Seven Days

Title: Seven Days
Author: Tels
Characters/Fandom: Malek, Delek and Jack. Odd appearances from most other SGC personnel too actually/SG1
Rating: PG13
Summary: Jack and Malek swap jobs.
Prompt: Anyone can man the helm when the sea is calm .
Notes: for the sgfortunecookie challenge on LJ. I gave Malek and Delek's hosts the names I normally use for them. Thanks to Marya and Steph for betaing.

Seven Days
By Tels

Day One

Jack choked, sprayed a mouthful of coffee across the desk and looked aghast at Jacob. “You want me to do what?!” he managed.

“The council think it's a good idea and you did mention it a couple of weeks ago.”

“No I did not!”

Jacob looked at him. “Yes you did. Two weeks ago. Sam's birthday. Selmak made the ‘you could not run a Tok'ra operation if you tried' comment and you told him in no uncertain you could and if he put his money where his mouth was you'd prove it.” Jacob deliberately referred to Selmak as him as normal in public. Neither of them wanted anyone to know Selmak was decidedly female.

Jack dropped the cup hard on his desk and thought back. “Okay maybe I did but I was drunk. Do you really think I want to go run a Tok'ra base?” He shook his head in amazement.

Jacob raised an eyebrow. “Malek is willing to come here for a week and let you run his base.”

“Isn't that where Delek is right now?”

“He is leaving Delek as his 2IC there. The council thought it might do him good to work closely with the Tau'ri. It was either that or they send him here to do so.”

Jack shook his head. “No way. I am not having him on my base.”

“That's what I told them you'd say. Besides for the next week, it's not going to be your base Jack. It's Malek's.”

“Fine! I'll take it to the President...”

“He knows. The decision's made. Malek arrives in an hour.”

~~~~~

Still complaining an hour later, Jack stood in the gate room, bag in hand. “I really don't think,” he began.

“Sir you'll be fine,” Sam said. “Besides Dad will be back and forth to keep an eye on things.”

Jack nodded. “Shame they didn't ask Selmak to run the place.”

“Selmak's not a base commander. Malek is.”

The gate opened and Malek came down the ramp. “General O'Neill,” Malek said. “My guards are waiting for you at the Chappa'ai. They will be your personal guard while you are there.”

Jack perked up slightly. “I get a personal guard?”

Malek nodded. “Two for each eighteen hour shift. There is also my personal bathing pool.”

Jack smiled. “This might not be so bad. Walter will be at your beck and call 24/7 and anything else you need just ask Daniel.” He turned to Jacob. “Have fun.”

Jacob nodded. “Of course.”

Jack looked at Teal'c. “No decorating,” he said semi sternly.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

“We who are about to die,” Jack said moving towards the newly formed wormhole.

~~~~~

Delek was waiting at the gate a black look on his face. He considered this a total waste of his time. He hated the Tau'ri and this was just so far beneath his position as high councillor, if he sunk any lower no one would ever see him again. He sighed heavily and as the gate opened screwed his hands into fists. <This is going to be a disaster> he commented.

<Maybe, maybe not> Seb replied. <You have to do what the council want and at least give this a try. O'Neill is a good leader.>

Seb laughed. <Of course not, some of us just judge an entire world by the actions of four people rather than just one.>

Delek chose to ignore that comment, instead moving to greet Jack. He didn't offer a hand in greeting but then neither did Jack. “General. Welcome to Kengendor.”

Jack nodded. He glanced round and saw the two stern Tok'ra move in behind him. “My guard?” he asked.

“Yes. If you will come this way.” Delek turned and strode across the sand to the rings.

~~~~~

Sam led Malek to Jack's office. “And this is the office,” she said opening the door. “Coffee machine, fridge, computer…”

Malek glanced round noting the glass wall. “Alright.” He hefted the bag in his hand slightly. <And they think our no door policy is strange. This office has a door but a see through wall.>

<It takes all sorts. Perhaps the door makes them feel safe> Jared suggested.

Jared laughed. <The grey is a bit much though. I prefer blue.>

Malek nodded, noting the overflowing desk, stacks of papers in the in tray and the general untidiness of the office. <Does he do any work?> he commented rhetorically.

Sam looked at Malek. “I'll show you the mess hall and your quarters. We thought you might like the General's room. It's the nicest on the base.”

Malek followed her slowly. The mess hall as she called it was noisy and smelt strange. And the room he was shown into was small and confined after the airy space of his own quarters. He set the bag on the floor.

Sam smiled at him. “I will see you tomorrow. The files you requested are on the side there. Night.”

Malek nodded. “Night.” Ignoring the bed, he moved over to the desk to start work.

~~~~~

This was the life Jack decided as he leaned back in the pool. Good idea of Malek's to have a personal pool adjacent to his quarters. The idea of bathing somewhere with no doors and a load of people he didn't know and had no wish to spend personal time with didn't appeal to him at all. But he had his guards on the door, a glass of wine and plenty of hot water. All he needed to make this perfect was coffee.

~~~~~

Day Two

Sam knocked and then stuck her head round the door. “Morning,” she said. “The department heads are waiting in the briefing room. Walter sent me to find you.”

Malek looked up from the desk confused. “Department heads?” He had been awake for three hours trying to catch up on papers.

Sam nodded. “Morning briefing,” she said as they headed back out into the corridor. “Once a week you get a complete run down on absolutely everything. Other than that most mornings you get team briefings, presidential briefings, state of the world briefings, that kind of thing.”

He nodded. “I see.”

Walter appeared at his shoulder. “This morning's requisition orders,” he said handing Malek a clipboard overflowing with papers. “Each needs three signatures.”

“You are joking,” Malek said looking at him.

Walter shook his head. “No. And if I could have them in ten minutes I can get them sent up to the surface.”

Malek shook his head and took the pen. He began to read the first one.

“Uh, just sign them Sir,” Walter said.

Malek looked up. “Sign without reading?” he asked.

Walter nodded. “General O'Neill does it all the time,” he said.

Malek took a deep breath and began to sign as he walked, which was not as easy as it looked.

~~~~~

Jack sat at what passed for a desk and looked at Delek. “Is that it?” he asked looking at the six padds on the desk. It seemed minute compared with the stack of papers on his desk which grew daily.

Delek nodded. “Each contains complete mission reports from those that returned yesterday.” <Which I did not want him to have access to.>

“Sweet,” Jack said picking up the top one. He glanced round. He was tired. The ‘bed' was rock hard, literally and he had got little or no sleep. Breakfast was inedible and he needed something to keep him awake. “Is there any coffee?”

Delek looked at him. “No,” he said shortly. “There is herbal tea if you wish.”

Jack pulled a face. “Water will do,” he said making a note to contact the SGC and request coffee at the earliest opportunity. Actually…he did have a gofer or whatever he was meant to call him. He looked at Delek. “Contact the SGC and ask them to send coffee. A ton of coffee. Stat.”

“I am not a messenger,” Delek spluttered.

Jack looked at him. “I gave you an order. Follow it.” He was surprised to notice that Delek actually went. Even if it did take a very long minute of staring at him for the Tok'ra to actually do what he had been told.

~~~~~

Malek looked up as Walter knocked on the door. SG1 were sat opposite him and he was trying to do a mission brief. “What is it?” he asked.

“A message from the Tok'ra,” he said trying not to laugh. “Delek says that General O'Neill would like a ton of coffee stat.”

SG1 started laughing.

Malek shook his head. “No,” he said. “He makes do with what we have there. That was the point of the exchange.”

Walter nodded. “I'll let him know.”

~~~~~

Jack looked at Delek. “He said what?” he asked.

“No,” Delek repeated, wondering if the Tau'ri was going to have a heart attack in front of him. He dropped another three files on the desk. “There is a council/base commanders meeting in an hour. You will need to be there. Those need reviewing first. And these need signing immediately.” He produced another five.

Jack rolled his eyes and tapped his name on the first one.

Delek coughed. “You read them and then sign them.”

“Ah no. I just sign them.”

“Malek reads and then signs. You should do the same.”

“I am not Malek!”

“Nevertheless that is how things are done here.”

Jack sighed heavily and made go away movements with his fingers. He waited until Delek left and then started skimming the reports.

~~~~~

Malek listened to what Daniel had to say and glanced down at the MALP report. “I think it is too dangerous,” he said slowly.

“Jack would have sent us,” Daniel said.

“I am not General O'Neill. This indicates that the atmosphere is barely breathable.”

“So we take suits…”

“The ground is seismically unstable, there are no signs of life and …”

“The ruins show signs of life,” Daniel said. “I still think it would be worth going.”

Malek shook his head. “From what I have heard, SG1 is a first contact team. This is a research mission. Therefore,” he consulted the file in front of him running his finger down the paper. “SG15 would be a better choice.”

“What?” Daniel said.

Malek looked at him. “This mission however is far more suited to SG1.” He handed out the files. “You will go here and report back in seven hours.”

Sam glanced at the reports. “This was deemed unsuitable for several reasons. The main one being the MALP was attacked within two minutes of it arriving.”

Malek looked at her. “This is where you are going,” he told her firmly. “Now I do not know how you treat your superior officers here, but I do not accept nor allow ANY backchat or disrespect. This is where you are going. End of story. Kit up and I will see you in seven hours.”

~~~~~

Jack looked at the pile of padds. He was barely a quarter of the way through the first one. He signed the ones he needed to without reading and then started on the stuff for the council meeting. He yawned. He needed coffee. He still couldn't believe they wouldn't send him some over. He stood up and stretched. He wandered round the office not quite believing he was here. Surely they could have found someone who liked snakes to send to do this.

Delek came into the room.

“Don't you people ever knock?” Jack snapped.

“There is no door therefore there is no need.”

“Yeah well that is gonna change. You knock before you come in!” And of all the snakes he ended up with it had to be this one! The worst of the lot. Well second worst. The worst had to be Kanan. “What did you want anyway?”

“The meeting is due to start in five minutes. You are needed in the council chamber.” Delek swept out of the room. He wasn't going to be late himself waiting for this Tau'ri to get himself organised.

Jack watched him go. And where is the council chamber he wondered. He let out a deep breath and headed off into the tunnels having no idea where he was going. After a few minutes he turned to the two guards behind him. “Council chambers?” he asked.

One of them pointed back the way they had come.

“Talkative lot aren't you. Tell you what. You lead the way and I'll follow.” There was a pause. “That was an order not a suggestion.”

One of the guards nodded reluctantly and moved in front leading the way. The other kept up the rear.

Jack rolled his eyes. “So what do I call you? Thing 1 and Thing 2? Tweedledum and Tweedledummer?” There was no answer. “Fine, Thing 1 and Thing 2 it is.” He reached the council chambers.

Garshaw looked at him. “You are late,” she said sharply.

Jack glared at Delek who was sat there smugly. “That's because someone didn't deign to show me where to go!”

“Well you are here now. I suggest we begin.”

Jack sat and soon realised how hard this was going to be. The council did nothing but bicker and snipe at each other. He wondered how anyone ever got anything done. After an hour of this he stood up. “Well I have other things to be getting on with. Like the pile of paperwork on Malek's desk. So if you'll excuse me…” Before they could argue he left.

~~~~~

Day Three

Jack more than anything wanted to go home. The food, if you could call it that was disgusting and gave him horrendous stomach ache. The beds were a slab of rock which gave him chronic backache, His knees hurt more than usual because of the cold. And he detested snakes more than ever now. You rarely saw a host fore, despite their insistence on dual control of the body. They were arrogant, self seeking and Delek was by far the worst.

Jack had spent all day arguing with Delek over missions and reports and so on. Sometimes silly things, sometimes bigger things. Of course Jack was also now a good 96 hours without coffee. His nerves were fried, he couldn't sleep, even if the bed had been softer he wouldn't have slept and he was as coiled as a slinky, as tense as a tripwire and something was going to give before much longer. Preferably Delek's head he decided.

~~~~~

Malek on the other hand was sleeping better than he had in a long time. Jared loved the softness of the bed, the feather pillows, the cotton sheets, the hot showers and the diversity of food in the mess hall. Malek didn't care for it much but that suited Jared just fine. He'd come fore to eat without anyone noticing. But by far his favourite thing was coffee.

He drank it by the gallon. He had found it bitter at first, but adding sugar to it made all the difference. Malek wasn't sure if it was the caffeine or all the sugar Jared put in it or what but he wasn't going to complain. He hadn't felt this wonderful in years.

He didn't see what all the fuss was over about running this place. The staff were well trained, knew their jobs. He could tell that from the morning briefings. It really was a shame they couldn't run their world the same way. It would make things so much easier.

~~~~~

Day Four

Walter knocked on the door. “Uh Sir… SG1 still haven't reported in. They are 48 hours over due now. Did you want me to send someone after them?”

Malek shook his head. “They'll be fine. They probably can't send a message for fear of blowing their cover.”

“That's not standard procedure here.”

Malek just looked at him. “It is now.”

~~~~~

Delek looked at Jack. “No we cannot just contact them. It will blow their cover.”

Jack looked back at him, more than exasperated now. “Well it's a stupid way to run an operation. What if they are in trouble? They have been gone months now and no one thought to check up on them? What kind of a people are you?” He paused for a nanosecond. “No don't answer that one.” He stood up and paced the room. “You will either radio them or whatever you do or send someone after them.”

“And if that results in their death?” Delek demanded.

“Whatever happened to never leave a man behind?” Jack retorted. “Until Malek returns this is my base! My orders stand. Do it!”

Delek shook his head. “No, I will not.”

Jack's eyes narrowed. “We'll see.” He turned to Thing 1. “Go contact the SGC. I want to talk to Jacob and I want to do so now.”

Thing 1 looked at him and then at Delek.

“Don't look at him,” Jack said harshly. “Just do it.”

~~~~~

Jacob looked at Walter. “I understand SG3 wanting to go. I will talk to Malek. But the final say so it Malek's as he is commander here right now.”

Walter nodded slowly.

Jacob headed down to the office. He glanced through the glass wall to see Malek sat at the desk, mug in hand. He tapped on the door and went in. “Malek can I have a word?”

Malek looked at him, his normally alert eyes slightly glazed over. “Sure… what is up?”

Jacob looked at him. “Are you drunk?” he asked.

“Only thing I have drunk is coffee. It is the most wonderful stuff ever. How come you kept it to yourself?”

<Coffee??> Selmak shrieked. <Noooo, you know what that will do to him.>

<Has done to him by the looks of it Sel.> “I haven't drunk coffee in years,” Jacob told him taking the cup away from him. “It has an adverse affect on the symbiote.”

Malek reached for the cup. “Hey, that is mine,” he slurred. “And what adverse affect? I feel totally invincible.”

“Exactly,” Jacob told him. “Let's go find something to clear your head.” He pulled Malek to his feet.

“There is nothing wrong with my head,” Malek told him pulling away from him.

Jacob raised an eyebrow. “Of course not.” He paused. “SG3 want to go after SG1.”

Malek shook his head. “No. You know the rules Jacob.”

Jacob looked at him. “And the SGC operate under a different set,” he said, putting aside the fact it was his daughter out there. “You do not leave a man behind.”

“I am not going to stand here and let their rules dictate how I run my base,” Malek told him. “You do not like my decisions then there is the door. No one is going after them. End of story.”

Walter tapped on the door. “Sorry to interrupt Sirs, there's a message from the Tok'ra. General O'Neill would like to have a word with General Carter.”

Jacob nodded. “Of course. Would you ask one of the medics to come up here? Malek isn't feeling that great.”

Malek glared at him. “I am perfectly fine,” he insisted trying to sit down and missing the chair.

Walter went to help him up. “Course you are Sir. We're just trying to avoid a diplomatic incident.”

Jacob went through to the control room. Standing by the microphone he spoke quickly. “What is it Jack?”

The irritation in Jack's voice was evident. “Whose base is this Jacob?”

“Until Friday it's yours. Why?”

“Then would you mind explaining this to the snake standing next to me?”

Jacob rolled his eyes. “This is meant to be an exercise in tolerance Jack.”

“Well maybe… but that goes both ways. Every order I give round here is either countermanded or ignored because I am not a snake.”

“I'm sure that isn't true.”

There was a snort from the other end of the comm line. “Yeah really!” His voice came from further away as he turned to look at someone. “You tell him.”

Jacob shook his head as Delek's voice came over the link. “He is impossible to work with.”

Selmak came fore. “I do not believe you are giving him a chance Delek.”

“What chance does he need? He is irrational, does not read anything. Does not listen to advice.”

“And he also runs an operation far bigger than the one Malek does for the Tok'ra.”

“He refuses to listen to reason. And now he wants to contact all our operatives to enquire after their health.”

Selmak heard Jacob laugh and shook her head. “So let him. Maybe not all of them but some. He has a different style of leadership and a gut instinct that is normally right.”

Jack looked surprised. “Selmak did you just pay me a compliment?” he asked astounded.

“Make the most of it,” Jacob quipped. “It won't happen again. Just try to get on with Delek will you?”

Jack humphed and cut the connection.

Jacob looked up to see the CO of SG3, Major Tax standing by his side. He shook his head. “The answer's no,” he said.

Tax looked at him and promptly headed up to Malek's office. He knocked sharply and went in without waiting for a reply. “Sir… about your decision not to allow…” he began.

Malek cut him off with a stare. “Am I or am I not in command?” he asked.

Tax nodded. “Yes Sir.”

“Then you will obey my decision and not question it. SG1 are quite capable of taking care of themselves.” He rubbed his temples. “Now if you will excuse me I need to go and take care of this headache.”

~~~~~

Day Five

Jack sat on the rock that passed for a bed in the healing chambers. “It's nothing coffee won't fix,” he snapped at the woman with the scanner in her hand.

“According to this you have a headache,” she began.

“Precisely. I need coffee! I am suffering extreme withdrawal symptoms from Lack Of Coffee!” he said harshly. He sighed heavily as she indicated to him to lie down. “This is a waste of your time and mine.”

Delek came into the room. “That report you wanted,” he said holding it out.

Jack took it and read it. He squinted at it. “In English?” he asked.

Delek shook his head and replaced it in Jack's hand the right way up.

“That's better. Headache, can't see to read properly.”

“You do not read anything,” Delek sniped. “You just sign.”

Jack looked at him. “Because I have staff I can trust not to order things they do not need. Not to order extra in case there is a sudden shortage of toilet rolls. Because there are far more important things to worry about. Like the safety of the entire planet and the safety of those men and women I send out there every day. Without the backup the SGC provides they can't do their job.”

He paused. “We work as a team. There is no I in team. We stand by each other, back each other up. That is the way it works.” He glanced at the report. “I want a two man team dispatched here now. Who would you suggest?”

Delek looked at him. “Sabin and Haldis.”

Jack nodded. “Send them to me in five minutes. We plan this properly no one will even know they were there.”

~~~~~

Malek cradled his head as he sat in the office. The whole of SG3 were standing in front of him. “I see your point Major,” he said slowly. “However…”

Tax looked at him. “Sir are you alright?”

Malek shook his head. “No, I am not feeling that well, however your CMO said the best thing to do was the hair of the dog and work.”

Tax grinned slightly making sure Malek didn't notice. Word had got round that the Tok'ra had got drunk on coffee and was now suffering from a major hangover and withdrawal symptoms in one. “Then how about a second recon?” he asked. “Not to search for SG1 but purely to follow up on the suspect MALP telemetry.”

“What suspect MALP…” Malek began then broke off.

Tax looked at him. “Sir, we tried it your way. Now you need to try it our way. Work with us here.”

Malek nodded slowly. “Right, yes, the suspect MALP telemetry. Of course… go.”

Tax nodded. “Yes Sir.”

~~~~~

Jack briefed Sabin and Haldis and then looked at the blank expressions. “Do I have to repeat myself?” he asked. “You gate in, scout the area then proceed with caution into the complex. According to this Jaina was sent in as …” he looked up. “You sent her to do WHAT?” he almost shrieked at Delek.

Delek shrugged. “It is a job.”

“Yeah right,” Jack said. “Remind me to have a serious discussion with Selmak.” He looked back at the others. “Right, so she should be in snakehead's personal quarters. You get in and get her out. Simple.”

“That is not what we agreed,” Delek began.

Jack looked at him and cut him off. “If her life is in danger… either of them, then these guys pull her out. I don't care how important the mission is. Life is far more important than information.”

Delek looked at him. “Even the life of a Tok'ra?” he asked.

Jack raised an eyebrow. “You guys have hosts. Human hosts. Human life matters. And I guess in a way your snakes do to.”

Delek scowled. “I am not a snake.”

“Well you act like one. I've been here five days now, no coffee and a rock to sleep on and not once have I met anyone's host!” Jack paused. “If not snakes that makes you liars and lousy hosts to coin a phrase.”

Delek did a double take and then looked down. When he looked up there was a hint of laughter in his eyes. “My apologies General,” Seb said holding out a hand. “Delek can be a stubborn snake as you call him at times. He has an inherent distrust of your people just as you do of us I feel. My name is Seb.”

Jack took Seb's hand. “Well after what Kanan did…”

“None of us approve of what Kanan did. But that is not what this week is about. You are here to show us how you work are you not?”

Jack nodded. “Yes.”

“So if you could explain the mission again, perhaps all of us would pay attention this time.”

~~~~~

Day Six

Malek watched as the gate opened and SG3 came down the ramp with SG1. “Welcome home,” he said. “Report to the briefing room now.”

Tax nodded. “We need to get them to the infirmary,” he said shortly.

Jacob flew into the room having been in the control room. “What happened?” he asked.

“Long story,” Daniel said. He was nursing an arm in a sling. He looked worriedly at Sam who was lying out cold on the stretcher. “I'll fill you in later.”

Jacob nodded and went with Sam to the infirmary.

~~~

Jack looked up as Haldis and Sabin appeared in the office doorway. “Have you been checked over?” he asked looking at them. Both seemed worse for wear.

Haldis shook his head. “Jaina is there now. We thought we should…”

“Ack!” Jack muttered. “Go get checked out. Have a shower or a bath. Then come see me. Told you yesterday. Health matters and comes way before reports.”

They nodded and left.

Delek looked at Jack. “That is…”

Jack waited for the ‘not the way we do things' speech but it didn't come.

“A sensible idea. I will see it is adopted from now on.” For a minute Delek thought he was going to have to pick Jack up off the floor.

~~~~~

Malek looked round the table at the members of SG3 sat there. He watched Daniel and Teal'c come in. “Where is Colonel Carter?” he asked.

“She's coming,” Daniel said. “The Doc wasn't happy about her leaving the infirmary so Jacob had to promise to watch her.”

Malek nodded. “We will start without her.” He looked at Tax. “Major?” he asked.

“Had we not gone when we did they'd be dead Sir,” he said bluntly.

Teal'c looked at him. “Things did not go badly wrong until our third day on the planet. There was a cave in at the mines. Daniel Jackson and Colonel Carter were trapped,” he said. “Before then, we were unable to send a message back due to our radio's malfunctioning.”

“So why did you not simply return?” Malek asked.

Daniel looked at him. “We would have, only the GDOs didn't work either. Until SG3 arrived we had no way off the planet.”

Malek looked at him. “Did you not think of going to the alpha site?” he asked.

“Same problem with the GDOs.” came Sam's voice from the door. She let her father push the wheelchair into the room and set her by the table. “We have the time limits on missions for a reason.”

Malek nodded. “I realise that now and I am sorry.”

Daniel looked up. “Oh it wasn't a total waste of time,” he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small crystal. “We managed to negotiate for some of these.”

Malek took it and looked at it. “This is domachite,” he said slowly.

Daniel nodded. “And from what they showed us it's as versatile as diamond. And they are willing to trade enough for both of us.”

~~~~~

Jack listened as Haldis and Sabin explained how they had found Jaina and exactly what they had done.

“Had it not been for your orders she would have been killed,” Sabin finished slowly. “Perhaps our policy is flawed.”

“Not always,” Jack said. “But you have to think outside the box sometimes.”

~~~~~

Day Seven

Jack packed everything into the bag and headed off towards the rings. He was meeting Malek back at the SGC. It had been a long week and he was heartily tired of being followed everywhere. He looked at Delek as he reached the rings. “No doubt we will see each other again.”

Delek nodded. “It would be interesting to see the running of the SGC at some point.”

“Perhaps,” Jack said. <No way no how never> he finished silently. He headed up through the gate and into the familiar gate room.

“Welcome home Jack,” Daniel said.

Jack looked at the sling on Daniel's arm and Sam in the wheelchair and looked at Malek. “What happened?” he asked.

“Mining accident,” Sam told him. “But we got a new trade treaty and we'll be fine in a week or two.”

He nodded.

Malek looked at him. “And how did it go on Kengendor?” he asked.

“Okay aside from the fact you need coffee. And speaking of coffee, I need a gallon of it. Stat. Join me?”

Malek shook his head. “I should get back. I will be in touch.”

~~~~~

Jack leaned back in his chair, feet on the desk and mug of coffee in his hands. He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply then took a mouthful.

Daniel watched him. “You know why there is no coffee on the Tok'ra bases?” he asked.

Jack shook his head. “Why's that?”

“It makes them drunk. Quite funny to watch actually.” He perched on the edge of the desk. “So what did you learn?”

“Delek's host's name. That they do listen occasionally. And there are Snakes and then there are snakes.” He opened his eyes. “And no I am not going to do it again any time soon. There is an old Chinese proverb which says…”

Daniel held up a hand and laughed. “Oh please. So hockey and pizza at your place tonight?”

Jack nodded. “Then I am gonna sleep for a week. There really is no place like home.”