Fic: Shopping Trip, part 2 of 3
Shopping Trip, part 2 (continued from part 1)
It was strange for Sam to watch her father playing Goa'uld; she wasn't used to seeing Selmac doing all the talking. She knew, of course, that it was necessary to keep up the charade, but it made her feel uneasy. She was also a little chagrined to see that Selmac was in emphatic agreement with the colonel: the cloaking device, powerful enough to hide an entire scoutship from view, was more urgent than the improved personal shields.
"Forget throwing knives through these," she hissed at one point. "If Thoth keeps improving the personal shields, anything larger than air molecules won't get through. Why don't you think that we need to get hold of one of these, so we can figure out how to breach them?"
"It's a matter of Tok'ra protocol," the colonel explained to her quietly. "They work by quiet infiltration. One-on-one assassination isn't part of their regular methods, but the ability to scout enemy movement without detection would be invaluable. And think about it - how often do we really get the chance to get up close and personal with a snakehead?" He paused, then added thoughtfully, "Without dying or getting our brains fried, anyway."
Sam reluctantly accepted her CO's tactical reasoning and lost herself in the pleasure of hands-on study of the cloaking device, including a good look at the schematics. Much of it was beyond her rudimentary knowledge of written Goa'uld, but Daniel had been coaching her on some of the more common technical terms, and she was able to at least partially comprehend the power flows and some of the algorithims.
The more she examined the device, the more she realized that the colonel had been right. She wished there had been some way for them to smuggle a video recorder onto the planet, so that they could translate it at their leisure and try to understand how it worked. But she understood enough to know that they couldn't just walk away from this.
Stepping closer to her father, she whispered, "I think it's shopping time. Do we have enough money to actually buy this?"
Selmac gave an imperceptible nod of the head. "This is of interest," he announced haughtily in a loud voice. He waved a languid hand in the supervisor's direction. "Arrange a private session for me this afternoon. I wish to examine it further before advising Heru'ur about its purchase."
"Very well, lord," Sefik murmured. "Would the second bell past noon be convenient?"
"Good enough." Selmac allowed his cloak to dramatically unfurl as he turned on his heel. "Come!" he said imperiously to Sam and Jack, and marched out of the chamber. Sam scrambled after her father, biting her lip to keep from grinning at her colonel's sotto voce mutters of indignation.
"Spreading it a bit thick there, weren't you, Selmac?" Jack asked pointedly once they'd arrived in the safety of their rooms.
"Not hardly," Jacob answered, snorting a little. "Trust me on this one, Jack. You can't act too arrogant when you're pretending to be a Goa'uld."
"How much are we going to be able to learn from a private session?" Sam asked.
"Not enough, I'm afraid." Jacob paced slowly around the room. "This new cloaking device is a real leap in current technology. The cloaks in use today eat up huge amounts of power and can only be used sporadically. Even when they are in use, there's enough leakage that a cloaked ship can be detected by intense scanning. But this one?" He shook his head. "As long as the ship isn't ringing anyone on board or actually firing weapons, it could stay cloaked almost indefinitely. We need to get this one."
"Shoplifting is out, I suppose," Jack mused. "Instead of using the stolen credit card, I mean."
"No one has 'shoplifted' successfully here for nearly six hundred years," Selmac said. "And that last theft resulted in a war that lasted for four years and left millions dead." He blinked, and Jacob added, "We'll all go back together this afternoon. Maybe Teal'c or Daniel can come up with an alternative solution. But it looks like we're going to have to use that credit crystal after all."
"So maybe we could help a little," Jack suggested, his tone carrying multiple meanings.
Jacob stopped pacing and frowned. "I don't think the SGC has that much money to spare, Jack."
"Let me phrase that another way." Jack straightened a little, and he was suddenly Colonel Jack O'Neill, SG-1, addressing an ally. "If the Tok'ra end up getting this technology on a joint mission with the SGC, are you planning on sharing it with Earth?"
Jacob opened his mouth to reply, then closed it. After a long moment, his eyes flashed and Selmac took over. "It's not quite as simple as that," he said, his voice sounding sincere. "If this does become an official purchase, the decision won't be mine; it will be up to the Tok'ra Council. And frankly, I don't know how the Tau'ri could use this technology. Samantha can vouch for me on this -" and he nodded at his host's daughter, "- this isn't something that your scientists can backwards-engineer to adapt to your own technology. It interfaces directly with Goa'uld crystals and builds upon their actual structure."
"That's true, sir," Sam admitted quietly. "Unless Earth suddenly switches to crystal technology, we won't be able to use it."
"We've been studying Goa'uld technology," Jack said, not willing to give up quite yet. "The spooks out at Area 51 have been studying those two damaged death gliders for over a year now. They might get them working again eventually. Maybe we could use this cloaking technology after all."
Selmac looked puzzled. "Which death gliders?"
"We recovered them from - oh, never mind. They're nowhere near flight ready, anyway." Jack waved it away. "My point is that we might not have anything that would work with this cloaking device now, but we might have in the future. So I ask again: will the Tok'ra share it with us if we ask?"
Selmac looked rueful. "My personal opinion doesn't really matter here. For what it's worth, I do think that we ought to be sharing information more openly. After all, we've managed to accomplish a great deal by working together. But I cannot speak for the Council, nor make policy on their behalf."
He blinked, then added in Jacob's regular voice, "Selmac has been making noises at the Council about a formal treaty between the Tok'ra and the Tau'ri. Remind me to mention it to George. Maybe some pushing from both sides would make it happen a little earlier."
"Fair enough," Jack conceded a little reluctantly. Then Teal'c and Daniel breezed into the room, Daniel's arms filled to overflowing with scrolls and his mouth going a mile a minute, and it was time to discuss tactics for the upcoming afternoon session. The decision to use the credit crystal changed their mission from one of quiet stealth to a more urgent, beat-the-clock scenario.
In the end, they all trooped back for their private demonstration and arrived at the conclusion they'd expected: if the Tok'ra wanted to get their hands on the new cloaking device, they were going to have to pay for it. Daniel and Sam still had their heads together over the schematic display, exchanging murmured half-phrases of translations and scientific terms, but Jacob gave Teal'c and Jack a meaningful glance of warning before turning to Sefik.
"My master Heru'ur will be interested in this prototype," Selmac announced. "See that it is prepared for transport and delivered to my rooms by tonight." He snapped his fingers in Jack's direction. Jack hid his grimace behind carefully blank features and stepped forward, presenting the credit crystal to Sefik just as Jacob had coached him.
Sefik hesitated, then took the crystal with careful fingers. He turned it over in his hands, then ran it through the gold scanner set on a pedestal near the doorway. Jack watched him warily, eyes narrowed in an effort to detect the slightest hint that the credit crystal had been reported stolen or false. But Sefik was apparently satisfied. He handed the crystal back to Jack, then bowed deeply in Selmac's direction.
"Forgive me, lord," he said deferentially, "but I am not qualified to complete this purchase on my own. Lord Thoth himself must verify the exchange."
The blonde and brown heads over the system display turned simultaneously, even as Teal'c stepped forward and Jack moved sideways to watch Selmac's back. The sudden tension in the room left Sefik swallowing nervously.
"Surely, Jaffa, you do not imply that my lord's credit is not of the highest quality!" Selmac snapped.
Jack was very conscious of the carefully-sharpened shiv that he'd tucked, against Jacob's strident warnings, into his left boot. He could take down Sefik, if he had to - but what would happen after that?
"I mean only that Lord Thoth himself has instructed me that he must verify the exchange of this newest advancement." Sefik's voice was not quite steady. "Forgive me, lord, but I must obey Lord Thoth's commands."
A strange look crossed Selmac's face - one that Sam recognized as a clear sign of rapid internal debate between her father and his symbiote. After a long moment, Selmac gave a grudging nod. "Very well, then. Verify it. And be quick. Must I wait here?"
"Of course not, lord." Sefik was eager to placate now. "You and your entourage may return to your rooms. Or you may prefer to examine some of the other technologies being offered. I need only escort one of your slaves with me to Lord Thoth to present the credit crystal for my lord's examination and approval."
Jack, Teal'c, Sam, and Daniel looked at one another. Silent communication passed rapidly between them, aided only by minute hand gestures - a few regulation Air Force ones, a few unique to SG-1, and at least two that were obscene. Teal'c's ability to contribute to the discussion was slightly hampered by the closed helmet that would not allow his eyebrow to punctuate his statements, but he made himself clear enough.
Has to be Daniel. Selmac said he's the only one the System Lords won't recognize.
Thoth isn't a System Lord.
Thoth knows everything going on around the galaxy. Too dangerous. Might even know about Daniel's haircut!
Jacob can't go. Would look too out-of-place.
Has to be Daniel.
Not alone.
With Teal'c.
Daniel stepped forward quickly, knowing that Jacob hadn't absorbed more than a fraction of their silent discussion. "May I be honored with the task, my master?" he murmured deferentially.
Selmac's eyes narrowed. "Very well," he said. "Jaffa! Kree! Accompany my servant."
"Yes, my lord." Teal'c moved to Daniel's side, his staff weapon not quite at parade rest.
"If you will follow me...?" Sefik started for the door, then turned. "Forgive me, my lord. I must seal the room in my absence."
"Of course," Selmac muttered. He waved the rest of SG-1 out of the room ahead of him.
Once everyone was safely out in the large hallway, Sefik withdrew an oddly-shaped crystal from his pocket and waved it at the door. A slight humming sound rose and fell away.
"Follow me," he repeated to Teal'c and Daniel, and strode off. The cadence of their footsteps matched the ticking of the timer that had just set up house in Jack's head.
As the three of them disappeared around a corner, Jack rounded on Selmac. "Is the jig up?" he hissed, all pretense of deference gone.
"No," Jacob snapped back. "I told you - the crystal was stolen, but it represents legitimate funds. Thoth knows Heru'ur is too good a customer to annoy, so he'll send Sefik back with some wrapping paper and a big ribbon. The risk only starts when the crystal is officially credited and Heru'ur's accountants take notice. Let's just wait it out, okay?"
Jack subsided a little. "You're sure Daniel and Teal'c aren't in danger?" he pressed.
"Not any more than they've been until now."
"All right," Jack said, somewhat begrudgingly. "But with Sefik away, the mice can play, right? Let's go see what's behind Door Number Two." He moved towards the door to the next chamber. "If we're already legitimate customers, maybe they won't notice if -"
"Colonel!" Selmac shouted, throwing himself forward. "Don't touch...!"
Too late. The moment Jack's outstretched fingers brushed the door, the security system activated with smooth precision. Three square meters of floor suddenly canted downwards, and Sam, Jack, and Jacob found themselves plummeting out of sight.
***
Daniel and Teal'c could not speak openly to each other as they followed Sefik, and the reassurance of their swift shorthand exchanges was muted by their inability to see each other's faces properly. Daniel found himself looking away from that closed Horus helmet yet again, and silently resolved to pulverize the hated thing into sheet metal the moment they got back home.
Once they reached Thoth's court, however, Daniel's worries and concerns were overwhelmed by his awed delight at witnessing a ritual he'd only studied in ancient texts. A huge mosaic picked out the shape of an ibis behind the twin thrones. There were the scales, yes, and the feather to weigh innocence or guilt... and that was Ma'at, a dark-haired woman whose beauty was marred by her flashing eyes and the arrogance that twisted her features. Sha're, he thought painfully, and his joy at seeing mythology brought to life was suddenly soured by the recognition that these weren't just other Goa'uld coming to Thoth for arbitration; these were human slaves, being judged and quite possibly executed. He swallowed hard and looked away, oddly comforted by the momentary weight of Teal'c's hand on his shoulder.
They waited quietly in their assigned alcove until Thoth signaled them forward. The almond eyes in the sharply boned face shone not only with the malevolence of the Goa'uld, but with a shrewd intelligence that made Daniel swallow dryly. He kept his steps even as he paced forward, suddenly uncomfortably aware that nearly every Jaffa in the echoing chamber wore open helmets. If Thoth instructed Teal'c to reveal his face...
Sefik bowed low before the throne and relayed the proposed transaction in a quiet murmur. Thoth stroked his chin with a languid hand and stared hard at Daniel, who wisely kept his eyes properly downcast.
"Show me the credit crystal," Thoth finally said.
Daniel fumbled the crystal out of the pocket of his robes and approached Thoth's throne. He dropped to his knees without prompting and stretched out his hands with the proffered crystal, still keeping his gaze fixed on the floor.
He felt the crystal plucked out of his hands and dared a quick glance up through his eyelashes. A slave stood next to Thoth, holding a scanner similar to the one Sefik had used back in the demonstration room. Thoth was frowning at the scanner, and Daniel closed his eyes in dread. Jacob's assurances that the theft couldn't be traced suddenly seemed very hollow.
"Very well," Thoth pronounced abruptly, and Daniel blew out his breath in a silent sigh of relief. "Send the device to Heru'ur's agent's rooms. Assure him that we will inform his master if further improvements are made in the future."
Daniel rose carefully to his feet, still watching Thoth and Ma'at from behind half-lidded eyes. The two Goa'uld seemed to have forgotten him already; Thoth had handed the credit crystal back to Sefik, and Ma'at was gesturing to the next group of supplicants. Time for a strategic and hasty retreat, while the going was still good.
Sefik seemed equally relieved as they left the chamber. "Tell your master that I will have the device delivered to his rooms before nightfall," he instructed Daniel. He turned to Teal'c. "I would prefer to begin arrangements for transport immediately. Do you require an escort back to your rooms?"
"That will not be necessary," Teal'c replied gravely. "I shall tell my master that you have offered exemplary service."
Sefik nodded, distracted, and hurried away.
Teal'c and Daniel looked at each other. "So that's it?" Daniel asked quietly. "We go back to the others now?"
"It does seem that we have accomplished our mission," Teal'c said, but his voice, slightly muffled by the helmet, sounded equally doubtful.
"I'd say it was too easy, but it never pays to say things like that," Daniel muttered. "Come on. Maybe I can still get attend another session in the languages center before it's time to go."
"Perhaps," Teal'c agreed, and the two of them retraced their steps towards their rooms.
The vague feelings of unease abruptly crystallized when Daniel and Teal'c stepped inside and found that the others weren't there. Daniel stopped in the middle of the room and turned in a slow circle, feeling his heart suddenly accelerate. "Where are they?"
Teal'c shut the door behind them and retracted his helmet. "They would not have gone elsewhere without leaving a message of some kind."
"Right," Daniel said. He licked his lips as he watched Teal'c begin a systematic search of Jacob's opulent chamber. "I'll go check our own rooms."
It didn't take long for them to confirm that there was no message or other indication of where Jack, Sam, and Jacob might be.
"Back to the demonstration room?" Daniel suggested.
"Indeed," Teal'c nodded. He reactivated his helmet. It snapped shut with a clang. This time, as they set out again, his staff weapon was primed and ready.
***
"Tell me again - how can a Tok'ra who never lived on Earth possibly have an accurate time sense?"
Sam could almost hear her father gritting his teeth in the darkness. "Selmac isn't thinking in terms of hours and minutes, Colonel. I'm converting it for you. And I'm telling you it's been exactly two hours and sixteen minutes."
"No way. It has got to be longer than that by now."
"Two hours," Jacob repeated in a monotone. "And sixteen minutes."
"Huh." There was a slight thudding sound. The colonel was kicking the wall again, Sam concluded. "And Heru'ur could be calling Thoth any minute now to find out why he's apparently bought something he didn't know about."
"They'll find us, sir," she said staunchly, if a little mechanically by now. "Teal'c and Daniel will figure it out." And if the darkness and the clammy feeling of the room was reminding her a little too much of the tunnels underneath Seth's fortress, that was no one's business but her own.
"Oh, I know, I know. The door will open up and Daniel will be blinking at us, and Teal'c will just have to quote Luke Skywalker at us." A pause, then, "And he's certainly tall enough to be a stormtrooper."
If he tries to cast me as Princess Leia... "Yes, sir," she sighed.
Silence. For less than a minute.
"So, how long...?"
"About forty-five seconds longer than the last time you asked, Jack!"
Sam closed her eyes and refined the equations in her head. Patricide versus murder of her superior officer... Which one would be worse for her career?
"...shut up, Jack!"
She could always try both.
***
"Thoth is the master of magic," Daniel muttered. "And we seem to have people disappearing."
Teal'c and Daniel stood in the empty hallway outside the demonstration rooms. There was no sign of Sefik, but he was probably still occupied with preparing their cloaking device for transport. Daniel was very conscious of the seconds trickling away from them. They had to find the others and get off Thoth's planet before the theft of the credit crystal was discovered.
"Daniel Jackson." Teal'c pointed at the wall. "Look here."
Daniel peered at the sigils carved into the wall and groaned. "A security warning. In Goa'uld. Anyone trying to break into the rooms will 'vanish by Thoth's mighty hand.' Oh, that's just great."
"Do you believe, then, that O'Neill, Captain Carter, and Selmac attempted to enter one of the locked rooms?"
Daniel read the inscription again and grimaced. "It looks like even touching one of the doors is enough to trigger the security system." He looked at Teal'c, who had taken advantage of the empty hallways to open his helmet again.
"Jack," sighed Daniel.
"O'Neill," concluded Teal'c at the same time.
"Okay, so they're... stuck somewhere. I hope." Daniel licked his lips. "Thoth. Magic. Disappearing act, which usually means a hidden room somewhere, which means... which means we're going to have to find out where." He hunched his shoulders. "Oh, this is not going to be fun."
"What do you intend, Daniel Jackson?"
"We're going to have to report this, Teal'c, in order to get the others released. It'll take more time than we have if we try to poke around ourselves. And even if there's some way we can get them out, we need a starting point... and right now, we don't have one."
"Will that not draw too much attention to ourselves?"
"We can't just leave them there." Daniel considered. "Tempting as that might be, at the moment," he added sourly. Because an idea was crystallizing in his mind. He knew it was probably the least dangerous plan under the circumstances, but he also knew what he was probably going to have to end up doing in order to make it happen.
"Jack is really going to owe me for this. Big time," he muttered. He unconsciously gripped the sash of his robes. "All right. Let's go and do this." He looked at Teal'c. "Teal'c... just follow my lead, okay? Trust me."
"Always," Teal'c said without hesitation.
Daniel's mouth quirked into a smile. "Thank you, Teal'c," he said gently. "Do you know the way to Sefik's - ah, office?"
"I do."
"Then let's go."
The next forty minutes were every bit as uncomfortable as Daniel had dreaded. He had to talk his way through Sefik's brute squad first, and when they'd separated him from Teal'c, it had taken every ounce of courage he possessed to give Teal'c the quiet signal to let him go. When they'd finally shoved him into Sefik's office, the sight of Teal'c waiting there, solid and strong as ever, left him trembling with reaction and relief.
Sefik, as resentful about dealing with humans as Selmac had warned them back at the SGC, had no patience for Daniel's story about losing his fellow humans and not being able to find his Goa'uld master.
"The warnings are posted clearly on the wall." Sefik sneered at Daniel from his considerable height.
"Yes, my lord," Daniel gabbled, "but please, my lord, it is my task to read the holy writings of our masters, and I fear that my errors might have caused my master's other slaves to go astray."
He hated this, hated this, but thank goodness Teal'c was back in the room now, a looming beacon of safety and reassurance.
"Idiot slave!" Sefik spat. He glared across the room at Teal'c. "Is this the kind of service your master gets from his humans?"
"They are here to be trained," Teal'c said, his voice muffled by the helmet. "They cannot be trained, however, if they cannot be found."
Sefik prodded Daniel with a contemptuous foot. "Let this one go and tell his master that he has misplaced the other slaves. He will surely punish them as they deserve."
Teal'c strode forward. He reached down and grabbed Daniel by the arm, hauling him rather painfully to his feet.
"Perhaps," he suggested in a tone that invited winks and nudges, "we should allow the human to try and fail to find the others first. That would give even more weight to his punishment, when my master discovers his ineptitude."
Sefik's eyes gleamed at this show of solidarity. "Hah, yes!" He reached out and poked Daniel roughly in the chest. "You are supposed to be learning here, slave? Then go follow my Lord Thoth's tales and find your fellow humans!"
"Y-yes, my lord," gasped Daniel, cringing for all he was worth. "Where do I find the beginning of Lord Thoth's tales?"
"I should make you search for it on your own." Sefik gave Daniel another shove. "But that only means I would likely have you back here again." He looked at Teal'c. "Take this pathetic human to the first sublevel entrance to the catacombs, and see if he has been paying attention to his lessons." He turned back to Daniel, and this time Daniel wasn't acting when he shrank back from the anticipatory gleam in the Jaffa's eyes. "And come visit us in the barracks tonight, if you are still here. I would enjoy hearing the tale of this one's punishment."
"I shall," Teal'c rumbled. He tightened his grip on Daniel's arm and hauled him backwards. "Come, human! Let us see how badly you fail."
He hustled Daniel out of Sefik's command room and around the corner of the hall. Once out of sight, he immediately dropped his painful grip on Daniel's arm and took a step back.
"I am sorry, Daniel Jackson," he said quietly.
"No, no, don't be sorry." Daniel rolled his shoulders back, trying to settle himself. "It wasn't fun, but it got the job done, right? And you picked up your cues just beautifully." He offered Teal'c a rueful smile. "That time in the barracks proved useful, I guess."
"I did not enjoy it."
"I know you didn't. It's okay." The smile twisted a little. "I didn't enjoy it, either."
"Did you learn enough from Sefik to accomplish our task?" Teal'c began guiding Daniel towards the entrance to the catacombs, as Sefik had instructed.
"I think so." With a final twitch to his sash, Daniel focused his mind on the upcoming effort to release the others. "I'm guessing that 'Thoth's tales' refers to the mythology surrounding Thoth and Ma'at, probably displayed as reliefs or carvings on the walls. Hopefully, there will be enough clues to lead us to wherever the others are being held and to get them out."
***
Continued in part 3.