Jack smiled on the outside and breathed a sigh of relief on the inside. Shrugging off people attempting to murder you is not an easy feat, specially to a child. "Xander, if they can't scrounge up desserts to satisfy that appetite, I will take you into town and feed you till you pop." Xander managed a small smile in return. Bill took the small moment, to ask "Colonel, may I be permitted to contact Mr. Giles and Mr. Rayne, and appraise them of our location and Xanders safety?"
"All in due time" a new voice chimed in, the group turned, and saw General Hammond with Dr. Frazier. "Colonel Maybourne and Alexander, please follow Dr. Frazier now, the rest of you, we are going to debrief in groups and then collectively." Dr. Janet Frazier had seen plenty of medical firsts and bizarre situations, especially working at the SGC. That being said, this was a new first, based on destroyed clothing they brought, Alexander had been shot 2-3 dozen times, but she couldn't find a single scratch on the teen. On the other hand, Colonel Maybourne had a swollen hand, from a self-inflicted injury. Since he was aware of the SGC, she quickly diagnosed him and cleared him to be treated on the lower levels where they could x-ray, and medicate him for the pain.
Hammond, started with Sg1, debriefing them of their entire trip, as he finished, he moved onto Bill, then a returned Maybourne and Alexander.
The process took nearly an hour, surprisingly little to report in the events so much as the weight of the people behind them. There was a issue that had to be sorted before the joint debrief, Hammond called Jack to join him and sat down with Maybourne. "General Hammond, sir, I place myself in your custody and at your mercy, I signed up to defend my country from threats both foreign and domestic, I did not take that to include the murder of children, that is where I draw my line." Jack felt the need to throw him a bone after having confirmed Maybournes story and his reaction on the plane. "General, he did attempt to contact us to rescue Alexander, and did not hesitate to turn over his sidearm to Carter, maybe there is an outcome that doesn't involve prison?"
Hammond responded, "Colonel, I will take that under advisement, and we can discuss it further in my office. Colonel Maybourne, you will join us for the group debrief, and then we will have a further individual one with the three of us at a later time. If you want to be better than you have shown us so far, if you want to be different from the realities of the NID you now see, work with us on intelligence, until that time, you will be under guard and confined to quarters once we have concluded tonight's debriefing." Colonel Maybourne, stood up, nodded and saluted, before they rejoined the group. Hammond and Jack shared a look, wondering if perhaps Maybourne could be saved, after all he was a soldier, an American, and human being, they could both live with giving him the benefit of the doubt as long as he was forthcoming and honest.
Nearly 2 hours later, at the conclusion of the group debriefing, Hammond issued shared quarters to Alexander and Bill. He had one last briefing with Sg1 in the normal meeting room adjacent to his office.
"So, I have two supermen, super boys really above us. They are what, bulletproof and super strong, you saw the one Bill was his name, with super speed and the ability to fly as well? How sure are we that they are not aliens, whether they are from a planet we have yet to encounter or genetically modified?" Jack spoke up "General, Xander is the real deal, I feel it in my gut. From our experience at the airport until now, he comes across as a human. Bill, I am no sure about, I feel like I am playing poker around him, I want to trust him but there is something up."
Hammond processed this "Should I separate Alexander from him, give them their own quarters?" Carter jumped in "Sir, I don't think that would be a good idea, he has been nothing but helpful and polite with us, he even thanked both the Colonel and I for our military service. I think we need to use the time to acclimate them to the idea of opening up to us and with respect, study their abilities further."
Daniel felt it was time to speak up "I understand what Jack is saying, he comes across as a Boy Scout but his actions feel that he is quite ahead of Alexander in terms of understanding and processing the situation. I think it may lie more to do with the fact that Alexander and him are both exposed as superhumans for a lack of a better word, we are part of the same government that while asking them to trust us, they were just rescued from being held against their will and a failed murder attempt. Now I know that was Alexander, but they might as well have been in the same situation, if NID had realized Bill existed, he would be next. We need to protect them."
General Hammond, stood up and walked to the window overlooking the gate room. "They are both kids, quite possibly impervious to harm, but kids nonetheless, if they do join the Stargate program, it cannot be with any mistrust in the military institution, this command, or the four of you, their rescuers. This is an unusual situation and I want to say this, we have an obligation as members of the SGC to protect the interests of the United States and Earth first, but as a father and grandfather, I cannot help but be apprehensive about the idea of training children from this age to become soldiers, even super soldiers to join this fight. We offer them the option, we lay it all on the table. If they accept, we discuss it further, as Major Carter mentioned the air force academy, if not we decide how to address their presence back in public. Let's get this Mr. Giles and Mr. Rayne out here in the next 24 hours if possible."
