*Jack*
"Sir?" Jack knocked on the doorframe of General Sheppard's office, nervous about coming to the General's office again, so soon.
John Sheppard I looked up and Jack saw weariness in his eyes, something he had not expected from the General, although he was old.
"Yes, Major, sit down, please." The General did not sound in as nearly as high spirits as he had on their previous encounter. "I've been reviewing the mission reports from the A team you ordered for backup, and there seems to be some good and bad news."
Jack swallowed, concerned about his executive decision to only send one team of three to help the Head of Science and Research, something that might have been the ultimate cause of her injury.
However, General Sheppard seemed to sense his concern. "Don't worry Jack, you did well. However, the mission wasn't requirement enough to prove your worth, so unless something comes up in the next few days before the senior personnel departure, the IOA plans to bring in another civilian leader."
Jack wrinkled his brow. "What do you want me to do, sir? Get into a fight with an alien group of people and handle it diplomatically?"
"No, no." The General chuckled. "From what Dr. McKay tells me, it appears as though we have killed all the Kasarans. Fault of my son, I believe." He shook his head with a sigh, before continuing, "However, I would appreciate, as would the IOA, if you conducted research into this race, and possibly find if there are any survivors on other worlds, and handle that diplomatically-" He paused for effect, wanting Jack to see where this was going, "-then perhaps the it could be recommended to the IOA that you are a fit leader for this expedition."
Jack brightened. He didn't have to do anything particularly hard, just conduct some research. That could be done fairly easily, with the help of a few scientists.
"Yes, sir. I'll get right on that, sir." Jack stood up and bowed to the General.
"Wait, Major." Jack turned back to face the General. "Remember that you only have four more days. So be quick, otherwise IOA personnel are gonna be crawling around this city." He winked at him.
Jack opened his mouth to come up with a smart reply, when Chet's voice called to General Sheppard from down the glass hallway.
"General Sheppard! Unscheduled off-world activation!"
John Sheppard stood up and motioned for Jack to follow him, muttering as he walked over to the Gateroom control panels. "Damn… hoped I wouldn't be here for one of these."
Jack followed him, noting the multiple lights that flashed, the various beeping sounds, and the iridescent shield over the gate.
"Sir, we have no one off-base. Shield is raised." Chet looked up at the General standing in front of him.
General Sheppard bit his lip in concern, looking at the gate expectantly. "Any gate activity? Anyone coming through the wormhole?"
Chet shook his head, continuing to watch the gate schematics. "No… wait… there is a request to make visual transmission contact." He looked up again, questioningly.
"Okay." The General nodded. "Patch me through." He walked over to the screen so he could be seen by the dialer on the other side. Jack followed him, cautiously moving around the various implements.
"Hello, this is General John Sheppard, commanding leader of the city of Atlantis, Pegasus Galaxy." Both John and Jack waited for an image to appear on the screen. However, the sound came first.
"Hello, General John Sheppard. This is Commander Antica of the Kasaran planet Bedar." Jack took a glance at the General, and when his eyes returned to the screen, an image of a strangely translucent creature had appeared, similar to the descriptions noted in the mission reports.
Both John and Jack were stunned, so neither said anything as the Kasaran continued. "We regrettably have been informed that upon your arrival into the Pegasus Galaxy, you destroyed one of our civilizations. Now, this is to be expected from a lesser society, but we had hoped that your knowledge would allow you to prevent such a catastrophe."
"Hey!" Jack watched the General's face contort into an indignant expression. "We never meant to kill anyone!"
"However, when given the opportunity to redeem yourself and help the few survivors rebuild the civilization, you denied them and instead, murdered them." The alien creature, though its features were rather fluid and its body see-through, was obviously angry. "Therefore, you cannot expect us to sit back and let you hurt and destroy more of our kind. We will be seeing you soon, General John Sheppard."
The image faded out of focus, and the screen went black. "Wait!" Called the General, but to no avail. The gate disengaged and the wormhole was closed. The General looked to Chet for confirmation, and Chet shook his head, signaling that they were gone.
Jack watched, stunned at what had transpired, as General Sheppard simply sighed and ran his hand through his unmanageable hair before ordering various personnel to make preparations for an attack, and inform the SGC of what had happened. Then, he turned to Jack and looked at him curiously.
"Well, Major, it appears as if we don't have to go to the Kasarans. They're coming to us."