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By the time Jessica reported for duty the next morning, SG-1 had been informed of the situation with SG-7 and Nanda. Daniel and Casey were already in the office, and it wasn’t too long after Jessica walked in that Jack, Sam and Teal’c showed up, too. Jessie gave them a brief run down of everything that had happened during the negotiations.

"Well," Casey said, "we could go down and try to reopen negotiations with Brojorn."

"No," Jessica said. "You can’t get near him, Casey. With his telepathic and empathic abilities, the moment he sensed you he’d be on you like a dog on a bone."

Daniel agreed. "She’s right, babe. It would just make things worse."

"Besides, I don’t have a choice. I’ve got to go back," Jessie said.

"Not necessarily, Watson. We can go and see if we can work out some kind of deal with this guy," Jack said.

Jessica shook her head. "General, my loyalty lies with my team, with the SGC. I know how important this is." She looked down at the floor. "Besides, I had a visitor last night."

Sam frowned. "A visitor?"

"Senator Kinsey came to my house."

"He what?!"

Jessica nodded. "He accused me of screwing up the negotiations, and said some nasty things before he left."

Jack could see she was upset. "What’d he say Jessie?" he asked gently.

Jessica swallowed a couple of times to get past the lump in her throat. "He told me he didn’t care if I had to fuck half the guys on Nanda, just as long as we got the naquadah. He also made it clear that if I didn’t do my duty and set things right, he’d make the arrangements himself."

Jack, Teal’c and Daniel exchanged looks that silently promised some kind of retaliation against the slimy senator.

Jessica looked at Jack. "If it’s all the same with you, Sir, I’d rather do this of my own volition, than be delivered to Brojorn trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey by Kinsey."

This whole thing was leaving a bad taste in Jack’s mouth. Like Hammond, he wanted to cancel the mission and forget Nanda existed, but it was too late for that, and he didn’t have the power to do it since they were under orders from the President himself to make this trade agreement happen.. Jack walked over to Jessica and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Hey, I don’t want you worrying about Kinsey. He’ll get what’s coming to him. What we’re gonna do is this—you, me, Carter and Mitchell will go to Nanda together. We’ll talk to this Bro guy, see if we can change his mind. I can be real persuasive when I wanna be, you know."

Jessica managed a small smile. It helped to know she had friends who would help get her through this. "If Kinsey’s gonna get his ass kicked, can I watch?" she asked hopefully.

"You bet," Jack said, smiling back. Just then the phone rang, and Daniel answered it.

"Sure, I’ll tell her." Hanging up the receiver, he said, "Janet needs you in the infirmary, Jessie. She wants to go over the medical plans for Nanda"

"Okay." She stopped short of the door. "What time are we heading out?"

Jack looked at his watch. "1100." With a nod, she left the room.

"I’m gonna kill that prick Kinsey," Jack said quietly.

"You’ll have to get in line," Sam said.

"I, too, would like to have some time alone with Senator Kinsey," Teal’c added, his jaw tense.

"So is that the plan, you, Sam, Mitchell and Jessie?" Daniel asked.

"Yep. Normally I wouldn’t want you anywhere near this guy, Carter, but I need you to run scans to verify those naquadah readings are real. Teal’c’s gotta stay here and wait for Bra’tac to arrive. They have to coordinate the plans with the Tok’ra as soon as possible. There’s no way in hell Radar’s going, which means you stay here, too, Daniel. Anytime you and Casey get separated, things go to hell in a hurry. It’s bad enough as it is; I don’t want to take any chances on it getting worse." Jack looked at Sam. "Can you have the equipment you need ready by 1100?"

Sam thought for a moment. "That shouldn’t be a problem."

"Daniel, you and Casey see if you can find anything in those other tablets that might help with this Nanda stuff." Jack turned to Teal’c. "When Mitchell gets here, fill him in and have him meet up with us."

Mitchell was running a little late. After spending a restless night and still no closer to a solution, he had gotten up, got dressed, and drove over to Jessica’s. He wanted to talk to her before they got to the base, but was surprised to find she had already left. When he arrived at Cheyenne Mountain, he made his way to Daniel’s office, hoping to find Jessica there. Walking in, he found it empty, but before he had a chance to leave Teal’c walked in.

"Hey Teal’c. You know where Jessica’s at?"

"I believe she is with Doctor Fraiser discussing the plans for Nanda."

"Plans? What plans?"

"O’Neill wanted me to ‘fill you in’. You, Doctor Watson, Colonel Carter and General O’Neill will return to Nanda at 1100 today to try and reopen negotiations."

"Does Jessica know about this?"

"Yes. She wanted to return voluntarily to avoid the possibility of being forcibly returned."

Mitchell’s stare turned cold. "Who said anything about forcing her?"

"Senator Kinsey. He went to Jessica Watson’s house last night to speak with her."

Mitchell instinctively clenched his fists. "What did he say?"

Teal’c stared straight ahead as he answered. "Doctor Watson said he told her he didn’t care if she had to fuck half the men on Nanda, as long as we got the naquadah. He also hinted about having her taken to Brojorn if she didn’t set things right."

"I’ll kill that son of a bitch."

"I believe there are several of us in line ahead of you, Colonel Mitchell," Teal’c replied.

Just then, the klaxons began to sound. By the time Mitchell got to the control room, Hammond and O’Neill were already there.

Harriman said, "We’re receiving a transmission, Sir."

"Who’s it from?" Hammond asked.

Harriman studied the screen. "It’s from Brojorn on Nanda. He wants to discuss a compromise. It says he looks forward to meeting with Colonel Mitchell, Doctor Watson, Colonel Carter and General O’Neill at 1100."

Jack looked at the screen, then took a step back. "Now that’s just freaky."

General Hammond frowned. "It appears that he wasn’t exaggerating about his abilities."

Mitchell was silent. He was hoping that this compromise Brojorn wanted to discuss would be the solution he had desperately been searching for.

SG-1, Mitchell and Jessica met in the briefing room to go over basics before they departed.

"I want Carter to run scans first thing off the bat to make sure we’re really looking at that much naquadah. From there, we’ll go find out what kind of compromise this guy wants to make. If things work out, we’ll have Doc Fraiser bring in a team and start with the medical tests first so they can start the process with the vaccine. We’ll play it by ear from there." It sounded too damned simple, even to his ears, but Jack was keeping his fingers crossed. He looked over at Casey. "You got anything for us, Radar?"

Casey tugged at her lower lip with her teeth. "I’m not picking up anything bad, Jack. Unexpected, yes; bad, no."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Unexpected?"

Casey shrugged. "Sorry. I can’t explain it any better than that. Just, unexpected."

Casey had never been wrong before, and it went a long way in soothing their fears to know that nothing bad was going to happen.

"All right campers; it’s time to head on out."

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