OSI Interview: Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Corvus

Posted on Tue Apr 30th, 2019 @ 11:19pm by Special Agent Mathew Richards & Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Corvus & Special Agent Mark Badger & Special Agent Brick Johnson

Mission: Interlude 1
Location: Cheyenne Mountain: Project New Dawn (Conference Room)
Timeline: Current

Matt Richards sighed. "Alright," he said. "Major Asher seems to be of two minds about this Sergeant Corvus. One the one hand, he thinks the guy is a solid operator. On the other, he thinks Corvus is flailing and therefore at minimum giving the impression that he's a lot dumber than he seems. I'm hoping for the first, but let's be prepared for the second. Show him in, Brick."

Brick simply nodded, then stepped out to check if Jeremy was present; Jeremy had been called to the conference room earlier so that the injured PJ could take his time making his way there without being rushed. Standing in the doorway, Brick's body took up the whole space, and he looked down at Jeremy like he wanted to snap the boy in half like a twig, and then he spoke in his deep, rich baritone:

"They are ready for you now. Do you require assistance?"

"No, sir," Jeremy said as he stood and worked to not limp as he made his way toward the door, blocked by the giant. "Doctor says they won't release me to full duty if I can't make it around on my own." He waited for the agent to move aside and then made his way into the conference room. There seemed to be one chair on one side of the table and several on the other side. He guessed that meant he was in the single chair. But first, "Staff Sergeant Jeremy, sorry, it's actually Jeremiah Corvus, reporting as ordered." He remained standing until he was told he could do otherwise. None of these gentlemen went by rank so he didn't have that to go by. He did recognize the short one, he was a neighbor of sorts, having quarters just two doors down and across the hall.

"Please sit, Sergeant," Matt said. "I know this last mission took a bite out of you. I'm Supervisory Special Agent Matthew Richards of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. I command the OSI detachment here at Project New Dawn. I understand you've met Special Agent Badger. The large gentleman over there is Special Agent Brick Johnson."

Jeremy looked around, already nervous over being called in about this incident, though he knew it needed to be done. But, they were investigating him as part of the investigation. "Met already, sir?" Jeremy asked, trying not to focus on Brick. He looked more like someone he would have once arrested than any kind of cop. "I mean, we've crossed paths in the hall and maybe said hello back and forth, but that's about it, sir." He took the chair, his left leg bent and bouncing, his right stretched out to relief pressure from the foot. "Do I need representation?" he asked, wanting to get that out right away.

"That's something for you to decide," Badger said. "but, this is non-custodial at the moment, we're just going over a few things that we need to know in order to follow up on this investigation."

"Okay," Jeremy said, then quickly added, "sir".

"Great," Matt said. "Let's start with something fairly simple. After the mission was assigned to SG-1, did you speak to anyone outside of the project about it? Even in vague terms? I assume you didn't announce on social media that you were going to another planet, but did you maybe tell someone you were going out of town or on a business trip, or even that you going on a 'mission'? Friends? Relatives? Social Media platform? Text message? Phone call? Anything like that?"

"No, sir," Jeremy said, staring at his hands. "My parents think I'm teaching at the Academy so that might confuse them if I were to suddenly go on a mission and...they might find out I've been lying to them." He looked up momentarily. "There's this new person, Ginny, I sent a couple texts back and forth with her but just said it was normal work stuff. She already knows my work is classified so she didn't expect to get details."

Brick stepped forward. "Phone," he said simply, holding out his hand expectantly.

"Sir?" Jeremy said as he stared at the large man, naturally not liking him but ashamed for that. He was OSI, which meant he was a cop and a good guy. He reached into his breast pocket and brought out the phone assigned to him when he was brought in. "The lock code is 2769."

Brick accepted the phone with a slight nod, then returned to his place by the door to look into Jeremy's messages, then with his own phone he began to dive into this Ginny's social media to make sure nothing nefarious was going on.

"If there's something you're looking for, let me know," Jeremy said. He didn't want to add the extremely guilt pervading 'I have nothing to hide' because that would just throw them onto a trail and question every little thing.

"Tell me more about this Ginny," Matt said. "Where did you meet her, anything you know about her, personal and professional details, anything she's told you about herself."

"Ginny?" Jeremy asked. He thought this was about the mission and the CDC people. What did Ginny have to do with that? "Uhm, I met her about a week ago. Some of us went to this little lodge that Creighton knows about, that's Staff Sergeant Arcadia. He took me and Rav- Doctor Azad and Staff Sergeant O'Connor. I met Ginny that afternoon and thought she was interesting. But I did't see her again until later at dinner. She was with Amelie and Rav - Doctor Azad. He kind of hit it off a little bit I guess and have been exchanging messages since. Y'know, about how our day is going - she's a pediatric nurse in NICU at a Denver hospital, I forget which one. It's in the messages, though. We don't really go into too many details and, like I said, she knows my work is classified so she doesn't really ask except for general things."

Brick nodded to Matt, having confirmed much of this already from what he was seeing on the phone.

"But you did mention to her that you were doing something?" Matt asked. "Going somewhere for work or something like that?"

"I don't think so, sir," Jeremy said, glancing at Brick who still had his phone. "I believe I just told her it was going to be a work day." Normally he'd check his phone for confirmation, but he'd turned it over. "Like I said, I told her what I did was classified so I couldn't give her details."

"His messages are harmless," Brick confirmed. He'd read enough on Jeremy's phone and walked over to return it, then resumed his investigation of Ginny on his own phone, just to be thorough.

"Sergeant," Matt said. "If she was working you, even that little bit of information could have been enough to give away that you were about to go on a mission. Or your text could have been intercepted. To a suspicious person, 'going to be a work day' might even look like code. So, now I have to ask, do you have any reason to suspect that this Ginny is working you? Think hard on that one please Sergeant." Matt looked at Brick. "Have one of the other agents take a walk over to Cyber and have them search every inch of Ginny's electronic footprint, and then have someone pull all the information they can find on her. Schools, work, government information, passports, driver's license, the name of the first boy she ever kissed and the names of every pet she's ever had. You know, the usual." He turned back to Jeremy. "You were saying Sergeant?" The whole time, Matt's voice was calm and either matter of fact or even friendly.

Jeremy looked at the phone, then slid it across the table. "Check it," he said, then burying his head in his hands. "Major Asher is going to love this," he muttered. He liked Ginny and thought she was a nice girl, someone he could see himself developing a relationship with for the long term. She was nice, sweet, caring. That day at the lodge she didn't have expectations for anything more than she, or he, wanted at that point. He thought his parents would like her. In other words, almost a perfect woman for him. "There was another girl, Amelie," Jeremy said, facing Richards but speaking low, guiltily. "She hooked up with Dr. Azad. I pushed it actually. They've been communicating as well. If they're tagging my phone, they'll probably have his as well."

"Okay," Matt said. "Thank you. We'll get into this. This may be nothing Sergeant. These kinds of suspicions come up when you work in highly classified operations. Happened to me once. I let something slip, an innocent comment, to a woman and something went sideways. I got grilled for four hours straight, they dragged my electronics and my web presence, and they crawled through her life. Luckily, she was the understanding type and decided to marry me anyway. We still joke about it."

"Marriage?" Jeremy said, the word like a slap as he shot back in the chair. "Let's not get crazy here, we've only been on the one double date."

Matt shook his head and chuckled. "I'm just saying that I know how rough this kind of bullshit can be on a person's social life, Sergeant. Alright, so you, Sergeant O'Connor, and Shae all stayed by the gate to interact with these Lost Children, who I understand are adults now? You live an interesting life, Sergeant. Anyway, the three of you were at the gate. Did the gate open while you were there? Could anyone have gotten a signal through the gate that way? Did anyone of the team or anyone else dial out and communicate with anyone that way, prior to you reporting in about the infection?"

Jeremy took his time, thinking about his answer. Finally, he shook his head. "No. We came through the gate and it closed. We got our orders. The scientists would go with with the officers to the artifact and we would stay at the Gate to see what we could do to help the kids. I dialed the Gate after we learned of the infection but I don't think a signal ever went through. Nobody answered radio traffic and..." He stopped and stared at his hands again. "I kept checking and I didn't get cell phone signal either."

"You didn't get through to us," Matt said "But someone did respond to you. It was on your tablet. Asher said you showed him the message, forwarded it to his device. It claimed to be from Wolf, it sounded legit to Asher, and it said to work on it from you end and the 'we', which wasn't actually us, that 'we' would work on it from ours. That's why Major Asher didn't think the CDC team was that suspicious when they arrived."

Jeremy looked up, "Yeah, yeah! After I'd sent a brief status report and included video of the hologram. An email was sent back. I didn't look at it, just gave it to Asher. It's probably still in my email account if you need to see it. I'll get you that password to if you want. But, no, it didn't seem like there was other communications. I mean, until after we got told we were on our own, the three of us were right there at the Gate. And by then nobody could leave because of the forcefield. I know, I tried."

Matt nodded. "Thank you," he said. "We have Asher's copy, but if we could get a look at your email, we might be able to figure out where it came from." Matt wasn't holding his breath. Even if they could trace it, and they probably could, someone would call St. John and order her to let the matter drop. She wouldn't, but that would be the end of looking at that particular piece of evidence through official means. Fucking men-in-black bullshit. "Tell me more about what made you suspicious of the PHS officers."

Jeremy looked around at the three officers, his leg bouncing more than ever. "She was a..." he took a deep breath and stared intently at his hands. "...a bitch." He whispered the last word, ashamed he was even saying it. Especially during a recorded interview. "She ordered O'Connor to beat me to death with a shovel if I wasn't more pleasant. I didn't want to leave the...pit...I was digging because..." he stopped, looking way down and turning bright cherry red in the face just remembering that time and his physical arousal. ''She also ordered me to be shot dead. Then...after the exam when I..." He covered his head again, extremely ashamed of this next admission. "When I tried to get her to...have intimate relations with me, she hit me and it hurt. A lot. Leaving a deep bruise." He rubbed his chest where there was still the green and yellow after effects from that hit. "It wasn't normal. She shouldn't have hurt me like that. Not at her body size and age. I remembered Andrews telling me that the Goa'Uld and Tok'Ra have incredible strength."

He had more to say but he didn't want to, he already had enough problems with Asher, would he see this as trying to throw blame at him? "I also remembered Asher telling me Wolf wouldn't send anybody else through the Gate to help us. We would be on our own to figure out the device. At that point, I figured something was wrong and that they were Goa'Uld."

"Actually," Matt said. "According to Sergeant O'Connor, what Major Asher said was that Wolf wouldn't ask or order anyone through the gate to die. According to O'Connor, Asher never said that Wolf wouldn't send volunteers through the gate, which is what we're now assuming Major Asher thought had happened when he saw the bogus CDC personnel. And they weren't entirely bogus, Sergeant. Captain Camilla Valenti, Commander Michael Chow, and Lieutenant Commanders Djebar and Vasquez were all once PHS officers and Epidemic Intelligence Service Officers with the CDC. Except that they all disappeared without a trace, with those disappearances spread out over the last decade. And Shae tells us that the--Prim'ta were all less that a decade old, indicating that it's possible these four were only made Jaffa recently. These trained medical professionals knew their moves and behaved like doctors and a nurse, except for the one who dealt with you, apparently. Captain Hawkins noticed something off, too, but not until after Major Asher was on his way to you, and he didn't call it in, so Major Asher didn't know about that. So, good pick up on the infiltration. Just keep in mind that when they interacted with Jake Asher, they probably seemed legit. You had access to evidence they didn't. So, back to that. Was there anything else they did or said, anything in their belongings that you noticed that seemed off to you? Think about that a moment. Anything at all. We're going out there to look everything over ourselves this week, but if there's something that you think we should look for, fill me in."

"I don't know, sir," Jeremy said, struggling to recall all that he could. "It was a very confusing time, I wasn't thinking very well and then...when I figured out they were a problem I...Oh...oh...can of a biscuit!" he said, turning extremely crimson again. "Yes, there was something...odd. I don't think...we never thought to look for them but..." He took a deep breath and shook his head. "I'm only remembering it because I acted extremely inappropriately," he said, knowing he was making an admission of guilt, but if they had a chance to find out whoever told these people about them, and nearly got them all killed, then they needed honesty. "She, Valenti, she said she needed to collect a cheek swab, for DNA. I remember that because when she said she wanted DNA I thought..." Was his face on fire, it felt very much like his face was on fire, completely on fire. "I remembered thinking that I could pump her full of all the DNA she could ever want."

"I'm not like a FMF corpsman or anything, but I am a damned good medic and cheek swabs for infections a person has had for less than a day would be ineffective. If we already had DNA changes, it'd be born out in the blood tests as well as cheek swabs. That seems odd. In fact, blood tests are actually better than cheek swabs for DNA testing. If anybody goes there, they might look for equipment for DNA sequencing and typing. Or for the samples they took."

"Thank you," Matt said. "That was a good catch. Captain Hawkins also caught that. Major Asher didn't, but again, from your after action reports and our interviews, he wasn't present at the time those things were said. Okay, I need a no bullshit answer here. Do you honestly and truthfully believe that there is any reason to suspect Major Asher was somehow connected to these people? Or rather was it that he was trying to be in multiple places at the same time and due to that, the mission just got away from him?"

Jeremy sat silent, his jaw clenched and hands held tightly together. Finally, he stood and directed his gaze at Richards. "Sir, I come from a law enforcment family and so I respect the job you do, more so now because these people have the capability of wiping out our entire planet within a week. But," here he took a breath, "if you ever try to smear the conduct of a decorated and dedicated Air Force major ever again, then any respect I may have for you will be out the window and any further interviews you may want me to give will be considered adversarial and will require presence of counsel. Whatever issues you may think you know between Major Asher and me, I will never allow anyone to call him a traitor to his country or his people."

Jeremy headed for the door, as far as he was concerned the voluntariness of this interview was over.

"Sit down, Sergeant," Badger said from where he was leaning. When that didn't have the immediate effect he said it again, with more force. "Sit down, Sergeant. We're not done here yet and nobody dismissed you."

Jeremy limped a turn and faced off with the short man. "Are you telling me that I'm not free to leave?"

"In so far as you are a member of the military and you have orders to appear on this time and date to answer questions pertaining to the infiltration of Project New Dawn, specifically and generally related to a previous off-world mission, then no, you are not free to leave. You are free to sit your ass back in that chair and answer questions put to you. Which, I'll agree," Badger said, throwing his hands out and smiling, "you did answer that last question most emphatically."

Jeremy's eyes narrowed but he resumed his seat in the chair. It leaned back and he crossed his arms against his chest and fixed his gaze on a spot on the wall between the two, Richards and Badger.

"Everyone settle down," Matt said. "I wasn't 'smearing' anyone's name, Sergeant. I was simply trying to establish whether you believe that Major was complicit in the Jaffa's ruse, or whether he was placed in an impossible situation, with no support, and expected to hang wallpaper with one hand."

Over by the door, Brick snorted as he suppressed the urge to laugh. "Sorry, wallpaper, gets me every time."

Matt sighed. "Anyway," he said. "Answer the damned question, Sergeant, so we can put the matter to rest. If you don't give us an answer, Badger is going to think you're hiding something about Asher. If Badger thinks you're hiding something about Asher, he's going to be an asshole until I let him drag Asher back in here and put the screws to him. Hell, even I'm starting to think you're hiding something, and I'm the trusting sort. Are you hiding something Sergeant?"

"Impossible position with no support," Jeremy said, shaking his head. "No, sir, that wasn't the case at all. He had plenty of support, he just didn't want to use it. But, no, I don't think he's complicit with the Jaffa. I don't think he'd let himself stoop so low as to take orders from wormguts. And before you decide to ask, no I don't think most of the other members of the team are complicit either. The only one I can think would is Andrews. I mean, she's already got a worm in her head, right? And she's already betrayed her kind once before. Hell, she tried to walk out on us early on when she found out she wasn't in charge of everything." Jeremy glared at Badger, "But good luck with her. I get the feeling she was slippery even before the worm crawled up her cranium."

"You sound like you've given this some thought," Badger said. "A lot of thought."

"Yeah," Jeremy said, turning his spite onto the agent. "I have, because I had a lot of time to think about it and no one else would care to work for them. And maybe they're not done yet. Maybe that's why we're still alive. So we can find more things for them. Nothing else would make sense, not after twenty years of silence. Then they let it get broken over one device? Not unless they're planning to us it and quick."

"You seem to know an awful lot," Badger continued, "especially for the newest, and least experienced, member of the team."

"Alright," Matt said. "So you think it was Doctor Andrews. We'll look into that. Is there anything else you want to tell us?"

"No, I didn't say that. I said she'd be the only one that could be a suspect, not that she is. Finding that out should be your job, not just going off speculation." Jeremy stood again. "You're going to hear a lot about me, maybe you already have," he glanced over at Badger. "Maybe you hear that I'm a screwup, that I have my head up my poop chute. Maybe you'll even find that the girls Ravi and I met do have something to do with all this. I have to trust, then, that you'll do your jobs faithfully. I've got enough problems without needing to worry about being tried as a traitor."

Matt shook his head. "Sergeant, I really don't care if you're a screw up or not, unless your brand of screwing up involves espionage or treason. Your performance evaluations are done by Major Asher and General Wolf, not me. And, for the record, I'm keeping an open mind regarding the girls involvement in all this, and yours. Sure, it's possible you've been turned. But it's also possible that the girls are working you and Doctor Azad. Or maybe someone is working them. Whatever the case may be, we'll get to the bottom of this."

"If they're involved," Jeremy said, taking his phone and sliding it across the table. "I don't want to know except that you found out I'm just an idiot, nto a traitor. I'll get you my tablet as well. It's charging right now, off, so it's not a threat at the moment. I don't think. I'll get new from supply, with different numbers so it'll stay clean."

He took a breath. "Anything else I can do to help, I will. If I think of anything more, I'll make sure you know about it. Some of the people on this team? I think they could be good friends and these...people could have killed them. We may not be lucky twice." He started for the door then stopped. "May I go now?"

Matt nodded. "You're dismissed, Sergeant, with my thanks."

"Yes, sir," Jeremy said, limping out the door, concerned now that maybe Ginny was a bit too good to be true.

Once the door was closed, Brick spoke up. "The initial search on the girl seems legitimate, but I've sent her details to Cyber so they can do a deep dive on her, same as Azad and his new friend. To be honest, I don't see anything worth our concern at the moment, I don't think they're the breach, and since we've cleared just about everyone else, we may have to consider what we've all been avoiding, that the mole isn't on SG-1 but rather within PND itself."

Matt nodded. "I tend to agree, but keep working the girls," he said. "For all we know, it's both. Okay, we're going to pour through the files of everyone in Cyber and cherry pick the ones we trust the most. Then, as casually as possible, we're going to have them start crawling through PND's systems, software and hardware, including the Security systems. NID could have easily built access for themselves into our systems during the construction phase. For all we know, they're hearing and seeing this conversation right now."

"I'll go pull the files for review," Brick replied, then left the room, leaving Matt and Mark to discuss among themselves.

"Alright," Matt said. "Talk to me."

Badger shrugged. "I'm seeing a lot of issues here that are of absolutely no concern to me. They're military and running of the team. But none of them are criminal and therefore I don't care to even write it up as a report. I'm thinking we're making people think about how things are going and that's good, but it's not helping our investigation. Except to say, it may have been a factor in allowing this to happen. As for anyone we've talked to so far? Nothing. Following up on the girls is good, but I get the feeling both Corvus and Ravi are going to take it pretty personal and hard if they've been duped into being unwitting accessories. But I don't see any intent on their part. I think I did my best to piss them off to see if that would rattle anything loose, but there just doesn't seem to be anything there. I think we're pretty much done with the team, time to move onto other avenues. You?"

"Agreed," Matt said. "Let's get all the reports written, encrypted, and off to Region 7, the Executive Director, and General St. John, then move on."