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The next morning Nick rose at his usual hour. He was always quiet so as not wake any of his colleagues. This morning he was extra careful out of courtesy to their guest. When he got downstairs, however, he found that he needn't have worried. Dr Jackson was outside, sat cross-legged on the lawn, meditating in the light of the rising sun.
Nick had rarely met anyone outside the military who got up as early as he did out of choice. Then again Jackson worked for the military, maybe his body clock had adjusted to early starts.
He watched the young man for a moment and then set off for his run.
Half an hour later, as Nick made his way back to the house, he found Jackson still sitting on the lawn. Now, though he just seemed to be appreciating the view. Nick made his way over to him.
Daniel heard footsteps behind him and turned to look up at the approaching form of Nick Boyle, the house's security officer.
"Do you mind if I join you?"
"No, not at all." Was Daniel's reply. Nick sat down next to him and looked out over the bay. The rapidly rising sun was casting an orange glow over everything, making the city look as if it was on fire.
"It's a beautiful setting you have here." Daniel said after a moment.
"Yeah, we're lucky. Most people don't get up to see dawn here though." Nick replied.
"Force of habit, I'm afraid." Daniel said with a laugh in his voice. "I'm used to having to be at work for five am so now I get up early even if I'm not working. It's nice to be able to experience this sort of thing once in a while though." He gestured towards the ocean.
"Nice view to meditate in front of." Nick said pointedly. Jackson looked at him sharply. "I saw you when I started out for my run earlier. Who taught you?"
"Oh, just a friend. Kel'Noreem usually involves candles and incense, but the sunrise was so beautiful and the smell of the gardens here replaced those this morning." His tone had become distant and he brought himself back from his thoughts and said, "When did you leave the military?" It was Nick's turn to look surprised now.
"How did you know?" He asked somewhat suspicious.
"Being a civilian in a military world, you just get the knack for identifying other soldiers. Who did you serve with?"
"The SEAL's." Nick never liked talking about his time in the military so tried to change the subject. "How did you get involved with the Air Force? I would have though that someone with three Ph.D.'s would be able to get a teaching job anywhere." A look of deep sadness passed quickly over Jackson's face. It made Nick wonder what could have been in his question that would cause such a reaction.
"You'd be surprised how many doors close if you say something that goes against the norm. The Air Force was my last chance." It was a cryptic answer and it left Nick thinking as to what exactly he meant. As Nick thought Jackson began to get up.
"I should probably go in side and check in with my boss. He'll be expecting to hear from me." Daniel moved to go inside.
Nick watched him, moving as quickly as two cracked ribs would allow, which was quite fast, as if he'd had a lot of practice.
Nick looked back over towards the bay. He had a lot to think about. Jackson was hiding something, of that he was sure, but whether it was something sinister or not, Nick couldn't tell. There was something slightly odd about his attachment to the Air Force that Nick just couldn't pinpoint.
"Forget it," He told himself, "You're just being paranoid." With that he got up and went inside.
Later on that morning, once everyone had had breakfast, Daniel was left in Alex's capable hands and shown to the Library where he could work at the translation.
"You know I really hope you can help us with this," She said to the young archaeologist. "This has had us all stumped. Even Julianne didn't have a clue."
"Julianne was always more interested in the culture of Egyptian society rather than the language. Besides I've spent most of my life translating hieroglyphs."
Coming from anyone else that might have sounded arrogant but Daniel just made it a statement of the facts. Alex was beginning to like the young man. Aside from him being extremely attractive, she sensed a great intelligence and passion lurking beneath the self-effacing exterior. She felt quite protective of him. There was something in his eyes that spoke of great pain and loss, suffered for far too long in one so young.
"When did you first become interested in archaeology?" She asked, trying to draw him out of his shell. He had been very quiet all morning and Alex wanted to get to know him a bit better.
"Oh, well, my parents were both archaeologists. I spent a lot of time on digs when I was a child. I guess I just got the bug."
Daniel really did not like answering questions about his past. That usually led to questions about his present situation, a topic that he really didn't want to discuss here. He decided the best tactic was to turn the questions away from him.
"What is, exactly the purpose of the Luna Foundation, Ms.Moreau?"
"Please, call me Alex." She answered with a slight laugh.
"Alex, then."
"Well basically we do a lot of historical research, looking in to the origins of certain artefacts. Sometimes, as in this case, we do some work for the official organisations like the police. They occasionally get objects that are linked to cases and we have the resources, and time, to find out their purpose." She walked over to a small desk near the window and removed a key from her pocket. She opened the desk draw and removed a large brown envelope. She brought it back to the table and sat down, motioning for Daniel to join her. He sat down opposite her and waited for her to continue.
"These have been checked by the police so it is safe for you to handle them." She said as she removed the four notebooks from the envelope and laid them out in front of him.
Daniel began by looking at the covers of the books. He was intrigued. They had told him over the phone that it was modern but Daniel really hadn't expected it to be quite this modern. Just as he was about to open the first book Alex said
"Would you mind if I left you to it? I don't think you'll be needing my help and I have some other projects that I need to be working on."
"Oh, no. Not at all." Said Daniel absently. He really couldn't wait to start work.
When she had gone he opened the first book and began to read the crude hieroglyphs written down the page.
What he saw made him look up in shock.
He had to read it again to be sure
There was no mistake. The writing was crude and clumsy, the grammar appalling but it was, nonetheless, familiar to Daniel. It was no wonder that no one else was able to read it. They had never seen it before.
In basic composition it looked very much like ancient Egyptian and to the untrained it would read as nonsense. But to Daniel it made perfect sense.
Perfect, terrible sense.
It was Goa'uld.
Daniel sat back from the table and stared at the books arranged neatly in front of him. He had managed to read through them all quickly. Once he had got used to the clumsy style the meaning of the books became crystal clear. They were a sort of holy book. One written by a disciple, a disciple that was now dead. Daniel knew why.
The "God" described in the books could only have been a Goa'uld. There was no mistaking the narcissistic tone to the words.
The books described a God called "The Nameless One". He was said to exist only in the past but then also only in the present. The books outlined the duties and benefits of becoming a member of His sect. It also gave a pretty gruesome account of what happened to those who betrayed Him.
Daniel was in no doubt that the man who had written these books had died because he wanted to break free from the Goa'uld's control, and had died for his betrayal.
He couldn't let this go. He had to phone Jack. If the Luna foundation were to find out about what was really written in the books, there would be all sorts of awkward questions asked. Also if there was another Goa'uld running around San Fransisco, causing havoc, he would need to be dealt with.
This scenario was beginning to look alarmingly familiar. It looked like the SGC was about to face the same situation as they had a month ago, with Seth.
Daniel had just about recovered enough to go upstairs and phone Jack when Derek Rayne walked into the Library. The moment that the Precept saw the young man sat at the table, the expression on his face told Derek that there was something very wrong. Suddenly he received a vision. A tall man with long black hair and a black, well-trimmed, beard, stood above him. His outstretched hand decorated with an ornate piece of jewellery, a large yellow stone in the centre. Then the man's eyes glowed yellow and everything went black. Derek quickly snapped back from the vision and looked back to where he was sure it had originated.
"Is there something wrong, Dr Jackson?" He asked, concerned. After all the man was not in the best of health and they really did need him to translate those books. Jackson seemed to snap out of it and looked up quickly at Derek.
"No, nothings wrong. Just trying to think some things through." Daniel said confidently, all trace of the worry that Derek had seen gone from his face.
"How is the translation going?" Again there was a flash of something in the linguist's face. It was hidden quickly and Jackson replied.
"Well, it's quite slow going actually." He lied, "Julianne was mostly right when she said it was nonsense. I can make out a few coherent sentences but unfortunately most of it is gibberish. I'll keep going though, there might be something I can make of it once I have looked at the other books."
"We certainly appreciate your help Dr Jackson. I hope you can make some sense of it all. If not we'll just have to chalk it up to the ravings of a madman."
Daniel nodded. He seemed somewhat distracted and said
"I think I'm going to take a walk, clear my head a bit. Maybe it'll make more sense when I come back." With that he got up from the table and walked out of the library, gently cradling his broken wrist in his good hand.
Derek was left to ponder the meanings of his vision and to decide if he could really trust Jackson or not.
Daniel made his way back out to the garden and walked around, trying to decide what to do.
When he had made up his mind he went back inside and up to his room.
He closed his door behind him after making sure that no one followed him up there. It wasn't that he was being paranoid, it was just the he really didn't want to chance any questions that he wouldn't be able to answer.
He sat down on the bed and picked up the phone. His mind was still reeling as he dialled Jack's number at the SGC.
"My god," He thought, "There's another one here on Earth and this one doesn't seem content to just sit with his small group of followers like Seth did. This one wants power."
The phone made the connection and began ringing on the other end. Daniel just prayed that Jack would be in. The phone just kept on ringing and just as Daniel was about to give up and try Jack's home number, someone answered.
"Colonel O'Neill's office." The voice said. It sounded like Sam Carter.
"Sam? It's Daniel, I really need to talk to Jack it's really urgent."
"Hey Daniel, how's San Fransisco?" She asked, not sensing the urgency in his voice.
"Sam, it's not good, that's why I really need to talk to Jack. We may have a big problem."
"What do you mean? What sort of problem? It's not you is it Daniel, I mean you are ok aren't you?" She asked suddenly concerned.
"Yes I'm fine. Please Sam, can you find Jack for me and I'll explain in a minute." He was beginning to get very agitated and Sam sensed it.
"Listen I don't know exactly where he is at the moment but I'll have him paged it should get him here pretty quick. Just calm down, OK?"
Daniel could here her put the phone down and run outside, her boots clumping on the concrete floor of the corridor.
" Attention! Colonel O'Neill, urgent telephone call, room 430."
Jack O'Neill tried to ignore the announcement and carry on watching the game on TV. He was sat on the sofa in Daniel's office. He always tended to gravitate to this one point in the SGC. They all did, all of SG-1, that is. None of them knew why, Jack just supposed that it was one of the more homelier offices on base, all the others tended to be labs. Not that Daniel's wasn't used as a lab but it also held a lot of the things that reminded SG-1 of Daniel. If ever Daniel was injured and they had been thrown out of the infirmary they all came here. The clutter, the combination of ancient artefacts, books and paper everywhere, it made them, and especially Jack, feel closer to him.
The reason Jack was down here now was because he was worried about his friend. He also felt a bit guilty about what had happened on the last mission. Daniel had refused to talk about what those people had wanted of him. Not that he had given Jack much of a chance to ask, as soon as he gets out of the infirmary he runs of to San Francisco.
Again the page rang out through the base. There really was no ignoring it this time. It must be urgent if they were willing to keep annoying everyone on base. Besides 403 was his office, wasn't it?
He got up of the couch and switched off the TV. Turning out the light as he made his way to his own office.
Daniel heard someone coming back into the room and a muffled conversation on the other end.
"I really hope there is a good reason for dragging me all the way own here, Carter." There was no mistaking the gruff voice of Colonel Jack O'Neill. Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. He had feared that Sam might not have been able to find him.
"Yes Sir. It's Daniel"
"Daniel? What's wrong, is he ok?"
"Yes Sir, he's on the phone." Sam had infinite patience when it came to dealing with both Daniel and Jack. Daniel could hear Jack make his way quickly over to the phone.
"Daniel? Are you OK? What's up?" Jack really did sound worried.
"I'm fine Jack," 'I think' he added to himself. "I think we may have a big problem here though Jack."
"What sort of problem?"
"The Goa'uld sort of problem. There is another one here." He proceeded to tell Jack about the notebooks and the translation of their contents.
Jack and Sam listened in shocked silence as Daniel related all he knew. It had come as a surprise when Sam's father, formerly General Carter, now a member of the rebel group, the Tok'Ra, and now carrying his own symbiote, Selmac, had told them of the Goa'uld, Seth, who was still living on Earth. To hear of another one came as quite a shock. They weren't the only ones though, they could hear the tension in Daniel's voice over the speakerphone.
"Listen Jack, what am I supposed to do. These people expect a translation. I mean the guy that wrote this stuff is dead. I think we can all guess who killed him." He was really starting to get agitated. The thought of being on his own out here with no back up from SG-1 made him feel decidedly uneasy.
"Just it tight Danny. I'm going to go talk with the General, see if he'll let us come out there and sort this out. He should be able to take care of the police. Once they are out of the way that should remove this Luna Foundation as well." Jack was already beginning to formulate a plan. He had really had enough of the snakes trying to take over Earth. First it was Ra, then Hathor woke up and wreaked havoc, then there was Apophis in his ships, then there was Seth who was slowly building up his followers to take over. Now there seemed to be another one. This one though was not picky about leaving the bodies in plain sight. That suggested to Jack that this one was dangerous.
"OK Jack. I think I can keep them in the dark about things. Hopefully they'll take my word for it. Ring me back when you have things sorted out with Hammond."
"Sure Danny. Take care."
Daniel replaced the receiver on the hook and lay back on the bed. His ribs were aching with the tension. He really did not like lying to people, especially ones that had been so hospitable, but lying, in this case, was far better than letting them know the truth. He took a deep breath and levered himself up. He had to tell them something though so he decided to take another walk outside to clear his head and prepare him for what was to come.
Derek sat at his desk in his office and began to ponder what he had seen in his vision earlier. He was in no doubt about where the visions were coming from but he was puzzled as to their meaning. Jackson had lied about his work for the Air force. He was not just a simple linguist, of that Derek was sure. He appeared far to disciplined in the military ways to be just a desk jockey. What was it that this young man did that would mean that the military would need an archaeologist/Egyptologist/linguist. Whatever it was that he did it was also dangerous. The injuries he had were not from any hiking accident. What did it matter, though, the man was doing the job that they had asked him to and was not asking too many questions. As long as what he did for a living didn't interfere with the translation then what did it matter that he was lying about his job.
But Derek couldn't shake the feeling that it did matter, that somehow Dr Jackson knew more about it than he was letting on, that somehow he really did know what those books said and that it was something that he was not willing to share.
Derek was disturbed from his musings by a knock at the door. He looked up to see Nick leaning against the jamb.
"What's up?" he asked. Nick could always tell when something was bothering him.
"I don't know really, lots of things." He answered looking out the window.
"Would these things include our house guest perhaps?" Derek looked up sharply. "I know, there's something about him that suggests that he is lying but I can't really tell if it's anything sinister or not."
"What are your impressions of him, Nick?" Derek asked.
"Well for starters he is not just an ordinary civilian in a military job." At Derek's raised eyebrow he went on to explain. "He doesn't act like one. He was up before I was this morning, that really isn't normal behaviour for a civilian. Seriously though, I think he is hiding something. He has friends who are officers? That is odd, normally the officers and the civilians stay well away from each other." He looked more puzzled "there is something odd there, I just can't put my finger on it."
"I know what you mean."
"What I came in here to tell you was I managed to finish the background check on the dead guy." As Nick said it, Derek noticed a file in the young man's hand and motioned for him to sit down.
"What did you find?"
"Well first of all it took a long time to find anything on him. It was as if didn't really exist beyond the official stuff like social security and birth certificates etc. I finally found a bank account for him. I mean you would have thought a high powered banker would have various different investments stashed here and there, but no. He had the one account, not with his own bank I hasten to add, and there was not a great deal of money in it. I checked out his statement and there was a transaction a couple of weeks ago that looked a bit suspect. A large transfer was made to an account belonging to an organisation called the New King.
"How large a transfer?" Derek asked. Nick consulted a piece of paper in the file.
"$500 000. Now I did some checking on the New King thing and found very little. It's not a registered charity or other organisation based on public funding. The only thing I have is an address, I thought I might go up there and have a look, see what I can find out. If this guy was giving them that kind of money then it could be that they know something about his death."
Before Derek could answer him the phone rang.
"Luna Foundation, Derek Rayne speaking." Derek answered.
"Hi, yeah. Could I speak to Dr Jackson please?" Said a gruff voice on the other end.
"Certainly I'll send someone to find him." To Nick he said "Can you find Dr Jackson and tell him he has a call?" He pressed the hold button on the phone and replaced the receiver. He turned his attention to the file that Nick had left on his desk.
Daniel had gone back to the library after his walk. His head felt clearer and he had a better picture of what he was going to do. H e had begun to write a loose translation of the diaries for the benefit of the Luna people. Most of what he wrote was nonsense, as if he had translated using the Egyptian form of the glyphs. He did, though put in the occasional sentence from the script to make it look a bit more authentic. After he had done this he wrote down the exact translation, the one that he would keep for Jack and the General. He had just finished this and put it away in his folder when Nick came into the room.
"Sorry, to interrupt." He said "There's a phone call for you." Daniel had not really expected Jack to get back to him so quickly, but then again this was a deadly serious situation.
"Oh, right, thanks." He said in his usual nervous manner.
"There's a phone in the hall you can take it on." Nick pointed out to the hall and then left. Daniel made his way over to the phone.
"Hello?" He said into the phone.
"Danny? It's Jack. I spoke to the General, We're gonna come out there with a team."
"Great. When are you going to be here? My flight back is supposed to be for tomorrow morning. I've managed to get them to believe that the whole thing is a load of garbage, that there is nothing useful to be found in them, but I don't know if they have found any other links to the Goa'uld. I get the feeling that these people here at the Luna Foundation don't just research into old artifacts. Their library is full of old books on the occult and other weird stuff. If they start digging and find this snake before we do who knows what damage could be done." He was really starting to get worked up. The calm he had felt after his walk entirely gone.
"Listen We'll be out there by late tonight and I'll come and pick you up tomorrow morning." Jack had already been thinking how to get Daniel back without arousing suspicion. "Tell them that this call was about another job that the Air Force wants you to do in the area and that a car will come to get you in the morning. Hey! You won't even be lying! Are you going to be ok tonight?" Jack had been worried at how Daniel was coping with the situation. Daniel had always been uncomfortable with the secrecy surrounding the Stargate Project but usually he was able to curb his honesty tendencies. This time Jack was not so sure. Going into this, Daniel's frame of mind was not the best, he had tried to brush off all his friends' attempts to get him to talk about their previous mission. Jack was worried that the added stress of finding out that there was another Goa'uld on Earth, and that he was on his own in its immediate vicinity, on top of his injuries would be enough to make his friend crumble.
"I should be OK." Daniel answered "Julianne is coming out here for dinner tonight which should provide a bit of a diversion. She can talk the ear off and elephant." Jack was somewhat relived to hear this.
"Well, you just have a nice time and try not to worry. We'll sort this snakehead. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Jack hung up and Daniel went back into the Library and re-read the books again, just to be sure.
Dr Julianne Wallis arrived at the Luna Foundation house on Angel Island at seven thirty. She had been looking forward to it all day. It had been ages since she had seen Daniel and she couldn't wait to catch up on all his gossip.
She and Daniel had been good friends in college although he was three years younger. From the moment she had first seen him she felt a connection. Despite what a lot of their fellow course mates thought she never had any romantic feelings toward Daniel, it was more of a maternal thing. He seemed to bring it out in all the women, he had a certain vulnerability that attracted them like flies to a bin.
She parked her car and went up to the front door. Just as she was about to knock, Dominic, the butler opened it.
"Dr Wallis," He said respectfully, "Do come in, everyone is in the drawing room." She followed him inside.
Julianne never ceased to be amazed by the enormity of the house. It had an ageless beauty about it, a dignity that couldn't possibly be captured in modern architecture. But then Julianne was not a fan of modern things anyway, look at what she ha chosen to study for a living.
She went into the drawing room. The atmosphere was warm and friendly, with everyone chatting aimlessly. When Derek saw he stood up to greet her.
"Julianne," He said warmly and kissed her on the cheek, "Glad you could make it."
The others took their turns in greeting the historian. She finally got a good look at Daniel. She was, to say the least, shocked at his battered appearance.
"Hello, Julianne." He said, his blue eyes sparkling, "It's been a long time." Smiling he kissed her cheek. As he stepped back she took the opportunity to take a good look at him. Beyond the injuries to his arm and head she could see that he had changed a great deal. Gone was the long, floppy hair that was his trademark for as long as she had known him. In it's place his dark blond hair had been cut short. It made him look even younger. Then there were his eyes. They looked old. Not the skin around his eyes, they were as unwrinkled as ever, but his actual eyes had taken on a sad, ancient quality that spoke of great hardship and sorrow. It made Julianne's heart break just looking at them.
Her eyes moved down his body taking in the slim frame which, although always toned, had become more muscled, as if he had been working out on a regular basis.
"What happened to you?" she asked "You look like you were hit by a bus."
Daniel couldn't help but smile. Julianne hadn't changed a bit since he last saw her, six years ago. The years had been kind to her and she looked dazzling in her black trousers and red top. Her dark hair was tied back from her face which showed off her sparkling green eyes.
"What this?" Daniel said raising his casted left arm in question, "This was a hiking accident." He had gotten more proficient at telling the story now and felt that he could do it quite easily. He did feel a bit bad about lying to Julianne though. She accepted it though.
"Well you always were very accident prone, Daniel. I would have though that you'd have grown out of that by now." She gave him a mock stern look and he laughed. Julianne had always been like a big sister to him. She was probably the only one outside his friends in the SGC that really knew him.
"Did you know that in college, Daniel here, held the record for the most number of trips to the first aiders than anyone in the entire history of the university?" She said to the rest of the people in the room. She launched into a story about Daniel, a precious Greek bowl and a dusty bookshelf. Daniel began to reminisce about old times but inevitably his mind wandered to the present situation. He shook his head slightly to get it out of his mind. He was not going to let it spoil the reunion with his old friend.
"And then the professor walked in to find Daniel unconscious on the floor with the pot resting, intact, on his head." Everyone was laughing and Daniel turned a suitable shade of red. That had not been one of the best points in his college career, at least the pot remained intact even if he suffered a concussion.
The rest of the evening went along in the same amiable fashion. By the time it came for Julianne to go home, Daniel had almost forgotten about the trouble he was going to face tomorrow when Jack came and they went to find the Goa'uld. He had told Derek about the change of plans, that he was going to collected from the Island rather than going to the airport. He didn't seem to have a problem with Daniel's explanation. Daniel just hoped that the rest of the evening and tomorrow morning was going to go as smoothly, with no more awkward questions.
After Julianne had gone he excused himself and went upstairs, saying he was tired and probably had a long day to face tomorrow. Once he was in his room he debated whether to ring Jack or not, but then he looked at the time and decided it was too late and that they would already be on their way, so he settled back and closed his eyes with the intention of pondering what he had read that day. He was asleep within minutes.
Derek was dreaming, of that he was sure. He was standing in front of an enormous stone ring, blue rippling water stood in its centre. The next thing he knew he was staring into the eyes of a beautiful dark haired woman. Her dark eyes shone with love and contentment as she reached up to touch his face. Abruptly the face changed. The eyes became cold and the face haughty. The hand that had been raised in a gentle, loving gesture, was now raised to his face, an amber jewel at its centre. He stood there and watched as the woman's eyes glowed yellow, as did the jewel, and then everything went black.
Derek sat up in bed, sweating from every pore. He looked over at his clock. 4:30am. He was sure that there was no going back to sleep now and so put on his robe and made his way down to the kitchen. Just as he finished making his cup of tea Alex came in.
"What's got you up at this hour?" He asked, although he really didn't have to. He knew that she had probably had the same dream that he had.
"I had this horrible dream. I was looking at this big stone ring and then there was this woman who was really nice then she turned on me. It really wasn't very nice. I got the feeling that it wasn't just a dream though." She had guessed that it wasn't by the way that Derek was looking at her in agreement.
"I don't think it was just a dream. I think it has something to do with Dr Jackson. Ever since I first met him I have been having these visions of people with glowing eyes. This last one though was the most vivid. I don't know who the woman is but I get the feeling she was someone very close to Jackson."
"I know. In a way I'll be glad when he has gone. It's not that I don't like him, it's just that there is something odd about him. I can't put it into words really. He is very tight lipped when it comes to his work and his personal life. When all you get to your questions are tiny sentences, it's kind of off putting."
"I wonder what it is that he really does for the Air Force. He must be quite important if they are sending an escort out here to get him tomorrow, rather than waiting for him to get back to Colorado."
Derek sat down at the table and sipped his tea. Both of the Legacy members pondered their dreams for a few moments.
"It was nice to see Julianne this evening." Alex said and diverted their dark thoughts into amiable chatter.
As the sun rose over the ocean, He sat in his makeshift throne. His followers were arranged at his feet, looking at him with adoring eyes. They watched as their new God raised his hand. The young man in that stood in front of him went limp in the guards' arms.
"Take him," He said in the dual tones of the Goa'uld. "He shall make an excellent Jaffa."
The followers at his feet began chanting in an a strange language. He just lent his head back and revelled in the power he held over his new slaves.
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