Annika was in the cluttered archaeology office when the phone rang. She was doing a final quick read through of the notes Anise had provided regarding the zatarc technology. The others were organizing the weapons they would take before they were all to meet up in the ’gate room. She grabbed the receiver as she finished the final bullet point. "’Lo."

"Can I…um…speak to Annika please?" The girl’s voice was hesitant.

"You’ve got her. Who’s this?" She tucked the mouthpiece between her shoulder and ear leaving her hands free to file the paper in the mission folder.

"It’s Cassie."

"Oh, hi." Annika was surprised. She liked Janet’s adopted daughter, but hadn’t had much of a chance to get to know her. "Sorry, I didn’t recognize your voice, wasn’t expecting it."

"That’s okay. I know this is out of the blue…" she tapered off.

"What’s up?"

"I was wondering if I could come and see you." Cassie sounded a little embarrassed.

"Sure." Annika’s response was immediate if a little baffled. "Any particular reason?"

"Well, I’ve been having these dreams, but they’re not normal dreams…at least I don’t think they are."

Comprehension dawned on the psychic. "Your mom mentioned you’ve had trouble sleeping."

"It’s just with my…history," Cassie knew better than to mention specifics of Niritti on an unsecured line. "And I know you have ‘special’ dreams, and I was hoping you could help me work out if…" she cut off again.

"If they’re premonitions?" Annika supplied. They already knew that the Goa’uld had experimented with the brain chemistry of Cassie’s race. While the young woman hadn’t retained the telekinetic ability she’d displayed on her sixteenth birthday it wasn’t inconceivable that there were residual effects that hadn’t manifested as yet.

"Yes." The relief in her voice was evident. "I know it’s really hectic on base right now and I don’t want to worry Mom about this if it’s nothing."

"I understand. I’d be happy to help you sort it out." She grimaced when she heard SG-1 paged over the loud speaker to the ’gate room. "We’re just about to head off for a mission. Can it wait until I get back?"

"Yeah, sure, whenever you have the time. I don’t want to be a bother."

"Cassie, it’s no bother," she assured the young woman. "I’m glad that you trust me enough to ask my advice." She heard another page, this time only for herself. "Sweetheart, I’m sorry but I have to go. I’ll call you as soon as we get back, okay?"

"’kay."

Annika hung up the phone and jogged down the stairs to the ‘gate room, temporarily pushing Cassie’s dreams aside. She had to focus on the mission, so much was resting on the outcome. Rounding the corner she was in time to see the event horizon billow out.

"So nice of you to join us," Jack grinned, holding out a P-90.

"Sorry, got a phone call. Shouldn’t we be using zats’?" Annika asked, looping the strap around her neck and then accepted her preferred gun of choice, a nine mil, from Daniel. "Since we’re trying to be sneaky?"

"Casper, if we need to use these, our cover’s blown anyway."

"Oh. Good point." She slid the smaller gun into her holster.

The wormhole disengaged and Walter’s voice echoed from the loud speaker. "Fourth decoy complete."

The colonel gave a wave of acknowledgement and the sergeant began a fifth dial up sequence of the same coordinates.

According to Jacob, the Stargate on Ba’al’s planet was currently only guarded by a skeleton crew. The majority of the Jaffa had already been transported to the new home base and the rest were at the palatial structure about one klick from the Stargate, assisting with packing the last of Ba’al’s treasures. Teal’c had suggested dialing the ‘gate a number of times within a short period before the team went through. The idea was to make the Jaffa think the ancient device was malfunctioning. The principle was based on normal human behavior. If something happens often enough, the reactions become blasé. If the ’gate opened a half a dozen times without any sort of attack, then the seventh time wouldn’t be any different. And SG-1 only needed the Jaffa to be ‘indifferent’ for the moment when the event horizon rippled as they stepped through.

The seventh chevron locked and the familiar ka-woosh belched out again. The primary team was gathered at the end of the ramp, patiently waiting for the ‘real’ activation.

"The atmosphere of the base is apprehensive, more so than yesterday." Teal’c spoke quietly so only his teammates could hear.

"And we’re drawing a bigger crowd than normal." Sam motioned with her eyes to the open blast doors and then up to the control room.

Surreptitiously the others snuck a peek to see over thirty personnel who had no official reason for being there at that moment. All were looking anxious.

Daniel adjusted his glasses. "They know this mission is related to the spy."

In this instance the team knew that their colleagues’ awareness wasn’t due to a leak. It was simply a matter of logic. All off-world travel had been suspended since the discovery of a spy within their ranks. SG-1 had been leading the investigation. For them to be going off-world, the only possible reason was that they had a lead.

"I wish they’d stop staring," Annika whispered. "They’re making me nervous."

"Why don’t we show them there’s nothing to worry about?" Jack suggested. He dropped his hold on his P-90, letting it swing by his side and draped an arm around Sam’s shoulder.

Daniel and Annika did the same and hooked arms around the other’s waist

Teal’c…well, he didn’t change position at all. If the always formal Jaffa suddenly started slouching and leaning against the wall it would probably freak the onlookers out more.

The primary team did their best to look nonchalant, as though this mission was not any more important than any other.

"Fifth decoy complete." Walter waited a minute before starting the sixth and final ‘false’ application. The team felt the tension raise a notch.

"It’s not working," Sam sighed, resting her chin on Jack’s shoulder.

"Well, usually we’re joking around at this stage," Daniel pointed out.

"Hmmm, I’ve got an idea," Annika murmured, sneaking in a light peck on Daniel’s lips. "Everyone want to play along?"

They all gave a single nod. They’d do anything to ease the situation. None of them would ever admit out loud that they were aware many people on base looked to SG-1 on how to behave and react. They were too modest to acknowledge their influence. It was a responsibility none of them had wanted, but had found themselves stuck with nonetheless.

"Um, Jack, just to be sure, before I let the cat out of the bag, everyone here knows that we are hunting the spy?"

Over their whispers, Walter announced the "Sixth decoy complete." The next time the wormhole activated the team would be going through. The sergeant started the sequence.

"Pretty safe bet," the colonel confirmed.

"No point in keeping it secret?"

"Nope."

"Do you know the ditty, ‘We’re going an bear hunt’?" Everyone nodded except for Teal’c. "Just repeat what I chant," she instructed the Jaffa.

Annika loudly cleared her throat as the fourth chevron locked. "We’re going on a spy hunt…" she sang the children’s rhyme, a mischievous lilt to her voice.

There was a slight pause and then the members of her team repeated the line.

The fifth chevron locked.

"…We’re gonna’ catch a big one…"

With grins they chanted right back. "We’re gonna’ catch a big one."

The sixth chevron locked.

"…I’m not scared…"

It seemed almost natural that the five of them started rolling back and forth on their toes in time to their words. "I’m not scared!" They were getting more boisterous with every reply.

"…What a beautiful day."

"What a beautiful day!"

The last chevron locked and the horizon bubbled out and calmed.

"Oh, look! It’s a river," Annika continued on with the song, pointing to the upright illusion of water. "A deep cold river…"

There were a few chuckles from the watching men and women. It was what they had come to expect from them. There wasn’t a team more dedicated to the job than SG-1, however everything from the enemy to themselves was fair game to be treated with mocking irreverence. If they were back to being smartasses after four days of seriousness, then they must be confident of success. And everyone on the base needed to believe that.

Hammond’s voice with a hint of a smile, crackled down to them. "Good luck and Godspeed."

Jack gave a rather sloppy salute, keeping in theme with the playfulness they had created. The others waved or nodded. The colonel wiggled his fingers at Annika who immediately began to weave the air around herself and her team, using the Nox trick to hide their bodies from sight.

In a blink the team disappeared.

"Alright, kids, let’s move out."

The onlookers all heard the team leader’s order. Then there was a clomping of unseen boots on the metal ramp and much to their amusement the rambunctious tune continued.

"We can’t go over it…We can’t go under it…"

The military people followed their progress up the ramp, though there was nothing to see.

While SG-1 moved forward, with no one except those within the folded weave of air able to see their actions, they made sure weapons were at the ready in case this tactic didn’t work, their faces serious in direct contrast to their lighthearted voices. "We have to go through it."

There was a moment of silence and the hidden team very slowly walked as one through the shimmering mass. Because of the care they took, the ripple they created was lost in the natural swirl of the event horizon. An effect that hopefully would be repeated when they emerged on the other side.

Sixty-eight thousand light years away the Chaapa’ai whooshed out in all its glory. The wonder of the portal that allowed instantaneous travel between planets was no more amazing to the Jaffa as the sun rising and setting each day. It demanded respect, as did any of the tools of the Gods, however they did not understand the mechanics of how it worked, nor did they care to. It wasn’t their place to wonder at the design. All the Jaffa had to do was guard the portal and stop any intruders who dared to come through. An easy enough task normally. The Chaapa’ai was situated in a dell that had long ago been cleared of trees, and the Jaffa had the advantage of the elevated position. They took their task seriously, for to do otherwise meant either death from an attacking foe, or worse, punishment from their God resulting with them pleading for death.

So if Ba’al’s First Prime had happened to appear at the moment of the latest Chaapa’ai activation he would have been outraged at what he would have witnessed. Staff weapons were raised in only a cursory manner, lowering within seconds, long before the gateway disengaged. Their demeanors were not that of battle ready warriors, rather of frustrated lackeys who did not understand what was going on.

"Again?" The squad leader let his irritation show in the curt gesture to the closest of his men. "Go inform the Priests that the Chaapa’ai is malfunctioning."

With a fist thumped against his armored chest in acknowledgement the soldier immediately spun on his heal and began jogging back to the compound.

The squad leader returned his attention to the shimmering portal with a bewildered frown. Six times in the last half hour it had opened. There had been no set pattern that he could discern. The time between activations ranged from a single minute to ten, the portal remaining open from just a few heartbeats to up to five minutes. And not once had anyone or anything emerged. He and his men had been prepared to fight the first three times. Four through six, they had kept their weapons raised, though they had no real expectations that they were under attack. This last time only a token response was given for why would this time be any different?

None of the Jaffa noticed the extra ripple in the event horizon. Although even if they had been paying strict attention, in all likelihood they wouldn’t have realized the significance. What was another little wave in a continuously rippling pool? They had heard that the Tau’ri primary team, who had foiled their God’s plans time and time again, had a new member. They did not however, believe the fantastical tales of mind power and invisibility. Such powers only the God’s possessed, not mere humans.

SG-1 silently stood on the stone step guns trained, watching the Jaffa look straight through them. Jack nodded to Teal’c to take point. Soundlessly he moved down the steps towards the trees, his eyes constantly scanning for threats. Sam, Daniel and Annika followed, with the colonel watching their backs.

Annika fought down the herd of elephants stampeding in her stomach, her heartbeat sounding like a drum in her ears. She knew they were invisible and yet walking out in the open like this was unnerving. She snuck a peak at her teammates. Daniel’s face was stiff with tension, while Jack and Sam were fighting the instinctive urge to skulk. Teal’c had his massive shoulders hunched as he practically skimmed across the grass. Once in the shadowed safety of the trees, the psychic released the breath she hadn’t even been aware of holding.

No one spoke until they were deep in the foliage.

"Next training session we practice this more." Jack kept his voice low as he flexed the tight strip of tension across his shoulders.

"No argument here," Sam replied, voicing the unanimous agreement for the rest of them. "According to Selmak, Ba’al’s main base is one klick south-east." The major pulled out a palm sized positioning system to get their bearings. A second later she pointed to a well-worn path, wide enough for armored Jaffa to walk four abreast. "That should take us right to it."

"We’ll follow it but keep off the main drag." The colonel turned to Annika. "Casper, can you maintain your hocus pocus?"

She nodded. "It doesn’t take much energy."

"You get tired, you say so," he ordered.

She nodded again.

"Let’s move out."

They resumed positions and began picking their way over the terrain, being careful to keep their feet away from twigs and leaves that would snap and rustle.

Because Annika moved ahead of Daniel, she missed the exchange between the men bringing up the rear. The comment regarding Annika tiring had also been directed at Daniel. Both men were acutely aware that Annika could and would push herself passed exhaustion for fear of letting her teammates down. Daniel would make sure his wife didn’t drain herself.

Once they had to pull up as a Jaffa and what looked like a couple of priests hurried towards the Stargate, but in short time SG-1 heard the usual noises that indicated human habitation nearby. At the edge of the tree line they paused to study the layout of the base.

A pyramid similar to the Egyptian ones on Earth was the focal point. The surrounding ring of stone buildings, including the main temple, were dwarfed by the massive prism shaped structure. The simple mud brick dwellings composing the outer ring looked miniscule in comparison. Though the absence of the mothership told them at a glance that Ba’al had yet to arrive, the settlement was a bustle of activity. Jaffa and humans alike were busily shifting crates and sacks, the contents of which the watching Tau'ri presumed were household possessions. A few Jaffa were using anti-grav units to move gaudy gold statues representing Ba’al from the temple steps. Most of the movement was confined around the temple area. The mud brick buildings already had the air of abandonment. Doors swung open in the wind, having no further need of being latched shut. Washing lines bare of any clothing, small vegetable patches showed evidence of trampling or having the plants uprooted to take with them.

"Ba’al’s taking the humans as well?" Annika whispered. "Don’t the Goa’uld usually leave them behind when they pack up shop?"

"It depends," Teal’c replied. "If the planet to which Ba’al is relocating is uninhabited then he would take the local population with him to maintain the lifestyle to which he is accustomed."

"Easier to take his already ‘faithful’ worshipers than to abduct a new set and break them in." Daniel was doing an estimated head count and comparing his results to the number of houses. "Looks like there is maybe a quarter of the townsfolk and Jaffa still here."

"We’ll hole up in one of the empty nests," Jack decided. "The less ground we have to cover when Ba’al lands the better."

They carefully picked their way down the embankment. Teal’c and Sam scouted ahead making sure the huts in the immediate vicinity were completely empty. When they reported back the all clear, Jack tuned to Annika.

"Casper, give your hocus pocus a rest. No point hiding from the bugs."

Annika released the weave and the team settled in to wait for Goa’uld to arrive so this mission could really get started. They took turns keeping watch from the shadow of the doorway, the rest of them keeping away from the windows in case a stray person should wander by.

"Teal’c, can you give a guesstimate of how long it’ll take to load up the ship?" Jack asked.

The Jaffa paused before answering, taking into consideration the stacked goods they had seen and the amount of people to be transported. "A little over two hours, no more than three, O’Neill."

"With luck we’ll only need one." The colonel ran over the game plan one final time. "We access the mainframe, get what information we can, then split up. If the snitch Intel is on the computer Carter and Annika search the science level for the isotope, and Daniel, Teal’c and I get the missing piece of the weapon. If there’s nothing on the snitch then Daniel and I search Ba’al’s quarters, Carter and Annika the science labs, Teal’c and Casper get the weapon."

They all nodded in agreement. The division of tasks was carefully orchestrated to their individual abilities. Annika would be able to hide Sam and herself in the high traffic area of the science labs while Sam searched for the isotope. Based on previous experience with Ancient technology the weapon would be heavy so the physically stronger men were the logical choice to remove it. If it became a three way split, then they were going to employ the strategy they had developed with Daniel and Annika’s bond and the psychic’s astral form.

"Casper, any pearls of wisdom?"

"Nothing new," the psychic shrugged.

"Right, so now we wait."

Following the military adage, ‘hurry up and wait’ was something that Annika was still adapting to and she found it difficult to remain still in the enclosed room. So when an hour later the first rumblings of an approaching ship drifted through the window, she was the first one on her feet to peek over Teal’c’s shoulder standing watch in the doorway. It was the first time she’d seen the majestic Goa’uld vessel from the outside. She’d never realized the motherships were so massively huge. The only other experience she’d had was when she and Casey crashed the unnamed Goa’uld’s ha’tak in that alternate reality, but then she’d been more focused on looking for a jettisoned escape pod, not the ship itself. The shadow it created as it docked on the pyramid landing site covered the entire town. A shiver ran down her spine. How are we supposed to find anything in that?

"Annika?" Daniel saw the apprehension on his wife’s face.

She took a calming breath. "I’m okay. Just wondering how long it would take to run a vacuum through that thing."

The quip caused smiles from the others as they readied themselves to move out. Air pressure syringes were removed from vest pockets and they injected themselves with the Tok’ra isotope to hide their body signatures from the ship’s sensors. They had delayed this as long as possible giving them as much of the eight hour window as they could. This mission was only expected to last a couple of hours. Experience had taught them it could go to hell on the spin of a dime. At a nod from Jack, Annika once again wove the weave of air around them all. By the time the golden vessel had settled on the pyramid foundation, SG-1 were skulking between the stone buildings towards the temple where the ring transporters were located. Sticking to the walls, it wasn’t hard to avoid the people with arms laden with belongings and crates who tended to walk in the center of the roads and alleys. Just as the first load of boxes were ringed up the team sneaked their way into the antechamber.

The supervising Jaffa had an efficient system set up and as soon as the final ring had lowered into the floor he was motioning for the next stack of crates to be shifted into position. From the lack of the jeweled hand device and that he made no move to enter the activation sequence on the wall panel, it was clear that the rings were being controlled from within the ship.

For a moment this perplexed the newest member of SG-1 until she realized it was a matter of space. The ring chamber on the ha'tak was smaller than the one in the temple. Movement would be restricted ‘upstairs’, taking longer to unload than it took to load.

In the lull between transports the team silently positioned themselves between the crates, being careful to make sure they were fully within the stone circle. Besides the obvious possible injury to themselves when the rings ascended, slicing through whatever matter lay in its path like a hot knife through butter, if part of their Tau’ri gear or weapons were severed and left behind, their mission would be over before it really began.

In less than a minute the whine of the first ring descending was heard and a few heartbeats later the crates and hidden team were transported up.

This was the first obstacle in their path. They were going in blind with no idea as to the positioning of the Jaffa waiting to stow away the goods, and until the blinding light of the rings dissipated they wouldn’t even be entirely sure of where the chamber exit would be.

Teal’c and Sam were the fortunate ones to have the clear back wall on their side and were able to quickly move away. A Jaffa who’d been standing along the sidewall moved in too fast for Daniel to slip by him, and he had to squeeze against the boxes on his right to avoid contact as the first of the crates were hefted away. Annika managed to duck her head in the nick of time and slide between another eager Jaffa and the boxes before he closed the gap.

Jack wasn’t so lucky. Facing the room’s only entrance he had two Jaffa moving towards him blocking his path, the bulking mass of the warriors closing any gap for the colonel to escape. He pressed his back to the crates, knowing it was futile as one gauntleted hand reached out, the Jaffa oblivious that he was about to collide with colonel’s tac vest.

A  A  A  A  A  A

"Have you given much thought to what you’ll do when you ID the zatarc?"

"Some." Hammond took a sip of his coffee.

Jacob took a wistful sniff of his friend’s strong brew, then picked up his cup of tea. "Don’t bite my head off," he began slowly. "But have you considered using them to relay disinformation, like we did with Tanith?"

"I have," he admitted. "Really it will depend on whether we can devise a way to identify them without the zatarc knowing about it. Ideally I’d like to remove the nanite safely and then feed Ba’al the lie."

"And if it can’t be removed?"

"I’m not sure. I hate the idea of having to keep the person isolated for something they have no control over, but then we can’t have them remain on base either. Not when everything we do is top secret. We may not have any choice but to lock them up."

"There’s always the stasis chambers," the Tok’ra suggested. "They can be held indefinitely until a solution is found."

"It’s the ‘indefinite’ part that concerns me."

"I guess we’ll just have to hope that Doctor Fraiser, Freya and Anise are successful."

A hesitant knock on the door interrupted them.

"Enter."

Hammond was surprised to see Keelah standing in the threshold. She was dressed in blue BDUs borrowed from supply. Though the shirt was baggy, (he suspected the ill-fitting size had been chosen deliberately by the woman to hide her body,) her face had already lost some of the gauntness with which she had arrived. "Keelah, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if I could speak with you?" She darted a glance at Jacob. "When it’s convenient."

"I was just leaving." Jacob drained the last of his tea and rose to his feet. "George, seeing as I officially have nothing to do except twiddle my thumbs until SG-1 get back, I thought I’d drop by to see Mark."

Hammond nodded. "I’ll arrange a driver."

"Actually I was hoping to drive myself. It’s been a while, and Selmak is curious to experience our ‘primitive’ mode of transport."

The Texan gave a low chuckle. "No problem, my assistant can organize a car."

"I’ll be back in a couple of hours."

Keelah waited until he left before perching on the vacated chair.

The general smiled warmly at the former slave. "How are you settling in?"

"Good. I think. I’ve gotten lost a few times, but the people here have been quite friendly given the circumstances."

He gave an apologetic grimace. "Things normally aren’t so tense amongst the personnel. I’m afraid you arrived at a difficult time."

"I understand, Master Hammond."

"I am not your Master, Keelah," he gently reminded. "I may be the commander of this facility, but no one is a slave here, and you are our guest."

"Old habits." She gave a weak grin. "How should I address you? Almost everyone here seems to have more than one name, except for Teal’c." She blushed slightly and hastily added, "It is difficult to know the correct protocol."

"Most people use my rank, general, or sir. But you aren’t a member of staff, so my Christian name George, would also be appropriate. Whichever you feel comfortable with." It would probably raise a few eyebrows if the young woman started calling him George, however he wanted to enforce that despite his rank, he did not consider Keelah as part of a lower class. "Now, what would you like to discuss?"

"Well, er, George…" She gave a slight shake of her head, unsure if she was happy with the casual form of address. "Daniel suggested going through the artifacts you have collected here, to see if by chance you have already encountered my people."

"And you found something from your world?"

Keelah gave a slow nod, drawing a fragment of a tablet from her pocket. "This was in a box piled with other tablet fragments. From your labeling system all of the pieces are from a planet visited three years ago. There was a note attached, that this symbol was unidentified." She traced the outline of the glyph.

"You recognize it?"

She nodded. "I was young when I was taken, but there are some symbols we were taught from birth. My planet had two major…‘countries’ I guess would be the closest translation in your language, that were in conflict with each other. This was the other side’s emblem." She moved her finger across the other glyphs. "This language is not my native tongue. I was able to read a couple of the other fragments, and they weren’t either, but the emblem is quite unique."

"If you have the planet designation that was on the label, I’ll have the report pulled to see what the circumstances were on the planet," he promised.

Keelah handed over a scrap of paper. "Thank you."

"Does this mean you would like to return to your home-world should we find it?"

Her dark eyes were marred with doubt. "I have been away so long and have been changed in so many ways, I don’t think I would be made welcome, or that I could fit into their way of life anymore. I would, however, like to know what became of my family, especially my brother."

"We’ll do everything we can." The general instinctively reached out to give her hand a reassuring squeeze forgetting the woman’s justified aversion to the male touch. She reflexively flinched away, then to his surprise ever so slowly moved her hand into his reach.

"I was hoping to take you up on your offer to remain here, if I could be useful. I’m not afraid of hard work, I can clean and cook, any task you wish to assign me I will do."

"Keelah, is that what you want to do? To be a domestic?"

"It is all I know." Her gaze flickered to the floor. "I have no other skills."

"I beg to differ," he contradicted. "You were able to read those tablets, and in case you didn’t notice, Doctor Jackson has quite a backlog piling up in the archaeological floor. Plus your ability to remain calm a few nights ago when Qebehsenuef infiltrated the base was quite impressive given that you have had little experience with the Goa’uld."

A faint blush touched her cheeks at the compliment. "A bully is a bully regardless of what species they may be. I’ve had my fair share of experience with those."

"Someone who can remain coolheaded in a crisis is always welcome here, and I know Doctor Jackson has been looking for a new assistant since Nyan joined SG-2. Upon his approval, which I have no doubt he will give, I can offer you the job." A smile twitched his lips as he studied the tablet that had eluded Daniel’s skills. "It’s not often that a language stumps our resident linguist. He’ll be overjoyed to have the mysterious symbol translated."

"But it is just one glyph." Keelah tilted her head in question. "Is it so important?"

"As you get to know Doctor Jackson you’ll come to learn that every written word is important."

She smiled back at him, rising to her feet. "I guess that means, I shall address you as general, or sir, now that you are my," she struggled for the correct term, "boss?"

He nodded. "As you choose."

With the smile still on her lips, Keelah left.

A  A  A  A  A  A

Janet waited impatiently for the centrifuge to beep that the process was complete. They had adjusted the controls, so that instead of separating the blood samples within, it simply mixed the blood and enzymes evenly. It had been one frustrating morning. Everyone, including herself, was getting more and more edgy the longer SG-1 were gone. And it had only been two hours and… the doctor glanced at her watch, …twelve minutes. Which was three minutes later than when she had last checked the time.

In the base personnel the tension had manifested in the almost eerie silence that had descended. People passing each other in the corridors weren’t calling out greetings or chatting, rather they either kept their eyes lowered as they hurried off to whatever ‘busy work’ they were doing, or if they did make eye contact it was furtive and worried. Among her staff it was manifesting into distraction and clumsiness. The first batch of tests had been irrevocably contaminated, forcing them to start over. It was one of the rare times she’d had to rebuke her staff. Tests could be redone, as inconvenient as it was, but having that distraction carryover to treating the patients they had in the infirmary was just not acceptable. Her own tone, sharper than usual, betrayed her own frayed nerves.

Freya and Anise had been able to provide details of what the Tok’ra had determined thus far regarding the zatarc technology. With only Martouf’s body to study, most of their conclusions were conjecture, that is, until a week ago when another possible victim had been discovered. They speculated that a single nanite was injected into the blood stream and it attached itself to some part of the brain, most likely the stem. The belief was the nanite was bio-neural, which accounted for the necessary interaction and adaptation of the host to act normally. Though in neither victim had the microscopic device been found, (sparking another theory that once the zatarc completed its mission it dissolved or disintegrated,) there was evidence of its presence. Blood analysis run within hours of the zatarcs’ death had shown minute traces of an unknown enzyme. When the Tok’ra had drawn a further sample of blood after the initial autopsies the enzyme had totally dissipated. Which led them to two theories. Either the enzyme was the result of the nanite itself breaking down, or that it was a secretion from the nanite when it stimulated the victim into action. They had determined the date Martouf had been infected and by pure luck he had volunteered to participate in an unrelated experiment two days later. His blood work had shown no anomalies, thus leading to the next conclusion that while the nanite was dormant it secreted nothing, that only when it was performing the assigned task and a few hours thereafter, was it present.

It was the latter theory that Janet had pinned their hopes on. From previous experience, if the nanite was dissolving it was doing so in a dead body, since zatarcs had the tendency to commit suicide once their assignment was complete. The doctor did not want that to be the only way to determine who the zatarc on base was. Her ultimate aim was to keep the zatarc alive and find a way to combat the technology. The only problem with the second theory was that the enzyme was slightly different in each victim. Again there was only conjecture as to why this was the case. They assumed that originally the nanite secretion was the same in both hosts, for it would be an inefficient weapon if it had to be tailored to a specific person or race. As it filtered through the body it reacted to the slightly different DNA of the two hosts who had been born on different planets, which meant it would also be different in Tau’ri blood.

Thankfully the Tok’ra had been able to synthesize both variants of the enzyme and Janet and her staff had mixed them with blood samples from thirty base staff. They had chosen people of both sexes, all the blood types and of different races, to see if those differences also made the enzyme mutate. Since the enzyme progressively degraded with each passing hour once it was mixed with blood, even the preserving fixer solution used on slides did nothing to stop the enzyme from ‘evaporating’, the plan was to photograph each slide showing the different stages of the enzyme’s life span.

In the first batch, one of the vials hadn’t been secured properly in the centrifuge machine. When the inner bowl of the machine had started spinning, the vibration had caused the loose vial to shatter; the glass particles had in turn smashed the rest of the vials within. Luckily the lid had been secured correctly and the shards of glass had been contained to inside the machine. However it had taken time to clean and sterilize the equipment and prepare a second round of samples.

Anise had surprisingly kept to the background once she had relayed the information, letting the SG scientists and doctors proceed without the symbiote trying to take charge of whatever experiments were being conducted. And Janet was eternally grateful for that. The last thing she needed was to deal with the arrogant superior attitude of the Tok’ra woman.

Unbeknownst to the diminutive doctor, Selmak had pre-warned Freya and Anise about the tense situation on the base, though he had given no specifics except to say there was the possibility of there being a zatarc. She had proposed that Freya should be the one to primarily converse with the Tau’ri, given the scientist’s previous rather negative experiences with the SGC and that her scientific objectivity unintentionally came across as cold and uncaring. Though she had bristled at the suggestion, she was now very glad she had taken heed. The scientist was most eager to gather as much information as she could regarding zatarcs in general and adding a third confirmed victim could only further her own progress. Having witnessed the base CMO barely restrain her frustration at her staff for the earlier mishap, Anise didn’t want to run the risk of the doctor kicking her out of the lab.

The machine’s soft whirring died down, indicating the blood and enzymes were sufficiently mixed. Freya hesitantly spoke up. "Would you like assistance preparing the slides for examination?"

Janet raised tired eyes to the Tok’ra. After her snapping at her staff she had sent them all on an early lunch, hoping that the break would give themselves, and admittedly herself, time to pull themselves together. "Yes. Thank you, Freya."

The two women silently set about removing the vials. As soon as a slide was prepared, it was placed under the electron microscope and a digital image was taken. They didn’t stop to study the shots. That would be done later when the diminishing timeframe of the enzyme was no longer a factor.

"Have you any thoughts on how to neutralize the nanite?" Janet asked placing another slide under the microscope lens.

"Primarily we have been focused on ways to detect a zatarc," Freya started hesitantly. "Anise does have a theory, however due to not having found a live subject we have no way of knowing if it will work."

"Well, you might get your chance. What does it entail?" Her tone was wary, remembering the last ‘cure’ this Tok’ra had tried.

"Rest assured that since we are now reasonably sure it as an actual device rather than a ‘simple’ act of brainwashing," the buxom blonde swapped places with the doctor at the microscope, "the victim shall not be subjected to the mind probe that had such unfortunate results on Lieutenant Astor."

"That’s a relief," was her dry retort.

"An electromagnetic pulse should render the nanite useless."

The doctor was doubtful. "We haven’t had much success with that." They’d had dealings with nanotechnology in the past, more times than she was comfortable with. It was true that on Argos simply turning off the transmitter had rendered the devices harmless, however, more recently with Urgo they had discovered the tiny machines could have a built in back up generator that reactivated them.

"We have technology that emits a stronger frequency than any machine you currently have on the base," she paused. "Unfortunately the strength of the pulse required may also permanently disrupt the natural brain functions in the body."

"How would we know if it worked?"

Freya grimaced. "We wouldn’t. Not unless we knew that the triggering event the zatarc was programmed for had passed without incident."

Janet was about to mention that this case was different to the others but she managed to catch herself in time. They hadn’t divulged that the zatarc they were trying to identify had been used multiple times rather than as a one-off assassin. Depending on the outcome of SG-1’s mission they may indeed have the opportunity to test the success of the pulse. Stifling a sigh, Janet continued on with the next slide, praying that SG-1 came back with some definitive answers.