Painful Echoes
by Layton Colt
Author's Note's: Sorry for the delay on this story. Happenstance, my Voyager/Stargate crossover WIP has been taking up most of my time. I've got about twenty pages written now, and SG-1 is only just appearing, which is going to make the story even more fun to write and probably make this story take even longer to finish.
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Jack O'Neill walked confidently down the gray corridors and made his way quickly to General West's office. Jack knew that West was still involved in some very secretive stuff -- perhaps even more so than himself -- and he was hoping that the General might have some useful connections.
He was pretty sure that West would help him out. Jack had been on the team that went to save a young soldier from Iraqi forces. The young soldier had been Simon West, and it had been only due to Jack's leadership that he had been saved. Simon and Jack had even become close, before Jack had been caught up in the more shady side of the military, a side of the military General West worked hard at shielding his only son from.
Jack reached the door and leaned against the wall. The door had been open -- saving him the trouble of barging in -- and the General hadn't noticed him yet. He studied the older man for a moment, observing how much more gray he had from the last time he had seen him, and how the lines around his eyes had spread, making him look older than his years than his forty seven years.
Finally the General looked up from his papers, alerted to a presence by the tingling feeling of being watched. "Captain O'Neill," he said in surprise.
Jack smiled, flashing his white teeth and filling the General with dread. Jack was dangerous when he smiled.
"General West," the young captain greeted. "It's been a long time."
The General sighed impatiently and waved Jack in. "Alright, son, why don't we just get straight to the point? This is obviously not a social call."
Jack entered, changing his smile from wolfish to disarming in an instant. He slide in to the seat across from the General and rested his hands on the edge of the arm rests, his right hand tapping along the wood surface. "There's a spy posted at my base," he said bluntly.
The Genera's expression remained neutral. "Jack, you are Special Forces, that base has more security than the White House."
Jack ignored the exaggeration. "General, there's a spy on my base, I'm sure of it. I need you to help me find out who it is."
West narrowed his eyes. "Why haven't you gone to Holton with this?"
"Holton is a fool," Jack said vaguely, ignoring the fact that he was insulting a senior officer. "I was hoping you'd have more common sense."
"What is it that you want, Jack?"
Jack smiled brightly. "Not much. All you have to do is give me a list of all the new officers transferred to the base in the last two months. I'd get it myself, but Holton's locked me out. Apparently he thinks I need time off."
West gave him a look that showed clearly he agreed with Holton, but didn't call him on it. "Why two months?" he asked.
Jack shook his head in frustration. "They had to have come recently. Things started to go wrong a couple of weeks ago. I don't know who's new, they discourage us from talking to other teams. There's people working on that base I've never met, and that's something I've never been comfortable with."
General West nodded. "I think I'll be able to get the clearance and get the list for you. What are you going to do until them?"
Jack shrugged. "I guess I'll just head back to base -- maybe ask some questions."
"Don't step on too many toes, Jack," West warned. "And for crying out loud, don't ever tell Holton what you think of him."
Jack grinned. "I wouldn't dream of it."
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"No," Jack said firmly. "Carter, we are not going to use you as bait."
"Jack," Daniel said thoughtfully. "Sam might be on to something."
"I'm not using one of my people as bait," Jack growled angrily. "We're dealing with dangerous people Daniel, maybe you don't understand that."
Daniel gave him a derisive glance. "You're right, Jack. What do I know about dealing with dangerous people?"
Teal'c came to stand between the two men, before the slight disagreement turned into one of their full blown shouting matches.
"We aren't doing this and that's final," Jack told them.
"But they need her, Jack," Daniel said. "They can study those devices all they want -- without Sam, they'll never get them to work."
"Sir," Sam said. "I can take care of myself if things go wrong."
"I never thought otherwise, Carter, but even the best can be caught off guard."
"Jack, there's a lot at stake here. If this person is really right here, working beside us everyday, then they could sabotage us if they see fit. For all we know, they have already. This is the easiest way to get them to show themselves, and you have to remember, we're dealing with the NID, not the Goa'ulds, they're human -- just like us."
Jack avoided looking at Daniel. His speech was, as always, infuriatingly practical. "I don't know about that," he said as he finally looked up. "You really think Maybourne is human?"
Daniel smiled. "You have me there," he admitted.
"Alright," Jack said with a sigh. "Carter, you sure you're alright with this?"
"Of course, sir," she said with a grin. "It was my idea."
"Right, thank you for that, by the way. Okay, I'm going to go report the items missing, we've been keeping it under wraps until now. But if I make a point of saying that whoever took them won't be able to test them without you, we might get a reaction from our spy. Teal'c, I want you to stick to Carter--"
"Sir!" Sam interrupted. "I don't need a babysitter!"
"Consider it backup, Carter," Jack said patiently. "You could be Rambo, and I still wouldn't set you up as bait and then send you out without someone watching your back."
Carter blushed and looked down. "Of course, sir."
"Daniel," Jack said turning to the archeologist. "I want you to do some research. While I go set a trap for our spy, I want you to look through the personnel files and tell me if you see anything suspicious, okay?"
Daniel nodded. "Sure, Jack."
"Okay, team, let's get to it."
to be continued . . .
Sorry this is so short! Again. I'm hoping to get this story wrapped up in two more parts, but considering how short I've been making them, it might take three.
I kind of got distracted from this story with 'Happenstance' and another Jack-focused story, 'Charlie.' In 'Charlie,' Jack starts receiving strange phone calls from a child claiming to be his son. Daniel and the rest of SG- 1 need to help him find out what's going on, and they discover a conspiracy that goes all the way up to Maybourne -- who else? --
Author's Note's: Sorry for the delay on this story. Happenstance, my Voyager/Stargate crossover WIP has been taking up most of my time. I've got about twenty pages written now, and SG-1 is only just appearing, which is going to make the story even more fun to write and probably make this story take even longer to finish.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack O'Neill walked confidently down the gray corridors and made his way quickly to General West's office. Jack knew that West was still involved in some very secretive stuff -- perhaps even more so than himself -- and he was hoping that the General might have some useful connections.
He was pretty sure that West would help him out. Jack had been on the team that went to save a young soldier from Iraqi forces. The young soldier had been Simon West, and it had been only due to Jack's leadership that he had been saved. Simon and Jack had even become close, before Jack had been caught up in the more shady side of the military, a side of the military General West worked hard at shielding his only son from.
Jack reached the door and leaned against the wall. The door had been open -- saving him the trouble of barging in -- and the General hadn't noticed him yet. He studied the older man for a moment, observing how much more gray he had from the last time he had seen him, and how the lines around his eyes had spread, making him look older than his years than his forty seven years.
Finally the General looked up from his papers, alerted to a presence by the tingling feeling of being watched. "Captain O'Neill," he said in surprise.
Jack smiled, flashing his white teeth and filling the General with dread. Jack was dangerous when he smiled.
"General West," the young captain greeted. "It's been a long time."
The General sighed impatiently and waved Jack in. "Alright, son, why don't we just get straight to the point? This is obviously not a social call."
Jack entered, changing his smile from wolfish to disarming in an instant. He slide in to the seat across from the General and rested his hands on the edge of the arm rests, his right hand tapping along the wood surface. "There's a spy posted at my base," he said bluntly.
The Genera's expression remained neutral. "Jack, you are Special Forces, that base has more security than the White House."
Jack ignored the exaggeration. "General, there's a spy on my base, I'm sure of it. I need you to help me find out who it is."
West narrowed his eyes. "Why haven't you gone to Holton with this?"
"Holton is a fool," Jack said vaguely, ignoring the fact that he was insulting a senior officer. "I was hoping you'd have more common sense."
"What is it that you want, Jack?"
Jack smiled brightly. "Not much. All you have to do is give me a list of all the new officers transferred to the base in the last two months. I'd get it myself, but Holton's locked me out. Apparently he thinks I need time off."
West gave him a look that showed clearly he agreed with Holton, but didn't call him on it. "Why two months?" he asked.
Jack shook his head in frustration. "They had to have come recently. Things started to go wrong a couple of weeks ago. I don't know who's new, they discourage us from talking to other teams. There's people working on that base I've never met, and that's something I've never been comfortable with."
General West nodded. "I think I'll be able to get the clearance and get the list for you. What are you going to do until them?"
Jack shrugged. "I guess I'll just head back to base -- maybe ask some questions."
"Don't step on too many toes, Jack," West warned. "And for crying out loud, don't ever tell Holton what you think of him."
Jack grinned. "I wouldn't dream of it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"No," Jack said firmly. "Carter, we are not going to use you as bait."
"Jack," Daniel said thoughtfully. "Sam might be on to something."
"I'm not using one of my people as bait," Jack growled angrily. "We're dealing with dangerous people Daniel, maybe you don't understand that."
Daniel gave him a derisive glance. "You're right, Jack. What do I know about dealing with dangerous people?"
Teal'c came to stand between the two men, before the slight disagreement turned into one of their full blown shouting matches.
"We aren't doing this and that's final," Jack told them.
"But they need her, Jack," Daniel said. "They can study those devices all they want -- without Sam, they'll never get them to work."
"Sir," Sam said. "I can take care of myself if things go wrong."
"I never thought otherwise, Carter, but even the best can be caught off guard."
"Jack, there's a lot at stake here. If this person is really right here, working beside us everyday, then they could sabotage us if they see fit. For all we know, they have already. This is the easiest way to get them to show themselves, and you have to remember, we're dealing with the NID, not the Goa'ulds, they're human -- just like us."
Jack avoided looking at Daniel. His speech was, as always, infuriatingly practical. "I don't know about that," he said as he finally looked up. "You really think Maybourne is human?"
Daniel smiled. "You have me there," he admitted.
"Alright," Jack said with a sigh. "Carter, you sure you're alright with this?"
"Of course, sir," she said with a grin. "It was my idea."
"Right, thank you for that, by the way. Okay, I'm going to go report the items missing, we've been keeping it under wraps until now. But if I make a point of saying that whoever took them won't be able to test them without you, we might get a reaction from our spy. Teal'c, I want you to stick to Carter--"
"Sir!" Sam interrupted. "I don't need a babysitter!"
"Consider it backup, Carter," Jack said patiently. "You could be Rambo, and I still wouldn't set you up as bait and then send you out without someone watching your back."
Carter blushed and looked down. "Of course, sir."
"Daniel," Jack said turning to the archeologist. "I want you to do some research. While I go set a trap for our spy, I want you to look through the personnel files and tell me if you see anything suspicious, okay?"
Daniel nodded. "Sure, Jack."
"Okay, team, let's get to it."
to be continued . . .
Sorry this is so short! Again. I'm hoping to get this story wrapped up in two more parts, but considering how short I've been making them, it might take three.
I kind of got distracted from this story with 'Happenstance' and another Jack-focused story, 'Charlie.' In 'Charlie,' Jack starts receiving strange phone calls from a child claiming to be his son. Daniel and the rest of SG- 1 need to help him find out what's going on, and they discover a conspiracy that goes all the way up to Maybourne -- who else? --