by Stargate
“That’s a pity,” Hannah said evenly, “I was just about to ask you about the Pack, but now I feel bad.”
Daniel shook his head. “No, it’s okay. Occupational hazard, I guess.” He blew out a breath. “Not much to tell. At this stage, it could go either way with them. They weren’t best pleased with being hustled off to the Alpha Site.”
“I read the briefing document on them. You think there’s a chance the treaty could fall apart?”
“It’s possible,” he admitted. “But right now the biggest question is how base security was compromised.”
The woman took this in. “They did have one of their people on the base for what, a whole day before the others arrived? Maybe she was responsible.”
“Suj? I don’t think so.” Daniel shook his head.
“Never can tell,” noted Hannah. “The SGC could be catching fallout from some internal struggle inside the Pack.”
“That occurred to me. But if that device had detonated, Suj would have been killed along with all the rest of us. She doesn’t strike me as the suicide bomber type.”
“Some people are willing to do whatever it takes, if the stakes are high enough,” she replied. “We can’t really know what that must be like until we’re in the same place they are.”
After a moment, Daniel shook his head and tried to change the subject. “Can we go back to an ordinary conversation again? I like the novelty of it.”
“Sadly, no.” Hannah stood. “I have to go on duty now.” She touched him on the forearm and looked at him intently; once again, he saw the mirror of his wife’s expression on her face. “How about this? We should arrange to have a dull and normal conversation the next chance we get, just to break up the monotony of all this amazing stuff going on.”
“Sounds good to me.”
She flashed him one last smile and went on her way. He tried not to watch her go; well, he didn’t try that hard.
Jade kept her expression fixed until she was through the mess hall doors, and then she let it drop away like a discarded mask. She flattened the pang of guilt she felt at what she had done. Deliberately emulating the mannerisms of Jackson’s dead wife was a callous and calculated gambit, but it had worked. The man had let his guard down even without being aware of it, and from then on it was only a matter of expressing the right emotional cues to make him well-disposed toward her. Jade had done similar things to other men and women on dozens of occasions, on other missions in other places, building on stolen information about them to earn their trust; but this time it made her feel cheap and ashamed. He was a good man, and she had no right to manipulate him.
But there was the mission, and it mattered more than Daniel Jackson’s feelings. The mission, the mission, always the damned mission! She was starting to think like her father. It made it so much easier to betray the man’s trust when she laid it at the altar of the mission. It was better to think that way, to see him as just another target in the operational environment, to compartmentalize herself and not get involved. But you’re already involved, aren’t you? Her self-accusation echoed in her thoughts. Jackson’s not just a mark. You care about him. And you want him to care about you.
She shook off the recriminations with a flick of her head. Jade’s fingertips felt dusty and she brushed them against the hem of her jacket. The residue there was all that was left of the transmitter medium from the nanite colony she had deposited on Daniel’s jacket when she touched him. Microscopic and virtually undetectable unless one knew exactly what to look for, the molecule-sized machines had been tasked to bind themselves to the threads of his clothing and begin a replication cycle. In a hour, perhaps two at the most, the nanites would form a matrix inside the jacket that that would turn it into a surveillance device. From then on, if she was close enough, Jade’s implant would be able to read energy patterns in the air around the clothing. For as long as Daniel wore the jacket, she would be able to listen in on any conversations he had, even view data on screens in his close proximity. Everything was ready for phase two.
Jack rapped on the door and Hammond looked up and beckoned him in. “Get in here, colonel, and close that behind you.”
O’Neill did as he was ordered, glancing out through the star chart window of the general’s office. “You rang, sir?”
“I just got off the horn with the White House,” he tapped the red phone on his desk, “and if you notice I don’t have a backside when I get up, Jack, it’s because the president just chewed it off me.”
O’Neill said nothing. George Hammond was pissed off, and that happened very rarely; but when it did, Jack knew well enough to just let him vent.
“It seems that Vice President Kinsey’s first action on returning from the Alpha Site after the all-clear was to contact Washington and present them with his version of events.”
“I’m guessing he didn’t paint the SGC in the most favorable light?”
“That, colonel, is putting it mildly. He’s calling for a full senatorial investigation to be drawn up and is threatening to go to the International Oversight Advisory.”
Jack had to work to stop his hands tightening into fists. “Could he be any more of a dick?” O’Neill blinked and looked up. “Sorry, sir. Did I say that or just think it?”
Hammond let out a weary sigh. “No matter how much I may concur with your estimation of the man’s character, we don’t have the luxury of influence that Kinsey enjoys on the Hill. He’s demanding that he be given direct operational authority for the duration of the diplomatic summit with the Pack—”
“Aw, for cryin’ out loud.”
“And he wants a full and complete security overview for the entire program, expedited immediately.” The general tapped a sheaf of papers on his desk. “I’ve already recalled SG-9, SG-13 and SG-27 to bolster base operations. They were on non-critical sorties, so we won’t lose anything there… But I need this bomb issue to be resolved, colonel. I need it done yesterday.”
“Roger that, sir.” Jack jerked his thumb at the door. “I took the liberty of ordering a level one sweep of the base, top to bottom, the whole magnifying glass and tweezers treatment. Teal’c volunteered to co-ordinate the effort.”
Hammond nodded. “Good. God knows what kind of mess we’d be in if not for him. It’s imperative that we find out how that device was smuggled on to the base and who was responsible. All leave has been cancelled and I’m having Air Force Intelligence run a deep read on all the new intake of staff, just to be certain.”
“You think it’s one of our guys?”
“Until I have proof positive on that weapon’s origins, everyone is a potential suspect, Jack.”
O’Neill grimaced. He loathed the idea that someone he served with could be capable of planting a bomb that would have wiped them all out; but the general was right. They couldn’t afford to leave any stone unturned.
“Frankly,” Hammond continued, “I’m more concerned that there might be other devices we haven’t located yet.”
Jack shook his head. “I don’t think so, sir. To be brutal about it, I don’t think we’d be standing here debating the point if there was another of those things lying under a box somewhere. We’d be wispy gas and largely dead.”
The general gave a reluctant nod. “True. But we have to operate on the assumption of the worst. If an enemy can plant a weapon of mass destruction inside our key facility at will, then maybe Kinsey has a point about security.”
He blinked. “Did I just hear you agree with something Kinsey said?” Jack ran a hand through his hair. “Wow. Things really must be bad.”
Hammond’s frown deepened. “The vice president will be returning in a few hours to be here when Vix radios in. I’d like to have something to show when he arrives.”
O’Neill nodded. “We’re on it.”
The squad of troopers entered the lab and fanned out. Two men with M4 assault rifles remained at the door while four others swept the room with a variety of sensing devices. Teal’c followed them in and salut
ed Carter with an alien weapon in his grip. Sam recognized the curved form of a transphase eradication rod. The TER was of Tok’ra design, a combined energy weapon and scanning emitter that specifically targeted threats capable of existing out of phase with normal matter. Having tangled with their fair share of invisible enemies over the years, the devices had come in useful on more than one occasion.
She raised an eyebrow. “You’re armed for bear.”
Teal’c mirrored her expression. “A bear would be far simpler to locate.”
“You think there’s an intruder on the base?”
“I am prepared for any eventuality.” He hefted the TER. “We will meet any threat with the force required to neutralize it.”
“Good to know,” said Sam. She was back in duty fatigues now, and on the work table in the center of the lab lay the remains of the explosive device and a chunk of wall which the engineering corpsmen had been forced to burn off to remove it. Elsewhere there was a magnetically sealed chamber holding the naquadria vial and on a third Sam had donated her ruined dress shirt so that Doctor Lee could run an analysis on the binary liquids that stained it. She stood back and let Teal’c’s squad do their jobs.
One by one, the airmen called out “Clear!” and retreated from the room. The Jaffa nodded to his subordinate and handed him the TER. “Lieutenant Everitt, proceed with the sweep as planned. I will join you shortly.”
Sam returned to the dismantled bomb as Teal’c came closer. “As you’re here, maybe you can give us the benefit of your knowledge.” She pointed at the petal-shaped segments of the device. “Take a good look. Anything seem familiar?”
Teal’c was silent for a long moment. “I have nothing to add to my initial judgment, Major. The weapon is fabricated from a mixture of extant technologies.”
“An alien IED…” said Lee.
“Yeah, we got that.” Carter pointed out parts of the bomb with a stylus. “This, this and this, all Goa’uld in origin. This section looks like it could be Tok’ra hardware. And these, these things are new to me.” She blew out a breath. “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces are from different pictures.”
“Such an eclectic mix of machinery does parallel the Pack’s technological methods.”
“That thought had crossed my mind,” said Sam. “The same kind of grab-bag of hardware we saw on the Wanderer.”
“This could be an internal squabble that spilled over on to our turf,” said the other scientist.
Sam sighed. “That’s hardly a smoking gun.”
“Not yet,” Lee threw his comment in from across the room, pausing in his work.
Teal’c continued to study the device. “Have you ascertained how it got through base security checks?”
“I thought it could have been beamed in,” offered Lee. “Remember that energy discharge from the Stargate? The two could have been connected.”
Sam shook her head. “No, the timing doesn’t marry up. That shaft was checked a couple of hours after the discharge took place and it was clean, which makes it certain the device was planted after that. Besides, even Asgard transporters have a problem penetrating this far underground.” Carter pinched the bridge of her nose. “I feel like I’m missing something. We have to step back and think about this dispassionately. It’s not just a question of dismantling this thing and reverse-engineering it. We need to see through it, figure out who wanted to put it here in the first place.”
“Understand your opponent’s intent, and you understand your opponent.”
“Exactly.” Sam waved a finger at Teal’c and began a slow orbit of the work table. “We’re concentrating on what this thing is, how it was put here. Let’s come at this from a different approach. What’s the payoff? Like they say in a court of law, cui bono?”
“Who benefits?” Teal’c translated.
“I didn’t know you spoke Latin,” said Lee.
The Jaffa shook his head. “I do not. But I find many of your legal drama serials very entertaining.”
“Right,” continued Carter, “so if we look at it another way, the real question is— what would have happened if the bomb had gone off?”
“Total obliteration of Stargate Command and probably the Earth gate too,” said Lee, scowling at the thought. “Even if the gate survived the naquadria blast, it would still be buried under the collapsed remains of Cheyenne Mountain.”
“So that would mean no effective SGC presence in the galaxy for months, probably years. No support for our allies in the Free Jaffa Nation and a dozen other worlds.”
“We would not be the only victims,” noted Teal’c. “If the device had detonated before we discovered it, the senior members of the Pack would also have been killed.”
Sam shot him a look. “Result?”
“At the very least, a cessation of any potential for alliance between the Pack and the Tau’ri. At worst, they might consider us responsible and declare hostilities against Earth.”
“And who gains from that?” Carter tapped on the table. “Who wants us and the Pack out of the way, at each other’s throats even?”
“You believe there is a third force at work?”
Lee shook his head, thinking it through. “Not the Trust. They hate us, sure, but they’d never blow up the SGC. They’d want it intact. It’s the System Lords! It’s gotta be! They fit the profile perfectly!” He grinned. “Heh. But which one?”
“Take your pick,” Sam frowned.
“I do not agree,” said Teal’c. “There is a flaw in your hypothesis.” He pointed at the bomb. “This method of attack is highly atypical for a Goa’uld System Lord.”
“How so?” said Lee.
“This is a patient and anonymous weapon. I have never known a System Lord to exhibit either of those qualities in abundance. If our invader were a Goa’uld, they would have ensured that we were fully aware of their identity before we perished. Their arrogance would not allow them to do otherwise.”
Carter nodded slowly, seeing the merit in the Jaffa’s words. “He’s makes a good point. The Goa’uld really have a thing about gloating. It’s practically pathological.”
Doctor Lee folded his arms, unhappy that his theory had been so quickly shot down. “If it’s not the System Lords, then we’re back to square one.”
“Yeah,” Sam sighed. “We are.”
Daniel caught Sergeant Siler as the airman passed him in a corridor. “Hey, what’s the rush? I just saw three squads of Marines double-timing it to the elevator bank.”
Siler made a face. “Our distinguished guest has returned, Doctor Jackson. He’s on his way down right now, and his advance team demanded that he have a full honor guard.”
Jackson snorted. “He complains about base security and then he pulls men off search details to inflate his own sense of ego.”
“I couldn’t possibly comment, Doctor,” Siler replied in a dour voice. “I’m just a non-com and I don’t get to bitch about elected officials like you civvies do.”
Daniel patted the other man on the shoulder. “Well, thanks for the heads-up. I think I’ll keep out of Kinsey’s way for the moment.” He moved off, taking a corridor at random, and Jackson realized that he was close to the infirmary. Immediately, the face of Hannah Wells popped into his thoughts and he found himself wondering about her. Would it look too weird if he just wandered in to say hi? It had only been a little while ago they’d been in the mess hall, and still he found his attention drifting back to her in odd moments of ellipsis. He hovered in the middle of the corridor, and gave a small chuckle. What am I doing? This base is in the middle of an alert and I’m getting my eye caught by a pretty face like a teenager in High School. He shook his head and turned back the way he had come, just as the door to a storage room opened and Hannah stepped out. She had a case of blood test syrettes in her hands and she blinked in surprise to see him.
“Oh. Daniel.” She covered with a quick smile. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m hiding out. Kinsey’s back.”
“Who?” Hannah threw a quick, distracted look down the corridor.
On impulse, Daniel followed her gaze; but she appeared to be staring at nothing. “The Vice President of the United States?” he offered.
“Oh. Him.” She smiled again. “I’m not much for politics.”
He indicated the case. “Do you need any help with those?”
“How gallant, Doctor. No, I can manage. Warner’s been snowed under doing blood tests for everyone on the base because of the heightened security levels.” She patted the box. “We were running short.”
Daniel started to speak again, but his attention was drawn away as booted footsteps sounded around the corner of the corridor. At first he expected to see more Marines on an urgent call to Kinsey’s little circus, but instead Teal’c emerged with a knot of armed airman behind him.
“Corridor A-6-9-Bravo, secure,” said the Jaffa into his radio. “Proceeding to A-7-5-Charlie.” Teal’c spotted Daniel and Hannah ahead of him, and his eyes narrowed.
“I’ve got to go,” said the woman quickly. “I’ll see you later.” She was walking briskly away before Jackson had a chance to say anything else.
Teal’c came closer, a cold expression on his face. Daniel had seen that look before, many times, on hostile worlds and in battle situations. “What’s up?” he asked.
The Jaffa halted and unlimbered a TER from his shoulder strap. “Stand aside, Daniel Jackson.”
“Is there something wrong?” He turned in place, looking up and down the empty corridor.
Teal’c thumbed a switch on the TER and the emitter cone on the Tok’ra weapon began to hum, throwing out a faint vapor of energy. The warrior panned the gun this way and that, frowning. After a few moments, Teal’c deactivated the transphase rod and let it drop to his side.
Daniel gave him an arch look. “Did you do that just to spook me, or what?”