Chapter 5: mystery solved

Friday, P7X-986---17:00

- Daniel, will that take much more? – Sam was getting bored of being on that planet. They had been there for more than a day and came out empty. There was nothing there but ruins.

- I'm just double checking my translation.

- No Daniel. You were double checking it when you checked it ten times ago.

- I just don't like the idea of being wrong that's it.

- You have been wrong before and you never got upset about it. So I know that that is not what is upsetting you.

- So what do you think is upsetting me?

- The fact that the general was right.

- What? You're not going to call him Ben? – Sam gave him a look that said something like "Daniel shut up". – Sorry. You're right. It's just that after that … - Daniel hesitated a bit before deciding on what to call it – "conversation" we had in his office I really wanted to be right. I wished that we came here and found a stupendous weapon.

- I know. We all wished to find something great. But we didn't and we have to go.

After they got back they still had to go to the infirmary and report to the general so if they wanted to go to dinner any time soon they had to leave now.

- Ok. We can go. – Daniel was still a little bit reluctant about going now. There had to be something more, something that made the trip to that planet worth. But Sam was right they had to go.

- Lieutenant. Teal'c do you read me?

They had been gone for a while to have a look around and see if they could find anything else. Sam had stayed with Daniel for backup. There was always the possibility of an attack even on a deserted planet.

- Yes colonel we read you load and clear.

- Found anything lieutenant?

- No ma'am. I think this is weird.

- What's weird?

- There's nothing here. No animals, no corps, no nothing and yet there are signs that a great civilization once lived on this planet. According to the translations already made, a great variety of animals lived here also. I can understand that the Goa'uld or something came and destroyed everything, but why can't we find any animal?

- I don't know lieutenant. We've already collected samples. We can best determine what happened here back home by analyzing what we collected. You and Teal'c are to come and meet us at the gate.

- Yes ma'am. We'll be there in 15 minutes.

- See you there.

SG-1 arrived at the SGC at 17:45 and was sent to the infirmary. After reporting to the general they were off to dinner. It was now 19:30.

- See you Sunday lieutenant.

- Goodbye ma'am. – They saluted. - Dr. Jackson, Teal'c. – He shook their hands and left.

After he had left, Daniel decided that now was a good time to ask something that has been on is mind for a while.

- Where are we having dinner? It has to be a place where we can talk without the fear of someone over hearing us.

- I had thought about that. How about my place?

- Your place?

- Yes. We could order a pizza or something. Who would suspect three friends getting together for pizza?

- I do believe that that is the best solution to our problem.

-Ok, let's go.

Sam's house – 20:15

They had ordered pizza and were now talking about a way of finding out more about the general.

- I have an idea. – Daniel just remembered about his friends company. – My friend has this company. It just went into bankrupt.

- Daniel Jackson what does that have to do with General Charleston?

- Well, the whole building belongs to my friend but as my friend is broke no one goes there. The IRS visited the offices a couple of weeks ago and closed down the whole building for an investigation so all of the files and computers are still in there. I thought that maybe we could go there and use the computer to log on to the SGC's personal files and take a look at the general's past.

- You do know that that's a crime right?

- Yes but if someone traced the signal they would find an abandoned building and nothing that could be traced back to us.

- I can't believe that we are here conspiring to commit a crime. This alone could put us in a lot of trouble.

- Look Sam that's the only way we are ever going to find out if the general has any connections with the NID.

- Colonel I do believe Daniel Jackson is correct. This is the only way.

- I don't believe I'm going to say this but ok let's do it. Oh, wait. How are we going to get in the building?

- I have the key.

- You have the key?

- Yes. My friend gave it to me for reasons I'm not going to go into right now.

- I don't know if I like the sound of that. But let's do it. – Sam wanted to know why the general wanted her to call him Ben. More than that, she wanted to know if they could trust him or not.

The rifs office building-- 21:30

- Ok here we are. The Rifs office building.

- Does this place have electricity?

- No. I thought maybe we could make the whole research on candle light.

- Sorry Daniel, it's just that I'm nervous about committing a crime. That's all.

They got into the building and found a nice office on the fifth floor. It had a computer and a nice desk.

- This is my friend's office. From here we can control every other computer in this company. That's why we came to his office it has high clearance.

- What exactly is this company?

- I don't know. Mike never told me. The only thing I know is that he did business with the air force and the NID.

-What? Didn't you think this was worth mention before we got here?

- If I had told you, you would probably refuse to come.

- Gee. You think? Your friend is NID. This can only mean trouble. Do you know that if we get caught they will probably link us to NID?

- We have nothing to do with NID. And we aren't getting caught.

- Daniel Jackson should we not start?

- Yeah. I'm gonna turn on the computer. We can have this discussion later.

- That is an assumption that we won't get caught.

- We won't.

After ten minutes of research Daniel finally screamed "aha", scaring both Sam and Teal'c half to death.

- Daniel don't do that.

- What did you find?

- Well, his personal file hasn't anything special but I found a related article about a woman called Mary Portman.

- Who is Mary Portman?

- My wife.

The general was there.

- Sir, this isn't what it looks like.

- Colonel, it looks like you three were accessing to my personal files. Illegally I might add.

- Well ok so this is what it looks like. But I'm the one to blame if you want anyone's blood is mine you should take.

- Daniel shut up. It's my fault. I'm the CO of my team and I gave the order.

- No you didn't. I'm the one to blame.

- Daniel Jackson, colonel we share responsibilities. I am as guilty as you are. And I…

- How impressive that you would sacrifice for each other. – Ben decided to interrupt them. He didn't care who was to blame. He wanted to set the record strait. – I don't want anyone's blood. And I'm not going to take any action against you.

- Sir!

- You heard me colonel. Now I think I should explain that. – Ben was pointing at the picture of a beautiful woman that was on the computer's screen. – As you know her name was Mary Portman. – Neither Sam nor Teal'c have read the article so they didn't know it was about a car accident that resulted on that woman's death and that showed on their faces. – Yes was. She died on a car accident. That's what the article is about. As you might have read Dr. Jackson I was there in that car that night.

- Sir. You owe us anything. If you think it is to hard for you to talk about it you don't have to.

- You are a good woman Samantha Carter. But I must tell you this. It's the only way to justify my actions. And I know that the only way for you to ever trust me is to tell you everything.

- Ok sir. If you think it is necessary. – Sam was seeing the effect that that conversation was having on that man. It was hard for him to do this, she could tell.

- Yes I do think it's necessary. – After a brief pause he continued. – As I said before she was my wife. She was driving. It was dark and it was raining. I still can't remember every detail, but I know we were fighting. I don't know about what, probably a stupid thing like me forgetting to put the toilet seat down or she forcing me to go watch one of her stupid conversions. – Ben was crying. Remembering that night, the night he lost the only woman he ever really loved, had turned out to be even more difficult than what he had imagined. – Sorry. It's hard. I must do this. - Sam was looking at him. She wanted him to stop as much as she wanted him to continuo speaking. She needed to know, so she decided not to say anything.

- Why don't you sit down? – A similar fight had happened in Daniel's mind as it did in Sam's. He didn't like the guy, but it wasn't like he wanted to cause him any harm.

- Thank you. – Ben sat down and continued. – We were fighting. She lost control of the car. New thing I remember I was at the hospital. My brother was there so were my parents and her parents. I knew right away that something was wrong. I mean what would her parents be doing in my room? Shouldn't they be checking on Mary? The doctor came in and told me that I had been in a terrible car accident and that I had been in a coma for two weeks. I asked my parents about Mary. She had to much internal damage, the doctors did what they could but she… - Ben took a deep breath. – She was dead.

- I am sorry general. I know the pain of losing a wife. – Teal'c was thinking about his wife and the pain that had been to lose her. It still hurt to think about her.

- So do I general. But I hope you don't mind me asking. What does this have to do with your actions? I mean I understand that that kind of trauma must leave physiological scars and that may be the reason you were acting so… So… - Daniel didn't know how to put it so he decided to go directly to the point. – So weird. But that doesn't explain the Sam thing?

- Sam thing?

- Yes. Call me Ben. May I call you Sam?

- Oh that. Have you looked at the picture?

The three friends turned their heads to look at the photo on the computer.

- Oh my god. She looked just like…

- You colonel. You look exactly like her.

- Sir. I…

- Don't say anything yet. Just hear me out. – Ben took another deep breath. – I asked you to call me Ben because you look just like her and it was like she was the one saying my name. I know it was only a fantasy but it was a good one. Having Mary working with me again, seeing her every day… It was a dream. But like all dreams I has to end. From now on colonel you better call me sir.

- Ok sir. Call me Carter.

- Carter?

- It's shorter than colonel.

The general gave her a small smile before replying – Ok Carter.

- Sorry sir but did you just say "working with me again"?

- Oh yes. You see Mary was an archaeologist. That's how we meet. I was assigned to go with her to a digging on Egypt. The government was afraid of eventual attack from Egyptian radical that didn't want American digging on their backyards.

- Why would American be digging on the Egyptian's backyards?

- It's an expression Teal'c.

- Oh. – Teal'c just raised his eyebrow. After eight years there were still some human expressions he didn't understand.

- So an archaeologist? I thought you didn't like our kind.

- What made you think that?

- Oh just the little conversation we had in your office.

- That. Well, from the moment I meet you I knew you were just like Mary. You have the same ideals she had. She didn't care about money or politics. The only thing she cared about was find out the truth about our ancestors history. She got really excited when she made a discovery. It was lovely.

- I don't get it if you think I'm just like your wife, why did you treat me like that?

- I don't know. I guess it was because I weren't prepared. I had already seen Sam's photo so I knew she looked like Mary. That wasn't a choke. You were. I just freaked and for that I am sorry.

- It's ok. I'm sorry too.

- Sir just one more question. How did you find us here?

- I followed you since you left the base. I kinda knew that you were suspicious of my behavior and that you would probably try to find out more.

- So you won't tell the proper authorities?

- Why? You would get fired and maybe even imprisoned; Teal'c wouldn't be allowed to go home he would be delivered to the NID and Carter would be put to a court-martial. You are the best team I have and losing you isn't an option.

- Thank you sir.

- Carter may I have a word with you in private?

- Yes sir.

The two of them when to talk on another room.

- What is it sir?

- Do you know why I accepted this position?

- No.

- It had nothing to do with the Stargate.

- No?

- No. I accepted this job because of you.

- Me?

- Yes. I miss Mary. And I thought being near you would be kind of a way to bring a little piece of her back to me.

- Sir I don't know what to say.

- It was stupid. She's gone. Nothing I can do will ever bring her back.

- It wasn't stupid. And she isn't completely gone. She will always be present inside your heard. A piece of her lives on with you.

- Thank you. You know what? I love this job. It's wonderful to know I'm part of this planet's first line of defense. It's a lot of pressure but I can handle it. I hope.

- I think it will be a pleasure to work with you sir.

- Hopefully. It isn't going to be weird for you to work with me, is it?

- No sir.

- Be honest.

- Maybe a little. But I'll be able to handle it.

- Good.

Meanwhile Daniel and Teal'c were talking about what had happened.

- Ok that was weird.

- What was weird?

- Well everything. That girl – Daniel pointed at Mary's photo – really looks like Sam. It's disturbing.

- Indeed.

- Do you think that the general is a good guy?

- Did you not believe in what he told us?

- Oh. I believed. But I'm not so sure he isn't hiding anything.

- Like what?

- I don't know. Maybe it's nothing. Forget about it.

- I do believe General Charleston to be a good guy.

- Why?

- Because of his actions this afternoon.

- What actions?

- SG-9 was under enemy fire. They managed to get back to the gate and dial home but they got pinned down by a jaffa patrol. According to the regulations the general should have closed the iris especially because the malp had been hit and all radio contact with SG- 9 was lost. He kept the iris open for 15 minutes before SG-9 was finally able to step throw the gate.

- How do you know that?

- Lieutenant Grogan told me.

- Lieutenant Grogan?

- He is a part of SG-9. As you know I recently went on a mission with them.

- Right. So Grogan felt obligated to tell you about it.

- Indeed.

- When did he tell you this?

- This afternoon I left the infirmary before you and Grogan came to my encounter to tell me about it.

- Why didn't you tell me?

- You didn't ask.

- Of course.

Sam and the general just entered the room.

- Well I think we should all go home. Enjoy your day off.

- Thank you sir.

- Goodbye sir.

- Goodbye Daniel.

The general shook Teal'c's hand, saluted Sam and left.

- We should go home.

- Yes this was a long night.

- Indeed.

They left. It had been a very long and confusing night. Daniel was still suspicious. Sam felt sorry for the general and a bit disturbed about the similarity between her and Mary. Teal'c was simply tired. He didn't want to worry much about it. As O'Neill used to say: "we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it". He was giving the general the benefit of the doubt.

Author's note: sorry I think I got carried away. This chapter is a bit long. But I just had to explain the general. Hope you liked it.