#Although I do like the idea of Ra's hiring the Fentons to make Danny

[five-rivers]

Prompt idea: Tucker and Dr. Jackson having a discussion and/or argument about ancient Egypt.

Mayyyyy be a little OOC for Dr. Jackson. For some reason I was able to find Hammond's voice but not his? Even though he was one of my favorite Stargate Characters? Incredible.

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"Dr. Jackson."

Daniel started, almost knocking his (empty) coffee cup off the table, and scattering several pieces of paper and books. He pulled a sticky note off his face before turning his full attention to General Hammond.

"What?"

"Another late night, I see."

Daniel waved vaguely at the books. "The ghoa'uld problem isn't going to solve itself." Although, if he were being honest, his main concern was Sha're in particular. Right now, he was going over legends from planets the ghoa'uld had more or less abandoned, comparing them to the mythology of ancient Egypt, cross-referencing carvings and inscriptions on extraterrestrial ruins with terrestrial ones with glimpses of active ghoa'uld sites.

Anything that might provide insight into how the ghoa'uld thought, into their history, into how they acted, into what moves they might make.

He had to squeeze time for this in between missions, because, of course, even he, bookworm that he was, knew that primary sources, accounts of living people, were so much more valuable--

But General Hammond was talking.

"I'm sorry, what?" asked Daniel.

General Hammond sighed. "I've gotten you an assistant."

"A what?"

"An assistant. We're also considering him for the linguist position with either SG-9 or SG-11, contingent on your recommendation."

"That, uh-" Daniel pushed his glasses up his nose. "That sounds more like you want me to train him, than that he's going to be my assistant."

"I just want to know whether or not he's up for it. He comes very highly recommended as a linguist and Egyptologist, and he has combat experience. It's a combination you don't see all too often, but going off-world isn't for everyone. If you happen to get him up to speed on off-world languages at the same time..." Hammond shrugged.

Daniel rubbed his face. "When do I meet him?"

"Now." Hammond took a step back and opened the door. "Mr. Foley, you can come in now."

Daniel felt his face twist into an expression of disgust and horror even as the other man lit up like a lightbulb.

"You!" said Daniel.

"You!" said Tucker Foley, gleefully.

"How did you know I worked here?"

"I had no idea! This is great! It's been years. Heard you were dead, didn't believe it. How's life? Looks like you found your aliens, huh?"

Daniel turned to Hammond. "You can't hire him," he said. "He's insane. He used to claim he was the reincarnation of Pharaoh Duulaman."

"Oh, come on, man, that was ages ago. And your theories were considered pretty fringe, too."

"I'd always get shoved next to him at talks and conferences, and he somehow made me look even more like a crackpot by association. And my theories were right."

"I know," said Foley, looking hurt. "I knew, then, too. That's why I tried to back you up."

"You were the exact opposite of backup," hissed Daniel.

"I... take it you two know each other," said Hammond. "Any other surprises I should know about?"

"My friend Danny Fenton works here. I don't know what he does, though."

"Danny F- Siler's civilian assistant? Wait, wait, wait, he's not your ghost hunting friend, is he? We do not have someone who believes in ghosts working on the Stargate."

"You believe in aliens," said Foley, now somewhat testy.

"I have seen aliens, with my own two eyes!"

"Well, I could say that about a lot of things!"

This would not help him find Sha're. In fact, it might even drive him to an early grave. He looked at Hammond imploringly.

Hammond raised his hands. "The two of you are both experts in your fields. I'm sure you can work things out." And then he left.

Traitor.

"So," drawled Foley, picking up one of Daniel's notebooks. "Tell me about your aliens. Do they really still speak Egyptian? Something that's recognizably Egyptian? That's some remarkable linguistic stability there."

Daniel snatched his notebook back. "Some of them do. The ghoa'uld are incredibly-" cruel, his mind supplied. He swallowed. "Long lived. The stability isn't as impressive as it seems."

"If you say so," said Foley. "I mean, I know my vocabulary changes from month to month, so..." He trailed off. "What about the rest of them?"

"What?"

"Some of them speak Egyptian, or one of the forms of Egyptian, we've got to go over that, I'm sure, what about the rest?"

Daniel waved a hand. "All sorts of different dialects. It does seem mostly to derive from Egyptian, with some other ancient languages thrown in... PIE roots."

"So their main point of contact with Earth was Egypt, but they interacted with other cultures?"

"Seems that way," said Daniel, grudgingly, collapsing back into his seat.

"You'd think they'd have more Chinese, just from numbers alone... Or maybe the reason certain cultures flourished while other failed is because of their influence?"

Daniel shrugged.

"If they had spaceships, why the reliance on the Stargate?"

"Ra wanted Earth for himself and hid it from the other system lords," said Daniel. "So when the gate was buried, there were no records."

"Makes some sense. Why didn't he ever come back?"

"The rebellion?"

"Sure, but he could have done, uh, what was the term? Orbital bombardment. Rebellions of people armed with spears aren't going to last long against something like that. Unless Ra died in the rebellion?"

"No, he only died a few years ago."

"Fair, fair, but that means something's missing. I mean, if I were him, you know, a dictator with spaceships, and there's a whole planet I've been getting resources from like that, I'm not going to take getting kicked out well."

"Maybe," said Daniel. "We'll probably never know for sure. It was thousands of years ago."

"Mhm," said Foley, contemplatively, his eyes slightly unfocused, as if he was staring off into the distance. He blinked. "Well," he said. "You're probably right."

"What, you're not going to make comments about how your past life would know?"

"Why would I? It isn't like you'd believe me, so it's beside the point. When was the last time you slept, anyway? Usually you aren't this curmudgeonly."

"I was sleeping, before you interrupted."

"You have a cot in here?"

"Yeah," said Daniel, not mentioning that he hadn't actually seen the cot in a while.

"Where? Actually, no, Danny does this all the time. You've got to sleep in a real bed."

"Give me that book," said Daniel, ignoring Foley. "If I've got to start teaching you ghoa'uld, I want to make it fast."

"That's cold."