Secret Meetings

Posted on Tue Feb 19th, 2019 @ 1:20am by Brigadier General Nathan Wolf & Major Jacob Asher & Civillian Dr. Jessica Andrews
Edited on on Tue Feb 19th, 2019 @ 1:21am

Mission: A Brand New Day
Location: SGC Briefing Room
Timeline: Current

Nathan was surprised to find Jessica's SF detail in the conference room when he got there, until he saw Jessica. "Starting early, Doctor?"

"Yes, what I have to tell you Colonel is vital to all our survival, and we have a lot to discuss." Jessica noted. "And a lot to do."

Jessica was in the room early preparing for Major Asher and his team to enter, she spoke as soon as Major Asher and his team entered. Jake and the others took a seat around the table.

Jessica stood. "Now that we are in a place that doesn't have so many ears, there are many things we need to discuss. Mostly concerning myself. The most important question is how I ended up travelling the galaxy." Jess noted. "I was abducted, along with my expedition in Antarctica. Our abductors turned out to be a race known as the Jaffa, who served another being known as Ba'al. They were abducting humans from across the galaxy for a host for Ba'al's daughter. A Goa'uld named Anthusa."

"Ba'al?" Hassan asked. "The guy they worshiped in the Levant?"

Asher, Mantelli, and O'Connor looked at him strangely. Mantelli stifled a laugh.

"What?" Hassan said. "It's called reading. Try it sometime."

"Moving on," Nathan said. "I've read up on the Goa'uld and the Jaffa. The Goa'uld are also called the System Lords, right? And the Jaffa are their foot soldiers, some are even their generals? And Goa'uld fashion themselves as Gods to lesser developed peoples, like us, at least when they were here...however long ago they were here. Go on, Doctor."

"As blind luck would have it. The TokRa had an agent in Ba'al's company. He killed Anthousa's Symbiont and substituted Salara. A Tok'Ra to infiltrate as his daughter. That was when we meet. I thought it was out of the frying pan, into the fire, but then I heard her in my mind. Salara made a deal with me. We infiltrated the Goa'uld as Ba'al's daughter, and she'd leave my body after we escaped." Jessica noted. "I chose to trust Salara. As Anthousa, I succeeded in saving more lives than any Tok'Ra before me." She noted. "We were discovered eventually, but not before we had succeeded in destroying one of Ba'al's fleets. Salara wanted to leave my body. She felt shame of taking me like a Goa'uld. But I wanted her to stay. Colonel. You see the Tok'Ra are the antithesis of the Goa'uld. While a Goa'uld takes a host and overrides the host's personality and thoughts, but a Tok'Ra and its host shares a body in perfect symbiosis." Jessica noted. "I realize this may seem alien to you, bordering on inhuman, but there are advantages. As a host to Salara, my health is near perfect, I age slower, she gains a host, and I receive her knowledge, experiences, and wisdom."

"Alright," Nathan said. "Now we know what happened to you. So, what else can you tell us about the Goa'uld. Numbers, technology, politics. It's been two decades since we've heard anything from them and no one in this room was a part of the Stargate Program back then. What about their enemies? According to a new contact of ours, there's been an uprising, a rebellion against the System Lords. Does it have any outside support beyond what we might be able to offer?"

Jessica closed her eyes and opened them again. "And now we move to the heart of the matter." Salara finally spoke. "Since the SGC defeated Ra on Abydos more than twenty years ago, word has spread from system to system of the Tau'ri. Cracks have appeared in the Goa'uld's empire, growing into fissures. My colleagues with the Tok'Ra have never seen anything like it." She noted. "But since you defeated a Goa'uld invasion, An act unheard of for thousands of years. Many have risen up against their oppressors. But every week while one world regains its freedom, another looses it. They are frightened of the Tau'ri Colonel, so frightened they would burn an entire world that starts uttering the word 'Tau'ri.' I'm afraid it will do no good this time to seal your gate again, even if you do, even if you tell yourselves in comforting ignorance you'd be safe. It will all lead to an eventual confrontation; an act so devastating it would convince the entire galaxy they are truly gods." Salara let it sink in. "This time... you fight the worst kind of enemy. One united by fear and cowardice. They will not take you as slaves, but they will burn the Tau'ri to glass. Just to purge the very thought of you."

"Well," Nathan said. "The whole 'frightened by the Tau'ri Colonel' thing might be a problem. The Tau'ri Colonel retired seven years ago as a Lieutenant General after reaching the mandatory retirement age. In other words, he's gone fishing, he's not coming back, and I'm the only Tau'ri Colonel in the SGC at the moment. Oh, well. I guess I'll have to be scary...or maybe Jake here and his team of misfit toys will have to do that for me. What do you say, Jake? Can you and your team be scary?"

Jake and the others grinned. "Yup. We can handle that."

"All joking aside," Nathan continued. "It seems the stakes are a bit higher this time around. A lot of what you've told us jives with what we got from our other new contact, a woman named Sen'ry. We're scheduled to take a trip through the gate to meet up with a group of rebels and discuss a alliance in this fight. Doctor Andrews, you've done a lot of fighting in the field on your own. Could handle working with a team? One where you weren't in charge? I'd like you to join SG-1, but you would have to understand and agree to the fact that this is an Air Force operation. Even if you're just going to work from the base, you'd need to agree to respect the authority of the officers and NCOs that work here. On base, insubordination is aggravating. In the field, it's deadly. Major Asher is in command of SG-1. Master Sergeant Hassan is his second in command. Then come the other two. As you work with us more, we'll assess your capabilities in the field and that situation might change. Until then, if you agree to serve on a team, I would expect you to offer counsel when it's possible to do so, but otherwise follow orders. Can you do that?"

"I am trained." Jessica noted. "Tok'Ra combat training emphasizes stealth, infiltration, and assassination. Where the Goa'uld would use their Jaffa for direct combat, I would watch from afar, pick off their soldiers with my sniper custom staff, and then the next thing the Goa'uld would see is my eyes staring at them as they die." She noted. "I also have reason to fight. My family is here on Earth. I've seen many families destroy during the course of this war, it is very real to me. I will serve you with the same diligence as I would the Tok'Ra. This has been my goal since the moment we encountered each other. To widen the cracks in the Goa'uld Empire. There's just one thing I ask. I want to see my family."She then frowned. "But know this. We're not only facing enemies from beyond the gate, but from within. Before I dissapeared I encountered suspicious people asking me questions about my research and work."

Nathan nodded. "I'll arrange for two of the OSI special agents we have assigned here to escort you to see your family. They'll be in civilian attire and they know how to be discrete."

"Thank you, Colonel."

"Can I talk with your Tok'Ra?" Nathan asked. "I'd like to interview and debrief them as well. If we're going to be working together, I think we should start getting to know each other."

Jess closed her eyes again and spoke with a smile. "You want to listen to an old Tok'Ra's stories. I'm flattered, but I think I'll just tell you what is relevant. We do want you to eventually get married and have kids." Salara teased.

Nathan chuckled. "Been there, done that," he said. "And I was raised to pay attention old people when they tell stories, even the tall tales. I have questions and concerns, but I'm not entirely sure where to start. Let's try this. I respect that you're probably astronomically older than everyone in the room and that your amount of experience dwarfs ours. I'll even go as far as to say, in front of this team here and it's commander, that I expect them, whenever possible and appropriate, to use you as a resource. And yet my statement to Doctor Andrews applies to you. While you are here or acting as a member of SG-1, you are subject to our orders. Mine, Jake's, and other members of the team. Over time, as we get to know each other, you may be given broader responsibilities and broader authority. But we need to get to know you better first. I hope you understand that my saying that, for example, young Staff Sergeant O'Connor here has authority over you in the field isn't intended as an insult to you. These four operators here have common training and and even worked together prior to this. They know each other's moves, procedures, tactics, capabilities, etc. They know the capabilities and limitations of each other's weapons and equipment. You and Doctor Andrews represent an unknown factor to us. I'm sure over time the both of you will become integral members of this team and this command. Until then, I ask your patience while we get to know you. And Jake, and the rest of you, get to know Doctor Andrews and Salara. You're going to be working together. Your lives are going to depend on each other. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," Jake said. "Ma'am, I welcome your input, though I might not always be able to act on it and the situation might require me to tell you to hold off until I feel like we have time to discuss it. I'm sure the rest of the team can also show you that respect."

O'Connor and Hassan both nodded. Mantelli seemed to hesitate, then nodded as well.

"Salara?" Nathan said. "What do you say?"

"Actions always speak louder than words; Colonel, and I intend to do just that. Though in the end, we will have to put aside our differences and distrust. The Goa'uld are crafty and treacherous. We target their cracks, but they also target ours." Salara noted. "We cannot be idle. I know of others that could bolster the SGC's ranks. We will need much more than Tau'ri Military to win this war, but the combined talents and strength of all the galaxy. Orithius wasn't our only stop in our search. We're aware of others that we must contact immediately. I'm meeting one individual on Lethuan in a day, and I'll give you the gate coordinates for this world. We must move quickly, or the Goa'uld's spies will find her."

Nathan considered this a moment. "Alright. What can you tell me about this world, Lethuan. What can SG-1 expect to find there? Goa'uld, I assume, or least Jaffa?"

"It's an unaligned world. No Naquadria nor anything else that would interest the Goa'uld. Just snow, woods, more snow, more woods, and wild animals."

"Alright," Nathan said. "Jake, you and SG-1 will accompany Salara and Doctor Andrews to Lethuan and meet with her contact there. Salara, can my people go in their full gear or do we have to blend in with the locals? I'd rather the former. The latter would make it more difficult for them to shoot their way out of trouble, but it could be done."

"I recommend you go in full gear, and stay downwind. Lethuan has bears the size of Tanks." Jess smirked.

"Right," Jake said. "Hassan, make sure everyone has a 590 Cruiser loaded with slugs. If we actually run into a bear the size of a tank, those might at least drive it off, and they're small and light enough to carry as a secondary weapon."

"Yes, sir," Hassan replied. "O'Connor, you ever use the weapon the Major is talking about?"

"Uh...no," Ree said, blushing. "Sorry, it just never came up."

"No worries, Major," Hassan said. "I'll get her checked out on one by tomorrow."

"Okay," Nathan said. "Everyone's dismissed. Salara, if you'd like to give Doctor Andrews the driver's seat for a bit, you two can come with me and I'll schedule that visit the good doctor wanted set up with her family. Everyone else, go forth and prepare."