[u]~| A short time earlier... |~[/u]

Ylva Falk had just been about to request being beamed aboard when the message came through. She did not know what to make of it at first. It was strangely lacking in detail. There was no trace of origin, and no signature. With those facts in hand, she knew there could only be one probable source. Her father. Only he could find her anywhere on the planet and send messages to her like that. She knew it was only a matter of minutes before the ship would depart from orbit above the world of the Tau’ri, her homeworld.

She looked over at the sergeant, one Walter Harriman, then shook her head. “I’ve got to take care of something.” she said, clearly indicating that she would not be joining the crew yet. Most of her personal gear had already been beamed up, as had the lab gear she would need later on in the mission. [i]’Don’t worry about it, Ylva. There is nothing to indicate the truth therein. Nothing that can reveal our secret.’[/i]. The thought flowed to the front of her mind, but as always she knew it came from Vanja, her beloved symbiote and partner. ‘I know.’ she thought back, wondering what sort of job her father had for her that would make him take her away from her regular duties at such a critical time. Whatever it was, it could clearly not wait. She held the small note attached to the message out to the sergeant which he then read, before calling up the Langford, telling them the position she was to be beamed to. Ylva might not be heading out on a stargate program mission, but that was no reason not to put the technology to use and save both time and resources elsewhere.

The feeling as she was beamed first up into the Langford’s buffer, then back down to the planet’s surface was strange, yet she hardly felt it. A brief flash of light, then she simply was in a different location. Her father’s office, to be exact. “Father. You requested my presence?” she asked. “What is the job you have for me? Whom do you need dead?”

He waved her closer, pointing to a sealed file on the desk before him, not saying a word. Ylva walked up to it, breaking the seal and reading the file quickly, Vanja helping her get through it even more rapidly. “Very well. It will be done. After this job, I will go into deep space and be mostly unavailable. Try not to need me again anytime soon, father. Homeworld command will not take kindly to you pulling me out all the time.”

Again, he did not say anything, simply smiling fondly at her. She was used to him saying little when there was no need to say much of anything. Without waiting for further words, she slid the file into the cross-cut shredder beside the desk, then waited for it to finish mixing the fragments and then incinerate them. Her job was one that would not show up in any records or on any budget reports. Officially, should anyone ask, it would never have taken place. Only then did she depart from the room.