The Men From the Gate
Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine. Sad, isn't it?
A/N: Well, here's the next chapter. Sorry, it took a bit longer but I think the wait was worth it. I'm actually moving the plot along in this chapter. I'm kind of surprised at myself, to tell you the truth; I started this fic as something of a challange to see if I could create and follow a case and I'm doing it! And I've managed to fit in what I think are some nice character moments. We're now in sort of uncharted waters (actually we've been there for the last few chapters); the detailed plot line I had has less and less details as we go on, so updates might be a little longer as I iron out all those pesky little details. I have the next two chapters more or less planned (and there's a very nice BB moment coming up) but after that, especially when it comes to the case, I'm not so sure. But, I'll figure it out. I want to thank Ann for betaing this chapter, which I think had more grammar mistakes than usual; as always your help helps me write a better chapter. Well, that's it. Enjoy!! And please, please review!! It really makes me write faster.
Chapter 10
"You did good," Cameron told Booth as he closed his locker. After an hour on the firing range, where Booth had proven why he was a sniper, they had gone to the gym. After watching a few sparring matches, they had decided to join in the fun. Booth had fought a Sergeant before going against Mitchell and lastly he had faced Teal'c. Booth had won the match against the Sergeant; the match against Cameron had been a draw but, though he'd tried his best, Booth had lost the match against Teal'c.
"Right," Booth scoffed. "I barely lasted five minutes against Teal'c." Booth said, disgruntled. Though they've used standard military fighting techniques, Teal'c had moves that were, well, out of this world.
"Considering that most people only last two minutes and the rest barely make it to three the first time they go up against Teal'c, you did better than good," Cameron told him as they left the locker room where they had changed back into their uniforms. Teal'c had changed and left already and Cameron was pretty sure the other man had gone to talk to General O'Neill about the guards following them.
"You lasted a lot longer than that," Booth commented, as they made their way to the elevators.
"I've been practicing with him more than three years now; you can't really compare," Cameron said with a shrug.
"You think he'd be willing to practice with me?" Booth asked.
"I'm sure he will," Cameron answered with a grin. "You impressed him, you know?"
"You think?" Booth asked and Cameron nodded. "How can you tell? He didn't say anything."
"I know him," was Cameron's simple answer.
"Has anyone ever beaten him?" Booth wanted to know.
"I think Jackson has come close a few times but as far as I know the only one to beat him has been General O'Neill."
"General O'Neill?" Booth asked, surprised.
"Yeah," Cameron answered as he pressed the button to call the elevator. "They've been practicing at least twice a week for the last ten plus years."
"Huh," Booth said as they entered the elevator followed by the guard. "How old is the general? He must be one of the youngest two-star generals ever."
"Maybe," Cameron answered with a shrug. "But his age doesn't really matter when it comes to physical strength, anyway." At Booth's questioning glance, he clarified, "Side benefits of Gate travel."
"Really?" now Booth was intrigued.
"Well not of the Gate itself but of an artifact that the Goa'uld used." Cameron explained.
"Sounds like a very good artifact," Booth said as they got off the elevator.
"Yeah, except that it has some very nasty side effects; in fact, I know for a fact that the general didn't willingly use it." Cameron said somberly.
"Ah," Booth said as he nodded, realizing that war was war no matter where it was fought.
"Yeah," Cameron said as the two shared a knowing look. Theyfell silent until they reached the lab where Brennan and the rest of the squints where busy with Sam and Daniel looking for answers.
"Bones!" he said as they walked in. Booth immediately went to stand by where Brennan was sitting. "How is it going?"
"Fine," Brennan started to answer as she looked up from the computer. When she saw him, she was distracted, "Booth, what are you wearing?"
"Oh, this," Booth said as he looked down at himself. "These are BDUs," he answered as he fingered the SGC patch on one of the sleeves. "This is what they normally wear here at the base. I changed into them after my time at the gym."
"Um," Brennan said as she admired how the black t-shirt underneath the green shirt lovingly hugged his torso. "You worked out?"
"In a matter of speaking," Booth answered. "I had a couple of sparring matches." He told her as he leaned on the side of the table she was using.
"Really?" Brennan asked as she leaned closer to him. "How'd you do?"
"Pretty good," Booth answered with a smirk. "Though I'd only lasted about five minutes against Teal'c. I'm telling you, Bones, that man has some wicked moves. I'm going to ask him if he can teach me some of them."
"Well, he is from another planet and of aspecies that was bred for war, according to what I've heard. It stands to reason that he'd know some interesting techniques." She paused and looked at Booth with a glimmer in her eyes, "You think he'd be willing to teach me too?"
"Oh, Bones," Booth protested. "Don't you already know enough ways to kick a man's ass?" At her raised eyebrows, he chuckled, "Right, forgot to whom I was speaking for a minute there. You could never know enough ways to kick someone's ass."
"No, I couldn't." Brennan agreed. "It's always a good idea to know how to defend oneself." She told him seriously and then asked him with a grin, "So, you think he'd teach me?"
"I guess so," Booth shrugged. "I don't really know him but I don't see why he'd say no."
"Good," Brennan said with a nod before she went back to her computer.
"So, any progress?" Booth asked as he picked up a pen and started playing with it.
Before she could answer, General O'Neill entered the room and captured everyone's attention. Booth straightened from his slouched position by Brennan's side but relaxed when he noticed that neither Sam, who was seated by the table next to Brennan, nor Cameron, who had sat down next to Sam, straightened from their positions.
"So, kids," the general said as he clapped his hands. "You have anything useful yet?"
"Well," Hodgins started to answer but Daniel beat him to the punch.
"Jack!" he said as he jumped up from his seat, where he had been going through the planet's database to create some sort of list of the most likely planets to check. "Why did you send those goons to guard us?" Jack just looked at Daniel while Sam and Cameron shared a look – they had known that Daniel would have something to say about the guards.
"They are not goons, Daniel," Jack finally said on a sigh. "They're highly trained marines."
"Whatever," Daniel said with a wave of his hand. "Why did you send them to follow us?"
"They're to follow you for your protection," Jack explained in the tone of voice he would have explained to a five year old why he had to eat all his vegetables.
"Come on, Jack!" Daniel said as he threw his hands up. "We can protect ourselves. You saw to that, yourself." Daniel reminded him. "And what could possibly happen to us inside the base?"
"You never know, Daniel," Jack answered calmly enough, but Sam could see that he was nearing the end of his patience. She looked behind Jack and saw that Teal'c had come behind Jack. By the look on his face, Sam could tell that it was Teal'c that had strained Jack's patience – probably arguing about the same subject.
"If you're so worried about it, Jack, maybe we could just start carrying a gun or a zat gun inside the base," Daniel said.
"Yeah, right," Jack scoffed
"Hey," Daniel protested. "I'm a good shot!"
"Yes, you are," Jack agreed. "When you're paying attention to your surroundingsJack pointed out. "But it takes a Goa'uld attack to make you pay attention when you're busy studying your rocks. And that's out in the field; you really expect me to believe you're going to be aware here in the base? When there's so much to do?" Jack asked in a disbelieving tone.
"Jack," Daniel started to protest but Jack cut him off.
"No, Daniel," Jack said firmly, in the tone he used when he'd madeup his mind and nothing would change it. "The guards stay and that's final. And I really don't want to hear another word about it." It was almost snapped and Daniel knew better than to keep pushing Jack at the moment. He sat down with a muttered 'fine' and turned back to the computer.
"So," Jack said again after taking a deep breath to calm down. "Any progress?"
"Actually, yes" Hodgins said after an amused glance Daniel's way. "I've finished analyzing the fabric found with the bodies. The fabric found with the first victim was cotton with synthetic polymers dyed olive green."
"Right and that means?" Jack asked with a frown as he looked from Hodgins to Sam.
"It means that he was wearing a military uniform," Booth said thoughtfully before anyone else had a chance to speak. Everyone, especially the squints, turned to look at him with surprise. "What?" He asked with a shrug. "I've worked with you guys for almost four years; I've picked up a few things," he said in his defense. He then remembered that Bones had said something about how the victim appeared to have been wearing a uniform. "But he wasn't wearing any dog-tags, was he?" He turned to the general for confirmation.
"No," Jack answered as he raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. "He wasn't. And there wasn't a match when we ran his teeth through the database. Why wasn't there a match?" He looked at Sam while he asked.
"I don't know," Sam shook her head. "If he was in the military, even if he was retired, there should have been a match."
"Maybe he wasn't in the military," Hodgins said, more than happy to come up different theories. "Maybe he just borrowed a uniform for the night."
"Or," Brennan said as she got up and went to examine the bones more closely. Because she had examined both bodies the night before, she hadn't done more than a cursory examination of the human body that day, preferring instead to concentrate on the body of the alien. "Maybe," she mused out loud as she shared a look with Booth before she picked up the skull and brought it to a microscope.
"You think maybe he had some surgery that would make the dental records useless?" Booth asked as he remembered one of their earliest cases.
"It's possible," Brennan said as she examined the skull under the microscope. "It would certainly explain why there wasn't a match."
"But why would a soldier have surgery to alter his dental records?" Zack asked, perplexed.
"Who knows why a soldier does anything, man," Hodgins said and was promptly silenced by Booth's glare.
"Maybe Hodgins is right," Cameron said, ignoring the by-play. "Maybe he just borrowed a uniform."
But Jack was already shaking his head.
"No," he said firmly. "Just putting on a uniform wouldn't have been enough to gain access to the dinner last night – security was too tight. Everyone was asked for identification and their fingerprints were verified before they were allowed inside." Jack explained and Booth and Brennan nodded their heads as they remembered howlong the line to get in had been. "The guest list was fairly exclusive and even the guests were vetted beforehand. A military uniform by itself would not have been enough," he repeated.
"Unless," Sam said, "they were beamed in." Jack looked at her for a moment before giving a sharp nod of acceptance.
Booth and Brennan shared a look and Hodgins had to bite his tongue to stop himself from making a Star Trek joke.
"Have you verified that all the military officers in attendance are accounted for?" Booth asked the general.
"Those that had to report for duty," was the answer. "But there were quite a few that were either retired or on leave; we've tried to track them all down but frankly because of all the security measures we had in place, that hasn't been a priority. We assumed it was more likely the security leak had come from the catering staff and have been focusing our efforts there." Jack sighed as he crossed his arms and leaned against a table. "But today's Sunday, so we haven't really gotten very far yet. And really, given that one of the bodies was a Jaffa, we weren't really expecting to find anything." He finished with a shake of his head.
"Well,he definitely had some work done on his teeth, but the technique was so sophisticated that there's barely any evidence of it. I don't know of anyone on Earth who is capable of such work." Brennan said after she straightened from the microscope.
"But he is human?" Cameron asked, just to be sure.
"Yes," Brennan answered as she put the skull back with the rest of the body. "But whether he was born on Earth or not, I can't tell just yet."
"So, to recap," Booth said as he shifted and crossed his ankles as well as his arms. "What we have here is a human male that may or may not have been born on Earth; that could be military and that had some alien doctor do work on his teeth. Am I right?" He asked as he looked around the room.
"Yes," Brennan answered as she sat back down, everyone else just nodded.
"The kind of surgery Dr. Brennan's talking about would dramatically alter a person's jaw and facial structure." Camille commented. "Why would a military officer do that if he was planning to still use his military identity? He'd need his face to be the same so that he'd be recognized."
"The surgery he had was extremely sophisticated," Brennan explained. "It altered his teeth enough so that there wouldn't be a match but not so much that his actual face would not be recognized by those who knew him before."
"Ok," Sam said. "But still the only military personnel that go off-world are members of the SGC and they are all thoroughly examined when they come back from a mission."
"Unless those exams," Brennan said, shaking his head. "Include checking the jaw bone at a microscopic level, they wouldn't have caught this." That announcement silenced the room as the implications sank in.
"Damn it!" Jack exploded a few moments later, breaking the silence. "Do you know what that means?" He asked Brennan as Cameron, Sam and Daniel shared troubled glances. "Do you know how many persons have been assigned to the SGC over the last ten years? How many have gone off world? And they're not all still here; some have retired, some have gone on to other assignments. They're all over the place."
"And there's still the question of why." Sam said. "Why would someone who has worked here do something like this? And when. When would there be time to have such surgery? Every minute that a team is off-world is accounted for."
"You're talking about motive and opportunity," Booth said. "But what we need to concentrate on right now is the 'who'. We need find to find out who these people were and then look for the other answers," hetold them all before he turned to Jack. "Since he more than likely was a member of the SGC, do you know who from the SGC was invited to last night's dinner?"
"No," Jack answered. "Not offhand though I know it wasn't many. But I like I said, a lot of SGC personnel have either retired or gone on to other posts. I might know a lot of the people that have worked here, but it's impossible to know them all. And there were a lot of people last night."
"But you can get a list of the guests and compare it to a list of past and present SGC personnel?" Booth askedand Brennan could tell by the way he'd straightened and was talking that he was taking control of the investigation.
"Yes," Jack answered with a nod. "It shouldn't be a problem, though the comparisons will take some time."
"That's ok," Booth said. "If I can have a copy of both lists as soon as you have them?" he asked and Jack nodded. "I'd also like a copy of everything you've gotten from the catering company," he requested, thinking that he should have been given that information already. As soon as Jack nodded again, he turned to Brennan. "Bones, will Angela be able to create an accurate face from that skull with the alterations?
"I'm not sure," Brennan said with a shrug. "Though the surgery wouldn't have dramatically changed his appearance, it might throw off the tissue markers."
"Ok, well, we'll see what we get," he said before he turned to Hodgins. "What about the fabric found with the second victim?"
"Just a standard poly-cotton blend, dyed white," Hodgins answered and had Brennan looking up from the sample she'd begun to study again.
"Like the kind used for waiter's uniforms?" Brennan asked Hodgins.
"Yeah," Hodgins said with a nod.
"General," she said as she turned to look at Jack. "Do you have the video footage from the corridor outside the restrooms?"
"Yes," Jack answered. "But there must have been some kind of interference because there's nothing on them for about twenty minutes before the explosion. Why?"
"I just remembered that when I came out of the bathroom last night, I saw a waiter and a military officer talking down that corridor." She explained.
Both Booth and Jack straightened at the news. "Can you describe either one?" Booth asked.
"No," Brennan said after thinking about it for a moment. "Sorry, I just saw them a moment as I was going back to the dining room and they had their backs to me."
"How long before the explosion was that?" Booth asked.
"Um," Brennan said as she thought about it. "I guess maybe fifteen minutes or so. It was right before I ran into Sam." She turned to look at Sam, who agreed it was about ten to fifteen minutes prior to the explosion.
"That sounds about right given that Dr. Brennan does not appear on the recording before the feed was interrupted," Jack said.
"Was the recording interrupted or erased?" Booth asked.
"We're not sure," he said with a shrug before he turned towards Sam and said her name in inquiry.
"I've studied the recording and I'd say that the feed was interrupted and not erased." Sam started explaining. "There doesn't seem to be anything there to be erased. Plus, leaving aside the fact that there really wasn't time for anyone to get to the disc to erase it, the timing of the disruption is just too perfect. The image is interrupted before anyone can be seen and it comes back on right after the explosion occurred. If I'd have to take a guess, I'd say that one of the victims was carrying some kind of magnetic device that disrupted the feed before they came within the camera's range but which was destroyed during the explosion thus allowing the recording to begin again. Also," Sam added as an afterthought, "the time markers are intact."
"I'd like to see those recording," Booth told Jack, who again just nodded. "Bones," he said as he turned back to Brennan. "How long until Angela can start with the sketches?" But then he looked around and asked before Brennan could answer him, "Where is Angela, by the way?"
"She and Vala are in the cafeteria having a snack," Zack, who had seen them not too long ago, answered.
Booth nodded and turned back to Brennan, "Bones?"
"Well," Brennan began. "Hodgins and Camille have already taken the samples they needed and are now running their tests. Zack and I have learned what we can from the remains in this state and Zack should be done cleaning the bones shortly. I'd say Angela can begin the sketches first thing tomorrow morning. But," she added. "Without the Angelator here, it might take her a bit longer to finish them."
"That's fine," Booth said. "I know she'll finish them as soon as she can." He then looked at his watch before saying. "You've been at this for a while now and it's getting late, I think you should call it quits in a couple of hours."
"What? Booth, no." Brennan protested while Hodgins and Zack just sat back to see who'd win this battle. "We've barely began and we have a lot to do. I can't just stop now."
"I'm not telling you to stop now," Booth argued. "I said you should stop in a couple of hours. I'm going to check out the video and other information and I'll come back to pick you guys up." He said as he looked around at the other squints. "It's been a long day and I know," he added looking at Brennan, "that you went to bed late last night."
At that little tidbit, Hodgins had to again bite his tongue as he shared a knowing look with Camille; oh, Angela was going to have a field day with that piece of information.
"But," Brennan started to protest again but was cut off by Jack.
"Major Booth is right," he said. He had been impressed by the way Booth had taken over the conversation and hadn't let the fact the there were three senior officers in the room intimidate him. "It has been a long day and I know that at least you two," he said looking at Sam and Daniel, "had almost no sleep last night. So in a couple of hours we should all call it a night."
Cries of 'but Jack' and 'but sir' came from Daniel and Sam respectively but Jack just looked at his squints and said firmly. "No 'buts'. You've been at this for over twelve hours; it's time you took a break. This investigation is important," he added, knowing that'd be their next argument. "But not so dire that you need to pull another all-nighter. You can come and look at all this with fresh eyes tomorrow." He then looked at them until Sam said, "Yes, sir." And Daniel reluctantly nodded before turning back to his computer.
"Good," he said and it was obvious from his attitude that he considered the question settled. "Major," he told Booth. "I'll have everything you need set up at the conference room."
"Thank you, sir," Booth nodded. "I'll be there in a minute," he added, knowing that while the question of when to quit might be settled in the general's mind, it was far from settled in Brennan's.
"I'll come too," Cameron said, knowing that there was nothing for him to do in the lab. Jack nodded, turned and with one last look at Sam, he left. Teal'c and Cameron followed him out of the lab.
"Bones," Booth began but Brennan beat him to it.
"Booth, I'm not quitting in two hours," she said determinedly. "He might think he can tell us what to do . . ."
"He doesn't think so, Bones," Booth interrupted her. "He knows he can."
"He might have the authority to tell you what to do but he has no authority to tell me . . ."
"Bones," Booth cut her off again. "Remember when I told you that there'd be rules and protocol you'd have to follow? And that you might not be able to do things like you'd want?" He asked, well aware that the rest of the squints were avidly watching them while Sam and Daniel pretended to ignore them.
"Yes, but . . ." Brennan started to answer.
"No, no 'buts'"Booth told her firmly. "We have to do what he tells us; there's no way around it." When he saw her frustrated face, he added, "Look at it this way you still have two hours to do all manner of squinty things." He tried a charm smile to calm her but had only marginal results. Deciding to get out while he was ahead, he told her "I'll be back in two hours. Have fun playing with your bones." And with a final glance, he was gone.
"Arg," Brennan said after Booth left as she moved some samples rather forcefully on the table. "He can be so exasperating!"
Hodgins, Zack and Camille shared amused glances before they turned back to their test, knowing that in two hours they'd be calling it quits for the night.
"How do you stand it?" Brennan asked Sam after a few minutes of silence.
"Um," Sam said as she turned to look at the irritated woman. "How do I stand what?"
"How do you stand being married to someone that can order you around?" Brennan clarified.
"Oh," Sam said with a laugh. "Jack doesn't order me around," she denied. At Brennan's skeptical, "it sure looked like that to me," she added, "These are not normal circumstances, you know. Sure, Jack is a superior officer but we're not usually on the same chain of command. So, he doesn't have a reason to tell me what to do."
"But that's now that you're married," Brennan said, remembering what the other woman had told her the night before. "What about before you became involved? When you were on the same chain, he told you what to do then, right?" At Sam's nod, Brennan asked, "How did you stand it? Didn't it drive you crazy to have the man you cared about order you around?"
"Well," Sam answered as she sat back on her chair and turned more fully towards Brennan. "You have to understand that back then, he wasn't just he man I cared for; that wasn't even the first thing he was. First and foremost, he was my commanding officer and I was duty bound to do what he ordered. I'm career military, Temperance; hell, I was even an Air Force brat. The military with its rules and hierarchy is all I know; if I had a problem with someone else telling me what to do, then, I'd be in the wrong line of work."
"See, that's what I don't understand," Brennan said. "That willingness to follow orders; Booth also has it and I just don't understand it," she finished with a shake of her head.
"I guess we just believe in something bigger than us," Sam said. "And we're willing to sacrifice some things to be a part of it. Now, don't get me wrong, it's always better to be the one giving the orders than to be the one receiving them," she added with a laugh and Brennan chuckled too. "But before we're ready to be the ones giving the orders we have to pay our dues. And the truth of the matter is that while I've been ordered to do some hard things, things I wouldn't have done on my own initiative, there were things that needed to be done. And that's why I was the one following orders instead of giving them. That's why Jack was the CO and I was the 2IC. That's why he and Landry and Hammond made general; because they are ready, willing and able to make those tough decisions – the decisions no one else wants to make." She paused for a minute and then added.
"It's not an easy job and it takes a great toll on a person; not everyone can do it. And we know that; we know that at the end of the day, they're doing their jobs – protecting and caring not only for those under their command but for the whole country, hell, even the planet. That's why we follow them, why we obey their orders because we believe that they're doing what needs to be done to ensure everyone's safety."
Brennan nodded slowly, trying to take in everything the other woman had said. She understood the concept in principle but in practice . . .
"I don't know," Brennan said, shaking her head. "I don't think I'd like having my boyfriend or husband, tell me what to do."
"Like I said," Sam said with a laugh. "He doesn't really tell me what to do outside of extraordinary circumstances, and then it's usually just to make sure I take care of myself. And sometimes, I get so wrapped up in my work that if it wasn't for him I would forget to take care of myself." Sam paused again and added thoughtfully, "I guess, in the end, it all comes down to respect and trust. I respect Jack and trust him to make the right decisions for everyone. And he's never let me down. I imagine it's the same with you and Booth; the same reason why you listen to him when you'd rather not."
Brennan nodded again and they both turned back to their jobs.