Chapter 6
Edna Winchester returned to the station house the next day to inform her Chief that she would have to take a few days off as something had come up that she should not explain. She sat at the large kitchen table in civilian clothes with a cup of coffee with Chief Chester Morris and her partner, EMS Coordinator, Harold O'Connor.
"I need to take a few days off." she informed.
Harold became suspicious. "The military doesn't know, do they?"
"They know about me. I have to go into Cheyenne for a few days." she told them.
The Chief asked. "What do they got in there? Aliens!" he joked trying to lighten the mood.
She pinched her lips together and gave a wide eyed look nodding to herself.
Harold gasped. "Tell me you are kidding."
"The dreams." she explained. "Remember the dreams that I told you about and that ring thing."
"Yeah." Harold nodded.
"Um…I can't say exactly what due to the non disclosure agreement they had me sign but…my dreams tend to come true." she reminded him.
He asked. "Thor and the Asgard dream?"
She nodded but said nothing.
"Damn." he crossed his arms.
She stated. "They really should bring the fire department in on what they got there. If it hits the fan, we would be responding into something really big and really top secret."
Chief Morris wondered. "Do we have space ships?"
"I think they said they developing them. In Area 51." she replied.
Harold asked. "Can you get in trouble for telling us all this?"
"What are they gonna do to me?" she shrugged. "Hell, I'm only half human. I'm some alien hybrid genetic Frankenstein. That's how I can do it. How I can heal by touch. It's Nox…I guess."
"Nox?" her Chief wondered.
"Apparently, I'm half human from my mother and my father is some genetic splicing between two known and one unknown alien species. I'm forty five percent Asgard and three percent Nox and something they can't identify yet. They think it could be Furling." She then stated. "I need to go meet Thor and get some kind of medical scan to see if I will blow up or not." she stated sarcastically.
"Um…" The Chief looked at Harold unsure how to respond.
Harold told her. "Bring lots of candy with you. Just in case. If it gets really bad, you can always do that thing where you can shock people and stuff."
"You mean electric thing?" she questioned.
He nodded. "You can defend yourself with it."
"It can stop a heart." she reminded him.
"It's your own natural defense." he countered. "You can drop someone with a touch. If the Air Force tries anything sneaky, use that electric shock thing to get away. We will help you hide."
She gave him an amused look. "Did I tell you they offered me a job?"
"Doing what?" he asked.
"Paramedic. I bet I could get the government to pay for my flight school. I mean, why not? They throw money all over the place anyways." she noted.
Harold shook his head. The doorbell rang.
Chief Morris stood up. "Wonder who that is." He walked to the door and opened it. There stood Daniel but the Chief never saw him before. "Can I help you?"
"Eddy here?" he asked. "I saw her car." he explained. He worried that she would be having difficulty getting the time off and decided he should swing by on his way to work to assist her.
"This way." The Chief led him inside to the kitchen. "You have a visitor, Ed."
Her eyes landed on Daniel as he entered the kitchen. She gave a soft smile. "Hey Daniel." She rose to her feet. "You want some coffee?" she offered. "We got some donuts and pastries too." she motioned towards the table.
"Sure." he agreed as he had not eaten anything as of yet.
She stated. "This is my friend, Daniel Jackson. He works with Sam and the Colonel." She gathered Daniel a cup of coffee and a donut. She placed it on the table for him. "Daniel, this is my partner Harold O'Connor and Chester Morris, our Chief.
"Nice to meet you both." he greeted upon taking a seat.
Harold instantly was suspicious of him. He was good looking and Eddy seemed to like him. He worked with the Air Force and made an unusual move of stopping into the station. He crossed his arm and looked upon Daniel with distain.
Daniel mentioned, "This is a very nice fire station." He looked about. "Looks kind of homey."
"It is home for the men." The Chief reminded him.
Eddy stated. "We cook our own meals and do our own shopping. We don't have a commissary like you guys do." She sat down at the table beside him.
Daniel sipped the coffee and asked. "How's it going?" He referred to her getting time off.
"Let me ask." She looked at her chief, "I need to put in for about a week off."
Daniel debated. "Might want to make it two."
"Why?" she wondered.
He carefully explained. "Just incase there are some unexpected visitors."
She pondered. "Which ones?"
He found he could not answer outright. "Just in case."
Harold thought of Eddy as family. He asked. "So…what do you do in the mountain…Danny boy?" He feared Daniel would take Eddy far away from her firefighter family and simply didn't like that idea.
"Danny boy?" He asked a bit befuddled by the insult.
"Daniel is a linguist and an archeologist and had a ton of degrees." Eddy told him. "He's not in the Air Force. He's contract."
Harold asked. "What does the Air Force need an archeologist for?"
"I mainly interpret." Daniel tried to cover knowing that Eddy basically already told the men what was happening in the mountain.
The Chief stated. "I really would like to know why the Air Force wants my medic for two weeks."
"I'm not at liberty to tell you that." Daniel stated firmly.
"You're not, huh?" he crossed his arms annoyed by Daniel.
Daniel found his good deed not going the way he planned as the firemen were rather hostile towards him.
Eddy grinned. "Hey Chief! Tell the Colonel that if they want me for two weeks, you will grant me a two week transfer but they have to disclose to the department what they are doing and go over emergency protocols with us."
The Chief smiled. "I think I will do just that."
Daniel simply looked at Eddy. "Must be genetics."
She shrugged. "I suppose."
Later
General Hammond's eyebrow raised considerably upon hearing the fire department's demand. The briefing room fell quiet. Not even Sam could have imagined the ultimatum that the first responders would place on Star Gate Command. He looked at Eddy sitting innocently at the table by Daniel. "You could not take two weeks off of your own time?" he asked her.
"I don't have that much vacation time left." she stated. "Plus, you have to put your time in at the first of the year for scheduling. I'm pulling sick time to be here today."
Jack stated. "Just bring in the Chief and give him a tour, George."
"Colonel?" he asked.
He countered. "If things do get out of hand here and it spills over…we will need the fire department anyways."
Daniel was on Eddy's side. He added. "I don't see why the fire department is left out of the loop. They are the city's first responders and there have been plenty of close calls. I think we should disclose to them."
Jack let him imagination run. "We could even do drills together. Drive the fire trucks…" he tailed off at the disturbed look he got from Hammond.
Dr. Janet Frasier was also present for the briefing. She did see some benefit. "We will need fire and EMS in a catastrophic event. Our current Mass Casualty Incident training really doesn't cut it." She urged, "I would like to bring in the Chief and at least go over what kind of response we would need from the fire department."
Eddy requested. "Bring in Harold O'Connor too. He's our EMS coordinator and in charge of EMS training for the firemen."
Hammond agreed to the request. "I will invite the Fire Chief and the EMS coordinator to come in for a tour and debriefing."
Janet looked at Eddy. "We won't be debriefing them on your genetics. That will be need to know only."
She simply replied. "Thank you." She pinched her lips tight as she already told the pair.
Janet then mentioned. "I got notice that you will be heading the department's explorer program. My daughter Cassie is really excited. She will in it!"
"I got six kids." she told her. "Including a Jon O'Neill." She looked to Jack, "I was wondering if he's your son or a relation to you."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Why did he join the explorers?"
Janet smiled. "He joined because Cassie wanted to and I actually thought it wa a good idea." She looked to Eddy. "You met Jon and Cassie at the school's career day. You should be debriefed on them. Jon is a clone of Colonel O'Neill. Loki of the Asgard was behind it. There was a issue with the cloning process that prevented Jon from maturing to an adult. He's a teenager. Cassie is my adopted daughter. She's from another planet and was compromised by the Goa'uld. You read them both with you shook their hands. Jon was telling me about the fair. I can only theorize that when you shook their hands you went into that trance that Sam witnessed in the back of the rig and you picked up that something was different."
She confessed. "I did come across two students who had very unusual readings at the fair. Sometimes, the healing thing can take me off guard. All I have to do it touch them." She then looked abut the faces. "To be honest I will be glad to finally meet Thor and get that scan done. I would like some answers too."
Sam assured her. "Thor will help you. If we can stabilize your blood sugar that would be better for you in the long run." She then assured. "We want to help you, Eddy. Not take advantage of you."
"Lot of people would take advantage of me." she reminded.
Daniel assured. "Sometimes your greatest power is the power to simply say No. You don't have to help everyone who ask. And Carol can take Fluffy the cat to the vet."
She countered. "I love Fluffy. She's a sweet kitty. I never walk away from an animal. I just can't."
Daniel joked, "Carol can see the vet for herself then."
