The Heart of the Matter
The Heart of the Matter
by SharonEH
Summary: A jewel goes missing, an archeologist is murdered, and Daniel's friend Sarah thinks a Goa'uld is behind it all.
Category: Action/Adventure, Mystery
Season: any Season
Pairing: Daniel/other, Jack/Sam, none
Rating: 13+
Warnings: adult themes, violence
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 2004-09-25
Looking through the skylight, one could see the pedestal that sat directly beneath. The pedestal itself was an estimated four feet tall, made of gleaming oak, upon it sat a dark blue velvet cushion, and upon the cushion sat a stunning blood red ruby the size of a tennis ball. Three lights, all at different angles, shone down on the jewel, catching its many facets. The jewel was encased in a box of glass, so clean that it was barely seen. One single wire unfurled from the skylight, to just a foot above the case. A small black figure slid down the wire, with barely a whisper of sound. Balancing at the end of the wire, wisps of smoke made the infrared sensors appear. The apparition waited, counting to twenty five, as a small electronic device flashed twice, and the sensors disappeared. Quickly, the figure lifted the glass, palmed the ruby, and replaced it by a stone the same size and appearance. The glass case was put back, and within seconds the sensors were back. Pressing a button on its belt, the figure slid smoothly back to the skylight, and to the roof. The figure made its get-way into the night.
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Daniel headed to the briefing room of the SGC a little frazzled. He had been running late all morning. He had also spilled coffee all over his shirt, while it was still hot, and had smacked his forehead into a corner cabinet on his way to the infirmary for the burns. Now he was all patched up, and in a foul mood. When he got to the room, he found that Sam, Teal'c, and Jack were already there waiting for him. He mumbled an apology, and sat down quickly. Daniel looked up to find them all staring at him. "What!" he snapped.
Jack looked at the others, then back to Daniel, "This briefing is all your doing Daniel, remember?"
"Right, sorry, bad morning." Daniel sighed and stood up going to the projections at the head of the table. "We're looking at going to Ps3-546. All of the MALP readings came back as habitable, good atmosphere, extremely livable. Also," he continued flipping to the next photograph, "as you can see in the background, there seem to be some ruins back here. They don't look of Goa'uld design, but neither do they look Asgard, or Ancient. I think that if we can ascertain that there aren't hostiles, it deserves a closer look."
SG-1 looked at General O'Neill for several seconds before he figured it out, "Oh right, ok then, sounds good to me."
They were packing up to go when Sam approached him. "Hey Daniel did you hear about the theft of that ruby in London?"
"No, what happened?"
"Some ruby called the Heart of the Earth , it was on display at The British Museum, then it was going to be on display in New York. The curator noticed something different about the stone as it was being packed up, found that it was a phony."
"That's odd. That museum has some of the best security. That's where Sarah went to work at." Daniel thought about it as he headed to his lab. He should probably call Sarah to make sure everything was going ok. ________________________________________________________________________
"Hello Daniel," Sarah had answered the phone on the first ring , "I'm so glad you called."
"Everything ok there? We read about the gem going missing."
"It's gone mad around here. First the jewel, then last night Sir William Montgomery, one of the archeologists on staff here, was shot by something that burned him to death." Sarah's voice got quieter, "Daniel it looked like a staff blast to his chest!"
"A staff blast!" Daniel shouted in surprise.
"I know, that should be impossible, but Daniel, I know what it looked like. And there's more, the area where the gem was found had familiar writing on it Daniel, very familiar. I had just gotten permission to call you in. He had been making noises that the ruby was more than just a gem, it went missing, then he's killed. It's too much coincidence."
"You send through that request to contact us here. I'll talk to Jack about coming there."
"His funeral's in three days." Sarah sighed, "I hope you get here soon Daniel."
________________________________________________________________________
Kestrel Montgomery looked at the faces surrounding her father's casket. Most were faces swallowed in grief, her father had been well loved. She saw all of the staff from the museum there, including the new girl Sarah something or other. There were several new faces standing beside her. Kes looked at them with interest. A tall, muscular black man; a tall, but not as tall, wiry older man in uniform, with graying spiky hair; a fairly tall woman, in uniform, with short blonde hair, quite pretty actually; and a tall man with light brown-dark blonde hair, wire framed glasses, good build, from what she could see, and good facial features.
She sighed and focused back on the casket. Kestrel had loved her father very much, she would miss him terribly. She had already vowed to find out what had happened, and who had killed him. He had been a good man, with many good years ahead of him. She didn't bother to wipe the tears from her cheeks, there was no use when they weren't close to stopping.
Daniel stood close to Sarah. She was upset about the man's death, they had become friends since she had moved back to London. He was glad that SG-1, including Jack were able to come with him. He didn't know how the older man had arranged that, but it worked for him so he wouldn't question it. He recognized some of the people standing around the gravesite, just from articles they had in different magazines. There were quite a few high profile people.
There was a petite woman standing on the other side of the grave from them. Tears ran unchecked down her cheeks, he couldn't really make out her features, due to the black veil that fell from a hat over her face. Daniel could feel her looking at them. Her body was draped in a stylish, and expensive black dress, flaring over full breasts and cinched into a tiny waist. It flowed over curving hips, and down to just below her knees. Her legs were encased in sheer black hose which ended in black high heels. Everything about the woman was screaming money and taste. Daniel found himself wondering what she was wearing under the dress, and chastised himself. 'You're at a funeral you insensitive jerk. Get your mind out of the gutter!'
The funeral ended with Kes dropping her rose on top of her father's coffin. She pressed her arm and face onto the coffins' smooth black surface, "I will avenge you Da." she whispered tearfully. Standing straight up she headed for the limousine that would take her back to the estate for the gathering that was being held after.
They pulled into the estate where Sir William had lived, and a valet parked the vehicle. They were entering into the marbled arch, looking around in astonishment. "Holy Hannah!" Jack exclaimed. "Nobody touch anything. It looks too expensive to pay for. Is this some sort of museum." he looked at Sarah and Daniel suspiciously.
Sarah looked at Jack with some amusement, "You're almost right Jack, most of these items are museum quality, but this is Sir's Williams private collection. Some of it is his daughter Kestrel's, she is also an archeologist. Although, I suppose now, all of it goes to Kestrel."
"Jack." Daniel called from where he had been looking at some tablets in a glass case, "Could you come over here please?" There was something about his voice that drew Jack's attention, and he hurried over to look.
"Daniel, is that what I think it is?"
Daniel was about to answer, when a voice spoke from behind the group. It was soft, with a slight British accent, "Do you recognize the writing on those tablets?"
They turned to see the small woman from the funeral gliding down the stairs towards them. She was still in the black dress, but the veiled hat was gone, leaving a lovely face focused on them. Dark green eyes surrounded by thick lashes, a pert nose, and a full cupids bow mouth. Freckles spattered her face, which was framed by curling auburn hair that stopped at her shoulders. She finished her descent, and walked to the tablets. "My father spent years trying to decipher it. I think he finally gave up when he put them on display here. Do you recognize it?" She tilted her head and looked up at Jack at Daniel. She had changed from the heels into flat shoes, which put her at about 5'2".
"Maybe, I'm not quite sure." Daniel answered looking at Jack.
The girl turned and walked away from them. "How ironic, the opportunity to possibly translate something so precious to him, only coming after his death." She stopped next to Sarah. "How are you Sarah? I'm so glad you could come today."
"Thank you, Kestrel, I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope you don't mind that I brought some friends with me." Sarah said after kissing the girl's cheek.
"Not at all. I appreciate anyone who came to pay respects to my father." She turned to the group and introduced herself. "I'm Kestrel Montgomery. You're Americans?"
"Yes Ma'am, I'm Lt. Col Samantha Carter, my colleagues are General Jack O'Neill, Dr. Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c." Sam said shaking the girl's hand.
Kes looked at Teal'c with interest. "It's rare I meet someone with only one name." After shaking Sam's, Teal'c's and Jack's hands, she turned to Daniel. "Dr. Daniel Jackson, I've heard a lot about you. My father was quite interested in your work. He was quite a fan." She took his hand and frowned slightly and the slight tingle that ran through them. Kes let go of his hand and stepped back. "Please, follow me, everyone is gathering in the parlor." She turned and began to walk away. The others followed.
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They were on their way back to their hotel that afternoon when Daniel started thinking about the tablet again. "I would really love to get a closer look at that tablet. Teal'c, did you get to look at it?"
"Very briefly, Daniel Jackson. I do believe that it was an ancient dialect of Goa'uld. It has been many years since I have seen anything like it. In the time I had, I was unable to ascertain any more information than this."
"I'm surprised you got that much." Jack muttered. He was exhausted, he figured the time difference was catching up to him.
"Sarah, do you think she'd let us take a closer look?" Sam asked, as she started to rub Jack's neck with one hand.
"Perhaps. I could ask. She'll probably want to know why though."
"I think I'll have our people run a check on her before we go any farther. If she does come up clean, well, Daniel you need to be working on something to tell her so she'll let us look at her stuff."
"Sarah, you were saying that there was a ruby stolen just days before Sir William was killed. Did he have anything to do with the ruby?"
"Actually yes," she answered, "Sir William is the man who uncovered it. He and Kestrel found it in a tomb found two years ago. The dig was completed, and the artifacts were brought back recently, When the ruby was originally found, it was enclosed in some type of metal box, which didn't seem to open. Somehow, Kestrel managed to open it. Tests are still being run on the box. There were three Canopic jars, all broken, filled with ash. We sent some of the ash off to be analyzed as well. What does all of this mean Daniel?"
"Honestly Sarah, I have no idea."
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If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to SharonEH
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