Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or any of the characters you recognize. I'm just borrowing them for entertainment. There is no monetary gain and no copyright infringement intended.
AN: Thank you Gategirl7 for the quick turn around and all of your help and suggestions. My writing is much better with your help!!
AN: I've had people e-mail me and ask if I'm every going to address whether Charlie knows that his father is missing and how he felt about that before I actually have Jack show up with Sam and Thor in tow. This sort of stuck in my head, but I didn't want to include this as part of Continuum Interrupted because it really doesn't fit in with the chapters I have written and planned so far. I thought that I would do it as a little aside that people can read if they want to. I decided to include General Hammond and a few others as well. Hope you enjoy. This will probably not make much sense to you if you haven't read my story Continuum Interrupted.
Charlie's story – Continuum Interrupted Tag
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Second Lieutenant Charles Tyler O'Neill checked his watch for what felt like the 100th time. He knew his Dad, Colonel Jack O'Neill, was on some last minute assignment and was going to be babysitting some woman they wanted him to evaluate. His dad had been allowed to tell him that much. That was the reason that Charlie was meeting his dad in Florida instead of them going to the cabin in Minnesota to fish. His dad had even gotten him a hotel room not far from the condo he would be sharing with his assignment. That his dad was a day or two late wouldn't have worried the young man so much. Things happened on assignment, but there had been no call, no message and that was unlike his dad. If the assignment had been one that was hazardous then his father wouldn't have gone out of his way to make sure that Charlie knew it was an inconvenience to their plans, but shouldn't be that much trouble.
Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Charlie picked up his beach chair, stowed his bogie board in the back of his rented Jeep, and opened the glove box looking for the paper he'd tossed in there a few days ago. Finding the phone number he was looking for, Charlie dialed and waited while the phone rang. He knew he'd probably have to go through a few people to get to someone that could tell him about his dad, but he wasn't deterred. Having graduated from the Air Force Academy and taken up his first post, he was used to paperwork and run around. They were military SOP and he would not be put off. Charlie intended to find out what was going on and he wasn't about to take no for an answer.
***
General George Hammond looked at the report in front of him in disbelief. An entire C-141 cargo plane, crew, and passengers didn't just disappear. One minute they were being tracked on radar, the next moment nothing.
"General," Hammond's aide called to him from the door. "The President is on line one for you." George rolled his eyes and thought longingly of the bottle of Jack Daniel's Single Barrel currently sitting unopened in his desk drawer.
"Mr. President," George greeted the caller. He listened to his commander-in-chief's questions. "Yes sir, we've sent surveillance to both Dr. Jackson, and Colonel Mitchell's residences. There seems to be nothing new there." As he listened to the man on the other end of the line grill him, George thought back over the surveillance tape that he'd received from O'Neill's first meeting with Colonel Carter. "Yes sir. As I reported, Colonel O'Neill seemed to have his assignment well in hand. Colonel Carter went with him very willingly and with fewer complaints then I would have expected after dealing with the three of them for so long."
George saw the second line light up in his hold queue. As he continued to handle the president's questions, he thought back over the surveillance tape. He hadn't related quite everything to the president. At the time, the fact that Samantha Carter revealed that she'd been engaged to the Jack O'Neill she'd known didn't seem important. Hammond had met few men more dedicated than O'Neill and few harder to influence. He hadn't seen that as a problem, but had he been wrong?
"Thank you Mr. President," George concluded. "I will inform you as soon as we locate the plane. Colonel Sheppard is an excellent pilot, if there is anyone that could crash land that plane and make it survivable it would be him. If it hadn't been for the disciplinary action in Afghanistan, he would not have been flying that plane. It was way below his skill level. I have every faith that we will find them sir." The President's next question, uttered almost as if he didn't want to ask it, mirrored George Hammond's fear. "No sir," the general responded with more confidence then he felt. "Even with all the fantastic tales of aliens, and technology beyond our wildest dreams, I can not believe that Carter would be capable of making a whole C141 disappear right off of the radar. I am sure that there is a logical explanation and that our search teams will find something soon sir."
As Hammond disconnected his call he thought back over the events of the last few weeks. All the strange encounters with the three time travelers, how the military was inclined to believe the tales, and even was willing to bring Hammond out of near retirement to oversee the group. George wasn't sure if it was a gift or a curse that Landry had turned down the request to come out of retirement and take the command. "Sir?" his aide broke into his thoughts.
"Yes, Walter," he answered absently.
"Lt Charles O'Neill is on line two. He is very insistent on speaking with you." Walter's voice was apologetic. His aide took good care of him. He understood how much pressure Hammond was under to find the plane and get the answers the President and Joint Chiefs were looking for.
"This is General Hammond," he answered as he was hitting the release button. There was a pause on the other end of the line. George could well imagine the young Lieutenant was steeling his nerve to speak with such a senior officer. The boy must have been pretty persistent to have gotten this far up the ladder. "General Hammond, sir," the boy began. "I am sorry to bother you, but my father is missing and no one seems able to tell me anything beyond what I already know."
"And what is it that you already know, son?" The boy was not going to like the news. George had read O'Neill's file. The man was very tight lipped about his personal life, but the general knew that he'd buried the mother of his only child a few years back. George was not looking forward to telling the young O'Neill that his father was missing. He wished he'd been able to send someone to talk to him in person, but there simply hadn't been time yet. There really wasn't any news.
Charlie explain what he knew of his dad's assignment. Listening to how his dad had flown the boy to Florida rather then cancel the long held plans to spend time together before Charlie's own Air Force assignment officially started made George carefully consider his words. He wanted to offer no false hope to the young man on the other end of the line, but he didn't want to dash all hope either.
George could feel the pain in Charlie's voice as he asked questions about his father's plane disappearing. He felt bad that he couldn't answer more of the questions the young man had about the elder O'Neill's whereabouts when the plane went missing. George couldn't remember how many times he'd had to answer Lt O'Neill's questions with the words 'I'm sorry son, that's classified'.
Finally, as the reality began to sink in and the questions began to die down, George was able to soften his tone and try to offer some comfort. "Your dad is the most able officer I've ever had the privilege to know, son. This isn't the first time that I have worked with him. If there is anybody that can survive an impossible situation and make it home it is your dad. The pilot flying the plane is a man who has an impeccable flight record. He is a decorated pilot that has a way of pulling saves out of thin air. Don't lose hope. I have your number now and I will personally call you as soon as I have heard anything, good or bad. You have my word on that, son."
***
Charlie flipped his cell phone closed in shock. He couldn't believe what he'd just been told. Pinching the bridge of his nose to keep the tear that threatened at bay, he sat in the jeep unsure what to do next. This wasn't real. Living through his mom's death had been hard enough, but he'd done it. With his dad's help he'd done it. They'd both been looking forward to this week. Graduation from the Academy had been great. His father standing proudly by, watching him graduate with honors had been one of the best moments of his life.
Charlie fought hard against the lump in his throat and the knot in his belly. He was planning to tell his father at the end of the week together that he'd accepted an offer to join Special Forces. His dad had discouraged Charlie from following that closely in his footsteps. Charlie was smart enough to know that his dad and seen and done things that he didn't want his son to have to experience, but one of his dad's old commanders had made Charlie an offer that was too good to pass up.
The young O'Neill shook his head at the irony. He'd been dreading having to tell his dad that he'd accepted the offer, but now he'd give anything to know he was going to have that chance. He'd give anything to have his dad yell at him about choosing a wiser path then the one his old man had chosen. Lost in thought, Charlie was startled when his phone rang. Sending up a silent prayer that it was news of his dad, he flipped the phone open. With a sinking feeling he realized the number belonged to the blond he'd gotten to know on the beach. They had a date tonight. Fighting back the disappointment and worry, he reached for the key and headed back to the hotel.
***
Lt. Colonel John Shepard looked around him in disbelief. He'd felt a light feeling in the bottom of his stomach as he and his crew flew over the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The next thing he knew, he was standing on a tropical island somewhere not even existing along his flight path and his crew was standing beside him. As they watched, white lights appeared leaving food and supplies in their wake.
"Ouch!" Well he was alive and not dreaming, he reasoned as his co-pilot gave him a dirty look and rubbed his arm where John had pinched him. "Sorry," he muttered, looking around him again. The men beside him looked equally confused. "Well I guess we'd better see about setting up a…" John stopped as a domed, tent like structure appeared. It was white, looked like it was made out of some sort of plastic, and looked big enough to comfortably sleep his crew with room left over. The men beside him jumped back, but John figured that if someone was trying to hurt them, they wouldn't go through the trouble of sheltering and feeding them.
"Ok, well as I was saying, now that we have shelter lets start looking through the supplies and see what we have." He watched everyone fan out toward the piles of supplies around them. "If anyone sees anything we can use as a radio and try to get off this little vacation spot give a shout," he instructed, walking toward the supplies himself. As he passed the airman that had been assigned to him only a week ago, he gave him a little shove in the general direction John was going. "Yeah, I get it's weird, but lets see what we can find to get us out of here and then we'll stand around shocked, ok." At his easy going manner the young lieutenant nodded his head and started walking. John just shook his head. It had to be O'Neill's fault somehow. Rumor had it the Colonel had found some funky stuff up there in the Artic. Then O'Neill and his passenger had up and disappeared. Yep, it had to be O'Neill's fault John decided, hoping they could find a way back to civilization.