Chapter 10, part 1.

Alice was hoping she would be able to finally start her mercenary lessons with Castor on Monday, but instead she was called up to Peterson for a testimony at Captain Gloria Martinez's court-martial.

It was just like Carter had said: there was a military judge that presided over the proceedings, a trial counsel and a defense counsel—both members of the JAG corps—and twelve members, officers, most of whom Alice knew at least by sight, as they were all part of the Stargate Program. Martinez herself, as the accused, was also present; she looked rather resigned and mostly kept her eyes down, as if she knew she'd already lost.

The court-martial was closed for public, of course; nevertheless, even before Alice got sworn in, the judge admonished her to not reveal any classified information detrimental to national security, by which she understood the content of the leak Martinez had been accused of causing. It was both a relief—she had been worrying about that—and a complication, since it meant she would have to find ways to talk around the issue; and, while the trial counsel went out of his way to make it easier for her, the defense attorney did the exact opposite during his cross-examination. He also tried to put her credibility as a witness into question, but the thing that really threw her was when he went after her very character.

"You claim that Captain Martinez learned of all these secrets that you can't even share with us here from General Cox, and you alluded to the possibility that he told them to her because of an inappropriate relationship you believe they'd had, is that correct?" He asked at some point.

"Yes, sir," she replied curtly.

"But you have no proof as to the existence of said relationship?"

"No, sir. My supposition is entirely based on correspondence which has been entered into evidence." She nodded towards the desk where the military judge sat, with stacks of printouts next to him. The lawyer already made a fuss about her reading private mail, which was a weak defense at best, since all Atlantis personnel signed a release allowing the Air Force free access to everything that was sent via the Gate, including personal correspondence.

"And you know all about improper relationships because you've maintained one yourself while on Atlantis, haven't you?" He asked with a twinkle in his eye, believing he threw her a curveball, and he was not wrong.

Alice blinked very fast, praying that her face remained expressionless. "There is hardly any topic I'd be comfortable enough with to say that I know all about it," she hedged. "And relationships of any type are not really my strong suit, unfortunately. All I can say with authority is that Captain Martinez did not have the need to know for the information in question, and General Cox did not have the authority to grant it to her under the existing circumstances. Whether his sharing it with her was predicated upon convenience, carelessness, affection, or any other reason is not for me to say. You would have to ask him."

"And yet you did not hesitate to share your opinion on the matter of their alleged relationship."

"Only in the interest of full disclosure in the matter at hand," Alice said, trying to sound more confident than she really felt. "Captain, if you want to accuse me of something, you're free to do so, but that's another proceeding."

After that, he had to relent, and the remainder of the cross-examination followed without much hostility. Alice congratulated herself on keeping her cool, though she knew the way she phrased her answers was bound to raise some eyebrows; it was inevitable that rumors would appear, now that twelve Stargate Program officers had watched her nearly admit to having had an inappropriate relationship herself. It bothered her a little; finding out that people she counted as friends on Atlantis had known or guessed the truth about her and Karim had been uncomfortable enough, but the idea that it might now reach everyone else she'd ever worked with or was going to work with was even worse.

To compound her embarrassment, Alice bumped into Daniel Jackson while at Peterson. Curious as to why he'd be at the base—and not at the SGC—she inquired for the reason of his visit, and learned that he was there to talk to an Army lieutenant colonel who was conducting the investigation into Cho's assault on Alice. When she heard about it, she immediately became flustered and started apologizing profusely about the inconvenience it caused him.

"Are you kidding, Alice?" He raised his eyebrows disbelievingly. "I think what you're doing is amazing—and very brave. You know, as much as we try to do the right thing out there, we sometimes forget about our own backyard. And if anything, it's I who should apologize to you. I saw the way Cho looked at you and I didn't think to do anything. I should've made sure that you got home fine—but I just didn't imagine he'd do something like this…"

Alice was shaking her head vehemently. "No, no. There was no way to predict what would happen. I mean, I shouldn't have drunk as much as I did, but, you know, I thought I was among friends and colleagues and—"

"Yeah, but that's the thing—"

"—and I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself," Alice finished, talking over him.

He smiled. "Without a doubt. Still, it shouldn't have happened."

"He shouldn't have tried anything," Alice corrected him. "There is not an ounce of blame on anyone but him."

He looked down at her, his eyes serious. "And that includes you, Alice. You know that, right?"

Alice nodded, uncertain. She wasn't sure; the feminist in her was offended at the thought of victim-blaming herself, but there was another part of her that kept thinking you shouldn't have drunk so much, you shouldn't have walked out alone, you should've waited for a cab inside, you should have made it clear that you weren't interested in him in any way… It wasn't entirely rational, but it didn't make it any less real.

It was afternoon when Alice finally reached the SGC, and her office phone was already ringing before she even stepped inside. She rushed to pick it up to find that, once again, somehow Sergeant Harriman knew she was back and he was asking her to come up to the briefing room.

She found Carter sitting alone at the big table, apparently deep in conversation on a conference call. The general noticed her hesitate in the doorway and waved her to come in.

"That is not really your place to say, Agent," Carter said to the receiver while Alice approached and took a seat. "I agree that she's probably out there somewhere still, and no doubt scheming to regain some of her erstwhile power, but I find it unlikely that she, or anyone else associated with the Trust, could be behind this."

"It's much more likely than a new player," a male voice replied through the phone.

"I wouldn't be so sure," another person spoke up. "There are indications that we might be dealing with just that. It could be a new iteration of the Trust—it's possible some people at the edges of the organization managed to remain hidden after it's been infiltrated by Goa'ulds, and they are now trying to exert some sort of influence. If that's true, though, it would still be a new entity, separate from Athena's."

"I agree with Agent Barret," Carter concurred. "Jack, we may speculate all we want, but until we actually get an actionable lead, it's all it's gonna be—speculation."

"And how do we get a lead?" A familiar voice asked and Alice recognized General O'Neill.

"We have to find this Paul Emerson," the one Carter called Agent Barret answered. "We'll join forces with Interpol and the CIA, but if he's really ex-SIS, realistically, we might not be able to track him down anytime soon."

"I'd like to bring in Major Boyd to reexamine the findings," the SGC's CO added, raising one eyebrow at Alice and throwing her a quick, one-sided smirk.

"We've been over it many times," the third man on the line protested. "The SGC has done it, the NID has done it, and we've done it, what could she possibly find that has been missed by so many experts?"

"Bates makes a reasonable point, Sam," O'Neill agreed.

"She has a unique insight into this case," Carter replied confidently. "She may spot something we all didn't."

"Alright, I guess it won't hurt. She back from the thing?"

"Yes, sir." The smile was perfectly audible in Carter's voice.

"She's there with you, isn't she?" O'Neill sounded a bit exasperated.

The brigadier general grinned at Alice and gestured at her to say something.

Alice resisted the urge to roll her eyes and instead cleared her throat. "Good afternoon, sir."

She heard him sigh deeply, but the twinkle in Carter's eyes told her that it was unlikely there'd be any consequences to this little insubordination by his direct report.

"Fine, okay, bring her in," he capitulated. "At least I won't have a problem explaining that one to the President," he added mysteriously.

Alice raised her eyebrows, looking at Carter, but her CO only shook her head.

"Thanks, Jack. And thank you, gentlemen, for your perspective."

They replied with their own thanks, and everyone said goodbye before she pushed a button on the phone to end the conference. She then leaned back in her chair and looked at Alice with a smile.

"How did the testimony go?" She asked.

"Quite well, I think," Alice replied. "Talking around the actual content of the leak wasn't easy. I'm glad I had some prep with the trial counsel this morning."

"Yeah, the NID and IOA aren't very happy with us for keeping it from them, either," Carter admitted. "They'll just have to learn to live with their disappointment." She paused for a moment, and then inquired: "Did you guess what we were talking about on the conference?"

Alice nodded. "I assume you were discussing where the leak has gone to before it ended up with the Brits. Paul Emerson's the intermediary?"

"Yes, we've traced it to him, though it wasn't easy. The messages from Martinez were received into different e-mails and under different IPs all over the country. Took a while to link a couple of them to Emerson, and we still don't know if there wasn't someone else intercepting the others. The NID is going to work with Interpol and the intelligence community to try and find this Emerson, but it's gonna be difficult—he's a pro."

"Ex-MI6, is he?"

"We're waiting on confirmation on that." Carter sighed and made a move as if trying to get up and turn towards the coffeemaker, but Alice jumped to her feet and busied herself with the pot before the general finished getting to her feet. "The problem, of course, is that we don't have any jurisdiction in this matter, so we have to rely on outside agencies such as Interpol, FBI or CIA, so it's a whole thing."

"They're not particularly thrilled to be working with us," Alice guessed, putting a cup in front of the general and sitting back down with her own in hand.

"Thanks. No, they're not, and I can't blame them, with the kind of lies we must sometimes spin for their benefit… I mean, there are a couple people in the CIA who know about the Program, but the law enforcement is completely in the dark, except they know that there's something we're not telling them. The NID has better relations with them, relatively speaking, because they sometimes cooperate, but it's still a jurisdictional nightmare. It's not made any easier by the diplomatic implications—Paul Emerson was clearly the one who sold the information to the British, probably through his old MI6 contacts, but they won't confirm it, so we're left to fend for ourselves on this."

Alice sipped at her coffee, thoughtful. "And you'd like me to look over the evidence gathered against this Paul Emerson?"

"All of it that's connected to the case." Carter nodded gravely. "Don't get me wrong, Alice—I do not actually expect you to find anything new, Bates was right, it's been done and redone by multiple people across our three organizations. But I would be remiss if I didn't allow you to take a gander, just because of your unique insight, and I don't only mean your knowledge of the future; you also know Atlantis inside and out, you've worked with Cox and Martinez for eight months and all that in addition to your technical credentials. After all it was you who'd first found the leak."

"Well, I'll do my best, ma'am," Alice promised.

"Good. And now, moving on to the other thing I wanted to discuss with you." Carter took a first sip of her coffee and nodded appreciatively; Alice had already learned how her CO liked her coffee: black, two sugars. "I discussed your Lucian Alliance infiltration plan with O'Neill and Pincher. The IOA is very enthusiastic, even eager, to see if you can pull it off, though they aren't that interested in Jareth; it's the Lucian Alliance they have their sights set on."

Alice nodded knowingly. "The Destiny thing," she guessed.

"And then some." Carter rolled her eyes. "At any rate, you've got their enthusiastic support. O'Neill is a bit less eager, much like myself." She gave Alice a sidelong glance. "Just like me, he's not really keen on risking one of our best operatives on a fool's errand."

Alice didn't reply, her mouth becoming a thin line as she suppressed an insolent retort, her temperament instantly flaring up.

"However—" the general continued after a beat "—he and I both agree in that we do trust your instincts and especially your feel for Jareth and what he might do next. So, here's the deal: O'Neill's coming down to the SGC on Wednesday next week. You have that long to extract all the information you need from Castor and prepare a detailed plan on how you want to approach this mission. You really gotta sell it."

Alice exhaled. Perfect—she'd have to put up a show not just for Carter, but for O'Neill, too. "Yes, ma'am. I'll be ready."

Her CO looked for a moment as if she was torn between hoping that Alice would, in fact, be ready, and that she'd fail after all and remain safely away from the Alliance. In the end, though, she didn't offer an opinion.

"Alright, good. So I guess that's it. You're dismissed."

Alice pushed the heavy glass door and stopped right inside to look around. The room was full of people sitting around on little plastic chairs, but there was only one person at the counter, waiting for something impatiently, tapping their fingers on the wooden surface. They made way for Alice when she approached and waved at her to go on.

"Hi," Alice said to the police officer behind the desk to get his attention.

"Hello, ma'am, how can I help you?" He asked pleasantly.

"My name's Alice Boyd, I have an appointment with Detective Sloane?"

"One moment, please." The policeman picked up the phone to call him up. A short conversation followed and then he addressed Alice again: "Please take a seat, ma'am, Detective Sloane is on his way."

"Thank you," Alice replied and walked away to sit down. She only waited for a couple minutes before a man in civilian clothing—a grey suit without a tie—entered through the door left of the reception desk, asked the uniformed police officer a question, and, having her pointed out, he approached Alice.

"Ms. Boyd?" He asked and reached out with his hand. Alice stood up and shook with him. "I'm Jack Sloane."

"Pleasure to meet you, Detective," Alice greeted him politely. "Thank you for meeting me."

"Not a problem. Would you like to grab some lunch? There's a food truck with the best falafel in the neighborhood just outside." He waved towards the courtyard behind them. "We can sit at a table and talk there."

"Yeah, sounds good," she agreed and followed him out.

"So, Ms. Boyd, how do you know Tyler?"

"He married my cousin," she said with a small smile.

"Jodie's your cousin?" He half-turned to give her an appraising look. "You look nothing alike!"

"I know," Alice acknowledged wistfully; Jodie was really beautiful, with raven-black hair and chocolate-brown eyes, and a figure that belonged on the Cosmopolitan's front page. Small, flat and skinny Alice could never quite measure up, and now less than ever. "Jodie got all the good looks the family had to offer, I'm afraid."

"Well, not all of them," he murmured, sending her another appreciative glance, but then they arrived at the food truck and he got busy with the order.

"So, what is it that I can help you with, Ms. Boyd?" He asked as they sat down at the little plastic table, waiting for their orders to be prepared. "Tyler didn't say."

"Oh, I didn't tell him." Alice decided to ignore the Ms., though it bothered her. "I was wondering if you'd be willing to share some of your experience, or if you have some tips… Tyler said you were undercover for five years?"

His sizeable eyebrows went up. "That's right—but why would you be interested in that?"

Alice smiled politely. "Well, sir, I've heard you were one of the best—you got a Police Star for one of your undercover missions that almost ended badly, didn't you?"

"Yes, but you didn't answer my question."

Alice hoped her expression was adequately contrite. "I hoped you wouldn't notice."

He huffed, but more with amusement than frustration. "Well, I did. So? Are you thinking about joining the Police?"

She actually laughed at the suggestion. "No, of course not."

"Then what? Are you writing a book? Or a screenplay? Or trying to gather info on police tactics to sell it to a gang leader in exchange for a score?" He made that last remark with a wide grin and Alice rolled her eyes at him. "No, but seriously—I can't really tell you anything, UC tactics are kept secret even from other police officers, and for a very good reason."

Alice nodded solemnly. "And I don't expect you to tell me anything that's classified, sir. All I'm looking for is general knowledge, some tips and tricks on how to blend in with the criminal crowd and not get killed, you know."

He frowned, but before he could say something, they called their order. He waved at her to remain at the table and went to pick it up himself. For a while they didn't say anything while they unpacked their plastic cutlery and took their first bites.

"What you're asking for is a little concerning to me," he announced a few moments later. "It sounds a little bit like you're considering going undercover yourself, but this is not a game. It can be dangerous."

"I can take care of myself, no need to worry," she replied calmly, but it didn't seem to assuage his concern; quite the opposite, his frown deepened.

"This is no laughing matter," he warned, though neither of them was so much as smiling. "The best thing you can always do is to keep away from criminals, and inform the police if you have any suspicions or pertinent information. Civilians only get in the way, leave it to the pros."

Alice smirked. "Civilians?" She repeated. "I see that Tyler didn't even tell you who I am."

"No, he didn't—don't tell me you're law enforcement?"

"I'm not." She pulled out her wallet from a pocket and handed him a small plastic card.

He took a good look at it. "Air Force?" His eyebrows made a trek all the way up again. "Major?"

Alice smiled pleasantly. She always enjoyed that bit of shock everyone seemed to react with to the news of her military affiliation. "Yes, sir."

He shook his head and returned the Common Access Card to her. "You should've led with that."

"I'm sorry, I assumed you knew—I thought Tyler would've told you."

He waved his hand dismissively. "But that begs the question—why is an Air Force major considering going undercover? That's not a typical military occupation, is it?"

"No, it isn't," Alice agreed. "It's a"—she hesitated for a few seconds—"a special assignment. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to share any details with you due to reasons of national security."

He rolled his eyes. "Typical. You come in here, asking me to spill my secrets, but hide behind national security when I want to know why."

"I'm sorry," she said earnestly. "I really am—I wish I could tell you something, but it's out of my hands. Still—I'd really appreciate your help."

He shook his head a little and then focused on his falafel for a moment. Alice didn't interrupt his thinking.

"Fine," he declared finally. "I'll do it, but just because Tyler asked me to help you and I owe him. I do need to know two things, though: firstly, is it going to be a short sting operation, or a long-term con? And secondly, what's the objective? It's quite a different set of principles if all you need is go in, wiretap a conversation and get out, and another thing entirely if you need to spend months among crooks to identify a cartel's chain of command and gather evidence to book them."

Alice snorted. "Well, I'm not gonna be booking anyone." Then she sighed. "But okay, I guess it's fair enough. The mission is to infiltrate a criminal organization in order to get one specific person who we suspect is linked to that organization. He's… a threat to our national security and that's the only way we could think of to track him down."

Sloane's eyes narrowed. "That sounds like a job for the FBI."

"We're not talking about American citizens here, and the mission will not be taking place on US soil." It wasn't even a lie, Alice realized and suppressed the urge to smirk again.

"CIA, then."

"CIA doesn't have the necessary skills to pull it off."

"But the Air Force does?" There was disbelief in his voice.

Alice shook her head emphatically. "Not the Air Force. Me."

He threw her a measuring glance. "You? I'm sorry, don't take it the wrong way, but—"

"I know, I don't look like much," Alice interrupted him, annoyed. "I wish people stopped saying that."

"Well, it's true," he said defensively. "You look, you know, fragile."

"Well, I'm not," she answered hotly, and then paused to try and reign in her anger. "Like I said, I can take care of myself."

"And there's no-one else who can do this?"

"No." Her tone was cold and clipped, so she took a deep breath and elaborated: "I have a very specific skill set that's necessary for this mission."

His eyes bore into hers. "Is it, like, related to nuclear weapons or something?"

Alice arched her eyebrows. "I really can't comment on what it is related to—but no." She smirked. "And by the way—all that is privileged information. I haven't actually told you anything classified, but I'd appreciate it if you refrained from sharing all of this with anyone, either way."

He nodded. "That won't be a problem. I doubt anyone would believe me, anyway, this has been so bizarre."

"Good. So, now that we're on the same page, got any tips for me?"

He rolled his eyes. "Fine." He paused, put a big piece of falafel into his mouth, chewed for a moment, swallowed and nodded. "The first thing you should know is that going undercover is nothing like acting. You're not supposed to play a character; you have to become them. In order to sell a lie, you've gotta believe the lie, or else you risk being exposed by an unconscious tick or a knee-jerk reaction. At the same time, you can't forget who you really are and what's your objective, or you might get lost in the character."

"How do you reconcile the two?" Alice pulled a tiny notepad from her purse and put a pen on the first empty sheet, ready to write down his answer.

"Do you play any instruments?"

"Yeah, a guitar. And a ukulele." Alice smiled wistfully; she hadn't played since her trip to the future. It made her think of Karim and the memory was too painful.

"If you try to play and sing at the same time, what happens is that most of your conscious brain is focused on the lyrics and the emotion of the song, and the reaction of your audience, while the movements of your hands are mostly directed by your unconsciousness. But you can only do that once you're good enough; practice is what makes it possible."

"So what you're saying is that it comes with time?" Alice asked, and he nodded. "What if I don't have the time to get good at it? You gotta start somewhere, right?"

"We go through months of rigorous training." He shrugged. "Absent that, you gotta count on your instincts."

"Right." Alice fought to keep her face expressionless; she had never been really good with people.

Sloane might have noticed her struggle, because he smiled crookedly. "It's not always a good thing to keep a poker face all the time," he instructed. "Most people don't, even criminals. That's why it's so important to keep yourself in character, because you have to react not like you would, but like she would. And it's gotta be impulsive, visceral—real. Do you know already who you're gonna be?"

"I'm working on something." Alice nodded, thinking back to the hours spent with Castor, hashing out the character she was going to play—or, she corrected herself, to become.

"Good. Since you're a first-timer, when you create a persona make her as similar to yourself as possible. Don't try to give her different traits or mannerisms unless it's necessary for the mission. If your in is a tweaker trying to score, obviously you've gotta modify your behavior to match that of an addict; but if you can, just stay as true to the source as possible. That also includes any backstory you might want to create. I don't mean specific biographical information necessarily, but you gotta think about and decide how much of your own background you wanna pull into your character. If you're a good girl from a good home who went to good schools it might be difficult to impersonate someone who grew up in a dysfunctional family, lived on the streets and didn't finish school. The closer you're able to stay, the easier it'll be to really inhabit that character and the more believable to others she'll be."

Alice's hand danced on the notepad as she raced to get his main points down on paper. "Is it beneficial to figure out all of my character's backstory before I go in?" She asked, having finished. "I'm worried that if I overdo it, I'll be too focused on trying to stick to it and miss some opportunities…"

He looked a little impressed. "That's a very good question. You should definitely have a structure in place, but leave breathing spaces in between the different parts of it so you can fill them in on the fly when needed. This'll give you the flexibility to move forward with your mission, instead of being chained to one spot. You just need to remember all the details you give people."

Alice nodded. She had excellent memory, so this was one thing she wasn't worried about. "Got it."

He sighed, pushed away his empty plate, and took a sip of soda—to give himself more time, Alice presumed. "Listen, if you're a crook, the only thing you're concerned with is whether you're getting paid or killed at the end of the day. But as a UC, there's so much more you gotta think of—channeling your character every second of every moment, making sure you're not breaking the law—though I don't know how important that will be for you—" he raised his eyebrows significantly "—then there's achieving your objective, and, most importantly, not getting caught. There's one thing every new UC is told before they are let loose, and I'm gonna say it to you now, too: no operation is worth your life. If you sense danger, get out, don't look back." He threw her a penetrating look. "I mean it. You seem very determined, and although I don't know what it's all about, I can guarantee you that getting killed will not bring you closer to the guy you're after."

Alice frowned. She was never one to back out of a challenge, and there was nothing she wanted more than to finally get Jareth, but she had to concede to Sloane's logic. As much as she wanted to find and kill Jareth, she had to be alive to do so. Even if sometimes death seemed not a fearful stranger, but more an inviting friend, promising a sweet release, an end to suffering…

"I understand," she acknowledged gravely.

He seemed satisfied this time. "Good. I'd hate it if after all this you'd get killed—I'm sure I'd hear no end of it from Tyler!" He quipped.

Alice chuckled. "Well, thank you for all your insight. It was very edifying."

"Yeah, I'm sure." He stood up and extended his arm to Alice. She took it and they shook. "Good luck, Major."

"Thank you, Detective."

Alice took a deep breath to steady her nerves and then stepped over the threshold into the briefing room.

Everyone was already there: O'Neill, looking uncomfortable in class A uniform, Carter who seemed much more relaxed than him, and a man in a civilian suit Alice didn't know but presumed must have been Chapman Pincher, the current US representative to the IOA; her own team members were there as well, including Rodriguez.

They all looked at her as she entered, and all except her team raised their eyebrows, as if on cue.

"Okay, that's different," O'Neill said in lieu of a greeting, giving her a thorough once-over. "What's all this?"

Alice breathed in deeply again and then exhaled slowly. "Sir, it was my understanding that you wanted to know whether I could pull this operation off, so I decided to show you." She gestured towards herself to underline her point.

She had spent a lot of time thinking about the character she was going to create for the mission, and eventually decided that no matter how much work she'd put into it, people who knew her—such as O'Neill or Carter—would not see her as anything else than what they were used to. She needed something with a bit of a shock value to shift their perception, and there really wasn't anything else she could do than change her appearance. So she dyed her hair dark brown and got Deanna to sew an outfit for her: all leather and black, it consisted of tight-fitting pants, a wide belt with a silver buckle, sleeveless shirt and a short jacket. The look was completed by a pair of heavy military boots and a thigh holster that could hold a Zat.

"Well, I love it!" Pincher exclaimed, actually walking around Alice in a circle to look her over. "Looks very Lucian Alliance to me!"

"Looks like something Vala would wear," Carter noted with a smirk.

"I did consult with her," Alice confirmed. "And Castor."

"That's great, but an outfit is not enough to convince Lucian Alliance to bring you in," O'Neill decreed, moving to the table to sit down. Everyone followed him and for a moment there was a bit of noise and chaos as they took their seats.

"No, sir, that's where this comes in," Alice agreed and turned to Rodriguez. "Lieutenant?"

He rose quickly and started passing around thin folders, each only holding a dozen sheets or so.

"The first five pages are a brief description of characters we are going to adopt," Alice explained. "The remaining seven discuss the current situation within the Lucian Alliance, summarize the premise of the mission and provide its detailed plan—or as detailed as practical at this stage." She watched them open their folders and shuffle through the papers. "As you all know, the Lucian Alliance, though relatively few in numbers, is currently the biggest unified group in the galaxy in terms of exerted influence. They do not enslave people like Goa'uld used to, but that doesn't mean they have no power. They hold control over virtually all Kassa production and distribution and they are currently the biggest supplier of Goa'uld symbiotes to Jaffa who refuse to use Tretonin, and that includes individuals both from Wael's faction and the Free Jaffa Nation. We've been chipping away at them for years now, and they're stronger than ever, and there is no surprise in that. While the Jaffa united and created a working multi-planetary government that looks after the individual needs of each world, the humans, after the Goa'uld, the Replicators, and the Ori, were left to fend for themselves, with precious little in terms of resources. It is only natural that some of them turned to smuggling, extortion, racketeering, and other forms of crime. Their exploitation of other people is causing further decline in living conditions, thus ensuring a perpetuating influx of fresh blood into the criminal world. That circumstance is what we are planning to use as a point of ingress for ourselves." She paused to mark a passage to another topic. "We have been struggling with the Lucian Alliance for years, trying to eradicate them, and although we've had some successes, we failed to solve the problem so far. This is due largely to the fact that the Alliance has a very wide and very fast network of spies all over the galaxy. They are everywhere, they know everyone, and they offer ludicrous rewards for our heads, or even just information on our movements. That is precisely why I believe Jareth is looking for ways to infiltrate or take over the Alliance. If he were able to get to the people on top, his position in this galaxy would become undeniable, and he would be able to proceed with his plan much more easily."

"But we don't know what his plan is," O'Neill interrupted her. He looked slightly bored, and Alice wasn't sure if it was because of her way of speaking, or he just figured she wasn't saying anything new.

"No, sir, not exactly, but we can extrapolate from what we do know," she replied cautiously; only O'Neill and Carter knew about the future timeline. "And taking all of it into consideration, it is my belief that Jareth will, through a series of calculated moves, try to take over this galaxy. It may or may not turn into a full-scale invasion at some point, but either way, he's a threat that cannot be ignored. Just think of what he could do if he did have control over Lucian Alliance's spy network alone, not to mention all the people addicted to Kassa or Jaffa looking for symbiotes."

"I'm not sure he's quite the villain you make him to be," O'Neill muttered.

"I know, sir." Alice sighed resignedly. "Nobody understands it quite like I do."

"Fair enough." He nodded, causing a few eyebrows to go up around the table—even from her own teammates. O'Neill at least knew what she was talking about, but they were in the dark, so the exchange must have seemed bizarre to them.

"The good news is—" Alice continued after a beat "—that even if I'm wrong about Jareth, this plan still offers a good return on invested time and effort. The Lucian Alliance does know almost everything that happens in the Milky Way, so it's entirely possible that affiliation with them may yield actionable leads in our pursuit of Jareth, even if he doesn't go after them." She emphasized the last part of the sentence. "And then again, even if we get zero clues as to Jareth's whereabouts or actions, we will have infiltrated the Lucian Alliance, and I don't need to explain to you what a treasure trove this could be just in terms of intel on how to shut them down once and for all, let alone any other comings and goings in the galaxy."

"Very good point and well made, Major!" Pincher complimented, to the surprise of no-one. The IOA wasn't too concerned with Jareth; back when Alice was still part of the Atlantis expedition, they had ordered them to cease actively looking for him—and it was to Woolsey's credit that he disregarded that order. In hindsight, Alice must have admitted it probably contributed to him eventually being booted off the City. Nothing made the IOA look at Jareth as the threat he was, and since they were not privy to Alice's intel from the future, they probably saw no reason for all the fuss now. They did care a lot about the Lucian Alliance, though, so she figured she could pander to that particular obsession a little to get their buy-in.

"Oh, for crying out loud!" O'Neill muttered, exchanging a look with Carter. Despite Pincher's enthusiasm—or maybe partly because of it—there was still no love between the Advisory and the military. "What is that plan of yours, then, Major?"

"It consists of three phases: establishment, cooperation and invitation." Alice ticked them off on her fingers. "Unfortunately, we can't just go to the Alliance and ask to join. We have to be invited, and it has to come from them—it has to be organic. And that means we have to become valuable to them somehow. We're planning to do that by becoming widely known experts in alien technology, specializing in all things Ancient. That's the first phase of the plan: we will introduce and establish ourselves on the open market, by buying, selling and mending alien technology and Ancient artifacts. With a bit of luck and some help from our friends, we will hopefully get noticed by the Lucian Alliance. When they start using our services, we'll be moving seamlessly to phase two—cooperation. We'll have to build our brand and become trusted business partners to them, until our significance and value grows enough for them to want to invite us to the fold. That will begin the phase three of the plan, which will mean we'll have successfully infiltrated the Lucian Alliance—but of course it won't mean the end of the road, since we'll also have to maintain our status and, ideally, climb the ladder to a position that will allow us to accomplish our objectives."

"That sounds very long-term," Pincher noted, a little deflated.

"Yes, sir. The way I see it, it's a minimum of six months of work to get to stage three, but probably more." Alice nodded soberly.

"It's better to do it slow but well," Carter noted. "It's still a dicey proposition, but I actually feel a little better knowing you have it all worked out, Major."

Alice sent her a small smile.

"Six months off-world? Or longer?" Pincher shook his head. "That's no mean feat!"

"Oh, we're not going to be off-world all the time," Alice explained patiently. "It is typical for smugglers and other outlaws to move around, jumping from planet to planet. It makes it a little more difficult to find them but it helps them avoid being found by those they'd rather not be found by. Crooks usually have a lot of enemies—and even if not, the competition is fierce. We will use that and adopt their typical scheme: stay in one place for up to a couple days, and then retreat. They usually have a hideaway spot where they can lay low on days where they're not out there. As per Castor, some, if not most, have homes and families they go back to. Of course, our hideaway will be back here, on Earth."

"Very clever," the IOA rep admitted, a little impressed.

"You kept saying 'we'. Who's that?" O'Neill demanded.

"Sir, General Carter had asked me to include my team in the mission," Alice replied, trying not to show the discontent she still felt at having to follow that particular order. She was all for risking her own life, but risking her team's like that didn't sit well with her. "Ostensibly, to the outside world, there will be two of us—myself and Lieutenant Rodriguez. We will be the ones offering goods and services and dealing with the clientele. In the meantime, Sergeant Watson and Airman Morgan will accompany us to whichever planet we go to and blend in with the crowd, guarding our six from a safe distance. In case we need backup, they'll be there to step in or contact SGC for reinforcements, or a rescue mission, whatever's required."

O'Neill seemed placated with that, but he turned to Rodriguez, startling the boy, and asked, not unkindly: "Weren't you on desk duty due to injury?"

"Y-yes, sir, I-I was," the young officer stammered nervously. He swallowed and continued a little more confidently: "I was pronounced fit for offworld duty by Doctor Lam just yesterday."

"Lucky you," the lieutenant general commented offhandedly, looking back at Alice. "Wouldn't you like to have someone a little more experienced with you?"

Alice shook her head. "I assume you mean Sergeant Watson, but he can't come with me exactly for this reason: he is too experienced. He's been with SG-17 for two years before being reassigned to me, and there are plenty of people out there who know him. We can't risk him being recognized."

"You've been going around the galaxy asking questions for three months, too," Carter noted, frowning, as if it was something she hadn't even considered before. "Someone might recognize you."

"That's unlikely, ma'am. It's true that I've visited a handful of worlds, but I've only spoken to a few people for a short time. Plus, the most memorable thing about me is my red hair." She unconsciously touched a lock that sneaked out of the elastic; it still felt weird to have her face framed in brown and not red. "I very much doubt that anyone would recognize me without it. Either way, the risk is relatively small compared to that of someone identifying Sergeant Watson. In addition to that, Lieutenant Rodriguez majored in astronautical engineering at the Academy, which will make his cover identity more believable."

"Yes, and what cover identities do you have in mind?" O'Neill asked with raised eyebrows.

"Mine will be Nova Ray, born on the planet called Nekhen, we designated it P2X-795. It was ruled by a minor Goa'uld named Mehit, an underling to Horus. When Nova was ten, her father led a rebellion against Mehit. It was brutally suppressed, Nova's father killed, and Nova and her mother had to flee the planet. The entire population of Nekhen has been wiped out by the Ori, so there's little chance of finding anyone to contradict this story. Anyway, Nova's mother fell ill and was saved from death by blending with a Tok'ra named Sathel, who was an expert in Ancient technology. Nova spent the remainder of her childhood in Tok'ra hideouts, accompanying her mother and Sathel and helping with their research. That's how she learned so much about science and engineering." Alice smirked a little. "It might interest you that when Nova was only fifteen, she came into contact with some humans from Earth who had formed an alliance with the Tok'ra."

"Did she, now?" Carter actually snorted.

"If I slip up and say something very Earth-ish—like an idiom or a science term that's not known anywhere else but here—it's not because I'm from Earth, it's just because I used to hang out with some Tau'ri when I was younger." Alice shrugged nonchalantly, and noted with satisfaction that the explanation seemed to have landed with both generals. "Unfortunately, Nova's mother was killed along with Sathel during the attack on Revanna. Nova only survived because she wasn't on the planet at the time. Left with no way of finding the remainder of the Tok'ra, she had no other choice but forge her own path. Over the next few years, Nova traveled from planet to planet, doing small jobs to survive and hiding away from the war that was raging between the Jaffa, survivors of the Tok'ra, the Tau'ri, Goa'ulds, Anubis and the Replicators. After the dust settled, and before the Ori came, Nova found herself on a planet called Praxia, a fairly advanced human world, where she met a sixteen-year-old boy named Levi Kern." Alice nodded at Rodriguez.

He cleared his throat nervously. "Levi was born and raised on Praxia in relative calm until the age of fourteen, when his parents died of consumption. Since then, Levi had to fight for survival on the streets. When he first met Nova, he tried to rob her, but she caught him and, instead of punishing him, she took pity on him."

"They remained on Praxia until the Ori came and gave the planet their ultimatum," Alice picked up the story. "Praxia decided to follow the Origin, and they began expelling or even killing those who opposed it. Nova managed to flee and, once again, she was homeless among the stars. Eventually she ran into Levi again; he had had to escape Praxia's religious oppression, too. They decided to stick together, thinking of their reunion as an intervention of fate. They settled somewhere on a safe planet, and been trying to get by on buying, mending, and reselling artifacts for a profit. They are only now starting to get noticed and they are quite ready to take the next step."

Alice fell silent, looking around the table, searching for clues as to whether she managed to convince them or not. She caught an exchange of glances between O'Neill and Carter, but couldn't quite tell what it meant.

"Well, I can see why the President likes you so much," the lieutenant general commented after a moment.

"Right?" Carter nodded genially.

"I'm sorry?" Alice raised her eyebrows.

"You have a gift for telling stories," Carter explained. "I can only imagine that listening to, hmm, everything you had to say to the President must have been quite captivating."

Alice blinked hard and felt her cheeks getting warmer. "Uhm. Thank you?"

"Well, I thought that was excellent!" Pincher announced, as if he felt he needed to make his presence known; he couldn't have liked Carter's allusion to information he knew existed but not what it was.

"If we greenlight this operation—and I'm not saying we will—what would be your first steps?" O'Neill asked morosely, as if he knew he already lost.

"We should start by dispatching some of our other teams to our allies and friends. We will ask some of them to vouch for us—basically, if someone comes asking, they're going to say they know us, give a few facts of our supposed previous dealings, and make our backstory seem credible. Others will start slowly and discreetly talking us up—those with ties to the criminal underworld especially, just name-drop us in casual conversations, point some prospective customers our way, things like that. I've compiled a list, it's page nine." She nodded towards the folder in front of O'Neill; beside the initial peek, he hadn't so much as touched it. "While other SG teams set that machine in motion, we will prepare to launch our new business. We'll start slow, after all we're supposed to be new in this thing," she noted. "We will need some artifacts to begin with, so we might start by having a tour of some of these places that we know sell alien tech. And…" She hesitated, her eyes flitting to Carter for a moment, before looking back at O'Neill. "With your permission, sir—there's quite a few items in the vaults of Area 51 that are lying around uselessly…"

"You want to sell our hard-won stuff?" O'Neill asked with amusement.

"Only those things that aren't a threat to us or anyone," she hastened to explain. "And that we're not using for anything. There must be some of those…"

"Sam?" He looked at Carter, cocking his head to the side.

"The major's right, there are some things we could probably part with." Carter sighed, as if the thought of giving anything up was painful.

O'Neill nodded. "What about the budget?"

"There will be some expenses," Alice acknowledged. "We will need some Naquadah—it's the most widely used form of currency in the galaxy; but then again, we can't seem to be rich, so it won't be any large quantities. In terms of Earth money, we should not need much, too. The whole point is to seem genuine, and that means we can't use too much of SGC's resources. The cost breakdown for phase I is on page ten."

This time, even O'Neill looked, but it wasn't him who spoke up first.

"Excellent!" Pincher enthused. "I'm sold. General—this mission is a potential game changer, and it's cheap to boot! I see no reason not to greenlight it immediately!"

But O'Neill only grimaced. "That's because you haven't considered the risks involved. You know what's the problem with elaborate plans?" He addressed Alice directly.

She nodded. "Many things have to go right for them to succeed, but only one needs to go bad for them to be a disaster. I'm not denying that it's risky, sir. But I believe the cost of doing nothing will be much greater. Whether you believe in the threat that Jareth poses—"

"It's not that I don't think he's a threat," he interrupted her. "But we've messed up his big bad plan, so I'm not sure if we're heading toward the kind of scenario you think we're heading towards."

"Perhaps not," Alice acknowledged. "But I could not live with myself if I let it happen." The remark sounded quite benign, and Alice was sure she controlled her face well, but the emotion beneath was a stirring pot of fear, anger, shame, guilt, and much more that she couldn't even name; because she already did let it happen. After coming back from the future she held all the aces—she knew where he would be and when, she knew what he was going to do, she had her team with her to help her achieve the objective—and yet she failed to eliminate Jareth. She was now playing desperate catch-up, trying to prevent the future from repeating—and, at the same time, avenge Karim and atone for her own sins. "Could you? If I'm right and it all comes to pass… how would you feel, knowing we had a head start and we still didn't stop it?"

Nobody answered to that. Alice's teammates seemed confused, frowns on their faces as they tried to decipher the cryptic conversation. Pincher looked mad, and for a moment Alice felt for him—it must have been difficult to be in the dark when almost everyone else seemed to know what he didn't.

O'Neill and Carter exchanged another long look, and Alice thought they knew each other for so long, they could communicate without words. For just a few seconds she felt irrationally jealous of their relationship; as unconventional as it was, it must have been really gratifying to both of them.

O'Neill sighed deeply. "I'd feel like an idiot," he admitted. For some reason, this made Carter smirk, and Alice wondered if it was a private joke. "Fine. You can do this. But at first sight of trouble, you skedaddle, understood?"

"Yes, sir." Alice smiled triumphantly. "Thank you."