Disclaimer: They aren't mine. Never will be. Just using them for a bit of fun. All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret productions. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment not monetary purposes and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Author's note: This is an AU where the Stargate doesn't open for the first time until around 9/11. Everything that occurs in the movie occurs in my AU. Jack returns from the mission, is divorced from Sara, but because of 9/11 is not permitted to retire, and instead is sent to fill a vacancy midterm in the Air Force ROTC program at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. There he meets Samantha Carter who is a visiting professor at the college. I don't really know that much about any of this military/ROTC stuff, so I'm making it up as I go. All factual errors are totally mine, and I apologize ahead of time.
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Jack O'Neill hated school. He hated having his head filled with useless knowledge. He had detested writing papers that had nothing to do with being the soldier he was aiming to become, and now he was being put in a position where he would be assigning and grading those papers. For crying out loud! He was an ex-black ops Colonel in the USAF, he was not cut out for this! Unfortunately for him, he wasn't getting much of a choice in the matter.
//Flashback//
The doctor had prodded him with endless needles and he sat through endless debriefings, when General West had called him into his office with a new set of orders.
"With the recent occurrence of 9/11, the Air Force has decided to not accept your request for retirement. Instead," West said, handing Jack a folder, "they need to you to fill a temporary vacancy here in Colorado Springs."
"Doing what sir?" asked Jack, as he accepted the folder.
"Filling the head of the Air Force ROTC position at the University of Colorado."
"Sir, I'm not a desk jockey, I'm a field officer who was really looking forward to retirement," objected Jack.
"The position is only temporary Colonel O'Neill, until a permanent replacement can be found. I'm sure that someone will want you involved over in Iraq, but for the time being they need you to remain close to the Stargate in case of any complications. It's just your luck that the Air Force needs someone above the rank of Major to take over that position. Your experience in the field and your current location makes you the right man for the job," explained West.
"Yes sir," grumbled Jack. "Permission to be dismissed sir?"
"Dismissed."
//End Flashback//
So now, Jack found himself hunting for the campus cafeteria at 0800 hours on the first Saturday morning in October. He was hungry and there was no way he was going to have his first, albeit, informal meeting with his new staff on an empty stomach.
Forgoing the usual the proper military uniform until right before the meeting, Jack felt that he could probably pass for a college professor, considering he was in khakis and a button up shirt.
After surveying, selecting, and paying for some unappetizing food, he approached the table in the surprisingly crowded room where the only other adult sat. "This seat taken," he asked before disregarding the answer and sitting down.
The woman barely glanced up before giving a simple, "no," and returning to the stack of papers in front of her. While Jack munched on his Fruit Loops, he watched the woman. She was going the papers at an alarming rate and completely ignoring him. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, he asked, "Is the food always this bad?"
She looked up at him and for a second, he thought she was going to ignore him, but at the last second, she seemed to change her mind. "The only safe food is the stuff that the staff doesn't touch and the Jell-O," she offered as advice.
"Really? What about cake or pie?" Jack questioned, in an attempt to get the woman to talk.
"Somehow, they even manage to screw that up, but there's a place right off campus that makes a mean apple pie and a decent chocolate cake," she offered.
"Any chance that you'd want to get a piece with me sometime?" Jack questioned.
"I'm not interested in dating right now," she claimed.
Jack took that to be a "No".
The two sat in silence until her cell phone rang. She quickly rose from the table and walked out of earshot.
Jack took the opportunity to glance over the papers she was grading. Complex equations filled the pages, along with occasional sentences which were filled with multiple syllable words that he couldn't pronounce, let alone understand.
She returned to the table rather quickly and began gathering her papers, not offering any explanation.
Jack decided to push his luck, so he asked, "Can we do this again sometime?"
The woman didn't even dignify him with a reply as she rushed from the room.
Suddenly, Jack O'Neill was in an even worse mood then when he had gotten this assignment.
----
Jack thought his first staff meeting went rather well, except for the notably absent Major Carter. When Jack had questioned the Major's whereabouts, his secretary, Lieutenant Maria Smith had explained, "Major Carter was loaned out by General Kerrigan to teach only one class here. From what I've heard, the Major is well liked by his students and the enrollment in that particular class is the highest ever, sir. Your predecessor had an agreement which effectively dismissed the Major from any meeting due to the Major being needed elsewhere."
Jake glared at the woman and stated, "Inform Major Carter that his presence is requested in my office whenever it fits his schedule," in the most sarcastic tone the Lieutenant had ever heard.
"Yes sir," the Lieutenant replied, quickly scurrying off before she became the target for the new Colonel's anger.
While she was quick enough, three cadets were not as they swept through the halls of the ROTC building on their way to the rec room just a little bit louder than necessary.
"Attention," Jack bellowed at them.
The three quickly turned around, fell into a line, and snapped to attention before the unfamiliar man. Their eyes almost bugged out when they saw the word Colonel on his BDUs. Yet they all stood silently and motionless waiting for the man to speak.
Jack was already in a bad mood after spending the morning in a meeting for a command position that he didn't want, and now the twinge that was in his head that signaled the start of a headache had grown to a pulse when the three cadets in front of him had entered the building laughing and carrying on. On a good day, Jack O'Neill was not an easy man to deal with, but on a bad day, avoidance was the best policy for the man.
"Cadet, is there a reason that you failed to salute a higher ranking officer?" Jack questioned, despite the fact he hated all the military formality.
The three cadets looked straight ahead, not answering the man because they really didn't have a good reason.
"I'll take that as a no," Jack continued. "In that case, I will see the three of you in my office at 0800 hours Monday morning. In full dress uniform," he added as an afterthought.
Jack executed a perfect parade turn and called a "dismissed" over his shoulder, not even looking back at the three men as he walked to the door of his new office.
Jack unlocked the door to his office, slammed it shut, and collapsed into his desk chair. There sitting on his desk was the biggest mess of paperwork that Jack had ever seen. "For crying out loud," he called to no one in particular before he began attempting to sort the mess into piles.
Several hours later, Jack gave up, wondering if Daniel had been right all along by deciding to stay on Abydos as he headed home to an empty house.
----
Monday morning came and Jack O'Neill woke with military precision minutes before his alarm clock went off at 0530. Quickly dressing and grabbing a cup of coffee, Jack drove towards campus with the intent of hitting the on campus gym for a decent workout before bestowing punishment on the three troublesome cadets.
Walking into the mostly empty workout room, Jack spotted the only other occupant in the enormous room, a blonde haired woman, on the treadmill. In fact, it was the same blonde haired woman who he had attempted to eat breakfast with on Saturday.
Deciding that avoidance was his best tactic, Jack began his usual workout routine, staying as far away as possible from the treadmills and the woman. So lost in his routine that he failed to notice when the lady left the room, but checking his watch, he hurried to the locker room where he had a quick shower and changed into BDU's for his first day of classes.
If Jack had taken just two minutes longer, he would have come face to face with Major Carter who emerged from the woman's locker room in full dress uniform.
But he didn't. At 0755 he walked into his office to a slightly smaller mess than what had been there on Saturday. 'Seems like the Lieutenant is good at the whole paperwork thing,' he thought. At exactly 0800 hours, Jack heard a knock at this door.
"Come," he called, and the three cadets entered in their dress uniforms and stood at attention. Jack chose to ignore their presence for a few minutes until the tall, well built, blonde haired cadet spoke.
"Colonel O'Neill, I apologize for our actions on Saturday. We failed to recognize that you were a superior officer, and despite being out of uniform, we should have offered you the respect which your rank implies, sir," the man solemnly offered up as an excuse.
"I'm sure you are sorry Cadet Wilson, as are your friends Cadet Rhodes and Cadet Henry. But as three of the upperclassman here, you should be setting an example for the younger Cadets. The three of you are in your final year here," Jack claimed as looks of surprise filtered across the young men's faces at the fact Jack knew this information, "and you have yet to show any of the leadership qualities which I would expect from those in your position. For that reason, your punishment is to report every Saturday for the rest of the month at 0800 hours to assist with cadet training. I trust that you will have no objections to this," Jack declared, almost hoping that one of them would.
The three cadets immediately offered "No, sirs," to Jack, before saluting him, and escaping as fast as possible from his office.
----
It was lunchtime when Lt. Smith came in to inform Jack that his first class was at 1400 hours and then brought up the subject of Major Carter.
"Sir, while I was out this morning and you had the cadets in your office, Major Carter left a note stating that he had attempted to see you, but that you were unavailable. He suggested that if you needed to contact him, that you call him on his cell phone. He left a number. Would you like for me to give him a call and request another meeting with him sir?" the Lieutenant offered.
Jack thought for a few seconds then said, "No, that won't be necessary Lieutenant. Just call and inform him that his presence is expected at 0800 hours on Saturday for the cadet training."
"Yes sir," the Lieutenant remarked before gathering up the finished paperwork from the corner of the Colonel's desk and leaving him alone.
The more she interacted with her new commanding officer, the more concerned Lt. Smith became. 'The man never speaks unless spoken to, yet he seems to know everything that is going on around him. He hasn't offered up any personal information about himself-and not one person on the staff has any idea what the man's qualification are,' Maria thought.
'He likes to avoid everyone too, although Major Carter isn't much better. No one knows anything about either of them. All we know about Major Carter is that he teaches the advanced science class here and at the academy, along with carrying out his main duties at NORAD. Reportedly the Major has a PhD in theoretical astrophysics, so he's probably a total geek. But Colonel Rogers was very pleased when he announced that Major Carter would be joining our staff. He said that the Major was "a talented individual and would be well liked," yet no one here has met him,' Maria thought as she realized she still needed to call the Major and inform him of his presence being necessary this weekend.
Cadet training month was her least favorite. Maria was one of only two females on the staff, and she while she was in good shape, she just wasn't good at many of the skills that they would be teaching and assessing the cadets on. The worst of all though was the hand-to-hand combat training drills which all the instructors had to take part in. Every time, she seemed to end up on her back and she turned into the laughing stock of the group. Not even the other staff members attempted to help her out. 'Maybe it will be different with the new Colonel,' she hoped.
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AN2: Thanks to my beta for this story, Astrophysics Rock . Please review and let me know what you think or offer suggestions for the plot of the story.
