Title: Shadow Liaison.
Author: Cataclysmic
Rating: PG
Summary: Junior Liaison to the Pentagon Dawn Summers just got a new job...
Spoilers: up to Season 5, Proving Ground for Stargate, Season 7 Buffy.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story, I make no profit from this, and all characters are owned by the Stargate and Buffy people, I am just borrowing them for awhile.
They had given her an hour to regain her bearings in yet another briefing room, she snorted, like she needed it. She knew that despite the fact she had been recommended to Major Davis because she was used to dealing with weird stuff, no one had bothered to tell him how weird that stuff was, or for that matter what her current project was, or what made her so special and different from all the other junior liaisons that worked for the Pentagon. She knew this because part of her deal to work for the Pentagon was that the only person that could impart knowledge about the Slayers to Pentagon staff or anyone else for that matter was Dawn. She was the only person working for the government who was authorised to 'induct' people to Slayer or Demon knowledge. It was done so that someone they trusted would know what was going on, so only people she trusted would be able to find the Slayers, so that nothing like the initiative would ever happen again. The Slayers appointed their own liaison to the Government, the Government just employed them. Being an exception to the rule worked well for Dawn as it saw she had a lot more power than other junior liaisons and indeed often more than a full liaison would be granted, it served to make her a somewhat unique commodity in the Pentagon. She still did the occasional 'normal' job for the Pentagon so as to not raise too many eyebrows but all in all she was normally run ragged with everything the Slayers needed. When Major Paul Davis began looking an assistant, someone able to handle the outlandish nature of the SGC he had evidently gone to her superior in his search, one of only a handful of people who knew what she really did.
She now had an hour to digest a concept that she had already accepted after about five minutes thought, and to make matters worse she had nothing constructive to do during that time. Base security had confiscated her laptop and mobile as she entered the base, most likely so she wouldn't be able to contact outside before she had been given the clearance to do so. Not that there was actually anything she used for work on the laptop, she wasn't stupid enough to carry information on the Slayers into a Top Secret Military base in her laptop and hope that they wouldn't find it. But at least it had solitaire, as well as some more interesting time waster games. Her mobile was likely taken so it wouldn't interfere with any of the equipment, not that she suspected it would work underground anyway. Checking her briefcase just to be sure she found she was correct in assuming she had nothing of interest in it, just a couple of spiral notepads and pens nothing that could not possibly keep her entertained for any period of time.
The briefing had gone well, even though it had been exceedingly long. But despite its length it had been incredibly interesting so she was willing to forgive them. So far she had learned a great deal about an artefact called the Chappa'ai or Stargate, which created a wormhole between one Stargate and another and apparently served to transport humans and aliens across the galaxy. The Stargate was thought to have been built by the Ancients, extremely advanced alien dudes and the SGC's job was to bring back advanced technology for earth especially advanced defensive technology as well as stop Earth from being invaded by aliens.
Personally she thought they were a little understaffed for the job, but that was just an initial thought and as she hadn't seen the rest of the base yet or how the SG teams operated she was willing to withhold judgement, for now.
The explanation of the theory of the Stargate was followed up by a summary of what the SGC did and an explanation of the Goa'uld, system lords and Earth's allies. Following their brief explanation of the Stargate program they had left her to her thoughts with a promise to see it later, it being the Stargate. A lot of the information they had given her had only been covered in brief and as far as she was concerned would need to be covered in greater details or investigated at a later date. The explanations given in the briefing were just that, too brief.
She looked around the briefing room, it was just as drab as the other one, though certainly more homey, with fake looking wood lining the inside of the briefing room, a big improvement from the drab grey hallways. The briefing room also had two national flags hanging in the corners of the room. Patriotic much, she supposed she should have expected it, being an American Military base and everything inwardly hitting her forehead, off course there were going to be flags, good thing too because they added a bit of colour.
She tapped her fingers against the table for a few moments before once again looking to her watch. She was so bored and she still had another fifty minutes before they would be back to get her, and continue with the explainy thing.
Obviously Major Davis hadn't given Mr. Boss Bosses word much weight when he was told Dawn was used to dealing with strange stuff, because she was going to be stuck here for another forty five minutes 'digesting' what she had already accepted and was ready to move on with.
Finally she decided she was not waiting in this room a moment longer. She had noticed when they left her here that they hadn't locked the door behind them, no need really what with the security cameras and the 'escort' they had likely left outside the door. She suppressed a snort, an armed 'escort' of course. Since they had been so kind as to leave her a guide she may as well take advantage of him, in a non taking advantage of him kind of way of course. After all, she figured said 'escort' would know where some other people were someone for her to talk to, or at least, where the cafeteria was, she decided she may as well make use of him. Because after taking an hour to get to the base and through security, three hours of being briefly briefed and an additional fifteen minutes being bored Dawn was beginning to get the munchies.
After a quick glance at the camera, well the visible one anyway, there were probably others her mind reasoned she made her way to the door.
MP Hugh Ryan was surprised when he noticed the door to the briefing room he was watching opened to reveal the leggy brunette from the Pentagon he was supposed to be guarding.
Subtly keeping his eyes on her he did as he was trained to do in these situations and pretended to be watching the hallway instead of guarding her.
She did not seem at all concerned about her actions and seemed perfectly at home with the fact he was armed and guarding the hallway outside the briefing room.
"Excuse me, I was wondering which way it is to the cafeteria?"
As if she didn't realise she were under guard and this was a top secret base with extreme security concerns.
"I do not believe you have permission to be wandering the base M'am"
Hugh replied steadily though inwardly he was wondering about her, he had been told before starting the shift that he would be guarding a new junior Pentagon officer who had just been told about the Stargate and aliens for an hour. It had only been fifteen minutes since she had been taken in there to think things over, he knew soldiers who had taken weeks to before they even began to believe what went on here, and some of them had seen some seriously weird shit in their time. Yet here she was asking for directions to the cafeteria as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
"Never said I couldn't though." she stated shrugging one shoulder.
She was probably suppressing, didn't want to believe what she had been told and pretending it had never happened in the first place. Pity, he wouldn't of minded having the leggy brunette around a bit more.
He supposed there was no harm in it, after all she probably wouldn't be coming back and he was meant to be guarding her not the hallway anyway and she already knew about the project.
"This way M'am."
The cafeteria was a veritable gold mine of information about the Stargate program Dawn thought as she tuned into another conversation between members of different SG teams.
So far just from eavesdropping on a few conversations she had picked up a lot more on the Goa'uld and other peoples they had run across than the afternoon briefing could hope to cover.
And it didn't hurt that they had some pretty decent food down here.
The MP from the corridor had taken her to the cafeteria like she had asked, and separated himself from her not far from the door, though he was not seated far away and glanced in her direction every few minutes, she pretended not to notice.
She didn't know what possessed the top military brass to build Top Secret Military bases and being underground anyway, well ok so it was probably more secure but every time she thought about how many metric tonnes of dirt and rock just had to be over her head it made her more than a little queasy, which was not a good thing considering she was thinking about it at the moment and she was eating. Luckily her mind had been elsewhere this morning and she had not had time to think about it.
Turning her attentions back to her surroundings she noticed a young female air force officer had seated herself opposite her. It was about time she had a chat to someone here instead of just listening to them.
Watching the feed from the base security cameras General Hammond decided to just ask the question that had been on his mind ever since he had first heard about Major Davis's peculiar new recruit from Lieutenant Stephens, the young man who had briefed her this morning.
He had been surprised, not only by the fact they were to have a junior liaison assigned but also because it was rare for anyone brought into the Stargate program to react as calmly as Dawn Summers had when told the majority of the major dealings of the SGC involved aliens of some kind.
Dawn Summers though had barely batted an eyelash and had remained calm enough throughout the briefing to ask intelligent questions. This had thoroughly impressed Lieutenant Stephens but brought doubts to General Hammonds mind.
"So Paul, what can you tell us about your latest cadet Dawn Summers?"
"Not much sir, when it got out that I was looking for someone new in my office one of my superiors at the Pentagon called me up and recommended her for the position. When I told him I was looking for someone more qualified than a junior liaison he told me he was confident she would be more than capable for the job,"
"What was she working that he would think she would be able to handle the SGC Major?"
"When I asked sir, I was told I was not cleared to know about the other project she is working with but sir, for someone that junior as her she sure had some friends and contacts in high places. Certainly whatever she is working on it doesn't match up with any sort of assignment given to a junior liaison I've seen at the Pentagon."
"Is it possible she could be NID?"
"No sir, I don't believe so, I trust the man who recommended her sir, and although I don't know what else she is working on I do know he knows about the dangers the NID poses to the SGC and does not want them involved. I don't think there is a possibility that she is working for the NID."
"There's always a possibility Major."
