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Aberrant: Stargate Universe - The rabbit hole goes deeper [Complete]


Mr Fox

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It had been a week since returning from the training mission and he still didn't entirely know how to feel about the way that had turned out. He hadn't wasted time since getting back, he'd dived straight into his investigations of the IOA and the conclusion he was coming to was that it was just a normal human organization with some bad apples. Most of the people's computers he'd invaded were just normal folks trying to get ahead in an important political organization. Most of them. Not all.

To his great surprise the US delegation member Brian Lord turned out to be innocent of the mess with Olivia, or at least there were no computer ties, he might not be totally innocent, but if he wasn't then he was smart enough to no have any record of dealings with the underlings who orchestrated the Hatchin's affair and a.w.o.l. Given that he did find other incriminating evidence in the man's personal files that tended to lend credence to Cam's belief that the man was at least innocent in regards to this matter.

What he wasn't prepared for was what Lord's advisor, Marcus Higgenbottom's computer would reveal...

Cam had spent the last three hours poking around systems getting closer and closer to Lord's underlings. These things couldn't be rushed. The only way to ensure a successful mission was to leave no traces and trip no alarms. That meant step by step moving nearer and nearer a target building a picture of the man or woman's friend's and associates, hacking their computers each in turn, investigating their bank accounts, spending habits, internet searchs, etc. Marcus' computer turned out to be surprisingly difficult to hack. It had more than military grade security measures installed.

That wasn't the first thing that had alerted Cam the man might be compromised. His wife and children all had expenses far exceeding their actual incomes. They hid it well from the IRS no doubt, but when you could see a person's own records... well, that made it obvious. For that reason it came as no big shock that Marcus was not what he appeared. According to his position he should be a high level bureaucrat and political appointee. His salary, and his and his family's spending habits said otherwise.

Cam took his time spending more than an hour on each separate security measure, making completely sure he had bypassed one before moving to the next. When he had finally finished and the computer system was open before him, he wasted no more time. He downloaded everything and reset the security on his way out.

Two more hours passed before he stood up from his termnal and stomped out of his room and down the hall. When he got to the elevator he paused only long enough to decided the safest place to blow off some steam. The gym. It's the only place on base safe for me to be right now...

Anyone he passed or who saw him in the halls or on his way to the gym could easily tell he was furious.

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There was only so many weights that omar could put on a bar before the metal itself began to break. He resigned himself to multiple sets of several hundred reps. He found that he could work with a max of 600lbs before the metal bar groaned in protest.

"198...199...200." Omar set the weights down with a dull thud. "I wonder if I can get command to help me with this problem. He flashed back to aboard Lorien and found the answer.

Just then, a furious Cam entered. The smoke was practically venting from his ears. Omar got up from where he'd been doing butterflies and walked up to the Colonel. "What's up sir? You look like someone just stole your car?"

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Gwyn was on one of the treadmills and had caught a glimpse of Cam entering the gym from the corner of his eye, but it wasn't until Omar walked over to him that he turned and saw his expression. Stopping the machine he walked over to join them.

"Someone has pissed you off big time eh? And since your here rather than dealing with them I would assume that you need someone to spar with to try to cool down?"

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Steve worked out because of vanity and to watch his fellows. Out of habit and an attempt to convince his fellows that this was 'normal' he didn't have a reflection on the mirror.

Watching Cam come in all steamed up Steve joined the talk asking, "Someone run over your dog? Lower your pay check?"

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Cam took a swing at a punching bag chained to both the ceiling and the floor which sent it rebounding on it's moorings.

He took a couple of deep breaths as the men inquired about his mood.

"I'm pissed. Sorry."

It took another few breaths before he could share his thoughts, "I just found out they were talking about putting a snake in my head before they came up with the better plan of forcing me to touch the Ascension device."

He calmed a little then looked around to see who else was in the room. Luckily there were only the three other specialists present. "Look, I apologize, I shouldn't have said anything in here, you guys want to hear about it, I think we should head back to my room or reserve the gun range for a couple hours. I think this needs to be classified. I obviously wasn't supposed to find out, and I shouldn't have said what I just did outside of a secure area."

It was apparent that Cam's brain was engaged again and considering the ramifications of others finding out what he'd just learned.

He frowned then said, "I'm going to head to the gun range and pull rank to close it to anyone but specialists for the afternoon. You guys want to hear about it you can join me but it isn't required. Any of the other specialists is welcome to come too, it kinda is related to what I was telling you on our training mission. and yeah, firing off a couple hundred round should calm me down anyway."

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Ryan had been in the back of the gym, his newfound strength completely plverizing bags after only one or two hits now. He grabbed a towel as the bag came free of it's mounting again. "I guess that ends today's practice."

He exited the back section to find Gwyn, Steve, Omar, and Cam all together and Cam looked pissed.

He saluted Cam and nodded. "Problems sir? Nothing a good round on the range won't solve eh?"

He'd heard abit of the exchange, enough to know the racket of the gunroom would be a better background for this discussion.

"Rifles or pistols this time?"

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Omar shrugged. Pistols. I guess that will have to do. In the back of his mind, Omar had to remind himself that these people had not yet realized that Nova's are far more powerful than pistols. Burning off a lot of quantum could achieve the same effect.

But it was what the Colonel wanted, so Omar couldn't really complain. He went to the armory and signed out the only pistol who's grip could fit in his hand: A modified Desert Eagle- 44 Magnum. It's trigger mechanism had been widened to accomodate his sausage-sized phalanges.

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Ryan left, making sure Olivia and Yesult were invited, telling them to invite Kyria and Aradia and any of the others that could make it and wanted to come as well.

He made his way to the armory, quisitioning a hundred rounds for his hand cannon, a .50 caliber Desert Eagle. His second gun he'd qualified with was a much smaller 9mm Glock he'd always favored growing up.. He procurred the ammunition he needed and made his way into the range to meet up with the others.

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Kyria actually learned of the event from grumbling Airmen complaining that their daily afternoon session had been canceled so those "self-important freaks" could powwow in the firing range themselves. The complaints, while colorful, weren't malicious and she was curious as to what was going on. Her upbringing and her utter faith in nova abilities, however, made the thought of actually grabbing a firearm to take with her to the firing range never even cross her mind. She poked her head into the area, looking for the others.

"Um, hello? I heard something about us training here this afternoon?"

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Once he'd gotten his weapon from the armory and ammo he moved up to the range and started working off some aggression on one of the targets. He figured he would do some of his shooting while he waited for others to arrive if they were coming. That way he'd be a little calmer once he had to start talking.

Round after round went through the heart and that stopped being satisfying. Cam pictured Marcus Higgenbottem's picture in place of the target. That made it a little better. After his first clip the heart was just a big hole in the paper. For his second clip he got more creative and used his bullets to draw a smiley face on the target.

As he did it other specialists began to slowly file in. Once he was satisfied that all were present that were coming he put his weapon down and turned to Major Hawke, "Major check the door please, make sure it's locked. Thanks."

While that was happening he took a moment to ensure there were no spy devices present. That done he started to talk.

"As you know I've been investigating the IOA." He paused for that to sink in, the continued, "What I've found has been a bit surprising. Not that there is a ton of political wrangling going on and constant jockeying for position; that's to be expected in any government bureaucracy. The thing that surprised me was how many of the members were clean, at least of the business with what's going on here. There are a couple with suspected ties to the NID or other organizations that are questionable, but that can be dealt with pretty easily. What I discovered today was personal for me. I found out that Brian Stone, the US delegate to the IOA, is clean, but his advisor, Marcus Higgenbottom is not."

Cam's right fist clenched as if gripping the pistol again, "Seems Marcus was all for putting a snake in my head before he was overruled by Stone in favor of using me as a guinea pig for testing the ATA gene treatment in conjunction with the Ascension device." His eyes narrowed, "From the records I found, Marcus was advancing the idea of implanting me with a Goa'uld as a hypothetical and as a way of being able to interrogate a Gou'ald."

The muscles in Cam's jaw were clenching as he paused for a breath, "From his records, I can tell it wasn't hypothetical. Marcus, or rather someone paying Marcus a lot of money has a Goa'uld symbiote. They were planning to stick a mature Goa'uld in me. The question is why, and who? Somewhere out there on Earth is a mature Goa'uld symbiote."

He paused a minute then put a gentle hand on Olivia's arm. "Marcus is also the one that ordered the Hatchin's affair. I've got the proof."

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Gwyn took advantage of the range sergeant that was there when he arrived to sign out a standard issue 9mm semi-auto. As with Ryan and Cam he obtained perfect scores at the standard range, then wound them back to the maximum range he could to check out his accuracy there.

He listend carefully to Cam's comments before adding, "It sounds like someone needs to have a word with this Marcus. The NID used to have offworld operations, perhaps they brought a symbiote back, or the symbiote in a Jaffa prisoner has matured?"

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She hadn't been sure she should go; practicing at the gun range seemed the flimsiest of excuses for her to be there, but Gwyn said it was important. He also said Cam would be there, so when he mentioned that she might want to invite Vinny, that was the first thing she mentioned to him. Predictably, his hatred of the man caused him to pass, which was just as well. Olivia would fill him in on the important parts later.

Olivia didn't avail herself of the munitions firing; the gun thing was just a ploy, and she was a CO anyway. She checked out a zat, and fired a couple of practice shots just so that she could honestly say that she had done it.

Then Cam got down the real reason they were here. She listened tensely, frowning. Cam's gentle hand on her arm was a comfort, as humans were social animals. "Alright," she said softly, "I have a couple of more questions. Did they think that a goa'uld could overcome the damage that had put you into a coma? And let's remember that if they really wanted it out, a call to the Tok'ra fixes that, so it would have healed you, they would have gotten their interrogation, and then could have removed it. So let's keep in mind while it was personally offensive, it still could have worked out ok. These guys think they're doing the right thing; in some cases, they are, but their means don't justify their ends. Now, can Hemidall find the symbiote using the scanners, assuming it's on Earth?"

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Cam considered Olivia's words, they were something he hadn't considered and they calmed him a bit. "That's just it, I don't think Marcus had any intention of just interrogating the Goa'uld and then removing it. From what I read I'm pretty sure the plan was to give my body to it as a permanent host. I think they've got some mind to make a deal with the Gou'ald. I'm just not sure why. I don't see a reason for it, but the wording of the emails just imply permanency."

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Yseult wasn't that inclined to weapons pratice, but she knew she was the poorest shot in her squad and it behooved her to increase her capabilities. Plus, she could hear the pretext in Ryan's voice.

She prefered the Zat, but did fire off several clips with her Browning High-Power. She was a reasonably good shot, gifted reflexes making up for her amateur skill.

Yseult listened to Cam, her mouth growing tight and her odd eyes narrowing. She nodded, but frowned, agreeing with Olivia's assessment about the possible use for the goa'uld symbiote - she had very little fondest for goa'uld symbiotes of any sort, and for any reason.

The blonde doctor tapped her lips with a finger, pondering the reasons for a seeming deal with a goa'uld. "From what I have heard, Marcus must have spoken with this goa'uld through another host, or at least know who the goa'uld is. I would conjecture that either the goa'uld offered Marcus something for his help or that Marcus wants something in the exchange. A new host would be part of the deal."

"Now, what does the goa'uld want and what is it offering? What does Marcus want and what is he offering, besides a host? And why you, Cam? This was a deal made befor you gained any enhancements from the Ascension device. I would think Marcus would have had an easier time to find a host, than a comatose war hero under constant supervision."

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Kyria shook her head, "You just said it, Yse. Cameron as a host, even a baseline one, would be far more poised to gain valuable information or access to more powerful people than a random person off the street. As for being a temporary host, what do you think the Tok'ra would say about Earth using it's own population as involuntary hosts and torture victims? Do you think the IOA would risk the alliance they have with the Tok'ra for that request? It would have been much easier to simply have faked Colonel Mitchell's death and kept the Goa'uld in captivity indefinintely. A permanent prisoner of war, on both sides."

Kyria's eyes trailed away from the group for a moment. She wondered out loud, "I wonder if some of the missing Specialists are being used that way. They'd risk giving a powerful host to one of the symbiotes, but they'd also learn if novas can be so possessed and if the Goa'uld could gain control of their quantum signature. That is a rather disturbing line of thought."

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Yseult's eyes were wide as she looked at the stunning, young woman. "I had been trying to avoid thinking of such a possibility, Kyria. I had hoped that no one would be foolish enough to believe they would hold all the cards in a game with a goa'uld with the capabilities of a Specialist. I still hope this is just a wild theory. Otherwise, we will be facing a much more immediate danger than from the stars or even from corruption within the IOA."

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Gwyn listens carefully to the ladies, "You said it yourself, Colonel Mitchell was a war hero, who had last fought by flying in a 302 believe. That suggests that, as actually happend, he would gain access to the SGC at a high level on his recovery. What Goa'uld isn't going to be interested in that?"

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Omar had fired at a few targets and hit his mark. It wasn't that he was bored, exactly, but that he felt it was a waste of time. When Cam locked the rest of them in there, Omar knew the real reason they were there.

"A Nova with a Goa'uld inside is a frightening prospect. I would wonder if such a thing were possible though. Given our enhance immune systems and stamina, some of us might just kill off a Goa'uld invader. Others of us, however, might not have that ability and would be excellent hosts."

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Kyria nodded to Omar, "Yeah, although it would also depend on if our immune systems registered the symbiote as an invading creature. Novas would have, I think, two possible defenses: their immune system, including the homeostatic nature of most organisms, and or their mental fortitude. That would most definitely depend on their personality and their quantum expression. Although as for infiltration of the SGC, there would be an easy way to check for any such spy." She grinned a little self-depreciatingly, "Assuming, of course, that the SGC command staff authorized mind scans and that those novas with mental shielding submitted to such a thing. So far in my experiences Goa'uld minds are sufficiently alien to human to be easy to detect. And Jaffa always seem to be walking around with two brains to me."

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Gwyn nods at the comments of the two experienced Nova, "True. I guess that depends on just how much information about the individual Specialists this guy Marcus has had access to. He might not have heard anything more detailed than a variety of superhuman abilities including increased strength, stamina, intelligence agility, increased speed, etc. I would think that telepathy is likely to be something the SGC is going to be more inclined to keep as much to itself as possible, due to it's greater potential for abuse in the political sphere."

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Yseult shook her head, unable to completely agree with Kyria. "A specialist's immune system may be enough to resist the implantation of a goa'uld, but there are no guarantees. A more likely defence would be tissue the goa'uld could not penetrate. On the other hand, one's mental fortitude is not a factor. The goa'uld gains complete control of the host's nervous system. Some might be able to convince a goa'uld to grant them a measure of control, but for the most part, one's mental fortitude would just enable you to survive the experience with your sanity intact."

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"I think Yseult is right. I don't have her medical expertise, but from what I know the Gou'ald get in and take over your body and one of the things it does is disable your immune system, that's one of it's first actions so that it can survive. Best bet is to not get attacked in the first place."

He looked at Kyria, "No scan's of SGC personnel for now please. We will need to take this to the General. Even then I don't know if he would be willing to have you scan Marcus, that would violate his civil rights no doubt and that's not something I could ask you to do in good conscious even knowing he is guilty." Cam wasn't going to ask to have the man scanned, it wouldn't be right, but privately he wouldn't be broken hearted if Kyria did her thing without permission.

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Steve was an indifferent shot, in his experience guns were something to be avoided, but the idea of Goa'uld running around on Earth, much less having influence over the StarGate program was pretty terrifying. The idea of Goa'uld specialists was even more so.

Steve asked, "Kyria, assume you find a specialist with a Goa'uld. Could you just..." Steve groped for a word and settled on, "...fry it's mind?"

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Olivia nervously touched the hollow of her throat, where surgery had hidden the attack from Joltar, so long ago. All this talk of being taken by a symbiote was bringing back bad memories. "I don't know that we can know that, unless she tests some things on Eight. Not frying him. But see if she can sense his mind. And if we want to determine if a symbiote could take over a specialist, the Tok'ra might be willing to let one of us serve as a temporary host for a time, in the interest of scientific research."

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Yseult frowned, seeing the look of concern on Olivia's face, as well as disliking the way the conversation was going. "I do not think that Eight would be a good subject for testing. His host is an essentially mindless clone. In theory, Kyria will only read the one mind. It is being able to notice a goa'uld within an unwilling host that we would want to test."

Yseult's frown deepened at the thought of placing a Tok'ra within a specialist. "I will not condone such a test, nor will I have anything to do with it. The Tok'ra, they have their own agendas, and have shown they are willing to risk us for their own ends. They may very well believe that having control of a specialist is worth sacrificing the alliance with Earth. I may be more inclined to agree if they would share their method of removing a symbiote from a host, but not by much. Further, our specialist physiologies differ to a degree - what may affect me may not affect Omar."

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Ryan shakes his head. "There are too few of us to risk to such a test. Especially with the IOA doing their thing. We would of course have to report our findings and what would happen if we were shown to be an unconscionable risk? They would lock us all away."

He blew the center from another target and frowned. "We need to prevent it from happening."

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"Well, Jaffa always feel like they have two minds about them. As for the Tok'ra.....I don't know. I think maybe of all the novas, I'd have an easier time with it. I mean, I walk around with half a dozen different people shouting in my head all the time, if I'm not careful. I haven't met this 'Eight'. It's a place to start, though."

She shrugged, not really sure enough of what she thought to suggest more than that yet.

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"Actually, Kyria is the last person who should be involved in this experiment," Olivia pointed out. "She'll be the one who'll be reading the minds to see if it can be sorted out telepathy anyway. So it should be a specialist that can't get away easily or overwhelm anyone..." Her voice trailed off as she realized she'd just volunteered herself by those qualifications.

"That's if we do it, and if we can keep it away from the IOA. Given what they were considering with Cam, we should never let them find out about it, but I confess to curiosity about what would happen." She shook her head. "I don't know if we should even be considering this."

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Gwyn shakes his head, "Too be blunt. No, we shouldn't. The one thing that should never happen is a Goa'uld getting a Specialist host, not even a T'okra. And Olivia, we don't have any Specialists like that. Certainly not you, if that's what you were thinking. You can copy other people's powers right? That gives you the greatest chance of getting away of any of us."

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"Non! We should not be considering this." Yseult shook her head vehemently, blond hair swinging wildly. "This idea, it is a very terrible idea. Olivie, do not be curious about this. What will happen, is there will be a goa'uld with formidable capabilties. As well, what you knew, it will know. Have you considered that?"

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"Then we're going to find out the hard way," Olivia said, her voice quiet, "in the field, where it's already a potentially bad situation. I'm not saying we should, but sooner or later, the Goa'uld will come for us, and they'll want us for hosts. I just wanted that to be said."

She glanced at her teammate. "And yes, I am the best choice if we're concerned about power levels. So long as I set things up right, so long as the echo I hold copied is something of limited value, two baseline men can overwhelm me." There was no anger, just pure acceptance as she spoke.

She glanced at Steve, "I'm not sure what you're inferring. Unless you mean a Goa'uld hosted in a specialist changing that specialist's powers, perhaps learning how to create hard radiation? Something like that?"

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Kyria quietly disagreed. "A Tok'ra isn't a bad idea. As for them learning what we know, Yse, by the treaty that was signed with them they are supposed to be privy to any advancements in defeating the Goa'uld. Since we've all been drafted because of what we can do and the current war, I'd say we qualify. And while the Tok'ra might speak riddles around us or decide that we don't need to know the full extent of their technology or spy network, I'd find it hard to imagine them abandoning their core principle when it comes to hosts just to have unrestricted access to a single nova. They're logical and strategic. Once they know what we all are capable of, then I'd wager they'd be much more forthcoming in dealings and trade with Earth to have us available to them at least some of the time. And the experiment would provide valuable information about the general vulnerability of novas to Goa'uld invasion. Remember, they'd be taking at least if not more of risk in the trial than the nova would."

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Gwyn looks at Olivia uncertainly, "But what is too stop the Goa'uld from changing that 'echo' as soon as he has taken control? From what I've seen it just requires a touch doesn't it? And remember it would gain all you knowledge as well. Which is every SGC report, a huge amount of valuable information for the Goa'uld, and I imagine more than the T'okra have been told as well, treaty or no treaty."

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"How much experience have you had with the Tok'ra, Kyria? I've dealt with one of their scientists. She had no compunction in using humans as test subjects, and she was every bit as prone to pride and rash thinking as anyone else. Further, they are fighting a war for their very survival, and there are martyrs among them. They may be willing risk far more than you believe."

Yseult nodded in agreement with Gwyn, "There is also that as well, Olivie. The treaty, it grants the Tok'ra a lot, but not everything. I may have been more inclined to trust them, had they shared their method of removing symbiotes, but they have not, and I do not."

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