TSS Prometheus, High Earth Orbit
George Hammond was generally known amongst his peers as 'the patient General'. Anyone who had Jack O'Neill as his 2IC or dealt with the generally crazy things the SGC dealt with every day would have to have the virtue in ample supply. But even his patience was wearing thin and the Bridge crew of the Prometheus was being treated to the sight of the General trying to wear a hole through the deck plates by his worried pacing back and forth.
Colonel Ronson, the Master and Commander of the ship, was careful to school his face into a neutral mask from the Captain's Chair while trying his hardest to suppress his own amusement at the General's behavior. But the worry was something that was rather universal at the moment.
Deadalus, the sister ship of Prometheus had now been MIA for almost five days since the rogue NID agents had hijacked her. The only thing that stopped Hammond from mobilizing every damn resource he had to find the wayward ship was the fact that Ambassador Potter was aboard, and would more than likely easily retake custody of the ship from Simmons. But it was also clear that everything had not gone to plan.
The bulkhead to the CIC opened and Colonels O'Neill and Pendergast stepped in.
"Nothing yet, Lionel," said Ronson automatically to his fellow starship Captain in sympathy. Colonel Lionel Pendergast threaded his fingers through his military regulation dark blonde hair in frustration, his tall, strong form stiffened momentarily and his fists clenched. Colonel Jack O'Neill frowned and after a sporting a scowl on his face turned around and headed back out of CIC.
He stopped in his tracks though as the Com Officer called for attention. "Sir! Tranquility reports contact at the edge of the Solar System…" the Lieutenant pushed his earpiece deeper… "we've got IFF…it's Deadalus."
The Bridge crew flashed relieved grins at each other, while Ronson smiled at the guests aboard his ship.
"Sensors, what's she doing?" asked Ronson.
"Umm, burning for Earth at full sublight, sir."
"Anderson, let's meet up with her and escort back," he ordered the Helm.
"Yes sir."
Prometheus broke orbit and angled herself for an intercept with her sister ship.
"Com, open a channel."
"Channel open."
"Prometheus to Deadalus, come in, please."
There was a few moments of nervous silence and then over the speakers…
"This is Ambassador Potter on the Deadalus. It's good to be back."
"Hey, what took you guys so long?" snapped Jack.
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TSS Deadalus
"Nice to hear from you too, Jack," said Harry sarcastically, standing at the Com station. "Oh, you can tell Colonel Pendergast his ship is fine, the Hyperdrive might need a once over and a wall fixed, but other than that she's ship shape."
"The Colonel is understandably relieved to hear that," said Ronson.
"Oh, and if its not too much trouble we would appreciate a solid meal transferred over here," said Harry, his stomach grumbling just from mentioning it, "we're pretty much running on empty, so to speak." He grinned at Sam.
"Potter, this is Hammond, I want to reiterate Colonel O'Neill's question…"
"Yes, General, in brief the reason we took so long is because well…we found what the NID were after…"
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Both ships now hovered in Earth orbit and Hammond, Jack, Teal'C and Pendergast were beamed directly into the CIC.
"Major," said Jack severely, staring at Sam as she removed the interface helmet, "you know how I get when you don't check in."
"Yes, sir," said Sam, slightly sheepishly.
"Where's Jonas?"
"Keeping Ms Donovan out of our hair, perhaps we should adjourn to the Captain's Briefing Room," suggested Harry with a smile, "then we can give a proper debriefing." The way was lead by an understandably anxious Pendergast; clearly wanting to know what his precious ship had undergone while it was out of his hands. Here Sam and Harry reported the events while munching on some Powerbars, they spoke of the hijacking and the subsequent stranding in the relative middle of nowhere, until Jonas built the Tok'ra navigation tech, and the brief First Contact with the Aschen.
"Anyway, once we'd determined our exact position we engaged on a course straight for home," said Harry. "However, an hour into the flight back I started to poke around the laptop that the NID agent used to take over Deadalus. Luckily, she'd left her system on and open because it had some pretty hefty security. In it were their original course and after a lot of searching I found in a hidden file a hi-res picture of the tablet describing the hidden Alteran technology cache. One of the first things I noticed was that they had mistranslated the co-ordinates, clearly whoever they got for linguists didn't have a good idea about which dialect of Alteran they were dealing with."
"But you could read it," stated Hammond.
"Yes," nodded Harry. "The coordinates led to this system here…" he picked up a remote and pointed to the main display screen which was showing the Milky Way, a blue dot lit up about a thousand light years along the Orion arm of the galaxy. "…and as it so happened it wasn't too much out of our way back to Earth."
"Of course, there was no food on board, so I looked for a suitable planet along our course…we found one, but it didn't help much since it was uninhabited and we didn't feel safe eating the native fruits, we did get water out of it though."
"So you went to the cache," said Jack shrewdly, "wouldn't it have been better to come back to Earth get a few more people, supplies, and then go back and check it out."
"The Ambassador felt that we couldn't afford to wait," said Sam looking uncomfortable. "He convinced me that in the time it would take to organize a mission there, that the NID would try to at the very least infiltrate an operative to in his words 'mess the whole bloody thing up'."
"Valid point," conceded Jack.
"Hey, they had all the command codes to Deadalus, thanks to Simmons," said Harry in irritation, "what's to say they couldn't pull another stunt like this. I mean they effectively stole an important strategic asset vital to Earth's defense. I wouldn't at all be surprised if the President hasn't ordered the FBI to storm NID headquarters and arrest all of them already."
"He came this close," said Jack, holding his thumb and forefinger in a 'small' gesture. "But that still wouldn't get us the true architects behind the scenes, which would have to happen before we bring the hammer down."
"You brought him into the plan, General?" said Harry, with raised eyebrow.
"I think he could be useful," said Hammond. "I'll explain later."
"All right," said Harry. "Anyway, we proceeded to the cache, it was very cleverly hidden in the main asteroid belt of the Solar System in question. It had stealth, cloaking, energy dampening the works, you could've spent your entire life searching the place and you wouldn't have found it…unless you happen to be an Alteran, or descended from them."
"What do you mean?" asked Pendergast.
"I mean that the moment that we entered proximity of the cache, that the interior systems must have detected my presence and revealed itself to our sensors," said Harry. "It was located inside a hollowed out asteroid."
"What did you find?" said Jack, an eager light in his eyes. "Tell me we got some big honkin space guns."
"Not exactly, Jack."
"Aww," he mock pouted. Teal'C raised an eyebrow at Jack's antics.
"But it was nevertheless definitely worth it," said Harry with a grin.
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TSS Deadalus, Cargo Bay 1
As the group walked through the bowels of the ship, Pendergast brought up the subject of the NID agents that had hijacked his ship.
"They are safely imprisoned in the Brig, one we've had to keep unconscious because he has telekinetic powers."
"What will become of them?" asked Teal'C.
"Oh, that will be up to the STO Council to decide, I suppose," said Harry absently. "Until they can be convened I think it would be best if they get transferred to Tranquility's lockup, so the NID can't reach them. As for the telekinetic guy, I can put in a call to the Descendants, they'll keep him safely secured."
They stopped next to the large doors of the main cargo bay, which automatically parted at their approach. The sight beyond was enough to astonish and shock the newcomers.
"Wow," said Jack.
Lining the left side of the cargo bay were racks upon racks of metallic shelves filled with squid-like looking devices. To the right were elegant looking square cargo boxes that were piled all the way up to the ceiling
"On the left," said Harry, "is the Alteran's main ship to ship weapon. A simple word for them in English is 'Drones', but they're more of a guided missile, their range and effective power is dependant on the energy source of the ship firing them. Area 51 can study some of them, but they can only be fired from an Alteran ship, so they'll be pretty much useless for the Prometheus and the like. But the Achilles can sure use them."
"And the boxes?" asked Jack.
"Well, I haven't really had a chance to look through everything yet thoroughly," said Harry excitedly, "just gave them a once over. But…take a look." He walked over to the nearest box, which stood at hip height off the floor and was about a meter long, by half a meter wide. He caressed a hand over a series of small blue squares on the side; it immediately opened itself with a hiss. The lid stopped in line with the sides and everyone stared down in it rather incredulously.
"Carter," said Jack, blinking. "Is it just me, or is there an entire room of gadgets in there?"
"It's not just you, Sir," said Sam with an awed grin. "These boxes obviously use a form of dimensional spatial engineering to actually be bigger on the inside, than they could be on the outside."
"Obviously," said Jack wryly. Harry shook his head and quickly climbed in the box and brought out one of the devices that were stored inside. It was a hand held device, with a thick golden handle, and a square glass crystal blade that protruded half a foot from the hilt. "A lightsaber?" ventured Jack with a grin.
"No Jack," said Harry, rolling his eyes. After a bit of concentration the device lit up with a blue glow. "This is…well…an Alteran hand weapon of sorts. On its current setting it will stun you quite effectively, this is the default setting." He concentrated and this time the weapon turned to a dark green color. "Now it will kill." Another concentration, the device turned gold. "Now…" he turned to point the device toward a nearby box and after a brief flare, the box hovered itself off the floor. "It basically acts as a capacitor for the 'powers' of the wielder, preventing you from tiring as quickly." He hovered the box back to the floor and turned the device to its original setting. "It requires considerable training to use in the manner I just did. To you it would just be another Zat gun, until you get training at least."
"Impressive," said Hammond.
"Yes, well, a lot of the stuff in here can only be used or initialized by an Alteran so some of it will be useful and practical to Area 51 for research, others won't because it would take a few more centuries for Earth to develop to a point where we could reverse engineer it ourselves."
"I'll order a science team from A51 to assist you Ambassador," nodded Hammond, "Colonel, I'm sure you'd like to get your ship back in the barn."
"Yes, sir," nodded Pendergast.
"Major Carter…"
"Yes sir, I'll take the Helm."
"Lets get cracking people."
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Seaworld
He poked his head into the doorway of the many labs that filled the underwater complex to find a rather amusing scene. Aiyana and Apollonia were both standing in front of a wide curving control terminal of typical Asgard design but reconfigured to use Alteran characters and numbers. Ahead of it was a large display screen, which was currently displaying a number of time spatial equations and blueprints. They were arguing in rapid Alteran and occasionally gesticulating to the screen. What made it amusing and a true sight was the fact that both women had seemingly just come from sunning themselves on the beach; meaning that all they had on was a sarongs tied around their hips and slippers. To the right at another control station was the Asgard Kvasir and Heimdall watching the spectacle with quirks of their small mouths and blinking their large black eyes rapidly…in Asgard body language that meant they were going through the Terran equivalent of visibly restraining themselves from laughing…though an Asgard would never laugh, or at least, what Terrans would know as such.
He sneaked in quietly and sidled up to the two Asgard, knowing that they would've surely noticed his approach already.
"Hey…what's going on?" he whispered.
"Your wife is considering introducing some…improvements in the construction of Alteran Power Modules, based on high energy physics principles perfected over the last few thousand years by the Asgard which were developed and improved from the portions of the Alteran database," said Kvasir in a low pitch, or what an Asgard would consider a whisper.
"Ah, let me guess, Aiyana thinks otherwise," said Harry.
"Indeed," said Heimdall.
They watched the argument for another half a minute before he decided to intervene. He stepped forward abruptly between the two women, who gave a start of surprise at his sudden appearance. He automatically hugged and kissed his wife, and merely gave a hug to Aiyana, but held onto both women loosely around the shoulders.
"Ladies…" he said remonstratively. "While I admit the entertainment is fascinating…" both women glared at him, "you are both arguing in circles. Now, from what little I heard and can see displayed on the screen I think your problem is more about philosophy. Do we stick with what is tried and tested and we know works?" he glanced at Aiyana, "or do we seek to improve and make better what we already have?" now turning to his wife.
"My argument is more practical," said Aiyana eventually into the thoughtful silence after his statement, "if we encounter Alteran outposts and facilities that require the Modules they won't be able to accept the new ones your wife are proposing to manufacture."
"Valid point," stated Harry.
"The Module technology has been used since Aiyana's time, that's over five million years," said Apollonia. "If we don't grow and improve we become stagnant and die, that's a simple natural concept of life and evolution. Sooner or later, we're going to meet a threat…" she glanced significantly at Harry, clearly referring to his brief jaunt into the future, "…that will be greater than what we've experienced before. What is that Terran saying, my husband, 'There's always a bigger fish…'"
"Yes," he nodded.
"Then why not do both," said Kvasir, tilting his head. "If your worry, Aiyana, is about compatibility with existing facilities, then retain the external characteristics of the Modules, whilst still improving the internal area of space-time."
"Utilizing energy from a Module is a delicate very precise process, my other concern is that the systems drawing power from such an improved Module will not be properly calibrated and you'll end up destroying the Solar System you happen to be in."
"Then we calibrate them beforehand," said Apollonia simply.
"It would take months, if it was an Outpost, a city-ship would take decades of careful calibration work," said Aiyana dryly.
"Ok, ok," said Harry raising his hands. "Then that means we'll build the good ol' Modules for the old stuff, and upgraded Modules for the new. I'm sure the Achilles, Briseus and Artemis can be retuned to accept the new Modules in…mmm…two months, maybe three. That'll free up their respective Modules once the new ones are built. An speaking of which, I've brought something that will help."
"What is it?" asked Apollonia, interested.
"Follow me."
A few minutes later found, Harry, Apollonia, Aiyana, and the two Asgard standing in a formerly empty lab. Well, it seemed empty at first glance. In the middle of the room, an ornately crafted obsidian black pedestal, with a two-foot large table area integrated on top, on the left wall, was a square organic looking device, also in obsidian, with a small circular transparent surface in the middle. It was mounted at head height, and two smaller devices roughly half a meter below.
"This won't be familiar to you Aiyana, as they were invented after you were…frozen," he said, and walked over to the wall-mounted device. "This is an Alteran Assembler." He stepped forward and abruptly the Assembler lurched forward and almost seemed to grow itself into a new mold that covered the upper half of Harry's face. The two smaller devices also grew out and began to glow blue, his hands grabbing them and starting to vaguely twitch.
The lights in the room dimmed and abruptly above the obsidian pedestal numerous complex representations of holographic parts began to float in mid-air over it.
"What you are seeing now, is the basic components of a PR7," announced Harry to the room. "Now…" his hands began to twitch faster and suddenly the holographic parts began to assemble themselves and not a minute later a holographic PR7 hovered in the air, only to land on the table…there was a white flash of light and right there was a brand new PR7 lying on the table. There was another flash, and it dematerialized. Now new, much more numerous holographic parts began to hover in the air.
The Assembler abruptly lurched away from Harry and retracted into the wall.
"The parts for a Power Module," said Apollonia, pointing at the hovering components.
"Yes, however, I merely know of them, I can't put them together, that's where you come in."
"This is excellent, this will surely cut down on production time for a single Module," said Aiyana. "During the time of the Plague it took us half a year to do just one."
"It's been improved on a lot over time," said Harry with a grin. "With this, and the right materials…three weeks?"
"Two," rejoined Apollonia with a smug smile.
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SGC, Earth
'…the scene in Los Angeles today was scorching as a man with the ability of controlled fire or Pyrokinesis, went on a rampage in a local mall. Reportedly he had been going through a rather vicious divorce case in court…city fire officials report that the mall suffered extensive burn damage and minor structure damage…no casualties although many had been brought to the ER for smoke inhalation….'
'…this is the latest in a string of near disastrous metaphysical incidents across the country and abroad. Government officials and the Delphi Academy have a released a statement urging everyone to keep a tight reign on their own emotions and avoid situations where you may become easily enraged. An internationally published journal will be available in a variety of media on basic mental techniques on how to control the various common abilities yet discovered within the next week…'
'…and to repeat our major news item today…Senator Kinsey's assassination has sent shock waves through Washington. With his party's national convention just weeks away, the Senator was considered by many within his party to be a contender for the second spot on the presidential ticket…'
Harry watched the plasma screen with a grim frown. Sam, Jonas and Teal'C were also congregated in Jonas' Lab, looking at the screen with more neutral faces. The assassination of the Senator was troubling…the man had been neck deep with the NID…who would stand to gain from his death?
Before he could carry these thoughts further into how this affected the President's plan to bring down the NID, Jack stepped into the room still dressed in his civilian clothing with sunglasses hanging from his neck.
"Hey!" greeted the Colonel, and Sam hit the 'mute' button the plasma. "I'm back. What did I miss?"
"Sir, Senator Kinsey is dead. He was shot," explained Sam with a sigh.
"What?" said Jack, blinking after a stunned silence. He glanced at Harry, who merely tilted his head and nodded.
"Yeah, it's been all over the news for three days," said Jonas.
"I've been on vacation," pointed out Jack.
"It looks like it was a professional hit. The shooter took him out from a hotel room across the street and then just disappeared," explained Sam further.
"Any suspects?" asked Jack with raised eyebrows.
"The police have been very quiet about it," said Harry thoughtfully.
"It is reasonable to assume that a man in Senator Kinsey's position would have a great many enemies," said Teal'C with a raised eyebrow.
Jack shrugged and nodded, and at this point more worrying company entered the room. General Hammond looking troubled yet resolute was accompanied by two rather severe SFs.
"Colonel."
"General…" said Jack standing automatically and appraising the SFs.
"I'm sorry to have to do this," said Hammond, "but these men are here to escort you to Peterson. From there you'll be flown to Andrews and then turned over to the civilian authorities in Washington."
"Sir, what is this?" asked Sam carefully and yet intently.
"Colonel O'Neill is under arrest for the murder of Senator Kinsey."
"What?" snapped Jack, his eyes flashing in brief anger.
"You'll have to come with us, sir," said one of the SFs.
"I don't think so," said Jack with dangerous eyes.
"Colonel…" said Hammond trying reason.
"General, I've been on vacation," insisted Jack.
"I believe you Jack," said the General, his tone softening, "but for the moment, we're going to have to cooperate."
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SGC, Briefing Room 1
Sam, Jonas, Teal'C, General Hammond and Harry sat around the large table staring at a rather harried looking Major Davis, the SGC Pentagon liaison, who was staring down at the files which had the preliminary findings of the investigation into the assassination.
"There's no way Colonel O'Neill could have done this," said Sam strongly.
"I'm aware of that Major," said Hammond shaking his head, "my hands are tied."
"Major Davis, if you would please enlighten us as to how the Colonel was framed?" asked Harry lightly. If there was one thing he knew, then it was that Jack was many things; he was a Black Ops soldier, a former father and husband, had a code of honor that he didn't break for anything. Assassinating a US Senator was way off the books for him.
"If it was a frame, it's very convincing by looking at this file," said Major Davis. "It actually looks like the Colonel was in Washington after all. This was taken from a security camera in a hotel across the street from where the shooting occurred, just a couple of minutes after it happened." He thumbed a remote and the viewscreen changed to show footage of Jack in khaki pants and black shirt walking down a staircase with a determined stride. "Now, the trajectory of the bullet indicates that the shot did, in fact, come from this hotel."
"That's doesn't prove anything," countered Jonas.
"No, but based on this evidence, the FBI attained search warrants to search both the Colonel's house and his cabin. They didn't find anything but one of the neighbors told them that they saw Colonel O'Neill dumping something down by the lake. They sent down a diver who...came up with this."
The screen changed again to show an impressive looking matt black sniper rifle that was disassembled in two large parts. "Ballistics matches it with the bullet that killed Senator Kinsey. Well, I don't know what else to say, sir. It's certainly no secret that there was bad blood between them."
"Oh, come on…they've had a few run-ins. That's hardly a motive for murder," argued Sam.
"Okay, I've read the file on Kinsey," said Jonas with a frown. "But it's a little vague."
"Purposefully so, Jonas," said Harry with a raised eyebrows. "Kinsey was associated with the NID, and we don't want what we really know about the man to be recorded in the SGC archives, since it's also available to our 'political' enemies, so to speak. Anyway, the NID and their backers were unhappy with the way the SGC was being run…this was before the STO was formed."
"They tried to blackmail General Hammond into resigning," said Sam. "Colonel O'Neill and the Ambassador found evidence connecting Kinsey to their illegal activities and they threatened to go public with it unless the Senator got them to back off."
"So that's how you have the NID database…" said Jonas looking at Harry with a grin. "But, that means, technically, Kinsey was protecting the SGC."
"True, but I don't think he was very happy about it," said Sam.
"Still, that's not a motive to kill the guy, that's a motive to keep him alive," argued Jonas.
"Yes, but it does give the NID backers motive to remove Kinsey from the picture and Colonel O'Neill in the same move," posited Harry.
"And what about you?"
"My Ambassadorial status protects me, and if they did make the mistake of trying they wouldn't last long," said Harry with an evil grin.
"It is unfortunate then, that we cannot reveal this to the civilian authorities," grumbled Teal'C.
"Senator Kinsey was shot in broad daylight on a public street in front of a dozen civilian witnesses. If we tried to shift this to a military court, it would be a political disaster for the current administration," said Hammond.
"With all due respect, Sir, the current administration owes a lot to the Colonel," said Sam pointedly.
"I'm aware of that, Major, as is the President. Unfortunately, there's nothing he can do for Colonel O'Neill at this time. On the other hand, I'm not a politician. Which is why I'm suspending SG-1's off-world duties and assigning the three of you and Ambassador Potter to get to the bottom of this. You have the full resources of this command at your disposal."
"Thank you, Sir," said Sam gratefully.
After the General had dismissed the briefing Harry sidled up to Sam as they walked out into the main corridor.
"This is an opportunity," he said.
"I know," said Sam. "The backers have made their move. But in so doing they've given us the opportunity to finally investigate them aggressively and expose them."
"So what's your plan?"
"I think Teal'C and Jonas should go and speak to the Colonel, see what he has to say, off the record," said Sam thoughtfully. "There is a remote possibility that this could've been an off the books mission."
"I highly doubt that, but we can't leave any possibility untouched," agreed Harry. "And?"
"You and I are going to analyze that video, see if maybe it hasn't been doctored."
"There's a few mathematical algorhythms that should work nicely."
"Then let's get cracking."
The next day they scheduled another meeting with Hammond to report their own preliminary findings and what Jack had to say.
"He's holding up well," said Jonas, "but he's clearly perturbed by the whole situation. Normally I would never see it, but since I've blended with Kanan I picked up on the little things."
"I've also come to the conclusion that those responsible chose to act now and used Colonel O'Neill's vacation and his known fondness for solitude to leave him with no alibi," rumbled Teal'C, his jaw flexing was the only outward clue what the Jaffa thought about it.
"The Ambassador and I thoroughly analyzed the video tape to see if it had been doctored, but it's appears genuine," reported Sam.
"So, either that is Colonel O'Neill," said Jonas, pointing to the viewscreen which showed the picture of the Colonel in the tape, "or someone who looks exactly like him."
"We have encountered duplicating technology before," said Teal'C his eyes glancing towards Harry.
"Oi, I was on Seaworld still when this happened," denied Harry indignantly, "you can Gate over right now and ask any of the Asgard stationed there, my wife, and Aiyana, you could even ask my children at this point."
"Ambassador, you may have the technology, but I think Teal'C was referring to another occasion as well," said Sam with a grin at the mention of the Ambassador's kids. "Those mimic devices are under heavy guard though."
"What mimic devices?" asked Harry in confusion, Jonas blinked in incomprehension as well. General Hammond and Sam exchanged significant glances in a bout of silent communication and then the older man eventually spoke up with a resigned sigh.
"Three years ago we had a foothold situation here at the SGC. Aliens gained control by using mimic devices to impersonate and replace base personnel, including myself."
"Why have the Ambassador and I not heard about this before?" asked Jonas with a frown.
"Because of the seriousness of the breach, a decision was made to erase all mention of the incident from all records," said Hammond.
"Wow," said Harry in appreciation, "you must've gone through a lot of effort to do so."
"Quite," said Hammond wearily.
"But where are the devices now?" asked Jonas.
"Area 51."
Harry dressed in what he now privately termed his 'MIB' clothes with his ever-present chromesuit underneath stepped into one of the many main secure storage facilities in the underground labs at Area 51. Sam was with him, dressed in her formal Air force blues and a light brown skinned woman was escorting them, she in turn was dressed in semi casual clothes over a white lab coat.
This particular scientist's name was Adrika, and was in fact a student of Harry's.
"How many do you have?" asked Sam.
"We recovered twelve from the SGC, they're all stored here," answered Adrika, as she placed her palm on a scanner pedestal built in front of the hi-tech storage drawers, which were being guarded by a security force field. The field shut down after recognizing the scientist's authority and then pressed her thumb to another smaller scanner embedded into each drawer, which slid open by itself with a tiny hydraulic hiss. Inside Harry got his first look at the devices; they looked remarkably like a four-inch wide seashell at first glance, but the colors and artificiality of it meant it was not created by Nature.
"Has anyone been studying them recently?" asked Sam.
"We've all been focusing on the Cruiser project," said the scientist. "There we go, all present and accounted for."
Sam wasn't satisfied and reached toward the nearest one and picked it up, her face twisted into an upset frown as she declared, "they're fake."
"What?" said Adrika in alarm, rushing forward to grab another mimic device from the drawer. She also drew the same conclusion a moment later. "They're too light…this is just a plastic replica."
"Nihilum!" swore Harry in Alteran. "Is nothing safe from these fatuus!"
"It seems not," said Sam wryly.
Jonas' Lab, SGC, Earth
"How do these things work?" asked Jonas curiously, staring at the 'duplicate' mimic device in the light of a bright lamp on his desk, while Harry peered curiously over his shoulder.
"Well, it's a two part process," explained Sam. "First you take somebody, and then pass them through a large scanning device which then uploads their exact image into a holographic sequencer."
"Which…looks like this," said Jonas pointing at the mimic device.
"Exactly, then you place that sequencer somewhere on you body and activate it, and you instantly take on the appearance of the person you scanned."
"Was the scanning device taken?" asked Teal'C.
"No, it's still at Area 51, we checked it out, they're also doing a sweep for any other items that may have been stolen and duplicated in a similar manner."
"Therefore, they can only impersonate a small number of people," concluded Harry.
"Yes, twelve to be precise," said Sam. "including Colonel O'Neill, Dr Frasier and Daniel."
"What about General Hammond?" asked Jonas, raising an eyebrow.
"The alien impersonating him was trapped in the 'gate room along with several others. They activated some kind of self-destruct and blew themselves up. In case you're wondering, Teal'c and I were never scanned."
"That's good to know," said Jonas, looking slightly relieved.
"I've requested the personnel files on everyone who had access to these devices. I'd like you and Teal'C to check them out."
"What about you and the Ambassador?"
"We're going to be meeting a recent acquaintance of mine at the FBI when I assisted them in the background for the Counter-Intel Op we've got going against the Goa'uld at the moment," explained Harry.
"Working with him we're hoping to get a bead on the real assassin."
Washington DC, USA, Earth
The looming powerful symbol of the Washington Monument towered overhead. This was the closest that Harry had ever been to the gleaming white structure that was erected to honor George Washington. The structure was impressive, standing at over five hundred and fifty feet composed of white marble that was underlain by granite; the whole thing reinforced with interior ironwork. It was a far cry from Alteran architecture, but it was excellent work for its time.
The park around the monument looked like someone had thrown a perfect green blanket of grass around it, the amount of maintenance that went into it was also impressive. He and Sam, still dressed formally, walked towards a specific park bench that faced towards that massive spike in the sky.
On it was another formally suited figure, reading a newspaper. Harry could tell that however engrossed the man seemed to be in the news that he constantly kept cognizance of his surroundings. He knew they were there and both Harry and Sam sat down casually on the bench as well. There was a beep of sound, and they saw that the man had taken his cellphone and placed it on the chair next to him…its outer screen was now blinking in a distinct pattern. Ah…anti-listening device…it probably scrambled the sound reception in the area around them for the folks using directional microphones.
"Ambassador Potter," acknowledged the man, turning a page of his newspaper.
"Special Agent O'Day," said Harry in turn. "I would like you to meet Major Carter."
"Pleasure," said O'Day shortly and lowered his newspaper briefly. This allowed Sam her first glance at the man, he was tall, but slender, he had the build of a track runner. His face was rather pointed and angular, his gray-blue eyes squinting slightly in the overhead sun as he casually scanned the area around them.
"I'm sorry for being in a bit of hurry," said Sam after a few moments of silence, "but why are we here and not meeting you at the Hoover Building."
"Because I'd rather our conversation be kept from the NID," said O'Day coolly. "We sweep for bugs and listening devices a lot, but if there's one thing I've learned is that nothing is truly secure. Deadalus certainly proved that."
"Quite," breathed Sam.
"So what do you hope to achieve beyond what the FBI has already gotten?" said O'Day, the newspaper returned to its former position of covering his face.
Harry kept it brief, but explained the SGCs deductions regarding the evidence against the Colonel O'Neill. It was tricky but Harry managed to dodge around the whole 'Foothold' incident, explaining that it must be tech that the illegal offworld NID operation had gathered before they were shut down.
"You believe the NID has access to this mimic technology?" asked O'Day thoughtfully.
"Yes, but the disguises it can produce don't last long, four to five minutes at most, they've been having trouble mastering the technology," said Sam.
"Ah, so the 'assassin' used it to 'pose' for the cameras in the stairwell."
"Yes," nodded Harry, "and it wouldn't be hard to simply dump the same weapon used into the lake near the Colonel's cabin. Again the assassin used the mimic to appear as the Colonel for the neighbors."
"That's all we need," said O'Day, sighing wearily and shaking his head. "Do you know how much of a nightmare, tech such as this would pose to investigators if it actually entered criminal hands?" The man shuddered just thinking about it. "So I assume you want my help to find the real assassin, then?"
"Indeed," nodded Harry.
"We also think that the assassin could also lead us to the private backers who've effectively hijacked the NID for their own purposes," said Sam.
"I see," nodded O'Day. "Well, if there's one guy in this town who would love to see the NID rot in the annuls of history then it's me."
"Why do you think I chose you?" asked Harry with a raised eyebrow. O'Day shrugged his eyes growing hard.
"Umm…I hate to ask…" said Sam, glancing between Harry and O'Day.
"It's best not mentioned," interceded Harry with a raised hand.
"None of that, Ambassador," said O'Day, shaking his head, 'if we're going to be bringing down the NID once and for all, then I think there can be no misunderstandings between us. My motivation Major Carter, is simple. My family was in Steveston."
"Oh," said Sam her face falling. There was not much more that needed to be said.
Industrial District, Washington DC
The three of them sat in the rental car, whilst O'Day drove, seeing as how this was his backyard. The car turned a corner and sped past a group of factories and warehouses before turning another. The Ford sedan soon stopped at a gate beyond which was an abandoned looking warehouse. O'Day pulled down his window and merely nodded at the surveillance camera pointing towards them. It looked broken as well, but only to a casual observer, looking carefully Harry saw the iris of the lens contract as it focused on them.
The gate opened by itself and allowed their entrance. They parked near the service-loading ramp and got out.
"What is this place?" asked Sam, she was out of her uniform blues now and into similar civilian formal suit attire as her two companions.
"The rifle used to kill Senator Kinsey was not the kind of thing you could pick up at your local sporting goods store. This is a one-stop shop for unregistered weapons. High-end merchandise, professional clientele. There's a good chance our shooter was here," explained O'Day.
"If you know they're selling illegal guns, why don't you shut them down?" asked Sam pointedly.
"I allow them to operate in exchange for information," said O'Day coolly, "stopping them will merely push them deeper into the underworld. And it's not them pulling the trigger." They walked up to a side door next to the loading bay where another camera was watching, O'Day waved at it and a moment later the door opened to reveal a big, burly dark skinned man with a manner that screamed 'bodyguard'.
"Leo," nodded the FBI agent to the bodyguard, who merely nodded back and allowed all three of them entrance into the warehouse.
The warehouse itself was large, open, concrete construction with numerous heavy shelves and brackets housing a veritable arsenal of modern and custom weaponry, P90s, Uzis, HKs, FNs, each major manufacturer of arms on the planet was represented. They approached a desk in the middle of the warehouse looking rather out of place with its elegant mahogany design. Clustered around it were several more bodyguards who looked like they ate barbells for dinner, and Harry idly wondered if they could even give him and Teal'C a run for their money in a physical brawl. It was also clear that these men had clearly benefited from the Great Leap; as one was idly bending what looked like a length of iron before bending it back into its original shape, clearly there were only Terrans in this room.
The man seemingly in charge of the gun runners stood from behind the desk. He was rather small in comparison to his bodyguards and had cocky look about him, he smiled at O'Day and revealed that every tooth in his mouth had gold crowns. Harry raised an eyebrow in astonishment at the sight of the glittering teeth. The gun lord turned to Sam and his eyes took an appreciative glint, then assessing Harry rather warily.
"Agent O'Day," said the gun lord. "Who're your friends?"
"Major Samantha Carter, United States Air Force," said Sam.
"Air Commodore Harry Potter, Royal Air Force," said Harry smoothly, ignoring Sam's start of surprise.
"A Brit, eh?" said the gun lord, "strange company you keep O'Day."
"We can talk in front of them," assured the Special Agent.
The gun lord frowned for a moment and then seemed to accept it. "What can I do for you?"
"We want to know about a seven hundred with a customized breakdown stock," stated O'Day.
"Yeah?" said the gun lord in surprise, "I moved one last week."
"Well, in all likelihood, it was used to assassinate a United States Senator," said Sam.
"What's your point?" asked the gun lord flatly, clearly not that much concerned about the morality of his business.
"Was the buyer a regular customer?" asked O'Day.
"No, I'd never seen him before."
"Is this the guy?" O'Day handed the man a picture of Jack taken from the surveillance camera.
"That's the guy," confirmed the gun lord.
"Did he look at any other weapons besides the seven hundred?" asked Harry thoughtfully.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, he did." He gestured to Leo and the bodyguard disappeared into the shelves of weapons and a few moments later came back with another weapon. "A sound-suppressed revolver rifle."
"Did he handle it?"
"Sure."
"Was he wearing gloves?"
"No."
"Has anybody handled it since?" asked O'Day, seeing where Harry was going with this.
"No, just Leo here."
"How much?" asked Sam with a grin.
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Bloomingdale Inn, Washington DC.
Harry and Sam returned to their two rented rooms in the hotel they had decided to overnight in for the duration of their investigation. O'Day accompanied them in and immediately got busy dusting the rifle for prints.
"Air Commodore?" said Sam in amusement, as she took of her jacket. "When did that happen?"
"Well," shrugged Harry uncomfortably, "I'm still technically a citizen of the UK, Sam. Grew up there the first eleven years of my life. Alien abduction doesn't change that. So a week or so after Disclosure, I was summoned to Downing Street with the President as intermediary. I had a very long and delightful chat with Prime Minister Blair. Not the least of which included him asking me everything I've done in defense of Earth…and humanity out there,"
"…which is a lot," said Sam nodding.
"Yeah, so its not a few hours later when he brings in the Marshal of the Royal Air Force himself, and they give me a commission on the spot, I even have the uniform," he chuckled ruefully. "Not that I've ever worn it."
"They probably feel like they need to stake a claim to you, or at least give you some real authority in terms of the military," said Sam thoughtfully. "And you outrank me now, damn. Air Commodore has the same level as a full bird Colonel."
"Done," declared O'Day, standing at the nearby table, where a laptop now had the fingerprints found on the rifle prominently displayed on the screen. Harry and Sam walked over to take a look. "There's one set of full prints and one partial on the second rifle, neither of which match Colonel O'Neill."
"Assuming the full set matches our friend Leo," said Sam, "then the partial must belong to the real assassin."
"Ok," conceded O'Day, "but finding a name to go with this partial is going to be difficult. This assassin will not be in any database except maybe, for the NID, which they sure are not going to give us access to."
"No problem," said Harry, and produced an Asgard Jewel device and placed it on top of the laptop surface…it glowed for a brief moment. "You'll find a new drive accessible from the OS. Run a search against the database inside it."
O'Day stared at the strange device in amazement for a moment but went ahead anyway with what Harry suggested. Since this was only a laptop the search took much longer than normal but eventually a match was found.
"Well, what do you know," said O'Day, after the computer finished. "The prints belong to a NID agent named Mark Devlin."
"Does it have a current address?"
"Yes, and in DC, not a surprise," said O'Day.
"Let's pay Mr Devlin a visit shall we."
They were back in the car and went through a McDonalds Drive thru for lunch on the way to Devlin's house, when Sam's phone rang.
"Carter…Teal'C and Jonas found something…ok…yeah, we made an ID for the real shooter, NID agent Mark Devlin…yes, we're on the way to him right now…we will be…thank you, sir." She snapped the phone shut. "That was General Hammond, they've got a lead on a scientist at Area 51 whose death was faked. He worked on the mimic device project. Jonas and Teal'C are gonna try and apprehend him."
"Speaking as an FBI agent, I did not hear you say that," said O'Day, as he munched on a burger.
"Your discretion is appreciated, Agent O'Day," said Harry gratefully.
"I realize that these guys act above the law, therefore we can't operate within the minor red tape of procedure and jurisdiction, if we want any hope of catching them."
The drive towards Devlin's house was resumed and due to the heavy traffic of lunch hour it took them half an hour to reach an outer suburb of Washington DC. When they did finally drive past the street that Devlin lived on they kept driving and pulled to a stop two streets away.
"Ok, this guy's a professional assassin, former Delta Force, we've only got one chance to nab him and that's it, we screw up he's a ghost," said O'Day grimly.
"He'll be on his guard, since his op was so recently," opinioned Sam.
"But we'll have surprise on our side, and not to sound conceited, it would take someone of considerable metaphysical skill to hoodwink or overpower me," said Harry.
"Well, we first have to know if he's at home at all, we can't just go up to his front door and knock," said O'Day.
"I think we can," said Harry with a grin, and pointed towards a nearby house where a teenage boy stopped his bicycle laden with papers and was walking up to the front door of a house with a clipboard.
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Mark Devlin was a cautious and paranoid man by nature and profession. He had the look of an 'everyman' but it was his eyes that betrayed his history, an intense, dark coldness seemed to swirl in them to anyone who was perceptive to such things. His house portrayed the mask he had adopted, that of a typical Washington businessman who was a bachelor, the house also bore the subtle signs of his profession, the hidden weapons, the strand of hair he left behind on the door jamb to indicate if it had been opened whilst he wasn't there, all the hidden tools of the spy and assassins trade.
He contemplated his latest job for the Committee, and reflected that he must have fulfilled quite a few fantasies with the killing of Kinsey, the man had made quite a few enemies and pissed off a lot of people to get to where he was…in hindsight, which politician didn't. But what he did do, and which punched his ticket was keeping the Committee from gaining control at SGC. It was originally thought that he did so because his spot on the Senate Oversight Intelligence would make a more overt grab for the SGC unnecessary. But then the STO had been formed and now every major government on the planet had their claws into the SGC…which Kinsey should've stopped…but didn't…and the reason became known to the Committee…he had become a liability.
A beep in his pocket, brought him out of his chair and into his study…the motion detectors had been set off. He walked to his computer and punched up the miniature camera feeds covering the disturbance area…ah…it was the paperboy carrying a clipboard.
Devlin rolled his eyes, and looked at the calendar…sure enough it was collection day. He walked over to his suit jacket and pulled out his wallet. The doorbell rang and a few moments later he opened it partially.
"Mr Devlin?"
"Hello Kevin," said Devlin with a mask of the genial face he presented to everyone in his neighborhood. The boy raised the clipboard to hand it to him. This required that he open the door wider, which he did automatically without thought. It was only years of ingrained instinct and training that saved him in the next moment. It was the tension, and stance of the kid that was all wrong.
This meant that there was a split second difference when he had backed away from the door slightly when the kid seemed to blur with movement and kick the door off its hinges and it shot towards him. His reflexes and the distance he covered when he moved back meant he could raise his arms to deflect the door slightly and prevent it from smashing into his face. But nevertheless nothing could stop the physics behind the move as he pushed back on his heels and in danger of falling backwards.
The door crashing into the floor covered the sounds of desperate fighting that followed a moment later. Devlin deflected a strike from the kid at his chest, but failed to catch the offending limb as it pulled back before he could grab a hold. He had to fend off no less than three attacks next, a low strike followed immediately with an elbow strike, plus a shin kick.
The first two he managed to deflect again, but the kick came too damn fast. The sheer force of it was enough to send his one leg crashing into his other, and the sharp pain enough to convince him he had cracked a bone.
The next thing he saw was the 'kid' gesturing with a flat palm towards his face…there was a flash of red…then nothing…
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The disguise of the paperboy melted away and Harry stared down at the assassin with a hint of respect, the man's reflexes and fighting was top notch, if he had also been trained metaphysically it would've been one hell of a fight, that would probably have turned the house into kindling.
Sam and O'Day entered the house with weapons drawn and after a sweep declared the house clear, though Sam did find an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) in the kitchen that Devlin probably kept for if he had to bug out and leave no evidence in his wake, luckily, it wasn't armed.
Harry and O'Day meanwhile got busy with the task of thoroughly searching the unconscious body of Devlin; the results proved the man was a consummate assassin and left nothing to chance, hidden throwing knives, lockpicks and even a few subdermal implements that they could feel through the skin of arms and legs…Harry wouldn't even be surprised if the man had stuff hidden up his ass.
"Let's get him out of here," said O'Day with a worried frown, "there's a chance the neighbors might've heard the ruckus."
"Carter to Prometheus Actual," said Sam into a hand held subspace communicator.
"Prometheus Actual here. Go ahead." She knelt next to Devlin and placed a special signal tag on him.
"Lock on to the tag signal at my location and beam him directly into the Brig," she instructed.
"Got it, Major, stand by."
There was a ringing sound and a white flash of light and the assassin vanished.
"We've got him Major," confirmed Ronson.
"Recommend you do a full security and medical workup."
"Very well. We'll begin to prep for an interrogation as well, Prometheus out."
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Bloomingdale Inn, Washington DC
The three of them were back at the hotel room waiting and it was well into the evening. It was now just a matter of waiting to see who would crack first, the assassin on Prometheus or the scientist responsible for the theft of the mimic devices, who had been apprehended by Teal'C and Jonas and was now sitting rather uncomfortably in an interview room.
It was obvious the scientist would see reason, especially when they listened to the transcript of his interview, which had been encrypted and sent to their laptop.
"When you switched the devices with the fakes, where'd you take them?" asked Jonas.
"Washington," answered the very much alive Dr Langham, who had worked on the mimic project. "They wanted me to take them myself because they thought using a middleman would be too risky."
"To whom are you referring?" asked Teal'C.
"They call themselves the Committee, they run the whole show," answered Langham.
"We're going to need names," stated Hammond sternly, "you're looking at conspiracy to commit murder."
"I didn't know they were going to use the devices to kill anybody. They told me that they were going to analyze the technology for possible commercial applications," implored Langham.
"Why would you believe that?" asked Jonas.
"You don't think money has anything to do with this? In the last six months there have been at least twenty new patents that could be traced back directly to Area 51. I'm talking industrial chemicals, metallurgy, computers...you name it."
"So they're selling alien technology?"
"No, they're buying it. The members of the Committee aren't spies or secret agents. They're businessmen. The NID agents work for them. They've got hundreds of millions invested and they expect to make billions in return by incorporating alien advancements into their product lines," explained Langham.
"I thought this was about protecting the planet," said Jonas, you could hear the contempt in his voice.
"Well, nobody said it had to be a non-profit business," said Langham.
"Give us the names and we'll ensure your safety," assured Hammond.
"Oh, well, I'm gonna need a few more details. You work for the Air Force. You don't have witness protection program."
"But we do have the Stargate," said Jonas slyly.
"What do you mean?" asked Langham curiously.
"Well, if these people are as powerful as you say they are, there's probably no where on Earth you'd be safe. Fortunately, we have other options," said Hammond.
The names of the secret backers had been attached to the transcript. O'Day glanced and the list and whistled appreciatively.
"These are the names of some of the most affluent and rich businessmen in the country," said the FBI agent, shaking his head. "Prosecuting them is going to be a nightmare and will take years of litigation and court."
"The STO should take care of that nicely," disagreed Harry, and turned to Sam, "what do you think? China, Russia, even the UK could make certain these men pay for their crimes in a sure fashion."
"Are you saying what I think you are?" said O'Day incredulously.
"Theoretically, according to the STO framework, crimes against Earth using extra-terrestrial means and or influence is tried in front of a full gathering of the Council, they can also rule which judicial system to use. So, yes, it's entirely possible that they will find themselves soon in a Russian gulag or a harsh Chinese prison…."
"One step at a time," said O'Day with a warding gesture of his hands. "We have the names, yes, but we need a location."
"That's where Mr Devlin comes in."
Unknown Location, Washington DC, Earth
Six men sat around an elegant table in a darkened room. If a layman were to look at them, he would think them a gathering of business executives; all had a hale look of long experience about them. They could perhaps be deciding the fate of their company, employees, who would be fired, who would be hired. One could even be forgiven for thinking them a concerned grouping of middle age to old men who were wise and had big families, lots of granddaughters and sons who they doted on. They could go out to a country club and blend in seamlessly.
But, as the old adage goes, appearances aren't everything, and nothing is at it seems.
The spokesman for the group, the eldest, tented his fingers under his chin and stared at their 'employee' who stood formally at the other end of the table.
"Agent Devlin, it's good to see you again, now that you have broken cover, please accept our humble thanks for taking care of Senator Kinsey."
Devlin nodded.
"Your usual fee is waiting for you in your account," assured another Committee member.
"I'm afraid there is a problem however," said Devlin raising his hand, "the SGC has Dr Langham in custody."
"That's not important," interjected the Spokesman. "His accusations will be little more than a minor inconvenience for us. Instead of worrying about him, I suggest we use the mimic devices to eliminate another thorn in our side."
"Someone at the SGC or STO?" inquired Devlin stoically.
"General Hammond. Once he's out of the way we can replace him with someone we've been maneuvering slowly forward to be in a prime position for this, he will be much more…sympathetic to our concerns," said the Spokesman.
"If they know about the devices they'll be prepared for it," warned Devlin.
"Devlin's right," said another member, "besides, now that Kinsey's dead, we have other options."
"I think it's time we send someone to talk to Hammond," said the member sitting closest to the doors, "get him to reconsider those retirement plans."
"He doesn't seem like the type to bow to outside pressure," said the Spokesman thoughtfully.
"Well then we are going to have to be very convincing."
"And if he still refuses?" asked Devlin grimly.
"Then kill him," said the Spokesman.
Devlin began to smile and shake his head.
"What do you find amusing Agent Devlin?" said the Spokesman for the Committee.
"You…all of you," said Devlin and began to chuckle. The NID Agent then began to walk around the table. "I admit I'm somewhat impressed." He leaned and clapped two members on the shoulder in a companionable gesture. "You get informed about the Stargate Program…" he began to circuit around the table, tapping another member on the shoulder, "…you bribe the Director of the NID, effectively hijacking an entire government agency for your companies' purposes." He finally stopped behind the Spokesman. "You subvert a number of key military personnel, Harry Mayborne, the most memorable. Even have your own offworld operation for a few years."
"What is this Agent Devlin?" asked the Spokesman in a dangerous tone, as Devlin began to walk down the table.
"This…well, I'm just listing your impressive accolades," said Devlin with a strange grin. "Don't tell you're not proud of your accomplishments. I mean, look at the people of the planet Madronas, how many died when you stole the weather control device from it? Then the thefts from Asgard planets, how many people died when they couldn't find the devices that would keep them safe. Oh, well, they were just primitives so who cares? Oh, and let's not forget Steveston, Oregon. An entire town…dead. The theft of the Deadalus. Finally ending with the killing of Senator Kinsey…well, it's just masterful."
Devlin came to a stop at his original spot.
"But now, I'm afraid it's all come to an end," said Devlin, his hands gesturing grandly, and as he spoke his features changed and melted away to be replaced by Harry.
"Potter!" snarled a Committee member in anger. One of the members fumbled for a concealed weapon, but it was sailing out of his hands towards Harry before he could even get a proper grip on it. The pistol vanished with a ripple of light.
"There is no point in resisting or fleeing," said Harry with narrowed eyes. "Even if you could somehow make it past me beyond the door, Prometheus has your lifesigns locked in and stand ready to beam you out. They are listening as well, and have recorded the entire meeting. In addition the FBI has already surrounded the building."
The Committee looked nervously at each other.
"I bring General Hammond's regards and that of the STO, under whose authority, you are now under arrest. Have a nice day."
The sound of multiple transports and flashes of accompanying light followed, leaving Harry alone in the room. The door behind him opened to reveal O'Day and Sam.
"What will happen to them?" asked O'Day eagerly.
"That will depend on the STO Council," said Harry. "More than likely, one of them will have to publicly take the fall for Kinsey's death, since we still have to provide the civilian authorities with proof of Colonel O'Neill's innocence."
"That will require at least revealing the development and existence of the mimic technology to the public at large," said Sam with a wince.
"It's not impossible," retorted Harry. "Unfortunately, it means that Jack will have to endure a trial and even a retrial."
"O'Neill can thank his lucky stars the Attorney General is privy to the Stargate program, she'll be able to speed the process somewhat," said O'Day. "But what about the others?"
"The STO Council will hold a hearing, just a formality really, most likely they will spend the remainder of their lives on Luna 2…the Naquadah mine facilities there are almost complete."
"You're kidding," said O'Day in amazement.
"Hardly," said Harry dryly with a raised eyebrow. "Though, the Council might still decide on the death penalty."
"They don't deserve the escape of death," countered O'Day strongly.
"Perhaps," allowed Harry. "But you have more work to do Agent O'Day, an order will come tomorrow from the President to have all NID branches, cells and assets to be frozen. All employees arrested pending a review of their actions. The agency will effectively cease to exist."
"Happy day."
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