He hadn't intended for the briefing to last all that long, but it did. When Hammond joined the others in the briefing room, the first thing he did was ask River to tell him – and the others – exactly what he'd been told by Morgan about the Stargate. This was to ascertain just how much of the secret was out – and to get some intel on the guys who had give the secret away.

He was appalled at just how much the young man had been told in that short morning. Not everything he'd been told was accurate, but enough of it was. And he knew there was no way of hiding the existence of the Stargate from River by simply telling him it wasn't true and that the Trust had been made up as part of some bigger plot – kidnapping or something. River wasn't stupid, after all, and there was way too much he'd seen to back up what he'd been told. The cat was well and truly out of the bag this time.

Oh well… it wasn't the first time, and it undoubtedly wouldn't be the last.

"You understand that what you were told is something you never should have found out about…?"

River nodded. He wasn't worried about them doing something to get rid of him to make sure he didn't share the secret with anyone else, but he did have to wonder what they were going to do about the fact that he knew.

"Yes, sir. I didn't mean for-"

"No," Hammond held up his hand, negating the need for an apology. "This isn't your fault, son. But the facts you were given are only part of the story, and this is something that's far too important for you to only know a little bit and allow you to try and make up the rest on your own. While I trust that you are aware that it's not something that can be shared with your family and friends – and not to be discussed outside of this facility – I am also going to insist that you sign a confidentiality order."

"That's fine, General."

"Good. Now, let me give you the real history of what's been going on around here…"

He didn't tell River everything, of course. There were some things that he really didn't need to know – and other things that were still classified. He didn't bother to tell him about the various races of aliens that they'd met so far – time for that later, when he wasn't tired and wanting to go home. He simply gave a history of how the Stargate was discovered, what they'd been doing with it, and how important it was to the future of the planet – at least as far as he was concerned.

He had Shawn and Ian in on the briefing so the two would know exactly what their friend knew, and would know that he was in on the secret, but also as a reminder that they weren't allowed to chat about it off base, either. Not that he had any concerns about that, since it was obvious neither of them had mentioned it before, since River hadn't known the true nature of the Cheyenne Mountain complex until that weekend.

He finished his short history and looked at River, who had been staring at him.

"Any questions?"

"A million of them."

Jack smiled.

"Pick one."

"Can I see the Stargate?"

"Not today," Hammond said. "It's getting late." He wanted to go home soon, and wasn't going to conduct a tour.

"Tomorrow?"

"Maybe."

"Can I go through it?"

Ian couldn't help but smile. He knew there was absolutely no reason to allow Hayden to go through the gate, but he hoped Hammond would let him anyways, because it was definitely something you had to do at least once.

"We'll see."

That was better than no.

"What are you guys going to do with me, now that I know about your SGC?"

Hammond sighed.

"That depends on you. Just because you're aware of the SGC, doesn't mean you have to join it – or have anything to do with it. We, of course, are always looking for exceptional people to join our SG teams – once you graduate from the academy, you're definitely going to be qualified to apply, if not sooner. However, the SGC isn't for everyone – and Colonel O'Neill tells me that the one thing you really want is to be a pilot. We don't have a lot of planes in the mountain, as I'm sure you've probably guessed."

River smiled.

"I figured that."

"Which doesn't mean that we won't need people who can fly. Colonel and Major O'Neill are both fine pilots, and that skill has saved their hides more than once – and Earth, too, for that matter. So, really…" Hammond shrugged. "We just don't know. You can learn a bit more about it, and decide over the next few years if that's something you might be interested in."

"Or you can go on to a career flying fighters, or helicopters, or doing whatever you want to do," Jack added. "There's no pressure. We just wanted you to know what's going on here, so the next time someone comes up to you and starts talking to you about joining some secret group, you'll tell them to go to hell – and then come tell us what you were told."

"Yes," Hammond agreed, and saw that even Ian was nodding his agreement. He looked at the New Yorker. "You, young man, should have done the same thing. The minute you were addressed by strange men telling you that they knew about the Stargate, you should have come told us – not called your father."

"They looked like spooks, General," Ian said. "I didn't-"

"You weren't thinking, Ian," Hammond said. He could see that Ian didn't like the fact that he was getting a dressing down because of his actions – especially in front of the other two cadets – but Hammond needed to make sure Ian realized just how wrong he'd been. This whole mess could have been avoided if Ian would have gone to Jack – or Sam – instead of Nathan. It probably wouldn't have, he reminded himself, unwilling to truthfully allow Ian to shoulder the entire blame. The Trust still could have gone after River – there was no reason that any of them would have anticipated that – but at least Nate wouldn't have been in on it. "CIA or FBI or whatever you thought they were, they still had no business talking to you about it out of secured areas, and when that kind of thing happens people need to know. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

He was practically glowering, now, and Hammond decided that it was time to call the briefing to a stop, to give Ian a chance to cool down a little, and Jack a chance to remind him that reprimands weren't really anything personal. Jack had received his fair share of them, after all.

"Let's call it a night, gentlemen," he said, standing up. He looked at the three sitting there. "You're all going to stay in the infirmary tonight – from what I hear Doctor Fraiser isn't worried about any of you having health issues because of today's events, but she wants to wait until she gets her test results back to release any of you, and I agree, so don't bother arguing about it."

If Ian had looked upset before, he looked practically ready to explode now, but Hammond didn't even give him a chance.

"Dismissed."

He walked into his office and closed the door.