And now for some exposition and plot development. And the seemingly obligatory Marco-Ax-Minutes joke. Sorry if it's a little boring.
Rachel
We got off the elevator into a drab concrete hallway, with various conduits along the ceiling and metal doors dispersed at more or less regular intervals, most of them requiring a card to enter.
(This place could definitely use some more color,) Marco said. (I see…curtains. And wall-to-wall shag carpet.)
I ignored him, opting instead to speak to Ax. (How are we on time?)
Andalites have a very accurate innate time sense. (We have approximately 55 of your minutes left in morph,) Ax replied.
(Ax, how many times do I have to tell you? They're my minutes. They're your minutes. They are everyone's minutes!) Marco exclaimed.
Ax was unfazed. (Now we have 54 minutes.)
We followed O'Neill and Kinsey down a maze of corridors before entering what appeared to be a conference room. There was a long table in the center of the room. Two of the walls were dominated by windows, but with my fly vision I couldn't tell what they looked out on. Across the room was a door, which probably led into whatever room the smaller window had a view of.
Four people sat at one end of the table. The other Animorphs and I discreetly buzzed around, taking them in.
On one side sat a woman, probably mid to late 30s, with short blond hair. She was wearing the same blue utility uniform as the colonel. Across from her was a guy, also in his 30s, with short brown hair and wearing glasses. His outfit was similar to the colonel's and the woman's, except his was army green. Next to him was a big black guy. He was bald, and had what looked like a very weird tattoo in the middle of his forehead. He shirked the utility uniform that the others wore in favor of a simple black t-shirt and drab green cargo pants. At the head of the table was the only guy in what looked like a normal military uniform. As I took note of the bald, slightly chubby guy's appearance, Marco noted something else.
(This guy must be in charge. See those stars on his shoulders. He's a general.)
(More History Channel?) I asked.
(Nope. Patton.)
This general must have been the George that Kinsey had spoken to on the phone. He noticed me and brushed me aside with a wave of his hand. I tumbled a bit but quickly regained equilibrium. The others and I buzzed down to the empty end of the table.
No one at the table seemed excited to see the senator. Blondie, Glasses and General George all looked frustrated. Tattoo just raised an eyebrow on an otherwise expressionless face. They didn't do any of the stuff I thought military officers were supposed to do when greeting politicians, like stand up or salute. Maybe that was reserved for the president.
The general gruffly greeted the two men with a nod. "Senator, Colonel, please have a seat." After O'Neill had greeted everyone and taken a seat next to Blondie, and Kinsey next to O'Neill, the general continued.
"First things first, Senator. How did you even know about the deployment of the F-302s? Don't tell me you were at that factory?"
"Yes, General, I was. What were you thinking? You could have exposed one of the most top secret weapons in the world."
"Would you rather the Goa'uld go public, Senator?" the General retorted. "I stand by what was done."
"Do you even have a cover story?" the Senator asked.
The woman spoke up. "The Air Force is saying that the death gliders and the 302s were out of control prototype attack UAVs that had been in a training exercise."
"And what about the Goa'uld, Major Carter?" Kinsey said. "There's a probably a System Lord in orbit right now. What are you doing about him?"
"Well at this point, sir, there's not much we can do," the woman- Major Carter- said. "The Goa'uld, whoever it is, is staying out of sight. He's keeping his distance and keeping himself cloaked."
"We could launch Prometheus. Couldn't it could detect the gliders as they left the mothership's cloak?" Kinsey said.
Glasses chimed in. "Unfortunately, uh, Prometheus is undergoing some maintenance. They're still tinkering with that Al'kesh hyperdrive they had to jury-rig into the ship."
(Are you listening to this?) Marco said. (Top secret weapons? System Lords? Hyperdrives? Motherships?) He chuckled nervously. (Well, Ax, what do you think of the human race now?)
(I do not know what to think,) Ax said, sounding honestly bewildered. I couldn't blame him.
O'Neill was speaking. "Prometheus is always getting maintenance. Honestly, if it were a car I'd have traded it in by now. What's the mileage on it? Hundred, two-hundred thousand light years? What can we get for that?"
Kinsey rolled his eyes but went on. "How did this Goa'uld even get here without our knowledge, anyway? Isn't it your job to keep track of them?"
"Most of our intel on Goa'uld movements comes from the Tok'ra," the general said. "They gave us no prior indication of a System Lord being on the way. We contacted them a few days ago and they said that none of their agents had known of any Goa'uld operations against Earth. They were just as surprised as we were."
O'Neill spoke, looking up from the pen he was lazily twirling. "Maybe it's some upstart. You know, trying to make his place in the galaxy. A Goa'uld's gotta start somewhere. Right, Teal'c?"
Tattoo raised an eyebrow again, looking faintly amused. "It is possible, O'Neill. However, the tactics of this Goa'uld are unlike those of any I have previously encountered."
"You mean he hasn't given us the whole 'grovel before your god or be destroyed' bit?" Glasses said. "I noticed that."
"Indeed, Daniel Jackson," Tattoo- Teal'c- went on. "It is most unusual for a Goa'uld to come to a world without demanding complete obedience or simply scorching the planet. This one is acting methodically, almost seeming to make surgical strikes."
"Whatever," Kinsey said. "I don't care what his M.O. is. He's a Goa'uld. He shouldn't be anywhere near this planet. And I don't see what the big problem with sending Prometheus up. It doesn't need the hyperdrive for operations in Earth's orbit."
"It does if the hyperdrive's unstable," Glasses, whose name was apparently Daniel Jackson, said.
Kinsey paused, looking around the room. "Fine, whatever, I don't care how you get the Goa'uld, just get him. Now moving on-"
"Whoa, 'moving on?' O'Neill interrupted. "Senator Robert Kinsey 'moving on' from berating SG-1? Who are you and what have you done with the real Kinsey?"
Kinsey raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I'm still going to point out your inability to defend this planet, just from someone else."
"I take it this is about the 'talking animals' and 'blue centaurs' you were going on about over the phone?" the general said.
(Hey! They're talking about us!) Marco exclaimed. (It's about time.)
(Should we demorph, Jake?) Cassie asked.
(Not just yet,) Jake replied. (I want to hear what Kinsey says, first.)
Kinsey glanced around the room, probably looking for us, before answering the general. "I probably should start at the beginning. I was making a campaign stop at Universal Manufacturers when I was attacked."
"By these…creatures?" O'Neill asked.
"No. My attackers were human. My rescuers, however, were the menagerie from hell."
(Excuse me?) I blurted. ('The menagerie from hell?' We saved his sorry butt! Does he even remember that we're right here?)
Kinsey continued. "My human attackers had bound me and were dragging me god knows where when a hawk started dive bombing them. Right after that a bear, a gorilla, a tiger, a wolf, and…and an alien barged in and started tearing up the place. The gorilla grabbed me and we took off with more aliens in pursuit."
"Do you know who the humans were or why they attacked you," Jackson asked.
Kinsey hesitated before replying. "They had some kind of energy weapons. They were probably rogue NID with a chip on their shoulders."
"You put a chip on everybody's shoulder, Kinsey," Col. O'Neill said.
"Regardless, I couldn't help but notice that the aliens showed up after the Goa'uld started attacking."
"You think the Goa'uld have found some pals?" O'Neill said.
"It's a little odd to encounter all those aliens at the same time, isn't it, Colonel? Tell me, has anything come through the gate that I need to know about?"
"Wait," said Carter. "You think these things came through the stargate?"
"Well, that's were most of our alien problems come from, Major." Kinsey replied.
As the officers and Kinsey argued about aliens and gates, we mulled over the situation.
(What's Kinsey talking about?) Tobias said. (We told Kinsey that those guys at the factory were Yeerks. We explained almost everything to him! Why is he lying?)
(Jake,) Cassie said, (I think we need to demorph, or at least let Ax demorph. We need to get our say in.)
(You're right,) Jake replied. (Ax-)
(Hold on,) Marco said. (I think we need to wait until after Kinsey's gone. He can't be trusted. I mean, listen to him. He's obviously trying to spin this situation to his advantage.)
Marco had an excellent point. Kinsey wasn't just putting his own spin on the story. He was downright lying. And after the 'menagerie from hell' comment there could be no doubt.
Senator Robert Kinsey was going to be a problem.
And the plot thickens. Into a thick, gooey paste, like oatmeal. Eat up!
And thanks for the great reviews everyone. I hope I can continue to deliver a quality work.