Chapter 7
The feedback from the planet started to arrive and Sgt. Siler handed her computerized copies of the readouts. Sam had spread them out on the work table studying the papers when a notation of some type in the corner of the first UAV reading caught her eye. Something that shouldn't have been there…in the corner were three little words written so tiny that it was quite fortuitous that Sam had seen them at all. Written in black pen in perfect handwriting were words that sent a chill down her spine, "Trust No One."
Sam raised her eyes from the paperwork at the table and found Sgt. Siler staring at her. He nodded his head in acknowledgement of his handiwork.
Sam pulled a stool over from the side and sat down. She slowly sorted through the remaining readouts. Unable to meet Siler's eyes she began to believe that maybe she had imagined it all when on the corner of the fourth map were the cryptic words, "All is not as it seems."
Eyes widening in confusion, she again glanced in the Sergeant's direction. He no longer had his focus on her, or the computer terminal, but somewhere to his left. Sam followed the direction of Siler's gaze, confusion leading to shock when she realized it lead to the security cameras.
Sam jumped as she felt a pressure on her shoulder.
"Whoa Carter. A little jumpy."
Looking over her shoulder at her CO, she took a few deep breaths to bring her pounding heart under control. "Sorry, sir. I was busy concentrating on these maps."
"So, how's it look?"
"Sir?"
"The planet, Carter. How's it look? Any baddies around?" The Colonel continued, pulling a stool up next to her and sitting down.
"Oh! Right. Uh, fine, sir. The terrain is a bit ugly, though. On the one side, the gate isn't out in the open, so…"
"Assuming there isn't anyone out lurking around those rock formations to the south, we shouldn't be sitting ducks. Swell," he finished, examining one of the plots himself.
"Right. And you should be fairly well covered all the way to the village, here. Due east of the Gate, about 6 clicks. Dad says that's the most likely location of the Tok'ra operative. She shouldn't have gotten too far from the gate, and this is the nearest village for miles."
"So," Jack sighed, leaning back. "Should be a piece of cake."
"Doesn't make me feel any better, sir," she mumbled, pulling her hair off her forehead with both hands.
"C'mon," Jack ordered, rising from the stool and offering a hand.
"Huh?" she looked up at him puzzled. Jack rolled his eyes.
"Come. On. Commissary. Food. Coffee. Jell-O," he clarified. She smiled and took his hand, allowing him to help her up.
"Lead on, MacDuff," she said, gesturing grandly toward the door. He shot her a look of surprise, amazed that he hadn't had to fight harder to get her to join him. Smiling and shaking his head, he walked out, Carter in tow.
* * * *
Carter and O'Neill sat down at a quiet table in the corner of the commissary, each with a cup of hot coffee in hand.
"So…" Jack muttered, taking a sip of his coffee. Sam set her cup down and looked at him.
"So… what? Sir, are you okay? You're acting kind of strange."
"*Strange*? I'm acting strange? What, like it's such a terrible thing for me to want to tear you away from your all consuming MALP readouts to have some coffee before we leave?" He made a show of looking hurt, but wasn't that successful. Sam smiled.
"Well, not *terrible*, sir. Just… weird."
"That a technical term, Carter?" he smiled back. "No, I know. It's just that… well, we're… what? I guess 'starting over' works, and now…"
"The timing just really sucks."
Jack laughed a bit at her appraisal of the situation. "Yeah. It's too soon to get split up. I mean, hell, with our luck…" his face darkened suddenly and he eyes fell to the table. He hadn't meant to go that far. Sam's smile faded as well.
"What?" she demanded softly. "With our luck, what? What were you gonna say?"
"Nothing. It's not important." Jack picked up his mug and took a sip. Sam blinked.
"No… you were gonna say that with our luck, one or both of you is gonna get killed, or maimed, or captured, and…" she trailed off.
"And leave you here alone. That's what *you* were gonna say, isn't it?"
Sam didn't answer, but folded her hands on the table and stared at them. Into her field of vision crept another hand, which laid itself on hers. She looked up.
"Sam, we're *not* going to leave you alone. I promise. We'll be just fine, and we'll be happier knowing that you're still here, safe and sound. That *we're* not going to loose *you*."
"You know, you can't just promise something like that."
"Sure, I can. And I always keep my promises, Carter. You know that. Just keep that in mind while you're pacing around the control room fretting. Teal'c, me, your Dad… we'll be home before you know it. And all in one piece, too. I promise."
"I wish I was going with you."
"Yeah," he smiled. "A little piece of me wishes that, too. But a bigger piece is really glad you're not. Look, if it'll make you feel better, I'll give you something to do while we're gone."
Sam's ears perked up. "Like what?"
"Well," he said, leaning in closer and taking a quick glance around the room. "You know that little collection of 'concerns,' we've been building? I want you to keep your ear to the ground. See if you can dig anything up. I know we don't really have anything to go on but ooky feelings, but then, we've never really been actively *looking* for anything out of the ordinary before." Sam frowned a bit. "What?" Jack asked, upon registering her pensive expression.
"Things like cryptic little notes on UAV printouts?" she asked.
"Huh?" Jack replied, a bit confused. Sam took her cue and delved into an explanation.
"While I was going over the pictures that the UAV sent back… the ones I was looking at when you startled me. That's the reason I was so distracted. On two different plots I found little notes. One read, 'Trust no one,' and the other said, 'All is not as it seems.' When I looked around to see if I could figure out who wrote them, Sgt. Siler was staring at me. I think he may have actually nodded, too. Maybe he's trying to tell us something."
"Like what, Scully? That there's a vast alien conspiracy to take over the world?"
Sam just stared at him.
"Okay, bad example." He took another sip of his coffee. "Okay, well… talk to him then. See if he'll give you a little more to go on. But whatever you do, be tactful. If he does know something, he probably doesn't want to bring it up out in the open."
"Yes, sir," she replied, as they both rose to leave.
"Oh, and Carter?"
"Sir?"
"I'll be expecting a full report on the situation *when* we get back." She smiled brightly at him.
"Yes, sir!"
* * * *
"*This* is your plan? Doctor Jackson, I'm sorry, but…" General Hammond spread his arms and sighed in defeat. He'd been trying throughout Daniel's presentation to come up with some argument against his plan, but was unable to put anything together except 'Are you *serious*?'
"But what, sir? It delivers just what I promised. It's a way for us to get SG1 back without further risking the SGC. Since we'll have new GDO codes, you can go ahead and lock out all of our old ones. We'll be able to get in without being recognized… hell, Leske can even program the IHFGs to allow us to change who we impersonate. There's no reason for it not to work, sir." Daniel spoke up, pleading with his eyes.
"I'm sure it will work, son." Not. "But this is all assuming you make it through the gate in the first place. I understand that Ms. Leske has her own codes to get through her planet's iris, but there's a good chance that those codes will have been disabled. For all we know, this could be a one-way trip to nowhere."
Daniel's eyes strayed from the General to rest momentarily on Leske, who stood to the side of the room, newly clothed in an air-force issue blue jumpsuit, arms crossed tightly across her chest. She gave a slight nod in response to the question in his eyes.
"We're willing to take that risk, sir."
"What if I'm not, Doctor?" Touché. Hammond had him there. The SGC was, after all, under his command.
Upon hearing the finality in the General's voice, Daniel froze. His stress level was becoming dangerous… he already had a killer headache. He squinted his eyes shut and took off his glasses to massage between his eyes for a moment, trying to regain his composure. Why did it look like Janet's chair was floating? Somewhere in his pained head, he could hear Jack asking if he'd slept this week. Ha.
"Daniel?" Opening his eyes upon hearing his name, Daniel was assaulted by the blazing lights of the briefing room. He never remembered them being that bright. "Daniel? Can you hear me? Are you alright?" Janet? His ears were ringing. He blinked hard, trying to make the floating splotches in front of him disappear.
"Um, yeah. Fine. I must just be tired," he heard himself say through a white haze. Janet stood up and slowly walked over toward him.
"Yeah, I'll say. General, this discussion can wait an hour or so, can't it? I'd like to take Dr. Jackson down to the infirmary."
"Um… Janet… I don't think I'm gonna…" Daniel's eyes closed and he pitched forward, Janet reaching him just in time to ease him to the floor.
* * * *
"What's wrong with him?" Leske asked Janet in a soft voice. Daniel was lying on a bed in the infirmary. If she didn't know better, Leske would have thought he was just sleeping. Except for the IV in his hand, he just looked to be in peaceful repose.
The two women were standing around his bed, Leske with her arms tight around herself again, Janet flipping through her patient's chart.
"I don't know. I think it has something to do with that chip in his brain. The frequency of the signal it's emitting has-'"
"Chip? The neurofilter? But I thought you took it out," Leske exclaimed, her eyes widening. Her obvious distress immediately brought Janet to alert. She met the alien woman's eyes with a glare that could melt ice.
"No, we haven't. We've been waiting for a neurologist to fly in from back east," she responded slowly and deliberately, setting down the chart. "*Does* Daniel's condition have anything to do with that chip? What aren't you telling us?"
"I… I thought you removed it! You said you found it… didn't bring it up again… I just thought that you'd figured it out without any help."
"Why would we need help, Leske?" Janet was doing her damnedest to reign in her emotions, but as she saw it, this woman's oversight had caused a dear friend to fall into a coma.
"Because. Unless it is removed from the patient within a few days of being disconnected from our computer system, it begins to fail. It's been hooked into his brain for so long, that it's become almost like a part of him. Losing that chip without disconnecting it properly is like… like performing a lobotomy or something. It could kill him! I thought you'd figured that out already!"
Janet didn't hesitate in assuming her 'power monger' stance, as the Colonel liked to call it. She was ready to shoot the other woman, who was beginning to shy away from her like a frightened child. Served her right. But Janet reminded herself that she still needed Leske's help. She could kill her after this was all over.
"How much time do we have? Is it too late?" Janet asked, praying that Leske had the information she needed to save Daniel's life.
"How fast can that… what? Neuronist?"
"Neurologist."
"Right. How fast can he get here?"
"We were expecting him in a couple of days. He couldn't be spared right away."
Leske's heart fell upon hearing that. A couple of days. Too long. "Do… do you think you could do it?" she asked tentatively. Janet's jaw dropped as she considered the suggestion.
No. Janet could most certainly *not* do it. She might be a cracker-jack pathologist, a fine physician, and a pretty good surgeon when the situation called for it, but she was certainly no brain surgeon. She could not operate if she wasn't qualified. She could kill the patient! One who would probably die anyway… but still! She had taken an oath. She couldn't possibly do this. Could she?
"Doctor?"
"I'm thinking."
"I could help you."
"Yeah, like you helped by *not* telling me about this sooner? Christ! This whole thing could have been avoided!" Janet had tried to keep her tongue in check, but the situation was irking her tremendously. Leske's eyes and shoulders fell upon taking Janet's sting.
"I'm sorry. Janet, I'm so sorry! I swear I didn't know." Leske whispered, her voice cracking slightly.
"Yeah, well there's a *lot* you don't know."
"I *do* know how to fix this."
Janet softened a bit upon hearing Leske's plea for understanding. She didn't doubt that the young woman really did want to help. "How?"
"It's all in with the information I brought. The recording device."
"With Daniel's medical records? That schematic you showed me?"
"Yeah," Leske replied. She was starting to relax, now, focusing on the situation. She had to help Daniel. They hadn't come this far only to be stopped by a stupid little neurofilter.
Janet sighed and closed her eyes. In. Out. In. Out. She tried to bring herself into balance again. To work on a problem who's solution would have dire consequences. She came to a decision. She had to do something, to try.
"Let me take a look at those files."