Announce11: Eve of Enlightenment

Jack had barely clambered into the back seat when the SUV lurched forward, speeding away from the school and pressing the clone into his seat. "Whoa, Reeses, what's the rush?"

While Jack buckled in, Matt spun around in his seat to stare into the back. "Jonathan?"

Jack looked up again, more than used to responding to his formal first name again. "Matt King?"

Both looked toward the driver, and Matt grinned. "I told you he knew."

Jack's eyes widened in confusion, and he gestured to Matt, who he had always thought of as just another high school football player. "Reeses, how does he know?" He paused, his eyes growing wider. "What does he know?"

Sarah shook her head. "It doesn't matter right now. Although it's nice you two finally know each other, we've got bigger problems to worry about." The two boys watched her in silence, Sarah's tone causing ice to settle in their stomachs. "There's a Ha'tak sitting out by Neptune."

Matt's face showed no recognition; he had never heard of Ha'taks. Jack, however, leaned back in his seat again, thinking. "Just one?"

Sarah nodded. "That's the good news. We might be able to take out a force that small, even though Prometheus and half the F-302s were severely damaged in Anubis's attack."

"Anubis attacked?" he repeated, feeling more out-of-the-loop than ever.

"Yeah. A mothership and countless Ha'taks, all destroyed by a super-weapon in Antarctica," Sarah reported. "But the power source to that is about dead, not to mention we have no one who can operate it. There's only one ship now, so that would be overkill anyway." She sighed. "The rest of the good news is that it's probably not BaÂ’al or any other system lord.

"Ba'al as in the snake-head who killed me over and..." Jack wondered.

"Yes."

Though he didn't know half of what was going on, Matt still tried to follow the conversation. "Bad news usually follows that much good news, especially when you and Vinnet are so shook up," he observed.

A hint of a smile appeared on her face but quickly left. "The bad news is that it seems to be waiting for something either here or elsewhere, presumably backup, but why they'd wait here is beyond me."

"To make sure no one leaves?" Matt guessed.

Sarah shook her head. "It's even easier to leave through the Stargate." Matt nodded, leaving Jack to wonder how he knew about the ancient device. "There's more," she continued. "Now that people are aware of Tok'ra, they're going to expect to see Supreme Councilor Per'sus leave. Last I heard, no one at the SGC had any ideas of what to do." She sighed again, trying to convince herself that she could do nothing, but she knew it might be possible for her to contribute. "And since it's probably not a system lord," she added slowly, almost hesitantly, "I can't help but wonder if it's Banebdjedet or his master, Nepthys."

Matt frowned, recognizing the names long before Jack did. "I hope he doesn't have any more business with the NID."

As Jack continued to be confused, Sarah shook her head dismissively. "Even if he thinks he does, the shol'vah he was dealing with should all be in jail."

Before Jack could add any comment, Sarah's phone rang, intoning a simplified version of "Across the Stars." As quick as she could bring the pone from her purse to her ear and press the green button, she answered it. "Hello?" She listened for a minute, the SUV's speed steadily decreasing, even though the next traffic light was still green. As the light gradually turned red and traffic in the next lane sped past for a couple more second, she stopped the car and closed her eyes. "Okay, I understand. Thanks." With that, she hung up and concentrated on her driving when the right turn indicator turned green.

"Who was it?" Matt inquired after a couple more turns into another residential area.

The Tok'ra drew in a deep breath. "That was Sam. I guess part of her news isn't as terrible as it could be, but..." While she had lived through a few family deaths, this somehow seemed worse. Vinnet had shared her grief then, of course, but she had never known Sarah's grandparents. Now that they both knew the deceased, Sarah felt overwhelmed with emotion. It was as overpowering as the loss the two had felt after Setira's death, but even sharper since she'd seen him twice in the past year. "Gavan died. Just after Per'sus and his entourage arrived back at the base, it was attacked. Gavan was hit, but Vandrof made it out."

In the hope of keeping tears from the driver's eyes, Vinnet surfaced. She tossed the cell phone to Matt; it would do no good for the alien to speak to any other Tau'ri at the moment, especially since she didn't care to make the effort to mask her voice. "Call David. Tell him to meet us in the park when he leaves work." Before he could begin, she continued, "Jonath--Jack, I will drop you off at the SGC after it is dark. Sam said it would probably benefit them to have another O'Neill in the vicinity."

"Just like they did when Anubis attacked," the clone growled.

Vinnet rolled her eyes. "We were are preoccupied. The SGC was having a difficult time pacing one O'Neill; they would have gone insane with two. Since Jack is tied down now, you are suddenly remembered, though I doubt the General knows you are coming."

Jack shrugged. "I think I always got on Hammond's bad said; maybe it's better this way."

Vinnet shook her head. "I was not referring to General Hammond; the general I spoke of was Brigadier General O'Neill."

Neu

It had taken Dann Herr and Veronica five hours of hard research in three different libraries to determine that the script in the blue book didnÂ’t match any known script: ancient, modern, or otherwise. They figured it to be composed of the alphabet on Iechnor, but Dan still felt confident he could solve it. Then again, confidence went only so far.

He held the tiny book in his hands, staring at the pages, when he finally noticed that one particularly dark symbol recurred many times on the page. It kind of looked like a rounded X that didnÂ’t touch in the middle. Another appeared to be an upside-down T and another an upside-down A. After figuring out all those symbols, he noted that some looked to be backwards. Another seven deciphered symbolsÂ… Finally, he found twenty-four different symbols, all of which bore some resemblance to the alphabet he had always known.

"Look at this, Roni," Dan said, breaking into the reporterÂ’s research of foreign scripts. "ItÂ’s intriguing; each symbol corresponds to a letter in the alphabet and displays the same distinct characteristics as that letter." An absurdly large grin began to grow on his face.

"You mean you figured it out?" she asked, shocked. "What does it say?"

He looked down at the notes he’d scribbled while deciphering. " ‘Naturo telmac Sarah Anderson.’ "

She stared, a bit disheartened. "So it is another language."

"Yes." He shrugged. "But it sounds Egyptian. Remember that time we went to Egypt for that story and the one guy was randomly speaking to us in ancient Egyptian?" Veronica nodded. "This sounds very similar, especially since I remember him saying ‘naturo’ over and over."

"ThatÂ’s right. Here, be right back." The reporter tromped off into the libraryÂ’s labyrinth and returned shortly with a green paperback book. "Think this will help?" she asked, holding up An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary.

"These arenÂ’t hieroglyphs," he stated, knowing she had to realize that. On the other hand, she did have blonde moments every now and then.

"I know, but this has pronunciation."

"Alright, then letÂ’s get started."

Neu

After he waved good-bye to the retreating SUV, "duplicate" OÂ’Neill turned to the front guard post. "Sorry, Sergeant, but ReeseÂ’s couldnÂ’t stay long."

The guard skeptically glanced over the teenager standing before him, a grin forming on his face as if he thought it to be a joke. "Go home, kid."

"That’s ‘Colonel’ to you," he corrected, figuring the last rank he remembered to be the one he deserved. That was how it had been each time he retired. "Look, just tell General O’Neill that Colonel O’Neill’s up here."

The guard shook his head. "YouÂ’re too young to be a Colonel, boy. Now stop playing pretend and go home."

Again rolling his eyes, Jack headed back down the darkened road, head down and feet dragging until he rounded a bend where the guard could no longer see him. Then he doubled back, intending to enter the base via a back door.

Neu

Sarah lay back on the cool, wet grass of a park just northwest of Colorado Springs, staring up at a myriad of diamond stars in the coal mine sky. Everything around her was peaceful, still, basking in the sheer perfection of Creation. Deciduous trees and tall wild grasses swayed in the slight breeze that meandered across EarthÂ’s surface. The air was cool, crisp; the TokÂ’ra fleetingly noticed her breath rhythmically rising in to the sky.

As calming and appealing as her surroundings were, Sarah had other things to think about. She and Vinnet were worried about Vandrof, who had been placed in a tank with a low electric charge until he again had a host. While he remained there, the life-preserving contraption was nothing less that solitary confinement. He could see outside, but he could not contribute, could not communicate. Vinnet sympathized with his position since sheÂ’d had the same confinement for three months before she blended with Sarah. She did not wish any of it for her friend.

On top of that, she was not unaware of the mounting tension among the Tok’ra. While some were grateful for any host, many felt that too many Tok’ra now sympathized too much with the Tau’ri. Although the former way of thinking still seemed to hold quite a bit of power in the High Council—otherwise they would not have asked for the declassification of their existence—Sarah had always worried that the discontent with strong-willed hosts would increase to the point that the Council would recall her.

A twig cracked, breaking into the cricketÂ’s monotonous chorus as well as the TokÂ’raÂ’s thoughts. Vinnet took over, sitting up quickly, uselessly staring into the deep shadows on every side of the clearing. She sat perfectly still, keeping as low to the ground as she could without looking like a guerilla fighter. A few more twigs cracked, and the shuffling sound of a person making his way through the dry underbrush came to her ears. Finally, she recognized the figure emerging from the shadows as her hostÂ’s boyfriend, David Rice.

Vinnet retreated on the condition that Sarah propose the symbioteÂ’s solution to one of the issues plaguing her. "Hey," the TokÂ’ra greeted, standing up to give a hug. "Thanks for meeting me here on such short notice."

He smiled as they embraced, his expression showing him to be tense. "ItÂ’s beautiful out here tonight; IÂ’m glad you thought of it." His voice sounded completely sincere, albeit extremely tired.

"Did you see the news last night?" she wondered, thinking to go about VinnetÂ’s request in a logical way.

David nodded. "I actually did. My boss told me to check the news when I got home. It was interesting, but stuff like that just seems so remote. The news said some people think itÂ’s the end of the world."

"Yeah, right," Sarah commented, at first dismissing the idea as ridiculous; the TokÂ’raÂ’s sudden appearance in the worldÂ’s view of the universe should not cause a catastrophe. Then she considered another possibility: perhaps the proposed "end of the world" originated not from the TokÂ’ra but from another source, such as the HaÂ’tak lurking in NeptuneÂ’s orbit.

David smiled and took a deep breath. Then he bent down to get to the ground, only to sop halfway through the motion. He took her hand. "Sarah," he began, pulling a small box from his pocket, "if thereÂ’s any chance the worldÂ’s going to end or be attacked by aliens or whatever, I need to ask youÂ…" He gently opened the box as he finished, revealing a dainty ring bearing a small diamond. "Will you marry me?"

The TokÂ’ra stopped breathing for a couple seconds until Vinnet reminded her that it was necessary for their survival. She knelt down to DavidÂ’s eye level, her emotions conflicting. "I want to say yesÂ…"

"Then say it," he quipped quietly.

"ThereÂ’s so much you donÂ’t know about me."

"I know enough."

Sarah shook her head. "No, you donÂ’t."

"I learn quickly."

She sighed, glancing enviously to the dark, peaceful woods as a tear slid down her face. "IÂ’ve been lying to you since we met," she admitting, knowing the words set as much ice in DavidÂ’s stomach as it did in her own.

He gazed at the outline of her face he could see in the moonlight as he settled onto the grass. "How so?" he whispered after a while.

Sarah also sat back on the brass. "ThatÂ’s why I wanted to see you as soon as you got off work. Truth be told, IÂ’m glad you saw the news last night but not today."

He frowned. "Why? What happened?"

"IÂ’m a TokÂ’ra."

"What!"

Sarah continued slowly, ignoring his outburst. "Until yesterday, that fact was classified. I couldnÂ’t tell you anything related to my real job or who I really am. I probably told you too much, but I donÂ’tÂ’ regret it, especially now."

His eyes left her face, and he seemed to be meditating on a small, lonely wildflower just in front of him. "So all this time I spent trying to get to know you—"

"Was still worthwhile. I didnÂ’t deceive you about everything, just when it came to classified things."

"Then I suppose you've never been to Germany." His voice held a hint of anger.

"No, but I wish I could go."

The anger in his voice grew. "Then, Sarah--and I hope that really is your name--"

"Usually," she admitted quietly.

"--where have you been all the times you went away on business?"

She sighed, knowing this was going to sound loony to him. Why did Tau'ri always have to see so scared of new, foreign ideas? "I had to go offworld, to other planets. There are too few of us for Vinnet to live here without doing something useful."

"No, just living your own life isn't good enough."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Daivd, the galaxy's a lot more dangerous than anybody's letting on. Earth could be a vacation world, but I've lived here all my life. It's not fair to the other Tok'ra if they're all working their tails off and risking their lives and I'm just sitting here doing nothing."