Title: Fade to Grey
Category: Drama
Summary: Shades of Grey tag, why Makepeace, why.
Rating: PG-13 Language, its nothing they haven't heard in school I'm sure.
Status: complete
Season/series:
Spoilers: Shades of Grey and anything that came before.
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate, Stargate Sg-1 the characters, the actors or any portion of the United States Military. I am not making a profit off of this fic.
Archive: let me know where you put it, or where to put it. Thanks
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Email: notes: I happen to like Makepeace, as I'm sure you can tell, and I think he got a bum deal. Also, thanks to all who have read my other stories and left nice glowing review (hint hint). Major thank you's to Sci Fi Fan Gillian, who has been the first to review three out of four of my stories. Like my other stories this one is unbeta'd and all mistakes are mine and mine alone.
Fade to grey
What a day. This morning I had woken up a full bird colonel in the United States Marine Corp, knowing I was a member of the most badass service of the most powerful nation on earth. This afternoon I found out that I was being assigned to Cheyenne Mountain "deep space radar telemetry " after that I found out what the hell was going on. Aliens. Parasites. War. And as I was being run around the Pentagon I heard many other interesting things. "sir?" he hadn't just said what I thought he said, generals don't criticize other generals, at least not in front of colonels "Hammond was on his way out, this was his last posting before retirement, there are several of us in the joint chiefs and joint staff that feel he's not up to the job." Fuck, he had just said what I thought he said "you know as well as I do that this is now a war we are fighting, based on what little we know a ground war at that. He's Air Force, as are most of the officers assigned there; damn flyboys defending their budget. I want you colonel Makepeace, to report back directly to me, on the QT, to let me know the real story, I have a feeling that once those flyboys screw up, and it will happen, that they will be too busy covering their own asses to tell the truth about the matter" let me think about that for a second.
"Am I going to be a snitch sir?" I should be afraid about talking to the commandant of the Marine Corp this way, but I've been shot at, blown up and I saved this guys life back when he was a major, so I think I'm safe. For now. "don't think of yourself as a snitch, think of yourself as a patriot, doing your sworn duty, you and I both swore an oath to defend this country, and if anything that goes on in that mountain undermines that, and they don't tell us, we, the joint chiefs, and the president have a right to know" he leaned forward "look Robert, I'll level with you" as if he hadn't already "we have no idea what's out there, Hammond was on his way out, now he's fighting, or the Air force is fighting for him, tooth and nail to stay on. I for one would like a real combat vet in place, but too many turf battles" he gestured to the roof, but I got the message, fucking politics. Politics has killed so many of my Marines, politicians don't know the first thing about using military force, they haven't since the proconsuls of the Roman Empire, and they'll never learn. "if that's the case sir, how can I help?" "you'll be in command of one of the SG teams as they're calling them, do your best to counteract Air force thinking, a lot of the troops will be special ops, but they are still Air Force, we are going to be doing our best to get more Marines or army troops assigned, but you're probably going to be stuck with Air Force troops" wonderful, Air Force, people who's idea of war is 400 miles per hour and smart bombs, not mud and blood. "As to the other matter sir? Don't worry, Marines have defended this country before, we'll do it again"
And so I set up shop in a mountain, I'm surprised the Air Force even let us in here, but there's not many of us just two teams of Marines, and a whole shitload of scientists to boot. The President doesn't understand either, cultural exploration is fine, but its not going to save your ass. The more I see of how this place is run the more I see the need for my reports. All the tech that has slipped through our grasp, and don't get me started on the goa'uld attack on earth. We came through on the skin of our teeth, but only because SG-1 disobeyed orders. Orders that should not have been given in the first place, I don't know about you, but when one of my Marines comes to me and tells me he knows something, I trust him then, just as I trust him to cover my ass. But when doctor Jackson came back through the gate, wounded, wounded for cryin' out loud, did anyone believe him? Not one damn soul. Not the general, not O'Neill, no one, how that little space monkey came thought is beyond me. That attack is what really opened my eyes, no more was this skirmishing along some distant planets, those bastards tried to destroy earth. So when I, having been called to Washington, was introduced to Colonel Harry Maybourne I was in a receptive mood, Maybourne was just another Air Force puke, someone who didn't know real combat if it came and bit him in the ass. But he was putting together a team, a team to safeguard earth, how do you say no to that?
As to that self righteous indignation that came out of O'Neill's mouth, how dare he, how dare he condemn me. He's no saint, he's worse than I am. While I was sifting through the rubble of the barracks in Beirut he was in East Germany, killing a defector. That's right, killing, murdering, the kind of stuff that just isn't supposed to be done. Violates treaties and stuff like that, oh wait, sort of like what I did. Except I didn't break the law, not once, I was following my orders, given to me by a superior officer, and when I mentioned the treaties we had signed offworld guess what they told me? Those treaties had never been confirmed by the full senate, therefore there were no treaties. Not according to the constitution that I had sworn to preserve protect and defend.
I was dragged in front of General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill, they looked pissed. Hypocrites. "ET tu Jack?" "Damn Marines just had to go fucking things up didn't they Robert?" "Who are you to judge me? I was doing my duty, following orders, orders I happen to agree with" looks like they didn't expect me to be following orders, shocked them "what do you have to say for yourself?" the general can't even bring himself to call me by my rank, bastard "I would rather be alive and a thief than dead sir" "by jeopardizing our relationship with our allies?" fuck this "what relationship, what allies? Ones that don't give us the tools to defend ourselves or the ones that use us as cannon fodder and don't tell us the whole story? What fucking allies, the same kind of allies that stood by as our Marines were killed in Lebanon? The same kind that trade with our enemies? The same kind that think we're too primitive to be given advanced weapons, the same kind of allies that are pussies! That won't fight back because their 'above violence'? Can't you see we're getting the shaft here, they have the technology to fight, but not the will, we have the will, but not the tech. this could be a match made in heaven if our so called allies hadn't sold out to cowards!" "that's enough colonel" oh now he calls me by my rank, too fucking late "our pitiful excuses for allies are just waiting till we all get killed so that they can get on with business as usual, kiss ass to the Goa'uld. I don't know about you, but I've been in fights for my life, and this is just one more, but you fucking pussies in Air Force uniform can't be bothered to save the fucking planet" now they'll court martial me, conduct unbecoming, failure to respect a superior asshole, I mean officer "you don't understand anything Makepeace, you never did" I understand people like you are going to be the death of us. Why? Why did I do it? Preserve, protect, defend, same reason I've done everything else.
THE END