Diplomacy (15a/27)
Title: Diplomacy ( Table of Contents)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. I gain nothing of material value from this.
Pairings: Gen.
Chapter1a-- 1b Chapter2 Chapter3 Chapter4 Chapter5a-- 5b Chapter6 Chapter7 Chapter8 Chapter9 Chapter10 Chapter11a-- 11b Chapter12 Chapter13a-- 13b Chapter14a-- 14b Chapter15a-- 15b Chapter16 Chapter17a-- 17b Chapter18 Chapter19 Chapter20 Chapter21 Chapter22 Chapter23 Chapter24 Chapter25 Chapter26 Epilogue
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Consequences, Part I
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10 December 1998; SGC, Earth; 0900 hrs
"Eleven letters for a physicist with a paradoxical cat," Jack said. "Starts with S."
"Schrödinger," Carter said immediately, and then, "They did not write that as the clue."
"Yes, they did," Jack told her.
"It's not particularly accurate."
"There's not much space provided," he said, giving her his best exasperated look. "And didn't I say you were disqualified from answering?" It didn't stop him from starting to write in her answer, though. Doing these puzzles with a genius sucked most of the fun out of it, but it didn't mean she wasn't good for answering the things he would never have figured out, anyway.
"Sorry, sir," she lied.
He focused intently on his crossword, then said, "So I hear SG-9 got back while I wasn't looking."
There was a pause, and then Teal'c said, "Daniel Jackson did indeed return with them last night, O'Neill."
"Ah," he said, with the ridiculous feeling that they'd timed it purposely so that he'd be away when they got back.
"It was pretty late, sir; you'd gone home already. Have you...talked to him recently?" Carter asked hesitantly. "He's been a little..."
Daniel hurried into the briefing room, and she stopped before she could finish the sentence.
"Good morning, everyone," he greeted as he took his seat. "Am I late?"
"You are not," Teal'c assured him.
"How do you spell Schrödinger?" Jack said, looking him over surreptitiously.
Hammond had lifted that restriction on Daniel's going off-world--Jack himself had argued privately to him that not a lot of judgment calls were going to be harder than handing a baby brother to someone else who, admittedly, seemed a lot better suited than any of them for protection--and Daniel had jumped on it right away.
Jack didn't know how to say that he didn't think handing over a baby brother could possibly be good for a person's state of mind.
The research and diplomatic teams were getting more used to having a civilian along, and more of them were putting in requests for people to help with translation or data collection. Daniel was always willing to go, and Rothman was always happy to let him, as long as he wasn't falling behind in some history book he was supposed to be reading at the time. He'd been on two longer missions so far and few more short there-and-back trips, just in the last three weeks since Kheb.
Restless, Captain Griff had said, chuckling.
The kid's been underground for two, three months, Ferretti had agreed, quietly, out of earshot of the rest of his team when Jack had asked (less subtly than he'd intended), and just after he got off-world approval, too. He seems okay to me, Jack. We're looking out for him, too. You're just jealous SG-1's only had two missions in the time he's gone on five.
Now Daniel cocked his head, not really meeting Jack's eyes, and asked, "Isn't that Sam's cat?"
Jack took a second to remember what he was doing and turned to Carter. "You have a paradoxical cat?"
"He was named after Schrödinger, sir," she explained, "who had a theory that's often presented as involving a cat that's both alive and dead at the same moment. Paradox."
"And he's staying with Narim of the Tollan now, anyway," Daniel added, deadpan. "Since last year, when you rescued them and sent them to the Nox homeworld. Right, Sam?"
Carter blushed a little. "Yes, Daniel, that's right. You wouldn't happen to know what we're doing here today, would you?"
"Nice topic change," Jack told her. "Very smooth."
Daniel shook his head. "No idea. I just found out a minute ago that I was even supposed to be at this meeting. Sorry I missed you yesterday," he added innocently to Jack. "You said there was something you wanted to talk to me about?"
Yeah, right, like he was going to talk about Kheb or Shifu or anything right here in the briefing room when General Hammond was about to walk in any second. "Nothing important," Jack lied. "I'll ask you later." Good thing, too, since he didn't really know what he was going to say.
That was another thing--Daniel been...not avoiding Jack, exactly, but he was never alone anywhere anymore. There were suddenly more reasons to stay on base so he could work on a translation with Captain Young's help, or there was that abandoned planet SG-8 was on, and they needed someone to translate the instructions that went along with some device so they could figure out how to turn it on. The only time Jack had seen him for more than an hour at a time was last week, when they'd been doing target practice with zats and handguns at the range. It had been a disturbingly quiet training session, other than the sound of bullets. Daniel had pointed out that they wore ear protectors that made it hard to hear conversations, said thanks for the practice time and that he was getting more shots on the target now, and skipped off to the base library.
He seemed okay most of the time, and Jack still wasn't sure whether to leave it alone. He was churning out impressive volumes of quality work, these days, but then, he'd always been like that, hadn't he? It was only looking after Shifu that had temporarily slowed him down...but of course he'd be sad or quiet or...something. It was normal. Nothing to worry about. Jack hoped.
"Do you know why the general called this meeting, sir?" Carter asked him.
"I've got nothing," Jack said, folding his finished puzzle and putting it away. "But I'm gonna go with...friendly aliens with invisible arms. Any takers?"
"What?" Daniel said, confused. "Take what?"
Teal'c understood, though, and answered, "I have rarely encountered beings whose arms are truly invisible, O'Neill."
"If they were invisible, T, you might not have noticed them."
Teal'c frowned at him, then offered, "SG-4 encountered resistance yesterday. Perhaps they are in need of our assistance."
"No, Major Coburn reported that the situation was calming down," Carter countered. "I'd say a mineral or technological survey is more likely."
"Ah, come on," Jack dismissed. "That's so boring."
"Statistically, sir, it's the most likely probability, followed by meet-and-greets with locals."
Jack turned to Daniel. "What about you?"
Daniel had caught onto their ritual. He hesitated, then guessed, "Follow-up negotiations." He held up a hand and ticked off points: "You guys don't usually do in-depth cultural surveys, Sam would be aware of it if it were any other kind of research thing, and I'm not cleared for first-contact yet. So it must have to do with communication with locals."
Jack guessed they weren't really counting Kheb, in terms of first-contact. He also guessed bringing it up wouldn't be particularly tactful when Daniel clearly didn't really want to talk to him.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Jackson," General Hammond said as he walked in, "it's not quite so simple."
They rose to their feet in time to see Dr. Fraiser enter behind the general. "Uh-oh," Daniel said, looking at the doctor.
"Good to see you, too, Daniel," Fraiser said dryly.
Eyeing her warily as well, Jack quipped, "You know how I hate to hear that, sir."
"Don't we all, Colonel," Hammond said. "As you were."
Once they were all seated around the table, the general folded his hands on the table. "I'm not going to beat around the bush. I received a call from the Pentagon. They're sending one of their people to ask about what happened with the Harsesis child on Kheb a few weeks ago."
Daniel's mouth made a silent 'oh.' His shoulders slumped, just for a second, before they came up again defensively.
"I take that back, Carter," Jack said, keeping his tone falsely casual but unable to hide his annoyance completely. "You know me. I love mineral surveys."
"Unfortunately for them," the general continued as if he hadn't spoken, "you all won't be here at Stargate Command during the next few days."
Jack raised his eyebrows, knowing they weren't next in the mission rotation and suspecting there was something being left unsaid. "Meaning...what, sir?"
"This isn't a ploy to avoid them," Hammond said immediately, seeing what Jack was thinking. "...entirely. But the timing does work out well for all of us. Doctor?"
Fraiser leaned forward, opening a folder and passing copies to the rest of them. "There's a lot of NID-run work being done at Area 51. Here are some of the reports they've sent to us here. Personally, I've been hoping to get some time to look at Hathor's sarcophagus, but there's plenty more I'd like to see. In fact, I'm sure all of the departments here would like to have some idea of the research they're doing."
Jack opened his folder, skimming past a few devices he remembered bringing back or seeing other teams bring back. There were a few others he didn't remember seeing before at all, and he focused on those.
"There's not a lot of information here," Daniel noted, fumbling his glasses onto his face.
"No, there's not," Carter said. "General, I've also been wanting to go to Nellis to take a look around. I'm sure Dr. Rothman's department might want to send a representative, as well, since he's away at the moment."
Daniel was already engrossed in reading something and didn't seem to have noticed the leading tone to Carter's suggestion, but in any case, he piped up, "I'd like to go, if I'm allowed. We've collected writing from planets left by the Ancient database, and I've made a lot of progress with the basic language structure, but there was so much that we had to send a lot of raw text to Area 51 for further study. It would be nice to know if they've gotten anywhere with our notes."
Now that it had been mentioned, there were things in these reports that Jack wouldn't mind finding out about, either. If it helped them avoid Pentagon lackeys sniffing around inside the SGC, that was a plus, too.
"Fine," Hammond said. "I'll let Dr. Rothman know." Daniel looked surprised at the agreement, then turned his attention back to the reports.
Jack took a grainy picture from the folder and brought it close to his face. "I don't recognize this thing, here," he said. "It's not identified, either."
"That is a Goa'uld healing device," Teal'c said.
"Really. A healing device," Fraiser repeated thoughtfully. "Is that hand-held?"
"Indeed. It is less effective than a sarcophagus, but I have nonetheless witnessed its ability to heal wounds that would otherwise prove fatal."
"This file doesn't say who brought it to Earth," Carter pointed out, paging through. "I don't remember seeing it pass through here, and I'm sure I wouldn't have missed something like that."
The general nodded. "I've looked through everything we've been sent. Most of it seems unremarkable, but I don't remember seeing that device any more than you do, Captain." He gave them all a pointed look.
"So Dr. Fraiser, Carter, and Daniel want to go," Jack said to the general. "Teal'c obviously knows more about some of this stuff than we do, so he's in. And I'd like to go along and keep an eye on them, sir."
"Agreed," Hammond told him. "You'll leave for Peterson in a few hours. The representative from Washington will meet you there."
"Really?" Jack asked with a grimace as he realized they weren't going to avoid it just by taking a trip to Area 51. "Does he have to?"
"Yes," the general said. "We'll kill two birds with one stone--you can clear up any confusion that remains about the Harsesis, and Dr. Fraiser has been asking to go to Nellis for a while now. This just seemed an opportune time. The Pentagon representative agreed to meet you there, because he'll be able to conduct a surprise check of the research facilities while there. That's why you'll all be dropping in unannounced as well."
"We can do that?" Daniel asked.
"And isn't the Pentagon in charge of the NID research?" Carter added.
"But they found out during the Hathor incident that some things have managed to stay under everyone's radar," Fraiser said. "The Pentagon's been keeping a closer eye on the Area 51 since then. Surprise inspections are within their authority, and we've cleared it with them to send some of our researchers along with."
Jack was pretty sure that was something like three birds with two stones, depending on how the stones and birds were counted, but what it meant was that the Pentagon guy would be spending less time scrutinizing SG-1 and Daniel's actions on Kheb. That was fine with him. "Do you suspect something's going on there again, General?" he had to ask.
Instead of answering directly, Hammond held up the file on the healing device. "Given the NID's track record, let's just say I suspect that looking at their activities might shift the Pentagon's focus off questioning you."
"And do we know who they're sending, sir?" Carter asked.
"Your plane will be met by a Major Paul Davis. He's just stepped in as the Pentagon's liaison with all Stargate operations. Anything else?"
Jack shook his head, answering, "No, sir."
"That's all, General," Fraiser added.
"You're authorized to stay there for three days to discuss the facility and any projects or concerns with the researchers," Hammond said, already rising. "Dismissed."
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10 December 1998; Area 51; 1400 hrs
"Major Davis?" Jack asked the man who met them at Homey Airport, watching him carefully. They'd had a few encounters with Area 51 and the Pentagon's interests regarding the Stargate, and he wasn't about to be taken off guard by anyone this time around.
"Yes, sir," the major replied with a brisk salute. "Is this everyone, Colonel?"
"Yep. Dr. Fraiser, here to speak with the medical researchers, and the team who went on the mission in question: Captain Carter, Teal'c, and Daniel Jackson."
Davis' eyes lingered a little on Teal'c and Daniel, the latter of whom was hitching his bag onto his shoulder and didn't notice, but he nodded, unfazed. "I understand you'd all like to take a look around the facility. I'm sure you already know I'm looking to do the same, so why don't we start there? I have a few questions for you that need clearing up, but if you don't mind, we'll do that at the end of the day."
"No argument from us," Jack said. "No point in a surprise inspection if it's not a surprise."
"That was my thought, sir," Davis agreed. Jack's impression of the man went up a cautious point. "Follow me."
"Don't you need special clearance to get in here?" Daniel said, jogging a little to catch up to the front of the group as they neared the security checkpoint.
"We have the highest clearance," Carter told him.
"Even me?"
Davis glanced at him. "I was under the impression you'd been here before."
"Yes, but with...escorts. By which," he added, "I mean 'guards.'"
"You do realize, Daniel," Jack said, "that we found you the same way we find most of the stuff they study here?"
"Huh," he said. "I guess that's true."
They were met by a man at the security checkpoint who snapped quickly to attention at their approach. "Major Davis," the man said. "We just found out you were coming a few minutes ago. One of the research supervisors has been alerted, and he should be meeting us as soon as he can."
"Major," Davis greeted, then introduced, "Colonel O'Neill, this is Major Reynolds, NID. Major Reynolds--Colonel O'Neill, Captain Carter, Teal'c, Dr. Fraiser, and Daniel Jackson."
Jack watched the man carefully, but Reynolds' face only betrayed a flicker of surprise before he nodded back to Davis and turned to Jack, muted excitement plain in his voice. "I can't tell you what an honor it is to meet you all, sir. You guys are a bit of a legend around here."
"Really," Jack said, a little surprised at the warm reception. "Then you know who we are, obviously."
"Of course, sir," Reynolds answered. "We'd be out of business here if it weren't for the discoveries made at the SGC."
"Speaking of discoveries, why don't you give us the tour."
"Uh..." Reynolds said, glancing at Davis and asking, "I take it this is an...official tour?"
"Yes, sir, it is," Dr. Fraiser said firmly.
"Is that a problem?" Davis asked.
"No, uh. Of course not," Reynolds said, stepping back. "A little unexpected, but not a problem at all. Follow me."
With a final glance at the others, Jack followed the man into the building, Davis a step behind.
"Any preference about where to start?" Reynolds asked once they were inside.
"I'm interested in the Goa'uld healing device," Fraiser spoke up.
That gave the man some pause. "I...don't recall reading about a healing device in any of the reports."
Jack looked to Teal'c to explain, but Carter jumped in first. "It's unlikely that anyone knew what it was. Teal'c identified it for us, and I caught a glimpse of one for a few seconds off-world, but I'd be willing to bet no one else has even seen one. In fact, that information wasn't included in the report sent to General Hammond, so I assume that means no one knows."
Reynolds didn't seem to have heard the 'If I find out you knew and didn't tell us...' in her words, or else he didn't comment on it. "In that case, it's probably this way." He started down a corridor, explaining as he went, "There's a whole department devoted to analysis of devices we don't know much about, right by the Goa'uld technology sections."
As they started off, Jack asked Carter, "When did you see one of those things?"
"On Cimmeria, the first time," she said, "when you and Teal'c were inside the Hammer. I saw a woman using it to heal and thought it was a ribbon device at the time."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "The healing device can only be used by a Goa'uld, Captain Carter."
"Oh, the woman had been a Goa'uld, according to Gairwyn, but she'd been through the Hammer, so by the time I saw her, she was a...previous host," she finished, her steps faltering. "Oh." She glanced at Jack, eyes wide. Jack shook his head minutely at her, not wanting to speculate about how many similarities she shared with the Goa'uld, not right here.
"That's what they figured," Reynolds said, having heard the conversation but not, apparently, having picked up implications to Carter. "That's why we've got so many things just sitting around. Study of the function of Goa'uld devices is very limited without a Goa'uld who can use them."
"What's that?" Daniel asked suddenly, looking through a window into another lab. "That looks like--"
"An iris," Reynolds told them. Jack followed their gazes as well to see what was unmistakably the metal shield that covered their Stargate. Except...not exactly.
"For what, a mini-gate?" Jack asked. The iris in that lab couldn't be much more than half the height of a regular doorway. "'Cause I hate to tell you, but you got one in the wrong size."
"It's probably just a scale model," Carter said, peering through as well. "They must be testing the design against various stresses."
"Ah," Jack said. As he watched, the scientists in the room flipped down face shields and stood back, one person moving to man something that looked like a very big...something, as shields lowered over the windows and blocked their view. "What's supposed to come out of that thing?"
"The ray gun?" Reynolds said. At their looks, he shifted in embarrassment and said, "That's...what some of us call it, anyway."
"Hey," Jack offered, "we call things on our end the 'kawoosh' and the 'garage-door opener.' Just saying."
Reynolds looked like he wasn't sure if he was supposed to smile and instead explained, "Officially, it's some kind of intense laser that--"
A flash of light escaped the shielding from inside the lab. Jack watched for a minute to wait for the shield to rise again and make sure everyone in the room hadn't been fried to death, only to see the people inside excitedly examining the iris. "Huh."
"Like I said, sir," Reynolds said. "Ray gun."
"That's a powerful laser," Carter said, her eyes lighting up like a Carter in an alien technology research facility. "I can see where it hit the iris, even after such a short duration. Very accurate, too. You've been working on them here for weapons applications?"
"It doesn't seem to have done much damage," Davis commented. Jack looked at the mini-iris and saw that, while there was a reddened area that was probably pretty hot at the moment, the iris was holding strong without a dent and was already cooling off.
Reynolds nodded. "That's because they're not testing the laser; we've had that for a while, and they're using it to test the new iris design. It's an alloy of titanium and trinium, that new metal SG-1 found. After SG-7 found and brought back a greater supply last month, we thought improving defenses should be a first priority."
"When will it be operational?" Fraiser asked.
"General Hammond should receive a preliminary report soon, if he hasn't received it already. As you can see, they're still doing a lot of testing, but we thought the decision to start using it or to continue trials should be handed over to you folks."
Davis nodded curtly. "That lab--it's fully protected?"
"Yes, sir," Reynolds said quickly. "All labs testing explosives, energy weapons, or unknown technology are shielded against radiation and are as well reinforced as the testing rooms under Cheyenne Mountain."
"I can't believe I didn't think of this myself," Carter said, inching toward the door. "Doping the iris with trinium...I wonder how much they had to use to achieve the most efficient--"
"Ah!" Jack warned. "One thing at a time, Carter. We've got three days to look around."
She reluctantly pulled her hand back from the handle of the outer doors of the lab. "Yes, sir."
"The Goa'uld tech room is at the end of the next hall," Reynolds prompted, leading them onward and pointing out a few other highlights on the way. "One of the linguistics offices is here; they're poring over your notes about the Ancient language, Mr. Jackson, as well as the Asgard text Dr. Rothman sent us."
Jack raised his eyebrows. Ancient writing had been found on many of the planets left from the Ancient database, and in some cases, staggering amounts of Ancient writing. Back at the SGC, Daniel had mentioned making progress on the language, but Jack hadn't realized they--and Daniel in particular--had made enough progress in translating it to have enough notes worth poring over. On the other hand, Daniel had been doing something these last few weeks while he'd holed himself up on base, and he'd said that a lot of pure language or translation projects went to him rather than Rothman.
"This room here is where they're working on that chemical SG-2 brought back a few months ago," Reynolds continued. "They think it could be a cure for Alzheimer's."
"From P3X-595," Fraiser said, peeking into the lab. "I didn't think of that application."
"Guess it was useful after all," Jack said to Daniel, who nodded absently but didn't answer.
"Here it is," Reynolds finally announced, swiping into another lab, empty of people at the moment. "Goa'uld technology."
Jack looked past the lab benches and blinked at what looked like an entire wall of safes, each marked with a number and label.
"Who has access to these?" Major Davis asked.
"All the researchers and the officers overseeing the work," Reynolds said. "But the only devices in this lab are ones we know to be relatively harmless."
"And what's in there?" Carter asked, pointing at a more heavy-duty door locked by a card swipe and a keypad.
"You keep all the little green men back there?" Jack asked.
"There are no alien life forms at Area 51," Reynolds assured him.
Teal'c raised an eyebrow and Daniel shifted his pack of books on his shoulder. "Well, that depends on what you mean by 'alien,' doesn't it," Daniel said, with a gleam of irritation in his eye that said he was in the mood to piss someone off. "If you mean 'not from Earth,' that's one thing; if you mean 'very different,' in a cultural sense, or that someone is not human--"
"Present company excluded," Jack interrupted before he could get going, because as much as he enjoyed bewildering federal agents, Carter was starting to look impatient, as well.
Reynolds wisely let it go. "We keep potentially dangerous devices in there under an additional layer of security."
"And 'potentially dangerous' would mean..."
"Things with unknown functions, or ones that might activate themselves or be activated by accident. In fact, sir, I would guess that the healing device you mentioned should be back here, too."
Once they were let in, Carter zeroed in on the cubbyholes separating one device from another and quickly found the one she was looking for. Jack easily recognized the gold color that characterized gaudy Goa'uld tech, though the device itself was unfamiliar. Reynolds entered a combination on the side of the container, and the door popped open.
"From what I saw," Carter said as she reached for it, "it looked like you just hold it in your hand, like this." She slipped her fingers through the slot and cupped the device in her palm to demonstrate, and the red crystal in the center immediately began to glow. "Whoa!"
Reynolds jumped back. Daniel and Fraiser stepped forward for a closer look. Carter quickly pulled off the device.
"What were you expecting?" Jack said.
Carter didn't seem in any hurry to try it again. "An on-switch? I didn't know just picking it up would--"
"Like you said, Captain," Fraiser said, quickly, calmly, and loudly, "that must be from what Jolinar left behind in your blood. It's probably automatically triggered by either touch or some other subtle mechanism." Reynolds took in the unworried expressions around him and relaxed a hair.
"Uh, yeah," she said, staring at it, though Jack noticed she was careful not to hold it anymore like she was going to use it.
Fraiser took up the baton then, taking the device from Carter without hesitation. "Do you know how much it can heal? What kind of things..."
"No," Carter answered. "I just saw it the once. A few seconds, that's all."
"I also am uncertain of the extent of the device's abilities," Teal'c said. "It was rarely used in my presence. I believe it is used primarily when a Goa'uld wishes his slaves to believe he has mystical powers."
"So," Jack summarized, "probably not as good as a sarcophagus, but it looks good. Wave your hand over someone's head, and he's healed."
"Precisely," Teal'c said.
"Well, we can't exactly test it out here, not without something to try to heal," Fraiser said matter-of-factly, turning it over in her hands. "But we should really figure that out. Something like this could literally be saving lives. There are other devices--the ribbon device, for instance--that scientists probably won't get very far with here, but we can continue research at the SGC."
"So Captain Carter can make them work, and no one else can?" Reynolds clarified.
"That is likely," Teal'c said simply.
"I'll make sure to tell my supervisor, then."
"We can't just bring them with us?" Jack asked, imagining the piles of paperwork it probably took to have things shipped from one place to another.
"There are regulations, Colonel," Major Davis told him. The joys of red tape. "The officer in charge of this division needs to sign off on it, but I don't see that it should be a problem."
"Yes," Carter said, recovering, "speaking of regulations...where did you get that healing device?"
Reynolds raised his eyebrows. "I don't remember, exactly, but I'm sure it's in the records somewhere."
The door slid open behind them. "It is," the newcomer's voice said. "It's from P8B-146, if I remember correctly."
Daniel choked. Jack turned to see who it was.
"Colonel...Maybourne?" Carter asked.
Holy crap.
Reynolds paused in what looked like aborted introductions. "I see you've met."
"Uh...in a way," Carter said, looking fascinated and confused and a little sick at the same time. "Sir?"
Colonel Harry Maybourne gave them all a bright smile. "Good to see you all. Why don't we step into the conference room next door?"
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Continued in Part b...