The whoosh of the elevator doors opening interrupted whatever response Webb may have made. Jackson exited the elevator and began moving quickly down the hall. One of the guards gestured for the visitors to precede them so they fell into step behind Jackson. They followed him through a maze of corridors with their guards trailing behind. Finally Jackson stopped at a door marked with the name 'Hammond' and knocked politely.
"Enter!" they heard a voice say from within. Jackson opened the door and ushered them inside before motioning the guards to stay outside.
"Let me see if I understand you correctly, sir" the burly bald man behind the desk was saying as they entered the office. Webb and his companions assumed the man to be General Hammond. "You expect me to hand over Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter for transport to Leavenworth where they're to be held for court-martial. Further, we're to turn the twins over to child services."
"That's exactly right, Hammond" agreed the general seated opposite him in one of the visitor's chairs.
Whatever Hammond wanted to reply to his superior officer's statement he bit it back. Instead he rose to greet the newcomers. "Gentlemen, I understand you're here to offer your help to Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter?" he asked.
"I was told my assistance might be needed," Admiral Chegwidden confirmed.
"It appears they're in need of a couple of good lawyers," Hammond said.
"We'd be happy to serve, sir" Rabb said.
"They're Navy!" the senior general said. Rabb noted the nametag on his uniform read 'Moore' and realized he was the Air Force's senior JAG officer.
"You said yourself that the Air Force didn't have any other JAG officers with high enough security clearances available right now," General Hammond reminded his visitor with some satisfaction. It was the excuse Moore had used for why O'Neill and Carter hadn't been offered representation as of yet. "They're here and willing to help."
"You can see your clients after they've been transferred to Leavenworth," General Moore told them grudgingly.
"They're not going to be moved, sir" Hammond said. "Neither of them have been cleared medically to be transferred."
"When will they be cleared?" the colonel seated next to Moore asked.
"Not for some time, Colonel Rivers," Hammond informed him the tight lipped expression on his face conveying his displeasure at the entire conversation. "And as for child services taking custody of the twins, Dr. Jackson has papers giving him guardianship."
"They're not legal," Rivers informed them. "They weren't even notarized."
"No...they weren't, but then a notary public isn't a standard convenience where they've been!" he mocked the Air Force colonel.
"Daniel," Hammond warned. He picked a stack of papers up off his desk and held them out to the men in front of him. "We seem to have four lawyers in the room. Why don't we ask for a legal opinion? The originals are in a safe place."
Rabb stepped forward and took the papers from the general's outstretched hand before the Air Force officers had a chance to take them. He read the top page quickly before handing it to the admiral who likewise read it before passing it on to the Air Force attorneys.
"I'm not an expert in this area of law," Rabb began, "but it looks like this should hold up in court. It's a handwritten document signed by both parents asking that Dr. Daniel Jackson and Dr. Janet Frasier assume guardianship of their children should they die or become incapacitated."
"It will never see the inside of a court though," General Moore said. "This document is classified. You will hand the infants over to child services immediately."
"Like Hell I will," Jackson yelled. "Possession is nine tenths of the law they say. Well, I'm in possession of my godchildren, and I'm not handing them over!"
"Dr. Jackson, they'll be well cared for," Moore told him. "Child services has a foster home already prepared for them."
"I just bet they do," Daniel agreed with more than a hint of cynical sarcasm. "I'm not letting them out of my custody. The NID isn't getting their hands on those babies."
"The NID? Are you crazy, Jackson? What's going on here? Why would the NID be interested in a couple of babies?" Moore demanded.
Hammond looked at his watch. "Daniel, give these men the usual orientation briefing, tell them everything we know about what happened to your teammates, and answer any questions they have," he said handing the matter of the JAG officers over to the archaeologist for now at least. "SG-4 should have been back two hours ago."
"If you'll follow me, sirs?" Jackson said as he stood by the door.
"Now just a God-damned minute, Hammond!" Moore barked. "I'm not going to be dismissed by..."
"General, I have a team of eight in harm's way!" Hammond barked back. "I need to find out what's happened to them and possibly mount a rescue mission. I do not have the time for this right now. Dr. Jackson can answer any questions you may have concerning the situation with Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter." With that he strode from the room without a backward glance.
"By God, Admiral, you're going to have one more client by the time I'm through with Hammond," Moore growled.
Dr. Jackson glared at Moore but kept silent as he motioned for the others to follow him. The visitors followed Jackson out of the General's office and noted that the SF's had not been withdrawn. They followed the group into the briefing room and took up positions along the wall. Daniel quickly queued up the orientation presentation and began his lecture.
"You expect us to believe that you found an ancient alien artifact and are using it to explore the galaxy?" Rivers demanded at the end of Jackson's presentation.
"Why would I lie, Colonel?" Jackson asked with more than a little frustration. "I mean, it's not as if you can't corroborate this information with other base personnel or the brass."
"I don't buy it," Moore informed the frustrated man just as they all noticed a vibration in the room.
"Why don't we take them down for the show, Dr. Jackson," one of the SF's suggested with a nod towards a door at the far end of the room..
Daniel nodded. "Care to see the Stargate in action, sirs?"
They followed Jackson into the control room where General Hammond stood behind a slightly chubby sergeant looking at the monitors. The tension in the room was unmistakable.
"Sierra golf four, do you read me?" Simmons said again. "Sierra golf four, come in please."
Suddenly they heard a response through the speakers in the room. "I read you, sierra golf charlie. This is sierra golf four echo," the voice reported in a weak voice. They listened as the voice, now identified as Corporal Anderson, explained the situation at the other end of the Stargate. Three men were dead. Anderson was badly injured, perhaps dying. The other four members of the team had been taken by the natives. As Anderson explained the situation, Hammond was on the phone giving orders.
"Send a MALP through, Simmons" Hammond ordered before leaning over the microphone on the desktop in front of him. "Just hold on a little longer, son. We're sending help."
"Sir," the voice from the speakers confirmed.
The attention of everyone in the control room was drawn to the embarkation room below as the MALP unit rumbled through the event horizon. The visitors noticed a squad of men enter the room and stand waiting at the foot of the ramp in full combat gear. They watched on the screen as the MALP sent back images from the other side of the Stargate. After the MALP had confirmed they would meet no resistance at the other end, Hammond ordered a go on the rescue mission and the squad at the bottom of the ramp moved through the 'Gate. Seconds after the last man had gone through the 'Gate, it shut down.
"Now do you believe?" Jackson asked.
Moore and the others nodded dazedly. "Now explain what all this has to do with this fraternization charge against O'Neill and Carter?" Moore asked. "Fraternization is fraternization."
"Nothing is that simple here, sir" Hammond told his superior officer. "Especially not when it concerns SG-1. Let's go back to the briefing room and Dr. Jackson can explain."
"Why can't you explain it?" Chegwidden asked.
"Dr. Jackson was there. I wasn't," Hammond told them plainly.
Once they were seated again at the big conference table all eyes fell to Dr. Jackson who sat with his head down staring at his hands. They waited for a minute for him to begin, but once it became apparent he wouldn't General Hammond began to speak instead.
"A little over a year ago SG-1 was assigned a recon mission to P93-2K3," Hammond explained. "They would do a meet and greet with the locals and a planetary survey. Collect soil, mineral, flora, and fauna samples. The mission was scheduled to last for three days. The locals were a primitive patriarchal society."
The last was enough to jar Daniel from his quiet reverie and he began to describe what had happened on the mission in a low voice. "The women in that society were required to cover themselves much like in Muslim society today," Daniel explained. "It was something we'd run into before. We didn't have a hard and fast rule about it, but if we felt it would help with the initial contact, Sam would sometimes agree to wear the native dress."
"She didn't like it," Hammond interjected.
Daniel snorted. "She hated it," he corrected. "Cause Jack and I would tease her about it. This time she said just once she'd like to see one of us trussed up in the native garb. I don't know why, but Jack said something like 'sure why not?' then went off with the village men to change as well. The first two days of the mission went well. Just after breakfast on the third day we heard the 'Gate dialing up. Sam and I gathered our equipment while Teal'c and Jack went to check it out."
Daniel's eyes had taken on the glazed quality of someone whose gaze had turned inward to something only he could see. "Couldn't have been more than five minutes before they radioed back that it was a Goa'uld patrol," Daniel mumbled. "Sam got our stuff out of the village while I warned the village elders to say nothing of our presence. When Jack and Teal'c rejoined us in the woods outside the village he decided that he and Sam would recon the village since they were still dressed as natives while Teal'c and I hid."
Daniel's explanation was interrupted though as they all felt the slight vibration of the Stargate being activated. Hammond excused himself from the room, and Daniel resumed his story.
"The jaffa picked Sam out of the crowd, and Jack stepped forward claiming her as his wife," Daniel explained.
"His wife?!" Moore growled.
"I believe we do something similar in Saudi Arabia, General Moore" Daniel reminded him with a raised eyebrow. "They grabbed Jack as well then. There was nothing Teal'c or I could do. We were severely out-gunned. So we followed the patrol back to the 'Gate to find out where they were taking our teammates," he told them. "As soon as the 'Gate had shutdown, we dialed out to Earth for re-enforcements, but by the time we got to the world the Goa'uld had taken Jack and Sam to, they were gone."
"I take it Colonel O'Neill and Major Cater have been found?" Admiral Chegwidden asked.
"Yes," Hammond informed them as he entered the room with a soldier in field gear following behind. "Six days ago now. Dr. Jackson, Colonel Coburn has reservations about the possible success of a military extraction of our people. He wants to explore some other options. Gear up, and I'll take over here."
Daniel nodded. It was then that the visitors noticed the second set of field gear the soldier had carried in with him. Jackson made quick work of slipping into the webbed vest and belting on both a knife and sidearm before taking the larger semi-automatic rifle the younger man handed him.
"Good luck, Daniel" Hammond said as the two men exited the room.
"You're sending civilians into combat?!?" Chegwidden asked incredulously. "What the Hell kind of outfit are you running, General?"
"I'm sending Daniel to avoid combat if we can, but he can handle himself if things get hairy," Hammond said. "Other than you, Admiral, Daniel's probably got more combat experience than anyone in this room." Whatever questions they might have about how a civilian would have acquired such extensive combat experience went unanswered as Hammond slid a tape into a VCR mounted beneath one of the video monitors. "This is what happened six days ago," he said.
They watched in silence as Carter's slow crawl through the Stargate dragging her commanding officer behind played on the screen. When the tape ended it was Rabb that broke the silence. "What are their chances?" he asked in a hushed whisper.
"It's astonishing they've made it this long," General Hammond told his visitors unable to keep the sadness completely from his voice. "They're hanging on by sheer willpower. Their own and that of our medical staff. One of the twins is hurt too," he said. "One of the blasts Major Carter took penetrated her uterus burning J.D. He's got first and second degree burns on his torso and right arm."
"There's no hope then?" Chegwidden asked.
"Not on Earth," Hammond said. "If we can get them stabilized enough to take them through the 'Gate, we can take them to the Asgard or possibly the Nox."
"Now just a damn minute! They're up on charges and you want to take them..." Moore said.
"General Moore, you can't prosecute the dead!" Hammond growled at his superior officer letting more than a hint of his emotions show through.
"Easy, Hammond" Chegwidden murmured.
"What I don't understand is where those guardianship papers came from?" Rabb asked. "I mean they couldn't have written them after that," he said pointing to the now dark screen.
"They kept a journal during their captivity. Major Carter handed it to Daniel on the ramp," Hammond explained as he once again pointed to the screen. "The guardianship papers were in it."
"I'd like to see this journal, sir" Rabb requested. "It might help."
"Oh, I can guarantee it will help, Commander" Hammond said. "They'll be cleared of these charges in the end. They obeyed orders. This is just an attempt to damage their reputations and get the twins."
"How the Hell..." Chegwidden murmured.
General Hammond rubbed the back of his neck trying to relieve some of the tension that had been his constant companion for the past six days. "All our teams have standing orders that if they get left behind they're to do whatever they have to do to survive," he explained.
"Wait a minute!" Chegwidden growled. "Standing orders in the event they're left behind? Is this a regular occurrence?"
Hammond sighed. "Did you miss the part of Dr. Jackson's lecture that explained we're at war, Admiral? The iris isn't there to look pretty! We've already repelled several dozen attacks."
"Just how many people are we missing?" Moore demanded.
"Too many," Hammond informed him. "Sam and Jack were the only ones we held out any hope of coming home alive."
"So fucking his 2IC helped O'Neill stay alive how?" Rivers sneered.
The look on Hammond's face should have been a warning to Rivers that he'd stepped well beyond the line with that comment, but the smirk on his face didn't disappear. "They weren't taken as prisoners, Colonel Rivers" Hammond growled. "They were taken for the purpose of breeding slaves."
Hammond left the table as the lawyers and Webb attempted to process what he had just told them. Before any of them had fully come to grips with what he implied, Hammond returned with a binder which he dropped onto the table with a thud. "Read, gentlemen" he ordered.