Sam said, “A dead-man’s switch.”
“Right. It took me a while, but I found the shut-off switch on this device. This particular piece of the puzzle has been disabled. It’s harmless.”
“That’s great,” Sam said.
Jack held up a hand. “Wait. Every silver lining has a gray cloud around it. Daniel…?”
Daniel sighed. “We have no way of knowing how many of these devices Kali created. Taking this one out of the loop could also have disabled every device it was programmed to activate down the road. But we don’t even know how many planets she had under her control. If even one device goes off, it could be devastating to the Jaffa.”
“Wrath of a vengeful god apparently striking from beyond the grave?” Sam said. “They would lose all the progress they’ve gained since Dakara. They might never recover from that.”
Jack said, “Okay, so what are the options? Go around checking all of Kali’s summer homes, see if there are any of these devices lying around?”
Sam said, “We could ask the Tok’ra if they have any insights they’d be willing to share. There’s a chance they won’t want to talk to us at all given how they feel about us these days, but anything they give us would help. They could at least give us an idea of where to start instead of just going to every single one of Kali’s planets and shutting off each individual device one at a time. There has to be some way to disable all of the devices at once.”
“Why?” Jack said.
“Well, think about it, sir. Kali wouldn’t take the time to manually shut off every single device in the circuit. She must have had some sort of…”
“Remote control?” Jack suggested.
“For lack of a better term.”
Daniel said, “Sam’s right. There has to be some way to shut them all off at once.”
“Okay. So we find the remote control and shut down all the devices in one fell swoop,” Jack said. “What’s the time frame?”
“We don’t know. I can’t imagine it would be very long because she would want to punish them as swiftly as possible. Then again, she couldn’t exactly devote every day to making sure the device didn’t go off accidentally. Best guess is that every time she disabled the devices, they would remain dormant for at least a few months. It’s been a few weeks since Dakara, so I have to imagine the clock is running out fast. I was going to suggest leaving SG-9 on the planet to investigate the temple further, maybe find out more about when and how this thing was installed. If there’s anything left to be found, Morello will find it.”
Jack looked at the woman, who seemed surprised by Daniel’s suggestion. “You up for the challenge?”
She composed herself quickly and nodded. “I am, sir.”
“Okay. We’ll get in touch with the Tok’ra and see what they’re willing to offer in terms of information. We should also reach out to the Jaffa and let them know what’s going on.”
Sam smiled. “Any Jaffa in particular you’d like to contact, sir?”
Jack returned her smile as he stood up. “Might be nice to have the big guy back here again. Colonel, take your team back to the planet and continue the search. While you’re there, use their gate to contact the Jaffa and ask Teal’c to hightail it back to the SGC.”
Daniel frowned. “Why do you want to use a secondary gate?”
Jack hooked a thumb at the Stargate. “Have you seen the bill for turning that thing on? Might as well use someone else’s phone if we’re just going to send an RSVP.”
“We should have killed him.”
Vala clucked her tongue. They had just left Siero’s bar and were strolling through the winding back alleys trying to decide their next step. At least Vala was thinking about the next step. Tanis seemed caught up on what she viewed as a missed opportunity.
“Now, Tanis. If we went around killing everyone who tried to scam us, we’d never get anything else done. Besides, it would set up an unfortunate eye-for-an-eye mentality that might come back and bite us if we ever scammed someone else. Not that we would ever stoop to something so low as a petty con.”
“Perish the thought,” Tanis said with a grin. “Fine. But we put in a lot of hours on that job. I had to clean that stupid place from top to bottom every day.”
“You had a staff!”
Tanis stuffed her hands into her pockets and glowered down the street. “So you really think Kali has a treasure waiting to be found?”
“I’m positive of it. Siero is too cowardly to lie to me about something this large. He knows that if I don’t find anything I’ll come back here and have his tentacles on a platter.” She hooked her arm around Tanis’ and pulled her close. “It wasn’t a total loss, after all. You got to keep that guard’s gun.”
“Hardly something worth bragging about. I paid for this with real money. Besides, this thing is an antique.” She took it from the holster she had ‘gently persuaded’ the guard to hand over before they left. She turned it over in her hands and pursed her lips as she examined the clip. She’d always been a fan of the older projectile weapons, if she was entirely honest with herself. They had become hot commodities during the Replicator invasion. Even though the little scurrying buggers had been defeated, bullets were still being sold at a premium in markets like this all across the galaxy. She and Vala had made quite a tidy little sum selling bullets to desperate Jaffa just a few weeks earlier. Still, one gun was hardly a worthy reward for all the hard work she’d been forced to do. She shoved it back into her holster and sighed.
“Weeks of preparation, over a month of actual hard labor scrubbing floors, and all we have to show for it is a ship full of currency, a gun, and a promise from a criminal who has just proven he isn’t trustworthy. Excuse me if I’m not exactly jumping for joy.”
“You’ll have plenty of reason to jump if this lead pans out.”
“If,” Tanis said. “He could have just told us some story to get us out of his hair.”
Vala nodded. “True. He could have made it all up on the spot, plucked it out of whole cloth, and sent us on our merry way. But if that were the case, we wouldn’t have been followed when we left his bar. The two hooded gentlemen on either side of the alley, and the young man on the rooftops tracking our progress. Don’t look up, look down.”
Tanis glanced at the mouth of the next alley. As they passed, a shadow flitted across the cobblestones from one building to the next.
“I believe they’re planning to discover what Siero told us and hijack our ship. Lends some credence to his story, wouldn’t you say?”
“Some. Not a lot. How do you want to play this?”
“We’ll let them follow us to the ship, then we turn the tables and find out what they know about Kali’s treasure. They might be able to give us an idea of where we should start looking.”
Tanis accepted that plan with a slight nod of her head. They took their time moving through the marketplace, pausing occasionally just to make the men tailing them work a little harder. The men hid their faces with their hoods, but Vala could see weapons holstered on their waists when the cloaks flipped back. They had gotten their weapons back from Siero’s guards when they left, but Vala felt the need for a little extra protection. She pocketed a small blade from one of the shop fronts they passed, and she knew Tanis had further armed herself as well.
By the time they reached their ship, the crowd had thinned out enough that their pursuers found it harder to remain concealed. Vala acted casually as she entered the ship’s code and slipped out of her jacket as she stepped inside. Tanis followed her in and darted to one side of the door, slipping a long wooden staff from of her sleeve and grasping the padded end as she crouched down.
They heard rushed footsteps as their would-be assailants hurried to reach the door before it closed. Vala waited until the first man crossed the threshold before she whipped up her coat and let him run into the billowing material. She pulled it tight across his face, like catching a thrown boulder with a sack, and used his own momentum to swing him into th
e wall. Tanis swung out her staff and cracked the second man across the shins. The blow made him stop, and he turned toward her with his fist already flying. Tanis ducked to let his knuckles crack against the bulkhead, then slammed her shoulder into the soft bowl of his gut. He was thrown back, and Vala cracked him in the jaw with a well-placed elbow.
Tanis moved toward the door and peered outside, the sickly orange security lights shining down on her face as she looked for more attackers.
“Got any other friends out there?”
“It’s just us,” the first man groaned.
Vala thumped the man with her boot. “Be honest now. We saw the little bird you had tracking us all the way from Siero’s bar. How many more are out there?”
The man Tanis had taken out grunted, “Don’t tell them anything, Rewill…”
“That’s a nice start,” Vala said. “Rewill, was it? And what was your friend’s name? Come on, he told us yours. Might as well even the score.”
“His name is Cottim,” Rewill grunted.
Vala grinned. “Wonderful! I’m Vala, and that’s Tanis. Now that we’re all acquainted with one another, perhaps you’d like to tell us why you were so interested in us.”
Cottim said, “Well, you’re both such lovely ladies…”
Tanis kicked him in a place that changed the pitch of his voice. “Try again.”
Rewill grunted in sympathy for his companion and twisted across the floor so he wasn’t in range of Vala’s boots. “Siero’s been sitting on that treasure trove line for weeks. He stiffed us on a job and tried using the information to pay us back. Only problem is, Cottim and I are in the same position as the Lucian Alliance. We just don’t have the funds to go looking for it. So when you two show up with a ship full of goodies and you leave the pub empty-handed? I figured he made you the same deal but you have the means to go after it. So my pal and I thought we’d take it off your hands. Couple of ladies like you could get into all kinds of trouble.”
Tanis smiled. “Trouble doesn’t follow us anywhere,” she said. “It just sort of starts happening once we arrive.”
“I think we’ve proven we can handle ourselves,” Vala said.
“Sure. We’ll see how tough you are when you find the treasure and Siero’s goons swoop in to take it away from you.”
Vala raised an eyebrow. “Aha. I assumed he had something up his sleeve, but it’s nice to have confirmation. Glad to hear it.”
“Glad?” Tanis said.
“Well, of course, darling. If he’s going to keep tabs on us so he can steal the treasure, then that means the information he gave us is good. He put us on the right track. So, Rewill, what exactly is in this treasure of Kali’s?”
“Typical Goa’uld excess,” Rewill said. “Gold, gems, jewelry, that sort of thing. Her palaces have been ransacked just like everybody else’s, but no one cares about Kali or her realm. She chose the losing side and now she’s paying for it. She went from being the queen bee of her corner of the galaxy to having everyone digging through her riches looking for something to sell.”
“Any particular place it’s being sold?”
“I’ve heard that most of the big stuff got funneled to a planet called Teunus. But you’re not going to get very far on that track. Teunus has been annexed by the Jaffa and they’re very stingy about who they let onto their planet. Couple of thieves like you would be turned away without a second glance.”
Vala considered his answer for a moment before relaxing her gun arm. She gestured for Rewill to get up. “Thank you, gentlemen. You’ve been most helpful. Now run along before we decide to use you as an example for anyone Siero might choose to send after us.”
Cottim roughly smoothed down his tunic as he stood up. “Can I have my weapon back?”
Tanis stared at him without saying a word. He waited, hand out, then grunted when it became clear she wasn’t going to hand it over. He glared at Rewill before storming out of the ship. Vala stepped back and allowed Rewill to pass her, waving goodbye as cheekily as possible before she shut the door behind them. Once they were alone she looked at Tanis.
“See? Now you have two guns!”
“I’m well and truly blessed,” Tanis said flatly.
“Oh, cheer up. Now we have confirmation that Siero was on the level, and we know why he was willing to part with such valuable information. All we have to do now is stay wary of anyone he has dogging our trail. There’s treasure out there, Tanis, and it’s just waiting to be plucked up.”
Tanis grinned, her eyes glistening as she thought of the possibilities. “Then let’s go get it.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Sam and Daniel tried to look inconspicuous as they stepped through the event horizon, leaving behind the comfortable environment of the SGC for the sights and scents of an alien bazaar. The Stargate was surrounded by a wooden corral with only one way out, and that exit was currently blocked by hucksters and shills trying to drum up business. As soon as they reached the base of the wooden steps they were bombarded by salesmen. A woman tried to sell Sam a string of polished stones, while Daniel was momentarily enticed by the promise of allegedly ancient books before Sam managed to pull him away.
“What are the odds the books will turn out to be authentic?”
“Oh, I have no doubt they’re fake. But sometimes a fake can tell you just as much about a civilization as the real thing. Fiction tends to paint a much more honest picture of the world as it is.”
“You’re still trying to live down getting caught with Harry Potter books, aren’t you?”
Daniel brushed past one of the salespeople. “So! Our contact said she would meet us near the Stargate, right? How do we know who to look for?”
Sam chuckled and let the matter drop. They managed to escape the corral without being forced to purchase anything and Sam looked around. “I figure she’ll recognize us. But I’m sure the Tok’ra sent someone we know if anyone was available.”
“I’m just grateful one of them agreed to show up, considering our relationship with them is hardly strong at the moment.”
Sam nodded. The SGC had sent a coded message to the Tok’ra in the hopes one of them, any of them, would see fit to respond. They were surprised to get a response within two hours, a message from a Tok’ra operative who had not only worked with them before but knew where to start looking for items looted from Kali’s palaces. Sam hadn’t immediately recognized the Tok’ra’s name, but she refreshed her memory by reading the mission reports in which she lent her services to the SGC. Sam was grateful that the woman was still willing to work with them despite everything that had happened recently.
The past year had been difficult for relations between the Tok’ra and the Tau’ri. Her father had done his best to try smoothing over any rough bits between the two governments, but he ended up putting the last nail in the coffin when he provided Earth with the method to track Ba’al’s ships. The High Council had decided against sharing the technology, and by defying them Jacob had finally revealed where his true loyalties were.
As a result, he and Selmak had been on the verge of exile when they passed away. The Tok’ra held a memorial ceremony for him, but it was an extremely understated memorial for someone of Selmak’s history. Sam found their response offensive given the fact that her father’s actions had been instrumental in defeating both the Goa’uld and the Replicators, but hurt feelings didn’t go away easily. She hoped that now things were starting to settle down both sides could let bygones be bygones.
And while she knew they couldn’t exactly be picky about their meeting place, she wished they could have met up somewhere a little less fragrant. And as long as she was making fruitless wishes, she also would have preferred meeting somewhere they could have worn their regular off-world uniforms. The Tok’ra had warned them the planet was hostile and wouldn’t be welcoming to a group of Tau’ri visitors, so they were forced to arrive in ‘local garb.’ Over the years, the SGC had accumulated a marvelously eclectic wardrobe culled from a myria
d of worlds they had visited in the past. Sam was wearing a high-collared white blouse that, thankfully, wasn’t cut low enough to be obscene. Daniel was in a sleeveless leather tunic that laced up the front and, to her delight, was actually much more revealing than what she wore.
Daniel seemed to be thinking along the same lines she was, as he adjusted the collar of his top and looked down to make sure it wasn’t askew. “You know, I have a sneaking suspicion that no matter where you are in the universe, a large majority of fashion choices are based on a dare.”
Sam smiled. “I’m sure aliens visiting Earth would say the same thing about high heels.”
“Exactly.” He glanced at one of the stalls they passed and adjusted his glasses. “So where are we supposed to meet this operative anyway? What was her name?”
“Sina. She was willing to share information with us when Anubis was first rising to power, so hopefully she’ll help us out this time.” She spotted a tall woman with red hair and cut through the crowd to intercept her. The woman saw them coming and gestured toward an alley, ducking in ahead of them once she was sure they’d spotted her. Sam and Daniel caught up with her, and she scanned the crowd over their shoulders before she spoke in the deep, dulcet tone of her symbiote.
“Colonel Carter, Dr. Jackson. Welcome to Lucia.”
“Thank you for meeting us on such short notice.”
Sina nodded. “I must admit your message was quite the cause for alarm. Several of our operatives spent time in Kali’s inner circle and believe there is some merit to your fears.”
Daniel said, “It’s how she got rid of anyone still loyal to Shiva, right?”
“A similar method, yes. In the previous instance, she merely had to target a single world. This undertaking is quite a bit more extravagant, thanks to Anubis’ influence, I have no doubt. The High Council has agreed to offer you our assistance in this matter. Hopefully this will serve as an example to both you and the Jaffa that your haphazard methods were perhaps not as successful as you originally believed. The System Lords may have been deposed, but the resulting chaos may prove disastrous for the galaxy as a whole.”
SG1-24 Two Roads Page 6
