[i]Earlier…[/i]

With all of the controlled chaos of preparations settling into relative calm once the ship broke orbit and after she got her shut-eye, Captain found an hour free to finally visit their extraterrestrial guests. Between the last minute swaps in the crew and the mountain of bureaucracy she had to attend, Kat didn't have the time back on the base. Now was time to remedy that. She only hoped they wouldn't feel too offended. Opening up messaging on her PDA, she thought about who'd she would go to first. But it was no decision at all. Aside from the lack of trust she harbored towards the Jaffa, the Tok'ra were plainly more interesting to learn more about.

[i]To: Ariadne of Shayet
Subject: A few moments of your time

Greetings Ariadne, Idalia,
I apologize for not greeting you personally when you arrived to Earth, my duties required me elsewhere. If you could spare a few moments, I would like to talk with you, just tell me where and when. I hope you'll enjoy your stay on the Langford.
Cpt. Catherine Black[/i]

Ariadne had quickly picked up the simpler elements of the systems available to her, which were very few from her quarters, understandably. When a message arrived from the Captain of the ship, she was quick to respond in the affirmative, specifying the observation deck as her preferred location. Idalia liked the view, and so far Ariadne herself didn’t really have any favoured location on the ship. She went there immediately, having no trouble moving about the ship after memorising the layout map she had been given. One of the useful aspects of her nature as Goa’uld symbiote was the ability to remember anything permanently if she focused on it for a while.

Catherine smiled when the message arrived. It looked like boredom has been abolished for the next few minutes. Fetching her ID card and tying her hair into a ponytail, she left the quarters for the observation deck. It was located at the rear of the ship in the tower usually occupied by the bridge on the other 304s. They of course had a smaller one closer to the bridge, but that was limited to staff on duty.

As such it took her a few minutes to get there. When the door opened, she was glad to find only one other person in there. Everyone else was probably asleep or disinterested in the sea of blue the hyperspace looked like. "It is quite a view, isn't it?" she said as she approached and stood next to the Tok'ra, her eyes locked on the tunnel in front of them.

Ariadne was seated already in the Observation Deck, a room apparently devoted entirely to looking out at space, or at the moment, Hyperspace. Idalia thought it was the best spot on the ship, and Ariadne couldn’t help but consider the idea a good one. 
When the Captain arrived, not long after her, she turned to get a look at the woman that would be lord and master of this ship. For the smallest of moments she likened it to coming into the service of a new System Lord, but that thought was quickly pushed away by both Idalia and her. [i]“Ten years ago I might have told you that that view was mundane and common. Today though, I am inclined to agree.”[/i]

A short chuckle escaped Catherine's lips of all reactions. "I didn't realize you probably seen it all. How are you doing? I trust your cabin is satisfactory?" she asked, despite not being able to do a single thing if they weren't. The Langford is a warship, not a hotel, although if she read anything about the Tok'Ra tunnels, she doubted the quarters on the 304 would be troubling.

Ariadne did not know what to think of the captains reaction. She put it aside as an eccentricity and pressed on as though it hadn’t happened. [i]“On the contrary. I have seen it all, but Idalia is not satisfied with seeing it all in my memory.”[/i] She thought for a moment, comparing the quarters she had been given to the opulent rooms she once had on her Ha’tak. The most recent one at least. An amused smile crept onto her face, growing as Idalia admonished her for the train of thought, before she continued. [i]“My quarters are satisfactory. I have seen better, but far worse also.”[/i]

"You would die just seeing mine then." captain said, turning her sight to the person next to her. "If you don't mind me asking, I noticed your name. You were not born tok'ra, right? How did you come to see things their way?" she asked, hoping she wasn't digging too deep, but on the other hand, she really wanted this question answered. It made a lot of difference to her if she turned out of self preservation, or maybe something more noble. And while she would understand the first, it'd make her watch her back.

Ariadne had been wondering when that subject might come up. The Tau’ri were notorious for giving no trust at all to Goa’uld, and for good reason. If she ever wanted to be accepted here she couldn’t appear to them as one who simply ran to the Tok’ra to survive. [i]“That… is not a simple question.”[/i] She began, choosing her words carefully. [i]“In truth, I joined the Tok’ra partly to come closer to your kind… The Fifth Race. My race had its chance at greatness, and we squandered it fighting amongst ourselves. Your kind has proved their greatness countless times by overcoming every System Lord that dared take the title, and it is my honour to now assist you. You would have turned me away if I had come promising aid as a Goa’uld.”[/i] She didn’t mention how much influence Idalia had had over her in the first days after taking her as a host. That was too personal to tell the Tau’ri woman without knowing her in the slightest.

Captain stood in silence for a few seconds, taking in what she was told. After that, a very dry, sarcastic laugh echoed through the deck. "Is that how you see us? I suppose I'm much less forgiving than. Even now the existence of all this," she exclaimed, "is kept secret on Earth out of fear that the resulting panic would destabilize the system enough to completely collapse. How can we care for the galaxy when we didn't learn yet to care for each other?" she shook her head. "If you take interest in history, I'll be happy to tell you just how frighteningly similar we were to the Goa'Uld just a few decades ago." she said, the world wars and caribbean crysis coming to mind. "But I digress. What do you make of the Jaffa?" Black asked, more to get a glimpse of what problems might arise between the two alien groups than anything else.

Ariadne nodded knowingly at Black’s words. Some among the Tok’ra had told her of the state of Earths history to try to change her views, but they had failed. “[i]The difference between your people and mine is that enough of yours overcame their infighting to achieve galaxy-shaking accomplishments. It remains to be seen whether the Tok’ra will rise to a similar height of greatness now that the opportunity has presented itself.[/i]”

She was glad that she was in control when the captain asked about the Jaffa however. She could feel Idalia’s desire to speak her thoughts on the matter, and while she couldn’t entirely push away the feelings that welled forth, she could at least phrase it a little more diplomatically than her fiery Host. “[i]The Jaffa are a Prideful people Captain. In their minds they can do no wrong. They attribute every terrible act they have performed in the past to their Goa’uld overlords, despite the fact that many of them enjoyed the power they wielded as servants of the most powerful galactic power at the time. They value their own people and customs over everyone and everything else.[/i]” To give such an opinion she had had to dip into what other Tok’ra field operatives had told her during her stay on the Tok’ra Homeworld. She would have given a different opinion on the Jaffa once loyal to the Goa’uld, but the ‘Free Jaffa’ as they called themselves, were a much changed people.

Catherine sat down as well, taking a few moments again thinking about the implications and comparing with her own research. She didn’t exactly like what Ariadne was saying. “So it’s pretty much as I thought. Pride and excuses. In the past the Jaffa were… Unreliable, shall we say… as allies. Gerak to name one for all. I would hate to make such a close call here, and I can’t say I am a subscriber of their tactics either.” Black continued, recalling the file saying Bra’Tac nearly rammed SG-1 into an Ori mothership. And that was one of the most reasonable Jaffa the SGC worked with. Looking into Ariadne’s eyes, she noticed some unease. “Is something wrong? You know this is a two way street, right? If you have something to say or ask, out with it.” she smiled.

Ariadne wondered whether it was entirely wise to be telling the captain that her presence here might cause a diplomatic incident or worse, but her desire to remain alive and not be looking over her shoulder won through in this case. “[i]Recently the Free Jaffa have become incredibly… insistent… when it comes to surviving Goa’uld being killed. I have only been Tok’ra for less than a decade, barely the blink of an eye for both my kind and the Jaffa. If they learn of my past, they may act rashly.[/i]” Ariadne stopped with just that warning, a prudent one given how many innocents might get in the Jaffa’s way if they decided to dispense their ‘justice’ freely. She didn’t want to go into whether or not they were right or what the Captain should do about it. Those were areas mired with difficult ethics and diplomatic concerns.

"Then don't let them find out. Tok'Ra are masters of spying, keeping secrets and waging war from the shadows, no?" Catherine said half jokingly, "Don't worry, if what you said applies, they would only charge you head on, and there's enough marines in the corridors to repel a boarding attempt, let alone five jaffa." she said, although the expression on her face said that she’d rather cycle anyone threatening her crew through the airlock, if there wasn’t political shitstorm to follow. “If anything they should respect you for making that decision, no matter how late.”

Ariadne sighed at that. She wished it were true, it would make things so much easier. “[i]Unfortunately the Jaffa seem to like thinking in black and white. They like things to be good or bad, so they can decide whether to shoot them or not. But enough of this unpleasantness.[/i]” She wanted to move the conversation away from the Jaffa. It made Idalia, and by extension her, sick to think about them, and Idalia’s anger wasn’t something she enjoyed being so immersed in. “[i]Was there anything else you wished to speak to me about?[/i]” She said calmly, though not to imply she wanted to leave.

"Yes, but in light of what you told me, I think I have enough to think about for now." Captain sighed, "Hopefully next time we speak it will be on lighter note. There will be a mission briefing sometime later today, so prepare yourself to deal with Mr. Bureaucrat. I’ll see you there." she warned with a smirk, getting up to leave.

“[i]I look forward to it greatly.[/i]” Ariadne said with a heavy tone of sarcasm. She stood as well, to see the captain off, as she intended to stay in the observation deck for a while longer. “[i]Thank you, captain. I look forward to our next meeting.[/i]”