Title: An Additional Concern

Author: Jedi Buttercup

Disclaimer: The words are mine; the worlds are not. I claim nothing but the plot.

Rating: PG-13.

Summary: SG-1, Godzilla. Daniel recommends a scientist to the Stargate Project. 700 words.

Spoilers: Stargate SG-1 Season 1; Godzilla (1998).

Notes: Godzilla was released in theaters in May, 1998. Season 1 of SG-1 ended in March, 1998. I've assumed that the premiere episode of Season 2-- the resolution of Season 1's cliffhanger-- also occured before this story, so the team's all on earth and funding has been restored.

"Dr. Jackson," General Hammond said, frowning down the length of the conference table. "You said you had an additional concern regarding the events in New York?"

"Yes, I do," Daniel said earnestly, ignoring the raised eyebrows of his teammates. "You sent us there primarily to discover whether the emergence of the creature called Gojira--"

"--Godzilla," Jack interrupted.

Daniel shot him an affronted glare and continued, "--Gojira was in any way an alien threat, as opposed to a member of a previously undocumented species or a genetic aberration, as it ultimately proved to be. My concern has less to do with the events themselves, however, than with one of the principal players in the containment effort, the biologist whose theories were primarily responsible for the military's success in defeating it."

"You're referring to..." Hammond looked down at the file in front of him again. "Dr. Tapatopolus?"

"Tatapoulos," Daniel corrected him. "I know the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has suspended the funding for his project in the Ukraine…"

"And rightly so, doctor," Hammond commented. "He was the source of a considerable leak of classified material to the press."

Daniel waved that away, intent on the point he was trying to make. "It wasn't intentional. He made a bad judgment call, trusted the wrong person. That aside, he's exactly the kind of scientist we need on the Stargate project."

"Doctor--" The general began, dissuasively.

"Hear me out!" Daniel exclaimed, raising his hands from the table in a placating gesture. "Just think for a second about the sequence of events presented in Colonel Hicks' reports. Who was it that came up with the idea of luring Gojira into the open, using fish as bait? Who, after a face to face encounter with it, something that would have had most people paralyzed with terror, had the presence of mind to scrape up a blood sample and test it for pregnancy, of all things? Who was determined and quick minded enough to accept an alternate source of help and track down the creature's nest even after the military disavowed his theories?"

"I think part of the problem is the fact that his help was the French Secret Service, Daniel," Carter said, frowning. "They weren't even supposed to be operating in our country in the first place."

"Does it matter?" Daniel said, exasperated. "Dr. Tatapoulos was able to not only get the information about the creature's nest out of Madison Square Garden in time to prevent the escape of the infant creatures, but to survive the intervening moments of chaos and make it out of the building alive. Not to mention his quick thinking with the cab once Gojira reappeared."

"Your point, Daniel?" Jack said, frowning. "So he's a good guy, that doesn't mean--"

"Look," Daniel said, heavily. "When this project hired me all I had going for me was the accuracy of my theories. Dr. Tatapoulos has already proven that not only does he know what he's talking about, he can think quickly under pressure and in physically taxing circumstances. How many times have we run into unknown flora and fauna out there but didn't have the time, or the resources, to investigate it? The biology department at the SGC is still understaffed, and most of its members either don't want to or don't qualify to go out into the field with a team. What if the greatest treasure the galaxy has to give us has nothing to do with technology or minerals? What if the cure for cancer is out there and we're just passing it by?"

Hammond sighed and closed the report again, a resigned expression on his face. "You've made your point, Dr. Jackson. I'll consider your request."

"That's all I ask," Daniel said, more calmly. "Just give him a chance."

Daniel himself had been given that chance two years ago, when he least expected it, after his last, disastrous public lecture. He'd been given that chance again when Hammond had agreed to allow him to join SG-1 after Sha'uri was taken by Apophis. He couldn't stand to see another brilliant, caring mind ground under the heel of out of control circumstances, not when Daniel was in a position to do something about it.

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