THURSDAY, FEB. 2, 2006
1600 HOURS
Daniel Jackson and Teal'c let themselves into O'Neill's house with one of the spare keys that he had given to each member of SG-1, and walked into the living room to find it looking very different from the usual mess. The coffee table was piled high with what appeared to be personnel files, and O'Neill himself was sitting on the couch, hands on his laptop computer, with a projector on the coffee table spreading the image on his screen over most of the opposite wall. The big-screen TV had been moved out of the way. At the moment, introductory pages from people's files, with basic information and photos, were appearing on the wall, one after another, in rapid succession. It was a good thing Hammond had supplied a CD-ROM to go with the files - while O'Neill disliked staring at computer monitors for extended periods of time it was a whole lot easier at the moment than juggling two hundred manila folders. As the voices and footsteps of his teammates drew closer, he stopped flipping.
On the wall now was a young, dark-skinned man in fatigues, with a distance runner's build. "Captain David Allen Emory," Jack intoned. "Computer specialist, just about the best hacker the Air Force has right now. Has a reputation as a safecracker. Tops on most of the physical fitness tests too. Whaddaya kids think?"
"Jack, something's obviously going on that you haven't told us," Daniel said, gesturing at the coffee table, after the surprise wore off. "What's all this stuff supposed to mean?"
"Take a seat... it's a bit of a story." O'Neill went on to explain what Gen. Hammond had told him on Monday.
"Congratulations, O'Neill," Teal'c said after he was done.
"I'm getting a desk job," the colonel insisted glumly.
Teal'c raised an eyebrow, in one of the myriad ways he could do it. "Are you not being rewarded for your skill and loyalty?"
"They call it a reward."
"I do not understand."
"You've seen Hammond, Teal'c. Would he inspire a whole lot of confidence in a firefight?" O'Neill paused theatrically. "He used to be an ace pilot, you know. Before he became a general and started spending his life pushing papers. Nothing against Hammond, of course, I like the guy but I'm just not in a hurry to be him."
"Then you fear that a promotion would cause you to lose your abilities as a warrior."
"Jack, we all have to retire at some time or another." Daniel Jackson finally managed to get a word in edgewise. "The question is, how?"
"I can still think of a thousand other pursuits more interesting than paperwork."
"He's only got so much of it because he talks to everyone directly and refuses to get a secretary," Jackson reasoned.
O'Neill did not respond. He stood up and walked stiffly to the kitchen, feeling a twinge in his left knee and only now realizing that it had been bothering him for the last six months. "You have a point," he said, turning around slowly. As much as it pained him to admit it, the promotion made sense. "So, Danny boy, I hear the eggheads are falling over themselves to have you back."
"Yeah, it's not even news. Yale, Stanford, Michigan, you name it, it's a who's who of archaeology departments in this country. Lining up outside my door since that press conference, and not only for me either. Sarah too."
"Six-figure salary offers, I take it?"
Jackson nodded.
"Well, you've always wanted tenure, here's your chance."
"Jack, you know me well enough. I'm going to see SG-1 through to the end. After that, I might take up one of them. If you and Hammond don't mind the catch."
"The catch?" O'Neill blinked.
"Dibs on SGC artifacts."
"They never get it, do they?" O'Neill exclaimed rhetorically.
Teal'c picked this time to bring up another idea. "Could you not work at the Academy in Colorado Springs, Daniel Jackson?"
"There's, uh, no archaeology department at the Air Force Academy."
"Why not start one?" O'Neill suggested. "It's long overdue. The Air Force runs the Stargate program, and as much as I make fun of those rocks you look at all day, they're still our rocks. Anything to drink?"
"No, thanks," said Jackson.
Teal'c thought for a moment, then said, "I would like Coca-Cola."
"One Coke, coming right up." O'Neill poured Teal'c a tall glass, then a glass of water for himself, before starting back toward the living room. "As I was saying, I was just going over some of these files..."
MONDAY, FEB. 21, 2006
1300 HOURS
SG-1 emerged from the Stargate in the back of a large round cavern about a hundred feet in diameter. The walls were smooth and bare, and only a few stalactites adorned the ceiling. For a cave, it seemed very well-lit, and the air was surprisingly fresh.
"It wasn't this bright when we sent the MALP," Jackson remarked.
"Amazing what six hours can do for the lighting, isn't it?" O'Neill replied sarcastically.
"Only the one exit," Carter reported, pointing at a large passage directly opposite the Stargate. She was the first to don the night-vision goggles they had brought, and was looking over the back wall of the cave for any other openings that the MALP had missed.
"All right, campers, let's move out," O'Neill finally said. "Let's hope this one isn't the disaster the last two were." The search for an Alpha Base location was starting to get tedious. As soon as Carter had been selected as chief science officer for the new base, SG-1 started receiving most of the scouting missions, being the group of people with the greatest stake in their success.
"The third time is a magical ornament," Teal'c noted in his usual deadpan.
"Charm, Teal'c, third time's a charm!"
They had only traveled fifty feet down the passage when they were bathed in sunlight. From there, the passage curved about sixty degrees to the right and slightly downward before emerging from the side of a mountain.
The view from the mouth of the cave was breathtaking. It opened two hundred feet above the floor of an alpine valley, with snow-capped peaks on the opposite side. To the left - the north according to O'Neill's compass - was the beginning of a forest, which extended downhill as far as the eye could see, the slope interrupted only by a large pyramid-shaped hill. From above SG-1, a small stream flowed down the mountain, through a wide patch of shrubbery and into a crystal-clear lake below.
"Best place yet," Carter said. "Clean, no sign of recent settlement, not too hard to defend if the Goa'uld find us... and a great view too."
"All right, people, as soon as we're done admiring the scenery" - O'Neill waived a hand across the horizon - "we'll start moving downhill."
They followed the stream down the side of the mountain, seeing no sign that anyone had been in the area recently. But as they reached the shrubbery, they stumbled upon a cluster of bent, badly-rusted metal plates - some of them looking suspiciously like the remains of Jaffa armor.
O'Neill suddenly made a new connection in his mind. "Carter, take a look at that pyramid-shaped hill over there. And pass me the binoculars when you're done."
Carter took a bit longer to realize the significance, but her jaw dropped when she got a closer look at the hill. Although it was overgrown with vegetation, it still bore many of the features of an old Goa'uld pyramid ship.