AN: So just so you know Part 3 is back from my darling BETA Julie AND will be ready to post right away... Not that you will GET it right away because I want you to sweat. :-D

Chapter 10

"Colonel O'Neill, prior to General Hammond's testimony were you aware of SGC policy to mark all MIAs as presumed killed in action at the four month mark even if there was no evidence to support that argument?"

"I did."

"Why is that, Colonel?"

"Prior to my capture, I was second in command to General Hammond. It was my responsibility to know all base policies and procedures." Jack said, sitting poker straight on the witness stand.

"Did the rest of your team also know of this policy?"

"It's part of our orientation training now but, yes, each of my team members know what to expect if they are missing for too long in the field."

"Why is that information part of your orientation training?"

"Manpower concerns mostly. We can't just pull in people from other divisions like most operations. If our offworld allies can't help track down missing personnel, we can't just keep throwing resources at finding someone. We keep our ears open if there's any word but that's about all we can do at that point."

"According to Major Carter's deposition, when confronted with the only option of sexually assaulting your second or letting someone else do so in your stead, she stated that you became despondent."

"I suppose I did." Jack agreed.

"Why?"

"She's my friend, my colleague. It's my responsibility to have her back. To keep her and the rest of my team safe."

"And having sex with her wasn't keeping her safe?"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"I didn't care that she gave me her consent. She only did so because she didn't want to be raped by a bunch of guys she didn't know." Jack said, his voice having gone up an octave with frustration.

"So if that hadn't been the only option available to you, you wouldn't have picked it?"

"Of course not!"

"How long was it before it was discovered the two of you were not engaging in sex in spite of being instructed to do so?"

Jack shook his head. "Things tended to run together in that place. There was no way to keep track of time really but it was at least six months."

"So, well past the time when your team would have been officially declared killed in action?"

"Yah. I… I tried to protect her from that, tried to get us out. I failed."

"I have no further questions."

"Lt. Colonel, your witness." Kerrigan told her.

"Colonel O'Neill, you admit you had trouble keeping track of time while imprisoned."

"Yah."

"So it's possible you engaged in a sexual relationship much sooner than you think with Major Carter."

"It's possible but it's not likely."

"But you had trouble keeping track."

"Sam never did. Teal'c didn't either."

"By Sam, you mean Major Carter."

"Yes." Jack looked miserable having realized his slip.

"So your friendship with Major Carter is friendly? Personal?"

"It would kind of have to be, don't you think?" Jack all but snarled.

"Why should it, Colonel, if she's your subordinate?"

"She's also the mother of my child. Last time I checked, people with a kid together should try to get along."

There was shuffling behind the door at the end of the room and a familiar hand reached in to hand the bailiff something. It was a sheet of paper that he took to Harm. Everyone looked at Harm while he read.

"Your honors, I request a recess."

"On what grounds?"

"On the grounds that we have a couple of much needed witnesses now available."

"Way to go, Londaris." Jack said under his breath, his voice full of admiration.

"This court is adjourned for one hour." Kerrigan said, as he tapped the gavel down.

"I object!" Bauer all but shouted.

"Don't worry, Henry. Your counsel can cross examine the witnesses, too." Kerrigan said and tapped the gavel two more times to make a point.

Harm approached the witness stand. "Come on." He told Jack.

"Commander Rabb, Colonel O'Neill can return to his quarters. You may bring your witnesses up to speed on your own. The SGC is full of many fine SFs who can give you a hand if needed."

"Yes sir." Harm told Kerrigan and gave Jack an apologetic look. Jack looked at Daniel and tilted his head slightly. Daniel stood up and waited for Harm and together they left the courtroom.

Jack just shrugged. He hadn't really expected to be included in the meet and greet anyway and Lt. Colonel piranha wasn't done with him anyway.

"Sir, thank you for bringing them." Harm said to Administrator Londaris, regarding his former Medical Officer and former chief warden of the rehabilitation facility they had turned into a breeding program.

"I will remain until they have testified to your satisfaction. They have much to answer for." He said, staring at the two men thought the bars of the brig.

"You didn't have any trouble getting them here?"

"Well, some, but not so much that it wasn't an attainable goal." He said with a smirk. "I had to grease a couple pockets and assure them I was bringing them back to face prosecution at home." He grinned like a pirate. "And not just taking them off into deep space so I could dissect them personally then dump them out an airlock."

"Sounds expensive." Harm said, thinking of how much a NASA shuttle cost to run.

"Very tidy though, don't you think?"

Harm gave the man a thoughtful look but didn't say anything. Whatever the man was now, he'd clearly been military prior to this or extremely disreputable. Both were certainly not off the table.

"Permission to treat this witness as hostile?" After the first witness was sworn in, Harm asked Kerrigan, referring to the man sitting in the witness chair with cuffs on his wrists and ankles, and sporting a black eye. An SF was standing on either side of him.

"Proceed." Kerrigan told him.

"Damned right I'm hostile." The scruffy man told him.

"Mr. Snrell, is it? Can you tell me in your own words how Colonel O'Neill ended up in our care and custody."

"Who?"

"The man sitting in the chair in front on the right."

"Oh. Him."

"You know that man?"

"Yah, I know him. Ain't hurt no one call him anything but Jack. Don't recall his processing number off hand. Don't care what it was neither."

"Let the court record show Mr. Snrell recognizes Colonel O'Neill as one of the people entrusted to his tender embrace." Harm said slightly ironically.

"So noted, Commander." Kerrigan told him.

"Mr. Snrell, do you happen to recall the events surrounding the processing the man you know as Jack?"

"Yah. I remember."

"Could you please tell the court what happened in your own words?"

"We brought 'em in with bunch a garbage off the street and a handful of prisoners."

"Explain that process if you know how it works."

"Sure." He sneered. "The prison ships are never full so we hit local slums and scoop up the garbage until they are."

"And what do you do with them after that?"

"Take 'em to the work program and breed 'em like rodents." He grinned.

"To what purpose?"

"Money, boy! We get a nice pocket of change for each baby they squirt out."

"So you intended to sell any child of those in your care?"

"Intended? They was paying us good money for nameless brats no one could trace. We were even nice about it. Once they popped out a few, we let 'em go and set 'em up with jobs."

"Sounds very profitable."

"Well, I ain't poor."

Jack glowered across the room at the man. His testimony immediately prior to this man had resumed with the LC accusing him of seducing Carter then withdrawing the comment like it didn't put the idea into Kerrigan's and the rest of the tribunal's collective heads. This slimy piece of garbage was making the whole thing sound like a good time was had by all.

"So you really don't care what happens as long as you get your money?"

'That's right."

"Do you allow the prisoners to rape the women if need be?"

Snrell sneered. "We let 'em fight over 'em like they are meat then let them take their prizes any way they want."

"What happens to the men if they refuse to have sex with a woman they have claimed?"

"Depends, I suppose."

"On?"

"If he's a good worker, we just take his woman away and let the other men do what they want with her."

"And if he's not?"

"We let the men do whatever they want with him. And take the woman away too." He said. Bauer's counsel had the grace to turn green.

"What if someone tries to prevent a rape?"

"No one would but if they did we'd kill him too. Prisoners are cheap."

"So if the man you know as Jack hadn't succeeded in claiming his teammate, he wouldn't have been able to do anything to protect her."

"Nah, he'd be dead."

"Thank you. No further questions."

"Do you have any questions for this witness?" Kerrigan asked Bauer's council.

"No questions for this witness." Saunders said, her voice horrified at the conditions the defendant had survived with his team. Bauer jabbed her arm with a finger but she shook her head emphatically. Nothing this man said was going to help her case.