Summery: A routine trip off-world has long-lasting effects for SG-1. Meanwhile, Jack has terrestrial trouble too, when his half-sister is recruited to the SGC and his worlds threaten to collide and all his secrets are in danger of being exposed.
Disclaimer: I do not own "Stargate SG-1" the series. I believe it is owned by MGM. No copyright infringement is intended. No disrespect is intended. I am merely intrigued by the possibilities.
A Matter of Degrees
by: Visions2share a.k.a. Vi
"Dr. Mallory – I'm Daniel Jackson. Please come in and have a seat." they had moved her down the hallway to a smaller conference room for her intake interview. "Sam, uh, Major Carter and Dr. Fraiser are on their way. How are you doing? Handling all this okay?"
"Um," how should she answer that? "I honestly have no idea."
The man smiled. "That's pretty typical, really. All this can be a bit much to get used to – especially when it all gets dumped on you all at once like this. We used to ease people into it more – but that led to some people searching out information on their own, and breaks in security, so the military decided doing it this way was better," he shook his head like he was discouraged, and Susan got the feeling he wasn't really even talking to her anymore.
After a minute of silence, Susan cleared her throat as she had a feeling he'd forgotten anyone else was there.
"Oh, yes, sorry. What was I saying? … Ah, indeed – if you feel you need somebody to talk to, we have a small list of approved counselors you can get from your supervisor – or you can, of course, speak to your supervisor directly about any concerns you may have."
"And who will my supervisor be? I'm afraid I still don't understand how medical research falls under the purview of the military."
Dr. Jackson frowned and glanced down at his stack of folders.
"Ah, Dr. Mallory, I remember now," he'd obviously done too many of these interviews today as he didn't seem to remember who she was, "you'll be reporting to Dr. Fraiser, who oversees all medical matters at the SGC. As for where your research fits in, we should probably wait for the others as it isn't my area of expertise and I wouldn't want to give you the wrong information."
Susan liked this guy – anyone who could put doctor in front of their name yet still admit to a stranger that there were things they didn't know – was a rare bird. Or, as Jack would say, 'maybe not a complete shrub.'
As if on cue, the door opened and two women walked in, closing the door behind them. The first was Major Carter, who Susan had listened to with rapt attention during the orientation. The second woman was the complete opposite in almost every single way – she was brunette to the major's blonde and small, barely five feet tall – and looked even shorter next to Major Carter, who was tall for a woman. If the two had anything beyond gender in common, it was that they were each in their own way beautiful. And Dr. Jackson was very handsome – was being physically attractive a requirement to work here? If so, what was she doing here? Sitting in a room with these people left Susan feeling particularly homely.
"Dr. Mallory, you'll recognize Major Carter, PhD and this is Major Janet Fraiser, PhD, and MD."
Each woman shook Susan's hand and took a seat on the same side of the table as Dr. Jackson, leaving Susan alone on the other side and the head and foot of the table unoccupied. Susan wondered if they did that to be intimidating or if that was merely an added benefit.
"Dr. Mallory was just asking why medical research is relevant to this program," Dr. Jackson focused the conversation.
It was major – doctor? – Fraiser that spoke up, "My staff monitors all medical research being conducted, as Major Carter and Dr. Jackson's teams do for their areas of responsibility. Your thesis of using crystals and harmonics to optimize healing during and after surgery caught our attention because we've encountered similar procedures and technology amongst our alien allies over the years. We hope we can combine what we have learned to expand your study and hopefully make more progress at a faster pace than either of us could manage on our own."
Susan had a million questions and no clue which one to ask first. Her mind spun. This meant she was right – and everybody who'd told her that her theories made her an idiot were wrong! She was so excited it was all she could do to keep from bouncing up and down in her chair. Susan struggled, but was determined to remain professional.
Unfortunately, something must have shown on her face. It was the only explanation for why Dr. Jackson would say what he did next.
"Heady feeling, isn't it? Knowing you were right? Being validated? Vindicated?"
Susan could only nod – surprised he could tell what she was thinking.
"That feeling will have to be enough," he continued, "those who spoke against you can't know about this."
"At least not anytime soon," Dr. Fraiser inserted.
"The mere fact you were right is now classified and you can't tell any of them." He didn't elaborate on who 'them' was – but he didn't have to – she understood.
"I understand," she assured them – she'd fully taken on board the consequences for breaking the non-disclosure agreement – consequences she never wanted to have to face. But she wondered if nobody could know what good was the medical advancement? If it wouldn't or couldn't be used to help people why bother?
"But…?" Dr. Jackson prompted.
"But … medical research is done for the purpose of advancement in ways to help people. It isn't meant to be purely academic. What's the point?"
Dr. Fraiser smiled, "Oh, it will be used. In fact, the clinical trial phase will be moved up to begin within the next few months. All testing will be done on SGC personnel. When we have enough data and a way to disguise anything 'alien', we will open up the testing to the whole United States military."
"And from there," Major Carter picked up, "it simply won't be a secret anymore."
"And, yes," Dr. Fraiser continued, "you will get credit for your part of the breakthrough."
Susan was grateful for that, but even more pleased that the knowledge would be used. That's why she became a surgeon, after all – to help people.
"That way," Dr. Jackson informed her, "if you decide not to stay with the SGC after the project, your career will pickup right on track back in the civilian sector."
Wow! These people thought really far ahead. It would be at least a decade – probably two – based on what she knew before the results of her research could go public. By that time, she would be at least fifty – her priorities would likely have shifted by then – but she appreciated they would leave her with options when the time came.
"You'll spend the next months bringing yourself up to speed on our discoveries and resulting research. While you do that, you'll need to be thinking about how to adjust your study to combine it with ours. When you're ready, we'll then have a series of meetings where we discuss and design the new study and determine how best to implement it."
"And I'll spend those months working here?" Susan pointed down at the table but thought it was obvious she didn't mean this exact spot.
"No. You have an office at the Air Force Academy Hospital. It has already been stocked with all the relevant data and reading material. Since it's classified, it can't leave that office."
"Ah. Okay."
"But before you worry about that, we — the three of us, that is," Major Carter clarified, "would like to get to know you and for you to learn a little more about us."
Why would that matter?
"We find that working at the SGC – whether here on site or at one of the other facilities can be very isolating," Susan wondered if Dr. Jackson made it a habit to state the obvious only when it was good and depressing. "So, we try to foster a good feeling of community for the people who work here – to help offset the loneliness. And that's easier if we all know a little bit about each other to get started. Make sense?"
Surprisingly, it did make sense – maybe the first thing all day to do so.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! ~ Vi