Chapter 82: Educational Issues Part 1

Gate Area, Primary Mining Site, PZ-921, January 15th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"...and this is how you raise and lower the gate. If it's in the ground, it won't work, and no one can come through the gate." Entrapta gestured at the Stargate.

"I see." Sadiki nodded. "And what if this machine breaks?"

"Then you can lift it out with this fall-back pulley system we rigged up! Or you can ask Adora to pull it out. But only if she's here."

Adora managed not to wince at the looks she got from Sadiki and the others with him, but it took an effort. They probably only didn't fall to their knees because Daniel told them that she didn't like that. This was so… wrong. People shouldn't worship her.

"Or if I am here, I can lift out with ice!" Frosta added. And demonstrated by creating a pillar of ice under the gate that lifted it out of the hole.

"Let's hope the whole thing is waterproof," Catra mumbled next to Adora. "And solid enough to resist the ice."

It should be. And Entrapta didn't look worried. "Yes, like that," she said, nodding.

The stares switched to Frosta, who struck a pose and smiled in return. "I am Princess Frosta, ruler of the Kingdom of Snows. And I control the element of ice!"

Sadiki and his people bowed to her.

Adora gritted her teeth. That, too, felt wrong.

"Does that make her a demi-goddess?" Catra asked with a snort - though not loud enough to be overheard by Frosta, Adora noted. "Since she's half your size?"

Glimmer chuckled. "I don't think that's how it works."

"Ugh. Such a show-off," Mermista complained.

"Someone is jealous," Catra whispered with a grin.

Adora was forced to agree - it sounded as if Mermista would have liked to show off as well. She shook her head. This was so silly! And wrong. She wouldn't have expected that from her friends.

They would have to talk about this once they were back home.

"Anyway, the machine should be good for a decade or so unless you damage it," Entrapta went on. "And if you do damage it, you can still use the gate to call us - you know our address - and we'll come and repair it. Or tell you how to repair it. Though you'd have to learn about mechanics for that. And a few other things, I guess. Not magic, though - the entire mechanism works without magic. Just in case you wondered."

"Can… can we learn how to do magic? Like this?" one of the women asked. Adora didn't remember her name, to her shame.

"If you have the talent. You can also learn how to use and make magitech, though you need even more knowledge for that," Entrapta cheerfully explained.

"Yes. We are aware of how much we don't know," Sadiki said. He glanced at the others with him, and a few of them blushed. "And we are happy you have offered to teach us and our children what we need to know."

"Wait until they get homework," Catra whispered.

Adora frowned at her lover. They hadn't had homework in the Horde. Just extra duties to study their material. Which was kind of the same, but not quite. Not like what they had seen in Earth movies. "They know how important education is."

"And our allies know how important offering an education is. For them and our allies," Catra retorted with a cynical grin.

That was true, but Etheria wasn't prepared to teach so many people. Earth's education system, on the other hand, could absorb them easily - they had the teachers to spare, as Daniel had explained. Though he had also made a joke about people complaining about their own schools being neglected or something.

But the important thing was that Sadiki and his people would learn the things they needed to build better lives for themselves. Except for magic - Earth couldn't teach that. And Etheria… was still debating that.

"But while we appreciate you showing us how this works, the Chappa'ai will be operated by your soldiers, right?" Another man asked.

Sadiki glared at the man, but Entrapta nodded. "Yes. For now - unless you don't want us on the planet any more. Then we'd just keep a fleet in the system to defend you against the Goa'uld. Or anyone else, I guess."

Glimmer stepped forward. "This is just a temporary arrangement based on military necessity," she said. "But we are your guests - this is your world and your Stargate. We're here to help you, not rule you."

Sadiki nodded. "And we are grateful for your help."

"And they'll be even more grateful once they don't need our help any more," Catra whispered with another snort.

Adora rolled her eyes. Catra was sometimes a bit too cynical. There was no reason they couldn't become friends with Sadiki's people - they had common interests, after all.

"Well, that's good to hear - again. Can we go home now?" Mermista asked. "Not to rush anyone, but some of us have a kingdom to run."

She was a bit rude, but she was correct. They had a lot to discuss at home. About the invasion, what they learned from it, and about politics.

Adora wasn't looking forward to the latter part.

But she was looking forward to going home for a bit.

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, January 15th, 1999

"...and so, in conclusion, the tactical deficiencies laid out earlier can be dealt with by more training and more experience. First priority should be more training for assaults with stealth shuttles," the Colonel finished.

"Thank you, Colonel O'Neill." General Percival nodded at him, then looked at Samantha Carter. "Captain Carter, what's your opinion about the lessons that should be drawn from this assault?"

Sam had already given her suggestions in her report. But she knew how this game was played, so she didn't tell the generals to read her report. She still made a point of pulling her report out. "From a technological and scientific point of view, a much closer cooperation with the Etherians and Tok'ra is needed. As we have seen, their technology and magic offer capabilities that Earth is lacking, which has repercussions for our training and tactics." They couldn't train as realistically if they didn't take their allies into account. The Colonel had already covered proposed changes to training, but he had focused on conventional aspects.

"I don't think we can expect the Etherian princesses to train with our soldiers," General Bryce commented. "Most of them are heads of state."

Sam disagreed. Daniel would be able to explain it much better, but he wasn't here. Neither was Teal'c. And the Colonel and Sam were, at least technically, only here as external advisors since they were still formally part of Stargate Command and not the Alliance. But that was mostly just a polite fiction. So, it fell to her to tell the general how their allies thought and fought. "I think that our allies would help with our training if we ask them, sir. That is what they are used to."

"Yep," the Colonel chimed in. "They're big on personally taking charge and charging in."

"In battle, yes. But we're talking about training," General Bryce retorted. "The Supreme Commander of the Alliance doesn't do duty as a drill sergeant."

"I bet his drill sergeant didn't like him," Sam heard the Colonel mutter under his breath.

She cleared her throat to hide her amusement. "The Etherian forces are structured and led differently, sir." Which he should know. "Princesses are expected to lead from the front and to personally deal with problems they might encounter - both in the military and civilian life. If we ask for their help with training our troops, they will help us."

"And become training instructors?" General Bryce still sounded doubtful.

Sam nodded. "Temporarily, at least. Until the structures for an improved training doctrine have solidified."

"I bet Netossa would be a great instructor," the Colonel added. "She has that vibe."

"And the experience," Sam said. "They did train their own troops."

"They didn't have nearly as many troops as we have," General Bryce objected.

"Most of our forces aren't combat-ready yet," General Percival pointed out. "And I think it would be a good idea to have our landing forces train with our allies. They will work closely with the Etherians."

"If they agree, sure. But that will impact their ability to do their actual job." General Bryce was frowning as he shrugged.

"But, speaking of shuttles…" General Müller spoke up. "We need more stealth shuttles. A lot more. Currently, only regular shuttles are in production. If we had sent our troops down with those shuttles, they wouldn't have achieved tactical surprise and would likely have taken far greater casualties as a result."

"Stealth shuttles require magitech," Sam explained. "That technology requires far more extensive training to adapt to our factories and so shuttles with it will take a while to enter production." Something the general should also be aware of already!

"Current plans assume we'll put stealth shuttles into production once we launch our own spaceships," General Percival said. "Until then, we'll be relying on the Etherian space assets."

And those spaceships were years from being commissioned - procurement was still quibbling over the exact specifications for the designs. And, according to what Sam had heard from her father, the yards in the United States were not too keen on joining the European consortium that would, apparently, handle their own design.

"Then we need to ask them for more stealth shuttles," General Müller said.

"They're aware of the need," Sam told him. "But they have no such shuttles in mass production yet." There was so much to do, and Entrapta and Sam - and Hordak - could only do so much.

"We need to take that into account when planning our next move," General Soissant nodded.

"I'm sure Adora is aware of that," the Colonel said.

Sam nodded. They had plans to add stealth generators to conventional shuttles - not quite as effective as stealth shuttles built as such from the ground up, but still quite decent - but they would need help to set up a factory for those as well…

"You fight the war with the army you have, not the army you wish you had," General Bryce said, shrugging once more.

Sam pressed her lips together. That was a very callous attitude. She glanced at the Colonel and saw that he also seemed to restrain himself. They were here as advisors, she reminded herself. They were not even in the chain of command of the Alliance forces.

But that meant that she could go and talk to her Etherian friends about this without violating regulations or the chain of command…

Bright Moon, January 15th, 1999 (Earth Time)

"Ah, boring Alliance meetings in Bright Moon. How have I missed them!" Catra muttered as she arched her back on her seat and stretched her arms over her head.

Unfortunately, her lover wasn't paying attention - Adora wasn't frowning at her comment or staring at her chest while blushing. Instead, she was focusing on Glimmer's report from the intervention.

Catra sighed. Adora already knew every little detail of what Glimmer was telling the others.

"...and that was the end of the fighting, though we're faced with the challenge of keeping our prisoners alive and teaching them that they have been lied to."

Ah! Sparkles was finally done! Catra sat straighter for a moment, then leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table.

And now Adora was frowning at her? Catra rolled her eyes. Just not taking a nap while Glimmer rehashed the invasion was a huge achievement!

"I see." Netossa nodded. "I'll have to go over the detailed report to see if and how we need to adjust our training. Though without actual battle experience for our soldiers to base any changes on, we'll have to make a few guesses."

"We can ask the soldiers from Earth for their experiences," Bow suggested.

"That might help a little - but our forces are already trained to fight differently," Netossa told him. "They're used to fighting with Princesses leading them."

"Or fighting Princesses," Catra added. When half the table frowned at her, she flashed her fangs in a grin. "Just reminding you that a sizeable part of our forces is made up of former Horde soldiers. And their training is closer to what Earth soldiers get."

"Yes." Netossa, to her credit, didn't frown at her. "There is quite the overlap - but we've been training them to integrate with Princess Alliance forces since the war ended."

Since the Scorpion Kingdom was restored and it tuned out that most former Horde soldiers chose to follow Scorpia, meaning the new kingdom had one of the most powerful militaries of Etheria, Catra mentally added.

"Yeah!" Scorpia nodded. "I can say that they fight kind of like our guys. Mostly. I missed the bot and tank support, though they would have been of limited use inside the main building. And they would probably have been destroyed by the wave."

"Not if I had been with you from the beginning." Mermista sniffed. "I could have stopped that wave."

"Or I could have created ice dams to shield the base!" Frosta chimed in.

Mermista frowned at her, but Frosta raised her chin in that manner of hers that made her look like a petulant kid. Business as usual, then.

"While that is true, we can't deploy everyone to every mission," Glimmer told them.

"Just to every mission near water," Mermista insisted with a grin.

"That wouldn't really narrow it down," Adora spoke up. "Most settled planets have large bodies of water."

Mermista shrugged. "I'm ready to do my part. And with the Stargates, we can travel to every world we need to, across the entire galaxy, and still be back home for dinner."

"Only if we have control of the Stargate in question," Glimmer objected. "And the Goa'uld will fight the hardest to defend it."

Of course, they would - most of their forces depended on the Stargate network for supply and transport.

"Then we can still help taking it and then return to Etheria," Frosta said.

Mermista nodded again. "As long as we have the initiative and decide where to fight, we should concentrate our forces and hit with overwhelming power. Thanks to the Stargate network, we can quickly redeploy after an attack. We need to exploit this. The more princesses we can bring to bear, the easier the battles will be."

"And the more vulnerable you'll be." Catra shook her head. "The Goa'uld aren't stupid, and we won't be able to keep them in the dark about our attacks forever. Once they realise what we are doing, they'll prepare to counter us. And if a single trap can take out all of us…" She trailed off.

"If we had been there, their trap would have failed."

"That was one trap. What if there had been something else?" Adora nodded. "We can't just risk everyone like that."

"Like what?"

"Uh… A biological weapon? Or a chemical one? I could probably rig up a poison that won't show up on a scanner until it takes effect, though that would be cheating since I know what the scanners will detect, but it is possible for others to manage that as well." Entrapta frowned. "Sabotaging the Stargate is another option, I guess."

"Just trapping us on a planet without a working Stargate and forcing us to use ships to travel back would hinder an offensive planned with rapid redeployment in mind," Glimmer agreed.

"We can adapt to that when it happens. We still should use our advantage as long as possible," Mermista objected. "So we can get the most out of it. Hit as many planets before they wise up."

That wasn't a bad plan. But it wasn't a terribly good one either. Catra shook her head. "We aren't ready for such a campaign yet. We'd get strung out too much and would be stuck with defending too many systems while still trying to figure out how what to do about the liberated people. The Goa'uld don't care about killing civilians, so once they figure out we do, they will be able to force us to react to them." That was an obvious way to regain the initiative. Well, obvious if you had been trained in the Horde, Catra amended her thought.

"Yes." Adora nodded firmly. "We only struck this time because we needed to save those people. We need more time to prepare a proper campaign. More time to train and plan."

And that should have been obvious to everyone. "Victory disease is setting in early," Catra mumbled as the other princesses disagreed again. Well, it wasn't that bad, but still a concern. They weren't fighting on and for Etheria any more - the scope of this war was far beyond the Princess Alliance's experiences. And Catra had her doubts that everyone was fully aware of that.

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States, Earth, January 16th, 1999

"...and while the official press release doesn't mention which planet was invaded, only that Alliance forces successfully liberated a planet under Goa'uld control, various experts have speculated that…"

Jack O'Neill pushed a button, and the channel in the mess hall changed.

"...how many people died in this invasion? If the casualties were as low as the government claims, then why can't we see footage from the battle? What is the government hiding? Or, rather, what are the aliens controlling our government hiding? We cannot trust…"

He pushed the button again. Harder. Why were those channels still available in the base?

"...and according to our sources, the people our soldiers died to liberate spurned our friendship and expelled us from their planet without lifting even a finger to support the war in return, showing such selfishness that it raises the question of whether the Alliance policy of self-determination can and should be enforced at this point in the war. It might be better to take an example from history, the Philippines, and…"

Jack muttered a curse and switched the channel again. Bryce and his carpetbagging backers at work, no doubt. And the newsies were probably still angry that they hadn't been allowed to cover the invasion live from the frontlines.

"What's with the television?"

"Someone broke it!"

"Stop changing channels all the time!"

"I'm not doing anything! We don't even have the remote!"

"...and several leading news organisations have petitioned the Alliance command to allow embedded reporters with their forces, citing the need for independent information to both build trust and check for potential abuses in the war. So far, the Supreme Commander of the Alliance, Princess She-Ra, has declined to comment on the matter, prompting concerns about the freedom of the press being neglected. As some might not be aware, freedom of the press, even freedom of speech, is not a right on Etheria, so…"

Yeah, as I thought. Jack switched channels again.

"...and the last preparations of the Mission to Mars are now being finished, according to the NASA press release. Originally, it was planned to transport a habitat to Mars with an Alliance spaceship, but with interplanetary shuttles now produced on Earth for the war, it was decided that the first mission to Mars should be launched in a spaceship produced on Earth, with the habitat following afterwards. Now, let's take a closer look at the multi-national crew chosen for this historic event!"

That was better. Jack wasn't in the mood for more stupid rumours and thinly-veiled propaganda. Boring propaganda, at that. Not that the 'Mission to Mars' wasn't propaganda either - they could have sent the first shuttle rolling off the new assembly lines to Mars as a test flight - but at least it was entertaining.

"Where did you get the remote for the TV, Jack?" Daniel asked in a low voice.

Jack slipped the remote into his pocket under the table and smiled his best 'butter wouldn't melt in my mouth' smile at his friend. "What do you mean?"

Daniel rolled his eyes and went back to eating his lunch.

"Please don't change the channel again, sir."

Jack glanced at Carter. She was looking at the screen, apparently following the report quite attentively as it covered the various astronauts who would soon be - officially, at least - the first people on Mars. Was that a wistful smile? "You know, we could ask the Etherians to drop you off on Mars this afternoon if you want to be the first woman on Mars," he half-joked - he had no doubt that Priest would do it if one of his goddess's friends asked.

"Sir!" Carter frowned at him. "That would be an irresponsible abuse of power for egoistical reasons!"

"Yes?" Jack cocked his head and grinned.

"I believe that Captain Carter would consider it dishonourable to, as the saying goes, 'steal the thunder' of those astronauts by beating them to Mars," Teal'c commented.

As usual, Teal'c was hard to read, but Jack was sure that his friend didn't really believe he had to explain Carter's opinion to Jack. Still… "It's just showboating. They've even delayed moving the habitat just so they can pretend that they are doing this on their own. I guess the 'to boldly take a taxi where no one took a taxi before' skit on SNL was one joke too much."

"It's the principle of the thing, sir." Carter was still frowning at him. "Using a shuttle built on Earth means that the mission will not require outside assistance."

Jack shrugged. "Sure, but it's still an Etherian shuttle design we basically copy. One we have been using to ferry troops and officers around for a few weeks now."

"We haven't left Earth's orbit, though," Carter retorted. "This will be Earth's first interplanetary mission."

"I do seem to remember visiting another star system a few years ago…" Jack grinned again.

Carter didn't pout, but the way she narrowed her eyes at him in exasperation was almost as good. "You know what I mean, sir."

"Sure I do." He shrugged. "I'm just not too impressed by the hype. Though it's better than listening to people pushing their agenda on the news." Kinsey was probably involved in half those stories leaking to the press.

"Well, they do have some legitimate concerns. The Etherians don't have the concept of 'freedom of the press'," Daniel said. "They don't have what we would consider modern news media, actually. So, they could be ignoring the issue of independent reporting."

"Well, announcing military secrets to the world isn't a good idea," Jack said. Even though Vietnam hadn't been lost because the press had been turning people back home against the war, as some claimed, it certainly hadn't helped. "But I guess some embedded reporters won't hurt too much." It had worked well in the Gulf War.

"They're also pushing for a visit to Etheria," Daniel told him. "So do many of my colleagues, actually."

Well, that was the Etherians' problem, not Jack's. Though it might be fun to see what kind of stories reporters could dig up in the land of rainbows and unicorns if let loose.

Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, January 17th, 1999

"...and we're all in agreement that there'll be a special task force working on deprogramming the prisoners, recruited amongst experienced people in the field." Adora looked at the generals present as they nodded, then glanced at the aide de camp taking notes.

"Finally!" Catra muttered next to her. "That shouldn't have taken so long. Even a gaggle of princesses would have been faster."

Adora suppressed a wince. Her lover was probably correct. But then, this was an important task, and Adora knew that it didn't pay to rush important decisions without thinking them through and getting the opinions of others. Catra should know this as well, given her past, but pointing that out would be… unkind and pointless. Catra was just venting her frustration, and pretty subtly at that - at least for her.

"Next item: Embedded reporters," General Naird said, shuffling the papers in front of him. According to Jack, Naird was only on this council because he had been commanding Air Force Space Command, and they wanted an Air Force general in the spot, and with General Hammond still stuck in Stargate Command, Naird was the next-not-too-bad choice. But he seemed competent enough and quite nice personally to Adora.

"Embedded reporters?" Catra asked, cocking her head. Adora knew she had read the briefing papers for this meeting, so she was faking her ignorance.

Naird, though, did seem to take her at face value. Or he was just too polite to comment on it. "Yes. The leading news services of the United States and its allies have petitioned Alliance Command - that's us - to allow embedded reporters to cover the war."

"You mean propagandists?" Catra asked, in the same tone she usually denied being responsible for whatever had gone wrong in one of their Horde cadet exercises.

The way Naird frowned at her told Adora that, this time, he had seen through Catra's act. "They are news services, not propaganda organisations. The United States and its allies do not control their media."

"I didn't mean their government propaganda organisations," Catra retorted with a toothy grin. "But they're definitely spewing propaganda." She leaned back. "Trust me, I've been raised on that stuff."

Adora pressed her lips together but nodded in agreement. "Several of those news services do show clear biases in their reporting."

"Well, that's a matter of opinion, though one could argue that truly unbiased reporting is impossible due to the observer effect…" Naird trailed off under the glances of the others in the room. "At least, that's what my friend says."

"Leaving philosophical or physical questions aside, I don't think we can keep the press out of the war," the American Secretary of Defense said, frowning at Naird. "But we can handle that like we did in the Gulf War."

"I don't think they'll accept such strict limitations," the British Secretary of State for Defence said. "Especially since, unlike the Gulf War, this won't be over in a month. You can't control the press for so long."

"Maybe not yours," the American shot back.

"Control of the press goes against the fundamental principles of a democracy."

"Military necessity trumps freedom of the press. Without information security, we will not be able to effectively fight a war," the American retorted. "And with the war spreading to other worlds, we cannot count on Earth's isolation to keep news from reaching our enemies forever."

"If we act like a totalitarian regime, we will lose the support of the population, which will endanger the war effort much more than the occasional leak on Earth," the British official pointed out.

"I would hardly call basic military procedures to control sensitive information a totalitarian move. It's just common sense."

"If we don't give them the news, they'll find something to publish that we don't have any control over."

"Or they make something up," Glimmer cut in. "We've been following the news coverage of the last mission." She leaned forward. "And it was quite easy to tell which news organisation was owned by someone with an interest in exploiting the planet."

Adora nodded with a scowl. "And we haven't forgotten which of your media portrayed us and people like us as monsters." It would be easier to simply forbid any reporters from joining their forces. But Mister Brown and Julie had assured them that that would be 'counter-productive', and they were the experts.

Both the American and the British officials flushed a little while their French and German counterparts looked a bit smug. Naird shuffled his papers some more before speaking up again: "Any embedded war correspondents will have to be thoroughly vetted, of course."

"Of course." Catra grinned. "But who does the vetting?"

"We have people with the experience for that task," Naird says. "And I assume you have such people as well?"

"Yes." Glimmer nodded.

Adora didn't think Alliance spy hunters had quite the same experience as the Earth specialists, given the differences between their worlds, but it was probably good enough. If you could deal with the likes of Double Trouble, picking out honest reporters shouldn't be too hard.

"So, that's settled as well." Naird marked something on his papers. "Next item: Recruiting, screening for and training magically talented people."

That again. Adora sighed.

"That's the purview of Mystacor on Etheria," Glimmer said. "They pick their students."

"And they have offered to train our soldiers, haven't they?"

Catra chuckled. "Castaspella offered to train Colonel O'Neill."

"He's the first soldier known to have a magical talent, right?" Naird asked.

"He's a special case," Glimmer said with a frown aimed at Catra. "Similar cases might receive the same invitation, but we don't know any yet."

"We haven't made a lot of progress with screening for magical talent," the Frech Minister commented. "We would be grateful for any assistance in that area."

"We'll pass it on to Mystacore," Glimmer said.

Adora nodded again. They had to talk with the sorcerers anyway. About this, and a few other things.

"Great. Next item: Commendations. Several members of the Alliance forces have distinguished themselves in the recent combat and deserve recognition…"

Catra groaned, a bit louder this time, but Naird went on.

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, United States, Earth, January 18th, 1999

Jack sighed as he watched the Stargate. It was almost time. "You know, I don't see why we should be here - the Tok'ra want to discuss Alliance matters, and Stargate Command is not part of the Alliance forces. We're just the gatekeepers and gophers for the United Nations." He had better things to do than greet alien visitors.

Daniel frowned at him. "We've been working closely with the Alliance - SG-1, I mean. We've fought in the first Alliance combat mission. I don't think you can claim we aren't part of the Alliance forces."

"Being temporarily detached to other forces doesn't change that we're still under United Nations command," Jack retorted. He knew his regs - the better to bend and twist them.

"That's a fig leaf. We also were part of the delegation that negotiated the Alliance. And didn't you tell me you expect us to be transferred to Alliance command anyway?" Daniel pouted.

"Yep. But all that doesn't mean we should stand here to greet aliens." Jack wasn't pouting. He was better than that.

Daniel frowned. "Don't tell me you're afraid of meeting Anise, Jack!"

"I'm not afraid of meeting the mad scientist snake, Daniel." Jack simply would prefer not to meet her. Not until she accepted - preferably in writing - that he wasn't going to have a baby with her. Or with anyone else. Or with test tubes. Or clone pods. He wasn't going to have kids, period. Not if they were just wanted for their - his - Ancient genes. "But we do have better things to do than meeting and greeting people we've already met before."

"It's called being polite and welcoming to our allies." Daniel's frown deepened.

"Yeah, and others can do that better." Jack wasn't feeling very polite and friendly. And why were the snakes visiting anyway? They had mentioned a 'potential issue for the Alliance' when they had called ahead, but they hadn't mentioned what issue it was.

Not that it was Jack's business, anyway. He wasn't a politician or a general. Unless you could shoot it or blow it up, it wasn't his problem. Or shouldn't be.

That was his story, and he would be sticking to it. Although you could solve a lot of problems by shooting them or blowing them up.

He glanced to his side. Teal'c was doing his 'stoic waiting' thing. And Carter was… in her lab with the other alien mad scientist they knew. Apparently, being a genius working to develop new technology was enough to get out of greeting duty. Jack would have to take notes.

"We're being dialled," Siler announced. "Codes match the Tok'ra."

"Open the iris," General Haig ordered.

A moment later, the iris retracted, and the wormhole vortex formed.

"Wormhole stable."

"Send the go-ahead."

"Yes, sir."

A moment later, two people stepped through the gate, and Jack had to suppress a groan. Anise and Martouf? The snake after Jack's genes, and the snake pining for Carter? This was shaping up to be one of those days he should have called in sick! "We should have claimed that the gate's down for maintenance," he muttered as the two Tok'ra walked down the ramp.

"Since we communicated through the wormhole, I think that they wouldn't have believed us," Daniel pointed out.

"Yeah, but would they have called us out? They might have decided to directly talk to the princesses instead!" Jack whispered. Come to think of it, why were they coming to Earth instead of Etheria? Sure, the Alliance Headquarters was on Earth, but everyone knew where the real power in the Alliance was located.

But here they were. Time to lie and smile. "Marty! Anise! How nice to see you!" Jack said as he stepped forward.

"Jack! It's Martouf!" Daniel whispered behind him as if Jack wasn't aware of that. Hey, if he was the ranking officer in the gate room and had to greet new arrivals, he would do it his way. Otherwise, they might think he liked doing this.

"And it's nice to see you, Jack!" Anise beamed at him, and Jack had to struggle not to wince.

"Yes, it's a pleasure to see you again," Martouf added. He was - none too subtly - looking around, though.

"Captain Carter's busy in her lab," Jack told him with a genuine smile. "You know how it is - science takes priority over politics."

"Ah."

"Of course it does!" Anise nodded. "But the issue we need to talk about concerns Sam - and science."

Oh. Jack narrowed his eyes. If this was just a pretext for Martouf to hassle Carter, then Jack would have to be a bit undiplomatic.

"Hello, Sam."

"Good morning, Captain Carter."

"Anise? Martouf?" Carter sounded surprised, Jack noted as they entered her lab.

"Hi, guys!" A holoprojection of Entrapta standing next to Carter waved at everyone. With her arms, hair and a few metal arms in the lab - waldos, the name was, he reminded himself.

"Hello, Entrapta." Anise returned the greeting.

"Princess Entrapta." Martouf gave her a nod, already focused on Carter.

"Hi, Entrapta." Daniel beamed at her.

"Greetings." Teal'c nodded politely.

Jack cleared his throat. "Yeah, hello, everyone. Marty and Anise here came to talk about a 'potential issue for the Alliance' related to your work, Carter."

"Oh?" She seemed surprised.

"A potential issue? Do you need our help? We've got a full schedule, but we could probably shuffle a few things around. The spy bot network is growing according to our projections and doesn't need too much supervision, so we could delay the next version, and we could also probably wait with the construction bots for the stealth modules for shuttles for a week or so since we still haven't perfected the mining bots to feed the automated factory station we're designing." Entrapta beamed at their guests.

Jack made a mental note to look into those projects she had mentioned. They sounded… well, he wasn't a geek, but automated factories manned by bots, fed by mining bots… that sounded like a Cameron movie about a robot uprising in the making.

"It's actually about your plan to create 'dumb symbionts'," Anise said. She wasn't smiling any more.

"Oh! You've got the message!" Entrapta nodded, still smiling happily. "Do you have a genetic sample? We could use one of the samples from the prisoners we have, but it might be safer to use a sample without the genetic memory of a Goa'uld, even though we probably would remove it anyway."

Jack blinked. They had asked the Tok'ra to donate a genetic sample to create dumb symbionts to save the Jaffa prisoners?

"We have a few concerns about your plan," Martouf said. Very diplomatically.

Anise nodded with a not-so-diplomatic expression.

And Jack had to struggle not to laugh out loud. It was different when the shoe was on the other foot, was it?

Mystacor, Etheria, January 18th, 1999 (Earth Time)

Mystacor hadn't changed at all since their last visit, Adora noted. Or, rather, they had repaired whatever damage it had suffered in the war and restored the island exactly as it had been before, so it looked untouched by the war.

Which probably said something about the sorceresses ruling the floating island.

"Auntie!"

"Glimmer!" Castaspella lifted Glimmer up in a hug that made Adora smile and also feel a bit sad - or jealous. "So nice of you to visit! It's been too long!"

"You were staying in Bright Moon for months."

"That's not the same. It's been too long since you visited."

"I would like to visit more often, but with the war…"

"The stress from the war is even more of a reason to visit and relax, Glimmer!"

At Adora's side, Catra sighed. Loudly. She was rolling her eyes as well.

Both Castaspella and Glimmer turned to frown at Adora's lover, and Adora stepped forward to head off any barbs. "Hello, Castaspella. Thank you for having us visit."

"You're always welcome here," Castaspella replied with a smile. "Although, since I doubt you were visiting to enjoy our beaches and hot springs, let's move to my office so we can have tea while we talk."

"Yes." Adora nodded. They were here to discuss politics, after all. All sorts of politics.

Castaspella led them through the marble hallway, past a group of what looked like students - they were young, younger than Adora had been in the Horde war, at least, and stared and whispered. Fortunately, Catra didn't try to startle or hiss at them - sometimes, she did that when she felt annoyed.

Once inside Castaspella's office - which was as large as Adora and Catra's room in the palace, but sorceresses probably needed the space for their spells and experiments - they sat down at a small table, and at a gesture from Castaspella, a tray bearing tea and snacks floated over.

"So, what do we have to discuss?" Castaspella asked while their cups were being filled and Catra looked for fish sandwiches amongst the snacks.

Adora and Glimmer exchanged a glance. "It's about teaching students from other planets," Adora said after a moment. "We have restored magic to another planet, and we will continue to do so, so there will be more people in need of training." Straight and to the point. Like Adora preferred it herself.

"Not nearly as many as Earth will add over time, though," Castaspella replied before taking a sip from her cup.

"No." Glimmer nodded. "But this might change over time. But even so… We need to know if Mystacor will train selected students from other worlds. I know you offered to teach Jack, but…" She trailed off.

"...but he's a 'special case'," Catra finished for her with a grin.

Adora took a sip herself to mask her expression. She didn't think Castaspella was trying to seduce Jack by offering him training, but there were rumours. Rumours which Catra was not so subtly hinting at.

"He's got a lot of potential," Castaspella said, all cool and collected. "And he is a First One, or close enough. It would be a shame not to see this potential nurtured and trained." With a glance at Catra, she added: "I have no intention to start a relationship with him, which I think I made already clear. Not only do I not desire him in that way, but to start a relationship with a student… it would violate everything Mystacor stands for."

Catra made a noncommittal noise in return, her mouth filled with probably all the fish sandwiches from the tray.

Glimmer cleared her throat. "So, Mystacor is open to exceptional students only?"

Castaspella sighed. "Certain teachers are willing to accept special students. As a whole, we cannot teach many more than our usual amount of pupils. We simply don't have the numbers and resources to take on everyone from Earth with the talent. We could expand our numbers, but… that is a controversial issue. As is refusing Etherian students in favour of those from other planets. The best we can realistically do is teach those who have the most potential and let them teach others. "

That… didn't sound as bad as Adora had feared.

"It would be years before that started to bear fruits," Glimmer said.

Castaspella nodded.

"And you haven't picked any such students yet," Catra pointed out.

"We don't know any such students except for Jack. And looking for them on Earth…" Castaspella inclined her head and took another sip from her cup. "We are used to having students come to us after discovering their talents. And what we know of Earth's attitude towards magic raises some concerns."

"Well, people from Earth can't exactly come to Mystacor - or Etheria - that easily," Glimmer said. "Security prohibits that."

"But they would like your help to screen their people for sorceresses," Adora added.

Cataspella grimaced for a moment. "I know a few sorceresses who would like to visit Earth anyway, and they might be willing to look for potential students. There has been a debate in the council about that."

"I haven't heard about that," Glimmer commented.

"They are curious about Earth's magic traditions and want to study them. And their artefacts," Castaspella added.

Oh.

Catra snorted. "They want to exploit Earth's magic?"

"I wouldn't put it like that, but… most of those who voiced such plans seem most interested in gaining more knowledge rather than spreading it." Castaspella spread her hands. "I don't think they would be the best ambassadors for our kingdom and academy."

Ah. Adora nodded.

"Yeah, we don't want to look like colonialists," Glimmer agreed.

"But then you're going to look like elitists unwilling to share your knowledge," Catra commented.

"Several of my colleagues wouldn't mind that," Castaspella retorted. "We're trying to find a compromise, but… it's a delicate process."

"Meaning, you don't think it'll work." Catra snorted.

"It is too early to say that, but Mystacor's politics and policies usually take a long time to change."

"Time we don't really have." Glimmer shook her head. "If Mystacor as a whole won't do anything, we need to talk to individuals."

"That might be a more promising approach, but it might also cause additional tensions within the kingdom," Castaspella said.

"You sound like a diplomat from Earth explaining why they can't do the sensible thing." Catra shook her head.

Castaspella chuckled in return, even though it wasn't really funny in Adora's opinion.