Chapter 126: Spy Games Part 2
Royal Palace, Bright Moon, Etheria, December 9th, 1999 (Earth Time)
"They're just here to learn more about magic and magitech. They don't care about our culture at all. We should send them home!"
Adora winced while she watched Glimmer pace and complain - or rant - in her office. "We invited them," she reminded her friend.
Glimmer scoffed. "So we can rescind the invitation. We don't have to let spies stay."
"Unless they're at Princess Prom," Bow pointed out, then grimaced when Glimmer glared at him. "Just saying."
"We aren't at Princess Prom!" Glimmer shook her head and kept pacing.
Adora bit her lower lip for a moment, then asked: "Well, can you really call them spies if all they do is ask questions of their hosts?" It wasn't really fair to call the Asgard spies, in her opinion. They were giving them tours, after all.
"Are we sure that they are just asking questions?" Glimmer asked back.
"Well… we've got them under permanent surveillance," Entrapta spoke up. She was still working on her multitool, though, and her hair tendrils were typing on a keyboard next to her. "Although that's to keep them safe from any attacks, and to prevent Double Trouble from copying them, as you told me. But! It also means we can be sure that they aren't sneaking out of their quarters at night to break into our data banks. Unless, of course, they managed to fool our security."
"Could they have done this?" Adora asked. First, the Stargate Command computer got taken over, and now this?
"Well… It's possible. In theory. Nothing is impossible, after all." Entrapta smiled as she nodded. "So, yes, they could have done this. That's simple logic."
Adora suppressed a sigh, and even Glimmer looked taken aback for a moment. "Uh, is it likely that they could have done such a thing?"
"Wellll…" Entrpata scrunched her nose. "That's a different question. We don't know everything about their technology, especially their computer technology. I've taken scans of their sensors on Cimmeria, but I don't think that was their best work. And Horde Prime used their technology for his systems, but he had a long time to develop it further, so we can't judge Asgard technology based on Horde technology. Still, there are similarities. Also, since they're fighting bots, they probably have good computer security, so they should also be good at penetrating computer security - you can't have one without the other, you know? You wouldn't be able to test your security measures without having the skill to penetrate it. And as Loki told us, a lot of their technology is heavily automated, especially their ships, so that's another point for them being good at computers - you can't have good bots, and automation is just another term for having bots do the works, without good computer technology. Control matrices with the required complexity for bots, even if they aren't self-learning ones, need good computers. On the other hand, Loki didn't seem to have better computer technology than we do. Then again, he is kind of banned from their research, so he wouldn't have access to their best systems. On the other hand, since Horde technology is based on Asgard technology, the similarities would make it a bit easier to hack a computer than if it were a truly alien system - which is why I so want to take a look at the programs Sam found. Imagine the data we could get from an alien system! Anyway! We don't have enough data to tell what the Asgard could do."
Adora blinked. That had been a lot of words for basically 'we don't know'.
"So, we have to assume the worst," Glimmer said.
"No!" Adora shook her head. "We can't assume the worst of others!"
"Unless we're defining security procedures. At least Hordak said that," Entrapta added. "You need to prepare for the worst mistake you can think of because someone will do that."
Ah, yes. 'Kyle-proofing' was what Catra called it.
"Whatever. We still have to face facts: We can't earn the Asgard's trust by showing them our culture. We're too different from each other," Glimmer said.
"Well, I think just making the attempt has helped us. Showed our good will." Bow smiled.
Adora's smile was a little forced. She didn't want to be a downer, but in her impression, the Asgard's experiences on Etheria so far had hurt their trust in the Alliance as much as they had helped it. At least as much.
"If they dislike our culture as much as dislike theirs, we might have been insulting them for the entire visit so far," Glimmer pointed out. "At least they have been more polite about that than some of us."
Adora winced again, and Bow blushed a little. Lance and George had been enthusiastic about the Asgard but also a bit too honest.
"But back to our security: Entrapta, we need you to double-check our systems. Just in case," Glimmer said. "And we'll have to get more guards, in case our sensors are compromised. Can't fool people the same way you can fool a bot."
"Unless you're Double Trouble," Bow said.
Entrapta nodded. "Or unless you use optical illusions backed with sound. That would fool both people and bots, as long as the bots don't have other sensors. That's why I always build my bots with multi-sensory scanners!"
Glimmer ignored both and looked at Adora. "And we need to decide what to do with the Asgard. It's pointless to show them more of our culture. We need to do something else."
Adora nodded. The question was: What could they do? She had an idea, or at least the start of one, but the others wouldn't like it. Still, they had to do something. And they were her friends. They would hate her for suggesting it.
She cleared her throat. "I had an idea about that…"
Adora checked her appearance in the mirror, turning her head left and right to get a different angle. She looked presentable and nodded to herself. For a moment, she expected a dry comment about vanity, or a sappy one about being beautiful from every angle, but Catra was stuck on Earth, and her friends here were…
"I still think this is a bad idea."
"We all agreed it was the best idea we had."
"That doesn't make it a good idea."
"Well, that depends on how you define a good idea. Is there an objective or relative good? Or a minimum value you have to reach?"
…still not done with the discussion they had had for an hour. Even though, as Bow had pointed out, they had all agreed that Adora's idea was the best they had. Which wasn't very flattering since it was the only idea they had, not counting Glimmer's muttered wish to deport all Asgard. Or make them sit through a medley of Sea Hawk's worst shanties.
It was kind of weird how the Asgard seemed to annoy Glimmer so much. They hadn't actually done anything to her except for scorning Etherian culture and being curious about magic. Not unlike Catra having made some scathing comments about Bright Moon's traditions, and Entrapta still having some issues with boundaries when she was fascinated by something.
On the other hand, dealing with the Asgard's continuing lack of trust was frustrating. Adora and her friends only wanted to help them! And they would help them, one way or another!
Nodding again, she turned to the others. "Let's go before it's too late to visit them."
"Why would it be too late to visit them? Oh, is that about bedtime? If we want to be sure that they aren't asleep yet, we can call ahead! Although if they didn't set their comm on silent, we'd wake them up that way. Oh. That would kind of explain why people were always awake when I called, wouldn't it?"
This isn't the time to ask Entrapta for an explanation, Adora told herself. Besides, she could guess what happened. And she could imagine Catra's reaction if Entrapta ever called them when they were asleep.
She chuckled at that thought as she walked to the door. "Let's go!"
"But what if they are asleep?" Entrapta asked.
"They aren't. We have them under surveillance," Glimmer replied.
"Isn't that violating their privacy? Even if it is for their own good?" Entrapta cocked her head to the side.
"It's a security measure." Glimmer scowled a little, Adora noticed.
"Oh. It's for our own good, then?"
"It's to ensure that nothing happens to them or us while they are our guests," Bow explained.
"OK."
At least by the time they reached the guest quarters - which weren't the guest quarters that had been used as cells for prisoners in the past - Entrapta was focusing on her tool again, and Glimmer and Bow were busy keeping her from walking into walls.
If the Asgard saw us right now, they would lose even more trust, Adora thought. But she forced herself to smile and knocked on the door.
Penegal opened the door. "Yes?"
"Hi!" Adora beamed at him. "Can we come in? We have something important to discuss."
"Something to discuss outside a formal meeting," Glimmer added.
"Oh. And what would that be?" Penegal looked wary, in Adora's opinion.
"Magic and magitech," she replied.
"Please come in!"
Adora didn't have to glance over her shoulder to know that Glimmer was giving her the 'told you so' look, even though everyone knew that the Asgard were fascinated by Etherian magic.
Freyr and Thor were sitting on the couch in the living room of their suite, the one sized for their height, and had overheard them - both were staring at Adora and her friends intently.
"You want to talk about your magic? Off the record?" Freyr asked when everyone had sat down.
"We want to talk about it informally, not off the record," Glimmer corrected him.
"Ah."
"Without all the, ah, trappings of a formal diplomatic meeting," Adora explained. "Just a straight talk."
"Ah." Freyr nodded.
"It's kind of obvious that you're not really interested in our culture," Glimmer started. "And that you're very interested in our magic."
"Which is part of our culture," Bow added.
"Yes." Thor sounded a bit… snobby? Or maybe Adora was imagining it. It was hard to read the Asgard.
"You are very interested in magic, but the Asgard can't actually use magic," Glimmer went on. "Loki told us that," she added.
"He would," Thor said.
"Even if he hadn't told us, the fact he didn't ask to be taught magic would have kind of given that away." Adora shrugged. "Not completely, but we would have noticed."
"So, we're wondering why you're so interested in magic," Glimmer continued. "Are you planning to attempt to use magic to fix your genome?"
"It is doubtful that magic could fix it," Freyr said. "Or you would have suggested it already. Right?"
Adora was sure that she didn't imagine the challenge in that question. "We haven't suggested it so far because you seem to have issues with altering your species's genes," she told him. "And if magic can fix your genetic degradation, you would be altered."
"Like reset to an earlier version, if you were a program," Entrapta not so helpfully added. "Probably at a point magic considered 'healthy' - if it works. Which is kinda doubtful since healing magic doesn't change people's species. It does fix genetic disorders, though - we found that out when Adora healed so many people in India. But magic won't fix a Jaffa's genetically engineered missing immune system, even though that is clearly not healthy. But! Those are just theories. We won't know for sure unless Adora tries healing you. So, do you want to try that?" She beamed at the Asgard.
Who were now looking decidedly uncomfortable.
"You talk as if magic possesses a will of its own," Freyr said.
Glimmer frowned. "Well, it does? Magic chose She-Ra, for example. You know that."
The Asgard looked at each other. "We thought this was a… cultural assumption," Freyr said.
"You thought we made that up?" Adora blinked.
"It sounded like a religious belief," Thor replied. "Not a scientific fact."
"It is proven by science." Entrapta nodded. "We have the empirical data and records to prove it. Well, mostly - the records are a bit iffy, being so old. But that's just one example. There are others. Mostly on Mystacore, though. Or in their archives."
The Asgard looked at each other.
"We would like to visit Mystacore," Penegal said.
"Ah." Adora winced. "We can ask them." Again, she added silently.
"If you ask them to let them do the magic healing experiment on you, I am sure they'll invite you!" Entrapta tried to help.
Adora winced again. Technically, this was exactly what she had been thinking of - offering the Asgard magical healing and information about magic. But the way it was shaping up wasn't how she had hoped this would go.
Pentagon, Washington D.C., United States of America, Earth, December 9th, 1999
"You want me to help you hunt down a suspected alien spy in Russia."
Wilkinson looked wary, Samantha Carter thought. Not very eager to be part of this - though she had expected that, given what they knew about the man. He was a lone wolf, not really a team player. Or, she corrected herself, not a good team player unless he was leading the team.
And this team already had a leader.
"Or China - we're not sure yet." The General grinned. "So, you might get a lot of frequent flyer miles out of this."
Of course, making a roundabout joke about the exact thing he had almost been framed for was exactly what the General would do. Sam suppressed a sigh while Daniel whispered to Sha're, probably explaining what frequent flyer programs were. Catra chuckled, but that was no surprise.
Wilkinson, though, frowned, and Paris rolled her eyes. "I didn't know you had a background in military intelligence, General O'Neill," he said.
"I am a man of many talents." The General shrugged. "Though you're right that I wasn't formally part of military intelligence."
"Your record was heavily redacted."
"Yes." Another grin that showed a bit too many teeth.
Sam wanted to roll her eyes as well. This was posturing, and they had a job to do. "We have no conclusive proof that alien technology was used to infiltrate Stargate Command's systems, but the data we have is quite convincing."
"And Russia and China are the main suspects," Catra cut in. "They have the motive for it and shouldn't have the means."
That earned her a frown from Wilkinson. The man probably loathed pop culture's portrayal of his work. Sam certainly didn't like how most scientists were portrayed in TV shows. Especially most female scientists. Or most female soldiers. That the Etherians seemed to like Earth media despite this common bias… She forced herself to focus on the task at hand and spoke up again: "I've analysed the code of the programs we found, and it contains parts that are too original to be deduced from existing Earth-based tools as well. Combined with the smooth integration of the program with the Stargate technology, the most obvious explanation is that they used alien technology."
Wilkinson kept frowning, but he didn't question her conclusion.
"The question is," the General went on, "did they find some alien relics left on Earth thousands of years ago and kept them secret while they analysed the technology? Or are they in contact with an unknown alien species, and that's where they got the tech from?"
"How would they have kept such contact secret from the rest of Stargate Command if they didn't have the technology that allowed them to infiltrate the system yet?" Wilkinson asked.
"Good question!" The General smiled. "If they got the tech during their first contact, they could have used it after their team returned. That way, they could have kept the next trips a secret. It wouldn't have taken much, anyway, to hide such a contact - they could easily travel to one planet and then dial to another from there, with no one the wiser back home. But they would need more control over the system to smuggle things through the gate. Or people."
"And that's what you are afraid of: a covert alien invasion."
"Concerned, not afraid," the General corrected him. "Any invasion would have to deal with the guard fleet in orbit before making headway. And our anti-body snatching protocols are pretty good - we don't just rely on Carter and Entrapta's magic scanner."
Sha're tensed at that, Sam saw, and Daniel took her hand and held it.
"That seems a bit careless," Wilkinson said. "They managed to hide their infiltration of Stargate Command from the Alliance, didn't they?"
"Not successfully," Catra said. "And they had a big advantage since they were working from the inside."
"I don't think we should dismiss the possibility that we became complacent, though," Daniel commented. "We might have relied a bit too much on established technology and procedures. Even, or especially, since they were working so well." He smiled apologetically at Sam.
But her friend was right - the system should have been protected against such an attempt. It was embarrassing - especially for her; she had been responsible for most of the computer security until her transfer to the Alliance.
"When did this happen?"
"Three months ago at the earliest," the General said. "That's when the programs were inserted. But if they had contact with aliens, it could have happened at any time since they started sending teams through the gate, but probably not too much before that unless they got really lucky and then rushed things. Which doesn't fit either Russia or China."
"Both governments must be under immense pressure," Daniel pointed out. "With NATO building spaceships, they might have felt compelled to take considerable risks to keep up and so moved without the expected caution."
"Or they were manipulated by aliens," Sha're said. "The desperate are easy victims for such ploys."
"Yes." The general nodded. "In any case, handling Russia and China isn't our problem; that's for the politicians. Our job is to catch a bunch of spies. So, now let's talk about how we're going to do that!"
Stargate Command, CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, December 9th, 1999
Catra was, once again, very glad that the new Stargate Command location included integrated hangars for shuttles. Just walking over the tarmac - which was covered in snow - would have been a hassle in what was, apparently, 'not even close to a blizzard' according to the Canadians but looked very much like a snowstorm to her.
"This makes me miss Washington in the winter," Paris commented to Wilkinson behind her.
"We're not going to stay here for long," he replied. "Just examining the crime scene."
That seemed a bit optimistic to Catra. She glanced at Melog.
Honest.
So, Wilkinson believed this? She snorted. "Don't jinx it," she said, looking over her shoulder.
"I don't believe in superstition," he replied.
"Like you didn't believe in magic?" Catra retorted, flashing her fangs for a moment.
He frowned at her in return, then glanced at Paris.
"We didn't cover 'jinxing' in the course," the sorceress told him. "But there are theories that common 'superstition' such as this might have a base in reality - or shape reality now that magic was returned."
Wilkinson seemed surprised. And definitely not pleased. "Why am I only hearing this now?"
"It's just a theory," Paris replied. "There are dozens like it. We're still trying to figure out how magic works on Earth. A lot of what we knew once has been distorted during the last thousand years." She glanced at Catra.
Catra shrugged. That wasn't her fault, for once. "Yeah, the First Ones messed up a lot of planets when they redirected their magic."
"Except for Etheria," Paris said.
"Only because they were stopped before they could use all that magic to blow up Etheria to power a superweapon to take out their enemies." Catra smiled grimly. "And their superweapon was still active and ready to fire when we took it out."
"I never heard about those details," Paris echoed Wilkinson's earlier complaint.
Catra shrugged again. "It's classified information."
"And you're telling us?" Wilkinson glared at her. Was he mad that he had been told a secret and didn't have to find it out himself?
"You've got the clearance for such stuff now," Jack cut in, walking down the ramp behind them, followed by Sam, Daniel and Sha're. "Can't investigate Stargate Command without it."
"I don't remember signing anything to that extent," Wilkinson complained. "Or being informed of it."
Jack shrugged. "I've just told you now."
"That's…"
"...perfectly fine in the Alliance," Catra interrupted Wilkinson. For a 'loose cannon', the man cared too much about everyone else following what he thought was proper procedure. At least in her opinion.
Thinks special.
Well, he wasn't alone with that.
Jack clapped his hands together as the special forces they had fetched from Germany on the way here joined them. "Folks! You know your job, so let's get to it! Fan out, we'll meet up again at dinner time!"
And that was her clue. Catra nodded and started walking toward the lift leading down to the main part of the base. The one for people, not the huge one for cargo.
Safe, Melog commented as they approached the guards - French ones - there.
That was good to know. Keeping the team safe was part of her job, after all - you couldn't trust anyone in Stargate Command right now. Not when they might have been compromised. Or manipulated by aliens.
It wasn't a long trip - unlike at Cheyenne Mountain - and Catra's ears caught Isa whispering and Campbell about not liking being so 'hemmed in'. She snorted - the cabin was large enough for scorpion-people, so it was probably just soldiers complaining about everything.
General Hammond was waiting for them when the doors opened. "General O'Neill."
"General Hammond."
Concerned.
Well, Catra could see that. And it was understandable, what with two-fifths of the people on base potential traitors.
"We've brought more help in. Special Agents Paris and Wilkinson, FBI." Jack nodded at them. Special agents, General Hammond."
The three exchanged polite greetings.
"Russia and China have lodged a formal protest against the Alliance investigation," Hammond told them as they walked towards the gate and control rooms.
"So we were told," Jack replied.
"Generals Sidirov and Li also pointed out that the main suspect was Sergeant Siler, a member of the US armed forces, not one of their people."
Catra snorted at that. As if anyone would believe that!
"Clearing him will take a bit more time," Jack said. "But we're working on it."
Well, they were working on investigating and exposing the Russians and Chinese, but it should work out the same. Eventually. But that wasn't really a concern for Catra.
At their destination, Sam split off to check the gate computers, Jack went on to meet with the rest of the Command Council and Catra, followed by Wilkinson and Paris, headed into the gate room.
They had to be sure that the gate was safe before proceeding. And it looked safe - Iris closed, American and British guards present, sorceress on duty.
"A satyr?" she heard Wilkinson mutter behind her.
Right, the man probably hadn't seen goat-people before.
"It's a goat-woman," Paris corrected him. "Not a satyr."
"Looks like a satyr to me. Hooves and horns."
The woman saluted as they approached her. "Commander Catra." She didn't show any resentment or seemed ill at ease, so she probably wasn't a Princess Alliance veteran. "Kira," she introduced herself.
Catra returned the salute, noting that the name matched her tag on her Earth-style uniform - without boots, of course. "These are Special Agent Paris, an Earth sorceress, and Special Agent Wilkinson."
Kira perked up as she extended her hand for Paris to shake. "An Earth sorceress! I've heard a lot about your magic!"
"We're still figuring it out," Paris replied with an apologetic smile.
"She's the best of her class," Wilkinson commented.
That earned him a frown from Paris, but Kira looked even more interested.
Catra would have to keep an eye on them - it wouldn't do for their sorceresses to be distracted by a magic discussion right now.
But the gate room looked safe. For now, at least. And Paris and Wilkinson were staring at the Stargate. Right, they hadn't seen it before. Not in person, Catra reminded herself. When you travelled through the gate almost daily, it quickly stopped being extraordinary.
"It's fascinating, right? To think this device, and without any magic, allows us to travel from one end of the galaxy to another… It's marvellous!" Kira, apparently, hadn't used the Stargate often enough.
"It's hard to believe," Wilkinson replied.
"Doubting Thomas," Paris muttered under her breath.
"Two years ago, this was science fiction," he shot back.
"No, two years ago, it was real, just a secret."
That made Wilkinson pause for a moment. Then he nodded. "You're right."
"Of course I am."
Catra narrowed her eyes slightly at the exchange. So, Wilkinson was one of those people. Well, best to put him to work, then.
Yeah, Sidorov and Li are guilty as hell, Jack O'Neill thought as he tuned out the loud protestations from the Russian general and the more polite but still fake 'concerns' of his Chinese colleague. Or co-traitor, even though Daniel would probably tell him that it wasn't a real word.
And Carter would probably mention that it was not treason according to the legal definition. But Jack didn't care - if you stabbed your fellow soldiers in the back, you were a traitor. The Russians and Chinese had joined Stargate Command. Their soldiers had been treated as Stargate Command members like everyone else - Jack had trained them. Hell, Jack and his team had risked their lives to save them when things had gone wrong.
And in return, those bastards had sneaked some alien spyware into the base's computers and done who-knew-whatever-else.
Ah, Li had finished 'helpfully' 'reminding' them once more that all the evidence pointed at Sergeant Siler being the culprit, and Sidorov seemed to have run out of steam for now. Time to end this charade. "Your concerns have been noted," Jack told them in his best diplomatic voice - and with his toothiest grin. "And they will be given the attention they deserve while we, in accordance with the decision of the Stargate Command Council, keep investigating the matter."
"Your sham of an investigation! It's clear that you are trying to cover for your people!" Sidirov hadn't run out of steam.
"I must agree - this seems like a highly biased affair." Li shook his head. "And the timing, so close to the scandal involving another of your generals, seems a bit too convenient."
The bastard didn't just go there, did he? Jack swallowed his first response and shrugged as casually as he could manage. "Noted. Do you have anything new to add?" He waited a moment. "Didn't think so." Turning to Hammond and the rest of the Command Council, he added: "So, we're going to continue our investigation." Carter and the others should already be at work.
He left the room, nodding to Campbell and Isa to follow him - Jack wouldn't put it past the Russians or Chinese to try something drastic, whether or not they were under the influence of unknown aliens, and while he knew he was good, having help at hand never hurt. Especially if part of the help was the closest you could get to a walking tank without getting a bot.
His next stop was the gate room. Carter was busy at the main console, as expected - they had to clear the gate for operation as fast as possible. And the soldiers assigned to her were standing close by. But he couldn't see the others.
He walked over. "How's it going, Carter?"
"Slowly, sir," she replied. "We have to be very careful not to miss anything."
Jack clearly heard the 'again' despite Carter not saying it. She was still blaming herself for this, was she? "I trust you to handle it." That sounded a little corny, didn't it? He cleared his throat. "So, where are the others?"
"Catra took them to check the labs and talk to Iwan, sir."
"Ah. I'll head down there myself then." Wilkinson meeting Iwan the Too-Friendly? Jack had to see that!
"Sir."
Getting to the labs didn't take him long - but it took him through two manned checkpoints, one of them with both Chinese and French soldiers, and you'd have to be blind and deaf to miss the tension. Jack would have preferred to remove all Russian and Chinese troops from key parts of Stargate Command, but the Alliance Command Council had disagreed. Well, if things ended with people shooting each other, he knew who would be to blame.
He knocked and entered the lab without waiting for an answer.
"...and this is another weird alien device. Lots of those in the galaxy, da? And all different weird. Oh, hello, General O'Neill." Gregorovich smiled at Jack, apparently not at all unhappy about the interruption.
"I see," Wilkinson said, then turned to glance at Jack.
"It's not magical," Paris added before nodding at him as well. "General."
"We're checking out alien relics," Catra told him. "No luck so far, though."
"I don't recognise any of them," Sha're added. Daniel just muttered something without looking up from staring at a stone table on a side table.
"Would be embarrassing for me if I missed suspicious alien programming technology under own nose." Iwan smiled in that annoying manner of his.
Embarrassing and incriminating. Jack nodded and took a step closer to check what they were doing. "Are those new relics?"
"Recovered by various teams during last few months," Iwan confirmed. "But all under lock and key."
Jack managed not to snort. If Iwan was compromised, then that wouldn't mean a thing since he was working with the relics. He glanced at Wilkinson. The spook had realised that as well, judging by how he stared at the Russian.
Or he didn't like the Columbo act Iwan had going on. Either way, it seemed things were OK here.
Which meant he could go and conduct his own interview. Once he found his target, of course.
Which took a bit longer than expected, even taking the disrupted schedule into account. It seemed that the dear Lieutenant Lenkova was not in her quarters or the training area. According to the log, she was outside.
Which meant Jack also had to go outside. In the middle of December. In damn Newfoundland. And no matter what Daniel and Carter liked to say about the local climate being warmer than in continental Canada and Catra's comments about the place having nothing on Greenland or the Kingdom of Snows, it was still below freezing. "I'm getting too old for this," he muttered when he slipped a parka on in his shuttle.
"Sir?" Campbell asked.
"Nothing." Jack shook his head. He was tempted to tell Campbell and Isa that they didn't have to come with him, but that would be stupid. You couldn't trust anyone from Russia right now. Besides, they had gone through arctic training, so this should be easy for them.
And it wasn't as if they had to trek through the wilderness to find the Lieutenant. Due to having been a Go'auld host, she still had traces of Naquadah in her body - enough for Carter and Entrapta's magic scanner to find her. The magic scanner in Jack's shuttle, of course - he didn't quite trust the base's sensors right now, even though Carter had reported that the sensor net matched the scanner's results. Jack knew the Russians were too experienced at this sort of thing to give the game away by having the sensors permanently ignore their people.
Still, Lenkova was at the very edge of the base area, in the most remote of the training areas, and the ploughs were focusing on more important areas, so Jack and his escort had to hike quite a bit through deep snow and in the middle of heavy snowfall.
"Reminds me of the expedition to the north," Isa commented behind him.
"Oh?" Campbell sounded interested. Anything to distract yourself from the cold, Jack guessed.
"Yeah. We went there to look for some First Ones tech."
"In the Kingdom of Snows?"
"No, not quite that far north. But it was cold enough to feel it even through our uniforms. That was back in the Horde."
"Ah. Was it as cold as here?"
"Colder, I think. But we forgot about that when the Alliance - the Princess Alliance - attacked. Blew up the entire forward base we had built. Not our finest hour."
Campbell made an agreeing sound.
"Didn't even have special training - we just got basic instructions for arctic operations and then we were sent up north. Some had to watch the lessons in the transports."
"Really?"
"Yeah. The Horde was often like that - some stuff you trained every day even though you could do it in your sleep, and some did, and other stuff was rushed like hell." Isa snorted.
"No wonder you lost the war."
"Heh! We were still more organised than the Alliance!"
"Really? That's hard to believe. The Etherian units we've met were well-trained."
"That's because the entire Horde leadership switched sides."
Not quite how Jack had heard it. Technically true, but if the grunts were talking about the Horde War like this, he had to nip that in the bud. "The Horde was organised differently," he said without looking over his shoulder, "because they were preparing to fight a different war than the one the Princess Alliance fought."
"Yes, sir!" Campbell replied with the familiar reflex of a grunt caught by their commander.
"But we were fighting the same war!" Isa protested.
Jack grinned even though they couldn't see it. "And that was the problem for the Horde."
"Oh."
For a moment, the two soldiers behind him fell silent, and then they turned a corner and reached the training area. Where, as Jack could see, Lenkova wasn't training unless it was some Russian kind of 'meditation while standing' thing he wasn't familiar with. But he would place good odds on her just staring at the sea.
"Lieutenant Lenkova."
She jerked, whirling around, then froze as she spotted him. "General O'Neill?"
"In the flesh." He couldn't see her face very well at this distance, and with her all wrapped in winter clothes, but he thought she sounded surprised - and guilty. "I wanted to talk to you."
Even in the thick winter uniform, he could tell that she was tensing up. Of course, soldiers usually did that when they were faced with a general taking an interest in them, doubly so for female soldiers, but… Jack had a feeling that there was more to this.
He signalled to Isa and Campbell to hang back a little and walked up to Lenkova. "Taking in the sights? The snow is really great this time of the year." If he squinted, he could see the shore through the falling snow. Barely.
She hesitated for a moment, then replied: "It's better than Siberia in the winter."
"So I've heard." Despite any rumours to the contrary, he had never operated in Siberia, much less during the winter.
Lekova looked at him with narrowed eyes but didn't say anything.
"So, how's life at the new base?" Jack asked. "Feeling nostalgic yet?" He didn't wait for her to reply and went on: "It wasn't really a consideration when they picked the new location for the Stargate, but Cheyenne Mountain had at least a decent town nearby. One used to the big base. It'll take some time until you have a decent selection of bars here. Well, not without a shuttle ride or at least a personal plough."
She didn't snort at his joke. "Yes."
"It won't take too long, tough - people know what a money-maker a bar near a base is. Especially in the middle of nowhere."
"Yes."
Another short, terse reply. With the snow, and the heavy clothing and hood, he couldn't see too much of Lenkova's face, but what he saw told him enough. She was too tense. "So, how have missions been?"
She hesitated a fraction of a second, then bit out: "Good."
"Really?" He raised his eyebrows, though she probably couldn't see that. "According to the reports I read, it was just boring routine stuff. Trips to known worlds."
"Boring is good sometimes."
He nodded, acknowledging the point. Lenkova would know that very well after her ordeal. On the other hand, she hadn't struck him as wanting to withdraw to safe duties, back before he had transferred to the Alliance. "It isn't boring any more, though, is it?"
She stayed silent for another second. "No, General."
"Quite a mess at the base."
"Yes, General."
"The entire security system compromised… Anyone could have been using the Stargate without Earth knowing about it." He shook his head. "If the snakes know about this…"
Even in the breeze, he heard her draw in a sharp breath. For a moment, he felt guilty for pushing her buttons like this. But he was sure that she knew something about the whole affair, something crucial given her position - and this threatened Earth and the entire Alliance. And she was a Russian spook.
Belatedly, she replied: "The snakes couldn't pass through the scanners. Not even I can pass through them without them detecting the… remains inside my body."
He shrugged again. "The snakes are just one species out there. There are lots more, and many of them are quite nasty. And sneaky."
She flinched at that. "You would know that better than me, General," she said in a clipped tone.
Ah! Had she actually met other aliens? And hid it from the official records? Should he push her for more? She still sounded as if she felt guilty to him - and with her background, she should be able to hide that. Unless that was what she wanted him to think so she could feed him misinformation.
But to what point? He snorted softly. Time to push on. "Have you met them?"
She froze for a moment. "Who?" she asked.
"The aliens whose programs were used to hack our computers."
"Aliens hacked the Stargate computers?" She tried to appear confused or surprised but didn't pull off either.
"Yep." Jack nodded. "And you already knew that."
She straightened a little, lifting her chin. It was as good as a confession.
He kept looking at her without saying a word. Were those tears in her eyes? If they were, was it just the cold?
After half a minute, she sighed, and her shoulders slumped as she looked away. "I suspected about the hacking," she said in a low voice that he almost missed in the breeze. "We were told not to worry about being discovered."
He nodded even though she wasn't looking at him.
"I wasn't there when we first met them, but I was told afterwards. When it was my team's turn to meet them."
"Them?"
"They call themselves the Eurondans."
