Part 7 (2/2)

He stopped, one foot on the lowest step. ”And Sergeant? See if you can rustle us up some coffee and sandwiches. Common hospitality doesn't stretch to lunch on Tollana and I haven't eaten since 0600 hours this morning.”

When he reached the briefing room, he found his old friend sitting at the long conference table, staring out pensively into the gate room. Jacob turned when he heard Hammond enter and rose to his feet. ”George,” he said.

”Good to see you, Jacob. Although I wish the circ.u.mstances were different.” They shook hands and Hammond took his customary seat at the head of the table, gesturing for Jacob sit back down.

He did, hunched forward and with his hands clenched tight on the table in front of him. There was tension in every line of his body. ”I take it there's no news?”

”No, I'm sorry. We've searched P5X-104 but found no trace of SG-1. As far as we can tell from the DHD, Earth was the last planet dialed but the wormhole never connected with our Stargate. Or with the secondary gate, currently in storage in Nevada.”

Jacob nodded. ”You have a theory?”

”We have two,” he said, just as Harriman entered with a file tucked under one arm and balancing a tray with two coffees, several sandwiches, and a couple bags of potato chips. The man was a miracle worker.

”Thank you, Sergeant.” Despite the situation, his stomach was growling and only his good manners stopped him from digging in right away. He gestured to Jacob to help himself as he took the file from Harriman. It was a thin file; Dr. Rothman hadn't managed to find out a great deal, but at least it contained the photographs Makepeace had taken.

Once they were alone again, and he'd taken a couple of bites of sandwich, he turned back to Jacob. ”So, I was saying - we have two theories.”

Jacob wasn't eating. He just sipped his coffee, looking dour and concerned. ”Go on.”

”Theory one,” Hammond said, wiping mayo from his fingers. ”We think the gate on '104 may have been hit by staff-cannon fire which caused the wormhole to skip to another gate somewhere between P5X-104 and Earth.”

”You've set up a search?”

”We have teams out right now - it'll take a week to check all the closest addresses.”

Jacob nodded, frowning. There was an inward-looking expression on his face and Hammond realized he was communing with Selmak. He took the opportunity to finish his sandwich. After a moment, Jacob looked up and said, ”What's your second theory?”

This one, Hammond liked even less. ”That the dialing sequence was interrupted before it could connect and SG-1 were captured by the Jaffa on the planet. There was quite a firefight at the gate.”

Jacob rubbed his hands over his face. ”There's a third theory,” he said, meeting Hammond's eyes with a bleak look.

But the third option wasn't even worth considering. ”If the wormhole collapsed while they were in transit,” Hammond said, ”then they're gone and there's nothing we can do about it.”

For a moment they sat in silence, but then Jacob sighed, as if rallying himself, and said, ”Whose Jaffa? Who was on the planet?”

”We were hoping you could tell us.”

Hammond pulled the file closer and took out the photo of the fallen Jaffa, the symbol tattooed onto his forehead stark against his deathly skin. He pa.s.sed the picture to Jacob, who looked at it briefly before pa.s.sing it back. ”Hecate,” he said.

Hammond nodded. ”Yes, Dr. Rothman had gotten that far. What do you know about her?”

When Jacob spoke again, it was in Selmak's resonant tone. ”She is a minor Goa'uld of whom we know very little. It is likely that she is allied with a more powerful System Lord however, or she would not risk such an open attack. We will endeavor to find out more.”

”Thank you,” Hammond said, although it was little enough to be thankful for. ”In the meantime,” he added, since he had Selmak's attention, ”are the Tok'ra able to help us look for our people?” He lowered his voice even though they had the room to themselves. ”Major Carter notwithstanding, you're aware of the urgency to retrieve Colonel O'Neill?”

Selmak nodded. ”We are. The Asgard and Tollan are both in contact with our High Council. Unfortunately, the Tok'ra have also suffered thefts of technology and, because of that, and because of our ancient alliances with both the Asgard and the Tollan, the Tok'ra cannot offer you any help.”

It was a struggle not to vent his anger and, for a moment, Hammond said nothing, clamping his jaw against words he knew wouldn't help. But it was Jacob Carter sitting there, and it was his daughter who was lost. Keeping his voice as even as he could he said, ”You have to know that this mole in the SGC is just one person - one person among the billions on this planet. You can't punish us all for their crimes.”

Selmak retreated, letting Jacob come forward. Perhaps, wisely, he felt that this was something best discussed between old friends. ”Look, George,” Jacob said, ”G.o.d knows I agree with you. And I don't for a minute think that anyone in SG-1 had anything to do with this...”

”SG-1... ?” That news had spread fast.

Jacob gave a wry smile. ”Oh yes, we heard about the most recent theft. The Tollan were very quick to point out that it happened while SG-1 was AWOL.”

”Missing,” Hammond corrected.

Jacob conceded the point. ”The Tollan don't trust the Tau'ri, George. They never really have. We're too... unpredictable. The Asgard persuaded them to trust Jack because - Well, for some reason the Asgard like him and the Tollan trust the Asgard. But with Jack out of the picture? I gotta tell you, it's not looking good.”

”You don't need to tell me,” Hammond said, poking at the remains of the sandwiches. His appet.i.te had suddenly vanished. ”But Jacob, we're talking about Samantha.”

”I know.”

And for a moment, in that tight voice and anxious frown, Hammond glimpsed the man he'd once know, a man grieving for his lost wife and struggling to parent his children.

”Believe me,” Jacob said, ”I'll do everything possible to help find Sam - unofficially. I'll talk to my contacts, see if anyone's heard anything, and find out what I can about Hecate. But there's nothing I can do to move the High Council on this. And don't think I haven't tried.” Then he let out a long, controlled breath - it sounded like the prelude to bad news. ”And George,” he said, ”there's something else.”

”Go on.”

”Rumors,” he said. ”We've heard them from a couple of different operatives now.”

Hammond didn't speak, just sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. Waiting.

Jacob held his gaze for a long moment. ”They say the Asgard are close - and I mean close - to withdrawing Earth from the Protected Planets Treaty.”

It was the worst news, but far from unexpected. ”All because one man is missing?”

”It's not just that,” Jacob said. ”There's something odd with the Asgard - something going on that they're not telling us about.”

Hammond thought back to Thor and Tyr, to their uncompromising insistence on O'Neill's involvement. ”What do you mean?”

Jacob shrugged. ”We don't know exactly, but they've been pulling s.h.i.+ps out of our galaxy for over a year now. From a military standpoint,” he said, ”it looks a h.e.l.l of a lot like they're falling back to defend a safer position.”

Mind racing, and not at all happy with the conclusions he was reaching, Hammond said, ”At the negotiations today, Thor mentioned something about a threat in their galaxy.”

”Yes,” Jacob said. ”That's all they'll say. But whatever this threat is, I'm beginning to wonder if they've still got the capacity - or even the will - to maintain the Protected Planet Treaty at all.”

”So this is just an excuse? A way to fall back without losing face?”

Jacob spread his hands. ”Perhaps. Like I said, we don't know any more than you do.”

”In which case,” Hammond said, starting to make the connections, ”they've got no good reason to help us clear up this mess, have they? And that might just explain why they're so d.a.m.ned insistent that Colonel O'Neill is the only man who can solve the problem.”

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