Authors Note: Here is the next in my family series. Hope you enjoy. Plan to post another multi-chapter one soon
The General in charge
Grace O'Neill sat on the large chair at the top of the briefing table. She had seen her father and her mother sit here many times. Seated on either side of her were her crack team, ready for orders and action.
Grace eyeballed them one by one just like her father had done before her. She had written out their orders and she needed to know if they would follow them. For this she needed a signature.
She looked at the weakest link in the two man team first. Dan, at 3 years old, was perhaps too young for his first mission but Grace had prepared him. All he had to do was sneak into their Dad's office and steal his yo-yo. That was the key to killing the evil alien who was trying to take over the mountain.
Grace turned to Jake, at 6 he was fully capable of following orders and completing the mission. His specific orders involved climbing down to the control room and trying to activate the gate.
Grace had the most dangerous part of the mission. She was going through the gate to defeat evil like her Mom, Dad and her Uncles did.
Grace shuffled her papers, the top one with TOP SECRET written in red crayon, confident that the plan would work. After all she had already escaped from Uncle Danny with no trouble at all.
As she was finishing her briefing another group of airmen arrived looking a little lost.
"Hi there" said one
"We're looking for General O'Neill" Another added "our escort got called away and sent us in here"
Looking at her team Grace replied in a stern voice "I'm General O'Neill, who are you?"
"Eh …well we are new personnel, Ma'am, just assigned here" Number 1 responded a little perplexed.
"Mmmmm" Grace replied "I have no record of you"
"Oh for goodness sake, we are not fussing around here talking to a stupid kid, lets go and find someone else" Number 3 spoke for the first time with derision.
Standing up in the chair Grace shouted in her best General voice "Attention, I don't believe I gave you permission to leave"
Number 1 and 2 began to snigger a little bit. Number 3 was now livid, no little kid was going to make him look an idiot in front of his squad.
"I am a Captain in the United States Air Force and I will not be spoken to in that way. You will stop this foolish game or I will stop it for you"
He moved to the table and pulled on Dan's chair, who in turn yelped and began to cry.
Grace now got even angrier. "You airman will not come anywhere near my little brother or you will regret it"
Number 1 spoke up trying to settle the situation "hey lets calm down and go find the General"
"NO" shouted the angry one "This little child needs to be taught a lesson" his venom rising.
He turned to Grace, who had positioned herself on the briefing table with Jake beside her. With calm above her years Grace said "if you come any closer you will be in trouble"
"Oh yeah! I'm going to spank you for this until you can't sit down"
He continued to advance, Dan was beginning to really sob and Grace moved him onto the table beside her. She held onto his hand, hoping to make him feel brave
"You cannot touch me or my brothers, get away from us" Grace shouted
"You gonna make me General" he sneered at her
Grace caught a movement from the doorway and she was so relieved.
"Captain is there a problem?" Jack's voice came over enquiringly, not General like.
"Who the hell are you?" the Captain asked after looking at Jack.
In some ways the guy had a point, Jack was standing in a white t-shirt, Bermuda shirt, khaki shorts and sandals; he was on vacation after all.
"We're looking for General O'Neill, can you help us?" Said Number 1.
"Oh she's around here somewhere, it's like I'm her private secretary" Jack mumbled.
All his instincts were telling him to injure the Captain who had frightened the kids but there was something else. This airman was supposed to represent this command to other planets. If he was this hostile to kids Jack needed to know. He decided to take another tack.
"Do you want me to find her Sir?" Jack asked
"Why are you out of uniform" Number 3 pounced on the 'Sir'.
Nonchalantly Jack looked at him and in his best 'sticking it to the man' voice stated
"Vacation"
"That's vacation Sir" the Captain responded
"C'mon lets go and find the General" Number 2, another Captain, tried
"No he's not showing the proper respect to an officer" 3 said getting angrier
Grace was about to tell this horrible 'shrub' exactly who her Dad was but Jack silenced her with a quick shake of his head. The kids were mesmerised standing on the table, it was like TV or the movies, waiting to see what would happen next. The fear was away now that their Dad was here.
Jack continued the deception. "I'm not on duty Captain"
The lack of a 'Sir' wound the Captain up further. "That doesn't matter, who are you anyway. I am going to report you to General O'Neill"
Grace sniggered. The Captain turned fury in his eyes
"What the hell is so funny kid? What are you doing here anyway, shouldn't kids be at school not running riot on an airforce base.
As he spoke he advanced on Grace who began to look terrified again.
Jack moved silently towards the Captain. "I think it's time for you to leave Captain"
The Captain swung round to face Jack "You can't tell me to leave, I have an interview"
"It's done" Jack said finishing the conversation.
At that moment Sam bustled into the room carrying Leah
"Jack the kids are missing, they gave Daniel the slip again"
Sheepishly Grace and her crack SG team slid of the table from behind Jack and the Captain. Jake ran to apologise to his mother and firmly blame Grace for running away again. This, in turn, caused a sibling shouting match watched by 4 very wary new recruits.
Jack stepped towards his beloved children and used rare military discipline in a domestic situation.
"Attention" he bellowed. The 4 other O'Neills who were capable of following orders all jumped at the command. Jack calmly turned to his wife.
He waved in the direction of the other airmen. "Sam these folks are here to see either you or me. Since I don't read memo's I'm going to assume they are for you"
He turned back to his three eldest children "Kids you have 15 minutes to go gather your stuff and meet in Mom's office. Grace you get Leah's things as well. You all need to be ready for inspection before we go"
The 3 children saluted and scuttled away – granted only Grace did it properly, Jake used the wrong hand and Dan liked to use both.
Jack smiled at them as they left, he moved to Sam and took Leah from her. He turned and eye-balled the very confused and slightly worried recruits while he spoke to Sam.
"I have no idea what you will make of them but that Captain better be off my base in 5 minutes or I might shoot him"
The Captain sputtered, unsure what to say
The 4th member of the squad, a young Lieutenant who had yet to say a word, raised a hand to his forehead in a brief salute said questioningly "General O'Neill, Ma'am?"
"Sit down" Sam ordered
"My name is General Samantha O'Neill, I'm supposed to be on vacation but got called in to meet you. The people here were my family and I would imagine that if you have upset them your time in the mountain will be short"
Sam turned to the surly Captain who was still looking at her with disbelief and a hint of disrespect. "Captain do you have anything to say for yourself?"
The Captain tried to regroup. "That was your family? I'm sorry ma'am I meant no offence" His apology came across very smarmily
"Yes you did, he said he would hit me and he threatened Dan and Jake. I told you something would happen to you. You are lucky my dad didn't kill you" Grace shouted from the doorway of the briefing room.
"Grace, go and see your father I will deal with this" Sam stated broking no argument.
Unable to miss getting one up on the snivelling nasty Captain, Grace added
"You remember my dad Captain? The General in charge of 4 bases"
The Captain was furious again, how could this be happening, his career ruined by a kid.
"Getting back on track" Sam said gaining the attention of 3 people there "you are here for a preliminary interview to ascertain your suitability for a top secret mission" she paused and looked at the group
"although not necessary, without Lieutenant General O'Neill's say so it's unlikely you will make it past this stage. However we shall see. Anyway you are to report to the training centre on level 17 to be briefed on the exercise. Any questions, comments?"
Three "no Ma'am's" could be heard but the unruly Captain refused to acknowledge the order.
"Captain is there a problem?" Sam queried.
"How are we to know that this is real" he started grasping at straws
"I mean, first a little girl swans around pretending to be a General, then an apparent General is found wearing a Bermuda shirt of all things and now finally you are here, a female General. Didn't even know they existed" he scoffed and unsurprisingly his attitude infuriated Sam
"I beg your pardon. On my base, when I give an order I expect it to be obeyed"
"That's the same kind of line that the kid used" he leaned back on the chair showing no respect for Sam.
In the office Jack was watching the exchange and had enough
"For crying out loud" he shouted as he marched into the room, still carrying Leah.
Three recruits and Sam stood.
"Walter, what teams are on base" Jack shouted down the stairs
"eh 3, 10 and 12 Sir" Walter replied, unsure of why he was being asked
"Good have them report here ASAP"
"Yes Sir" Walter responded sending the message across the PA
Jack addressed the 5 people in front of him.
"You see I may look like a surf dude, beach bum or full time nanny" Sam tried to hold back a giggle "but looks are not everything"
The room began to crowd behind him as the SG teams filed in. There was a mumble of discussion in the ranks. Without looking back Jack stated quietly but firmly "Attention"
Boots slammed together as the teams formed up behind their leader and all were silent.
"Folks the Captain over there is wondering if I am really a General, and more worryingly if my wife or any other female could be a General. Reynolds tell the Captain who I am and give him a brief run down on my history" Jack asked
"Yes Sir" Reynolds smirked knowing exactly what his CO wanted
"You are Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill. Head of air force personnel here and at 3 other bases. You have been awarded many medals including the Medal of Honour. You are married to General Carter, now O'Neill which can make things a little complicated but is more than deserved. She is a Dr and a superb soldier and the fact that this piece of dirt questions that tells me he is not needed or welcomed here Sir"
"Very nicely put Reynolds, I agree have two of your men escort him to the surface. He won't be part of the training squad"
Jack looked round his command, Sam was smirking with many other team members and the new recruits had expressions of awe mixed with terror. The snivelling Captain could still be heard protesting from down the corridor.
"Dismissed" Jack finished with a wave of his hand
The other teams left leaving the three recruits. Number 1, the other Captain, began "Ma'am, Sir I would like to deeply apologise for all offence caused by our squad"
"It wasn't any of them Mom" Grace spoke from the office door "He tried to stop the other one. They should be good here" she surmised.
"Well you have her vote. Report to level 17, we'll see how training goes. I'll see you in a few weeks"
The recruits filed out.
Sam turned to her family, now complete on the edge of the briefing room
"Right, enough excitement for one day lets go to the cabin"
"Ok troops gather your kit, line up ready for inspection" Jack ordered knowing the kids found it fun.
They kept a supply of clothes at the cabin so it was just personal items which needed to be gathered.
Sam watched as Jack inspected i-pods, swimming gear, toy cars, game boys and favourite blankets.
"Squad at ease" he announced "Ma'am we are ready to move out" Jack turned to Sam with a twinkle in his eye.
The O'Neill's held on to each other and Sam pressed a button on the remote she was holding. In a second they arrived at the cabin. The new Asguard technology had some fringe benefits.