Chapter 129: Spy Games Part 5
Stargate Command, CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, December 12th, 1999
Adora could barely keep from running down the ramp when she arrived on Earth. Finally! After hours of doing nothing while Sam and Entrapta worked on the Stargate computers, worrying while she waited for the all-clear… But she was the Supreme Commander of the Alliance. She couldn't rush into this like some worried girl.
Jack was there, as were Generals Haig and Hammond, and Isa and… Sergeant Campbell, and that was Kira in the background.
"Supreme Commander." Jack saluted her, followed by the other generals.
She returned the salute.
Before she could say anything, Entapta arrived behind her and rushed down the ramp - and past them. "Hi, everyone! Bye, everyone - I'll be in Sam's lab!" And then she was out the door, leaving everyone else blinking.
"Good to have you back," Jack said with a grin as he lowered his hand.
"Good to be back. Glimmer was held up but will join us in a while." Once she and Bow had explained things to Loki. Adora glanced around. Where was Catra? She hadn't been hurt while taking down the last Russians, Adora knew that, but why wasn't she here? She wouldn't care about proper procedure, either… "So, what did you find out about the attack?"
Jack didn't mention that his latest report had been sent an hour ago and nodded. "We're still interrogating the prisoners. Sidorov is staying silent, as is Li, and most of everyone else is claiming to have merely followed orders."
She snorted at that. "And the assassin you caught alive?"
"Under guard in the infirmary."
Was that where Catra was? Standing guard so the prisoner wouldn't be murdered to silence him?
Jack shrugged and went on: "It looks like he was using some alien drugs to keep the alien gas he was also using from harming him too much. But when Sha're stunned him, he couldn't use the drug any more, and…
"I can heal him," Adora said. "I can heal all wounded."
"That would be appreciated," General Haig said.
Right. This was Stargate Command, not an Alliance base. Adora had been a bit rude by talking to Jack, hadn't she? "It's the least I can do," she told him. She glanced around. They were almost at the door leading out of the gate room, and she couldn't see any sign of Catra. "Let's head to the infirmary first, then. No need to let our wounded suffer any longer."
"This way," Hammond said, gesturing down the hallway.
"Are the Russians and Chinese leaders still claiming that this was done by rogue soldiers?" Adora asked.
"That's their story, and they're sticking to it. For now," Jack replied. "Li hasn't refuted that - he commented that a scheme to smuggle alien goods through the gate would have made him and Sidorov a fortune."
Hammond scoffed at that.
Adora frowned as well. "And Sidorov is staying silent?"
"Probably waiting for orders from Russia," Jack said. "The whole attack smells rushed and improvised. Never a good combination."
Hammond coughed loudly, and Jack pouted at him.
"We can count ourselves lucky that they apparently lacked proper planning and support," Haig said. "Albeit, I assume that they had contingency plans worked out in advance."
"Which Carter and the others wrecked when they started poking around, I bet:" Jack grinned.
Adora nodded - Sam and Entrapta rooting through the compromised computer memory banks would have likely spoilt some plans.
They reached the infirmary. No Catra in sight, but Melog was curled up in front of a room with two guards next to the door. They looked at her, yawned and curled up again.
So, Catra was fine. But still missing.
Adora quickly healed the wounded - about a dozen, ranging from lightly hurt to having caught a few bullets - then headed to the room where the assassin was held.
Two more guards stood to each side of the bed there, and the prisoner was tied down as well. He looked pretty bad - he had tubes running into his mouth and nose, and his skin had a greyish tone.
"Can't have him suicide, should he wake up," Jack said. "But he's stable as far as we can tell. The Doc says they're still analysing the poison gas, but a lot of it broke down already."
She nodded and healed the man. He remained asleep, or so it seemed - but she caught him tense just a bit. "We know you're awake," she said.
He didn't react. Ah, well… She glanced at Jack. "We can start interrogating him."
"I'll inform our specialist."
Their specialist? Did he mean Wilkinson? Probably.
"We've prepared a meeting room," Hammond said. "Unless you have to travel to Brussels immediately."
Without Catra? Adora almost snapped at him. She managed to nod. "No, we've got a few things to discuss."
And a cat to find. She was getting worried again. Even though Melog would have shown if Catra was hurt. Or in danger. But she couldn't help…
"Hey, Adora."
Adora whirled. There, leaning against the wall outside the infirmary, was Catra! Smirking like… well, her.
"Catra!"
"Yeah. Finally made it back here, huh? About…"
"Catra!" Adora's hug cut off her lover's next words. And then her kiss cut off any protests.
Stargate Command, CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, December 12th, 1999
Samatha Carter cleared her throat as she stepped up to the big holographic screen in the meeting room the Alliance had taken over inside Stargate Command. "Supreme Commander. General. Commander." She nodded at Adora, the General and Glimmer, then at the others present. "We've finished our preliminary analysis of the recovered alien technology." Very preliminary. She wished she was better prepared for this - between the need to clear the base's computers and ensure there were no boobytraps left by saboteurs so they could reopen the Stargate, she hadn't had a lot of time to examine the alien technology they had secured. That wasn't long enough to draw solid conclusions.
Although Entrapta had joined her as soon as they had opened the wormhole again, followed later by Bow, and between them, they had managed at least to get a decent overview of the various pieces. And realise how close we had come to dying, she added in her mind - Entrapta hadn't reacted particularly well to that. Not after having seen her friends dying from the poison gas and communication lag preventing her from realising it was one of Melog's illusions for several seconds. Catra hadn't taken that well - she hadn't realised how her plan would look to Entrapta.
But sorting that out could wait. She had a briefing to do. She pressed a key on her laptop, and the projection of a small cylinder appeared on the screen, slowly rotating around itself. "This is the container that carried the poison gas used against us by Qiang Lee." They hadn't yet found out whether the assassin they had captured was Dr Quiang Lee, a young astrophysicist who had published several works or a soldier impersonating him - the man had refused to answer any questions, last Sam heard. "It is shielded from any conventional sensors we know on Earth, though not from magic or Ancient sensors," she explained.
"Then how could they smuggle it into the base?" Glimmer asked, frowning deeply.
"Because the compound contained inside the cylinder is not poisonous until it reacts with human biochemistry. It's like a binary poison where one component is a part of the human body. The poison so produced acts like a standard poison, but since it is generated upon contact, our scanners didn't pick it up until it started taking effect. And even then, the scanner focused on the poison created, not the compound in the air." Even the magic scanner had been fooled by this, which Sam suspected was accidental, but they couldn't rule out that the Eurondans used magic themselves.
"Which we have corrected now!" Entrapa chimed in. "And we've adjusted the scanner to show any unknown particles - though that will make it probably overly sensitive to many harmless substances on alien planets, so… We might have to be careful about that."
"We'll get false alerts for a while," the General summed up.
"Yes, sir. We suggest that a dedicated crew of technicians and scientists is part of any force landing on a new planet to speed up such adjustments," Sam told him.
"Making the scanner adjust to that automatically is kinda difficult," Entrapta said with a pout. "We'd have to give it the same databanks and sensor capability Alpha has, and that would make it hard to fit into a portable scanner. Though for a fleet action, we could have a special ship with a lab on board to analyse any such data transmitted from the surface!"
"A science vessel in the fleet?" The General snorted. "I guess Star Trek will be vindicated."
Sam narrowed her eyes at him - slightly. "It is the same concept of having scientists as part of an exploration team." That had been her own position in SG-1!
"Right." He looked a little sheepish for a moment before nodding at her.
"The poison is a neural agent attacking the central nervous system of anyone exposed to it. The effect is debilitatingly painful but would take quite some time to kill a victim."
The others in the room looked shocked or grim at the news - and with cause. It was a very cruel way to kill someone. It was almost a mercy that Lee had killed the teams he had used the gas against. Almost.
The General nodded again. "That's the gas. And the gun?"
"It's a direct energy weapon of unknown make," Sam told him as the gun appeared on the screen. "Definitely alien in origin. The gun's velocity is relatively slow, but it can damage both organic and inorganic targets and has a stun setting."
"Like a zat?" Catra asked.
"It follows a similar concept, but it works differently," Sam corrected her. "It causes direct physical or stun damage."
"And it didn't show up on our scanner either?" The General raised his eyebrows.
"The power source was not powerful enough to show up on the general scan," Sam explained.
That had the General snort. "Figures it was something like that."
Sam could see the irony, but they had lost two squads to this weapon and the gas. "We also secured this." She showed another, smaller cylinder. "It's a medical device - it works similar to an autoinjector. We first assumed that the substance was an antidote for the poison, but it's actually a medical compound that very quickly heals the body once administered. Quickly enough that Lee didn't succumb to the gas even though he was exposed to it for a length of time."
"But it hurt him," Catra said, "Melog felt it."
"Yes." Sam nodded. Lee must have been suffering horrible pain throughout the fight.
The General frowned. "That does sound like he was improvising. If he had prepared this beforehand, he probably would have had an antidote ready. And how much of that stuff was the assassin carrying?"
"Half a dozen injectors, sir," Sam replied.
The General looked at her, then at the others. "That wasn't an assassination attempt. He wanted hostages."
That was a likely conclusion, indeed.
"Hostages?" Adora scowled.
"Me." Catra hissed. "To use against you."
"It would make the whole attempt to take over the base a little less insane," the General went on, looking at Catra and Adora. "Still not sane, but if they thought taking you hostage would stay your hand…" He shrugged.
Sam nodded. Everyone knew that the Etherians treated politics as a personal affair. If the Chinese - and the Russians, since they had been working together - thought that meant they would value friends above everything else… Well, they weren't entirely wrong, but they would have completely miscalculated how the Etherians would respond to such a ploy.
And, Sam added with a slight wince when she saw Adora, Catra and the other Etherians' expressions, they might end up finding out exactly how wrong they had been - and how right.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, Earth, December 13th, 1999
Usually, meetings in the Alliance Headquarters were dominated by the military. This time, there were far fewer military uniforms visible than usual, Catra noticed. Instead, more people wore suits. And humans insisted that these weren't civilian uniforms even though every Earth ruler seemed to be wearing them!
She snorted as she sat down next to Adora. Not every ruler was attending, but the most important ones were here - the ones from Britain, France, Germany, the United States and Canada, though the last one's importance was questionable, according to Jack. Still, the Stargate was on their soil. Or surrounded by their soil, depending on how you interpreted the international treaty covering it. Catra wasn't a lawyer, but if you lost the right to rule a piece of your land and other kingdoms had free access to it and could station what troops they wanted there, it wasn't your land any more, was it?
Not that it mattered. This would be decided by the leaders of the Alliance, and that only because Adora was, again, being a goody-two-shoes about the rules.
"Alright," Adora spoke up. "You've all received the preliminary report about the attacks on Stargate Command. Do you have any questions?"
She looked formidable, all serious and angry, and Catra felt a shiver run down her spine. Her love.
Most of the people present shook their heads, and after a moment, Adora went on: "We've lost four Alliance soldiers killed in action. Stargate Command lost ten soldiers killed in action and fifteen wounded. No civilians were hurt or killed during the chemical attack."
"An attack with an alien gas weapon," the Canadian Prime Minister said. "That is a war crime. They attacked us."
"Russia and China are claiming this was the result of actions taken by officers going rogue," the German Bundeskanzler said. "Given the current state of relations with the United Nations, disproving that claim could prove tricky."
"What you mean is that too many countries in the United Nations are ruled by bigots and dictators who fear and resent the Alliance and would never rule in our favour no matter what proof we have," Glimmer said with a slight sneer.
Catra wasn't the only one who snorted at that.
The German nodded, apparently not fazed. "Exactly. Even if Russia and China didn't have veto powers, the odds of achieving support by the United Nations for our response are not good."
"We don't need their support," Glimmer retorted. "We can destroy the Russian and Chinese military from orbit without trouble."
Catra saw the other rulers tense at that. They must have known that, though - the Alliance knew what Horde frigates could do and how good the Alliance scanners were. Their military was planning to use orbital fire support for planetary invasions, even!
"But if we do this, other countries might be driven to similarly desperate actions," the German Bundeskanzler said. "They would remember the intervention in Iran as well. Can we afford such 'distractions' during wartime?"
"And even part of the public in our own countries might not react favourably to what they might see as a disproportionate retaliation," the British Prime Minister pointed out.
Catra overheard the British Admiral muttering something about "another General Belgrano", but she had no idea what he meant.
"We were attacked with chemical weapons! Our soldiers were murdered!" the Canadian Prime Minister retorted. "I doubt that anyone sane will dispute that this requires a reaction."
"The problem is that the whole attack was so insane, many people won't believe that Russia or China could do this," the British Prime Minister said. "And, as the report states, the whole attack seemed to have been an improvised and panicked reaction to the discovery of their takeover of the Stargate Command main computer." He looked around, "Can we really dismiss the possibility that this was decided and executed by officers acting on their own?"
"Russia and China are still responsible for their forces. If they cannot control them, then that's on them," the French Président said.
The US President looked a little doubtful. "We cannot actually tell if the trade deals with the aliens were authorised by the Russian president, much less the escalation to attempted assassination. He will be replaced at the end of the month, and by all accounts, he has not been in control of his government for quite some time, with oligarchs instead struggling for power in the wake of First Contact. What the new president will do is anyone's guess."
"China has no such excuse," the Canadian Prime Minister retorted. "And the attack with chemical weapons was done by a Chinese agent posing as a scientist."
"They are saying that this is proof that the man is a rogue spy and criminal," the Bundeskanzler cut in.
"We have had reports about internal struggles from China, but nothing concrete," the US President said. "But it is unlikely that they were so compromised that rogue elements could infiltrate their troops and scientists at Stargate Command."
Catra nodded in agreement. That was nonsense. Even if a number of countries would claim to believe it.
"But why would they do something so insane?" the Bundeskanzler asked. "They must have known that even if they had taken hostages, they wouldn't have gotten away with it - and if they had made any demands, they would have had to abandon the claim that this wasn't done on the orders of their governments."
"They're paranoid and desperate," Jack spoke up. "The Russians have convinced themselves for decades that NATO wants to attack them. I doubt the Chinese have forgotten the Korean War. And now their military has been rendered obsolete - they know that; don't think they haven't spies in places - and they know what they would do in our place. So, even an insane plan might look better to them than their current situation."
Catra pressed her lips together. She knew about risking everything on a slim chance of victory instead of accepting defeat. She had almost destroyed Etheria as a result. But that didn't excuse it - or her own actions.
"That doesn't excuse their actions," Adora said, repeating Catra's thought.
"And they cannot be allowed to get away with this, or they'll try the same thing again - and so will everyone else," Glimmer added.
"No matter if they're actually guilty or not," Jack said.
"The buck stops with them," the US President added. He seemed to agree with Jack, even if Catra didn't get the reference.
"So," Adora spoke up. "What do you suggest we do?"
Several of the people present tensed up again, Catra noted.
Jack O'Neill raised his eyebrows a little at the wording. 'Suggest' - Adora didn't make it sound as if she was humouring the politicians present, but he had no doubt that if she didn't like a suggestion, she'd ignore it.
The question was: Were the politicians aware of that? They should; the President had had a lot of briefings from Jack and his team about the Etherians, and Jack was sure that the other leaders had been briefed by their people. And they had been working with the Princesses for over a year now. But the Etherians hadn't really thrown their power around as they could have, and Adora and her friends had been primarily working with the military staff, not the civilian leaders.
"First, we need to know if we have proof that this was an organised attack by Russia and China," the Bundeskanzler said. "Our response has to take into account how much support we have amongst our allies and the public. There's also the question of how NATO is handling this."
Glimmer rolled her eyes. Probably barely holding back a cynical comment about the free press, Jack thought. Or daytime TV.
Catra leaned forward. "The assassin isn't talking. If you want proof, we need to go and capture the Russian and Chinese leadership and see if they talk."
The Bundeskanzler drew back, and his eyes widened at that.
"That would not be received well by many other countries," the French Président said. "Especially not in Africa, Asia and Central America."
"You mean primarily the countries where the former colonial powers continued to topple governments they didn't like?" Daniel asked. "Including the United States."
"Yes." The French Président nodded with a slight smile.
Jack snorted. You could almost admire the way the French shamelessly owned up to it. The President, on the other hand, was wincing, and the British Prime Minister looked like he had bitten into a lemon. He half-expected the Canadians and Germans to claim they weren't involved in any of that, but neither did.
"The Stargate was attacked with a chemical weapon," the Canadian Prime Minister repeated himself instead. "Soldiers of Stargate Command but also Alliance soldiers died as a result. And it was done by Russians and Chinese using technology and weapons from an unknown alien power. I think this will speak for itself, at least in our countries."
"If we present it like that, focus on the brave soldiers uncovering the infiltration and fighting off the insidious attack…" The President nodded. "The media will like it. It's almost a Pearl Harbour moment."
Jack pressed his lips together. Those had been his people who had died, both Special Operations Command and SG-3. They hadn't died for the optics of this. But saying so wouldn't help things right now. Even if he really wanted to.
"So, that covers the support from your people," Glimmer said, not quite rolling her eyes to make sure everyone understood what she thought about the whole thing. "But what do you suggest we should do?"
"What do you suggest?" the Bundeskanzler asked. For a moment, he looked as if he was surprised by his own question, in Jack's impression. It was a fair question, though, even if it would have been sassy coming from someone else - like Jack.
"We need to ensure that they will not launch another such attack against us," Glimmer replied. "We don't know if they have more of the poison gas and the other alien technology the assassin used."
"They wouldn't dare, would they?" The Bundeskanzler said. "Their excuses are already threadbare thin. Another attack with either poison gas or alien technology would be a clear act of war - against the entire Alliance and NATO.."
That was debatable, as far as Jack understood the issue. The Alliance was aimed against the Goa'uld, not other countries on Earth; the Princesses had made it clear that they didn't want to be dragged into internal conflicts on Earth. But Alliance soldiers had been attacked, and aliens were - directly or indirectly - involved, and that made it Alliance business. Of course, an attack against a NATO country could trigger Article Five.
"If they are as desperate - and paranoid - as Jack said, then what do they have to lose?" Catra shrugged. "If they expect us to crush them, we might as well do it before they cobble together another attack. Nukes and gas we can stop, but what if they have biological weapons?"
That was a horrible possibility. Jack had seen the data about Ancient bioweapons. If the Russians and Chinese had something comparable…
"If they had that capability, I'd expect them to threaten us with it," the British Prime Minister said. "At least through diplomatic channels."
"They might not think it would be worth losing the element of surprise in case the Etherians are willing to sacrifice Earth to destroy them," the French Président retorted.
Adora and her friends gasped. "We would never do that!" she blurted out.
Glimmer nodded emphatically. "It would be a betrayal of everything the Alliance stands for!"
Jack grimaced. "We know that. But the Russians and Chinese would do it in your place." At least their leaders, as far as Russia had a leader at the moment. Which was another can of worms - if the Russian leadership was dysfunctional… "Whatever we do, we need to know what technology the Russians and Chinese have at their disposal," he said.
Everyone agreed to that. "But the prisoners aren't talking," Adora said. "The most they say, some of them, is that they were following orders and defending themselves. And as long as they don't talk even Kira's Truth spells won't really help."
There was a solution for getting people to talk, Jack knew, but it wasn't a solution the Etherians would condone. And since they needed their sorceresses for the truth spells, the solution was off the table.
Which was a relief - Jack really didn't want to torture prisoners. And letting others do it wasn't any better - worse, actually.
But that didn't change the fact that they needed more information. He could only hope that his people working on it would come up with something.
Stargate Command, CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, December 13th, 1999
"Da, following orders is Russian way. If you follow orders of superior, you do no wrong even if you do wrong. Unless, of course, superior or superior's superior disagrees."
Iwan was a good scientist and had quite the charm - Samantha Carter might even consider him a friend, if not a close friend - but his English was really annoying. Doubly so since she was certain that he could speak far better English yet chose to talk like this. The man not only read all relevant science publications in English, he published in them!
"But the Russian government disavowed their actions," Special Agent Wilkinson pointed out. "If they don't want to be tried as criminals - and for capital crimes - they should cooperate."
"They have family in Russia, da?" Iwan shook his head. "They betray Russia, family suffer."
"What about your family?" Special Agent Paris asked. "You've been cooperating."
Iwan shrugged. "No family left. No family I care for, at least."
Sam couldn't tell if he really didn't care or was trying to hide something. For all his boisterous manners, which were often quite stereotypical Russian, as Daniel had pointed out to her in private, the man had a good poker face. That wasn't surprising, of course, since he had grown up in the USSR and had been involved in top-secret research.
"I still can't believe all of them would take the fall." Wilkinson shook his head. "There's always someone who turns."
"Did you offer bribes?" Iwan asked.
Wilkinson frowned at him. "Offering bribes? That would invalidate their testimony!"
"We can point out that cooperation will get them leniency, but we aren't authorised to offer actual deals," Paris added.
Oh. Sam winced. As did Iwan, she noted. "You're following FBI rules and regulations," she said.
"Of course," Wilkinson said.
"This is an Alliance investigation," Sam pointed out. "You don't answer to the FBI here but to the Alliance. To Alliance High Command," she emphasised.
"The legal procedures are the same, at least as far as fundamentals are concerned," Wilkinson retorted. "You can't bribe a witness, and we aren't authorised to offer deals."
Iwan cocked his head, acting as if he was confused. "Legal procedures? This is military and political matter. Result important."
"We're not in Russia!" Wilkinson snapped. "We have a working judicial system! People have rights!"
Sam grimaced. She shouldn't be handling this - she was a scientist, not a lawyer. Or a politician. But the General and the others were meeting with the Alliance leaders. And while the exact chain of command was a little vague, the General had left her in charge here. "We're investigating an attack on the Alliance and Stargate Command," she said. "Our priority is to find out what happened and who is responsible. Whether or not that intel is applicable in a court of law is of secondary importance."
Wilkinson stared at her as if she had threatened to shoot him in the back. "What?"
"Princesses and Generals not care about procedures," Iwan said. "They want results for military and politics."
"You might as well torture the prisoners then!" Wilkinson spat.
"Torture doesn't work," Paris cut in.
"It work for Russia."
"We aren't Russia!" Wilkinson glared at Iwan.
Combining torture with a truth spell would likely work, Sam knew. As long as the victim still knew truth from lies, the spell would detect any falsehood they knowingly said - and they would say something to stop the torture. But that wasn't an option. "The Alliance doesn't torture people," she said. If Wilkinson had met the Princesses for longer than a brief greeting, he would know that.
"Da. Alliance very good about that." Iwan grinned.
"But deals and bribes are allowed," Sam went on. "And Kira can check for lies. Whether or not that would invalidate any testimony is irrelevant."
"Even if it means a war criminal escapes justice?" Wilkinson retorted. "Over a dozen people died because of this attack!"
Sam was tempted to mention Hordak. And Catra. She didn't, though. Instead, she said: "Do you think any of our prisoners were the masterminds behind the attack?"
Wilkinson frowned at her. "Sidorov was in charge of the Russian troops. Li commanded the Chinese contingent. We don't have any records of them contacting their superiors in their home countries."
Absence of evidence wasn't evidence of absence, though. "They could have had orders for such a contingency," Sam pointed out. "But do you really think the soldiers we captured acted independently?"
Wilkinson didn't answer that, but his expression said enough. "We still have no authorisation to offer any plea deals. Or other deals."
"You have it now," Sam told him. "I'll ask Adora to make it an order. In writing."
Both special agents seemed surprised at that.
"Alliance way, this is," Iwan told them. "Princesses are honest like that."
"They aren't naive," Sam added. "But they take their responsibilities as leaders seriously. They won't sacrifice people under their command to save themselves. Or to follow procedures."
Judging by the glances Wilkinson and Paris exchanged, they weren't used to that in the FBI.
To be fair, Sam had not been used to that in the Air Force either. Not until she had started serving at Stargate Command under the General and General Hammond, at least.
She looked at the two agents. "Get them to talk. We need to know who to go after in Russia and China." She smiled at the way Wilkinson and Paris's eyes widened at that. "This is a political and military matter. Not a matter of jurisdiction."
"Da!" Iwan nodded. "Like Iran."
Stargate Command, CFB Goose Bay, Newfoundland, Canada, December 14th, 1999
"So, the Chinese government claims that this was all your doing and that your government has had no knowledge about the contact with the Eudondans or the attack on Alliance personnel?"
Wilkinson sounded rather frustrated. Catra could emphasise.
The Chinese general slowly nodded with a polite smile that was just so slightly smug that Catra wanted to slash the mirror glass separating her from the interrogation room and rip it off his face.
"You're not fooling anyone," Wilkinson said, shaking his head. "We know you're lying."
"I have told you no lie," Li retorted.
"True," Kira said next to Catra.
It didn't mean anything, though. Li hadn't actually said anything substantial during the interrogation. Of course, as a member of the Stargate Command Council, Li had been aware of magical truth spells - it wouldn't have made sense to send sorceresses from Etheria to help guard the Stargate and not inform the people in charge of what they could do.
In hindsight, using truth spells on the people in charge would have made more sense, at least in Catra's opinion.
Wilkinson looked even more frustrated on hearing Kira's report through the bud in his ear. "What was the plan, anyway? Take us all hostages?" he snapped.
"Not you. Just the friends of She-Ra," Li replied.
"True." Kira sounded as surprised as Catra felt - was Li suddenly breaking his silence?
Wilkinson's eyes had widened, but he quickly recovered and leaned forward on the table separating him and Li. "Catra, Major Carter, Dr Jackson and his wife?"
"Yes."
"True," Kira whispered.
"And you thought this would give you leverage to make demands to the Alliance?" Wilkinson asked.
Li slowly nodded again. "The Supreme Commander of the Alliance values her friends dearly."
"And yet you tried to murder General O'Neill."
"That was General Sidorov's plan."
"True," Kira reported.
Wilkinson shook his head again. "You had access to the Stargate. You had the freedom to explore the galaxy. Why would you risk all that?"
Li kept smiling without answering.
"He won't say anything that can be proven as a lie," Catra said.
"Earlier, I thought he might, but now…" Kira sighed.
The sorceress had to be tiring; keeping up a spell for so long was exhausting. Catra doubted that Kira would bring it up, though. Not until she was about to collapse. The woman probably felt guilty for missing the entire plot until Sam had come in.
"You knew you wouldn't escape. Hostages or not," Wilkinson tried again.
"A small chance is better than no chance at all." Li sounded as if he was quoting someone.
"Were you planning on letting your superiors 'convince' you to release the hostages and surrender?"
Li's smile didn't change. The man had a great poker face. On the other hand, his refusal to answer was an answer itself.
And, despite Wilkinson's frustration, this was enough. At least for Catra. "So, Li's been planning to take the fall for his leaders. Even though no one's going to believe the story. And he probably set up Sidorov somehow." Maybe to make himself look better in comparison. Or to get back at the Russian - Catra didn't think anyone who had to work with Sidorov liked the man even a little bit. Unfortunately, the Russian general hadn't said a single word. For all his faults, he could shut up perfectly.
"Yes." Kira nodded in agreement.
"Do you think that this would have changed anything? No one believes your story!" Wilkinson repeated himself.
Li, once more, didn't answer.
"What do you think was his plan?" Kira asked.
Catra shrugged. "Trade hostages for concessions, maybe." That was what they usually did in the files she had read. Though that only worked when the kidnappers had managed to get away in the first place and managed to make a deal later, from a safe position. She couldn't remember anyone actually successfully using hostages to escape.
"In the movies, they usually demand a flyer for some reason. Maybe he wanted to use the Stargate?" Kira suggested while Wilkinson repeated himself again in the interrogation room and Li predictably failed to answer.
"And get stranded without supplies on some rock? Or end up eaten by a monster? Not that we would have let him go - he knows too much," Catra replied.
"What do you think would have happened if you had killed us all?" Wilkinson said. "To China."
That was a good question.
"I do not think Princess She-Ra would punish others for my crimes. Or would let anyone else do this."
"True."
"And do you think that extends to your government?"
Once again, Li didn't answer.
Well, they would find out. Once they reported back to the Alliance High Command with the results of the interrogation.
Alliance Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium, Earth, December 14th, 1999
"...and in the face of worldwide outrage at the use of chemical weapons against the Alliance, the Russian and Chinese governments both independently released a statement that their representatives at Stargate Command acted on their own and denied any responsibility for the attack. In other words, either the Russians and Chinese are lying, or they have no control at all over their most important forces! And neither the current Russian president nor his elected successor has been seen in public since the attack, prompting speculation about a coup."
"...meanwhile, the United Nations Secretary-General called upon 'all sides to refrain from hasty actions', and various nations from the Middle East condemned 'unprovoked aggression against sovereign nations for alleged crimes committed by individuals'."
"...while the Secretary General of NATO has released a statement that the organisation is 'closely coordinating with the Alliance' with regard to their response to the attack on the Stargate but refused to comment if Article Five has been brought up so far. With uncertainty whether or not NATO countries in the Alliance have access to space-based weapons, it remains…"
"...in response to the senator's repeated statements that 'another day of infamy' required an 'equally swift and decisive response from the United States', he asked whether or not they consider Newfoundland part of the United States, and what…"
"...the world holds its breath as the Alliance leadership is gathering to decide whether or not they will respond to the Stargate Incident with war."
"...where the peace protesters and the counter-protesters clashed violently, and the police arrested…"
Jack O'Neill sighed and switched the TV off. Yeah, releasing the news about the attack on Stargate Command had gone about as well as he had expected - but they couldn't have let the Russians and Chinese set the narrative or something. As if anyone would believe anything what either country claimed! Well, except for half the world, according to the United Nations.
He got up, checked that he hadn't left anything on his desk that he needed, and walked out of his office, nodding at the additional guards posted in the hallways as he passed them. Security was very tight, with most of the allied countries' leaders present. Two frigates in orbit directly over Brussels, a full regiment of his command ready to drop in combat shuttles, the rest of the special forces on standby… He snorted at the thought that if the Alliance decided to attack Russia and China, they could just change their preplanned deployments and strike at a moment's notice. Or rather, mop up what the frigates above Russia and China would have left standing after Priest opened with orbital bombardment.
Getting into the meeting room took getting scanned - three times. It was a bit of an overreaction, in his opinion, but he hadn't said so out loud.
This time, uniforms and suits had about equal numbers inside the room. Jack nodded at the guards inside the room, then headed to his friends, trying not to catch the attention of the assembled presidents and prime ministers. He wasn't in the mood to make small talk with politicians on a good day, certainly not now when everyone would want to use him to get more information about the Etherians' thoughts on the matter.
Exchanging greetings with his team and the Etherians, he took his seat. "Let's see whether or not we get to do a live-fire invasion exercise in Russia and China."
Catra and Glimmer chuckled, but Adora frowned at him. "Don't give Priest ideas! He already proposed that we have a volunteer 'act on his own and bombard all strategic assets of both countries'."
That would actually be very fitting, in Jack's opinion. Show the Russians and Chinese that if they tried to be clever with 'rogue soldiers acting on their own', they would suffer the same in return. And since it would be a clone acting, they could just have him change his name and claim they had punished him - no one would be able to tell the difference…
"Don't you get any ideas either!" Adora told him.
He gave her his best innocent smile. It didn't work, of course, but Glimmer and Catra laughed again. Then the meeting began, and everyone stopped laughing.
"...and so while we are almost absolutely certain that the dealing with the Eurondans wasn't an unauthorised action by Generals Sidorov and Li, but a coordinated plot by at least parts of the governments of Russia and China, we don't have sufficient intel to say the same about the actual assassination attempts," Adora finished her report.
"Do we have proof of this?" the German Bundeskanzler asked.
"Not according to your legal standards," Glimmer replied. "But General Li refused to answer any question that could have shed light on that while admitting his own guilt."
"While under the effect of a magic spell," the President pointed out.
"No. Kira cast the spell on herself to detect truth, not on Li," Glimmer corrected him.
Jack had to suppress a snort when the President frowned at her. "It's not going to make a difference for the United Nations. They'll claim you can't trust magic."
"We could have a signed confession, witnesses and a recording of the Russian and Chinese leadership plotting together, and they would claim we made it up!" Glimmer shot back.
She wasn't wrong, of course.
"Besides, neither the UN nor Russia and China pose any military threat to us," Glimmer added. "They cannot stop us from doing what we want."
"Which, according to our analysts, is what prompted the whole thing in the first place," the French Président pointed out.
"Well, that ship has sailed. They did it, and if we don't respond, they or someone else will try it again," the British Prime Minister said.
"We cannot let such an attack go unpunished," his Canadian counterpart added.
"And we won't," Adora said. "But what will we do? Wipe out the Russian and Chinese military and arrest their leaders?"
"That would throw both countries into chaos!" the Bundeskanzler protested. "Millions of civilians would be endangered from the internal strife alone, and other countries would be encouraged to take action against the disarmed nations!"
"And we don't have the forces or the political capital to occupy Russia or China, let alone both of them," the President added. "We would be dragged into an insurrection at once."
"So, they're holding their people hostage?" Glimmer scoffed. "All the more reason to not let them get away with this!"
"We could take out their strategic weapons," Catra suggested. "And their leaders."
"That would still leave them leaderless and with huge armies that will be dragged into the resulting power struggle. A new civil war in either country would be almost certain," the British Prime Minister said. "If we want to take out the leaders responsible for the attack, we need to ensure that a replacement government is ready to take over."
One that will be seen as a puppet regime, Jack thought. With all that entails.
The President nodded. "And we'll still have to be on alert against asymmetrical responses like terrorists sponsored by either country."
"We can handle that with our updated scanners!" Entrpata chimed in. "Unless they have more alien technology like that gas they used."
"We need more information," the British Prime Minister said. "We need to know what is happening in the Russian and Chinese governments. If there are internal divisions that we could exploit. And who is responsible for the whole affair, of course," he added almost as an afterthought.
"So we do that. And we need to release the information we have so we can keep up the pressure on Russia and China," the President agreed with a glance at Adora and Glimmer. "And placate our own public."
Both nodded, although a little reluctantly.
"And we need to find those Eurondans and investigate them," Catra added.
Jack nodded. They hadn't found them yet, but with Lenkova cooperating, that was just a question of time. Sooner or later, the aliens would contact their 'partners' again, but this time, the Alliance would meet them - disguised as Russians and Chinese.
More spying. And no crushing the Russians or Chinese. For the moment, at least.