Character building. Kinda setting the timeline more in stone as well. Taking place after Tangent.

The dreary grey cloud cover certainly set the mood.

Colonel Jack O'Neill stood in a dug out camp, once a Jaffa base when this planet had been used by Apophis to train a platoon of younger Jaffa in an effort to infiltrate the ranks of the SGC. Probably never counted on Carter being taken as a host or Teal'c being alive long enough to rat them out. Still, once the place was cleaned up, the planet turned out to be a decent enough training site for new recruits and Earth had been using it ever since.

Today they had another set of recruits, four boys all of 'em lieutenants. They had a fairly good record but Jack himself couldn't vouch for them.. Only reason he was even on this particular training run was because he and Teal'c had managed to get themselves lost in space for a couple of days on their first attempt to reverse engineer a death glider. Fun times. They managed to make it back and so this was the equivalent of desk work for him.

Spotting Carter working with a small group of their combat engineers, he turned his attention to them. They were constructing what looked to be a sinister weapon of Goa'uld design, without the flourish. Hopefully they'd get it somewhat closer to a battle ready prop in the next half hour.

"How's it coming, campers?" He asked loudly, in a jockular tone.. Daniel was trying to make himself look busy, since the only people they had who could actually build this thing were the combat engineers, most of them lieutenants. Working with scrap metal to make something passably alien wasn't exactly easy work.

"I think we could have done worse as far as locations go, sir," Said a young lieutenant, pointing out the ridge and a natural cave tunnel that lead into the clearing they were currently working in.. "The team should come in through that cave over there, or try to flank on that ridge above us. Either way most of Bravo and Charlie will be in the field leaving only the guards for the Goa'uld here at base who would be dealing with SG-1." Sans himself of course. Daniel met his eyes with a sharp look once he was close enough to banter.

"How did you get out of this, anyway?" the linguist asked, making a brief gesture around the area that would be the staging point for the goa'uld's 'evil plans'.

"You can call it a red herring, I call it being understaffed. Anyway, Carter don't you think you could make this look a little more diabolical?" The thing looked like a standard Goa'uld device considering it was made out of some scrap metal they took from Hathor's old complex, what little they managed to find. The rest of it was miscellaneous junk.

"It's a fairly close facsimile to some of the devices we've seen in the past, but naturally it's only a stand in for the real thing," Carter replied, noting the orbs lining the long metal beams and the golden rims. Very tacky.

"Need anything?" he asked, glancing over to the pile of parts, kicking stray pieces back in the pile with his boot before he found something a bit more familiar.

"Here, Major, this might spruce it up," he said, trying not to smirk as much as he wanted to. He'd had an ulterior motive with this thing in his efforts to include it in the junk pile with the other props, but his team didn't need to know. Not yet. For his part, it was a worthy behind the scenes gimmick he'd exploit later if things went as planned.

"Sir, that's a toaster," Carter said after lifting her welding glasses.

"Do you know how many pieces of toast this thing burned?"

"Sir, it should look at least somewhat realistic to a goa'uld device," the Major protested, and Jack would admit she had a point but in the midst of all that would be hitting these kids, what the damn thing looked like wasn't exactly on his highest priorities.

"So get some of our tackiest spray paint. It'll look fine," Jack replied, setting it down next to her.

"Uh, Yes sir," she said, pulling her welding mask back on, dutifully returning to her task. Teal'c stood by observing, turning his eyes to the toaster and rose a brow.

"Did I not see you bring this in from your home this morning, O'Neill?" The Jaffa warrior asked.

"Yeah, but I'm just saving the air force some money," Jack said, backing away from the 'doomsday machine.'

"...You're donating a broken toaster as a prop, I don't think that constitutes 'saving the US Air force money'," Daniel argued, looking about as incredulous as Jack had expected him to.

"...I didn't say I was saving them a lot of money," Jack said, not about to explain the method to his madness. And there was a method. Though on the topic of "You got something on your mind Daniel?"

"Yeah, actually. Are we absolutely sure about all of this?"

"To what are you referring, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked, turning his head towards the linguist as he stood observing the camp.

"Kylee getting assigned to SG-1. Assigning a kid to a front line team, a kid whose powers may shift the balance of power in the galaxy in ways we can't possibly predict. Not to mention the moment she's out there, she'll have a target on her from every Goa'uld system lord either wanting her dead or as a host," Daniel replied firmly, his concern easily discernible given his knit brow and tense posture.
O'Neill grunted and shook his head. "Look, nobody here wants to see the kid get hurt, and I'll be damned if I let some snakehead get a hold of her, but she's here, and we were stuck with the consequences she came with the moment she stepped through that gate."

"Yes. I know," Daniel said, meeting his gaze with Sam's hard, almost annoyed expression. "I wouldn't bring it up if I didn't think it was important, but so far we've been cavalier about it. I just don't want to see her get taken advantage of for our convenience."

"Oh for crying out loud, nobody wants to take advantage of her. And if they do it'll be over my dead body," Jack muttered grimly, growing annoyed with his long time friend. Teal'c chose that moment to interject.

"Where it not her decision, Daniel Jackson, I very much doubt General Hammond would have authorized her assignment to SG1. Still, she has much to learn and much to prove, but in her heart burns a warrior's spirit as it does in Major Carter. It would be difficult to deny her the opportunity to protect us as we so desire to do for her," Teal'c said, attempting to bridge the sudden rift that had formed between the linguist and his teammates.

"You're right Teal'c. If it were my choice…" Sam said with an exasperated breath, coming to the kid's defense as expected. "She would be home, far away from all of this. But we're not about to put her on SG-1 without preparing her for what's out there. I think you'd have to agree she's more than capable."

"She is. I just want all of us to be on the same page. She depends on us emotionally and in the end that might end up getting her hurt. I just don't want to see that happen. I've had enough friends get hurt at my account and that's the last thing I want to see happen here because of negligence on our part," Daniel replied, and Jack sighed softly.

"Truth is, Daniel, you're right. The military or God help us, the NID, is going to take advantage of her, and if we do our part we can keep it to a minimum. It's our job to keep her safe in the field," Jack replied gruffly, knowing keenly what Daniel was on about, and that there was nothing the man had said that he specifically disagreed with. It was just a matter of framing the issue. He'd already made up his mind about this. "And I for one am not going to put her on the front line until she is good and ready for it. She'll be coming with us on recon and exploration. Nothin' to do with the Goa'uld unless absolutely necessary 'till she's at least got her degree. Now, any further objections?"

Daniel hesitated. "Actually that's what I was hoping to hear and that's very refreshing. Doesn't happen very often."

"Yeah well whose fault is that?" Jack snarked, needling at Daniel a bit and received a look for his trouble. Ignoring it as best he could, Jack cleared his throat. "Alright campers! You got until 0830 too finish preparations. Teams Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, be in position no later than 0845. The exercise begins at 0900. The rest of you will be alerted when the recruits break perimeter."

At that, he headed out through the tunnel that lead back through to the main path back to base camp. Hopefully these recruits could take the pressure. More so, he hoped Kylee could manage to work within the rules they'd put in place. Turns out that hockey game was good practice in restraint, only this time she had that inhibitor in play. She'll have to fight the bad guys at the same speed as everyone else.

Personally, Jack couldn't wait to see it.

This planet couldn't have been anymore moody if it tried, what with the grey cloud cover. Fresh off a week-long training regimine on Alphasite, she learned some basic level marksmanship, weapon handling as well as other critical skills for working with a military unit. Basically boot camp for non-military, and that was fine. She wasn't doing it alone, actually. Seemed they were breaking in a few other civilian consults and scientists as well. During that time she'd heard about the whole X301 thing, how Jacob was called in to save Jack and Teal'c. As much as she wanted to see him, it had to wait until after this initiation was over.

Twenty minutes until this whole thing went down, a military exercise meant to test them, but she just felt like a tagalong. Four big brave Air force lieutenants who were blowing off some steam on the other side of the tent, nice enough by the looks of it but it wasn't the first time she's seen guys acting as jocular as they were. She, meanwhile, was busy lacing her boots and making sure she wouldn't suffer the painful sting of blisters. She really wished she'd gotten her custom gear by now, but there was no helping it.

She sighed. The guys were chosen because they met some military standard. She was here because she was a military assets with certain skills that were officially need to know. Too bad she couldn't share with the class. It felt more like being stuck at 'bring your kid to work day' in a weird twisted sort of way. She was just glad it wasn't technically the first time out officially. One solid SG-1 recon mission under her belt, but no real combat. This whole thing was them remedying her experience gap

That wasn't entirely a fair assessment, she thought. She had experience, just not with military combat. She'd used her powers against an opposing military, a hulking monster who happened to be an advanced human like herself. He'd managed toabsorb everything she threw at him, and she'd still managed to beat him. She'd also put out fires and stopped live shootings and bank robberies. Hell, she even fought a Satan stand-in with that lovecraftian squid faced nightmare. Arguably not her best moment, yet still, she faced it. The thought made her shudder, mumbling softly as she finally got her shoes laced before standing up, and bumping into one of the other guys.

"Oh, sorry," she said, looking up to him. Square jawed, probably mid twenties, brown hair and blue eyes. The guy gave an amused look to her and pulled her baseball cap off.

"Hey Walker, get some camo on this baby face," he said with a needling tone, handing her the cap back. "I expect you already know your way around your weapons, right? Did they steal you from the academy or what?"

"Gee thanks," Kylee said at the obvious teasing, but aside from this guy giving her a fresh reminder of a certain annoying speedster foe of hers, she could take it in stride. At least he didn't have that stupid haircut. It didn't take much to tell that they were testing her, putting her up to the rite of passage. Try to unnerve her with words or a physical challenge. Funnily enough it usually didn't even matter if she won either, with most guys, just so long as she managed to show them what she was made of. She'd played this game before. And chances were, this lot wasn't so bad. The teasing had been pretty good natured as far as she could tell. So she smiled. "Civilian consult. Turns out they actually need smart people to run around in the cosmos. Probably to keep you guys in line."

"Hey now girl, this ain't no tourist trap," the African American man (who was easily twice her size) called Dixon said as he offered a broad grin which stuck out on his features. He looked and sounded like he had a soft spot under all that muscle and gruff exterior. "Not for geeks either. You gonna carry your weight?"

"Give me the chance and I'll leave you boys in the dust," she offered playfully to his ribbing.. Having spent the last week training with heavy packs, she was confident she was going to be able to handle it. She offered a devilish grin to match theirs, especially Dix and Samuels. It was a weapon of its own, confidence. You either had it or you could fake it, and right now? Kylee was floating between genuine confidence and faking it, but sometimes you did have to fake it to make it. It wasn't an exceptionally sincere approach, but it was enough. Most of the time.

"Just so long as you can keep up and won't stop just because you get shot at once or twice. I reckon we need you for some part of the test, don't we?" Another one piped up, black hair, pretty good looking guy by the name of Harris. He was already green and black all over his face.

"I'm an engineer so probably," Kylee replied, glancing over as another boy approached. A bit younger than the others, but not nearly as fresh faced as she probably seemed.

"Let me do it, kid. It's tradition," said the one named Walker, as he approached her with a couple of paint cans. She looked him over, a tall man with brown hair an almost familiar face. He stuck his thumb into the black, making a streak down her nose and under both eyes, then some green over her chin and forehead with a little brown streaks speckled in.

"And I guess I return the favor?" Kylee asked, accepting the cans handed to her as she selected the black first as he had.

"Just don't futz too much over it," he said, as she stuck her fingers into the paint. Three lines down under each eye and a patch under his chin. She smeared the green on after with some lines of brown down his nose and on either side. Odd though, looking at his face this closely she had this odd feeling she'd seen him before. She also knew a guy named Walker in the Airforce back home, but he was much older than this guy. Wouldn't that be funny?. She finished up with him, grinning cheekily before poking him in the forehead with one last streak of black.

"You look ready to kick some ass, buddy," Kylee proclaimed once she was finished. He grabbed her hat and put it on over her eyes.

"Same to you, kid. Keep your head up and watch for our cues. You'll be fine. Samuels is taking lead.

"Right. Already went through baby's first training session last week. I don't think I'd be here if they didn't think I could handle it," Kylee said, almost immediately regretting it given laugh Samuels made at her joke.

"Yeah, probably. Just follow orders and stick by Walker and Dix," Samuels said, still grinning that almost cocky grin. "You guys ready to move out?"

"Yes sir," Harris said, he and Dixon exiting the tent. Walker stayed behind a second, looking down at her.

"Do they really get civilian consults as young as you or are you just some kind of genius?" Walker asked with genuine curiosity.

Genius, now wasn't that ever a loaded word. On paper, sure, she had a fairly decent IQ score. In practice, lately, she sure as hell hasn't been acting like it. She wanted to say that it was in due part to some bad habits she picked up as a speedster, which somewhat promoted mental laziness with her ability to read super quickly, get things done with relative ease and speed. In all honesty, she hadn't had to put quite as much work into… wel, anything, as she had to before. In fact, having to to do this without her speed made her more than a little anxious. More now than ever she realized how much of a crutch it was to rely on her powers.

She still grinned up at him, hoping none of her unease shone through. "Smart enough. Let's get going," she said, nodding to him, not quite answering his question. When she had an answer, or maybe when she felt like she deserved the title of 'genius' - when she earned it -she'd take it.

But, despite her apprehension, she wasn't scared. She'd done stuff like this a dozen times. A dozen buildings on fire, damsels (both male and female) in distress that she's rescued, and self destructing bases of a certain mad scientist. Yeah, she did that. That was her.

But she did that with her speed. Now she had to find out what she could do without it.

Okay, maybe she was a little scared.

"Attention!"

All four of the recruits and their rookie civilian consult took the starting line. Samuels, Walker, Harris and Dixon and last but not least, Kylee Harwood. Colonel Jack O'Neil Stood ahead of them, looking them over, one by one. Samuels looked about as sure footed as most First lieutenants. Had enough experience in combat and seemed to have stood out to someone somewhere, but Jack couldn't vouch for him. Dixon and Harris seemed about average, but Dixon was an expert marksman and Harris was a combat rescue medic. Probably gonna get a pass on that guy even if they do fail this test. In all his career, Jack didn't remember a time when they didn't need good combat medics. He hoped this one got the personal grade he needed, but they'd have to see how the eval goes.

Walker was the stand out. Only a second lieutenant but he had high marks in his classes. He also happened to be a fighter pilot and highly recommended by the guy who scouted him out. He had a calm air about him that Jack immediately both hated and respected. All in all, he gave these guys fair odds to actually pass. Now they just needed to see how these boys do when they're under enemy fire.

"Ahead of you is a complex controlled by a Goa'uld. Intel suggests he has a super weapon that could blow a crater into this planet. This planet has a population of two million innocent people. Your objective is to get into the complex and shut the machine down before it blows! Between here and there you'll be facing enemy fire and the clock. Conduct yourselves as though this were the real thing. You have half an hour! Move out!"

"Sir yes sir!" They all said with thunderous force, Kylee looking like the only sheep in a herd of wolves wearing wool until they got moving. It was then she got a look of pure tenacity, running on with Walker and Dixon without missing a beat, and that put his doubts at ease. He was pretty sure no matter how this went, it would be an interesting day.

-

Kylee kept with the two men most immediately near her. Walker, who had vowed to watch her back, and Dixon. Dixon was tall and well built, damn good shot, well, far better than her at any rate, but then her experience shooting came from video games, and the last week. Still it wasn't at all hard to keep up, even without the inhibitor, she had slightly heightened abilities. Mostly agility. She was glad SG-1 had put her through those hikes and runs with the heavy pack because it made a difference.

It didn't take them long into the exercise to run into opposition. And they looked good too. While her boys tangled with a couple of the faux-Jaffa, she took cover behind a rock just as the red bolts of energy blasted over her head. Intars. Energy weapons that felt like real ones, which the military had acquisitioned from the Goa'uld apparently. They intar's were no joke, and she learned the hard way after making a crack to Jack about how she could dodge bullets. She took aim from her cover and took a few shots, two second bursts as she had been instructed, one of the Jaffa going down from her fire. After a moment to double check that the coast was clear, they moved on.

They pressed on through the forest, quick to react to the fire until they heard someone cry out. Samuels was about twenty paces ahead of them with Harris. After flanking the enemy, her half of the team caught up. Harris was down, hit by a staff blast. She'd taken Intar blast before, basically a energy pulse blast that had a wicked kinetic impact, enough to knock you off your feet, but it essentially stunned whatever part of the body it struck. If it struck someone's head or core, they were basically unconscious. Looks like that was what happened, unfortunately. He'd be out for a few hours.

Samuels got to his feet from under Harris, cursing as Dixon hauled him out. "Let's move!"

He wasn't all too happy about having to leave one of the boys behind, but given that they had the destruction of the planet hanging over their heads, and a time limit, Samuels pushed them forward. Kylee assumed she was supposed to be the one to take out the doomsday device, given the way Samuels was prioritizing her protection. Could have been chauvinistic, could have been strategy, didn't really matter. This wasn't really the time or the place to question it. There was real pressure now.

They arrived at the mouth of a cave, and Samuels signaled them to move in. Dixon first, then Walker and herself, with Samuels bringing up the rear. It wasn't guarded, oddly enough, at least not until the tunnel opened up into a clearing where the camp clearly was. She could see a tall, ornate tent and a metallic gold tower built in the middle of the camp, flashy lights and all. Seemed to be their target. Samuels had them ducking behind some containers as a squad of the 'jaffa' actors came marching by. Marines probably, with whatever Goa'uld here being one of the lead trainers. Didn't really matter, realistically, if they knew it was a staged performance, right? It was still something they were all being judged on.

Samuels led them up and around the hillside where the trees and plants grew in thick. They navigated around so they were about three yards over the camp, taking stock of who was where and how many people they were going to have to take down before they got to the machine. It had plenty of cover, all it took was getting down there without being seen.

From the ornate tent came a man wearing what Kylee had thought had to be some kind of chinese silk robe, probably bought at a thrift store but he was marked as the evil guy. A voice changer to boot. A cold, metallicy voice was what Kylee heard as she crouched and watched.

"Jaffa! Kree!" He said, raising a hand. "Within moments this planet and it's heretics will be cleansed by fire! No more shall we be troubled by them and their Tau'ri Allies. Bring forth the prisoners!"

It was campy as hell, and Kylee nearly laughed under her breath at the hammy diabolically evil voice the guy was doing, until they mentioned prisoners. The heck?

She glanced over at Samuels, and he seemed surprised too, more than a little. They were running out of time. It was one thing to take all of these guys down and get to the machine, but now they had to rescue prisoners too? Like, yeah, it was a simulated engagement, but their decisions right now mattered. Mattered more for Samuels, Dixon and Walker than for her, she had surmised. This was mostly formality for her, because the SGC would be stupid to not utilize her abilities.

She turned her gaze back to the camp, watching as three familiar faces walked forth, all stripped down to t-shirts and bound in shackles. Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c. She grit her teeth, gripping her weapon while she sat waiting for an order. Any order. Now!

"For your insolence, the punishment is death," the 'Goa'uld' actor said, pointing a staff weapon at Teal'c first. Still, Samuels did nothing. She hissed his name, and he clenched his eyes closed as the first shot was fired. Down Teal'c went, and so did the clock. The goa'ud guy went to Sam next, and- Hell no. Kylee aimed her weapon and began to fire. Firing at the guy right next to the Goa'uld actor, then the Goa'uld himself. He wasn't expecting that because he was flung right off his feet and falling into Daniel. Walker grabbed Kylee by the scruff again, pulling her to her feet and running, Dixon and Samuels doing the same going the opposite direction as blasts started coming their way. She fired back, Walker did too, and the two of them burst through the foliage still firing at the 'Jaffa'.

Half of them were still chasing Samuel's and Dixon, but Kylee started moving for Sam.

"No! Get the machine!" Sam yelled, Kylee stopping in her tracks before looking to the mechanical tower, that Kylee thought looked more like a science fiction prop than an actual alien device, but hey, they tried. She started running for it, heading to the machine when she got hit in the shoulder by an Intar. It burned, her left side nearly completely going numb. She pulled herself to the feet, pushing past the pain and was met there by Walker who kicked the compartment open for her while he started delivering cover fire.

In time, he was shot as well and dropped to the ground like a rag doll, and just as she reached in to grab the kill switch, she heard something drop from the top of the tower. A round metal ball falling into a compartment within, and it hummed before bursting with a flash of light, and she was down.

"You did good people" Colonel O'Neill said as he had a line up of the Marines and Air Force personnel who participated. Sam standing at his side under the tent with a cup of coffee in hand. Teal'c was sitting, resting from taking the Intar blast but no worse for wear. Daniel likewise sat at one of the tables and nursed a coffee. It was all over, and as intense as these things could be, even as a staged war game, bruised egos mended in time. "I especially appreciated Major Thompson's Goa'uld. Very Burns. Well played sir. Team Bravo and Charlie, I expected more resistance closer to the tunnel. Next time keep a few guards posted there."

"Sir!" The teams shouted. Sam sighed wistfully as the post personnel meeting came to an end, Major Thompson took over with his marines and went off to go school the boys. Whether or not they got another shot at this was entirely up to him. SG-1's tenure as training personnel was coming to a close this afternoon which was probably exciting for Ky, considering they had a personal day tomorrow and with Jacob back on Earth they had plenty of stuff to catch up on.

"Sir, don't you think using the shock grenade was a little much?" Sam asked, citing the spherical goa'uld device they had used in the machine as a point to signal it was a game over. Worst case scenario. They would have to allow a while for recovery for Walker and Kylee. Kylee was still in the med tent, sleeping it off.

"As a stand in for the planet blowing up? Which, I grant you, is a little overkill for a Goa'uld, wouldn't have had quite the same impact. They gotta understand what kind of choices they gotta make on this job," O'Neill replied. Sam nodded, conceding the point. They would be fine either way, but whether or not they got the message was another story.

Then there was the matter of going over the matter with Kylee, debriefing her. If she had to bet it was Kylee who made the decision to attack and try to save them first instead of going for the machine. That was part of the reason why they designed the exercise the way they did. "So what exactly happened while we were otherwise occupied?"

"While you were getting yourselves 'captured', which by the way, we really gotta stop doing? Our little mock SG split up about fifteen feet apart. Harris got knocked half way through by intars, and Samuels had them carry on. Once they made it to the camp, they flanked and watched you getting marched out by Thompson. Samuels froze."

Sam winced. "And given that they knew the stakes, they should have continued to the device and defended it until Kylee could deactivate it, potentially sacrificing us in the process."

"Think it got a little intense for the kid?" O'Neill asked. Sam exhaled with a nod.

"I would say so sir, if they're sure she was the one who started firing first." As much as she knew how important it was to give Kylee (and the other kids) the lesson, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for putting her through it. It was a hard lesson to learn, but she'd be better for it in the end. Sam was sure they capitalized on Kylee's attachment to SG-1 to influence her decision, given the fact the whole reason was to allow the recruits to make life and death mistakes without having lives actually on the line. "Guess it struck a nerve."

"Guesso. Just let me and Teal'c handle the debrief. Figure she's still gonna be conked out for a while," the Colonel replied, Sam simply nodded, and moved to carry on her duties.

"Yes sir."

She could hear the clattering of medical supplies nearby and boots falling against soft turf outside the tent, and she knew her eyes were open but all she could see were grey blobs. A sleepy haze fell over her while she lay there quietly listening to rain drops lightly platter against the tent. The nurse had told her about twenty minutes ago that the blindness would pass and she should sleep it off if she could. She wanted to, but instead she just let the exercise replay in her mind. The moment they shot Teal'c and he went down, and then pointed the device at Sam, the woman with her mother's face, she couldn't watch that happen.

Even while she knew it was fake, she couldn't.

Funny that while you know in your mind that something is just a staged exercise, logically knowing what she had to do, her emotions were stirred in such a way that she couldn't not act in defense of her friends. And because of it, they'd failed.

At first, she couldn't sleep, not with the anxiety she now felt for the riot act she was undoubtedly about to be read, but they didn't come, not for a while. It took a bit, but she was finally able to relax a little, her fatigue weighing down on her enough that she managed to get back to sleep sleep. As much as the inhibitor cuff offset her metabolism (which was a blessing), she still managed to sleep far more than the average girl her age. Sam teased her enough about that, th

That was her last thought before dropping off.

Later, she finally opened her eyes, the oppressive haze of fatigue clearing, as did her eyesight, and she pushed herself to sit. The nurse moved to her side and gave a quick eye check before allowing her to leave the tent.

It was late afternoon now on this planet, and everything had that cleansed, wet look that happened after a small storm. The fresh, post-rain smell of clean ozone hit her senses. It was nice. Made her feel at ease, as opposed to the looks of disappointment from Samuels and Harris. They were cleaned up and on their feet, but she chose to ignore them in favor of following the smell of coffee.

A hand grasped her shoulder. "Come, Kylee Harwood. There is much to speak on," Teal'c said, gesturing for her to follow to another tent.

"O...okay." Kylee said, not about to argue considering she hasn't quite fully woken up yet, which made her want the coffee all the more. "Can I get a cup of coffee first? It's cold."

"Very well," Teal'c said with a nod, watching as Kylee moved towards the tent where the coffee pots were posted. She grabbed a paper cup and poured it over some sugar before moving to join Teal'c, in which he guided her off towards another tent. Within, she saw Jack, poking at what looked to be a toaster on the table, one that had been cut open and welded together in a manner that made it look a bit more mechanical. Likewise it was spray-painted gold. She recognized it though. It was part of the inner workings of the death machine.

"Jack?" she asked.

"Take a seat, kid," Jack said in an unusually measured tone. She sighed, walking in and planting her butt on the chair next to the table and taking a sip of the coffee. Far as she knew, she blew it.

"I screwed up," Kylee said like a confession after Jack gave her a few minutes to wake up and process things.

"Yep," Jack said simply. Kylee didn't have a response. She pressed her lips together, then skillfully hid her awkward silence in a sip of her coffee.

"So you went after SG-1 instead of going for the doomsday device. Great, we all got to live another five seconds before that bright flash. That was the sign that the Goa'uld just blew up the whole planet. Bam, pow, all gone. We're all dead now."

She tightened her jaw, set the coffee down and looked up at him, the conflict in her eyes was obvious. He continued. "Here's the lesson - this line of work sucks. One day, you'll have to make the worst kind of call in your life, the one where you have to choose a million people you'll never meet over your best friends. Every part of you will tell you to save your buddy, and you're supposed to look out for each other until the price is too high. You can try to put yourself in their place, but...well..."

The kid looked away, evading the hard truth of the matter. Maybe there was something else going on in that mind of hers. Probably still thinking about what she did wrong, and how wrong it felt for what she did to be wrong. He'd been there.

"Look, you at least did something, unlike the other kids. Don't beat yourself up. The fact you made this call shows you've got heart, that counts for a lot. There's just a reality to this job that I'm not going to sugar coat," Jack said, seeking to tug her free from the guilt she was all too clearly piling up onto herself. She looked up at him with uncertainty, then let out a heavy sigh. Better to say nothing in times like these, kid was smart, knew better than to argue the point.

Just because Jack was going to keep quiet didn't mean Teal'c would.

"You will encounter many difficult choices in this war," the Jaffa said. "As have I. I made a choice to betray Apophis and now wage a war against him and his kind. There is nothing that will make these decisions any easier. For the millions you save, you will be haunted by the loss of those closest to you, a comfort as hollow as it sounds. But action, even the wrong action, is far better than inaction. You lack experience, but you do not lack conviction, and I see in you the capacity to do good for so many. It will not be an easy path, but you are not alone in this fight."

Jack was actually kind of surprised that Teal'c had said so much. He was usually the quiet guy… but he had as much of a weakness for kids as the rest of them, and apparently a soft spot for Kylee too. His words were, apparently, the thing she needed to hear because she nodded and wiped at her eyes. No surprise there, considering she'd never been to boot camp before and he wasn't about to make her deal with that. This was probably the worst thing she'd ever agreed to do, but at least she got through it.

"I wanna say that if I had my speed I'd have been able to do both. Chances are, in this case I'd be right, but I know... there's no guarantee I'll have access to my powers. And I've lost plenty of people I cared about even with my speed," Kylee said, speaking to something far deeper than just what she's had to deal with today.

"Any chance you wanna talk about it?" Jack asked, basically giving an open invitation. It wasn't like she didn't know he and Teal'c were probably the two most qualified people to field this discussion.

Kid went silent as she pressed her lips together, turning her eyes away. A look like that, the pain was fresh, or maybe just brought back to the surface with today's activities, and it occurred to Jack then that if she did talk about it, it would probably be the first time she would mention any real detail about the hell she went through in that cascade place.

"I don't know how long ago it really was. It could have been a hundred years ago while I was floating around as immaterial time energy…Heh." She gave a small mirthless smile at that, self aware enough to know how incomprehensible it all was, but she continued. "But I made some friends there," Kylee said, as she curled her fingers into fists, her hand crushing her thankfully empty coffee cup. She toyed with said cup for a moment, tearing it idly as she fidgeted, trying to come up with the words to tell them what had been probably bearing down at her for all the weeks she's been here. By now, nearly a month.

"They put us up against my friend, this big strong guy, his skin was hard as stone, and we couldn't stop them from making him go berserk and attacking us. And neither me or Zephyr could do get past his armor on his own. He went after me because I was giving him more trouble with my plasma," she explained slowly, holding up a hand and looking at it, as if willing her abilities to manifest, but she gripped it into a fist again and withdrew it. "When he had me pinned, Zephyr used his ability to vibrate between molecules to phase a sword into the big guy's heart. And I couldn't stop him." Kylee paused, choking on the last word and , reaching up to put her head in her hand, letting the grief spill over her for a moment. Jack knew she was reliving every detailed moment of that fight, so he didn't say anything, merely exchanging glances with Teal'c. They'd both figured something like that had happened.

After a few moments, she gave a shaky sigh. "And after that I came up with the wise idea for everyone to try refusing to fight. For that, Zeph and the others are probably dead and I got my timeline blitzed to high heaven."

And they were back to the self-depreciation. Yeah, no. Jack opened his mouth to say something, but Teal'c beat him to it.

"I have seen the Goa'uld cow entire worlds with a wave of their hand. But I have also come to see that those who resisted and were killed were not fools. They would rather die free than live as slaves. We battle the Goa'uld as you and Zephyr battled your foe; with the hope we will succeed but with the knowledge that if we die, we do so as our choice. And to inspire others to join our noble cause. Do not despair, Kylee Harwood. If they live, they are continuing your fight, and if they died, they did so in a fight for freedom," the Jaffa said, and while Kylee didn't seem terribly convinced by Teal'c words, she nodded and offered a smile to the large man, who nodded in turn.

They all sat there in silence for a couple of minutes, allowing Kylee to come to terms with everything she'd just confessed and everything that had just happened. Jack could tell when she decided she'd opened up enough for the day. Her eyes fell to the toaster, confusion returning to her features as she studied it.

"What's with that thing anyway?" she asked, reaching to it and examining it for a moment.

"Well, don't use it to make toast. Wasn't very good at that. But you can call it a keepsake," Jack replied, watching as Kylee's expression shifted to incredulity at his words.

"For failure? Look, Jack as much as I appreciate the sentiment I'm not a huge fan of modern art," Kylee countered skillfully, through that typical teenage slack jawed expression of disbelief. It didn't escape Jack how young the girl was, but the fact that she was willing to be put up to this sort of rigorous training said a lot about her character.

"No, not for failure. Just that there isn't always a right answer, just the least worst. And because I'm buying a new toaster on my way home tonight. I think I'll get the one that can do bagels…"

"I can't argue with that," she said with a watery smile, probably wondering if they'd planned this from the start. "Any chance I can tag along?"

"Tag along while I…. shop for toasters?" His turn to be incredulous, he guessed.

"You're capable of finding a toaster on your own. I've just got some money to burn right now." That's right, Hammond approved the living allowance. Kids and their money, and this kid was probably dying to get out. On the other hand, he had some cause to be suspicious.

Or at least facetiously suspicious. He suppressed a grin before asking: "...Have you been talking to Daniel and Carter about my eating habits? I don't do take out because I'm broke." It was more of a hint than anything.

"Uuuh, Colonel, your eating habits aren't any of my business and even if they did try to use me to get you on the south beach diet I'm gonna have to charge a premium to play health coach. I'm not even remotely qualified for that," Kylee quipped, watching Teal'c as he raised his eyebrow at the two of them.

"Yeah that's just… Anyways. Get your doomsday toaster and lets get going. If you're nice I'll let you order of the adult menu." The girl shot him an icy look at that one, but she did as she was told.

"That was savage, Colonel," she retorted, before grabbing the thing off the table and exiting the tent with the two of them. Kid had a lot to live up to, and big shoes to fill. If nothing else she showed she was willing to go to the end of the world for the sake of her friends. Maybe, just maybe, the lesson'll sink in. Either way he was comfortable knowing that he had someone as dedicated as her willing to watch his ass in the field. She'll make a great addition to the team.