"Revisionist history," Carter said. "Funny they only took out the one part. The rest of it looks pretty dire."
"But they took out the part that tells us what caused it," Daniel said. "See... peaceful city, then the Stargate activates... then peaceful city again... then the first trouble. A fire. The city fathers meeting, more fires, maybe riots... "
He stopped, frowning even deeper. Careful, Daniel, your face will freeze like that, Jack thought, but he followed the archaeologist's stare to the specific portion of the mosaic, and felt a familiar shiver race down his spine.
"Teal'c," Daniel said, and got very close to the image. "Take a look."
He pointed at the single tiny figure, almost hidden in the chaos of the smoke, fire, and fallen bodies of the dead.
Teal'c bent over to look, then straightened so suddenly Jack practically heard the snap.
"Jaffa," he said. "The Goa'uld were here, once."
Carter joined them at the wall. "But we knew that, right? These people must originally have been brought here by the Goa'uld. Maybe this is a record of them being relocated to this planet. Or, maybe it's a record of their native city on Earth."
"Maybe," Daniel said doubtfully. He went back to the part of the wall where the restoration had been done, dragging fingertips over the tile as if he could read the secrets underneath. "But then why change it?"
Jack swept the rest of the wall with a long look. Fire, destruction, riots... people dying... and then, at the end of the wall, a crumbled, deserted place, with the Stargate serene and quiet. The light was different on that section.
Moonlight.
It should have looked peaceful, but it didn't. Trouble lurking right around the comer, right off the edge of the picture, waiting to pounce.
It occurred to him what was bugging him about that particular section of wall. "I don't think that's a record of these folks being taken from Earth," he said, and got up to walk over to it and touch his fingers to the moon.
Then the other moon.
The doors at the far end opened with a sudden metallic chunk, and Jack turned fast to face them. Two fancy-dressed men stood there, and one of them offered some explanation with a polite smile, spreading his hands wide.
"Time to go?" Jack guessed. Daniel nodded and hitched his pack together, carefully storing the video camera, and SG-1 followed their guides into the next room.
Acton must have had one hell of a staff, because Jack thought General Hammond himself, with all of the resources of the SGC, might have had trouble pulling together a full meeting like this on a few minutes' notice. There were at least a dozen important-looking guys sitting behind a table, looking grave and composed, and fresh flowers in vases scattered around the room. These were the city fathers, Jack presumed; they had the sleek, well-fed look of men in control of their lives. Acton - still incongruously wearing the sunglasses - was standing at his place in the center of the table, and he gestured gracefully at four straight-backed chairs that had been placed in front.
The place was large, with windows opening onto gardens on one side, a sea view on the other. The twittering of birds and the steady dull pulse of the surf was the only sound. Besides the thump of the door shutting behind SG-1.
Jack resisted the urge to look behind him, pasted on a smile, and inclined his head to Acton. Who inclined right back. "Daniel? All right to sit down?"
"Ali... your guess is as good as mine."
What the hell, his knee had a twinge anyway. As soon as they sat, Acton settled as well, looking satisfied. Apparently, the first hurdle had gone well.
Some servant-type guys in short togas - chitons - circulated, filling glass goblets for the council, and offering some to SG-1; Jack conferred briefly with Daniel and decided they'd better accept and sip. Turned out to be wine, thin and vinegary. Jack drank as much as he figured was polite, then set it aside. A servitor whisked the glass away.
Without orders, Daniel launched into a variation on the hello we're peaceful explorers speech again, which Jack was content to allow. He was watching Acton, who was watching him. No fool, this guy, despite the eye shadow and fancy curls. A cold political mind behind all that pampering.
Acton had something to say, after Daniel was finished. It took a while.
"He says that they're pleased to receive a delegation from another world," Daniel said. "Ah, it sounds like he thinks we're applying to join the Helos Confederacy or something."
"He's posturing for his guys," Jack read. "Making us look like we're paying him court."
"So what do I say?"
"Change the subject. Ask him if he knows about the Goa'uld."
Daniel engaged in some lively discussion, so lively he seemed to forget about translation until Jack waved his hand for his attention. The town council was joining in, whispering to each other, asking Acton questions. While Acton answered, Daniel said, "He says they don't know anything about the Goa'uld, except as distant legends. From the beginning of the city. He's probably not lying; we haven't seen any sign of the Goa'uld around here."
"Except in the mosaic," Carter reminded him.
"Except in the revised mosaic," Jack said. "Not too sure I'm buying the party line on this one." He was reading Acton's body language, what there was of it. That was proving difficult. Different cultures, different rules. But he thought the man looked guarded.
The town council had continued to babble amongst itself, and now Acton spoke again.
"He wants to hear about our world," Daniel said. "Jack...?"
"Sure," Jack said. "Medical advances, food, trade, what nice folks we are. That kind of stuff. Let's keep this on the U.N. peaceand-love level. I'm not ready to get married just yet."
Daniel set about painting a picture of Earth that, while true, wasn't entirely complete, and Jack sat back and watched Acton. This guy had some battle scars. Not just a politician. There were walls around this city for a reason. If they'd been ceremonial, they'd have been a whole lot shorter, not to mention thinner. This place had been built for defense, and that meant there were people dying to get inside.
Jack thought back to the airport, the civilized, polite curiosity, and wondered if Chalcis might be the top of the food chain, in terms of cultural and economic power. If the other Helos Confederacy planets weren't so well off, maybe there had been reason to fortify some time in the past. Or, hell, last week. Or maybe there had been an army of Jaffa coming out of that Stargate, set so conveniently outside of the city walls, once upon a time.... In the murals, the Stargate had been inside of a town, and the town had been destroyed. Maybe these people had learned something from that.
The rest of the diplomacy consisted of smiling and nodding, and was pretty much as boring as Jack expected for the rest of the afternoon.
y the time they were finished with the Town Council, it was 'dark outside, and the birds had gotten tired of twittering. Acton's boys escorted them from the bouleterion across the wide, open town square, to what must have been one of their finer hotels - considering they had an airport, it wasn't too surprising there were hotels, too - and set them up with four separate rooms, second floor. Jack was surprised to find that the concept of beds translated perfectly well - no weird-looking contraptions, no alien slabs. Feather mattresses on wooden platforms with carved sturdy legs. Bundles of fabric for pillows. Some kind of white fluffy wool rugs on the floor. Bathrooms were in a building out back, but there were chamberpots provided in the rooms.
Note to self, Jack thought. Tell SGC to screen planets for indoor plumbing.
He ducked back out into the hall, where the rest of the team was still talking quietly. "First scheduled contact with the SGC is at 0800," he said. "Everybody ready at 0700 to move out. Let's get some rest."
"We're all going in the morning?" Daniel asked, hesitating in the act of opening his door. "Just to send a message through? Isn't at a little, ah, excessive?"
"No, we're all going," Jack said. "As in, outta here. Back to the SGC."
"But -
&nb
sp; "No, Daniel."
"There's so much to learn -
"Maybe so, but there's nothing to learn about the Goa'uld, that's pretty clear. We're an exploratory team. We've explored. Let somebody else do the follow-up."
Carter must have sided with Daniel; he caught the frown and the narrowing of her eyes before she turned away to her own room. What was it about scientists? Sure, these seemed like okay folks, there were some cool buildings and nice statues, probably a million things to putter around with - but they weren't in the business of funding academic research-they were on a mission to find alien technology and fight the Goa'uld. And find Share and Skaara. So far, they hadn't asked around about that. That might have been why Daniel looked mutinous. Well, that and the unavoidable fascination with learning stuff nobody could possibly use.
Jack shut and locked the door, tested the feather bed, and sat thinking for a while before he thumbed on the radio in the tac vest he hadn't yet removed.
"Daniel," he said, and waited for the response.
"Yes, Jack." Daniel sounded resigned.
"Listen... there were still some people downstairs in the lobby. If you get a chance, show Sha're's picture around. It's worth a try."
Silence, for a few hissing seconds, and then Daniel's quiet reply. "Thanks."
It wasn't much, but it was something.
Jack took off the tac vest and hat, set the MP5 next to the bed and the M9 actually on it, next to him, and stretched out still wearing his full kit.
Sleep failed to come.
He listened to the soft thud of Daniel's boots moving down the hall, down the stairs, and thought about the wisdom of sending him off on his own, even just downstairs. But Daniel wasn't some wetbehind-the-ears recruit, he was - in his own way - a seasoned field agent, and hell, he was armed and knew when to yell for help, if it came to that.
But Jack still couldn't sleep, waiting for the inevitable crisis to blow up, for the shouting and shooting to start. Should've gone with him. Daniel has a history of landing himself in trouble. And after about thirty minutes of fruitlessly trying to convince himself that he was being paranoid, he got up and strapped on the firepower again.
He'd only taken two steps down the hall when Carter's door opened. No surprise to find that she hadn't disarmed, either.
"Trouble?" she asked tensely. He shook his head.
"Oh. Sony. I mean, good."
"Daniel went downstairs a while ago. I'm just taking a look around."
She started to step out and shut her door. He shook his head and motioned her back inside. "Nah, Captain, you stay here. Rest. No need for both of us to be cranky tomorrow."
She looked unconvinced, but he gave her the silent command stare, and she just as silently obeyed. Her door clicked shut, but he was under no illusions she'd follow the part of his orders that talked about resting; she'd be sitting tensely all night, waiting for the other boot to drop.
On the whole, he was finding he preferred camping out and living rough on these expeditions. Civilization made him nervous, and besides, he hated to waste a good feather bed.
Combat boots weren't really made for stealth, but Jack had a lot of practice; he eased down the hollow steps slowly, listening for any hint of trouble. Before he was out of the shadows, he realized a couple of things simultaneously: one, there wasn't any trouble, and two, he'd just walked in on something private.
It hadn't occurred to him to wonder why Teal'c hadn't come out along with Carter, but it was obvious now: Teal'c had the jump on all of them in the stealthy exit category. He was already downstairs, and sitting by the low-burning fire with Daniel. Over at the other end, a couple of sleepy-looking bartenders polished glasses and yawned pointedly, trying to emphasize some after-closing-time message.
Not that Daniel and Teal'c were likely to pay any attention.
Daniel was saying, in a low tense voice, "Tell me how it's done." His head was down, shoulders hunched, as if he was protecting himself against a blow.
Teal'c looked as uncomfortable as Jack had ever seen him. "I do not think it would help you to know," he said, and the context clicked into place for Jack with an almost gut-wrenching snap. He should have known better than to think that Daniel had let that particular pain go; he'd never really stopped digging at it, and never would, until he knew it all. No matter how much it hurt.
He wanted to know about Sha're. About how she became a Goa'uld.
Daniel confirmed it by saying, "Whatever you tell me, it can't be worse than what runs through my head, believe me. I'd rather know than just guess."
"I have made a full report of this to General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill - "
"Teal'c! They're not going to tell me this, and I need to know!" Daniel sounded almost desperate, and Jack heard the sharp intake of his breath as he calmed himself down. "Please. I just - need this. You were there, right? You saw it. Just tell me how the Goa'uld take over a host."
It was too late to retreat back up the stairs; no way could he be that stealthy. Jack eased the strain in his left knee carefully, trying not to wake a creak out of the wooden boards, and watched as Teal'c thought it over.
And then the Jaffa slowly bowed his head. "As you wish," he said. "The Goa'uld leaves the safety of its Jaffa's pouch and enters the host through the back of the neck. Once inside, it establishes control of the host within a matter of moments."
"But some hosts resist."
"Few." Teal'c glanced up, then away. "Those who do are subjected to extreme pain. I have never seen one succeed in keeping a Goa'uld at bay for long."
"But Sha're..."
"Your wife resisted," Teal'c said, low and quiet. "She was very strong."
"Was there much pain? Teal'c, did she - did she -
"I do not know." That was a lie, and Jack could feel it all the way across the room. Daniel, closer, had to know it too.
"Did she scream? Teal'c?"
"Daniel Jackson, it cannot help you to know." Teal'c's voice was overwhelmingly compassionate. "But - I must tell you this. As First Prime of Apophis, it was my duty to select potential hosts for him. The choice was mine - who to take, who to keep, who to discard."
Daniel slowly raised his head, andhis glasses caught random flares of firelight. "I don't understand." But he did, Jack saw it in the growing tension in his shoulders. Sometimes the body knew better than the mind what was coming.
"I was with Apophis when he took your wife on Abydos."
I should stop this, Jack thought. Put on my best cheerful idiot face and ask them what they're talking about. Daniel won't pursue this in front of me. But that would just prolong the pain, and leave Teal'c to have to cauterize the wounds later. This conversation had to happen sometime, and it would only hurt worse when there was more trust to betray.
Daniel was shaking his head impatiently. "I knew that. I don't blame you for that."
"There is more. On Chulak, I was given the responsibility of selecting a woman to be the host for Apophis' queen. The woman of the Tau'ri I selected was unacceptable, and Apophis killed her. I was told to choose another... "
Daniel looked sick, and his blue eyes had gone very wide. "No. It wasn't - let's not go into this, okay?"
"It was my choice. I chose the fairest, the one with the most spirit... I chose your wife. Had I not - "
"Stop! Just... stop!" Daniel sounded on the edge of desperation. "You can't tell me this. I knew she suffered, that's not - that's not new - but I can't hear that it was just - God, I can't hear that it was you." He stood up and wrapped his arms around his chest. "Dammit, just stop."
Teal'c stood too, facing him, golden serpent emblem glittering and flashing in the firelight. "No. I am the one who brought your wife to Apophis. I witnessed her humiliated and stripped, and I did nothing. I heard her screams and pleas, and I did nothing. I have no right to your trust. You should know this."
Daniel stared at him for a few long seconds, face gone white and still. His eyes were glittering with pain, or tears, or both.
&n
bsp; "Daniel Jackson - "
Daniel turned away, heading for the stairs and Jack's safe, anonymous shadows. Too late for him to go back up the steps. Busted. He tried to think of something to say, but the truth was, there was nothing he could say. Sorry just didn't cut it when you'd eavesdropped on something that personal.
Luckily, he didn't have to trot out the lame-ass excuses. Daniel wheeled around after a few steps and went back at Teal'c, fists clenched hard at his sides.
"Listen to me," he said. His voice was shaking, barely under con trol. "What you did - you had no choice, you were just as much a slave to Apophis as she was. I had a choice. I left Sha're alone by the Stargate. I was so eager to run off with Jack and Captain Carter, to be the expert, to... to show off! I didn't even think what could happen, and I should have, I know better than anyone what could come through the Stargate. God, I don't blame you. I can't."
The Jaffa stood absolutely still, unspeaking.
"Teal'c, I don't want..." He had to stop and swallow hard. "I don't want your guilt. I want your help. I want you to swear that you'll help me find her, and save her, and make her what she was before this happened. You owe that to her, not to me."
Teal'c's eyes glittered, softened, and he put his open hand over his heart. "I will carry your words with me, Daniel Jackson. And I will earn your trust."
"You don't have to earn it. You already have it." Daniel, with a visible effort, smiled. "You saved my life, all the lives of those people back on Chulak. We're in this together now." He offered his hand. "Friends?"
Teal'c gravely shook his hand, up and down. "Yes, Daniel Jackson. Friends." He switched it to a clasp of forearms. "And brothers."
Something passed across Daniel's face, something Jack thought he understood... Daniel had been alone, most of his life. Orphaned, passed around from one artificial family to another, never had anyone to call his own before Sha're. Being called a brother was a powerful thing.
After a warm, awkward pause, Daniel asked, "Want to, ah, help me ask some questions? Around town?"
"I will assist you," Teal'c nodded.
Stargate SG-1: Sacrifice Moon Page 4
