Chapter 23 – Confrontation
Sam's posture immediately stiffened, and she unconsciously slipped one hand to rest on the hilt of the lightsaber clipped comfortably to her side.
"What exactly do you mean, General?" she asked icily, her tone sending shivers down both Jack and General Hammond's spines. Behind her, Dentralla growled in barely controlled rage. Although she may not have known exactly what anti-frat regs were, she had a fair idea, and she knew exactly what a Court Marshall was. Even had she not known that, the change in Sam's posture, her tone, and the slight movement towards her sabre were things that only ever happened when Sam was controlling a rage, feeling threatened, or even both.
"Exactly what I said," the bald General replied, refusing to back down even as a vein, pulsing in his temple belied the stress he was under.
"General you-"Jack began, only to be cut off by Hammond.
"Colonel…" he began warningly, giving the veteran his patented and much practised 'watch your mouth; I'm your superior officer' look. "I just received my orders via Colonel Davis in Washington."
Sam's icy mask thawed a little as she raised an eyebrow, "Paul Davis?"
Hammond nodded in the affirmative and Sam lifted both eyebrows in a 'wow, that's cool' expression. Within seconds of that small movement the ice had re-frozen, forming an unbreakable representation of her resolve.
"Colonel Davis explained to me that the CRDO had somehow not only heard rumours of your fraternisation, but had also managed to get together enough proof to make a legitimate allegation."
Jack narrowed his eyes, instinctively knowing who had brought this about: "Kinsey," he growled angrily, spinning away from the sympathetic Hammond, frosty Sam, and menacing Dentralla. A feeling of rage filled him and he moved to punch the filing cabinet to his left but found his violent thrust restrained as if someone had caught his fist and stopped it in mid air. After struggling angrily against it for a moment, his fury swelled momentarily before burning itself abruptly out.
Finally relaxing against the immovable grip he turned back to the bewildered face of General Hammond again and the reproachful eyes of Sam. He shot her a half-hearted glare before averting his eyes in a manner reminiscent of a sulky toddler.
"You've got to learn to control your anger, Jack," she admonished him in a quiet but commanding tone.
"I think I have a right to be angry, don't y-"
"No." Sam's voice was certain, and Jack could detect an undercurrent of bitter pain to it. He didn't know that as she spoke, Sam was remembering a dark-side induced hallucination in which she had succumbed to her anger and killed three people she loved, stripping the life from their bodies. The later realisation that it had all been the dark side playing with her, tricking her into falling to the dark side - even for a brief moment - had done nothing to diminish the bitter self loathing that she had felt for a few long moments afterwards. And the memory was not likely to fade either. She had learned her lesson and she prayed that Jack never had to. "Anger is never the way. Take away our anger, and you take away a large part of what makes us sentient…the ability to see something that makes you angry and know that it is wrong is just one of the things that separates us from the Goa'uld. But let that anger control you and you will become a Goa'uld in everything but body."
Sam and Jack locked gazes, and in the moments that followed, the only sound was the quiet drone of the ventilation unit that supplied much needed oxygen down to the depths of the mountain facility.
After several heated moments, Jack was the first to look away, glancing submissively at the floor before returning his gaze to the astonished General in front of him.
The impromptu lesson over, Sam's gaze was once again levelled at Hammond. "You were saying?" She didn't bother to apologise for the interruption, knowing that there was no particular reason for her to do so. She wasn't in the wrong.
"Uh." He took a couple of seconds to gather his thoughts before continuing. "According to Colonel Davis, Kinsey was one of the main instigators of this farce, finding some minor loophole that centred around the fact that you had been declared MIA, but not presumed dead."
"What!" Jack exclaimed, before biting back and visibly restraining himself.
"General, that's ridiculous."
"I know, Jack, but Colonel Davis is working on getting the orders rescinded, and is certain that he will be able to do so, but he thinks it will be several hours before he will be able to do so."
Sam frowned, glancing at Dentralla when her Life-partner uttered a questioning growl and repeated it to Hammond and Jack. "So then why is Kinsey even bothering then?"
Hammond shook his head wearily before moving behind his desk and dropping tiredly into his seat. "You know as much as I do, Sam." He sighed and gestured to them to pull up a chair each. Dentralla opted to remain standing stiffly just behind Sam rather than to perch precariously on a chair that would have been far too small.
"He's delaying," Jack declared, a look of irritation on his face.
"What for, though?"
Jack shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."
The sub-zero expression on Sam's face finally gave way to a look of confused contemplation. "Kinsey and the CRDO want access to the non-humans and the Jedi, right?"
"Yes; they've applied for custody and been turned down."
"Then you can bet your blaster that Kinsey's buying time to make some kind of a move to gain custody."
Hammond frowned. "Don't you mean 'bet your boots'!"
Sam stared blankly at him for a second. "What?"
"You said 'bet your blaster'; don't you mean 'bet your boots'?"
Sam raised an eyebrow and pushed back the smirk that attempted to rise. "Do you see 'Tralla wearing any boots?"
Hammond raised his brows and leaned around the table, glancing at the impatiently tapping toe-claws of the Wookies feet.
"Blasters are far and away a more valuable thing to have than boots," Sam explained wryly.
"Of course." Once again, Sam could sense that Hammond was taken aback by this, not having the wake-up call that the rest of SG1 had been given to help make the mental adjustment.
Sam shrugged and glanced away. "Now maybe you understand just why I was so adamant to have the sabers back." She told him, giving him something to think about.
Forehead creased slightly in thought, Hammond opened his mouth to speak but cut himself off when the red phone started to ring. "Hammond."
The three other people in the room retreated to the far end of the office to give the General a modicum of privacy during the short, curt conversation of which all they heard were Hammond's 'Yes, Mr. President', 'no Mr. President', 'I understand that, sir' and 'Thank you Sir's'.
When he replaced the handset calmly back on the receiver, he clasped his hands tensely in front of him, waiting for them to re-take their previous positions.
"As I'm sure you're aware, that was the president," he began, a look of tense relief on his face. "While he agrees with us that the charges are pointless and ridiculous, the loop-hole that Kinsey has found is very much a legal one and has to be followed. In his own words 'it can't be one rule for you and another for everybody else'.
"However, the people he had looking at this told him that before anything about a court martial happened, there could be a hearing to determine whether the circumstances surrounding the 'relationship' include extenuating circumstances that void the charges."
"So…no court martial?"
"No, Jack, no court martial."
"Well that's good, right!"
Sam grimaced. "Except that if Kinsey is just trying to buy time, this tribunal or whatever it is means that he will still have a considerable gain on time."
Hammond nodded sagely. "Now, due to the sensitive nature of the circumstances and the strength of your defence, all we will need to do is send the information that we would like to present in your defence to Washington, where it will be judged and they will either decide that they need to talk to you in person or throw the case out."
"So Kinsey only gets a few hours, as opposed to several days"
Hammond turned solemnly to Sam. "I think it best that we include the video footage of your de-brief, if you don't mind?"
Sam raised an eyebrow but shrugged. "Sure, go ahead."
"Thank you; Colonel Davis is choreographing it all, and I have the utmost confidence in his abilities as well as his loyalties to the SGC."
"We can do that now? Just…send stuff away like that?" Sam asked sceptically.
"Seven years is a long time to be gone, and there have been a lot of changes that wouldn't normally appear to people in that time," Hammond told her simply.
Sam nodded as she absorbed this, realising once again that she had missed a lot of developments in that time. The human race was evolving at phenomenal speeds at this end of the universe.
"So there's nothing we need to do?" she asked for confirmation.
Hammond gave her a smile and a shrug, "I would suggest that you get some rest and prepare for Kinsey's arrival tomorrow."
"We'll do that. Thank you, General," Jack said, giving him a thankful smile as he and Sam both moved to rise to their feet.
The tail end of his comment was, however, drowned out by Dentralla's pathetic, self-pitying whine.
"Oh, right," Sam muttered. "Sir, 'Tralla and Chewie are a race that live in tree-tops and, as I'm sure you can understand, being stuck down here and confined like this is understandably driving them insane. Is there any way that they would be able to move around a bit and get out of their quarters for a while?"
Hammond grimaced with the realisation that they'd all been stuck not only in the base, but in their own quarters for the best part of two weeks in no small part thanks to his own lack of foresight on the matter. "I think that, at this time, the best that I can do is to allow them out of their quarters. They can't go topside for obvious reasons…"
Jack shrugged. "What about the gym?" he asked, seeming as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You could do some training or something."
"I guess…it's better than nothing anyway, huh 'Tralla?"
The large biped yowled an emphatic yes, making Hammond flinch slightly as Sam finally gave a genuine smile.
Jack smirked. "Well then…let's grab the others and see how many of the base personnel we can scare." Throwing the bewildered General a loose salute, he sauntered out after Sam and Dentralla.
About half an hour later, the large group of people entered the large room that had been converted into a gymnasium for the SGC staff.
At the far end, a group of marines were having a small game of basketball and as one they all stopped and turned to gape at the aliens arriving. While they were used to 'aliens' being on base, they still usually looked human and it was a bit of a shock to see the group that had previously been so closely guarded and kept away from prying eyes.
Jack saw this and turned to them pointedly. "Don't mind us, boys, just pretend we aren't here." Turning reluctantly away, the 'boys' made a show of continuing their game, but it was obvious that they weren't entirely concentrating on it any more.
Jack gestured to the equipment at the farthest end of the room with a wave. "Help yourselves," he instructed, slightly at a loss now that they were all here.
They were all unsure of what to do and more than a little aware of the marines at the far end of the room. No one moved for several long minutes.
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Jack finally muttered. "Come on people; you've been stuck in a stuffy VIP room for two weeks, I'm sure you can think of something to do."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow, "SamCarter, I would be honoured if you would take part in a duel with me."
Sam grinned. "Sure!"
"See; that's the spirit."
Reaching out a hand, Sam gestured and called over two of the padded quarterstaffs that had become part of the equipment since they had become allies with the Jaffa Rebellion and increasing numbers of the Jaffa had stayed here from time to time. Moving to the centre of the floor mats that marked out the sparring area, Sam grabbed her staff out of the air and gave it a twirl. It was nothing like the elaborately balanced and carved replica staff-weapons that young Jaffa trained with but was a simple stick, soft wadding wrapped around it to prevent injury.
She tested out the weight and balance of it, wishing that it was a lightsaber as she would then have been more comfortable and had more control, but she pushed it away and fell into a comfortable fighting stance, Teal'c mirroring her.
They began slowly, jabbing and parrying to test out the other's defenses, but Teal'c soon found that he was more than matched by her and the movements became faster, more frenzied and hits came closer to home. Where Teal'c had the advantage of more than a century of practice and physical strength, Sam's movements and reactions were quicker; aided by the Force.
Circling around him once more, her top already soaked in sweat, she was vaguely aware that Luke and Mara had taken up staffs too and that Dentralla and Chewie were wrestling with each other in a variation of a Wookie-Cub's play-fighting game.
Han and Leia were content to sit on a bench at the side, talking quietly and watching the others while the Noghri Borakahk patiently taught Majors Gelk and Pelari some of the complex Noghri techniques for incapacitating an enemy without physically damaging them. Daniel had opted to spend some time with Janet as it was late and he didn't have the same need to rid himself of excess energy that the rest of them did.
Jack had coaxed Corran into sparring with him, though Corran wasn't sure if Jack just wanted the opportunity to hurt him a little. Despite Jack's very closed-off approach to his emotions, Corran had got the feeling that Jack wasn't overly impressed with their lack of faith in Sam during the fiasco two weeks ago.
Sam let the Force flow into her and along her muscles, watching Teal'c's movements with more than just her eyes. Sensing that he would strike high left, and then feint low right before kicking out she threw herself left, passed the point where he would strike and into a slow cartwheel. Twisting her legs in the air, she grasped hold of the weapon with her feet, using the Force to augment a twist that wrenched it out of the large man's hands, much to his surprise. The quarterstaff flew well out of his reach as he regained his balance, ready to use his body for defence. He was once again confounded when, instead of rising to attack, Sam landed in a crouch, twisting her own staff in her hands to swipe around and whack him on the back of the knees just sharply enough for him to feel it and jerk his knees forwards instinctively. At lightening speed, she spun back the other way, rising as she turned and hitting the still off-balance Jaffa across the chest, using the Force to push him a little with the equivalent power that the staff would have dealt in a real-life duel.
Switching the staff to her left hand, she reached out her hand and grabbed a flailing arm before he hit the ground, uttering a soft grunt as she caught his considerable weight.
Returned to his feet, Teal'c was breathing heavily as he bowed and took a moment to regain his breath. Sam wiped her hand on her trousers to rid herself of the layer of her own and now Teal'c's sweat.
"You are indeed a formidable opponent; I have never known anyone who could move that fast."
Sam shrugged. "Force-speed is a wonderful thing."
"Indeed."
The group was unaware that more people had arrived at the gym, intending to use the facilities before they began their night shift and were now talking to the marines in hushed voices.
After a short while of discussing the moves they had used during their sparring match and Sam trying to explain to Teal'c how she was able to use both the Force and her balance for the moves, Corran suggested that they have a little competition.
"It's an exercise we used to do at the CorSec Academy back on Correllia," he explained to them. "They used to get us doing it to both tire us out, give us all some experience with different opponents and styles, and as a teaching exercise. Just a little tournament against each other."
The exercise made sense because, while there might be rivalry between people they were all sensible enough not to take it seriously, and while those who were better gained experience and had to learn a little control and tactics, those who weren't as good learned new things, and learned from their experiences. Failing that, it was good physical exercise and bound to tire out even the most energetic of them.
Stepping back and allowing the first two opponents – Pelari and Gelk – begin their fight, Sam caught sight of the group of SGC staff, who were now muttering quietly to each other and not-so-subtly watching them. She uttered a low growl of frustration, something that she had picked up off of Dentralla after years of knowing her.
She made to go over there and give them a piece of her mind – they were not a freak show, there for their enjoyment – but she felt Jack's hand on her arm and turned to him.
His face was a picture of incredulity and barely checked amusement. "Did you just growl!"
Sam frowned at him. "What?"
"You did! You just growled," the older man crowed, smirking widely.
Sam narrowed her eyes at him and let loose another 'growl', at which Jack suddenly stopped grinning and raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, I know that's a Wookie curse but…care to enlighten me!"
Corran leaned over and clapped a mock-comforting hand on Jack's shoulder. "Even I know that one. Put nicely…she just cast aspersions on your masculinity."
"Oh. Hey! That's not very nice."
Now it was Sam's turn to smirk. "It wasn't meant to be." Once again, she made to go over to the marines and their friends, and once again, she found Jack's hand on her arm, gently restraining her.
"Watch'ya doing?" he asked nonchalantly.
"I'm going to go and show those Jarheads why they really shouldn't be watching us like a freak show," she told him calmly.
"Sam…" Leia's voice was soft but insistent as she cut in. "I don't think you should do that…they aren't doing any harm, and the last thing we need right now is a confrontation."
Sam paused, grimacing as she realised the ex-princess's point.
"You know what this place is like…you do something stupid and the whole base will believe that you went berserk and started rampaging. That will be all Kinsey needs to get you locked away for being 'dangerous'."
Sam huffed and sat heavily back down on the bench. "Spoilsport," she muttered to show there were no hard feelings.
"Anything new on a way to get home?" Han asked mournfully. It was obvious that both the Solos and Corran were missing their families the most, and they were still hopeful.
Sam glanced at Jack, who shrugged. "The only people we know of who are capable of crossing inter-galactic spaces without a 'Gate are the Asgard."
"And we haven't been able to contact them in about four or five years now. We have been trying though," Jack finished for her.
"What happened to them?" Luke queried with a frown.
Jack shrugged again, still not knowing much about it. "They were fighting their own war with the replicators and….well, we think that they just kinda lost track of everything…Thor's popped in a couple times and said hi before popping back out again. Usually only to warn us that the Goa'uld were gonna try and wipe us out again, but that there was nothing they could do to help us."
They paused to applaud Major Gelk as she beat the Twi'lek Pelari and turned to face Borakahk.
"Have you considered trying to use the Force to find them?" Luke suggested, eyes following the moves of the well-trained fighters.
Sam looked slightly surprised at that suggestion. "How?"
"I don't know; it's not something I've particularly tried before, but if you were to meditate on it, try and get at least a partial lock on the co-ordinates…"
"It works best if you know the person quite well," Mara interjected, her face taking on the slight far-away look that Luke now knew meant she was thinking about her time as the Emperor's Hand.
"Jack would be better then," Sam told them without hesitation.
"Me? Why'd I have to do it?"
Sam gave him a sweet smile. "Because you know the Asguard better than the rest of us."
"But I don't know how to-"
"I'll show you."
"But-"
"No buts, Jack; they named a ship after you and it's always you that they beam out when they need help." She frowned. "At least, it was last I knew."
"Fine, whatever," he groused, more for effect than because he wasn't willing to give it a try for their sakes.
"So, who do you think will win? Mr. Teal'c or Big Hairy?" The burly Marine turned to the Tech Sergeant with an eyebrow raised, trying to work out the next round of betting for the little tournament. Several rounds in and it was Teal'c versus Dentralla and the bets were placed as they bowed to each other and started to circle.
"My money's on Big Hairy…she's damn fast, and she's strong too."
With each person only putting a few dollars on each bet, they never lost large amounts, but the SGC pool that had been running since its first few weeks of operation kept up a topic of conversation between even the Marines and the scientists.
"I dunno…Mr. Teal'c's pretty strong and fast himself," someone countered.
All the bets finally placed as Dentralla took her first swipe at Teal'c, the small group watched in awe as they circled each other.
Where Dentralla had an edge on the strength, Teal'c had slightly greater speed and was able to duck and dodge easier, darting around the increasingly frustrated Wookie.
Finally loosing her already short temper, she lashed out and over-stretched herself, leaving her off-balance and practically asking for Teal'c to sweep her legs out from under her.
She gave a fearsome Wookie curse as she went down, and continued to grumble as Teal'c placed one foot on her heaving chest and looked down at her, a trace of a triumphant smile on his face.
Stepping away and allowing her to rise to her feet, he gave her a solemn bow, sweat dripping off of his face as his own breathing rate returned to normal.
Next up was Jack and the odds for the betting favoured Teal'c heavily as it was common knowledge among the SGC that Jack O'Neill rarely beat the massive Jaffa in a sparring match.
What they didn't know, however, was that the ex-first prime of Apophis had not only recently recovered from effectively being dead for a day, and while he more than surpassed most humans physically, he had not yet recovered his previous stamina and was already tired.
As he circled O'Neill, his movements became increasingly sluggish and his reactions slowed by a fraction, and after fifteen minutes of blocked hits, Jack was eventually able to pass the large man's defences and finally took him down, to the amazement of the gathered personnel.
"Ten bucks on Colonel O'Neill." Dr. Felding was quick with her bet; certain in the knowledge that not only had Jack O'Neill just taken down Teal'c, but the Major Carter had been MIA for nigh on seven years and therefore stood no chance against the ex-black ops soldier. Apparently, the lightsaber fight in the Gateroom had been forgotten in light of the knowledge that the legendary Major Carter had returned. Her scientist peers apparently thought so, too, as did the two members of SG-23 that had appeared.
The marines who had been there to witness her sparring with Teal'c were certain that they would make a few easy bucks and put their money confidently on Sam.
All of the increasingly large group turned to watch as the two famed officers stood opposite one another.
"Try to use the Force," Carter instructed him as she visibly relaxed into a ready stance, quarterstaff held loosely in front of her. The SGC personnel traded questioning looks at the mention of this 'force' but turned back to the fight with an almost morbid curiosity.
O'Neill nodded and his face took on a look of intense concentration as they traded a few hits, each testing out the other's defences.
All of a sudden, Carter let loose a flurry of lightning-fast parries and ripostes, gently smacking O'Neill on the arm or leg each time. Stopping, she shook her head at him. "Jack, you've got to relax into it and listen to the Force. It'll guide your movements."
"You know what? I don't like this whole 'guiding my movements' thing. It sounds a whole lot too much like I don't have control."
"You have control; you don't have to move, but the Force will tell you when it's best to do so. It doesn't control you."
The night-shift staff were bewildered as this exchange happened, not recognising any of these terms. Even the context in which they were being used confused them so they contented themselves with enjoying the show, though those that bet on O'Neill were beginning to think that they had made the wrong wager.
O'Neill shook out his arms before settling back into a ready stance, this time looking a lot more relaxed. "Okay, listen to the Force."
Carter let loose another flurry of moves, but this time the slightly muffled sound of the padded quarterstaffs whacking each other punctuated the moves before they broke apart again.
O'Neill grinned. "And who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?"
Carter matched his grin and raised an eyebrow, eyes flickering almost imperceptibly towards their oblivious audience. "I thought we established last night that you were anything but old."
O'Neill's jaw dropped, as did that of every one of the SGC personnel in the room. The fact that Sam had woken from her healing trance only earlier that day was completely lost on them as Jack laughed and settled for probing her defences a little before attacking full out.
Their attention was dragged away from their speculations as to just how virile Jack O'Neill was and back to the sparring.
O'Neill hit low left, feinted high right before coming in with an uppercut that would have disabled Carter's right arm in a true fight, only to find himself blocked each time before being forced quickly on the defensive.
Blocking one of her ferocious hits and managing to get in a shot to her right, O'Neill suddenly jumped, narrowly avoiding a swipe that would have taken his legs out in what seemed to be a precognitive move. Landing in a crouch, he made to use the same move on her as she rose from the floor, his staff slashing out and across at the height of her knees, moving to connect with the backs of her legs, but at the last minute, she back flipped, coming down on the other side of his staff and to his side, bringing her staff around in a wide arc and sending him sprawling to the floor from his already precarious crouch.
By the time he realised what had happened, he was looking directly at the end of her staff.
Dropping his head back to the floor, he lay there and regained his breath.
They were surprised to notice that Carter was barely even breathing heavily as she reached out a hand to help him off of the floor.
Within no time, the story of this amazing skill had spread through the SGC and speculation as to what she had been doing to acquire this skill had sprung up like wildfire.
"How nice of you to join us," Kinsey exclaimed as they rushed into the briefing room, looking a little rough around the edges. "While I'm sure that whatever you were doing to get so…flustered must have been of the utmost importance, we are on a schedule here."
Sam and Jack had the decency to make a show of looking apologetic despite Kinsey's insinuation. He was just sore because his attempt at a delaying tactic had bought him a grand total of an hour and a half instead of the day or two that he'd thought it would.
Sam was surprised to notice that he hadn't aged well which, given the fact that he was now entering his seventies shouldn't have been so unexpected.
His white hair was disappearing and the papery thin skin on his face was sagging, blue veins showing through the taught skin of his forehead. Age spots covered the backs of his hands and his bony joints seemed to be riddled with arthritis.
His voice, however, had managed to cling on to its cutting strength, seeming out of place in his weak body. "Now, we're here to discuss the terms of the relocation of the subjects-"
He was cut off by Leia's curt reply – she, Luke, and SG-1 were the only ones attending, despite Borakahk's vehement claims that he had to be there to protect the Lady Vader. "The terms are simple, Representative Kinsey; the 'subjects' are going nowhere, except home." Her voice displayed her distaste of the term 'subjects', though she otherwise remained calm, polite, but firm.
"And who, might I ask, are you?"
Raising her chin slightly and deciding that the man would be marginally more impressed with a little pomp and bluster, she introduced herself with every title she could thing of. "I am Princess Leia Organa Solo of Alderaan, former Chief-of-state of the New Republic, official representative of the New Republic to the Imperial Remnant, and Jedi knight in training." She gestured to Luke. "This is Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, the last of the old Jedi, First of the New Jedi, and leader of the New Jedi Order. Together we represent the main power in our Galaxy and the 'subjects' as you so eloquently put it."
All of those in the room who had not previously heard her speak in full political mode before – which was everyone bar Luke – were suitably impressed by her standing and regal manner, though they hid it outwardly.
"Well then, Princess Solo-"
"Representative Organa Solo," Leia corrected sharply.
"Representative Organa Solo, then I welcome you to our corner of this Galaxy. I hope you have been afforded the proper respect?"
Luke sensed the scathing, bitter, hatred behind the outwardly polite comment, but remained quiet, allowing Leia to handle him as he knew she could.
"I'm sure you do," was her only comment in reply. "Still, that does not explain why you wish for my people to be moved away from here where we have the most chance of finding a way home and to a place where we will not have these commodities."
"In case you hadn't noticed, this facility is a front line unit and therefore not suitable for housing such a large and varied group as yourselves."
"We have been here for two weeks without mishap or problem; why is it that now is any different?"
"It took time for us to complete the necessary paperwork and find a secure location."
"And this secure location would be where, precisely?"
The comments were flying backwards and forwards with barely a hesitation between in a show of political prowess the likes of which the SGC had never before seen.
"In a valley in a remote region of a mountain range that we call the Rockies, where civilians and ne'er do wells will have the least possible chance of doing any damage."
"Much the same as this facility offers?"
"Yes, with the added benefits of not having all of the aliens locked away inside, where I'm sure it is not healthy for them to remain in the long term."
He knows, Sam thought, he knows that 'Tralla and Chewie have problems being here. How in the Force does he know that! This thought also made her a little nervous and made her wonder what else he had up his sleeve.
It was Luke's turn to cut in, speaking for the first time in his calm, vibrant tone that carried through the room effortlessly, despite the lack of volume. It was a simple trick that never failed to impress subconsciously.
"In that case, would an off-world location not be infinitely better as there would be even less risk of, as you say, contact with civilians and 'ne'er do wells'?"
Kinsey took a long sip of his drink to cover for his being unsettled and to collect his thoughts, oblivious to the fact that Luke, Sam, and to a certain degree Jack could sense his emotions.
"While that may be true, if you were off-world, then it would severely limit our chances of protecting you and ensuring your safety as well as limiting your access to anything that may allow you to one day return to your own Galaxy."
"Do you not think that it is our decision to make!" Leia retorted quickly before swallowing her anger and calming herself.
Kinsey's face hardened, and it was as if he had suddenly realised that this approach was going to get him nowhere. "Not when there is a possibility that two or more of the aliens in your group may be dangerous and the others are unknown. If necessary, we will take you into protective custody to ensure that you cannot harm the inhabitants of this Galaxy."
Jack, who had been struggling to remain calm throughout this all as they were all working on the agreement to let Leia do the talking, finally lost it and slammed a hand down on the table. "Oh for crying out loud, Kinsey, we all know that all you want to do is take them away so you can experiment on them."
"We want nothing of the sort-"
"Shut up."
"I beg your pardon?" Kinsey spluttered, turning to Sam.
"I said shut up." She leaned forwards in her chair, a cold look on her face as she slipped into a different persona; something that she had learned to do with ease as she had searched for the origins of the Touched Virus. This persona was one of someone who wouldn't think twice about killing in cold blood and was afraid of no one. "I know what you're thinking, and I know what you want." She lifted one corner of her mouth in a leer that sent shivers down Hammond's spine. "How does it make you feel to know that I could kill without even moving from where I am at the moment? With one thought I could close off the blood supply to your brain and there wouldn't be a thing you could do about it."
Kinsey shifted uncomfortably, showing that he had obviously seen the tape of the debrief and knew the power that she held. Despite this, and despite the fact that inwardly he was a quivering mess, he kept up his confident mask and leaned back easily in his chair, fixing her with a bold stare.
"How does it make you feel that the minute I even show sighs of feeling unwell, you and your alien pets would be dead and shipped off for dissection? This is exactly why there is not even the remotest possibility of you going anywhere but the facility in the Rockies. You are a danger to this nation, and we will not have you running free to do as you please. I had hoped to do this the easy way, but it seems you are intent on doing the hard way. So be it."
Sam narrowed her eyes and clenched her jaw, preparing to make a move to escape, reaching out with the Force, and covering Kinsey's airways. Within seconds, he had begun to choke and struggle, the surprise of her friends evident.
She was forced to release her Force grip though, when the sound of two rifles being cocked broke through the tense air.
"Sam…this isn't the best time for this…" Jack murmured in her ear and she relented as she grudgingly agreed with him, despite the knowledge that she could easily have stopped the bullets.
Gasping for air, Kinsey sat slumped in his seat. "Arrest them and lock them away," he wheezed, sending for more SF's who were loyal to him.
That at least answered the question of both how he'd been getting the information and why he'd been quite so cocky. "SG-1 too."
"What? Why?" Hammond and Jack both demanded at the same time.
