The Fox Girl

Posted on Tue Feb 19th, 2019 @ 7:47pm by Brigadier General Nathan Wolf & Major Jacob Asher & Civillian Shae & Civillian Dr. Jessica Andrews

Mission: A Brand New Day
Location: Lethuan
Timeline: Current

The stargate on the planet Lethuan opened and Jake, Master Sergeant Jamal Hassan, Technical Sergeant Tony Mantelli stepped out of it. They assessed their situation, and, seeing no threats, quickly established a perimeter in front of the gate. Travel through a stargate was one-way, but communications were two-way, so at a nod from Jake, Jamal activated his comm and gave the all clear for the rest of the team to step through.

"It's clear, Captain," Jamal said. "The major says you and Doctor Andrews and her little friend can come through."

"I'm right behind you." Jessica noted. She wasn't going to wait for anyone. And followed Asher and his team.

"Wow," Mantelli said. "That feels so weird."

After Jackson stepped through the gate, the wormhole closed.

"You'll get used to the gate. Furthermore you are not seeing space and stars in there. When you exist as pure energy being transmitted between two distant points, your mind perceives it the best it can. I don't think we'll be seeing any Jaffa. System Lords only care about planets that have usable resources to exploit. Now let's see, where is it?" Jessica said.

"Whatever you're looking for Doctor," Jake said. "I'd appreciate it if you could find it quickly."

Jessica spoke. "Normally, when we've had to contact her in the past, we've done it one on one. Let me do the talking and introductions. All we know is that the wounds left behind on her by the system lords run deep with her. The Tok'Ra know her as Shae." Jessica mentioned as she lit a signalling fire to get Shae's attention. "Put your weapons down, she's very cautious."

Hassan and the others looked at Jake. Jake shook his head. "Keep your weapons and low ready, muzzles angled downward, but do not put your weapons down," he said. "I think that's what you meant anyway, right? I assume you didn't want us to disarm and leave our weapons here in a pile?" Jake grinned to show he wasn't angry, just clarifying.

Before Andrews could answer, they could hear the approaching crunch of snow, and through the veil of trees rising up from the endless sea of white, a figure slowly approached. She was a slight figure, seeming even shorter in the deep snow and covered in a rough woolen cloak and furs for warmth. She came into view of the Chappa'ai and stopped when she saw that her Tok'ra contact was not alone.

"You've brought strangers?" Shae called out once she was in earshot of team, continuing her trek closer. "You know the deal I made in exchange for cooperation, Tok'Ra: you come alone or don't come at all."

"Shae, I would like you to meet some of my friends. From my world." Jessica had to make sure she didn't get afraid and run. "They are Tau'ri." Hopefully that would Intrigue her enough not to run, given the stories how the Tau'ri destroyed Ra. "And I have some information you might find of interest."

"I know who they are, I've seen their kind before," Shae said with a hint of disdain, coming to a stop a few meters away from the group. She fumbled around under her cloak and drew out a crystal, showing it to Andrews before tossing it to the woman, knowing that the worm in her head would know how to use it. "Coordinates, your other friends had to move their operation again," Shae said. "And if this 'information' you have for me has anything to do with working with the Tau'ri, I'm not interested; I just want to be left alone..."

Jessica responded. "That's not what you really want, Shae, and you know it. How long have you been here, in this frozen waste, living by yourself with the animals to keep you company. It's a good way to try and forget, but it never works, Shae. You may think it brings you peace. But in the back of your mind, you know the agonizing truth." She smiled. "Even if you push me and Salara away, we're still going to be your friend even if you like it or not." She smiled warmly. "Shae, in the end, the only way we move on is by confronting the past."

"I don't know," Shae said, looking back at the treeline she had come from. "It's beautiful here, peaceful and calm... I've never had that before, and who knows how long I'll get to enjoy it before the Goa'uld come looking for me again." She returned her attention to the group, looking at the Tau'ri in what appeared to be regimented garb, then her gaze fell back to Andrews. "Besides, I may trust you and the Tok'ra enough to do the odd job here and there, but I don't know them. What reason can you give me to trust them so blindly?"

Jessica spoke. "Shae, the war is not going well. We're loosing, and loosing badly. Soon even this place may not be safe." Jess noted. "I can take you to a safe place, where they'll never find you, but will that make you happy? Can you live with yourself in peace while many others, just like you, only wish they could, and are forced to worship the system lords as gods. But then again, you've read my secret messages. You know full well what's happening to this galaxy, so I won't lecture you." Jess wrote Earth's gate address on a small piece of paper. "If you want us to hide you, or if you decide you want to confront Inari, come to Earth." She also gave her a GDO. "And use this when you open the gate and wait ten seconds before you step through. You don't want to go splat on the Iris."

When Shae looked confused, Jake spoke up, smiling, keeping his tone friendly, but just serious enough that Shae would take him seriously. "The Iris is a metal shield we can open and close over the wormhole of the Stargate, Miss. Anyone wanting to come through the Earth gate needs one of those. If we don't get a signal from that device or one like it, we don't open the Iris. If you try to pass through the gate with the Iris closed, you crash into the Iris...before you've completely reformed. So...splat. So remember to use the device. We look forward to seeing you when you come and visit us. My name is Jacob Daniel Asher. I'm a Major in the United States Air Force. My friends call me Jake."

"You can protect your Chappa'ai this way?" Shae said with amazement as she looked over the unfamiliar device in her hand. "Sugoi ne! I would very much like to see this work," she then said with excitement. "Can you show me?"

"Sure," Jake said. "Mantelli! Dial it up!"

Mantelli grumbled something about being a Weather Jumper and not a telephone operator, but shut up when Hassan glared at him. The chevrons locked into place one by one, and the wormhole opened. Jake pulled out his GDO and show Shae how to activate it as he activated his. He received the response and nodded to Hassan, who ordered Mantelli and O'Connor through the gate.

"Make sure to wait for the response," Jake said. "That tells you the Iris is open. If you don't get that response, something is wrong. Don't go through. Okay? Or, you know, you could just come with us now...if you wanted to."

"I want to see it," Shae said, walking up the steps to the great 'puddle', although she hesitated for a moment before finally stepping through; she had been through these gates many, many times, but never before had she felt any concern that she might go 'splat', but the others had gone through without any fear, and so she likewise pushed forward through the event horizon.

"Oh shit," Jake said. "Follow with the Doctor!" he said to Hassan, then ran through the gate...to find, once again, Nathan Wolf standing behind a small army of Air Force SFs in blue berets armed with M-4s and two turret mounted .50 caliber machine guns. Except this time, Nathan Wolf was a Brigadier General. "Greetings...General Wolf. I come in peace. So does she. Shae, the nice man standing behind all of the men and women pointing guns at us is, I'm guessing from the promotion he seems to have received, now in charge of what we call Stargate Command. General Nathan Wolf, this is Shae, the woman Doctor Andrews told us about. I, uh, don't suppose you could get everyone to lower their weapons, could you?"

"Not until the Doctor and Hassan come back through, no," Nathan said. "But I will assure your new friend...I notice, Jake, you hardly ever make any ugly friends, now do you? Anyway, I assure you, Miss, none of these people are going to harm you. Come right this way. Mantelli, call your buddy through the gate and tell him and the doctor to unass that planet and get back here RFN."

"Copy that," Mantelli said. He activated his comm. "Jamal! Wolf says to get your asses back here forthwith!"

Back on the other side of the gate, Hassan keyed his mike. "Acknowledged." He turned to Andrews. "Now would be a good time, Doctor."

"I did not understand much of what either of you said," Shae murmured as she stared uneasily at the weapons pointed at her. She suspected that the contraptions the team carried were weapons, but seeing them pointed at her gave her a distinctly un-welcomed feeling. Although she was becoming increasingly distracted by all the metal and stone-like walls caging them in; what had they done with the sky?

Jessica followed with Shae. "Welcome to the SGC Shae." She gestured Shae to turn around. "Close the Iris."

Shae practically jumped out of her skin when she heard the Iris sliding closed behind her, and she turned quickly to catch of glimpse of it in action.

"Ah, I see, I understand 'splat' now," the young woman said as she reached out to touch the cold metal titanium covering the event horizon, only to hear the wormhole disengage seconds later. "This is amazing! Can you do this with any gate?"

Jessica smiled. "Just this one for now. It's a unique piece of Tau'ri Engineering. We could install this system on any gate if we really wanted to, in fact that is an idea we could explore later. I think the SGC could benefit from your ingenuity, Shae."

"Doctor," Nathan said. "Before you have me sending engineering crews all over the galaxy, perhaps we could get you and the others stood down and into a briefing room with this young lady and we can talk about whatever information she brought with us? I was assuming your friend might come back with you, so I arranged quarters for her. Why don't you go take her to where these nice SFs escort you. She can clean up and then get something hot to eat. Meet in, say, an hour?"

"Clean up? Am I really that offensive?" Shae asked, lifting her cloak to give herself a curious sniff, only to find that she didn't smell all that bad. Although, with her cloak now open, everyone could see that she was armed with a quiver at her hip as well as a dagger at her hip and one in her boot. "I would bathe more often, but it is cold on Lethuan!"

Jessica spoke. "Shae, you remember when I and my Tok'Ra promised you we'd never lie to you. Well.... You are kinda ripe. That being said, you'll have to surrender your weapons. They mean you no harm, but we all have to earn each other's trust, Shae." Jess was trying to keep the overly cautious SGC from frightening the girl. "And I'll take care of the orientation, General. We've kinda earned a modicum of trust from each other over the years."

Jake stepped in. "Miss, if you'd like, I can look after your weapons for you. You have my word nothing will happen to them. I'll treat them with respect."

Nathan wasn't in Shae's line of sight so he felt free to role his eyes. Fucking Jake Juan Cassanova he thought.

On the one hand, Shae understood their need to protect their world, and she was a guest, so it made sense. On the other hand, Shae didn't like the idea of turning over her weapons, and the only reason she eventually did so was because she had seen their Iris at work and knew that nothing could come through the gate to harm them.

"Be assured that if you lose or damage these, I will be quite displeased with our budding relationship, and I don't need a weapon to do unpleasant things to you," Shae said as she handed over her bow and then unbelted her quiver, and then a moment later all three of her daggers were in his possession as well. Once she was fully unarmed, she stepped closer to Jessica.

"Now you can show me that 'chamm-poo' stuff that makes your hair smell so sweet," she remarked.

"Don't worry, Miss," Jake said. "I'll good care of them."