alexs_storybook | SCIBIGBANG: Wrapped in an Enigma Part One

Artwork by

rightxhere. Thanks so much!

Author name:

alexcat
Title: Wrapped in an Enigma
Fandom: Stargate: SG-1
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Life is always full of surprises for Jack O’Neill and SG-1. Why should this day be any different?

Part One

In memory of Sara.

As always.

~~~~

WRAPPED IN AN ENIGMA

Prologue

Laira stood with her hand over her belly as Jack O’Neill left her planet. She smiled on the outside but on the inside she grieved. Losing him was not as hard as losing her husband but it was not easy either. At least Jack was still alive even though she wasn’t sure she would ever see him again.

He hadn’t meant to stay here for three months but there had been little choice. She wanted him to be a part of their village, to become one of them but he never quite stopped pining for home. She supposed that was easy enough to understand. His loneliness had got the best of him and he had finally come to her bed.

Thus it was that he left her with a gift that even he didn’t know about. She knew it was too early to tell but she knew anyway. Jack had given her the child she asked him for. Now she would have a new life to care for while she mourned the loss of yet another love.

~~~~~

CHAPTER 1

General Hank Landry made a habit of staying at Stargate Command most of the time. He had a small room with a cot, a hotplate and a coffee maker as part of his office and many nights he simply stayed there. His own apartment was lonely without a companion to make it a home. The SGC had become his home, right down to having his own daughter working there.

Thus it was that he was there the night that the gate alarm went off at 2:24 am.

The claxons sounded as the lights flashed. The tech announced to the entire base: “Unauthorized offworld activation!”

General Landry came awake as soon as he heard the loud alarm. He sat straight up and was soon dressed and heading to the control room. He was surprised to see Walter already at the computer that controlled the Stargate.

“What’s going on, Walter?”

“It’s from P5C-768…uh, Edora.”

General Landry was almost as familiar with the Stargate files as Cam Mitchell was. “That was the planet with the near miss with the meteors, the one where General O’Neill got stranded for more than three months?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Open the iris. With the Goa’uld and Ori out of the picture, I’m willing to take a chance that no one will be sending a bomb through.”

Walter looked a bit uncertain but he did as the general asked and within moments, the Stargate looked like a vertical pool of blue rippling water.

A woman walked through. She looked around at the soldiers at the bottom of the ramp with more than a little concern but she didn’t let her fear stop her. General Landry had made his way into the gate room and met her as she stepped off the ramp.

“I am General Hank Landry, head of this base. What can we do for you?”

“Where is Jack?” Her fear was beginning to get the best of her. She was visibly trembling. “He came from here.”

“And you are?” Landry wanted to comfort the woman but had no idea what would comfort her since he didn’t know what was the matter with her.

“I am Laira. My son, he’s gone. Some men came and took him away. They said that there is something here that they want and if you give it to them, I’ll get Jonathan back.”

Landry understood that someone had taken her son for ransom but he still couldn’t see why they would think that the SGC would be willing to deal with the kidnappers.
“I am sorry but I seem to be missing something.”

Laira wiped a few tears from her eyes. “Jonathan is only nine and he is Jack’s son.”

To say that Landry was shocked would be an understatement. He finally managed to speak. “Jack’s son?”

“He doesn’t know. I asked him for a child but I never told him that he gave me one.”

Landry was regaining his composure and his manners. “Let’s go upstairs and find you a place to rest, get you a cup of coffee or something and see where we are.”

Laira seemed to trust him and she nodded and allowed him to guide her to the conference room upstairs. He got her a glass of water and filled the coffee maker to brew a pot. He figured he might very well need the whole pot himself before this night was done.

*

Jack O’Neill was in Washington, D.C. when the call came. He was sleeping in his recliner with the television still playing some rerun of a hockey game. Hockey games soothed him when he couldn’t get to sleep. Tonight was just one of those many nights.
The phone woke him much as the claxons had Hank Landry an hour or so earlier.

“Sam?” He always worried about her when she was offworld and now she was commanding the General George Hammond so she was way offworld.

“No sir, Hank Landry here. We have a little problem here at Stargate Command.”

Jack sat up and rubbed his hand through his hair. “Something you can’t handle?”

“Well, sir, this concerns you.”

“Spill it, Hank.”

“There is a woman here named Laira and she says her son has been kidnapped.”

“Garren? Why would anyone kidnap him?”

“This son is named Jonathan. He’s nine years old. His mother says--”

But Landry was talking to empty space. O’Neill was already out of the bed and in the shower.

*

Vala Mal Doran was asleep in her tiny bed in her tiny apartment in Colorado Springs. She had finally convinced General Landry to let her live off base. SG-1 was scheduled to go out tomorrow so she’d gone to bed early after having dinner with Cam. Daniel was out of town but was supposed to be back in time to go out with them tomorrow. They were still trying to help clean up some of the mess that the Ori had made. Planets had been hit with plague, crop failures, even mass murder and the people of Earth were trying to help them out.

She was dreaming about Daniel when the phone rang. In her dream, she and Daniel were old and had been together for a very long time. He was still handsome with his grey hair and his wrinkles. They were in a small room and were holding one another. Just as he was about to kiss her, the phone rang.

“Vala here. This had better be good. A girl needs her sleep.”

“General Landry. I need you to come in now. Mitchell is on his way and Dr. Jackson’s plane lands in half an hour. Teal’c is already here too.”

“What has happened?” Terror ran through her. “Has Adria found some way to return?”

“When you get here. The car will be there in about fifteen minutes.” He hung up before she could say another word. “But no, Adria has not returned."

Thank goodness for that! She couldn’t think of anything worse. She knew she had never actually been a real mother to Adria but every time her daughter came into her life, her heart broke anew because no matter what, she still had a mother’s love for her child, no matter how evil that child was.

~~~~~~

CHAPTER 2

Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell arrived at the SGC just as Vala did.

“Do you know what’s going on, Cam?” Vala looked rattled. Whenever something upset Vala, it had to be big. Cam had seen her stand in the face of death and not even blink, so he knew something big was up.

“Not a clue. General Landry called said get my butt here pronto so here I am.”

They hurried to the conference room where Landry, Teal’c and some woman they didn’t know drank coffee. The woman was obviously from somewhere offworld as she looked more than a little out of place. She started when they opened the door.

General Landry nodded to them both. “Col. Mitchell, Vala, this is Laira. She’s from--”

Cam finished for him, “Edora, where General O’Neill was stranded for about a hundred days or so.” Cam had memorized every file when he had been given command of SG-1, every single file, just as Landry had.

Vala poured a cup of coffee for herself and one for Cam and they both sat around the big conference table. General Landry brought them up to speed on what had occurred. As he talked, Dr. Daniel Jackson joined them, hurrying to remove his coat and grab a cup of coffee. He caught the tail end of Landry’s explanation.

“Do we know who did this?” Jackson said as he took his seat.

“No clue yet. They said they want something but not what yet. They told Mrs.—Laira that we have something they want and they will return her son once they get it from us.”

“So what do we do?” Vala asked.

“The first thing to do is find out what they want, then where that thing is. We also need to find out who they are and where they are. Maybe we can rescue the boy without having to deal with the kidnappers,” Landry answered. This was his command and he would be the one to make the decisions, at least until Jack O’Neill arrived.

Daniel turned to Laira. “I am so sorry. I am sorry we have to ask you so many questions too. I know you must be tired but if we are to help, we need all the info that we can lay hands on.”

Laira smiled weakly at him.

They all began asking questions.

Had she seen the kidnappers? No.

How had she found out? A note had been placed on her kitchen table while she was out in her garden. She had no idea how they’d gotten in and out without her seeing them.

Was Jonathan a friendly boy? Would he have opened the door to strangers? Yes. He was very happy and friendly and would have opened the door to strangers since he believed everyone on their planet was a friend.

Had there been strangers on the planet recently? Several months ago, some traders came through but they didn’t stay long, just long enough to trade some medicines and agricultural seeds to her people in return for food and fresh water for their ship.

Did she remember their names? One of them called himself Hans Drof. He had been a dark haired, dark-eyed man who said little. He’d just gone about trading and then he was gone.

And that was all that Laira could tell them.

*

Jack arrived at about 5:30 am and Laira flew into his arms as he walked into the door. He looked a bit at a loss but put his arms around the sobbing woman.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he murmured into her hair as he held her.

“I didn’t want you to come back because you thought you had to.”

He had no answer for that because they both knew he’d have done just that. Jack may not have been a man to make commitments easily but he’d never have left his child behind. Never.

When took a seat at the table, he sat beside Laira and took her hand in his. “We’ll find him, Laira. Whatever it takes, we’ll find him.”

He was not sure how they’d do it but he was sure that if he had to move heaven and earth to do so, he would find his son and do his damnedest to return him to his mother safely.

*

Messages weren’t instantaneous out in space but it didn’t take long to get a message to Sam Carter aboard the George Hammond. She would return as soon as possible but they were a few weeks out at best unless she managed to get to a planet with a Stargate and gate back.

~~~~~

CHAPTER 3

Now that everyone but Sam was there, they still needed to come up with a plan. With no more information than they had, there was nothing to do but send Laira home and wait to hear from the men who had her son.

“I’m going with her.” Jack was adamant. He felt that he owed Laira that much, if not more. Besides he wanted to save his son, a son he’d never met. He still wasn’t sure whether to be angry with Laira now or to wait until they got young Jonathan back before he got mad at her.

He had thrown a few sets of clothing in his pack when he’d left Washington and that was all he needed now. He hefted his duffel over his shoulder and headed to the Gateroom. Laira followed wordlessly.

*

As soon as he walked through the gate on Edora, the feelings he’d had when he was here came back. The planet was one of the nicer planets he’d been on, much like Earth itself. The people were hardy and tough but they were kind too, making him feel at home as soon as he and Laira walked into the town square.

Paynan greeted Jack as if he’d only left yesterday and the other townspeople followed suit. He offered Jack a place to stay in his own home but Jack declined.

“I want to stay close in case the men who took young Jonathan come back. I want to keep Laira safe too.”

Paynan gave him a look that said he had something to say but he clamped his lips together and said nothing to either Jack or Laira.

Laira was willing to take him back to her bed but Jack insisted she bring him a quilt and pillow for the floor. He’d slept there for three months and he figured that he could sleep there for a little longer. He was too damned old for this though. The life of a General had made him soft. Either that or the floor was harder than it was before.

He dreamed of Charlie that night for the first time in a long time. Charlie smiled at him and turned away. Try as he might, Jack could not get him to turn around again.

He woke with a start, holding back a scream of frustration and pain.

“Are you all right?” Laira was there, concern obvious on her face. She still cared for him. “I’ll make us some tea.”

They sat at her table and drank strong dark tea as the sun rose. Laira began to talk about Jonathan.

“He looks like you, Jack. He’s stubborn, sweet, trusting… the things a little boy is. He knows you’re his father and he talks about meeting you all the time.” She was quiet for a few moments then she began to cry. “Jack, what if he never gets to meet you?”

“We will find him, Laira. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll find him and return him to you. I lost one son and I won’t lose another.”

She never saw the tears in his eyes as put his arms around her to comfort her. He meant it too, with everything that was in him. He had no intentions of losing this son.

*

Landry and the rest of the group sat around the table and talked.

“I am sure there aren’t any more Goa’uld out there,” Daniel stated. “Totally sure, well, mostly sure anyway.”

Teal’c nodded, agreeing with Daniel. “My brothers know nothing of any Goa’uld activity anywhere at all. There are still small pockets of Jaffa but they have no leader.”

Vala joined in, “I don’t think it’s Adria. She’d have come for me.”

Cam opened his hands palms up. “I got nothin’.”

*
Samantha Carter read the message again. Jack’s son had been kidnapped. Odd that she didn’t feel jealous of the Edoran woman, but she didn’t. She felt more concern for Jack and for the poor little boy. He had to be about nine.

Someone else could captain the General George Hammond for a little while. The ship was dear to her mostly because it was General Hammond’s namesake but she was sure the General would approve.

It just so happened that they were near a friendly planet that happened to have a stargate. She was going to shuttle down and gate home. Captain Williams was gating back to take her place and heading back toward Earth in case they needed the General Hammond in their mission. It would take a couple of weeks for it to return and she needed to be there now.

In less than three hours, Carter walked through the gate in Colorado. All of SG-1, past and present, were in the gate room to greet her with the notable exception of Jack himself.

“He’s on Edora with Laira,” Teal’c said. “He felt he should be there in case the kidnappers contacted the boy’s mother with their demands.”

Carter nodded and they all settled in to wait until there was something for them to actually do.

~~~~~

CHAPTER 4

Jack woke in the middle of the night with the sense that something was wrong. He sat up and looked around. Everything seemed quiet. And dark. But still he felt something…

He got up and grabbed his gun and his flashlight from the pack beside his bed on the floor. He walked through the small house, checking windows and doors. Everything was locked up tight. No sign of anyone.

“What is it?” The voice behind him made him whirl around. He was glad he hadn’t shot first and asked questions later when he saw that Laira had gotten up too.

“You startled me! You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you. Did I wake you?” He finally said to her when his heart had slowed a bit. She didn’t seem alarmed at all, trusting him with her very life.

“No. I woke rather suddenly and couldn’t figure out what was bothering me. I thought I’d take a look around.”

“Same here. Maybe we’d better see if we’ve had company.”

He led her out onto the porch and there on the step was a disc. He’d seen the same sort of disc used by someone before but the knowledge of who was just outside his mind’s grasp.

“Do you have anything to play this on?”

“Jack, you know I don’t. Perhaps we should take it back to your planet so your friends can find out who has our son.”

Jack agreed and they arrived back at the SGC only minutes later.

*

“You do not know me but I have your son, Jonathan. I do not want to harm the boy but I will unless you will meet our demands.”

The disc held a voice file but no image. The voice was a bit garbled and hard to understand but it did speak a rather heavily accented English.

“There is an artifact that we require and you must obtain this artifact for us. Many years ago, the Goa’uld, Apophis, obtained the ability to become cloaked from the people known as the Nox. This is what we require of you.”

That was it. No instructions. No timeline.

They all looked at one another.

Jack broke the silence. “Do we even know what the Nox used to cloak themselves?”

Sam, of course, had an answer. An answer of sorts, anyway. “No. Even though Apophis found out how they did it, we never did. We were too young. I suspect we still are.”

Jack sighed. “And here I was sure you knew everything.”

“Not yet,” she smiled at him as she said it.

Daniel looked up. “Why can’t we ask the Nox?”

“I expect even if they do answer us, the answer would be no,” Jack answered, “but it never hurts to ask, does it?”

“Do we even have the device we used to contact them with?” Daniel didn’t remember where they had put it.

“It isn’t here.” Landry had made it his business to know what was still here at the SGC and what had been moved elsewhere though he wasn’t always privy to where such items were stored. “It hasn’t been here for a bit. The IOA makes sure that everything is hidden quickly and hidden well. They don’t want any incidents.”

“Would they tell us where it is?” Daniel asked, knowing the answer already.

“Not a chance. They don’t trust any of us. They’re a bunch of useless bureaucrats.” Landry realized he was mostly a bureaucrat too but he hoped the team didn’t consider him too useless.

“So are we back to square one?” Jack asked, not bothering to hide his frustration. The angrier he got, the more flip his comments became. “Imagine that. SG-1 can’t be trusted. Those idiots have no idea how many times we’ve saved their bacon.”

Landry was on the phone to Woolsey almost before anyone realized he was gone. Woolsey and the Atlantis team had come home, bringing the water city with them so Woolsey was back on the planet.

“That device is at Area 51. I think that I may be able to get it for you. Let me make some phone calls.”

Landry knew that Woolsey was a good man even if he was a stuffed shirt at times. He would do his best for Jack, even though he might not ever want anyone to know. Jack had saved his ass when they were in Atlantis and Woolsey was grateful.

Landry returned to the conference room. “We should hear more in a few minutes. In the meantime, we need to talk about a plan. You know that no one is going to authorize us to give in to their demands.”

“We know that but the kidnappers may not. We just need them to believe that we are going to find what they want. I’d really like to know who exactly it is that we’re dealing with, especially since there could be a new enemy out there somewhere.” It was a very long speech for Jack, an extremely long speech.

He stood. “I’m heading back to Edora with Laira. You know where we are if you need us.”

“I’m going to send a couple of Marines with you to guard the Stargate.”

Jack didn’t argue. It was a sign of how gravely worried he really was.

*

“So are there any ideas yet?” Sam asked the others, trying to get up to speed.

“Not really,” Daniel answered her. “It’s still only been a day or so since the boy disappeared and other than this video, nothing.”

“There’s something that bugs me but I can’t put my finger on it,” Mitchell said just as Vala returned from the restroom.

“Me too. There is something almost… familiar about it but I can’t quite see it,” she chimed in.

“Did anyone know Jack had a son?” Carter asked again, trying to get up to speed in this situation.

“I don’t even think Jack knew. He’d never been back to Edora though other teams dropped by on a fairly regular basis just to check on the people there,” Daniel answered. Jackson knew as much or more about the entire Stargate program than anyone else due mostly to his insatiable curiosity. Jackson simply had to know…everything, if possible.

Landry’s secretary stuck her head in the door. “Sir, Mr. Woolsey is on the phone for you.”

“I’ll take it here.”

Woolsey told him that the device was on it’s way to them from, well, he didn’t say where it was coming from, just that it would be there soon. He must have had some favors owed him in high places for things to move so quickly.

Again, they hunkered down to wait.

~~~~~

CHAPTER 5

A few hours later, Daniel Jackson was beside the emergency exit to the SGC with the device. This is where he and the Tollan leader, Omoc, had contacted the Nox several years before. He sent the message as he had been taught. Once the message was sent, there was little to do but wait. The Nox would answer or not on their own schedule.

The day had been long but no one seemed to be able to let go and head to bed. SG-1had their meal in the mess hall, bouncing theories and ideas off of one another with no one really knowing exactly what they were going to do.

Finally they had talked the problem to death without a solution. They were left with catching up on each other’s life.

“So Sam, how is it to command your own ship?” Cameron wanted to know.

“It’s easier than trying to command the Atlantis expedition. No Rodney and John to disobey every thing I say. Yeah, it is fun. Our mission was to take some medicines and seeds to a colony that had been decimated by the Ori.”

“Good crew?”

“The best,” then realizing what she said, backtracked and said, “best crew I’ve commanded anyway.”

Cam laughed. “Good save.”

“Daniel, I heard that you’ve been studying artifacts found in China?” Sam knew that Daniel was the foremost expert on extraterrestrial artifacts and that any government finding itself with unexplained items in their museums was lining up for his attention.

“Honestly I didn’t find anything there that seemed extraterrestrial but I did a couple of lectures at a few universities. That was quite fun.”

“The Chinese are still pressing for a bigger presence in the program,” Sam said.

“As bad as the economy is now, I am not sure how much of a Stargate program will be running at all for long,” Cameron added.

This last statement got Vala’s attention. “Do you think they’d make me leave Earth?”

“Maybe you should marry someone here, like people marry Americans to stay in the country,” Daniel teased her.

“Like you? Want to marry me?” She shot back.

Daniel didn’t answer her but no one missed the look he gave her. If Daniel would allow himself to love, Vala would be the one he’d love. They all seemed to know it except Daniel.

“I’ll marry you, Vala,” Cam said to lighten the moment. That he actually meant it no one knew but himself. He didn’t love her in that mad passionate insane way that the movies insisted existed but he did love her in his own way and knew that he could live with her in some state of harmony, maybe even a bit of passion.

Vala stuck her tongue out at him.

Teal’c said nothing, simply smiled as he watched.

*

Jack was restless. He had nothing to do and there weren’t any Simpsons reruns to watch either. Laira seemed busy doing things around the house, washing dishes, cooking, cleaning up things here and there. Finally he’d had all he could take.

“Were you ever going to tell me about him?”

Laira stopped in mid-step. “I didn’t know how. You seemed rather anxious to leave me so I sort of figured you wouldn’t want to be tied down here. Besides, I didn’t ask you to stay. I wanted a child, someone to love, and you gave him to me.”

“What kind of boy is he?”

He had already asked this but she knew he’d ask again and again so she told him more about Jonathan. “He is a sweet boy, loves the outdoors. He hunts and fishes with his brother. Garren adores him and treats him more like a son than a brother since he and Naytha have never had any children of their own.”

She fell silent, seeing her son in her mind’s eye. After a few seconds, she looked up at Jack. “He looks like you. Just like you.” A single tear fell down her cheek.

“We’ll get him back, Laira. I want to meet him. I have lots to catch up on. And to make up for.”

*

Hank Landry was talking on his phone line to the President of the United States.

“You know that we can’t trade an artifact for an alien child’s life.”

“Mr. President, the boy is human. He is Jack O’Neill’s son, a son he never knew he had.”

“We simply cannot deal with terrorists.”

“I agree, sir, but we do need to find out who we are dealing with. There could be someone new out there… or even someone old.”

The President was quiet for a moment. “You’re right there, Landry. Just don’t make a trade. And keep me updated.”

“You can be sure I’ll be doing that and thank you for your time, Mr. President.”

~~~~~

CHAPTER 6

Another disc showed up on Edora overnight. This time it was left on the porch at Garren’s home. Jack and Laira made another trip through the Stargate to Earth to play the new message.

“We are confident that you can find what we need. We want the device delivered to a planet of our choice through the Stargate. We will contact you again with the Stargate address for the planet in three days time. The boy is safe but if you do not give us what we ask for, you will not see him again.”

It was the same stilted voice as before.

“Is there no way we can catch them on Edora?” Jack’s patience was close to an end.

“I’ve been thinking about that, Jack,” Daniel sat down and explained. “I don’t think they are on Edora. I think they have someone there, a native Edoran, who doesn’t really know what he is doing, doesn’t know he is playing messenger to kidnappers. Maybe he thinks he is playing a joke on someone. You said yourself that Laira has kept this whole ordeal quiet so not many of the natives know about it at all.”

“But how?”

“I don’t know that yet. I’m working on it.”

*

The iris opened and the Stargate activated. The claxons blared. Landry ran into the control room with the rest of SG-1 on his heels.

“Close the iris, chief!”

“It won’t close, sir. Whoever opened it has control of the gate,” Walter answered.

“Security to the Gateroom!”

The area around the gate was filled with soldiers with weapons locked and ready, all pointing at the gate, when a most disarming woman walked through the gate. Appearances can be very deceiving. She was Lya of the Nox, a powerful being who looked like a sweet wood spirit. Perhaps that is exactly what she was.

Daniel was halfway into the gateroom, shouting, “Stand down, stand down!”

Rifles remained aimed until General Landry spoke from the control room. “Stand down, men.”

Daniel smiled at Lya. “I take it you got our message.”

She smiled sweetly and nodded. “You know that we cannot give you this technology though your race has grown quite a lot in the last few of your years. You are still not quite ready for that.”

Daniel had known her answer but they had to ask. “We weren’t expecting you to give it to us but we did want to talk to you about our situation.”

She simply nodded and motioned for him to lead her to where they would talk. General Landry was staring almost open mouthed at the Nox woman. He had read the reports but he hadn’t expected her to be quite so lovely.

“General Hank Landry, this is Lya of the Nox. I’m sure you’ve read the reports on the Nox.”

“Yes, but I never thought to meet another of the Ancient Races.’

“Pleased to know you, General Hank Landry.” She held out her hand and smiled at him. Daniel thought Landry would gladly follow her anywhere after she smiled.

Jack was the only who seemed skittish of Lya as she sat at the conference table. He liked the Nox though. Their simple charm had won him over and their complexities had shown him that not everything is at it seems.

They explained to Lya what had happened.

“You have a son? That is nice for you, O’Neill. You will be a good father.”

He wondered if she knew about Charlie. After all these years, he had come to accept that Charlie was gone and that there was no way he could go back and change what happened but not a day passed that he didn’t still grieve for his first son. He looked into Lya’s eyes and saw that she meant what she said. She knew.

“First we have to get him back.”

“Maybe we can help you with that,” she said as she smiled that mysterious smile that Jack was sure no one could read.

“Do you have a plan?”

“I believe we can come up with something.”

*

The team went out to dinner off base since there was little they could do until more information came in. They hit a local steakhouse, a favorite of the whole group. Jack stayed with Laira at the SGC. Cam and Daniel sat on either side of Vala while Teal’c sat with Samantha.

“Sam, you’ve been to Area 51. Are there any devices there that will render someone invisible?” Cam was eating with his usual gusto and talking with his mouth half full.

“Nope. I think the Nox do it with their minds somehow. I don’t think there is a device at all. That means that the persons who have little Jonathan are not Goa’uld. They would know how to do it. Apophis knew how so I assume other Goa’uld found out.”

“What are we going to do?” Vala asked.

“Figure out where and who they are and how to get Jack’s son back.”

“That’s why we called *you* back to Earth,” Cam said to Sam.

She actually blushed a little. She never thought of Cam in a romantic way but he was special to her nonetheless.

The talk turned to more mundane things.

Daniel asked Vala how she liked her apartment.

“It’s a lot better than living at the SGC. I might even get a job.”

“Doing what?” Daniel raised an eyebrow.

“Well, we know I can wait tables… or fight crime!”

“You could get a black leather suit and be a superhero,” Cam grinned. Vala in black leather was not an unpleasant vision.

“I already am a superhero! I dress in fatigues and go through the Stargate with my team to save the world two or three times a week.” She said it lightly but they all knew just how pleased Vala had been when she’d been made a real member of the team.

Sam hid a grin too. Vala had a point there. “And you’d rather wait tables?”

“Well, maybe not. Maybe I just want to meet some real men.”

Cam hooted. “We’re not real? You’ve seen all of me and you say you don’t know any real men?”

“Well, we don’t date.”

“Not for lack of trying on your part.”

Vala slapped his arm playfully. She tried hard not look at Daniel. Of all the men on Earth, the one she’d really want was Daniel.

Daniel was quiet, lost in thought about Vala. He cared more for her than he could even admit to himself. She was the most annoyingly amazing woman he’d ever met. She was as hard as nails outside but he suspected that down underneath that tough exterior was a frightened little girl, a frightened little girl that he could love if he let himself.

Teal’c said little as they ate, content to observe his teammates quietly. He knew things about them that they never would know. He smiled. Sometimes it was so hard to keep his secrets.

Samantha’s mind was spinning, trying to figure out what to do. She was desperate to save Jonathan O’Neill. She was not going to let Jack lose another son. Not this time. She had to come up with something.

~~~~~

CHAPTER 7

Lya had agreed to see if her people could find out where young Jonathan was being held and by whom, among other things. No one had expected her to tell them the secret of how they achieved invisibility, but Daniel knew she’d help in any way she could.

She smiled as she seemingly floated up the ramp to the Stargate.

“It has been a delight to see you all again, my friends.” She did something with her hands and the Gate opened as it had before without the burst that usually occurred. Then she was gone and the Gate closed behind her.

*

Jack and Laira went back through the Stargate once again to Edora.

“I know you are getting tired of this back and forth, Laira, but I don’t know of any other way to get the info back here. Maybe we should take one of the guys with us to shuttle the messages back here. I imagine your people are wondering what is going on.”

Laira nodded. “Perhaps Teal’c would come. He seems to be your best friend. I remember what he went through to get you back before.” Teal’c had gated through the buried Stargate and almost lost his own life trying to rescue Jack.

“That would be fine. Teal’c would be glad of your cooking too, I’m sure. The big guy can put away some food.” He smiled at her.

One of the Marines sent to guard them went back through the gate and asked for Teal’c, who came without question, following Jack as he always did. Laira was right. There was little that Teal’c would refuse Jack.

Laira and Jack welcomed him into the house. Laira brought him quilts and pillows to make his bed. He nodded his thanks to the still pretty Edoran woman.

*

Sam was sitting on a stool in her lab, working on some ideas she had about some way to make the kidnappers think that that they had a device to cause invisibility, when General Landry strolled in casually.

“I’m not glad of the circumstances but I am glad to see you, Col. Carter.”

Sam smiled at him. “It’s always good to see you too, sir. I enjoy having my own ship. I have a wonderful crew but it’s always good to come home now and again.”

“He is only staying with Laira until she gets the boy back.”

“I know, sir.” She blushed. They all knew and probably had known for years how she and Jack felt about one another but this was the first time anyone came right out and said it. Even Cameron knew and General O’Neill was gone when he’d gotten here.

“Do you have any ideas yet?” Landry knew she was working on something already as he nodded toward her computer.

“I do but not anything solid enough to talk about yet.”

“Good enough. I’ll leave you to it then.” He nodded and went to his office to finish some paperwork before he turned in for the night.

*

Daniel lay in his bed and thought about who might have taken the boy. The only thing he could come up with was that perhaps it was what was left of the Lucian Alliance. Invisibility would be a huge advantage to men who stole and smuggled for a living. They hadn’t heard much from them in a long time. He would mention it tomorrow.

Sleep wouldn’t come. He’d stayed here at Stargate Command because it was much simpler. But the bed was lumpy and there was too much noise. He tossed and turned for what seemed like forever but was probably more like half an hour.

He got up and dressed then headed for the cafeteria. Maybe some milk would help him get to sleep.

Vala and Cam were eating Jell-O and drinking coffee when he walked in.

“Ah, there he is,” Vala greeted him as if they’d been expecting him.

“Were you waiting for me?”

“Well, of course we were. Join us.” Cam motioned for him to take a seat beside Vala.

“What are you two doing up?”

“Too much coffee today,” Vala breathed.

Daniel got himself a carton of milk and some blue Jell-O. “Me too, maybe.”

“So Jackson, who do *you* think has the boy?”

“If I were to make a guess, I’d guess some of the remaining members of the Lucian Alliance.”

Vala said nothing but looked troubled. “They are not the same as they were when I knew them but still, their tactics are the same. Either way, they are dangerous.”

“They kidnap kids?” Cam asked.

“Not usually but they have been known to hold people for ransom.”

“Not to mention murder,” Daniel said.

“So Jackson’s theory is feasible?” Cam asked Vala.

“Yes, I’d say definitely yes.”

Cam got up. “Well, children, I think I’ll turn in. You two can talk all night.”

“I think I’ll try to get to sleep again soon. Night, Mitchell,” Daniel nodded at him.

Vala got up in her overdramatic way and kissed Cam on the cheek. “Good night, hot stuff. Dream of me!”

Mitchell grinned and was gone.

Vala turned to Daniel. “Couldn’t sleep with me so nearby, huh?”

Daniel thought of several sarcastic things to say to her but for some reason, he decided not to say them. “Just too much coffee for me too, I expect.”

Vala yawned. “I think my coffee is about to wear off. I may head to bed too. Wanna come?”

Daniel found himself smiling at her. “I think I’ll pass tonight.”

An hour later, Daniel was finally drifting off to sleep. The last conscious thought he had was of Vala Mal Doran and her throaty laugh.

*

While all were asleep both on Earth and Edora on the third night, another message was delivered to Laira’s house. One of the village youths was very surprised when several flashlights as well as guns were aimed at him as soon as he put the small paper wrapped package on the front porch. A stranger had paid the boy to deliver the disc to Laira, someone he’d never seen before and no, he’d never done this before.

“You have had time to find the device for us. We expect to have it delivered to the gate address on the note.”

That was it.

Teal’c had come through the gate with both disc and note.

Daniel spoke. “The planet is a small habitable planet that was abandoned when the Goa’uld fell. It is the perfect place to hold the child.”

“Do you think that is really where he is?” Landry asked.

“Probably not yet but I’m sure that’s where they plan to ambush us when we come to give them their device. Then they’ll have SG-1’s lives to bargain with,” Daniel answered.

~~~~

CHAPTER 8

“Are we ready?” Vala looked around at her companions.

“Must you always be so cheerful?” Daniel asked, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“Yes, I must.”

They were all ready to head through the Stargate to planet P23238. It seemed to be just another day at the office but this was a very different mission. A life hung in the balance, the life of one small boy.

“Dial up the Gate, Chief,” General Landry ordered as he had countless times before. With a loud whoosh, the Stargate opened and was ready for the team to step through.

Planet P23238 was a temperate planet and looked quite like Earth. They stepped out into a clearing covered with green grass. The area was surrounded by trees much like oaks, and after the disturbance of the gate opening ended, they could hear birds and wildlife in the area around the Gate.

“Nice planet. Why couldn’t we have come here instead of some of the others we’ve visited,” Vala commented.

“Well, some of us have been here at some time because it was charted and described but it must have been one of the other teams, because I certainly don’t remember this one. ” Daniel answered.

They all started looking around, trying to find something that would tell them where to leave the ‘device’ that they didn’t have. They all fanned out from the gate, looking for something, anything.

Vala shouted, “I’ve found something.”

They all headed toward her. She pointed to a rock on the ground with some writing on it. She poked it with her toe until she was convinced that it wouldn’t explode or bite.

Carter picked it up. It had another Stargate address written on it. “Well, it looks as if they’re taking no chances. They must mean for us to deliver the device to this address.”

“Won’t they be surprised that we have nothing?” Daniel said with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“I wouldn’t quite say that,” Sam said. “I have some ideas.”

“I say we take one more sweep of the area then hit the SGC and formulate that plan,” Cam stated. The rest agreed and they headed home.

*

Jack was waiting when they got back to Earth.

“Got us another disc,” he announced at the meeting after they got back.

He stuck the disc into the player and the same voice began to speak again.

“Colonel Carter and Colonel Mitchell will bring the device we seek to the gate address on the rock that you received today. You will be met by one of our representatives, who will take the device and give you a gate address. The boy will be there waiting for you.”

Jack sighed. “This is not how I’d hoped this would go.”

Sam said, “I’ve got a plan… well, more than one plan.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Cam slammed the table. No one seemed surprised. They were used to Cam’s enthusiastic outbursts.

“You gonna tell us about it?” Jack asked her.

“Well, first of all, we have to fool them into thinking that they have the device. Then we have to actually be invisible in order to get to Jonathan and take him from them.”

“But how?” Landry asked at the same time Jack said, “Is that all?”

“Well, we fool them with the out of phase device. I just have to work out the details.”

“Then you need to get to your lab and get us out of your hair.” Landry shooed her away to get to work.

*

Vala and Cam were playing cards in the cafeteria. Cam lost his third hand.

“Are you cheating?” Cam threw down his cards.

“What do you think?” She grinned. “And I believe you owe me a dollar and twenty-four cents.”

Cam reached in his pocket and pulled out some wrinkled dollars and change. He threw a dollar and a quarter on the table. “Keep the change.”

He started to walk away but Vala jumped up. “Don’t go away mad! I’ll buy you some Jell-O. Or even a pudding. Maybe a chocolate one!”

Cam shook his head and sat back down. Vala ran up to the counter and brought back two chocolate puddings. Cam took his from her and began to eat it slowly, licking the spoon. He smiled as he ate. Vala ate hers as quickly as she could, licking her lips as she finished.

“We could go out to dinner. I still have room for a steak.”

Cam wondered how she stayed as thin as she was. She ate like a horse. He enjoyed watching her eat though. They went to a chain steakhouse where the food was plentiful and quite good. She ordered a rather large steak with salad and a potato. She ordered cheesecake for dessert.

Cam found himself telling her stories about his parents as they ate. They had liked her quite a lot when they’d met her and she’d liked them too. She had especially loved his mother’s pies. They hadn’t even seemed upset when Vala had announced they were lovers and dropped hints about their sex life. He, on the other hand, had been mortified.

As if on cue, she said, “This cheesecake is not nearly as good as your mom’s pie.”

“Not many people make pies as good as Mom’s.”

“Perhaps I should marry you so I can get pie more often.”

“You’d marry me for pie?”

“Well, I’m technically still married. But I’m not sure I’ll ever see him again. But I’d certainly shack up with you for pie.”

It was, oddly enough, in that moment that Cam knew he wanted her. He didn’t kid himself that it was real love but he certainly cared for her. He bit his tongue and decided to say nothing.

“So what shall we do now? Go back to my apartment for some mad passionate sex?” She winked wickedly at him.

Cam almost choked and even worse, he almost said yes.

“I expect we should get back to the base. They’ll be lost without us.”

He put his arm around her as they walked out of the restaurant and she kissed his cheek. He felt the kiss all the way to his toes.

~~~~~

CHAPTER 9

“Bill, we have to make it look as if we are invisible then visible. They simply have to find a way,” Sam told Dr. Lee, whom she’d worked with many times before.

“It seems that you simply use the same type of variation you and Mitchell used. Just no Ori this time.”

“Well, we certainly hope there aren’t any. Our thought is that it is the Lucian Alliance but since we managed to kill most of their leadership, we have no real idea who we are dealing with.”

“How much time do we have?”

“I don’t know. Not much, I think.”

*

Teal’c sat with Jack in the cafeteria.

“The Marines have been watching the town on Edora. They saw someone go through the Gate right after the messenger left town to come to Laira’s house. He was human and dressed in black. Not much more than that is known.”

“We have to find out where they are hiding. It’s the only way we’ll find the boy.”

“Lya will help us. We have made a plan and the Nox are hovering over Edora. They are monitoring the gate. They will not harm any being. But they will help save Jonathan.”

“Do the others know this?”

“Not yet. Landry knows and Daniel but not everyone else. We will tell them when they need to know. Samantha has enough on her mind without worrying about this part too. Cam and Vala we need for their knowledge of the Lucian Alliance.”

*

Sam was tired, so tired that her eyes hurt. She stood up and rubbed her face. “Bill, I think that this will work. We can convince them that this is the Nox device. All we have to do is go out of phase with one of them. I can put some sort of kill switch so they won’t have it for long, just long enough to get Jonathan back.”

Bill lit up like a light bulb. “A sting?”

“Yeah, a sting. We just have to hope it works. I am going to grab some food and coffee. I am dead on my feet. You have to be worn out too.” She smiled and waited for Bill to head out with her.

*

Daniel heard rather than saw Cam and Vala come in. Cam was singing some old rock and roll song from the 70’s and Vala was laughing at him. He felt a momentary stab of jealousy but he quickly shoved it to the back of his mind. He didn’t care what Vala did. She was no concern of his.

The next thing he knew, she and Cam were standing in his office door. “Want to have some coffee with us, Jackson?” Cam asked.

He didn’t but that didn’t stop him. “Sure. I need a break anyway.” He switched the light off and closed his laptop, following Cam and Vala.

Jack and Teal’c were still sitting at their table, drinking coffee and eating Jell-O.

“Hi! Join us. We don’t have cake but we do have Jell-O and the coffee is fresh,” Jack gestured to the trio who just entered. “Laira is sleeping in my old bunk and Sam is locked in her lab with Bill so Teal’c and I are partying with caffeine and sugar-free goo which is so not cake.”

“Shouldn’t we be doing something?” Daniel asked as he looked around at the others.

“What is there to do but wait?” Jack asked. “We have to wait until Sam is ready to tell us what we’re going to do.”

Cam joined in. “And we’ll make it work just by the skin of our teeth like we always do.”

“God, I hope so.” Jack gave away how upset he really was with this small statement. Daniel and Teal’c knew him well enough to know how worried he was.

Samantha came into the room. “I think that what Bill and I have come up with will work. We are going to make some modifications in the out of phase device and we hope to pass it off to them as an invisibility device. All the while, the Nox will be extracting Jonathan from where ever he is being held.”

“How do we know where he is?” Jack asked.

“We don’t but hopefully we will by then.”

“How soon will it be ready?” Vala asked this time.

“Hopefully by morning. I need some coffee and something to eat then I’ll head back to work.”

Jack got up and poured her a cup from the huge urn on the counter. “Here you go.” He gave her his seat and pulled another chair up to the table for himself.

~~~~~

CHAPTER 10

“All right. Is everything ready?” Landry was more nervous than anyone had ever seen him. The Ori plague hadn’t seemed to rattle him as much as this mission. The life of one small boy was at stake and the responsibility was his to see that the outcome was good.

Sam had checked and rechecked the machine. It should do what they needed it to do. They just needed the kidnappers to believe that they could become invisible as the Nox did. They had rigged the out of phase machine to work a few times, not more than two or three at the most, but it would only work if the kidnappers were not too curious. If they got too curious, they might notice that they were not actually invisible. It was a chance they had to take.

Samantha, Daniel, Vala and Cam would go on the mission. Teal’c and Jack would be with the Nox awaiting news from SG-1 and General Landry would wait on pins and needles with Walter at SGC.

*

They went through the Gate to the address provided to them a few days before. It was another planet with lots of trees and meadows, at least where the Stargate was. Guns were aimed and each person was scanning the area ahead for danger. Cam carried the pack with the machine as well as his weapon.

“Looks clear,” Sam called out and they all gathered together in front of the gate to wait for whoever or whatever was sent to meet them and pick up the ‘Nox device’ from them. They all still worried that the kidnappers had no intentions of ever turning the child over or even in the worst case scenario, the child could already be dead. They all worried but no one said anything out loud, as if to speak it might make it come true.

After about an hour, the Stargate began to whir and turn, opening with a loud whoosh as a lone figure dressed completely in black strolled through the gate. He wore a black mask and hat and held a gun.

“Hello, SG-1.” It was the same voice as the one on discs. “Have you brought me what I asked for?”

Sam stepped up. “We have but we will need to know that the boy is well first.”

“I’m afraid I cannot do that, Col. Carter. You know that was not part of our agreement.”

Cam couldn’t stop himself. “We didn’t agree to anything.”

“By coming here, you have agreed to my terms.”

Daniel recognized that the person spoke through a voice synthesizer much like the one Vala had used when she donned the Superwarrior suit the first time he’d met her. There was no way to know who or what was inside that mask.

“We just want Jonathan back,” Daniel chimed in.

“Then you will give me what I want.”

Cam was angry, too angry to say anything else and given a choice, he’d have shot the bastard right where he stood. Instead he took a step back and gritted his teeth. Sam stepped forward and they began to remove the pack from his back.

“Where do you want it?”

“I must see that it works.”

The device came with its own power source this time so they didn’t have to try to find one for it. Sam also carried a hidden remote that could make it work without anyone knowing so it appeared to be functional.

Cam set the box on the ground. “Well, here it is.”

“I need to see it work.”

Sam fiddled with some buttons and suddenly she was gone. She was not invisible but rather out of phase. She could see everyone but they couldn’t see her. The man reached out to touch the space where she was and swiped through thin air. He nodded. This is what he wanted.

“You may become visible now.”

Sam did so. Quicker than anyone would have thought possible, their opponent dialed the Gate, grabbed the device and Sam along with it. He shot through the Gate as soon as it opened and Daniel rushed to read the DHD as the Gate closed.

“Did you get it?” Cam asked, making a futile gesture toward the closed Stargate.

“Yes, I did but I’m not sure what to make of it.”

“Why?”

“It’s Harry Maybourne’s planet.” Daniel looked puzzled.

“Well, dial it up and let’s go get her.” Cam didn’t see any sense in wasting time.

“Why not?” Vala said dryly.

Daniel dialed and they all went through to Maybourne’s little kingdom. His people were there as they came through the Gate with their crossbows loaded and ready until they saw Daniel Jackson.

“Welcome, SG-1,” they were greeted by one of Maybourne’s wives.

“Has your gate been opened recently?” Daniel asked quickly.

“Yes, it has but by the time we got here, it was closed and we saw no one.” One of the burly townsmen answered.

“Did you hear it close and open more than once?” Daniel said.

The man nodded. Daniel’s face fell. That meant they had no way of tracking her and that she wasn’t on this planet.

Harry came strolling into the clearing. “Hello, my friends. Is Jack not with you?” He looked at Vala and smiled. “And who is this gorgeous woman?”

“Knock it off, Harry.” Daniel was in no mood for Harry’s sense of humor. “Someone has kidnapped Sam and Jack’s son and we traced them to here but now we’re at a dead end.”

“Jack and Sam’s son?” Harry asked, incredulous.

“No. The boy belongs to a woman from a planet where Jack was stranded for over three months several years ago. Someone has kidnapped him and then they got Sam while supposedly picking up the ransom.”

“And you need to know where they went?” He raised a brow.

Cam nodded. He’d never met Maybourne but he’d sure read a lot about the scoundrel.

“I may be able to point you to such a device.”

Harry knew more secrets than anyone Daniel knew of. He had worked for the NID and was the shadiest of its shady operatives. It was only after he had committed treason and been sent to prison for life that he and Jack had formed a kind of friendship, if that was the right word. Their relationship was actually a symbiotic one based on what each could do for the other. So no one was surprised when Daniel asked him the obvious question. “What’s your price?”

“We’ll get to that later. I’ll help you now.” He turned to one of his subjects and told them he’d be back as soon as possible and that they were to listen to his eldest wife as if she were Harry himself. He turned to Daniel and grinned. “I’m ready. Dial Earth.”

~~~~~

SCIBIGBANG: Wrapped in an Enigma Part One

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