Gallagher and O'Neill stood at the window side by side looking at the Stargate, both lost in thought, sharing a companionable silence.
As one, the two men turned to face the table to find out who was watching them. Lieutenant Michaels was standing by the stairs silently watching the two, probably hoping to hear something that he could use against them, Gallagher thought unfairly. He just didn't like Michaels.
"General sir." Michaels snapped a salute. O'Neill made the obligatory return salute and turned toward his office, leaving a surprised Gallagher just standing there.
Gallagher turned back to the window hoping that Michaels would take the hint and sighed inwardly when he didn't.
"Gallagher," Lieutenant Michaels said. "Care to explain to me what is going on?"
Gallagher turned his back on the window and answered the Lieutenant slowly. "Nothing is as it seems sir," he said.
"No kidding Cadet," Michaels growled. "A first year Cadet being assigned to SG-1, no military training whatsoever. Tell me that there is nothing going on."
"Classified," Gallagher said, hoping it would work this time.
"Classified," Michaels repeated. "I signed my life away, remember? I have security clearance and I am ordering you to tell me the truth. What makes you so special?"
"I'm not special sir. I just happen to have some experience fighting the Goa'uld and was able to prove myself worthy of a place here."
Michaels' eyes narrowed as he watched Gallagher. "What experience?"
A hell of a lot, Gallagher thought. "The General ordered me to not talk about it sir. I hope you understand."
"No, I don't," Michaels replied.
"I'm sorry sir," Gallagher said. "I'm sure if you ask the General, he will tell you whatever it is you need to know," stressing the words, "need to know." He was getting pretty good at emphasizing his meaning.
"Need to know," Michaels repeated, understanding dawning on his face.
"Excuse me sir. I need to step out for a few minutes." Take the hint Michaels, Gallagher thought menacingly.
"Of course, Cadet."
Gallagher headed for the stairs going down to the control room, stopping after a few steps when he heard voices from the General's office. Someone was not happy.
"The decision's made Colonel," O'Neill's voice was clear even through the closed door. Gallagher wondered if everyone heard every word he'd said during yesterday's confrontation in the General's office.
He heard Sam say something else and the voices quieted down. Oh boy, what he would give to be a fly on the wall in there. His grin turned to a frown as he wondered what Jack was yelling at Sam about.
He turned around and headed back up the steps, debating whether he should go in there and break it up. The door to the office opened as he reached the top step and he stopped and just stared at her.
Anger and hurt was clearly evident on her face, which turned to a look of worry when she saw him. She ducked her head and walked past him without even acknowledging him. Okay, what was that about?
Gallagher turned to find the General's door shut and his sense of foreboding went into overdrive. Something wasn't going well and he'd be damned if they were going to snatch his assignment away from him.
He marched over to the door and raised his hand to knock on the door, silently congratulating himself for not making the mistake of just barging in when Michaels' voice filtered into his mind.
"Sure you want to do that, Cadet?" God, Gallagher wanted nothing more than to wipe that sneer off the Lieutenant's face forever. Back off, Jack, he mentally told himself.
Gallagher stood in front of the General's door working hard to calm his sense of foreboding and came to the conclusion that the Lieutenant was right. He moved away from the door and sat down at the table drumming his fingers on the polished wood. Unease played with the hairs on the back of his neck and he fretted while he waited.
The door to the General's office opened at the same time Carrows and Bartlett appeared in the room. O'Neill returned the salutes, nodded at the ladies and came to the table to sit down.
"Since we are all here we might as well get started," O'Neill began. "SG-3 will be here momentarily to begin your training and I expect to hear you are all ready and more than capable of handling your own by the end of the training sessions. It won't be a piece of cake and you will probably end up doubting yourself before it's all over, just know that we had faith in you when you were chosen to participate."
"Colonel Rogers will be in charge of your training and I will let him tell you what it all entails," O'Neill continued. "You all have been chosen for the abilities and the courage you displayed while at the Academy and I know I won't be disappointed," he said looking at them each in turn.
"Excuse me General sir?" Michaels spoke up. "May I ask a question?"
"Please," the General prompted.
"Will Cadet Gallagher be joining us on this training? You mentioned something about him being assigned to SG-1, but I wondered if he will be training with us first."
Insolent bastard, Gallagher thought. He looked up to see if O'Neill was thinking of the same thing and realized with a small smile that he was.
"No," O'Neill said. "Any other questions?" he asked as he looked at the others.
"Sir, you have to admit that this is highly improper," Michaels rushed on. "Gallagher hasn't had enough field experience to be trusted with the role you are throwing him in. I fear for the safety of SG-1."
Gallagher barely noticed the slight movement on his left as O'Neill tensed, the same mask Gallagher wore showing his anger. This face was worse than the emotionless one and Gallagher knew his own face mirrored that of the General, the anger in him wiping out the fact that he would have been shaking in his boots had that look been aimed at him. He knew the General as well as the General knew him.
Neither man trusted himself to speak at that moment and Gallagher saw Michaels face pale a little as he stared at the twin looks of intense rage directed at him. Bastard, Gallagher fumed.
O'Neill finally spoke, the heat of his anger forcing the words out at a clipped pace. "How dare you question my judgment Lieutenant? Not to mention my worth as an officer, a field operative. Fresh out of the Academy and you think you are more knowledgeable than I?" O'Neill continued overriding the sputtering Lieutenant. "Had more experience than I have Lieutenant?" he ground out.
"No sir. I apologize sir," Michaels groveled. "I just…."
"How the hell do you know what Gallagher is or is not capable of?" O'Neill spat out, the anger not appeased at any rate. "Were you anywhere near when he…?" O'Neill stopped himself from revealing too much and Gallagher knew the struggle it was to not strangle the Lieutenant on the spot.
"Lieutenant," O'Neill said after a few moments of pulling himself together. "Have we made a mistake about you?" His eyes were boring into the Lieutenant's and Gallagher wondered if O'Neill was thinking the same thing he was thinking. Soldiers need to be objective when fighting for their lives as well as the lives of their teammates.
"No sir," Michaels adamantly said. "I won't let you down sir."
O'Neill continued to stare at Michaels', the dark eyes Gallagher still saw whenever he looked in the mirror were shining with anger and contempt. "How can you be trusted if you have even a single doubt about one of your team members?" O'Neill HAD been thinking the same thing, Gallagher thought.
"Would you do something stupid because you are worrying that your teammate may not come through for you?" O'Neill was still steaming Gallagher saw and he silently urged him on. "I personally know what Gallagher has done and I am confident of his ability in handling any situation that comes up. Don't you ever question my call again Lieutenant, or I will have you locked up in some stinking cell so fast you won't know what hit you. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes sir, General sir!" Michaels said standing up to salute his superior officer. "My sincerest apologies for making it appear as if I were judging you sir."
"Michaels," O'Neill snapped.
"Yes sir?" Michaels ventured.
"Shut up!"
"Yes sir." Michaels knew where that line was and wisely decided not to cross it.
"General O'Neill sir?" Colonel Rogers came forward from where he was standing, apparently having watched the whole scene.
O'Neill returned the greeting and gestured for the Colonel and his team to find a seat. Gallagher felt a twinge of anger as he noticed that Big Guy, Captain Thompson, from the night before glaring at him as he took his seat.
Wonderful, he thought and then found himself hoping beyond hope he wouldn't be joining the training sessions. One could only hope, he thought sourly.
"This is Colonel Rogers and SG-3. They will be conducting your training exercises and working with you to learn all you can about our enemy. Colonel?" O'Neill said and turned to leave them to it.
"Thank you sir," Rogers nodded. "We will be heading over to the training facilities in a few moments, but first I wanted to get more acquainted with you…."
"Gallagher!" O'Neill turned to him and Gallagher could see that the anger was still there. He could totally relate. If Michaels only knew that it was the General he was really insulting.
"Yes sir?" Gallagher asked.
"Well, what are you waiting on? SG-1 will be briefed in…" he looked at his watch, "17 minutes. Do you plan to stay here instead?" O'Neill knew the answer to that question very well and Gallagher resisted the urge to whack him in the head as he jumped up and all but ran past the man to get out of the room.
Gallagher ran into Daniel as he bounded down the stairs and followed him out to the hallway. "Hey Daniel. Whatcha up to?"
"Hey Jack, just going over some notes before the briefing. Are you coming with us this time?" Daniel asked trying not to laugh.
"Something funny there Danny Boy?" Gallagher asked, deliberately using the name he knew Daniel didn't care too much for.
"Oh no, Jack. Well yes, actually. Despite the way you look, or because of it, you remind me of a kid raiding the candy store," Daniel said with a grin. "I can see you are excited about this trip."
"Oh really?" Gallagher replied. Maybe he could get away with whacking Daniel in the head instead. "I can't deny that I am glad to get back out there," he continued trying hard to calm his racing heart. Wouldn't do to let Daniel know he was right. "But I don't think you could go so far as to say I am overly happy to get out of this rat hole and back in the action I am supposed to be doing." Oops, did he say too much?
"Yeah, right," Daniel said with an air of being totally unconvinced. "C'mon we might as well head back to the briefing room."
"I'm serious, Daniel," Gallagher began, "If I wasn't ordered to be here, I would be just as happy hitting the books."
"Jack, now you know it isn't nice to tell lies like that," Daniel laughed.
"I'm not lying, Daniel."
"Yes, you are."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Now this is way too creepy," Carter said walking up to them. She shook her head even as she smiled. "Some things never change."
"Good morning Colonel," Gallagher said still smarting from her dressing down yesterday.
"Good morning Gallagher," she replied. "I guess we are going to have to work on having you salute your superior officer when you are approached by one," she said with a grin.
Gallagher glared at her for a minute before he realized that she was teasing him. He couldn't help but grin back at her. He never could stay mad at her for long.
"Yes ma'am," he said giving her a mock salute. He wondered briefly if she and O'Neill had ever gotten past the regulation thing and grimaced as he already knew the answer. He would never put Carter's career on the line to satisfy his own desires.
Carter led the way as they headed back toward the briefing room, telling him in her own way that she was in command. She was the leader and he'd better remember it.
"Yes ma'am," he muttered as he fell in step behind her.
The briefing room was empty when Gallagher stepped back in and realized that the training session must have already started. He threw a thankful glance at the General's door then walked over and sat down in the seat he had vacated earlier.
The fact that he was sitting right next to the General's chair was not lost on Carter. She walked over and sat down across from Gallagher, positioning herself on the General's other side. Gallagher looked down at his hands and grinned at her obvious attempts to let him know she was in charge here.
He stood up along with Carter when the General entered the room and waited until O'Neill was seated before he too sat down.
"Let's get this show on the road," O'Neill said. "Carter, you want to start?"
"Yes sir," Carter said and proceeded to tell them all about the mission to planet PX-whatever. "The planet is called Terrean by the people who live there," she continued and Gallagher sat back and listened. Even Carter seemed more casual, this was familiar territory for all of them. They were sharing information before the mission. Been there, done that.
"The Terrean people are not as advanced as our own," Carter continued, "although SG-5 reported some similar technologies. In fact, there are a lot of similarities to life here on Earth. They even named their planet after the Latin word for Earth."
"SG-5 reported that the Terrrean people claim that they haven't had any problems with the Goa'ulds for centuries, but they are aware of them. The leader of the village located nearest to the Stargate is called Froden and he was quite pleased to see visitors and was even more elated when he was told that we could possibly have medicines that could cure the plague that his people are battling."
"Plague?" O'Neill and Gallagher said at the same time, which earned Gallagher a dirty look from the General.
"Small pox sir," Carter said to O'Neill, totally ignoring Gallagher. "As I've said, they are not all that advanced. Although their physiologies have adapted to the planet's environment over the centuries, Dr. Wellters assures me that the vaccine and medications she can send should do the trick."
"Will there be enough to go around?" Gallagher and O'Neill said. This time O'Neill pointed his finger in Gallagher's face as he growled, "Cut that out!"
Carter smirked and gave O'Neill an innocent "something wrong?" look, which O'Neill promptly ignored
"Colonel?"
Carter must have decided not to pursue whatever point she was trying to make with her expression and answered the first question. "There should be enough to heal the people who are the farthest gone and vaccinate the very young and the very old," she said. "We plan to give them the information and the means in which to allow them to produce more in order to supply their entire world."
"What do we get in return," Teal'c spoke up just as Gallagher asked the same question.
"In stereo!" Daniel said, as he happened to be sitting in between the two speakers.
"Naquadah mine," O'Neill spoke up and gave into the grin he was trying not to reveal. "You know, the good stuff."
"Enough to power the X-303 for a year," Carter agreed.
"So let me get this straight," Gallagher said. "You want us to go in there and make nice to the natives so that we can get a treaty to mine the naguadah all the time hoping we don't come down with any symptoms of this 'plague'? Anybody else see what's wrong with this picture?"
Nobody answered him. In fact, you could have a heard a pin drop. They were all staring at him, Carter glaring at him, Daniel with his mouth open in shock, Teal'c raised his eyebrow and O'Neill sat there with his emotionless face.
"What?" he said, feeling like he'd just dropped a bomb in his mother's back yard.
"What?" he said again. He was so not liking this one bit.
"It's just…," Daniel began, then cleared his throat. "You reminded me so much of Jack O'Neill right then that I was just …. shocked."
"I am Jack O'Neill," Gallagher could feel that old resentful anger creeping up on him. "Or at least I was!"
"No you are not!" cried O'Neill and Carter. Man, were these people in tune with each other, thought Gallagher snidely.
"The hell I'm not," Gallagher was starting to lose it again. Why did he have to go through this same thing over and over again?
"Cadet!" O'Neill yelled. "Stand down!"
Gallagher was furious – at himself and with the others. Couldn't they see what he was or why he was here? This was his home, they were his friends and they were treating him like an outsider. He didn't deserve this, he knew he didn't deserve this, at the same time knowing it would never change.
Back off, he told himself silently. Calm down.
Gallagher felt his breathing slow as he struggled to calm himself, noticing the others were still silent, waiting for him to do something. Well he wasn't going to give them the satisfaction.
"Gallagher," O'Neill said.
"Gallagher," he said louder.
"Sir?" Gallagher asked. No need to antagonize the man who could make or break him.
"We talked about this earlier. Is this going to continue to be a problem?" Trust O'Neill to get right to the point.
"No sir," Gallagher said. He had calmed down quite a bit he noticed, although it was hard to keep the resentment out of his voice. "I was just trying to make sure I understood the mission sir." That's it Gallagher, grovel. Getting damned good at it if he had to say so himself.
"Are you Jack O'Neill?" Carter asked, staring into his eyes, willing him to say the right words.
At that moment in time, Jack Gallagher wanted to cry. He was broken, he knew it as well as everyone else in that room and the thought of it was destroying him. He had to fight back, he couldn't let them bring his world down around his head. He had been in that place far too many times and it was a place he intended to avoid at all costs.
"No ma'am," he snarled, returning her stare. Her eyes were the color of the ocean and he was determined to not fall into them. "Not for the past three years."
He finally tore his gaze from those gorgeous blue eyes and turned to O'Neill. "Remember Alameda and Carlos?"
O'Neill stared back at his younger self, the emotionless mask still firmly in place. It didn't matter, though. Gallagher knew what O'Neill was thinking and remembering.
General Alameda had been a dangerous enemy and Jack could still remember the smell of the burning church in that small town in South America. Alameda had found out that Jack and his buddy, Carlos, were hiding out there and burning them out seemed to be the best route to go.
The wounded Carlos had begged Jack to save himself, but Jack couldn't leave his friend there and the soldier in him refused to budge. He had dragged Carlos out of there and built a barricade in a barn across town. They had not been found and Carlos felt well enough to leave the town two days later. They traveled through the countryside, with Carlos treating Jack like a dog in order to not draw attention to them and to get to safety a thousand miles and two months later. It was pretty degrading, but Jack knew that if the people saw him as something other than a dirty, pathetic gringo, Alameda would find them in a heartbeat. Better to play a live flunky, than a dead soldier.
Gallagher realized that O'Neill was still staring at him, but the mask was gone and O'Neill gave him a half grin and said, "Yeah."
O'Neill then glanced around the table and got back to business. "Anybody else got something to add?"
There was a silence, not so deafening as the one that met Gallagher's earlier question and O'Neill clapped his hands on the table and said, "Well then dismissed. Gear up and be ready to leave in an hour."
"Yes sir," Carter mumbled and stood up with Gallagher as the General got up from the table.
"Carter, I believe you and Gallagher have something to talk about?" O'Neill said.
She didn't say a thing, just stared at O'Neill. Gallagher wondered again what was going on between the two officers. He really wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"Of course, sir," Carter said. "We'll spend a few more minutes here before we go get in gear."
O'Neill nodded, stared at Carter a few more seconds and headed for his office.
"Ma'am," Gallagher said. The polite cadet was back.
Carter nodded at Daniel and Teal'c as they walked out of the room and turned to Gallagher. She seemed to be at a loss for words and Gallagher figured he better get ready for the long haul.
"I have a problem Gallagher," she said not really looking at him now. Something over his right shoulder held her rapt attention. "I'm not sure how to approach it."
"Just give it to me straight Doc," he teased. "I can take it."
She smiled and it was his turn to be the benefactor of her attention. God, how he'd missed her! He cleared his throat and gave her one of his most charming smiles, "Maybe you should go easy on me though, seeing as I am still so young." That's it, get her mad again Gallagher. He could be such a jerk sometimes.
"That's part of the problem," she admitted. "I know you are in there and I don't know if I can handle the stress of trying to prove myself to you as a commanding officer."
This was so far from what Gallagher expected that he just stood there gaping at her. "What? Colonel, you don't have to prove anything to me. I know you are a fantastic commander or the General wouldn't even let you step foot out there without a lifeguard. Never tell me that you have doubts?"
She gave a little laugh as a small smile showed up on her face. "Well yes, I am worried that you will want to take over once you are there and that there will be…." She sighed as she ran her fingers through the blond tresses gracing her head.
Don't do that, Gallagher wanted to tell her, wishing it were his fingers running through the locks. Back off, Jack old boy.
"I have been in command of SG-1 for almost a year now and I don't plan to give it up now that you are back, "Carter continued. "I know that deep down in that young body, you have all the experiences of Jack O'Neill and I just worry that I will be parading myself in front of you hoping you will not find any fault in my decisions. I am in command of SG-1," she repeated to emphasize her position, "and I expect all my orders to be followed and not questioned."
"Carter, how many mistakes have I made since we worked together?" Gallagher asked.
"Sir?" Carter asked before catching herself on the slip. "See what I mean," she growled.
Gallagher just stood there, grinning like a cat who caught a mouse. Let her work this out, he thought. "You are so cute when you get aggravated," he said smiling at her now.
"What? Gallagher you are way out of line there mister," she said even as she gave him a bright smile.
"Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am," Gallagher said returning her smile.
They stood there grinning at each other until Carter finally broke the silence. "As long as we were able to get out of those mistakes in one piece, it's hard to remember them all."
Gallagher continued to smile at her as he raised an eyebrow. "Yes ma'am."
More silence as Gallagher drank in the sight of her. She was so beautiful. Clearing his throat, he said what he knew had to be said. "I have been a soldier for 30 some years. I know how to take orders and I know when to step back. Give me a chance to prove to you that I am capable."
She nodded her head and stepped back, preparing to leave. "That's what the General said."
Well, now he knew what they were yelling at each other for. "He can be so predictable, know what I mean?"
"Not to me," she said. "That man is a mystery sometimes." Her smile seemed to grow as she backed away. "You're going to be, too, aren't you?"
Gallagher couldn't help it. He flashed a smile right back at her. "You betcha."