Brotherhood (2/27)

[nightspear]

Title: Brotherhood (Table of Contents)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. I gain nothing of material value from this.
Pairings: Gen.

Chapter1

Chapter2

XXXXX

Jacob

XXXXX

25 August 1999; Archaeology Office, SGC; 0800 hrs

"Well," Jack said once Lieutenants Barber and Astor had gone, leaving Teal'c, General Carter, and Jack alone in the room with Daniel. "Good first impression."

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 in Robert's absence. "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 hand, stopping only when he hit the cut he'd carelessly gotten in that morning's scenario. 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--bits of information had caught his attention, though 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 now. "Or is there an actual reason to believe he might be here?"

"Well, I had a theory last year," Daniel started, then amended, "Not a theory. An impression, at best. Anyway, we were busy with Kheb at the time, and we didn't have any solid evidence of a murderous tyrant trying to take over, so we never pursued it further. I still have the research, though."

"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. He had to prove competence now and not let overconfidence color Jacob's already-questionable opinion of him. "But if you have a clue, that haystack might've just gotten a bit smaller."

"Why do the Tok'ra believe he's on Earth?" Daniel asked.

"The Tok'ra's record of Setesh ends when the Earth's Stargate was buried about five thousand years ago," Jacob said. "So..."

"Wait," Daniel said in surprise, coming quickly to his feet. "The Tok'ra's record? What record?"

"The Tok'ra council has been taking a Goa'uld census of sorts throughout the galaxy," Jacob explained. "They've been doing it basically as long as they've been fighting the System Lords."

"You keep track of the Goa'uld? You know where each one is at a given time, or, or at least which planets he or she rules? So you could...if we asked, you could tell us--"

"Daniel Jackson," Teal'c interrupted, and Daniel shifted his gaze from Jacob's confused expression to his friend. "The Tok'ra keep a record of the Goa'uld System Lords."

Oh, he thought, but demanded, "Only the System Lords?"

"Pretty much," Jacob said, his brow furrowed. "There are thousands of Goa'uld--too many to try to keep up with. If we can take out the System Lords, the rest should be, more or less, easy pickings. What, don't tell me you guys are actively looking for one of the minor Goa'uld?"

But Jack knew what he was thinking now, too, and asked, "You wouldn't happen to know of one named Klorel, would you? Or Amaunet?"

Jacob dipped his head, and when he raised it again, his eyes glowed.

Daniel sucked in a breath--he'd had a nightmare like this once--but forced himself not to step back. "You're Selmak," he said.

"Yes," Selmak said. Daniel shivered slightly and tried to hide it, but he was certain the sharp eyes saw it. "You are very interested in Apophis."

"You know who they are, then," Daniel said, daring to hope, just a little. "Klorel and Amaunet?"

There was a long silence in which Daniel knew he should really just start looking for Setesh, because the entire SGC was going insane with stress these days, and if there was a Goa'uld on Earth, they had to focus, but... He pushed back the chill that Selmak's voice gave him and stood still while the Tok'ra assessed him. "You are the Tau'ri of whom Lantash spoke," Selmak finally said. "The boy who prayed for Apophis as he died."

Interesting--and perhaps shrewd--that Martouf tended to speak when dealing with the Tau'ri, while Lantash, though more rash, took the lead among other Tok'ra. Did Jacob and Selmak do the same? How much of the trust between them was a careful game meant to appease while still holding something back?

But they could discuss Tok'ra-human politics later. "I prayed for his host," Daniel corrected stiffly. "And I ask now for my brother and sister, the hosts of Klorel and Amaunet."

Selmak lowered his gaze, and Jacob Carter resurfaced. "Sorry to hear that," Jacob said, after a pause. "Unfortunately, we haven't been able to keep tabs on them, except as they're pertinent to Apophis. We haven't heard of either of them in over a year."

"You don't know where they are now," Daniel said, nodding, looking down and sitting again.

"No, 'fraid not," Jacob said, but solemn now, not joking or scornful anymore. "Klorel seems to be on his own, and last we heard, Amaunet was still with Heru-ur. Our operatives in his army were killed on a planet called Cimmeria, and we haven't been able to get someone else on the inside yet."

Jack grimaced behind Jacob's back. That had been their fault, albeit accidentally.

"Okay." Daniel cleared his throat and logged into his computer. "Sorry for the interruption. Um. Right, Setesh." A silence met him, and he said, "Do you want me to show you what we found?"

"Yeah, how d'you figure he's on Earth?" Jack said, coming around the desk to look over his shoulder.

"I don't remember how I got to it last time, but let me see if I can..."

Daniel pushed away from the desk again and crouched to reach a lower shelf, where there were binders full of things they'd found at some point and thought interesting but hadn't been able to follow up. He extracted the correct binder and paged through until the word Setesh caught his eye, then returned to his desk.

"Here," he said, opening to the information they'd printed out from an obscure site.

"Cult of Setesh," Jack read off the page. "Sweet."

"You see," Daniel explained, "last year, I found that there have been religious groups revolving around a mysterious figure named Seth. Or Setesh. Or Sutekh, Sut, Seti--"

"Yadda," Jack said, motioning with a hand for him to go on.

Daniel made a face but went on, "For a long time, since at least 1000 B.C., and probably before that, this religion has existed in some form or another. This cult"--he flipped to the first page in the set--"lasted about a hundred and fifty years. And then this one for only a couple of decades, and this one almost three hundred years...it goes on like that over three thousand years. But the last trace I found was a cult around Stonehenge whose leader was named Seth, and it was ended in 1822."

Jack pointed at the last page he'd stopped on. "What is that?"

"The symbol used by the cult, I suppose," Daniel said, tilting his head at the animal. "Tau'ri Egyptologists think it's imaginary--they call it the typhonic beast. Apparently, it never existed on Earth, but it definitely exists on parts of Abydos. Well, it doesn't look exactly like this, but we call it ron n'sutekh, Setesh's animal, and it looks reasonably similar."

"The animal exists on certain desert planets, and that does looks a little like Setesh's brand," Jacob said, coming around as well to look. Then he blinked and looked at Daniel. "Did you say 'Abydos'?"

Daniel nodded but didn't elaborate. "Anyway, I remember something odd...um...here. The members of the last cult were killed, not by the Christians who had been attacking them but rather by themselves. They slit their own throats as they came under more suspicion, but no one ever found Seth's body. Now, this account is probably second-hand, at least, and sensationalized, but since these cults seem to have been secret organizations, we probably won't get anything more reliable. It might be what you're looking for."

"That sounds possible," Jacob acknowledged. "The MO's right: false religion, devout followers, leaves bodies behind..."

Sam walked back in then, looking surprised to hear her father's words. "Don't tell me you found something? Already?"

"Not sure," Jacob said. "But I think maybe we have, Sam."

"But see, I'm not so sure about that," Daniel said, swiveling around in his chair to face them. "If Setesh has been on Earth for the last five thousand years, why hasn't he tried to take over, or at least looked for the Stargate?"

"Setesh attempted to overthrow Ra," Teal'c said. "He did not succeed."

"Came pretty close, though," Jacob added. "Setesh was high on the food chain, but when Ra won, the other System Lords sided with him and put a price on Setesh's head. Then, the Tok'ra and the other System Lords all wanted to kill him."

"So he's not trying to take over Earth," Daniel said; "he's hiding here among the humans. And that's why he hasn't..." He trailed off, thinking. "But I lost track of him after the early 1800s. Surely he's done something since then."

"No more cults floating around?" Jack asked.

"Not that I found," he said, skimming through the page again and trying another quick search. "I can keep looking, now that I know it's worth trying to find. But..."

"What?"

"The last cult was thought of as being full of extreme zealots. People were wary of them, and then they all killed themselves. That's kind of...aberrant, right?"

"Y'think?" Jack said.

Jacob was frowning at him again. "Which means they might've caught someone's attention. You want to use records from Earth's law enforcement agencies."

"Uh...sure," Daniel said, guessing that law enforcement would probably be involved if people were killing themselves. "I've never dealt with other government organizations besides us. Can we ask the law enforcement, uh, agencies, or... How does that work?"

Sam shrugged. "We can get a look at US federal agencies' work from here, to some extent, so we can see if anyone's caught the scent."

"What if he's not in the US?"

"We've got to start somewhere," Jack pointed out. "If there's an investigation going on that has anything to do with this country, the CIA will probably know, and we can find it."

"Huh," Daniel said, impressed. "That's...chel nak. How do I do that?"

"I'll show you how to get onto the classified net, and you can go through the search yourself," Sam offered. "I need to configure this unit to get on the network, though. You mind?"

Daniel stood to leave her the chair and full access to the laptop. "No, of course not."

"This'll only take a few minutes," she said as she began to work.

"There's something else," Jack was saying to Jacob. "In fact, this would explain a lot. You know how we had Hathor's sarcophagus at Area 51?"

"Yeah, George told me it got stolen," Jacob said grimly. "How the hell do you lose a sarcophagus?"

"It wasn't us," Jack pointed out. "It was the NID and the idiots stationed at Nellis."

"But now you think that was Setesh," Daniel said in interest. SG-1 had been put in charge of that investigation; Daniel wasn't an active part of that, so what he knew extended just barely beyond the rumors circulating around base.

"Why don't you tell me what happened," Jacob said.

Jack sighed. "Two weeks ago, an unauthorized, unmarked aircraft landed at Nellis Base. About thirty minutes later, an alarm sounded in the area where the sarcophagus was being kept. Long story short, there were a few explosions that left fragments of what Teal'c says could be Goa'uld bombs, and the sarcophagus disappeared. It looks like all witnesses or persons involved are dead. The plane itself was later found in the middle of the Pacific; it was probably destroyed before it hit the water. We've been looking for weeks, but we had nothing to go on, short of scouring the world for a giant box."

Daniel heard Sam's frustrated huff from where she sat. Even with Jack's instincts, Sam's ability to pull information from just about anything electronic, and Teal'c's familiarity with Goa'uld devices, whoever had taken the sarcophagus had been careful to destroy everything--and everyone--that could possibly be a clue of any kind. Of course, knowing that there was a Goa'uld somewhere on Earth put everything in a different light.

"Does this happen often?" Jacob asked incredulously. "Unauthorized people getting into Area 51 without even being stopped by security?"

"Now, that's where it gets more interesting," Jack said. "Not only did the security forces let the attackers through, the guards' bodies were later found in the sarcophagus room, still holding their weapons. In fact, a few of the personnel inside were killed by those weapons."

There was a pause as Jacob took that in, and then he said, "You think it was an inside job--the NID was in on it."

"That was our assumption," Teal'c said. "It would not have been the first time that some members of the NID were involved in illicit activities."

"It would've explained the use of Goa'uld technology, too," Sam put in, not looking up. "No one has access to more Goa'uld devices than the NID, and the sarcophagus was right there. We've been thinking that it was probably a rogue operation and that that was why there was such a delay in sounding a proper alert."

"But now, if Setesh was involved..." Jacob said.

"It still doesn't explain how they got the NID to help them," Jack said. "Those guys were clean--they could've been rogue agents, I guess, but I doubt they had contact with a Goa'uld without anyone noticing. And if Setesh tried the steal the sarcophagus, how did he know it was there in the first place?"

"Unless someone inside Nellis was helping them," Jacob said.

"But if that's the case, there's another question," Sam added. "Why now, after the NID's had the sarcophagus for over a year?"

"Perhaps Setesh has been aware of that the entire time," Teal'c said, "and has simply waited until he was able to execute such an elaborate plan."

Jacob nodded in agreement. "And he would've needed someone who knew where things were kept," he continued. "He was using the people at the facility. You guys took out Hathor, right? You know there are Goa'uld substances that exert some degree of mind control."

Jack grimaced. "So now there's a Goa'uld out there who can control NID agents' minds and got his hands on a working sarcophagus. You know, I kind of liked it better when we thought it was just dirty NID guys."

"If it was Setesh, we need to shut him down as soon as possible and get that sarcophagus back," Sam said, standing. "Okay, Daniel, I'm done."

"What is... Is this like a normal search engine?" Daniel asked, looking over the window on his screen.

"Basically. You should be able to see current and past cases, keeping in mind that other agencies also keep some--or a lot--of their work under wraps," she said. "Especially for open investigations, sometimes it's hard to get all the information, but if we get a lead, we can go right to the source agency and try to get more facts. So, uh...are you good here?"

"Hm?" he said absently, trying to decide what keywords would be most likely to lead to Seth/Setesh/Sutekh... He saw Sam glance at her father out of the corner of her eye and said, "Oh, yes, of course. I'll start looking--thank you, Sam."

"Thank you, kiddo," Jacob said, ruffling Daniel's hair as he left to catch up with his daughter. No one ever did that, so Daniel was too surprised to do more than blink in confusion before Jacob disappeared out the door. Jack smirked at him, and he could have sworn Teal'c was laughing a little, too, silently.

"Look at this. I leave you alone for half an hour and you're drinking coffee," Jack said, making Daniel stop with his mug halfway to his lips.

"If you hadn't scheduled those two lieutenants' testing for 0600, maybe I'd be more awake right now," Daniel said, grimacing when he saw the results of his first search attempt. Okay, so 'SETH' might have been a little too broad as a search query.

"Excuses," Jack said, but he took a cup from the shelf and poured some coffee for himself, too. Teal'c raised a disdainful eyebrow at them both.

...x...

"Alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives," Daniel said when he'd finally found the connection he'd been looking for. He skimmed over the rest of the information. "That's really the name of an agency?" It seemed an unnecessarily unwieldy name.

"That's your friendly neighborhood ATF," Jack confirmed, reading over his shoulder. "You're sure this is our Goa'uld?"

"Not sure, but I think I've gone as far as I can go from here."

"Airman," Jack called out the door. "Get the Carters up here, would you?"

"Um, Jack," Daniel said, chewing his lip.

"Daniel?"

"This Seth has nearly fifty followers, according to their intelligence. And if it's the same Seth, then they'll probably respond to a threat with violence. His previous cults committed mass suicide when threatened, and his people weren't afraid to die when they stole the sarcophagus."

Jack was giving him a look now but said, "Fanatics in secret cults are complicated that way."

"Well, you'll need something subtle."

"Daniel, just...what are you talking about?"

"I think sneaking in would be the best way," he said. "Attack Seth himself before he can do anything in return, instead of storming his...his compound or camp or...whatever stronghold he has."

"Would've been my plan," Jack agreed, narrowing his eyes. "And...?"

Sam and Jacob walked in then as Daniel said, "I'm just... You have to be careful, that's all."

"What's going on?" Sam asked.

Teal'c answered, "Daniel Jackson believes we should infiltrate Seth's group of religious followers in order to eliminate him without harming his followers."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Jacob said, and then, "Wait, you found him?"

"There's a cult around Seattle," Jack said. "Seth Fargough."

"...who is said to have magical powers and healing abilities," Daniel added, "and who sometimes kills members of the cult in front of the group, and who has his followers heavily armed and guarding him. Oh, and his eyes glow."

"Nice," Jacob said, looking reluctantly satisfied. "So...is there a problem?"

"No, no problem," Daniel said, only slightly lying. "Uh, who's going in? Of the people in this room, Teal'c and Jacob can't blend in because Seth will sense their symbiotes..."

"Me and Carter," Jack said.

"Even I can sense Sam's residual naquadah if I'm close enough," Daniel pointed out, ignoring the curious look that drew from Jacob. To turn attention away from the statement--it wasn't important just now--he added, "Selmak can too, right?"

Jacob gave his daughter a sideways glance. "Yeah, it's not that hard to tell if we're standing like this. It's not strong, but if Seth gets close, it's a dead giveaway that she's involved with something that has to do with Goa'uld."

"So Sam, Teal'c, and Jacob can't go, which leaves Jack, and..." He cut himself off before he could say 'the report says the average new recruit is at least ten or twenty years younger than you, Jack,' and settled on, "...you're only one person. It might be good to have an extra person with you to...what's the word...brainstorm. Make sure whoever sneaks in has the best chance."

"I say we take a look and see what we're dealing with," Jacob cut in. "Let's make sure this guy is even our Goa'uld, and then we'll decide who's sneaking into what."

"'We' meaning 'not you,'" Jack said, pointing at Daniel.

"Jack, my research found him," he said, indignant, and while he was aware that he'd often looked things up for other people to complete in the field, he had been doing a lot more than sitting behind a desk for months now.

"This isn't a research trip," Jack said, as if he might not know that.

"I'm already approved for some fieldwork, and I'm a few assessments away from being approved for first contact," Daniel retorted. "I'm better trained and more experienced than any other civilian here. If this is done right, no one needs to get hurt."

Jack shook his head. "When's the last time we went on a mission that went right?"

Frustrated, Daniel pointed out, "When Robert's out, I'm supposed to make sure the teams have the right cultural specialists when needed, and I don't have anyone else I can send with you right now who's as familiar with the mythology and the information pertaining to--"

"I want to be out of here and on the way to find Seth in two hours," Jack cut him off. "You want to come, you'd better convince General Hammond by then."

"Fine," Daniel said, and left for the general's office.

XXXXX

"I can't believe you convinced Hammond," Jack grumbled once they were on the plane.

"Colonel, he's just here to help provide insight," Sam said placatingly. Daniel might have complained about being talked about in the third person, but he wasn't going to push his luck if General Hammond was willing to let him join them, just in case mythology became useful.

To Daniel, Jack said, "Once we land, we're dealing with people outside the program."

"I know, Jack."

"So that means Jacob is General Carter, no one mentions the word 'symbiote,' you say you're Air Force and nothing more, and you do not speak in Goa'uld or Abydonian or any language that people don't speak today on Earth. In fact, stick entirely to English. Got it?"

"Yes," he said, suppressing the urge to ask if it was all right to speak a modern Earth language like Dutch.

"And listen to Teal'c."

Daniel blinked. "To...Teal'c? Okay. Then do I have to listen to you?"

"Yes," Jack said. "And to General Carter."

Daniel looked at Sam. "Uh. What about...Captain Carter?"

"Listen to her, too."

"Then why didn't you just say--?"

"Daniel...!"

"Okay!" Affronted, he added, "I wouldn't do anything to endanger all those innocent people in there. You know that, Jack."

Jack nodded curtly. "Just don't endanger yourself, either."

Jacob--General Carter out loud now, not Jacob--spoke up sharply, in the voice that made clear who was the general. "Is this gonna be a problem?" He pointed between the two of them. "Because I will find a couple of feds to sit on you if there's gonna be a problem, Daniel."

"No, sir," Daniel said, deciding to err on the side of deference to avoid having anyone sit on him. "I understand the stakes when we're in the field."

General Carter raised his eyebrows at Jack, who said, "He does. He's good--we're good."

"All right, then," Jacob said. "We need to know how Seth is controlling his followers."

"Mind-control, you said," Jack said. "The reports from people who've been deprogrammed make it seem like they were under the influence of something more than just head games." Daniel nodded in agreement and looked back over the notes he'd brought with him.

"We need a closer look," Jacob said, "but the Goa'uld have developed a number of substances that could do that."

"Such as the substance that Hathor used on the people at Area 51," Teal'c suggested.

Sam shook her head. "That wasn't particularly strong. It only worked on people who responded to female pheromones, for one, and there's a reason such a small strike force was able to overtake them all while they were dazed. No, whatever Seth's using, it's more than that."

"There were some 'deprogrammed,'" Jacob said. "Do we know how?"

Daniel skimmed over the notes. "Apparently, psychotherapy alone wasn't enough. One thing that helped was...ECT? I don't, uh...I don't know what that is."

"Electroconvulsive therapy," Sam provided. "Interesting."

Daniel felt his eyebrows rise, remembering that he'd just spent the morning pretending to be injured from electric shock. "Electro-what? They use that for therapy here?"

"Apparently, it works," Jack pointed out, tapping his notes.

"It can be done under controlled conditions," she explained, "but it's possible that the followers were implanted with some kind of technology that burned out with enough current while the shock wasn't enough to kill the human victim."

Jack made a face but said, "I think someone would've noticed a machine inside them. Even stuff as small as nanites shows up in your blood."

"Nish'ta?" Jacob said.

"Bless," Jack said.

Jacob gave him a look. "Nish'ta is an organism that infects the tissues of the body, like a virus. It can be aerosolized and inhaled, and it makes the mind pliable. While it's very strong, it can be killed by enough electrical current without permanently harming the victim."

"Well, what if it's not that?" Daniel asked. "We don't want to...shock people half to death and then find out that's not the cure at all." He tried not to shiver at the thought--electric shock seemed like something that should come out of a weapon, not a doctor's tool. Still, he'd learned enough to keep an open mind--Tau'ri medical technology was advanced beyond what he understood. If Sam said it was legitimate, it probably was.

"That's why we do recon first. We wait and see before we jump the gun," Jacob said.

Daniel nodded, not wanting to say anything else that might make him look less competent than he already probably seemed to someone like Sam's father.

A moment later, looking curious, Jacob asked him, "You're from a naquadah-rich planet? You mentioned Abydos. That's Ra's planet, isn't it?"

"That's where Ra fell," he answered, lifting his chin. "We Abydons are tok Ra, perhaps even more than the Tok'ra are."

"Cute," Jacob said, but he looked satisfied with the answer. "Well, okay, then."

Daniel watched him curiously, almost expecting him to do something odd to show he wasn't completely only human anymore, then blurted, "What is it like?"

Jacob raised his eyebrows. "What is what... You mean being a Tok'ra?" Daniel nodded. "Well, physically, I'm a lot healthier than I was."

"Your cancer is gone," Daniel said, because Sam had told him that. "Did it hurt?"

"The blending?" Jacob asked. "Well, there's the whole...burrowing into soft tissue thing, and Selmak and I were both in pretty sorry shape at the time. But Selmak made everything as easy as possible. And that's the cool part--you heal fast." He paused, his gaze becoming unfocused, then smirked. "One of the cool parts. I'm smarter than Sam, now, too."

"Oh, please," Sam muttered, but Daniel could see her hiding a smile.

Daniel nodded, tapping his fingers against his armrest. "Okay. But it can hurt, if the...the symbiote isn't trying to make it easy on the host? Like...if the host were unwilling?"

Jacob's smirk faded. "Yeah. The Tok'ra don't like to take unwilling hosts, but it's harder if you resist. Yeah, Danny, it can be painful."

Before he could respond to the childhood nickname that no one used anymore, the plane touched ground with a small bump, and Jack took over. "Okay, kids--and General--let's go."

"We'll go to the local authorities first," Jacob said. "They'll know where this guy is, at least, even if they aren't the ones taking point on the investigation. And we need to make sure no one's gonna be stepping on our toes while we're here."

XXXXX

25 August 1999; Washington; 1500 hrs

"I know who you're talking about," the sheriff said. "I had a lot of parents come into my office--they lost their kids to this nut. They got shipments of what looks like a bunch of arms recently."

"You didn't think that was suspicious?" Sam asked.

"Didn't have--whatchacallit--probable cause. Even if I did, I don't have the manpower." At that, his gaze passed over their small, eclectic group. "You sure you folks can shut this guy down?"

"Don't worry about us," Jacob said. "You ever seen the man in charge?"

The sheriff narrowed his eyes, but he didn't question them further. "The property's owned by a guy named Fargough. His record's clean."

"Seth," Daniel said, then remembered he was supposed to let the others lead this and fell silent. He tried not to squirm as the sheriff stared at him.

"This one of the boys who got out from there?" the man asked.

Surprised, Daniel looked sideways at Jack, who raised one eyebrow very slightly. Jack's hand fell protectively on his shoulder as Jacob said, "That's classified. We can't discuss any details of this investigation." Daniel glanced up at the sheriff, who seemed to have decided he was one of Seth's former followers, anyway. Jack's finger poked him hard in the back of his shoulder, and he looked back down at the floor.

"Well, you're a brave young man to help out like this," the sheriff said gruffly.

Daniel cleared his throat awkwardly, trying not to do something that would make them all look like idiots--like laugh--and said, "I'm, uh...I'm not supposed to talk about the--"

The sheriff waved a hand. "Yeah, I know. All right. That's all we know. I'll show you to the main building--you can follow my car."

Jacob smirked at Daniel as he walked out. Daniel waited until the sheriff had climbed into his car before pulling out from under Jack's hand and climbing into the back row of seats in the car with Sam and Teal'c. "What exactly am I allowed to do while we're here?" Daniel asked as they followed the sheriff's car down the road.

"We'll see, Danny," Jacob said.

"It's Daniel," he said sharply this time. "Don't call me Danny. Sir."

Jacob's eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror, and he said with a bark of a laugh, "They make 'em with spirit on Abydos! I like that."

"Dad," Sam said, but half-heartedly. Maybe she was reluctant to say any more, for fear that her father would start calling her Sammy.

"You kids," Jacob chuckled.

Daniel huffed. Turning back to business, he imagined he was at a customs and courtesies briefing, about to step off-world with a team. "What do I need to know to deal with law enforcement officers?"

...x...

"That's the main building," the sheriff told them. "About three-quarters of a mile up that drive. Gimme a call if you need me."

"Will do," Jack said with a tight smile.

"Colonel," Sam said quietly, and Daniel turned to follow her gaze to a man rapidly coming toward them. He didn't look like a military-trained man of any sort, but Daniel knew very well that 'civilian' didn't mean 'harmless,' the way airmen at the SGC tended to assume.

"You people the FBI?" the man said.

"No," Jack answered. "Who're you?"

"Jason Levinson," the man answered. "I've been camping out here for the past month, hoping to catch a glimpse of my boy Tommy. He's been in there nine months now."

Teal'c touched Daniel on the shoulder to catch his attention and said quietly, "Wait here."

Daniel hung back near the car as the others approached Jason Levinson, talking quietly about the compound behind them.

Suddenly, Teal'c stiffened slightly. Levinson didn't seem to notice, but Jack had--his hands were sliding out of his pockets to hover casually closer to where his sidearm was hidden. Daniel had no idea what they had seen or heard or felt, but he slid closer to the car, anyway, where he'd have a better chance of finding cover or reaching a weapon if it came to that.

"The fence is in the wide open and around most of the property," Levinson was saying. "But I'll show you a brush cover if you wanna go in."

"Good," Jacob said, leading him a few feet away, toward the property.

As soon as there were a few paces between Levinson and the team, Teal'c said, "O'Neill, we are being surveilled."

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "I saw them. Probably FBI, maybe ATF."

Daniel started to turn, then stopped when Teal'c said, "Do not look toward them."

Jack began reaching for their equipment. "Daniel, stay in the car and lock the doors while we check this out. We'll only be a few minutes, but there's a Beretta just in case--see it? Everyone else, we're going to look and only look for now."

Daniel opened his mouth to argue, because surely he was as qualified as Jason Levinson not to make a mistake, but Teal'c warned, "Daniel Jackson..."

It wasn't until Daniel was sitting in the passenger seat of the car and everyone else was sneaking past the fence that he realized with chagrin why Jack had told him to listen to Teal'c: Teal'c didn't need to give him orders very often outside of the gym, so he'd never gotten into the habit of thinking twice about those orders the way he had with Jack. He frowned, wondering if they'd planned it like this, and resolved to pay more attention to that in the future.

"ATF! Step out of the vehicle!"

He jumped and turned in his seat to see a man outside the car, a gun leveled in his direction through the closed window. There was another man with another gun behind him and three more who'd crept up without his notice. Daniel's hand was halfway to the bottom of his seat where Jack had left him a pistol before he remembered that the ATF was the agency that had taken charge of this investigation.

The agent saw his movement anyway and ordered, loud enough for the sound to carry through the closed door, "Freeze! Federal agent! Step out and keep your hands where we can see them."

Daniel froze, then raised both hands so they could see he was empty-handed. He glanced back toward Seth's compound, but the others were still out of sight.

"Now!" the agent demanded, more sharply, so Daniel swallowed and slowly opened the door before someone shot at him through the glass. Jack would never let him forget it if he was responsible for a bullet hole in a government car. Also, it would mean he was being shot at, which was, in his experience, a bad thing.

"Sir," Daniel said loudly enough to be heard from where they stood several wary yards away, stepping back so there was no doubt that he wasn't doing anything suspicious in the car. "Uh, Agent. Please just...let me explain."

"Who are you?" the agent asked. "And where are the people who were with you?"

"I'm Daniel Jackson, with the US Air Force," he recited. He reached for his ID and stopped when everyone tensed, guns rising. "I'm just--my identification is in my back pocket. I'm unarmed."

"Keep your hands up," the agent in charge said, then nodded to one of the other men. "You're one of Fargough's kids, aren't you."

Trying not to squirm as the other agent pulled out his identification, patted him down briefly, then looked inside the car, Daniel said, "No, I'm not. I'm here with a team that's trying to remove...Fargough. The others are looking for a way into the building right now."

"It looks authentic," the other agent said. "Dog tags, ID card--civilian, Air Force affiliation, in the capacity of 'Special Liaison.' But there's a pistol in the car, and it looks like more artillery in the back."

"We've come across Fargough's kids before with illegal permits and weapons," the first agent warned. "IDs and tags are easy."

"They've attacked people before?" Daniel asked, surprised. They'd expected some details not to have been available so easily online, but they'd also been assuming that this Cult of Seth was more or less self-contained, with the exception of the assault on Area 51. That didn't make sense--the previous cults had all stayed fairly private until someone else tried to attack them first.

"We'll ask the questions," another agent said. "Fadman, search the car." A woman stepped out of the crowd and started toward the car, but the others didn't move.

"Hey!" Jack's voice called, and Daniel sighed in relief. "What the hell are you doing!"

Most of the agents shifted their aim to SG-1 and Jacob.

"Daniel?" Jack barked, fury and worry both audible.

"I'm fine, Colonel," Daniel called back. "They're ATF, investigating Seth Fargough."

Jack was glaring murderously at the agents. His submachine gun was pointed at the one who still held a gun on Daniel. Sam's hands were on her gun, too, while Teal'c--well, he probably had a zat'nik'tel hidden away somewhere, and no doubt it would be in his hand in half a second if a fight erupted. "Looked more like you bozos were investigating the contents of my consultant's pockets," Jack snapped to them.

"I'm Special Agent James Hamner," the man in charge said. "Who're you?"

"Major General Jacob Carter, US Air Force," Jacob said before Jack could answer. "These are my people. I suggest you return Mr. Jackson's belongings to him and lower your weapons."

By the time everyone decided that the others weren't the enemy, Jack had turned his scowl onto Daniel, as if to say, 'see what you got into?' Daniel tried to communicate wordlessly that he'd only been following orders--first Jack's, then Teal'c's, then Special Agent James Hamner's--and see, look where that had gotten him. Maybe that was too complicated a thought to be expressed with shrugs and eyebrows, however (or maybe everyone was just annoyed), and Jack simply scowled harder.

...x...

"This compound is home to some kind of cult," Agent Hamner said. "It's run by a charming guy who goes by the name Seth Fargough. We've recently acquired intelligence to confirm they have a hoard of prohibited weaponry here."

"That's some mighty fine intelligence you've got there," Jack said, clearly resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"They've also begun to get more violent. As I was telling your...consultant earlier, about two weeks ago, they received a big shipment of something we haven't been able to identify yet. Since then, there have been three incidents of members leaving the property. At first we thought they'd snuck out to escape Fargough."

Jack shot his team a significant look, then turned back to Hamner. "But...?"

"We lost two agents the first time, and Fargough's people killed themselves once they were surrounded. The second time, we attempted to subdue them, but, again, they turned their guns on themselves before we could get them," Hamner said.

Daniel saw Sam and Teal'c exchanging a glance as Jack and Jacob continued their questioning. The shipment had to have been the sarcophagus, and even if Seth wanted to hide on Earth, perhaps his greed overcame his caution once he'd found a way both to subdue people and to regenerate himself or even his followers with a sarcophagus. If they'd thought this situation was urgent before, it was rapidly becoming even more so.

"Do you know what they were targeting?" Jacob asked.

Hamner hesitated, then allowed, "They were looking for information--one person managed to hack her way into a government computer, but whatever she was looking for, we think it was too high-security for her to get to it. She escaped our agents, though."

Perhaps they were trying to find out where the sarcophagus had come from, or get into Area 51 files, perhaps even looking for the location of the Stargate. Setesh would surely be interested now that he knew about Goa'uld devices being stored somewhere.

"So what do you plan to do?" Jacob said.

"Surround the compound and negotiate," Hamner said. "Try to get 'em to come out peacefully."

Daniel made a face. "That won't work," he said before he could remember to shut up, but no one berated him. Well, someone else would have said it if he hadn't.

Hamner gave him a narrow-eyed stare. "I suppose you could tell me why not."

Daniel bit his lip and looked to Jack, who said, "Classified."

"You were in there with Fargough and his followers?" Hamner pressed. "Undercover or deprogrammed?"

Daniel was quickly realizing that there were severe limits to the advantages of looking like he couldn't possibly be an agent and therefore had to be a victim or a possibly a spy of some sort. It would be a useful trait for a spy, but he wasn't even cleared for a mission like this, except as a consultant.

"Hey," Jack snapped. "You've heard of 'classified,' right?"

"Fine!" Hamner snapped back, equally irritated now. "Well, I'll tell you what. The United States Air Force was not invited to participate in this operation; therefore, you're out of your jurisdiction. Therefore, I'm ordering you all to leave, or I'll have you arrested."

Daniel squinted at the wall behind Hamner, not sure how to respond. Jacob asked good-naturedly, "This is a secure phone, isn't it? Could we use it to place one call?"

They were ushered out as Jack picked up the phone. Daniel turned in time to catch a particularly gleeful look on Jack's face before he walked back toward the car.

...x...

Ten minutes later, the President of the United States called and put Jack in charge, and the SGC took over the ATF's workspace. Jack looked satisfied. Hamner didn't.

"I think it's safe to say we're dealing with Seth," Jacob said immediately. "From what we saw, he's probably using nish'ta, and we know how to reverse the effects."

"Go in with zats," Jack said. "The shock should do it."

"And shoot fifty people before Seth notices?" Jacob said. "Or before they kill us with that stockpile of weaponry they've got? You heard Hamner--Seth's getting antsy."

"Then we need to get in without being noticed," Sam said. "We can't walk in the front door or he'll just brainwash us before we can do anything."

"He must have an escape route," Daniel said, trying to interpret the map that the ATF had drawn and tacked onto the wall. "We've found underground escape tunnels built into almost all of Ra's major facilities in Nagada."

"That was also true of Apophis," Teal'c confirmed.

"So we do a perimeter search outside the fence and look for those tunnel entrances," Sam said.

"And if we find them?" Jacob asked. "We still need a way to get in and not get compromised by the nish'ta. Teal'c and I wouldn't be affected..."

"Not gonna work," Jack said. "You'd be made in a second. I'll go in through a back entrance and try to get close enough to assassinate him before anyone gets dosed with anything."

"Wh--wait," Daniel said when no one objected. "You want to assassinate him? And kill his host, too?"

Jacob looked surprised. "Daniel, there's a bigger picture here than one man."

Daniel frowned, glancing at the others. "I...I know that. I just want to make sure I understand this clearly if we're designating an innocent man collateral damage. The Tok'ra know how to remove symbiotes, don't they?"

"I get it," Jacob said tensely. "Obviously, we'll capture him alive if the opportunity arises, but if it's one man with a Goa'uld in him versus the lives of fifty of his followers--and probably the rest of us standing around here, too, and who knows how many afterward--then we can't hesitate for one life." Jack made a face but shook his head when Daniel looked to him.

That was the policy, and he knew it. They were supposed to subdue the Goa'uld with minimal injury if there was a chance of saving the host, but ultimately, the host was a relatively low priority in most missions. Daniel bit back another protest, reminding himself that they couldn't risk an angry, former System Lord to be freed and many people killed simply for the chance to save one person. He hoped that choice wasn't one they'd have to make if--when--they found Skaara and Sha'uri. "Yes, sir," he said unhappily. He wondered, suddenly, if Jack or Sam had ever tried the same argument before, back when they'd first started fighting the Goa'uld, then said 'yes, sir' and stopped finding it strange.

But they were at war. Daniel knew that. He'd pledged himself to it, and he wouldn't go back now.

"So," Jack said, "I go in through the back--"

Teal'c interrupted, "Your chance of success is extremely low, O'Neill."

"He's right," Jacob said. "At best, Seth realizes you're useful and you end up working for him. At worst, you're dead, and so are the rest of us."

"Actually," Sam said thoughtfully, "I think I have an idea. I can fix something--an earpiece, maybe, to deliver an electrical shock upon remote command. We'd just need someone listening in through the earpiece and ready to deliver the jolt, and the nish'ta would be killed without Seth's knowing it."

Jack nodded. "You start working on that, Carter. Daniel, you...stay here and help her. Everyone else, let's round up Hamner's men and see if there's an underground entrance somewhere."

Catching Sam's worried frown, Daniel waited for the others to leave and said, "Sam, the sheriff said a lot of parents have been calling about kids they lost to Seth. Look at the reports--I don't think he's seeking them out actively; he's waiting for interested people to seek him out." He held out the abbreviated missing persons reports to let her see. "A lot of people get recruited pretty young--around their late-teens to late-twenties."

Sam skimmed over the reports, caught his meaning, and looked up. "Yeah, I see," she said, "and no, you're not going to."

"Lieutenant Astor asked me yesterday if I worked undercover a lot, because I look the part," Daniel said. "She was right. I'm the perfect one for it on this team. Who'd suspect me?"

"You're a little on the young side of the profile," she pointed out.

"But I'm big enough--I can pass for a year or two older than I am," he said. Even though Jack thought he'd still grow another inch or two, he'd learned that he was already tall enough to look, at a casual first glance, like he wasn't out of place among the men of the SGC, especially if he walked confidently enough. "And there have been younger. Sam, my age is the one asset I have that the rest of you don't in a mission that requires infiltration. Let me use it."

"That's not true," she said, her voice lowered. "And later, I can explain to you why that line of thinking bothers us."

"And I'll remind you that I am an adult and that you're not breaking international law by accepting what I'm offering," he countered, because he'd read enough to know she was thinking of children who had been exploited on this planet as soldiers or spies in past wars. "Sam, Jack is going to be alone in there, with practically no chance of success. I'm just saying, maybe you should rig up an extra earpiece. It doesn't have to be for me. It's just in case."

She gave him a piercing look, then sighed. "Just in case, then."

...x...

"We've got a way in," Jacob said, once they'd found the entrance and had rejoined Daniel in the tent.

"And I've got a way out," Sam said, holding up an earpiece designed to deliver an electrical pulse to kill the nish'ta. "So now, we need a plan."

"I have one," Jacob said. "But I'm gonna want more than one person on the inside."

"I made an extra," Sam said, holding up a second earpiece.

"We're gonna take our chances on Carter, then?" Jack said, examining the earwig.

Sam didn't answer immediately. Daniel looked at Jacob, who was already watching him but didn't speak. "No. I'll do it," Daniel said.

"Whoa," Jack said, looking up sharply.

Jacob looked Daniel up and down. Perhaps he--or Selmak--was remembering that Daniel wasn't from the USA on Earth and was an adult by the standards of Abydos and many other societies. "Can you use a zat'nik'tel? Handle yourself in a fight?"

"Hold it--"

"Indeed," Teal'c answered instead. "Daniel Jackson's skills are sufficient against an enemy that is not expecting an assault."

"The nish'ta will make people very loyal, but it doesn't do any favors in terms of reflexes and quick thinking," Jacob added. "So you'll have the advantage there."

"Just hold on a minute!" Jack snapped.

"We can't afford to sit around much longer if Seth's starting to get bolder," Jacob said. "There's a threat from the Goa'uld, a threat from his followers, and a threat to his followers. We need to get in and get them split up as much as we can if we want to have a chance at neutralizing them."

"Do you people realize that whoever goes in there might not come back out?" Jack said, looking incredulous.

Daniel pointed to Sam's wired earpieces. "Well, that's why--"

"I'm not talking about that! Or don't their guns bother you?"

"In a full attack, yes, they'd probably open fire," Jacob said, "but with a single invader, nish'ta is much more likely. His followers are average, untrained people--if Seth's been getting bolder, someone with your skills will be a lot more useful alive than dead."

"Jack, if you're compromised, we're done," Daniel said. "We should have a backup plan."

"Well, we can come up with a better one," Jack said.

"Remember Cimmeria?" Daniel pressed. "You and Teal'c in armor, dragging me through Heru-ur's camp to get Shifu..."

"That was because we had no other choice!"

"We have few other choices now, O'Neill," Teal'c said, "but we have more time to plan our actions, and Daniel Jackson is more prepared now than before."

"Daniel wouldn't even be in the most dangerous position--that's you, Jack," Jacob said. "We just need him to help get the ball rolling, and then Sam will go in to help you."

Jack seemed to be wavering, so Daniel added, "I'm going to start being sent into the field soon. Why not now, since you need an extra person, and I can do it--you know I can do this, Jack."

Jack paced a few steps, then said, "I'll sneak in alone and try to get him before anyone sees me. If I get hit with this nish'ta stuff, then we can go to a backup plan. But only if I'm caught first."

"Sounds good," Jacob agreed. "If you're caught, we're gonna leave you under the nish'ta and zap you just before Daniel goes in, to keep your reactions real for as long as possible, and we'll listen through your earpiece--it'll give us a better idea of what they'll do to Daniel, so he'll be safer. Seth probably won't care too much what you're doing there--he's gotten used to relying on the nish'ta--but if he starts interrogating you, we'll activate the earpiece and you'll have to make something up."

"Fine," Jack said, his words clipped. "So what's this plan?"

"We want to finish this fast, but we don't want to rush and blow it. If you're caught, Daniel will wait a day or so before following. We'll continue monitoring through the earpieces to make sure you're both okay."

"If the second person is still only a day on the heels of the first," Sam said, "what if Seth realizes it's a backup?"

Jacob looked at Daniel. "That's Daniel's advantage. Jack goes in, armed to the teeth, and tries to kill Seth. Daniel goes in a day later, in civilian clothes, unarmed, looking like a local student--hell, give him a backpack--and no one would connect them."

"He doesn't even have to use the tunnels," Sam said, nodding. "Colonel O'Neill will look like he's trying to sneak in through the back, and Daniel can walk up to the front door, like he's just a kid who's curious about this religion."

"You're sure these earpieces will work, Captain?" Jack asked Sam.

"Yes, sir, assuming Dad's right."

"Dad?" Jack asked Jacob.

"It'll work, if the jolt is big enough," Jacob assured him.

"And I will listen to your movements while you are within the compound," Teal'c promised.

Jack took a breath. "Okay. Send me in first. So if I screw up, what's the plan?"

XXXXX

26 August 1999; Washington; 0500 hrs

"The entrance is through Goa'uld rings," Selmak said, listening through the headset.

Daniel stopped his impatient perusal of the interior of the ATF tent. "Rings? Jack was transported from the tunnel?"

"Yes. But they were waiting," Selmak confirmed. Sam hurried in from where she'd been standing guard at the tent flap to put her head together with her father's and listen, too. Daniel grabbed one side of Teal'c's headset to share it. "They have caught him."

"--hate it when that happens," Jack was saying.

"Welcome!" a Goa'uld's voice said--Seth, of course. "Who are you?"

"The name's MacGyver," Jack answered flippantly. "But you can call me Mac."

"Oh, boy," Daniel muttered, relinquishing the headset and reaching for the spare ear piece. "Should I get ready?"

Jacob held out a hand. "No. Wait, like we talked about. Sam, this could work to our benefit--you'll be able to use the rings to get in there for backup instead of sneaking up stairs or ladders."

"What if they grab me too early?" Sam pointed out.

Tapping the earpiece, Jacob said, "Teal'c and I will be monitoring. You'll just stay away from the ring chamber until we hear them"--he pointed at Daniel--"say that they've got the ring activation device, so they'll be controlling it when you try to get in. Daniel, don't activate it until you and Jack find a way to get Seth out of the room."

"General Carter," Teal'c said before anyone else could speak, and they turned to see Jason Levinson entering the tent.

"You're the father, aren't you?" Levinson said to Jacob. "Your kid's in there?"

"No, my son's not in there," Jacob assured him. "Sir, you need to step outside."

Levinson sighed but nodded resignedly. "Can I get some coffee?"

Daniel stood up to finger the earpiece on the table, listening to the stilted conversation between Levinson and Jacob as he reviewed mentally what he was supposed to do once inside.

Finally, when Levinson had left again, Daniel said, "Were you talking about Mark?"

"How do you know about Mark?" Jacob said scowling at the equipment.

Daniel glanced nervously at Sam, then said, "Sam told me last year that she missed him."

Now Sam scowled at him as Jacob gave her a considering look. "Daniel..."

"I was just wondering. Maybe you should talk to him."

"It's complicated," Jacob said, looking like he wasn't sure where to direct his scowl this time.

"In Jaffa society," Teal'c said, "loving one's children is not complicated." Daniel gave him an incredulous look, because he knew of very few parental relationships more complicated than Teal'c's with Rya'c. Then Teal'c returned the glance pointedly, and he understood that that wasn't the point right now; when Jacob was living on another planet and constantly in battle, who knew when it would be too late?

"In human society," Jacob was saying, "sometimes it is."

Daniel barely stopped himself from pointing out that it would be a lot more complicated if he waited until one of them was dead. He supposed this wasn't really the best time to be discussing it, anyway. "I'll go get ready," he said, standing up.

"Wait. Sit down and listen first," Jacob ordered, but he was giving Sam occasional surreptitious glances now.

"What?" Daniel said. He sat.

"You focus on the civilians, like we talked about," Jacob said. "If something goes wrong--if anything goes wrong, a lot of people could die, including us, them, and whoever Seth attacks next. Jack and Sam will worry about Seth and his host, do you understand?"

Daniel took a slow breath, glancing at Sam, and conceded, "Yes, sir, I understand."

"Good. Now, stick to the plan. We wait."

---

From the next chapter ("According to Plan"):

Daniel had fallen to his knees before he could remember thinking about it. "I am prepared," he said. Words floated into his mind, and he voiced them without thinking, "Seth is life. Seth is happiness. Seth is almighty."

Comments

[sg-wonderland.livejournal.com]

Very nicely done! Love the slow-bloom of Jacob/Daniel and especially Daniel's haste to decline the 'Danny' nickname, which we all know Jacob uses frequently.
I just knew Daniel was going to end up going in to Seth's cult....

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Maybe she was reluctant to say any more, for fear that her father would start calling her Sammy.

::grins:: You do know it's total fanon that Jacob calls her "Sammy," right? :)

I love Daniel refusing the "Danny" nickname. It's great to see the slow mutual rapport/respect growing here!

It wasn’t until Daniel was sitting in the passenger seat of the car and everyone else was sneaking past the fence that he realized with some chagrin why Jack had told him to listen to Teal’c: Teal’c didn’t try to give him orders very often outside of the gym, so he’d never gotten into the habit of arguing over orders the way he had with Jack. He frowned, wondering if they’d planned it like this, and resolved to pay more attention to that in the future.

Oh, that is just awesome. I love Daniel's insight, what his says about his relationship with not only Teal'c but also with Jack, and yes - Jack really is that intelligent. Excellent!

Nice tense little scene with the ATF guys, and I am scandalized at the suggestion that there's anything Daniel and Jack can't manage to communicate via eyebrow! ;)

I really, really liked the conversation about saving Seth's host - it was honest and genuine. Yes, of course we'll save him if we can - but the needs of the many, and so on.

Oooh. Just had a thought - what will Daniel do when he discovers that Seth looks exactly like his father? Are you planning to use that plot point, or ignore the detail of the same actor playing both characters?

“The name’s MacGyver,” Jack answered flippantly. “But you can call me Mac.”

::sporfles::

Daniel and Teal'c and Jacob and Mark and Ry'ac - oh, wow, that was good. Nice and messily complicated!

::sighs:: You'll be posting the next installment sometime in the next half hour, right? :)

[sg-betty.livejournal.com]

Whoa! Daniel almost got shot before he even got near Seth! Darn ATF...

I find it really interesting that this Daniel is not as accepting of 'collateral damage' as canon Daniel. Not that won't always try to find another way, but he accepts it without much discussion. Is that an example of this Daniel having to learn and grow up as he goes through these experiences?

You have lots of intriguing plot points in play--can't wait to see where it goes!