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hathor_girl~So, what now, Jolinar?~ I ask, when we have left the celebration. I fear for what the consequences of our actions will be. Just before we left, I had snuck a small note into a pocket in Daniel's clothing. I hope he finds it, but not until we are gone. It explains very little - only that I say that I am still host to Jolinar and that she can be trusted. And that we have something we need to take care of. Then I apologize to my friends. We'll see if they are still my friends when I return.
~It was risky, and I doubt it will make them forgive us easier.~ Jolinar says.
~No, but it might help convince them the Tok'ra are not bad guys, and that I really dp get control.~ I give Jolinar control when she asks for it.
~Perhaps. Now we go to Siskiat - it is a world where I have a source.~ Jolinar feels for the small bag with valuables and the vial with the masking drug. It's hanging from the belt. Satisfied, she walks confidently to the Stargate and dials an address.
We step out on a cold, barren world. ~This is Siskiat?~ I ask.
~No, this is a stop-over world.~ When the Stargate shuts down, Jolinar dials a new address, and we again go through.
~You know, you can share a bit more with me! It's not like I can tell anyone if you don't want me to!~
~I apologize. I am used to having a host I am blended with. Communication is more immediate then. Of course, we would sometimes talk like the two of us do now, but often we would know the others thoughts immediately, and the other would know if we agree or not.~
~More like when you think something through yourself, and weigh ideas.~ I realize.
~Yes.~ Jolinar sighs, and I realize that she misses the ease and the friendship of being fully blended. ~We are on Seskiat. We will go to the market now. There we will buy a few things, then initiate contact with someone who regularly provides me with information. I know which world Martouf and Lantash, and the others, went to, but they are unlikely to be there anymore, if they were captured.~
~So we'll ask your source.~
~Yes, but it is unlikely we can meet with him today. I leave a signal, and then someone he knows will inform him. Usually it takes no more than a day before we meet, but until then, I will go to Stulkana and see if there is anyone there who knows anything. I just do not wish to waste time.~
I understand. And it is we who go to Stulkana, not just you.~
~Of course.~
~Stulkana is a farming world belonging to the Goa'uld Heru'ur. It is ruled by his underling Neper. He has little interest in the daily work of the planet. As long as the farmers produce a large enough amount, that is. He has groups of Jaffa guarding the work.~
~So what do you hope to find? This is where Martouf and Lantash went - and the two other Tok'ra?~
~Yes. The other Tok'ra are named, Sikhlat and her host Hurvu, as well as Ihlkat, with the host Rohk. The Tok'ra undercover with Neper had learned Heru'ur was hiding a laboratory on Stulkana, where he had produced a secret weapon prototype with his ally, a weapon that would potentially be much more devastating than any of their previous weapons, at least for its size. It could tip the balance of the Galaxy. There was to be a weapons test shortly, and Martouf and the others should sabotage the weapon and the laboratory before that test could be carried out.~
~I know, well some of it. I heard what Garshaw told you when you went to ask for permission to go search for Martouf and Lantash.~
Jolinar ignores that and just dials the address and soon after we step out on Stulkana. It's a very green world. We walk in silence through a forest, with trees covered with soft green leaves. Birds are singing, but I have a feeling of dread.
When we leave the forest, the first thing we see is the palace, with a small city surrounding it. Fields covered with grain stretch in all directions, only interspersed with other fields, covered with other kinds of produce.
From the light, I estimate it is mid-morning, and there are already many people about, working in the fields. Jolinar walks directly into the city, and mingle with the people. There are not much of a crowd at this time, but there are some, both humans and Jaffa. I feel the disconcerting feeling of the naquadah signatures, and keep worrying they will sense us.
~They will not. Jaffa cannot sense naquadah. Their symbiote can, of course, but it cannot communicate it to the Jaffa, and since it is not looking out of its pouch, it cannot know if what is nearby is another Jaffa or a Goa'uld, or a Tok'ra. It will not react since mostly it would be others that should be there. An immature symbiote in a Jaffa sleep a lot also. There is little else to do in there. And, if all of this should not reassure you, then trust me when I say that the drug is working.~
~I trust you.~ I tell her, and I do. I am just worried and in an unusual situation. I don't feel in control, and by that I don't just mean because Jolinar currently has control. Which I am actually happy about right now. This is a situation she knows much more about than I do.
We have walked around in the market place, trying to learn if people are talking about an explosion or something having happened recently, or if they have heard of an altercation or someone being captured. People are not very talkative, and seems subdued. Jolinar remarks that is often the case on Goa'uld worlds.
It is just after noon, and we decide to walk to an inn and get something to eat - and see if we can listen in on the locals.
When we are half-way through a tasteless bowl of porridge, and a mug of thin ale, we are in luck. A talkative group of locals sit down - too far away for normal humans to hear them, but not too far with symbiote-enhanced hearing.
They talk about an explosion out in the forest, that there is a rumour it was a secret place for the gods. Someone has seen strange, destroyed machinery. Then, another rumour...they lower their voices almost too far for us to hear, but they have heard it was foreign gods that came to punish Neper - like he is being punished by Heru'ur now for his failings. A punishment they will all bear - the grain production must be 25% higher this year. Impossible - the growing season is already a third over. Many will suffer, as there will be little food left for them.
~The locals will suffer for the Tok'ra blowing up the lab? That's not fair!~ I tell Jolinar.
~No, but it can be necessary - for the good of the Galaxy. We usually attempt to lessen their suffering. The Tok'ra will bring them food. Now, be quiet so I can hear them!~
The locals didn't have much else to say on the subject, and soon we leave - to go to the forest and look for the site of the lab, from what little direction we got from the discussions.
It took us a couple hours to find, but we have managed to locate the site of the lab. It was underground, but there is a big hole there now. It has clearly been blown up - everywhere are torn and destroyed machines and devices. We spend some time searching through it, but there are no signs any people were nearby when it exploded. It was detonated by remote.
~So the mission went well. Why are Martouf and Lantash and the others not home, then?~
~I do not know.~ Jolinar sounds very worried. ~We shall go back to Siskiat and see if we can contact my source.~
We are in luck. It is only a few hours after we are back on Siskiat, when Jolinar succeeds in meetings with the man who sometimes gives her information. He has only little to say on this matter, though. Apparently, there is a rumour that Heru'ur caught some traitors on one of his underlings worlds.
After paying the source, and he has promised to look for more information, Jolinar decides to go to Heru'ur's main planet.
~Remember...this is a shared mission! You shouldn't just tell me what we will be doing!~ I tell her, angrily.
~I apologize.~ Jolinar says, sounding remorseful. ~I am preoccupied with the fate of my mates, and the other Tok'ra, and I am not used to not being blended fully. I shall try to do better - however, I thought we had agreed that the goal was to free Martouf and Lantash? Why then would we need to discuss every course of action?~
~It is the principle, and while I agree we should save them, I want to know what we will be doing, what we will be risking. Besides, maybe I might have a different plan? A better or less risky plan?~
~How could you? You know nothing about most of what goes on among the Goa'uld. I have been a Tok'ra and an undercover agent for almost 2000 years. Before that I was a Goa'uld System Lord. You cannot know this better than I do, especially not since we have not blended and you do not have all the information.~
~Then just tell me! It can't be necessary to blend to tell me!~
~No, but there is a lifetime of experience, knowledge, many little things that I take into consideration which I may not even think to tell. It would be impractical to explain it to you.~
~Two minds are better than one. Is that not also why you blend? Besides the necessities.~
~Yes, of course two minds are better than one. And our sharing with our hosts, that we listen to each other and discuss things, get two persons input and knowledge...that is part of what makes the Tok'ra able to outwit the Goa'uld. I do see what you mean, and I do not deny that you could get ideas I could not, also because you see it from the outside, and have not been involved in it all. It can be a strength as well as a weakness.~
~Then tell me what you know about Heru'ur.~
~I shall.~ Jolinar says, and she does, as we walk towards the Stargate and then on to Heru'ur's world.