"Ma'am?" I looked up from my desk, where I was signing my signature countless times to a variety of things to see Kieren anxiously hovering nearby.
"Yes, what is it?" I asked.
Kieren looked really ill at ease, which struck me as being peculiar. He had been with me ever since I first ran for the Senate, and had never acted like this around me.
"We've just received a call from Colorado Springs," he told me. "The SGC."
I looked at my watch in surprise. They had finished early. Surely that was a good sign? But it still didn't explain Kieren's discomfort.
"How did the Triumvirate go?" I asked. As President of the United States, I should have been among the Earth delegation, but there were too many things on Earth that needed my attention. How would I explain my absence to the English Prime Minister for one?
"Ah, you see..." Kieren began.
"Whatever it is, just spit it out," I told my aide, growing impatient at his inability to tell me what had happened. I had a million and one other things to get through that day - all of them annoying.
"The Triumvirate session was attacked, and all in attendance are presumed killed," he finally told me. The pen dropped from my hand. The loss of all the Stargate personnel who had been present at the meeting was a national tragedy. Yet because of the secrecy of the Stargate project itself, very few would know the truth. They were all good people, none of which deserved to die.
"When are the memorial services?" I asked him, my voice shaking. It was not so long ago that the General O'Neill and his family visited Washington, and dined with me and my family here at the White House. Hell, I could even remember the controversy in the Senate when the fraternisation rules had been modified to allow him and his wife to marry in the first place, although I obviously didn't know about the Stargate program back then.
"I'm not sure, Ma'am," Kieren confessed. "If you want I can find out..."
I nodded, curtly. "Do it, and clear my agenda to allow me enough time to get to Colorado Springs and back."
"Ma'am?" Kieren's tone was questioning.
"A lot of good people died whilst attending the Triumvirate," I told him. "Died while trying to safeguard our world's future. The least I can do is to pay my respects to them."
"Of course Madam President," he replied, leaving me alone in the Oval Office. Alone with the paperwork and my thoughts. It was a bleak day for me, the O'Neill children, the Air Force, the country - hell, the world.
"Yes, what is it?" I asked.
Kieren looked really ill at ease, which struck me as being peculiar. He had been with me ever since I first ran for the Senate, and had never acted like this around me.
"We've just received a call from Colorado Springs," he told me. "The SGC."
I looked at my watch in surprise. They had finished early. Surely that was a good sign? But it still didn't explain Kieren's discomfort.
"How did the Triumvirate go?" I asked. As President of the United States, I should have been among the Earth delegation, but there were too many things on Earth that needed my attention. How would I explain my absence to the English Prime Minister for one?
"Ah, you see..." Kieren began.
"Whatever it is, just spit it out," I told my aide, growing impatient at his inability to tell me what had happened. I had a million and one other things to get through that day - all of them annoying.
"The Triumvirate session was attacked, and all in attendance are presumed killed," he finally told me. The pen dropped from my hand. The loss of all the Stargate personnel who had been present at the meeting was a national tragedy. Yet because of the secrecy of the Stargate project itself, very few would know the truth. They were all good people, none of which deserved to die.
"When are the memorial services?" I asked him, my voice shaking. It was not so long ago that the General O'Neill and his family visited Washington, and dined with me and my family here at the White House. Hell, I could even remember the controversy in the Senate when the fraternisation rules had been modified to allow him and his wife to marry in the first place, although I obviously didn't know about the Stargate program back then.
"I'm not sure, Ma'am," Kieren confessed. "If you want I can find out..."
I nodded, curtly. "Do it, and clear my agenda to allow me enough time to get to Colorado Springs and back."
"Ma'am?" Kieren's tone was questioning.
"A lot of good people died whilst attending the Triumvirate," I told him. "Died while trying to safeguard our world's future. The least I can do is to pay my respects to them."
"Of course Madam President," he replied, leaving me alone in the Oval Office. Alone with the paperwork and my thoughts. It was a bleak day for me, the O'Neill children, the Air Force, the country - hell, the world.
