Alright ladies and gents, I'm back and the ep moves along.
For while Woolsey prepares to do battle with a snake lawyer.
NID deputy director Kim Statterfield plays some mind games with a pair of ex Goa'uld analysts! And the NID gets to shine.
@Spartan303 You asked me how the NID would play out, here's part of your answer.
P3X-797/Devorias
September 30th.
If there was one thing, NIDâs deputy director could give these two it was that they understood the value of truth telling. Not so much the truth, mind or a willingness to cooperate and divulge information or sources or plans and schematics. No, but the ability to be completely honest but using figures of speech or turns of phrases that made it insanely difficult to determined
if they were lying or not and when to be completely honest because handed your interrogator a bunch of facts that are important to distract you from sensing more valuable info and then pushing to get it out.
What was more amusing to her was that they werenât a threat. She could tell that from how they approached SG2 and how they requested asylum. They werenât there to infiltrate or spy and if they were, the telepath could have just convinced her to give them her seal of approval. No, Statterfield thought, these people hadnât even asked to be settled on Earth, they only asked to be given over to TauâRi custody and then given right to request sanctuary on Abydos or to move on through the gate. America was just a means of dodging a corrupt space cop and she found that hilarious how harshly it put things in perspective. No, the games
Inari and
Sekhen played were games they were doing merely an exchange of skills and testing a fellow professional. Of course, that made Statterfield way more suspicious than she might ordinarily have been. On the other hand, it was nice interacting with spies who loved their country for once, with Statterfield swearing that the NID was the only arm of the US intelligence apparatus that remained loyal.
Seated opposite, there seemed to be two main points of contention that drove them to leave. The first was that no matter what they did in service of their civilization, any children they had (Which was still a wild concept, sheâd read how Goaâuld do it and how they essentially repurposed organs andâŚyeah..awful. They might have been mammals but they reminded her more of a worm like version of the Borg.) would never be allowed to do more than menial tasks or mid-level administrative work if that. Their lifespans would be measured in the thousands of years, which was a lot longer than the average lower tier snake but for a biologically immortal Peer it was torture, and her husband would be dead in a thousand or so because of where he came from. That was still an insanely long life, at least from Kimâs perspective, all of this was contingent on him not dying and them finding new hosts or cloning their old ones when these expired.
And their children might never have a future
if they had any at all.
Inari was looking at a very long, lonely life and
Sekhen was looking at a lifetime of doors constantly closed in his face and worse if he didnât defect with her. Worse was the fact that their relationship was downright criminal due to the fact that three of
Skhenâs immediate forefathers were Goaâuld that were as she was given to understand it. Fairly primitive, to where one belonged to a species that only developed sentience due to the hosts they took. Heâd be killed for mating with her, and she would likely face a lengthy prison sentence and then sheâd be shut out from any form of service. It was to where Statterfield was tempted to recommend asylum on earth. At least, there they could still
serve which is what they seemed to want to do more than anything. But she wasnât sure if theyâd accept it.
They swore an oath to shield the Imperium from its enemies and even with how disillusioned they both wereâŚThey didnât seem to want to break their oaths. Except to warn Earth of what they saw as an entirely illegal invasion and what they believed was a prelude to a treasonous coup detat against the Imperial throne itself. But thatâs what made their flight to Devoarias so odd. Was Heqet in on this conspiracy and if so, why didnât they just pass that up the chain of command? Unless they felt that the imperial bureaucracy was so full of holes there was no safe way for her to act? If so, then that concept terrified her, the kind of purge that would be needed to right an IC that large was a terrifying thought in its scale. -They probably have more spies than Earth does people? How many of those will get fired and how many will face worse if measures are taken?-
It was all conjecture of course, but Kim had seen enough institutional corruption in her time to recognize the signs and alien snake in a brain or not, the body language and emotional intensities didnât seem to change. Except that he was a hundred and thirty and she was over three hundred and that gave them a lot of emotional control.
But they were still sentient, and sentient beings seemed to have tells that were universal if her time on Abydos and with Tealâc was any indication. Of course, that went both ways, Statterfield had to watch herself with them making sure she didnât give anything away and to also make sure she wasnât being too biased.
After all, their relationship mirrored her own. It took a lot to get where she was, on her own, to be able to love Rob and start a family with him while not being seen as a dangerous interloper in dynastic squabbles amongst the ICâs âreigning familiesâ. âSo, if Iâm understanding this right, you donât want to live on TauâRi? You just want us to help you find a place to start a new life huh?â she asked, finally bringing the discussion back to this more poignant aspect of their story.
âWell, we figured you wouldnât allow us. Especially when we said you wouldnât exchange our knowledge on weapon systems to you.â
Sekhen offered, he sounded remarkably young and boyish the way Jackson did, which was amusing from her perspective because he was older than any living human and yet sounded like a goofy teenager half the time. Inari remained silent, but she seemed to be nodding in agreement and Kim found herself smiling pleasantly
caught ya bitch.
âWe wouldnât have a problem with granting you residency, youâd have to avoid doing things like going to a hospital or what have you. And you wonât be allowed to live in an area with civilians, it would have to be a house in a military base and your movement would have to be
controlledâŚâ restricting movement on a body jumping telepath was going to be impossible and it would probably be better if they werenât treated like prisoners, but unlike junior who was never going to jump out of Tealâc these two could do a lot of damage if they got away. On the other hand, if all their neighbors subjected themselves to regular imaging. âIf it werenât for your cultural taboo against body theft, you would never be allowed on Earth. As it stands you would never be allowed to run around without escort, at least not until our tech catches up to your biology..any way. I might be old and withered by then, but you guys wouldnât and fifty to a hundred years isnât the same for you as it is for us I guess. But that would be a major point. Youâd be allowed to live well, especially if you worked with us in some kind of advisory capacity or in a diplomatic sense helping us avoid conflict with your people and helping us craft treaties and set policy.â That seemed to appeal to both of them, but their hesitance again made her suspicious. -Is she pregnant or something? - Kim thought, was her concern for her kids?
âWould we be allow to..reproduce?â
Sekhen asked suddenly (Apparently Skara found his name amusing because in Imperial standard it meant âfellowshipâ and âtrustworthy and nobleâ which was an amusing name for a spy but in their dialect, it meant hug, huggable and good friends.).Kim made an effort to appear conflicted, which she wasâŚBecause it didnât sit right with her to think that her government would be able to prevent a pregnancy. As a mother there were few things viler than population control policies, but she would have to advise the President that no, under no circumstances should they be allowed to have kids even if it was just the standard one or two or three that female Goaâuld who werenât queens with their assembly line uteri were capable of producing. Not that they wouldnât be able to find volunteer hosts, the longevity and pure health offered by a Goaâuld would be mighty tempting, but the personality death risk, or the loss of autonomy and then there was the fact that her offspring would essentially be infants exposed to the full force of an adult personality before they themselves had time to develop and no, that was all kinds of wrong for her on an instinctive level. No, it would be both a national security risk and potentially inhumane (Both to snake and host.) Something in their eyes caused Kim to have to stop herself from craning her head, from her perched position on the back of a chair sheâd turned forward to use as a head and armrest while they talked. -Sheâs not pregnant, but sheâs deeply concerned, like sheâs nervous weâd hurt her kids.-
Would they?
She hoped not.
Sheâd kill anyone in the NID who even suggested cutting up some Primâtah whose only crime was being born a baby snake in a suburban bathtub. Granted, she was vaguely aware certain types Goaâuld queens were forced to lobotomize their own young to use for Jaffa, so their government did worse to themselves but. No, her eyes flickered, there was something in their eyes a pathological fear of experimentation, because there was nothing in their eyes that suggested the happy couple was worried about being told no, they couldnât have babies but that hearing yes would present a whole new batch of worries. -What is she hiding? Wait she canât be queen or something can she?- If that was the case, thenâŚthere was a whole bunch of leverage that was given to them but only if they behaved like monsters. -That fear, itâs not just maternal-, Kim had a bunch of kids, she recognized fear for your children, and she recognized fear of being told you couldnât
have children.
This was a fear of the first.
âAre you two worried because sheâs
Yahataâs daughter?â Kim asked, deciding to ask a personal question that was slightly off the mark to gauge Inariâs response. âYour father didnât take up arms against my government, he didnât conspire to try and blow up my leader. He didnât escape our law and then run around the backwoods wreaking havoc for a hundred years on Earth.â She began when there was a hesitancy that confirmed her speculation⌠Yep, she thought. Gotcha.
âIn our society, we donât believe in attainting people. Your sins die with you, we donât visit it on your kids, so if thatâs why youâre asking. You donât need to worry, besides all Yahata did to us was the attempted murder of a few of our soldiers whilst in the commission of another crime. He paid for that, and I am sorry for your loss, but we would never hold that against you.â
When they both breathed a sigh of relief in unison it was the first half-truth theyâd ever told and when they failed to realize she never actually answered them, she decided it was time to hit home.
âOf course, we donât have Jaffasâ
â
what?â Sekhen breathed, Inari clutching his hand below the table paled.
âWell, I was going to say, help us build a cloning machine and it wouldnât be a problem and having some homegrown Goaâuld to help us potentially fend off any kind of petty raids from Apophis in the long run wouldnât be, not that it would be much help against a full scale invasion.â She grinned eying Inari before adding. âBut I think youâd need a whole lake, arenât you big ladies supposed to be able to mother a literal army every couple months? You donât strike me as a land mammal, my guess is your little legion of Murican Primâtah would need a nice amount of water to mess around in, as they matured. In absence of jaffas?â
They both looked horrified and Sekhen shook his head frightfully. âNo, no my grandfather was born in a lake, all eight thousand of his brothers and sisters were eaten by avians and fish and crustaceans noâŚHe would roll in his tomb and curse me for a regressionist if I dared to see my sons and daughters brought up like thaâŚâ he pausedâŚand then purpled in embarrassment at being duped so easily.
Inari laughed and Kim thought it was a nice laugh, but it was a resigned laugh.
â
Jamah! Youâre good Kim Statterfield, almost
preternaturally good. For someone so young.â
Kim smiled, rising from her seat and giving a dramatic bow and a flourish as though she were a maestro who had just ended a symphony.
She supposed in her own way she was, all three of them were. Conductors of the song of lies and shadows at least.. âFrom one professional to another, you honor me. But you realize, you canât ever dissemble with me again, right?â
The two nodded. âWe wonât, we promise.â
âGood, Iâll forgo the leverage game where I fake being indignant, ask you to tell me how Iâm supposed to know if youâll honor your promise since youâve lied to me and then use that to extort a concession or two out of you. Letâs talk, spy to spy and.â She paused as she sat back down. âFuture mother, to mother. After all you want to use America to get away, I canât let that happen for free, especially not without inviting you to stay.â
Damn, if I can get them..If I can get an insight into whose dirty and who isnât. She thought, that kind of knowledge would be way more valuable than learning how to build weapons to arm a few ships against their tens of thousands.
Leverage, theyâd actually have leverage against the bad actors in the Imperium, who were her enemy as much as they were the
Sekhen and
Inariâs.