Stargate: SG-1

Charlie's Secret

Chapter 1: Remembering Charlie

Off-world activation!

Hammond entered the Gate room, and stood facing the gate infront of him.

'It has SG-1's code, sir.'

'Open the iris.'

The iris opened, and the wormhole was activated. The blue, shimmering substance that made up the wormhole shot out infront of the gate, then came back into itself. From the center of the ring, the four members of SG-1 walked onto the catwalk, followed by a sled, over which a blanket was draped, with something underneath.

Hammond walked down to greet them. Once through the blast doors, however, he stopped. Something wasn't right.

O'Neill entered without his usual smart-ass comment, and walked straight out of the room without taking off his sunglasses. He kept his head down, but the glimpse of his face Hammond had caught was grim. It was a look Hammond had only seen once before, when his son had died. Looking up at the other members of SG-1, he saw they weren't looking very happy either.

*

Hammond looked around at the people gathered in the briefing room. SG-1 was there, minus Colonel O'Neill. Hammond decided to break the tense silence that hung thick in the air.

'Major Carter, report.'

Sam hesitated, looking like she was trying to decide how to word it. Eventually, she started.

'As you know, sir, we were on out mission…

They moved faster then normal in the lower gravity. Dry leaves and vegetation crunched under their boots as they moved away from the gate.

'Well,' O'Neill said, 'can't say much for the welcome party.'

'This world appears to be uninhabited, Colonel O'Neill,' Teal'C said. O'Neill nodded in reply.

They walked around the world for almost an hour, trying to find signs of human life. Daniel, ever curious, went off to the side, following something he'd seen. It wasn't long before he discovered what had happened to the humans.

'Jack! You'd better get over here!'

The rest of the team, Sam leading, ran into view, and came up along side him. Daniel pointed ahead of them.

Where there had once been a magnificent city were now piles of rubble, with the buildings in ruins. Wild plants and creepers grew over magnificent stone work, and vines twisted around the few, huge pillars that still stood.

The ground infront of them was littered with human bones, some still connected into skeletons.

'Well,' O'Neill said, 'I guess we know what happened to the welcome party.'

'After that, sir,' Sam went on, ' just as I was pointing out something, we noticed some movement in the bushes ahead of us.'

'Position of the bodies suggests they all killed each other, sir-'

'O'Neill!'

'What is it, Teal'C?'

'There is movement in the bushes ahead of us!'

SG-1 moved foreword, raising their guns, ready to shoot if they had to. Their mission was to make peaceful relationships with the natives, but, in a hostile situation, SG-1's safety was paramount.

Something moved behind the bushes; then, something was hurled out of it; something that looked like a body. An odd demeanor came over O'Neill, then, he ran over to the body, turning it over.

'The rest of us only ever saw Charlie once, but we recognized his body immediately. O'Neill was really upset; we brought his body back with us. It's still near the gate.'

'Thank you, Major.' Hammond looked around the remaining three people. 'Major, I want you to contact Doctor Fraiser. Tell her to do an autopsey on the body you brought back. Tell her to do DNA testing as well; if this is Colonel O'Neill's son, then something's very wrong here. Dismissed.'

Their was a flurry of movement as the three members of SG-1 stood up and left, Sam to talk to the doctor, Daniel and Teal'C to do their own thing. They may be going off to comfot Colonel O'Neill, something Hammond made a mental note to do later.

Why would Jack's son, who's been dead for years, suddenly appear on a planet Jack just happened to visit?