sir," Jack said to the general.  Then, looking at Max, he asked, "What happened then?  Are they all dead?"

 

"No," Max said.  "They attacked us, shooting us with a zat'nik'atel.  If not for Chaka, we might all be dead or taken.  He did not succumb to the weapon blast as I did."

 

At this point, Chaka started blabbing away.  Jack tried to follow the conversation by watching Chaka's gestures as he waved his club around, but all Jack could get out of it was 'club up club down club all around'.  Not exactly an attention grabber as story lines go.  "Someone wanna translate?" he asked all the glowy eyes.  They weren't exactly a happy group right now. 

 

Not that he could blame them.  Daniel had been threatened, a symbiote had been used and abused, and three of the hosts had been attacked by Tok'ra.  A bad day all around for the friendly Goa'uld.

 

It was Chaka's symbiote, Jacksun, who filled in the gaps.  "They attempted to take Kenal," he growled.  "They dragged him to a circle in the sand, and I believe they intended to use transporter rings to return him to their ship."

 

Daniel was listening to the conversation with sad eyes, but most of his attention was still on the symbiote in the tank in front of him.

 

"My host and I recovered very quickly from the blast of the zat'nik'atel," Jacksun continued, "and fought the Tok'ra to save Kenal."

 

"I'm guessing one or all of them are dead?" Jack guessed. 

 

"I killed one," Chaka said.  "Da-nell," he then said to Daniel, sorrow in his eyes.

 

Daniel shook his head to stop any further words.  "You don't need to apologize.  You had every right to protect Kenal.  I'm just sorry it happened at all."

 

"So two of them got away?" Jack asked with a scowl, thinking everything might have been easier if all four of the Tok'ra ended up becoming fish food.

 

"That's not the worst of it," Claude said, crouching by Daniel.

 

Shit, Jack thought to himself.  What now?

 

"I'm sorry, Daniel," Claude said miserably, "but while Kenal and I were unconscious, and Chaka was fighting for Kenal, one of the other Tok'ra took my symbiote tank.  There were two mature symbiotes in it.  This cooler here was one of the ones you'd left with Chaka."

 

"Shit."  This time Jack said it out loud. 

 

"If I'm understanding this correctly," Hammond said unhappily, "the Tok'ra now have two mature friendly symbiotes to merge with a Tok'ra host?"


Claude nodded miserably.

 

"They will not," Jacksun said firmly.  "I spoke to all the symbiotes within hearing range, and told them not to merge with anyone unless their System Lord was present.  I told them there were traitors in the midst of us who wished to do Daniel harm.  They will not merge."

 

That was sort of a relief.  Except…

 

"Then, they're as good as dead," Daniel said softly.

 

Except for that.  And it's not like Daniel could even mount a rescue mission as they had no idea who the remaining Tok'ra were, or where they'd gone.

 

"Did I do wrong, my Lord?" Jacksun asked, down on one knee now.