Yet Another Effing Debrief

Posted on Fri Feb 22nd, 2019 @ 3:12am by Brigadier General Nathan Wolf & Major Jacob Asher & Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Corvus & Civillian Shae & Civillian Dr. Jessica Andrews

Mission: A Brand New Day
Location: Conference Room
Timeline: Current

Jake, Hassan, and Mantelli were early and sitting around the table. O'Connor was on back-up duty because of the arrival of Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Corvus, another PJ, and his subsequent assignment to SG-1. Eventually, another team would be formed, but at the moment, SG-1 was it.

Nathan walked into the room and everyone stood up. "As you were," he said, waving everyone back to their seats. "Where's Corvus?"

"On his way, sir," Jake said. "He's helping out in the Infirmary."

"Right," Nathan said. "Okay. And Doctor Andrews, Salara, and their friend?"

"I don't know, sir," Jake said. "I'd be happy to go find out if you'd like."

"Oh for crying out loud," Nathan said. "I'm sure you would." Nathan motioned to one of the SFs standing by the door. "Go find Doctor Andrews and Company and get them here, politely, of course."

"Yessir," the SF said and walked out of the room talking into his radio. "There on their way. Apparently there was some kind of...incident in the shower."

"What in the..." Nathan said. "You know, I don't even want to know."

Jake was sort of curious, but he kept his mouth shut. He and Nathan went way back to when to the 24th STS, back when Nathan headed up that unit. Jake knew when to push his buttons and when not to.

Right on cue, Jessica and Shae entered the briefing room together. Shae was looking much less ragged, dressed in a multi-use jumpsuit for the visit, and her hair now no longer hidden under the cowl of her cloak was left loose in fiery tendrils down her back, having been dried by one of Jessica's noisy (albeit useful) devices. Her blue eyes, impossibly blue like she had raised her face to the endless sky and poured the color right in, were red and irritated; in fact, Shae was still rubbing at her eyes as she sat down in the chair that Jess indicated was for her.

"The bottle said there would be no tears, but it lied," Shae murmured, then finally allowed her hands to rest in her lap.

Jake dutifully held his smile back. "After the meeting, we can stop by the Infirmary. They'll have some drops...liquid medicine, that you can put in your eyes. It'll make them feel better. I promise."

Slowing his run to a jog and then a walk, Jeremy hoped he finally found the right place. On Star Trek they had commpanels on the wall to guide new people. Here at Stargate Command you won cheese if you ever found yourself getting to your destination on the first attempt. Checking his uniform blouse was in place after his run, he stepped into the door and then at attention. "General, sir," he said, noticing only the rank before him and really nothing of the person wearing it. He was aware there were others in the room, but they weren't a General.

"I apologize for the tardiness, you gave two women one hour to shower and eat before another one of your briefings and debriefings." Jessica lightly scolded with a smile. This reminded her somewhat of growing up with her family. According to dad 'Breakfast was at 0800, beds were made, dinner was at 1800, and we were in bed by 2000.' It drove Jess mad and she began to rebel against it when she turned sixteen by doing little things that antagonized dad.

Jeremy was trying to slowly move through the room when Andrews spoke. "Oh, holy grail," he whispered, seeing the woman for the first time. He imagined it must have been like the first time someone saw the Mona Lisa or heard Tina Turner sing for the first time. Just...he realized he stopped and, trying not to stare at the goddess across the room, tried to slip unnoticed into a seat. But he failed in trying not to keep glancing at her, sure that nothing that beautiful could exist.

"No worries, Doctor," Nathan said. "You're here now. Shall we begin? If you're ready, the room is yours."

Jess then noticed the Sergeant watching her.

*Should we tell him there's two of us upstairs?*

Jessica giggled internally. 'Not just yet, Salara.'

"Now. It may not seem like it, but protecting Miss Shae has helped us. She's of a rare species that even the Tok'Ra do not have complete knowledge of, but what we do know of her is that she's a shapechanger. She's one, and the host of the System Lord Inari is one. I met this young woman when I escaped from Ba'al, and over the years, we've grown trust very slowly." Jess noted. "Unfortunately, this is the state of the rebellion right now. There's rebel planets, rebel Jaffa, and other groups out there from across the galaxy, and they've suffered so much, they view each other with suspicion. We no longer have this luxury. The System Lords Ba'al, Yu-huang Shang-Ti, and Inari are making diplomatic advances to combine their forces and elect a new sun god to replace Ra. This is being meet with resistance by Cronus, Bastet, and others who believe they should be the new Supreme system lord. They fight amongst themselves, but when someone utters the word 'Tau'ri.' They put aside their differences just long enough to eradicate that person and everyone around them. I have a few ideas how to get the system lords to feud with themselves, but it will involve some ground work."

"I would correct that slightly, if that's alright," Shae spoke, pausing a moment until she received a nod in her direction to continue. "Inari, though strong enough to have earned her place as a System Lord, is not part of the diplomatic talks; she's more like an enforcer for Amaterasu, who is taking part, as well as Camulus, who recently joined. In fact, chatter among his Jaffa is that he will propose to Lord Yu-huang Shang Ti and Amaterasu to align with the Tau'ri to eliminate Ba'al, because right now they hate him more than they hate the Tau'ri. The fact that this is all happening during diplomatic talks with Ba'al can't be a coincidence, and I have a feeling that it is the machinations of Inari at work; she does not lust for ultimate power like other Goa'uld, she loves to sow chaos, and Amaterasu lets her because her tactics have been very effective at getting them both what they want."

She even sounds like a goddess, Jeremy thought to himself, watching Andrews even though the other woman spoke. Melodic and wise all in one. He saw her gaze clip to him for a moment and did his best to look away, even though he wanted to memorize every shade of her eyes. Did the general say she was a doctor? Would she be the one doing physicals? What way could he injure himself to see her in the infirmary without getting removed from duty? Or, better yet, why didn't he just volunteer more hours in the infirmary, get to know her better and...just listen to that voice.

"That may work to our advantage, especially if we can use this potential alliance to whittle them all down." Jessica mentioned. "Make no mistake. I wouldn't trust the System Lords with any permanent alliance, but using these 'allies' will offer us time to grow stronger."

"And how would we use this proposed alliance to our advantage?" Jake asked. "No offense intended, Doctor, I just want to know exactly what we'd be getting into. I mean, if I understand you correctly, we're talking about an alliance with people who are more powerful than we are and who are definitely going to turn on us, in the hopes that we can defeat some of our mutual enemies, and then turn on these allies and get the jump on them before they get the jump on us? Am I getting that right?"

"I tend to agree with Jake, Doctor," Nathan said. "And you can trust that if he says he meant no offense, he meant no offense. I think what he's getting at is that we're going to have to set this up very carefully with plenty of contingency plans for when the excrement hits the air conditioning and things get messy. If I were to get authorization for this, Doctor, what would you suggest our first few moves be?"

"If this alliance defeats, Ba'al. They will promptly turn on us, If Ba'al defeats this alliance, He will be the next Supreme System Lord and turn his attention on us. So we need to pit all of them against each other. The Tok'Ra have done with with great effect, one time we manipulated Dionysus' First Prime into killing Ra's favorite cousin. Dionysus didn't see it coming, probably because he was inebriated." She smirked a bit. "For example, we send our new allies against a fortified planet to attack Ba'al, but at the last moment, we let Ba'al know he's about to be attacked. Then we sit back and watch our enemies cancel each other out."

"Whatever you decide to do, I would strongly advise caution: if Inari is truly involved, she is devious and cunning, and even when it seems like she has lost a confrontation, she and Amaterasu somehow always come out ahead. If there is an art to winning while losing, she has mastered this to great effect," Shae said, uneasy with the thought of letting the Tau'ri become entangled in a Goa'uld alliance.

"Okay," Nathan said. "I hear you both. Shae, rest assured that I'm listening to you, too. Doctor, you and Shae know the players in this game better than anyone else in the room. Whom do you suggest we approach first? Which System Lord? How do we make contact? We're all new at this, Doctor. Everyone that knew anything about this program either died in the Goa'uld invasion, died in the cave in, or is long retired. That makes you and Shae our resident experts."

Jessica spoke. "Usually I'm not for exploiting my elders, but I say Yu-huang Shang Ti." She noted. "He's reaching the end of his life."

Nathan nodded. "Okay. Good. That's good. Now, how do we make an overture to this Yu-huang Shang Ti? Can you get a message through the gate to him? Can Jake and his team escort you to a neutral location?"

"I know the coordinates of the world where he currently is," Shae spoke up. She was starting to feel a bit twitchy, especially in her feet, causing her legs to bob up and down under the table; she was feeling nervous, but not this nervous! "Since he is not well, he no longer travels from his world," she continued, wringing her hands in her lap as the agitation grew within her.

"Okay," Nathan said. "It's settled then. Jake will lead a team to escort Doctor Andrews, Salara, and, if she's willing to join, Shae. Doctor Andrews, you and Salara get together with Jake and decide when the best time to leave will be and what equipment, armaments, and clothing the team will need. Okay, everyone. Dismissed."

At the dismissal, Jeremy stood to allow the senior officers to leave, as was protocol. Plus, he wanted to at least check on the other woman, the "Shae". He'd seen some twitching and her color was shifting. At the very least, if she needed it, he could escort her to the infirmary.

“I don’t feel so good,” Shae said as she swayed in her chair. She was really looking quite pale and her shoulder slumped forward as this sickening feeling within her gut grew worse. “I think I… should maybe go…” she said as she rose to her feet, but that little bit of movement caused a churning feeling to stir, followed quickly by a pain that nearly had her doubled over.

continued in 'Where's Doctor Doolittle when you need him?'