Warning, "F" bombs.
While General Hammond is away at a conference and SG-1 are on medical leave recovering from their injuries the SGC is left in the capable hands of Ambassador Calan and General Hammond's Aide-de-Camps. While quite competent, Majors Adams and Alkoff weren't up for this challenge.
Leave it to the Ambassador to take care of things. Besides, George and Calan expected something like this to happen.
[See the chapter 'Protocol' to understand the 'Honors' issue.]
The limousine cleared the front gate and pulled up to the regular passenger drop-off point, stopping.
"What the hell are you stopping here for?" came the voice from the back. "Drop me off at my usual spot."
"I'm sorry Sir, but the way is blocked and the gate said you'd have to get out here." the driver replied, then stepped out and walked around to open the door.
Stepping out, the passenger was obviously ticked. "I'm going to have someone's ass for this!" he hissed. 'And where the hell was his Honor Guard?!' he thought angrily.
Following quickly on the man's heels were his aide and bodyguard. Approaching the entrance the man still had not seen anyone sent to meet him. By the time he made it to the entrance he was seething with anger. He had better things to do than walk a quarter-mile to the damned entrance. His face already starting to turn red.
"Good morning, Sir." the SF said politely. He was already prepared for the wrath he expected.
"Where's my escort? Where's is my Honor Guard?" the man demanded. Then, without waiting for a reply from the lowly SF: "Let's go." he ordered his aide and guard pushing against the man-gate which... did not open to his surprise.
"I'm sorry Sir, but only you and your aide are permitted past this point." the SF stated.
"What?! Bullshit! They're with me and they go in."
"I'm sorry Sir. But I'm under orders. Your security man can wait in the lounge over there. Otherwise I'm under orders NOT to permit your entry." the guard simply stated and pointed over to the lounge area.
"Get me General Hammond on the phone." the man ordered.
"I'm sorry Sir, but the General isn't aboard base at this time." the SF replied.
"Fine." the man said with exasperation.
"Come on Bill. You!" he pointed at the bodyguard, "wait over there."
Finally arriving at the check point at Level 11, Senator Robert Kinsey was in for another shock.
First the SF actually had the gall to require seeing the Senator's ID. Was the SF so stupid he didn't know who he was? How important the Senator was?
After checking the Senator's ID the SF stated "Sir, you'll need to place your right hand on that plate and look in to the eyepiece."
"What the hell's going on here? What's this crap?"
"Sir, security procedures have changed and upgraded since your last visit. This is standard procedure now. No one comes in or out without fingerprint and retina scans without General Hammond's personal authorization, Right hand and eye, please." The SF said pleasantly.
The SFs loved the new procedures. The installation of the hand and eye scanners made life a lot easier for them. No more questions as to what level a person on the access lists was cleared for. And, it ended the requirement for sign-in/out sheets which then also had to be transcribed to the computer. This was completely automated with each entry printing as it occurred, remotely in a secure room.
A moment after the man placed his hand on the plate and looked in to the eye scanner a pleasant chime sounded signifying the man was granted access. What those unfamiliar with the new system didn't know, was that the type of chime sounding also indicated escorted or unescorted access. Kinsey was soon to find he was one of the former and not the later.
"Thank you, Sir," the SF said as the aide stepped up and did the same thing without having to be asked. A buzzer sounded.
"I'm sorry, Sir. But you are not authorized to go any further." the SF stated. "You may have a seat over there," he indicated some chairs against the wall.
Senator Kinsey turned to the elevator, which did not open. "what the hell's wrong with this now?" he demanded.
"I'm sorry Senator, but the security system indicated only escorted access beyond this point. As there is only one person on the base at this time that is authorized as your escort, I'm afraid you'll have to wait for him." the SF stated.
"I have no intention of putting up with Colonel O'Neill," Kinsey stated flatly knowing O'Neill was the 2IC and that Hammond was out of town.
"No, Sir. Colonel O'Neill is not on base. Your escort should be here shortly. Sir." The SF was loving it. He was sure a number of personnel were currently gathered in the Security Surveillance Office now watching the video feed. He was glad they'd upgraded the system to color and high quality video a few weeks previously - with better recording devices too.
As the Senator stood there waiting, he was getting angrier by the second. Who the fuck did they think they were? Didn't they know how important a person he was?
Finally the elevator door open and out stepped a neatly dress man in a suit. "Senator Kinsey I presume?" he asked pleasantly. "Welcome to the SGC."
"Who the hell are you?" the Senator questioned.
Calan's eyebrow rose "Why, I am Ambassador Calan." he stated clearly giving the indication to Kinsey that he must be stupid or something.
"Where the hell was my Honor Guard and why wasn't I dropped off in the proper location," Kinsey demanded.
"Oh, that," Calan replied baiting the Senator. "You'll have to speak to the State Department about it. I'm afraid they've determined that you don't rate either any more. In fact, no one under a Cabinet Level position rates it here at Cheyenne Mountain," he answered smiling.
"Of course, if you had notified the SGC in advance of your visit, you would have been informed in order to avoid any embarrassment or confusion." he smiled. Why tell the Senator that he, Calan, was the reason for the decision.
"Who are you again?" demanded Kinsey.
"As I told you Senator, I am Ambassador Calan." he said with emphasis on Ambassador. "Now, if you'd like to proceed into the SGC?"
"My aide-" the Senator started.
"Is not authorized access beyond this point, Senator. If you have a problem with that, you can make your case to the President." Calan stated seeing the even darker shade of red creep into the mans face. 'How red can it get?' thought Calan.
"Of course, since the President and General Hammond are both out of the country at the same conference, which we both know you knew about already... that might be a bit difficult," stated Calan.
"And with Colonel O'Neill on medical leave at this time, I'm afraid you're stuck with me. Come to think of it, since the General and Colonel O'Neill are unavailable, is there a point to your visit? Or, would you prefer to come back another time?" he questioned.
Now he was really pissed at this fucking diplomat! "I don't remember any appointments for an 'Ambassador Calan' and this isn't a State Department function so who the hell are you and what are you doing here?" the Senator demanded.
"Senator Kinsey," Calan began. "Of course you wouldn't remember any 'appointment' for me. I mean, it isn't like you're on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. You're on the Finance Committee right? It must be quite tedious dealing with accountants all day." Calan needled him. "And, since I was assigned here, yes it did become a State Department issue. Do you have any other questions?"
Kinsey started trying to salvage something of this fiasco. "I have important business with the SGC so you just stay out of my way." the Senator ordered.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Senator. That won't be possible. Since General Hammond is not present, I'm the only one here authorized to escort you. So, either I'm with you the entire time, or you can leave. And anything SGC is my business, so I get to hear it all anyway. Your choice." The Ambassador informed him pleasantly.
Senator Kinsey decided he wouldn't get anywhere with this asshole following him around. How the hell did he get in here? So furious he couldn't even speak, he turned and left his aide rushing to accompany him.
As soon as they were on the elevator headed up the SF said grinning, "Sir, I like your style."
"Well, we kind of expected something to happen... we'll see what turns up next. Thank you." Calan said turning and re-entering the elevator to go down to the SGC.
The SF called the check-point up top-side and then the one on Level 28 and informed them of what occurred. The top-side checkpoint he warned to watch out for a pissed-off senator. The SF then quickly made an annotation in the security log that after clearance, the Senator had not entered the SGC, but departed. That would cover the anomaly of the Senator entering but not exiting and would be verified against the security video tapes.
When the elevator door opened on Level 28, Calan was greeted by smiles on the SF's faces that were stationed there. The SFs all liked Calan. It hadn't taken long for them to figure out he was one of the good guys. He knew every one of their names and proper ranks, insisted if no officers were around they call him by name instead of 'Mr Ambassador.' Most often showed up in blue jeans and a polo shirt. Somehow the man even knew their birthdays and made sure there was always a cake in the SF lounge on those days. He exited the elevator and went about his afternoon business.
Calan had enjoyed pissing off Kinsey. The man was a pompous asshole of the first order. He also knew Kinsey would be making a bunch of calls now. Trying to find out who he was and what he was doing here. He was in for quite a surprise.
'Hmm,' he thought. 'Technically the Senator's behavior towards me was quite lacking for a person of my position. Maybe I should make a small complaint to Hugh (his State Department liaison)'. That'd tweak him even more... to get a formal complaint about his behavior from SecState.