Chapter 22: The Naquadah Crisis Part 2
Above Seattle, United States of America, Earth, August 17th, 1998 (Earth Time)
Jack O'Neill clenched his teeth. They had to move quickly before whoever or whatever was in this compound scattered - tracking down dozens of potential Goa'uld hosts would be a nightmare even with the scanner. If they got into Seattle or another city…
"Move in where?" Adora asked, returning to the captain's chair.
Jack turned to the holographic projection. "Zoom out."
"Show us the road network," Catra added.
The projection changed, becoming a 3D view of the entire area around the compound. "We need to block the main routes - we can track down any stragglers on foot later." He looked at the agents in place and made a snap decision. "Major Warren, deploy SG-3 here, here and here." He tapped the locations. "Spread out to shield Seattle. Go!"
"Yes, Sir." Warren finished marking the spots and rushed out of the bridge to brief his men.
Jack turned to his team. "Carter. Tell the agents in place to fall back to… this crossing here. Cover the tunnel exits in range."
"Yes, Sir." She tapped her radio and started talking in a low voice.
"If they're bolting, we should expect a trap or self-destruct in the building," Catra said. Jack could hear the 'it's what I would do' she left unsaid.
"Yes," Hordak said, nodding. "Depriving the enemy of your resources is a sound strategy."
"I'll bow to your experience as evil warlords," Jack said before he could help himself. Catra seemed to flinch for a moment, but that might've been his imagination. Hordak, though, merely nodded.
"So, let's drop SG-3 right on their spots," Adora said, pointing at the locations. "Then we drop down behind the main part of the runners."
The ship was already moving - to Jack, it still felt wrong to see how the ship dived and banked, yet not feel any g-forces at all. The fighters you could construct with such technology…
"We're at the first SG-3 drop zone! Disembarking troops!" Adora announced.
Jack was still staring at the spreading dots on the map. He was pretty sure there was a leader amongst them. But where would they be? If it was a Goa'uld, they wouldn't be with the main force headed towards Seattle. They would use the distraction to escape in another direction. Unless they were planning a double-bluff.
"We're at the second drop spot!"
More troops from SG-3 charged out of the ship. And one small group of dots on the map was inside the main escape tunnel somehow - the one not connected to the building. How had they managed that? But those might be the leader and his entourage…
"If it's a Goa'uld, they might be counting on taking over one of our troops," Catra said. "We wouldn't be able to find them easily if they're near Goa'uld technology."
Jack looked at her. That made… a lot of sense for one of the snakes. "Only if they know how we found them." The NID team might not have been privy to that information. On the other hand, it didn't take a genius to suspect scanners.
"How else would we have found them? The timing will make them suspect it."
"Yes." Jack looked at the map again. "And that means you're right - they will attempt to hide amongst us." he looked at Carter. "Captain, inform Major Warren that his men have to keep a strict distance from any enemy. There is a high risk of Goa'ulds trying to take them over."
"Yes, Sir."
"But…" Daniel shook his head, pressing his lips together.
Jack nodded. He knew as well as his friend did that the odds of SG-3 taking many prisoners weren't good to begin with, but this would make them even more trigger-happy. They had a number of zats, but not nearly enough for every soldier.
"We're at the third drop spot!"
The remaining members of SG-3 rushed out, Warren waving at the ship as she lifted off again.
"Take the main force in the flank and roll them up?" Adora suggested. "I can draw their fire."
Jack hesitated - sending a girl, a young woman, ahead to draw fire went against his instincts. But She-Ra was basically a walking main battle tank. So he nodded. "Yes."
"Darla, drop us at this spot! Then hover above the area and…" Adora turned to Entrapta. "We need you to keep track of all Naquadah in the area."
"I can do that!" Apparently, Entrapta was still hyped on caffeine.
That would end in a nasty crash, in Jack's experience. Unless they were magically immune or something. Or Entrapta had some alien drugs to avoid that.
It didn't matter right now - Jack and his team rushed towards the airlock, followed by the Etherians.
"We should be covering the second group as well," Bow said as the doors slid open, and Jack heard the sound of automatic weapons.
"We're tracking them," Catra said. "We shouldn't split up."
"Never split the party," Jack joked as he jumped off the ramp, clenching his teeth in anticipation of the strain on his knees - and blinked when he touched the ground. He felt perfectly fine. No strain at all. Hell, he felt as good as he had in his youth. How the…? He pushed the thought away. He could ask Adora later about her healing. Time to focus on bagging a snake.
He gripped his M4 as they rushed from the ship into the closest cover - a bunch of trees near a small mound.
Outside Seattle, United States of America, Earth, August 17th, 1998 (Earth Time)
Adora easily outpaced the others, taking the lead. That was her duty - she was She-Ra, Princess of Power. And with power came responsibility. The others couldn't shrug off bullets and energy blasts. She-Ra could. She had to protect everyone else.
She jumped through the tightly-clustered cove of trees, slashing with her sword, and landed on the ground behind it, sword held out at her side. Behind her, two trees toppled to the ground, granting cover for her friends.
Something moved ahead of her, leaning out behind a tree and firing at her. Adora moved her sword, parrying most of a burst from a rifle, two bullets bouncing off her chest and shoulder. The man in white robes kept firing at her until he ran dry. As soon as he started to swap the magazine, Adora rushed forward, driving her fist into his stomach. Gently, of course - she didn't want to kill him.
He collapsed, and she quickly checked for a pouch. But then two more opened up on her, one with a zat'nik'tel. The first shot missed her as she charged the other shooter, but the second shot hit her back - and she felt that. Like an itch under her skin.
Hissing, she knocked down the first man. Then she whirled and jumped over the next shot, landing near the shooter, and grabbed his hand before he could line up another shot. "I'll be taking that," she told him.
He tried to get his hand free, then reached for his rifle, slung over his back, with his free hand, so she slammed him into the tree behind him. One more down, and…
A long burst ripped through the tree and the man, blood splattering over her as she dove to the side out of reflex. That was a support weapon! And that could spell the end for her friends. Where was it?
She turned around. There! Cleverly hidden in a bush. She just had to…
The bush exploded. Adora jerked back, then stared. Two bodies were on the ground, thrown away by the explosion. Who had…?
Ah. Jack and the rest of SG-1 were moving on her flank. That meant she had been too slow - she was the point to draw fire and get the enemies to reveal themselves.
Adora clenched her teeth and charged ahead. They were already reaching the firefight between SG-3 and those people. She passed a dead body on the ground, knocked out another behind cover, then started to roll up the flank. One flank - this was a chaotic mess, like fighting in the Whispering Woods. It seemed the frontlines were disappearing as the white-robed people charged into melee range. And they rushed at SG-3 but weren't trying to break through.
"They really want to get close," she said. Catra had been right.
Well, that gave her an idea. She grinned as she jumped into the middle of the largest battle, driving her sword into the ground as she landed and sending the robed people sprawling. "Surrender!" she yelled.
"Get her!" someone screamed. "Get her for your God!"
All the robed people nearby rushed towards her, yelling incoherently. Some were shooting, and she deflected a few bullets and zat'nik'tel shots with her sword, but most seemed to want to punch her - or grapple her.
Adora grinned as she started knocking them out and around. The shooting had stopped as well, at least near her. One managed to grab her from behind, but an elbow into his gut sent him to the ground, retching. Another threw punches and kicks she didn't feel at all - he wouldn't have made it through Horde training like that. She grabbed his throat and squeezed gently until he passed out while she kicked a knife out of another's hand.
More shots rang out - SG-3 and SG-1 were firing - and she saw another man collapse, clutching his guts.
For a moment, the others froze. Then they howled and seemed to lose their minds. People blindly rushed forward, shooting in every direction - someone tried to bite her ankle! This was…
Someone bit her neck? She reached around and… grabbed a snake. No, a Goa'uld! She gasped as she held the squirming, hissing thing in her hand.
A Goa'uld on Earth!
"I've got a Goa'uld!" she yelled.
"Get it to us!" Jack yelled back. "Cover her!"
'Cover her'? She scoffed and jumped, then rushed away from the still howling mob. Jack and the others were… There!
A quick dash through another cove, and she slid behind the fallen tree Jack and the rest of SG-1 were using as cover, holding out her prisoner to him.
He recoiled with a grimace. "Watch it!"
"It's not going to escape," she assured him.
"Carter, get the snake carrier."
"It's a containment unit, Sir."
"It's meant to carry a snake to the pound. A snake carrier."
Whatever. Adora stuffed the snake into the container and closed the lid before it could attempt to escape.
Sam quickly sealed it. "There could be more," she said.
Before Adora could answer, an explosion shook the ground. She looked up - the resort had blown up. Parts were flying through the air.
"Watch out!" Jack yelled as everyone dived for cover.
Catra has been right about that as well, Adora thought as she stared at the flying debris and raised her sword.
Samantha Carter threw herself behind the closest tree just as the shockwave arrived and was blown off slightly, hitting the ground harder than intended. She rolled with it anyway and rushed forward to hide behind the trunk. The debris launched up by the explosion would be starting to come down about now, and even a little cover was better than none, even though Sam didn't like her chances to…
A blinding beam close by made her gasp and shield her eyes. Blinking, she realised it was Adora, sword held with both hands, pointed at the sky above them - at the expanding cloud of dust and smoke.
At the debris starting to rain down on them.
Sam stared as the concrete and wood fragments falling towards them were vaporised in the … magic beam.
"Well, looks like Magical Princess She-Ra just saved our bacon again," the Colonel commented next to her as he slowly got up.
"I think that might be an actual title, Jack," Daniel said, still cowering behind a felled tree trunk.
"Indeed."
The Colonel tapped his radio. "SG-3, report!" He tapped the radio again. "Entrapta, any movement on the scanner?"
"Uh… none any more. The group in the tunnel stopped moving short of leaving the tunnel. And the exit is now open."
Sam pressed her lips together - if the explosion had originated underground, and the lack of a massive shockwave indicated that, and someone had been in the tunnels there…
"Fried Goa'uld, anyone?" the Colonel asked.
Before Sam could react, SG-3's report came in. One dead, two wounded, two stunned.
"Jack! We'll have to check everyone for Goa'uld possession!"
Sam almost expected the Colonel to make a joke about them now being in possession of a Goa'uld, but the Colonel just nodded. And she berated herself, briefly, for thinking of such a cruel joke - Daniel's wife was still a Goa'uld host.
"Everyone OK? I can heal!" Adora looked around.
"We've got two wounded, and I think the cultists need some healing," the Colonel replied.
Those who hadn't been killed already.
"On it!"
Sam opened a channel to Entrapta. "We need a map of all Naquadah concentrations." If there were more Goa'uld around, and if they started to go after people who weren't as tough as She-Ra…
"Teal'c! Start collecting the zat'nik'tels!" The Colonel must have had the same thought. Teal'c was the obvious choice to collect the weapons - he could repel an attempt to possess him thanks to his superhuman reflexes.
Adora went towards SG-3, but Catra went after her. "Adora! What were you thinking?"
"What?"
"You were almost possessed by a Goa'uld!"
"It couldn't even dent my skin!"
Sam shook her head. Adora in She-Ra form was… Apparently, she had shrugged off bullets from an M2 Browning heavy machine gun.
But they had a mission to do. With Entrapta's help, she directed Teal'c to the scattered Goa'uld weapons - only zat'nik'tels, no staff weapons - while Adora healed the wounded and the Colonel and Daniel started towards the smoking ruins of the resort with the Etherians.
Then she joined the others. "I told you so," Catra said. "Blew up the whole bunker." She flashed her teeth. "They destroyed most of their tech rather than letting us get it."
"Great. Wanna bet that the Russians won't believe us?" The Colonel shook his head.
"Sir. Naquadah is resistant enough so advanced technology could've survived the explosion intact," Sam pointed out. "It was a conventional explosive." Her radiation detectors weren't showing any reaction, at least.
"Yeah, blowing up the evil lair once the villain's dead is kind of a convention."
"Jack!"
"Daniel."
"The Goa'uld might have hoped to make us think that the technology was destroyed, to return later to recover it. Much later," she added when Daniel opened his mouth.
"Well, they won't unless they can escape a snake carrier. But I guess we'll have to ask Adora to play excavator again."
That was a better and faster solution than waiting for an excavation team with both the clearance and the skill to deal with advanced technology. But to ask Adora…
"Just tell her," Glimmer said. "Hey! Adora! We need you to dig a hole here!" she yelled.
A minute later, Adora appeared, jogging towards them. "I was just finishing healing the others," she said.
Catra huffed, and Adora glanced at her before going on: "Entrapta didn't find any more Naquadah than the weapons Teal'c collected. Outside the building - the ruins - at least."
And there was Teal'c. "SG-3 is guarding the prisoners and the weapons," he said. "But they had trouble recovering the prisoner glued to a tree."
Bow grinned a little sheepishly. "I can use a catalyst to undo that."
"I ripped the tree out," Adora replied. "So… where do I need to dig?"
The other Etherians just pointed at the ruins.
Adora blinked.
"Just consider it punishment for letting a Goa'uld touch you," Catra said. "Really! You've become sloppy!"
"What?"
"Enough!" Glimmer shook her head. "We need to secure whatever wasn't destroyed by the blast."
Sam nodded. Even if the artefacts were destroyed, the Naquadah was extremely valuable and could be extracted.
And they had to ensure that there were no other Goa'uld around. And that meant recovering and identifying every Naquadah concentration.
Outside Seattle, United States of America, Earth, August 18th, 1998 (Earth Time)
"You sound like you're enjoying yourself. Should I be concerned about being replaced by debris?" Catra flashed her fangs in a grin when Adora stopped heaving rubble and concrete remains around and blushed.
"Hey! It's not like that!"
"So you claim. But you didn't sound like that when you were burying the gate."
"That was just earth, not rubble like this!" Adora retorted.
"So, I should be concerned…"
"What? No!"
"Oh, knock it off, you two! You're holding up the recovery operation!" Glimmer the spoilsport cut in. "It's already late."
"Someone's jealous…" Catra half-whistled.
As expected, that earned her a glare from Glimmer. "I'm not jealous! I just don't think we should waste any more time here. We need to recover the remaining Naquadah."
"Before it turns out to be a bomb," Bow added loyally.
That was a possibility, but Catra didn't think it was a likely one. The Goa'uld hadn't struck her as suicidal, and if he had been, the Naquadah would have probably gone off with the first explosion.
Still, they were right. "You heard them, Adora. Stop wasting time!"
"What? I am wasting time?" Adora stared at her.
"Yes."
"But…"
"Get shovelling!" And maybe you won't have to do too much grovelling later when we're going to talk some more about how you shouldn't let body-snatching aliens touch you, Catra added in her head.
Adora huffed and started digging again. And Catra sat down on a piece of conveniently sized and placed concrete and looked at the rest of the site. At least SG-3's men - all men, she had noted - had stopped staring openly at Adora. Some still sneaked glances, though. "Looks like your friends didn't believe you about Adora," she commented to Daniel, who was examining a burnt book nearby.
"Huh?" He blinked and turned his head, and she repeated herself with a nod towards the other American soldiers. "Oh." He nodded. "Yes. I think they thought that we were exaggerating in our reports." With a frown, he added: "We select Stargate Command staff for mental flexibility, but I think magical princesses were a bit too much for our marines."
"The Horde was full of rather dull people," Catra said, "but they wouldn't have questioned your reports." She stretched a little.
"But they were used to magic and princesses," he retorted. "Our people aren't. For most, this sounds like a fairy tale. Or a cartoon."
Made-up stories, in other words. Or Lies. "Well, they better change views," Catra told him. "Because we can't really fight a war effectively if shared information isn't trusted."
"On the other hand," he said, "blind obedience isn't a good thing either. You need a balance between scepticism and trust."
"Trust but verify?" She grinned.
"Well, you can't really verify our reports independently, not as a soldier. They don't have the time or opportunity."
"Until they enter combat with us."
"Yes. And I think you made an impression. There'll probably be some hero-worship amongst a few of them."
Catra shook her head. "As long as they don't cause trouble."
He chuckled. "Jack would say that they are marines - they will cause trouble. Especially if they're bored."
She sighed. "I wonder how you managed to run your army for so long with such people."
"It worked out well - especially against enemies that prized blind loyalty and obedience."
"Well, that…" Catra started to retort when Adora's yell cut her off.
"I found it!"
Catra stood and began to walk over, but Entrapta was already running, Sam not too far behind. "Oh! What is it? It can't be a Stargate, or they would have used it to flee, but it's too big for a weapon, and… Oh! That looks fascinating!"
"It is a ring transporter," Teal'c said, peering at the remains Adora was pointing at. "Or it was a ring transporter."
"What? No fancy Egyptian name?" O'Neill asked.
"Well, the direct translation would be…" Daniel started to explain, but O'Neill cut him off. "Ring transporter is fine. I would hate to use more accents in my reports. "So, seen this before."
"On Abydos," Daniel agreed. "I wonder where this one led to."
"A transporter? Oh! That would explain how they got into the tunnel without an opening!" Entrapta nodded. Several times. Then she yawned. "Clever!"
"But to use such a transporter for a few yards?" Daniel shook his head.
"If you have it, why wouldn't you use it?" O'Neill shrugged. "But it's broken."
"But we can still study it - and find out how to copy it!" Entrapta beamed. Then she suddenly frowned. "But… can we examine it without causing trouble with the United Nations?"
That was a good question, in Catra's opinion. "I think they're mainly concerned about you taking it for yourselves," she said, looking at O'Neill.
"They're kinda insecure like that, yes," he replied.
"Jack! We're talking international politics, not…" Daniel shook his head.
"Same thing, Daniel. They want what we have and don't want us to have more than they have." O'Neill tilted his head. "Kinda like it was in the Cold War, actually."
"The Cold War cannot be reduced to such simplified propaganda. It was much more complex, and…"
"I just did."
Catra shook her head at the men's antics. Daniel was probably right - the United Nations would want to have a say about this.
At least the presence of a Goa'uld should make most of the idiots realise how dangerous the whole situation was.
Stargate Command, Colorado, August 18th, 1998 (Earth Time)
"...and we recovered the rest of the remains - both Naquadah and human - from the tunnel. It looks like the group trying to escape were all humans sent out as a distraction," Jack O'Neill said. He didn't bother to hide his scowl - according to Carter, the bomb had been triggered by the hatch of the escape tunnel opening. "The Goa'uld - named Setesh as far as we can tell - had planned to take over one of SG-3's men to hide amongst them."
"Do you have any proof for that?" General Hammond asked.
"The tactics, Sir," Jack replied at once. "He sent his guards against SG-3 to 'wipe out the enemies of their god', not to break through their lines to escape. And they were ordered to do so in melee range, not by using the prepared positions and ambushes on their land. His orders all but guaranteed that they would be wiped out."
"They fought from prepared positions, though."
"Only at the beginning, and then only with the heavy machine guns," Jack retorted. "Those wouldn't have been easy to move ahead."
"But as soon as he would have taken over a soldier, he would have been at risk from his own people," Hammond pointed out.
"Yes. But I think Setesh took a calculated risk." The Goa'uld was a bastard but no coward.
Hammond didn't seem to be convinced. "What about the survivors?"
"They're fanatics. And those who were taken alive tried to kill themselves for 'failing their god'." And they only had been able to take some of the cultists alive thanks to zats and, of course, She-Ra. "It looks like a cult problem. I guess we'll have to call in specialists. At least we can do that now without worrying too much about secrecy."
Hammond frowned. "We're still dealing with sensitive information here. But our pool of available specialists was widened by the revelation of the Stargate."
"They might also have been drugged, Sir," Carter cut in. "When we were running tests for poison, we detected an unidentified foreign substance in their blood."
"Yeah. Our local West Coast god pulled all the tricks of his human competitors," Jack said. Drugs, sex and what a Goa'uld thought was rock'n'roll.
"He might have actually been the inventor of some of those 'tricks'," Daniel said. "I've been looking into this, and I think I have identified two earlier cults ran by the Goa'uld. Both ended in mass suicides. If you can call it a suicide when a leader orders his brainwashed followers to die." He patted a stack of sheets on the table. "I'm working on a timeline, but I suspect that the Goa'uld was on Earth since Ra's departure - the names he used point towards that."
"We've had a Goa'uld on Earth for millennia, and he didn't take over?" Hammond asked.
"He must have been afraid of Ra," Daniel replied, "and kept a low profile. I assume we can get more information once we manage to interrogate him."
"Yes. Your suggestion of granting the Goa'uld an animal as host so they can write or use a computer to communicate." Hammond nodded. "It hasn't been approved yet."
"Why not?" Jack asked with a frown. "Did PETA veto it? Or did the Etherians mention that monkeys have rights on their planet?"
"No, Colonel. But the government is concerned about security and the optics of having a Goa'uld possess a monkey." Hammond explained. Or not.
"They think we'd let a monkey escape? Do they think this is Disneyland?" Jack shook his head.
"'Optics', General?" Daniel asked. "Are they worried that people will have sympathies for the Goa'uld if it's in a monkey's body?"
"In a word, yes, Dr Jackson." Hammond grimaced. "They're worried that showing a small fuzzy animal using a computer will send the wrong message about the danger the Goa'uld present to Earth and humanity. And yes, some members of the cabinet voiced concerns about the public perception of sacrificing an 'innocent animal' to the alien invaders."
Jack groaned. "Can't we just pick an ugly animal then?"
"You would be surprised how many people would still care." Hammond sighed.
"Are you talking about your granddaughters, General?" Carter asked.
"They wanted a pot-bellied pig after the last nature documentary they watched," Hammond said. "And they refused to eat meat for a week."
Jack groaned again. Since when did the government care about the opinions of little children? Would they ban broccoli at schools next?
"What about the international reactions, Sir?" Carter asked.
Hammon sighed once more. That was a bad sign. "As expected, the Security Council is moving to claim control over all technology we recovered. But some states also suspect that we didn't report everything we found, citing the lack of international observers. And some even suspect that this was staged to improve our position and image."
Great. "And what about Russia and China?" Jack asked.
"They haven't made their position known so far, except for supporting international control over alien technology." Hammond smiled a little weakly. "Pressure on Egypt and Honduras is increasing, and they haven't had access to the results from the scan Captain Carter and Princess Entrapta did, but that hasn't stopped either country from having their armed forces search for advanced technology."
Jack sighed himself. The Etherians would just love this.
Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, August 18th, 1998 (Earth Time)
"You think this is a hoax?" Adora blurted out. She winced a little at the glance Glimmer stent towards her. Her friend was supposed to handle this, but Adora hadn't managed to control herself. "Twenty people died! And you think this was a hoax?" she spat.
The delegate from a minor country shook her head. "I merely pointed out how convenient this whole incident was. The Security Council is debating an unprecedented infraction against every nation's sovereignty, and suddenly, there's an emergency that would seem to demonstrate the urgency that was put in doubt by cooler heads?"
"We captured a Goa'uld who had been hiding on Earth for centuries!" Adora retorted. "And we secured a lot of their technology! Weapons technology!"
"So you claim," the woman said. "So far, there has been no proof presented to us."
"And the technology was secured by the United States," the Russian delegate added.
"Because the incident happened on our soil and the Security Council hasn't made any decision yet about the status of alien technology recovered on Earth," the American delegate said.
"How convenient for you." The Russian sneered for a moment.
"As if you're not already looking for the artefact in Siberia," the American shot back.
"It's really like an Alliance meeting in the bad old days," Adora heard Glimmer mutter. Then her friend cleared her throat. "We have records of the battle. And we took a count of all the technology secured by us."
"By you? Do you include yourself in the American forces now?" Another delegate asked.
"It was a joint-force action," Glimmer told him. "The Princess Alliance isn't beholden to anyone but will work with anyone against the Goa'uld."
The Chinese delegate spoke up: "But the fact that the United States secured this technology raises some concerns about the sincerity of their stated willingness to cooperate with the rest of the world."
"So far, the rest of the world hasn't even been able to agree on a course of action," the American retorted.
"And the longer we wait, the greater the danger - we don't know what is hidden at the other locations," Glimmer said. "If there's another Goa'uld active on Earth, then they might have already infiltrated a local government."
"Is that going to be your excuse for violating a nation's sovereignty? A supposed threat of being controlled by an alien parasite?" Another of the smaller country's delegates asked with a scowl.
Glimmer frowned in return. "No. The only excuse we need to intervene is the fact that Goa'uld technology could indicate a Goa'uld base or operation."
They really didn't like hearing that, Adora saw.
"If it's so urgent, why haven't you told Honduras and Egypt the exact locations of the technology you detected inside their territories?"
"Because they have neither the experience nor the technology to handle the kind of threats that the Goa'uld represent," Glimmer said.
"Which you should know if you'd read our report!" Adora added. She had spent hours writing it! Daniel was right - it was very annoying if you wrote a report and no one read it.
"Anyone can claim anything in a report. We need actual proof. Show us this 'Goa'uld'!"
Several delegates nodded at that - not just the smaller countries.
"And the technology!" another delegate added. "We need to see if there's any truth to this supposed danger."
"Fine!" Glimmer spat. "We'll show you the technology and the Goa'uld."
"And I think we should talk to the Goa'uld," the Chinese delegate added.
"The Goa'uld cannot talk unless they control a human body," Adora pointed out.
"Then get a volunteer. We can secure the body so they cannot escape."
"We haven't found a safe way to remove a Goa'uld from a human host yet," Entrapta said, looking up from her computer. "They can excrete a poison that kills the host when they're removed. We're looking into ways to bypass that, but we've just started."
The Chinese delegate frowned. "What about using a condemned criminal?"
Adora gasped. They wanted to…kill a person for this? Or just… leave the person a prisoner in their own body?
Other delegates were shocked as well.
"You can't be serious!"
"That's barbaric!"
"This goes against everything we stand for!"
But the Chinese delegate stood his ground. "Barbaric? I'll remind you that the death penalty is legal in the United States. There's nothing barbaric about this - someone about to be executed might even volunteer for this."
"That's… no civilised country could condone this!" another delegate objected.
Hordak nodded - Adora saw he was tenser than normal. "It would be torture for the person, and I've been told that torture is outlawed on Earth."
'Cruel and unusual punishment', Daniel had called it on the flight back to Colorado.
"Yes. We could use an animal as a host, I guess," Entrapata added. She had finally slept on the flight back, but Adora was still concerned about her. She would have to make sure that her friend got a full night's sleep after this.
"An animal?"
"Yes. Like an ape - they are close to humans. He wouldn't be able to speak, but they could use a keyboard," Entrapta explained.
"We would be interrogating an ape?" the Chinese delegate seemed to be surprised.
"The optics of that would be… questionable," another delegate said.
"Many apes are an endangered species," another objected.
"One more or less won't doom a species."
"Cruelty to animals isn't a good thing either."
"That the West cares more about animals than the people living in the developing countries is well-known."
"Now wait a minute! This isn't about animal rights!"
"Indeed. It's about human rights - and nations' rights!"
Adora blinked as another pointless argument started. "We should just have gone straight to the other locations," she muttered.
Stargate Command, Colorado, August 19th, 1998 (Earth Time)
"Why didn't we land the spaceship yet? We already have dozens of those zat'nik'tels!"
Samantha Carter pressed her lips together - facing away from Dr Davis so the scientist wouldn't notice. They had gone over this already. "General Hammond explained that landing a working faster-than-light spaceship under our control in the United States has been deemed to be ill-advised in the current political situation," she reminded him.
"But we're scientists, not politicians!"
Sam didn't have to turn to know the man was pouting. "Which means we leave international politics to the experts and listen to them when it concerns their field." Even though the politicians might not always listen to scientists when it concerned science.
"But this doesn't concern them! The ship is ours! The Etherians agreed! And it wasn't recovered on any foreign soil but in space! There's no other claim on it!"
Sam had been there when the ship had been recovered. She sighed, not bothering to hide her annoyance any longer, and turned to stare at Davis - who seemed surprised at her reaction. "That is a matter of debate," she told him. "There's substantial support in the United Nations to internationalise the entire Stargate Command."
"But that's just posturing! We'll just veto whatever resolution they come up with! That's how the UN works! Why do we let them keep us from working on an actual spaceship?"
Sam was tempted to call Daniel to explain things to Davis. Even if Davis was ignoring facts outside his expertise, Daniel might be able to talk until Davis agreed with him just to be able to get back to work. But Daniel was needed in the examination and possible interrogation of the Goa'uld they had captured.
She should have volunteered to assist there, Sam realised, instead of examining the recovered technology. On the other hand, if that had left Davis in charge, they might end up missing something crucial. The man had the needed clearance for work at Stargate Command, but he wasn't ready to take such responsibility. She almost snorted at the thought that this must have been how Russian scientists had felt when working with 'politically reliable' 'colleagues' instead of the best experts in the field.
"That was how it worked before the arrival of aliens," she reminded Davis. "Things changed. The United States can't afford to act unilaterally right now." Perhaps never again, depending on how things might develop.
"But… the law's clear! We can veto anything the United Nations decide! Anything substantial, at least!"
"This isn't a matter of law, but politics," Sam explained as she put the zat'nik'tel she had been examining down on the table. "And if the United States would act as you suggest, the political and economic consequences would be harsh." Daniel had gone on about that a length after a joke by the Colonel. "In the current crisis, the country cannot afford that."
"But we've got a spaceship! If we figure out how to build more of them, we don't need anyone else - we can colonise space! Boldly go where no one has gone before! And with the second Stargate we have, we could just pick a planet and establish a private network!"
That wasn't how it worked - well, they could, in theory, use irises on both gates and only ever open and accept connections to the two gates - but… "Do you honestly think that the rest of the world and the Etherians would let the United States monopolise the gates like that? And how do you think we could afford to build enough spaceships to protect the country and the colony with the rest of the world opposed to this? If we actually find a habitable planet that hasn't been colonised by the Goa'uld already. Or by another species."
"But…" He trailed off. "Why would the Etherians care?"
Oh for…! "Have you somehow missed that they have explicitly stated that they do not recognise the United States as the single representative of Earth?"
He looked honestly confused. "But… everyone knows that's just window dressing. They've been working with us, and with no one else, haven't they?"
"They have been working with us because we met them," she explained. "And because we have a common enemy. But they won't support us against the rest of the world if we want to monopolise the gate." She snorted. "Certainly not if we can't legalise gay marriage." She wasn't going to mention polygamy at this point.
That seemed to shock him. "But…" He shook his head. "But that's just their starting position! As long as we get rid of 'don't ask, don't tell', we're fine!"
What? She glared at him. "What gave you this absurd idea? This isn't their starting position - the Etherians aren't going to compromise on that." How could Davis think this? This was… "Wait!" She narrowed her eyes at him. "Do others share your views?" This needed to be corrected at once! If the politicians listened to those people…
"Uh…"
But before he could answer, the phone rang. Sam picked it up. "Captain Carter."
It was the Colonel. And he sounded… upset. "Carter? We need you upstairs. Someone just blew up part of Egypt."