"Pearce, make sure the Stargate remains covered at all times."
"Yes, sir." Pearce nodded at Colonel O'Neill who in return gave only the slightest inclination of his head. O'Neill was not having the best of days, made worse by the fact that the day seemed to be incredibly long and whatever could go wrong was going wrong. It had started when the Tok'ra base had come under attack. One entire SG team had already lost their life along with a handful of Tok'ra as they all attempted to escape to the should-be-secret Alpha Site. Jacob Carter had apologised for bringing the Tok'ra there, but they had nowhere else they could turn after the brutal attack. What made the fact that he was now surrounded by Tok'ra far worse was the fact that a group of rebel Jaffa were already camped out on the Alpha Site. O'Neill had not been in the presence of the Goa'uld since his failed blending with Kanan and he was not sure how he fully felt about it. There had always been distrust between himself and the Tok'ra; Kanan had not improved the situation. Since the fight at the funeral, already existing tensions had increased exponentially between the two supposed allies and the Tau'ri were inevitably going to get caught in the middle. Thankfully, both Bra'tac and Jacob were sensible and had power within their respective groups. O'Neill knew that he could count upon both of them to help all three factions work together. Unfortunately, O'Neill was not as comfortable around Jacob as he normally would have been and it had little to do with Kanan. He wanted to discuss the tensions with Jacob, to possibly even get an insight into the Tok'ra and Kanan, but on the other hand, O'Neill did not want to risk the truth slipping out. Without Major Carter on this mission, O'Neill was unaware as to what information she had provided her father. All that he could assume was that since he had learnt the truth about being Daniella's father, Carter had not seen Jacob and therefore the retired general did not know. There was no way that O'Neill was going to let that piece of information come out right now.
Turning slightly, O'Neill posed a question to Daniel: "Do you think we're all gonna make it out of this?"
Daniel shrugged his shoulders slightly, glancing around at the mass of people. "With your brilliant diplomatic skills?" O'Neill narrowed his eyes at his team-mate. "They'll kill each other by morning or you'll kill them all soon after."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." O'Neill knew that there was an element of truth in Daniel's words. He was neither the most diplomatic nor most patient man in the world. If anything, he would be described as the complete opposite of patient diplomat.
"It could be worse."
"How? How could this be worse?"
"Sam could be here." O'Neill shot another look at Daniel's smiling face.
"Colonel O'Neill, sir?"
He turned to Lieutenant Nicola Carpenter and said, "Go ahead."
"Sir, the Tok'ra are complaining about their temporary accommodation."
"What's wrong with it?"
"It's not up to suitable standards."
O'Neill studied the lieutenant, trying to figure out if she believed the Tok'ra statement to be valid or not. Even with their three month away mission, O'Neill had not worked with Carpenter for very long and he still did not fully have her understood. She had already tested herself in battle and he knew that, from a military position, his life could be safely put into her hands. He still did not know her very well. A lot of the time she was silent, only showing any real passion for anything when it involved something old and mysterious. He could not fault her professionalism and ability to do her job, but especially in their line of work a sense of humour was needed. O'Neill was sure that he had only ever heard Carpenter laugh when she was conversing with Daniel. "Have they never heard of temporary?"
"Sir?"
"Go tell them that if they're not happy with it, they can leave."
The look on her face turned to one of either curiosity or confusion and O'Neill rolled his eyes at her. Her mouth fell open as if she were about to say something, but O'Neill was saved from hearing her comment by Daniel. "He's kidding, Nic." She nodded, now definitely looking confused. "Come on, I'll come with you to try and calm them down." As Daniel walked past O'Neill he shot the colonel a warning look as if to say 'leave her alone'. O'Neill shrugged in reply. His patience was already hanging on by a tiny thread; he did not need Carpenter pulling on it.
"Oh, okay," Carpenter replied before turning to O'Neill. "Sir." O'Neill forced a fake smile onto his face as a reply that she was free to go and as Daniel and Carpenter turned their backs on him he heard her muttering: "Sometimes I just don't get him."
"That's okay," Daniel replied. "No one always does."
Despite standing alone, O'Neill rolled his eyes in annoyance before spotting a Jaffa and Tok'ra on the other side of the tents squaring up to each other. Aware that his duty was to head over, sort out their problem and nip things in the bud, O'Neill hesitated due to a lack of motivation. There was a part of him that would be happy to let the two allies fight each other over petty differences until there was no one left to cause him any problems. He forced his right foot to move, deciding to head towards them when Bra'tac came out of seemingly nowhere and seemed to placate the Jaffa almost instantly. It was becoming rapidly obvious that if nothing was done, somebody would soon die. The three leaders needed to work together and show their unity. That was the only way that the army of Jaffa, Tok'ra and Tau'ri would escape with all of their numbers intact. Bra'tac was still busy with the Tok'ra which left Jacob as O'Neill's first port of call with regards to their unity. O'Neill was going to have to go and speak with the Tok'ra he least wanted to be alone with.
A short distance away there was a group of Jaffa practicing and training, sitting and watching them was Jacob. O'Neill had not had to search for the general for long and made a beeline for him. Jacob was sitting, resting from his injury and taking in everything around him. As O'Neill approached him both men nodded a greeting and Jacob did not say anything as O'Neill sat down beside him. "What, uh, what happened back at the funeral?"
He felt the older man's eyes on him. "The Tok'ra and Jaffa have been far removed for centuries. You can't just make those kinds of people friends straight away."
"We're all on the same side."
"You have to bear in mind that until Teal'c, the Tok'ra were alone in the galaxy, forced to fight a war from the inside. We utilise subterfuge. We hide. We sneak. We're infiltrators and spies. Where's the honour in that? Teal'c's rebellion and the amount of Jaffa who are now rebelling, fight with honour. They do not hide. They do not sneak. We did what we had to do. Now, times are very different and to them we are not honourable."
"So why do the Tok'ra have such an issue with them? And don't try to deny it, Jacob. It's not a one-sided thing."
"True." Jacob seemed to consider his question for a long moment. "It's different for me. I'm different, obviously. Most hosts have come from worlds occupied by a Goa'uld and it is Jaffa who do their dirty work. It's these Jaffa who have enslaved some of the other Tok'ra hosts. I feel it slightly because Selmak brought it from previous hosts, but I also bring a complete lack of knowledge of them. Imagine a prisoner of war being released and becoming a diplomat who then works with, let's say, the United Nations soldiers - some of whom were ordered to interrogate that prisoner turned diplomat. The Jaffa were only doing what they were ordered. Until Teal'c, doubt from the Jaffa concerning their Gods was unheard of, but now they have to live and fight beside those who are hard to distinguish from their false Gods. Meanwhile, the Tok'ra have to fight aside their prior oppressors. No matter the truth of the matter, it can be hard to ignore the pain caused."
"So Selmak does have bias against the Jaffa?"
"Like most Tok'ra, yes. I'm one of very few hosts that have no bias."
"Glad you're here then."
"I feel it strongly sometimes, but then that's part of the blending. Selmak has less bias than he did because of my influence."
"Blending." O'Neill's voice was just a mumble as he stared intently at the almost choreographed Jaffa.
"What Kanan did to you was not a true blending." O'Neill turned his head to Jacob sharply, wondering how this conversation had got onto Kanan. He was relieved somewhat that Sam and Daniella had not been mentioned yet. "I am deeply sorry for what happened. Kanan broke our most highly treasured law and I regret not only what he did because of the pain it caused you, but also that if the two of you had been truly blended - even for a short period of time - you would understand our cause much greater."
"No offence, but I'm glad it wasn't successful." If Kanan had opened his thoughts to O'Neill, the torture would have wielded answers and Ba'al would have sought to kill O'Neill before a rescue mission could be launched.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Jack." There was a long pause where O'Neill considered leaving, but somehow felt more at peace than he had been since the Tok'ra had arrived. "How are Sam and Daniella?"
O'Neill met Jacob's eyes and quickly averted them when he saw love and pride beaming from them. It was probably how his own eyes looked when he thought of his daughter. It was highly unlikely that Carter had managed to tell her father the truth and O'Neill was not going to be the one who did. If Jacob already knew, O'Neill doubted that he would have failed to mention it. Staring down at his feet, he answered, "They're both fine. As far as I know. Carter works on base most of the time now so I don't see her that often." He caught himself before he fed into the lie that Daniel would be the best one to ask. Daniel was also likely to not realise and accidentally tell Carter Senior the truth about Carter Junior, her daughter and O'Neill.
"That must be odd." O'Neill looked at him curiously, noting that Jacob now seemed to be watching the fighters once more. "I mean, you were all so used to being a team. You did leave first though."
"Yeah."
"For an ex and your child."
"Yep." O'Neill had guessed that conversing with Jacob about Carter would be awkward, but it had not occurred to him that Jacob would bring up Laira and Jack Junior.
"But you came back."
"Just spit it out, Jacob."
"I don't know what happened with you and your ex, but I do know that Sam needs to focus on her daughter. She doesn't need your jealously affecting her career."
"Jealous? Excuse me?"
Their eyes met and Jacob's meant business. "I know that you've had feelings for each other, but she doesn't need a relationship or its drama coming from you. And just because your child isn't on Earth, doesn't mean you can take it out on her. Am I clear?"
O'Neill stood up, the calm he had found rapidly evaporating in the heat of anger. "Major Carter's child places no bearing on her ability to be a part of my team, trust me. I'd like to think I'm a bit more professional than to let my issues with my child affect my work." Jacob harrumphed at this, to which O'Neill shook his head in disbelief. "What, do you think I'm not good enough for your daughter?"
"Probably not, no. Especially when my grand-daughter's now involved. You're not the settling down kind and now that she has Daniella, I'd hate for you to get the idea that there's a family all-ready made for you because you'd leave after not too long. Whatever feelings you ever had for my daughter, forget them and leave her and Daniella alone. They can't replace the wife and child you lost, or the one not on Earth."
"Because I'm just a military man, right? Not a family man?" O'Neill could feel the anger bubbling within him at Jacob's attack on his character and part of him was ready to snap by yelling at him that he was in fact Daniella's father.
"For all that you say about orders and chains of command, Jack, you constantly lack respect for superior officers. You're sarcastic, bitter and so cynical that the only future ahead of you is one alone. You can't even hold your professionalism here, between the Tok'ra and Jaffa. How often has your mouth got you and SG-1 into trouble?"
The words hit O'Neill somewhere deep inside and there was a ring of truth in them. He had screwed up his first marriage, lost his first born and gone off the deep end. Suicidal tendencies and a crazy streak had set in then. Whilst the Stargate gave him something to now live for, there was still a crazy streak in him. He knew that the only people he refused to show respect to were those that did not deserve it just because of a title or rank, but he also knew that he was an expert at getting into and then out of trouble. There was no way that a relationship between himself and Carter would ever work, even without Jacob's words. His own choices regarding Carter and Laira had led to the simple fact that his son was somewhere out in the galaxy without him. Charlie's death had hurt him so deeply that the scars still openly wept and yet he was allowing Jack Junior to live on some random planet with no contact. He had been a despicable parent to Charlie and was being an awful parent to Jack Junior and yet he was trying to be a good parent to Daniella. It was not Jacob's responsibility to remind O'Neill of all this, so he turned to the general: "Bite me, Jacob."
"You're just proving me right."
O'Neill smiled slightly. "And why should I show you any respect? You're just a snake-head in disguise."
To this Jacob stood, mirroring O'Neill's angry stance. "You are one hell of a son of a bitch." O'Neill had nothing to say at this, although he had plenty of actions he desperately wanted to carry out. Carter would never forgive him for knocking her father out so O'Neill responded by nodding his head and turning to walk away.
As he started to walk away, O'Neill replied to Jacob's statement. "Probably." The sooner he could get home and away from the damn Tok'ra, the better.
Author's Notes: Jack thought that the Alpha site was busy enough with the Rebel Jaffa until the Tok’ra turn up. Not only does he have to contend with the hostilities between Jaffa and Tok’ra, but also a certain Tok’ra by the name of Jacob Carter.
End Notes: I had no idea what to do with this one, especially as there was no way that Sam could be on the mission. I used Jacob’s presence to the advantage of Nicola though and showed her slightly. The conversation between Jacob and Jack then neatly leads into the plans I have for 6.10 Cure! For anyone who questions it, Jacob is viewing Jack from the eyes of a parent who believes his daughter to be vulnerable due to Daniella. And I know that Sam was vital in the episode to spot that the Naquadah reactor was rigged for explosion, but let’s assume another SG member did! Jacob knows enough about both Tok’ra and Tau’ri technologies to help with the generator and rig the electromagnetic pulse required later in the episode. The next chapter has some Sam/Jack in it.
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]