Diplomacy: Final Notes

[nightspear]

Thank you for sticking with this to the end, and thanks to all those who commented on previous chapters!

I do have semi-concrete plans for book 3 (“Brotherhood,” currently up to about chapter 9) and 4 (“Archaeology”), and I’m planning on stopping after that. I am keeping this universe open, though, so I can keep playing around in it; there’s one arc I’m especially interested in exploring beyond season 4, and that kind of thing may happen as shorter stories or one-shots. Again, I’ll keep my profile page updated with my progress.

Anyway, thanks so much for staying with me. Please let me know what you thought, specifically or overall—I really appreciate all your feedback!

Excerpt from Brotherhood (from chapter 2: “Jacob”)

Daniel tried not to look annoyed, because it wasn’t the first time someone hadn’t taken him seriously, and looking annoyed wouldn’t help convince anyone to start doing so. Instead, he sat down behind his desk, making sure his body language made it clear that this was, in fact, his desk in what was his office while Robert was away. “Sam mentioned Setesh, General Carter?”

Sam’s father was still looking at him oddly, but he answered, “I don’t usually go by ‘General’ these days. Jacob’s fine.”

Daniel nodded politely behind a sip of coffee, because the man was Sam’s father, and that certainly deserved some politeness. “Jacob. Can I help with Setesh somehow?”

“The Tok’ra are seeking his current location,” Teal’c said. Jacob didn’t say anything more and seemed to be waiting, as if to see whether Daniel at least recognized the name.

Daniel tapped a pen idly against his arm. He’d done some research on Setesh almost a year ago, when he’d been looking for mentions of Kheb or the gods involved in the myth, and bits of information had caught his attention, but not enough to warrant following up. Still... “I’ll bet no one ever looked on Earth,” he finally said.

Jack raised his eyebrows, and Daniel knew he’d guessed right.

“Are you just saying that?” General Carter—Jacob—asked, looking more interested and less skeptical now. “Or is there a reason to believe he might be here?”

“Well, I had a theory last year,” Daniel started, then amended, “Not a theory. A feeling, perhaps. Anyway, we were busy with the Kheb research at the time, so we never pursued it any further. There wasn’t enough evidence to substantiate anything, and without any other evidence of a murderous tyrant trying to take over somewhere...”

“Well, the Tok’ra believe Setesh never left Earth when the Stargate closed behind Ra, after the uprising in Giza,” Jacob told him. “The problem was, I figured looking for a Goa’uld on Earth, among six billion humans, would be like...”

“Looking for a needle in a haystack,” Jack said. Daniel knew him well enough to recognize a hint of pride in his voice and knew the military environment well enough not to let the recognition show. “But if you have a clue, that haystack might’ve just gotten a bit smaller.”