Reading Time: 126 Minutes

Title: Another Country
Author: Daisy May
Fandom: Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis
Genre: Action Adventure, Crossover, Drama, Episode Related, Romance, Time Travel
Relationship(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Other pairings
Content Rating: R
Warnings: Murder (minor character), violence-canon level, character bashing, Discussion-rape
Alpha: Ed Ronhia
Word Count: 156,874
Summary: When Jack O’Neill found himself fourteen years in the past, he had to work out why he’d been sent back to this point. The ‘how’ was uncertain, and probably irrelevant, he decided, for the moment at least. Now all he had to do was change the things he thought were important, preferably without killing his Grandad – ‘or was it killing my Granny? For cryin’ out loud, I wish I’d listened better to Carter!’
Artist: Mizu Sage

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Chapter Sixteen

Newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to calm himself down. ‘So they missed their first and second check-ins yesterday?’

Colonel Marshall Sumner frowned. ‘I don’t like your tone, Lt Col Sheppard. You’re new to the SGC, so you don’t know how we work here, but I can assure you we’re doing all we can to find them.’

John bit his tongue so hard he broke the skin, and his mouth was filled with the taste of copper. Unfortunately, just after the six teams had left the previous day, General Hammond was called to DC as the proposal for the SGC’s financial independence had been refused by the Secretary of Defence, with no explanation of his reasoning. Patrick had called John to say he was meeting George in DC and had no idea when he was likely to be home, so John had flown himself to Colorado Springs without seeing his father, and a couple of days before he was officially expected.

Meanwhile, since both O’Neill and Col Edwards of SG-11 were off-world, command had fallen to the highest ranking officer on base: the Marine Colonel John had killed in the first timeline. How the fuck did Sumner come to be in charge today of all days?

‘I understand you’ve been promised a place on SG-1, but I can guarantee there won’t be any place for you on the flagship team or any other team with an attitude like yours. This is a prestigious posting, Sheppard, and I don’t know how you’ve wangled your way here, but I can send you back to Afghanistan in a New York minute, and I don’t care who your father is, or how well he’s connected.’ Sumner leaned back in General Hammond’s chair and stared up at John – who was still standing to attention – almost begging for him to make a slip-up so he could discipline him. I killed you once. Don’t make me do it again.

‘What’s your interest in SG-1, apart from you thinking you’re joining them, that is?’ Sumner asked curiously, flicking through John’s transfer paperwork, thankfully effective from the 1^st May, and the bits of his jacket that hadn’t been redacted.

I doubt saying ‘my partner’s Rodney McKay’ would go down well, and it might also make problems for Rodney. Having no other suitable answer, John remained silent.

‘Nothing to say? I thought all you Zoomie girlies chatted and gossiped all day long. What’s making you so silent?’

I shot you in the middle of your forehead from about thirty feet away, and through spooky Wraith mist. I’d do it again in a heartbeat if I had to, John told himself as Sumner began to go through the other files on Hammond’s desk. His back was aching from holding himself so still for – he glanced at the clock on the wall without moving his head – twenty minutes! Fuck me! Except, no, yrrgh. Definitely not! I think my dick’s just crawled back inside.

After a couple more minutes, Sumner glanced up and smirked at John. ‘Oh. You still here, Sheppard? Dismissed. I’m sure you’ll find someone to show you to the barracks. I understand we’re a little full at the moment so you’ll probably be sharing.’ Sumner waved a hand in the air in a ‘shoo’ motion and carried on reading one of the files.

John brought his hand up into a slick salute, turned on his heel, and marched out, then leaned on the closed door for a moment. Walter appeared suddenly and gave him a sympathetic smile.

‘Congratulations on your promotion, Colonel. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you your office and quarters.’

‘Quarters?’ John asked, thinking of Sumner’s last words to him.

‘You’ve been assigned the quarters next to Dr McKay, and even if you hadn’t, your father has VIP quarters here you could use, though you might have had to share with him if he paid a visit.’

How has my father managed to get quarters? I didn’t know he was here that often.

‘He isn’t,’ Walter answered without missing a step. ‘But the general wanted him to know he had a room here if he needed it.’

‘Umm, Walter?’ John began, unsure of what he wanted to say.

Walter grinned at him and winked. ‘Let’s just say we’re very alike in many ways.’

‘So you’ve….’

‘Oh, no, no, I’m not—’ he glanced around, then tipped his head forward. ‘I’m not that much like you.’

‘Why are you—’

‘Cameras, sir. If you want to keep anything secret, tip your head forward so the cameras can’t see your lips.’

John frowned. ‘What…’

‘Dr Kusanagi is looking into it,’ Walter replied, still keeping his head low, although not unnaturally so such that any watchers would suspect anything. What the fuck? I’m thinking about ‘watchers’ in a top-top secret military base. Why has no one mentioned this before? What the actual fuck?

Nothing more was said until they reached John’s new quarters where Walter handed over a key, grinned, and left him alone with the duffle and locker he’d brought with him and left at the first check-in point. Sighing to himself, he quickly changed from his class As into the olive green BDUs and black T-shirt, which Jack had assured him were acceptable daywear in the SGC.

Once changed, he stood for a moment, considered the temperature of the mountain, then pulled out a thicker olive green shirt he’d picked up from the AAFES at Maxwell AFB, making a mental note to get his rank insignia changed. There hadn’t been time to get anything other than his class As changed before reporting the SGC. I really, really miss my Atlantis uniform, and I really, really miss being the base commander and being able to set the uniform requirements. He sighed for a future yet to come, and pulled on his combat boots – black, thankfully – and made sure the laces were properly tied, then headed for the lift and Miko Kusanagi’s lab. I need to know exactly what the situation with SG-1 is.

*****

Radek Zelenka was in Miko’s lab, and John greeted them both with a grin until he remembered he hadn’t yet met them in this timeline. He was confused, therefore, when Radek grinned back and held out his hand.

‘Major Sheppard. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I understand we will become good friends in the future.’

What the fuck? John gaped at him, unsure how to reply. They had become good friends in the future – once Radek had got over his insane crush on Elizabeth Weir.

‘I—I—’ John began, helplessly.

‘Men!’ Miko said with a shake of her head and stepped towards John with her right hand extended. ‘Rodney read us both into your big secret just before he left for P3W 867. He said he had a bad feeling about the mission and didn’t want to leave you friendless, not when there are so many problems here.’

John shook her hand warmly, then turned back to Radek. ‘I can’t tell you what a relief that is!’ He grinned at them both. ‘I was worrying about how to broach the subject of SG-1 being missing when I haven’t officially met you yet. Marshall Sumner is apparently in charge at present, which freaked me out.’ He paused and frowned. ‘Did Rodney tell you…’

Miko nodded. ‘Yes, we’re well aware of your future interactions – interaction? – with Colonel Sumner, and I can’t say I’m opposed to it happening again!’

‘Miko.’ Radek chided her gently. ‘Just be careful who you say such a thing before. It could cause problems for all of us.’

‘Pah!’ Miko waved away his concerns, making John smile.

Aside from her age, she hasn’t—doesn’t change a bit! ‘Who else knows Rodney’s read you in?’

‘No one,’ Radek answered. ‘There was no time before SG-1 left for P3W 867.’

‘And what – if anything – is being done to help them?’

‘Nothing at all, as far as I’m aware.’ Miko ran her hands through her hair, absently. ‘The protocols here…Well, let’s just say there are few protocols in place for anything. I hope it was, will be, different in…the future. Rodney told us about—about the lost city very briefly. I look forward to going there.’

‘What protocols did you have for late and missing teams?’ Radek asked after a fond glance at Miko.

‘A dial in and radio communication to the gate address concerned if a check in was missed by thirty minutes, and if the communication didn’t connect, or there was no reply, we sent out a second team in a puddle—a small space ship if the gate was accessible, but their check-in was reduced to ten minutes. What is it here?’

‘Two missed check-ins,’ Miko said. ‘Usually. They have exceptions for various specific teams. SG-1, for example, is frequently late with check-ins, so the emergency protocols for them are two check-ins plus an hour or so.’

‘An hour or so?’ John repeated, wondering if he’d misheard the vagueness of the time.

Miko nodded, and her expression of disbelief matched John’s own, he suspected.

‘Still, search and rescue should still have kicked in yesterday, shouldn’t it?’

Both Miko and Radek nodded. ‘You’d think so,’ Miko commented. ‘Although Colonel O’Neill asked for a little lee-way since returning to the gate might be an issue if they had the right planet.’

‘So why wasn’t a second team dispatched yesterday evening when they’d missed both their check-ins?’ John demanded, then shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, Miko. I’m not blaming you at all. I’m just…’

‘Angry, furious, frustrated?’ Radek asked. ‘All of the above?’

John nodded. ‘All of the above.’ He took a deep breath and tried to centre himself. ‘What’s already being done, and what can we do without Sumner knowing and trying to stop us?’

‘As far as I can tell, nothing is being done at present,’ Radek said, tapping into his computer. ‘It looks as though two attempts were made to dial-in to the planet late yesterday, and one has been made this morning, but while they all connected, none managed to connect with O’Neill.

‘What did they hope a dial-in would achieve?’ John asked with a frown.

‘I am uncertain. Per Rodney, the plan was for the team which discovered the Destroyer to report back for reinforcements to go to them to help with the weapon destruction. However, they must first check-in, which SG-1 did not. As to what MSgt Harriman wished to achieve, I do not know, but there are, perhaps, protocols I know nothing about. I do know that Gate teams do not have remote-connection radios. They have to be close to the open gate to connect with the base.’

This news puzzled John, as he was certain the original radios they had used on Atlantis were not a new innovation. Why aren’t the SGC using them? He was aware Jack O’Neill had retained the radio he’d been issued on his first visit to the city – when the expedition had been forced to leave by the crew of the Tria. Which won’t happen again as I’ll lock out that damn console as soon as we get there. No one is throwing us out again.

‘Do we have any way to contact the off-world teams?’

‘Not unless they are close to gate when it is dialled. Is a ridiculous system we must amend.’ Radek was becoming more impassioned.

‘And the other five teams which went off-world?’

‘SGs-2, 3 and 5 are returned. Only SG-4 and SG-6, Major Carter’s new team, are outstanding, but per the records, SG-4 has a further hour before they are overdue.’

‘Should SG-6 be outstanding?’ John asked with a frown, still struggling with the whole thought of Carter being near Rodney.

Radek shrugged. ‘It is not clear. Let us say that no one as yet is concerned.’

An alarm sounded throughout the mountain, making John physically start. I’d forgotten that damn thing, or maybe my memory wiped it by choice. Considering that two gate teams were potentially in trouble off-world, one of them Rodney’s, John hurried back down to Level 28, then paused as the elevator door opened. Will Sumner let me in the Ops room? He shrugged and set off at a jog. I’ve got two chances.

*****

John watched as Carter led her team of two scientists and two Airmen down the ramp. Although Carter had a scowl set on her face, there were no apparent injuries, so it was difficult to tell why they were late.

‘Debrief in my—the General’s office in five minutes,’ Sumner snapped, and disappeared back up the spiral staircase before Carter could even open her mouth to argue.

They’ll never clear Medical in five minutes, so he’ll have an excuse to reprimand them, and debriefing in General Hammond’s office means they’ll all have to stand as there isn’t room for three extra chairs. He’s a fucking nightmare. A deeper part of him also said, What a fucking nightmare I escaped by killing him.

Nodding at Walter, he turned to leave when Walter reached out and touched his arm. Keeping his head low, he spoke in an undertone John had to strain to hear.

‘Colonel Sumner isn’t aware of the audio cut-off switch in the COs office, sir.’

John touched the Master Sergeant’s shoulder lightly and headed back up to Miko’s lab. What did that mean? He then gave himself a mental headslap. Of course, there’d be a switch to turn off the audio recording when the office had a direct link to the Oval Office. Or is that just a myth? He made a mental note to ask his father when he next saw him, and was still smiling when he entered Miko’s lab.

‘All set up,’ Radek said, pointing to the screen. ‘Will you lock the door, please?’

John flicked the lock and made another mental note to ask about Walter’s earlier comment about the cameras. I should have brought a notebook.

The debrief of SG-6 was deadly boring, and after a couple of minutes Miko turned back to her computer. John sat it out with Radek, but it didn’t tell either of them anything. Carter’s team was only overdue by an hour or so – nothing to be concerned about, apparently – and they hadn’t found anything. Sumner managed to make a few comments about general tardiness regarding the Air Force, which made Carter thin her lips, but that apart, nothing else was said, and John sat back in disappointment.

‘No blows exchanged, no bitten off ears, in fact no blood spilled at all. Is that a usual debrief?’ he asked Radek, who shrugged.

‘Is the norm for here, but I worry for the lost city if you speak of your usual debriefs.’

‘You’ve yet to meet Specialist Ronon Dex,’ John said with a grin, then he sobered. What about Teyla if things are changed when we arrive? Will we meet her? Will the changed circumstances change our relationships with each other? What about Ronon? I wanted to rescue him sooner, but…will we ever find him, even?

The sudden shaking of the lab door handle and tap at the door broke John from his thoughts, and he scowled when Radek unlocked the door and Carter came in, then tried to turn it into a smile. Despite Rodney telling him he and Sam Carter were getting on much better with each other, John hadn’t forgiven her for her attack on Rodney.

‘Who are—oh. You must be McKay’s partner,’ Carter said, offering her hand. ‘I did wonder if he made you up.’ Her smile took the sting from her words, but John wasn’t feeling very charitable.

‘Like you thought he made up his allergies, you mean?’

Carter dropped her hand and took a step back. ‘How do you know who I am?’

John stared at her for a moment, and bit back the words he wanted to say: rude, arrogant, and full of yourself. Instead, he ignored her question. ‘I’m John Sheppard.’

‘Sam Carter,’ she responded, holding out her own hand again. ‘Major Sam Carter.’

John regarded her, reading between the lines of her last remark. Carter had had a month ahead of him in rank when he was still an O4, but with his new promotion, he now out-ranked her. Is she the sort of officer who tries to use the authority of their rank, like Sumner? It’s weak and is usually little more than a pissing contest. ‘Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard. My promotion only came down yesterday and I haven’t had time to get anything other than my Class As changed.’

‘Congratulations, sir,’ Carter said with only the slightest hesitation, and he wondered if she was choking on the ‘sir’.

‘I’m glad I’ve seen you, Major as I’d really like to speak with you about SG-1 being so overdue. I’m new to this Stargate business, but is it usual for a team to miss several check-ins and for no action to be taken?’

Carter frowned. ‘How overdue are they?’

‘They missed both of their check-ins yesterday,’ Miko answered, looking up from her computer.

‘And Sumner hasn’t sent out an S and R team?’ Carter asked, frowning. ‘Why not?’

‘We do not know,’ Radek said. ‘Walter twice dialled the planet yesterday and once this morning, both of which failed to contact with SG-1. No further attempts have been made.’

Sam Carter, still frowning, pulled out a stool and sat down. ‘Where’s General Hammond? I asked Sumner, but he just ignored me. Why did the general leave him in charge?’

‘The general’s in DC, and I understand Colonel Sumner is the ranking officer at present,’ John said carefully, as he knew there were two other 06’s on the base, but wasn’t sure if he should have that knowledge.

‘No, he isn’t. Colonel Reynolds has more time in rank, he just doesn’t like confrontation,’ Carter said, then sighed and met John’s eyes. ‘I’ve already apologised to Rodney about the lemon in his water, and I think he’s forgiven me. We’re certainly working well together now, but I’ll understand if you want as little to do with me as possible.’

John surveyed her silently for a few moments, then nodded and held out his hand. It’s difficult to refuse, especially as you were my boss in the past, which is just plain weird.

*****

‘Why hasn’t anyone tried to rescue us, and where the hell is Anubis?’ Daniel Jackson demanded, prowling around their prison cell while Jack watched him.

‘Are you seriously expecting an answer?’ Jack asked him from where he was laid flat on the floor.

They had decided that occupation of the one bed was to be done on rotation. Since off-world teams always stuck to Mountain Standard Time, they’d divided the day into periods of sevenish hours, and took turns using the bed, in walking or exercising, as the room wasn’t big enough for more than one person to move around in, and a period of sitting on the floor and trying to occupy themselves.

They’d already exhausted games such as ‘I Spy’, ‘Who am I?’, and ‘Fuck, Marry, Kill’, as well as drawing in the dirt for ‘Hangman’ and even ‘Tic Tac Toe’. Neither Jack nor Daniel would play ‘Prime, Not Prime’, making Rodney pout for over an hour, and Daniel had begged Jack and Rodney to give him lessons in Ancient.

‘Rodders, are you asleep?’ Jack kicked the bed frame, making Rodney grumble.

‘I was until you shook the bed, asshole. What d’you want?’

‘Danny wants to know where Anubis is.’

Rodney sat up. ‘Do I look like Anubis’ social secretary? Seriously?’ He frowned at Jack. ‘Did they hit your head too hard? Or maybe not hard enough?’

Jack scowled back at him. So far, he was the only one taken for questioning. And beating up. Bastards.

Daniel, ever the peacemaker, physically moved between them. ‘Don’t start, you two. We’re all in this together, and the only way we can get out is together.’

‘You’ve got a plan to get us out, have you?’ Rodney asked snidely. ‘Or are you just giving us platitudes?’

Daniel opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of a staff weapon had each of them turning to face the door.

‘Rescue?’ Rodney suggested. ‘Teal’c, maybe?’

‘Teal’c’s not the only one to use a staff weapon, y’know,’ Jack said, looking over his shoulder at Rodney, who was still seated on the bed.

A second and third blast, almost simultaneous, and loud shouting had them exchanging glances.

‘Did that sound like Master Bra’tac to you as well?’ Daniel asked.

‘Okay, campers, grab your gear and get ready for exfil. Don’t want to keep the rescue party waiting,’ Jack said, getting to his feet and dusting himself down.

‘What gear?’ Rodney demanded. ‘They took everything.’

‘He’s being rhetorical,’ Daniel told him. ‘Ignore him.’

‘I can do that.’

The three men moved to the back of the room, leaving space for anyone forcing an entry, and didn’t have long to wait before the door was kicked in, and Teal’c appeared, a grim expression on his face.

‘Colonel, Doctors.’ He bowed his head.

Jack held out his hands. ‘Where’ve y’been? You don’t call, you don’t write. Oh, hi, Bra’tac. How’re they hangin’?’

‘They are hanging very well, O’Neill. How are yours hanging?’

Jack had never worked out if Bra’tac took his question – the one he always asked when they met – seriously or not. Remember. Never play poker with a Jaffa. ‘Ah, y’know, two months in this place makes ’em sore.’

‘You have been incarcerated for only two days, O’Neill.’

‘Where’ve you come from, Teal’c?’ Daniel asked him, shaking Master Bra’tac’s hand before shaking his. ‘How’d you know we were here?’

‘Dr Jackson, we must leave immediately,’ Bra’tac said, pushing Rodney towards the door. ‘I believe Anubis will shortly be arriving.’

‘We’ve got to—’ Jack began as Bra’tac rushed them down a passageway, past several Jaffa bodies, mostly dead, with just one moaning in pain at the blast mark on his chest.

‘The device, yes. Rya’c is—’

An enormous blast from outside cut off the rest of his sentence, and shook the ramshackle building they were in, but Bra’tac kept them moving.

‘That was Rya’c, was it?’ asked Rodney, grinning at Teal’c. ‘You must be so proud of him!’

‘Indeed.’

A tel’tak was strafing the Jaffa around the Stargate as they emerged into the open, and Jack and Teal’c doubled back inside, emerging with their weapons and backpacks. Rodney immediately opened his pack and lovingly stoked his tablet, while Jack and Daniel shoved their belongings back in pockets, and clipped their P90s to their tac-vests.

They fought their way to the gate, stepping over the bodies of Jaffa hit by Rya’c’s strafing, and shooting those still able to return fire, and within minutes Rodney was dialling the SGC and Jack sent through his IDC only to wait, and wait for confirmation the iris was down. Eventually, the wormhole closed down.

‘What the hell?’ Jack muttered. ‘Surely my IDC’s not been locked out? Teal’c, try yours.’

Rodney redialled the Earth gate and Teal’c sent his IDC through, and, once again, no confirmation came, and the wormhole flickered out.

‘I suppose we did miss our check-ins,’ Jack said, looking at Rodney and Daniel, ‘but yours should still be valid, T-man. It doesn’t make sense.’

‘I suppose at least the wormhole connected,’ Rodney said, tapping his lip.

‘Huh?’

Rodney turned to Jack. ‘If the gate hadn’t connected, I’d be concerned about the status of Earth’s gate. But if I…’ He began to pull various wires, tools, and his tablet from his backpack while the others looked on curiously.

‘What y’doin?’ Jack asked him, his head tilted a little as he watched Rodney unpack.

‘If I connect my tablet to the DHD, I might be able to send a message back to the SGC.’

‘Can you do that?’

‘Don’t know, which is why I said ‘might’.’ Rodney began to break open the DHD and Daniel crouched down beside him.

‘Can I help?’

‘I don’t know,’ Rodney said, attempting to connect his wires to the innards of the DHD. ‘Can you?’

‘I’ve watched Sam do it enough times,’ Daniel said. ‘Sometimes she’d let me hold her tools.’

Rodney flashed him a grin, but it quickly turned into a grimace when more shouting began, and Daniel jumped to his feet, reaching for his P90.

‘Oh, crap!’ Jack muttered, then louder: ‘Incoming Jaffa!’

His four companions protected Rodney as he worked as fast as he could, all the while wishing it was John with him, urging him to work faster. If we get out of this, I’ll never moan again when he asks how long it’ll be for the tenth time.

‘Rodders, we need to move!’ Jack called out, over the sound of P90s and staff weapons.

‘I’m nearly there!’ Work faster! Work faster! Rodney told himself, trying to get himself into the headspace he’d had in Pegasus when John yelled at him.

He felt a hand grip his shoulder and pull him into a standing position, then Jack grasped his arm and dragged him towards the newly uncloaked, vaguely pyramid-shaped tel’tak hovering above the ground and from where Rya’c was alternatively waving at them, and pointing to the sky from the cockpit.

Anubis must be close, Rodney realised, and allowed Jack to hurry him along to the ship where the transportation rings suddenly descended, all the while mourning the loss of the special tablet Patrick Sheppard had gifted him. It’s not even in production yet, and I can’t ask him to give me another. I wonder if I could steal John’s?

*****

‘Goddamnit!’ John rubbed his hands through his hair as he watched the wormhole disengage for a second time.

‘What’s Sumner playing at?’ Sam asked rhetorically. ‘I mean, fine, Colonel O’Neill’s IDC should arguably be locked out as he missed two check-ins, but Teal’c’s is valid. Sumner must realise they’re together on P3W 867, although how Teal’c came to be there, I have no idea. Given the reason for us all going off-world in the last couple of days, SG-1 could be in serious trouble.’

‘How were these missions allocated?’ John asked suddenly. ‘Miko said there was a list of six possible planets for this destroyer device, and six teams went out. Who decided which team got which destination, because if Teal’c’s with them, I’d say it’s pretty clear SG-1 has found the weapon?’

Sam frowned. ‘I think it was just in the order they were listed. SG-1 got number one on the list, SG-2 the second, etcetera.’

‘Your team was gone for two days, Sam, but the other three came back yesterday. Why were you given so long? What were your check-in times?’

‘We were all given a third check-in of this morning, unless we could get back to the gate before then,’ Sam explained. ‘We couldn’t risk sending out MALPs to the gate addresses as we risked warning the people who had this device Master Bra’tac told General Hammond about. Consequently, we had no idea what was on the other side of the gate, and no idea how far we might have to go to find this Stargate Destroyer, although it should have to be pretty close to the gate if it used the Stargate to—to do whatever it’s supposed to do.’

‘You sound sceptical about the intel from Master—what was his name?’ John asked, not entirely disingenuously as he’d never met Bra’tac in the other timeline, and wouldn’t recognise him if they met.

‘Bra’tac. Master Bra’tac,’ Sam replied. ‘He was Teal’c’s mentor, so to speak. He was the First Prime of Apophis before Teal’c and has been a good friend to us.’ She suddenly grinned. ‘He calls General Hammond ‘Hammond of Texas’ as the general didn’t know how to greet him at their first meeting. Bra’tac announced himself as ‘Bra’tac of Chulak’, so the general declared himself as ‘Hammond of Texas’! I’m not sure if Bra’tac knows it’s pretty much a standing joke for us. He’s got a very dry sense of humour. I’m sure you’ll get on with him.’

‘Hopefully,’ John replied, ‘but I was asking about his intel on the—the device he notified Colonel O’Neill about.’

‘The Stargate Destroyer?’ Sam asked, and when John nodded, she frowned and continued. ‘It was odd, really. He and Teal’c came to the SGC in late March with intel on the emergence of a Goa’uld overlord, Anubis, who was about to launch an attack on Earth, then, two days later, my father – he’s now a member of the Tok’ra. Have you been briefed about him?’ Again, John simply nodded, not wanting to interrupt her flow of information. ‘Well, my father contacted us with the same intel as Bra’tac.’

‘About the asteroid, right?’

”About the asteroid, yes, but Bra’tac also mentioned a new weapon Anubis had built called a Stargate Destroyer, which apparently sends a pulse of energy through one gate to another.’

‘And you’re sceptical of this intel?’ John asked again.

Sam wrinkled her nose. ‘It’s just…how has this new Goa’uld come to power so quickly, and how has he made such a powerful weapon, totally unlike anything we’ve yet seen from the Goa’uld?’

They’re good questions, John decided, and the type of question I’d have asked. But what has Jack told her?

Thankfully, Miko came to John’s rescue.

‘As I understood it, Anubis discovered this weapon which was made by the Ancients. As to his sudden appearance, your father said he’s been around for a long time, but as he was banished by the System Lords centuries ago, he stayed in the shadows until he’d reached a level of power they couldn’t ignore any longer. There was also some suggestion he was semi-ascended, but since there’ve been no positive sightings of him, that’s just conjecture.’

A superb blend of truth, supposition, and misinformation, Miko. I could kiss you, but both Radek and Rodney would kick my butt!

Sam was nodding. ‘That makes sense. Thanks, Miko.’

‘So, back to our missing gate team,’ John prompted. ‘How can we get Sumner to open the gate to them? Can we get Sumner to open the gate to them?’

‘Not without hog-tying him,’ Sam muttered. ‘I’m prepared to do it if you are!’

‘What about the officer you spoke of earlier?’ Radek asked her. ‘I do not recall his name.’

‘Colonel Reynolds?’ Sam frowned as she considered him. ‘We might be able to appeal to his better nature, I suppose.’ John made a moue of distaste and she hastened to defend Reynolds. ‘No, no, he’s not a bad man. In fact, he’s too nice sometimes, to his detriment. He’d much rather give way and avoid a possible confrontation, which is probably what happened between himself and Sumner. Sumner obviously wanted to be acting CO, so Reynolds let him.’

‘D’you think he might be willing to take part in a little coup if we ask nicely?’ John asked, with humour he didn’t really feel.

‘Let’s ask him.’

*****

The tel’tak spun around as it was hit by weapons fire from the Mothership which had just appeared above the planet. Jack glanced at Rya’c, still at the controls, as he gripped one of the once-gilded bulkheads on the flight deck, and wondered if the kid was going to get them out of trouble, or if Teal’c or Bra’tac should have insisted on taking over control. Hell, I can fly it if necessary.

It wasn’t necessary, and Teal’c’s usual impassive visage was replaced with a look of pride as his son took them competently out of danger, and into hyperspace.

‘Where shall we go, father?’ Rya’c asked Teal’c. ‘To take Colonel O’Neill and his team to Earth would take many days.’

‘Where’s the closest gate?’ Rodney asked, pushing between Jack and Daniel to see their pilot.

Bra’tac, who had taken the co-pilot seat, scrolled through the heads-up display. ‘Here.’ He pointed to the display. But it will take us almost twenty hours to get there.’

‘In twenty hours, the SGC will have declared us MIA, if they haven’t already’ Jack muttered. ‘Rodders, any ideas for a Plan B?’

‘Yes. I try to contact the SGC and send a message through the gate.’

Jack rubbed his hands together. ‘Sweet. What do we need to do?’

Rodney stared at him. ‘You just don’t pay attention or listen, do you? That’s what I was trying to do when you dragged me away from the DHD. And before you ask if I can have another go, you dragging me away made me leave my tablet behind. My souped-up tablet prototype given to me by Sheppard senior.’

‘Can’t he give you a new one?’

‘What the hell do you think ‘prototype’ means?’

‘Ah, if I may,’ Daniel said apologetically, trying to push Jack out of the way so he could reach Rodney. ‘Is this what you meant?’ He held out a slim silver case to Rodney. ‘I wasn’t able to disconnect the cables, but I rescued this.’

Rodney stared at him. ‘Can I kiss you?’

Daniel flushed, and Jack had to damp down his immediate and violent instinct to flatten Rodney.

‘Erm, better not,’ Daniel answered, glancing at Jack’s rigid features. ‘John might not like it.’

‘John can kiss my pale Canadian ass. I’d offer to have your babies, but, y’know.’ He waved a hand at himself, and grinned at Jack. ‘Only joking, Jackanapes!’ Jack look of confusion made both Rodney and Daniel laugh.

‘I’ll explain it later, Jack, don’t worry,’ Daniel told him, patting his arm.

Jack sighed. I replaced one big brain with another, and this one isn’t even a subordinate I can terrorise. How is this my life? ‘Can I assume you can now send a message to the SGC, Rodders?’

‘If I can get back to the DHD, yes. Why don’t tel’taks have their own DHDs?’

‘Because they can’t go through a Stargate?’

‘Oh, yeah.’ Rodney subsided, and went back into the cargo area to find something to eat.

‘D’you think we can get back to the DHD, Teal’c?’ Jack asked his friend, who was leaning on the bulkhead close by Jack.

‘Since the Stargate Destroyer is no more, I suspect there is little here to detain Anubis. He will doubtless collect his remaining Jaffa and depart the star system. We must simply wait until that time.’

‘I hate waiting,’ Jack grumbled, half to himself.

‘Tough,’ Daniel called out from the cargo hold. ‘Teal’c? Rodney’s found sandwiches. Did you bring them and can we eat them, please?’

‘We had them made for you after we determined you had been captured,’ Bra’tac replied. ‘It was unlikely you would be fed, and Teal’c mentioned Dr McKay’s hypogol—Hype—’

‘Hypoglycaemia,’ Daniel corrected. ‘It’s when the body has low blood sugar and can be quite serious.’

‘And I’ve already had one stay in hospital in the last six weeks,’ Rodney said through a mouthful of sandwich. ‘Thanks, Teal’c, Master Bra’tac. The Jaffa didn’t take my energy bars off me, and Daniel had a couple he shared with me, so I was fine yesterday, but I was beginning to feel a little shaky just before you got to us.’

‘And I meant to ask, guys,’ Jack began, looking at the three Jaffa. ‘How did you know we were in trouble and needed help?’

‘I visited Drey’auc to ask how the tretonin had worked for her, then Master Bra’tac and I discussed the mission the SGC had dispatched you upon.’

‘We became concerned for your safety.’ Bra’tac took over the conversation after a frown at Teal’c, who was being pretty long winded, Jack agreed. ‘Rya’c has worked upon this cargo ship, which now has better engines and cloak than when we used it to find your asteroid. One of the addresses I gave to Hammond of Texas was reachable from Chulak, so we went there. Major Wade of SG-3 informed us of the destination you took, O’Neill, and since Teal’c was certain you would find the device because of your good fortune, we set off and hoped we were in time to help you. When we came out of hyperspace, we found multiple ships in orbit, so knew that once again your fortune had held true.’

‘You think all the trouble we get into is because I’m fortunate?’ Jack asked him, a little bemused.

‘Of course.’ Bra’tac looked offended Jack would think otherwise. ‘Teal’c told me of a Tau’ri tenet: “Fortune favours those who are brave”, and since you are very brave, O’Neill, you must therefore be fortunate.’

‘Ah, no, that’s not—Ow!’ Daniel glared at Jack and rubbed his side where Jack had elbowed him, hard.

Jack smiled back at him. ‘Don’t contradict Master Bra’tac, Daniel. I’m flattered he considers me brave, and I return the compliment, Bra’tac.’ Jack bowed to the elderly Jaffa, who smiled widely.

‘I intend this Tau’ri tenet be taught to all children of the Free Jaffa,’ Bra’tac proclaimed. ‘It is a worthy rule by which to live.

Chapter Seventeen

Meanwhile, George Hammond was rubbing his temples, and Patrick Sheppard was pouring a glass of the Secretary of the Navy’s best malt, despite it being only 15:00.

‘Anyone else?’ Patrick asked, holding up the decanter.

‘No, thank you, and please, Patrick, help yourself to my best whisky,’ Secretary Neville Delauder told his friend.

‘I probably bought it for you, jackass,’ Patrick muttered, swallowing the entire measure and refilling his glass.

‘I’m not even sure why you’re in my office, Delauder continued, as though Patrick hadn’t spoken. ‘I’ve had nothing to do with whatever Robert Wallis has going on. In fact, I have little to nothing to do with the Stargate Programme, despite you being primarily served by Marines. The Marine Commandant deals personally with anything which comes up – his choice, I should add. If or when the next Commandant is appointed, and if I’m still here, things might change, but with an election next year, I can’t see much changing in the short term.

‘The actual Navy has no part of the programme, although I’d not refuse you a Seal team or two if you wanted them, General Hammond. Just sayin’.’

‘I’ll pass your offer on to my 2IC, Jack O’Neill, sir,’ George replied. ‘He deals with the Battalion mostly, although I have an idea he’s going to hand some of that over to Patrick’s youngest when he joins us shortly.’

‘Today, actually,’ Patrick said. ‘I spoke to him before I set off yesterday morning, and he said he’d been released a day early so would make his way to the SGC as soon as.’

‘SG-1 is off-world today and tomorrow,’ George told him, ‘but I’m sure he’ll find enough to entertain himself with.’

‘What’s SG-1 got to do with my godson?’ Neville asked with a frown. ‘You’re never sending him off-world with Crazy Jack, are you, General?’

‘I didn’t know he was your godson, sir,’ George said, settling himself back in the comfortable armchair. ‘Patrick did say he’d known you a long time, though.’

‘We went through Annapolis together,’ Patrick said, carrying the whisky decanter back to his own armchair. ‘I have to say, though, Nev’s done pretty well for himself.’ He waved his hand around the tastefully decorated, well-appointed room.

‘I can’t take any credit. Laura chose it all, then bullied the contractors until they did it to her satisfaction. Honestly, she’d make a pretty decent SecNav herself,’ Neville said. ‘That, or in a seat at the Resolute desk, and the same went for your Isobel, Patrick.’

Patrick gave a fond smile at the memory of his much-loved late wife. ‘She would indeed.’

‘So, to business,’ Neville said, glancing between his two unexpected guests. ‘What brings you to my four walls, aside from exasperation with our dear friend Robert Wallis?’

George gave Patrick a very slight nod, and Patrick put his hand casually into his pocket, and returned the nod, but much to their surprise, Neville suddenly frowned, and looked around the room. He tipped his head to the side as though listening to something, then focussed on Patrick, still frowning.

‘What just happened? What did you do, Patrick?’

Openly now, George and Patrick stared at each other, then Patrick once again put his hand in his pocket, and Neville shook his head, as though trying to shake something off.

‘Patrick?’ he asked, all humour now gone. ‘What have you done to me?’

Raising his brows, Patrick waved a hand at Hammond. ‘You do the honours, George,’ he said, and placed the Ancient Bug-zapper on the coffee table between the three of them.

Neville picked it up, and a blue light flashed briefly, and he frowned. ‘There’s that…sensation again. What is this?’ He looked at Hammond and held up the grey stone-like object. ‘Do I need to call for security?’

‘It’s based on an object we discovered off-world and which John’s partner duplicated for us. Jack O’Neill calls them bug-zappers. Essentially, they block any listening devices within its range – about twenty metres, I understand – and we use them when we’re discussing something we don’t want anyone else to ‘overhear’.’

Neville gave him a level gaze. ‘You think my offices are bugged? They get swept every week.’

‘By whom?’ Patrick asked. ‘The NID? FBI? CIA? Each of them has a vested interest in what is said in here. Are they likely to remove their own bugs?’

Neville’s mouth dropped open. ‘That’s…You’re talking about a conspiracy within the very pillars of our nation.’

‘So?’

‘No.’ Neville shook his head. ‘No, I refuse to believe in your conspiracy theories, Patrick. It’s—it’s incredible, in the literal meaning of the word.’

‘And yet it’s still true, but even if you don’t believe us, allow me to keep the device activated, just in case.’

Nodding slightly, Neville gazed at him. ‘I always thought I was the politically savvy one of us, but now…’ He shrugged. ‘Fine. But can you tell me why I felt it when you…activated it?’

‘That’s a very long story,’ Hammond said, ‘and one we don’t really have time for, but I’ll ask Sh—John to come have a conversation with you. He and his partner.’

‘Fair enough, but can we get to the reason you turned the blessed thing on? I happen to work for a living, gentlemen.’

*****

Their plan was straight-forward – on paper. John and Sam would explain that because of the chain of command of the SGC, Sumner shouldn’t be in charge, and he, Albert Reynolds, should be.

‘I wasn’t entirely happy with Colonel Sumner taking charge, but he was very persuasive,’ Reynolds explained as he leaned back in his chair, causing John and Sam to exchange hopeful glances. ‘And I’ve never really understood how the chain of command works here.’

John and Sam now exchanged dumbfounded glances at the admission, and John had to stop himself from facepalming. You don’t say stuff like that to subordinates, you idiot!

‘I’m sure Colonel O’Neill will be happy to explain it to you when he’s allowed back through the gate,’ Sam said, clearly not caring if she threw O’Neill under the bus. ‘But the immediate problem is getting SG-1 back to base. While there’s an argument the Colonel’s IDC might be compromised with two missed check-ins, there’s no reason Teal’c’s is, yet Colonel Sumner refused to acknowledge it and open the iris.

‘We believe SG-1 found the Stargate Destroyer the teams were looking for, as SG-3 have now returned and reported that Teal’c, his son, Rya’c, and Master Bra’tac caught up with them on PN3-114, and heard that SG-2, SG-4, and SG-5 had returned quickly yesterday – in fact I think SG-2 had returned before SG-4 had actually left. I know my team was still here.’ Carter paused to take a breath, and John watched Reynolds’ reaction to her information.

He looked to be a nice enough man, and pretty harmless, but John wondered how he’d managed to become an 06, and also wondered if it would have happened in the big Air Force. He’d taken a look at Reynolds’ jacket – courtesy of Miko – and the man certainly wasn’t outstanding: he’d just been in the right place at the right promotion-related times, since John didn’t even remember him in the other timeline, and he’d spent several years at the SGC in total.

‘What are you actually wanting me to do, Major?’ Reynolds asked, and John managed to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Sam, to her credit, had either more patience or a better poker face.

‘You are next in the chain of command after Colonel O’Neill,’ she explained, using words of no more than two syllables. ‘Colonel Sumner should never have usurped your position.’

Reynolds gave a self-effacing smile. ‘Maybe, but Marshall was very keen to sit in the big chair.’

No, he’s not harmless, he’s a dangerous fucking idiot. Who the hell still uses phrases like ‘big chair’?

‘I believe the point Major Carter is trying to make,’ John said, ignoring Sam’s urgent glances, ‘is that Colonel Sumner is not allowing SG-1 to return to base.’

‘And I’m sure he has his reasons. You’ve already pointed out that since SG-1 missed their check-ins, Colonel O’Neill’s IDC has been locked out.’

‘And Teal’c’s?’

‘Ah, but how do we know it is Teal’c?’ Reynolds smiled knowingly and nodded, though John didn’t have a clue why the moron was nodding. ‘You’re new to the programme, Major Sheppard, but you’ll soon learn we do things differently here. We’re almost a law unto ourselves.’

This was said with such pride that John had to turn away so Reynolds didn’t see him laugh. But I’m never playing poker with Sam Carter.

‘How do you suggest SG-1 get home, then?’ John asked once he’d recovered himself.

‘Oh, I’m sure they’ll find a way, even without the Major here with them.’ He nodded to Sam. ‘And may I congratulate you on your promotion, Major Carter?’

‘Promotion?’ Sam frowned. ‘What promotion?’

‘Promotion to Gate Team leader, of course. It’s an immense honour, as I’m sure I don’t have to tell you.’

John and Sam thanked him for his time, then looked at each other as they closed Reynolds’ office door behind them.

‘How—’ John began.

‘Did he get promoted? No idea,’ Sam answered, anticipating his question. She looked around and lowered her voice. ‘If he were a woman, I’d be asking who he’d slept with!’

There was no irony whatsoever in either her voice or her attitude, and John wondered if she was perhaps innocent of at least some of the crimes discovered in the last few months. Maybe Miko and Rodney are wrong and she earned her promotions legitimately. That, or she’s a wonderful actress. ‘So what do we do now?’ he asked her.

Sam thought for a moment, then looked at him with her head to one side. ‘How serious were you about a little coup?

*****

‘You begin, George, as it’s your show,’ Patrick told him.

‘I’m sure you’re aware of the expense of the Stargate Programme, sir, so we’ve been trying to make it as self-financing as we can, by bringing various of our off-world discoveries, and technology developed by our scientists, into society.’ He frowned. ‘That’s a very condensed explanation , but I hope you understand.’ He waited for Neville to nod, then continued to explain his and Patrick’s efforts to gain financial independence, the vested interests they’d stomped all over, and the butthurt-ness they’d caused.

‘…So when SecDef called us in yesterday and explained that ninety per cent of our tech advances are tied up in secrecy orders, we tried to find out exactly what had happened, and who did it.’ Hammond paused for a moment, then gave a grim smile. ‘I already had my suspicions as to the person or persons behind it.’

‘And?’ Neville prompted.

‘One of my officers…’ He sighed and tried again. ‘Over the last five years, one of my officers has been sending details of projects to the DoD on a regular basis. These projects are then placed under a Type II Secrecy Order, meaning the DoD has control of how, when, or why a project is developed. More importantly for us, however, is that if or when the product is marketed, no matter how it’s done, the DoD receives the financial benefit, not the SGC nor the person who first invented or discovered it.’

Neville’s mouth was hanging open by the time George got to the end of his explanation.

‘That—that’s—that’s criminal,’ he finally managed to say. ‘Who the hell is this officer? I hope to God you sort him out.’

‘Sort what out?’ Patrick asked with a wry smile. ‘She was only following orders.’

‘So it’s a woman, is it? Is there any question of sexual favours being involved?’

Patrick’s lip curled up at the question, but George looked away and sighed.

‘…Possibly,’ he said, reluctantly. ‘Or at least we suspect that her promotion to Major was…influenced, shall we say.’

‘She didn’t earn it?’

‘She did, but…there are other factors involved I’m not at liberty to discuss.’

Neville nodded and sat for a moment tapping a finger on his leg. ‘Okay,’ he said at length, ‘how do I come into it?’

Patrick and George exchanged glances, and Patrick nodded.

‘Well, first of all, I needed a drink, and you were the closest option!’ He smile at his friend and received a hand gesture in reply. ‘But you’re also my best friend and I trust your judgement and advice, and it’s advice we’re after at the moment.’ He paused and thought about what he and George both wanted, and needed, and they weren’t necessarily the same things. ‘What is the Navy’s policy on advances made by your own scientists, and who benefits from it? I may have served for twenty-five years, but this kind of thing never crossed my desk.’

‘You never had a proper desk, Patrick,’ Neville told him with a wry grin. ‘You fought the PTB whenever they offered you a land-based post until your last promotion, and you only agreed then if they gave you an operational command. I was there, remember?’

‘Pfft!’ Patrick waved away Neville’s comments, although it was true that he’d only accepted the promotion to Rear Admiral if he could stay on what he termed active service, as opposed to pushing a pencil for a living. He’d loved his service time, and the only reason he retired was Isobel’s diagnosis of ovarian cancer. He’d wanted to support her, and he’d had to take over the reins of SI, which she’d run after the death of his father, John Sebastian, two years before.

‘—terms of science and technology,’ Neville was saying to George when Patrick refocussed his attention on him, ‘our policy is essentially based on our immediate wants, and future needs; what the men in grey suits call our ‘Mission and Future Capability Strategy’, and I’m honestly surprised the SGC isn’t operating on similar lines.’

‘When the SGC was officially established in 1997, we were already fighting a war,’ George explained. ‘It had been moth-balled the previous year when it was thought the Stargate only had one destination, although we’ve discovered since then the gate was opened in the forties, and the records hidden away.

‘But by the time anyone realised what was happening and how much it was all going to cost, the vested interests were already milking the programme for all they could. What we need now is a way to end the…the appropriation, and return all intellectual property and proprietary technology to the contractors involved.’

‘If we can claim other branches of the services have their own policies concerning IP and PT, we have something to fight them with,’ Patrick added. ‘Hence our visit to you.’

‘And you’ll be asking the Army a similar question?’ Neville asked, getting up and going to his desk. ‘I think I can help.’ He pulled an address book from a drawer, picked up the telephone, and dialled a number.

Patrick and George tried not to listen to the conversation, and chatted between themselves while Neville was occupied, although Patrick couldn’t help overhearing certain phrases such as ‘thieving bastards’, ‘my dead body’, and ‘fucking politicos’!

*****

It was easy enough to get Sumner out from Hammond’s office to break up a fight helpful started between two of the Airmen John remembered from Atlantis, although he made no sign of recognition when Sam approached them.

‘I’ll get it squared away with General Hammond,’ John promised when they agreed to the plan, and it was as simple as that.

Sam and John hid in the primary armoury just around the corner from the embarkation room and peered through the slightly open door to see when Sumner stormed out from the CO’s office and into the main lift which would take him to the mess hall where A1C Moores and Amn Wilson were, hopefully, exchanging in fisticuffs. John went into the Ops room, as none of the SFs in the gate room – embarkation room, he reminded himself – would know him, while Sam went into the embarkation room to tell the SFs what was about to happen.

John gave Walter a quick rundown of what they intended, and he, helpfully, suggested they put the base into lockdown, which would keep the base personnel exactly where they were. Good idea, then we won’t have to cope with Sumner hammering on the gate room doors. Embarkation room doors. Fucking embarkation!

The base alarm sounded as the base went into a code three lockdown, and the two blast doors locked shut, and while Walter engaged the locks on the Ops room, he kept the security blast screen raised so John could see the gate room.

The dial-ins from P3W-867 had been coming at five-minute intervals, and sure enough, not long after John and Sam took charge, the gate dialled again.

‘Colonel O’Neill’s IDC,’ Walter said to John and through the microphone to the gate room so Sam would know.

‘Open the iris,’ John told him, and leaned forward to the microphone. ‘Stand by gate room. We may have unfriendlies about to come through the gate. Wait for my order before firing.’

Sam gave him an odd look before she turned back to face the gate and raised the P90 she’d collected as they hid in the armoury. John, for his part, stood front and centre in the Ops room as the event horizon rippled and SG-1 emerged, the wormhole disengaging behind them.

‘What the fuck, Sheppard?’ Jack demanded, looking at the number of guns aimed at him and his team.

‘Sam?’ John said, ignoring Jack’s remark.

Sam lowered her P90 and walked up the ramp closer to the three team members, and tilted her head to one side. ‘All clear,’ she called out to John, who nodded and relaxed his stance.

‘Stand down, Security Force,’ John called out, then smiled. ‘Welcome back, SG-1. Want to join us in the briefing room? You’ll have to come the long way round,’ he added, pointing to the door which opened on to the lesser used corridor leading to stairs up to Level 27.

Jack scowled at him, and his anger was clearly growing. ‘Where’s General Hammond?’ he demanded. ‘What the hell’s been happening here? Why are you in charge, Sheppard?’

‘If you’ll come up to the briefing room, Colonel, please.’ John stared at him, hoping Jack would realise his intent to do this in private, and Jack gave him a single nod.

Walter already had coffee and a tray of sandwiches on the conference table when they filed through the door, which John closed with a deep sigh.

‘Hear me out, please, Jack,’ John said, holding up a hand, and Jack nodded even as his eyebrows raised at the use of his christian name.

They’d all just taken a seat when the door opened again and Carter slipped in, and nodded to John.

‘All done,’ she said, taking a seat next to Daniel while John, after a slight hesitation, took the seat at the head of the table.

‘Give me a chance to explain, please, before you all bombard me with questions,’ John said, and rubbed the back of his neck.

Jack didn’t speak, but after surveying him for a long moment, he gave John a single nod.

‘We’ve had a small coup,’ John began, and as Jack’s eyebrows disappeared into his hairline, he began to explain. ‘…so Colonel Sumner is now, to my knowledge, locked in the mess hall, and is doubtless taking it out on the other poor unfortunates also locked in there,’ he finished.

‘And Miko is keeping an eye on the security systems in case anyone tries to mess with them,’ Sam added. ‘I went to call her just before I joined you all.’

‘Does the general know about any of this?’ Jack asked.

‘Not from me.’ John shook his head. ‘My father phoned me before I left Alabama yesterday morning to say he was joining General Hammond in DC for urgent talks with SecDef and had no idea how long it’d take, so I flew myself directly to Colorado and spent the night at Rodney’s apartment.’

‘You flew yourself?’ Sam asked with a frown, and John had to stop himself from banging his head on the table. Stupid, stupid mistake. Stupid and fucking careless.

‘Turn of phrase,’ he answered her, hoping to shrug it away. ‘That’s all.’

Thankfully, Jack had more important issues to discuss. ‘And what has Sumner got to do with any of it?’ He gave John a questioning look, and John shook his head.

‘He persuaded Colonel Reynolds he wanted a chance to ‘sit in the big chair’,’ Sam explained, making quotation marks with her fingers.

‘He did what?’ Jack poked a finger in his ear as if he had trouble hearing what she said.

‘His exact words, according to Col Reynolds,’ John said, loyally backing her up.

‘But why wouldn’t he let us through?’ Daniel asked, speaking for the first time since their return. ‘I don’t understand that bit.’

‘He argued that since you missed two check-ins, you must be compromised,’ Sam explained.

‘But why wouldn’t he accept Teal’c’s IDC?’

‘No fucking clue,’ Sam sighed, and John realised it was one of the first times he’d heard her swear.

‘He told me he could send me back to Afghanistan if he chose to,’ John said, trying to hide his smirk. ‘He doesn’t care who my father is, apparently.’

‘That man will never have hot water again,’ Rodney muttered, opening his tablet, and John had to bite his lip to stop himself from reminding Rodney they weren’t on Atlantis.

Jack rubbed his face with both his hands, and John noticed how tired all three of the newly returned men were.

‘Did you find the Stargate Destroyer?’ he asked suddenly, remembering why they were off-world in the first place.

‘Found it, destroyed it, came home – after a space ride,’ Jack replied.

‘Well, to be accurate, Rya’c destroyed it,’ Daniel said, holding up a finger. ‘Rya’c, Teal’c, and Bra’tac arrived in a tel’tak to rescue us from a prison cell, and while Teal’c and Bra’tac broke us out, Rya’c took care of the Stargate Destroyer. Then, after our IDCs didn’t work, he helped us fight off the Jaffa and warned us about Anubis’ arrival. He was pretty much the hero of the hour.’

‘And where is Teal’c now?’ Sam asked.

‘Gone back to Chulak with Rya’c and Bra’tac for a couple of days,’ Jack told her. ‘Why were you involved in all this, Major?’

His use of her rank was almost a reprimand, and when she flushed, he shook his head. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to come out like that. What I really meant was, you were off-world with your own team, so how did you get caught up in Sumner’s mess?’

‘I got back,’ she glanced at her watch, ‘a couple of hours ago and he gave us five minutes to get through medical before he debriefed us, and then had a lot to say about Air Force tardiness. I went up to moan at Radek and Miko and found Col Sheppard with them.’ She shrugged. ‘Then we enacted a coup against Col Sumner and got you back.’

Both Jack and Rodney’s eyes had risen at her mention of John’s new rank, and Jack frowned at him, noticing John’s uniform still sported gold leaves.

‘My promotion only came down yesterday, and I only had time to get my Class As changed,’ John explained. ‘Walter has the rest of my uniform in hand, or so he informed me.’

‘Then congratulations, Lieutenant Colonel Sheppard,’ Jack said with a smile, while Rodney beamed at him, and Daniel gave him a more restrained smile. ‘Welcome to the SGC.’

*****

After a few minutes on the phone, Neville returned to the grouping of armchairs, tugging down his shirt cuffs and with a satisfied smirk on his face.

‘Right. The Army has exactly the same policy as we do, and, given that, I suspect the Air Force has the same. It’s not anything I’ve ever really thought about. I suppose the two key questions now are: does the DoD have the right to usurp official service policy, and can the Stargate Programme be seen as a branch of service in its own right?

‘I can answer the second question right away,’ Patrick said. ‘No. And neither will it ever be seen as such since the Air Force will fight tooth and nail to keep oversight of it, real or perceived.’

George was nodding his head. ‘Agreed, except officially, I report directly to the President. In reality, though, the Air Chiefs have a lot of say in terms of promotions, etc.’

Neville was tapping his finger on his leg again. ‘Is it worth trying to be declared a fifth service? I mean, that would give you the right to have financial independence straight away, and there’d be less falling out about jurisdiction between the other forces. I’m certain David Wellington,’ he waved his hand over his shoulder, ‘the current secretary of the Army, would support it too, although he knows only the bare minimum about the programme since there’re no Army personnel involved so far, are there?’

George shook his head. ‘No, though I’d welcome any help from the Corps of Engineers as we do sometimes get involved with off-world building projects.’

‘How come?’ Neville frowned at George. ‘Is it something that occurs frequently?’

‘Not frequently, but it sometimes happens.’ He tilted his head to one side as he looked at Neville. ‘The Pentagon tends to see our mission as ‘find and retrieve’, or maybe ‘search and acquire’; either works.’

‘And it’s not.’

‘No, not if we want to build up relationships within the galaxy.’ George ran his hand over his head, and Patrick cleared his throat.

‘If I may, George?’ he asked, and when George nodded, he continued. ‘Remember our ethics classes at Annapolis? What do you remember about the Philippine-American War of 1899?’

Neville pulled a face. ‘Patrick! That was…more years ago than I care to remember!’ Then, as Patrick simply waited for him to reply, he groaned. ‘Fine! America annexed the islands to prevent Japan or…or Germany taking them over.’

‘And?’

‘And because we wanted a bigger market for our goods since we didn’t have an empire like most of the other world powers.’

‘And the Monroe Doctrine?’

‘Fine! You’ve made your point! No more, I beg you!.’

Patrick grinned at his friend, while George smiled, then his smile faded.

‘There is something pertinent I should mention.’ He glanced at Patrick, who raised his eyebrows. ‘A matter of Trust.’ Patrick nodded. ‘Since the beginning of the Programme, there have been attempts of political interference, both actual, and attempts we’ve thwarted.’

‘And Robert Kinsey is in all of them right up to his balls,’ Patrick added, wrinkling his nose as though even Kinsey’s name smelled disgusting.

‘Why am I not surprised?’ Neville sighed. ‘Go on, George.’

‘The NID ran Area 51 in Nevada until the year 2000 when it came under the purview of the Big Air Force, then earlier this year it came to me. During the reign of the NID, and to a lesser extent the Big Air Force, their standing orders caused us endless problems in the wider galaxy. Societies we had fostered relations with suddenly refused to have anything to do with us, and three powerful allies threatened to sever all ties with us, which would have been a massive blow.

”General Schneider called the NID a front for a criminal organisation, and he wasn’t far wrong. Many of its military members are facing long-term prison sentences, and a few have been sentenced to death for treason after they helped the Russians develop their own clandestine Stargate operation.’

‘To be fair, not all members of the NID are corrupt bastards,’ Patrick pointed out. ‘Just most of the military ones. And there have been skirmishes between the SGC, the NID, and various politicians since the inception of the programme in its current form. And while we think the majority of the corrupt military ones have been found, we know there are political ones we may never find, or if they were found, their involvement would be buried pretty deep, possibly because of vested interests, but also because we have no idea just how high it all goes.’

‘And you think these are the people behind your projects being placed under secrecy orders,’ Neville said with a sigh. ‘And who’d fight to keep the control they’ve managed to secure.’

‘Exactly.’

*****

Since George and Patrick were still in DC, Jack was in charge of the base, and thus the one to deal with the SGC’s two big problems, namely Marshall Sumner and Albert Reynolds. Reynolds is a fucking idiot, but Sumner’s worse. He’s fucking dangerous. How did I not know that? I dread to think what could have happened on Atlantis if John hadn’t…

He dealt with Reynolds first.

‘Albert, there’s a reason Sumner isn’t in the chain of command, that no Marines are in the chain of command. This is an Air Force facility, so it’s run by the Air Force. Got it?’

Reynolds frowned at him. ‘Why?’

‘Why what?’

‘Why is an Air Force base? Area 51 isn’t.’

‘Actually, it is.’ Jack pinched his nose and sighed. How the fuck does he breathe and think at the same time? ‘Nellis AFB? Ever heard of it?’

Reynolds frowned at him again. ‘Of course I have. I’ve even been there.’

‘You served there for three fucking years, man!’

‘No, I didn’t.’ Reynolds gave him a patronising smile. ‘I served at Area 51. Or perhaps you know it as the Groom Lake Facility,’ he added condescendingly. ‘It’s an easy mistake to make, although if you’d done your homework properly, Jack, you’d know that.’

The door to the office suddenly burst open, and Walter appeared, carrying a single cup of coffee. He gave it to Jack and watched as he took a sip. Jack choked, and Walter nodded.

‘What the fuck—’ Jack managed to say.

‘I added a little of the general’s number two medicine,’ Walter explained, ‘since you were getting a little dehydrated, sir. I’ll bring you a second cup when you’re ready for it.’

‘Coffee’s no good for dehydration,’ Reynolds said, frowning. ‘Bring a bottle of water for the colonel instead, Master Sergeant.’

‘Yes, sir,’ Walter said, with his back to Reynolds, and winked at Jack as he left the room.

Since ‘the general’s number two medicine’ was, apparently, whisky, Jack didn’t respond, but drank the coffee as fast as he could in case Reynolds took it away. When Walter returned a minute or two later, handed over a plastic bottle of water, and winked again at him, Jack decided to drink the water carefully, as he couldn’t even guess what would be in it. He did, however, now feel quite mellow rather than spitting the fire he’d wanted to at Reynolds’ comments to him.

‘I’ll make sure I do that,’ Jack said, hoping the phrase covered whatever the fuck the idiot had said previously, and since Reynolds gave him a friendly smile as he left, Jack assumed he’d managed to get it right. But I’m telling George we need to send him to Afghanistan. Or maybe we just send him off-world to a long-term project, which is what happened last time, I think.

The door of the office opened again, and the other members of SG-1 trailed in. Rodney and Daniel took the two chairs while John leaned against the wall, and Teal’c loomed, as per usual.

‘Did I want to see you?’ Jack asked, wondering if he’d forgotten something. But Walter usually remembers, even if I don’t.

‘You always want to see us,’ Daniel said, ‘or me, at least.’ This last was said with a decided smirk, and Jack gave a little smile at the memory of the previous night’s ‘seeing’.

‘Get a room,’ Rodney muttered, pulling out his ever-present tablet. ‘It’s about Ayiana.’

‘Ayiana,’ Jack repeated, his mind a little hazy due to the medicine Walter had all but forced him to drink. And that’s what I’m telling Danny if he asks. Forced I was. Forced. ‘I should know this, wait, don’t tell me, don’t tell me. Nah. Not a clue. What or where is Ayiana?’

‘The frozen Ancient?’ Rodney said, clearly expecting Jack to understand. ‘Antarctica? Deadly plague? You had to have a Tok’ra to cure you because she’d run out of juice?’

‘Oh, that frozen Ancient. What about her?’

‘That mission’s upcoming,’ Rodney continued, ‘and last time the whole of SG-1 plus Dr Fraiser all traipsed down to the base there, and when every single one of you went down with the plague, Ayiana had to heal you.’

‘Except me.’ Jack held up a hand and waggled his fingers. ‘I got a Tok’ra instead.’

‘My point exactly,’ Rodney said, pointing a finger at O’Neill. ‘That poor woman healed seven people, so I suggest only a couple of us go down this time, to limit the healing she has to do. That way, quite aside from Jack not having to have a Tok’ra in his head, she might even survive the trip back here.’

‘It’s a good plan,’ Jack agreed, ‘but who goes and who stays?’

‘I want to go.’ Daniel held up his hand, a mutinous look on his face, as though preparing to fight his corner. ‘I need to go.’

‘Not sure about ‘need’, Danny-boy, but I’ve got no problem with you going,’ Jack told him, leaning back in his chair and swinging it from side to side. ‘Who else? John? You said you liked Antarctica. D’you wanna go?’

‘Not particularly.’ John shrugged, quite a feat when his shoulders were the only things supporting him, Jack decided. ‘What about Dr Fraiser? I should think she’d be interested. Plus, she might be useful if you’re all going to get the plague.’

‘Good point, well made.’ Jack nodded, then looked at Teal’c. Any desire to go to a land of ice and snow, T-man?’

‘I do not, O’Neill. However, I would be interested in meeting one of the gatebuilders.’

‘So, three going instead of five, and only two will need healing,’ Rodney said, tapping his finger against his lip. ‘That should work, especially if you stop the moron who went out into the snow like some modern-day Oates and use proper medical shielding equipment. Why you thought you didn’t need it before beats me.’

John coughed a word or phrase into his hand, making Jack glance over at him.

‘Did you just say ‘Hazmat Suit’?’

John grinned at him while Rodney’s cheeks went from their usual pale shade to a fiery-red.

‘Not funny, Colonel. I’ve already passed my life-time limit of radiation. D’you want me to die of cancer?’

‘Course not, idiot, but it was—hang on. You’ve already reached your life-time limit?’

Rodney nodded and frowned. ‘Yes, why?’

‘Because I know you were exposed to radiation several times in Pegasus during our first year alone. You and Radek built two nuclear bombs, for fuck’s sake.’

‘And again, yes, why?’

John stared at him open-mouthed, then closed it and shook his head. ‘You’re even braver than I ever realised, Rodney. To deliberately put yourself at risk of radiation poisoning…It’s…wow. You’re a great damn hero, McKay.’

Rodney’s cheeks had returned to their usual colour, but now they went just a little pink. ‘Who else was there to do it?’

‘I agree with John,’ Jack said, eying Rodney with respect. ‘You’re a big damn hero, Rodders. I’m proud to serve with you.’ And I mean that. I’ve seen a man die from radiation poisoning, and it ain’t pretty. To deliberately risk that…He mentally shook his head. Big. Damn. Hero.

He gave his head a physical shake and looked around the room. ‘So, Danny, T, and Doc Fraiser go to Antarctica when we get the call, right?’ He didn’t wait for an answer. ‘What else is on the horizon, Rodders? You usually know what’s happening.’

Rodney glanced down at his tablet. ‘Okay. Upcoming. Your clone, Jack, but that might not happen as we warned Thor about Loki and his tricks. Once—’

‘Hold on.’ Daniel held up a hand. ‘What clone? And who’s Loki? Aside from being the Norse god of mischief?’

Jack sighed. ‘Loki’s the Asgard who’s been kidnapping people from Earth for we don’t know long. He was trying to find a cure for their cloning problem. He kidnapped me and made a clone, except he had problems with its age, and it came out aged fifteen or sixteen. End of. Won’t happen again. As Rodders said, Thor knows about Loki and he promised to sort him out. Okay, Danny?’ He raised his eyes in enquiry, and Daniel scowled.

‘Fine. But we will be talking about this, Jack.’

Just add it to the fucking list, why don’t ya?!

‘Rodders, what else?’ he asked, moving swiftly on and hoping Daniel would let the clone thing drop. I know I didn’t handle it well last time, but I’m relieved it won’t happen again.

Rodney raised his eyebrows and looked between Jack and Daniel. ‘Okay. Hmm. Oh, Antarctica.’

‘I thought we’d covered Ayiana?’ Jack said, frowning.

‘We did. This is about the base. We know it’s there, but no one else does. What if we used Ayiana as an excuse to do some deep scanning there?’

‘How?’ John asked, leaning forward and looking at his partner. ‘We don’t have any ships yet.’

‘No, agreed, but we could ask Thor when he comes to look at Prometheus. And I’ve also got a plan to get ourselves a Jumper.’

John’s eyes positively gleamed, and Jack’s were no better.

‘A Puddle Jumper?’ John almost breathed. ‘Really?’

‘Well, we know where one is, don’t we? Rodney asked Jack.

‘Umm. Do we?’ Jack tried to picture a Puddle Jumper, and there was something…just out of…range…

‘Planet Maybourne, remember?’

‘Of course. The time-jumper’s on Planet Maybourne. And once we get that—’

‘Then we can go to Proclarush Taonis,’ Rodney continued, ‘and get the ZPM from there. Then there’s Ra’s ZPM in Egypt, if you think we should risk it.’

‘Woah, woah!’ Daniel held up his hand again. ‘Slow down. ZPM? What or where is Proclarush Taonis, and Planet Maybourne? Is that…’

We may be some time…

Chapter Eighteen

Thank fuck Dave persuaded me to buy this house as a crash pad, Patrick thought to himself as he sipped his morning coffee in the small sunny garden behind his tiny Georgetown house. George had spent the night in Alexandria with his daughter and family, though Patrick had offered the use of a spare bedroom. It was the right decision for us both. This way, he gets to see his granddaughters and we both get a break from endless politics and the SGC.

And speaking of the SGC, what delights will this day bring? What new secrets will be revealed, secret even to the commander of the facility involved? How the hell did I get myself involved in this crap? Patrick stood and stretched, then took a deep breath and went to bathe and get dressed.

They’d arranged to meet in the Starbucks near the Pentagon Visitor Centre at 07:30, and George was sipping a coffee by a window when Patrick arrived.

‘I’ve ordered yours, just give the barista a nod,’ he told his friend. ‘And there should be a couple of warm croissants waiting for us as well.’

Order collected – both of them – the two men sat in companionable silence while they ate their croissants and drank their coffee.

‘You’re a bad influence on my diet,’ Patrick said wryly. ‘I think I’ve put on ten pounds since we got here on Wednesday morning.’

‘That’s because we’re dealing with asshats and politicians,’ George muttered. ‘Or maybe asshat politicians. Not sure.’

‘Okaay,’ Patrick drawled, frowning at his companion. ‘Maybe I’m the bad influence, because JO always describes you as a polite gentleman who’d rather say nothing than say a bad thing about someone.’

‘Not you,’ George mumbled into his coffee. ‘It’s this place. Never, ever let me be posted here, not if you’re my friend.’

Since Patrick knew very well that George had spent the better part of two years as the Director of Homeworld Security, he wasn’t sure what to say. Then he decided it wasn’t his problem. ‘Okay,’ he agreed. ‘Will do. Or will not, whichever fits.’

George looked around to see if anyone was close enough to them to overhear, but most of the customers were grabbing and going due to the early hour. Later on, the shop would be busy with people needing a snack between breakfast and lunch, but for now, the two men had the place almost to themselves. ‘Who’s first for us to hector and harass?’

‘Ummm.’ Patrick opened his tablet – identical to the ones he’d given Rodney and John – and checked his list. ‘We need to find out who instructed C to send the projects she removed from the A51 scientists to the DoD, and who she sent them to, if it’s not the same person.’

‘This is where we think the NID are probably involved, right?’

Patrick brushed his fingers with a napkin and sat back with his coffee in hand. ‘Well, we’re not sure when the whole business began. A51 was a research and development base long before the SGC began – in its modern capacity at least. Were the developments they made also pushed under secrecy orders, and production arrangements made to benefit the DoD and not the scientists involved? We don’t know, but if they were, it weakens our position as they have precedent to fall back on.’ He sighed. ‘Maybe we should have brought Dave in on this. Corporate law is his field.’

George wrinkled his nose. ‘Probably too late now, but it might be worth getting him read in, just in case we need his help. We were going to anyway. I’ll get Paul Davis to pay him a visit.’

‘Appreciated, and I know J’ll be pleased. They were always very tight as children, he and his brother – but it didn’t last after John and I argued – at least in my past, although J said they reconnected after my funeral.’ He grimaced at the thought.

‘You have had the medical J told you to have, haven’t you?’ George demanded, and relaxed when Patrick nodded. ‘Good. I’d hate to lose you now! JO made me go and see Janet F about my heart last November, and she’s had me on a diet since then.’

‘Better not let on about the croissants then!’ Patrick said and got to his feet with a sigh. ‘I’m too old for this lark. I should be hitting a ball around a golf course, not fighting asshats at the Pentagon.’

‘You’re only two years older than me,’ George told him sternly. ‘Quit your bitching. We’ve got asshats to fight!’

*****

‘I don’t know what to tell you, General Hammond,’ the young man said wearily, pushing his hair out of his eyes and making Patrick want to order him to get a haircut. ‘All Secrecy Orders, per the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, remain secret until they’re reviewed by the relevant department and the decision is made to declassify them. You needed to make an objection before they were placed under the Secrecy Order. It’s too late now.’

‘But these secrecy orders were made entirely without my knowledge,’ George protested – again. ‘How could I object if I didn’t know about them?’

‘Well, someone in your command knew about them,’ the boy exclaimed, finally pushed beyond his patience. ‘Go make a nuisance of yourself to them!’

Patrick cleared his throat. ‘Aaand we’re done. Fetch your supervisor, kid, before the general claps you in irons. Or I keel-haul you,’ he added, consideringly. ‘I’ve still got a boat, I think.’

‘My supervisor isn’t going to tell you anything different!’

‘Then we’ll hear him say it, not you. Stat!’ Patrick ordered, then grinned as the boy fled. He breathed on his nails and polished them on his jacket. ‘Still got it!’ he told George, and winked when George laughed.

Five minutes later, they were shown into a plush office where a man in a suit, rather than a uniform as Patrick had half-expected, met them and shook their hands.

‘General Hammond, Admiral Sheppard, it’s a pleasure to meet you both.’

No, it’s not. We’re pains in the ass, and how do you know my rank, asshat?

‘You too, Mr…’ Patrick smiled at the man, a toothy, shark-like smile. I worked with bigger sharks in the Navy than you, asshole.

‘Take a seat, take a seat. Can we get you some coffee? Lynne!’ he called out. ‘Get us some coffees, will you?’ He sat down at his desk and folded his hands together. ‘Now, how can I help you?’

Still not given us your name, asswipe.

‘We’re trying to get to the bottom of a number of secrecy orders placed on inventions and intellectual property produced by—Hmmm.’ George paused. ‘Have you been read into Project Giza, Mr…?’

‘Project Giza? Of course I have.’ The man – still unknown – laughed, yet it didn’t reach his eyes. ‘You can say whatever you want in here. This office is fully protected.’

I just bet it is. Fully protected with listening devices. Assface. Patrick slipped his hand into his pocket and thought ‘on’ at the bug-zapper. He’ll get a surprise when he checks the recordings. Asslicker.

‘Then you’ll know all about our Deep Space Telemetry base in Colorado, Mr…’ George said, and smiled when the dickface nodded. ‘What can you tell me about the secrecy orders placed on my scientists’ work?’

‘That they’re classified as secret since public knowledge of them might be detrimental to national security.’

That’s a quote directly from the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, assmuncher. ‘Yeah, okay,’ Patrick said, getting to his feet. ‘My bullshit detector’s going off, Mr Du cul. We’ll stop wasting both our times. Au revoir.’

That look of puzzlement on his face is almost worth this runaround.

‘What was that you called him?’ George asked as they headed back to the coffee shop to regroup.

‘Du Cul? It’s French for asshole.’

‘I may regret asking this, but how do you know that?’

Patrick grinned. ‘Isobel taught me various French swear words. Her family had a French nanny when she was a child, or a jeune fille au pair, as they called it. Au pair girl, to us commoners, George.’

George laughed, and was still laughing after they’d collected their coffee and muffins – ‘I need the sugar fix, fuck the diet,’ Patrick told him. ‘It’s too early to go and drink Neville’s whisky.’

‘Now what?’ George took a bite of his own muffin and smiled in pleasure. ‘Walter doesn’t allow me these on base.’

‘Get rid of him,’ Patrick advised, wondering if he could justify a second muffin.

‘Can’t.’ George shook his head. ‘Place would fall apart without him and Siler, and I mean that quite literally where Siler’s concerned. They can operate without me, or Jack O’Neill, but not those two. They’re worth their weight in naquadria.’

Since Patrick had been permitted to experiment with a small amount of naquadria in the last few weeks, he appreciated their value. ‘Fair enough. Can we clone them?’

George raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly. ‘Now that’s an idea. I’ll talk to Thor, but go back to my last question. What do we do now?’

‘Now? Now it’s time to take a look at your disc.’

*****

‘You want me to what?’ Dave Sheppard demanded as he walked determinedly around his father’s study at the Georgetown house – or what he could of it. ‘Dad, what the hell have you got yourself involved in?’

‘I think you’re about to find out,’ George told him. ‘Paul Davis has just arrived.’ He smiled at Dave, then went to get the door.

‘Dad, why are you hanging around with a three star?’ Dave asked in a low voice. ‘And why is he answering our front door?’

Patrick gazed at him. ‘Because I want to, and because I asked him to.’

‘Huh?’ Dave frowned at him, clearly not understanding his father’s response, but before he could ask anything else, General Hammond was back with a…an Air Force Major, it looked like.

‘I think you’ve already met Mr Sheppard, Paul, and this is his eldest son, Dave.’

Paul Davis shook hands with both Sheppards, then pulled a thick file from the briefcase chained to his wrist. ‘Is there somewhere private we can go, Mr Sheppard?’

‘Use the sitting room, Paul. Do you remember where it is?’

‘Yessir.’ Paul nodded and smiled at him. ‘Shall we go?’ he asked Dave, who scowled at his father, but dutifully followed the man.

George, meanwhile, had gone back to the big computer on Patrick’s desk and was scrolling through the disc Patrick had retrieved from his study safe earlier. ‘My God,’ he breathed. ‘This stuff could bring down half the cabinet. I had no idea Harry Maybourne could be so helpful.’

‘Did he manage to get away?’ Patrick asked. ‘John said he ended up on a planet as king last time.’

‘A kind of king, Jack described him as, and yes, Jack pushed him through the wormhole late one night a few weeks ago. We know the planet that made him king, so if he doesn’t get there, we can still go and get something called a Puddle Jumper.’

‘A what now?’

‘A Puddle Jumper.’ George shook his head. ‘I have no more idea than you, except Jack thought it exceedingly funny, while Rodney just sighed.’

‘A puddle jumper’s a small plane, isn’t it? Like a crop duster?’

‘That’s what I thought, but we’re dealing with Jack O’Neill, remember?’

‘Ah.’ Patrick nodded. ‘Well, if there’s one on a planet somewhere, I guess we’ll find out sometime. Meanwhile, do we want to bring down half the cabinet? I play cards with a few of them. Who’s on the list?’

‘My dear friend Lt Gen Nelson Arreguin, for one.’ George gave Patrick a beatific smile. ‘That’s made my day.’

‘Who else?’

‘Robert Teeler. Remember him? He was with Arreguin at that meeting. The Director for Studies and Analysis, although I’ve no idea what that actually means.’

Patrick was busy typing on his tablet. ‘Huh. Okay, well, maybe he should have been at that meeting. He’s responsible for ‘Air Force policy, guidance, and analysis which inform the leadership making decisions on future war-fighting capabilities’, apparently,’ he read from his tablet.

‘He has no jurisdiction over the SGC, though,’ George said. ‘I’d know if he did.’

‘If he’s on that list, he won’t be making any decisions soon. Who else is there?’

‘A couple of no use to us, not unless we have to blackmail the SecDef. Secretaries of Agriculture, Labour, Housing, oh. Teeler’s boss, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Wow. That’s a mouthful. He definitely needs to go. Let’s see…Huh. Several senior Senators and Congressmen, including our friend Kinsey, of course, and…Oh.’

‘Oh?’

‘Robert Wallis.’

Patrick stared at him. ‘Robert Wallis, the Secretary of Defence?’ When George nodded, Patrick swore under his breath. ‘There’s no mistake?’

‘No. And if these notes are accurate, Robert Wallis is also the leader, or chairman of the Committee. Jack said they never found who was at the head of that food chain, but they suspected that whoever it was, was pretty high in government, and they continued to lead things when it changed into the Trust, and when Ba’al became involved in it all.’

‘Well, fuck me sideways.’ Patrick shook his head. ‘I had no idea it went so far up. SecDef is the third highest post in the country, or fourth if you include the President himself. Fucking hell. These men supposedly ordered Maybourne to help the Russians develop their own Stargate programme. And John told me the Trust was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jaffa. Jesus fucking Christ.’

‘Eric Granger’s also on the list.’

‘Eric Granger…’ Patrick was certain the name meant something…’Got it. That namby-pamby creepy advisor twat.’

‘The Chief of Staff and Senior Adviser to the Secretary of the Air Force, you mean? That advisor twat?’

‘That very twat,’ Patrick agreed. ‘Told us we had to make compromises. Asslicker!’

‘Dad!’ Dave entered the study followed by Paul Davis, who was grinning. ‘Who are you calling a—a bad name?’

Patrick scowled at him. ‘My house, my rules. And if someone is an asslicker, I’m gonna call him an asslicker.’

‘And he really is,’ George assured Dave, and Paul Davis had to leave the room to get over his coughing fit.

‘I think all this Stargate business is eroding your brain, Dad,’ Dave complained, making George raise his eyebrows.

‘Eroding my brain?’ Patrick considered this, then shrugged. ‘Maybe, though I’ve not set foot through the gate yet. I’m doing that next week, so I’ll ask the medics there to give me a brain scan when I get back. If they say it hasn’t, though, you owe me an apology, son.’ And suddenly Patrick became Rear Admiral Sheppard. ‘And you’ll also show more respect to my guests in my house. Understand?’ He gave Dave a sweet smile, then turned back to his friend. ‘Any more asslickers to add to our list, George?’

*****

Much to his loud and frequent objections, Dave Sheppard had been sent out to make some noise around DC about his disgruntlement with his father.

‘And you don’t even need to pretend now, do you?’ Patrick asked as they ate breakfast together the following day.

Dave flushed. ‘I’ve apologised for my behaviour, Dad, to you and to General Hammond. Put it down to my shock of learning about the top secret programme both you and my brother have got yourselves involved with.’

‘A programme which has rekindled my zest for life?’ Patrick asked. ‘I was feeling pretty jaded and tired before I got involved, and now I wake up each morning looking forward. Something I’ve not really done since your mother passed away. Once she’d gone, all the light seemed to go with her. Now, I’m enjoying myself. I have new friends and new things to do, plus the Company will benefit tremendously. Although I want to talk to you about that once we’ve got this secrecy and NID business finished with.’

‘Way to go getting the subject back on track.’ Dave smiled at him, a genuine smile which reached his eyes. Maybe this will rekindle David’s zest for life too. It’s been missing almost as long as mine has.

‘I must say,’ Dave continued, ‘it’s not often a father tells his eldest son to go out and find some thoroughly disrespectful people to mix with.’

‘And to tell them how much you hate me,’ Patrick reminded him. ‘And the current administration as well. You need to make yourself attractive to this Committee.’

‘I’m the eldest son of the chairman of one of the largest private companies in the US. I’ll be attractive to them,’ Dave told his father, making Patrick frown.

‘Don’t believe all their propaganda, will you? They’re criminals and traitors, every single one of them.’

‘Trust me, Dad. I won’t forget.’ Dave gave him a half smile. ‘I have the family reputation to think about, and if I begin to have doubts about my mission, I’ll just think of John. That’ll do it.’

Patrick laughed and waved him off. ‘Go and be nice to evil people, then. I have mischief and mayhem to plot.’

The plan was for Dave to take up a few of the invitations which came by the sackful every week for himself and Patrick, and a few still for John, despite him being in the Air Force for the last ten years. Although Dave chose not to take part in ‘society’ social events, he was the grandson of both a prominent Boston family, and one of the First Families of Virginia and thus had an entre into almost any society event he chose, in both Boston and Virginia, and, by association, in the rest of the USA.

In taking up his invitations, Dave would present himself as sick and tired of Patrick’s authority over the family business, and his association with many powerful political figures. When David’s disaffection became known – and he would make sure it was known – the hope was it would attract the attention of members of the Committee, or those close to it, as a way to involve Sheppard Industries, one of the foremost conglomerates in the country, especially since its involvement in the Stargate programme.

Dave also hoped it would provide him with some entertainment: life as a corporate lawyer, even within the family business, was not particularly entertaining. I deserve some fun: that’s what I’ll base my mission on, and it’ll be partially true, at least.

*****

Meanwhile, Patrick and George began Phase III of their plan to get the SGC self-financing, and possibly even profitable. Phase I was their initial approach to Clive Williams, Secretary of the Air Force, and the meeting between Air Force interested parties, which they both viewed as largely successful. Phase II had been the meeting with the Secretary of Defence, Robert Wallis, where they were told almost all the innovations and inventions to come out of the SGC were tied up in secrecy orders that couldn’t be broken. And I suppose the non-meeting with Mr du Cul was also part of Phase II, although I still have no idea who the hell he was, or what he did.

For Phase III, therefore, the two men had decided to take off the gloves.

‘I’ve got hard copies of all relevant documents, and the disc is back in the safe, with a second disk lodged with my bank,’ Patrick told George as they met in their original Pentagon City coffee shop, and sat outside in the end-of-May sunshine. ‘D’you think that’s enough protection?’

‘I wish it wasn’t necessary,’ George returned, pulling apart his croissant, ‘but unfortunately, it is. Jennifer has one of the copies you gave me, and the second is on its way to Jack’s cabin in Minnesota by post.’

‘Good, and have you left instructions for what Jennifer is to do with the disc if anything happens to you?’

‘I have, but I hope to God it isn’t necessary.’ George sighed, and sipped his coffee. ‘Sadly, though, too many good people have died because of their knowledge about the Programme. A journalist Jack met who got too close to the truth was hit by a car here in DC. He died minutes later in Jack’s arms. Neither the car nor the driver was ever found.’

‘And you think it was a hit?’

‘I’m certain it was a hit, even though we hadn’t notified anyone at that point about the journalist’s interest. I told Jack to find out a bit more, and he’d just finished talking to the guy when the car appeared out of nowhere, hit Selig, then sped off. I told Jack it was an accident, but he knew I was lying. He was just too polite to say so. My point is, people have died from knowing too much. The same could happen to us.’

‘If either of us die,’ Patrick said grimly, ‘my sons, your Jack, and especially Rodney, will make sure it’s not in vain. We can count on it.’

‘Fair enough.’

Their meeting with Robert Wallis was his first of the day, chosen by Patrick mostly because it’s usually the one meeting which happens on time. This meeting was no exception.

‘General Hammond, I don’t know what else I can tell you.’ Wallis relaxed back in his expensive chair, behind his expensive desk, wearing an expensive suit and expensive shoes, and in his very expensively decorated office. Patrick was pretty certain the pictures in the room were originals, and he’d previously seen at least two of them in the Oval Office. ‘The Patent Office issues secrecy orders,’ Wallis continued, ‘and once they’re issued—’ he scrabbled amongst his papers for the relevant one, and read: ‘no information pertaining to the invention can be disclosed to anyone not already aware of it’. So you see, General, there’s nothing I can do.’

‘That’s a great shame,’ Patrick said, sighing and trying his best to sound suitably despondent. ‘Because I didn’t want to do this.’ He met Wallis’ eyes, then, without looking away, opened his briefcase on the chair next to him, and removed a file which he pushed across the desk.

Wallis stared at him, then pulled the file towards himself and opened it with a sigh, which rapidly turned into a kind of squeak, which I’d be ashamed to make, Patrick decided.

‘Where did you get this information?’ Wallis demanded.

‘From our mutual friend, Robert Kinsey,’ George replied, happily throwing Kinsey under the bus, and all the buses following that first one.

‘Kinsey never gave you this list.’

‘Did I say he’d given it to us?’

‘How did you get hold of it?’

‘Secretary Willis, does it matter how?’ George asked. ‘We have it, multiple copies of it, in fact. That‘s what’s important.’

‘You can’t possibly hope to blackmail me with this list.’

Patrick feigned a look of pain and looked at his friend. ‘I’m hurt, George, terribly hurt that Secretary Willis should think we’re trying to blackmail him.’

‘I’m hurt too, Patrick, and it impinges on my honour as an officer and a gentleman.’ George was clearly enjoying himself. ‘As I’m sure it does yours. I mean, how many stars do we have between us, Patrick?’

‘I only had one star, but you already have three, George, and will probably get your fourth pretty soon.’ In December, if John’s remembered correctly.

‘So we have four stars between us, and no end of medals for gallantry, and courage, and saving the lives of thousands.’

‘Millions in your case, George. The entire planet, in fact.’ I’m enjoying this as well. Who can we terrorise next?

‘That’s right, Patrick. The entire planet. And what has Secretary Wallis done in the same time period, Patrick?’

‘Fuck all, as far as I can see, George. What did his bio say? A degree in Political Science from Florida National University.’

‘Florida National University? Is that a real college, or did you just make it up, Patrick?’

‘Oh, it’s a real place, George. I’m sure Secretary Wallis can tell us all about it, can’t you?’ He turned back to Wallis, who was looking decidedly pale.

‘What do you want?’

‘We want to know exactly what jig there is going on with the SGC, Area 51, and Samantha Carter,’ Patrick told him, his previous playful and joking tone of voice replaced with that of the CEO of one of the top US companies. ‘We want all the secrecy orders placed on the work coming out of the SGC and Area 51 released back to the SGC, and we want you to cancel all the licenses and contracts you’ve issued on that work. Furthermore, any projects taken from any of the scientists who work within the Stargate Programme must be returned, and any patents already issued changed into their names.’

‘And I want to know exactly how you got away with taking all this work from my people,’ George added. ‘And where Samantha Carter comes into it?’

Wallis glared at them, but he already knew he’d lost. These two men held the upper hand, and they all knew it. He took a deep breath. ‘What do I get if I give you all that?’

‘You get to live.’

Wallis made another squeak. ‘You’re threatening to kill me?’

‘Not ourselves, no.’ George took over the conversation. ‘But Harry Maybourne was on death row for being a traitor before he escaped, as are several others who were involved with the NID. We don’t have to do anything to you. The country will take care of that, if they let you live that long.’

‘So, what?’ Wallis looked puzzled. ‘You won’t hand me over?’

‘Oh, we’ll hand you over, but we’ll make sure you’re not on death row.’

Wallis wiped his brow. ‘I’m not sure living’s the better option,’ he muttered.

‘It will be for your wife and daughters.’

*****

‘So how did it all work?’ Jack asked, passing around bottles of beer to the other five men in his sitting room. ‘How was Carter involved?’

‘It was initially all done by the NID, when they were in charge of Area 51,’ George began, ‘and that may date back to the Roswell incident in 1947, which we now know was real. In fact, any research which came out of Area 51 was automatically put under a secrecy order as a matter of course, and Major Carter possibly didn’t know she was doing anything wrong—’

‘Are you saying it wasn’t wrong for her to steal work from my scientists and pass it off as hers?’ Rodney demanded, sitting up from his previous slouch on John’s shoulder.

‘I’m not saying that at all, Rodney,’ Hammond said in exasperation. ‘That’s an entirely different issue. Let me explain this first, then you can interrogate me about Samantha Carter.’

‘Yeah, Rodney,’ John said in a low voice, so only Patrick, sitting next to him, heard him. ‘Button it!’

‘As I said, all project work emerging from Area 51 automatically went under a secrecy order,’ George continued, ‘which effectively gave the DoD control of it, and they passed it on to one of their own scientists to complete. From there, licenses were issued to various government contractors to develop and market the relevant product. The same thing happens with NASA, which also has its budget set and funded from Congress.’

‘But they’re an established government agency. We’re not,’ Jack said with a frown. ‘Our budget has to be hidden between the lines, which means we can’t argue and justify our funding like they can.’

‘Which is exactly the argument we used with the Secretary of Defence,’ Patrick told Jack. ‘He just didn’t listen to us at first.’

‘So we changed that,’ George added, a glint in his eye.

‘Indeed, we did.’ Patrick grinned at him.

‘We can get to the juicy bits later,’ John said. ‘I’m interested in this as it ties into the Special Access Programme where I did my TDY last year.’

‘I may talk to you about it later,’ George told him, and nodded, then took up the tale again. ‘The arrangement the NID had with the DoD was initially all above board, but pretty quickly, it wasn’t. From what we’ve been able to discover, instead of putting the contract or agreement out to tender – as it should do with the sort of product and solutions coming out of Area 51 – they were only offered to one enterprise, or a couple at most – and we’ll probably discover they’re all involved with the rogue NID or the Committee in one way or another – meaning there was absolutely no best value procurement as set out in…What was it, Patrick?’

‘Federal Acquisition Regulation,’ Patrick answered, but the blank looks on the surrounding faces made him elaborate. ‘Basically – and this is very basic – Government Departments have to at least try to get the best value for money, but it isn’t limited purely to price. Other elements are taken into consideration, such as the quality of the final product, the time to delivery, and confidence in the contractor – so you wouldn’t ask a man who only builds garden sheds to build you a house, for example.’ Now there were nods of understanding.

‘So,’ George continued, ‘essentially, the DoD agent offering the contact got a kickback, which was then shared among the various other people involved, and from what we can tell, some pretty big kickbacks were made, and the NID in particular levied a ‘service charge’ for their involvement, and after they were removed from the oversight of Area 51 in 2000, Hank Landry continued their established practice – for a fee of his own, of course.’

‘What did Carter get out of all this?’ Jack asked. ‘Was she one of the ones given kickbacks?’

Patrick and George exchanged glances, and George gave a single nod.

‘It’s complicated,’ Patrick began. ‘And not entirely clear, because some of the big players in the NID, like Harry Maybourne, are now out of the picture, but from what we can tell, Samantha Carter didn’t receive any direct financial advantage for this, but, and it’s a big but, she gained…shall we call it goodwill?’

‘You’ve just spent two minutes talking, Patrick, and I’m none the wiser,’ Jack complained. ‘What do you mean, goodwill? How has that benefitted her?’

‘Right now, in May 2002, it hasn’t actually benefitted her very much, aside from a faster promotion to 04 than would have usually been the case. It has, however, allowed her to be seen as a ‘team player’ – Secretary Wallis’ words, not mine. We asked him, however, if being a team player would help her achieve all her promotions sooner rather than later, and he admitted it would. He’s already got her in line for a bump up to Lieutenant Colonel well below the zone.’

Jack frowned. ‘That didn’t happen until 2004 last time. Why would that be sooner this time?’

‘It’s not clear it is sooner, Jack,’ George told him. ‘Wallis just said ‘below the zone’.’

‘So that’s all she gains? A below the zone promotion? What about all the work she took from the scientists at Area 51?’ Rodney asked.

‘That’s something entirely different,’ Patrick said. ‘We’re getting to that. Now, is everyone happy they understand the secrecy part?’

Jack gave a quick look around. ‘Yeah, I think so.’

‘Right. Two other issues involved are Intellectual Property, and Patents, and this is where Samantha Carter is involved. Is everyone clear what I’m talking about? Rodney, I know you know, as you already hold a number of patents. Jack, Daniel, do you?’

‘I’m good,’ Daniel said, while Jack just nodded, and Patrick got the feeling he was getting frustrated at the time the explanations were taking.

‘As of this morning, all civilian contracts at the SGC and Area 51 are under review,’ George said, then held up a hand. ‘All except that of Rodney, and you, Dr Jackson, and those of the scientists Rodney brought into employment, like Doctors Zelenka and Kusanagi. It transpires that most of the civilian contracts – those of the scientists, to be exact – have clauses automatically written into them giving ownership of any resulting patent or intellectual property to the DoD.’

Rodney sat bolt upright and opened his mouth, but John dragged him back down.

‘Wait until they’ve finished before bombarding them with questions. You may find they answer them before you ask them.’

‘Fine!’ Rodney muttered and satisfied himself with glaring at George and Patrick alternately.

‘As it stands,’ George continued, ignoring Rodney’s glares, ‘Major Carter retains the contractor-exclusive-rights of the patents arising from the products and solutions sent to the DoD by her.’

Daniel held up his hand. ‘Sorry, sir, but I don’t understand what you’ve just said. What are contractor-exclusive-rights, and what do they do?’

‘I’ll explain that one, but chip in if you know more than I do, Rodney,’ Patrick said. ‘Contractor-exclusive-rights means the intellectual property and or proprietary technology—’

Daniel’s hand was in the air again. ‘Sorry, Patrick. I’m an archeologist, remember?’

‘Let me, Dad,’ Rodney said, pushing himself upright again, and batting away John’s hands. ‘Intellectual property is basically any idea you might have, and proprietary technology is anything your ideas result in, so I own the IP of the encryption programme I wrote years ago, right? It’s not a physical object, but I still own it. In the other timeline, I designed a new power source. That’s something physical, so it comes under proprietary technology. With me so far?’

Daniel nodded. ‘Yeah.’

‘So I claim contractor-exclusive-rights to my encryption programme,’ Rodney continued. ‘Lots of companies use it, but I still own the IP, so I have contractor-exclusive-rights over it. Likewise, if my power source were put into production by, say, Dad, Sheppard Industries would produce it, probably under license, but I still hold exclusive rights to it; I’ve just chosen to give SI permission to make and market it.

‘What Carter has done, I suspect, is make herself the owner of any IP and PT, so when the relevant patent or maybe secrecy order runs out, ownership of the IP and PT revert to her and she can then do what she wants with it.’

‘Thank you, Rodney. That was very clear and concise,’ George told him. ‘One thing we’re still unsure about, though, is if Major Carter gave herself contractor-exclusive-rights, or if it was done by someone at the DoD, maybe because they had no idea who the original scientist was.’

‘Okay,’ Daniel was still frowning, ‘but you said that in a lot of cases, the work taken from the SGC and Area 51 was given to DoD scientists. Who gets the contractor-exclusive-rights in those cases?’

‘Good question.’ Patrick smiled at Daniel. ‘And one we’ve been asking ourselves, and asking the SecDef to find the answer to, but we suspect the DoD kept those, as they are allowed to do so under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1952.’ He held up a hand. ‘I’m not going to go into detail, don’t worry, but basically, the same Act the secrecy orders were issued under, also grants the DoD unlimited rights to an item or process if the scientists involved had received federal funding, which both the SGC and Area 51 do.’

Now John was frowning. ‘So, regardless of Carter and all the secrecy orders, the DoD owns anything to come out of the SGC and Area 51?’

‘No. They have unlimited rights to use it. Ownership of it still belongs to the scientist involved.’

‘Which is Carter, because of her contractor-exclusive-rights, correct?’

‘Correct, for the moment.’ Patrick sighed. His head was aching with all the thinking he was doing, even though he’d made good notes on everything he was talking about. Still, it should be much easier going forward. ‘Much depends on Carter herself. It is possible she’s unaware she’s been granted dozens of contractor-exclusive-rights. No, Jack, I said it’s a possibility,’ Patrick said in response to Jack’s snort of disbelief. ‘We have to give her the benefit of doubt. If she’s unaware, and the wording in the contracts permits it, she can transfer the rights back to the originator if she wishes. Even if she is aware, she may decide to do the right thing anyway, but what we’re hoping is that all the secrecy orders, patents, and contractor-exclusive-rights, are simply done away with, and we start again with a clean slate.

‘Regardless, Secretary Wallis is very motivated in getting everything resolved to how it should be, and his position means he can do things which no one else would be able to, like simply rip up the contracts which have the ugly clause in them, and issue backdated new ones.’

‘Why backdated?’ Daniel asked.

‘So any rights accrued by serving x number of years – like pension and sickness rights – are continued from the original contract date.’ Patrick looked around the room. ‘Is everyone clear about what’s happened, and what we’re doing to resolve it?’

John held up a hand. ‘I have a question.’ Patrick nodded to him to continue. ‘Why is Wallis so very motivated? What hold or dirt do you have on him?’

Patrick and George looked at each other, and they both smiled, but they weren’t happy, friendly smiles. They were predatory and vindictive, and it was Patrick who spoke for them both.

‘Robert Wallis is the key to bringing down the rogue NID and the Committee, and possibly the Trust before it even forms.’

Chapter Nineteen

At the beginning of the week of John’s graduation, the whole of SG-1 went down to Maxwell AFB with him, including Teal’c who had to wear a beanie hat the whole time, but who didn’t want to miss out on a party, much to John’s disappointment as he really hadn’t wanted to go to the graduation ball.

‘What, miss out on you and Jack in your dress blues?’ Rodney asked. ‘Not a chance, right, Daniel?’

‘Right.’

‘But there’ll be dancing, and—’

‘And I know damn well you can dance, John Sebastian Sheppard, because I know your mum taught both you and Dave.’

‘And General Hammond is coming down for the graduation ceremony and the ball,’ Jack added, grinning at John’s discomfort. Always good to see someone else in the hot seat.

‘Oh, great. So there’ll be seven of us, because Dad’s coming too, all men, at a dinner. How’s that going to look?’

‘Like a group of men at a graduation ball,’ Jack answered. ‘Suck it up, buttercup. It’s happening, like it or not. Now, the important stuff. Can I fly your plane down?’

In the end, it wasn’t an entire bachelor party as Radek and Miko, which meant Kay Spencer too, came down.

‘I need to find a husband in the military,’ Kay grumbled to Miko as they gathered for pre-ball drinks at the hotel Patrick had booked for everyone. ‘I mean, Rodney and Radek look great, as does Doc J, but there’s something about a man in uniform…’

‘I totally agree,’ Miko nodded, ‘but I have to say my favourite uniform is the Marine Corps blue one.’

‘God, yes. Do the Air Force ever get to wear a sword?’

‘Not sure, but it’s still hot, even without the sword.’

‘Will you two stop it?’ Rodney ordered. ‘I’m feeling decidedly inferior here, and I’ve never felt inferior in my entire life!’

‘Well, it’s not like your suit is inferior,’ Kay commented, looking at him critically. ‘The damn thing screams expensive-tailor-made, as does yours, Doc J. In fact, I’m the one who should feel inferior. I don’t have a designer dress, a uniform, or a PhD.’

‘Yeah, about that,’ Rodney said, and beckoned Radek with a jerk of his head. ‘I’ve spoken to Darren Waters in Boston about you staying here with us and writing your dissertation remotely. He’s still willing to be your dissertation supervisor if you want him to be, or you can choose between Miko, Radek, and myself. Either way, he says he’s on the end of a phone if you want him, and you’re welcome back in Boston at any time.’

Kay Spencer gazed at him, and, to his surprise, tears formed in her eyes. ‘Oh, you darling man,’ she cried, and flung her arms around him, almost knocking him over in her enthusiasm.

‘Well, there, there,’ he muttered, patting her back uncertainly. ‘Just don’t get make-up on my screaming expensive-tailor-made suit!’

‘Should I be concerned about you hugging my partner, Miss Spencer?’ John asked as he wandered over to see what was happening between the geeks, then he frowned. ‘What’s he said to make you cry? Shall I kick his butt for you?’

‘What happened to your concern for your partner?’ Rodney demanded as Kay gave a damp chuckle and accepted a handkerchief from Daniel to wipe her eyes.

‘Rodney’s just offered me a permanent post and said he’ll supervise my dissertation. Isn’t he an angel?’ Kay enthused, making John bray one of his donkey laughs.

‘He’s certainly something,’ Jack muttered to Daniel, who consequently snorted fruit juice up his nose and made his eyes water.

The ball itself was…interesting, Jack decided. As a group of eight men with just two women, they attracted a fair amount of attention, and they attracted even more when Jack and Daniel got up to dance together, followed by John and Rodney. Just to mess with people’s heads, after dancing with all of their menfolk, Miko and Kay danced a waltz together, although they appeared to argue over who was going to lead, with Kay coming out the winner, mostly because she was taller than tiny Miko.

‘Why is that officer glaring at General Hammond?’ Radek asked Patrick at one point in the evening as they danced together. ‘He has not taken his eyes from him the whole evening long.’

Patrick glanced to where Radek indicated and saw Lt Gen Nelson Arreguin watching their table through narrowed eyes. He didn’t appear to have a partner with him, and Patrick wondered what brought the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations to a graduation ball in Alabama, for him to spend the evening glaring at an adversary. ‘He’s a member of a group who opposes the SGC, and appears to have a personal grudge against George,’ Patrick told the scientist in an undertone. ‘Thanks. I’ll keep an eye on him.’

One rather pleasant surprise was made during the speeches part of the evening, without which no military event, it appeared, could be held. John had, apparently, been a member of the Squadron Staff – a staff-student council, with the student body for each year group known as a squadron – and held the title of Chief of Student Affairs, responsible for squadron welfare and morale.

‘What made you accept that role?’ Jack asked him curiously. ‘I wouldn’t have put you down as someone particularly welfare minded.’

‘Which is why I accepted it,’ John told him. ‘It was a weak area for me, and the men and women of any future command I might have deserve better, especially if it were a remote command.’

It was a reasonable comment to anyone who overheard their conversation, but the men and women gathered around that particular dining table – bar Kay Spencer – knew just how important welfare and morale would be on the city of Atlantis.

A further surprise came the following day at the actual graduation ceremony when John received the Commandant’s Award for graduating at the top of his class, and Rodney was almost bursting with pride when his red-cheeked partner returned to his seat clutching an engraved glass plaque.

‘It’s just a bit of glass, Rodney,’ John said, trying to play down his award while his partner proudly examined it and passed it along the line of chairs they occupied for the others to see.

‘It’s recognition that you aren’t the idiot you like to play sometimes,’ Rodney corrected. ‘Some other folk should take note,’ he added, looking pointedly at Jack, sitting next to him, who rolled his eyes. He turned his attention back to John. ‘And now we need to decide on the area you want to cover for your PhD dissertation.’

John stared at him for a moment, then leaned down and banged his head on his cliched fists. ‘Please, God, will somebody make him stop?’

*****

SG-1 split forces in the week following John’s graduation. Daniel and Teal’c accompanied Janet Fraiser down to the SGC Research Base in Antarctica, while Jack, Rodney, and John went out to Nevada to meet with Patrick Sheppard and discuss the stalled X-302 project, and also to meet the Asgard engineer Thor had selected to work with them on the ship which would be shortly named Prometheus.

‘God of forethought, fire, and crafty counsel,’ Jack complained just a half hour into their flight to Nevada in a C130. ‘Is ‘Prometheus’ really what we want to name our first spaceship?’

‘They were never going to go for ‘Enterprise’,’ Rodney told him absently, busy with his laptop. ‘Carter told you that last time.’

‘How do you know that?’ Jack asked, frowning at him.

Rodney looked up. ‘Because she told me. Why?’

‘Nah, no reason. I’m bored, and I hate this plane. Remind me again, John, why we couldn’t come in your plane?’

John laughed. ‘Because we’re on official SGC business, and the Air Force won’t allow a private plane to land at one of their top secret bases, even if it is carrying USAF personnel. Still,’ he added as an afterthought, ‘if I’d known they were going to send us to Nevada in a Hercules, I might have argued a bit more.’

‘It’s punishment, that’s what it is,’ Jack said from between his palms, as his hands were covering his face.

‘Punishment for what?’

‘Punishment for anything any of us have ever done, ever,’ he added in emphasis. ‘Punishment for me having that last slice of pie when I knew Morrison from SG-11 wanted it. Maybe punishment for when I wouldn’t play housie with my little cousin when I was five, and she was four.’

John eyed him thoughtfully. Jack rarely mentioned his family, except for the grandfather who left him the cabin in Minnesota, and that infrequently. When he thought about to, though, he rarely mentioned his family in the other timeline. No one had even known he’d been married until his father’s funeral. This time, everyone was up in all his business, to the point his father had got himself quarters in the mountain. Huh. I never did ask about that.

‘Jack, why does my father have his own room at the SGC?’ he asked the man who was rapidly becoming his best friend – other than Rodney, of course. Rodney was…Rodney was his soulmate, his lifelong partner. Friendship was far too weak a word to use in connection with it.

Jack frowned at the question. ‘I didn’t know he did, which is odd, as I usually oversee that kind of thing.’

‘He wanted to be able to come and go as he pleased without having to bother MS Grimes every time, plus he wanted to leave various personal items so he didn’t have to cart them around everywhere,’ Rodney informed them, still concentrating on his laptop. ‘John, have a look at this, will you? It’s the math for the naquadria hyperspace generators, but there’s a problem with it somewhere.’

He held out his laptop, then frowned at the looks he was getting from the two other men. ‘What?’

‘How did you know that stuff about Dad’s quarters and MS Grimes?’ John asked, taking the laptop from Rodney.

Rodney frowned. ‘I’m not sure. I probably heard Dad mention it.’

‘That’s something I wanted to ask you,’ Jack said suddenly. ‘Only I keep forgetting. Why do you call Patrick ‘dad’, Rodders?’

Actually thinking about the question, rather than give an instant reply, took a moment. ‘The quick answer is because he asked me to, but it goes deeper than that, I think.’ Rodney paused, tapping his finger against his lip. ‘My parents were a nightmare. I was far too intelligent for them to cope with, and my eidetic memory meant they couldn’t get away with tricks most parents do, like casually ‘forgetting’ promises they’d made. I don’t honestly think they meant to have me when they did. I was passed off as a ‘honeymoon’ baby, but I suspect I was the reason they got married, not a product of it. They much preferred Jeannie, my baby sister, who came along four years later.

‘I think Patrick became the father I never experienced, and quite by chance, one day, I happened to call him ‘Dad’ without realising it, and he looked so pleased that I continued.’ He shrugged. ‘I guess it sounds odd to people who don’t know our actual relationship, but I gave up caring what other people thought a long time ago.’

John squeezed his hand and gave him a little smile. Jack watched them, glad the…’odd’ couple had found each other sooner than last time. It’ll save them both a lot of heart-ache. Hey ho. I sound like an old man. Fuck! I am an old man compared to this pair. I’m closer in age to Patrick than I am John. What the fuck?!

*****

White Rock Research Station, Antarctica, was in the middle of snow. Not a snowy field, or a snowy road. Just…snow. Daniel sighed as he viewed all the…snow. This is why I’m an archeologist. We work in sunshine, not…snow.

Two snowmobiles were waiting to take them to the research centre, and as Daniel climbed into one, next to Janet, they saw the plane taxiing round to take off again.

‘Why is it leaving us?’ Janet asked rather nervously.

‘Jack warned me of this,’ Daniel told her. ‘It’s something about the electronics and the cold. I should probably have listened to him a bit better. He did say it’d come back for us in two days, though.’

‘Two days of nothing but snow,’ Janet muttered, just loud enough for Daniel to hear over the noise of the snowmobile engine. ‘I wonder why this thing isn’t affected by the cold?’

‘Built for it, I suppose.’

The Research Station comprised an enormous dome made up of segmented hexagons over what appeared to be a group of prefabricated buildings. Which makes sense, I suppose, since everything needed to be flown in, and still needs to be flown in.

They were shown directly into the quarantine lab, where the block of ice containing Ayiana was being kept. I must remember not to call her that until Dr Osbourne names her.

‘Keep your coats on as we’re maintaining the lab at freezing level to maintain the specimen,’ Dr Woods told them as Janet made to unzip her jacket.

‘Ayiana,’ Osbourne said sharply to Woods. ‘This is a person. Give her the dignity of a name.’

Woods scowled at him, and Daniel tried to recall anything Jack had said about the pair. I don’t remember him mentioning animosity between them, but I suppose it is Jack. He’s not…very good at emotions.

The large slab of ice was lying on a table fitted with drainage holes, much like Daniel had seen in the pyramids in Egypt where the Pharaohs were embalmed before being placed in their tombs.

‘Ayiana,’ Janet repeated. ‘What a lovely name. How did you discover what she was called?’

‘We didn’t,’ Woods answered before Osbourne could open his mouth. ‘Osbourne named her with no discussion with the rest of us. Some family Cherokee name, he says. I told him there was no way this woman was Cherokee, and she’s certainly not a member of his family, but it didn’t bother him at all. So much for science, eh?’

Osbourne’s lips were pressed tightly together, but he made no comment. I don’t remember Jack mentioning this either.

‘How do you know it’s a woman?’ Janet asked.

‘Ultrasound readings,’ Osbourne answered. ‘But we’re not 100% certain.’

‘And her age?’

‘Our best guess is between 25 and 35, but the really important thing is our analysis of the oxygen content in the ice suggests it’s several million years old.’

‘Several million?’ Janet repeated. ‘That’s way earlier than the current estimates of human evolution. The agreed date is under nine hundred thousand years. This information will change everything.’

‘But because of the top secret classification of the Stargate programme, we won’t be able to release the information until the programme is declassified,’ Woods complained. ‘It’s ridiculous that we can’t share our findings.’

‘But we knew that before we signed up,’ Francine Michaels pointed out, trying to soothe the two men.

‘So the beta gate was put down here way before Ra brought the Giza gate,’ Daniel said, interested in the findings, even though he knew most of it from Jack’s memories.

‘Way, way, before,’ Woods agreed. ‘This would turn anthropology on its head if we could disseminate our findings.’

‘But there’s more,’ Francine Michaels said, hardly able to contain her excitement. ‘We’ve pulled an intact tissue sample from her.’

‘Intact,’ Janet repeated, her eyes wide. ‘No. Surely not.’

‘I do not follow your discussion,’ Teal’c said to Janet. ‘Why do intact cells excite you?’

‘It means Ayiana is still alive.’

*****

Patrick Sheppard met the three men at the dry dock for Prometheus. Damn it! Jack told himself. X-303. Remember to call it the X-303! Patrick’s eyes were sparkling as he greeted them, then led them down to the bay where the X-303 appeared to be almost completed.

‘I want to introduce you to someone,’ Patrick said, smiling. ‘ Váli, I’d like to introduce you to Colonel Jack O’Neill. I believe you already know my son, Lt Colonel John Sheppard, and Dr Rodney McKay? Jack, this is Váli, Thor’s brother, who is here to help us finish the ship, and to install Asgard beaming technology, sensors, scanners, and shields, and hyper-drive.’

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, Váli,’ Jack said, holding out his hand. ‘Your brother saved my teammate’s life.’

‘That’s Thor all over,’ Váli said, much to the shock of the three recently arrived men. Váli isn’t anything like Thor, Jack decided. Even his speech is different. It’s much more…human-normal.

‘When d’you think the P—X-303 will be completed, Váli?’ Jack asked, then looked at the Asgard in shock as the tiny grey alien hummed before he replied.

‘Hmmm. Three or four weeks, I reckon. Probably plan test flights for five or six weeks’ time to be sure.’

Nope, nothing like Thor.

The four men followed Váli as he led them into the engine room of the ship, and Rodney stood stock-still for a moment, before rushing forward with grabby hands.

‘Will you explain how these hyperdrives work?’ Rodney asked hopefully.

‘Of course, Dr McKay. I’d be happy to,’ Váli answered, and his facial features shifted, and Jack realised he was smiling. Well, fuck me! I never knew the Asgard could smile, not in all the years I knew Thor.

‘Want to see the rest of the ship?’ Patrick asked John and Jack. ‘I think we’ve lost Rodney.’

‘Probably for the next couple of weeks,’ John sighed, as they followed Patrick down an internal corridor of the ship. ‘Can he stay with you, Dad? Or is there somewhere on the ship he can stay?’

‘I’ve got a room on base, but it’s not big enough for two, and I’ve also taken an apartment in the outskirts of Vegas. I doubt we’ll get him off base, though, so I’ll get someone to find a bed for him somewhere.’

‘And make sure he uses it,’ John instructed his father. ‘And eats regularly. You know what he’s like.’

Jack could hear the conversation between father and son, but he wasn’t really paying attention to them. He was more interested in the changes Sheppard Aeronautical had made to the ship.

He knew Prometheus had been wildly over budget and took much longer than expected last time, but it looked as though SA, with help from the Asgard, had managed to pull it back to the original time frame, and within, or close to, the original budget. I have to wonder if some of the extra cost last time went straight into someone’s pocket. Carter was overseeing the build, as usual, but she has no experience of that type of project, or any building project, really.

In terms of the changes, the quality of everything was better, as was the design. Last time Prometheus had looked as though it was designed on the back of an envelope, but this ship was…sleeker, more streamlined.

Jack looked around to check there was no one close to them. ‘John, d’you have any idea if the original Prometheus was designed by Rodders and Zelenka?’

‘They used some of Rodney’s designs, I think. The technical data, certainly, but much of the aesthetics had to be changed because of changes to where the engines were placed, for example. I saw the original design Rodney made – Radek didn’t join the programme until Atlantis – and it was elegant and more streamlined.’

‘We found some of the original drawings,’ Patrick told them. ‘And the design changes. It was as though someone was determined to remove anything Rodney had contributed, aside from the technical data and calculations, which could be passed off as anyone’s. We were in time to change some of the design before the ship was completed, and were able to modify some of what had been done, especially as we have an almost unlimited supply of trinium, thanks to the new mining site SG-11 found. It makes for a much more graceful ship.’

‘I think the alterations were made to remove Rodders’ name from the project entirely,’ Jack sighed. ‘Remember, his contract means he holds his own patents and the DoD or NID couldn’t steal them. That’s also why he and Radek were refused permission to see the ships being built. The X-302 and 303.’

‘There are certainly payments due to Rodney and Radek,’ Patrick said. ‘And I’ll make sure they’re made. SecAir was very clear in his letter of intent that intellectual property would be honoured, despite what objections might be made.’

‘Good,’ Jack said, and meant it. I’m so glad Patrick and SI were brought into the fold. I can trust him, unlike many of the previous contractors. I’m certain they were the cause of the leak to that journalist, Julia Donovan. Hopefully, with the ship being completed sooner than last time, and many of the sub-contractors being changed, the NID or Committee, or whoever the damn hi-jackers were affiliated to, won’t be able to steal the ship and strand her and us halfway across the galaxy again.

*****

So far, everything’s gone as Jack told me, Daniel thought. Ayiana had been thawed out, slowly and carefully, and was indeed alive. After a few worrying minutes, and the use of a defibrillator, Ayiana was breathing on her own. The same debate about current anthropological thinking being rewritten was had between themselves, with only Teal’c, looking on in his usual impassive manner, refraining from contributing to the discussion.

Norm Woods wanted to go out and take a further core sample of the ice where Ayiana was found, to prove the age of the ice, since a sample of one is no proof, he reminded them. Remembering the warning Jack had given him, Daniel casually suggested Woods and Osbourne check the weather forecast before venturing out. Woods clearly wanted to ignore his advice, but Osbourne checked the computer and sighed.

‘We can’t go out in this, Norm. It’d be stupid.’

‘But we’re leaving in a couple of days,’ Woods protested.

‘And if we go out in that storm,’ Osbourne indicated the monitor, ‘we might not go home at all.’

‘Fine!’ Woods stomped off, and Daniel watched him with a worried expression.

‘He’s not stupid enough to go out anyway, is he?’ he asked Harold Osbourne.

Osbourne frowned, then stood up, hurriedly. ‘Yeah, he is that stupid! I’ll keep an eye on him, don’t worry.’ He gave Daniel a half smile. ‘He’s a good guy, really, but six months down here with just the three of us is enough to drive anyone stir-crazy.’

Daniel smiled and nodded as Osbourne left to follow Woods, but his thoughts were very different. Neither you nor Dr Michaels have gone stir-crazy, have you? And you wouldn’t put your colleagues in danger by going out in bad weather either. He made to follow the two scientists when the internal phone rang. It was Janet Fraiser.

‘Daniel? I need your anthropology expertise. Can you come and tell me what you think of these?’

‘On my way.’

When he got to the observation room overlooking the quarantine lab where Ayiana was laid on a gurney, a monitor was displaying several different brain wave patterns, one of an EEG Fraiser had taken of her daughter, Cassandra when under the effects of a genetic experiment made by the Goa’uld Nirrti, when Cassandra developed telekinesis, one from Jack from when he’d had the download of the Ancient repository, and a final one unnamed.

‘Whose is that?’ Daniel asked, pointing to the unnamed pattern which matched the other two almost perfectly.

‘Ayiana’s. And all three are very similar.’

‘They’re almost identical,’ Daniel said, relieved he wouldn’t have to push Janet to make the link between advanced brain activity and Ancients.

‘I think Ayiana is one of the gatebuilders, Daniel. A living Ancient.’

Just as Daniel was about to answer, there came a thump, and then a shout from the quarantine lab.

‘Dr Fraiser!’ Teal’c called out, sounding unusually concerned. ‘Dr Michaels’ has collapsed.’

*****

Moving on from Area 37, where Prometheus was being built, to Area 51 proper, Patrick drove Jack and John to see what advances Sheppard Aeronautical had made with the X-302, the prototype which would become the F-302 Fighter Interceptor. Rodney refused to join them as he was ‘busy, busy, go away.’

‘I’m not sure if Thor meant him to,’ Patrick began, ‘but Váli took one look at the design of the jet engines and didn’t stop nagging until I agreed to let him ‘adjust’ them.’

‘Adjust,’ Jack repeated flatly.

‘That’s what he said.’ Patrick grinned at the other two men.

‘This is what you refused to tell me on the phone?’ John asked his father. ‘Even though we have the most secure cell phones on the planet?’

‘I wanted it to be a surprise.’

‘You do know Rodders is going to go ape when he finds out, don’t you?’ Jack said with a sigh. ‘I knew we should have insisted he came with us.’

‘I think you’re just going to have to accept that SG-1 will be without him for a while,’ John said, resigning himself to lonely and cold nights until they could entice Rodney back to Colorado.

‘But he’s our geek!’ Jack wasn’t pouting. Air Force Colonels do not pout.

‘I guess we’ll have to make do with Radek or Miko,’ John said, then flinched when Jack pointed a finger at him.

‘I’m telling them you said that.’

‘Sneak,’ John muttered.

‘Boys!’ Patrick grinned when Jack huffed and gave him a look of indignation. ‘Fine. Men! I haven’t told you the best bit yet.’

‘There’s more?’ Jack demanded.

‘Yep. Váli also told me he’s pretty certain he can work out how to use naquadria with the hyper-drive. He says its own instability can be used to determine the decay rate, and that irradiating it with low energy neutrons—’ He paused when both Jack and John groaned.

‘It’s no good, Dad,’ John told him. ‘I need to see this stuff written down before I have any chance of understanding it.’

‘And I just don’t understand it full stop,’ Jack said wryly. ‘If Váli say’s it’ll work, that’s good enough for me.’

Patrick huffed. ‘It’s actually very interesting, and I’m sure Rodney will appreciate it. Okay.’ He held up a hand as both men opened their mouths. ‘Fine. Váli thinks his idea will work and is terribly excited about it. He wants to go to Langara to see it in its natural form – and yes, John, I explained it doesn’t occur naturally. I dissuaded him because George says the three states are still working out their new alliance, but Váli wants to take some naquadria back to the Ida Galaxy to play with – his words, not mine.’

‘So we have a workable hyper-drive in the X-302?’ Jack asked. Now that would be good news, although I can’t think of an instance when we would need to send an F-302 through hyperspace. Hmm. It might lead to the production of a smaller ship. Like one the size of a Puddle Jumper.

‘Not yet, but we probably will have soon,’ Patrick told him.

‘And at least we won’t lose the prototype trying to get the gate away from earth,’ Jack said, nodding thoughtfully. ‘That cost us time and money last time. How soon do you think before we get it into production?’

‘No idea,’ Patrick said promptly. ‘We’re waiting on Váli to test the naquadria and decide how to use it in the hyper-drive for the X-302s. Meanwhile, because we’re putting the hyper-drives into the X-303 as we’re building her, she should be completed this side of Christmas.’

‘That’s…eighteen months earlier than before,’ Jack said in astonishment. ‘She’ll be ready to go to Pegasus as soon as the Expedition is.’

‘You still want us to leave before we did last time?’ John asked.

‘I think we have to. We know what problems will face us out there, or, rather, face you. As soon as we can get our hands on a couple of ZPMs and can legitimately find mention of the city, we need to prepare an expedition. Without the IOA this time.’

‘Amen to that,’ John muttered. ‘Assholes.’

*****

It took a little fast talking, but Daniel persuaded Janet Fraiser to let him chat further to Ayiana – wearing a mask, gloves, and scrubs over his normal clothing – while she dealt with Drs Michaels and Osbourne.

‘They’re both running a high fever, and I have no idea why,’ Janet said to Daniel with a sigh, standing a distance from him with her hands on her scrub-covered hips.

This is where I need to be careful, Daniel thought, but before he could decide what to say, Teal’c, standing on the opposite side of Ayiana’s bed to Daniel, spoke up.

‘Dr Michaels took and studied the tissue sample from the gate-builder,’ he reminded them. ‘Could this be the source of her illness?’

Fraiser frowned. ‘I suppose it’s possible, but then, so are several other things. Teal’c, I wish you’d agree to wearing shielding equipment, just in case it is something from Ayiana.’

‘I have no need of shielding. My symbiote will protect or cure me of any infection.’

‘If it is an infection,’ Janet said doubtfully. ‘Did you notice that small cut on her arm is now healed? That doesn’t equate with her having an infection. The opposite, in fact.’

‘But it’s odd Ayiana could cure herself like that, isn’t it?’ Daniel said innocently. Come on, Janet. Add all these oddities together.

‘I suppose so, but I’d like to r—’

She was interrupted by a shout from Norm Woods. ‘Hi, Dr Fraiser! It’s Harold. He’s collapsed. Help me!’

All three of them rushed to where Woods’ shout came from, and discovered him kneeling beside Osbourne who was stretched out on the floor, sweating and having trouble breathing.

‘The same symptoms as Francine,’ Janet muttered. ‘I wish Colonel O’Neill and Rodney had come with us to help. Sam even.’

Daniel couldn’t disagree. He understood the reasons just he and Teal’c accompanied Janet, but right at the moment, they needed more people to help the sick, because if Osbourne has gone down, Woods won’t be far behind him. Fuck!

Teal’c carried Osbourne through to the makeshift infirmary, with Woods following behind him, clearly worried about his friend – frenemy? – but on the edge of panic himself. He’s worked it out as well. Teal’c, I just hope you make a suitable nurse as you’re likely to be the last man standing!

With nothing he could contribute to the two patients, Daniel returned to Ayiana, who was now sitting up in bed and looking around her curiously.

‘I wish I could make you understand,’ Daniel sighed, taking off his glasses to polish them. ‘You’re going to need to cure them all, and I need to get you to the point where you realise that. I just don’t know how to do it.’

By the time his glasses were clean and he’d put them back on, Ayiana was out of bed and peering through the glass into the makeshift infirmary. ‘Hi, what are you doing? Come back to bed, Ayiana, You’ll—’ He cut himself off before he finished his sentence. Not much point in telling a six million year old woman she might catch her death of cold. ‘What is it Ayiana?’ he asked as she motioned between herself and the two research scientists in gurneys on the other side of the window. ‘Have you worked it out?’

Much to his astonishment, Ayiana gave him a decisive nod, then opened the door between the two rooms.

‘Hey! Whoa, no, no,’ Janet said, trying to block Ayiana from reaching Michaels on the gurney.

‘No, let her,’ Daniel said, holding up his hand. ‘I think she can help.’

Ayiana glanced back at Daniel, and her mouth curved into a smile. She rested her hand on Michaels’ stomach and closed her eyes in concentration. Michaels gulped a breath, then began to cough, and then breathed freely, her clammy skin drying before their eyes.

‘What the hell?’ Janet muttered.

‘I think you were right about her being a gate-builder,’ Daniel said quietly. I know you were right! ‘Remember when Jack had the Ancient download, and Cassandra developed telekinesis? Both had advanced abilities, and I think Ayiana has them too. When I was talking to her, doing the babbling thing Jack teases me about? I’m pretty certain she could understand what I was saying after only a couple of minutes. Would it…I know you have a sample of Jack’s blood from when he had the download, and samples of Cassandra’s too. Would it be possible to compare them to Ayiana’s and see if there are any similarities?’

Turning suddenly, Janet stared at him. Did I go too far? She suddenly grinned at him. ‘I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.’

By now, Ayiana had moved on to Osbourne, and within what felt like seconds, he was breathing normally, and his temperature had visibly dropped. Ayiana moved away from the gurney and stumbled, but Teal’c caught her arm and steadied her, then led her back through to her bed.

‘Rest,’ Teal’c said gently. ‘Do not tire yourself.’

No, because the rest of us will need healing before long, Daniel thought. How soon?

*****

Two hours later, they dragged Rodney away from Váli to eat.

‘Because you have to!’ John said in exasperation. ‘Dad, tell him!’

‘But there’s so much—’ Rodney began before Patrick held up a hand.

‘And it’ll still be here after you’ve eaten. Váli’s not going anywhere, you know.’

‘Fine!’ Now Rodney pouted until John nudged him and grinned.

‘We’re suddenly moving forward, aren’t we?’ he said in a low voice as they walked through a more inhabited part of the base.

Rodney nodded and smiled. ‘We’ve done more in the last couple of months than in the whole of the last year.’

‘That was putting stuff into place so we could move on when we needed to. We’ve not wasted time.’

‘No, but I’m very aware that Ronon’s already been a Runner for four years, and we don’t know how to find him when we do get to Pegasus.’ Rodney sighed. ‘That’ll take time to work out, especially as we don’t know who’s going to lead the Expedition.’

‘Well, it won’t be Weir, thank God,’ John muttered.

‘No. Your virtue is safe.’

‘Fuck you.’

‘But not her, eh?’

The mess hall at Area 37 was much smaller than the one at the SGC, but then it served far fewer people since the underground base was relatively small – given it also housed a space ship almost 200 metres long and 65 metres high.

‘The staff here are aware of your allergies, Rodney,’ Patrick told him as they joined the short line. ‘After what happened at the SGC, no-one will take any chances with your food.’

‘Thanks, Dad,’ Rodney said gratefully as he realised he had a full choice of dishes. Choosing the goulash, he carried his tray over to the table Patrick indicated, and the four men concentrated on eating before feeling able to talk.

‘I didn’t realise how hungry I was,’ Jack commented, wiping his plate with a piece of bread roll. ‘I may get a second helping of that.’

Rodney frowned and shifted in his seat. ‘Anyone mind if I get back to…’ he waved a hand.

‘Yes!’ John and his father said at the same time.

‘You’ve had your head in an engine for the last five hours,’ John told him. ‘And it’s barely six weeks since you almost died.’

‘Seven,’ Rodney mumbled.

‘Sorry?’ John frowned at him.

‘I said seven weeks. It’s been seven weeks since I almost died. Thor said to be careful for a month or so. I’m even drinking coffee again, though Miko rations it.’ He scowled at the memory.

‘It’ll do you good,’ John said unsympathetically. ‘I always said you drank too much.’

‘A nagging partner is like a dripping tap. Nag, nag, nag,’ Rodney told him unexpectedly, and making Jack frown.

‘What’s that?’

Rodney grinned at him. ‘Like it? It’s from Proverbs.’

‘What proverbs?’

‘No, the book in the bible, Proverbs.’

John gave him a look of concern. ‘You’re an atheist. What were you doing reading the bible?’

‘Kay Spencer,’ Rodney said, as though that explained everything.

‘Huh?’

‘Kay Spencer. The scientist who came to your graduation ball, although I never understood why.’

‘I know who she is, McKay! Why did she make you read the bible? Was she punishing you for something?’ John grinned at his own joke.

‘I can’t remember how it began, but we were looking through it for useful phrases. It was weeks ago. I can’t remember.’

‘You have an eidetic memory, McKay, remember?’ John said dryly.

‘Which is how I remembered that proverb.’

Patrick was looking between them, his brows raised. ‘What are either of you taking about?’ He held up a hand as John opened his mouth. ‘No, I don’t want to know. Rodney, why don’t you head back to Váli before you make my head explode. What are you two doing now?’ he asked Jack and John, who looked at each other.

‘There’s no flight back until 17:00, so we have a couple of hours to kill,’ Jack said with a scowl. ‘Fucking C130’s.’

Patrick sighed. ‘I have special permission to have my plane here, so if you can find a pilot to return it to me by tomorrow, I’ll let you take it.’

Jack grinned and rubbed his hands together. ‘Dibs!’

John stared at him. ‘What?’

‘I call dibs on flying it.’

‘You don’t know if you can fly it yet. It’s much bigger than my Cessna.’

As Jack blew a raspberry at John, Patrick stood and shook his head. They’re all like children. Wonderful, amazing, fantastic children, but children all the same. How on earth does George put up with them 24/7?

Chapter Twenty

‘So, d’you think you can qualify with a hand-gun, Radek?’ Jack asked him, tapping his desk with a pencil. ‘Can’t let you off-world without it.’

Radek cocked an eye. ‘I have already been off-world on three occasions, and also I was in Czech People’s Army as conscript for four years. I am familiar with guns.’

‘I’ll still need you to qualify here. In any case, we’ve probably got different guns than you’re used to.’

Radek got to his feet. ‘I shall do so today,’ he said, and marched out of the CO’s office.

‘Yeah, you do that.’ Jack sighed and massaged his temples. It’s been one damn thing after another today. I wish George were here.

General Hammond had returned to Washington two days after Jack and John’s visit to Nevada, leaving Jack in charge of the SGC again. More worryingly, he’d taken Sam Carter with him. I hate not knowing what’s going on. That was probably the best thing about being a general. That and the private plane, of course. And Danny’s not back from Antarctica yet. He sighed, then looked up as the door opened.

‘I knocked, but you didn’t answer,’ John said, coming right into the room. ‘Are you busy?’

Jack tilted his head and considered the question. ‘I could be if I wanted or needed to be. Why?’

‘Because I’m bored,’ John answered, dropping into one of the chairs in front of the desk. ‘I have nothing to do here except be on SG-1. I’d even welcome some inventory lists, that’s how bored I am. Is there anything I can do?”

Jack facepalmed. ‘Doh! There’s been so much happening, I forgot all about you. About what you’ll do here,’ he added at John’s sudden frown. ‘Of course I didn’t forget about you, you.’ If anything, John now looked even more confused. I’m babbling, Jack told himself.

‘Okay, ignore all that. George and I did chat about what you’d do here. I want to get you ready to command the Atlantis Battalion from the get go, and my plan was to get you promoted to light-bird before you left, but you’ve done that all by yourself. Sooo. What would you say was your weakest point as Atlantis CMO?’

‘All of it, any of it, I guess,’ John answered with a wry smile. ‘I hadn’t had any advanced command training before I went out with the Expedition, other than of leading my helo unit. Being shunted to Antarctica was part of that reason, I think. I guess no one thought it was worth giving me any further training, as they all hoped I’d just leave when my ten was up. Next thing I knew, I was acting CO of Atlantis, trying to win the support of the mostly Marine unit hand picked by Sumner, trying to avoid Weir’s overt advances, and trying to keep everyone alive against piss-poor odds.’

‘Wow.’ Jack gave a half-smile. ‘When you put it like that…’

‘I know I wasn’t the best leader I could have been.’ John shook his head. ‘We’ve already had that discussion, haven’t we? I guess…’ He thought for a long moment, and Jack let him, knowing John had to work this out himself. John gave a sudden smile. ‘I know it was a standing joke that Lorne did all my paperwork, but I did actually do most of my own. I let him have inventory, though. That’s a legitimate trickle-down job, and I had had experience with that in Antarctica. I did their inventories for the whole of the time I was there, as I was the senior officer, apart from the CO. It wasn’t a large enough base for him to have a staff.’

‘So, what do you think you need experience in now?’

John eyed him thoughtfully. ‘I can name any area I think I’m weak in?’

Jack frowned. ‘John, I’m not trying to trick you. It’s a legitimate question. If you say you need to be Hammond’s 2IC, I’ll do my best to make it happen for you.’

‘No, I don’t want that, but I’d appreciate working with the SGC Battalion. That was the most difficult job I had: winning the support and respect of the Atlantis Unit. – you couldn’t call it a Battalion that first year, not with only 100 men. I don’t think I got their respect until after the Geni invasion.’ He grinned. ‘I don’t think any of them realised I’d been special ops until I killed sixty Geni soldiers.’

‘I thought it was over 100?’ Jack said with a frown. ‘That was the number bandied about here after we got your package of reports.’

‘I killed 60 myself, but a further 40 or 50 were killed when I raised the shield on the gate. I don’t count them as my own kills, though.’

No, I don’t suppose you would,’ Jack muttered, then grinned as John gave a bray of laughter. ‘Anyhoo. What if you took over command of the Battalion? It’s something George and I had discussed with you in mind. We thought about appointing you as my 2IC – the 3IC, if you like.’

John gazed at him in shock. ‘What? Of the entire base?’

‘It’d actually bring us more in line with a normal base. I mean, even on Atlantis, you had a staff of officers, after the first year, that is. We’ve never formally done that here, but it makes sense that we do.

‘You’ll take over the Battalion, and we’d appoint someone else – or a couple of someones – to help me with all my other shit. My knees aren’t what they were, and as the programme expands, we’re taking on more and more responsibility. The search for the Outpost is going to be a big job all on its own. This way, there’s a much clearer chain of command, which will help prevent further problems like the one with Sumner and Reynolds.

‘But there are several people above me in rank,’ John protested. ‘Colonel Everett, for example. He was going to take over as Atlantis Military Commander until his…incident with the Wraith. And what about Colonel Caldwell?

‘You leave me to deal with Caldwell, and Everett isn’t a problem as he’s a Marine,’ Jack told him. ‘And by the time I’m through telling them what I’m making you do, they’ll come and offer you their commiserations, believe me.’

‘Can I have Lorne to help me? I’d really like to take him to Atlantis as part of the initial Expedition. Apart from him being a great 2IC, his future partner will be part of the first wave.’

‘The botanist, right?’

John nodded. ‘David Parish. They were good together, and now DADT’s gone, I hope they can get together legally and sooner.’

‘Hmmm. I think he’s only a Captain at present, on SG—’

The door to the office opened and Walter entered with several files in his hand. He glanced between Jack and John, then nodded, as though something had just made sense to him. ‘Captain Lorne’s jacket, sir, SG-11,’ he said as he passed the files to Jack. ‘And those of Lieutenants Teldy and Hart.’

‘Do I want them?’ Jack asked. ‘Do I even know them?’

‘You will soon enough, sir.’ Walter gave both men a nod and a wave of his hand, which might have been a salute, and closed the door behind himself.

‘When I first arrived, Walter told me he and I are very alike,’ John said thoughtfully. ‘Any idea what he meant?’

Jack frowned. ‘Does he have the ATA gene? Is that what he meant? Or has he…’. Jack twirled his finger.

‘No, definitely not that,’ John answered. ‘I asked him. I did wonder if he was a deascended Ancient.’

‘And?’

John shrugged. ‘No idea. It’s odd though, isn’t it?’

‘One of life’s many mysteries.’ Jack sighed. ‘I’ll get together with George and we’ll hash out a proper chain of command and give me a proper staff – or as proper as is feasible in the SGC. As far as I’m concerned, though, the Battalion is yours.’

‘Will you announce it?’ John asked.

‘Would you prefer I did?’

‘I think it’d be better than me just marching in and announcing I’m their new CO.’ John frowned and sighed. ‘Been there, done that, don’t want a repeat.’

Jack gave him what he hoped was a sympathetic smile. ‘Consider it done.’

*****

‘…so Jack’s handed over complete command of the SGC Battalion to me, effective from Monday.’ John finished explaining to Rodney how his meeting with Jack had gone.

‘Are you happy with that?‘

‘Yeah, I think so. It was probably the most difficult area of command I had on Atlantis. Possibly due to the fact I’d just shot their CO in the head.’

‘Possibly,‘ Rodney agreed, laughing. ‘How do you think they’ll take it?‘

‘Better than last time, though that’s a low bar. One thing in my favour is the make up of the SGC Battalion. It’s about half and half Air Force and Marines, whereas Atlantis was almost entirely made up from the USMC. Plus, I already have some experience of commanding Marines.’

‘Is it so different to commanding Airmen?‘

‘God, yeah. Two completely different animals. Marines need to be occupied, otherwise they’ll find something to do by themselves, and it’s generally something no sensible person would dream of doing. Remember the ‘gym’ they built themselves before we could get any equipment sent out for them?’

‘To be fair, Sumner should have thought about how a hundred very fit men, because they were mostly male in the first wave, how fit men would keep themselves fit.’

‘Yeah, but then Sumner should have thought of a lot of things. You included gaming consoles and the games to play them on for your science team.’

‘And quickly lost half of them to your men,’ Rodney reminded him.

‘It was that or go with them trying to make their own computer games using live people. I never did find out where they got the costumes they used. I don’t believe for a moment someone took a gorilla suit as their one personal item – which was also a ridiculous rule, and it’s not like anyone actually checked through our backpacks and footlockers to make sure there were only clothes there.’

‘I always wondered where all the rope came from.’

‘Huh. I never thought about that. But then, I think I spent the first week fighting off panic attacks every moment of the day and night.’

‘Did you? I never noticed.‘

‘Bad memories. Let’s change the subject. How are things going out there?’

‘Very well. I’m pretty certain I’ll be able to design and build the hyper-drives myself for the Daedalus – if that’s going to be its name. Which reminds me, I need Radek out here. Can you spare the time to fly him out tomorrow?‘

‘I can’t fly into Groom Lake AFB, not in a private plane.’

‘Why? Dad does.’

‘He got special permission.’

‘Then get special permission for yourself. Who’s the new CO out here? Landry’s replacement, I mean.‘

‘Albert Reynolds. I think it was a toss up between Hammond sending him to Area 51 or Alaska.’

‘He’s a dolt, but he’s harmless.‘

‘He’s damned dangerous,’ John argued. ‘We nearly didn’t get you back, remember? All on my first day, too.’

‘Okay, fine, but if he’s the new CO here, you shouldn’t have a problem getting permission to fly Radek in.’

‘Why can’t he get a transport plane like we had to?’

‘Please, John? Pretty please?’

‘Okay, fine, but when are you coming back? I—I miss you, you know.’

‘And I miss you, but this is huge, John. If I can learn how the Asgard build their hyper-drives, we can build our own. This didn’t happen last time as they refitted Prometheus in the Ida Galaxy. Whether it’s because Váli is a rule unto himself – which he might be – or Thor gave him permission to share that knowledge with us because he knows what happened to the Asgard in the other timeline, I don’t know, but this is more than we could ever have hoped for.’

‘Which is all thanks to you building the Replicator disrupter gun before the Asgard needed it. Last time they didn’t get rid of the Replicators until 2005. We’re a full three years before that. You did that, and quite possibly saved the entire Asgard race.’

‘Thanks,’ Rodney said, and John could hear the shyness in his voice. ‘So, you’ll bring Radek?’

‘Fine, but you need to call Jack and tell him you’re stealing Radek.’

‘Why?’

‘Because Jack’s got him training up to take your place while you’re away.’

‘You’ll have to take Miko. She’s already qualified. Or Kay Spencer. She’d love to go off-world with SG-1.’

‘Can she qualify, d’you think?’

‘You’ll have to ask her.’

‘She’s still not you. And she doesn’t have a PhD yet.’

‘Why does that matter? I wouldn’t have employed her if she couldn’t manage the work. I’m hoping to get her through her PhD in the next six months.’

‘Why the rush?’

‘I want her to come to Atlantis with us. Which reminds me, what’s happening down there?’

‘It’s gone pretty much as before, we think, except Ayiana’s managed to cure everyone. They’re due back tomorrow and will bring Ayiana with them if she’s fit enough to travel. Daniel’s already made the suggestion to Fraiser about the possibility of a special gene Ayiana might have. Once she ‘discovers’ it, we can give her Thor’s version of the gene-modifier to test properly this time. I’m not happy giving it to anyone without proper testing, now we have a chance to do that. If Fraiser’s happy with it, I’ll be happy with it.’

‘I agree. Carson was stupidly careless with the damn gene stuff.’ Rodney sighed down the line. ‘Listen, I’m staying here until Váli’s finished testing the naquadria for the X-302s. I won’t be back until the end of next week.’

‘Rodney!’

‘Hush, you big baby. Come out at the weekend if you’re not on duty. Dad’s taken a four-bedroom apartment, so he has room for us and Dave, if Dave wants to join us.’

‘He’s got a ball this weekend, did he tell you?’

‘Who? Dad? He didn’t mention it.’

‘No, Dave. He’s had to get a tail coat fitted and everything. I actually think he’s enjoying himself. He always had more social acumen than me.’

Rodney snorted down the line, forcing John to move the phone away from his ear. ‘A wet haddock has more social acumen than you!’

‘If all you can do is abuse me, I’m going to go and let Miko beat me up. She’s teaching me Jikishinkage-ryū. I think it might be a useful way of killing Wraith.’

‘Well, Ronon did have a sword.’

‘I might commission a few to take with us.’

‘Have fun, then, and you know I love you.’

‘Yeah. I love you too.’

*****

The Antarctic adventurers and Ayiana arrived back at the SGC at around the same time as General Hammond and Sam Carter early on Friday morning, so Jack and John resigned themselves to yet another day of meetings. To their joy and relief, however, General Hammond decided they’d all earned themselves a couple of days R&R. John, therefore, would get his weekend with Rodney in Las Vegas, and Jack and Daniel intended to retreat to Jack’s cabin, and since Thor would be in orbit to meet with his brother and Patrick, Jack was able to persuade him to beam him and Daniel to the cabin, although they knew they’d have to fly back on a commercial airline.

‘Still, it’ll save us the hassle of getting there,’ Jack told Thor. ‘I’m very grateful, buddy.’

None of them had set eyes on Major Carter after her return with the general, and it concerned Daniel.

‘D’you have any idea why Hammond took her to DC?’ he asked Jack while SG-1 had coffee and cake together in the mess – although Jack had pie instead of cake – mid-Friday morning.

‘No more idea than I did the last time you asked me, Danny. Go and ask George if you’re so interested.’

‘Okay.’ Daniel nodded to him, bussed his tray and left the Mess Hall, leaving Jack open-mouthed.

‘I was being sarcastic,’ he told John. ‘You realised that, didn’t you?’

‘I did, but Daniel clearly didn’t.’

‘And I understood your sarcasm, O’Neill,’ Teal’c added. ‘But I was aware Daniel Jackson would not.’

‘Is he really going to beard Hammond in his den?’ Jack wasn’t sure whether to laugh or bang his head on the table.

‘Only one way to find out.’ John got to his feet with his tray.

‘We are not going to barge into Hammond’s office,’ Jack said firmly.

‘Of course we’re not. We are going to let Miko hack the cameras in Hammond’s office,’ John told him.

‘Oh. Good plan. Hurry up.’

Miko was happy to hack into the cameras, but wasn’t willing to hack the audio. ‘No, Colonel O’Neill. That would be unethical.’

‘You’ve done it before. John told me you did it when Carter reported to that ass Sumner.’

‘Sumner was an idiot and wasn’t authorised to take the general’s place. I won’t spy on General Hammond.’

‘You’re spying by letting us watch the feed.’

‘Sight only. The general needs to be able to trust me.’

There was no point in arguing further, so Jack accepted he could watch Daniel bearding George, but not hear it.

Daniel had just entered Hammond’s office when Miko got the feed running. The general looked happy to see him, and Daniel sat down in response to Hammond’s hand wave.

‘It’s like watching silent movies without the captions,’ Jack commented to no one in particular.

”Fraid I’m not old enough to remember them,’ John answered, and ducked the punch Jack threw at him, laughing.

‘Asshole,’ Jack muttered, then tilted his head and frowned. ‘D’you think George is actually telling him why he took Carter to DC?’

‘Well, he’s still smiling and hasn’t kicked Daniel out yet,’ John answered. ‘That must mean something.’

‘Yeah, but what?’ Jack was beginning to get impatient. ‘And where is Carter? Have you seen her?’ he asked Miko, who shook her head.

‘But that doesn’t mean anything since I haven’t left my lab since breakfast. I’m trying to get all my priority work finished before our first mission next week.’

‘You okay with going off-world with us?’ Jack asked her.

‘Certainly. Rodney told me I was a member of AT-11 on Atlantis, and I wish to be ready for when the Expedition leaves.’

‘Daniel’s leaving,’ John said suddenly, ‘but both he and the general are still smiling.’

Jack stretched his arms above his head and groaned. ‘I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Do some fishin’, do some fishin’ in my lake.’ He waggled his eyebrows suggestively when John turned to look at him. ‘Two kinds of fishing, my friend. Hey ho. Let’s go find Danny and see what George told him.’

‘You do know you’re going to slip one day, and call him George to his face?’ John told his friend as they strolled to the elevator to go down a level, but when the elevator door opened, Daniel was standing in it.

‘Where y’goin’?’ he asked them, raising his brows.

‘Down to see you.’

‘Fair enough.’

A couple of minutes later, Daniel was setting a pot of coffee to brew in his office.

‘So?’ Jack demanded, relaxing back in his personal armchair and swinging his feet onto the small coffee table. John, meanwhile, had to make do with pushing aside a pile of books and sitting on Daniel’s reading table.

‘So what?’

‘So why did George take Carter to DC with him?’ Jack said, enunciating each word.

‘No idea, but he wants to meet with the three of us and Teal’c at 15:00,’ Daniel told them.

‘And?’ Jack asked, waving his hand in a ‘go on’ motion.

‘And nothing. He wants to see us at 15:00.’

‘Daniel! You were in his office for almost fifteen minutes! What else did he say?’

‘Nothing to do with Sam!’ Daniel answered in a similar tone and at a similar volume.

John eased himself off the table rubbing the back of his neck.. ‘Should I…?’ He waved a hand.

‘No!’ Jack and Daniel said together, and John backed away until he was pressed against the table.

‘Wow. Okay, I’ll just…’ He stayed pressed against the table edge, as still as he could be, eager to remain out of the line of fire.

‘Did George say why he wants to see us?’ Jack asked in a much calmer tone. ‘And where is Teal’c? He was with us.’ He frowned and looked around as though Teal’c might be hiding behind some of Daniel’s artefacts.

‘He said he had a training session with a couple of platoons,’ John offered, carefully, his eyes moving between Jack and Daniel warily. ‘He’s joining us for lunch at 13:00.’

‘And I think the general wants to talk to us about Sam,’ Daniel said. ‘I also had a question about the patents/IP stuff and my department’s contracts. While we don’t produce anything physical, we do have intellectual property, but he said the shady contracts didn’t affect any of the social sciences.’

‘The soft sciences, you mean?’ John asked with a grin. ‘That’s what Rodney calls them.’

Daniel scowled at him. ‘Just because—’ he began, but Jack cut him off with a wave of his hand.

‘No! Have this argument with Rodders by all means, but don’t drag John and I into it. And you shouldn’t wind him up!’ he told John, getting to his feet and pointing a finger at his teammate, ‘because I’m the one who has to cope with him!’ He turned to back to Daniel. ‘If you’ve got no other gossip for us, we might as well go and find T-man. See you in the mess at 13:00?’

Daniel nodded and waved a hand, but most of his attention was already concentrated on a large tome he dragged over to his reading table.

*****

‘…so while Major Carter did take credit for work she took from several scientists at Area 51, she did it with Colonel Landry’s knowledge, and possibly his encouragement, but we can’t be certain. Her defence was that each of the scientists concerned were working under her supervision, and thus she was entitled to any work they produced—’

‘That’s bullshit!‘ Rodney exclaimed over the cell phone John was holding so his partner could hear what General Hammond had to say.

‘Pipe down, Rodders,’ Jack ordered him, at the same time as the general said,

‘If I might finish, Dr McKay?’

Ooops. Dr McKay. George is getting pissy, Jack thought to himself.

‘Sorry, sir. Go ahead,’ said Rodney, only slightly subdued.

‘Major Carter claimed she was entitled to any work they produced, but.’ He held up a hand to prevent anyone from speaking. ‘But Secretary Williams, the Secretary of the Air Force, wouldn’t accept that defence. Furthermore, he has backed up the SecDef’s decision to have her return all the work of anyone still working in the programme – that’s here and all the sites in Nevada – and the work of people who have left the programme will be given to the SGC for our own benefit.’

‘So we can become financially independent,’ Jack said, and smiled. ‘Brilliant.’

‘We still have to work out how everything is managed,’ Hammond cautioned. ‘We don’t have our own sales and marketing division for a start, but that’ll be sorted easily compared to everything else we’ve had to wade through.’

‘So Carter gets away scot-free? Rodney asked, his bitterness clear in his tone of voice.

‘I thought you and she were friends now, Rodney?’ Daniel said, frowning at the phone even though Rodney couldn’t see him.

‘We can work well together,’ Rodney answered. ‘I doubt we’ll ever be friends, though. Not like we were last time.’

‘And she isn’t getting off scot-free at all,’ Hammond said. ‘I haven’t finished.’

There was a chorus of ‘sorry, sir’ from Hammond’s audience, and he nodded.

‘Thank you. No criminal charges will be brought against Major Carter, but her name will be removed from the next round of promotion she would normally qualify for and she won’t be considered for a ‘below the zone’ promotion for the next five years, meaning the earliest she’ll be eligible for promotion will be 2007. I understand that in the other timeline she was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 2004, Jack?’

O’Neill nodded. ‘Yes, sir. At the same time, I got my bump up to Brigadier General.’

‘That’s not going to happen to her this time, but both the SecAir and I agreed it was the least of the punishments she might have been given. Comments, anyone?’

‘I think it’s very fair,‘ Rodney said immediately. ‘Given that we can’t risk her being recruited by the Trust. I’d still suggest we keep an eye on who she meets or communicates with.’

‘Agreed, Rodney, but I have another suggestion I wanted to put before you all.’ Hammond paused and regarded the group of faces watching him. ‘Jack’s informed me we’re ready to kick off the search for the Antarctic Outpost, and I propose we send Major Carter down to supervise that.’

‘Supervise how?’ Rodney asked. ‘Tell the men with spades where to dig?‘

‘Not quite as basic as that, Rodney. Thor has agreed to scan the Antarctic area around where the beta gate and Ayiana were discovered. Since you’ve already given us the co-ordinates of the base, Thor knows exactly where to scan. Uncovering the base, however, will take time and care, as we don’t have direct access to it as I understand we did last time. Major Carter will supervise all the excavation works, and will investigate any additional finds we know are buried in the ice and snow. Your notes said the excavations took three months last time, but without interior access, Patrick and I estimate it’ll be closer to six months.’

‘And six months on ice will do Carter a world of good,’ John said, speaking for the first time since the meeting began. ‘It focuses your thoughts and is actually very calming.’

‘But then, you liked being there,’ Jack said with a grin.

‘I did! It was brilliant after twenty-five consecutive months in Afghanistan.’

‘Are we done now?‘ Rodney demanded. ‘I’ve got work to do even if you lot don’t! Not including you, General, of course,’ he added hurriedly.

‘Of course not, Rodney,’ Hammond said with a smile and a shake of his head. ‘Go, all of you. Have a relaxing weekend and I’ll see you all on Monday.’

He waved them off, then opened the bottom drawer of his desk, pulled out a bottle of whisky Patrick had given him, and poured himself a glass.

Now I only have Jacob Carter to placate, but I hope he’ll understand we’ve mitigated her punishment as much as we are able.

*****

‘…and you think they believed you?’ George Hammond asked Patrick’s eldest son.

Dave took a sip of his brandy. ‘I think so. Ainsley Westeron invited me to a drinks party tomorrow evening to meet some of his ‘associates’. He was very careful not to call them friends, although he has also invited me to play tennis with him at his club on Monday evening. I believe that’s intended to be more of a social meeting.’ He gave his father and George a wry smile. ‘To be honest, if I’d met him without knowing what he’s possibly involved with, I would probably have accepted his overtures of friendship. He’s personable, presentable, and appears to have a similar background to me.’

‘You mean prep school and Ivy League?’ Patrick asked, his face neutral. I must not be judgemental. Dave is a product of his upbringing, and that’s on me.

‘I guess so. We even have some friends in common. Remember Jamie Boulder from Anstey Court? He spent a summer with us when his parents were overseas? Probably…1985?’

Patrick nodded, but refrained from speaking. I remember how badly he treated Lizzie, and she hadn’t been with us long at that point. He was a nasty little snob, and I almost removed you from that school because of him. But it was your final year, and Isobel was already ill, although we didn’t know it at the time…

‘Well, Ainsley knows Jamie pretty well, and he’s joining us on Monday evening. We pretty much lost touch after Anstey Court as he went to join his parents in Singapore, and I went off to Harvard. It’ll be good to see him again and catch-up.’

‘You will remember the men and women involved in this group are dangerous traitors and criminals, won’t you?’ George reminded him. ‘They’re responsible for the deaths of several people we know about, and likely more we don’t know about.’

‘I won’t forget, General, I promise,’ Dave assured him. ‘But there’s no harm in me having a bit of fun while I’m working undercover, right?’

George eyed him carefully, and Patrick wondered what he saw. Whatever it was, must have given him some reassurance, though, as he nodded, albeit slowly and with a frown.

Dave glanced at his watch and swallowed the last of his brandy. ‘Right, I must go. I’m meeting Lucy, the girl I took to the ball last weekend. Don’t wait up, Dad. I don’t know what time I’ll be back.’ He paused for a moment and tilted his head to the side. ‘Maybe I should get my own place in DC if I’m going to be spending time here. I can’t exactly bring my friends back here, can I? Bye, General. Nice to see you again,’ and with a final wave, he was gone.

Patrick and George exchanged glances as they heard the front door to the townhouse slam.

‘Have we done the right thing in tasking Dave with this?’ Patrick asked his friend.

‘I’m sure everything will be fine,’ George told him, but Patrick could hear the false confidence in his voice.

*****

‘Sir? Do you have a moment for a chat?’

Jack surveyed the woman in his office doorway. I thought I was in love with her for a long time, but I realise I was in love with the idea of her, the Sam Carter I created in my mind. Everything we’ve discovered she’s done in this timeline, she did in the other. She just didn’t get caught.

‘Sure, come in, but don’t close the door as it can get a bit warm in here. The air-con isn’t running in this room.’

‘That’s because it used to be a storage room,’ Carter said dryly. ‘Honestly, sir, I’m sure you could have a much better office if you wanted.’ She looked around the room – which admittedly didn’t take long due to its size.

‘It’s fine for my needs,’ Jack told her. ‘As it is, I’m gonna have to move soon.’

Carter smiled. ‘Good, you—’

‘Only because too many folks know where I am now,’ Jack said, interrupting her.

‘Oh.’ She fell silent and fiddled with her wristwatch, something Jack didn’t ever recall her doing before. She’s nervous. Should I be as well?

‘You wanted to talk, Major?’

She straightened up, drawn back from whatever she’d been thinking about. ‘Yessir. It’s—That is—Sir, the general has asked me to go to Antarctica to lead the excavation for the base Thor discovered down there.’

‘I am aware.’

Carter gave a small frown. She didn’t expect me to say that, or she expected me to say more. Hmm.

‘It’s just—I’m not sure if I should accept it.’

Huh. We didn’t take account of that decision.

‘What’s your alternative choice?’

Now she looked taken aback. ‘Well, carry on here, I suppose. Carry on leading SG-6.’ She shrugged, and Jack sighed.

‘Carter, you do realise that almost the entire base knows what you did to the scientists? The work you stole from them?’

She flushed. ‘I didn’t steal—’

‘What would you call it, then?’

‘I was entitled—’

‘So entitled they didn’t take it all away from you? Mm?’

Now her cheeks were a bright red. ‘That’s unfair, sir. I—’

Jack placed his hands on his desk, palms down flat. ‘General Hammond has been more than fair to you. I wanted to court-martial your ass, and so did a lot of other people, both here and in DC. Instead, the general persuaded us to let you try to…rehabilitate yourself.’

‘By going down to Antarctica?’ She didn’t sound in the least convinced.

‘By giving you a project to organise, supervise, and complete.’ She’s really not convinced. ‘Okay, Sam, cards on the table. As it stands, your career is stalled, and the only way you can kick start it is by chalking up a success..’

‘I could resign my commission.’

‘Sam.’ His voice was gentle now. ‘They’re not going to let you leave. Not with the knowledge you have of the programme. The best you could hope for is a role at one of the off-world bases, and you’d be under constant surveillance. Take the Antarctic deal. You never know, it might lead to bigger and better things. I knew of someone, once, who was sent to work out his career in a dead end place. He thrived, and eventually, through being on site when a discovery was made, he ended up with his own command.

‘You were stupid, and you got caught, and added to the other stuff you’ve fucked up in the last six months, you’re lucky not to be in Leavenworth. Now, take your licks and move on. Accept Hammond’s offer because you’re not going to get a better one.’

Carter watched him for a while, but Jack could tell he’d reached her. She’s far from stupid, and she could have worked this out for herself, but sometimes you need advice from an old friend, and, despite everything, we were friends in the other timeline.

Eventually, she sighed and nodded. ‘You’re right, I suppose. I just…There was a time when I thought there might be something between us.’ She paused for a moment, giving him time to reply, but Jack remained silent. I did too, Sam. I did too.

She gave him a firm nod of her head and made an attempt at a smile, but Jack could tell she was on the verge of an emotional outburst. Taking a deep breath, Sam recovered herself, and gave him a bright smile – or as bright as she could manage. ‘Thank you, sir. I’ll accept the post in the Antarctic, and I’ll do it with good grace. I’ll take my licks, and I’ll try to learn from them.’ She gave a self-deprecating laugh. ‘Maybe I’ll get time to do some of the advanced officer training you told me about. I know a lot of the military colleges do distance learning, and I’m likely to have a fair amount of free time.’

‘Good for you, Sam,’ he said, meaning every word. ‘A lot can happen in a year, yet we’ll all probably still be here. Good luck, and…God speed.’

Much to his surprise, Carter pulled herself up to attention, and gave him a smart salute. ‘Colonel.’

He returned the salute with a smile. ‘Major.’

And then she was gone.

*****

The call came in the middle of the night.

‘Dr Jackson? Dr Daniel Jackson?’

‘Ahem, yeah, yeah, Daniel Jackson. Who is this?’

‘Who the hell is it?’ Jack demanded in a low, croaky voice. ‘It’s…It’s two fucking am!’

‘Shhh!’ Daniel waved a hand at him, but as it was still dark, he doubted Jack saw it.

‘I’m Richard Flemming, but you don’t know me.’

By this time, Daniel had managed to sit up and turn on the bedside light. ‘How did you get this number?’

‘I wanted Major Carter, but her phone’s not answering.‘

‘That’s because she’s on her way to fucking Antarctica,’ Jack muttered, shamelessly listening in.

‘What do you want of either of us? And how did you get this number?’ Daniel repeated.

‘I know about Adrian Conrad.’

Daniel and Jack exchanged glances.

‘What do you want?’ Daniel asked again.

‘They never shut the project down, but it’s got out of hand, and I think they’re on to me.’

‘Who are on to you? And where are you?’

‘The symbiotes. In the town. They know I—’

The sound of tyres screeching and then an almighty crash came down the phone, then the line went dead. Daniel found his hand was shaking as he replaced the receiver, and he looked at Jack, whose face reflected his own concern and surprise.

‘What the fuck?’

---