Disclaimer: Still don't own it.
I don't know if any of you were specifically looking forward to the scene where Victoria meets President Kimball and tells him all about the Stargate/convinces him it's real/etc.
I decided against writing that scene because, frankly, Aaron Kimball is not likely to show up much, if at all, in this story, and because we get so little of a handle on him and his actual personality in the game that I'd have nothing to work with.
'Cobarde' is apparently Spanish for coward, from what I can tell.
I looked all through my notes on this story, as well as everywhere I discussed it, and I can't find anywhere where I confirmed how long from the start of the game it took for the Second Battle of Hoover Dam to happen - just that the story started six months after the battle. As you'll see below, I finally settled on a date, which suggests that the events of New Vegas took place over the course of about 5 and change months, which, given the small area covered, is not all that unreasonable. There is logically only so long the battle would have been realistically delayed by the Legion, after all, and when the game starts, the battle is on the verge of happening.
It's been a long time since I've written any SG-1 characters. As always, let me know if you think the characterization is off, though the circumstances for them are are different, and we're only just now introducing them so we'll see them in more familiar contexts that will give me a better chance to display them IC.
Wasteland Gate
By Kylia
Chapter 7: Captain Carter, I Presume
Sublevel 23, Cheyenne Mountain
Victoria Fernandez's Quarters
D Plus 11, Project Blue Book Rediscovery
"Wait, so... they actually agreed to it?" Veronica didn't sound like she could believe it, though Victoria couldn't really seem why. This had been an obvious outcome, sooner or later. Hammond wasn't an idiot, and the Cheyenne Council obviously enormously respected the man - well, not counting that ass Kinsey.
Makes me think of Benny... but with even less charisma.
"Well, it was pretty close," Victoria admitted after brief reflection, realizing that perhaps Veronica had a point in her surprise. "The final vote might have been 5-2, but I'm pretty sure Hammond called in some favors, if I was following what he told those two people wavering to get them to change their votes. But they agreed - they'll let me talk to the NCR, and get them to send over scientists, Rangers, soldiers and resources, in exchange for an equal share of the take from the Stargate - trade, loot, salvage, whatever."
It was the most practical solution, and the distances involved would ensure that the NCR, even if they ever wanted to make a play for sole ownership of the Gate, would have no real chance at doing so for at least a decade, probably more.
By the time the NCR is ready to expand this far west, the post-Legion chaos will probably have stabilized. Either a bunch of mini-:Legions, or more likely a mix of Legion-inspired warlord fiefdoms and other random statelets.
Small though they might be, they'd be numerous, and well-militarized from constantly fighting each other. It wouldn't be an easy go for the NCR to just take them over by force. Which would delay any bid for sole control of the Stargate even more.
And the benefits...
"Ultimately though, especially after I had Teal'c explain just how in over our heads we are, they saw the merit in getting more manpower and resources here." The former Jaffa was still being carefully watched by the CDV - Victoria was content that he was a genuine defector, but it was asking a lot to expect people to believe it. "You and Arcade will keep an eye on him? Make sure they treat him-"
"I already said I would, Victoria," Veronica interrupted, smiling a little. "You're really concerned about him."
"I promised he'd get a fair shake here. And he will. Though I'm not sure how safe it is for him to go onto the surface," she added, musing. "I mean, he's got that snake in his stomach, but..." she shook her head. "Would it be safe?"
"How safe is it for a vault resident to come onto the surface for the first time?" Veronica pointed out. "Any harm will take years, at least, as long as he takes the occasional dose of radaway as needed, and avoids the seriously irradiated zones, and his symbiote will probably protect him from some of the effects of rads anyway."
"True..." Victoria granted. "Still think he should take it carefully. Which is one of the arguments against moving the Stargate to the surface." The impracticality of moving large numbers of men and material through the elevator - and the handful of ladder-based escape tunnels that they'd found and opened up - had made Victoria propose to Hammond, during the post-mission debrief, that they move the Stargate outside of the Mountain.
"Whereas the technical arguments about how it is impossible didn't matter?" Veronica asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course! Impossible is just for people who lack imagination," Victoria chuckled, then she sighed. "I'd ask if you and Raul were sure, but..." she shrugged, "of course you'd be sure."
"There's no way to move the Stargate's dialing computers and power systems," Veronica repeated herself, sounding just a touch exasperated. I didn't actually ask if you were sure! The courier protested in her head, but that was a weak defense, to say the least. "Not without technical infrastructure we don't have, and... honestly, I'm not even sure how they got those supercomputers to actually interface with the Stargate itself. It's like..." she frowned, clearly searching for the right comparison.
"Using .44 ammo in a .357 pistol?" Victoria suggested. Veronica chuckled a little, but waved her hand dismissively.
"Of course you'd come up with a comparison using pistols. No... more like using an energy cell as ammunition in... like, a 9mm or something," Veronica shrugged, "I don't see how they made it work, but they did. But seeing that DHD in person, on the other world?" She shook her head, "I don't see how any number of supercomputers could make it work."
"Well, they made it work. But if we can't move it, we can't move it," Victoria shrugged. "I just don't see how we're gonna get anything out from there, in bulk. Kind of ruins the whole 'farming offworld' idea."
"Maybe not," Veronica said, a small, knowing smile playing across here features. Victoria raised an eyebrow and just looked at her, waiting for her to elaborate. Veronica hesitated for a moment, then, "It's not a sure thing, but when we were examining the retracting roof device, Raul and I have some ideas. I'm going to talk to the technical and science people here in Cheyenne while you're gone - they have a better idea of what this mountain can take, after all."
"Here's hoping you figure it out," Victoria said, slipping a few more canteens of water into her pack. Good sources of water were few and far between on the trip back to the Mojave - would be a little easier, since it was just her, but they'd had a few close calls the way here. Better to take advantage of the water here while she could. She looked back over at Veronica, who was seated in one of the chairs by the small table, watching her pack for the trip.
For a moment, Victoria thought she saw... something odd in Veronica's expression, but then it was gone. Imagined it, probably. She held back a sigh.
"Are you sure you want to stay here? I mean - you're welcome to come with me." She hadn't offered it to Veronica earlier, knowing she wanted to stay and play with all the toys here, but now that the prospect of not seeing Veronica for at least... two months? More, probably? Sure, they'd parted ways for a few days at a time, but never for more than that since they'd met, started travelling together.
Veronica hesitated for a moment before shaking her head, "You don't need me slowing you down. Besides... if the NCR finds out I used to be a member of the Brotherhood?" She shuddered a little at the idea. Victoria wanted to protest, defend her country's good name, but...
Well, when it came to the NCR's attitude towards former Enclave members and former Brotherhood members, the track record for both wasn't all that great. She'd heard about a few Brotherhood defectors further west - the best that could happen to them was being drafted into OSI, but under pretty heavy and restrictive limits about what else they were allowed to do.
"I agree with you that we need the NCR's help," Veronica said, "And I know you're a patriot, and I don't want to begrudge you actually liking where you came from, but..." she shook her head, "I don't trust the NCR. The idea of what they'll do with everything they get out of the Stargate?" She shuddered again, "imperialism, expansion, overextension."
"You've been talking to Arcade again," Victoria remarked, crossing her arms in front of her chest, daring Veronica to deny it. "On one of his... rants." She almost said 'screeds', but that wasn't fair. He was never exactly wrong, not speaking without a basis, and given his personal history with the NCR, the Followers' history with the NCR, she couldn't begrudge him his issues, but...
What exactly does he see as the endgame for the Wasteland? A bunch of tiny little statelets? Does he actually think that would last?
She liked Arcade, held his intelligence and knowledge in great regard, but he sometimes was so hilariously naive about the realities of people - which was odd, given how much history he read, and the life he'd lived.
"A little. But I don't need to be Arcade to have a bad opinion about the NCR."
Victoria couldn't dispute that, so she just sort of nodded. Granted, the Brotherhood wasn't really in any position to criticize the NCR for overextension, but the NCR had done a lot to make Veronica's life unpleasant, at least indirectly.
"Fair enough," she said, vocalizing her nod. "Look, I'll grant you that plenty of the NCR's politicians are expansion-minded, though hardly all of them. And Kimball is certainly one the leading proponents for adding more territory for the Republic, and I'll even grant you that he has this coming election locked down, easy."
"I thought you said General Oliver was going to run against him? He's a war hero?"
"Haha, no. I'm sure that's what he thought, but going by the newspapers from back west that arrived between Second Hoover Dam and when we left, the pro-Kimball press - which is most of it - has been spilling all the details about how his General 'Wait and See' approach screwed the whole Mojave over - Nipton was burned on his watch, Nelson got lost because he kept hoarding men at the Dam and didn't try to push the Legion off the other side..." she laughed.
"Plus, the press - though not Kimbal explicitly - was giving credit to the victory to me." Victoria paused, grinning, then "Well, to Ambassador Crocker and Colonel Moore for being smart enough to hire me, anyway."
"Didn't Moore badmouth Crocker ever chance she got?"
"And then some. I'm sure it's weird for them to be painted as part of some grand plan for the two of them," Victoria shrugged, "But by the time the elections roll around, Oliver's going to have every casualty, civilian and military, between First and Second Hoover Dam pinned to him." She shook her head, "Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, really." The man's obsession with personal glory and hoarding men at Second Hoover Dam may have left her plenty of opportunities to make money and name for herself, but it also meant a lot of people died.
Sure, he might have had the right idea about the battle itself, positioning the Rangers where he did, doubling down on the Heavy Troopers, but... he could have done a lot more for the Mojave if he'd been willing to free up some regular troopers, been willing to fight some smaller battles before Second Hoover Dam.
"So I'll grant that the NCR is gonna still have a bit of an expansion-oriented mindset for a while, but the NCR didn't just go to the Mojave for no reason, and the NCR wasn't overstretching itself just by being there. That was Oliver been an idiot and House constantly undermining the NCR. And the NCR did need the water and electricity from the Dam - but with all the costs incurred in the campaign..."
Victoria shrugged, "You don't have to worry about the NCR doing any expanding for a while. There's no public will for it. And Kimball has his eyes on getting reelected over and over until he dies, so..."
She didn't have proof on that, but she'd spoken to enough people who knew the guy better than she ever could, and much as she hated to admit it, Caesar was right that the NCR had a bad habit of just keeping the same people in power over and over until they died or screwed up big time. The presidency wasn't very Republican, in a lot of ways - it was more akin to a popular dictatorship. Like what the actual Julius Caesar was, according to Arcade.
But we do have the Senate, and they check the president. And that was something Caesar of the Legion never had. And given that the Roman Senate had killed the original Caesar, the Roman version was probably a lot more badass than the NCRs.
Though I will say stabbing the guy - what was it, fifty something times or whatever? - feels absolutely absurd. Total overkill.
Though, really, six bullets in the skull of the Caesar she'd killed was probably overkill too. She'd just wanted to get rid of his smarmy, self-confident smirk as he tried to convince her that he was the best hope for New Vegas, the Mojave and the Wasteland as a whole. That she, a woman born and bred in the NCR, would totally enjoy a great life under the Legion's authority.
Given how many times the man supposedly broke his word with the tribals he conquored, I'm sure I'd have been ordered seized and raped right after Second Hoover Dam, or close enough. Unless he decided to make me his concubine or something. He had leered at her for a few seconds right after she'd entered his tent, though she doubted the deranged old man would have been able to get it up anyway.
"He'll wait until they're finished digesting the losses from the Mojave campaigns and incorporating the new state. I imagine some of the independent communities near New Vegas that weren't formally part of the 'Mojave Wasteland' might ask to join the new state, but that's about it." Victoria shrugged again.
"I'm not saying your concerns are unfounded," she pressed on, Veronica looking unconvinced. "They're just... premature. Besides, with any luck, we'll get enough awesome technology from the Stargate that the NCR will have to stop and incorporate it all before expanding more." Victoria didn't really find the idea of NCR expansion - done well, anyway - as that bad of an idea. Overall, it was better than the alternatives, for most communities in the Wasteland.
Veronica grinned a little there. "Well, I suppose there is that. All kinds of new toys to play with, soon enough. Arcade is planning on talking Teal'c into teaching him Goa'uld, did he mention that?"
Victoria shook her head, "I don't think so, but it makes sence. We're going to need to learn how to read all those squiggles out there, or at least someone will have to." She looked at several extra cases of .357 and .44 ammo that had bullets made by the SGC's ammunition forge, then shoved those into her bag too. She'd carried heavier loads, but she'd rather have too many bullets than not enough, out there in the wastes.
"Alright. That's everything." She let out a sigh, then looked back to Veronica, opening her mouth, to say...
What, exactly? 'Come with me to a country you're not fond of and abandon all the cool tech toys we've found just because I've got a crush on you and I'm too much of a chickenshit cobarde to say anything?' That'll go over great.
"Stay safe, Victoria," Veronica said, getting up off the chair. "And in one piece - if you're going to just leave me behind for two or three months, I'd better be getting you back whole and healthy." She hit Victoria gently on the arm. "Is that clear?"
Victoria smiled a little, "Crystal clear, Veronica." Before she could scare herself out of it, she leaned in and pulled Veronica close for a quick hug - doing her best to make it purely a friendly and platonic-seeming one. When she pulled back, she met Veronica's eyes, reluctantly pulling her hands to her sides. "I'll miss you." She said the last three words in a softer, gentler voice than she intended.
"You too," Veronica said back, her voice just as low. Victoria hesitated for another moment, but without any idea of what to say, she justed stepped back, grabbing her pack and slinging it over her shoulder, slipping her arms through the straps.
"See you in two to three months," she said in a more normal tone, and left her quarters, headed for the elevator.
On the road again.
Of course, compared to the potential wonders of the galaxy at large, the Wasteland didn't seem quite as... enticing, anymore.
November 27th, 2282
Presidential Mansion, Shady Sands
Captain Samantha Carter - Sam as she preferred to be called - had not known what to expect when she'd returned to OSI Central Headquarters after her work improving and updating the refurbished nuclear reactor in Junktown to find out she'd been summoned to the Presidential Mansion.
She had met President Kimball twice, though really only in passing, when the leader of the NCR had visited OSI Central to recieve reports on ongoing projects. She'd shaken his hand both times, exchanged a few pleasantries and that was about it. Her work with reactors, while important, was not the sort of high profile stuff that actually attracted much attention as long as everything went according to plan.
Which, for now, they had. There was still a lot to be done, but power was becoming easier and easier to manage in the various cities of the Republic, in greater spread to all home, and beyond the big cities further and further into the countryside. Especially now with the power coming in from Hoover Dam in larger - and cheaper - quantities than ever. House had charged the Republic through the nose for every kilowatt-hour. With Hoover Dam now directly under the management of the NCR, the power was being provided, with the only cost the actual cost of maintaining the dam and the flow of energy.
Of course, a lot of people had to die for that to come.
"Captain Samantha Carter, seconded to OSI. I've been told to report to the President?" She told the guards at the front door. They checked a list confirmed she was on it, then briefly lowered the force-field protecting the entrance to let her through, after she surrendered her weapons - a combat knife and a service pistol, both of which she carried as a matter of course.
When she reached the antechamber to the President's Office - after passing another security checkpoint, though this one didn't have a force-field, she found the president's personal secretary at a desk, as well as a man in worn, plain, brahmin-leather shirt and pants, sitting at one of the chairs, as if waiting to be called in. He was handsome, in a rugged and weather-beaten sort of way, with short salt-and-pepper hair that worked better for him than most.
"Captain Carter?" the Secretary asked, looking up from her terminal at her entrance.
"Yes. That's - that's me." She nodded, then gestured to one of the empty chairs. "Do I just sit until he's -"
"He's ready for you now. Go on in," the Secretary nodded, and she opened the door into the President's Office as directed. The room was large and shaped like an oval, supposedly in keeping with the shape of the Old World's president's office. It was well decorated with art and small sculptures, both from the Old World and more recently. On one table was a collection of whiskeys and other alcohol, in glass bottles that looked more expensive than their contents, as well as glasses. The large desk at the center of the room, of course, had a well-organized chaos of papers and paperwork.
Seated behind the desk was President Kimball, and on the other side of the desk was a woman whose face Sam recognized, but she couldn't place it. She had olive skin, short black hair and wore what looked like a tailored business suit. Though the woman appeared unarmed, she sat on the edge of her seat, like someone long-used to reacting to threats, poised to act if there was any danger.
"Mister President, Sir," Sam sketched a salute and stood at attention for a moment.
"At ease, Captain," The President said. Despite his former career as a general in the NCR Army, Kimball now sat with the ease of a comfortable politician. "Let me introduce you to Victoria Fernandez - the Courier, as some have taken to calling her."
Samantha did a momentary double-take. "Miss Fernandez - it's a pleasure to meet you." She said, approaching the woman and extending a hand. The Courier stood and grasped her hand, offering a solid, firm handshake back. The woman didn't look like the stories said she was, but Sam had seen her photo in the paper and her face on recruitment posters since Second Hoover Dam - the NCR was cashing in on the stories of the Courier's enthusiasm to make up for the recent losses, as much as they could - because the Army was also starting to draw down and phase out some recruits, now that sheer manpower wasn't what they needed quite as much. So it was a bit of a balancing act.
Still, looking the woman over, feeling her strong grip and the look in her eyes, Sam could believe that this was the woman who had criss-crossed the Mojave, killed Caesar and even killed the legendary Lanius.
Sam was no stranger to combat, but the occasional skirmish with bandits inside the borders, or raiders on the frontier, was nothing compared to what this woman had supposedly dealt with.
"Likewise, Captain Carter. But please, call me Victoria."
"Have a seat, Captain," President Kimball gestured to another chair that one of the Presidential Guard brought up to the table, before returning to his positions along the wall. Sam sat down a sthe President continued.
"Miss Fernandez here has come with an interesting offer for the NCR. A once in a lifetime opportunity," he explained. He nodded to Victoria, and Victoria pulled out what looked like a small vial of lime-green, slightly glowing liquid. It looked almost like Uranium, but not quite - and of course, if it was Uranium the woman was carrying in her pocket, the woman's Pipboy would have been beeping, for one, presumably.
"Once in several lifetimes, Mr. President," Victoria corrected. She looked at Sam, "This is called Naquadah. I'm not a scientist myself, but some really smart people tell me it's capable of offering a great deal of energy. More than Uranium or Plutonium, even." She gave a number, one that lived up to the supposed claim.
But there was nothing on Earth that could do that, be that, supply that sort of energy.
"That's - that's impossible." Was the Courier just a con-artist, here to sell some bottom land to the NCR? "The Old World didn't have anything with that sort of power, and no lab today has the ability to synthesize some new element. I don't know what you're selling-"
"This isn't something I salvaged out of some Old World ruin - not exactly anyway," Victoria said with a grin. "Tell me, do any of these calculations look familiar to you." She took a small notebook from her pocket and handed it to Sam. In precise, neat writing, was line after line of copied down equations, data points and information. It took Sam a moment to realize what she was looking at, but only that.
Wormhole math. Theoretical astrophysics, the sort of thing that only she - and maybe one other person in all the Wasteland, tops - could even begin to understand, and only because she'd made a hobby out of studying the obscure and pointless pre-war science. Even as she flipped the pages, her brow furrowing, she realized she could only make sense of half of what she was looking at, if that.
"Where did you find- where did you copy this down from?" Sam asked, looking up from the notebook, meeting Victoria's gaze. "And how did you know I would have any idea what it is?"
"My friend Arcade. He used to be with the Followers. He told me about the time you dropped by their camp at the Old Mormon Fort, traded for anything they had on Astrophysics, let them copy what you had."
Sam remembered that - she'd passed through New Vegas to help maximize the power coming through from Hoover Dam - sure, they'd paid through the nose, but they'd needed every bit they could get. The OSI had little patience for the Followers, but they still had access to some of the best pre-war knowledge out there, and astrophysics was so useless that it hardly mattered if they traded what they had.
"As for were we found it - well, have you ever heard of a place called Cheyenne Mountain?" Sam shook her head. "What about something called NORAD?"
That did ring a bell. "Some sort of... Air Force Base, pre-war?" The beginnings of some sort of point - a guess, impossible as it might be - of what the Courier was getting at was starting to form. Had the Old World actually managed to leave Earth? Find something - out there?
No, that had to be nonsense. But...
"More or less, yeah. Among other things. It was built into the upper levels of Cheyenne Mountain - the place was a well-fortified bunker against nuclear attack. But under NORAD was another project. Stargate Command. Where I found something very interesting. A device, made from this Naquadah, that is capable of opening a point to point wormhole to other planets. Planets where this Naquadah can be found. Planets where aliens live - planets totally free of radiation." She grinned, "and where all kinds of fancy technology can be found."
Sam stared at Victoria for a moment. She seemed one hundred eprcent genuine, absolutely confident in what she was saying. But equally... this was impossible. It had to be.
"The power requirements would be -"
"Insane. They are. Cheyenne Mountain has massive fusion generators to power the Stargate. And it uses a whole army of supercomputers to run the damn thing. But it's real. I went through it." She grabbed at a pile of pictures from the desk, and showed them to her.
A stone ring, in what did look like some sort of underground bunker. And then another one, of the ring being full of... something, a spout of what seemed like water shooting out of it. And then another, with a calm appearance, a vertical pool of 'water'... but it couldn't be that. Even in the photo it seemed to shimmer a little. And then pictures of people walking into it.
And then several photos of... what looked like a grassy, tree and bush filled landscape, the sort of place you rarely saw in the Wasteland, or at least in the western former United States...
"I have more proof, but I couldn't actually bring all the fancy toys with me here into this meeting, since most of them are weapons." Victoria assured, but Sam wasn't sure she needed more proof. This was... impressive, all on it's own.
And it certainly made the math make sense.
It... it was too crazy not to be true, right?
She looked back at the math. "Holy Hannah," she finally said. No. She believed Victoria. At least tentatively. "I want to see the rest of this proof but... I think I believe you." She looked at the vial of 'Naquadah' greedily. "And I want to analyze this. If what you're saying is even half true... it could revolutionize power in the NCR. We could do all sorts of things."
"So I've been told by every other scientist from OSI I've spoken to," the President said, "Miss Fernandez specifically requested you because of your passion for this... astrophysics. She is proposing a partnership."
"With her?"
"With the independent settlement of Cheyenne. They're the ones who have physical possession of the Stargate by virtue of living in the long-opened upper levels of Cheyenne Mountain," Victoria said. "I was the one who actually accessed the long-sealed underlevels for Stargate Command."
Victoria then proceeded to lay out the details, in an obviously abridged form, of how she'd come to find the Stargate. Mr. House, having been alive since before the War, was actually one of the less wild rumors about the man. That he'd been in some fancy life-support machine, rather than a ghoul, was a little bit weirder. Victoria relayed how she'd found the mention of the SGC, Cheyenne Mountain, and the secure code in House's files, how she'd journeyed to Colorado, across the territory of the fragmented Legion, reaching Cheyenne Mountain, and then discovering the Stargate.
And stepping through it.
"It was... disorienting, at first, travelling through that Wormhole, but there was also a rush."
"How could you be sure you could breathe on the planet? Or that there was any atmosphere? How did - if the stargate is made from this... Naquadah, how is it on Earth? How did the Air Force even make it!?" Sam asked, speaking quickly.
"They didn't. It... it was found. Buried in a place called Egypt, way over in Africa." She gestured grandly off to the side, as if gesturing towards Egypt. Sam didn't know that name offhand, but she did know Africa was a continent in the Eastern Hemisphere. "It was brought here, thousands of years ago. By aliens."
Sam coughed, "Aliens? Came to earth and brought this Stargate with them?"
"Yep," Victoria chuckled. "All those weird cranks living in a shack on the edge of town talking about UFOs and abductions and shit? They might have actually had a point." Sam blinked, at the casualness of Victoria cursing in the presence of the President, though when she glanced over at Kimball, she saw no reaction from him.
"And the aliens that brought the Stargate here brought humans from Earth, thousands of years ago, to all sorts of other worlds. And those humans are still there. Millions, upon millions of humans, all over the galaxy. On hundreds or even thousands of worlds, all free of radiation."
Countless trading partners - the opportunities for food, raw materials, technology...
"Holy Hannah..." she said again, stretching the oath out longer this time. "There's got to be a catch." There was always a catch in the Wasteland - find Hoover Dam, have to deal with House and the Legion. Find the Poseidon Energy plant in the Mojave, can't get the place to work for years.
"It's a doozy," Victoria agreed. "There's... bad guys out there. We don't know everything about them, but... they make Caesar look humble, and they have spaceships that can travel faster than light. It might take them a year or two to get here, apparently, but... they could be here. Plus side, they're busy killing each other. But... if we go out there, there's every chance we fight. A lot. Every time."
"However, I am convinced that the benefits outweigh that risk," President Kimball said. "While I admit, jumping headfirst into another conflict so soon after the Mojave is... risky, the nature of the Stargate and the distance involved means we can't and don't need to commit too many people, or even the resources we did into the Mojave campaign, all said and done."
"Does that mean you have decided what you want to commit to the project?" Victoria asked the President.
"A Hundred soldiers from the Army - all volunteering for a long deployment, and none with families that they can't bring with them, two squads of Rangers, an ample budget of caps and other useful materials, and six scientists from OSI, including Captain-Doctor Carter." He turned back to Sam. "Unless there's a pressing reason why you think you'd be of more use here. Miss Fernandez showed that math to several other OSI scientists, none of them understood any of it."
Carter shook her head, "No, no... I... I don't see how I'd be more useful refurbishing power plants back here in the NCR heartland. I'll be honest - I can only understand about half of what Victoria showed me, but what I can understand... it sounds amazing, sir. I'd volunteer for this chance even if you weren't ordering me to." She wasn't eager about crossing former Legion territory, or going so far from home, but she didn't really have much here anyway, apart from OSI. Her father, General Jacob Carter, had died two years ago, from Cancer, despite the best efforts of the NCR's doctors, and her brother still didn't really like to speak to her. He grudgingly returned any letter she sent, months after he'd receive them, but really, was that worth staying in the NCR, when she had the chance to actually put astrophysics to use?
I never expected it, but I'm more than happy to embrace it.
"I'm glad to hear it." He looked to Victoria, "I'm still consulting with my advisors about the particulars of what sort of deal we want with Cheyenne, and what we'll accept, but in general terms, the suggestions you brought from this... Councilor Hammond are acceptable."
Victoria nodded. "I'm happy to hear it."
"Speaking of sending Rangers with you," He pressed a button on the intercom on his desk, contacting his secretary. "Send him in, please."
"Yes, Mr. President," the woman replied, and then after another moment, the older man that Sam had seen waiting in the antechamber walked in. The man gave a salute to the President when he arrived, but didn't stand at attention.
"Aaron. I was wondering when you'd have time for me," the man said with a slight smirk. "I've been waiting for hours." Sam raised an eyebrow, wondering who this was - from what the President said, this was a Ranger, but even the Rangers didn't tend to just greet the President so casually, did they? They were pretty loose on the formalities, but this loose?
"You've been there for one hour, at most, Jack," the President said, actually smiling for one moment, before introducing them. "Jack, meet Captain-Doctor Samantha Carter, from OSI, and Victoria Fernandez. Captain Carter, Miss Fernanez, meet Ranger Jack O'Neill."
"Happy to meet you both, I'm sure," Jack said, miming tipping his hat to both of them. "So, Aaron, what finally got you to pull me out of Baja? You sent basically everyone else onto Hoover Dam, but you left me behind to keep up the mission. Kinda makes a man feel unloved," he said, insincerely, putting a hand over his heart, as if genuinely upset.
"Okay, I've met a lot of Rangers, but never one... quite like you," Victoria said. She got up and offered him a hand as well. Sam followed suit - Rangers didn't exactly have traditional ranks, so unless this O'Neill was put in charge of the operation - which wasn't unlikely - it wasn't protocol to salute him, or call him sir.
"It's my god-given right as a Ranger to be a smartass," O'Neill said, "Most Rangers just don't embrace it like I do, that's all. So, I ask again - what's the big mission?"
"Travelling to other planets," Victoria said.
O'Neill paused, then looked to the President, raising an eyebrow. "No, really, what's the big mission."
"She's right, Jack." The President confirmed. "The pre-war United States government had alien technology and were using it to visit other worlds. And now the NCR has a chance to take advantage of what's out there."
"Well. That sounds... fun." He clapped his hands together, rubbing them a bit. "Tell me more."
"I'm afraid I have some more meetings, Jack. Captain Carter and Miss Fernandez can explain matters on the way to the demonstration."
"Demonstration?"
"The toys, Ranger. Among the things that are out there are some very fun weapons."
"Well then," he said, with an elaborate flourish, gesturing to the door. "After you." Sam wasn't sure what to make of the man's antics, but they did carry a certain charm. She followed Victoria out of the President's Office, O'Neill right behind her.