Chapter 64: Diplomatic Meetings Part 3
Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, December 6th, 1998
"Hello, Colonel O'Neill."
Jack O'Neill wished someone would have told him that Carter's father, Major General Jacob Carter, was at Stargate Command before he entered her lab to complain about politicians in general and Kinsey in particular.
"Hi, Jack!" And Catra was grinning widely. Damn.
"Hello, Jack." Adora, at least, was her usual friendly self.
"Colonel." And Carter was... annoyed? Or concerned.
"What did Senator Kinsey do this time?" the general asked.
Jack didn't really want to answer that. Not just because it was a little embarrassing; that wouldn't prevent him from sharing a story with a general - it wasn't as if he really felt intimidated by them, after all. But it concerned a meeting in the White House. And while Jack trusted his team with his life, so trusting them with his career was easy, the general wasn't quite that close. And he was Carter's father.
So Jack sighed. "He had some interesting ideas about interstellar diplomacy, sir. Unfortunately, they were discussed in a meeting with the President and the cabinet, so I can't share any details."
The man, who looked far too fit for his age, raised both eyebrows. "But you were about to share them with my daughter?"
"Well, they, ah, concerned her." Jack kept smiling. "She wasn't mentioned by name, though, but it included her as well."
"Really." The general didn't look mollified.
And neither did Carter. "What did he say, sir?" she asked in a clipped tone.
Time to backpedal. "He had some comments about politics and personal relationships. With aliens."
"What?" The general looked confused. As did Adora. Carter was still frowning. Even more so, now, actually. And Catra…
…was grinning. "Oh, did he propose some diplomatic marriage for you?"
"What?"
"What?"
"What?"
"He was joking," Jack replied. "I think so, at least - you never know with politicians like him," he added before he could help himself.
"He better be joking," the general hissed.
"Dad, a marriage of state isn't on the table!" Carter could sound remarkably like her father if she was angry, Jack noticed.
"We don't do marriages of state!" Adora shook her head. "We marry for love!"
"Glimmer would kill anyone who tried to make her marry someone for diplomatic reasons," Catra agreed with a firm nod. She seemed serious, Jack noted.
But Carter still looked angry. "Was he talking about abusing our friendships for political gain, sir?"
Jack winced. He couldn't really deny that.
"I thought so," she hissed.
Adora was frowning as well. "Friendship shouldn't be abused."
Catra nodded and didn't make a cynical comment - to Jack's surprise. Then again, maybe he should have expected that from her; she seemed to value her friendships more than pretty much anything else. Except for Adora, of course.
"Well.." he shrugged. "I think everyone who matters knows we wouldn't do that." At least, he hoped the President was aware of SG-1's stance on that. Or listened to advisors who were, like General Hammond. Instead of to Kinsey - that slimeball had too much influence, in Jack's opinion, because he could manage the conservatives. "Anyway, more importantly, it looks like the government will not deny the Tok'ra their main request."
"They'll let people volunteer to become hosts?" Carter tilted her head.
"Yep." Jack nodded.
"Good." Adora smiled again. "If someone wishes to enter such a relationship with a Tok'ra, they shouldn't be denied."
"I assume that this is limited to people without classified information," the general said.
"Yes," Jack said. After a moment's hesitation, he added: "The idea is that we'd rather have Tok'ra sharing American minds than, say, Iranian." In for a penny, in for a pound, as the Limeys said. And he didn't think that the general would tattle. Not now.
"Ah." The general nodded. "That makes sense."
"Yes," Catra agreed.
"And what if the Iranians want to volunteer?" Adora asked.
"That's the thing the government hasn't figured out yet." Jack shrugged. Time to change the subject. "So, what brings you to the Mountain, General?"
"Family business, Colonel," the general replied smoothly. But Carter looked tense, and Adora guilty.
Jack suppressed a grin. That was interesting.
Adora bit the inside of her cheek so she wouldn't blurt out the truth. But why did the general lie to Jack? Well, technically, it wasn't a lie - it was kind of family business, but that was the kind of word games Shadow Weaver would have played. Adora could understand that they didn't want everyone to know, but Jack was a friend. A close friend - and he was even closer to Sam than to Adora and Catra. Lying to your friends, or just not being honest with your friends, was a bad idea. Adora knew that from personal experience.
"Ah?" Jack tilted his head. "I won't pry then."
Adora didn't think Jack was telling the truth right then. And she didn't think General Carter and Sam believed him either. But both nodded.
And then Jack smiled at her. "So, what have you been up to, Adora?"
"Ah…" Adora struggled not to grimace. "Well, we're…
"Unfortunately, my father's not cleared for that," Sam cut in before Adora could mention that they were waiting for Lieutenant Lenkova to wake up so they could talk to her - which was another 'technically not a lie' that Adora didn't like.
"Yes," the general agreed. "Need to know and everything. I've got the clearance for a lot more these days, but since Stargate Command is no longer an Air Force project but run by the United Nations, that doesn't mean as much any more."
"Well, technically, we can tell whoever we want what we want, as long as it concerns us," Catra pointed out with a grin.
Adora frowned at her lover. That was true, but this wasn't the best moment to mention it.
Sam's father chuckled. "Ah, yes, it's often hard to remember that you're actually your country's highest authority and not just another soldier."
"Well, Adora is - arguably. I think Glimmer could argue that," Catra said. "But I'm just another soldier. Technically without an official position. Not that we care much about that."
"You're like a princess," Adora retorted. Everyone better be aware of that! Catra was one of those amongst the Alliance who had the most experience leading an army. Granted, it was the Horde army, but still!
"I'm no princess," Catra shot back. "And I don't have a country to rule."
"Netossa and Spinnerella don't rule a country either," Adora pointed out.
"They are princesses, though. And they were leaders in the Alliance before Horde Prime attacked." Catra shrugged. "It doesn't matter anyway since I'm not going to leave your side."
Ah. Adora couldn't help smiling at hearing that. Even though she knew that Catra's talents were, well, not wasted, but underused if she just stuck with Adora. Catra had almost defeated the Alliance, after all, when she had been leading the Horde. "Well, that doesn't mean you won't get a command," she said. "I could come with you, for example!"
"And who would I command? Former Horde troops?" Catra snorted.
"The clones would follow you," Adora retorted.
"If you tell them to." Catra rolled her eyes.
Adora nodded. "Well, yes. They'd still follow you."
"And they'd still look to you for orders."
That was… well, Catra was probably correct about that, Adora had to admit.
"How exactly is the Alliance organised?" the general askedwith a frown.
"The Princess Alliance or the Alliance?" Catra grinned.
"The Princess Alliance. I'm aware of how the Alliance is organised." The general sounded… not mad, but more serious than Adora had expected.
"Well, the Princess Alliance generally has a big meeting, everyone talks too much, and then we do what Adora and Glimmer want," Catra said.
"Catra!" Adora scowled. "That's not how it works!"
"That's how it works out." Her lover shrugged. "If you and Glimmer want to do something, or don't want to do something, who's going to make you?"
"Sort of like the United States were in NATO," Jack added with a grin. "And now the shoe's on the other foot."
"It's not quite like that!" Adora insisted. "We do make decisions as a council."
"And most listen to you and Glimmer," Catra said. "Which is a good thing, of course. Well, Netossa isn't bad, either. But I'd rather not have Mermista lead our campaign. Or Perfuma. I've conquered both their kingdoms with the Horde, so I know how bad they are at leading people."
"One of the drawbacks of hereditary monarchies," Jack said. "People who shouldn't be leading get to lead."
"They're not that bad," Adora defended her friends. But Catra was correct - Mermista and Perfuma were not the best officers in the Alliance. Well, not when it came to strategy. But.. "They're very effective on the battlefield." Thanks to their magic, of course.
But this war would be fought in space, where there was no water or plant life to control - and on a scale where individual actions wouldn't be as important. Adora hoped her friends back on Etheria understood this.
"That makes them good soldiers," Catra retorted.
She was right, but there was more to it. "Perfuma and Mermista also have the support of their people," Adora pointed out.
"Still doesn't make them good strategists, but yeah, I guess that will be a factor in the war." Catra shrugged.
Adora took that as a victory in their argument. But it also reminded her that they hadn't heard of Etheria in months She hoped that Entrapta's bots would soon finish the communication relays to Etheria so they could talk to them and fill them in about what had happened so far. Adora really wanted to know how her friends were doing.
Perhaps they should have used part of the fleet as relays - then they would have had communications much sooner. But that would have strung out quite a few ships doing nothing but keeping station, and the bot network was safer and more effective.
Well, that was how it was in war - almost every action had some drawbacks. "Let's talk about Lieutenant Lenkova," she said to change the subject.
"So, now you've met the Etherians," Samantha Carter said while walking with her father to General Hammond's office. It was a safer topic for the hallways than their family, and walking in silence would have been awkward - and would have started even worse rumours than were probably already going around.
"Oh, yes." Dad chuckled. "I think I understand now why Boeing, Lockheed and Northrop were bothering me lately."
"They were bothering you?" Sam frowned. Why would they… Ah.
"Lobbyists," Dad confirmed her deduction. "They usually aren't that bad - I'm not in procurement - but I thought they had stepped up their efforts with everyone amongst the brass. But no - that was because of you and your friends." He chuckled again. "What irony!"
"They want you to use my friendship with the Etherians for their own goals?" That wasn't amusing, in Sam's opinion. It went against everything she believed in. Although she felt a little hypocritical now that she had used said friendship to save her father's life. But that wasn't the same thing.
"Of course. There's lots of money to be made in research and development," Dad said. "Especially in the aerospace sector. Any company that gets those contracts has it made. And any company that misses out is basically done for. The stock of the smaller manufacturers is already crashing since everyone thinks shuttles will replace helicopters and aeroplanes tomorrow or maybe the day after tomorrow, and they don't expect anyone but the biggest firms to manage that."
Sam hadn't followed that very closely. "That makes no sense. It will take years, probably decades, to replace every helicopter and plane currently in service. And the militaries will have priority," she pointed out when they stepped into the lift.
"The stock market isn't really sane - it's all about what people think. Or what analysts think people think." Dad shrugged. "The car companies are feeling the same pressure. People want flying cars for Christmas at the latest."
Sam snorted. Even in wartime, research and development cycles weren't as fast. And this was about the civilian market. "They'll be disappointed."
"Not just them. A lot of people will be disappointed," Dad said. "No one knows yet how the war economy will work out. And how the rest of the world will be affected. Worst case, wars will break out over the changes the new technology brings - General Watson is already wargaming some conflicts in the Middle East in case some of the oil states decide to deal with their rivals before they are rendered obsolete and go bankrupt. I think they're running a betting pool on the country most likely to start it, but I've been out of the loop lately."
Because he had been dying. Sam nodded. "You can't just switch from a fossil fuel-based economy to an economy based on advanced technology in a few years."
"But it won't take too long either," Dad replied as they stepped out of the lift. "You can replace power plants easily enough once you can build new ones."
Leaving obsolete power plants full of dangerous substances - radioactive in the case of nuclear power plants - to be cleaned up. At least, that would occupy a lot of people who would be out of a job otherwise.
"In a way, the war's a blessing," Dad said as they approached General Hammond's office. "It'll make transforming the economy easier since we'll have to produce so much for the military. That will make up for the loss of civilian production. Somewhat, at least."
But it wouldn't help those businesses who couldn't get into the military market, Sam knew. Or those countries cut off from advanced technology.
Further discussion was cut off when General Hammond's aide announced them.
"Jacob! Captain Carter!" General Hammond greeted them. "Come in, Jacob. You too, Captain."
They stepped into the office.
"You're looking good," the General commented.
"I'm feeling great," Dad answered the unspoken question. He rolled his shoulders. "And I've got to thank you for that, I've heard. That's twice you've saved my life now. I need to step up and make it up to you."
The General laughed - relieved, Sam realised. Well, Dad could show a temper, as she knew from personal experience. "I just passed the news along."
"Still…" Jacob nodded at his friend.
Hammond nodded back.
"Well, it worked out," Sam commented. "And with the possible exception of Colonel O'Neill, I think the odds of anyone in the base figuring it out are low."
"And even if they do, we'll manage," General Hammond said. "So, you've met the Etherians. What's your take on them?"
"They were much less formal than on television," Dad replied.
"They're not as formal in planning meetings either," General Hammond said.
"A logical consequence of their culture, sir," Sam pointed out. "As ruling monarchs, they obviously don't act like career military." Daniel had covered that often enough, but Dad hadn't read those reports.
"It'll take some time getting used to that… informality, I guess," Dad said. "That who you know and are friends with matters more than your rank… well, to some degree, that was the case already."
Hammond nodded with a small scowl. "Yes. It helps with cutting through some red tape, but it also gives the Etherians an even greater influence on the Alliance."
"If we don't pay attention, we'll have our own command structure wrecked," Dad agreed. "And discipline degrades as everyone runs to the next princess to work around orders they don't like."
"It's not quite as bad," Sam objected. "They do have military experience." But he was correct about the fact that Earth couldn't afford to run things like the Ethrians did. "I'll mention the concerns to them, though."
Dad was staring at her. Oh.
Sam pressed her lips together. She was still a military officer and scientist, first and foremost. Not a diplomat or politician.
But in a war, you did what you had to.
"You're concerned about military discipline breaking down because of us?"
Adora sounded flabbergasted, in Catra's expert opinion. Perfectly understandable, of course - the only reason Catra wasn't also staring at Sam with her mouth hanging open was because she had been looking at another scout bot prototype when Sam had started talking and had recovered faster.
"It's a concern. Nothing has happened yet, but…" Sam sighed. "We do things differently on Earth. You may have noticed that we're not quite as informal as you are."
Catra cocked her head sideways. "Really? Do you shoot soldiers for disobeying orders as well?" She remembered seeing that in some movies, but those were supposed to show historical wars and generally had the bad guys doing this.
"We might do that in wartime, depending on the severity of the offence."
"We're at war," Catra pointed out.
"Yes." Sam frowned.
"SG-1 isn't very formal," Adora said. "Jack's quite informal. The only one from your team who calls him Colonel is you, actually."
Sam didn't blush, but she tensed for a moment, Catra noticed. "That's because I'm the only other member of the team who's a soldier," she told Adora. "I can assure you that the other teams are more observant of military forms and regulations."
"Oh." Adora nodded. "Yes, SG-3 was like that, I think."
"Yes," Catra agreed. "Still less formal than the Horde."
"I don't think the Horde is a good comparison point," Adora told her. "It kind of makes formality sound like a bad thing."
Catra shrugged. "Unlike the Alliance, we didn't have any princesses, so it comes closest to the situation on Earth." They had had Scorpia, but she hadn't been a princess back then. Or acted like one. Then again, she had made Force Captain…
"The United States Armed Forces aren't the Horde," Sam said firmly. "But yes, we don't have princesses. Or other nobility. We don't have, ah, people who were born into leadership positions. Our leaders in the military derive their authority from their earned rank."
Catra suppressed a scoff. She doubted that every officer had actually earned their rank - people were always promoting their friends and cronies. But overall, it was a good point. "And the officers don't like it if people don't follow the chain of command."
"Yes. It can undermine their authority," Sam confirmed. "The superior officers tell their subordinates what they have to do but leave it up to them to decide how they do it. And they report to them, not to others."
"That works with good subordinates who can handle the situation. But sometimes, you need to take charge of a situation as supreme commander," Catra said.
"Yes," Adora agreed. "And you need to check on your subordinates. They might not be telling you the truth about how they're doing."
"That's a different problem. What we're concerned about is soldiers starting to ignore their superiors to go directly to you or your friends," Sam said.
"And taking up our time with petty problems and complaints." Catra nodded. She could see that happening. It hadn't happened in the Horde, of course - you only annoyed a superior with that kind of bullshit once before you learned your lesson, unless you were Kyle - but she had seen princesses personally taking care of small issues in the Alliance.
"Exactly. And if a superior does this often, they'll undermine their subordinates' authority."
"Right. But we won't do that," Adora said. "Don't worry!" She beamed at Sam. "We won't step in more than necessary."
But the other woman was worried. Catra could tell. And she had a point. Kind of. "I expect that we'll be moving around too much, anyway, to disrupt your discipline too much," she added. They would be dealing with hundreds of thousands of troops - millions in the long term. "Your officers will be able to restore discipline easily enough." Once whatever Catra or others had had to do had been done, of course. "But you might have to talk to Glimmer about this. She's the one who grew up in the Alliance."
"Yes. I will have to," Sam said. She didn't sound too happy. But that wasn't Catra's problem. Glimmer could sort that out.
Lenkova still looked bad, Catra thought as she saw the woman in the mess hall. She appeared healthy, at least physically, but her whole body language… If she had a tail, it would be dragging on the floor, and if her ears could move, they would be drooping. And she was sitting alone at a table. By choice, Catra was sure - it was between lunch and dinner, so none of the regular shifts was eating. None of the Russians, at least. Though Catra didn't think that Stargate Command would leave the woman unsupervised after what she had gone through, so… Ah, there were the soldiers keeping an eye on her.
"She looks so sad," Adora commented next to her.
Catra glanced at her and rolled her eyes. What did her lover expect? Adora had seen Catra after they had freed her from Horde Prime's control.
Adora blushed. "Sorry."
Catra shrugged. It had been her own fault, after all. "Let's go talk to her." Without waiting for an answer from Adora or Sam, she sauntered over to Lenkova's table and plopped herself down in the chair across from her. "Hey!"
Catra had taken care to approach Lenkova from the front, so the woman wasn't surprised; you didn't startle soldiers who looked like that. She glanced at Catra, Adora and Sam before returning the greeting. "Hello."
"Hi!" Adora said with a forced smile - Catra could tell.
"Hello, Lieutenant," Sam added.
"I take it you are not here by chance," Lenkova commented. "This is what you would call an intervention?"
Catra grinned. "Right in one!"
"It's not an intervention, but yes, we'd like to talk to you," Sam explained. "We know at least part of what you're going through, trust us."
Lenkova nodded, though it was obvious that she didn't. Trust them, that was. "Here?" she asked, making a point to glance around.
"In private," Sam explained.
After a moment, Lenkova nodded. "Yes."
Catra looked at Lenkova's food, which had been barely touched - and it was the good dessert, according to O'Neill. In return, the woman scoffed and got up - and dumped the food on the way out. What a waste!
"That would have started a riot back in the Horde," Catra commented on the way to the lifts.
"What would?" Lenkova asked.
"Dumping the food," Catra explained. "Of course, just offering such food - dessert! - would have started a riot anyway."
"Oh, yes. We never got dessert in the Horde. Or anything else than grey and brown rations," Adora nodded.
"You could get other food if you knew the right people," Catra objected.
"That would have been against regulations!" Adora shook her head.
"That sounds like you needed better quartermasters," Lenkova commented. "Or less corrupt ones."
Catra noticed that Sam looked as if she wanted to say something about that, but the woman just pushed the button in the lift, taking them down to her lab.
"Well, I wouldn't call them corrupt…" Adora started to say.
"I would," Catra interrupted her. "They were making deals with each other." Often, it had been frustrating to try and get the needed supplies for an operation, though that had been mostly due to Hordak, and later Entrapta, requisitioning things for their projects without regard for the Horde's need. But the quartermasters had been rotten anyway.
"Well, yes, but the thing is, regulations never covered other food, only rations. So there was no way to actually get dessert." Adora blinked. "When we wanted to celebrate, we had cake made of the good rations, actually."
They reached their floor and stepped out of the lift.
"You sound like old soldiers in the Red Army," Lenkova said as they approached Sam's lab. "They were telling such stories as well whenever the younger soldiers were griping, to show how much worse they had it back in the days."
Ah, the woman thought they were telling tales? She didn't know Adora then; Catra's lover was honest to a fault. Catra chuckled. "That's not the point of this," she said, stepping past Sam into the lab.
"And what's the point?" Lenkova dropped her fake polite smile as soon as the door closed behind them and looked at her with narrowed eyes.
"I spent years leading the Horde, fighting the Alliance," Catra told her. "Whatever mistake you're worried about, I made much worse ones." Starting with not following Adora when she asked her to, back in that stupid village, Thaymor.
Lenkova's eyes widened, but she recovered quickly. "That doesn't make me feel better."
"It shouldn't. It's supposed to make you realise that fucking up isn't the end of the world." Catra shrugged.
Now the officer frowned at her. "I know that everyone makes mistakes. But mine caused the loss of my team. Two of my men dead. One captured. And…" She pressed her lips together.
"You were taken over by a Goa'uld." Once more, Catra shrugged, though she had to force herself to act nonchalantly. "I got taken over by Horde Prime. He had chips that allowed him to take control of others - make them obey his orders. And he could jump into you to take control of your body. Speak with your voice. Act with your hands. I attacked Adora."
Lenkova stared at her. "I see. How long?"
"A few days." An eternity when being controlled. And tempted to just accept it. Accept the mindless peace and bliss that was offered. If Adora hadn't come for her…
"And you got over it."
Catra shrugged again. "With the help of my friends."
"And we'll help you," Adora cut in. "We know what you've been through - well, some of us."
"I was possessed by a Tok'ra," Sam said. "Jolinar."
"I know. I was briefed about that," Lenkova said. "And yet, we are supposed to ally with them?"
Oh. Catra hadn't expected that - this wasn't just about the Goa'uld.
"The Tok'ra oppose the Goa'uld," Sam said.
"They still take over people. They are the same… the same species," Lenkova retorted.
Catra briefly wondered what she had been about to say. Monsters? Aliens? It didn't matter. "So?" She asked. "They didn't do anything to us. They freed you," she added, feeling a little guilty when the other woman flinched.
"And they don't force themselves on others - they ask for a partner," Adora said. "They're not the same as the Goa'uld."
"Yes." Sam nodded.
"They did force you. I've read the report." Lenkova glared at Sam.
"That was an emergency," Sam replied. "But yes, I was possessed. And my body was taken over. I know how it feels. How you feel." She raised her hand, but only a little, then let it drop to her side again.
Lenkova clenched her teeth. Hard - Catra could see her jaw muscles twitch. "And the memories?"
Sam winced. "Yes."
"But if yours were from a Tok'ra who only forced itself on people in an emergency, you don't understand." Lenkova shook her head. Almost violently. "I have memories… of a monster. So many crimes. Atrocities. Torture. And it liked it. I remember loving it."
Oh. She had been possessed by a Goa'uld working at a bioweapon research facility. Catra nodded. "But those aren't your memories."
"They feel like it. When I dream, I can't tell who I am."
"Yes." Sam grimaced. "But that will get better. I know that. It's bad, but it will get better. Trust me."
Lenkova didn't look like she did but nodded anyway.
This could've gone better, Catra thought.
Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States of America, Earth, December 7th, 1998
Jack O'Neill hated politics. And politicians. Most politicians. Some were OK. Probably. And you shouldn't hate the President, your commander-in-chief. Unless they deserved it. But overall, he would really prefer it if he could just do his job and not deal with politics.
On the other hand, he wasn't quite sure if briefing another bunch of politicians - something that Daniel could do much better, but, apparently, he was a bit too honest for them, or so Jack thought - wouldn't be preferable to talking to Lenkova. If Carter, Adora and Catra hadn't managed to do any good - and Carter's report had been pretty pessimistic - then what could Jack himself do? Well, he should be able to do as well as Catra, though that was a low bar unless the girl hadn't been as brash as usual.
But Lenkova was one of his, and Jack knew his duty. Any officer worth their commission put his people first. Always.
So he knocked on the door of Lenkova's room - she had been released from the infirmary - and waited.
After about fifteen seconds, just long enough to start worrying that the shrink who had dismissed the suicide watch had been wrong - he heard her call 'enter' through the door.
He stepped inside and caught the woman tugging on the hem of a grey Air Force sweater that clashed some with her Russian-style camo pants and… sandals?
"Colonel O'Neill." She shifted to a parade rest position despite her off-duty attire. Well, she was off-duty until further notice.
"Lieutenant Lenkova." He nodded.
"Please have a seat." She pointed at the only chair in the room.
Sitting while a woman was standing wasn't how you did things in America unless you were behind your desk and dealing with a subordinate who had messed up. But refusing would be impolite and send the wrong impression, so Jack sat down.
Fortunately, Lenkova took a seat on her bed. Though Jack didn't fail to note that she sat ramrod-straight and was as tense.
"So, how are you doing?" He cocked his head.
She relaxed a little, but he caught her frowning for a moment. "I was released from the infirmary, Colonel," she replied.
He had dealt with that kind of evasive answer before and raised his eyebrows at her in response.
She was about twenty years too young to stand up to him and pressed "I am well considering the circumstances, Colonel" through clenched teeth.
"Meaning, you're blaming yourself for stuff that wasn't your fault and dealing with memories of a snake in your head." He nodded. Just talk casually. Professionally. As if this was a normal situation and he perfectly knew what he was doing.
"Yes, Colonel." Now that was a smile. A cynical one, and quite twisted, and probably not very healthy, but a smile.
He smiled back. "So, I'm supposed to tell you that it wasn't your fault and that it'll get better if you just believe in yourself." He shrugged. "Too bad."
That confused her. She blinked, then stared at him.
He grinned. "I was never really good at following orders to the letter. Especially when they don't make too much sense." Not that they were orders, but Jack knew what was expected of him. But he also knew that trying to copy Carter and the others wouldn't work since they had tried that before.
"So, what are you here for, Colonel?" she asked. She was frowning openly now, which he took as a good sign.
"Well, I'm telling you that as the officer in charge of your men, they were your responsibility." He met her eyes and saw her flinch. "Yes, even if there's nothing you can do, you're still responsible. That's what being an officer means. It's not fair, but life's not fair."
She nodded slowly, hesitantly. "Yes, Colonel."
"And I'm not going to bullshit you and claim things will be fine. Things will get better, but you'll always remember your mistakes and the people you lost." Like Kawalski. Or Charlie.
"Yes, Colonel."
"So, I expect you to do better next time." He nodded at her. "But that means I expect you to find out what you could have done better and improve, not wallow in guilt."
"Yes, Colonel." She looked… well, not better, but determined. Good enough, he guessed.
"About the snake memories…" He shrugged again. "Not much we can do. They'll fade over time. And they aren't your memories. But they might be useful intel, so, if you can, write down what you remember before you forget."
Her eyes widened in surprise before she pressed her lips together - probably blaming herself for not seeing that angle.
Jack nodded, hiding how guilty he felt for manipulating the woman. But giving her a task she could do, a way to strike back at those who hurt her, an objective, would allow her to keep going and, ultimately, get over this. Find more reasons to keep going than spite. Or so he hoped.
At least, it had worked for him, after Charlie.
He still felt like a slimy politician when he left her room again.
NATO Headquarters Brussels, Belgium, Earth, December 8th, 1998 (Earth Time)
"...and several unions have announced strikes to protest the closing of factories in…"
"...and well, those riots in France might look bad, John, but compared to prior riots, those are really nothing to write home about - or, in this case, to report. The core of the riots seems to be made up of recently laid-off workers, and as long as they do not receive more support from other parts of the population, this won't be more than an episode, so…"
"...stock market remains volatile as prices wildly fluctuate depending on the latest news. Analysts are concerned about the lack of information regarding further steps of sharing technology. Magic remains a wild card, as the recent meteoric rise and subsequent fall of several pharmaceutical titles showed in response to completely unsubstantiated rumours that they had recruited sorceresses for medical research, but…"
"...while the citizens of Detroit are looking forward to the new shuttle factory, Boeing reported a series of cancelled orders from airlines and has denounced the new European Investment and Armament Program as an illegal attempt to subsidise its main competitor, Airbus, citing…"
"...of the Green party presented a new concept for a car-free city based on advanced alien technology…"
"...spokesperson of CERN announced the complete restructuring of the current organisation to focus on advanced technology…"
"...Bundeskanzler sagte, er habe vollstes Vertrauen, dass die Deutsche Autoindustrie sich an die veränderten Rahmenbedingungen anpassen werde, wobei aber mit kurzfristigen Verwerfungen zu rechnen sei…"
"...of the government of Norway stated that in light of the reveal of new power plant technology, Norway is reconsidering its focus on oil production. When questioned, he confirmed that the country is planning to use its statens pensjonsfond to finance the transition of their economy to one based on advanced technology…"
"...OPEC members apparently are divided about the best course of action, with some countries favouring to take what profits they can while the global economy still relies on oil and others pushing to use the threat of reducing oil production to force concessions from the industrialised countries to 'ensure the future prosperity of our countries in a world without oil'. The United States government released a statement that such an 'artificial shortage of crucial resources' would harm the war effort and would receive an appropriate response, but refused to go into details, and…"
"...and these shocking videos of lynchings of gay people in Iran, with the police not only tolerating these murders but actively aiding, raise concerns that the Etherians might intervene to stop those atrocities. What do you think, Connor?
Well, Bob, so far, the Etherians have shown immense restraint considering the shocking disparity of power, but one can only wonder how long this will last if those countries - and I include more than just Iran here - blatantly commit atrocities. Yet…"
Adora pressed her lips together. "We need to do something," she said as the TV in the meeting room showed shaky footage of two people being dragged through a crowd.
"Glimmer's putting pressure on the United Nations," Catra replied, switching through a few entertainment channels. "She said harsher sanctions were on the way."
That wouldn't stop the murders any time soon, though. Adora knew that much. Some countries were under sanctions for decades without changing their policies. "It's not enough!"
"What do you want to do instead? Invade?" Catra raised her eyebrows at her.
"No…" That would, at least according to SG-1, cause even more atrocities as many other countries would panic. And they didn't have the troops to garrison a country, much less an entire region of Earth. "But we can't let them just do this!" It wasn't right.
Catra sighed. "I know, But what can we do? Take out the government?"
That would have the same results as an outright invasion. Too many governments would be afraid to be next. Adora clenched her teeth. "It's so frustrating!"
"I know." Catra smiled sadly at her.
The door opened, and Glimmer entered. "What's wrong?" she asked as soon as she saw their expressions.
Catra pointed a the television. "Take your pick."
Glimmer scoffed. "As I keep being assured by our allies, Earth is actually doing better than expected, overall."
"That's too bad for those who do worse, I guess," Catra said.
"Yes." Glimmer sat down at the table and grabbed a soda from the basket in the middle. "But we can't really do much about it. Not without making things a lot worse."
"We shouldn't let them get away with those crimes!" Adora blurted out. "They keep murdering people for… being like us!"
"Yes." Glimmer looked grim as she nodded. "We'll bring it up in the next Alliance meeting. Once we are finally done with our response to the Tok'ra's proposal." She groaned. "So, sometime in the next ten years or so."
"That bad?"
"They're fighting over details. Even though the main issues have been settled. Don't ask me how, though - first, no one wanted to send any volunteers, but now, suddenly, everyone wants to send as many as possible." Glimmer shook her head.
That was good news. But… "And what can we do about that?" Adora asked, pointing at a news report showing a massive riot somewhere.
"Why are they rioting?" Glimmer asked.
"Dunno," Catra told her. "Either they are afraid of losing their jobs, or they are afraid of people being able to live and love like they want."
"We can't do much about the first problem," Glimmer said. "We're doing what we can to share technology, but Earth has a hard time adjusting, and we can't trust everyone. The second… apparently, the best we could do is accept as many refugees as possible, according to our allies." She scoffed again. "It seems a lot of people would feel a lot better if most gay people emigrated to Etheria or anywhere else off Earth."
"Even our allies?" Adora asked.
"They aren't open about it, but the way they talk about 'immigration pressure' and other stuff…" Glimmer grimaced.
"That's not right! No one should be forced to leave their home just to be able to love whom they want!" Adora protested. "Can we take them in, anyway?"
Glimmer winced, which wasn't a good sign. "It depends on how many people would go to Etheria. Earth has so many humans…"
"It's a mess," Catra commented. "They should settle some empty planets and spread out."
"That's looking like a good solution," Glimmer agreed to Adora's surprise. "But we don't have the resources for that. We've got enough trouble preparing for the war."
"And if Earth had the resources to settle other planets, we'd be spread rather thin protecting them," Catra aded.
That was true. Which meant they would have to let the lynchings continue.
Adora hated feeling powerless in the face of such evil.