10: Debriefing 2

{Secret Cove, California, Earth}

(Open POV)

Everyone watched as General Whitaker finally walked into the conference room. "Please excuse my tardiness folks. The people in the lab were holding me hostage."

Aaron and Jennifer chuckled, and only an eye roll escaped from Quinten's face. Once Whitaker sat down, he folded his hands in front of him. "Alright… What have we learned from the new planet?"

Aaron shifted. "It's mainly full of sand, as SG-3 said, but there is a temple about a half mile or so from the gate. It's really well built with a little fountain and a statue. Shortly after we arrived at the temple, I had a headache and… Well… Quinten and I got into it, sir. We fought."

"Explains why you both were bruised when you came back through the gate. Did someone hit Jennifer though?"

Jennifer shook her head. "No. Neither of them touched me. I was pulled from a secret passage in the temple and… my glasses fell. The locals felt bad, but supported me in seeing where I needed to go."

"Locals?"

Jennifer nodded. "Yes. A group of men, to be more precise. About thirty voices that I could distinguish."

Whitaker nodded before taking a breath. "While she was gone, what did you two do?"

Quinten grunted. "What do you think? We went looking for her after we beat the piss out of each other."

Aaron cleared his throat. "More like I looked for her, General. Quinten was pissed, I think, that I landed a punch to his jaw and dislocated it. He was curled up in a corner."

Whitaker shook his head. "Please continue, Miss Mack."

Jennifer nodded. "Well, I started to get used to the locals and not being able to see. They wanted stories of travels. I told them about the Stargate and they called it Olympus. Fitting, if you ask me."

There were a couple of nods before she continued.

"I asked about their culture, and that's when everyone backed away a little bit. It was clear they didn't like outsiders asking, even when they knew that I wasn't there to destroy or hurt them. They had a conversation amongst themselves and that's when one of the men came over and ushered me away, claiming he would tell me what I needed to know."

"And… do you know what he looks like?"

"Unfortunately no, sir. Since my glasses were broken, I couldn't make out any details besides tanned skin and bright colored hair."

"Did you at least get a name?"

"Yes. His name is Vasilios."

"How do we know he's not trying to trick you? Ares did the same thing and had you eating out of the palm of his hand." Quinten grunted out, getting a smack on the back of his head from Mandy.

"Because he doesn't work for Ares. He works for Zeus. A top general. He-"

"Dear God, did you sleep with him too?"

That's when Jennifer stood up, her cheeks hot with anger as she walked around the table. Quinten only gave her a smirk.

"Tell us, princess, do you like being worshipped like that?" He asked in a rather condescending tone.

That only pissed Jennifer off even more, her hand striking his face with an open palm. Quinten's head shot to the side, travelling with her hand, while everyone else stood up in surprise.

"Miss Mack!"

"Jen!"

"He deserved it."

Jennifer still had the redness to her cheeks as she looked at Quinten, who was shocked and holding his cheek. Both Aaron and Whitaker looked to Jennifer, then to Mandy who'd said the last statement. Mandy only shrugged, then sat back down.

"I'm not checking his cheek."

The room was silent before Quinten finally got his bearings and stood up with such force that his chair was knocked over. He glared down at Jennifer, who, in turn, glared back at him. They stared at one another and-

(Author Comment: What? You thought they were gonna kiss? Hell no. I don't even like Quinten and I'm the author.)

Quinten suddenly turned on his heel and walked out, leaving the five of them there. Mandy only moved after he left to check Jennifer's hand, making sure that nothing had been broken. After everything settled, and everything was right in the room, Jennifer continued.

"As I was saying, he's an agent of Zeus. A top general, as he put it. He said Zeus had wanted him to find an infiltrator of the men on the planet who was feeding information to them to keep the men on the move. Vasilios told me that he's the infiltrator and he's been "investigating" himself for months. He wanted to tell me about these men's culture and to warn me."

"Warn you about what?" Whitaker asked.

Jennifer took a breath as she leaned back in her chair. "Zeus is out to get me, apparently. He's a sore loser. He's going to be trying to get me on Onenides. He apparently thinks I turned his people against him."

There was silence again for a further couple of minutes.

"That… doesn't sound good."

Aaron shook his head the most. "When Jen came back, however, she had a list of gate codes."

"That's what that paper was. Care to explain?"

Jennifer nodded. "Vasilios provided all those codes. The next one we need to visit is the one listed in the middle. That's where he's supposed to be meeting me to provide some more information."

"Can we trust him?" Whitaker didn't like the sound of any of this.

"General, if I may," Aaron spoke up," I don't think we have much of a choice. We have more gate codes and numerous more outcomes. I think we just have to take a stab at this. No pun intended."

Whitaker smirked before looking to Mandy. "What about those scans of these two?" He pointed to Aaron, not bothering to say Quinten's name.

Mandy took a breath. "Well, besides an increase of testosterone, both as still the same. The headache they described sounded like a natural occurrence when a man goes through puberty. There are raging headaches every now and again."

Whitaker nodded. "At least I can clear the both of them. Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with Quinten."

Jennifer huffed. "I have a few ideas-"

"That don't involve him being killed."

"I'll shut up then."

"I'll see what I can do about him. In the meantime, see what codes work on the dial up machine. We have worlds to explore."