A/N: Okay here's the briefing and another disclaimer, i took the idea from the eps Summit and (i forgot the name, the one after that). i've just switched a few timelines around to make it work for me so HA! (sorry, it's late and i've had a bad day) Cassie hasn't gotten the retro virus yet so let's just say they're switched or something. i'm not sure if i'll cover the retro virus in this story, but she hasn't turned 16 yet.
oh and i've reposted ch's 56 and 7, but i put them together b/c my beta sent them back to me that way.
Jack and Nate entered the larger briefing room, each taking a seat in the front row of chairs. General Hammond, Daniel, Teal'c and half a dozen SG team leaders sat waiting for the two of them to join the briefing. Jacob sat at the front of the room , having driven back the day before to contact the Tok'ra.
"Colonel O'Neill, Cadet Tanner, nice of you to join us," Hammond said, nodding at the pair.
Jack could hear the sarcasm in his voice and glanced at his watch, a fake look of confusion plastered on his face. He tapped the watch face and held his wrist up to his ear. If the situation hadn't of been so serious, Nate might have laughed.
"Sorry, Sir," Jack responded. "We ran into a little 'trouble' last night that had to be taken care of."
George raised an eyebrow. "And has it?"
"It's on its way, Sir."
"Good." Hammond was cut off from saying more by the klaxons blaring throughout the complex.
The General and Jacob stood up, but as there was no announcement of an unscheduled activation the rest of the room stayed where they were, only standing up when the Generals left the room.
Nate's head dropped as Levi decided to make an appearance. "That would be the operatives arriving to help with the mission."
Jack nodded to acknowledge that he'd heard the Tok'ra and turned an icy stare to him. "I'll deal with you later," he ground out through clenched teeth.
Levi nodded and returned control to Nate, who blushed almost immediately and cleared his throat. He wanted to slide under the table, but as an officer in training, kept his composure and faced the table, eyes fixed.
The Generals returned with six Tok'ra in tow. The men followed Jacob in and took their seats, ready for the briefing to begin.
Hammond started.
"Gentlemen, what's the plan?"
Jacob lowered his head, letting Selmak take over. "The High Council sees this as the last straw. We have almost fifty operatives in the ranks of every System Lord and some minor Goa'uld. The System Lords don't believe the Asgard are a threat to them anymore and over half of them are willing to test that theory."
Selmak paused.
"Our scientists have been working on a chemical compound designed to kill the symbiotes."
Nate's brow crinkled. He'd known a little of the research, but he hadn't thought they were even close enough to use it.
"What about the other Tok'ra?" Daniel asked.
"It's not geared towards either the Goa'uld or Tok'ra at this moment, and it will kill the Jaffa, but the Summit is to be held on a Ha'tak above the planet. There will be no Jaffa in attendance and the only the System Lords and their personal servants."
Jack was starting to lose patience with the briefing. Get to the point already, fer cryin' out loud! "If it's all going to take place up there, what the hell do you need us for Jacob?"
"Colonel!" Hammond snapped.
Jack lowered his head, properly chastised, but lifted his eyes to his father-in-law.
Jacob took over from Selmak, hoping to keep Jack's attention just a little better.
"Most of the System Lords are landing on the planet; it doesn't have a Stargate. Their Jaffa will remain below while the System Lords and their Lo'tars are ringed up to the ship. All our operatives and the SG teams are back up in case the original plan fails.
"We will Gate to a nearby planet and be at the site within an hour. Unfortunately, to cover our tracks we will have to bury that Gate. It will take us almost a month to get home from there.
"If the poison isn't released into the atmosphere of the ship, the System Lords will have to ring down to the planet to leave. They won't have many Jaffa on the surface by Summit Law, so it should be easy to take over their ships. With no one to protect them, we can capture them and release the hosts from their symbiotes."
Daniel twittled the pen in his hand and spoke up. "The Minor Goa'uld will be left in chaos."
Jacob nodded and Selmak took over again. "That's the point. Between our Tok'ra operatives and the Asgard, the minor Goa'uld won't be a problem. Most of them will be caught up in battle over the System Lords' domains. We can take advantage of that to rescue oppressed civilizations."
"So what are plans B through ZZ?" Jack quipped. He could hear Jacob's influence in the symbiote.
Jacob snorted. "Murphy's Law, Jack?"
"Hey, plan A never works."
"We could really use Sam on this one," Jacob murmured to himself.
Jack's teeth clenched. "Over. My. Dead. Body."
"God, Jack. She's my daughter! That's not what I meant." Jacob threw his hands up in his own defense. "Her brain. She's exceptional at pulling wild ideas out of her… butt."
"That's my girl," Jack grinned, rubbing his hands together.
Hammond gave a gentle cough. "Let's get back on track."
Jack fiddled with his pen, unscrewing it and taking it apart. Something was on his mind and Jacob was quick to spot it, so he sat in silence, waiting for the younger man to speak.
"If we've got plan B, why do we need the poison? That chemical should be the backup; sort of a 'when all else fails,' shouldn't it?"
"If we go into battle on the planet's surface, many Tok'ra and Tau'ri may die, Colonel. We'd prefer to take out the Goa'uld with as few friendly casualties as possible," Selmak answered.
"Does Nate have to be there?"
What did that boy do, Jacob?
It must have been pretty bad. Jack's either pissed or he doesn't trust him.
Look at his eyes. He is neither.
Jacob looked up and locked eyes with his son-in-law. He instantly saw the smile hidden there. Jack put on a good mask for the most part, but those who knew him, could read his eyes like a book.
He nodded. "Levi is one of the oldest Tok'ra and a seasoned warrior."
Jack jutted his jaw in defiance, but acquiesced the point.
"If we Gate out of here at 0900 we will arrive on the planet just after the System Lords ring up to their ship. Two cargo ships will be needed to get there."
Daniel chose that moment to speak up. "How will someone get onto the ship to plant the poison in the first place?"
Nate stood and by the way he carried himself, Jack could tell Levi had taken over.
"I've been spending the past seven months developing myself as a minor Goa'uld in service to the System Lord Yu. I can get anyone onto the ship as Yu's Lo'tar.
"You just have to get into position at the meeting and release the poison. It will spread throughout the System Lords and within minutes they will be dead.
"This is purely by volunteer."
Daniel shifted. "I'll do it."
"Daniel."
"Jack."
"Dan-iel."
"Ja-ack."
"I'm fluent in Goa'uld. I can pull this off." He faced his friend and team leader head on.
"Yu knows what you look like."
"There is a species called the Reole. They naturally produce a chemical that alters memory and makes the mind pliable to outside influence. I came across one who had been captured by a group of Jaffa and in exchange for rescuing him, he gave me a sample of the chemical for study. They've long since buried their Gate.
"We've been able to transfer just a trace amount into a ring. You just need to get close enough to Lord Yu to prick him with the small needle."
"Just don't poke yourself," Jacob joked.
"Yes, what would happen?"
Jack just raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Well, you could imagine yourself as a real space monkey."
Jacob took over the briefing yet again, trying to keep at least some semblance of control.
"Excuse me? Could we continue?"
Jack gave a small choked cough. "Sorry, Jacob."
"Okay, 0900 tomorrow we'll Gate to Tash. Daniel and I will take one cargo ship, the rest of you will take the Al'kesh. There's a secluded spot about a klik from the 'parking lot' where we'll be landing. Each Ha'tak will have ten Jaffa at the most. During the Summit, each System Lord's Lo'tar will be positioned behind their master. Daniel will be able to release the poison at that time.
"On the planet, the SG teams and Tok'ra will be able to make their way to the field. There's plenty of forest cover. We'll radio down the sit. rep. From there, we either go home, or the rest of you will take over the Ha'taks and capture the System Lords. They'll be brought back to a Tok'ra outpost on the other side of the Galaxy from the new home world."
Jacob sat back down, effectively ending the briefing.
"Men," Hammond said, taking his place at the front of the room. "You depart at 0900 tomorrow morning. Dismissed."
As the men filed out, Hammond assigned one of the SF's to see the Tok'ra to their rooms. Jacob approached the three members of SG-1 plus Nate and pulled his chair in front of them.
"Daniel, take Nate and occupy him in the commissary," Jack ordered, not looking at either.
"I will escort them, O'Neill." Teal'c stood and nodded his head towards the team leader. He could sense the tension between O'Neill and the young man, and though he hadn't a clue as to what would cause it, he knew there was a reason he was sending him away. He pulled Nate up by the shoulder, trusting Levi not to overreact and led him out of the room, Daniel following like a lost puppy.
As soon as they were out of hearing range, even for the Tok'ra, Jacob turned to Jack, bewilderment in his eyes. "What the Hell did that kid do, Jack?"
Jack sighed and rubbed his eyes. The long night had pretty much kicked his butt, he wasn't as young as he used to be. "He went for a walk last night, right before the storm started, and never came home. He had Sam worried to death."
"And you weren't worried at all?" Jacob cocked an eyebrow at his son-in-law.
"That's not the point. Anyway, Doc found him at her house, in Cassandra's bed."
Jacob's eyes widened. "They didn't…"
"Don't think so. She's a kid, Jacob!" Jack stood and paced the room. Like usual, it was killing him to sit still.
Jacob shook his head, remembering another young girl twenty years previous. He never had the self control Jack had, at least back then, and Sam's first serious boyfriend had caused a serious uproar in the Carter household.
"She's a teenager, Jack, and she's not your daughter, as much as you love her. He is now legally your son. I know you and Nate have serious issues, especially with Levi in the picture, but is this going to affect the mission?"
"No, of course not. Cassie's not the problem here. Janet's going to take care of that. He didn't tell us where he went and Levi didn't make him. That put too much stress on Sam. She didn't sleep last night until I made sure he was okay." Jack had calmed down significantly since first finding Nate and Cassie together. He still wanted to make sure they learned their lessons.
"You vouched for Levi, Jacob, and I will not let personal feelings jeopardize any mission ever. Haven't before and don't plan on it now. I'm just letting him sweat it out."
Jacob stood up, convinced everything would be fine for the next day and joined Jack as the two headed to the commissary. "Grab Nate and head home, Jack, spend time with Sam."
For the first time since getting into the truck with Nate, Jack smiled. "I plan to do just that Jacob."
A/N: okay i'm not really happy with this one, but i wanted the mission to at least be hard. i mean they could just like blow everthing up, and that'd be soooo cool, but i thik it'd be lame. i'm not quite sure how i'm going to write the mission, i know what's going to happen, but my friend GrUmPyBeAr has to help me with the descriptive stuff b/c she's great at it!
anyway, last chapters i only got 3 reviews. i think there's a possibility i might just finish the story and then post the entire story as one once i fix a few things, cuz there's a lot i found wrong in this story. i'm not saying that as a guilt trip, but i'd reallylike to know what's wrong and what's right in the story. please review!