1st DEBRIEF ; NICOLAS BALLARD'S CONDITION AND APPEARANCE

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"O'Neill, Sealed in a glass cabinet?"

"Completely sealed."

"Sir wheres Daniel now?"

"Infirmary, hold on. Yes?"

One of the General's aides lightly knocked on the closed office door. He entered to find the General, Colonel Carter and Teal'c all standing restlessly about the office.

"General O'Neill Sir, Critical Care Nurse Kensington, she has a verbal Report for you."

"Show her in Lieutenant."

"Sir."

"Sir Nurse Kensington reporting as ordered."

"At ease Kensington. Take a seat Lieutenant,"

Only General O'Neill and Critical Care Nurse, Lieutenant Kensington sat down.

"Thank you Sir."

"Hows he doing?"

"We've not managed to stabalise him yet Sir. There are complications."

"I see Nurse Kensington, um. Okay then, for our benefit why don't you give us what you have so far."

He gestured to his two.. ..friends. They all leaned in for a summary on Nick's condition.

"Yes Sir. Nicolas Ballard was brought into the infirmary at 0 five thirty one hours. As soon as we got him into bed his confusion gave way to a catatonic posture. I'm attributing this to the sheer drop in his blood pressure.

Hes suffering from extremely abnormal levels of sodium and potassium, both of which are involved in the conduction of nerve impulses to and from the brain, as well as localised transmissions. His system is sodium saturated and he also has hyperkalaemia.

Taken together, his overly high levels of both potassium and sodium are causing abnormal heart arrhythmia along with muscular spasms and a degree of muscular paralysis and he is also dangerously close to kidney failure. And is exhibiting respiratory difficulties.

Within the first four minutes of receiving the patient we administered a treatment of nitrates to widen the arteries and veins.

We are maintaining a high oxygenated air circulation to temper his respiratory intake.

Doctor Carmichael has been notified and is en route. He has requested anatomical pathology and histology on samples taken from the patient. Sir a more thorough written Report will be prepared for you as soon as Doctor Carmichael makes a full diagnosis, which I understand will be within the next forty five minutes.

A toxicology Report is being compiled as we speak. Because of the unusual nature of the patient's condition, his near internal systems collapse and the metal mineral poisoning, Mr Ballard is to be subjected to intense diagnostic imaging.

General, at this time all the tests that can be carried out are being prepare for."

"His eye?"

"Sir, Mr Ballard's right eye. Again thats an assessment Doctor Carmichael will inform you of, however General I can confirm that we were able to save his eye. There is tremendous inflammation to the ocular cavity, Sir, Doctor Carmichael will advise you further."

"Have you any idea as to what caused such an injury?"

"Sir, as horrific as it is, this type of assault to the ocular cavity has never before been recorded. And none of the staff have ever seen this amount of trauma to an eye without any resulting loss of tissue, or sight for that matter. Doctor Carmichael will be more specific General"

"Prognosis?"

"Sir I'd.."

"Its alright Kensington. Thank you for your Report. And Doctor Jackson?"

"Sir hes still with the patient."

"That will be all Lieutenant, thank you."

"Sir."

Nurse Kensington left General O'Neill's office and went straight back up to the infirmary. To join the Critical Care Team attending to Nick, Daniel's Grandfather.

The General sat back in his red leather executive chair. He looked at Colonel Carter. She looked a little tired, and very troubled. He looked at Teal'c, he knew what was on Teal'c' mind.

"You thinkin' the Giants in the Pyramid T?

"I am."

"Colonel, comments."

"Shock for one."

"Shocked we are, what else?"

"The Giants Sir."

"Indeed."

"Me thinks so too."

There was another light knock on the door.

"Yes?"

The door opened and the General's aide brought in a tray of coffee, cream, cups and biscuits. They all looked grateful. Teal'c poured for all of them. The aide closed the door on his way out.

"This is serious. Very very serious."

"Sir?"

"Well lets examine the facts. A severely traumatised Nicolas Ballard materialised inside a locked glass cabinet in the Smithsonian Museum. And after closing hours to boot."

"A fused Cabinet."

"Yeah Carter what was that?"

"Sir, he had hold of the Golden Skull, the transmitter, which as I said he must have used to transport here, back to Earth. The Ballard Skull must be the receiver. He materialised out of the Ballard Skull and into the confinement of a glass cabinet. There was only limited space within the cabinet to absorb any resulting excess energy produced by the teleportation process.

That energy, being unable to dissipate uninterrupted, reacted with whatever it came into contact with. In this case.. ..in this instance, the energy translated into heat and high-pressure.. ..fusing the glass and encasing Nick."

"How come the Skull came with him? Our experiences have involved the Skull staying put."

"An educated guess Sir. From what you described, he seemed to have an unyielding grip on the Skull. I presume he had taken hold of the Skull in the P7X 377 pyramid and failed to let go of it as it began it's transportation process."

"Um."

"He sustained his injuries before he took hold of the Skull."

"Good point Teal'c and the question is how."

"And why Sir."

"And why Carter."

"He found himself no longer in the company of friends O'Neill?"

"The Giant's have fallen out with us."

"If it was them Sir."

"Well Carter I'm pretty sure that even if there are other.. ..things, living in that place, them Giants are gonna be the ones with the upper hand."

"Indeed."

"I agree Sir."

"Which brings us back to the fact that this serious."

"A threat Sir?"

"Angry giants on our tail, that's serious Carter. And threatening."

"Colonel Carter, an attack against Nicolas Ballard must be construed as an attack against The SGC. Was not Nicolas Ballard, after all, representing us in the exchange of knowledge between ourselves and a new ally."

The General made a powerful narrow stretch, bringing his clenched fists up to his shoulders and isometrically, strenuously tensing and after a few moments flexing and then shrugging off the stretch. Refreshed, he stood up and slowly refilled their cups.

"We never did establish they where allies did we!"

He stated that as a matter of fact.

They all looked at each other. No they hadn't done that. It hadn't been easy talking to those big floaty bilingual Giants. No, no real contact had been made. That's what Daniel's grandfather had been working on. And relations somehow seem to have broken down. Badly!!

"Sir the enemy of my enemy.."

"And why exactly was it they were enemies with the Goa'uld? I didn't quite catch that bit."

"Neither did I Sir."

"Neither me."

"I can't imagine what Nick could possibly have done to provoke an arrival back here in that state, and by that method."

"A quick get away Sir?"

"Seems so Carter."

"O'Neill can we assess any of their abilities."

"Well heres one to assess. They're not incorporeal!"

"A real threat Sir."

"Very real Colonel and capable of moving about, throwing stones and opening doors."

"Indeed."

"Sir they're giants, must be awkward.."

"Carter I've been giving that a lot of thought since I spoke to George earlier on."

"Yes Sir?"

"I don't think they're giants."

"But O'Neill, Colonel Carter, Doctor Jackson and yourself.."

"Yeah yeah, I know what we saw T but I'm not convinced. Lets face it, I've had a pretty good taste of Asgard holographic technology by now."

"You believe they may be humanoids masquerading as powerful beings O'Neill?"

"That sums it up."

"General this changes things."

"More our size Carter?"

"Yes Sir."

"Right, Colonel, can you rustle up Major Lyon's, I want him in the Briefing Room in fifteen minutes. Notify him that SG-14 will be leaving for P7X 377 within the hour.

I want this Fact Finding Mission co-ordinated through SG-1.

Bring Siler to the table with you. We're gonna want to launch U.A.V.s for coverage before SG-14 go through. Teal'c can you go by the infirmary, I think Daniel will want to attend this briefing."

"Sir is Siler in this early?"

"Should be, he got the call along with Harriman and Medical."

"On it Sir. O six fifteen hours."

"Yes. I will be back shortly with Daniel Jackson O'Neill."

"Okay."

As the majority of SG-1 were stepping out of the General's office, an aide with a file folder full of officialdom was heading in.

"Good morning General O'Neill. I have your messages Sir."

"Um."

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© Richard Dean Anderson all rights reserved June 2006