Chapter 125: Spy Games Part 1

Stargate Command, CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, December 6th, 1999

Spies.

Catra wouldn't say that she hated spies. They had their uses. All other things equal, the side with the better information won a war. Sometimes, even if things weren't equal. And spies were usually the only way to get the kind of information your scouts and recon missions couldn't get. But spies also worked by earning and then betraying the trust of their targets. Sometimes, that just meant wearing the enemy uniform to sneak into a base. But sometimes, that meant working for the enemy, rising through the ranks, becoming friends with them - and then stabbing them in the back. Occasionally, that kind of betrayal included turning people against their friends. And hurting people just for the heck of it.

She clenched her teeth and forced the memories of that last talk with Double Trouble away. Then she noticed how everyone was glancing at her. Sidorov was looking a bit pale. Oh - Catra's claws were out. And had torn through the edge of the console she was sitting on. She hadn't noticed. That was embarrassing. But also useful.

She flashed her fangs. "So, we don't just have to deal with a spy, but with a potential saboteur. Or an assassin."

"That's a ridiculous accusation!" Sidorov bellowed. "Even if this were a spy program - it could just be a program to monitor the system for faults."

"Bugs, not faults." Gregorovich corrected him. "Mistakes in programs are called bugs in English. Colloquial English."

"Whatever!" the Russian snarled. "There is no assassination!"

"But there could be!" Sam cut in. "If the iris is closed after the wormhole has stabilised and the clearance codes have been sent, the result would be fatal for anyone stepping through the gate. And if the system is thoroughly compromised, the Stargate could be forced to dial to another location than the desired one, leaving a team stranded - or worse."

"But that would be obvious since we could still see the symbols as the chevrons lock," Haig objected.

Sam blinked. "Yes, but that would require someone to check the address visually."

Catra snorted - Sam didn't say it, but Catra had a feeling that few of the current people working at the Stargate were that familiar with the symbols.

Hammond frowned. "We will have to adjust our procedures." Then he shook his head. "But that can wait until we have exposed everything behind this. We need to know who has so completely penetrated our computers - and how."

Well, the answer to the first question was crystal clear: Sidorov and Li were behind that. Probably on orders from their leaders. The answer to the second question was probably something simple, like giving orders to a Russian or Chinese soldier working on or with the computer.

Guilty.

Catra nodded. But while Melog confirmed it for her - and for the Princess Alliance - their Earth allies would want more proof before they would accuse Russia and China of betraying them. Politics at work. "Well, I'm sure Sam will be able to tell us how this was done."

"I'm going through the logs. They will have hidden their manipulations, but there are ways to check for traces. Inconsistencies, buffers that were incompletely cleared, small variables…" Sam was talking without looking up, eyes focused on her screen. "We'll also have to pull the hardware to check."

Catra smiled - and glanced at Li and Sidorov. Next to the snarling Sidorov, Li looked stoic, but she spotted how tense he was. And both of them were glancing around. Checking the guards.

But Hammond had already called SG-3 to the gate and control room; Catra recognised several members of that team from their operation against Seth's compound. And there were British soldiers as well, so the half a dozen Chinese guards next to the Stargate were outnumbered. That should deter any stupidity on the traitors' part.

Should.

If she had been running this spy operation, she would have prepared a backup plan or two. A few distractions ready to be triggered, or something more serious. And she wasn't vain enough to think no one else could have the same idea.

She hopped off the slightly damaged console and walked over to Hammond. "Did you scan for explosives?" she asked in a low voice.

"Every day," he replied.

She nodded. Good. One less worry.

Not too worried.

And that made her worry. If the threat of being exposed didn't worry either of the two traitors, then they must have something planned.

But what? A scapegoat? Maybe they had a subordinate ready to take the blame for this? But that would make them look incompetent. And no one would believe it - not after their reaction to the discovery; both of them had all but outright tried to make Sam say she had made a mistake. The only way they could have looked more guilty would have been by bragging about it.

Or was that their plan? Were they ready to be the scapegoats for their rulers? Catra was sure Sidorov hadn't thought of this himself. The Russian reminded her of a few Force Captains she had known; no initiative at all, just strict adherence to orders no matter how stupid or costly - unless their own lives were in danger.

"If your claim that someone managed to penetrate the Stargate Command computer systems is true, then that would be a grievous failure of the computer security - a system you developed!" Sidorov glared at Sam.

Li nodded. "Indeed. We were assured that the security of the systems was impenetrable."

They were changing tacks, Catra realised. She glanced at Melog.

Less nervous.

"We said it was the most secure system we had developed," Hammond corrected the general.

"And now you claim it was defeated thoroughly?" Sidorov sneered.

"The best technical security cannot prevent an inside job," Sam retorted.

"Inside job?" The Russian blinked.

"Betrayal by the people with the clearance to operate the system," Sam said.

"Yes!" Gregorovich nodded. "KGB was very good at that."

He sounded almost proud - he was a better actor than Catra had thought. Or there was more to this. Both Li and Sidorov had tensed up again, she noticed. So, probably not a frame job, as Jack called it, but a turncoat.

"I'm currently analysing the access logs - and comparing them to the various other logs," Sam said. "Any discrepancy should show up soon."

"Other logs?" Sidorov frowned again. Catra wondered briefly if he ever smiled or simply shifted between frowning, scowling, sneering and glaring.

"There are more logs than the main one," Sam said.

"Da. Is like backup for important data so mistake - or sabotage - not wipe all work." Gregorovich nodded. "And what is unknown cannot be sabotaged. Good KGB rule, da?"

Anger.

Well, Catra could tell that herself. Gregorovich was as blunt as ever. But was he trying to cut ties to Russia, or was that a ploy? If it was an act, it was a bit too blatant, too obvious. On the other hand, that might be what they wanted the Alliance to think…

Maybe I've been thinking a bit too much about spies, Catra thought. I'm sounding like Jack in my head.

Sam's computer beeped again, and she looked at the screen. Catra couldn't see the screen from her spot, but she could see Sam's expression change from surprise to shock.

"What did you find?" Sidorov said.

"I'll have to verify that," Sam replied without looking at the Russian.

Catra didn't need to look at the screen to know it wasn't good news. Still, she needed more information, so she slid around the console and peered over Sam's shoulder at the screen. The screen was full of rows and tables of code and numbers, but that put her face next to Sam's, and Catra whispered: "Who was it?"

"Siler's access codes," Sam replied without moving her lips.

Oh. That was one of the veterans from Stargate Command - Catra had seen him often in the control room back in the mountain. Had they managed to turn him?

"They must have used his codes somehow… Cross-checking the timestamps with the security recordings," Sam went on.

It couldn't be magical compulsion: the Stargate had sorceresses on duty to watch for that.

The computer beeped again. "File not found?" Catra asked.

"What?" Hammond joined them.

"Someone deleted the security recordings of the suspicious access times, sir," Sam reported.

"Suspicious access codes?" Hammond growled more than he asked.

"I am crosschecking their whereabouts during the times in question, sir. But without recordings, we can't prove their innocence."

Smug.

Yeah. So, that was going according to plan.

"There are more ways than security recordings to prove someone's innocence," Haig commented.

"But they take time to gather," Petit retorted. "And people trust recordings more than testimonies."

That, Catra agreed with. She wouldn't trust the word of any Russian or Chinese right now. But they would say the same about the Alliance.

Was that their plan? Discredit the entire Alliance staff? But what would they gain from that? The United States, France and Britain could always outvote the Russians and Chinese. So, what was the point of this?

She glanced at Melog, but her friend didn't have an answer either.

Then Haig spoke up: "In any case, we'll have to suspend Gate travel until further notice - we cannot risk travelling with compromised security."

Catra froze. She was stuck on Earth? Away from Adora?

She was going to kill those spies!

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, Earth, December 6th, 1999

"...and the Stargate has been closed?" Jack O'Neill asked.

"Until we are certain that the system is free of any unauthorised programs, yes, sir."

The consequences of that… He closed his eyes for a moment. "And here I thought my day was bad enough already." He glanced at Catra, who was staring out the window of his office, unsheathing and sheathing her claws, while Melog was sprawled at her feet like an actual cat. That explained her bad mood, at least. "So, someone tried to frame Siler? And by someone, I mean the Russians and the Chinese."

"We have no proof of their involvement, sir," Carter replied. "But yes, someone used Sergeant Siler's access codes." With a frown, she added: "He has been restricted to the base until we can prove he wasn't present during the times the software was manipulated."

"An idea how long that will take?"

"No, sir. The base entrance logs have been tampered with, so they have been compromised and cannot be used to exculpate him. And the secondary logs we're piecing together are not as detailed with regard to individuals as they should be."

"That's not your fault, Major," he told her. "As I understood, those secondary logs are the only thing that will allow us to sort out the entire affair because the Russians didn't know about them."

"Not by design, sir. Those logs are the result of imperfect system architecture resulting in unplanned accumulation of data."

Always the perfectionist. He almost snorted, but that would have been inappropriate. "Well, I'm sure you'll crack this, Major." And the spooks could handle the rest of the investigation - that was basically police work anyway.

"We should just grab Li and Sidorov and make them talk," Catra muttered.

Jack softly whistled. Someone was madder than he had thought. "I don't think the government - governments - would be happy about that. You're not supposed to do that." No matter how much you wanted to teach certain individuals a lesson. "At least not to generals from countries with nukes." The rules were a bit fuzzier about people from countries without nukes. Or had been during Jack's time in that sort of business.

Catra scoffed. "We've got a fleet in orbit. Who cares about nukes that won't reach their targets?"

Jack shook his head. "There are other weapons of mass destruction. The Russians are sneaky." And if the Alliance fleet was used against Russia or China - hell, just actually threatening to use it against a country on Earth, instead of implying that by having ships in orbit, would make many Alliance countries uncomfortable as well.

Catra scoffed again. "We can't let them get away with this."

"We won't," Jack promised. "But we have to be smart about this." If Hammond heard me right now, he'd probably laugh out loud, he thought. "I knew I shouldn't have accepted the promotion," he muttered.

"Sir!" Carter was frowning at him. Couldn't hide anything from her.

"Just an idle thought, Major. Anyway, is there any good news?"

"Iwan has been very helpful," Carter replied. "I am sure he suspected something like this as soon as he noticed the system's performance issues."

Jack slowly nodded and tried not to clench his teeth. 'Iwan' was too damn helpful and too damn friendly in his opinion. And that was based on perfectly rational arguments and wasn't related to Carter being on a first-name base with the half-limey half-Russian scientist! "Can we trust him?"

She frowned at him. "If he was involved, he could probably have prevented the investigation - at the very least, he could have taken steps to avoid my involvement. Instead, he suggested calling me."

"It wouldn't be the first time that the Russians would go to great lengths to insert a spy," Jack pointed out. "If we think Gregorovich burned his bridges with the Russians and take him in, he'd get access to advanced technology research." Entrapta would not suspect a thing, and Carter might not be objective, either. And the Russians would gladly sacrifice a dozen generals to get their hands on the latest Alliance gear or plans. Without such technology, their army was obsolete. The same went for the Chinese, of course.

Carter didn't look convinced. She turned to Catra - and Melog. "Is Iwan a traitor?"

Catra tilted her head to the side, listening to Melog's thoughts or whatever for a moment, Jack knew. "Melog can't actually read thoughts. Gregorovich was nervous, but everyone was nervous," she said. "And he found it funny," she added after a second.

"Funny?" Carter looked surprised.

"Well, he's a Russian; they have a pretty dark sense of humour - if they have one at all," Jack commented.

"Ah." Carter nodded. "I can see that. But he has opposed General Sidorov, and publicly at that."

And Hammond and the others could only do so much. Jack sighed. "I'll see if we can find a spot for him in a safe-ish Alliance program." Somewhere not too close to Carter's crucial research. Maybe set him to analyse Goa'uld entertainment devices. Although the Russians might be able to get valuable information and technology out of that as well. "And we'll have to inform the spooks about this, of course."

Though he suspected that the Alliance spooks had contingency plans for such a situation already. It was the kind of thing they did.

"And what can we do?" Catra asked. "I don't want to sit around and do nothing."

That was a good question. Jack didn't like waiting either.

Royal Palace, Kingdom of Dryl, Etheria, December 6th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"...and this is my lab - well, one of my labs since there's also the Spacelab near Earth, though that's mine and Sam's, and I also work in Alpha, the research base, but Glimmer owns the moon there, and Alpha, the bot, answers to Adora, so it doesn't really count I think - I'm not sure, the whole ownership thing is a bit confusing - and my lab in the Fright Zone wasn't destroyed, but I usually only go there if I need to do some work on the factories in the Scorpion Kingdom, and I didn't actually ask Scorpia if she claimed it or not, but this, this here is my first lab! I built my first bots here! And I restored First Ones bots here, too. Unfortunately, almost all of them were destroyed when they were infected by a First Ones computer virus that altered their control matrices and made them attack everyone, and I didn't have the time yet to rebuild most of them, but I still have them in a storage room if you want to see them!"

Adora winced a little at Entrapta's enthusiastic explanation. Some of the details her friend got into would probably not go over well with the Asgard.

"Your bots went out of control following a mishap with technology from the Gate Builders?" Freyr asked a bit sharply.

"Yeah? That's what I said, didn't I?" Entrapta nodded. "It later also infected She-Ra's sword and took over more First Ones tech. For a computer virus, it was really impressive."

"And dangerous," Glimmer added in a flat voice. "Extremely dangerous."

"Have you kept a sample of this technology?" Penegal asked.

"We had to destroy the disc it was installed on to stop the infected bots and other pieces of technology," Entrapta replied with a pout. "I am actually not sure if it was a, technically, a computer virus since it took over tech but it didn't make copies of itself - it was limited to the data carrier it was found on, and given the way it acted - it showed some more advanced decision-making ability - it might have been a sort of bot instead. Technically." She perked up. "I could attempt to reverse-engineer a bot that did that, actually. Since it wouldn't be able to make copies of itself, it wouldn't be self-replicating, which is banned according to Sam, but if we could make it take over Goa'uld tech, that would be useful, wouldn't it?"

"We don't want a bot-virus that can take over technology," Adora firmly said.

"We don't?"

"No. It's too dangerous," she explained.

"Well, if it were limited to Naquadah-base technology… Although if that included bombs, or if it learned how to combine bombs and Naquadah…" Entrapta trailed off, scrunching her nose as she pondered what Adora suspected were terrible things.

The three Asgard were looking very uncomfortable, she noticed.

"Yes. Such technology shouldn't be developed. As our own war proves, the consequences could be dire - they could threaten the entire galaxy," Thor said.

"Well, the First Ones did it," Entrapta countered. "And the galaxy is still around."

"The Gate Builders view of what they considered safe technology is not something anyone should emulate," Freyr said.

"Yes," Glimmer agreed in a clipped voice. "They also built the Heart of Etheria."

"Oh, right." Entrapta nodded. "I forgot about that for a moment - that did threaten a piece of the Galaxy. And did remove magic from the sector. They were really careless there."

"Did you preserve this 'Heart of Etheria' as well?" Penegal asked.

"No. We destroyed it," Adora told him.

"So, that's a piece of magitech you can't study," Glimmer added with a slightly toothy smile. "And it's not a part of our culture, either."

Adora pressed her lips together. Her friend wasn't too subtle about her opinion of the Asgard's obvious interest in magitech and equally obvious disinterest in Etherian culture. Except for the Etherian safety culture in research, Adora added to herself. Or lack thereof, in the Asgard's view. At least Glimmer hadn't openly called them spies. Not yet.

"Anyway," she spoke up to change the topic, "Dryl is the leading kingdom for non-magitech technology on Etheria. So…"

A signal from her communicator interrupted her - a priority signal. It must be an emergency! She thumbed the thing. "Adora."

The voice of a clone answered. "Supreme Commander, We have received a priority transmission from your consort over the spy bot network from Earth. Due to a computer virus, the Stargate has been shut down until further notice."

She gasped. What? Shut down? Catra! Adora's love was stuck on Earth! But she was safe - she better be safe - and this affected the entire Alliance. Adora was its Supreme Commander and had her duty. "A computer virus infected the Stargate?" she snapped.

"Apparently, it infected the Earth-based computer system controlling the Stargate," the Clone replied.

Adora relaxed a little.

Then she noticed how everyone, especially the Asgard, was staring at her.

"The Stargate on Earth was infected by a virus?" Freyr sounded shocked.

"Really?" Entrapta sounded intrigued.

Adora winced. She should have worded her question a bit better, given the circumstances. "No. Well, not the Stargate itself…" she started to explain.

Stargate Command, CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, December 7th, 1999

Samantha Carter had worked under bad conditions before. On board a Ha'tak, hacking computers to sabotage the entire ship, with Jaffa warriors gunning for her team. Or under direct fire. Cleaning up Stargate Command's computers wasn't quite as dangerous. But she couldn't help feeling on edge anyway as she worked - everything she had discovered so far pointed at an inside job, and while the clues they had implicated Russia and China, that didn't mean everyone else was trustworthy. Almost anyone here could be a traitor, and that made her glad that Catra and Melog were around in case someone got desperate enough to escalate from spying to assassination.

Of course, it was also concerning that she still hadn't found out how exactly they had bypassed all the security protecting the computers. Even if they had had official access, there had been measures in place to prevent the suborning of the entire system. And, as she rooted through the databanks and caches, too often tempted to just condemn the entire machine and replace it with a factory-fresh piece, she found more and more clues that didn't quite fit the assumption that this was a HUMINT infiltration job by the successors of the KGB with Chinese support.

The programs planted in the system to sift through the data and manipulate it were easy to understand, following established principles and using bits and pieces from known sources combined with some usually clever original work. Slightly challenging, but nothing she would consider extraordinary. But the routines that dealt with the interface to the Stargate itself? They were too advanced, and they worked too smoothly with the alien technology. She remembered how much work it had taken her to get the whole system to work, and while she didn't want to sound arrogant, she was one of the most experienced programmers in this area.

Even with the manual and notes she had left, it should have taken a Russian or Chinese programmer longer to subvert the entire system to this degree. Understand, yes - that was the point of the documentation. But to program alternative solutions to hers that wouldn't show up on regular system scans and checks? That was essentially duplicating her work from scratch - and in less time than it had taken her.

She glanced at Iwan, who was running additional checks on a cleared peripheral. Wouldn't he have known about such an individual? She could believe, based on everything she had heard, that the Soviets might have been paranoid enough to keep their research compartmentalised even though that might slow down or cripple some projects, but could Russia have continued such a policy and achieved such results anyway? And would they have worked with China, risking to expose themselves anyway, after taking such extreme measures?

If the alternative was seeing their country, or countries, becoming powerless and irrelevant as the Alliance advanced far beyond them? Probably. The arrival of the Etherians had shaken the entire world to the core and rendered most militaries obsolete.

So, this could be the work of some secret Russian research project. One that had been conveniently easy to adapt to the Stargate project. Too conveniently, actually.

She started another scan, then leaned back. "Hey, Iwan."

"Da?"

"Do you know if yours was the only storage for alien technology?"

She could see him tense for a moment.

"You think this was done using alien technology?" Catra, of course, had heard her - and apparently had deduced Sam's hypothesis straight away. She shifted on her seat as well, still lounging, but Sam knew her well enough that she didn't have to glance at the colour-changing Melog to tell that Catra was ready to jump into action now. Catra's tail was swishing, and her ears were twitching.

But the really interesting reaction was Iwan's. He stopped typing on his keyboard and glanced at the closed door before answering: "Well, there were rumours. But there are always rumours. Would be stupid to separate research, no synergy, no helping each other, da? But then, Russia has history of doing stupid things with very important - or dangerous - things."

That didn't confirm her hypothesis, but neither did it disprove it.

"Wouldn't your scanner have found another hoard of alien technology?" Catra asked.

"Only if it used Naquadah," Sam replied. "Not every alien technology depends on Naquadah." Etheria or the Horde's didn't.

"But the Goa'uld's tech does," Catra pointed out.

"The technology they adapted," Sam corrected her. "They might have studied other alien technology as well." Some of the Goa'uld, at least.

"And you think that the Russians or the Chinese found such technology and kept it hidden?" Catra frowned.

"Russia found Goa'uld technology and kept it hidden," Iwan said. "Keeping secrets from everyone, even themselves, is Russian way."

"If they had access to unknown alien technology, it would explain how they managed to subvert our security so thoroughly," Sam said.

Catra looked a little doubtful, but she nodded and slowly started to grin. "Great!"

"Great?" Iwan sounded as surprised - and wary - as Sam felt.

Catra bared her fangs. "It means we have to find out if your idea is true. And that means we have to go spying!"

Sam winced, but a part of her relished the idea. Turning the tables on whoever had done this to Sam's systems was quite appealing.

Earth Orbit, Solar System, December 7th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"...and Sam is sure that the programs used against Stargate Command were based on alien technology because they interface so easily with the Stargate." Catra shrugged. "According to her, the parts that interface with Earth-based programs are 'too clunky' to be made by the same people."

"Oh." On the screen in Catra's cabin on the flagship of the Earth Guard Task Force, Adora frowned in that cute way of hers, with her eyes losing focus for a moment while she pondered this. "So, whoever did this had contact with another species? Or found some relics of theirs and analysed them?"

"Yes." Catra nodded. "And we'll find out who did it - and what technology they hid."

Adora bit her lower lip. "And you want to take the technology."

Catra shrugged again, smiling. Adora knew her so well. "Of course. It was used against Stargate Command - and against the Alliance as a result - so it's a legitimate target. No matter what Russia and China try to claim." Like when Russia tried to claim that only unsecured advanced technology fell under the Security Council's confiscation order and that they would 'donate' the secured technology they had - which was now proven to be a lie. Almost proven.

Adora nodded. "Yes. We can't let such an attack go, or they'll try again."

They would try again anyway, in Catra's opinion. They had no choice if they wanted to remain a military power. Well, unless they found another source of technology, or an ally, out there in the galaxy on one of the Stargate Command's exploration missions. Of course, the odds… Catra's eyes widened. "They might be in contact with another species," she said.

"What?"

"Sam thought - and Gregorovich hinted at it - that Russia recovered old advanced technology that the Goa'uld had collected back before the rebellion and kept that when they handed over the DHS and other stuff," Catra explained. "But what if they managed to hide contact with another species? If they can take over the computers, they could also fool other security and smuggle in any gear."

"Or a visitor acting as an advisor," Adora said. "We're monitoring traffic for Naquadah because that reveals Goa'uld even inside a host, but if they are in contact with an alien species that doesn't use Naquadah, that would be useless."

Catra sighed as she bared her teeth. "And, like every damn Horde soldier, the guards won't really look for that kind of deception - not if they think the scanners will spot any attempted invasion or infiltration by snakes." This was worse than Catra had thought. "We should just bomb them from orbit."

"Yes," Adora nodded, then blinked and gasped. "What? NO!"

Catra chuckled. "Relax. I'm joking."

"Don't joke about that on a ship of the Third Fleet! Priest could take you seriously!" Adora scolded.

"Priest knows better than that," Catra objected. "He should know, at least." You never knew with religious zealots. If he thought Catra being Adora's consort meant she acted on She-Ra's authority… Priest wouldn't try such a ploy unless he thought it would serve his goals, but that wasn't really reassuring either.

Adora sighed. "You know how he is."

"Yes." Priest had learned far too much from religious leaders on Earth. And the wrong lessons. "But I'm not going to make such jokes where he or his men can hear me."

"Good." Adora sighed. "I should be with you."

Well, Catra wasn't going to disagree with that. "It's all the fault of the Russians. And the Chinese."

"Yes. But we need proof before we can move against them."

"We'll get you proof. Jack's working on that." Catra grinned. "He's mad as hell about this." Jack probably still felt as if he was a member of Stargate Command - and there were a lot of his friends serving there.

But Adora didn't grin in return - she frowned. No, she was concerned.

Catra rolled her eyes. "We're going to be fine." She was no princess, but she could take whatever Earth could throw at her. And chew it up and spit it back out.

"But they're now using their magic…"

"Yes. But we'll manage. Ghosts and everything." Catra hoped so, at least. "Jack's working on that." Jack had said he had a plan to do something about that.

"Jack is?" Adora didn't look reassured. "He doesn't like magic."

"Yes. So, he's very motivated to do something about any magic that could be used against him." Catra could understand the feeling. In the Horde, they had been fighting princesses with decades of experience with basically bots and rifles. They would have given everything for a princess of their own.

Adora was still frowning. Damn. She was probably feeling guilty about not being on Earth - and worried about Catra and the others here.

"We're going to be ok," Catra told her, smiling softly. "And I'll be back home soon."

Adora slowly nodded. "It's not the same without you. It feels… empty. Luna misses you as well."

A part of Catra was glad to hear that she was so important for her love. But a bigger part felt guilty for not being with Adora.

But she didn't say anything about either. Instead, she nodded.

And hoped she would be back with Adora soon. Being separated again… No, she wasn't going there.

Pentagon, Washington D.C., United States of America, Earth, December 8th, 1999

Jack O'Neill had been tempted to hold this meeting in orbit, on board his shuttle, or perhaps a frigate, but given everything that had gone on in the last few days, that would likely have backfired. Less 'be part of the greatest endeavour humanity has ever done before' and more 'watch me show off my private shuttle'. At least with this particular person.

So he straightened and got up, smiling broadly when his visitor arrived. "Good morning, Special Agent Paris."

"General O'Neill." She didn't look like it was a good morning. She looked like she expected a squad of Jaffa warriors to jump out of the filing cabinet and charge her screaming. Of course, with the scandal around Smith breaking - Kinsey had pulled out all the stops; the press was crying for blood - and her involvement in the investigation, she probably had good reason to be wary despite Wilkinson turning against Smith. Or because of that.

Well, he had worked with worse. "Please have a seat."

She sat down with a brief nod, all business-like. Well, that matched what they knew about her.

"Coffee?" Jack gestured at the coffee maker in the corner of his (temporary) office. "It's not Navy coffee, but actually good, I promise."

Paris turned to glance at the pot. "Did you import an Italian coffee maker for your office?"

He didn't wince at the implied accusation. Instead, he grinned. "No need for that. The Pentagon contracted for them a year ago for the general staff. Couldn't stand to be shown up by Alliance headquarters, I guess."

"Fitting." Her smile was tight and thin. "I'll pass, thank you."

He shrugged and took a sip from his own cup. "So, you're probably wondering why you're here."

"I assume you're trying to recruit me for your army, General."

"Not quite." He grinned again. "Though if you feel like volunteering, we'd take you in in a heartbeat, of course. We need every talented sorceress we can get."

"I am a thaumaturgist, not a sorceress."

"Sorceress is the correct term for anyone with the talent to work magic in the form of spells instead of having a magical power," he told her. Smiling, he added: "That's what the leader of Mystacore told me, and as the foremost experts in magic from Etheria, I'll take their word over a feeble attempt by the FBI to placate Bible-thumping politicians."

She snorted, then looked a little surprised, probably as much at her own reaction as at his comment. "The other agents call us witches."

Jack had already known that, but telling her he had been spying on them wouldn't go over well. "That's not the same, as far as I know." Castaspella hadn't gone into detail about the difference, and Jack hadn't asked at the time. "But you'd have to ask the expert herself."

"Are you trying to sell me on attending magic school in Etheria?" She snorted, but Jack thought she hid some interest there.

"I wish!" He shook his head, trying not to grin at her surprise. "They're still sorting out a training program. It seems Earth has unique magic, and they're not sure that training people like you as if you were Etherians is a good idea." Unless, of course, you passed the 'Ancient' test. Then they wanted you very badly.

"I would have expected such an important question to have been settled by now."

"Me too." He sighed. "But that's bureaucracy for you." And politics.

She nodded again, still sitting straight and tense, as if she were facing a court-martial - or an internal investigation, in her position. Hell, she probably was facing one by the FBI. "So, if you don't want to recruit me…"

"Oh, as I said, we'd love to have you!" he cut in.

"...then why did you invite me to this talk? And put enough pressure on my boss to make him order me to attend?"

"I didn't actually put any pressure on your boss," Jack corrected her. "I guess he feels like playing nice with us because the government wasn't too happy about his creative ways to get a secret sorceress training program going." Not as unhappy as they had been about the CIA program, of course. At least publicly.

"It was all covered by current regulations," Paris retorted.

"Yeah." Jack nodded. "All perfectly legal."

She scowled at him in return. "Like your shuttle."

"Exactly." He pondered mentioning Paris's own private investigation with Wilkinson, but that would feel like blackmail.

"So, will you tell me why you called me?" She was glaring at him now. Time to dial back the snark.

Jack nodded. "Sure. We want you to help us hunt a spy."

"What?"

"We've got a spy problem. And we'd like the FBI to help us hunt down the spy - just like you're supposed to do, right? It's an international affair, so the FBI can't take the investigation over, sorry."

"You want my help?" She looked suspicious. Not unlike Daniel when Jack praised his books or something.

"You're the best sorceress the FBI has." Which wasn't as impressive as it sounded, but no small feat either.

"You could call in an army of princesses and sorceresses from Etheria. Why do you want me?"

They couldn't actually call in an army from Etheria right now, what with the Stargate down. But that was a military secret. "They don't have your training as an FBI agent. And we can't depend on them for everything." Not forever.

She slowly nodded. "And you fear magic is involved."

"Well… we don't know for sure, but it's a distinct possibility." He shrugged. "Better safe than sorry, and if we can get a trained investigator at the same time…?"

She snorted again. "I'll agree to help you under one condition."

"Yes?"

"You get Wilkinson on board as well."

Jack blinked. He hadn't expected that. But he should have, he realised, recalling how Paris and Wilkinson had acted. They were certainly closer friends than they admitted. And her loyalty was a point in her favour. "Sure - if he wants to."

"He will." And now she sounded like Carter when she wasn't going to budge no matter what Jack said.

He chuckled. "I'll take your word for it. Welcome to the team!"