"Yes, Sir," John replied, relieved to say the least. "It will be a pleasure."

At that moment, Sam Carter entered the conference room unannounced.

CHAPTER 21: LOYALTY

"John?" Sam said, more as a statement than a question. As she walked in, she could have sworn she heard George Hammond's deep, reassuring voice.

"Ma'am, welcome back," John called, resisting the urge to jump to attention more from guilt than anything else. He was glad the feed from Earth had blinked off before Colonel Carter was close enough to see the monitor. His only plan of defense was a straightforward admission that he'd been asking questions behind her back. He wasn't looking forward to her reaction. How bad could it be? He wondered

"What's going on, John?" Sam persisted.

The straightforward approach took all of two minutes. He was right; she wasn't pleased, Not at all.

"So you mean to tell me that you've already discussed General Francis' call with your team and General Hammond? I was here you know," Sam protested indignantly.

"What would you have done in my position?" John asked, knowing Colonel Carter would understand his actions once she had a chance to think it through.

Sam paused, taking the measure of the younger man. He was right. She couldn't expect him to warn a possible threat to the station that they were on to her.

"Exactly the same thing, John," she admitted. "I would have done exactly the same thing." After walking to the other side of the conference room table, taking a seat and savoring a couple of deep breaths, Sam continued. "I can't believe this is happening. What can General Francis hope to accomplish by this?"

"General Hammond believes the charges are 'politically motivated'," Sheppard supplied. "Do you know what he means by that?"

"Yes, I probably do," Sam said. "There are charges pending against General Francis. Most likely he's trying to divert attention."

"How would this help him?" John asked, wondering how Francis hoped to weasel out of trouble by accusing Sam.

"He may have reason to believe it will, help him that is," Sam said evasively, not sure how to explain the dynamics involved in Francis' gambit. Then, "John, this could get ugly, very quickly. How did you leave it with Francis?"

"He thinks I believed him," John said. "He still thinks I'm his junior officer, too stupid to know any better."

"Maybe we can use that to our advantage when the time comes," Sam said, struggling to come up with a plan.

"Any way I can help, Ma'am," John replied. "Permission to speak freely about a superior officer?"

"Granted."

"From what I remember of General Francis, he'll do anything he can to save his own butt. The charges don't have to be true; he'll find a way to make them true."

OoOoOo

Later that evening, in an exclusive Washington residence, a notoriously impatient man answered another unwanted call from his blackmailer.

"Yes, Ray. What do you want?" he began.

"Oh don't be like that, Hank. I'm not going to ask for anything you haven't done before," Raymond Francis answered.

"Remember what I said," Hank replied. "No one from this office is moving against Jack O'Neill."

"Not a problem. I've got O'Neill covered," Francis responded quickly.

"How so?"

"O'Neill's like a dog with a bone. You distract him and he drops the bone," Francis explained. "And I've got the perfect distraction."

"And what's that, Ray?"

"Now Hank, to use an old intelligence community joke 'if I told you, I'd have to kill you'," Raymond Francis said in a voice dripping with contempt. "And I'm not ready for those consequences, old friend, not by a long shot. Let's just say, all these years of working with spies has come in handy."

"What's that supposed to mean, Ray?"

"It means, don't underestimate me, Hank. People always underestimate me, you and Laura included. And I'm sick of it," the man spat. "But back to my reason for calling. I need you to arrange for Colonel Samantha Carter to be recalled on suspicion of espionage."

OoOoOo

"Come on in, Jack," George Hammond called as he saw Jack O'Neill approach his outer office.

It had been less than twenty-four hours since Sam returned to Atlantis and about as long since George Hammond completed a disturbing conversation with Lt. Col. John Sheppard. The seventy-year-old three-star General had spent most of that time looking into the rumored allegations made by Raymond Francis. Despite his unshakeable confidence in Samantha Carter's loyalty, Hammond knew Francis' call to Sheppard would only be the beginning. He wanted to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.

What Carter's persistent commanding officer found through official and unofficial channels was disturbing. It was time to inform his second-in-command that his good friend's status as Commander of Atlantis station may soon by in jeopardy. In fact, her entire career might be called into question.

Hammond knew Jack's reaction would be neither pleasant nor polite.

It was 0700. Most offices in the top secret wing of the Pentagon were still empty. But this couldn't wait. A pre-trial meeting with Francis and his attorney would occur later this morning. At that time, preliminary evidence uncovered by the JAG officers would be disclosed to the defendant and his lawyer. Hammond expected all hell to break loose once Francis appreciated the body of evidence against him. Jack needed to be ready.

"George, we have to stop meeting like this," Jack said, coming in and shaking the older man's hand.

"Something's come up, Jack. It involves Sam and Raymond Francis."

"You really should not mention those names in the same sentence," Jack said making his disdain all too clear.

"Jack, sit down," Hammond directed. "I had a call from John Sheppard. It seems Francis is compiling a case for treason against Sam."

"Treason? What is this, a joke? Sam is the best example we have of professionalism and loyalty," Jack said, amazed by the desparate measures General Francis was taking. "He can't possibly find anything to back up such a charge."

"That's just it, Jack," Hammond countered, "I'm afraid he's put together some fairly damning evidence already."

"Like what?"

"Excerpts of mission reports alleged to have been forwarded by Sam to foreign agents, medical reports from the SGC indicating she was less than balanced upon return from certain missions, experts willing to testify she was likely compromised by Jolinar's possession."

"Is that it? Is someone supposed to believe such a ridiculous claim based on that?"

"There's also a matter of some incriminating documents that he says turned up in the estate of Robert Kinsey."

"George, what are you talking about? Kinsey disappeared a good two years ago."

OoOoOo

Colonel Robert Cramer, Bobby to his friends, was the lead JAG assigned to the Francis investigation. An old friend of Jack O'Neill, Cramer was known as a no nonsense officer who'd known action on the front lines before and after becoming a JAG. Most recently, the forty-five year old widower and father of three had served in Iraq, returning stateside less than three years ago.

Cramer had arrived to review the Francis case with Jack, the convening officer, prior to the arrival of the accused and his counsel. An experienced military attorney, Cramer was surprised when Jack laid out what he knew of Francis' allegations against Sam Carter. He was even more surprised when Jack suggested the allegations were a ploy to interfere with the man's own court martial.

"Jack I don't see where he'd go to all this trouble over these charges," Bobby said. "Yeah they're embarrassing and despicable. If convicted he'll pay a price, but a trumped up espionage charge, why?"

"There's more, there's got to be," Jack insisted. "This isn't about one instance of fraternization. It can't be."

"Well if there's more, my investigators are having one hell of a time finding it, Jack," Bobby informed him. "We've barely got enough to convict him on the Airman Gilmore charge. Jack, General Francis is an intelligence officer. You have to consider the possibility that he is simply doing his job when it comes to Colonel Carter."

"No, Bobby, I don't have to consider that possibility," Jack said in a no-holds-barred command tone, "and neither do you."

TBC

A/N: As you can tell, the plot thickens and is building to ….?

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