NOTE:
Sorry this update took so long! I've kind of been stuck, so if this chapter isn't my best work, I'm sorry. Anyways, I own nothing. This chapter is in Jack's POV. Enjoy!
The IOA, or as they liked to so snootily say, the 'International Oversight Advisory' had decided to pay us a visit. They thought they were so high and mighty, fighting for the greater good of our dear planet. What they really were is a bunch of pencil pushing assholes. And I told them so.
"This is unacceptable!" The IOA representative complained, "The international committee will not stand for this. You are supposed to protect earth, not blow us all up!"
Before the general or Carter got a chance to answer, I jumped in, "You're an asshole, you know that?"
His mouth gaped open for a moment, but only for a moment, "Colonel O'Neill, I have the power to send you far, far away to a place that you will not like at all."
I stared at him incredulously. I wasn't even going to dignify that with a response. What kind of lame threat was that supposed to be?
"Colonel O'Neill, stand down. Mr. Archer, we are doing the best we can. And we have expert help on the way. He should be here any moment, and we can get this whole problem fixed soon enough."
Archer raised an eyebrow, "Considering how trustworthy you are, I'm not sure that I can take your word for it."
I rolled my eyes, "Oh, for crying out loud! You-"
"Colonel!" General Hammond's barked order shut me down, but I still glared at Archer.
"General, it may help if Mr. Archer was aware of who we were bringing in." Carter, apparently filling in for Danielle as the diplomat, put in her two cents. But I could also see her professional military persona slowly being eroded away every time Archer spoke. To be honest, mine would be too if I had bothered to use it.
Archer nodded, "Yes general, it would help to know who this so called expert is."
"Very well." Hammond paused for a second, as if dreading what he was about to say, "We're bringing in Doctor Rodney McKay."
"Sir, are you sure-?"
"Really? That pain in the mikta? General-"
"Colonel, Major! I understand you may not be on the best terms with Dr. McKay, but he is very good at what he does, and we could sure as hell use his expertise at the moment."
Damn it. I hate trying to refute logical arguments.
At our silence, the general spoke again, "Dr. McKay's work speaks of itself, Mr. Archer, and I'm sure you can agree that he will be a huge asset."
"More like a huge ass." I muttered just loud enough for Carter to hear, and I could see her fighting a grin as Archer spoke again.
"Very well, general. But we expect results soon."
General Hammond gave a terse nod, and Archer walked away, presumably to report back to his precious committee.
The general immediately turned to Carter, "Major, please tell me you have something."
She shifted uncomfortably, "Well…"
He sighed, "Inform me of any developments. Dismissed."
Both of us nodded and turned to leave, walking into the huge mass of scientists and eggheads working on our little problem with Anubis.
"Carter, did I sense a bit of a defeated tone back there?"
She sighed, "Sir, it's just so hopeless! We have nothing at all to combat this. Everyone is looking to me for some reason and I can't give them any answers. And don't you dare tell me that if I can blow up a sun I can do this!"
I took a step back, "Whoa, Carter. Take it easy, save it for McKay. You just need to think it through. Take a break without irritating IOA guys to spoil your mood. Go get some food or something." This was not good. Carter was always generating new ideas and ways to save our butts. He new defeatist attitude was not a good sign at all. She was stressed, tired, frustrated, and kind of pissed of at the IOA dude. She definitely needed a break, and she was going to take one or so help me God, I would drag her kicking and screaming away from her work.
"But sir, there's only so much time, and I still have nothing! I don't have time for a break."
"Ah! Yes you do. Go." When she hesitated, I pointed to the door, "Carter, don't force me to make it an order. Go!"
"Yes, sir." She nodded and turned to head out, but rammed into the person who was standing behind her.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I-" She paused as she got a good look at the person she had run into, "McKay."
"Well, it's nice to se you too, Sam." He smiled at her, "How you enthusiastically greeted me is a little much, not that I'm complaining or anything…"
I could almost hear her teeth grinding together, "You were standing right behind me. I ran into you. On ACCIDENT!"
He held up his hands, "Alright, alright. Take it easy. But you're hot when you're angry."
She took a threatening step toward him, and I quickly snatched her arms and started pulling her away, "Alright, calm down. Think nice thoughts." I looked over at McKay, "Why don't you do something useful, like think of something to make us not EXPLODE." Speaking of exploding, Carter was about to. All the negative emotions bubbling under the surface mixed with McKay was not working out well. Once she took a break, she'd be fine, but getting her out of the same room as McKay was the issue of the moment (other than Anubis blowing Earth up). I steered her quickly out of the room and pulled her out into the hallway. Once there, she took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry, sir. I'm not usually like this. It's just, I can't figure anything out, McKay is going to make my life a living hell, I'm worried about Teal'c's situation-"
"Hey, Carter. Focus. Let's go eat something. Take you're mind off all of this."
"Alright." She heaved another sigh, "But for no more than 15 minutes."
"I'll go for 30 minutes."
"20."
"Deal."
I glanced around and spotted an open table near the back of the commissary, "Carter, I'll save the table, you grab the food."
She nodded her confirmation and we split, me making a beeline for the table and her jogging over to the food line. A few minutes later, she appeared and slid into the chair across from mine, sporting a piece of apple pie and a blue jello. She slid a spoon and the pie over to me, digging into her own dessert with gusto. After a few seconds of silence, she spoke up, "So, I was just working on this theory that-"
I held up a finger for silence, "Hey, no work. That was the deal.
She frowned, "No it wasn't, sir."
"Yes, it was."
"Really, sir. It wasn't."
"Well, it is now." I scooped up another bit of pie on my spoon, "Any good betting pools going on?"
"Well…" She tapped her index finger on the table, thinking, "Oh, ya. The pool on how Siler will get hurt next has accumulated 700 dollars as of yesterday."
"That's a lot of money."
"Yes it is, sir." She smiled, "I also overheard a few new recruits talking about which one of them was strong enough to move the 'gate a few inches." She shook her head at the insanity in that statement before the smile melted off her face.
"Carter?" I tilted my head, concerned.
"Move the 'gate." she muttered, "We could move the 'gate!" She stood up so fast that her jello fell over and raced out of the room. I smiled (even though I had absolutely no idea what she meant my move the 'gate), put the jello cup upright, and jogged after her. Making my way to the briefing room, I caught up with her as she was talking to the general and McKay.
"Sir, I know what we need to do."
"Major, I'm sorry, it's too late."
"Sir?" She looked puzzled.
General Hammond sighed, "Dr. McKay came up with the idea of using an electromagnetic pulse to deactivate the weapon that is attacking us."
"But sir, I already thought of that, and there is no guarantee that it would work. It could also pose a treat to us if it doesn't work."
"But it will work." McKay sounded very confident.
After a quick glare to McKay, she spoke to the general again, "Sir, I can't recommend this."
"I'm sorry, Major, it's out of my hands." He nodded across the room, where Archer was standing, "It was already approved, and the equipment is being brought in now.
"General," I started, "With all do respect, you know better than to trust Archer to make that decision. This is the fate of the planet here! If some idiotic IOA guy wants to stand in the way, kick him off the base. You're the general, you can do that kind of thing."
General Hammond shook his head, "I'm sorry, Jack. But at the moment this threat has scared the pentagon enough that the IOA have them wrapped around their little finger. Whatever I do, they can counter it. I can't do anything, and if they think this is the best choice, then so be it. We'll just have to make the best out of a bad situation." He sighed and shook his head, "Look, I'm sorry, but we're just going to have to trust Dr. McKay here. And he has assured me that this can be done and is our best option. Major, this has a much higher chance of working if you assist him. Your plan, whatever it may be, will have to a back up. Good luck." He turned and walked away.
Carter sighed, and shook her head, telling McKay she would help him in a second. I glared over at Archer, then looked back over at Carter, speaking quietly, "Carter, will the EMP actually work?"
She shook her head, "I just don't know, sir. It could work, and in that case it would be the best option, but if it doesn't, it could drastically shorten the amount of time we have left. It wouldn't be my first option, but, as you heard, we don't have a choice in the matter."
"Oh, ya. I heard all right." I shot a glance at Archer out of the corner of my eye, "God I hate that guy."
Carter nodded vigorously, "I agree sir. He's just getting in the way."
I took a breath, "Well, anyways. I won't keep you Carter. You've got a planet to save."
She smiled faintly, "Just another day at the office."
"That's the spirit!" I clapped her on the shoulder, grinning before I sobered up, "Seriously, good luck."
She nodded and grimaced, making her way over to the cluster of scientists in a corner. I shook my head and walked out of the room. I glanced back briefly to make sure Archer wasn't hovering around them, and rammed right into someone.
"Ah, shit. Sorry, sir." Ferreti took a step back.
I blinked at him, "Why the hell were you going so fast Ferreti? There's not much action around here that I know about."
Ferreti's face darkened, "Kinsey."
I stared at him, "No way. He would be too scared to come so close to our little 'gate bomb."
Ferreti shook his head, "Nope. He heard that the explosion would destroy the whole planet, and he decided to come here and be a pain in the ass instead of waiting around for it to explode elsewhere."
I sighed, "You know, you would think he would let me live my last hours in peace. Or as peaceful as I can get with Archer and McKay here."
Ferreti nodded, "But if you don't wanna get chewed out for… well, whatever he comes up with this time."
"Ya. Commissary or gym?"
Ferreti snorted, "Like Kinsey could even pick up a five pound dumbbell."
I grinned, "You make a good point. Let's go."
We quickly made our way to the elevator, and I stabbed the button. The elevator dinged a few seconds later and it opened to reveal him, along with his band of security guards just in case one of us tried to kill him or something.
"O'Neill. I was looking for you."
"Oh, joy." I muttered just loud enough for him to hear.
Kinsey frowned, "Colonel, that's insubordination to a US senator! I will have you-"
"Blah, blah, blah, Kinsey. Like I give a shit." What can I say? I didn't give a rat's ass about anything he wanted to do.
His mouth gaped open, "Colonel this is unacceptable! You cannot-"
I resisted the urge to strangle him, "Oh, I'm sorry, did I cross some sort of line there?" I heard Ferreti snort behind me, and I continued, "I assumed you liked truthfulness, being such the honest man that you are." I couldn't resist that jab. I was already a little stressed about the end of the world, Dani, and Teal'c. Kinsey was just too much.
His mouth snapped shut and his eyes narrowed, "Excuse me, colonel, I have to be somewhere VERY important." He stalked away, his guards trailing behind him.
Ferreti shook his head, "What a dumb ass."
I smirked, "You can say that again."
Ferreti had left the gym to eat with his team about 45 minutes later, and so I wandered back to the gate room. I was just in time to hear McKay speak.
"Okay, looks like we are all set."
I heard the sarcasm in Carter's voice even from the other side of the room, "Well, it would probably be helpful if you turned the device at the gate."
I smiled and walked over to them, "That might be a good idea. You guys almost ready?"
"We're ready now." Carter replied as McKay directed the technicians to flip the EMP thing-a-ma-jig around. She turned to look at the control room and gave a thumbs up to Walter. His voice came over the speakers a moment later.
"CLEAR THE GATE ROOM! I REPEAT, CLEAR THE GATE ROOM!"
Everywhere, scientists heads popped up like meerkats coming out of the ground, and they all quickly filed out of the gate room. Carter, McKay and I made our way up to the control room and Carter spoke to Walter, "Open the iris."
The metal barrier slid open and the gate room was suddenly bathed in blue light. I could hear anther technician in the background mentioning the rising power build-up in the 'gate, while McKay ordered them to fire the device.
"Firing."
Nothing visible came out of it, but a ripple dread across the event horizon. Nothing seems to happen at first, but then sparks flew off the 'gate.
"Power rising to critical levels!" A panicked voice rose from the background.
"We have to close the iris!"
I looked around to locate the iris pad and stepped forward, but Crater beat me to it. She leaped forward and slammed her hand down on the pad. The iris closed, and electricity surged into Carter. She yelled as she went down, her head smacking into a nearby table. She fell onto the floor, blood seeping from under her head, no longer moving.
NOTE 2:
So, that's it. I hope you liked it. the next chapter will be in Danielle's POV, but I am unsure when I will get it posted. If you have any comments, reviews, suggestions, or criticism, please let me know! Thanks :)
