Part 12 Okay so the first few minutes had been a little awkward as everybody fumbled for something to say. Daniel Jackson's sharp exit hadn't helped the situation much, but a smart-alec quip about "maybe it's the teeth" had broken the ice. They had all been there, and they had all had their questions. Sam had thanked him for saving her life, and them brimmed over with curiosity. Methos had asked a surprising amount of questions, O'Neill had put in the odd comment, and Teal'c had sat and watched for a while. It was only after they'd grilled him thoroughly, and were just chatting that Richie finally had the nerve to ask a question that had been bothering him for a while. "What's happened to Sef't?" he said tentatively. The SG-1 team members looked at each other, and Richie had the feeling that maybe he shouldn't have asked. It was just he was genuinely concerned for the man. "Well after you passed out on us," O'Neill finally spoke, "he was taken to the med bay same as you. The doc gave him the once over and he sorta went all quiet on us. I'm sorry, but we're not allowed to let you two near each other." It was a sentiment Richie could understand; after all it was not wise to allow a dethroned god near his General straight after the battle. "I understand," the Immortal replied, but there was just one thing he had to check. "Just ... quiet how?" "He won't talk to anyone, won't look at anyone, just sits and meditates," Carter supplied quickly. Richie didn't like the sound of that as certain things Shu knew about the lion Jaffa hung at the back of his mind. The twin gods had adopted their Jaffa in a similar way to what they had done to their hosts over the centuries, making them slightly different. Shu and Tefnut interacted with Goa'uld society, but they had there own little insular world as well, and what they touched they made their own. "Was he doing anything in particular?" the Immortal asked, trying not to sound worried. O'Neill and Carter frowned at each other, they obviously thought that was a weird question. "He's just sitting there like this," Sam offered and did her best impression of the Jaffa. When Richie saw how she put her hands he went cold. "He's going to commit suicide," the Immortal said as he wished it wasn't true. "You have to stop him." The SG-1 team looked shocked, and Teal'c did not look as if he believed. "Suicide, is not an honourable death," the Jaffa pointed out evenly. "No warrior would seek to die in such a senseless manner." "Tefnut liked the idea, okay," Richie shot back immediately. "She liked the idea that she could order them to kill themselves if she felt like it. Sef't probably thinks this is what she would have wanted. He's going to remove his larva, and since it can't be given to anyone else, he'll kill it and then he'll die. The meditation is a purification ritual, once it's over he will kill himself." The Immortal was deadly serious, and he was relieved when Jack finally moved. "You stay here," he told everyone, "I'll go and sort this out." ===================================================================== After the incident with Sef't nobody took anything for granted. They'd reached the Jaffa just in time, and although he hadn't said a word to anyone since, he hadn't attempted to harm himself in any way. Jack wasn't sure he liked the effect the recent mission had had on his team. Daniel seemed permanently on edge and was being quiet and distant. Teal'c spent frustrating hours trying to communicate with his fellow Jaffa, and didn't seem to be down the road any further than when he first started. Then there was Carter, buzzing with curiosity about both Richie and Adam, but Jack knew her well enough to know she was hiding her deeper feelings about her brush with death. And as for himself he really didn't quite know what to think. He'd spent some time with both Richie and Adam, but mostly Richie, and he was slowly beginning to get inside the kid's head. He couldn't be sure, then again what about life was set in stone, but he was definitely coming down in favour of the view that in Richie they had just gained a valuable ally. Three days after the end of the mission something happened which put everyone in SGC in the same corner. On the Tuesday morning, Mayburne arrived. Jack was a soldier, he had killed on several occasions, but there was really only one person he ever wanted to shoot on sight, and this time it was no different. Colonel Mayburne walked in with a senatorial order, a dozen or so nasty looking soldiers and dragged Richie away from the breakfast he had been eating with Jack and Adam. Mayburne had double-crossed, tried to eliminate and plain pissed off SG-1 so many times that their leader didn't need an excuse to get annoyed anymore. After a bit of shouting, O'Neill had half walked, half run to General Hammond's office. "I know," was the first thing Hammond said when Jack barged into the General's office with as much control as he could muster, "there was nothing I could do. I have Dr Frasier sitting in on any debriefing Mayburne thinks he is doing, and I will have this sorted out as soon as I can." Everything Jack had been about to say dried in his throat, as he realised that it didn't need to be said. "Colonel, there's no way I'm letting that animal get his hands on that boy," the General stated firmly. "I'm putting you in charge of making sure nobody from this facility causes trouble. I will concentrate on the President." "Yes, Sir," was all Jack could find to say. ====================================================================== The first thing Jack saw when he walked into Sam's office was Daniel Jackson, and the look on the anthropologist's face showed O'Neill there were some things in the universe that made Daniel madder than a Goa'uld. If thoughts could have killed Jack realised that Colonel Mayburne would have died in several very nasty ways. "The General is pulling strings as we speak," he informed all his friends. "Mayburne has pulled another fast one, but he's not going to get away with it." "From what the others have told me," Adam spoke first, "are you sure Hammond can handle this character?" "Oh, when he's annoyed," Jack replied evenly, "he can handle anyone." "What are we going to do?" Carter sounded very unhappy. "For now we wait," O'Neill told then calmly. "If something happens that we don't like, then we'll act. Janet won't let Mayburne get away with anything." ====================================================================== "Colonel," Dr Frasier's voice could have welded steel, "my patient," she stressed the 'my' with Hippocratic authority, "has been through terrible stress over the past few days. If you insist on trying to give him a mental breakdown I will have you removed from this facility so fast your feet won't touch the ground." Richie was very glad of the respite, although the goons were far from putting that amount of pressure on him. He had tried helpful, but they had thought he was lying, he'd tried surly and they'd decided he was hiding something, and he was up to cold and dispassionate. It was difficult to keep his reactions under control, and every time they annoyed him to the point when his eyes glowed or his voice changed tenor, it just seemed to make them push harder. If they weren't asking such damn stupid questions he might have been able to help them. Mayburne growled something in a low voice to the doctor which Richie couldn't be bothered to decipher, and then the Colonel turned his attention back to him. "Okay," he said slowly, "let's put the attack on Earth aside for the moment, and go back to this weapon." The man waved the ribbon device he had displayed on a table at the other side of the room. "How does it work, and how do we make more?" Richie actually found himself laughing. "You think we're too technologically inferior to understand your weapons?" Mayburne snapped, immediately jumping to the wrong conclusion. "That's got nothing to do with it," Richie replied. He was going to go on, but Mayburne interrupted him. "You know it would be much better for you if you co-operated," he hissed. "I don't know exactly how it works," Richie told him for the fifth time that morning. "Do you take us for fools?" the Colonel shot back. The Immortal bit his tongue before he sent back the reply that leapt to his lips, and took a deep breath. Suddenly it came to him. "You're a soldier aren't you, Colonel," Richie said slowly, "you carry a gun." This caught Mayburne somewhat by surprise. "Of course," the man replied without really knowing why. "Tell me exactly how it works, and build me one using an old milk bottle and a light bulb," Richie said bluntly. Mayburne actually shut up for a moment and Richie scored himself another point, but it didn't last for long. ====================================================================== Mayburne didn't leave until it was nearly midnight, and he left behind several of his lackeys who refused to let Richie anywhere near the rest of the SGC personnel. The General held a council of war. "I've been talking to the President," Hammond told SG-1 and Methos as they sat in the briefing room. For his part that didn't fill the Immortal with a whole lot of confidence. "The only reason Mayburne is here, is because otherwise he would have had Richie removed from this facility to Area 51, something none of us want," the General went on. "The President has assured me that Mayburne will conduct his debriefings and be gone." "Well if he tries anything he's going to have to go through us," Jack said with a tone in his voice that made Methos believe every word. "Colonel, we will do this by the book," Hammond reminded his officer, but his voice didn't sound quite as sure to the ancient ears listening. "Is that understood." "Yes, sir," was the barely contained reply. "Look people," the General continued, "that man annoys me as much as he does you, but this is a military establishment and insubordination is not acceptable. Unfortunately covert operations attract weasels like Mayburne, but the only way to handle them is through the proper channels." The officer glanced around the room and his eye met Methos' for a moment. The Immortal let his face stay placid and calm, but his mind was working furiously. If this was going as badly as he thought it was he had one more card up his sleeve, but it was definitely going to be a last resort. "With all due respect, sir," it was Daniel who spoke, "Richie isn't in the military. He didn't sign on for any of this and he sure as hell isn't being paid for it. If we let Mayburne get away with this, it won't just be unfortunate, it'll be criminal." Hammond sat down with a sigh, and Methos had to admire Daniel's spirit. He knew that the anthropologist had trouble with Richie's presence because of what he represented, but he was still willing to fight for him. "We all know it's not that simple," the General replied. "That young man is technically an alien, and a hostile one at that." "He's also a citizen of the United States," Methos left his voice neutral, and in doing so his message went through loud and clear. "Unfortunately that's not going to mean much to people like Mayburne," Carter sounded very annoyed. The fact that Jack did not leap in and agree caught Methos' attention, and the Immortal noticed that the Colonel was looking around at the rest of his team. The officer was obviously considering something. "What if Mayburne doesn't just go away?" O'Neill asked slowly. "Well there are several courses of action open to us ..."Hammond began. "Do any of them definitely come down to a win for the good guys?" Jack didn't give him a chance to finish. "Most things in this world are not definite," the General replied, "but we are going to do everything in our power." "If he were a valued member of staff, would that give you better leverage?" O'Neill was not letting this one go. Methos watched as Sam caught on to what her superior was suggesting, as did Daniel, who looked worried for a second, and then just determined. "Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" Hammond asked slowly. "We did it for Teal'c," Jack pointed out. "What could be more useful to an exploration team than someone who knows a large amount of the terrain? Look at all the information he's already given us on the star charts." Methos watched as the four members of SG-1 all glanced at each other, a silent question going between them. "We all agree, sir," O'Neill said evenly. "We'd like Richie on our team." Now Methos wasn't sure his Immortal friend would be thrilled at the idea, but it was a damn site better than his other prospects. The oldest living Immortal smiled to himself and kept his mouth shut. "I'll keep that under advisement," Hammond finally agreed. "If it comes to that I'll give you my support." "What about Sef't?" Daniel asked quietly. "Him I'm not sure how to help," the General told them all. "He's not co-operating, and we don't have the man power here to watch him 24 hours a day." "If you do not mind, General, I have some thoughts on this problem," Teal'c spoke for the first time. Everyone looked at him since he usually had something important to say when he did open his mouth. Methos had to admit to himself that he really hadn't given much thought to the problem of the lion Jaffa, but he decided he was interested anyway. "Go on, Teal'c," Hammond encouraged. "I believe, Master Bra'tac may be Sef't's best hope," the Jaffa responded calmly. "Bra'tac's name was respected through many systems, and I think Sef't would respond to his teaching. It will also remove him from this facility and harms way." "You may be right, Teal'c," the General replied thoughtfully. "I'll see what I can do." "Thank you, General," the Jaffa said sincerely. End of Part 12