SG-1 Fic: The Advantages of Mind Reading (R) (2/2)
Fandom: Stargate: SG-1
Title: The Advantages of Mind Reading (2/2)
Author: Em
Rating: R for language and implied sex
Word Count: ~12,800 (in 2 parts)
Pairing: Jack/Daniel
Summary: An off-world mission just isn't the same if two members of the team don't wind up with nanites in their heads. . . .
Continued from Part 1.
* * *
Gerard wasn't in the utilitarian kitchen during breakfast-breakfast, which was something egg-like that Jack figured wouldn't improve his cholesterol-and the only sign of Gerard until sundown was a thought in the late afternoon telling them that Dawes's men were looking for them.
"Great," Jack said at that message. "So, at information from our new captor, we'll just stay here and hide from our old captor."
"It's not like that." Daniel's eyes were unfocused. He'd been using the Vinculum all day, reading up on Tekhne and its history, trying his best to do the Tekhnen equivalent of Googling Dawes. Jack, however, couldn't get over the constant dinging in his head as Daniel kept accidentally sending him thoughts. The most useful thing Daniel had sent was a link to the Tekhnen version of YouTube where Jack could watch clips of what passed for their entertainment-mostly musicals, actually, which Jack didn't mind.
Jack crossed his arms, his eyes shut tight as he thought up new search terms. He figured that if all stories were universal then he might be able to find the Tekhnen equivalent of The Simpsons.
"You don't have to close your eyes, you know."
"Do you have any idea how disturbing it is to watch you?" Jack opened one eye; Daniel was focusing on him now.
He shrugged. "It's like reading. If my eyes are open it doesn't feel quite as weird."
"Yeah? Well if my eyes are closed it doesn't feel so weird."
Daniel shifted in his chair, tapping the lamp-stick next to him to dim the glow. "Stop pouting."
"I'm not pouting!"
"Well stop thinking Simpsons quotes at me; it's messing with my search terms."
They were getting better with the Vinculum the more they used it-and their thoughts seemed to be more contained to their own heads-but they were still bleeding into each other unintentionally . . . sometimes intentionally.
"I know you're all interested in the culture, or whatever, but can you please consider the fact that we need to get out of here? No matter how honorable Gerard's intentions are, Carter and Teal'c are out there still."
Daniel blinked and Jack picked up a stray thought, Wow, that was . . . reasonable. Jack let it slide.
"If they'd been captured, Dawes would have brought them in."
"You sure about that? Gerard's not exactly with the government, if you hadn't noticed. There could be other factions." Jack massaged his neck, still sore from the other night with the sedatives and from his headache earlier in the day. "This planet's way more unstable than Henley let on."
"They always are." Daniel moved his legs off the stool in front of his chair and patted it. "Come here. You thinking about the pain in your neck is a pain in my neck."
After a brief hesitation, Jack moved over, sitting up straight in front of Daniel, trying not to sigh too loudly when Daniel's warm hands moved over his neck, his thumbs pressing small circles into the abused muscles. Daniel's touch had always been a steadying presence in his life, but recently it had become more than that, something that Jack sought out, enjoyed. He leaned back into the touch, remembering how those fingers had felt on his skin below the belt. Just one night-two weeks ago-and he'd already been craving a repeat, perhaps without the alcohol, without the need to relieve tension.
Jack's head dipped forward, allowing Daniel more access, and his thumbs moved down under the collar, painting smooth stripes that stretched the tense muscles. They hadn't taken the time before; it had been frantic and sloppy. They'd made it to Daniel's bed, only half undressed, and rutted together until they came, hand-shaped bruises on their arms no different from ones after a bad mission. Jack left afterwards-wanting to stay, but more afraid to ask for that than to say good night.
His hands slipped forward over Jack's shoulders, hooking into fabric and pulling away Jack's jacket. Through the T-shirt, Daniel worked Jack's shoulders, and then moved along the spine until he was pressing his fingers into Jack's lower back, sliding lower towards the tail bone, making Jack wish desperately for Earth and his surveillance-free bedroom.
"Jack." Daniel's voice was so soft and full of need that Jack was willing to ignore the fact that they were off-world.
Jack brought his head back, his cheek brushing against Daniel's cheek, and he turned towards his ear, his tongue already out, licking the shell when he thought, You could really fuck up my command.
Daniel pulled away sharply and too late Jack remembered the Vinculum.
"I could fuck up your command?"
Jack was still leaning back against him, his mouth slightly open, totally unsure of how to handle this. He still didn't know what this was, if it was just sex or bordering on something else. He'd crawled into Daniel's bed once-drunk-and he had no idea how Daniel felt about that. For all his talking about emotions, he hadn't exactly been forthcoming about this.
Daniel was still staring at Jack, his brow slightly furrowed, and Jack felt a small prod and realized that even though they weren't projecting their thoughts quite so directly any more, Daniel had still picked up on some of that.
Jack stiffened slightly. "This isn't the place for this."
"Oh? But this is the place for you to bend me over the chair and fuck me? In Gerard's living room?" Daniel sent back the fantasy that had flitted through Jack's brain when Daniel first started the massage.
"You try to think clearly when you're moaning into my ear."
Daniel's mouth slipped sideways as his eyebrow arched.
Okay, even Jack could admit that didn't make much sense. He leaned forward slightly, turning so he was facing Daniel a bit more. "This still isn't the place for this conversation."
Daniel pushed away, leaving Jack's back cold. "This is as far as you're going to get from regulations. If you ever want to have this conversation, now's the time."
Jack flexed his calves, eyes sliding away. It wasn't that he didn't want to have this conversation (okay, he didn't but not in the way Daniel was implying), it was just that he still didn't know yet. He didn't know what to say or how to handle this or-more importantly-what Daniel wanted. There was a pretty thick line between a thing and buddy sex. There were reasons Jack kept his personal shit out of the field. Starting something with Daniel-something more than that one night-that would put Jack's personal shit right in the field and he wasn't sure he wanted to do that.
"This isn't the place," Jack reiterated, trying to hold Daniel's stare.
"So, never then." Daniel struggled to his feet, fighting the oversized armchair, and Jack had to stop himself from reaching out to help. "You're a real ass, you know that? You think this was easy for me?" Daniel pulled himself from behind Jack, hobbling in a way that was really detracting from his temper tantrum. He turned back around before leaving, his hard-on visible even though the loose BDUs. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped, turned, and then said, "Gerard's back. You want to get out of here? Talk to him." He hobbled towards the bedrooms, one arm out for balance.
When Jack turned, Gerard was in the doorway from the kitchen, a metallic-colored satchel over his shoulder. "Should I come back later?"
Jack picked up his jacket, shrugging it on. No use going after Daniel while he was worked up. He'd cool off and they could try it again later-hopefully after Jack figured out exactly what they were doing. "Why don't you explain things to me instead?" Gerard's eyes slipped to the door where Daniel had exited-he probably felt more at ease around Daniel, practically everyone did. "And feel free to start with why you can't take us back to the Tekhne government."
Gerard sighed, hefting his satchel higher on his shoulder. "How about I tell you while I start dinner?"
Jack followed him into the galley kitchen, aware that this was a rather odd prison, but just because he and Daniel could move freely around Gerard's home didn't mean it still wasn't a cell.
Gerard pressed a button on the smooth black surface of one counter, placing a pot on the circle that lit up green. "I'm sorry I couldn't explain this to you sooner, but the middle of a breakout isn't really the place for backstory." Gerard smiled and then coughed when he saw how much Jack appreciated the joke.
"Dawes doesn't like me very much," Gerard continued. "And neither does Representative Henley." Gerard pulled a green tuber from his satchel and sliced it with a knife that looked older than Jack. The mish-mash of technology Dawes and Gerard used was probably a source of extreme interest to Daniel, the way technology commingled during a time of extreme growth or something. "I, uh, I'm the one who invented the Vinculum."
Jack held up a hand. "I'm sorry, what?"
"The Vinculum." Gerard dumped the vegetable slices into the pot, and then grabbed a bottle from a shelf, pouring in a green-tinted oil. "Specifically the nanites that connect to the Vinculum. The Vinculum used to be external-something that Tekhnens could access at um, hubs, not carry around in their heads."
"Yeah, we have something similar on Earth," Jack muttered, a little worried that technology like this might leak out of the SGC and get marketed as the latest in WiFi.
Gerard nodded. "I thought that a world with your level of technology might have something like it. It really is the best way for any society-once achieving the level of technology to support such an open-source database-"
"Aah, ah, ah, ah!" Jack held up one finger, feeling like he was talking to some sort of Daniel-Carter hybrid. Jack tried to get him back on track. "You made the nanites."
Gerard pulled out another tuber, slicing it up as he spoke, his cheeks flushed. "Right. Well, I was a pretty popular guy after that, huh?" Looking around, Jack couldn't imagine this guy had been this planet's version of Bill Gates. The legs of Gerard's dining table were soldered together and some of his cabinets looked like they'd come crashing down if he shut the door too hard. "But that was before-the government was stable, Representative Henley was just an Administrator and Dawes was still a part of the Council."
Jack covered his eyes-he really should have listened when Daniel was explaining how their government worked. "Pretend I know nothing about your government."
Gerard bit back a smile when he dumped the newly sliced vegetables into the pot. "They were both part of the government."
"And you were an inventor bigwig."
"Me? No. I was nobody. But Henley and Dawes used the Vinculum-my invention-to gain power. The rest?" Gerard grabbed a few different metal canisters, adding pinches seemingly at random to the bubbling pot. "A lot of complicated stuff that doesn't really matter. The end result was when Dawes started the revolution, both he and Henley wanted to use the Vinculum to track individuals-like, for military purposes."
Jack nodded because duh, he'd already thought about that use himself.
"But doing that means altering the nanites' operating system." Gerard leaned against the counter, tapping another button on the flat surface that caused the pot to stir itself. "There are other people smart enough to figure it out, but I'm the only one who knows the base code well enough; it would take them years."
"Who wants to wait years when you're sitting right there?" When they finally caught up with Carter, she was going to love talking to this guy. "So why don't you just hook up with Henley?"
Gerard gaped at Jack like Jack had suggested that he nail a puppy to a tree.
"What?"
"They both want to abuse the Vinculum. Over seventy percent of the Tekhnens use the Vinculum. What's to stop either of them from continuing to abuse that power after this civil war?" Gerard turned around, pulling bowls and utensils from the cabinets. The bowls were ceramic; the spoons fairly flat and wide, like crudely-shaped sheet metal. "They could pry into the minds of anyone, track anyone, for any reason. Would you really want to pass off that kind of power to your government?"
The man had a point. "How long are you planning to hide out?" Jack took the bowls from Gerard, setting his small table.
Gerard shrugged, turning back to the boiling pot. "One day I'll die." He smirked over his shoulder; the gallows humor suited his dark hair and pale skin.
"Then why'd you risk it to save us? Hell, how did you know we were even there?"
Gerard pushed another button, the light under the pot going out. "You're outsiders; I didn't know how technologically advanced your world was, or if you'd help Dawes or be forced to." He nudged the pot over with the handle of a spoon. "If Dawes hadn't kidnapped you, I might have taken one of you from Henley, just to assess the situation."
"Henley's is better guarded than Dawes's complex." Jack had noticed that much when he'd moved around both places. It had to just be resources because Dawes seemed like the kind of man who would have redundancies if possible.
"Yeah, it really is. . . ." Gerard sighed, turning away. There seemed to be more to that story, but Jack wasn't about to push.
"So, Daniel keeps insisting that we're not your prisoners. . . ." Leaning back in the chair, he tried to make the statement sound casual.
Gerard grimaced as he stirred the contents of the cooking pot. "Mostly you're not."
"Mostly."
"I mean, I would still like to talk to you. This Carter person you keep thinking of?" Jack tried not to be offended; tried to remind himself he was probably just thinking too loudly. "I want to make sure she won't help them."
"She's part of my team."
Gerard nodded again; he seemed to do that a lot. "That means something then." He set the pot on the edge of the table, hesitating to spoon out a bowl. "Do you want to get Daniel?"
What would piss Daniel off more: missing dinner or seeing Jack again before he was ready to?
Gerard's face wobbled in a smile and Jack had the impression that it'd been a long time since he'd lived with anyone, even in the short-term. "Why don't I get him?"
Jack leaned forward and took the ladle from Gerard. "Why don't you do that?" By the time Gerard returned with a hobbling Daniel in tow, Jack had finished ladling out the soup and was smiling pleasantly.
Dinner was a little stiff-mostly because Daniel was doing his best to ignore Jack-but the food wasn't bad and Daniel asked Gerard a lot of questions about the political history, filling in most of those complicated gaps Gerard had originally said didn't matter. Turned out Gerard was right, but that didn't stop Daniel from being boring. Jack ate quietly, trying not to roll his eyes. After dinner Daniel excused himself, claiming that his leg was bothering him, but even Gerard could see through that.
The dishes nearly finished, Jack soaked his hands in the hot water, thinking about how he hadn't had a shower in nearly two days and should inquire about hygiene on this planet before too long.
"I don't mean to pry, but is something wrong?" Gerard moved so quietly half the time that Jack forgot he was in the room.
"Huh?"
Gerard pointed towards Daniel's hideout. "Since I came home you two have seemed kind of. . . ." He drew out his hands, his fingers shaping in a nonverbal cue that probably meant something on this planet; maybe he'd Vinculum it later and then show off for Daniel.
"I have offended Daniel and he is demonstrating his displeasure." Jack shook the excess water from his hands and pressed the button that he thought would turn off the flow. The water turned cool, and Gerard smiled, leaning over and pressing the off button.
"You have no idea how to fix it," Gerard interpreted.
It wasn't the fight that threw Jack; that was SOP between the two of them. Jack reached for a towel, hesitating to wipe his hands until Gerard indicated it was okay. "You ever think things would be easier if you just knew what someone else was thinking?"
Gerard's brow furrowed for a moment, as if he was considering if Jack was making a joke. "You do know how the Vinculum works, right?"
Jack rolled his eyes. "Not IMs to the brain-I mean, like, knowing what someone's thinking."
"Oh." Gerard scratched his cheek. "The Vinculum's just code, though, the nanites acting as an intermediary between the wireless information and your synapses-" Gerard broke off, chuckling to himself. "Your face goes blank every time I slip into techno-babble."
"Does it?" Jack carefully arranged his features in a look of interest.
"What I'm saying is that code can be hacked."
"I can hack Daniel's brain?"
"Theoretically." Gerard leaned back, looking towards the bedrooms, maybe checking to see if Daniel was listening. "I'm saying that I sometimes we all wonder if it'd be easier to know what someone else was thinking."
Jack narrowed his eyes, suddenly wary. "Is it?"
Gerard shrugged, his lips upturned slightly. "You could always just ask him."
Jack didn't have to say anything.
"I think tomorrow we should figure out how to contact the rest of your team." Gerard headed out the opposite end of the galley kitchen. "Good night."
Jack scrubbed his chin, pushing away from the counter. Knowing what Daniel wanted would probably make things easier, give Jack an out instead of actually having to make a decision (or be disappointed, Jack could almost admit to himself). But that kind of invasion? Prying into Daniel's personal thoughts on purpose? What the Vinculum offered without effort was pretty damn invasive as it was. Daniel's compassion was practically limitless, but Jack wasn't sure that even he could forgive that.
He stopped at Daniel's door, cracking it open enough to see Daniel asleep on the cot, the bed wedged into the middle of a room overflowing with shelves of half-finished circuit boards and devices. He couldn't invade Daniel like that-steal his innermost thoughts just because he had trouble voicing his own feelings.
Daniel rolled over, his eyes opening slightly. "J'ck?"
"Hmm?" Jack pushed the door open a bit more, taking one step into the room. Seeing Jack more clearly seemed to pull Daniel more thoroughly from his sleep.
"What are you doing?" His voice was hard.
"Just checking the perimeter. You know."
Daniel arched one eyebrow, which always looked much more skeptical and deadly when he wasn't wearing his glasses. "You don't have to check on me. I can take care of myself."
"Still mad at me, then? Cool."
Daniel said his name, but Jack shut the door any way. Hacking his brain would be easier than talking to him.
* * *
He tried during the night, waiting until Daniel was likely asleep again before concentrating on Daniel's thoughts, trying to just pick up what was on the surface. Either he was really bad at focusing on Daniel or Daniel dreamed about The Simpsons. Over breakfast, after his own Simpsons dream in which Bart photocopied Lisa's diary and pasted it all over their school-"Lisa likes Daniel Jackson" scrawled in poster-sized pop-art-Jack tried not to look at Daniel too much. It was easier to invade someone's privacy if you didn't look him in the eye.
Gerard poked at what was left of Daniel's radio while Daniel dried the last of the dishes. "This is how you can contact the rest of your team?"
"Unless they were also injected with the Vinculum," Daniel answered. He glanced over at Jack, and Jack shook his head. Not only was he positive Carter and Teal'c wouldn't submit to that-especially after he and Daniel were captured-but he'd already tried to IM them.
"And you only have one of these?" Gerard was already moving deeper into the kitchen, the damaged radio cradled in his hands.
Jack stopped Daniel from answering, his hand on Daniel's before he could think about the action. "Just the one." Daniel snatched his hand away.
"That's kind of dumb." Gerard's voice drifted out from the room beyond the kitchen. He poked his head back in. "Well? Come on."
Jack stood to follow, but Daniel tugged sharply on his sleeve. "Dawes has the other radio."
"You have another idea for how to contact Carter and Teal'c without heading back to the government?"
Daniel's silence was enough of an answer.
"You know how to fix the radio? We need him to do this, and if he knows Dawes has mine . . . I don't need him getting twitchy."
Daniel shook his head. "This is going to bite you in the ass."
Jack pulled away from Daniel, leaving him to shuffle on this own. You're going to bite me in the ass, he shot at Daniel.
"You wish." When Jack looked back at Daniel, Daniel threw the towel at his head and while Jack sorted himself out, Daniel passed him, moving more lightly than yesterday. Damn bastard. . . .
Jack ducked out of the kitchen, entering Gerard's workshop, the most claustrophobic room in his house. The workshop itself was as big as the storage closet in Daniel's office and about as crowded save for the narrow path to the backdoor. Metal gears and slabs of sheet metal, some covered in grease smudges, lined the shelves and walls. Considering Gerard invented the nanites that were floating in Jack's head, Jack hoped they had been created in a more sterile environment.
The radio was on Gerard's table, instruments already laid out beside it. "The power cell is fried," Gerard reported. "Probably what actually melted the insides here." He pointed with a thin silver wand, reaching across the small space to feel inside a metal container. "So let's start by giving her some new juice."
Jack pressed in behind Daniel, his hand on Daniel's shoulder-for balance, Jack told himself. "We probably have spare batteries in our gear."
Gerard pulled a cube the size of his fist from the container. "Got it covered." He worked at wiring in the power source-as efficient as Carter with alien technology, apparently-and Daniel asked a few questions as he worked, prompting Gerard's running commentary. Jack stepped back, leaned against the opposite side of the door frame, watching Daniel from the corner of his eye, paying attention when he leaned in, completely engaged in what Gerard was doing, completely distracted from his own thoughts.
Eh, why not?
Trying not to move too much, Jack focused on Daniel, focused on skimming the surface of his thoughts without Daniel noticing. He picked up a few things, sentences Daniel thought before saying them, a stray ponder about if Gerard knew anything about radio waves and how they might describe those waves on this world, but Jack didn't know how to actually find what he wanted to know. He pressed further, trying to follow a stray thought deeper into Daniel's mind. Desperate, he whispered his name into Daniel's mind.
Daniel shifted, overcompensating to his right, and Jack reached out, catching his elbow. When they touched, he got an image of himself taking a firmer hold and pulling Daniel in, pressing their mouths together in something more intimate than the few struggling kisses they'd shared.
He felt himself flushing and pulled away, focusing on Gerard.
"It's outdated, yeah, but we had some radio technology back in the day." Gerard leaned over, inspecting the freshly stripped wires.
Daniel coughed, leaning back over Gerard's shoulder. "How long ago was that?"
Gerard sat back, tapping the silver wand against his lip. "There were still some radios in use when I was growing up, but they were novelty items mostly; the last radio broadcasts stopped years before then." He held the silver wand to one of the wires, causing a small spark. "There we go."
Static came out of the speaker, and Jack sighed at the sound, feeling the heat release from his body.
Gerard leaned back, allowing Jack to step forward and adjust the dial, switching over to SG-1's usual channel. The channel came through as static and when Jack reached for the button to broadcast. . . .
"Yeah, that's melted, huh?"
"Yeah, that is," Jack couldn't help snapping back.
Gerard spun on his stool, digging around on the shelf behind him. "Gimme a minute, gimme a minute."
Daniel shuffled forward and together they stared at the radio.
"Think Carter can hear us if we shout?"
Daniel stifled a laugh, his shoulder bumping Jack's. Jack felt Daniel's emotions spike and he peeked into Daniel's mind again, gently skimming off thoughts of what Daniel wanted to do when they were back home-fairly specific, but not exactly an indicator of how emotionally involved Daniel was getting.
Gerard touched Daniel's shoulder, and Jack stepped back, allowing Daniel the better view as Gerard cut away the melted button, wiring in a toggle switch. It wasn't pretty, probably wasn't very portable, but if it contacted Carter, Jack might have to kiss Gerard.
Daniel's hand brushed Jack's chest, his fingers catching Jack's shirt before he hastily pulled away, another fantasy springing to their minds. Jack coughed, hoping Gerard wasn't paying attention to any of their thoughts. "You, uh, done?"
Gerard flipped the toggle and gestured with a sweep of his hand.
Jack glanced at Daniel as he leaned around his arm, their bodies pressing tight together, the shared fantasies making Jack bolder and more comfortable, more sure that Daniel was interested in less-confusing sex. "Carter. Teal'c. Does anyone copy?" Gerard released the toggle and they waited-this could take awhile. Carter may be conserving batteries, or had to observe radio silence, or maybe they'd returned home to call in the cavalry.
"Sir?" Carter's voice crackled over the radio. "Sir, it's good to hear you."
Jack slapped Daniel on the back, earning a weird look before pushing forward and depressing the toggle switch. "What's your position?"
"We're still with the Tekhne government."
Gerard looked away, making himself busy by straightening his tools.
Daniel nudged Jack, and Jack glared, yeah, I know. "Can you lose them?"
"Sir?"
"Carter."
"Yes, sir."
Jack flicked the toggle, addressing Gerard. "Where can we meet up?"
"Oh, uh. . . ."
"The Celare ruins," Daniel offered, he leaned over Jack, pressing the toggle. "Teal'c, remember that statue we passed on the way in? You said it reminded you of Ma'at?"
"Indeed, Daniel Jackson." Jack couldn't help the smile at hearing Teal'c's voice.
"Plenty of cover," Gerard said. "It used to be an opera house. Should make it a little more difficult for Henley's men to track them."
"We'll be there at sundown, sir."
Gerard surveyed the radio. "I'll see what I can do about making this a little more compact. Uh." He waved Jack and Daniel away with a small flick of his hand. "I can take care of the rest."
Jack grinned, following Daniel out the door. "A real shower," Jack moaned.
"Medical treatment," Daniel added. Jack surveyed Daniel's walk; he wasn't limping any more, and the cast seemed lighter, like its weight had only been to keep Daniel off his feet while it healed. "I'm better, yeah, but. . . ." Daniel turned his leg. "I still wouldn't mind some X-rays."
"We'll get that for you, then get you home, okay?" Jack couldn't help the grin. He wanted to get Daniel home. After being captured and spending a few nights on uncomfortable cots, falling into bed with a warm and willing body sounded like the perfect way to unwind. Warm and willing but emotionally detached, Jack could handle that.
"Yeah, sure," Daniel said, but Jack missed the unease in his voice, his thoughts still on Daniel's fantasy involving wearing Jack's dog tags while Jack wore his glasses.
* * *
The Celare ruins were far enough away that Gerard insisted on taking the landspeeder. They passed through a government checkpoint, Jack muttering, "We're not the off-worlders you're looking for," while Gerard talked the guards into letting them through.
"I don't think we'll be able to repay you," Daniel said.
Gerard shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I may be in hiding, but I make do."
Jack pointed back to the checkpoint. "Helps that they don't know what you look like."
Gerard grinned, hair blowing across his face. "Also helps that I invented the thing they have wired into their brains."
They parked the landspeeder under cover and walked into the ruins on foot. Carter and Teal'c would be there in just under half an hour, which gave Jack time to scout the area. He signaled to Daniel and then took off on a slow jog, adjusting the strap on the rifle Gerard had been able to procure. They just had the one, and only enough ammo for about fifty shots, but hopefully they wouldn't have to use it.
There was a unit by the Stargate, an armored car and six soldiers in Tekhne Guard uniforms, but otherwise the area was clean, and in just under ten minutes, Carter and Teal'c should be here.
"Don't say it," Daniel warned as Jack came back. "Don't say it's a piece of cake or anything. That just jinxes us."
"Fine." Jack crossed his arms and then sent Daniel an image of a piece of apple pie. "Where's Gerard?"
Daniel pointed back the way they came. "He's checking out another entrance. He said the foundation collapsed into an underground transit that used to cover the city and sometimes Dawes's men use the tunnels to move around. It helps them avoid the satellites."
"That must have been how he busted us out of Dawes's place."
Daniel nodded. "It makes sense."
The sun was starting to set, orange and red painting the crumbling face of Ma'at with sunburn. They'd be off this world by sunset, giving Hammond a verbal report of "not any time soon," hitting the infirmary, the showers, and Jack's bed all before the sun rose again on this little planet that would soon just be a memory.
"Except for all the kidnapping-and you being a colossal dick-it hasn't been a bad mission," Daniel remarked.
"Excuse me, I'm a what?"
Daniel rolled his eyes, shifting to his right foot. "Oh, come on, Jack, don't play innocent here. You've been rooting in my head all day."
Jack winced as he kept scanning the area.
"Do you, do you know how invasive that is? Did you even think about it? Christ, Jack, do you ever even think? And what you're inferring."
"I'm not inferring anything."
"Well you've certainly come up with the wrong idea about. . . ." Daniel broke off, his eyes doing some intense communicating.
"It's not like I was hacking your brain."
"Not for lack of trying."
"Oh, what, so your firewall or whatever informed you of a security breach?"
"Jack, our heads are not the internet!"
"Tell that to the Tekhnens!"
Jack started, turning and shielding his eyes from the sun. There was movement in the shade, from where they'd originally entered the ruins-Gerard. He moved faster than Jack would have thought.
The message came through the Vinculum, Gerard's normal calm gone: Dawes.
Jack and Daniel rushed forward to the shadows, taking them a bit farther from the statue, meeting Gerard under the remaining supports of a wall. Braced behind cover, Jack scanned the upper levels, looking for scouts and snipers.
"How did they know we were here?" Gerard panted.
Daniel arched one eyebrow at Jack, deadpanning, "I have no idea."
The radio in Jack's tac vest buzzed. "Colonel O'Neill. Thank you for the use of your radio."
Gerard glared at Jack. "You said you only had one."
"Yeah, well, apparently I'm a dick." Jack hit the toggle on his radio, barely registering Daniel amending his statement with his recommended adjective. "Dawes, hi. Sorry we skipped out on the bill, but I swear we didn't order that pay-per-view."
"Bring out Gerard and we'll let you go."
Jack glanced over at Gerard, who was already shrinking farther into the shadows. "Excuse me?"
"You're interesting, but Gerard is much more valuable."
"Yeah, yeah, we got the abridged version of that." Jack gestured at Daniel, telling him to stay with Gerard. Last thing he needed was for Gerard to rabbit. . . .
"You're not trading me." Gerard pulled out a small pistol version of the energy canon, pointing it at Daniel's head. His eyes were wide and scared-he'd been in this kind of position before; he'd probably lost then.
Jack put his hands up, making sure it was obvious the rifle was hanging free from his shoulder. "I wasn't about to. . . ."
"You thought it," Gerard accused. "You don't realize you did, but it's there; subconscious, it's there."
Jack narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing in my subconscious?"
"How, how do you think I survive? I have to. It's not fair, it's not, but it's all I have." The gun was shaking in Gerard's hand, probably in more danger of going off accidentally than on purpose.
"Gerard." Daniel drew his attention, but Gerard's eyes flicked between them, wary of what Jack would do if Daniel distracted him for too long. "We don't leave people behind. If you've been that deep in our heads, you know that."
"But-"
Jack's radio buzzed. "Colonel. Your answer."
Jack gestured to his radio, slowly moving towards it, making sure that his mind was solely focused on reaching for the radio, on keeping Daniel alive. "Yeah, Dawes, we've talked it over. . . ." Daniel's face was calm, his eyes wide behind his lenses, abnormally still, and that was when Jack really noticed just how much Daniel usually fidgeted, the muscles in his face ticcing, tongue sneaking out to wet his lips, brow quirking, eyes blinking, throat swallowing, lips moving.
Now wasn't the time for these kind of revelations.
The radio double-clicked at his shoulder, and his eyes met Daniel's, the two of them finally on the same wavelength about something.
Jack looked right at Gerard, one hand held up in a wait-a-minute gesture. "We've got Gerard for you."
"He's coming willingly?"
Jack scoffed at the radio. "Have you met the guy? No, your strong-minded Dr. Jackson used the Vinculum. . . ." Jack stared at Gerard hard, opening up his mind and sending him that conversation in the cell. "Just like you thought he could."
Gerard still glanced between Jack and Daniel, the sweat running down his face. Calm him down, Jack snapped at Daniel.
Working on it.
"Come out on to the stage-in the open. We'll bring Gerard out once we see you."
The radio was silent, but that didn't mean Dawes was saying no.
"I'm very sorry I got in your head." Gerard looked at Daniel, wiping one hand on his leg. "And I'm sorry I pulled a gun on you, but can you please not turn me over to the people I've been hiding from for five years?"
"No."
"No?" Gerard's thumb moved back on the weapon, fingering what maybe was the safety.
"Trust us." Daniel dropped his arms, his body language open even if his mind wasn't. He didn't need the Vinculum to convince Gerard. "The clicks on the radio? That was our friends." He could just explain the situation.
"I can't let them take me."
Jack rolled his eyes. "I promise I'll shoot you before I let them capture you."
Gerard's brow furrowed but he lowered the weapon. "That's not terribly comforting."
"No," Daniel said, pointing to the stage, on the opposite side of the ruins. "But that is." Dawes walked out on the stage, four men stationed around him.
"Actually, still not."
Jack put his arm around Gerard's shoulder, turning away from the stage and leading him farther into the shadows, back towards the Ma'at statue. "It's a distraction. While they're over there, we'll be over here, meeting up with Car-"
The supports for the scaffolding off to their left-the way they would have gone-gave way from a small explosion, the wall heaving to and folding in on itself.
"Move!"
Jack pushed Daniel and Gerard back, the dust the only thing covering them . . . until the weapons fire started.
"Shit!" Scrambling for cover, Jack and Gerard returned fire.
The radio buzzed again, this time with Carter's voice. "Sir, your position's been compromised. We'll provide covering fire." Teal'c's staff blast soared overhead and Jack pointed Daniel slightly to the right of it.
"Can you get to the 'gate? Woah." The Tekhne unit that had been guarding the 'gate surged forward, funneling through the gap Jack had indicated. Jack tightened his grip on Daniel's shoulder, watching as the guard engaged the revolutionaries immediately, the carbon from their energy weapons tingeing the air.
Daniel looked around, peering into the shadows. "I might be able to find a way through this way."
"Take Gerard with you."
Daniel squeezed Jack's hand slightly before taking off, Gerard following behind. The guard advanced, leaving two behind to cover the rear. Jack moved, intending to follow behind Daniel, but his foot slid over the loose rock, unsettling his balance, and he turned towards the sound of shouting, telling him to halt.
The energy weapons that were pointed at him didn't look like the kind that just knocked you unconscious.
Jack raised his hands, holding the rifle over his head. "Would you believe I'm on a diplomatic mission to Alden?"
The two guards shook with the electricity of a zat blast. Teal'c loomed over them a moment later. "I believe you mean 'Alderaan,' O'Neill."
Jack grinned, happily accepting the zat from Teal'c. "Would have been lost on them any way, T. How's your six?"
"A little crowded, sir." Carter stepped forward, flicking on the light mounted to her P-90. "Is there another way out?"
Jack squinted into the dark where Daniel had gone. "Hopefully." He followed Daniel's path, confident Carter and Teal'c were watching his back.
"Do you know where you're going?" Carter shined the light over his shoulder, illuminating the caved-in passage to the left.
"Yeah." Jack tapped his temple, glad that Daniel had thought to feed him the directions. "I've got the internet in my brain, too. Surprisingly useful."
The walls swayed as an explosion struck the exterior wall, the sound of weapons fire not letting up even though SG-1 was out of their line of sight. Motrin, Jack thought, was definitely on his menu when they got back to Earth.
There was light after the next turn, Gerard standing just before the path to the Stargate. Three armored cars, two of which weren't there on Jack's initial pass, flanked the road.
"I couldn't stop them," Gerard apologized.
"Yeah, I know."
Carter looked around. "Where's Daniel?"
"Colonel O'Neill," Henley shouted. "I dislike having to be so cliché, but if you turn over Gerard, I'll allow you to return home unharmed."
"Your dance card must always be full," Jack said to Gerard, not even bothering to listen to the rest of Henley's bargain; you've heard one bargain, you've heard 'em all. Jack gestured to Carter to hand over her P-90. "Let's see Daniel," Jack shouted back.
Henley stepped from behind one of the armored trucks with Daniel. Daniel's hands were folded behind his head; it was obvious Henley had a weapon on his back. Jack watched through the sight, the crosshairs trained on Henley.
"Don't," Gerard breathed.
Jack turned from his weapon. "What?"
"Don't kill him."
"I wasn't," Jack started to protest before rolling his eyes, knowing that once again Gerard was playing in his subconscious or whatever. "Why not?"
Gerard scrubbed a hand through his hair, fighting for the right words. "The civil war is useful."
"Neither Henley nor Dawes gain enough power," Carter said, nodding. "They balance each other."
Gerard sighed. "Let's hope they never figure that out."
Jack grinned tightly. "Great. I'm very happy for your planet and its bizarre politics. Now can we get my archaeologist back?" Jack still didn't see any of the Tekhnens besides Henley. "Gerard, how many are out there?"
Gerard blinked. "Oh, uh, five guards plus Henley." Gerard pointed. "Two behind the car there. Two with Henley on that side. One covering the pedestal."
"DHD," Carter supplied with a smile. Oh yeah, she'd scented out a fellow geek.
"Five guards? That's it?" Jack was actually offended. "Well, there's no cover to move around behind them, so let's play this out. Gerard, would you care to be my hostage?"
Gerard's lip curled up. "Not particularly."
"Sadly, you don't actually have a choice in this one." Jack traded weapons with Carter again, this time arming himself with both of their remaining zats. "You used the Vinculum before to put Dawes's guards asleep, right?"
"It's not quite like that, more like overloading the nanites so that they-"
Jack put a finger over his own lips and Gerard cut off. "Can you take out Henley?"
He hesitated before answering. "Maybe. He's pretty good with the Vinculum-really good at keeping secrets, so it's harder to get in." Jack recalled his headache from when he'd tried to tell off Dawes.
"Just take care of Henley." Jack looked over at Carter and Teal'c, nodding as they took up covering positions. Gerard started ahead of Jack, his hands behind his back, his energy pistol clutched in his hand. "Wait until we're nearly level with the backs of the cars."
Not going to happen before then. Gerard side-stepped, and Jack grabbed him, keeping him on course. Henley must be strong-minded if Gerard couldn't walk and hack his mind at the same time.
"Nice to see you again, Gerard." Henley nudged Daniel forward a step, but Daniel didn't move forward any farther, making Jack come to him. Like always, Jack groused inwardly.
"Yeah," Gerard breathed. Sweat was breaking out on his brow, and Jack started wondering if he could actually do this. Jack put a hand on Gerard's shoulder; they were close enough.
"Major Carter was surprisingly easy to track. Where's the rest of your team?" Henley shifted, like he expected them to appear when they were called.
"Around." Jack squeezed Gerard's shoulder. Anytime now would be good. . . .
Henley narrowed his eyes, his hand leaving Daniel's arm, almost coming up to his head. "Wha-what?"
"Shit." Jack fired with the zat, just hoping Henley didn't have a chance to fire into Daniel's back. Henley shook and dropped, Gerard falling to his knees at the same time. Jack rushed forward, throwing the other zat to Daniel, who caught it and spun the opposite direction as Jack. They fired, taking out the guards behind the cars.
"There's one more!" Daniel ducked, the energy bolt flying just past his head.
Jack took aim, hitting the last guard before he could get another shot off. When he turned back, Carter and Teal'c were already to Gerard, pulling him to his feet.
"I told you not to kill him." Gerard pulled away sharply, advancing shakily towards Jack.
"I didn't." Jack nudged Henley with his boot. "He's unconscious. But we should get out of here."
The Stargate engaged behind him. "Daniel's way ahead of you, sir." Carter sent her IDC.
"Need to change those when we get back," Jack mumbled. Teal'c stayed behind with Jack, while Carter moved forward to check on Daniel. "Look, our world isn't exactly perfect either, but. . . ." Jack scratched the back of his head.
"I have found it to be most hospitable," Teal'c said, bowing slightly.
Gerard shook his head, looking down at Henley. "You're right at the cusp of where we were. I'd be back there all over again."
"You don't have to make the same choices." Daniel leaned against Carter, the metal cast barely resting on the ground.
Gerard holstered his energy weapon under his jacket. "Yeah, but I would."
Jack leaned closer, his voice low. "You said you'd have to hide here."
"Only have to hide until I die." He smiled sadly and then shook Jack's hand. "Good luck."
"Same to you." Jack didn't watch Gerard leave, but Daniel did until Jack put Daniel's arm over his shoulder. "Come on."
"We still need to have a chat," Daniel said. "An actual one." He looked at Jack pointedly, prodding him one last time through the Vinculum.
"Yeah, yeah." He let go of Daniel before they stepped through the 'gate, feeling when their connection to the Vinculum-and each other-broke.
* * *
It was probably sundown the next day on Tekhne when Jack was finally cleared to go home. Fraiser made him and Daniel stay in the infirmary overnight for observation to make sure the Vinculum didn't have any lasting effects. While Daniel was in for X-rays, Jack begged that Sergeant Johnson-who was in for food poisoning-be placed in between them. The smell of half-digested alien yak from P4X-998 was more palatable than the looming threat of Chat With Daniel to be had at an undisclosed time. Fraiser had arched an eyebrow and joked, "A little too much together time," before agreeing to Jack switching beds.
But Jack had finally gotten home, gotten a shower, gotten a beer, and then promptly gotten a visitor.
"You're a jerk," Daniel snapped as soon as the door opened. "Also, move." Fraiser had wrapped Daniel's leg in a white cast and forced him to take a pair of crutches. Crutches made it harder for Daniel to get to his apartment-the elevator was often out-so he'd usually wind up over at Jack's until he was off them. Apparently, Jack noted as Daniel jumped over to the couch, using the crutches as a balance, their thing wasn't going to change that.
"And how are you enjoying your day back on Earth?" Jack shut the door, kicking Daniel's discarded shoe under the couch.
Daniel turned around stiffly, huffing moodily. "I'm enjoying not having someone sending me pornographic images all day."
Jack smiled thinly. "Wow, it really was just like the internet." He ignored Daniel's fussing on the couch and headed into the kitchen. "You want something?" Daniel didn't answer, but he put on a pot of coffee anyway.
"What were you doing, anyway?"
It was easier to be asked that question where Daniel couldn't see his wince. He heard the crutches hit the ground and a moment later Daniel was hanging on to the doorframe of Jack's kitchen.
"Jack, come on. What was that about?"
Jack scratched his head because it allowed him to look away. "The other night, just . . . and then in the cell . . . and the massage."
Daniel's brow furrowed. "Yeah, I was there for that."
Jack pulled out mugs, sugar, spoons, and then considered continuing until his cabinets and drawers were empty.
"Were you trying to find out . . . what I liked?"
"Sort of." Jack winced. Why did someone put that thing in his head? "I just. . . ."
A chuckle choked out of Daniel's closed mouth. "You're really bad at this, huh?"
Jack bit his lip, trying to remember that Daniel was already injured and there would be questions if he broke his other leg.
Daniel pulled himself into the kitchen, limping over to Jack. He leaned against the counter, facing Jack, the back of his hand stroking Jack's arm. "I don't do buddy fucks."
Jack started. "But your thoughts-sorry, about that, really, I mean that-but they were all. . . ." Jack made a few unmistakable gestures.
"Because you kept touching me, and yeah, I have some . . . lust, for you." Daniel flushed slightly. "But it's not, just, I mean we're more. . . ." Daniel huffed out an annoyed breath. "You're not some girl on a planet."
Jack arched an eyebrow and flicked his eyes towards his belt. "I'd been wondering."
Daniel started to push Jack away, but Jack reached out, taking Daniel's hand. "You're really bad at this, huh?"
"At least I said something." Daniel pulled at his hand slightly, but with no real conviction. "Didn't try to read your mind."
"Daniel."
"Jack."
"Why don't we shut up and do what we're good at?" Daniel smiled brilliantly, and Jack would have pulled Daniel in for the kiss like in his fantasy, but coming to Daniel was what he was used to doing.
~Comments and feedback let me know what's on your mind.
Title: The Advantages of Mind Reading (2/2)
Author: Em
Rating: R for language and implied sex
Word Count: ~12,800 (in 2 parts)
Pairing: Jack/Daniel
Summary: An off-world mission just isn't the same if two members of the team don't wind up with nanites in their heads. . . .
Continued from Part 1.
* * *
Gerard wasn't in the utilitarian kitchen during breakfast-breakfast, which was something egg-like that Jack figured wouldn't improve his cholesterol-and the only sign of Gerard until sundown was a thought in the late afternoon telling them that Dawes's men were looking for them.
"Great," Jack said at that message. "So, at information from our new captor, we'll just stay here and hide from our old captor."
"It's not like that." Daniel's eyes were unfocused. He'd been using the Vinculum all day, reading up on Tekhne and its history, trying his best to do the Tekhnen equivalent of Googling Dawes. Jack, however, couldn't get over the constant dinging in his head as Daniel kept accidentally sending him thoughts. The most useful thing Daniel had sent was a link to the Tekhnen version of YouTube where Jack could watch clips of what passed for their entertainment-mostly musicals, actually, which Jack didn't mind.
Jack crossed his arms, his eyes shut tight as he thought up new search terms. He figured that if all stories were universal then he might be able to find the Tekhnen equivalent of The Simpsons.
"You don't have to close your eyes, you know."
"Do you have any idea how disturbing it is to watch you?" Jack opened one eye; Daniel was focusing on him now.
He shrugged. "It's like reading. If my eyes are open it doesn't feel quite as weird."
"Yeah? Well if my eyes are closed it doesn't feel so weird."
Daniel shifted in his chair, tapping the lamp-stick next to him to dim the glow. "Stop pouting."
"I'm not pouting!"
"Well stop thinking Simpsons quotes at me; it's messing with my search terms."
They were getting better with the Vinculum the more they used it-and their thoughts seemed to be more contained to their own heads-but they were still bleeding into each other unintentionally . . . sometimes intentionally.
"I know you're all interested in the culture, or whatever, but can you please consider the fact that we need to get out of here? No matter how honorable Gerard's intentions are, Carter and Teal'c are out there still."
Daniel blinked and Jack picked up a stray thought, Wow, that was . . . reasonable. Jack let it slide.
"If they'd been captured, Dawes would have brought them in."
"You sure about that? Gerard's not exactly with the government, if you hadn't noticed. There could be other factions." Jack massaged his neck, still sore from the other night with the sedatives and from his headache earlier in the day. "This planet's way more unstable than Henley let on."
"They always are." Daniel moved his legs off the stool in front of his chair and patted it. "Come here. You thinking about the pain in your neck is a pain in my neck."
After a brief hesitation, Jack moved over, sitting up straight in front of Daniel, trying not to sigh too loudly when Daniel's warm hands moved over his neck, his thumbs pressing small circles into the abused muscles. Daniel's touch had always been a steadying presence in his life, but recently it had become more than that, something that Jack sought out, enjoyed. He leaned back into the touch, remembering how those fingers had felt on his skin below the belt. Just one night-two weeks ago-and he'd already been craving a repeat, perhaps without the alcohol, without the need to relieve tension.
Jack's head dipped forward, allowing Daniel more access, and his thumbs moved down under the collar, painting smooth stripes that stretched the tense muscles. They hadn't taken the time before; it had been frantic and sloppy. They'd made it to Daniel's bed, only half undressed, and rutted together until they came, hand-shaped bruises on their arms no different from ones after a bad mission. Jack left afterwards-wanting to stay, but more afraid to ask for that than to say good night.
His hands slipped forward over Jack's shoulders, hooking into fabric and pulling away Jack's jacket. Through the T-shirt, Daniel worked Jack's shoulders, and then moved along the spine until he was pressing his fingers into Jack's lower back, sliding lower towards the tail bone, making Jack wish desperately for Earth and his surveillance-free bedroom.
"Jack." Daniel's voice was so soft and full of need that Jack was willing to ignore the fact that they were off-world.
Jack brought his head back, his cheek brushing against Daniel's cheek, and he turned towards his ear, his tongue already out, licking the shell when he thought, You could really fuck up my command.
Daniel pulled away sharply and too late Jack remembered the Vinculum.
"I could fuck up your command?"
Jack was still leaning back against him, his mouth slightly open, totally unsure of how to handle this. He still didn't know what this was, if it was just sex or bordering on something else. He'd crawled into Daniel's bed once-drunk-and he had no idea how Daniel felt about that. For all his talking about emotions, he hadn't exactly been forthcoming about this.
Daniel was still staring at Jack, his brow slightly furrowed, and Jack felt a small prod and realized that even though they weren't projecting their thoughts quite so directly any more, Daniel had still picked up on some of that.
Jack stiffened slightly. "This isn't the place for this."
"Oh? But this is the place for you to bend me over the chair and fuck me? In Gerard's living room?" Daniel sent back the fantasy that had flitted through Jack's brain when Daniel first started the massage.
"You try to think clearly when you're moaning into my ear."
Daniel's mouth slipped sideways as his eyebrow arched.
Okay, even Jack could admit that didn't make much sense. He leaned forward slightly, turning so he was facing Daniel a bit more. "This still isn't the place for this conversation."
Daniel pushed away, leaving Jack's back cold. "This is as far as you're going to get from regulations. If you ever want to have this conversation, now's the time."
Jack flexed his calves, eyes sliding away. It wasn't that he didn't want to have this conversation (okay, he didn't but not in the way Daniel was implying), it was just that he still didn't know yet. He didn't know what to say or how to handle this or-more importantly-what Daniel wanted. There was a pretty thick line between a thing and buddy sex. There were reasons Jack kept his personal shit out of the field. Starting something with Daniel-something more than that one night-that would put Jack's personal shit right in the field and he wasn't sure he wanted to do that.
"This isn't the place," Jack reiterated, trying to hold Daniel's stare.
"So, never then." Daniel struggled to his feet, fighting the oversized armchair, and Jack had to stop himself from reaching out to help. "You're a real ass, you know that? You think this was easy for me?" Daniel pulled himself from behind Jack, hobbling in a way that was really detracting from his temper tantrum. He turned back around before leaving, his hard-on visible even though the loose BDUs. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped, turned, and then said, "Gerard's back. You want to get out of here? Talk to him." He hobbled towards the bedrooms, one arm out for balance.
When Jack turned, Gerard was in the doorway from the kitchen, a metallic-colored satchel over his shoulder. "Should I come back later?"
Jack picked up his jacket, shrugging it on. No use going after Daniel while he was worked up. He'd cool off and they could try it again later-hopefully after Jack figured out exactly what they were doing. "Why don't you explain things to me instead?" Gerard's eyes slipped to the door where Daniel had exited-he probably felt more at ease around Daniel, practically everyone did. "And feel free to start with why you can't take us back to the Tekhne government."
Gerard sighed, hefting his satchel higher on his shoulder. "How about I tell you while I start dinner?"
Jack followed him into the galley kitchen, aware that this was a rather odd prison, but just because he and Daniel could move freely around Gerard's home didn't mean it still wasn't a cell.
Gerard pressed a button on the smooth black surface of one counter, placing a pot on the circle that lit up green. "I'm sorry I couldn't explain this to you sooner, but the middle of a breakout isn't really the place for backstory." Gerard smiled and then coughed when he saw how much Jack appreciated the joke.
"Dawes doesn't like me very much," Gerard continued. "And neither does Representative Henley." Gerard pulled a green tuber from his satchel and sliced it with a knife that looked older than Jack. The mish-mash of technology Dawes and Gerard used was probably a source of extreme interest to Daniel, the way technology commingled during a time of extreme growth or something. "I, uh, I'm the one who invented the Vinculum."
Jack held up a hand. "I'm sorry, what?"
"The Vinculum." Gerard dumped the vegetable slices into the pot, and then grabbed a bottle from a shelf, pouring in a green-tinted oil. "Specifically the nanites that connect to the Vinculum. The Vinculum used to be external-something that Tekhnens could access at um, hubs, not carry around in their heads."
"Yeah, we have something similar on Earth," Jack muttered, a little worried that technology like this might leak out of the SGC and get marketed as the latest in WiFi.
Gerard nodded. "I thought that a world with your level of technology might have something like it. It really is the best way for any society-once achieving the level of technology to support such an open-source database-"
"Aah, ah, ah, ah!" Jack held up one finger, feeling like he was talking to some sort of Daniel-Carter hybrid. Jack tried to get him back on track. "You made the nanites."
Gerard pulled out another tuber, slicing it up as he spoke, his cheeks flushed. "Right. Well, I was a pretty popular guy after that, huh?" Looking around, Jack couldn't imagine this guy had been this planet's version of Bill Gates. The legs of Gerard's dining table were soldered together and some of his cabinets looked like they'd come crashing down if he shut the door too hard. "But that was before-the government was stable, Representative Henley was just an Administrator and Dawes was still a part of the Council."
Jack covered his eyes-he really should have listened when Daniel was explaining how their government worked. "Pretend I know nothing about your government."
Gerard bit back a smile when he dumped the newly sliced vegetables into the pot. "They were both part of the government."
"And you were an inventor bigwig."
"Me? No. I was nobody. But Henley and Dawes used the Vinculum-my invention-to gain power. The rest?" Gerard grabbed a few different metal canisters, adding pinches seemingly at random to the bubbling pot. "A lot of complicated stuff that doesn't really matter. The end result was when Dawes started the revolution, both he and Henley wanted to use the Vinculum to track individuals-like, for military purposes."
Jack nodded because duh, he'd already thought about that use himself.
"But doing that means altering the nanites' operating system." Gerard leaned against the counter, tapping another button on the flat surface that caused the pot to stir itself. "There are other people smart enough to figure it out, but I'm the only one who knows the base code well enough; it would take them years."
"Who wants to wait years when you're sitting right there?" When they finally caught up with Carter, she was going to love talking to this guy. "So why don't you just hook up with Henley?"
Gerard gaped at Jack like Jack had suggested that he nail a puppy to a tree.
"What?"
"They both want to abuse the Vinculum. Over seventy percent of the Tekhnens use the Vinculum. What's to stop either of them from continuing to abuse that power after this civil war?" Gerard turned around, pulling bowls and utensils from the cabinets. The bowls were ceramic; the spoons fairly flat and wide, like crudely-shaped sheet metal. "They could pry into the minds of anyone, track anyone, for any reason. Would you really want to pass off that kind of power to your government?"
The man had a point. "How long are you planning to hide out?" Jack took the bowls from Gerard, setting his small table.
Gerard shrugged, turning back to the boiling pot. "One day I'll die." He smirked over his shoulder; the gallows humor suited his dark hair and pale skin.
"Then why'd you risk it to save us? Hell, how did you know we were even there?"
Gerard pushed another button, the light under the pot going out. "You're outsiders; I didn't know how technologically advanced your world was, or if you'd help Dawes or be forced to." He nudged the pot over with the handle of a spoon. "If Dawes hadn't kidnapped you, I might have taken one of you from Henley, just to assess the situation."
"Henley's is better guarded than Dawes's complex." Jack had noticed that much when he'd moved around both places. It had to just be resources because Dawes seemed like the kind of man who would have redundancies if possible.
"Yeah, it really is. . . ." Gerard sighed, turning away. There seemed to be more to that story, but Jack wasn't about to push.
"So, Daniel keeps insisting that we're not your prisoners. . . ." Leaning back in the chair, he tried to make the statement sound casual.
Gerard grimaced as he stirred the contents of the cooking pot. "Mostly you're not."
"Mostly."
"I mean, I would still like to talk to you. This Carter person you keep thinking of?" Jack tried not to be offended; tried to remind himself he was probably just thinking too loudly. "I want to make sure she won't help them."
"She's part of my team."
Gerard nodded again; he seemed to do that a lot. "That means something then." He set the pot on the edge of the table, hesitating to spoon out a bowl. "Do you want to get Daniel?"
What would piss Daniel off more: missing dinner or seeing Jack again before he was ready to?
Gerard's face wobbled in a smile and Jack had the impression that it'd been a long time since he'd lived with anyone, even in the short-term. "Why don't I get him?"
Jack leaned forward and took the ladle from Gerard. "Why don't you do that?" By the time Gerard returned with a hobbling Daniel in tow, Jack had finished ladling out the soup and was smiling pleasantly.
Dinner was a little stiff-mostly because Daniel was doing his best to ignore Jack-but the food wasn't bad and Daniel asked Gerard a lot of questions about the political history, filling in most of those complicated gaps Gerard had originally said didn't matter. Turned out Gerard was right, but that didn't stop Daniel from being boring. Jack ate quietly, trying not to roll his eyes. After dinner Daniel excused himself, claiming that his leg was bothering him, but even Gerard could see through that.
The dishes nearly finished, Jack soaked his hands in the hot water, thinking about how he hadn't had a shower in nearly two days and should inquire about hygiene on this planet before too long.
"I don't mean to pry, but is something wrong?" Gerard moved so quietly half the time that Jack forgot he was in the room.
"Huh?"
Gerard pointed towards Daniel's hideout. "Since I came home you two have seemed kind of. . . ." He drew out his hands, his fingers shaping in a nonverbal cue that probably meant something on this planet; maybe he'd Vinculum it later and then show off for Daniel.
"I have offended Daniel and he is demonstrating his displeasure." Jack shook the excess water from his hands and pressed the button that he thought would turn off the flow. The water turned cool, and Gerard smiled, leaning over and pressing the off button.
"You have no idea how to fix it," Gerard interpreted.
It wasn't the fight that threw Jack; that was SOP between the two of them. Jack reached for a towel, hesitating to wipe his hands until Gerard indicated it was okay. "You ever think things would be easier if you just knew what someone else was thinking?"
Gerard's brow furrowed for a moment, as if he was considering if Jack was making a joke. "You do know how the Vinculum works, right?"
Jack rolled his eyes. "Not IMs to the brain-I mean, like, knowing what someone's thinking."
"Oh." Gerard scratched his cheek. "The Vinculum's just code, though, the nanites acting as an intermediary between the wireless information and your synapses-" Gerard broke off, chuckling to himself. "Your face goes blank every time I slip into techno-babble."
"Does it?" Jack carefully arranged his features in a look of interest.
"What I'm saying is that code can be hacked."
"I can hack Daniel's brain?"
"Theoretically." Gerard leaned back, looking towards the bedrooms, maybe checking to see if Daniel was listening. "I'm saying that I sometimes we all wonder if it'd be easier to know what someone else was thinking."
Jack narrowed his eyes, suddenly wary. "Is it?"
Gerard shrugged, his lips upturned slightly. "You could always just ask him."
Jack didn't have to say anything.
"I think tomorrow we should figure out how to contact the rest of your team." Gerard headed out the opposite end of the galley kitchen. "Good night."
Jack scrubbed his chin, pushing away from the counter. Knowing what Daniel wanted would probably make things easier, give Jack an out instead of actually having to make a decision (or be disappointed, Jack could almost admit to himself). But that kind of invasion? Prying into Daniel's personal thoughts on purpose? What the Vinculum offered without effort was pretty damn invasive as it was. Daniel's compassion was practically limitless, but Jack wasn't sure that even he could forgive that.
He stopped at Daniel's door, cracking it open enough to see Daniel asleep on the cot, the bed wedged into the middle of a room overflowing with shelves of half-finished circuit boards and devices. He couldn't invade Daniel like that-steal his innermost thoughts just because he had trouble voicing his own feelings.
Daniel rolled over, his eyes opening slightly. "J'ck?"
"Hmm?" Jack pushed the door open a bit more, taking one step into the room. Seeing Jack more clearly seemed to pull Daniel more thoroughly from his sleep.
"What are you doing?" His voice was hard.
"Just checking the perimeter. You know."
Daniel arched one eyebrow, which always looked much more skeptical and deadly when he wasn't wearing his glasses. "You don't have to check on me. I can take care of myself."
"Still mad at me, then? Cool."
Daniel said his name, but Jack shut the door any way. Hacking his brain would be easier than talking to him.
* * *
He tried during the night, waiting until Daniel was likely asleep again before concentrating on Daniel's thoughts, trying to just pick up what was on the surface. Either he was really bad at focusing on Daniel or Daniel dreamed about The Simpsons. Over breakfast, after his own Simpsons dream in which Bart photocopied Lisa's diary and pasted it all over their school-"Lisa likes Daniel Jackson" scrawled in poster-sized pop-art-Jack tried not to look at Daniel too much. It was easier to invade someone's privacy if you didn't look him in the eye.
Gerard poked at what was left of Daniel's radio while Daniel dried the last of the dishes. "This is how you can contact the rest of your team?"
"Unless they were also injected with the Vinculum," Daniel answered. He glanced over at Jack, and Jack shook his head. Not only was he positive Carter and Teal'c wouldn't submit to that-especially after he and Daniel were captured-but he'd already tried to IM them.
"And you only have one of these?" Gerard was already moving deeper into the kitchen, the damaged radio cradled in his hands.
Jack stopped Daniel from answering, his hand on Daniel's before he could think about the action. "Just the one." Daniel snatched his hand away.
"That's kind of dumb." Gerard's voice drifted out from the room beyond the kitchen. He poked his head back in. "Well? Come on."
Jack stood to follow, but Daniel tugged sharply on his sleeve. "Dawes has the other radio."
"You have another idea for how to contact Carter and Teal'c without heading back to the government?"
Daniel's silence was enough of an answer.
"You know how to fix the radio? We need him to do this, and if he knows Dawes has mine . . . I don't need him getting twitchy."
Daniel shook his head. "This is going to bite you in the ass."
Jack pulled away from Daniel, leaving him to shuffle on this own. You're going to bite me in the ass, he shot at Daniel.
"You wish." When Jack looked back at Daniel, Daniel threw the towel at his head and while Jack sorted himself out, Daniel passed him, moving more lightly than yesterday. Damn bastard. . . .
Jack ducked out of the kitchen, entering Gerard's workshop, the most claustrophobic room in his house. The workshop itself was as big as the storage closet in Daniel's office and about as crowded save for the narrow path to the backdoor. Metal gears and slabs of sheet metal, some covered in grease smudges, lined the shelves and walls. Considering Gerard invented the nanites that were floating in Jack's head, Jack hoped they had been created in a more sterile environment.
The radio was on Gerard's table, instruments already laid out beside it. "The power cell is fried," Gerard reported. "Probably what actually melted the insides here." He pointed with a thin silver wand, reaching across the small space to feel inside a metal container. "So let's start by giving her some new juice."
Jack pressed in behind Daniel, his hand on Daniel's shoulder-for balance, Jack told himself. "We probably have spare batteries in our gear."
Gerard pulled a cube the size of his fist from the container. "Got it covered." He worked at wiring in the power source-as efficient as Carter with alien technology, apparently-and Daniel asked a few questions as he worked, prompting Gerard's running commentary. Jack stepped back, leaned against the opposite side of the door frame, watching Daniel from the corner of his eye, paying attention when he leaned in, completely engaged in what Gerard was doing, completely distracted from his own thoughts.
Eh, why not?
Trying not to move too much, Jack focused on Daniel, focused on skimming the surface of his thoughts without Daniel noticing. He picked up a few things, sentences Daniel thought before saying them, a stray ponder about if Gerard knew anything about radio waves and how they might describe those waves on this world, but Jack didn't know how to actually find what he wanted to know. He pressed further, trying to follow a stray thought deeper into Daniel's mind. Desperate, he whispered his name into Daniel's mind.
Daniel shifted, overcompensating to his right, and Jack reached out, catching his elbow. When they touched, he got an image of himself taking a firmer hold and pulling Daniel in, pressing their mouths together in something more intimate than the few struggling kisses they'd shared.
He felt himself flushing and pulled away, focusing on Gerard.
"It's outdated, yeah, but we had some radio technology back in the day." Gerard leaned over, inspecting the freshly stripped wires.
Daniel coughed, leaning back over Gerard's shoulder. "How long ago was that?"
Gerard sat back, tapping the silver wand against his lip. "There were still some radios in use when I was growing up, but they were novelty items mostly; the last radio broadcasts stopped years before then." He held the silver wand to one of the wires, causing a small spark. "There we go."
Static came out of the speaker, and Jack sighed at the sound, feeling the heat release from his body.
Gerard leaned back, allowing Jack to step forward and adjust the dial, switching over to SG-1's usual channel. The channel came through as static and when Jack reached for the button to broadcast. . . .
"Yeah, that's melted, huh?"
"Yeah, that is," Jack couldn't help snapping back.
Gerard spun on his stool, digging around on the shelf behind him. "Gimme a minute, gimme a minute."
Daniel shuffled forward and together they stared at the radio.
"Think Carter can hear us if we shout?"
Daniel stifled a laugh, his shoulder bumping Jack's. Jack felt Daniel's emotions spike and he peeked into Daniel's mind again, gently skimming off thoughts of what Daniel wanted to do when they were back home-fairly specific, but not exactly an indicator of how emotionally involved Daniel was getting.
Gerard touched Daniel's shoulder, and Jack stepped back, allowing Daniel the better view as Gerard cut away the melted button, wiring in a toggle switch. It wasn't pretty, probably wasn't very portable, but if it contacted Carter, Jack might have to kiss Gerard.
Daniel's hand brushed Jack's chest, his fingers catching Jack's shirt before he hastily pulled away, another fantasy springing to their minds. Jack coughed, hoping Gerard wasn't paying attention to any of their thoughts. "You, uh, done?"
Gerard flipped the toggle and gestured with a sweep of his hand.
Jack glanced at Daniel as he leaned around his arm, their bodies pressing tight together, the shared fantasies making Jack bolder and more comfortable, more sure that Daniel was interested in less-confusing sex. "Carter. Teal'c. Does anyone copy?" Gerard released the toggle and they waited-this could take awhile. Carter may be conserving batteries, or had to observe radio silence, or maybe they'd returned home to call in the cavalry.
"Sir?" Carter's voice crackled over the radio. "Sir, it's good to hear you."
Jack slapped Daniel on the back, earning a weird look before pushing forward and depressing the toggle switch. "What's your position?"
"We're still with the Tekhne government."
Gerard looked away, making himself busy by straightening his tools.
Daniel nudged Jack, and Jack glared, yeah, I know. "Can you lose them?"
"Sir?"
"Carter."
"Yes, sir."
Jack flicked the toggle, addressing Gerard. "Where can we meet up?"
"Oh, uh. . . ."
"The Celare ruins," Daniel offered, he leaned over Jack, pressing the toggle. "Teal'c, remember that statue we passed on the way in? You said it reminded you of Ma'at?"
"Indeed, Daniel Jackson." Jack couldn't help the smile at hearing Teal'c's voice.
"Plenty of cover," Gerard said. "It used to be an opera house. Should make it a little more difficult for Henley's men to track them."
"We'll be there at sundown, sir."
Gerard surveyed the radio. "I'll see what I can do about making this a little more compact. Uh." He waved Jack and Daniel away with a small flick of his hand. "I can take care of the rest."
Jack grinned, following Daniel out the door. "A real shower," Jack moaned.
"Medical treatment," Daniel added. Jack surveyed Daniel's walk; he wasn't limping any more, and the cast seemed lighter, like its weight had only been to keep Daniel off his feet while it healed. "I'm better, yeah, but. . . ." Daniel turned his leg. "I still wouldn't mind some X-rays."
"We'll get that for you, then get you home, okay?" Jack couldn't help the grin. He wanted to get Daniel home. After being captured and spending a few nights on uncomfortable cots, falling into bed with a warm and willing body sounded like the perfect way to unwind. Warm and willing but emotionally detached, Jack could handle that.
"Yeah, sure," Daniel said, but Jack missed the unease in his voice, his thoughts still on Daniel's fantasy involving wearing Jack's dog tags while Jack wore his glasses.
* * *
The Celare ruins were far enough away that Gerard insisted on taking the landspeeder. They passed through a government checkpoint, Jack muttering, "We're not the off-worlders you're looking for," while Gerard talked the guards into letting them through.
"I don't think we'll be able to repay you," Daniel said.
Gerard shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I may be in hiding, but I make do."
Jack pointed back to the checkpoint. "Helps that they don't know what you look like."
Gerard grinned, hair blowing across his face. "Also helps that I invented the thing they have wired into their brains."
They parked the landspeeder under cover and walked into the ruins on foot. Carter and Teal'c would be there in just under half an hour, which gave Jack time to scout the area. He signaled to Daniel and then took off on a slow jog, adjusting the strap on the rifle Gerard had been able to procure. They just had the one, and only enough ammo for about fifty shots, but hopefully they wouldn't have to use it.
There was a unit by the Stargate, an armored car and six soldiers in Tekhne Guard uniforms, but otherwise the area was clean, and in just under ten minutes, Carter and Teal'c should be here.
"Don't say it," Daniel warned as Jack came back. "Don't say it's a piece of cake or anything. That just jinxes us."
"Fine." Jack crossed his arms and then sent Daniel an image of a piece of apple pie. "Where's Gerard?"
Daniel pointed back the way they came. "He's checking out another entrance. He said the foundation collapsed into an underground transit that used to cover the city and sometimes Dawes's men use the tunnels to move around. It helps them avoid the satellites."
"That must have been how he busted us out of Dawes's place."
Daniel nodded. "It makes sense."
The sun was starting to set, orange and red painting the crumbling face of Ma'at with sunburn. They'd be off this world by sunset, giving Hammond a verbal report of "not any time soon," hitting the infirmary, the showers, and Jack's bed all before the sun rose again on this little planet that would soon just be a memory.
"Except for all the kidnapping-and you being a colossal dick-it hasn't been a bad mission," Daniel remarked.
"Excuse me, I'm a what?"
Daniel rolled his eyes, shifting to his right foot. "Oh, come on, Jack, don't play innocent here. You've been rooting in my head all day."
Jack winced as he kept scanning the area.
"Do you, do you know how invasive that is? Did you even think about it? Christ, Jack, do you ever even think? And what you're inferring."
"I'm not inferring anything."
"Well you've certainly come up with the wrong idea about. . . ." Daniel broke off, his eyes doing some intense communicating.
"It's not like I was hacking your brain."
"Not for lack of trying."
"Oh, what, so your firewall or whatever informed you of a security breach?"
"Jack, our heads are not the internet!"
"Tell that to the Tekhnens!"
Jack started, turning and shielding his eyes from the sun. There was movement in the shade, from where they'd originally entered the ruins-Gerard. He moved faster than Jack would have thought.
The message came through the Vinculum, Gerard's normal calm gone: Dawes.
Jack and Daniel rushed forward to the shadows, taking them a bit farther from the statue, meeting Gerard under the remaining supports of a wall. Braced behind cover, Jack scanned the upper levels, looking for scouts and snipers.
"How did they know we were here?" Gerard panted.
Daniel arched one eyebrow at Jack, deadpanning, "I have no idea."
The radio in Jack's tac vest buzzed. "Colonel O'Neill. Thank you for the use of your radio."
Gerard glared at Jack. "You said you only had one."
"Yeah, well, apparently I'm a dick." Jack hit the toggle on his radio, barely registering Daniel amending his statement with his recommended adjective. "Dawes, hi. Sorry we skipped out on the bill, but I swear we didn't order that pay-per-view."
"Bring out Gerard and we'll let you go."
Jack glanced over at Gerard, who was already shrinking farther into the shadows. "Excuse me?"
"You're interesting, but Gerard is much more valuable."
"Yeah, yeah, we got the abridged version of that." Jack gestured at Daniel, telling him to stay with Gerard. Last thing he needed was for Gerard to rabbit. . . .
"You're not trading me." Gerard pulled out a small pistol version of the energy canon, pointing it at Daniel's head. His eyes were wide and scared-he'd been in this kind of position before; he'd probably lost then.
Jack put his hands up, making sure it was obvious the rifle was hanging free from his shoulder. "I wasn't about to. . . ."
"You thought it," Gerard accused. "You don't realize you did, but it's there; subconscious, it's there."
Jack narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing in my subconscious?"
"How, how do you think I survive? I have to. It's not fair, it's not, but it's all I have." The gun was shaking in Gerard's hand, probably in more danger of going off accidentally than on purpose.
"Gerard." Daniel drew his attention, but Gerard's eyes flicked between them, wary of what Jack would do if Daniel distracted him for too long. "We don't leave people behind. If you've been that deep in our heads, you know that."
"But-"
Jack's radio buzzed. "Colonel. Your answer."
Jack gestured to his radio, slowly moving towards it, making sure that his mind was solely focused on reaching for the radio, on keeping Daniel alive. "Yeah, Dawes, we've talked it over. . . ." Daniel's face was calm, his eyes wide behind his lenses, abnormally still, and that was when Jack really noticed just how much Daniel usually fidgeted, the muscles in his face ticcing, tongue sneaking out to wet his lips, brow quirking, eyes blinking, throat swallowing, lips moving.
Now wasn't the time for these kind of revelations.
The radio double-clicked at his shoulder, and his eyes met Daniel's, the two of them finally on the same wavelength about something.
Jack looked right at Gerard, one hand held up in a wait-a-minute gesture. "We've got Gerard for you."
"He's coming willingly?"
Jack scoffed at the radio. "Have you met the guy? No, your strong-minded Dr. Jackson used the Vinculum. . . ." Jack stared at Gerard hard, opening up his mind and sending him that conversation in the cell. "Just like you thought he could."
Gerard still glanced between Jack and Daniel, the sweat running down his face. Calm him down, Jack snapped at Daniel.
Working on it.
"Come out on to the stage-in the open. We'll bring Gerard out once we see you."
The radio was silent, but that didn't mean Dawes was saying no.
"I'm very sorry I got in your head." Gerard looked at Daniel, wiping one hand on his leg. "And I'm sorry I pulled a gun on you, but can you please not turn me over to the people I've been hiding from for five years?"
"No."
"No?" Gerard's thumb moved back on the weapon, fingering what maybe was the safety.
"Trust us." Daniel dropped his arms, his body language open even if his mind wasn't. He didn't need the Vinculum to convince Gerard. "The clicks on the radio? That was our friends." He could just explain the situation.
"I can't let them take me."
Jack rolled his eyes. "I promise I'll shoot you before I let them capture you."
Gerard's brow furrowed but he lowered the weapon. "That's not terribly comforting."
"No," Daniel said, pointing to the stage, on the opposite side of the ruins. "But that is." Dawes walked out on the stage, four men stationed around him.
"Actually, still not."
Jack put his arm around Gerard's shoulder, turning away from the stage and leading him farther into the shadows, back towards the Ma'at statue. "It's a distraction. While they're over there, we'll be over here, meeting up with Car-"
The supports for the scaffolding off to their left-the way they would have gone-gave way from a small explosion, the wall heaving to and folding in on itself.
"Move!"
Jack pushed Daniel and Gerard back, the dust the only thing covering them . . . until the weapons fire started.
"Shit!" Scrambling for cover, Jack and Gerard returned fire.
The radio buzzed again, this time with Carter's voice. "Sir, your position's been compromised. We'll provide covering fire." Teal'c's staff blast soared overhead and Jack pointed Daniel slightly to the right of it.
"Can you get to the 'gate? Woah." The Tekhne unit that had been guarding the 'gate surged forward, funneling through the gap Jack had indicated. Jack tightened his grip on Daniel's shoulder, watching as the guard engaged the revolutionaries immediately, the carbon from their energy weapons tingeing the air.
Daniel looked around, peering into the shadows. "I might be able to find a way through this way."
"Take Gerard with you."
Daniel squeezed Jack's hand slightly before taking off, Gerard following behind. The guard advanced, leaving two behind to cover the rear. Jack moved, intending to follow behind Daniel, but his foot slid over the loose rock, unsettling his balance, and he turned towards the sound of shouting, telling him to halt.
The energy weapons that were pointed at him didn't look like the kind that just knocked you unconscious.
Jack raised his hands, holding the rifle over his head. "Would you believe I'm on a diplomatic mission to Alden?"
The two guards shook with the electricity of a zat blast. Teal'c loomed over them a moment later. "I believe you mean 'Alderaan,' O'Neill."
Jack grinned, happily accepting the zat from Teal'c. "Would have been lost on them any way, T. How's your six?"
"A little crowded, sir." Carter stepped forward, flicking on the light mounted to her P-90. "Is there another way out?"
Jack squinted into the dark where Daniel had gone. "Hopefully." He followed Daniel's path, confident Carter and Teal'c were watching his back.
"Do you know where you're going?" Carter shined the light over his shoulder, illuminating the caved-in passage to the left.
"Yeah." Jack tapped his temple, glad that Daniel had thought to feed him the directions. "I've got the internet in my brain, too. Surprisingly useful."
The walls swayed as an explosion struck the exterior wall, the sound of weapons fire not letting up even though SG-1 was out of their line of sight. Motrin, Jack thought, was definitely on his menu when they got back to Earth.
There was light after the next turn, Gerard standing just before the path to the Stargate. Three armored cars, two of which weren't there on Jack's initial pass, flanked the road.
"I couldn't stop them," Gerard apologized.
"Yeah, I know."
Carter looked around. "Where's Daniel?"
"Colonel O'Neill," Henley shouted. "I dislike having to be so cliché, but if you turn over Gerard, I'll allow you to return home unharmed."
"Your dance card must always be full," Jack said to Gerard, not even bothering to listen to the rest of Henley's bargain; you've heard one bargain, you've heard 'em all. Jack gestured to Carter to hand over her P-90. "Let's see Daniel," Jack shouted back.
Henley stepped from behind one of the armored trucks with Daniel. Daniel's hands were folded behind his head; it was obvious Henley had a weapon on his back. Jack watched through the sight, the crosshairs trained on Henley.
"Don't," Gerard breathed.
Jack turned from his weapon. "What?"
"Don't kill him."
"I wasn't," Jack started to protest before rolling his eyes, knowing that once again Gerard was playing in his subconscious or whatever. "Why not?"
Gerard scrubbed a hand through his hair, fighting for the right words. "The civil war is useful."
"Neither Henley nor Dawes gain enough power," Carter said, nodding. "They balance each other."
Gerard sighed. "Let's hope they never figure that out."
Jack grinned tightly. "Great. I'm very happy for your planet and its bizarre politics. Now can we get my archaeologist back?" Jack still didn't see any of the Tekhnens besides Henley. "Gerard, how many are out there?"
Gerard blinked. "Oh, uh, five guards plus Henley." Gerard pointed. "Two behind the car there. Two with Henley on that side. One covering the pedestal."
"DHD," Carter supplied with a smile. Oh yeah, she'd scented out a fellow geek.
"Five guards? That's it?" Jack was actually offended. "Well, there's no cover to move around behind them, so let's play this out. Gerard, would you care to be my hostage?"
Gerard's lip curled up. "Not particularly."
"Sadly, you don't actually have a choice in this one." Jack traded weapons with Carter again, this time arming himself with both of their remaining zats. "You used the Vinculum before to put Dawes's guards asleep, right?"
"It's not quite like that, more like overloading the nanites so that they-"
Jack put a finger over his own lips and Gerard cut off. "Can you take out Henley?"
He hesitated before answering. "Maybe. He's pretty good with the Vinculum-really good at keeping secrets, so it's harder to get in." Jack recalled his headache from when he'd tried to tell off Dawes.
"Just take care of Henley." Jack looked over at Carter and Teal'c, nodding as they took up covering positions. Gerard started ahead of Jack, his hands behind his back, his energy pistol clutched in his hand. "Wait until we're nearly level with the backs of the cars."
Not going to happen before then. Gerard side-stepped, and Jack grabbed him, keeping him on course. Henley must be strong-minded if Gerard couldn't walk and hack his mind at the same time.
"Nice to see you again, Gerard." Henley nudged Daniel forward a step, but Daniel didn't move forward any farther, making Jack come to him. Like always, Jack groused inwardly.
"Yeah," Gerard breathed. Sweat was breaking out on his brow, and Jack started wondering if he could actually do this. Jack put a hand on Gerard's shoulder; they were close enough.
"Major Carter was surprisingly easy to track. Where's the rest of your team?" Henley shifted, like he expected them to appear when they were called.
"Around." Jack squeezed Gerard's shoulder. Anytime now would be good. . . .
Henley narrowed his eyes, his hand leaving Daniel's arm, almost coming up to his head. "Wha-what?"
"Shit." Jack fired with the zat, just hoping Henley didn't have a chance to fire into Daniel's back. Henley shook and dropped, Gerard falling to his knees at the same time. Jack rushed forward, throwing the other zat to Daniel, who caught it and spun the opposite direction as Jack. They fired, taking out the guards behind the cars.
"There's one more!" Daniel ducked, the energy bolt flying just past his head.
Jack took aim, hitting the last guard before he could get another shot off. When he turned back, Carter and Teal'c were already to Gerard, pulling him to his feet.
"I told you not to kill him." Gerard pulled away sharply, advancing shakily towards Jack.
"I didn't." Jack nudged Henley with his boot. "He's unconscious. But we should get out of here."
The Stargate engaged behind him. "Daniel's way ahead of you, sir." Carter sent her IDC.
"Need to change those when we get back," Jack mumbled. Teal'c stayed behind with Jack, while Carter moved forward to check on Daniel. "Look, our world isn't exactly perfect either, but. . . ." Jack scratched the back of his head.
"I have found it to be most hospitable," Teal'c said, bowing slightly.
Gerard shook his head, looking down at Henley. "You're right at the cusp of where we were. I'd be back there all over again."
"You don't have to make the same choices." Daniel leaned against Carter, the metal cast barely resting on the ground.
Gerard holstered his energy weapon under his jacket. "Yeah, but I would."
Jack leaned closer, his voice low. "You said you'd have to hide here."
"Only have to hide until I die." He smiled sadly and then shook Jack's hand. "Good luck."
"Same to you." Jack didn't watch Gerard leave, but Daniel did until Jack put Daniel's arm over his shoulder. "Come on."
"We still need to have a chat," Daniel said. "An actual one." He looked at Jack pointedly, prodding him one last time through the Vinculum.
"Yeah, yeah." He let go of Daniel before they stepped through the 'gate, feeling when their connection to the Vinculum-and each other-broke.
* * *
It was probably sundown the next day on Tekhne when Jack was finally cleared to go home. Fraiser made him and Daniel stay in the infirmary overnight for observation to make sure the Vinculum didn't have any lasting effects. While Daniel was in for X-rays, Jack begged that Sergeant Johnson-who was in for food poisoning-be placed in between them. The smell of half-digested alien yak from P4X-998 was more palatable than the looming threat of Chat With Daniel to be had at an undisclosed time. Fraiser had arched an eyebrow and joked, "A little too much together time," before agreeing to Jack switching beds.
But Jack had finally gotten home, gotten a shower, gotten a beer, and then promptly gotten a visitor.
"You're a jerk," Daniel snapped as soon as the door opened. "Also, move." Fraiser had wrapped Daniel's leg in a white cast and forced him to take a pair of crutches. Crutches made it harder for Daniel to get to his apartment-the elevator was often out-so he'd usually wind up over at Jack's until he was off them. Apparently, Jack noted as Daniel jumped over to the couch, using the crutches as a balance, their thing wasn't going to change that.
"And how are you enjoying your day back on Earth?" Jack shut the door, kicking Daniel's discarded shoe under the couch.
Daniel turned around stiffly, huffing moodily. "I'm enjoying not having someone sending me pornographic images all day."
Jack smiled thinly. "Wow, it really was just like the internet." He ignored Daniel's fussing on the couch and headed into the kitchen. "You want something?" Daniel didn't answer, but he put on a pot of coffee anyway.
"What were you doing, anyway?"
It was easier to be asked that question where Daniel couldn't see his wince. He heard the crutches hit the ground and a moment later Daniel was hanging on to the doorframe of Jack's kitchen.
"Jack, come on. What was that about?"
Jack scratched his head because it allowed him to look away. "The other night, just . . . and then in the cell . . . and the massage."
Daniel's brow furrowed. "Yeah, I was there for that."
Jack pulled out mugs, sugar, spoons, and then considered continuing until his cabinets and drawers were empty.
"Were you trying to find out . . . what I liked?"
"Sort of." Jack winced. Why did someone put that thing in his head? "I just. . . ."
A chuckle choked out of Daniel's closed mouth. "You're really bad at this, huh?"
Jack bit his lip, trying to remember that Daniel was already injured and there would be questions if he broke his other leg.
Daniel pulled himself into the kitchen, limping over to Jack. He leaned against the counter, facing Jack, the back of his hand stroking Jack's arm. "I don't do buddy fucks."
Jack started. "But your thoughts-sorry, about that, really, I mean that-but they were all. . . ." Jack made a few unmistakable gestures.
"Because you kept touching me, and yeah, I have some . . . lust, for you." Daniel flushed slightly. "But it's not, just, I mean we're more. . . ." Daniel huffed out an annoyed breath. "You're not some girl on a planet."
Jack arched an eyebrow and flicked his eyes towards his belt. "I'd been wondering."
Daniel started to push Jack away, but Jack reached out, taking Daniel's hand. "You're really bad at this, huh?"
"At least I said something." Daniel pulled at his hand slightly, but with no real conviction. "Didn't try to read your mind."
"Daniel."
"Jack."
"Why don't we shut up and do what we're good at?" Daniel smiled brilliantly, and Jack would have pulled Daniel in for the kiss like in his fantasy, but coming to Daniel was what he was used to doing.
~Comments and feedback let me know what's on your mind.