Chapter 54: The Experiment Part 1
Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, November 22nd, 1998
"...and after yesterday, the amendment only needs to be ratified by one more state. Which, unless the scheduled session of its legislature changes again, will be Pennsylvania. Right, Bob?"
"Yes, Joe! Pennsylvania has gambled by delaying their session until next week and it seems they have won. The eyes of the world - no, the galaxy, since your alien friends will be watching as well - will be on Harrisburg next week when they start their special session."
"I hear CNN is selling advertising slots as if it were the Superbowl, Bob!"
"Hah! You might think you're joking, but I am sure many businesses want to be associated with this historic moment - and I bet that this will have a bigger audience than the moon landings!"
"And speaking of moon landings: NASA has finished their Mars habitat! As soon as they finalise their negotiations with the Etherians, mankind will travel to Mars to stay there!"
"Well, good for them, though I think NASA would have preferred to do so under their own power instead of hitching a ride with an alien cabby."
"Oh, come on, Bob! Who wouldn't want to hitch a ride from magical space princesses? Have you seen them?"
"I have Joe, I have!"
Catra rolled her eyes before raising her voice. "Can someone switch to a channel not populated by horny old guys?" She knew which princess they were lusting after.
The soldier closest to the TV in the mess hall jumped up and quickly started pushing buttons, switching channels rapidly until some animal documentation came up.
"Catra!" Adora hissed. "We're guests here!"
"So?" Catra scoffed. "That doesn't mean we have to listen to some idiots drooling after you."
Adora blinked. "After me?"
"Who else do you think they mean when they're talking about beautiful magical space princesses?" Catra shook her head.
"Uh… Glimmer?"
"She's a queen," Catra pointed out.
"I don't think they care about the exact titles," Adora retorted.
"You're the 'blonde amazon bombshell'," Catra told her. "Glimmer's… not." She didn't need Daniel to realise what was the most common beauty standard on Earth - you just had to watch their television shows and movies.
"I am sure she has fans as well," Adora said with a pout.
"Not nearly as many as you have." Catra was tempted to add 'and you're worshipped as a goddess', but that was a sore spot for Adora.
"That doesn't matter."
"Sure does." Catra grinned. "You're more popular than she is."
Now Adora rolled her eyes. "It's not a competition." Then she blinked and slowly started to grin. "Besides… you might be more popular than Glimmer too!"
Catra growled. "I'm not counting that crowd." She regretted looking up those people. And the kind of pictures they drew. She suppressed a shudder at the memory.
Adora grinned as if she had won the argument.
Time to change the subject. "So, when are you going to see if you can heal a snake out of a person?"
"Once we got permission from Stargate Command and Entrapta and Sam have all their scanners set up to monitor the situation," her lover replied.
And they were ready to step in if something went wrong, Catra mentally added.
"But we want to talk to Jakar first - we know they know a way to take a Goa'uld out of a host without the host dying," Adora went on. "Hopefully, without the Goa'uld dying."
Catra scoffed. She didn't care about the lives of people who enslaved others.
"If the Goa'uld knows they're going to die if we capture them, they will suicide and not let themselves get captured," Adora pointed out with a frown.
That was true. Catra nodded, acknowledging the point. "We need more sorceresses and healers. And Techmasters," she said. "Entrapta can't do everything." And it would be kind of embarrassing if Etheria ended up not mobilising enough people for the war after berating the Americans for the same mistake.
"I know," Adora said. "For that, we need the establish a Stargate."
And for that, they needed a DHD or a computer that could replace it. And for the latter, they needed access to Stargate Command's computers for Entrapta. Well, that would be a point in the upcoming negotiations with the United States.
Catra leaned back, stretching her arms over her head and throwing her head back. She heard some curses behind her, a yelp and the clattering noise that told her a tray had been dropped on the ground. "Do they have their own Kyle?" she asked as she turned around and saw a guy sprawled on the floor and covered in food.
"Kyle didn't get distracted by you stretching," Adora told her with a grin.
Catra blinked, then narrowed her eyes. "I see." Was that one of the weird ones? Or one of the people who didn't think having fur and a tail meant you were an animal instead of a person? Earth people had strange views, after all, but some were decent.
Adora was still smiling.
Time to change the subject again. "So, have you heard anything about the mission to contact the Tok'ra?"
"No. They dropped off the message, but nothing came of it so far."
"Ah." Well, Jakar had told them it might take some time. Which made sense. Of course, that was also what a Goa'uld spy would claim to buy time.
They'd find out either way.
Washington D.C., United States of America, November 25th, 1998
"Did the brass ever hear of 'don't count your chickens before they're hatched'?" Jack O'Neill asked as he leaned back in his seat in the meeting room in the White House that was now far too familiar for his taste. "Pennsylvania's still debating the ratification."
"Every analysis I have watched on television or read in the newspaper agrees that the ratification is a mere formality, O'Neill. And I believe you told me that a sign of competent military leadership is making and updating plans for every possible situation, no matter how improbable." Teal'c tilted his head slightly towards him.
"Yeeessss, I did," Jack said.
"Then would not this meeting to discuss and advise your leader for the expected negotiations with the Etherian Alliance be an example of such leadership?"
Jack narrowed his eyes. Was Teal'c making fun of him?
Daniel looked up from his laptop. "Jack's aware of that. He's just complaining out of habit, Teal'c."
"Ah. Like the rituals warriors often undergo before important battles."
"Yes, exactly," Daniel grinned.
Jack glared at him, and then at Teal'c for good measure. He would have glared at Carter, but she hadn't stopped typing on her laptop and was acting as if she hadn't heard them. "If we're talking about examples of good leadership, then asking the experts on Etherians a few days before the negotiations begin isn't a good example," he said.
Daniel blinked. "That's actually a good point, Jack. They should have called us for advice earlier. Well, we did brief them regularly, but lately, not as often as we used to…"
"That's because they think we might be too close to the Etherians," Jack told him. If this was the Cold War, and SG-1 wasn't the damn best team in Stargate Command, they would have been sent to some less critical post long ago.
"What? They think we've been compromised?" Daniel gaped.
"I do not think any would dare to question your honour," Teal'c said. "Your history speaks for yourself."
Which was the problem, of course. "Yep," Jack said. "They know we'll do the right thing."
Daniel blinked again. "Oh. You mean… even if the right thing is against orders."
Like when Apophis had attacked. Jack nodded. The brass hated soldiers who disobeyed orders - even or especially if they got results. Of course, that was why the Etherians trusted SG-1. Something the brass and the government were aware of as well. Imagining how much Kinsey must hate this was a good way to lift Jack's spirits. The man was a snake - well, figuratively.
"Well…" Daniel seemed at a loss of words for a moment. "We're all on the same side, though."
"Like the Western Allies and the Soviets?" Jack told him.
"But… you don't really think that we'll end up fighting Etheria after the Goa'uld?" Daniel shook his head.
"Fighting them? No. But once the Goa'uld are gone, a lot of problems and differences won't look so minor any more," Jack said.
"Breaking the Alliance would be a very shortsighted view," Teal'c said. "There are other powers in the galaxy, and it is always better to stand with those who have fought at your side than betray them and your honour for promises of new allies that might turn out to be empty."
"No one ever accused our leaders of being too concerned with the long-term consequences of their actions," Jack said. Some of the politicians would be looking to get back at the Etherians for forcing them to change America no matter whether or not the change was for America's own good.
Daniel snorted at that but didn't look happy or amused. "Well, as you said, we shouldn't count our chickens before they've hatched."
"Nope, but we should keep our eyes open for future problems," Jack said. A lot could happen during a war, but as recent events had shown, gratitude was short-lived while resentment lingered.
"And what do we do if our friends ask us for advice?" Daniel asked.
"We won't betray our country, of course," Jack said. "But neither will we betray our friends."
He just hoped he'd never have to choose between the United States and his friends.
"...so, no, I don't think the Etherians will be too happy if we try to play political games during the negotiations," Jack said. "And they will see through such games," he added. "They're young, but they aren't inexperienced." They already had told the President and the cabinet not to underestimate the Etherians because of their young age, on multiple occasions, but it shouldn't hurt to restate it. Glimmer was a reigning queen who had led her country and an Alliance of other monarchs through a war to the knife against an alien invasion.
"They didn't seem to care when the Europeans played those games," the Secretary of Defence pointed out. "It was NATO all over again, horse-trading and squabbling left and right, so every little country got something."
And case in point. "Glimmer's got experience handling an alliance of different countries as the leader of one of their strongest members," Jack said. "The thing about that horse-trading is, that was back when they were still hashing out where to set up bases. But they've done that. I don't think they would stand for us trying to redo everything at this point." America was the Johnny-come-lately, after all.
"That won't make Congress happy. And the public will expect us to take a leading role in the Alliance." The Secretary of State shook his head.
"As long as we get the technology and the factories set up, people won't care much." The Secretary of the Treasury made a dismissive noise.
"We can't appear cap in hand, though. We need some concessions," the President said. "Something to show we're not just dancing to the others' tunes."
Jack suppressed a sigh. You didn't sigh at the President.
"It's the optics. The right-wing conservatives are still claiming we've 'sold out the heart and soul of America' to 'Godless aliens'," the Secretary of the Interior complained.
"And they took a beating at the midterms," the Secretary of Education retorted. "The entire party took a beating."
"That was because of special circumstances," the Secretary of the Interior told her with a glance at Kinsey. "But we won't beat them next election if they can campaign on the United States being the junior partner in this Alliance."
"We are the junior partner in the Alliance," the Secretary of Defense cut in. "Not forever, if we get the technology trades we want, but, militarily, we're going to play second fiddle to the Etherians for years. And the Europeans have stolen a march on us."
"It's not about the aliens, but the rest of the world," the President spoke up. "The American public won't expect us to take command of the alien space fleets, but they're used to being in charge of NATO. The conservatives, except for the lunatics, won't try to actually annoy the Etherians, but you can bet that they will be campaigning with all the bluster they can muster about 'perfidious Albion' and 'cheese-eating surrender monkeys' lording it over America."
Jack had to suppress a snort at the President's choice of words - they were quite unexpected - but he had to agree that this was likely.
"Bigots ignorant of history aside," the Secretary of Education said, "what are the chances that trying to score points in American politics will backfire on us with our international and interstellar allies?"
"Bet you've been waiting to use that word for weeks," Jack heard the Secretary of Defense mutter under his breath.
But the question was aimed at SG-1. Jack cleared his throat. "I am not an expert on other countries," he said, "but the Etherians generally have a lower tolerance for such games than we do." Catra had the shortest fuse, but Glimmer had a temper as well, and she was their lead in such negotiations. And Adora… well, as nice as she was, she was too idealistic to tolerate much bullshit.
"Yes, ma'am," Daniel added. "They have just fought a war for their world's survival, and they are, as far as I can tell, treating this war against the Goa'uld the same. They will expect and tolerate a certain amount of, ah, scoring points - as ruling monarch, Queen Glimmer will be used to that from Etheria's politics - but anything that directly hampers the war effort will not be received well."
"If the American public loses faith in the Alliance and we lose the White House next election, being replaced with a conservative pandering to the religious vote, that will hinder the war effort as well," the Vice President remarked. "They won't play nice with our allies."
Jack bit down on commenting that it would hamper the man's obvious plan to succeed the current president even more than the war effort.
"I think we'll manage," the President said. "We just need to show that were aren't subordinates in the Alliance. Partners, not subjects of princesses and queens, both alien and on Earth." He smiled at SG-1. "And that's where you come in. Especially you, Captain Carter."
Jack saw that Carter, who had been relaxing a little since she had given her report on the technological aspect of this whole thing, tensed. "Sir?"
"We'll need to emphasise your relationship with Princess Entrapta. Your professional relationship, I mean - the last thing we need are rumours of an unprofessional relationship with her."
Carter blinked. "What?"
"That would feed the lunatics prattling about alien corruption," the Secretary of Defense commented.
"I do not have or had a sexual relationship with Princess Entrapta," Carter spat. "Sir."
The President had the grace to wince at that, but the Secretary of the Interior went on: "Yes, yes. But that doesn't matter. What matters is what the public thinks. And if they think there's a torrid affair between you two, that won't be received well."
"I thought the entire point of the latest amendment was to legalise and normalise all gay relationships," Daniel commented with a frown.
"Yes. But we can't ignore that a significant part of the public still has some reservations about the whole thing. We don't want to… push too much," the man continued.
"And we don't want rumours in the Armed Forces that you were… exploiting this," the Secretary of Defense added.
Jack clenched his teeth. Carter looked angrier than he had seen her before. He glared at the cabinet members. "Are we really planning to pander to the bigots with an overly active imagination?"
"Of course not!" the Vice President protested. "We're just concerned with the optics. We don't want you to get hurt over this."
Kinsey spoke up: "I'll do what I can to squash such attempts."
"Thank you." The President nodded at him. "So, what kind of concessions can we get, other than the technology? Bases?"
"We can offer desert training, probably mountain training facilities as well," the Secretary of Defense suggested.
"That sounds like a good start."
While the cabinet discussed this, Jack looked at Carter. She was still fuming. And all he could do was nod at her to show his support.
He really hated politics.
Washington D.C., United States of America, November 26th, 1998
She shouldn't be here. She should be back at Stargate Command, helping Entrapta and Sam find a way to get the Goa'uld out of Lieutenant Lenkova. Adora had expelled Horde Prime from Hordak's body, after all, even if exactly how she had done it was a bit hazy. And, according to the data gathered by Entrapta, Adora had healed people infected by parasites before. Of course, that had been when she had healed everyone in the area in the surge from Earth's returning magic, but there was no reason she couldn't do that normally. As long as she was prepared to heal the poison Goa'uld could release. Which she was reasonably sure she was - she had healed poison before.
On the other hand, they didn't know whether or not Adora's healing had expelled or killed the Earth parasites; the records from India were not conclusive. If she tried it and the Goa'uld died, that would be... Well, it was one thing to kill an enemy in battle, but it was another to kill them when they were your helpless prisoner.
Looking out of the window in the White House, she repeated herself out loud with a sigh: "I shouldn't be here."
"The protesters outside would agree with that," Glimmer told her. "But they're wrong." Adora's friend got up from her seat and joined her at the window.
One could barely see the people protesting the alliance negotiations - tall barriers at the fence blocked the line of sight. Supposedly for safety reasons. Glimmer thought, and Catra agreed, that this was just a pretext so the American government could pretend there weren't any protesters without infringing on their rights to protest or something. Adora had seen them when they had arrived, anyway. And heard them.
"This is important," Glimmer said in a lower voice.
"So is saving Lieutenant Lenkova," Adora retorted.
"We're working on that."
They were. Entrapta, Melog and Catra were back at Stargate Command. But Adora wasn't. And she was the best Healer on Earth. "You don't need me here."
"Yes, we do," Glimmer protested.
"You can handle politics," Adora pointed out. "And military matters." This was just an 'introductory meeting', as someone had called it - even though they already knew the United States government.
"I could." Glimmer nodded. "But it's easier if we do it together."
Right. Adora bit her lower lip. Leaving Glimmer to do everything by herself was selfish. Adora was needed here as well. If only Bow wasn't busy helping Hordak build the spacelab… No, she couldn't think like that.
"It'll be hard enough to keep smiling when they make stupid demands to puff themselves up," Glimmer went on.
Adora pressed her lips together. Why couldn't people work together without trying to get an advantage for themselves at the expense of others? "I hate that part," she hissed.
"I hate it too," Glimmer said with a shrug. "But it's necessary."
"It wouldn't be necessary if people weren't so selfish," Adora spat.
"But people are selfish. And vain. And envious." Glimmer snorted. "It's not very different from the early Alliance meetings."
Adora had heard that before, but she couldn't really believe that things had been as bad as that.
Glimmer grinned. "You've only seen us when the war was going so badly, everyone realised that they couldn't afford to play such games. It was different before. Dad told me about it as well - most princesses of his generation were almost as concerned with ensuring that another kingdom didn't get an 'unfair advantage' as they were with winning the war."
"And they almost lost the war," Adora pointed out. "We should focus on defeating the enemy!"
Glimmer grimaced. "We can't just focus on winning the war. We also need to prepare for peace after the war. An alliance only held together by a common enemy won't last once the enemy is defeated. We need to build ties and friendships beyond that."
That was obviously true, but… "And we get that by squabbling over who gets which base?"
"We get that by ensuring that no one feels cheated or exploited, but part of something greater than themselves." Glimmer smiled a little sadly. "At least that's what Mom said, according to Dad." She straightened. "And by ensuring that everyone gets something out of it when things are going well."
Adora pouted. "I still don't like it."
"I know. You don't have to like it." Glimmer nodded again. "Don't worry - I'll handle most of the finer points of the negotiations and diplomacy. Just be yourself."
Adora nodded. She could do that. In fact… She blinked. "Wait! 'Just be yourself'?" After Glimmer's speech about how important those negotiations were?
"Yes."
Adora frowned. "You're using me as… as… the bad cop!" Like in those Earth TV shows!
Glimmer grinned a bit sheepishly.
"I'm not the bad cop!" Adora insisted.
"Of course not - you're not bad!" Glimmer told her. "You're She-Ra. Princess of Power."
"And you're going to be the reasonable politician you can make deals with."
"Yes."
"We didn't do that in Europe," Adora pointed out.
"We didn't have to. We only had to ensure that things worked out for the war. But the United States are almost as big as the rest of the Earth countries in the Alliance put together and arguably more powerful. And our other allies carry grudges about their past behaviour. So, we can't just stay back and let things sort themselves out. Not without making everyone else mad. It's just politics."
Adora sighed. She really didn't like politics.
Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, November 26th, 1998
"Yes, we know how to safely separate symbiont and host, although the procedure is not without risk if the symbiont is unwilling." The supposed Tok'ra inclined his head. He didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that his allies hadn't replied to his message yet, and that he was still in a cell under guard.
He certainly looked much calmer than Samantha Carter felt. Just thinking of the rumours the cabinet had hinted at made her want to punch something. Or to repurpose something for destructive testing. It was the old malicious gossip about sleeping her way to a promotion, just with an added twist. And there wasn't much that she could do about it as long as it stayed just gossip - such attitudes were too ingrained in the Air Force. Or in society in general.
But she had a task to accomplish. "And if we sedated the parasite?"
The alien didn't react to her correction. And she had had an excellent argument prepared to point out that the Goa'uld were not symbionts; any benefits they provided to their hosts' bodies were only used by the Goa'uld, not the hosts who permanently lost control over their bodies. "It is an instinctive reaction, alas." He even looked like he regretted it. "We need to actively suppress the urge to release the toxin."
Sam pressed her lips together. That was awful but not quite unexpected.
Entrapta beamed. "That's interesting! I wonder why you evolved that way - was there once a danger of being forcefully extracted, so you developed ways to discourage that? Or did the toxin once have a different function, before you started taking humans as hosts? Might it have been beneficial for your original hosts? Or were you engineered that way?"
And the Goa'uld finally frowned. "Why would you think that we were engineered?"
"Well, you look like a great infiltrator for a human civilisation. Not perfect, of course, since once you know how to scan for Naqadah, you can find your hosts. And we know the First Ones experimented with humans, so why wouldn't they experiment with your ancestors? Or created you through a process of hybridisation? Unless we can analyse the fauna of your home planet, we might never know. By the way, where is your home planet? Do you know that? Since you have genetic memories, you should know where your ancestors were born, right?"
"We evolved naturally on our home world," Jakar told them - he looked, if not disturbed, then at least annoyed. "We were not engineered as tools."
A potential psychological weakness? Sam made a mental note to look into this. They also knew their home world - or wanted the Alliance to believe that.
"Oh, being the product of genetic engineering is nothing to be ashamed of!" Entrapta smiled. "I'm the result of such experiments, you know! And the Jaffa, of course - though you really should have fixed their dependency on Goa'uld larvae for their immune system."
Sam clenched her teeth. She really liked Entrapta, but her friend's tendency to share crucial intel with everyone was annoying, to say the least. "The Ancients have a history of such experiments," she said, trying to mitigate the damage. "And in the time since their disappearance, many of their engineered species will have evolved over millions of years. However, we're here to find out how to extract a Goa'uld from one of our soldiers without killing her," she reminded Entrapta.
"Right! So, if we want to use your method, we need to counter the toxin," Entrapta said. "That should be possible."
"It is a neurotoxin, and since a symbiont is connected to the host's central nervous system, death happens instantly as the toxin destroys the nervous tissue," Jakar pointed out. He spread his hands. "I do not want to give you false hope. Honesty is the best policy to build trust."
"Yes, that's obvious, but that doesn't mean that we can't stop it. We just need to heal the neural tissue faster than the toxin can destroy it." Entrapta nodded. "Although that would require constant healing, I guess, which could be tiring."
The Goa'uld was shaking his head. "Even a sarcophagus cannot heal such brain damage. It was tried in the past, at great cost, and without result."
"Oh, we're not planning to use a sarcophagus," Entrapta told him. "Although a regeneration effect like the one we encountered, modified so it doesn't zombify the target, might work."
The Colonel would throw a fit if they proposed that plan, Sam was sure of that. Even if it had potential. "There are alternatives."
"We've been looking into this for millennia and haven't found them," Jakar retorted. He sounded rather arrogant to Sam.
"That means we're breaking new ground!" Entrapta smiled again.
"You must come from a very advanced civilisation to be so confident," Jakar commented.
"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Sam told him before Entrapta could spill more intel. "But the age of a civilisation doesn't matter nearly as much as their approach to science."
"Yes! If you convince yourself that something's impossible just because others tell you so, you might miss out on so many interesting experiments - which can generate even more interesting results!" Entrapta nodded emphatically. "And sometimes blow up a prototype or a lab, but that's the price we pay for doing science!"
Sam nodded - and noted that Jakar had stopped looking smug and vaguely patronising. Well, that made her feel better. Showing up the Goa'uld or Tok'ra was almost as good for restoring her mood as showing up the sexist bastards in the United States was.
She blinked at her own thought while Entrapta told Jakar about lab safety. It seemed that spending so much time with people who were raised in a very different culture, with different expectations of how men and women were to act, was influencing her more than she had thought.
"Apophis is a false god."
"Traitor!"
Loyalty. Conviction.
Catra didn't take her eyes off the prisoner to glance at Melog, but she frowned. Yes, she had come to the same conclusion. You had to expect that kind of fanatic loyalty - even in kingdoms where the ruler wasn't worshipped as a god, only the most reliable soldiers would be sent to guard a biological weapons research facility. For the Goa'uld? Who would happily betray each other to take over? Apophis had to have picked the most loyal Jaffa to keep his underlings in line. But it was still disappointing.
"Apophis is a false god," Teal'c repeated himself. "He does not deserve your loyalty."
"I've heard of you, traitor!" the prisoner spat. "You betrayed our god! I will not listen to your lies!"
Catra snorted. "Well, you kind of are listening right now," she pointed out.
That earned her a glare as well, which she shrugged off with a grin.
Fool. Melog moved to her side.
"Aren't you wondering who we are?" Catra asked. She moved her ears for emphasis.
The prisoner remained silent.
"Apophis is no god. His powers are not divine but mere technology," Teal'c spoke up again after a moment. "He does not care for his followers - they are but tools to be used and discarded."
"The faithful will be rewarded in the afterlife!"
Fanatic.
Yeah, definitely.
"That is a lie. Apophis holds no power over the afterlife."
The prisoner remained silent again.
Catra shook her head. If things were pointless, she might as well try something weird. And have some fun. She stood up and walked around the table, towards the prisoner shackled to the steel chair, her tail swishing. "Apophis is a false god fooling his followers with tricks. He has no power over your soul." She flashed her fangs, then leaned over, extending one claw from her index finger. His eyes tracked her hand, and she saw him tense a bit. Grinning, she ran her claw over his forehead, then down his cheek, resting on his throat. "But others do."
She withdrew her claws, and the room around her grew dark, mist rolling up to her calves. Eerie music started to play in the background.
"Parlor tricks!" the prisoner spat.
But then the room vanished, replaced by an empty field of dry ground. And sand. A dark, starless sky above them. And a huge temple looming in the back.
The Jaffa jerked, gasping, and stared at Teal'c - or where he couldn't see him any more. Nor could he see Catra or Melog. He started to turn his head, looking around.
Catra snorted softly.
"Parlor tricks!" the prisoner repeated himself - but he sounded a little shaken.
Teal'c had narrowed his eyes a little, Catra noticed. Well, that was to be expected. She nodded at Melog, and the illusions faded.
Catra grinned at the prisoner, turned and left the interrogation room, Melog trailing after her.
Teal'c nodded at the other Jaffa, then followed her. Once the door closed, he tilted his head slightly. "That was not part of the plan."
"I improvised," Catra told him with a shrug. "He wasn't going to break. Too fanatical."
"I saw the truth, and I was Apophis's First Prime."
"Yeah, but you're not him. He's like that even after guarding a facility where people were killed to test weapons," Catra pointed out. "I know a bit about stupid fanaticism." Well, not the loyal kind, but still. "Takes a lot more to shake up his type."
"In a similar situation, I did the same - reassured me of my own loyalty to the false god to suppress my doubts." Teal'c nodded. "The Tau'ri have a saying - the man might be protesting too much."
"It's kind of hard to tell the difference between those and true believers," Catra retorted.
"Indeed." Another small nod.
It was Catra's turn to glare at him. His subtle humour wasn't as funny as he thought. If it was humour. Melog was amused, at least, she could tell that. "Whatever - all we did was shake him up a bit."
"By pretending to be gods."
Ah, that was what he disliked. "We didn't. None of us claimed to be a goddess or god."
His eyebrows rose a little.
"If I really wanted him to find a new god, I'd have called Adora," Catra told him.
"She would not be amused."
"Oh, yes, she wouldn't be amused." Catra chuckled, imagining her lover's reaction. "It would still be funny, though." Adora had at least some of the power the Goa'uld claimed they had.
"We should not encourage faith in false gods."
"But if they have to follow a god, it would be better if it's a good one." Catra shrugged. "Might be a human thing - most of them seem to follow a god." And, from what she could tell from her admittedly limited exposure to human religion, she'd rather have everyone following Adora than any other religious figure. But saying so would be offensive, at least according to Glimmer.
And Adora would hate it, which was more important.
She shrugged again. "Well, we tried. Let's check on the others. Can't leave them unsupervised for too long, or they'll try to turn Lenkova into some experiment."
"I do not think Captain Carter would condone that."
Catra smirked. "I think she would make an exception for Lenkova."
Teal'c tilted his head a bit to the side, which she took as agreement.
Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, November 27th, 1998
"...so, in order to create an antidote to the symbiote toxin, we need samples. And since we don't have any, that's kinda difficult." Entrapta nodded, then added: "Also, because the only way to get such a sample is to kill the Goa'uld in a host, presumably when the host is still alive, it's kind of unethical, so we can't do that." She smiled.
Jack O'Neill suppressed a sigh. The mad scientist princess looked like she expected a headpat and a 'well done' for realising that you didn't kill prisoners or innocents. Worse, the rest of the Etherians smiled at her.
"Yes." Carter stood and pointed at the hologram of a snake they had floating inside the meeting room. "Even assuming we had an antidote, surgical removal is very difficult because the Goa'uld is wrapped around the host's spine and connected to their central nervous system. Any damage to either is likely crippling or fatal."
"I can heal that!" Adora spoke up. "I mean, the crippling damage - not the fatal one, obviously." She nodded emphatically.
'Obviously'? Jack narrowed his eyes slightly. It sounded a little… overly emphasised for Adora. And the way the other Etherians didn't react at all… He pressed his lips together. He didn't want to deal with that worrying possibility right now. At least he was sure he had been alive when he had been healed by her.
"However," Carter went on, "with magical healing available, it remains a potential solution. But we think alternatives should be pursued first."
Adora nodded again.
"Basically, we need to find out if Adora can expel the Goa'uld without killing either them or the host," Entrapta said. "Although, since she can heal them, death should be off the table anyway in either case. Probably. It depends on whether or not the magic of She-Ra would consider the Go'auld a healing target in this case - a symbiont - or a parasite to be removed." She cocked her head to the side as her hair pointed at the hologram. "Answering that question would be useful for a better understanding of the Goa'uld's biology, I believe."
A symbiont? Jack scoffed under his breath. The damn snakes were parasites. And he didn't give a damn about whether or not they lived as long as they were removed from their hosts.
But he wasn't calling the shots here. The generals present were.
And Haig was nodding. "I see. And if you attempt to use magical healing to expel the Goa'uld, and it is healed instead, it might wake up."
"And attempt to kill their host by suicide," Carter added. "Which, in this case, magical healing might only delay and not stop permanently since both host and Goa'uld would be healed at the same time, allowing the Goa'uld to continue the attempt indefinitely."
"Or until Adora stops healing them," Entrapta added.
Which she wouldn't do voluntarily. Jack knew her well enough. And losing Lenkova like that would probably not do good things to her mental health. Not at all.
"So, the best option seems to be to attempt magical healing, and if the Goa'uld isn't expelled from the host, sedate it at once." Entrapta waved her hair, and a cartoon syringe appeared on the hologram, pointed at the Goa'uld.
"However," Carter took over, facing the row of generals in the room, "There are serious ethical considerations with this course of action. There is a significant probability that the attempt might lead to the Goa'uld's death."
"So?" Sidorov scoffed. "It's an enemy currently possessing one of our soldiers."
Jack really didn't want to agree with the Russian, but he also didn't want to value the life of a snake over that of Lenkova's life or freedom.
"It would be killing a helpless prisoner," Carter went on. She looked tense - she probably didn't want to but agreed with the Russian as well, Jack realised. But she was also correct about killing prisoners.
Adora nodded again. Sharply. "Yes. We can't just kill prisoners." She didn't sound conflicted. Not at all.
"One could argue that the Goa'uld is still actively fighting by holding one of our soldiers hostage," Petit suggested.
"They're unconscious," Adora retorted. "They might be willing to surrender peacefully and let Lieutenant Lenkova regain control of her body if we ask."
Jack scoffed. As if! The snake would attempt to deceive and betray them at once.
Catra glared at him while Adora frowned. Hey! He was just stating the obvious - well, not stating actually, more making it known without words.
"How likely do you think such an outcome is, Captain?" General Haig asked.
"It isn't very likely, sir," Carter told him. "But we cannot dismiss the possibility."
"We're at war," Sidorov said as if that explained and excused everything. "We cannot afford to coddle our enemies."
"We cannot murder prisoners," Carter retorted.
Jack clenched his jaws to avoid quipping about 'we could, but we aren't supposed to'. A dead snake was a small price to pay to save a soldier.
"We won't murder prisoners," Adora said with a deep scowl.
"But what about Lieuenant Lenkova? Are we willing to sacrifice her - doom her to a fate worse than death - to protect her assailant?" Petit countered.
It was Adora's turn to wince. But she shook her head with a determined expression. "Murdering helpless people is wrong."
"The Goa'auld aren't people," Sidorov snapped.
"They are!" Adora protested. "And the Tok'ra prove that they aren't all evil."
"Uh…" Entrapta spoke up, looking uncomfortable. "Anyway, that's why we should wait and contact the Tok'ra to see if they have a better way to deal with possession. Or if they have more data that we can use. After all, they were already active when magic was still around, so they might be familiar with magical healing."
"We have a Tok'ra in our cells," Petit pointed out.
"But Jakar isn't a scientist," Entrapta said. "He doesn't know the details."
"So, we should wait with attempting to remove the Goa'uld from Lieutenant Lenkova until we know more? Or at least know we won't know more?" General Haig asked. "That sounds like a sensible solution to our dilemma."
In other words, they would be waiting and doing nothing, hoping that a solution would magically appear. Well, it was prudent to wait for more information before you were risking someone's life, but Jack really hated waiting in this case.
Damn.