Thank you for your feedbacks! Sometimes it's hard to translate as exactly the same as my French story but I try and my beta Stephanie doing a great job!
CHAPTER 14
Already three days. Three days without any news of the group of men left to recover the Ba'al device. In the absence of General O'Neill, it was Johnson who had taken command of the SGC since the morning of the third day, "by order of the president". Sam and Daniel had learned it while they were at the mess. Daniel had dropped his cutlery while Sam had half stiffed with her Jell'o.
"That's completely insane! She knows nothing about it!" She said after swallowing her Jell'o.
"Her relations allow her to take this replacement position. Hopefully the General will come back and it'll not be for an indefinite period." Major Davis replied.
Sam's face closed. He will come back. He MUST come back. Even though she did not feel in reality - her brain had not yet found a way to know where she really was - she knew perfectly well that she would not stand his loss again. She apologized and left the mess. It was from that moment that her daily life had become a nightmare, if indeed what she had been living for weeks was a walk of health. It was also from that moment that she was going to hate, viscerally, Kerry Johnson. She met her as she went to her lab after leaving the mess. She was the last person she wanted to see at that very moment.
"Lieutenant-Colonel Carter?" Kerry said.
Sam stiffened. She looked at the two soldiers standing in front of her lab just behind agent Johnson.
"What's going on?" She asked immediately.
"You're going to have to return to your quarters." Kerry said.
Sam gave a little nervous laugh.
"Don't you even think about it?" Sam replied.
A duel of gazes took place. Sam being military and a woman of authority, managed to lower her eyes. She walked around her and entered her lab. Kerry followed her, then closed the door behind her. Sam sat down at her desk and resumed a line of calculations, as if Agent Johnson did not exist. She had not the least desire to worry about this woman for the moment, especially since it was perhaps not even real.
"That was an order Colonel Carter." Kerry said dryly.
Sam suddenly wanted to laugh. Did this woman really give her an order? To her?
"I've don't have to take orders from you." She spat at her.
"Yes, you do, Lieutenant-Colonel." Kerry replied defiantly.
"You're not my commanding officer. You're here as an interim. A passing." Said Sam in a dry tone. "Do you really think your orders have an impact on me?"
"Jack won't be here to defend you this time Colonel!" Kerry replied, raising her tone and pointing at her.
"Jack!" Sam said half-choking. "I think I'm dreaming. Are you threatening me Agent Johnson?!" Sam said.
This time, Sam had risen from her chair, out of anger. It was the second person who insinuated that her CO and she had a privileged relationship and it began to annoy her strongly. Their careers were put in danger with each of these insinuations, and she could not allow that.
"He may not react to your insubordination, but I do! You'll return to your quarters immediately Colonel Carter!" Kerry yelled.
"I repeat, you're not my CO, needless to say about insubordination! What d'you think? That in my quarters I will become harmless, that my brain will stop working at the moment I go through this door? Are you really so stupid Johnson?" Sam asked.
"If you don't, I'll have a letter signed by the President in a few hours, signifying to you that you're under arrest for an indefinite time and locked up in your quarters until further notice." Kerry said on a challenge.
"That's it, you're stupid. And as a bonus, you're going to go crying to your superiors to make yourself heard. You make me pity you Johnson."
"Soldiers!" Kerry shouted.
The door of the lab opened and the two airmen entered.
"Please escort the Colonel into her quarters." Kerry said dryly and without appeal.
The two airmen approached Sam and took her arm.
"I beg you to let me go. I still know how to walk." Sam said.
Seeing that the man did not let her go, Sam used a flawless argument.
"This is an order Sergeant. If you don't let me go I'll give you a warning for insubordination and violence on a commanding officer." She said.
In view of Sam's tone, the airman immediately released her. Kerry was about to reply when Sam intervened.
"Do you want a course on the military hierarchy Johnson? Or does the fact that a Lieutenant-Colonel gives an order to a Sergeant seem normal to you?"
Kerry closed her mouth. Being surrounded by soldiers was somewhat unpleasant for her. Sam left the lab to her quarters. On the way she met Daniel.
"I assure you Daniel that she'll end up spending a very bad moment if she doesn't stop quickly." She said to him, upset.
"What's going on?!" He asked her.
"Johnson has just ordered me to stay in my quarters."
"But…she has no orders to give you?" Daniel asked.
"Not really, but given her relationship she'll necessarily involve the President. And then you see, it seems that 'Jack' is not there to defend me." Sam said dryly.
She had said this last sentence in a tone that left Daniel perplexed.
" 'Jack'?"
"That's exactly what she calls the General." Sam said in a grimace. "If she thinks that being in my quarters is going to change something, she puts her finger in her eye."
"I'll come see you, don't worry."
"Bring me some markers, please." Sam said to him.
"With pleasure." Daniel replied.
He smiled, imagining an edgy Sam locked in her quarters with a marker in her hand. Agent Johnson definitely did not know Sam if she thought she could limit her brain activity. Daniel went to see Sam quarter of an hour later, bringing the markers to her as planned. She was already deep in concentration, her eyes on a leaf. She had resumed her calculations. That made Daniel smile. He also said to himself that Kerry Johnson was lucky that Sam could channel her anger into science. He put the markers on the desk, and came out. He went to his office, wishing to plunge into some translations. The absence of Teal'c and Jack weighed him, but he tried to be as calm as possible for Sam. When he returned to Sam's quarters a few hours later to share his meal, he saw far away Kerry knocking at Sam's door. He frowned. He saw her enter, then heard her scream. He rushed to the door.
"Are you joking?! What's all this Colonel?!" Kerry shouted.
Daniel could not help but smile as he entered Sam's quarters. The walls were filled with formulas, calculations, and erasures... Sam had probably run out of leaves.
"What's going on, Johnson? Haven't you ever seen any calculations in your life?" Sam asked.
"You're laughing at me?! I ordered you to stop searching!" Kerry said.
"No." Sam replied.
"No?!" Kerry said.
"No, you only asked me to stay in my quarters." Sam replied.
"It doesn't matter. Come with me." Kerry said dryly.
"And where are we going?" Sam asked.
"You'll know soon enough." Kerry replied.
Sam looked at Daniel. This tone told him nothing good. Daniel gave her a worried look, but as he walked past her, she whispered not to worry. Kerry led her to level 23, then opened a door. A table was installed, with two chairs and writing material. A voice recorder was also on the table, as well as a camera in a corner of the room. Sam entered, and Kerry closed behind her. She sat down on one of the two chairs, turning her back to the camera, and told Sam to sit down.
" An examination?" Sam asked.
"Do you have a problem with that Colonel?" Kerry asked.
"Yes, that's a problem for me. What am I accused of?" Sam asked dryly.
She had to keep all her blood cold, otherwise the nanites would come into action.
"Oh, but you're not accused of anything Colonel. It's just that a team of fourteen men left for a mission, which I call suicidal, solely for the purpose of recovering a goa'uld device allowing you to remove the nanites from your brain."
Sam remained silent. This was not the first time such missions had taken place. She had participated in most, saving the planet at the same time.
"My commanding officers and I have discussed at length the problem that you're presenting, and it's time for us to know what information was transmitted to the enemy." Kerry said.
"No one!" Sam indignantly.
All this was a joke, and of very bad taste. Since when was her integrity questioned?
Kerry pulled out a device on the table, and Sam did not like it at all. She had already paid for it and she did not want to do it again.
"I refuse permission for you use this device on me." Sam said.
"No one asked you your opinion Colonel." Kerry replied.
"We don't know what interactions this might have with the nanites. Are you so stupid or do you pretend to be so?" Sam spat out to her.
"We've already asked the opinion of an expert, he assured us that we would only see what the nanites make you relive, and therefore what information you transmit. It'll not interact with the nanites!"
"I REFUSE!" Sam yelled, standing up and pointing at her.
This woman came out through her eyes. If she did not calm down very quickly, she would eventually break an arm.
"THE MAN I LOVE, JACK, STARTED TO TRY TO SAVE YOUR BRAIN OF UPTIGHT SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE! MY COMMANDING OFFICERS MAKE ME TAKE NOTE OF WHAT YOU TRANSMIT TO THE ENEMY AND I WILL DO IT IS THAT CLEAR LIEUTENANT COLONEL?!" Kerry yelled.
Sam had to hear badly. Did Kerry really announce in front of her that she loved General O'Neill? In front of her? She clenched her teeth, and closed her fist. She did not like that woman, but at that moment her hatred of her was sweet compared to what she felt for Jack. How could he dare to hide it?! So he approved everything that this woman was trying to do to her from the beginning?! She understood better why she had been appointed to replace him for the time of his absence. Tears of rage ran down her face. She turned on her heels and opened the door of the room.
"I'll be in my quarters. I'm not remaining in this room to undergo this stupid examination. Your methods are more than dubious agent Johnson." Sam said between her teeth.
She went back to her quarters, where Daniel was waiting for her. Seeing his friend arrive, he immediately knew she was mad with rage.
"Sam?" He asked.
"You knew?!" Sam asked him hastily, closing the door.
"Excuse me?"
"About her and the General, did you know it?" Sam asked him again.
"Oh, uh ... I had some doubts. But-"
"Some doubts?! She just yelled at me that the man she loves went on a suicide mission and it's my fault! THE MAN SHE LOVES!" Said Sam.
"Sam calm down..."
"Calm down?! She wants to make me undergo an examination to know what information I have transmit to the enemy! Oh, of course, the General had to approve all this from the beginning!" Sam said.
"No, I don't think so," said Daniel calmly.
"And why's that?" Sam asked.
"During your coma I was witness to an altercation between Jack and her. And believe me he was very far from approving what she was telling him."
"No matter! He sees whom he wants. But I refuse to let them question my integrity in this way!"
Daniel thought that Sam was deeply hurt by the fact that Jack could have had a relationship with Johnson. Sam's cell phone rang, and she answered rather brutally.
"What?!" She asked. "Oh Peter excuse me..."
Her tone softens. She felt almost ashamed: she had not thought of him since she awoke...
"Yes, I woke up three days ago. Yes sorry you couldn't be warned because the situation is complicated here ... Yes ... Yes ... You'd have to come, let's talk about it. In thirty minutes. I'm waiting for you."
She hung up and Daniel looked at her questioningly.
"Pete's coming in thirty minutes. I've got to talk to him, it's pretty important." Said Sam, looking embarrassed.
"No worries, I leave you... Take care of yourself Sam..." Daniel said.
He left, leaving his friend in her thoughts. The day was far from finished for her...