Daniel fidgeted in his seat and looked anxiously around the table. It wasn't that he was uncomfortable or bothered by the ongoing bloviating by the various military brass and heads of state. In fact, although voices were raised, the meeting was rather rote considering that a day ago their respective countries were preparing to nuke each other into oblivion.

No, Daniel was anxious because of the only other quiet man at the table; The US Air Force General sitting to his right. To the casual observer Jack was aloofly disinterested in the proceedings, his full attention dedicated to doodling on the yellow legal pad propped on the table's edge.

But Daniel had known Jack for the better part of a decade and knew better. As the room's discussions continued in circles Daniel watched the muscles on Jack's face tense as his jaw subtly clenched and unclenched. The fidgeting in his fingers had ceased their lazy random tapping typical of a bored O'Neill and instead his fingers were occupied by angry, deliberate strokes of his pen against his notepad. When the meeting began he had cast discreet glances around the table but now his eyes remained focused in front of him with a laser-like intensity.

All these clues told Daniel that not only was Jack very much paying attention but he was quickly becoming agitated and losing patience. If there was one thing that made Daniel nervous in diplomatic settings it would be an agitated Jack O'Neill. He furtively cast about his mind, hoping to think of something that would diffuse the ticking time bomb in the Brigadier's uniform. He was so distracted that President Mikhailov's sudden exclamation of "Never!" almost startled him out of his chair.

Seeing President Hayes begin to get red in the face, Daniel cleared his throat, intending to try and bring the temperature of the room down a couple of notches. Unfortunately he was interrupted by the time bomb on his right.

"ACK! That's IT!" Jack tossed down his pen and threw his hands into the air in front of him.

President Hayes began to speak, "General O'Neill is right..."

"ACK!" Jack cut off the president with an exclamation and a sharp gesture of his hand. "No sir." He turned and looked at President Mikhailov who was opening his mouth "Eh, eh, eh...you too!"

Daniel could do nothing else; he took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew Jack had been on edge but he hadn't expected him to shut down two of the world's most powerful leaders the same way one would interrupt bickering children. ...Then again maybe Daniel wasn't surprised in the least.

"Enough from everyone here! Am I the only one who realizes we've been here for 6 HOURS and no one has said ANYTHING different from the first 6 MINUTES?"

"Sir, with all due respect..." Paul Davis seemed to be one of the few in the room not completely taken aback by the General's ire.

But Jack was not about to let anyone derail him, "Davis so help me god if you're about to pedantically explain to me that diplomacy is a complicated process that requires patience especially between two countries with such a long and volatile history as the two of ours I will be forced to zat you." The General stared at the Major; daring him to speak. When Davis remained silent Jack cocked his head, giving them one more chance to speak, when he didn't Jack smiled, "Thought so."

Jack sat back and made eye contact with each of the major players in the room, "Had the good major here indeed made the point he so badly wanted to, I admit there would be some truth. Our two nations have had a long and complicated history. Trust me, I know. 20 years ago Colonel Chekov and I may have very well been on the opposite sides of a skirmish in some undisclosed location. But I've got news for you folks...IT DOESN'T MATTER. Last night the Colonel and I shared drinks." He nodded to Chekov who allowed a small smile in acknowledgement.

"It has been complicated. But when will you people figure it out that it's bigger than what we've always known, and what we've always done. Ever since we've been going out there, THIS..." he waved his hands back and forth between the opposite sides of the table "Doesn't matter."

He shook his head and ran both hands through his hair. "I mean my god, we thought the planet was being infested with Goa'uld and we reacted by aiming nukes at EACHOTHER. Like THAT really would have solved anything. And you know how everything got straightened out? We have this amazing technology that allows us to communicate instantaneously with someone on the other side of the planet...it's called a telephone!" He shook his head in disapproval at the rest of the room.

Hayes opened his mouth, then waited as if anticipating a rebuke from O'Neill. When none was forth coming he interjected, "We did reach out to the Kremlin. They didn't answer our calls."

"Fair point." Jack nodded slowly, assuming the affectation of a patient grade school teacher. He leaned forward, stretching an upturned palm to the Russian side, "President Mikhailov, What do you have to say about that particular point?"

The Russian president eyed O'Neill warily, as if the invitation to speak was a trap. Cautiously he defended himself, "All evidence pointed to the fact that the American political establishment had been compromised. I had no way of trusting whomever I was speaking to."

"You didn't know if you could trust me when we spoke." Jack pointed out.

Mikhailov nodded the affirmative. "I did not. It was only after you and Colonel Chekov provided me with evidence did I accept what you were saying."

"Exactly!" Jack hissed and punched the air with his finger. "Don't you see that's the whole point? You have every right to distrust or disagree with whatever you're being told but whatever happens we can NOT shut down communications between our people."

Hayes nodded smugly but the look slid from his face when O'Neill turned a pointed glare at him, "I'm as fond as military responses as anyone but I'm sorry; you don't prime our nukes because someone doesn't pick up the phone! If they weren't answering before they sure as hell are going to clam up when you're threatening epic destruction!"

Hayes was visibly blustered, "They went to a heightened state first!"

Jack rolled his eyes, "And you knew there was more at play. We had briefed you and the pentagon regarding Kinsey earlier that day. Going on alert is one thing but putting the nukes out there only helped to put fuel on the fire!"

Jack took a breath and surveyed the room, seeing no signs of blatant disagreement he continued, "Look, we've been here for the better part of a day arguing and hashing and rehashing the same old bull crap. I'm not really the type who enjoys going in circles so here's an idea; Let's forget arguing about what happened and actually DO something productive. If we're going to survive as a planet we need to know we've got each other's backs when the bad guys come to town. I've brought Dr. Jackson along with me for that reason."

Daniel sat straight up in his seat, not expecting to hear his name. "Uh, what?"

Jack didn't even acknowledge the linguist's confusion. "Colonel Chekov and I have talked a lot over the past few days and we think this is an opportunity for us to adjust the existing treaty that Dr. Jackson helped write a few years ago."

A few of the other American generals and officers at the table grumbled but Jack took a breath and began to talk over them. "We need to rewrite our treaty to address a couple of things, first of all, when it is concerning matters of Earth security and the Stargate, pick up the damn phones. No answering machines allowed." He paused. Sensing no dissent he continued,

"Also...no nukes...really people. Everyone in this room is smart enough to know that they never make things better. I mean honestly, were either of you seriously prepared to give the "Go" order on that one?" He looked between the two presidents. Neither would hold his gaze.

"Didn't think so. Finally, I know there are very real tensions here. Something which I may have, perhaps, at times, played a role in exasperating..."
Daniel coughed. Jack narrowed his eyes at him to which Daniel responded with a shrug.

"Anyway..." Jack continued while his glare lingered on Daniel for a second more, "We only averted this crisis because the Colonel has worked alongside SGC personnel long enough that an element of understanding and trust existed. So I'd like to continue to strengthen our broader ties through individuals. You have your existing team based in Colorado. General Hammond and I have been working on expanding SGC capacity for 6 new teams; I'd like to suggest that 2 of them may be Russian teams, 3 if 2 of them are purely non-combatant scientific teams. Additionally liaisons of the other informed nations should be appointed as Homeworld Security advisors. Although well intentioned and I believe General Hammond is doing a fine job, Homeworld Security is kind of like the World Series in that not enough countries are represented. In exchange a relative number of Americans will serve in Russia working on your soil with your people regarding whatever Stargate based projects and a special HWS representative will work out of the American Embassy."

Some peevish murmurs broke out in the room.

"Eh eh eh!..." Jack held up his hands. "I know, it's not pleasant now. But the more direct ties we have working together across our borders the better chances we have at making sure that we all don't act so narrow minded in the future."

The room was quiet. Colonel Chernovshev was the first to speak up, "Why should we allow American scientists to study among our projects when the Americans have been so resistant share what they should have been sharing all along under the existing treaty?"

General Vidrine interjected, "Machines invented here on Earth were never intended as part of the original treaty. We have shared all the technology we have brought through the gate but we need to be able to build things vital for our own national security."

Chernovshev shot back, "For your national security?! Are you trying to tell me the X303 is for national security? If you feel there are things you must keep classified from the us for the sake of your security that means you see Russia as a threat. How can we trust each other if we are threatened by each other?"

At that point the floodgates opened and everyone in the room started shouting back and forth at one another.

After a minute of arguing Jack slammed his hands on the table and stood up, "ENOUGH!"

Daniel couldn't help but be impressed by the commanding figure Jack presented. Sometimes he forgot that his irreverent friend could also be this imposing military leader. Despite the large number of heavy brass in the room everyone fell silent and looked to O'Neill who was positively fuming where he stood.

"Y'know..." he spat the phrase out with clear disdain for those before him, "I used to get really annoyed when the Tollan, or the Asgard or the Nox or Tok'ra called us as a people 'young'. I felt insulted on behalf of the planet; but thanks to you people I think I'm starting to agree with their assessment. You can't keep your heads out of your asses for 5 minutes! No wonder no one out there wants to trust any of us with any fun technology. Cause you DO know that out there we're all painted with the same brush, right? American, Russian, Istanbulian...All they see are Tau'ri who can't be trusted to not blow themselves up. No one out there cares about trust and disputes between nations! You know what? I'm starting not to either. So I'm going to go have a beer because that's the only thing that will wash down the bile of sitting here and trying to do something productive with you all. When I'm done I'm going to fly back to my base and do whatever I can to support my personnel, which includes the Russian team, to ensure they have what they need to most effectively defend the planet...which for better or for worse includes all of your sorry asses."

He pushed away from the table and grabbed his cover from the shelf on the wall. "Daniel, transport leaves in 4 hours. I'll see you at the tarmac." He looked back at the rest of people in the room. Feeling a fleeting sense of doubt he gave a curt but respectful nod in the direction of his superiors, "Sirs." With that he turned heel and walked out the door.