I don't own Stargate. I just play with them when it suits me.
The excitement in the room was palpable. They'd done it. After years of research by some of the brightest minds on the planet, the team of scientists under Dr. Catherine Langford had finally figured out how to dial the stargate and they currently had an active wormhole open to some place unknown. Besides Catherine, no one was more excited than Dr. Samantha Carter. Using the writings of a highly ridiculed Dr. Daniel Jackson, she had finally figured out the missing piece to the puzzle.
As Sam accepted the glass of champagne from General West's hand, he patted her on the back. "You've done some amazing work, Dr. Carter. I'll be honest, I didn't think this day would really come, but you've done it."
"Thank you, sir," Sam said with a megawatt smile. "It's been a privilege to work on Dr. Langford's team."
"She's a brilliant woman, without a doubt," the general said with a nod, "but Catherine and I have been discussing the next step. We are sending a special ops team through the gate. If there are aliens on the other side then a threat assessment is crucial. Of course, we would prefer this not to be a one way mission, so we need someone from this team to accompany them. Catherine wants that person to be you. Are you interested?"
Sam's eyes got wide. Was she interested? She was a theoretical astrophysicist who'd dreamed of nothing but the stargate from the moment she learned of its existence. "Yes, sir. I'd be honored."
"Good, good. It may be dangerous. I'm not going to lie, you wouldn't have been my first choice. If you hadn't been the one to put the final piece in place, I likely would have chosen Dr. Farmer or Dr. Harris. Not that I doubt you can handle yourself but you are a very intelligent, brilliant scientist. If you don't make it back, it will be a great loss," General West said with a smile, "so, do the world a favor and come home safely."
"Yes, sir."
"One more thing," the general said in a bit quieter tone, "I have a retired colonel in mind for this mission. He was black ops and he's a bit of a loose canon. I want him to lead the mission. I need you to help bring him in please. He's going to be a bit hard to handle. I'll level with you. He's not very stable emotionally at the moment. His son died and he and his wife recently filed for divorce."
"Are you sure he could handle a mission like this one?"
"For what I'm looking for, he's perfect. His name is Colonel Jack O'Neill. I've worked with him in the past. He was good at his job. Under different circumstances, I would send one of my officers after him, but I think you'll be more likely to get him intrigued by the possibility. He likes to play dumb, but I happen to know he's a closet astronomer. If he finds out what is really happening, he will be interested. He is at a cabin in Minnesota. It's pretty out of the way. You have my permission to brief him on the stargate there. He's a lot of things, but he's no security risk." He handed Sam the address. "I'd appreciate it if you'd leave first thing tomorrow."
"Yes, sir. I'll do my best."
"That's all I'm asking. I have a hunch it'll be more than enough."
Sam opted to drive her volvo to Minnesota. She left early in the morning and arrived in the vicinity pretty late that evening. Not wanting to disturb a total stranger late at night, especially one she needed to impress and convince to come back from retirement, she opted for a motel room in town. Before leaving the base, she'd looked up his file. Most of it was redacted but she was impressed by what she read. If they ran into trouble on the other side of the gate, they needed a man like Jack O'Neill. She practiced her speech a few times that night and again in the car the next morning when she was driving to his home.
The cabin was picturesque. Sam was immediately drawn to the beautiful scenery around the small cabin. It reminded her a bit of a cabin her father had rented for a week when she was ten. He was a busy Air force officer. When he would finally get a chance to take some leave time, he usually tried to do something special with his family. The cabin trip was probably Sam's favorite of their little excursions. Of course, those trips ended with her mother's death. Now, Sam rarely saw her father or her brother Mark. Even if she could tell them what she'd been working on at the mountain, she doubted they believe her. Of course, right now, she was more concerned about getting Colonel O'Neill would believe her.
Sam knocked on the door about eleven in the morning. No one answered the door, but a slurred voice from behind the door shouted, "Whatever your selling, I'm not interested. Go away."
Sam knocked again and a very drunk man with at least 3 days of stubble on his face jerked the door open. "I said I'm not intere-" he stopped talking and eyed her from her head to her feet before continuing, "well, maybe I'm a little interested. Who are you?"
Well, this was unexpected. He was stinking drunk, heavy on the stinking part. And, was he actually leering at her? Her prepared speech went out the window. This could not be the man General West wanted to lead the expedition. There was no way he was the right man for the most exciting breakthrough in history. "I, um, I think I have the wrong address. I'm looking for Colonel Jack O'Neill."
"Retired Colonel Jack O'Neill," Jack said overly enunciating the word retired.
This was not good. "My name is Dr. Samantha Carter. General West sent me."
"I already told the air force no shrinks," Jack said as he started to closed the door.
Sam quickly put her foot inside the doorway to stop it from closing completely. "I'm not a psychiatrist. I'm an astrophysicist."
Jack looked puzzled then retorted, "well, I don't think I need one of those either so unless West sent you to, um-" Jack waggle his eyebrows a bit and looked a bit further down her body than her face as he spoke.
"No, General West most certainly did not send me to do anything like that Colonel O'Neill. I'm her on professional business. I'd suggest you invite me in then show me where your coffee maker is so I can start a pot while you take a shower."
He looked up at her eyes with a bit of a mortified expression before stepping aside and waving her into the room. Well, at least she'd gotten his attention. "Coffee pot is that way," he said pointing then he walked, or rather stumbled, toward what Sam assumed was the bedroom.
Sam's heart was beating pretty fast as she started the coffee. This man was a drunken womanizer as far as she was concerned. What was West thinking sending her here alone to retrieve him? Why on earth would he want to retrieve this basket case anyway? Sam sighed. The sooner she put out her case and he flat out refused, the sooner she could get out of here.