The Scientist, next bit

[misaffection]

The offices of the Naquadria Project looked much the same as they had. The underground bunker where the explosion had been some eighteen months ago had been decontaminated now, although it remained unused. Jonas avoided it as he entered the building, wanting to avoid any painful memories it would be likely to spark.

Once safely ensconced in his office, Jonas swung the rucksack off his shoulder and placed in carefully onto the bare desk. He unzipped the fastener and pulled out the laptop Hammond had been kind enough to give him. If he had to go to the council tomorrow, he’d go well armed. The recent attack by Anubis should be enough to convince anybody who doubted that Kelowna – no Langara, he corrected himself – was in danger. The Goa’uld were notorious for surviving things that killed normal people. The alien equivalent of cockroaches, Jack O’Neill had informed him. Jonas’ lips quirked at the memory. Thank the stars Sam had already shown him the wonders of Google…
Anyway, it was dangerous to assume that Anubis was dead. And even if he really were, one of the other System Lords would be bound to wonder why Kelowna - Langara – was so interesting. They had to be ready when whichever decided to investigate further.

---

Jonas had been making notes for about an hour when there was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” he called out. “It’s not locked.”
The door was opened by Dralok. “Ah Jonas, I thought I might find you here.” He frowned slightly at that comment – between here and his apartment just where was he likely to be? His train of thought was derailed by the appearance of another woman. He lifted his eyebrows and looked at Dralok inquiringly.
“I would like you to meet Kiarna Cyr,” the minister continued. “She has just been accepted onto the Naquadria Project, having passed the most stringent of tests both intelligence and security. Miss Cyr, this is our Project Head, Jonas Quinn.”
Jonas stood and held out a hand. Kiarna took it rather shyly. “I’ve heard so much about you Mr Quinn,” she gushed.
“Oh?” Jonas glanced over her blond head at Dralok, who merely looked innocent. “I assure you I’m not all bad.” His voice was wry.
“No, I’m sure you are not. I’m very much looking forward to working on this project.”
“Well I’ll leave you two to it,” Dralok said. “The Council expects you this afternoon Jonas.”
“Thanks for the reminder,” he replied dryly. Dralok nodded, pretending not to hear the sarcasm. Jonas watched as she left, then turned his attention to Kiarna, who was waiting patiently. “Well that’ll be fun,” he said.
“I believe they wish to discuss exactly what project we’re to undertake,” Kiarna told him.”
“Meaning defence or offence I suppose. I doubt it’s occurred tot hem we could do both.”
“I would say they will opt for offence. If the Goa’uld really will return.”
“Oh they will,” Jonas sighed. “Just as soon as they learn about Naquadria and its possibilities.” He threw himself into his chair and made a vague gesture. “Sit down. Tell me what they told you and I’ll tell you if they were right.”
Kiarna sat and thought over her briefing. “Well in short, we have access to a form of Naquada called Naquadria. It’s a more powerful form, capable of generating vast power. So far, it’s only been used in an offence capacity – Kelowna set off a Naquadria bomb in a pre-emptive strike against the combined forces of Tirania and Andari. It was far more powerful than anticipated.”
Jonas looked at Kiarna for a long moment. “For this I leave the SGC,” he muttered. “That’s a very… tidy version. Kelowna’s policy on Naquadria has been wrong from the very outset. It is highly unstable, yet we continued to experiment without any true idea of what we were doing. An early experiment resulting in a huge explosion that occurred just metres from here. I’m sure you’ve seen the laboratory. All those that were caught in that explosion died; the couple that were killed at the time were the lucky ones, the others died of exposure. That included an off-worlder, as I’m sure you are aware.”
“Dralok told me about that incident and about Daniel Jackson.”
“And my own part in events, I’m sure. Yes I stole Naquadria and went to Earth. I believed the research we were doing was necessary. But if it were, then why was there the need for a cover-up? The old council blamed Daniel for the explosion; hell they said it was his fault!”
“The combined council have acknowledged the mistakes that were made,” Kiarna said slowly. “The new council is combined of the three countries. We have to look to the future.”
“But they will still say that a weapon is required. Yes, I agree,” he forestalled her argument, “however we cannot just throw something together. We have to study the processes. Samantha Carter of Earth has given much of what she did and I hope we can take that further.”
“So you believe we can produce both, that the two sides are compatible?”
“That’s it indeed!” Jonas was pleased. He had expected more uncertainty, but Kiarna seemed to have grasped the obvious very quickly. He could only hope the council would do the same.