Jack O'Neill stood staring at the door Teal'c had just exited through. He shook his head and turned back to the man in the bed.
Jonas was watching him warily. "You're going to kill me, sir?"
Jack frowned, looking around for a chair. "Yes, Jonas, I am."
Finding the chair he wanted, he turned it around and straddled it backward, his arms crossed on the high back. He regarded the Kelownan in the bed. For once the man wasn't smiling. He couldn't help himself. With a snort he asked, "What? This isn't a 'first' for you? You've had the trots before?"
A frown of confusion crossed Jonas' face. "The trots, sir?"
"Yeah. The trots. Montezuma's revenge. The flux. The downtown squirts," Jack clarified helpfully. Seeing the confusion deepen, he sighed. "Diarrhea, Jonas, diarrhea."
"Oh. Uh, no, sir. I've never really had any illness like this before. I don't um, get sick very often."
"So, where's the smile. It's just another first, right?"
"Ah." Jonas' nodded his understanding, but didn't crack a smile.
O'Neill sighed, not quite sure why he had tried to lighten the atmosphere. "All right, now, suppose you tell me exactly what happened on that planet?"
O'Neill watched as Jonas swallowed hard, then composed his face into that damned, 'I'm telling you everything, honestly' look. Jack felt his ire go up. It was the same kind of look that slimeball politician, Senator Kinsey, would display when he was on talk shows. He almost missed what the Kelownan was saying. "I was only able to translate about half of the pillars, sir."
"What?" The question came out harsher than he expected, and he was surprised to see Jonas actually flinch, although his mien did not change.
"I'm sorry, sir. I know I should have completed them all."
Jack stared nonplussed. He waited for more of an explanation, but Jonas just sat there. The look hadn't changed, and after a moment, Jack shook his head. "Major Palmer says you went off on your own and ignored the other archeologists. What was that about?"
Jonas seemed to deflate for a moment before he recovered. He continued to look Jack in the eye as he said calmly, "They didn't feel I had the appropriate credentials to assist them."
"What the hell does that mean? They were sent there to do a job, and so were you. Nobody said you had to be best friends, but when I send you out on a mission, I expect you to put your personal feelings aside and get the job done. You wasted five days, Jonas. Five days. And you've got nothing to show for it." Jack raged quietly.
"No, sir." Jonas stated firmly, still looking like he was running for damn office.
"What do you mean, 'no sir'?"
"Colonel, I was able to translate enough to know that there is definitely a weapon there. And I'm pretty sure I know where."
"What? Why the hell didn't you tell anyone? Dammit, Jonas, Palmer could have recovered it."
"I'm sorry, sir. I only translated the relevant passage this morning. I went to discuss it with the major, but by that time, everyone was so sick, he was just focused on getting us all back to the gate."
Jack sat back, frowning. He ran his hand through his hair. "All right. But that still doesn't explain why you weren't working with the others."
For once, the Kelownan seemed at a loss. He started to say something but then shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir. I won't let it happen again."
O'Neill's first thought was to let it ride, but some vague instinct told him not to let it drop. "Not good enough, Quinn. I want a full report. Now."
Again there was a flinch, telling Jack that whatever had gone on, he needed to know, to understand. Suddenly, Jonas' face lost the artificial 'good friends, buddy' appearance. "When we arrived on P9Z-994, while SG14 was securing the area, Dr. Kelly and Dr. Weisen told me that they had all agreed that I wasn't uh, fit to clean their boots, and that even if I had everyone else fooled, they knew the truth. That I killed Dr. Jackson out of jealousy."
He glanced away, no longer able to look O'Neill in the eye. "They said they were not going to allow me to, uh, weasel my way onto the archeology team. They said I had no background or training, and just because I was able to filch Dr. Jackson's journals didn't mean I knew what I was doing. Um… then they uh, shunned me."
"Shunned you?" Jack asked, fighting to keep his voice level.
"Uh, yes sir. All five of them. Dr. Kelly said I didn't exist, and they all turned their backs on me. They wouldn't look at me or talk to me."
The polite attention was back. Jack felt an irrational urge to shake the Kelownan. He took a few breaths to regain his composure, and asked, "Why didn't you tell Palmer?"
Jonas shrugged and said as if it was obvious, "Sir, given how they felt, they were within their rights to…"
"NO. Dammit, Jonas, no. They were not within their rights. They were assigned to work with you. With you. They were not assigned to pull this shunning crap. And what is that, anyway?"
The question was rhetorical, but before Jack could continue, Jonas responded. "Uh, on Kelowna, it's a judicial punishment for a certain class of crimes."
That brought Jack up short. He hadn't expected any reply, much less something that sounded like a classroom recitation. "What? What kind of 'crimes'?"
"Crimes of nonconformity. It's a serious punishment, colonel," Jonas said softly but then, as if he realized the implications, he continued hurriedly. "But, of course, I realize that Dr. Kelly and the others didn't mean it in the same way."
Jack held up his hand, "All right, first off, I don't want to hear you defending them. Okay? What they did was wrong. That's all there is to that. Secondly, the reason SG14 was there was to see to it that the job got done. You should have told Major Palmer…"
Jack paused as Jonas shook his head vehemently. "What?"
"Sir, the only logical option Major Palmer would have had would have been to send me home. I felt the translations were too important to let that happen."
Exasperated, Jack shook his head. "That wasn't your call to make. And believe me, that was not the only option the major had." At Jonas' questioning look, Jack sighed. "Jonas, if it had been me, I would have kicked all five of their sorry bigoted asses right back through the gate."
Jonas frowned, shaking his head. "Sir, that wouldn't have made any sense at all. Exchanging the work of five highly respected archeologists for one um, amateur would be foolish."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Hello? Did any one of those idiots come close to a correct translation?"
Jonas paused, clearly uncomfortable. "I'm sure they would have, given more time."
"What did I just tell you about defending them?"
"I'm sorry, Colonel. I know I screwed up. I don't know what to say other than I'm sorry and I won't let it happen again."
Suddenly Jack got a sense of overwhelming weariness from the Kelownan. Realizing if he stayed much longer, Frasier would skin him alive, he stood up suddenly. "I'm not going to say you didn't screw up, Jonas, because you did. Next time, talk to people when something like this happens. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"All right. Get some sleep. We'll talk later about going after this weapon of yours." Jack said gruffly
"Yes sir."
O'Neill stared for a moment at the Kelownan, then turned on his heel and walked out of the infirmary. He nodded to Teal'c who was standing guard in the hall, and continued on. He was halfway to General Hammond's office before he realized he had never asked Jonas about his comment to Carter. He slowed for a moment, then with an irritated shake of his head, continued on his way.
