Embedded Files
Part one
Daniel walked into the office of Master Sergeant Francis Moore, Jack’s admin. adjutant, smiling at the sight of the tall, powerfully built man who was trying to cram himself into the small space under his desk, in an effort to untangle the mess of power cords and computer cables that seemed to have bred under there.
“Hello, Francis. Is he in, or should I just leave this with you?” he asked, waving the completed report on their last mission in his left hand.
Francis’s head popped up from under the desk, face grimacing as he savagely disconnected two computer cables. He opened his mouth to greet Doctor Jackson, only to be drowned out by an infuriated howl from the inner office.
“Moore! Now the whole thing’s gone. What the hell did you do?”
Francis gave Daniel a sickly sweet smile and said in an exaggeratedly polite tone, “Good morning, Doctor Jackson. Yes, the colonel is in. Please do go right on through.” He rammed the two cables back together and disappeared into the sanctuary under the desk.
Daniel moved on into Jack’s office, flopping down into the chair in front of the large wooden desk. He placed the thick report file on the desk and opened his mouth to greet Jack.
“Moore! I need the notes for the team leader’s briefing,” bellowed Jack.
Daniel shut his mouth with a click as the adjutant’s patient reply flew back through the open door, “Top tray, third folder, sir.”
“Got it! Hey, Daniel. All done?” Jack asked mildly.
Daniel gave him a bemused smile. “You do have an intercom you know,” he said, waving a finger at the shiny phone/com ensemble sitting forlornly at Jack’s elbow.
Jack’s eyebrows rose as he took a deep breath. “Your point being?” he huffed.
Daniel’s finger wove aimless loops in the air. “No point. Is that a new chair?”
Jack did not even try to keep the smug look from his face. “Like it? It’s real leather.” He settled back into the executive cushioning.
“It looks like General Hammond’s.” Daniel scowled at the look of annoyance on Jack’s face. “Jack, you didn’t steal the general’s chair did you?”
“No!” Jack felt a flush of irrational guilt. “He gave it to me, okay? The president gave him a new one, so I got this one. Simple.” Trust Daniel to make him feel self-conscious about a second-hand chair.
“Oh. Well, you look very, er, good… in it.” Daniel gave him a semi-confused smile.
“Hey, while you’re here, take a look at this. Just came off MALP re-con this morning.” Jack pushed a stack of glossy high-resolution photographs into Daniel’s hands.
The photos showed a fertile green valley stretching away from the Stargate platform. Tall sturdy trees rose over a hundred feet high, sheltering an abundance of vigorous shrubs and smaller trees beneath them. A clear blue sky and white puffy clouds made the planet inviting. No signs of native inhabitants were visible. Altogether, this new planet looked peaceful and unthreatening–with one exception. On the upper right side of the valley furthest away from the platform, a large swathe of land lay in total disarray. Trees were sheared in half or lying completely uprooted, undergrowth was a dead tangle of broken limbs and the ground itself was gouged open in wide brown slashes. Smaller evidence of damage was visible all along the valley floor, even up to the gate platform itself.
As Jack watched the frown form on Daniel’s brow he slid over a second batch of photographs. These were grid-sectioned shots from a UAV. They showed wide-angle and close-up views of a massive pile of metallic wreckage.
“Hammond ordered the UAV over the site last night. It’s about twenty klicks from the gate. It’s a ship of some kind. Looks like it crashed pretty hard. Carter’s going over the specs now, but she thinks it happened some time ago.”
“Wow. Any idea whose ship it was?” Daniel squinted at one of the photos, attempting to focus on one relatively intact part of the crumpled vessel.
“No, but we suspect it could be Asgard,” Jack replied.
“Really? Actually, this could be writing. Here, on this section,” Daniel pushed the picture towards Jack, finger pointing at one large piece of wreckage at the smaller end of the vessel.
Jack nodded in agreement. “See if Carter can blow it up any more. I’m gonna check in with Hammond.”
Å
SG-1 met with General Hammond in the briefing room several hours later. From Carter’s analysis of the UAV telemetry of the wreck and Daniel’s considered opinion that the visible writing was an Asgard script, Hammond had authorized a message to be sent to Thor. No more than thirty minutes later, Jack had disappeared from the commissary in a flash of white light, with a mouthful of stew and an indignant look on his face. Several seconds later his dinner tray followed after him. Now, the four team members sat at the briefing table with their commander and their Asgard guest.
Thor sat in his own chair-cum-throne at one end of the table. Looking away from the wrecked ship projected on the viewer, he blinked at them and said, “It is indeed an Asgard vessel. In fact, it is the Belisknor.”
A chorus of questions rose up in response. Teal’c’s deep timbre won out. “Was it not the Belisknor which crashed into Earth’s oceans earlier this year?” he asked.
Thor blinked in agreement, managing to convey a look of confusion without moving his facial muscles at all. “Yes, it was. Nevertheless, the name on the side of this vessel is the Belisknor. As the Asgard have no other vessels bearing this name, we are unable to explain the presence of this ship.”
Hammond looked equally confused. “Any ideas, people?”
A vague shrug came from Jack, a sorry-can’t-help-you look from Daniel and a polite yet negative shake of the head from Teal’c. All eyes turned to Carter. Once again she felt herself stepping out on a limb without a theoretical leg to stand on.
She pulled an apologetic face and said, “Sir, the only thing I can think of would be that this ship has somehow come from an alternate universe, but I can’t imagine anyone building a mirror device that would be able to transport something the size of an Asgard ship.”
“Well,” Jack chimed in, “perhaps the best thing would be to go take a look-see, sir. The UAV didn’t pick up any heat signatures on infrared, but there may be survivors somewhere.”
“Ah, sir, the MALP did pick up damage to the DHD. There’s a seventy percent possibility it won’t be able to function properly,” Carter said.
All eyes turned back to Thor as his soft voice spoke up, “We can transport you in our ship, O’Neill, and we would be grateful of your assistance.”
Hammond nodded his approval, sensing an opportunity to strengthen the ties with the Asgard people. “Very well, SG-1, you have a go.” He settled back in his chair, watching his people gather themselves together, not missing the quick look of delight on Doctor Jackson’s face as he realized he would finally get to go for a ride in an Asgard spaceship.
Å
The team materialized in a flash of light on the surface of the planet, Teal’c noting the look of pleased surprise on Daniel Jackson’s face. He felt pleased himself. Seeing Daniel relaxed and enjoying new experiences had not been a common occurrence during the last twelve months. Another flash deposited Thor and his team of Asgard technicians next to them, then another couple revealed the promised transport they would take to the crash site. The possibility of the transport beams inadvertently triggering undetected fuel or chemical leaks had deterred the Asgard from beaming down in the immediate vicinity of the crash. A small flat meadow nearly two miles from the crash site provided a perfect beam-in destination. Six two-person motorized vehicles stood ready and waiting. They were sturdy little all terrain vehicles, with a passenger seat behind the driver’s seat. Two of the ATVs had been modified to accommodate SG-1’s larger derrieres.
Carter let out a whoop and with a quick leap was seated on the nearest bike, happily revving the engine. O’Neill traded a careful, calculating look with Teal’c. The Asgard were already settling onto the vehicles, leaving only one more for the Tau’ri team. With a shrug and a wink Jack flung himself at the controls of the last bike, trying manfully to suppress a chuckle as Teal’c aborted his own leap and tried to look dignified whilst contemplating how to remove O’Neill from the driver’s seat. Realizing defeat, he then contemplated the runner’s up prize–a no doubt alarming but controlled ride behind Major Carter or an even more alarming and in all probability uncontrolled ride behind his team leader. Self-preservation won out and Teal’c moved swiftly to seat himself behind Major Carter.
Jack scowled at Teal’c and then cast around for his archaeologist. Daniel was still standing in the same place, now gazing open-mouthed at the revving vehicles, realizing he was doomed to cling to Jack on the back of what looked like an off-roader’s wet dream.
“Daniel, shake a leg. Time’s a-wasting! Let’s saddle up and move ‘em out!”
“Jack, are you sure you know how to drive one of those things? Maybe Teal’c…”
“Daniel! Get your butt over here or I’ll leave you behind.” Jack was getting antsy as Carter roared off in the wake of the Asgard who were already disappearing over the first hill.
Daniel sighed and settled himself gingerly onto the seat behind Jack. He had only seconds to clamp his hands around Jack’s waist before the colonel hit the accelerator and hit the high road.
“Jack, there’s no hurry, you know. Just a little slower would be goooooood………..”
Å
“Daniel?”
“Yes, Jack?”
“You can let go now, you know.”
“Why?”
“Well, nice as the cuddling is, we’re here. A fact you would know if you opened your eyes.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“Hey, no problem. Enjoy the ride?”
“Oh, yeah! Just, for the trip back? I think I’ll walk.” Daniel cracked his eyes open and concentrated on unclenching his hands from their grip on Jack’s BDUs. He slid gracelessly off the back of the bike and staggered a few steps, trying to get his equilibrium back.
“It’s a couple of miles, Daniel.” Jack hopped off the bike with a bound, exhilarated and invigorated by the way the little bike had almost floated over the hills, especially the last one where they had actually left the ground. He grinned as Carter skidded to a halt, glaring at him with professional insubordination. Teal’c looked almost as shaky as Daniel. Jack made a mental note to take the team on an off-road trip when they got back.
Daniel ground his fists into his back in an effort to realign his spine. He looked at Jack with his satisfied grin. The man loved new toys. “I like walking, Jack,” he replied. “Or at least I used to. Don’t know if I’ll ever walk in a straight line again, though.”
“Ah, suck it up, Danny.” Jack turned to look properly at their goal. “Whoa. Get a load of that.”
The wreck of the Asgard ship lay before them, spread out over the floor of the valley they stood in and halfway up the side of the hill they had just driven down. The front third of the vessel had borne the brunt of the impact and had shattered into huge jagged pieces. The remaining two-thirds had broken into three large sections and sat relatively intact on the ground. A huge swathe of burnt grasslands ran away up the hills on the far side of the ship, indication of the devastation caused by the crash.
The Asgard personnel had spread out towards the wreck, sensors scanning for signs of life. Jack signalled his team to move out. They separated, moving down along the length of the vessel. The silence in the valley was eerie, no bird-calls or sounds of animal movement could be heard. For nearly thirty minutes they walked through the smaller pieces of wreckage, peering into the interior through cracks in the hull. While the Asgard checked for radiation leaks, the four humans kept to the outside. Repeated calls brought no answer from survivors.
Teal’c noticed a formation of wreckage up on one side of the hill that seemed too regulated to have been created by falling debris. Angling away from the ship, his large stride quickly took him up to the site. There he found row upon row of mostly flat, broken pieces of hull plating arranged side by side. Drag marks leading from the ship told him someone had hauled the pieces there, but any footprints were long since obliterated by the weather.
Kneeling down next to one of the metal scraps, Teal’c lifted it to one side. Beneath was bare earth that showed signs of having been disturbed in the recent past. Casting his eye once again down the rows of metal he knew he was standing on the hallowed ground of a burial site. Respectfully, Teal’c lifted the metal plating back into position and moved away to the side of the graves. If each piece of metal represented a grave then many dozens of the ship’s crew were buried here. Which meant someone had survived to bury them.
Teal’c reached for his radio, turning his attention to his teammates down by the vessel’s side.
“O’Neill, I have found what appear to be the graves of the ship’s crew,” he reported over the open channel the team had been chatting to each other on.
He could see O’Neill halt and turn to locate him, his hand reaching up to his radio to respond. Before he could reply, a shout was heard coming from the furthest section of the wreck. Teal’c observed O’Neill swing back toward the sound, P-90 lifting in his grip. Major Carter also was focusing on the sound, jumping down from the engine block she had scaled, weapon lifting and seeking possible hostiles. Daniel Jackson reacted to the newcomer in an entirely different manner. As Teal’c ran down the hill to back up his team he observed the archaeologist had halted in his path, his digital camera slipping unnoticed to the ground. Daniel was much closer to the person who had appeared out of a crack in the ship’s side, and able to see their features quite clearly. O’Neill was ordering him to stay put and wait for them but Teal’c could see the words had no effect on Daniel Jackson as he began to move; nimbly dodging and leaping debris, he began to run towards the person.
“Damn it, Daniel! Stop and wait for backup. We don’t know it’s not a hostile. Daniel!!” Jack let out a string of muttered curses as he sped up in a vain attempt to catch Daniel before he intercepted the person who had appeared. Peripheral vision told him Carter was just behind him and Teal’c was angling down the hillside to join them, but none of them would reach Daniel before he got to this unknown person. It probably was just a survivor but Jack never took anything at face value.
He took another lungful of air, preparing to give Daniel another blast, when Carter called out, “Sir, cut the chatter!”
Automatically, Jack fell silent, leaving the open radio channel to fill their ears with a soft litany of denial. Daniel’s voice surrounded them, breathless and broken from running, filled with an agony they had heard only very rarely from him.
“No, no, no. Not happening. This is not real. Can’t be you. No. Uh… Damn, not you… not real… no, no, Gods, ow… Oh, please, don’t do this…”
Alarmed, Jack bellowed into the radio, “DANIEL. STOP. NOW.”
To his astonishment, Daniel skidded to a halt and stood frozen, eyes riveted to the person clambering towards him. As the others gained on him they could see it was a woman, wearing long red robes, which she held hiked up around her knees. Climbing with some difficulty over a long broken piece of engine, she called again, her voice filled with her desperate need to make contact with another human being. She slid down the side of the engine cowling, leaping up eagerly to resume her scramble to them, only to be yanked backwards by her robes as they became firmly snagged on the jagged metal. Turning her back on her rescuers she pulled frantically at the material, letting loose a stream of melodic sounding curses. Jack, Sam and Teal’c converged on Daniel, hands reaching out to him to prevent any further impetuous advances. The face he turned to them left them stunned. Brow furrowed furiously, Daniel’s face was scrunched up in a desperate attempt to control his tumbling emotions.
Jack grabbed his shoulders and forced Daniel to focus on his own face. “Daniel? What? Talk to me.”
Daniel opened his mouth but could only emit a strangled gasp, his eyes drawn over Jack’s shoulder to the woman standing twenty feet away, battling with her clothing.
“Sham-hut!!” The woman swore viciously, drawing the attention of her would-be rescuers. Teal’c and Sam hurried over to her, reaching down to pull the hem of her robe from the grasp of the engine cowling.
The sound of her voice cut through Jack’s awareness, sending a cold shiver racing up his spine and over his scalp. Surely not, he thought. He looked into Daniel’s eyes and the look of utter despair and horror he saw there told him everything he needed to know. Keeping a grip on Daniel’s arm he turned to see Carter and Teal’c step back in astonishment as they too recognized the survivor.
Å
Finally free from the grasping metal, Sha’re of Nagada turned to face her rescuers. For four lunar cycles she had been stranded on this planet, living in the shattered remains of the Asgard ship, the ghosts of the dead her only company. She had been sleeping when the strange, sure feeling that she was no longer alone had crept into her consciousness. Cautiously she had crept to the outside of the ship and true to her insight there were people moving through the wreckage, people who looked to be wearing uniforms of the Tau’ri and in the distance a group of smaller beings who could only be Asgard.
Relieved beyond belief, Sha’re called and waved and scrambled through obstacles to reach these wonderful people, irrationally certain they would turn around and leave without her. As her calls caught the attention of the four humans and the male nearest her had begun to run towards her, she moved faster, every obstacle in her path seeming determined to reach out and delay her. So focused on her path was she that the feeling of familiarity with these people did not really register in her mind. All she knew was she had to reach them, touch another person, be sure they were real and in turn be assured that she was real and the nightmare of her solitude was at an end.
Her robes held high in a most undignified manner, she slid down the final obstacle, took one step forward and was jerked to a halt. Infuriated, she turned and hurled abuse at the offending engine daring to delay her. Vision tunnelling to that scrap of metal piercing her robes, she was barely aware of two sets of hands, one slim and pale, the other large and dark, coming to her aid and setting her free. Delight surged within her at her sudden freedom. Sha’re whipped around, her eyes finally seeing the faces of her rescuers.
The face of her love.
The blue eyes that haunted her waking and sleeping dreams.
The body that had held her, comforted her, loved her.
Her soul mate. The beautiful guiding spirit that had sustained her in her darkest times.
The man she had seen executed before her horrified eyes.
Her husband.
Dan’yel.
A heart wrenching sob left Sha’re’s lips as she flung herself at Daniel. Automatically he opened his arms and caught her to him. Shocked, his brain unwilling to form a coherent thought, Daniel found himself overwhelmed with sense memories; the feel of her soft curls brushing his chin, her hands clutching desperately at his back, her body fitting against his the way it always had. The indefinable scent of her that spoke to him of desert sands, cold dark nights, impish laughter and enduring love. He closed his eyes. For one timeless moment he was transported back to the home they had shared, to the time when everything they had ever wanted was found in each other’s arms, to the time when the future before them held the promise of a lifetime of love and peace and belonging. For just a moment, the nightmare his life had become ceased to exist.
But not everything was as it had been. Small differences began to intrude on Daniel’s consciousness. The feel of the body in his arms was different to the way his wife had felt. Bones too prominent, muscles less defined, flesh thinner in places and fuller in others. The scent was different, too. Still the same heady wonderful mix that announced this was Sha’re, yet with a subtle change to it now.
Frowning, Daniel pulled his face up from where it had buried itself in her hair and with an effort that was painful to witness, he gazed at the face of the woman he held. Sha’re. It was most certainly Sha’re. And yet, not.
Sha’re looked up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her beautiful brown eyes searched his features, initial joy fading to confusion and then consternation. Gently she touched his cheek, running her hand back to slide through his short hair.
“Dan’yel? Husband?”
The sound of her voice cut through Daniel’s soul like ice. Gently he pulled away from her, his hands reaching to clasp hers. Giving them a final squeeze he let her go and stepped back. Sadly, he shook his head. Aware of the silent presence of his friends he tried to capture his scattered wits and articulate a little of what he was feeling.
“No. Um, you know, I… I just… No.” Daniel’s face scrunched into a furious scowl as he tried desperately to push away the sorrow that was threatening to surge out of him. “I’m sorry. Really, I’m so sorry, but I can’t. I just can’t.”
Daniel stepped back a couple of paces, not daring to meet the eyes of Jack or Teal’c or Sam. One look from them would acknowledge this situation was actually real, and he was not prepared to face that. Not now. Maybe not ever. Best to leave now before too much was said, before the hurt was magnified a thousandfold. He stared at her face one last time, the memory ingraining forever into that special place in his heart where she resided. He gave her a sad little half smile.
“Bye.”
Daniel turned and walked away.
Å
continued in part two...
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse