Chapter 5: Initiative 101

Challenge: #2666 'Conception by Conspiracy' by zoev. It isn't an exact match, but hopefully it's close enough for zoev.

Thanks to my betas: zigpal, winddancer and JacobPhoenix.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Stargate characters belong to Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright / SyFy Channel. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

Charter plane

Somewhere between Colorado Springs and Sunnydale

To keep their plans as quiet as possible, General Hammond managed to procure a private charter for them to take to Sunnydale. After some heavy discussions, it was finally decided that since they didn't know what they were walking into, SG-1 needed some back-up to shut the Initiative down. The SG-5 Marines were going to provide the military power, and with any luck, SG-7 – being a scientific/medical team – would help with understanding what it was those people were doing in Sunnydale.

As they were boarding, Major Davis handed over more detailed information packets to the three teams. Only SG-1's had mention of the insemination project, though. Because they were already aware of the project, McKay and Fraiser sat with the team to discuss the new information they received. To say the least, it was…startling.

Apparently these HSTs were creatures that sounded like they belonged in horror movies. In fact, at one point Teal'c commented, "The description they give for this hostile 17 – and others like it – sounds like the vampires from your movies. I did not realize they existed."

"That makes two of us, big guy," Jack replied, wondering what kind of mess they were going into.

McKay scoffed at the notion, "Please! They're obviously a different kind of alien that we haven't encountered yet on other planets."

Daniel couldn't stop himself from mouthing 'We?' to Carter, who silently shook her head at the arrogant scientist who suddenly thought he was part of the team somehow.

Her concern was something different, however. "I'm more interested in how long they've been monitoring events in Sunnydale before commencing operations. Five years seems like a long time to wait. Especially if these creatures were posing that big of a threat to the local population. Why didn't they do anything to help?" Carter asked.

Scanning his packet, Daniel answered her semi-rhetorical question, "According to this, they only received approval from Mayor Wilkins to set up their facility in Sunnydale if they promised to wait until 2000 to start gathering specimens."

"Uhh, Danny-boy, it isn't 2000 yet," Jack pointed out.

Daniel looked bewildered at that, but kept reading. Shortly he nodded and summarized for them, "Right. Says here that the mayor was speaking at the high school graduation last spring when there was a gas leak. Several people went missing and were presumed dead; he was one of the missing. The Initiative leaders decided that since he wasn't there to enforce the agreement, they would start gathering subjects for their experiments right away."

Jack had the file on Buffy Summers – what little of it there was – and when he got to a certain item, he bit back a smile. This was bound to ruffle a few genius feathers…hopefully McKay's. "I think I might have discovered another reason why Buffy was picked for this experiment," he said in a sing-song fashion.

Carter, a little leery at the badly-hidden glee in his eyes, braced herself for his answer when she asked, "Why's that, sir?"

Grinning boyishly at his 2IC, Jack announced, "Turns out Miss Summers is a bona fide genius."

She frowned back at him, remembering the first briefing they had about the poor girl. "We saw her high school transcripts, sir. She barely maintained a 'C' average. If you're referring to her SATs, those could have been a fluke. Or she could just be good at standardized tests," Carter hypothesized.

His grin only turned more smug, though. "Yes, but there was another test that wasn't on that transcript which the Initiative somehow got their grubby little hands on. At the beginning of her senior year, the school counselor had her take an IQ test. Apparently he thought there was something odd about the 'perceived gap between her grades and his personal observations about her intelligence'," Jack finished, obviously quoting at the end.

Wanting to get it over with, Daniel inquired, "What did she score, Jack?"

"Oh, just a 178," Jack replied flippantly, quite proud of an absolute stranger.

It was worth it, too, because Carter's eyes just about bugged out. "What? I only got a 163!" she cried indignantly.

Daniel rushed to assure her, "You did better than me, Sam; I got a 159."

Seeing the grimace on McKay's face, Jack had to ask, "What was your score?"

"I don't see how that's relevant," McKay snapped petulantly.

Oh, this was the best non-birthday/Christmas present he could ask for! "Hey, you were the one who was wondering why she would be picked," Jack happily reminded McKay. "Or me and Daniel, for that matter. I think your supposedly superior intellect is very relevant."

"Fine! My score was 164. But I had the grades to back it up; clearly she still isn't as intelligent as me," McKay defended himself, then turned away to sulk.

Jack wasn't ready to let it go. He tossed one more comment at the scientist, "You're just sore she has a higher score than you."

"In a way, he has a point, sir," Carter reluctantly agreed with the irritating man. "That is a pretty big discrepancy."

Janet finally spoke up, not bothering to get involved in the IQ discussion – since hers was a 'measly' 135, "Well, she managed to impress the admissions board of Northwestern despite her grades. They offered her a place there. I'm not sure why she didn't take it, unless she couldn't afford the cost."

"They wouldn't have done that unless…" Carter trailed off mid-sentence. She turned to Jack and said, "Sir, I think something strange is going on."

"Well, unless one of us knows somebody on the admissions committee, I don't think they're gonna tell us why they said yes to her," Jack admitted with a grimace. In their lives, puzzles were rarely a good thing; the same was probably true for anything to do with the Initiative.

Daniel perked up at the mention of the college's name. "Actually, we do, Jack," he said with a smile. "Catherine holds a seat on that board. It was her alma mater. She usually stays out of the voting process, but she could still look into it for us," he suggested.

Deciding this could be important, Jack ordered his friend, "When we get to the hotel, call her. If we could offer her a better future, she might be more willing to trust us after we tell her about this experiment."

TBC…