chimera | d. jackson

INTERLUDE | redacted, no more

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐔𝐃𝐄.
REDACTED, NO MORE

AFTER taking the necessary time to recover, Juniper was cleared to leave her bed in the infirmary. Her recovery was deemed a medical wonder because when the doctors tried to ask about it, Hammond was forced to ship them off on other assignments per order of the President.

Hours after her release from bed rest, Juniper found herself in the briefing room with the current members of SG-1, Kawalsky, and General Hammond. There was little she could do to leave, so she sat at the far end of the table, opposite Hammond, away from the others.

She had dreaded this part of the job, of the inevitable reveal that would come from being off-world. With a heavy sigh, she opened the floor up to questions. Words came at her all at once, bombarding her ears. She held a hand out to everyone in resignation. Nodding her head in the direction of the soldier stationed by the door, the present company watched as an older gentleman entered the room. Upon seeing him, Juniper's breath caught in her throat, though if anyone noticed they didn't comment.

"This is Dr. Kenning. He is here to keep the classified information classified. Should this start to take a turn in the wrong direction, he'll be responsible for cleaning up the mess," Juniper explained. Dr. Kenning's stoic expression didn't falter once, despite the unconscious shrinking the brunette had done during her short speech. The newcomer sat at the briefing table, the furthest seat he could get from everyone present. He took up residence in the wide space between Juniper and Carter.

"You've all been given a pretty redacted version of the story, courtesy of the United States government. But, I've been given clearance to clear up any particular issues you might have with it. I figured I'd let General Hammond start off."

"Thank you, Doctor Condos," the man offered, nodding his head in gratitude for being given the chance to have his doubt quelled first. As awful as it sounded, he had a more important meeting to get to with the President and some of his superiors. "I only have one question: how long did the project last?"

Juniper rolled her shoulders back, trying to ease the tension in her upper back, the question causing her to look to Dr. Kenning. He didn't glare at her like she expected, so she assumed it would be alright to give them the honest answer.

"Officially, the project began in 1959 and ended in 1979, but it is technically still active," she spoke gently. She watched as Hammond's eyes widened considerably, and she realized that he might've gotten a less redacted version, if his reaction was anything to go off of.

"Thank you again, Doctor Condos," he replied, though this time around it was much kinder, less professional. Everyone's eyes darted between the two as Hammond took his leave, citing he had to speak with someone immediately. Juniper could only imagine what was going through his head. But she didn't have the time to dwell on his reaction, not the way she would've wanted.

"I've got a question," Jack spoke up unexpectedly, causing all eyes to lock on him. "You say the project started in 1959, right?" Juniper nodded, not sure where the question was until he continued. "How come we're only seeing the results now?"

The hidden meaning behind the question shone through the fissures of his trained, stoic facade. He wanted to know why word of everything hadn't slipped through the cracks of air force rumors.

"Project Chimera was the government's best kept secret, better than the Stargate could ever hope to be," she answered, offering a comparison that would give them some insight into the secrecy required for the project to work. "Not to mention, there was only one successful subject, the rest died early on in the process."

"You say that you're the only surviving test subject. If that's the case, then why are you not directly involved in anything military," Carter said.

"Because, part of the project was that I was to be given the freedom to make my own choices," Juniper struggled to say. The words didn't seem to want to be spoken, but they needed to be. She needed them to understand. "Unlike my brother, I had no interest in serving a country that was more interested in-"

"Doctor Condos," Dr. Kenning cut her off, a warning to his tone that didn't go unheard by anyone.

After a long silence, Daniel voiced his thoughts, stating, "If this project is supposed to be top secret, why tell us?"

"Because there isn't currently any Earth technology that would allow for me not to," Juniper told them honestly. She didn't like having to keep the truth from them, but she also didn't have the physical ability to tell them the whole truth, and not solely because Dr. Kenning was there.

Her honesty was met with resigned silence, the present scientist and linguist nodding their heads in understanding while their commanding officer kept a firm glare leveled at Kenning, someone who Juniper very obviously wanted nothing to do with, let alone to be near.

"On that note, and given the fact that I was near death less than forty-eight hours ago, I think I'll take my leave," she bid farewell. Without waiting to be properly dismissed by her superior, the brunette stood shakily and left the room, awaiting the panic to release its hold on her chest as she got further and further from the man who'd participated in making her the way she was.

There was only so much she could handle at once and she had pushed herself, hopefully not too far. Instead of heading to her quarters or better yet to the infirmary, she snuck off to see Teal'c, wanting to be away from anyone and everyone who knew remotely anything substantial about her.