Chapter 2
Rogers Airforce Base, 5 Hours Later.
Amanda Hayley was bored. Here she was, stuck in the middle of the New Mexico desert, with nothing but sand to look at, when she could be out there, exploring whole new worlds. But instead, she was stuck here, the worst assignment in the Airforce. O.K., so the ship was kind of interesting to study, but working with wormhole equations would have been a lot more fun.
"Why couldn't I have been assigned to Cheyenne Mountain?" she muttered out loud.
"Geez, you must really dig that deep space radar stuff, that's about the hundredth time I've heard you say that." said a voice from the bunk below.
"Would you stop eavesdropping on me, Kelly?"
"Well, I would, but you know, your mouth is just so damn big I..." she was interrupted by the sound of the PA system activating.
"Attention, attention, Lieutenant Hayley to Major Carlson's office, immediately."
"Oooh,"Said Kelly,"looks like someone's in for a dressing down. What'd you do to piss off the Major this time, Hayley?
Amanda ignored Kelly's parting remark, and headed out to the Major's office.
When she got there, she gave the door a discreet knock.
"Come," said a voice, sounding distracted.
Amanda opened the door and walked in. Closing the door behind her, she came to attention and saluted the Major. "Lieutenant Hayley, reporting as ordered sir."
Carlson looked up from his papers long enough to return the salute.
"At ease, Lieutenant." he said, as he turned his attention back to his papers, which Amanda could see were lab reports. Eventually, he finished the report and placed it in a pile of similar reports that had arrived on his desk in the last day. He then turned his attention to the young Lieutenant.
"I understand there was an accident in the lab today. Apparently, you were, and I quote,' poking things she shouldn't be near, and doesn't understand'."
"Sir I ..."
"But that's not why your here, Lieutenant. I have a group of people coming in today, from another airforce installation, who aren't really welcomed. But I have orders, direct from the joint chiefs, that they are to be extended every courtesy at my disposal, until such time as they decide to leave. I want you to liaise with these people, and keep them happy until they leave. Is that understood, Lieutenant Hayley?"
"Yes sir."
"Very well," said Carlson, as he handed her a sheet of paper," these are the rooms that have been assigned for their use. I've been informed that their security clearance is much higher then anyone on this base, including myself. So, if they ask to see the ship, you are authorised to show them. They should be arriving in approximately half an hour, so be ready. That is all Lieutenant, dismissed."
Amanda came to attention, snapped off a salute, then did an about face, and left the Major's office.
***
Half an hour later, she found her self standing in the shadow of a C5 Galaxy transport plane, waiting for the ramp to lower. When it finally did, she was so shocked, that she almost forgot to salute the 2 officers walking down the ramp towards her.
"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, I...wasn't told it was you coming, sir, ma'am." she stuttered.
"That's alright, Lieutenant, we weren't told we'd be getting the brass band treatment, although you seem to have misplaced the band. And most of the brass as well." said O'Neill, with a straight face.
"Um...ye...yes, sir. Um...Who...?"
"Oh, right!" said Carter," Introductions. Well, you already know Colonel O'Neill, and Teal'c from your...ah...trip, this, is Dr. Jackson, the other member of ... our unit, and this is Lieutenant Conner, who has just been assigned to us."
"Pleased to meet you, Dr." said Amanda, extending her hand.
"Please," he said, shaking the proffered hand, "call me Daniel."
"Conner!" shouted O'Neill.
"Yes sir?"
"Why don't you go with Hayley and find our rooms."
"Yes sir." said Conner, as he started to walk towards Amanda, who was talking with Daniel.
"And see if you can find the canteen as well, I dunno about anyone else, but I'm starving."
"Yes sir." he said, as he and Amanda started to head towards the nearest building.
"Daniel! Come here a minute."
"Yes?"
"Right, gather round, all of you. Now, the general wants us to do a favour for him. Apparently, his niece, on his wife's side disappeared last year, and he wants us to find her for him. Now, he gave me a list of people to ask, names, addresses, that kind of thing. Carter?"
"Sir?"
"While me, Teal'c and Conner sort out things here on the base, I want you and Daniel to start looking for her. A bunch of her friends disappeared at the same time. The list has got names and addresses for all their parents, as well as the husband of one of the other girls. I want you to ask everybody on that list, and anyone else that might know were they went. The rest of us will meet up with you after we've sorted stuff out here, understood?"
"Yes sir."
"Good."
"Sir?"
"Make it snappy, major, we haven't got all day."
"You remember when we took Lieutenant Hayley through the gate, sir?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, sir, I... kind of promised her that, if she graduated the academy, I would try to get her assigned to the SGC, so, I was wondering if..."
"If I could order Carlson to assign her to us on a permanent basis."
"Yes sir."
"I'll see what I can do Major, but you and Daniel better get going if you want to be done by the time we are."
"One more thing, sir. Where are we going to meet you?"
O'Neill thought it over for a moment before responding. "The General said that Jeff and Nancy Parker owned a restaurant in town. We'll meet up there at.... what time is it now?"
"08:00, local time"
"Right, we'll meet at the restaurant at 13:00 hours. That gives you 5 hours to find and talk to everyone on that list, so you'd better hop to it, Major."
"Yes sir. Come on Daniel, let's commandeer a jeep."
"Right, O.K." said Daniel, following her towards the vehicle depot.
***
As the jeep left the base gates, Daniel spoke to Carter.
"You know, we could have some problems with this."
Carter glanced over at him from the driver's seat. "What do you mean?"
"Well, presumably, we're asking the parents about their kids because the General figured they knew what was happening, right?"
"Yeah, that makes sense."
"Right. So if they know what's going on, then they must know that the airforce has been involved."
"So?"
"So...no offence, Sam, but you're airforce, they aren't exactly going to trust you, are they?"
"Then we'll just have to be extra persuasive then, wont we?"
"I guess."
"So, who should we try first?"
"Well, my bet would be Valenti."
"Valenti? That's a strange name."
"And I suppose Teal'c isn't?"
"O.K, point taken, but why him?
"Well, he's one of the sheriff's deputy's, so..."
"So you think he might have used his position in the sheriffs department to cover their tracks."
"Right."
"Alright, let's go see him then."
***
Jim Valenti was just about to leave his house and go to work, when he saw the airforce jeep pull up out side his house. As he watched through his window, he saw two people, a woman and a man, get out and head towards his door.
Great, he thought, more government types looking for Kyle and the others. Just then, the doorbell rang. He considered pretending that he wasn't home, but then realized that his jeep was sitting in the front driveway. Sighing, he went to open the door.
When he got a good look at them, he realised that only the woman was airforce. The man wore the same gear that she did, but he looked decidedly uncomfortable about the MP5 slung over his shoulder.
"Deputy Valenti?" asked the woman, a Major, if he was reading her rank properly.
"Yes?"
"I'm Major Carter, USAF, this is Dr. Jackson."
Doctor? Well that narrowed it down. He was either a physician or a scientist. Looking at him, Valenti suspected the latter. So why was a civilian carrying an MP5, he wondered.
"We wanted to ask you about your son, Kyle. Would you happen to know where he is?"
"Look, Major, I already told your buddies from Rogers, that I don't know where Kyle or his friends are. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm late for work."
As he finished speaking, he pushed past them, climbed into his jeep, and headed into town.
Sam and Daniel watched him drive off. They stood in silence for a while, until Sam spoke.
"O.K, that can't be good." she said.
"What can't?" asked Daniel.
"The fact that another branch of the airforce is looking for these kids as well."
They walked back to the jeep in silence. Once they were in, Daniel turned to Sam.
"So, who do you think it is?" he asked
"Well," replied Sam, "personally, my money would be on the one branch that is always getting in our way."
Daniel frowned as he thought about that for a moment, until he reached a conclusion.
"NID?" he asked.
"Right, and I don't know about you, but I want to get to them before Maybourne's ex-buddies do."
"Oh, absolutely."
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The Crashdown Cafe, 1300 hrs
"So, how'd it go, Major?"
"Not well, sir, we've spoke to everyone on the list but the Parkers, and they all say the same thing, they don't know where the kids are. It's almost like they've rehearsed it. What about you sir, any luck?"
"Some. The General was right about Carlson, as soon as I gave him an order, he hoped to it like a rabbit. Consequently, the ship is now safely on it's way to Area 51, and, Lieutenant Hayley here has been transferred to our 'division'. Oh, and I also managed to pick this up at their armoury."
"What is it?" asked Carter as she examined the case.
"It's a modified sniper rifle. It fires special rounds, that are basically just a hollow bullet, with a homing beacon inside."
"In case the Gould gets away after the first engagement?"
"Exactly. With this, we can find him anywhere on the continent. Now, Major, why don't we get some lunch, and see if the Parkers know anything about their missing daughter. We've got about two hours before Conner finishes the tasks I gave him at the base."
As they started to move towards the cafe, Carter got a good look at the group of people at the counter and stopped.
"What is it Carter?" asked O'Neill.
"Sir, those people at the counter, they're all the people from the list."
"Well, this should be interesting. Carter, Daniel, why don't you go first, and me, Teal'c and Hayley will follow behind you."
Sam and Daniel turned back towards the door, and pushed it open.
When the door opened, the conversation at the counter stopped, as everybody turned to see who it was. As soon as they spotted Sam and Daniel, a few of them began to mutter under their breath. One of them, Philip Evans, spoke to the couple behind the counter, who Sam assumed were Jeff and Nancy.
As they reached the counter, the one Sam assumed was Mr. Parker spoke.
"Before you start asking questions, Major, I might as well save you some time, and tell you that we don't know where Liz, or any of the others are."
"Actually," said O'Neill," I was just going to ask for a burger and a cup of coffee."
Jeff looked him up and down before responding.
"And you are?"
"Colonel Jack O'Neill, USAF. You've already met Sam and Daniel; this is Lieutenant Jennifer Hayley, and, Teal'c. Now, how about that burger."
Jeff looked the entire team over, before writing the order on his pad and passing the page back to the cook. He then looked at the rest of the team, who began to place their orders almost faster than he could write them down.
When they were finished, they sat down at the counter, and Jeff walked back to them, with everybody else following.
"Now, while we're waiting for your order, why don't you tell us why you're so desperate to find our kids?"
O'Neill looked at them for a moment, then looked at his team. He turned back towards Jeff, and looked him in the eye.
"The truth?" he asked.
"That would be a good starting point." said Valenti.
"Alright, it's a personal favour we're doing for our CO, General Hammond."
Nancy looked at him in shock for a moment, then she recovered, and interrupted Valenti's next question.
"What's his first name?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" asked O'Neill.
"I said 'What's his first name'."
"Who's first name?"
"You're CO, General Hammond."
"Oh, right. His name is George, George Hammond."
Nancy flopped back in her chair, a look of complete shock on her face. Everyone watched her with concern, until Jeff spoke.
"Nancy? Nancy, what is it?"
Suddenly, she snapped out of her trance, and looked around at her friends.
"My.... my older sister, Margaret, married a George Hammond."
Everybody looked at O'Neill, who began to look decidedly uncomfortable under their combined stares. He coughed once, and then began to speak.
"As I was saying, the General asked me to find his niece, and make sure she was O.K."
Just then, their meals arrived, and the Parkers and their friends retreated to the back room, obviously to discuss what they should do next.
After they had finished eating, Jeff Parker approached them.
"We didn't lie to you, we really have no idea were the kids are at the moment."
"I sense a 'But' coming up." said O'Neill.
"But," said Jeff, smiling slightly, "we can get in touch with them, through Liz's mobile phone. They've agreed to meet with you, out in the desert, tomorrow. There is one condition though."
"And that is?"
"We have to come with you. That is, all of us."
O'Neill looked at the group of obviously worried parents.
"Sure, I don't see a problem with that."
"I'm afraid I do, sir." said Carter.
"And what's that, Major?"
"Transport, sir. Major Carlson gave his road blocks strict orders that only military vehicles are allowed in or out of town."
O'Neill looked thoughtful for a moment, and then his eyes lit up (NOT literally) and he snapped his fingers.
"Eureka!" he exclaimed, and went to the back of the room to use his radio. After he had left, Nancy looked at Carter, as if looking for an answer.
Carter smiled at her, and leaned in, as if sharing a big secret.
"The Colonel has a... condition, that's very rare among military men of his rank." she said.
Nancy glanced at O'Neill with worry in her eyes, then turned back to Carter.
"What is it?" she asked.
Carter's smile turned into a grin.
"A sense of humour." she said.
Just then, O'Neill rejoined the group, and everybody looked at him.
"Alright," he said, "Conner is gonna get us a transport truck from the base. He'll meet us here in about half an hour. Now, what time did Liz say they would meet us?"
"About noon." said Nancy.
"And how long will it take us to get to the spot where we're to meet?"
"2 hours." said Valenti without hesitation. The other parents looked at him, and he shrugged as he replied to their unasked question. "I timed it once."
"Alright then," said O'Neill," if we all meet back here at 9 am tomorrow, that should give us plenty of time to get to the meeting place, right?"
Everybody nodded their assent.
"Great," said O'Neill, "now all we need is somewhere to stay the night."
"You can stay here." said Nancy, "We've got a couple of spare rooms out the back that the men can use, and the woman can stay in Liz's old room."
"We wouldn't want to be an inconvenience, Mrs Parker." said Sam.
"Nonsense," said Nancy, "it's only for one night after all."
"Well," Said Daniel, "if you insist, then thank you."
"O.K then," said O'Neill, "obviously Carter and Hayley will be doubling up. Danny boy, you double up with Teal'c, I want to keep an eye on Conner until I'm sure we can trust him."
Daniel looked at Teal'c.
"Well," he said, "at least I know you don't snore."
With everything sorted, the gathering began to split up, with everyone going separate ways to prepare for the next day.
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