Reading Time: 103 Minutes
Title: Finding Righteous
Series: Priceless
Series Order: 5
Author: SASundance
Fandom: NCIS, Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Criminal Minds; JAG
Genre: Crime Drama, Crossover, Hurt/Comfort, Science Fiction
Relationship(s): Gen, background pairing
Content Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Warnings: Rape/Non-con/Dub-con, Slavery, Torture, Violence – Graphic, Violence – Domestic and/or Against Children , Violence – graphic, offscreen torture, discussions of past and offscreen rape/non-con, issues around the loss of free will, loss of bodily autonomy, mind control, past murder of OC character, discussions of miscarriage and abortion, discussions of slavery and implications of mind control, non-consensual drug use, discussion of past domestic violence, discussion of canon vaccination and future vaccination programs, discussion of past canon unethical medical experimentation, character bashing (Elizabeth Weir and Ziva David). Not friendly to: McKay, Gibbs, Keller, McGee, Vance. Death sentences/executions (Note: slavery, mind control, autonomy issues are related to canon events)
Author Note: British Spelling
Word Count: 105,735
Summary: On Atlantis, the trials of the two Genii responsible for the torture and abduction of Colonel Sheppard are due to begin. Back at the SCG, Corp Joseph Favre faces a military trial for conspiring to abduct Colonel Sheppard and assaulting Dr Francesca De Rosa. On Winya, Hotch and Tony’s efforts to convince the Winyans to overturn the conviction of Lucius Lavins victims meet with mixed success. Tony thinks his alter-ego Thomas Magnum may have better luck with the Elders. However, Tony will need someone to impersonate him. When Tony and his alter-ego return to Winya, they find a badly injured child and the Magistrate, Wodren Drell asks them to investigate.
Artist: AngelicInsanity
Chapter 6
Several hours earlier, Aoife was waiting for the Odyssey to beam down the new crew members feeling like the arrival of the new psychologist was going to release some of the overwhelming burdens she was operating under here on Atlantis, dealing with so much psychological distress. If it weren’t for the unexpected but decidedly welcome relationship that she somehow found herself in, she knew that she would be a prime candidate for professional burnout. But the novelty of having a new partner at a time when she never expected to meet someone was ensuring that she was taking time out took time out to spend time with each other.
When she made the decision to go to Atlantis, it seemed like an opportunity that she couldn’t turn down. She recognised it was an adventure of a lifetime and her life up until this point had been singularly devoid of excitement. Yet Aoife was pragmatic – everyone on the international base was likely to be at least fifteen or twenty years her junior and Aoife had never been one who yearned for a May-December romance. So, she’d resigned herself to being possibly lonely and definitely celibate, but she figured it was worth it. If she turned down the job she would spend the rest of her life regretting it. Yet here she was with AJ, who was a generous lover living in a far-distant galaxy in a city created by an alien society on a beautiful pristine planet.
Still as good as her life was these days, professionally and personally, she was relieved that General O’Neill had seen fit to send two more experienced psychologists. And Dr Emmanuel Umwali Nkusi was currently on board the Odyssey, waiting to beam down any time now, having spent 24 days making the journey from Earth. She really couldn’t have come at a better time. The four main trials would be getting underway in the next few days and Aoife knew that its effects on significant individuals would be huge. Fortunately, one of Dr Nkusi’s areas of expertise was rape and sexual assault, something she was uniquely qualified to deal with.
Having read her personnel file, Aoife knew that Emmanuel was a Rwandan. During the war in 1994 between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes that saw genocide of the Tutsi by the Hutu-controlled government through the murdering of the Tutsi males and raping of females, Nkusi had been a nineteen-year-old. Like so many Tutsi family units, hers had been decimated, her father and brothers were murdered right in front of Emmanuel, her mother, and her younger sister and then they raped the mother and her two teenage daughters. The trio fled, her resourceful mother bribed a government official to smuggle them to Uganda and they eventually ended up applying for asylum halfway around the world in New Zealand, arriving there in 1998. It was a small country, but one that welcomed refugees with an openness that many large countries would have done well to emulate.
Not long after settling in Christchurch on the South Island, Emmanuel’s mother (who had become HIV positive as a result of the rape) had developed full-blown AIDS. Her sister, Radiance Mutuyimana who was fourteen at the time of the rape and had become pregnant because of it, fell apart once their asylum application had been granted and they settled into their new home. With her mother too ill, Emmanuel became a de facto mother to her small niece, Grace Cyiza. Between nursing her mother until her death and trying to bring up her niece and help her sister, she somehow found time to study part-time, turning to psychology to try to make sense of all of their tragedy. Aoife knew that was a fairly common reason why people decided to pursue a career as a psychologist, searching for meaning because of tragedy or having a dysfunctional family. Sure, some people went into the field because they were fixers and if they couldn’t fix their own problems, then fixing someone else’s world would fill the void.
Perhaps Dr Nkusi borrowed a little from column A and column B, but her empathy was undeniable, as a daughter caring for her dying mother, as abig sister and a loving surrogate mother to her niece. She had chosen to specialise in working with victims of sexual assault, torture, and genocide. She worked with refugees from war-torn countries, advocating for victim support groups and lobbying the United Nations to aggressively pursue justice for the millions of people caught up in wars through no fault of their own and raped by militias and the military.
Aoife was thrilled that this caring and strong young woman had agreed to come to Atlantis on a two-year contract. She was optimistic that the Winyan ladies, Dr De Rosa and Monique Girard would all be able to relate to her, because rapport was key in being able to carry out effective therapeutic interventions. Plus, she was cognizant of the statistics regarding the sexual assault of females in the military. A recent UK parliamentary investigation reported that almost two-thirds of women in the armed forces have experienced bullying, sexual harassment, and discrimination during their careers. They also found that the average conviction rate for rape in civilian courts, according to government data, was approximately 34%. While that rate should give one pause for concern, it was more than twice that of the paltry sixteen percent conviction rate for rape cases in military courts. Rates of sexual assault were similarly disturbing in other country’s armed services, so this investigation was hardly an outlier or said to apply solely to British factors, either
One of the authors, herself a veteran, lamented that military women are being denied justice, saying it was evident that serious sexual offences should not be tried in the court martial system. A recommendation from the committee had been that the chain of command should be removed from handling complaints of a sexual nature, replacing it with a new authority. It further urged the Ministry of Defence to transfer cases of sexual assault and rape away from military courts and try them in the civilian court system where the conviction rate was higher.
Aoife thought it made a lot of common sense and she was going to advocate that any rape/sexual assault cases in Atlantis be investigated and tried under civilian authorities. Given what she knew of Alex’s views on sexual assaults and rape due to his professional and personal background, she was sanguine he would support her proposal. And since General O’Neill had pretty much admitted to Ronon Dex, that like Colonel Sheppard, he’d been tortured, both physically and sexually as a POW, she was hopeful he would support her proposal too. Particularly since it had already been advocated by the UK parliamentary subcommittee on Women in the Armed Forces she thought the proposal was eminently reasonable.
Given the appalling and mostly consistent statistics across various nations as to their armed services handling of non-consensual sexual assault, Aoife was reasonably sanguine that there’d be military women on Atlantis who’d during their careers, been raped and not reported it due to fear of being singled out and victimised. Once Dr Nkusi began hosting support groups, O’Shea was pretty damned certain they would start seeing a surge of them coming out of the woodwork. And with Emmanuel’s assistance, they could offer support and hopefully some healing to them.
So yes, she had grand plans and high hopes for what they could achieve, all working together.
~o0o~
As Nikola Bates sat on the other side of his desk, wondering what they were discussing, he picked up a pen and started fiddling with it, rolling it around in his fingers. “Okay, here’s the thing. I’m here on Atlantis with my daughter in what we joke about being the world’s most extreme form of Witness Protection program, along with our chief prosecutor and his kid who is hiding out here from a bunch of psychopaths. I’m hiding from the Trust,” he began.
“Alexander Paddington isn’t my real name and yes, we worked together, but that was quite some time ago. Back in the days when you went by Nikki and earned the moniker Neat-Nut-Nikki, although I know the real reason for your germ obsession. My condolences for Eric’s death!”
As Nikola stared at him intently he dropped two more breadcrumbs that made everything fall into place. “So, tell me, do you still stay in touch with Jameel and Tabina in Baghdad, Special Agent Jardine?”
“Tony DiNozzo? Oh my God, it really is you isn’t it?”
“Yep. Hi Nikki,” he smiled at her fondly and she felt that fluttering in her core, making her feel embarrassed.
“Wow,” she exclaimed examining him intently. “It is you, but you look different, good different. Not that you didn’t look good before, but now you look…” she trailed off knowing full well she was babbling awkwardly but she couldn’t help it.
Grinning at her, he finished her sentence, “Different? Good to know the steps I took to change my appearance were moderately effective.”
Still feeling embarrassed by her reaction to him she replied, “Well since I didn’t recognise you, I’d say it was very effective.”
He eyed her over, grinning. “You’ve barely aged at all, Jardine, oops sorry. You’re using your married name now. You look fantastic,” he said appreciatively, “But you didn’t answer my question.”
She flushed and couldn’t believe she was embarrassing herself with her old colleague…old friend. HER NEW BOSS! Even knowing who it was, she still wanted to jump his bones. No, finding out it was Tony made her want him even more and how unprofessional could she get? Pregnancy hormones sucked majorly!
Searching around for a distraction, she said, “Well I guess that along with being old friends, hiding out on Atlantis gives us something else in common. “She extracted an ultrasound picture that Dr Biro in the Atlantis Infirmary had run while on Baby Bates while she was undergoing her medical and handed it to Tony. “Meet Erica Leigh Bates,” she quipped.
Tony looked surprised. “You’re pregnant, Nikki?”
She nodded. “Is that a problem?”
He shook his head, still dumbfounded. “No, why would it be. It’s just that you don’t look pregnant.”
“Nearly five months but I’m barely showing. And I’m wearing loose clothing,” she shrugged.
“And you’re both healthy,” he asked her worriedly.
“Yep, Dr Biro gave me a complete physical – that scan is from today. Erica is fine.”
“Good I’m glad. Erica…you’re naming her after your brother?”
She nodded, suddenly tearing up even though it had been over five years since her brother passed away without regaining consciousness from his long-term coma. Damned hormones.
In the awkward silence, Tony fished out his tablet and located a file before passing it to Bates. “Belle Paddington, my daughter,” he said with a smile.
Grateful for the distraction she seized the tablet and started to flick through the photos, seeing a dark-haired curly imp with dimples and green eyes. “She’s beautiful. She looks like you, Tony. And she has Ziva’s dark curly locks.”
The moment she mentioned Ziva, his eyes grew cold and the temperature in the room plummeted. Okay, maybe don’t talk about Ziva, she told herself mentally.
Suddenly, Tony appeared to be listening to something and that was confirmed when he said, “Understood, Tobias. I’ll be there in five, just wrapping up a meeting,” he said as she noted the ear communication device, just like Garcia’s.
Sighing deeply, he said, Look, I’m sorry but Fornell needs backup. How about we continue this tonight in my quarters. Come for dinner, and you can meet Belle and when she goes to bed, you and I can share how we both ended up hiding out on Atlantis,” he said, holding out his hand.
“Deal Tony,” she agreed, shaking hands as an almost perceptible jolt of lust raced through her body at the skin contact. Oh God, how was she going to wrestle her libido under control, so she didn’t throw herself at him. He’d always had charisma but now there was something else – a palpable air of pain that was doing a number on her newly emerged maternal instincts. She wanted to draw him into her arms and make it all better. She was in big trouble!
“Alex,” he corrected her gently but firmly. “I’m Alexander Paddington and you are now one of half a dozen people who know my true identity,” he said before he cocked his head to the side. “Actually, eight people if you count Paul Davis and the POTUS,” he said grinning.
Shell shocked that the President was one of a handful of people who knew about him, it forced her to consider the information and Nikola wondered what was going on that he needed to hide out here. Well, she would have to wait until tonight for answers, she acknowledged. “Sorry, sorry. Alex. I’ll see you later then.
“Yep, See ya later Nikki. Come round at 1800 – Belle eats dinner early. You might as well get into practice. It will be your life too soon enough,” he told her with a wicked gleam in his eyes as he walked her out the door of the office, locking it after him. “Just wait here, Garcia will be by momentarily to show you the ISBI intelligence set-up,” he said, striding off.
Nikola noted as he hurried off that his ass was still mighty fine as he made his way down the corridor, and she groaned audibly. Oh no, she still had another four long months of hormones, she was in deep, deep shit.
Feeling a soft touch on her shoulder, she turned around to see Penelope eyeing her with concern, she asked solicitously, “Are you feeling okay, Nikola. Do you need to go back to the Infirmary?”
“No, I’m okay, Pen. It’s just these damned hormones, she said turning and watching Tony…Alex disappearing into a transporter.
~o0o~
As soon as Aoife met Dr Nkusi she was struck by her powerful aura, it projected an individual who possessed such a presence, strength, empathy, and calm. It was going to be such a huge blessing to have her here in Atlantis.
After welcoming Dr Nkusi to Atlantis when she was beamed down with the other newly assigned personnel from the Odyssey, she swiftly introduced herself. “I’m Dr Aoife O’Shea, Head of Atlantis Psychological Services Department and thank you so much for coming here.”
The new psychologist bowed her head. “Thank you, Doctor, I am grateful to be here, it was a long flight. Many people complain about the length of time it takes to fly halfway round the world to the Land of the Long White Cloud or to Oz, our sister nation, but the trip to Atlantis has them beat.”
Aoife couldn’t quite contain a tiny smirk. The combination of the psychologist’s hybrid accent – one of Rwandan and Kiwi origins was rather unique, at least to Aoife’s ear. That was one of the things she loved so much about working on Atlantis – it was such a huge melting pot of nationals from all over Planet Earth, plus the addition of natives from the Pegasus galaxy, chiefly the Athosians too.
Heaving a sign, the newcomer introduced herself, “Dr Emmanuel Umwali Nkusi,” she smile at O’Shea, “and it’s great to be back on solid ground once more.
Her smile was infectious, and Aoife realised how charismatic this young woman was. Beaming right back she asked, “How do you prefer to be addressed socially, Doctor?”
“I’m not fussed. I answer to Emmanuel or Umwali. Generally, Rwandan children are given an English or French name and a Kinyarwandan name and we use both interchangeably, although since fleeing our home, mostly it is family who call me Umwali these days,” she said with a shrug.
“Umwali sounds rather musical. What does it mean?”
Chuckling, her new colleague told her, “Sadly, it does not have a poetic or historical significance. I’m afraid it’s rather mundane. It means a well-behaved girl. Rather like the Puritanic names of Hope, Faith, Charity, I imagine.”
“Well since I hope to become like family, while you are here in our city, if it is alright with you, I’d like to use it,” Aoife told her.
“I’d be honoured, Dr O’Shea,” Umwali told her.
“And please call me Aoife,” she directed.
“Thank you, Eva, I will.”
“Aoife, not Eva. It is the Gaelic form of Eva spelt A-o-i-f-e but is pronounced Ee-far. And I realise that you didn’t ask, but it means joyful, radiant, or beautiful,” she informed her mischievously.
“I will remember, Aoife. And it is quite a coincidence, but my little sister’s name is Radiance Mutuyimana Nkusi,” she replied with a fond smile.
“What a pretty name,” O’Shea commented.
“Yes, but her Kinyarwandan name is one that many Westerners have trouble pronouncing.”
“Well with so many nationalities living here on Atlantis, we tend to be more accepting of our differences. We tend to embrace them,” she said.
She explained that Umwali would need to report to the Infirmary first thing to receive a medical exam, they set off to cross that off the list of tasks that needed to be attended to, in getting Nkusi settled in. While they made their way there, Aoife asked Umwali about her journey out here. Umwali spoke with affection about her cabin mate, an intelligence analyst named Nikola Bates who Aoife already knew was joining Alex’s burgeoning new agency. He had been most excited to have her joining the agency. He told Aoife that he’d worked with her previously at his old agency and they were friends, but she left NCIS not long after losing her brother and he’d subsequently lost contact with her. It sounded as if Umwali had already formed a friendship with Nikola Bates and Aoife decided to try to get the psychologist assigned quarters close to the intelligence analyst after she dropped her off at the Infirm.
When they arrived, it was Dr Biro, Dr Beckett and Dr Keller on duty dealing with the twenty-odd physicals required for the new arrivals, plus the Odyssey crew would start dribbling in over the coming hours as they secured and shut down redundant systems while they were docked on Atlantis for a short time. It was Aoife’s understanding that once the tribunals got underway, Odyssey would be orbiting New Lantea but until then, the crew were getting some well-earned R & R. Which meant that they too needed medical clearances before being able to mingle with the Lantean military and civilian population. In light of the Trust managing to place a Goa’uld symbiote in the captain of Earth’s first supply ship 304 battlecruiser who subsequently planted a bomb on the city in its early years, Aoife considered mandatory medical examinations the only prudent response.
So as Keller grabbed the newly arrived psychologist, no doubt to try to pump her about why a second psychologist had been assigned to Atlantis, Aoife set off to consult with Colonel Lorne.
Once inside his office, he smiled at her. “What can I do for you, Doctor?”
“I do know that this is way below your pay grade, but I thought I’d cut through the red tape, Colonel. My new psychologist, Dr Nkusi was bunking with Nikola Bates on the trip out here. They’ve seemed to have struck up a friendship and I was wondering if we can assign them quarters close by?”
Lorne frowned. “Well, that shouldn’t be a problem ordinarily, but General O’Neill requested that Special Agent Bates be assigned quarters in the family wing, not with the single civvies. She’s pregnant.”
When she heard that, Aoife wasn’t truly surprised. Alex probably requested it since they were friends and Cassandra Fraiser also was single yet roomed in a one-bedroom apartment in the family wing. As she considered the situation, she wondered if aside from their developing friendship, Umwali wouldn’t feel more comfortable in the family wing. She had effectively reared her niece and was now cut off from her and her sister, so having families around her might be more comfortable. Not to mention that even the civilian scientists could be pretty boisterous at times if they were having downtime between projects. Umwali struck her as someone who would relish the more village-like environment.
“Okay, is there any reason why Dr Nkusi can’t be assigned to the family wing too? If there is room?”
Lorne considered the request. “I guess not. Cassie Fraiser lives there, but she requested to be reassigned. Check with Dr Nkusi if she wants to live with the families. Some people don’t like kids,” he said. “Can’t understand it myself, but Rodney would definitely not appreciate being surrounded by rug rats,” he pointed out.
“That’s very true, she agreed. Can I ask her when I collect her from the Infirmary and get back to you?”
“Good plan, and meantime, I’ll just go ahead and reserve this single-bedroom apartment across the hall from Agent Bates in case she says yes,” he told her calmly.
As she left his office, Aoife reflected on just how lucky Atlantis was to have had such an effective leader step into the breach when Colonel Sheppard was abducted.
~o0o~
A little after 6.00 pm Nikola Bates managed to locate Tony…Alex’s quarters. Not that it was much of a feat seeing that he resided in the family quarters wing about half a dozen doors from her own cosy apartment. Which reminded her of the thoughtfulness of General O’Neill and Colonel Davis, who had unbeknownst to her, loaded up the cargo hold of the Odyssey with a bunch of baby stuff, a crib, a cot and bedding, a baby bath, a highchair, a playpen, and a portable cot for her to keep at the ISBI office, plus enough diapers in incremental sizes to see them through Baby Erica’s first year of her life.
The sheer thoughtfulness of the gesture by the two men who’d previously closed ranks around her when she told them about Mason and her fear of him, overwhelmed her. It was so nice to feel like she wasn’t in this on her own and the damned tears had welled up and overflowed, much to Garcia’s consternation.
“Hey Hon, is everything alright,” she asked, sounding panicky.
“Happy tears,” she managed to blubber. “God, how I hate those damned pregnancy hormones!”
Penelope grinned at her in relief. “Only another 16 weeks to go, mon amie.”
Later, after the disrupted meeting with Ton…Alex, Penelope had shown her around her office set up and she was floored to find out that the two Air Force officers’ thoughtfulness hadn’t stopped at her quarters. Pen led her to a room, albeit a small one that had clearly been purpose-built adjacent to her office where a comfy rocker had been installed for her to breastfeed/bottle feed Erica in privacy, plus a small sink and microwave.
She found herself blubbering for a second time and although she wasn’t the most demonstrative individual, she welcomed Garcia’s enveloping hug.
She knew it was going to be tough being a single working mom but somehow, she felt like she was no longer quite so alone. Learning that there were other women (and men she corrected herself picturing Alex) on Atlantis who were a mere stone’s throw away when she needed help was incredibly comforting to Nikola. Up until recently, she’d always seen herself as strong and independent but in light of her falling into an abusive relationship with Mason, which she struggled to extricate herself from, her confidence and self-esteem had nosedived. Being welcomed to Atlantis so warmly was a huge boost and her hormones hijacked her body as the tears flowed.
Any misgivings she may have experienced on the extended journey on board the Odyssey to the Pegasus galaxy were swiftly put to rest. It felt as if she had found a new home and that was just after a few hours on the wonderous city of the Ancients. So, she took a deep breath and activated the Ancients’ equivalent of a doorbell to alert Alex that she had arrived. She smiled as inside; she could hear a childish voice calling out that there was someone at the door and her father’s reply telling her he would see who it was.
As the door slid open, disappearing into a wall cavity, she noted that Alex had changed out of his Atlantis uniform into old jeans and a white T-shirt, and she was glad she’d changed into similar attire although her T-shirt was magenta. His daughter…Belle was wearing a pair of denim shorts and a red tank top – her hair in pigtails. When she saw who it was, Nikola saw a look of disappointment flash across her face before it was replaced with an expression of intense curiosity.
Ton…Alex took Belle by the hand and invited Nikola in. She noted that although their quarters seemed similar, his had a larger kitchen and big living area as he led them to the living area gesturing for them to sit down. She sat at one end of the sofa that Nikola observed was long enough to sleep on and he sat down in the middle but not encroaching on her personal space while the little girl hopped up on the other side of her father, using the arm of the sofa as a backrest as she sat at ninety degrees so she could see the strange lady. While she was clearly curious, Nikola thought that she seemed cautious or shy, which seemed unusual in a child of Alex’s but still, she wasn’t terribly experienced in reading young children.
Alex interrupted her musing by saying, “Belle, I want you to meet a good friend of mine. Her name is Nikola Bates and I used to work with her back on Earth. She’s come to Atlantis to help us keep everyone safe,” he explained.
Nikola felt like the little girl was scrutinising her intensely before the child responded. “Back when you worked at the Navy police, Papa,” she asked.
“Yes, kidlet,” he confirmed.
Making eye contact with Nikola, Belle smiled politely, “Hi,” she said with a small wave of her hand before asking, do you like to be called Nikola or Ms Bates? My teacher said it was polite to ask.”
Surprised at the composure of this small person, Nikola smiled at her. “Well, she’s probably right, but I’d like you to call me Nikola if it’s okay with your Papa,” she said.
Her father grinned. “Yeah, that’s fine…er, I mean okay. I’m not supposed to be using the f-word. Aoife has banished it from my lexicon,” he admitted laughingly, as Nikola wondered if this Aoife was someone he was seeing and felt a stab of jealousy at the thought. She later found out that she was seeing him, but not in the sense of going out together.
“Nikola, if you worked with my Papa at the Navy police place then you must have known my eema too?”
She smiled at the little girl. “Yes, I knew her too, Belle. Once I helped your papa play a prank on her,” she said chuckling.
Belle came closer, climbing onto her father’s lap and snuggling into his chest trustingly. “What did you do?”
“Well, you see, your eema had played a trick on your papa and he wanted to play one to get her back.”
Belle’s green eyes were wide and curious. “What did you do?”
“Papa asked me to tell Eema that I saw him fiddling around doing something under her car.”
She turned her head to look into Tony’s eyes. “What were you doing under Eema’s car Papa? Did you leave a melon under it, so Eema ran over it and made a big mess,” she asked him.
Smirking, her father said, “Nope. I didn’t do anything. I just wanted to make your eema think that I did something so she would spend the day trying to figure out what I did,” he explained.
“What did she do to you,” she jiggled up and down on his lap in glee.
“She put black shoe polish around the outside of a pair of binoculars, which are things that you look through to make things that a far away much bigger, he said.
“You mean those special glasses that we looked through when we went whale watching? Then what happened,” she asked agog with excitement.
“Then when I looked through the binoculars I got black shoe polish all around my eyes – I looked like a racoon, Kiddo and no one on the team told me.”
Belle giggled. “That’s funny Papa, but someone should have told you,” she said loyally.” It was crystal clear to Nikola that she adored her father. As she thought more about the pranking, Belle seemed puzzled.
“Papa, I don’t think that was a very good prank you and Nikola played on Eema. You didn’t do anything. You should have put a watermelon under her car like I said. ”
Nikola looked at Alex and they both started to laugh because that was the whole prank. Ziva had been paranoid all day, expecting he’d pull
off some huge hoax to get even and the longer that nothing happened, the jumpier she grew, waiting for the other shoe to drop. But it was impossible to explain the sheer brilliance of their prank to a little child who could hardly be expected to understand subtlety, nuance and psy-ops.
Shrugging at the unfathomable antics of her father and his friend, Belle asked her, Nikola, “Do you like the Power Rangers?”
Caught entirely off guard at that conversational gambit, Nikki looked at Tony with a sort of a what? Help me look.
He was no help. He said, “On your own with this one, Nikki.”
“Is that a movie, Belle?” It was a reasonable assumption given who her father was.
The little girl stared at her goggle-eyed and open-mouthed at such massive ignorance. “No, it was a television show, and we have it on DVDs, she said. “Do you want to watch it together,” she asked eagerly.
Nikola shrugged. “Sure, Belle why not,” she said rhetorically only to learn that young children, or at least Belle Paddington not only didn’t get their prank, but she also didn’t understand rhetorical statements either. Duly noted – she had a lot to learn it would seem.
“Did you mean now?”
“ Yes, because Papa might say that we need to eat dinner and then after dinner. he might say that it’s time for me to go to bed,” she explained, before looking at her father with huge pleading puppy dog eyes. “Please say yes, Papa, pleeease!”
“You can watch one episode, Missy, Then we’ll eat,” he told her firmly as she jiggled up and down with joy. “Now would you two ladies like something to drink,” Tony inquired.
His daughter grinned. “Can I please have juice, Papa?”
“Yes, you can. What about you, Nikki?”
“Some water would be good, thanks.”
“Okay, water and juice, coming right up,” he said, disappearing into their compact kitchen, and leaving Nikki and Tali together.
As he got out the glasses, Tony wondered how long it would take Tali before Tali glommed onto the fact that she was pregnant. Hopefully, she wouldn’t find out for a while because Nikki was barely showing yet. Once she knew about Erica Leigh, she’d start nagging him again about wanting a baby sister or a brother and he was so not ready for that right now. Thanks to Ziva, he honestly didn’t know if he would ever trust anyone again.
Chapter 7
As he returned with the drinks he asked Nikki, “Any trouble finding our quarters?”
“No, I’ve been assigned to family quarters too. General O’Neill thought it was easier to do it sooner rather than later,” she said with a shrug. “I’m grateful that he did.”
“Neat. Good to see Jack was thinking ahead,” he said approvingly.
Handing around the drinks, a juice box for Tali and two tall glasses of iced water for himself and Nikki, Tali finished setting up their DVD player, accepting her drink with thanks although she looked pensive.
When he asked her what was wrong she said, “Do you have any children, Nikola?”
The intelligence analyst smiled shyly. “Yes, I do, Belle. I have a daughter called Erica Leigh,” she said, gently stroking her tummy as she spoke.
Tony groaned inwardly. It looked like Tali was going to find out about Nikki’s pregnancy much sooner than he’d hoped would be the case.
Tali squealed a big grin on her face, her dimples on display. Can I meet her,” she wheedled.
“Not just yet, Nikki told her.
Looking distinctly put out, the five-year-old said, “When can I meet her?”
Chuckling, she said, “In four months, you can see her.”
The pout on the child’s face was priceless and Nikki obviously felt bad about teasing her, so she said. “But if you want to, you can say hello to her now.”
Looking at her wide-eyed. “Okay, where is she. Are we going to have Skype calls?”
Beckoning her over to her end of the lounge, she said, “No, not Skype. She’s right here.” Lifting her t-shirt up to display a modest amount of midriff, she told her, “She’s in there, in my tummy. She’s just a tiny baby, too small to be born yet, so Erica is snuggled up being kept warm and safe inside of me,” she told her patiently.
“You’re really having a baby, Nikola. You aren’t trying to prank me?”
“No, no pranks. Would you like to see a photo of the baby? Dr Biro took her picture today after I arrived here on Atlantis,” she offered, proudly.
Her eyes glowing with excitement, the little girl nodded, so Nikola managed to extract the ultrasound picture out of her pocket without disturbing Belle who by this stage, was leaning her elbows into her lap. Retrieving it, she gave it to the girl.
The child examined it for several minutes before finally commenting, “I don’t think Dr Biro is very good at taking peoples’ pictures,” she finally said. “Are you sure you are having a real baby? It doesn’t look like a baby to me,” she said doubtfully.
Chuckling, Tony told her, “ That’s because Erica hasn’t finished growing yet. But all babies look like that when they are only 20 weeks old.”
“So did I look like Erica too?”
“Yep, you did.”
“Do you have a picture of me?”
“Sorry kiddo, I think it got burned up in the fire,” he told her sadly.
“Oh, that is bad. How many more sleeps before Erica can come out and play with me,” she wanted to know.
The information analyst chuckled. “ Not long. Probably only 112 sleeps before she is born.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of sleeps. Where do babies come from; did you buy her from a shop? How did Erica Leigh get inside you, Nikola? Did you have to swallow her like medicine,” Belle rattled off a series of bombshell questions inquisitively.
Nikola suddenly felt like this conversation was getting way out of her depth and she heaved a massive sigh of relief as Tony stepped in to rescue her from explaining the facts of life to his daughter.
“Nikola and Erica’s daddy made her together, Kidlet and her daddy helped make sure she was snug as a bug inside Nikki. But we can talk about this later, I thought you wanted Nikola to watch Power Rangers with you. You have to hurry up or there won’t be enough time,” he cautioned her gravely.
Nikki’s extreme embarrassment abated after Belle’s intense curiosity to learn about the birds and the bees was so adroitly deflected.
“Okay Papa,” she acquiescence obediently because either Power Rangers trumped all, or Tony…gah ALEX was a firm father and Belle was accustomed to having boundaries. Putting her head close to Nikola’s abdomen, she said, “Hi there, Erica Leigh. My name is Belle and I’m your friend. Hurry up and get born soon, I want to play with you. You can go back to sleep now.”
Both adults thought that her talking to the baby was just about the cutest thing they’d ever seen. But as Tony stood up to go heat up some lasagne, it seemed that Belle hadn’t quite finished.
“Nikola, did Erica’s papa come here with you to Atlantis?”
Tony stopped and turned around, getting ready to stop the conversation if necessary, even if he was just as curious since he knew that she was alone. He just didn’t know why.
“No, he didn’t come with us,” Nikola said softly.
“Is he dead?” she said looking sad.
“No Belle, he tried to hurt me and Erica, so he isn’t allowed to come near us anymore,” Nikola told the little girl before taking a long drink of water, having reached her comfort zone in talking about Mason Peters.
Looking angry, Belle said, “If he is being a bully then Papa will put him in jail until he learns a lesson,” she insisted. Papa is a policeman, and he can lock up bad people, can’t you?”
“Ah baby girl, it might be a bit hard, seeing as we are out here on Atlantis. I think we’ll have to ask Uncle Jack to put him in jail,” he said as Nikola nodded.
“If Uncle Jack is General O’Neill, then there’s no need to bother. He and Colonel Davis have already taken care of it,” she said shakily. “Mason is cooling his heels in jail waiting for trial,” she said as Tony beamed.
“Good! We have zero tolerance for domestic violence on Atlantis,” he said before jumping up and starting the video to quell any further discussion by his nosy daughter.
After dinner he supervised bedtime rituals, brushing of teeth, and changing into sleep clothes. He’d already given her a bath earlier that afternoon after they had been making clay pots in their arts and crafts class, so in a short amount of time it was time for her to say goodnight to their guest before reading her a bedtime story. Meanwhile, Nikki offered to clean up the kitchen and put the water on to make a cup of tea. When she was ready for bed, Belle approached Nikola and gave her a good night hug, her earlier reserve of Nikola having melted away. She was glad that Belle felt comfortable enough in her presence to give and receive a hug in return.
And it was clear that she’d initiated the hug because as Nikola well knew, a seasoned cop and fed such as Alex wasn’t the sort of parent to insist that his daughter hug and kiss adults for the sake of being polite. That sort of polite convention simply made it that much easier for sickos to groom kids and take advantage of them. But when the dark-haired child, all sleepy and smelling of spearmint toothpaste wrapped her arms around Nikki’s abdomen, she caught Nikola completely off guard.
Especially when Belle laid her cheek against the barely-there bump, and whispered, “Goodnight Erica. Go to sleep and grow so you can come out soon.”
Nikola couldn’t help but exchange a sappy look with Alex. Especially when she then followed it up with a kiss. Belle was just too cute for words and damn it, her pregnancy hormones ratcheted it to where she was practically lactating already.
It looked as if coming to Atlantis was one of her smarter decisions and not just because she was outside of Mason’s sphere of influence her. It seemed she might have found a home here in Pegasus and Erica already had made her first friend.
~o0o~
Once Tony read a story to Tali and she was sleeping, he made his way out to the living area, noting that Nikki had cleaned up, loaded everything into the dishwasher and wiped down the benchtops. As they made a cup of tea, he decided not to pry – okay not too much.
He side-eyed her. “Erica’s father – he hurt you?”
She flushed and looked miserable. “Yes, he did. I was a fool and was afraid to leave him. Kept telling myself he was under a lot of pressure. He’s an associate director at DHS and so I made excuses. The pathetic copouts I’d always despised when friends or acquaintances were in domestic violence situations and wouldn’t leave their abuser.”
“And he hurt you after you were pregnant?”
“Only once, when I’d been throwing up all day and told him I didn’t want to have sex with him when he initiated it. He punched me in the face and then choked me until I passed out. But once was enough. That’s when I knew I had to get away for her sake,” she said weeping.
Tony moved slowly up the sofa, watching her body language for signs that she didn’t want to be touched. Seeing none he cautiously drew an arm around her comfortingly and held her gently as she cried.
“Look, you don’t have to talk about it unless you need a friendly ear, Nikki. And just to be clear here, I consider you a friend. But please, just answer me one question. Were you telling Belle the truth; is he really in jail?”
“Thanks, Tony…I mean Alex. I think of you as a friend too. I did try to contact you when I heard you left NCIS, but you’d vanished into thin air. And yes, Mason is in jail awaiting trial. The General has a lot of pull in DC, and he made sure to take him down hard. They set him up, knowing he wouldn’t stay away…that he’d come after me because I rejected him. But the truth is that even if he’s found guilty, he’s not going to get a massive sentence, especially since he was so high up the food chain at Homeland. So, I needed to get away.”
“You applied for a job on Atlantis?”
Nikki shook her head, “No, I didn’t. But when I was at NID my security clearance was pretty high. I didn’t know about Atlantis, but I was aware of the Stargate program, and I was aware that they were using the reputation of Area 51 at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, to develop alien technology that come out of the SGC. I was hoping to work there or at Cheyenne Mountain. I figured that working at either site was out of Mason’s reach. At least I was hoping so, but in my heart of hearts I was scared that no matter where I went on Earth, he’d still find me and make me pay for leaving him.”
“And that’s what you meant when you said that we were both hiding out here on Atlantis,” he said. “You think he’ll hurt Erica?”
I think if he believes he can’t have me, he’ll make sure no one can. Do I think he’ll hurt Erica? Maybe or perhaps he’ll just sue me for custody. The thought of losing her is bad enough, but the idea she could be raised by a man like him. It fills me with terror.”
“I don’t blame you,” he told her, resolving to talk to Jack about what could be done to get him to back off, permanently. He sounded like bad news, and he’d only gotten a Cliffs Note version of Nikki’s abuse, he was experienced enough to know that with certainty. Changing the subject because he didn’t want her getting any more upset than she had been, he started to give her a highly abridged version of ATA genes and the additional ones and how the trust tried to get their hands on Belle. He didn’t get very far because his friend kept yawning and he could see that she was battling to keep her eyes open.
Finally, he told her that the rest of the tale would keep and that she needed to get to sleep, and he gently sent her home, even though it was only a little after 2100. He told her that tomorrow night he’d introduce her to the other parents living in the family quarters and he mentioned that Belle’s teacher was single but also lived a few apartments up, so she wasn’t the only single adult living in this section of the city.
As he pushed her gently and firmly out the door and wished her goodnight, he couldn’t help thinking about his daughter’s reaction to Nikki’s pregnancy. She was already agog with excitement, and he knew her well enough to predict that her curiosity was only going to intensify. He needed to talk to Aoife about how to have the birds and the bees talk with a highly inquisitive five-year-old.
Aw, man! This was not something he’d factored into his plans until she was at least in middle school!
~o0o~
In the morning as Nikola headed down to breakfast, she bumped into Dr Nkusi coming out of an apartment across the hallway. She smiled at the psychologist she’d shared a cabin with on the Odyssey.
“Kia Ora, Nikola.” Dr Nkusi greeted her with a smile.
“Kia Ora to you, too,” Nikola responded. Sharing a cabin with Dr Nkusi she soon learnt it was an informal greeting used by Kiwis that literally means ‘be healthy’ that was used to say hello, goodbye or even thank you.
Nodding to the door, she asked, “Are these your quarters, Umwali?”
The Rwandan-born New Zealander smiled. “Yes, it is, Nikola. When my boss heard that you and I were already friends she thought I might prefer rooming here close to you, even though I’m here without my family. I will admit that I prefer living near families – I’m not really into the singles lifestyle,” she confessed.
Realising she must be missing her family back home, Nikola linked arms with her. “Well, I’m glad you are close by, and I hear that one of the teachers is single too, but she lives along this corridor. Belle was telling me about her last night.”
Seeing her inquisitive look, Nikola explained. “Belle is the cutest little four-year-old and the daughter of my boss. He invited me to dinner last night to meet her and she’s super excited about my pregnancy, Although I suspect that the next four months are going to seem interminable to her.”
As they made their way to the transporter, Umwali smiled. “Well, I’m glad that you made some friends already. I knocked on your door to see if you wanted to go to the Mess last night, but you weren’t there.”
“I’m sorry, I never thought you’d be assigned here. I wasn’t expecting to be here either, at least until Erica arrived. But the head of Homeworld Command, General O’Neill thought that being around parents would be helpful.”
“That was a good idea. General O’Neill, is he the one who took care of Erica’s father for you?”
“Yeah, he is. Have you met him?”
“No, his 2IC hired me.”
“Oh, Colonel Davis. Paul’s a really good guy too.”
Arriving at the transporter, Nikki realise she had no idea how to get to the Mess. As she looked at Umwali, a blonde-haired younger woman appeared. “Are you two lost,” she asked them smiling. “I’m Cassie Fraiser, by the way.”
“I’m Nikola Bates and this is Dr Nkusi. We shared a cabin on the Odyssey, and you are Belle’s teacher.”
Cassie chuckled, “ Nice to meet you both and yes, guilty as charged. Jack told me you were being assigned to the family wing, Nikola. He asked me to keep my eye on you. Are you headed down to breakfast?”
Dr Nkusi grinned at the teacher, “We were trying to remember how to get to the Mess,” she explained.
Cassie nodded. “It can be tricky at first, finding your way around. If you get lost and there isn’t someone you can ask for help until you’re issued with comms, since cell phones obviously don’t work on Atlantis, just call Janae Progenius, our AI hologram. I’m sure she’ll respond.”
Nikola nodded but Umwali looked bemused. Nikola nudged her and said, “I’ll explain later.”
As they stepped into the transporter, Cassie demonstrated how to reach the Mess before turning to the new psychologist. “What is your area of specialty, Doctor? Medical or scientific”
Umwali said, “I am a psychologist, and please, call me Emmanuel or Umwali.”
Seeing the look of confusion on Cassie’s face, Umwali explained. “I’m from Rwanda, where we are given an English or a French name as well as our Kinyarwandan name. Both are used interchangeably which I suppose others might find confusing but to us it is normal.”
Cassie looked intrigued. “ I know that some Chinese people do something similar – give their child a Western name and a Chinese name. Do you have a preference?”
“I don’t care, although since leaving Rwanda I’ve noticed that many white people naturally opt to use Emmanuel.” She shrugged “It is more familiar, I guess.”
As they exited the transporter, Cassie nodded. “Probably, but you might find things are slightly different on Atlantis, Umwali. Not only do we have an international crew, but we have people who are native to the Pegasus galaxy living here too.”
After the three women shared a meal, they all went their separate ways. Umwali was going to work with Aoife to get her office set up. Cassie had students to teach, and Nikola went in search of her boss, bumping into Tobias Fornell who escorted her down to their department, pleased to see her again. She was pleasantly surprised to find him here on Atlantis, along with Tony and Garcia. He’d helped her to get free of Mason and she would always be grateful to him for that. While they were waiting for Alex to arrive at his office since they knew he had to get Belle off to school, they spoke about getting settled in and being part of setting up a brand-new international law enforcement agency.
When Alex arrived some twenty minutes later he looked surprised. “Agent Bates, I did not expect you today. You aren’t officially supposed to start work until next Monday,” he told her.
“I know, Sir, but I thought I could get my computer access and my comms sorted since I was told that everyone is issued with one. And I thought I could grab some mission reports – start getting up to speed before I start next week.”
“Fine, but only for a couple of hours. You really do need to get to know people and acquaint yourself with the layout of the city. By the way, let’s meet for lunch so we can finish our conversation,” he suggested. He looked at Fornell. “We’re having a bit of a get-together tonight in the family wing to welcome Nikki to Atlantis but there’ll be others there too, like Penelope and General O’Neill and Aoife, he said. “You’re welcome too,” he said, knowing that Tobias experienced bouts of homesickness but also his grief was still raw.
Nikola poked him. “Yes, please come, Tobias. A familiar face would be good.” She turned to Tony. “I don’t know if you know, Alex but Dr Nkusi, Atlantis’s new psychologist was assigned quarters in the family wing too. We bunked together on the Odyssey. We should invite her along tonight, too,” she said.”
Tony shook his head. “No, I didn’t know. Can you let her know that she is included, too? I’ll try to catch up and invite her personally but today is pretty full-on,” he said as they both took the hint and got out of his hair.
Some hours later, Tony stopped by Nikki’s domain and dragged her off to lunch, wanting to get a few things cleared up. As they collected their lunch and took it back to the ISBI conference room, he flicked on the device that J.P. had presented him with last night after Nikki had gone home. It was she informed him, not just a listening device detector, but it was also a jammer, which interfered with any undetected bug being able to function. It was small as a Wi-Fi modem, meaning it could be slipped into a pocket so as not to be obvious.
Tony had grinned at the B’Elanna Torres’ replica who was J.P.’s latest holographic form, when she presented it to him. The AI was slowly but surely working its way through the entire cast of Star Trek Voyager. He hoped it didn’t mean that Janae Progenius was going to start speaking Klingon or would that be a hybrid language of Klingon and English since the character was only part Klingon? Pushing the irrelevant thoughts out of his mind, he concentrated on the device.
“That’s awesome, thank you. But where did you get this, J.P.?”
J.P. looked pleased. “It was created by my father. Janus used it mostly in his secret lab to help him escape detection and also when he had conversations with people such as Old Dr Weir, to prevent the other Ancients from spying on him,” she said proudly.
As he activated the device in his pocket, mentally switching it to on, Tony put down the tray with their food on the table as Nikki looked around. He told her, “ The interview suites are through those doors.”
As they began to eat, he grinned at her. “So, you were married to Rick Travis Bates?”
Nikki grinned at him. “We met at the NID. I took a job there after I left NCIS. I had to get away after Eric died. It was too painful, and I thought somewhere new would have less associations with him.”
“Did it?”
“Yes and no. I’ve figured out that I’m always going to grieve him dying without waking up. I’m always going to be angry and sad about the way he died, but I did learn you can’t run away from grief – sooner or later it catches up with you.”
“And Rick Bates?”
She blushed. “Rick hadn’t been a special agent for all that long. He’d been medically discharged from the Corps. Did you know he’d been stationed here on Atlantis? He was head of base security,” she said.
“Yes, when I first arrived here, Colonel Sheppard, Atlantis’ military commander went missing on a mission. My first task was trying to find him, and I started out reading up on the mission reports, including Sergeant Bates. He was extremely thorough, almost to the point of paranoia.”
She chortled. “That sounds about right. Anyway, he was grieving over his discharge, although I didn’t know that he was stationed here until recently, obviously. I was grieving over Erica. We were both feeling lonely in our new jobs and being in a new state. We ended up getting together and when he proposed, it seemed right.”
“But you didn’t stay together. How come and this isn’t just me being inappropriately nosy, I do have a reason.”
“Yeah sure, Alex. I believe you,” she snarked. “Nothing major. No affairs or fighting. We just finally figured out that we were better as friends than lovers. We helped each other through our grief to the point where it was crippling anymore and that’s when I guess we both realised that it was the only real thing we had in common. When I started to have suspicions about some dodgy staff and missions at the agency, I decided to resign. Rick suggested we get a divorce which we did but stayed friends.”
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out, Nikki,” he said genuinely. “You deserve to be happy.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Alex. I don’t think I’m very good at relationships,” she said sadly.
They were quiet for a while before he resumed his account of how the Trust tried to violently abduct Belle before Homeworld Command became involved. Nikki listened attentively to how Jack O’Neill entered his life and informed him about the ATA gene that not only he had, but Belle did too and that only a handful of others were known to have such a strong one as the father and daughter. After the second kidnapping, he realised there was no way that the powerful and ultra-secret crime cartel known as the Trust would give up trying to get control of Belle and the General devised the extreme form of WitSec.
“And the ISBI,” she asked.
“Well, a happy coincidence. Serendipity. This place, really the whole SGC has been crying out for an investigative and law enforcement bureau for years. The difficulties in setting one up led to organisational inertia – they couldn’t even assign an AFOSI or NCIS agent here or at Cheyenne Mountain. But when we arrived, Colonel Sheppard was missing and as I started going through the mission reports, I realised it wasn’t just investigators who were lacking. Atlantis was in desperate need of skilled intelligence analysts. When you read the after-action reports on many of the missions you’ll see what I mean,” he said passionately.
She nodded. “I’ve downloaded all of the first-year reports and I’ll read them asap,” she promised.
“Look, take your time. I don’t want you collapsing from not enough sleep, Bates,” he told her in boss mode. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint and since you’re going be a single mother who holds down a highly responsible job and is bringing up Erica by yourself, you need to look after you too. Work smarter, not harder!”
“Yes Boss, she snarked at him as she finished her sandwich and reached for the fruit yoghurt.
As she dipped her spoon in and stirred it, so the fruit was evenly mixed through, she side-eyed him. “Belle is just too cute,” she proclaimed. “So, you and Ziva finally got together? Who won the pool?”
His expression becoming remote, he muttered through clenched teeth. “No one, Nikki. We were never together and never will be, okay?”
Sensing she’d just strayed into forbidden territory, she backtracked. “Sorry, my bad. So, who is Belle’s mom,” and where the hell is she, was the unspoken portion of the question.
He sighed. “Ziva is Belle’s mother. But we never had a relationship. I was in contact sporadically with her and she never let on that she was pregnant. I only found out about her when Mossad informed us of Ziva’s death…supposed death,” he said grimly. “And I learnt I had a secret daughter.”
Being a gifted analyst, Nikki analysed the limited information and decided to back away from this emotive topic. Unfortunately, she picked on just as volatile.
“Now that she’s back, will she be coming to Atlantis too? So, you can co-parent.”
Tony told himself it was a reasonable question, so he didn’t bite her head off or leap to his feet with an overdramatic exclamation such as, “Over my dead body,” but it was a close thing. Taking a deep breath and then another and another, he tried to centre himself. Nikki didn’t know about what Ziva did, so she’d made a reasonable assumption.”
“No, she won’t. Maybe you don’t know about this but after the whole debacle with the dead ICE agent and me killing a Mossad agent who I tried to arrest who was also Ziva’s secret lover, NCIS discovered that she had been spying on the US and passing classified intel back to Eli David at Mossad.”
Nikki’s face was a picture of shocked outrage. “She what? Did they discover this after they sponsored her US citizen application and fast-tracked her application to be a special agent?”
“No, they knew when I was dragged to Israel to be interrogated by Director David, even though I’d been cleared of a wrongful death shooting by the FBI.”
“And they let her become a federal agent?”
“Vance was in tight with Eli. I think he had something over him, and Gibbs was always a sucker for a wounded surrogate daughter act.” He shook his head. “Jack knows all of this, Nikki. Do you think there’s any way he would approve of a spy who has passed on classified intelligence to a foreign agency being granted the security clearance needed to clear the vetting process?”
“Hell no!” she said furiously. “What are you going to do? You know that she’s going to try to find you. Won’t that catch the attention of the Trust?”
“Jack’s already five steps ahead. He’s using her to identify Trust operatives. They’ve laid a false trail for her to follow, hoping that the Trust will try to use her to find us since hopefully, they don’t know we are here.”
She immediately saw all the implications. “And then what? He’s going to fake your and Belle’s death?”
“Unless they find some other way to make her back off. Blackmail her with espionage.”
Nikki looked overwhelmed and Tony wondered if she had realised what the other final option might be given Jack’s special ops history. If she hadn’t, it probably wouldn’t take her long to get there.
“Well, shit, Alex. What a mess!”
Tacitly, they changed the subject, Tony talking about some research he wanted her to look at once she was officially on the job. It was a former NCIS/FBI investigation into Gabriel Hicks which ultimately ended up costing Fornell his long and illustrious career at the FBI. Tony had profiled Hicks and reached the conclusion that in all probability Tobias had been correct and he’d committed the crime, but Fornell had failed to report eyewitness testimony, and it threw doubt on his guilt. Since he believed Hicks to be guilty, Tony figured that either the witness lied, was mistaken or Hicks had an accomplice.
As he was outlining the case, Aoife wandered in with her new psychologist to show her the ISBI conference room used to interview victims and witnesses which Tony had also offered as a venue to hold support group meetings.
She looked startled before apologising. “Oh sorry, Alex. I didn’t realise you were in here. I just wanted to show Dr Nkusi the space since she will be setting up the support groups.”
“No, it’s fine, Dr O’Shea, he said. “We are pretty much done here. Agent Bates is not even officially supposed to be working yet,” he gave her a mock scowl. “And I need to sort out a few things before the Tribunal gets underway tomorrow.
Nikki leapt in and said, “Okay Boss, I can take a hint but before I skedaddle, I want to introduce you to my bunkmate from the Odyssey, Dr Emmanuel Umwali Nkusi. Umwali, this is Associate Director of the Inter-Stellar Bureau of Investigations, Alexander Paddington.”
Tony smiled at her and nodded his head. “Welcome to Atlantis, Dr Nkusi. We are lucky to have someone with your skills and expertise willing to come here,” he said with genuine conviction. “And I wanted to invite you to our get-together tonight in the family room to welcome you and Agent Bates to Atlantis. Aoife, you and Admiral Chegwidden and General O’Neill are invited too. Plus, Penelope and Tobias are coming, maybe a few others.”
“Better not leave out your future son-in-law, Aoife quipped, referring to Lorne.”
Tony threw her a sarcastic look but said, “Probably should invite Cadman, Ronon and Amelia too,” he said, thinking that both females would hopefully be joining ISBI in the coming months if he was lucky.
“Let’s hope this meet and greet ends better than the last one I organised, he said with a grim smile.
“From your lips to God’s ears,” Aoife told him fervently
~o0o~
After Alex and Nikola had departed, Umwali turned to Aoife and asked, “What happened at the previous meet and greet?”
“Unfortunately, our chief scientific officer, Dr Rodney McKay was abusing stimulants to try to stay awake, attempting to hack into Homeworld’s servers to find out details of a highly classified operation that he was not read into. The security protocols had been devised by one of the best hackers in the world, as near as I can figure out the aim was to frustrate and thwart anyone even attempting to gain access to information. Rodney constantly tells everyone he is the smartest person in three galaxies.
“And is that true,” Umwali inquired curiously.
He has an IQ in the top three percent but then there are plenty of super-smart people in the SGC, so I’d say probably hyperbole. He did destroy almost an entire solar system trying to make an Ancient weapon work that had destroyed everyone on Dorandan and refused to listen to the warning about the dangers from his 2IC…”
“So probably not as smart as he thinks he is,” Nkusi opined cautiously.
“Definitely not infallible, but he has selective amnesia about his lapses when it suits him.
“NPD?”
“Possibly or one of the other personality disorders. Diagnosis is problematic,” Aoife shrugged.
“My apologies, you were telling me what happened at the meet and greet, and I interrupted,” Umwali said.
“Yes well, the security protocols utilised several psychological methods to prolong the time a hacker engaged with the program, somewhat like a computer game, making it incrementally addictive…”
“To what ends,” the psychologist asked curiously.
“The longer the hacker was engaged the greater the chance of tracking them down. They also engaged in behaviour modification methods to drive the hacker to distraction so they would become more and more reckless the longer they were engaged. There was a carrot and a stick aspect but the stick when they failed was forcing the hacker to endure cartoons, annoying memes and music so that they weren’t locked out and could try again.”
Umwali looked rather disturbed. “That sounds positively evil but I’m guessing it was highly effective. I take it that Dr McKay did not handle it well?”
“No, he didn’t. He was using uppers to stay awake and try to hack the system, drinking copious quantities of coffee. Downers because he couldn’t sleep, wasn’t eating or washing, he couldn’t handle not being able to hack the system.”
“And no one noticed,” Nkusi asked sceptically.
“Well yes and no. Everyone knew he had a bug up his arse, but his behaviour was not that different to his normal behaviour, only much more exaggerated. Most of Atlantis has been trained to ignore his appalling and abusive treatment of anyone he deems to be not his intellectual peer,” Aoife shrugged. It sounded lame but Rodney had conditioned people to take no notice of him, so it was sort of karmic in a way.
“So, in other words – everyone?”
“Aye, in his mind. However, his team was concerned, they staged an intervention and dragged him along to the meet and greet for Aaron Hotchner and his son Jack. Someone persuaded Alex to play the baby grand piano which had arrived on the same trip as the Hotchners, and he is very talented. Up to the standard of concert pianist and guess who had always wanted to be a concert pianist but was told he didn’t have what it took by a music teacher?”
“Oh, not Dr McKay?” Umwali shook her head.
“Bingo! And he’d already had a run-in or two with Alex and resented him for not kowtowing to him unlike everyone else does on Atlantis. But the final straw was when Alex’s four-year-old daughter, Belle asked him to play her favourite piece – The Music Box Dancer – and unfortunately it was one of the pieces that the Black Queen used to punish anyone hacking into Homeworld computers. Dr McKay in his paranoid and highly psychotic state decided that Alex was the one who was thwarting him from getting into the computer and he tried to attack Alex and Belle. From all accounts, it was not pretty.”
“I take it that Associate Director Paddington was not responsible for his experiences as he was trying to get into Homeworld’s servers?”
“No, just a series of very unfortunate coincidences. Remind me to show you Dr McKay’s file when we get back to my office. As to using this room to hold support group meetings, what do you think? Alex ordered this top-of-the-line coffee-making machine and he told me we can use it too.”
Umwali looked at the machine and smirked. “He has excellent taste, noting that he had a number of different coffee blends.
Taking the hint, Aoife asked, “Would you like a coffee?”
Looking virtuous, Umwali said, “I think I should try it out before approving this space.”
Laughing her boss said, “Oh definitely. “Which blend do you want?”
“Since it’s there, the Ethiopian blend. After all, it’s where coffee originated from, and it’s been a while since I drank it. Rwandan coffee is pretty good, but Ethiopian is even better. It seems surreal to come all the way out here to a far distant galaxy to then be sipping Ethiopian coffee though.”
Fortunately to the relief of everyone attending that night’s meet and greet, it went off without anyone experiencing a psychotic break or attacking any of the guests. Nikola was pleased when Teyla and Miko befriended her immediately, making her feel much less alone as she faced the last months of her pregnancy in the Ancients’ city.
Umwali was thrilled to meet all of the Athosian families who lived in the family wing, feeling an immediate sense of kinship with the Pegasus natives who in some ways reminded her of her Rwandan friends and neighbours when she was growing up before the war. She was very glad that she’d been allowed to live here with the families, and she looked forward to being a part of supporting Nikola Bates through her pregnancy. Although their friendship was still quite new, she had a feeling that it would develop into a significant one over time.
Chapter 8
The first trial (which the Ancients had called an Inquisitio, meaning an inquest, investigation, or inquisition) got underway early that morning. They had slated the Genii, Deuter Maden, who was Porteus Kolya’s second in charge to kick off the proceedings but had hit an unexpected glitch. The difficulty encountered had been procuring an acceptable advocate for the accuse, or as the Ancients had referred to them as a Paracletus. Richard Woolsey had offered his legal services to serve as Maden’s Paracletus. A.J. Chegwidden, albeit reluctantly (since as a military man he found what the Genii did to the Colonel abhorrent) had also offered to serve as his Paracletus, but Maden had vehemently rejected both men. Jack suspected Richard was probably just as relieved as the Admiral not to be appointed as Maden’s legal representative, but Woolsey was a steadfast believer in the system of justice, insisting that without the Accusatus (the accused) receiving a vigorous and competent defence, justice was poorly served.
So, after Maden turned both highly experienced defence lawyers down, at the urging of Woolsey, Ambassador AuClair had reluctantly agreed to approach Ladon Radim to help to procure a Genii to act as a paracletus. Hotchner has suggested that they have the Genii chosen to swear an oath not to speak of what they learned during the trial or trials, since Porteus Kolya was next in line to face the tribunal. Jack wasn’t exactly thrilled with that idea, since he thought that the Genii could not be trusted to keep their word, they’d proven they couldn’t be trusted when they double crossed AR-1 on their first contact with the Genii. Still, he’d resigned himself to the fact that it may be time to clear out what was left of an enclave of Wraiths who had been holed up on planet M6H-491 where the MCD herb was indigenous. Up to this point, they’d decided to let sleeping dogs lie, since they hadn’t attack Atlantis, they’d figured that the Wraith were a reasonable deterrent to anyone stumbling across the herb accidentally.
O’Neill knew it would be necessary at some point to secure the planet from the Wraith or just blow the whole damned thing up, but their focus right now was mass production of the vaccine and surveying other similar planets to find out if the plant was growing elsewhere in the galaxy. David Parrish’s team was conducting a thorough survey of the most likely planets but gradually, that search would be widened, and they’d enlist the services of all of Atlantis teams, but right now, maximum discretion was the name of the game. Key to their plan to thwart the weaponization of the herb by Shen and her backers was to use this small window of opportunity to amass as much vaccine supplies as was humanly possible.
Fortunately, it seemed that Maden did not want anyone from the Genii home world involved, he probably had illusions of being able to return there at some point and pretend like this whole sordid affair had never happened. If so, the guy was seriously deluded; there was zero chance of that happening, but he wasn’t going to share that piece of intel with that piece of pond scum. But it left them with the conundrum of finding someone to advocate for Kolya’s second in command who he would approve of. They’d tried offering him the choice of a Todraeyan or an Athosian to serve as Paracletus and both options had been swiftly rejected. Finally, Maden said he wanted one of the Genii Militia, a Heynus Krepps as his advocate. A quick chat with Bib aka Keres Fortum and Bub aka Amis Lanko revealed Krepps had apprenticed to a defender back on the Genii home world before unintentionally killing someone on Balara (pre the plague) while he was drunk and he’d gone on the run, later joining Acastus Kolya’s rogue militia.
While letting Krepps act as paracletus for Maden was a pretty good outcome for everyone, there was one minor problem with it – he was already incarcerated in a Hebridean prison, found guilty under the military trials already conducted by JAG. Getting him returned to the Pegasus galaxy was going to take time to organise and since there had already been a delay in the Tribunal getting underway, another postponement was hardly ideal. Hotchner proposed that they adjourn Deuter Maden’s trial and move onto the next one, Porteous Kolya, although Jack worried that he’d demand to use Heynus Krebbs too. Of that happened they would need to adjourn his trial too.
So, it was somewhat of a surprise when Kolya refused every offer of an advocate no matter who was put forward. He also declined to nominate anyone to assist him and demanded that he be allowed to speak for himself. At that point the tribunal members decided that the Decerno who was essentially a judge called upon to decide procedural and legal matters in the Ancient’s Code of Law be asked to decide if Porteus Kolya could be granted the right to act as his own paracletus. In this trial, Master Bra’tac, first elected leader of the Jaffa Free Nation, acting in the role of Decerno, took an oath as a warrior to listen to all sides to an argument made by Kolya/ Paraclutus, the Persequor who was the prosecutor (or the accuser if it was a case brought by an individual) and weigh up the evidence before rendering a judgement.
It reminded Jack a little of the Tollan’s system of justice where he and Danny had served as co-arcons for Skaara, Zippy aka Zipacna had been arcon for Klorel and Lya of the Nox had been the neutral arcon. Which wasn’t so surprising – they had been a far advanced race technologically to Earth. The Tollans even had a symbiote suppressing device that allowed Skaara to speak and not be controlled by the parasitical Goa’uld when it was activated. It was a fair assumption that the Tollans were probably a great deal older that the humans of Earth. It was possible that they had interacted with the builders of the Stargates and for the Ancients to have influenced their justice on Tollana.
Woolsey went first, explaining that as a lawyer, it was considered by the legal system to be extremely foolish to encourage people to act as their own attorney or in this case, a Paracletus. It took a great deal of skill and experience to mount an effective defence to ensure that innocent people weren’t wrongly convicted. When Ishta asked if Mr Woolsey believed that Deuter Maden was guilty or innocent, he replied that it did not matter, that his duty was to represent the Accusatus and do his utmost to free them. O’Neill could see Calen struggling with this concept, as was Ishta. Jonas as the third tribunal member looked much more at ease with Richard’s argument but then the Langarans were well accustomed to situations which were complex and less than clear cut.
After Woolsey finished his impassioned plea to appoint a Paracletus in the same way that a legal aid lawyer would be appointed if someone wasn’t able to secure one, Bra’tac thanked him and invited Aaron Hotchner, head of the newly minted Atlantis Department of Justice (ADoJ) to address the tribunal and he rose to his feet, bowing to the three tribunal members who would decide the guilty/not guilty verdict of the Accusatus, he before acknowledged Bra’tac.
“Thank you Master Bra’tac for the opportunity to state my case. I will say that my esteemed colleague Mr Woolsey has spoken truth. The justice system does not advise defendants to go to trial without legal representation which is why if someone is unable to afford a lawyer, in many countries on Earth, the state will provide one for free.”
Hotch sighed as he considered his words carefully, his visage stern and unyielding as he stared at Kolya before making eye contact with Bra’tac.
“However, as much as we do not believe it is a wise choice to defend yourself and advise against it, it is not prohibited in our system of justice back on Earth. While we just discourage it most strongly, if someone is determined to represent themselves, they do have that right. But we do have a saying in our profession that an individual who defends themselves has a fool for a client.”
Bra’tac nodded. “I see. Would it not be to your advantage then for Porteus Kolya to represent himself?”
Hotch considered the question. “As a general rule I would grant you that it would give the persequor (or the attorney) a definite advantage, since we are highly skilled and trained. Although in this case, I think that the evidence is so overwhelmingly incriminating, that it probably won’t make that much of a difference.”
“You may take your seat, Persequor Hotchner. I will hear from the prisoner now as to why he wishes to act as his own paracletus.”
“Excuse me, Decerno Bra’tac but may I have a right of reply to Persequor Hotchner’s last remarks,” Woolsey requested.
Bra’tac briefly considered the entreat. “I will allow it, Paracletus Woolsey, but keep your words brief,” he ordered.
Woolsey nodded. “Thank you Decerno. I would just like to say that when a case involved overwhelmingly incriminating, I believe that it precisely the time when the accusatus most desperately needs to have the services of a paracletus not act in their own stead. On Earth we have a saying that ‘you cannot see the wood for trees,’ which means that when you are caught up in a situation, an outsider who can see more clearly is what is needed.”
Bra’tac bowed his head, seemingly in thought. Straightening up, he nodded in acknowledgement at the passionate paracletus. “I thank you for your contribution, Paracletus. I will consider what you have told me. But now I would like to hear what the Accusatus has to say on the matter. Stand, Porteus Kolya. You may make your case for acting as your own Paracletus.”
Kolya rose and looked at Bra’tac. “I speak to you as one warrior to another. In this one instance I accede to your request and comply. But hear this! I Porteus Kolya do not recognise the authority of this tribunal to accuse, judge or hand down a sentence against me. It has not the jurisdiction to do so and I will not submit myself to its illegal and hateful procedures. I decline to have a Paracletus and will speak for myself if I choose to respond to this proceeding, which has no legal standing to judge me or my action. It is my belief that any advocate appointed by this tribunal would not be in my best interests.”
Kolya sat down without being directed and appeared to have said everything he had to say. Which left the tribunal in an uproar and Jack felt an eerie sense of déjà vu remembering an analogous situation back in 2002 when the former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milošević was on trial at The Hague, Netherlands, on charges of genocide and war crimes in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo. Milošević refused to recognise the authority of the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal to judge him and constantly sought to disrupt and make a mockery of the trial. Jack was getting the distinct impression Kolya was going to try to turn the proceedings into a circus! Well, they sure could use the Tollan symbiote suppressor device or something similar but the dumbass arrogant people of Tollana had gotten themselves dead due to their leaders’ moral turpitude.
After Bra’tac considered the matter, taking his time, he finally rose to his feet. Jack was grateful that he and Teal’c had agreed to share the role of decerno in the four trials being heard by the Interplanetary Tribunal. For most people, they assumed that it was just a case of serendipity but Jack, in inviting the two Jaffa warriors who he had fought alongside for years had hoped that they would be assigned this role. Since Ishta was already serving on the tribunal, he couldn’t openly advocate for either Jaffa to be chosen for the job, so he needed to be a little devious. Thank goodness that Bra’tac was handling this trial because he had a level of forbearance that he knew that Teal’c was lacking. And he would need every ounce of it if Jack was any judge of Kolya.
Addressing the three tribunal members, he said, “I have considered the points made by all three individuals carefully as I swore an oath to do. While I find myself in agreement with Persequor Hotchner about the wisdom of being one’s own paracletus, and with the conviction of Paracletus Woolsey that a skilled advocate should be made available for the accusatus, I have also heard Porteus Kolya.” Bra’tac looked at Hotch, Woolsey and Kolya before continuing to explain his decision.
“I do not believe we can force someone to accept help if they do not want it, even if in this case, the outcome may be this man’s death. For that is a possibility considering the severity of charges that the Accusatus is facing but just as one cannot force someone who is dying to accept medicants or healing, I believe that it is not our right to force an unwanted Paracletus upon the Accusatus. While I believe he would be better served in having an independent paracletus to represent his interests, it is his life, and I therefore am granting his request.”
As he sat down, Jonas Quinn, who’d been elected as the spokesperson of the three-person tribunal by his peers since he was much more familiar with the Ancient’s code of law, responded to the decision. “Thank you, Decerno Bra’tac. The Accusatus, Porteus Kolya is recognised by the tribunal as Paracletus Kolya. For the record, the Accusatus will stand for the reading of the charges before entering a plea,’ he directed.
When Kolya refused to stand, reiterating that the Tribunal did not have jurisdiction to try him, Jack knew that this was going to be one almighty shitshow. After declining to stand to hear the charges, the Tribunal proceeded regardless, stating that they would not permit the behaviour of the accusatus to impede the trial. So, the charges were read out in the mostly empty court. This trial was deemed highly classified and anyone watching was there because they were already read in on the true nature of Colonel Sheppard’s treatment during his abduction and false imprisonment as well as the highly dangerous information regarding Lavin’s mind control drug.
Ishta read out the litany of charges that included, abduction, false imprisonment, assault, sexual assault, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit piracy of Atlantis. It took her several minutes to read the arraignment in its entirety due to the number of crimes he’d been charged with before she looked up from the list.
The blonde-haired Jaffa warrior then asked. “Porteus Kolya, do you plead innocent or guilty to these charges I have just read out?”
Not bothering to raise his eyes which were focused on the table at which he was seated, he replied. “I, Porteus Kolya do not recognise the authority of this illegal tribunal. I therefore choose not to respond to you request. Instead, I charge Colonel Sheppard with the killing of my uncle, Acastus Kolya in cold blood on the planet Amullie after threatening his life on a number of occasions. I demand that the murderer be brought to justice immediately.”
Unsurprisingly, the tribunal ignored his demands considering that Acastus Kolya had been trying to kill Sheppard on Amullie when Sheppard drew his gun a fraction of a second before Kolya did. And it wasn’t the first time, he’d abducted Sheppard and used him as a hostage to try to extort weapons and puddle jumpers from Atlantis. He’d allowed a starving Wraith, feed off him to help up the ante until Sheppard and the Wraith had joined forces to escape him. Plus, Acastus Kolya had tried to overrun Atlantis back in the expedition’s first year occupying the city, wanting to get their hands on their superior fire power. Kolya had sixty plus men hunting him down with orders to kill him since they were pissed that he’d gotten the upper hand when they attempted a shake down on their first meeting. No, Porteus did not get to make out that his uncle was some poor innocent sap, murdered by the colonel.
Still, it was tiresome trying to conduct a trial with Porteus’ failure to cooperated. Hotchner had given his opening statement, outlining very briefly the case against Kolya that had been meticulously complied by Alex Paddington and his rag-tag team of investigators. At the end, Jonas thanked the persequor and asked Kolya did he wish to make an opening statement too. Predictably, Kolya denounced the Tribunal, and went on a rant about Sheppard and his team – accusing Teyla of killing a Genii scientist and then segued into a foaming mouthed harangue about how the Expeditionary members were interlopers and thieves, forcing their way onto Atlantis and taking illegally taking possession of what rightly belonged to the Genii as the most technologically advanced race in the galaxy. He claimed that the barbaric and murderous members of the expedition murdered anyone who dared to stand up to them like his father’s brother, Acastus Kolya.
At thirty minutes into his diatribe, Jonas finally ran out of patience (or Ishta who possessed as much patience as Ronon) threatened him with bodily harm if he didn’t shut him up. He informed Kolya curtly he’d exceeded his allotted interval of time and to be quiet and take his seat. There in loomed the first of what Jack predicted would be many battles as Kolya refused to sit or to be quiet until finally Quinn finally requested that the guards come and take the accusatus back to his cell aboard the Odyssey until he was cooperative. Meanwhile, although the trial had barely started, Jonas decided to adjourn so that people could heed the call of nature or get some of the very fine coffee that Daniel had made sure was available to the Tribunal members. It was clear that all three were less than impressed with Kolya and who could blame them.
After Jonas managed to quaff two cups of the excellent coffee supplied by Daniel Jackson, he figured it was probably time to continue, hopefully, Kolya would have had a chance to calm down so they could get the trial under way and hear from the first witnesses. As the Langaran Deputy Minister made his way back to the raised dais where he and the other members of the Interplanetary Tribunal presided, a third cup of coffee clutched possessively in his grasp, he called the court to order. The Marine MPs escorted the accusatus back to his seat and he seemed more docile. Quinn instructed Persequor /Hotchner to present his first witness and a man was lead, into the room by a young corporal.
The first witness was a Pegasus native from the planet Atlantis had designated M8F-177 but known to the inhabitants as Mahna. He was a famer and once he had sworn an oath (in this case, to the Ancestors) to tell the truth, the trial finally got underway. Jesper Narte told the tribunal how his wife had given birth to a son, their first offspring who was born on the day of the Harvest Festival. After the birth, the proud father had headed over to the village tavern for a meal and a celebratory ale or two. While he was there he saw L Corp Joseph Favre hand over a stack of papers to several of the rogue gang of Genii who had been terrorising Mahna, stealing crops, livestock, and fuel from the surrounding farms. Narte was able to identify Favre from his service ID photo and Kolya’s second in charge, Deuter Maden and another of the militia who had already been tried, Esto Badic as the three men exchanging information, thanks to the charcoal portraits which an local artist produced of the gang of Genii (wearing identifiable but not current uniforms) who were stealing from and terrorising the Mahnans. Although Kolya had not been present at the data exchange, he had been highly visible in making it known that he was the leader of the men and that in return for their protection – read not killing them all, they would expect to be paid. A straight-out protection racket which had come back to bite Kolya on the ass because most people could identify him as the one calling the shots.
After questioning Narte thoroughly, Hotchner had sat down again, and Jonas had asked in trepidation if the paracletus wished to question Jesper Narte. Of course, that precipitated Kolya launching into a rant that the unlawful usurpers of the Ancestor’s city had no jurisdiction over the rightful heir to Atlantis and he would not deign to legitimize these false charges by attempting to impeach the witness. Trouble was that he took over ten minutes to make this point and was still going strong when Jonas, who was becoming increasingly less tolerant was forced to have Porteus removed from the hearing.
Jack groaned. He was beginning to think that Kolya was going to drag out these proceedings for as long as was possible – which was something that Milošević had managed to do when he was tried at the Hague. Not only did Jack not want this trial to degenerate into a circus, but in choosing leaders as Tribunal Members, they had neither the time nor the inclination for these trials to drag on unnecessarily. The delay of the Odyssey had been terribly unfortunate, but meteor showers were not things that could be factored in when organising four high profile crimes.
As to what to do fix this ludicrous situation of having to physically remove Kolya from the proceedings every time he decided to rant and express his displeasure, well Jack had always been a man of action. He seriously wished he had access to that blasted three-pronged pain stick thing used by the Goa’ulds which could deliver a freaking huge jolt of energy that Carter reckoned set of neurons simultaneous, resulting in excruciating pain for the victim. Having been tortured with one more than once, he could attest to the diabolical pain it caused but it also rendered the victim unable to speak, if only because they were screaming in agony. Kolya struck him as a bully so O’Neill figured, one zap of the pain stick would probably be more than enough to earn his cooperation.
Only two problems he could see with his solution, a) he didn’t have access to the stick and b) Alex, A.J. and Hotch wouldn’t let him use it. Oh, and Richard Woolsey would likely have pink kittens at the mere thought of it… so unfortunately it must remain an evil fantasy. When that asshat disrupted the hearing, Jack was going to picture him being jolted, his eyes and mouth lit up with a light reflective light as he screamed himself hoarse. And sure enough, they went through a similar charade when Colonel Lorne was called into the chamber to testify and Kolya wasting his time that was supposed to be for cross examining Col Lorne to his arrogant rants that were pretty much translated to be, ‘you’re not the boss of me and you can’t tell me what to do!’
Of course, when Lorne was summonsed and sworn in he did an impressively thorough job of presenting evidence. He testified about his questioning of the Mahnan man, Jesper Narte and the information he provided regarding L Corp Favre passing over classified details of AR-1’s next mission to Belkin where Sheppard subsequently disappeared. He provided mission reports proving that Favre had been on M7 -177 (Mahna) on the date Narte said he saw the exchange. He showed footage of Favre hacking into Atlantis computers to gain access to classified future mission details and then presented forensic evidence that Alex had ordered on the Mahnan brew to determine the alcoholic content that concluded that ingesting two ales with food would not have rendered Narte legally intoxicated.
Jack had to hand it to Paddington, he was dotting all his I’s and crossing all his t’s in his relentless pursuit of evidence, making it difficult for the defence to find any mistakes for the paracletus to take advantage of. That’s if Kolya had chosen to try to provide any defence, which he didn’t. Still, it did serve to impress upon the Tribunal Members that they had conducted a highly professional and skilled investigation. Hopefully it would be a slam-dunk when they began their deliberations.
Still after the Mahnan artist, Hort Tanaem gave evidence, and in lieu of Kolya’s right to cross examine Tanaem, instead he launched into his all-too familiar invective riddled tirade, denouncing the Tribunal, Atlantis and its personnel, everyone had reached their limits. This time after two minutes, Jonas Quinn, a normally even tempered and highly reasonable individual snapped and ordered him removed and then adjourned for lunch. Jack hoped Danny hadn’t scrimped with the coffee supplies – Jonas looked like he was gonna need a bucket full to calm his fractious nerves.
As the Tribunal Members dined together, away from the other officials involved in the hearing so that they could not be influenced, Hotch and Bra’tac joined Jack, Richard and A.J. as they tucked into the excellent food from the Odyssey’s kitchens. All four men were less than impressed with the slow pace of the hearing, so it wasn’t surprising that it was the first topic on the agenda.
Jack told them, “I’m thinking about beaming down to my quarters and returning with a Zat.”
Bra’tac smirked. “I can understand you motivation Human, but it would be quite useless after administering the first shot, since it would be many hours before it could be safely used again. It would slow the hearing down even further, which I am certain is his goal.”
“Yeah I know, that’s why I haven’t acted on the impulse,” O’Neill grumbled, taking another mouthful of the tasty stew.
“Of course, a second shot with a Zat’ni’katel could also solve this situation quite neatly,” he mused jokingly.
Bra’tac side-eyed him and said, “It’s just unfortunate that I am not closer to Chulak, or I could be coaxed into retrieving a Goa’uld pain stick I have stored with other artefacts from my time as First Prime of Apophis.
Jack choked on his food, taking several minutes to regain his breath. “Y’know, I was just thinking about that damned pain stick myself, Bra’tac. What say you, me, and a gate ship head back to the SGC and then visit Chulak? It would probably only take a day or two,” he suggested, tongue firmly in cheek. There was no way the three men sitting next to them were going to let that happen.
Of course, that inevitably led to the explanation of what a pain stick (also known as a fire stick) was and predicably all three lawyers denounced its use in no uncertain terms. Still listening to their outrage helped Jack and Bra’tac blow off some of the irritation they were experiencing at that stupid jerk Kolya. That’s when Jack recalled his earlier though about the Goa’uld suppression device designed by the high and mighty Tollan high command, who, when push came to shove, proved to be morally bankrupt, throwing Earth under the bus in order to preserve their own miserable butts.
“Yeah, yeah. I knew you’d say that but it’s fun to imagine. When Cassie was younger and a Potterhead, I always thought that the unforgiveable curse, the Cruciatus must be a variation on being hit with a Goa’uld pain stick. Being zapped with it makes you feel like every damned nerve in your body is on fire,” he said grimly.
“But facetiousness aside, I do wish that the Tollans were still around. They had this totally nifty little device from when Skaara escaped there and pleaded for their help in getting rid of Klorel.”
Bra’tac nodded. “Yes, Teal’c told me of the device, it could supress the symbiote so that the human host could speak and express their wishes.”
O’Neill nodded. “Maybe it could have been modified to be able to supress that annoying arrogant jerk and stop him wasting everyone’s time,” he said frustrated.
Woolsey observed, “It was a smart move getting himself declared his own paracletus. If he was merely the accusatus it would be much easier to hold him in contempt but as a paracletus, he does have a right of reply, even if his reply has nothing to do with the witnesses’ testimony and everything to do with delaying and frustrating the hearing. But it is difficult to know how to stop him making a mockery of the hearing and help speed things up.”
Hotch looked at A.J. and said, “We may have a solution. A.J. why don’t you fill him in since I am the persequor of this trial.”
All gazes shifted to the Admiral who cleared his throat slightly theatrically. “So first off, let’s just say that we aren’t exactly shocked by these developments. When Paddington and I first started questioning Kolya several months ago, he proved to be singularly unhelpful and after Hotch’s arrival, things only got worse. He threw a lot of the same BS at him at him too that he did with us, you know… how we had no right to be occupying the Ancestor’s city. The Genii were the one true descendant of the Ancestors, yada…yada…yada.”
“He told us that Colonel Sheppard murdered his uncle and therefore he had the right to make him suffer,” Hotch told them. He refused to accept that Col Sheppard killed Acastus in self-defence and even when we showed him footage of when Kolya had taken him hostage and fed him to a Wraith Sheppard called Todd, he insisted it was his right because the Genii should have been occupying Atlantis.”
A.J. looked at Aaron, “So the three of us had a few conversations about how things might go once he was on trial. Alex and Hotch profiled him and figured he’d try to disrupt the hearing as much as he can. As far as we can tell, he and his uncle share quite a few traits, including, overweening arrogance in their own abilities, they are uncommonly stubborn, are rigid in their thinking once they have adopted an opinion.” Chegwidden paused and looked at the prosecutor.
Hotch stepped in. “They have little to no empathy for others, they want to win at all costs, even if they lose too. Porteus and Acastus don’t seem to care about right and wrong, except when they have been directly affected and then they’ll demand swift and brutal retribution.”
Jack scowled. “So how do we stop him turning this into a circus. I can already see Ishta wants to disembowel him with her bare hands.”
Hotch shook his head. “To him, that would be a victory – proof that he was right. In the courtroom, he holds all the cards, so Alex’s plan was to control the environment if he tried this tactic in court.”
Richard Woolsey pursed his lips. “And how pray tell did Agent Paddington propose to control the environment.”
A.J.’s mouth quirked. “Using behaviour modification. We set him up in a private room with cameras and microphones so he can see and hear what is going on in the court room at all times. When it is the turn of the accusatus (who in this instance was also serving in the role of paracletus) to cross examine the witness, we give him the opportunity to do so. If he hasn’t done so in say a reasonable period of 2-3 minutes, we just mute his microphone in the court room. We continue to record his response and it goes on the record, but the tribunals time isn’t wasted.”
“One of the things that was of concern to Alex was that if Kolya behaved like a prick, he would piss off the Tribunal Members and they may find it hard to vote impartially. He wanted him convicted on the evidence, not on his less than delightful personality.”
Woolsey frowned. “Why does it matter to him?”
“Because the evidence matters to him,” Jack said, understanding immediately. “And he knows that these trials will determine how the ISBI and ADoJ comport themselves going forward.”
Alex had confided in him about the debacle with Ziva David’s fake death and how she’d set Kort up to take the blame which in turn lead to her grief-stricken teammates going after him, hunting him down and as a team, executing him for killing Ziva. Jack had looked into Trent Kort, a former CIA operative who was as dirty as they came, with the morals of a sewer rat who although in this instance was innocent since Ziva wasn’t dead, had committed murder multiple times. His death was no loss to the world, but O’Neill also understood that participating in that act of revenge in another wise spotless and incorruptible career, robbed DiNozzo of a piece of his humanity. He knew that the federal agent believed that he would never be able to redeem himself for a few moments of madness and he was determined to never go done that path again.
When they’d first looked at setting up the ISBI, Alex had proposed that their aphorism should be ‘Right over might’ and Jack agreed it was a good principle to hold in law enforcement and in the justice system too. Certainly, the Marine Corps credo that his former boss had drummed into him – Semper Fidelis – always faithful left a nasty and bitter taste in his mouth these days. It is hard to be loyal to your colleagues when they fake their own deaths or throw you under the bus for excelling at your job.
A.J. nudged him gently. “So, what do you think of the plan to rein in Kolya?”
“I think that Ishta, Kalan and Jonas will kiss your feet if it speeds up proceedings and save their blood pressure spiking through the roof,” he said candidly. “But you need to run it by them first.”
Hotch nodded. “I agree. I’ll bring it up right after lunch. I’ll request a meeting with them,” he said.
“Or you could have Janae Progenius deliver the proposal right away,” A.J. suggested.
Jack chuckled inwardly, he knew that Jonas and Kalan were quite enamoured by the AI, but he would bet his desert that Ishta would be uncomfortable with J.P and he couldn’t blame her. He had been extremely jumpy around the ten-thousand-year-old artificial intelligence program at first. Still, he was pretty sure that the plan to contain Kolya would outweigh her misgivings of J.P.
“I wonder how long it would take, assuming that the Tribunal Member approve of the proposal, for us to get something set up,” he muttered, hoping like hell they agreed with Alex and Aaron’s plan. Otherwise, he may need to go out and blow something up!
Aaron grinned and his expression which was often severe, even in repose morphed into something much lighter. “I think it would be up and running in a few minutes, General O’Neill. Tony asked Capt. Kruger if her crew could prepare a separate room where witnesses could give evidence in camera, during these hearings. Some of the Pegasus locals are petrified of Kolya and he figured that some of the victims might prefer not to have to outline his assaults on them with their attacker in the same room.”
Jack shook his head. “Of course, he would think about the witnesses and the victims. He can get inside people’s heads which was what made him such an excellent investigator and undercover operative.”
~o0o~
After lunch the hearing got underway again, but this time with the new set up where Kolya was sequestered in a separate room from the main tribunal but equipped with monitors of the proceedings, recording paraphernalia and camera and microphone so that the Tribunal could also see and hear him too. As the persequor called witness after witness, he’d been given an opportunity to cross-examine them, choosing instead to rant about the Tribunal being illegitimate but after giving him a warning, switched off his microphone, although they still recorded what he had to say for the official record and Aaron and Alex would listen to it later in case he let slip anything important as opposed to trying to disrupt the proceedings.
Things moved apace after that with Kolya not looking so smug and disinterested in the hearing after they’d blocked his delaying tactics which made things move much more smoothly and quickly. They soon realised there was another benefit to the new system when Hotch called ‘Bib’ whose real name was Keres Fortum, ‘Bub’ otherwise known as Amis Lanko, the pair of Genii who’d been the first to be captured on Balara looking for illicit booze, plus Esto Badic to the stand. The three members of his militia had agreed to testify to the inquestio against Kolya and Maden in return for lighter sentences, and as they were called, Kolya had been incandescent with rage, muttering dire threats under his breath which related to the odds of their continued existence which Jonas had swiftly muted. Jack was pretty sure that he would had scared the crap out of all three Genii who weren’t exactly the most upstanding citizens, and he could see how such a set up would make it less traumatic for a victim to give evidence without being in the same room as the accused.
As the three men one by one began outlining the situation of how they had been able to capture John Sheppard, a highly trained warrior so damned easily, the three Tribunal members had grown increasingly grave. Jack could practically see the cogs whirring away as they realising the grave implications, not only for Atlantis or the Pegasus galaxy but what it would mean if this plant found its way into the hands of a despot in their own galaxy. How the Goa’ulds or the Ori could have subdued entire populations with little to no resistance, It was truly terrifying, and Jack still couldn’t believe how lucky they were to have dodged that bullet, Not that they were out of the woods yet. They’d managed to delay the launching of the Chinese 304 by another three months due to a number of factors that seemed to be merely supply issues, but time was ticking away. Still, the supplies of the MCD –238β were growing steadily every day and another set of scientists were already working on supplying other technologically capable planets with the wherewithal to set up their own vaccine manufacturing programs, including Langara and Orban.
As the Genii trio outlined the degree of abuse that Sheppard was forced to endure at the hands of his captors, they three Tribunal Members and Bra’tac (the Decerno) all looked shocked and appalled while Kolya looked smug and at times positively gleeful, particularly at the recounting of the sexual abuse. Perhaps what was even harder to handle was the totally matter-of-fact air of explaining his terrible mistreatment during his captivity. When Hotch asked them about their cavalier attitude to his torture and abuse all three men had shrugged and said that it was merely what happened when captured by your enemy.
At this point, although the Tribunal members were free to ask any questions they might have of the witnesses or the accusatus (although it was doubtful that Kolya would respond), mostly they had remained quiet. It was a testament to Aaron as persequor and Alex and his rag-tag team of investigators for putting together such a professional investigation, but finally, Kalan was moved to ask a question of Esto Badic, a cruel and cynical individual, only truly concerned with his own welfare.
“Esto Badic, it is your sworn testimony today that this level of torture, abuse and starvation is normal when one is captured by your enemies?”
Badic looking incredibly bored, nodded. “Yes, it is.”
“And the Lanteans who are from Earth, are they your enemies?”
“They are. They killed our leader, Acastus Kolya and many of my people. The awoke the Wraith bringing much death to my people and they occupy the city of the Ancestors which is the rightful legacy of the Genii people.”
“Tell me how you spend your days since being captured by the Lanteans, Esto Badic.”
The sallow skinned, dark haired man frown. “I don’t understand.”
“I am asking what you do each day.” When Badic looked at his strangely, he switched to asking specific questions. “Do you receive food from the Lanteans?”
“Yes.”
“How many meals do they provide you with each day,” Kalan probed.
“Three – morning, noon day and night fall.”
“Are you given water every day?”
Still looking completely clueless about these questions, he nodded, “Yes we are.”
Do they permit you to wash and wear clean clothes” Kalan persisted as Badic became more belligerent.
“Well, yes they do.”
“Are you given sleeping gear, so you are warm at night?”
“We are. Why are you asking all the foolish questions,” Badic asked truculently.
“Do they beat you?”
“No, not unless we attack them,” he answered grudgingly.
“Do they force you to have sex with them or force objects in your orifice? Do they mutilate your genitals or force their sexual organ down your throat against your will?”
“No, I would kill anyone who tried.”
Kalan frowned. “Then if you have not been subject to all of the things you have just testified under an oath which you swore to the Ancestors and which you described as normal when you are captured by your enemies, why have you not suffered the same fate at their hands?”
As Badic floundered around looking for an answer, Jonas decided to have the last word. “I think perhaps Esto Badick might benefit for some time to formulate a response so we will adjourn for today and resume again tomorrow after he has received food, water and been able to sleep soundly. I suggest everyone else does the same.”
Notes:
Ancient Legal Terminology
Inquisitio: a trial or tribunal
Accusatus: the accused
Paracletus: an advocate ( the defence)
Persequor: pursuer (prosecution)
The Decerno: the decider (acts as a judge ruling on disputes between the paracletus and the persequor) they carry out the death penalty if the tribunal decides that the crimes are proven and are serious enough.
Venerabiles Sodales: Most Venerable Members refers to the three tribunal members who hear the case. A form of respect equivalent to Your Honour
Traicere interrogatio (the cross-examination) The Ancients’ name for questioning the evidence or witness
Condemnabitur: (the condemned) the Ancients’ name for an individual after the are convicted and given a death sentence
Chapter 9
Tony was feeling pensive, he knew that the Porteus Kolya inquestio would be concluding soon. He’d already testified, and they were down to the last witness, Colonel Sheppard. Thankfully, the Venerabiles Sodales and the Decerno had agreed that John didn’t have to relive his torture since Badic, Fortum and Lanko had already described it in graphic, almost gleeful detail, from what Hotch had told him after he’d finished his own testimony. They also had heard Dr Lam’s equally graphic but chilling report on Sheppard’s medical status when she had first examined him back on Atlantis – complete with forensic results identifying at least nine DNA profiles of rogue Genii in semen samples acquired during the rape kit. There was also no question that he’d been gang-raped since he was under the influences of Lavin’s herb and was therefore unable to consent to intercourse, which was the argument they’d expected Kolya to use instead, he went with the ‘you’re not the boss of me’ defence.
With the blood tests showing that it was ten days before he was lucid enough to stop trying to find Kolya, the forensic evidence alone was enough to sink Kolya. Although Tony had taken Cadman, Lorne, Barnes, and Teyla back with him to Mahna to speak to the locals about the extortion ring and found, not surprisingly, that Kolya’s men had raped some of the young females when they ‘collected their payments.’ It was not that different to what happened when he’d been undercover in the Mafia, nor was it unexpected that it had already factored into the sentences received by individual Genii during the trials conducted by JAG. But the Tribunal did want answers about how Colonel Sheppard had been apprehended and how Porteus Kolya intended to use Sheppard’s ATA ability after he captured him.
Tony was fairly certain that the Venerabiles Sodales were extremely concerned about that damned herb of Lavin’s, as well they should be. The consequences were scary but General O’Neil and the Operation WOHZ team were working hard to provide extra doses for the three Allied nations taking part in the trials so that they would be covered by the vaccine too. Jonas Quinn would be taking back the active ingredient that had been synthesised by the scientists, plus all their research data so they could set up their own vaccine production on New Langara. Once they had enough supplies to inoculate their own population, they would continue to produce vaccines that could help neighbouring planets. Kalan had already spoken to O’Neill about sending for an Urrone to work in the vaccine lab under Dr Lee and learn everything possible so that they could pass on the knowledge to the Orbanians and get their own manufacturing program up as fast as possible. Tony wasn’t a fan of the whole Urrone program and from what Jack said, he was deeply conflicted about it too but still, it wasn’t their right to interfere with another planet’s society.
For Earth’s oldest allies, the Jaffa, Homeworld Command had pledged that their own WOHZ program would provide the vaccine for the Free Jaffa Nation population since at this time in their history, the Jaffa didn’t have the scientific facilities to start making their own supplies. Hardly surprising since for centuries, the Goa’uld had bred and ensured that Jaffa were trained as warriors to support the Goa’ulds’ claims to be Gods and discouraged them from developing academic skills that might one day lead to a rebellion. Now that the Goa’uld had been defeated, Jaffa children would be given educational opportunities and grow up to become scientists if they desired but right now, they weren’t in a position to make vaccines.
So once Col Sheppard finished testifying, then the tribunal would begin deliberating before rendering a verdict. Tony honestly didn’t expect that it would take them long to render a verdict that he’d personally had a huge hand in developing, and he considered it to be an airtight case against Porteus Kolya. He knew after reading through the Ancients’ Code of Laws that J.P. had given him that if they tried Porteous Kolya under their laws, the death penalty was a distinct possibility if he was found guilty. And the pragmatist in him knew that Kolya was too dangerous to be allowed to survive in a prison somewhere because he would escape given the slightest chance. Kolya had shown no remorse for his actions and would do it again if he had the opportunity.
Aside from this, with Kolya’s knowledge of Lavin’s herb, and the ramifications of using it in warfare, it was simply too risky to allow him to live. The fact that he planned to eliminate Lucius Lavin because of his knowledge of the mind-controlling properties of the drug was enough proof to illustrate that he intended to use it in further campaigns. Plus, a concern regarding operational security was that it was probable that Lavin, who’d had unfettered access to the Atlanta database during the foothold situation, had spilled some if not all of what he learned to Kolya and that could be disastrous. So, Tony accepted that if Kolya was found guilty, he was almost certain to be sentenced to death.
His problem was that despite being a cop and a federal agent for twenty-odd years, he was highly ambivalent about the death penalty. He knew that innocent people had been put to death, especially before DNA was a common forensic tool. Eyewitness testimony in some situations was also highly flawed because of human error, heuristics, and biases, and that was merely scratching the surface. There were scores of reasons why innocent people ended up on death row, and even before the whole severed leg and Chip fabricating evidence to set him up, he’d struggled with the idea of the death penalty. There was the SEAL who was convicted of killing his wife and turned out he was innocent and the very first case he’d been team lead on after Gibbs retired to Mexico to hang out with Franks, the convicted criminal ended up having been set up.
Tony had seen a lot of heinous crimes over the years, and it was easy to want to see serial murders and rapists executed but the thought of someone innocent being put to death was the reason for his ambivalence. Well one of them. The other main problem he had was that the scientific literature pointed to the conclusion that the death penalty didn’t deter criminals, the inverse was true in some instances. Sometimes the prospect of facing the death penalty, if caught, was reason enough for criminals to kill and dispose of victims’ bodies that they otherwise may have left alive.
However, ever since the MCRT had hunted down Trent Kort after they’d been led to believe, erroneously, that he’d murdered Ziva and then they’d executed him, Tony’s opposition to state-sponsored executions had skyrocketed. Yes, there were sick evil monsters who didn’t deserve to live such as Porteus Kolya, because they posed too big a threat to their fellow members of society. Yet how did you differentiate between those who were undeniably guilty and were plain evil and someone who was convicted on dodgy evidence who was innocent or not a risk to others? He didn’t see how it was possible.
And ever since Gen O’Neill had verified that Ziva wasn’t dead, Tony struggled to deal with what had happened to Kort. It wasn’t even as if he didn’t know that Kort was an evil sonofabitch. He was an assassin, albeit one who, like Ziva, had worked for a government agency doing wet work for years. Fuck it, the bastard had tried to kill Tony when he was undercover in that damned La Grenouille unsanctioned undercover Op, and failed, killing Benoit’s henchman instead of Tony when he blew up his car. Then there was the fact that as an assassin, the Company was always going to make sure he took a dirt nap sooner rather than later; the prevailing wisdom being assassins knew where too many bodies were buried to keep them alive once they were past their prime. They were also all too ready to go off the reservation since they knew the rules of the game better than most, so Trent’s time had already run out when Gibbs, McGee, Bishop, and himself gunned him down in retribution for killing Ziva. Except the lying bitch was still alive!
In killing Kort, Tony felt he’d lost a part of his soul that he knew he’d never get back. It wasn’t like he’d never killed anyone before Kort. He had fired his gun and killed in self-defence during shootouts. He’d killed perps who were threatening other people or himself up close and personal in hostage situations, domestic violence callouts or because dirtbags that he was attempting to arrest and detain decided to kill him to escape. Michael Rivkin and Daniel Budd were two such cases, but he had never before shot at someone in revenge. Although Tony didn’t know whose gun fired the kill shot, it didn’t really matter – they had all been complicit – and Kort was innocent of the crime they sought revenge for.
Ziva had a lot to answer for! Even if Tali had been conceived consensually and he and Ziva were in a relationship, the consequences of her faked death had rendered any chance of them being together as a family null and void. He could never forgive her.
So, he knew that it was almost inevitable that Kolya was going to be found guilty, after all, it was his evidence and investigation, and he knew the proof was overwhelming. But he felt uneasy and out of sorts. He really didn’t envy Bra’tac, the Decerno in Kolya’s Inquestio since one of the roles of the Decerno was to carry out the death penalty within one week of the judgement being rendered. Tony looked at his watch again and hoped that Sheppard was done testifying and he was glad that the colonel hadn’t been forced to confront Kolya while doing it. The guilty finding would be another step along the road to healing for him, although Tony knew that some things you never got over. You just learned to live with them as best as you could and got on with your life.
As he was waiting, he was reading one of Nikki Bates’ interim reports as she worked her way through eight years of mission reports, he thought about the fact that since turning their attention to looking for spies they had managed to weed out three who they suspected of having ties to the Trust and eight who they were almost certain were feeding information back to the IOA. The Trust operatives were going to have some unfortunate accidents that would see them being shipped back to Earth and then they would be under surveillance in the hope that they would lead them to the higher-ups who were so hard to identify. Rick Bates was going to be in charge of following them and Tony was fairly sure that these wouldn’t be the only lot they uncovered. Having a second experienced investigator and a top-notch intelligence analyst on Atlantis was already paying dividends.
He turned to the eight people – a combination of civilian scientists and military personnel who they suspected were IOA lackeys and was pissed off. Right now, the plan was to spam them and therefore the International Oversight Advisory Committee with piles of false, outdated or misleading data. Effectively mess them up and if, or when they finally figured it out, they might get the message and stop sending people to spy on them. Picturing the glorious almighty bunfight that would ensue, there was a call from Sheppard on his comms, asking if he was busy.
Pulling a face because he was technically busy but unable to concentrate, he temporised as he replied into his mic, “Reading some reports in my office.”
Sheppard paused. “Do you mind me dropping by?”
Tony sighed, wondering if the Tribunal had concluded. “Sure, but if you want coffee, come to the interview room instead.”
“Copy that,” Sheppard said sounding stressed. “I’ll meet you there in five.”
Sighing, Tony slipped down the hallway and started making coffee. He decided that they could probably use a distraction, so he contacted Nikki and Tobias, asking them to join him in the conference room in 30 minutes but to check in first. While Sheppard was yet to be declared field-ready, Tony figured this operation to identify spies on Atlantis wouldn’t be too stressful for the CO to be read in on and would be sufficiently distracting, following what had surely been a shit awful day for him. It was bad enough giving testimony when you were presenting evidence, but it was much worse as a victim, as he discovered during Chip Sterling’s trial.
Five minutes later there were two coffees ready and waiting and the colonel activated the door chime. Opening the door mentally, he called for Sheppard to come in. John did look rough but nowhere near as bad as Tony thought he’d be.
“Hi Colonel, come on in,” he invited, shutting the door behind him, and locking it so that they wouldn’t be disturbed, Sheppard raised his eyebrows.
“Lorne says you have an ATA gene as strong as mine and General O’Neill’s,” he said as an icebreaker.
“That’s true. What isn’t common knowledge is that Belle does too. It’s what brought us here”, he said because it would segue into his hunt for spies when they got around to it.
“How so?” John asked curiously.
“Because it makes her a target to the Trust, and possibly for some of the scientists here if they knew about it. The Trust really wanted to get their grubby mitts on her and tried unsuccessfully to abduct her twice. They caught the interest of Homeworld Command wanting to know why we’d been targeted.”
“How the hell did the Trust find out about her having the ATA gene?”
“The same way they found out about me too. We were involved in an MVA in France and had blood taken. The Trust was paying bounties for people who had the ATA genes, and a greedy pathologist who was running unauthorised tests leaked our results to them.”
Sheppard looked puzzled. “MVA?”
“Sorry, cop-speak. Motor vehicle accident. A drunk driver T-boned us.”
“Right. Well, you were incredibly lucky they messed up; the Trust isn’t known for their incompetence. Trying and failing twice…well I’m betting heads rolled over that debacle.”
“Well actually, they weren’t incompetent. Anything but. It’s just I was half expecting Belle to be kidnapped. I’ve had some powerful enemies from my time in law enforcement, plus powerful friends and relatives of her dead grandfather weren’t all that thrilled that I was raising his only surviving heir. I’d sort of been expecting one of them might try something. Imagine my surprise when I learned it was the Trust, not the Mossad and then I got read in on the Stargate program.”
“ Well, that’s just messed up, man!” he said sympathetically. And the General hinted that you and he had an extra genetic boost,” John asked.
“According to your Ancient GF, Chaya Sar,” he said teasingly.
“GF – is that another bit of cop-speak?”
Chuckling, he said, “Not hardly, your girlfriend. She cares for you.”
John looked pained. “I know. I really hate the Ancients for what they did to her. Meanwhile, they shit all over the Pegasus galaxy and then they Ascend and wipe their hands of their crap and we are left to deal with it ten thousand years later. Chaya was just trying to help her people and they punished her in the cruellest way possible.”
“Couldn’t agree more, but sadly, not everyone feels the same. Some people don’t trust her.”
“Rodney,” John sighed wearily. “He won’t ever forget that she lied to us about who she was and the so-called weapon protecting Proculus.”
“Only because she couldn’t help anyone but her own people. Sometimes there is no choice but to lie about who you are,” Tony pointed out.
“Like when the Trust want to turn your kid into a lab experiment, you mean?”
“You do what you have to protect family particularly when they are children and haven’t done a damned thing to deserve being hunted like prey. Not gonna apologise for that or feel guilty either. I’m just saying I can’t blame Chaya for lying about who she was either.”
So, what do you and the General have that makes you so special,” John asked, changing the subject.
“According to Chaya, there are another four other genes aside from the ATA one: a healing gene which she says O’Neill has, a super sensory gene, a telekinetic gene, and a communication gene which I have.”
Looking intense, John mused, “Huh. when Rodney activated the Ascension machine and then before he died, his sensory abilities were ridiculous, and he healed Ronon plus he was telekinetic. But he was also able to read people’s thoughts, which was creepy.”
“Yeah, that’s part of the whole communication gene, Chaya says.”
“So, you can read peoples’ thoughts,” Sheppard asked awkwardly.
“No, that type of communication is not available to me, thank goodness. Chaya reckons I’m too messed up emotionally to open myself up to entering someone else’s mind. My upbringing was pretty shitty, and it fucked me up too much to read minds,” Tony admitted candidly.
Sheppard looked relieved to hear it, even as he said, “Oh man, I’m sorry to hear that. Well, the bit about having a lousy childhood. Me and my old man didn’t see eye to eye after my mom died when I was a teen. Can’t say as I’m unhappy about the creepy mind reading though.”
Tony shrugged, his childhood was a bit more complicated than not getting along with Senior, but he wasn’t getting into that either.
“I can speak, read and understand the Ancient language though and I’m good at learning Earth languages, so it hasn’t been all bad, I guess,” Tony said, finishing off his coffee
“Rodney suspects that O’Neill’s classified project is investigating these extra Ancient genes and to find out how to utilise them,” John revealed suddenly.
Tony grinned. “Does he really? Well, I can neither confirm nor deny his theory,” he said with a tight smile, knowing that John would believe he was implying that McKay was right. He noted that they’d been talking for 15 minutes, and he wondered if he needed Nikki and Tobias to delay their arrival or not.
Taking the bull by the horns to move the conversation along, he asked, “So are you done testifying or is the hearing adjourned?”
Exhaling loudly, the slouched posture of the colonel’s body shifted as he stretched, cracking his vertebrae with a series of loud pops and a sigh of relief, he said, “Yeah, all done. The hearing ended with closing statements from the prosecutor and Kolya spouted off with BS about them having no jurisdiction over him, the stupid prick!. They are deliberating and said they’d announce their verdict tomorrow morning at 0830.”
Tony nodded, figuring if he was having trouble waiting, then it must be a lot worse for Sheppard. “So, it is a bit intimidating testifying before a tribunal, yeah? I mean, I’m used to testifying against criminals and I found it disconcerting.”
John looked up. “Yeah, it wasn’t exactly sunshine and unicorns but that’s really what I wanted to talk to you about. Hotch said that it was because you guys managed to persuade the three Genii to flip on Kolya and Maden plus the faultless evidence you complied on their guilt, the Tribunal and the Decerno,” and he looked at Tony to see if he’d said the word correctly.
“Decerno,” Tony spoke slowly emphasizing the ‘Ch’ sound for the c.
“Yeah, the Decerno ruled that I didn’t have to testify about the torture and the um rapes,” he said painfully. “I wasn’t looking forward to having to relive that in front of a bunch of strangers and I know that it would have been easier than talking about it in front of the Lanteans, but it still would have sucked.”
“Majorly,” Tony agreed. “I’m really glad you didn’t have to recount it, but I think you are giving me too much credit. The forensic testing was impeccable, and I know that Dr Lam was a great witness because I helped with Caroline’s witness prep and she’d given evidence in a few rape trials,” he said. “As for the three Genii, while Dr McKay has a poor opinion of psychology, I found it useful in profiling who out of all the minions would be the most likely to flip on Kolya and Maden.
John looked uneasy. “I really appreciate that you pushed to have these tribunals closed to the base personnel. I…I’m not sure I could have dealt with a public trial.”
“I was concerned and wanted to make it as easy as possible for you and the other witnesses to give evidence. I’d set up the room where Kolya ended up during the trial, as a place for you to testify in camera so you wouldn’t have to be in the same room when you were testifying. Then he decided to pull a Slobodan Milosevic and we ended up putting him there,” he shrugged.
“Monique said she was testifying at Lucius Lavin’s tribunal hearing,” John said frowning.
“Yes, she is but the second one. Not yours,” Tony explained.
“Why is he having two trials? I don’t get it, and no one will explain it,” he challenged the ISBI agent impatiently.
“Because the second one relates to crimes that occurred five years ago and are separate from your abduction. To be honest, at this point in time, it is need-to-know. Sorry, but just as we’ve done our utmost to protect your privacy, we are trying to protect some victims in this case too.”
“But Lorne knows?”
“Yes, as acting CO he was involved in the investigation, as were many others.”
“So, when I’m cleared to resume my duties, do I get read in,” he asked frustratedly.
“The bare bones…yes probably. The identities of the victims…no. We will respect their privacy, as we’ve tried to do with you. If they choose to share their story with anyone then that is entirely their decision.”
“And Monique? She told me she was depressed and tried to kill herself and you stopped her. Should she be testifying…is she strong enough?”
“Dr O’Shea believes that it may help her, and Dr Girard is adamant that she wants to tell her story. She will do so in camera and General O’Neill found a psychologist with an appropriate skill set and training to support and treat her. Dr Nkusi arrived on board the Odyssey a few days ago and will start working with her. We just have to hope that testifying will help give her closure.”
“Okay, I get that you can’t talk about the trials, partly because of privacy but also because you don’t want to be accused of tampering with the witnesses…sub judice I think it’s called. I’d be a hypocrite if I insisted on being read in, given how you’ve protected me, and I owe you my life. You’ve made it possible for me to return as CO because I’m not sure I would want to be here if everyone knew that I let myself be raped and tortured,” he said.
“Okay. STOP! You did not let yourself get raped OR tortured, John. You were drugged up the wazoo and unable to resist. IT. WAS. NOT. YOUR. FAULT.”
John looked embarrassed. “Yeah, you’re right,” he mumbled, totally unconvincingly. Tony resolved to have a word in Aoife’s shell-like when he saw her next which, was a session in a few hours. John was still blaming himself and it was clear to Tony that he wasn’t ready to be back in the field yet.
Just as he arrived at that depressing realisation, Nikki and Tobias checked in with Tony. Asking if they should come now. He told them that they were ready and looked across at the colonel, who looked askance. “Thought you might like to meet my people and be briefed on something we’ve been working on,” he told John who nodded.
“Yeah, that would be great. Is this the Fed? I’ve seen him around but haven’t been formally introduced.”
“Yes, Tobias Fornell, I stole him from General O’Neill. He was his fixer, but considering I told the General about Toby in the first place, I don’t feel too guilty about it,” he laughed.
John asked, “Fornell knows who you really are?”
“Both Bates and Fornell know. I worked with them in the past.”
“You obviously trust them?”
Yeah, I do, they both understand that you do what you have to protect your family,” he said as the agents in question arrived at the door of the conference room. He unlocked the door before they even had a chance to call over comms or activate the chime to alert him about their presence.
While it was true that Tony couldn’t read minds, after his tete-a-tete with Chaya Sar on Proculus when she read his mind, he found himself being able to recognise the presence of people he knew well. Tali, Nikki, Tobias, Teyla, and Penelope were all individuals whose presence he was able to sense a hundred percent of the time. Jack, Daniel, Val, Amelia, Laura, and Lorne too, but not always. He’d also been able to sense Sheppard back on Belara when they rescued him but not because he knew him, obviously he didn’t but he’d zeroed in on his suffering. He was convinced that something Chaya did had inadvertently unlocked a bit of mental ability – he was just pleased that it hadn’t dynamited away all of the fortifications his messed-up psyche had created.
As soon as he mentioned Nikki’s last name was Bates, John commented casually, “We used to have a Sergeant Bates here on Atlantis when we first arrived. He was head of base security.”
Nikola smiled at him in amusement, knowing that Rick and the colonel hadn’t got on at all. “Yes, I know. He’s my ex-husband,” she informed Atlantis’ CO in amusement.
Sheppard looked suitably shocked. “Oh…um. Is he still working with the NID?”
“Yes he is,” she said, chuckling with Tony.
Taking pity on Sheppard, who’d had a tough day, he said, “Agent Bates and I have both read the mission reports going back to the arrival of the expeditionary force on Atlantis, Colonel. We know you and Sergeant Bates did not see eye to eye about how to maintain security on Atlantis – that you both clashed,” he told him gently.
Sheppard was now looking very nervous, so Tony decided to just get on with it
After Tony had introduced Fornell to Col Sheppard, he explained, “As you both know, the colonel isn’t cleared to resume his position as CO and team leader of AR-1 yet, but I thought he might appreciate being read in on our attempts to identify the Trust and IOA spies who are here on Atlantis.”
Bates nodded and began to brief him on what they’d been able to discover so far. As an intelligence analyst, it was not surprising that her verbal reporting skills were outstanding, and she was able to condense information without sacrificing important content. Even Fornell looked impressed when she concluded her report. Tobias was not as succinct and his lexicon was decidedly more florid, littered with descriptors like pond scum, perps and dirtbags, although it was highly entertaining. As he finished up, both ISBI agents turned and looked at their boss.
“So, my thoughts are, we arrange an unfortunate little accident for our two Trust spies so we can ship them back to Cheyenne Mountain and get Special Agent Bates of the NID to maintain surveillance on them and try to flush out their Trust contacts.”
Everyone nodded and seemed pleased with his plan.
“What sort of accident did you have in mind,” Sheppard asked.
“Open to suggestions but maybe Torren and Felix could use their radio-controlled cars to trip them up, or a few of the baby Marines could be roughhousing about and accidentally take them down,” Tony shrugged.
John grinned. “Has anyone told you, that you have an evil streak, Alex?”
“He was known as something of a prankster,” Tobias told Sheppard ironically.
Tony made the mistake of looking at Nikki and could tell she, like himself, was thinking about the Ziva prank and Tali’s mystified reaction to their brilliant hoax. Both burst out laughing but refused to share with the others.
“Sorry, but you had to be there. Anyway, regarding the IOA bunch of nosy parkers, I was thinking that we bombard them with false data and let them report back to their bosses but leave them here. If we ship them off, the IOA will just send more, so at least we know who they are and don’t have to waste time trying to ID them. We just have to make sure they don’t have access to anything we don’t want getting back to the AIO since I’m not altogether convinced that there aren’t some members colluding with the Trust,” he said moodily. “We know they managed to corrupt a rogue section of the NID at some point.”
After his two agents had departed and Tony washed up the coffee cups, he realised that Sheppard looked a lot more settled. He sympathised, knowing how bored he must be.
Walking out of the conference room, the colonel stopped and shook his hand. “Thanks for that, Paddington. I’m feeling a lot better.”
Chuckling, Tony said, “You are feeling better, knowing we have spies here on Atlantis?”
“No, of course not! But being a part of the briefing made me feel like it was a normal day at the office,” he said wistfully. “I miss that!”
~o0o~
Several hours later as he was headed to see Aoife, needing to talk about issues that were troubling him, he decided to check in with Atlantis’ AI on the way to the psychologist’s office.
“Hey Janae Progenius, are you busy,”
The artificial intelligence, still rocking the B’Elanna Torres holographic representation, appeared beside him. “Not really, Alex. Just vibing to some music with mini-Jack and his fam.”
Stifling a chuckle at J.P.’s enthusiastic adoption of millennial speak from hanging out with the older kids who he was teaching robotics, Tony told him about the Trust spies.
“Big yike! What you finna do,” the half-Klingon figure replied with millennial slang. And seriously, how surreal was that?
“ Well, I was just wondering if you were up for doing some surveillance on them. We could particularly use you for some of the midnight-to-dawn shifts.”
“Yas, it will be lit,” B’Elanna responded, and Tony was around the older kids enough for him to roughly understand most of what J.P. had just said, despite the millennial lingo.
“Great, talk to Tobias about the surveillance when you can,” he requested as he approached Dr O’Shea’s office.
J.P. nodded and said, “Yas. Later,” before the hologram faded out.
As he entered Aoife’s office, Tony tried to reconcile the ten-thousand-year-old artificial intelligence program that was using various Star Trek characters as inspiration for the holograph and was hanging around with a bunch of baby millennials and adopting their slang. He definitely did not have that on his bingo card when he came to Atlantis.
“What’s that enigmatic look for, Alex?” Aoife greeted him curiously.
He chuckled and related some of his conversation about J.P. and his adoption of millennial-speak and soon she was giggling too. It sounded ludicrous but then again, they were on a giant floating city that was sentient and had once been a living breathing Ancient. Ludicrous was kind of just another day at the office to Lanteans at this point.
As he settled into his seat, she prodded him into starting. “Okay, what did you want to talk to me about?”
He thought about the two issues that were causing him to lose sleep and said, “Well two things. One professional and the other personal,” he said uneasily.
“Right well, which one do you want to start with?”
He heaved a sigh and flashed her his trademark grin that was pure deflection and by this stage, Aoife was fully aware of that. “Um neither,” he joked, wriggling in the chair, “ But I guess we better start with Belle.”
“Is there something the matter with her? Are her nightmares getting worse?”
“No, Belle’s fine. In fact, she’s beside herself with excitement. But she’s driving everyone crazy with her questions.”
Aoife breathed a sigh of relief. Belle had like most people (except for Rodney McKay) twisted around her little finger and Aoife was no exception. “Why, what is she asking about?”
“Well, I guess you know that Special Agent Nikola Bates is having a baby,” Tony said.
“No, I didn’t know about her pregnancy,” Aoife told him.
“With how excited Belle has been, driving people nuts with her questions about babies, I would have thought everyone on Atlantis would have heard by now,” Tony rolled his eyes at his daughter’s antics.
“At her age, babies are pretty exciting, so what’s the problem?”
“Well, she is driving everyone loco with her questions. She asked Nikola why don’t babies have teeth, General O’Neill was asked what happens to all the baby pee and poop – is that why ladies’ tummies get so big when they have babies?”
Aoife snorted. “Kids! What did he say,” she stifled a giggle.
“That babies don’t pee or poop until after they’ve been born, and pregnant people get so big because the baby is growing every day.”
“Good answer. What else has she been asking about?
“When Hotch and his son were minding her a couple of days ago so I could shadow a suspect, she asked Hotch if Nikki’s baby was kicking because it wanted to come out.” Aaron explained to her that the baby was just moving around and wasn’t ready to come out yet, that she was still too small. Then when Mini Jack was helping her do her homework, she asked him how babies were born, and the poor kid was so freaked out, not to mention totally embarrassed. He’s still avoiding her.”
Aoife could see where they were headed, having Belle for piano lessons she knew how single-minded she could be. “And what about the biggie? Has she asked about where babies come from?”
Tony groaned. “Several times, and I start trying to give the standard age-appropriate explanation and end up getting angry when I get to the bit about when a mother and father love each other they decide to make a baby. I can’t go on and have to distract her but I’m sure that she’s picking up on my anger. I know I need to put my feelings aside, but it feels like a lie. I can’t tell a five-year-old that babies get created sometimes because of non-consensual sex or that’s how she come into being. I suck at this whole parent stuff, why can’t I just give her the standard spiel?
“Maybe because Ziva drugged and raped you, so she could have your child without your knowledge, or your consent and you only realised you’d been violated less than a year ago. Given everything else that has been going on with the Trust, your genetics, Ziva being alive and looking for Belle and those investigations that have been a little too close to home, I think it is understandable that you would struggle with this. Cut yourself some slack.”
“But Belle needs to know and it’s not like she’s going to stop asking questions. Not with Nikki being on Atlantis – it won’t go away. So how do I explain it to her when even the thought makes me want to punch a wall?
“Yes, I agree, she needs to be given an age-appropriate response but under the circumstances, I don’t think you are the right person to do it. As you said, she’s very responsive to your emotions and will pick up on your anger and distress and that will be confusing. I’m sure you’ve heard the adage it takes a village to raise a child, so let someone else answer this question.”
Tony was fairly sure that Tali’s sensitivity to his emotions was because she possessed the Ancient communication gene that Chaya Sar said would enable her to read someone’s thoughts when she was older. But at the moment she was only able to discern his emotions, but he wasn’t going to share that suspicion with anyone, it was better for Tali if no one knew about it.
As he thought about Aoife’s suggestion, a part of him wanted to jump at the get-out-of-jail-free card she presented, while the other part of him was telling himself that he should just get over himself and put her needs above his own. When he expressed those thoughts to O’Shea she praised him for letting her know where his head was at before she addressed the subject.
“As to the argument that you should be putting her needs above your own, I think that you’ve done an incredible job of doing that all the way down the line. You uprooted your whole life for her before you even had cause to know she was your biological offspring. And after that bombshell which rocked your world, you continued to put her needs and safety ahead of your own, so I don’t think you get to beat yourself up over not being able to answer one question because it is triggering you.”
Tony opened his mouth to argue, but Aoife had his measure after months of counselling sessions and she cut him off gently, holding her hand up in a stop gesture. “Not finished, Alex,” she told him as he nodded sheepishly and mimed zipping his lips shut.
Smirking, she continued, “And the second thing I need you to consider, while empathy is a good trait, putting everyone else’s needs before your own is partly why the team felt like they could walk all over you. Sometimes you need to be a bit selfish and take care of yourself. In the long run, it will make you an even better parent to Belle and a better agent.”
When he didn’t respond she raised her eyebrows, “Okay, I’m done. Your turn.”
Struggling, he finally said, “Okay, you might have a point but if I don’t answer her question, then who will?”
Shaking her head at how clueless he was, she said, “There are some people who would be honoured to help out. You’ve made a lot of friends here. Amelia and Capt. Cadman has a close relationship with Belle. Vala is very protective of you and dotes on Belle. I’m sure Cassie Fraiser would offer to explain too but they don’t know why this is such an emotive topic for you and I don’t think you want to explain right now. Therefore, that really only leaves Teyla and me who could explain where babies come from and not ask you awkward questions. Then, hopefully, Belle will leave young Jack alone.”
Notes:
Heuristics are problem-solving strategies that individuals use to make judgments or estimates of probabilities and frequencies in situations of uncertainty (i.e., in situations in which people lack exact knowledge). While they speed up decision making they are not always terribly reliable in reaching sound conclusions.
Big yike ~ is like yikes only extra, often used as an exclamation of someone doing something wrong, or worthy of negative (Millennial)
His fam ~ a fam is a group of your coolest friends or followers (Millennial)
Vibing~ 1. hanging, doing nothing, chilling 2. listening to music.
Finna ~ going to; intending to e.g. What you finna do? (Millennial)
Yas ~ expressing great or excitement
It will be lit~ going to be exciting or extremely good
[REPACE THIS SECTION WITH STORY CONTENT]
