AUTHOR'S NOTE: Rated M for some language and mature themes and some off-screen violence. My apologies to any German speakers if I got the language bits a teensy bit wrong. Google Translate is not always the best. On that note, some of the things expressed here are NOT my opinions, feelings or anything of the sort. My apologies if anyone is offended, but sometimes one needs to tell the rough stories, no?

DISCLAIMER: Stargate, Stargate SG-1, and its related characters and setting are not my property and I'm only borrowing them for a little while for some free entertainment. No infringement is intended.

Prologue

The clouds, swollen and heavy with rain, hung low in the sky above Manhattan as though hoping to intimidate the buildings to shrink back into the ground from which they had sprung. It was unseasonably cool for late October, as a steady cold front had swooped down from Canada to engulf the entire New England area. Staring bleakly upwards, Jack O'Neill grumbled and remembered why he disliked big cities.

Pushing his way along First Avenue, O'Neill was bothered by the throngs of people. It was mid-morning and he was already running just a little late. "Damn it all," he muttered to no one in particular. Once more glancing at his watch, O'Neill steadfastly strode into the monumental building which was his destination. Once inside he removed the regulation combination cap from his head and swore again. It was already beginning to drizzle. Tucking the cap under his left arm, O'Neill marched to the elevator to stab uselessly at the already lighted "up" button. He smiled shyly at a young woman, probably a secretary of some sort, and said "You'd think we'd be smart enough to know that doesn't help, wouldn't you?"

The woman rewarded O'Neill with a pretty smile, nodding rather noncommittally and returned to reading the papers in her hands. Soon after, however, the elevator doors opened with their customary ding and O'Neill gestured to allow the lady entrance before himself to which she assented with a shy smile in return. "Sixteen please," she said hopefully.

Politely nodding O'Neill struck the requested button before his own which was forty-five. Already he was going over his presentation in his head and wishing for the thousandth time that it was Daniel standing here, not himself. Oh well, he thought, this is what you get for getting kicked upstairs old man. O'Neill chuckled to himself as another part of his mind petulantly replied, who are you calling "old"?

After several minutes, and five floor stops later, the elevator opened upon the forty-fifth floor. Taking a deep breath after leaving the car, O'Neill stalked his way to the reception desk he knew to be here. As he approached, the secretary rose smoothly from her seat and with a charming smile waved him immediately inside the office for which she was responsible.

The office was not spacious by any means, but it seemed well suited to the man who occupied it. "How have you been, General?"came the deep southern drawl of the man as he stood and extended his hand to O'Neill.

Replying very simply as he took the offered hand, O'Neill smiled, "Couldn't be better, sir." Taking a seat opposite the desk, O'Neill set his cap in the seat beside him and continued, "I assume you've been briefed on why I'm here?" At the other man's nod Jack plodded on, "As you may or may not be aware, sir, the United States has been operating a top-secret military base below NORAD in Cheyenne Mountain." O'Neill removed a thick folder from his briefcase and passed it across the desk. "The basics of what you need to know is all there, Mister Secretary, with much more coming in the next few days."

O'Neill fell silent for a few minutes to allow the other man to peruse the contents of the folder, the man's eyes growing steadily wider with each page. "This is...incredible. An entire decade and no one has known about this, is that what you're telling me?" The nod he received in reply was as chilling as it was simple. "I knew that there was a significant reason for the UK, France, Russia and China to all come together making the same proposals but I had no idea that this was the reason." The Secretary General of the United Nations slumped back in his overstuffed leather chair and sighed heavily.

"Mister Secretary," Jack replied, "this is only the tip of the iceberg."