Chapter 3
"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter reporting as ordered Sir."
"At ease you two. How was your mission to P3Y-510?"
A smile spread across the face of Colonel Jack O'Neill as he remembered the strange events that took place just a few hours before. "Peachy Sir, just peachy. In fact, I have this wonderful story to tell you about Major Carter and one of the local boys on the planet. It seems that."
"Excuse me Colonel," Major Carter interjected quickly, "I really don't think the General wants to hear about that right now!"
"But the General asked 'How was the mission' and I thought it only wise to advise."
"Colonel!" the Major said, nearly yelling this time. "I would like to explain that to the General in my report so if you don't mind, stow it Jack.I mean Sir."
The General decided to jump in and prevent Major Carter from tearing Jack a new one, so to speak. "I agree with the Major here Colonel. Please save any "stories" you have about the mission or Major Carter for the mission reports."
The major let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. "Thank you General."
"Or at least wait until she leaves the room," the General quickly added.
"SIR!!"
"I am just kidding Major Carter. The Colonel and I will not discuss any potentially embarrassing incidents without your express permission."
The smile on Colonel O'Neill's face spread from ear to ear as he watched a flabbergasted Carter try and regain a sense of control. He had worked with the Major for more than seven years now and he still liked to ruffle her feathers. She was just so damn sexy when she was mad.
"Back to business here people. While you were gone, we had some trouble here. Yesterday at 1030 local time, Major Wilkins and the rest of his SG-15 team were caught in an ambush on P5C-424. They met heavy resistance while extracting to the Stargate but they were able to make it back."
The Colonel's mood immediately went into the serious mode of a trained soldier. "Any casualties Sir?"
The General let out a deep sigh. "Unfortunately there were two casualties. Both Lt. Anders and Lt. Rothby were presumably killed on the retreat back through the Stargate."
Colonel O'Neill furrowed his brow as he considered the General's last statement. "Presumably Sir? Why are we only presuming they are dead instead of knowing for certain? Isn't our motto 'Dead or alive, leave no one behind.?"
The General could see where the Colonel was going with this line of questioning so he quickly jumped right to the point. "According to Major Wilkins, he was laying down cover fire for the retreating Lieutenants from the Stargate platform. As he stepped backwards to reposition himself for a better angle on the advancing Jaffa, he was tripped up by debris laying on the platform. He lost his balance and fell back through the Stargate, striking his head on the ramp as he emerged on the Earth side of the wormhole. We waited for the other two members of his team to follow him through, but they never did. The wormhole disengaged and was never redialed from P5C-424. Major Wilkins immediately requested I redial the planet so he could return for his stranded men, however I denied his request. I did not see any reason to put the lives of other soldiers in harms way for two soldiers who were most likely killed in action."
As silence filled the room, the Colonel realized the General was done talking. "So.what's the problem? I can see nothing wrong with Major Wilkins explanation. He was fighting to the end for his men and his efforts were only interrupted because of some ill placed rocks lying around. No one can fault him for that."
The silence still lingered and the Colonel could definitely feel a migraine coming on at the deafening roar of nothing being said. The General only stared back at the Colonel with a defeated look.
"No one can fault him for that, right General?"
"Apparently they can Colonel. As you know, NID has been looking for ways to get in here and take over for years. Well, this was the tip of the iceberg. They have screamed loud enough and it appears they are now doing their yelling from the Office of the Vice President of the United States. Vice President Kinsey has called for an Article 32 hearing as a prelude to a court martial for Major Wilkins. In addition, he apparently thinks he has enough clout to go after me too. He has officially launched a formal investigation into the operation and management of this facility. To put it bluntly, he is after my butt and I don't think he is going to stop until he has it."
Up until now Major Carter had listened quietly to the explanations by the General. Now she felt it was time to offer her encouraging words. "Well sir, not to lessen the importance of two fine officers, but we have lost men and women before. There is nothing out of the ordinary about their deaths or the way that Major Wilkins handled the entire situation. This sounds like to me a way for Kinsey to toot his so called horn again. And with all do respect to the office of the Vice President, but we have dealt with Kinsey before sir. In my opinion, the people of the land of the light are more of a threat than he is."
"I may have agreed with you Major before today. Unfortunately, the Vice President now has support from a high ranking member of Congress."
"How is that possible sir, considering this is a top secret mission only known to the President and the Joint Chiefs?" O'Neill interjected.
"Because the Vice President told her Colonel."
Jack's mouth dropped open in shock. "He did what? My god, that constitutes a breach of national security. Just by mentioning this to someone without the clearance would land his ass in federal prison."
"Not this time Colonel. You see the Vice President played his cards just right. He knows that there is no way he would be arrested for a breach of national security."
The Colonel and Major gave each other a stunned look before the Colonel turned back to the General, "And why not, may I ask?'
"Because he is the Vice President. You don't just arrest the Vice President without a few people in the general public noticing. And once the public demands answers, what do you tell them? 'There was a breach of national security but sorry, we can't tell you what it was.' People would be outraged. No, Kinsey knew exactly what he was doing and he took advantage of the situation."
The Major quickly jumped in here. "So he told someone in Congress, big deal. I mean he may be protected as the Vice President but if the Congressman he told even attempts to breathe a word of this to the press, they will be arrested."
"That is unless the said Congresswoman is the mother of one of the deceased soldiers from Major Wilkins team."
The truth suddenly dawned on Colonel O'Neill as General Hammond made his last statement. "Rothby? As in 20 year Senator Marilyn Rothby from Delaware? With all due respect General, how did a Senators son end up on a top secret team that travels to other worlds through a wormhole.? I mean, maybe I am missing something here but how is it the son of a high ranking Senator is allowed to even be near the SGC. Doesn't that constitute a very real potential for a major conflict of interest sir? One slip of the tongue and that kid could have brought us all down."
General Hammond stood from his chair and walked to the plate glass window that overlooked the briefing room. "The fact of the matter is Colonel, that is just the type of mismanagement question that Kinsey wants answered, although not for the same reasons you just stated. He is a man championing a cause and he will stop at nothing until he as complete control of this facility. As of right now people, we are under the microscope." The General turned and faced his two officers as they both rose from their seats. "Tomorrow morning two officers appointed by the President himself will be arriving to begin a full inquiry into our facility. I have designated both you, Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter as liaison officers to these investigators. You will see to their every need and make sure they leave here with an honest and fair idea of how we run this base."
"Honest and fair, Sir?" the Colonel stated with just a hint of doubt.
"Yes Colonel, most definitely honest and fair. There is a lot of mud slinging coming out of Washington right now and I want us to rise above it all. If we are going down, then we are going down in the knowledge that we took the higher ground. I will not lower ourselves to playing politics with the Vice President just because he has a ten foot pole shoved up his." The General immediately stopped as he knew his next statement would not look good in front of his two best officers.
The Major cracked a little smile and responded to the General's ranting, "We understand Sir. We will do our best to ensure the investigators get a fair representation of how we run this facility. Although, considering these are Washington flunkies Sir, I don't know if it will matter how we act. They are coming here to destroy us and whether or not we bring them tea and cookies before bedtime is not going to change that General."
The General shook his head and continued with the briefing, "Actually Major, I think our one saving grace in all of this is the two investigators being sent here." The General moved back to his desk and picked up duplicate dossiers on the two JAG lawyers. "Colonel, Major.please familiarize yourselves with these two officers. They are being sent her from the Judge Advocate General's office in D.C."
The Colonel's confusion returned. "Navy? They are sending us Navy lawyers? Did we walk into an alternate dimension or something?"
"Actually Colonel, only one of the officers is Navy. The other one is a Marine. Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie is the Marine lawyer that will be heading up the investigation. Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. of the U.S. Navy will be assisting her, although from what I here, they are both top notch investigators as well as lawyers."
"Oooh, for cryin' out loud General, lawyers? They are sending us pencil pushers and the 'snakes' of the Earth to investigate us? We might as well pack our bags now. How are two desk jockeys suppose to investigate a fully combat ready facility when their idea of combat is fighting for the coffee pot? You know General, I hate lawyers even more than I hate scientists."
Major Carter snapped her head around immediately. "Hey!"
'Bite my tongue' thought the Colonel. "No offense Major."
"None taken Sir."
The General quickly jumped in, "Okay people that is enough. Colonel I suggest you read the entire dossier on these two. I think you might just be surprised."
"If you say so Sir."
"The General rose from his chair as he prepared to dismiss his officers. "Colonel, Major.Commander Rabb and Lt. Colonel MacKenzie will be arriving at Petersen Air Force Base tomorrow morning at 0930 local time. You will be waiting for them there and then escort them back to Cheyenne Mountain." The Colonel and Major both nodded their affirmative responses to the General and he responded with a final, "Dismissed."
As the Colonel and Major exited out into the hallway and progressed towards the Major's lab, Colonel O'Neill realized that the Major was being very quiet. As he turned and looked at her, he could see that she had her head buried in one of the dossiers. "What are you looking at Major?"
"I am just studying these files on Commander Rabb sir. This guy is one amazing man."
"Oh really." The Colonel turned away slightly perturbed. "And what is so special about the great Harmon Rabb Jr.?"
"Let's just say he could give you a run for your money sir." The major walked passed the Colonel as he stopped in the hallway. It was everything she could do to try and prevent a smile from creeping onto her face.
As the Major progressed further down the hallway, the Colonel finally quashed the feelings of jealousy and turned his attention back to the retreating Major. "And what the hell is that suppose to mean? Carter? Don't walk away from me Carter." The Colonel sighed and heightened his pace after Carter. He already didn't like this Rabb guy and the fact that Major Carter was going all gaga for him didn't help. Looking up at the ceiling the Colonel said to himself, 'God, help me through these next few days and please make sure I don't kill this Rabb. That might not look good for my record.' "Damn't Carter, wait up."
"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter reporting as ordered Sir."
"At ease you two. How was your mission to P3Y-510?"
A smile spread across the face of Colonel Jack O'Neill as he remembered the strange events that took place just a few hours before. "Peachy Sir, just peachy. In fact, I have this wonderful story to tell you about Major Carter and one of the local boys on the planet. It seems that."
"Excuse me Colonel," Major Carter interjected quickly, "I really don't think the General wants to hear about that right now!"
"But the General asked 'How was the mission' and I thought it only wise to advise."
"Colonel!" the Major said, nearly yelling this time. "I would like to explain that to the General in my report so if you don't mind, stow it Jack.I mean Sir."
The General decided to jump in and prevent Major Carter from tearing Jack a new one, so to speak. "I agree with the Major here Colonel. Please save any "stories" you have about the mission or Major Carter for the mission reports."
The major let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. "Thank you General."
"Or at least wait until she leaves the room," the General quickly added.
"SIR!!"
"I am just kidding Major Carter. The Colonel and I will not discuss any potentially embarrassing incidents without your express permission."
The smile on Colonel O'Neill's face spread from ear to ear as he watched a flabbergasted Carter try and regain a sense of control. He had worked with the Major for more than seven years now and he still liked to ruffle her feathers. She was just so damn sexy when she was mad.
"Back to business here people. While you were gone, we had some trouble here. Yesterday at 1030 local time, Major Wilkins and the rest of his SG-15 team were caught in an ambush on P5C-424. They met heavy resistance while extracting to the Stargate but they were able to make it back."
The Colonel's mood immediately went into the serious mode of a trained soldier. "Any casualties Sir?"
The General let out a deep sigh. "Unfortunately there were two casualties. Both Lt. Anders and Lt. Rothby were presumably killed on the retreat back through the Stargate."
Colonel O'Neill furrowed his brow as he considered the General's last statement. "Presumably Sir? Why are we only presuming they are dead instead of knowing for certain? Isn't our motto 'Dead or alive, leave no one behind.?"
The General could see where the Colonel was going with this line of questioning so he quickly jumped right to the point. "According to Major Wilkins, he was laying down cover fire for the retreating Lieutenants from the Stargate platform. As he stepped backwards to reposition himself for a better angle on the advancing Jaffa, he was tripped up by debris laying on the platform. He lost his balance and fell back through the Stargate, striking his head on the ramp as he emerged on the Earth side of the wormhole. We waited for the other two members of his team to follow him through, but they never did. The wormhole disengaged and was never redialed from P5C-424. Major Wilkins immediately requested I redial the planet so he could return for his stranded men, however I denied his request. I did not see any reason to put the lives of other soldiers in harms way for two soldiers who were most likely killed in action."
As silence filled the room, the Colonel realized the General was done talking. "So.what's the problem? I can see nothing wrong with Major Wilkins explanation. He was fighting to the end for his men and his efforts were only interrupted because of some ill placed rocks lying around. No one can fault him for that."
The silence still lingered and the Colonel could definitely feel a migraine coming on at the deafening roar of nothing being said. The General only stared back at the Colonel with a defeated look.
"No one can fault him for that, right General?"
"Apparently they can Colonel. As you know, NID has been looking for ways to get in here and take over for years. Well, this was the tip of the iceberg. They have screamed loud enough and it appears they are now doing their yelling from the Office of the Vice President of the United States. Vice President Kinsey has called for an Article 32 hearing as a prelude to a court martial for Major Wilkins. In addition, he apparently thinks he has enough clout to go after me too. He has officially launched a formal investigation into the operation and management of this facility. To put it bluntly, he is after my butt and I don't think he is going to stop until he has it."
Up until now Major Carter had listened quietly to the explanations by the General. Now she felt it was time to offer her encouraging words. "Well sir, not to lessen the importance of two fine officers, but we have lost men and women before. There is nothing out of the ordinary about their deaths or the way that Major Wilkins handled the entire situation. This sounds like to me a way for Kinsey to toot his so called horn again. And with all do respect to the office of the Vice President, but we have dealt with Kinsey before sir. In my opinion, the people of the land of the light are more of a threat than he is."
"I may have agreed with you Major before today. Unfortunately, the Vice President now has support from a high ranking member of Congress."
"How is that possible sir, considering this is a top secret mission only known to the President and the Joint Chiefs?" O'Neill interjected.
"Because the Vice President told her Colonel."
Jack's mouth dropped open in shock. "He did what? My god, that constitutes a breach of national security. Just by mentioning this to someone without the clearance would land his ass in federal prison."
"Not this time Colonel. You see the Vice President played his cards just right. He knows that there is no way he would be arrested for a breach of national security."
The Colonel and Major gave each other a stunned look before the Colonel turned back to the General, "And why not, may I ask?'
"Because he is the Vice President. You don't just arrest the Vice President without a few people in the general public noticing. And once the public demands answers, what do you tell them? 'There was a breach of national security but sorry, we can't tell you what it was.' People would be outraged. No, Kinsey knew exactly what he was doing and he took advantage of the situation."
The Major quickly jumped in here. "So he told someone in Congress, big deal. I mean he may be protected as the Vice President but if the Congressman he told even attempts to breathe a word of this to the press, they will be arrested."
"That is unless the said Congresswoman is the mother of one of the deceased soldiers from Major Wilkins team."
The truth suddenly dawned on Colonel O'Neill as General Hammond made his last statement. "Rothby? As in 20 year Senator Marilyn Rothby from Delaware? With all due respect General, how did a Senators son end up on a top secret team that travels to other worlds through a wormhole.? I mean, maybe I am missing something here but how is it the son of a high ranking Senator is allowed to even be near the SGC. Doesn't that constitute a very real potential for a major conflict of interest sir? One slip of the tongue and that kid could have brought us all down."
General Hammond stood from his chair and walked to the plate glass window that overlooked the briefing room. "The fact of the matter is Colonel, that is just the type of mismanagement question that Kinsey wants answered, although not for the same reasons you just stated. He is a man championing a cause and he will stop at nothing until he as complete control of this facility. As of right now people, we are under the microscope." The General turned and faced his two officers as they both rose from their seats. "Tomorrow morning two officers appointed by the President himself will be arriving to begin a full inquiry into our facility. I have designated both you, Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter as liaison officers to these investigators. You will see to their every need and make sure they leave here with an honest and fair idea of how we run this base."
"Honest and fair, Sir?" the Colonel stated with just a hint of doubt.
"Yes Colonel, most definitely honest and fair. There is a lot of mud slinging coming out of Washington right now and I want us to rise above it all. If we are going down, then we are going down in the knowledge that we took the higher ground. I will not lower ourselves to playing politics with the Vice President just because he has a ten foot pole shoved up his." The General immediately stopped as he knew his next statement would not look good in front of his two best officers.
The Major cracked a little smile and responded to the General's ranting, "We understand Sir. We will do our best to ensure the investigators get a fair representation of how we run this facility. Although, considering these are Washington flunkies Sir, I don't know if it will matter how we act. They are coming here to destroy us and whether or not we bring them tea and cookies before bedtime is not going to change that General."
The General shook his head and continued with the briefing, "Actually Major, I think our one saving grace in all of this is the two investigators being sent here." The General moved back to his desk and picked up duplicate dossiers on the two JAG lawyers. "Colonel, Major.please familiarize yourselves with these two officers. They are being sent her from the Judge Advocate General's office in D.C."
The Colonel's confusion returned. "Navy? They are sending us Navy lawyers? Did we walk into an alternate dimension or something?"
"Actually Colonel, only one of the officers is Navy. The other one is a Marine. Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie is the Marine lawyer that will be heading up the investigation. Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. of the U.S. Navy will be assisting her, although from what I here, they are both top notch investigators as well as lawyers."
"Oooh, for cryin' out loud General, lawyers? They are sending us pencil pushers and the 'snakes' of the Earth to investigate us? We might as well pack our bags now. How are two desk jockeys suppose to investigate a fully combat ready facility when their idea of combat is fighting for the coffee pot? You know General, I hate lawyers even more than I hate scientists."
Major Carter snapped her head around immediately. "Hey!"
'Bite my tongue' thought the Colonel. "No offense Major."
"None taken Sir."
The General quickly jumped in, "Okay people that is enough. Colonel I suggest you read the entire dossier on these two. I think you might just be surprised."
"If you say so Sir."
"The General rose from his chair as he prepared to dismiss his officers. "Colonel, Major.Commander Rabb and Lt. Colonel MacKenzie will be arriving at Petersen Air Force Base tomorrow morning at 0930 local time. You will be waiting for them there and then escort them back to Cheyenne Mountain." The Colonel and Major both nodded their affirmative responses to the General and he responded with a final, "Dismissed."
As the Colonel and Major exited out into the hallway and progressed towards the Major's lab, Colonel O'Neill realized that the Major was being very quiet. As he turned and looked at her, he could see that she had her head buried in one of the dossiers. "What are you looking at Major?"
"I am just studying these files on Commander Rabb sir. This guy is one amazing man."
"Oh really." The Colonel turned away slightly perturbed. "And what is so special about the great Harmon Rabb Jr.?"
"Let's just say he could give you a run for your money sir." The major walked passed the Colonel as he stopped in the hallway. It was everything she could do to try and prevent a smile from creeping onto her face.
As the Major progressed further down the hallway, the Colonel finally quashed the feelings of jealousy and turned his attention back to the retreating Major. "And what the hell is that suppose to mean? Carter? Don't walk away from me Carter." The Colonel sighed and heightened his pace after Carter. He already didn't like this Rabb guy and the fact that Major Carter was going all gaga for him didn't help. Looking up at the ceiling the Colonel said to himself, 'God, help me through these next few days and please make sure I don't kill this Rabb. That might not look good for my record.' "Damn't Carter, wait up."