In the Freshman dorm on campus Dawn was busy typing on her laptop when her phone rang, "Yo." She said.
"Hey beautiful."
"Jon!"
"You bet."
"How's Academy life treating you?"
Jon leaned against the brick wall and surveyed the line of men and women behind him, "Well, hell week is aptly named." And there was boisterous laughter from his classmates.
"Poor baby, should be a piece of cake for an old hand like you."
"You'd think." Jon said, irony rich in his voice. "Listen sweetie, just want to touch base with you. I love you and miss you."
"Same goes Jon. Go kick some ass for me."
He chuckled, "I will, bye." And he hung up.
Dawn hung up with a smile, and then continued to type her paper.
Jon jogged back to the barracks and was gathering stuff to study for his next days classes when some upperclassmen entered. He bit back an oath and continued to work until he couldn't ignore them any longer. "Sirs!" he barked and stood at attention.
The fourth year cadet eyed him with disdain, "Cadet puke stain. I want you to come out with us."
"Yes Sir." Jon followed them out. He was a little wary, the last time they'd had him doing sit-ups until he threw up on one of their shoes. It was a nice bit of aiming if he did say so himself.
"Guard that lamp post Cadet." The 4th year barked.
"Sir yes Sir." Jon barked back and began some boring guard duty. Could've been worse he reckoned. He had been there for ten minutes, the light of the lamp blinking on in the gathering darkness when he heard a high pitched scream, quickly cut off. He looked around, the area was empty of students, most were studying or standing legitimate watches when he saw the four 4th year cadets drag a female first year cadet around the corner, struggling all of the way. To his horror he heard her slacks rip and he realized what was going to happen, and he realized he was supposed to be their audience. Shit. He quickly sprinted for them, jumping and kicking the cadet who had ripped her pants in the head, knocking him to the ground.
The other cadets quickly tried to jump Jon but he was quicker and spun kicked one in the thigh, hearing a crack and making him sink to the grass. The other two he kicked in the balls, one of them throwing up on the grass. Jon grabbed the female cadet's arm and pulled her up, "Run now and report this. Don't listen to these shitstains." He saw the doubt in her eyes and he took her chin, "It needs to be reported." And she ran.
The cadet he had kicked in the head turned on him with a snarl, "You were supposed to be guarding the lamp post Cadet!" he
"You are a disgrace to the Air Force you mother fucker." Jon said with contempt, "It's people like you that make the Air Force look bad." The other two cadets were starting to look concerned and Jon glanced at them, "It's too late for you. You stood by and let him do this, your asses are on the line too. I'm heading straight for the office to report this, do one last thing as an officer and be men enough to turn yourselves in." He looked them and shook his head, "Like we need officers like you protecting our country." And he marched away.
He entered the office and saw the cadet in tears in the outer office. He looked at her and she shook her head. His face grew still and he marched to the office and knocked, "Enter."
Major General Kyle Armentrout looked at Cadet O'Neill without recognition in his eyes, for which small blessing Jon was grateful. Jack had an unpleasant association with this man in Iraq.
"Sir, I need to report an attempted rape."
"I've heard all about it Cadet. She's blowing 4th year hi jinks out of proportion." The man said, and Jon's stomach lurched with disgust.
"General Armentrout, if you do not report this then I'm going over your head Sir." Jon said steadily.
The General rose, his face red with rage, "You insolent pup! You have no idea who you are talking to!"
Jon looked the man in the eye, "I know that I'm looking at a man who left his troops to die on the field of battle in Iraq. I'm looking at a man who infected his first wife with gonorrhea because he was screwing around with hookers in the Far East. I'm looking at a man who is on his last posting because the Air Force didn't want to air it's dirty laundry, and I'm only going to say this once. Read the cadet's statement, have someone impartial look into it and make sure that the four cadets who did this are dismissed from the Academy."
The General was so pale that the veins in his head stood out. "How…" he began.
"I'm may be a first year Cadet Sir, but don't cross me." And Jack backed out of the office and closed the door. He knelt down and smiled at the cadet, "Let's go to the nurse and have you checked out, ok?"
She nodded, tears in her eyes as they walked. "What's your name?" He asked, her name tag had been lost in the attack.
"Beth Yoder."
"Listen Beth, this stuff doesn't happen all of the time." He grimaced, "But it obviously does happen. Always make sure you document it and never go around the campus alone. Ever! There's a self defense class I saw advertised by the cafeteria, read it and join up."
She nodded, "Yes sir." The reached the nurse's offices, Jon knocked forcefully and the duty nurse answered.
"Cadet?"
"We have a cadet that was almost raped ma'am. She needs to be looked at."
The nurse looked startled and waved them in, "Have a seat Cadet." She looked as the girl, "Go into the third room and strip, put on the paper gown."
"Yes ma'am."
The nurse sighed and rubbed her eyes, "Cadet, I wish…. ," she looked at Jon with regret in her eyes.
Jon sighed, "This is not the first of these and won't be the last. I know. I want it to stop and I think that with enough pressure we can nip this shit in the bud. Just make a report and make sure that the campus security gets a copy, as well as Armentrout and the President (a General in charge of the Academy). If there even looks like there is going to be a cover up I'm going to blow it sky high."
Lt. Collins looked at the first year Cadet with respect, "Ok Cadet. We'll do it your way. Anything else?"
"Yeah, can I borrow your phone, I need to make a call."
"Help yourself." And she walked back to the exam room.
Jon nodded and dialed quickly.
"Major Davis and this had better be important," came the annoyed man's voice.
"It's O'Neill Major."
"Sir?"
Jon chuckled, "Wrong O'Neill."
Major Davis's head cleared, "Jon?"
"Yeah, listen. I did something that's going to have repercussions."
"Christ Jon, you haven't been at the Academy for what? One month yet?"
"It's the game 'rape the cadets' that I'm trying to stop Paul."
Davis rubbed his face and sighed, "So it's started already?"
"Yeah and I'm gonna stop it. I've already had words with Major General Armentrout."
"Damn, damn, damn. All right you little shit, I'm on it. I take it there's going to be a report?"
"Count on it, even if I have to type it up and carrier pigeon it to the Pentagon myself."
Paul laughed, "Thanks for the heads up. Watch your back."
"I have a lot of experience in that, but thanks for the reminder. Good night Major."
"Good night O'Neill."
Jon waited for the nurse to finish and write up her report, then Jon walked the Cadet back to her barracks. In the distance there was the lights of Air Force Security vehicles and Jon looked at her, "You want me to stay?"
She straightened her shoulders and shook her head, "No Sir. I can handle it from here."
"Good luck Beth."
"See you in class Sir." And she went inside her barracks.
"Tomorrow Yoder." Jon replied, thinking for the first time that maybe the Air Force Academy had been a bad choice.
^*^*^*^*^*
Xander was being led on a tour of the base after signing his life away in paperwork. Sgt. Siler was the base electrician and he had quizzed Xander on his knowledge and been properly impressed.
"Good, at least there will be someone who knows his ass from a hole in the ground." The Sgt. had commented and Xander chuckled.
He was shown where everything was kept, where the plans for expansion were, (Xander was anxious to check those out) and last but not least, the gateroom.
"Wow." Xander said. It was the only coherent thing that he could say.
Siler smiled in satisfaction, "Yeah. It's a beauty."
"And Buffy and Jack and Daniel go through that to other worlds?"
"Yep."
"Wow."
Sgt. Davis had walked in to hear this last little exchange, "Impressive isn't it?"
Xander turned to see the salt and pepper haired man with glasses head to one of the consoles and lay some papers down. "Yeah, that would be one word for it."
"Xander Harris." He held out his hand and Davis smiled, "Sgt. Davis, pleased to meet you."
Xander smiled, "Buffy's told me about you! You're the gatekeeper."
"I guess you could call me that." As soon as he said that the chevrons burst into life and the outer ring started moving. Davis slapped a button, closing the iris then checked the schedule before announcing, "Unauthorized off world activation."
General Hammond walked in, "Who is it son?"
"SG-2's idc Sir."
"Open the iris."
Xander watched in fascination as the event horizon whooshed out and settled, then Jay and SG-2 came racing through.
"Shut the iris!" Jay yelped and Sgt. Davis pressed the requisite button and the iris closed, they could hear audible thumps, then the gate disengaged.
Jay glanced up the control room and did a comical double take before waving to Xander, then he turned as the doors opened and General Hammond strode in, "Colonel?"
"They really didn't want a treaty Sir. They were scoping us out for an attack. Since Hailey was a woman she wasn't allowed to the meeting so she snooped around some. It seems that the System Lord Ra trained them to become warriors that ambush travelers from other worlds by pretending to be friendly, then taking over by pouring troops through the gate to annihilate the planet." He paused, then grimaced as he moved his arm.
"Sgt. get a medical team in here." Hammond barked.
"I'm ok Sir. I was stabbed in my upper arm when we escaped Sir." And his eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed.
Janet came in and her corpsman carefully placed the unconscious man on the gurney.
"SG-2 follow Dr. Frasier to the infirmary and get checked out. Doctor, let me know what you find."
"Yes Sir." And they disappeared.
Xander turned to Siler, "Can we go to the infirmary."
"Sure." Siler nodded and they left the control room.
In the infirmary Janet cut off Jay's jacket and shirt, then his undershirt and had them bagged for analysis. She suspected a poison and didn't want to lose anything useful. Yes, there was the slice. She took a sample and got it headed to the lab, then cleaned the wound thoroughly before stitching it up and bandaging it. She had just finished when Jay groaned and tried to sit up.
"Buffy?" he asked and opened his eyes, "Oh, it's you."
Janet laughed, "Well I like that! I just stitched you up Colonel."
Jay chuckled, "Sorry, as cute as you are I was hoping Buffy would be here."
"She's with SG-1 helping the Tok'ra move."
Sitting up sharply Jay said, "What?!"
General Hammond chose that moment to walk in, "Colonel?"
Jay looked around at his CO, "Buffy's with SG-1?"
"Yes. The Asgard borrowed Major Carter for a project of theirs and Colonel O'Neill thought that Buffy could help SG-1."
"What about Buffy's strength? It's going to be noticeable."
"Dr. Jackson mentioned that and Jack said that they'd just say, 'Sorry, can't talk about it.'"
Jay shook his head, "Oh yeah, like that's going to work."
The General snorted, "Jacob will understand."
They both turned as they heard a sound, "Jay?"
General Hammond smiled, "Oh yes Colonel. I want to introduce you to our new civilian construction specialist."
Xander came around the curtain with a smile, "I'm a glorified carpenter."
Jay grinned and the two men hugged, Xander being careful of his friends' arm.
"Are you ok? You went down like a redwood in the gateroom." Xander asked.
Janet chose that moment to come in, "Hi Xander." She said while she handed a readout to the General.
"Hi Janet." Xander smiled charmingly, "You hear from Cass?"
"I got a postcard. She sounds like she's having fun, or she's lying through her teeth."
Jay laughed, "Since she's at bootcamp, it's the latter trust me."
The General tapped his paper, "So Doctor, if I'm reading this correctly the poison is out of his system, it was only supposed to temporarily disable him?"
"Yes Sir. It's similar to a poison used in the jungles of Africa. It only subdues the victim, no permanent damage." Janet replied, checking Jay's pupils with her handy dandy light, making him flinch.
"Well thank Christ." Jay said with feeling.
"Your adrenaline kept the effects at bay until you reached home." Janet said.
"So can I get out of here?" he asked.
"Not for 24 hours, you know the drill. Alien poison and all." Janet said sternly.
"Not even if I whine?" Jay smiled his most charming smile and she shook her head, "Nice try."
"I hang with you Jay." Xander said graciously.
General Hammond left and the men settled down to talk about their respective women folk.
Willow was drinking a glass of water at the sink when it slipped from her fingers to break into a thousand pieces in the sink.
Giles came in and saw the look of shock on her face, "Willow?"
She turned her head, her eyes dark, "I think something's happened to Buffy."
"Something bad?"
Shaking her head Willow began to gather the pieces of glass with her trembling fingers, "I don't think so, I sense no danger." She looked up at Giles, "I saw a goa'uld."