"Lieutenant Cook," Gibbs began, sipping his coffee nonchalantly and perusing the file in front of him. "You were Colonel Havelock's second-in-command."

"Yes, sir," the lieutenant answered. He sat across the table from Gibbs in the briefing room, fidgeting slightly despite an obvious effort to keep calm.

"It says here you only transferred into the unit last month," Gibbs noted.

"Uh, yes, sir," Cook replied hesitantly after Gibbs said nothing more.

"In fact, the whole unit was brand new to Colonel Havelock's command."

"That's correct, sir," Cook confirmed, his discomfort growing steadily.

"Is that unusual?" Gibbs asked, his first real question of the interview.

"Very, sir," Lieutenant Cook answered. "Most of the time, teams are changed out one member at a time over several years. With the exception of SG-1," he scowled slightly, "no one group of people have remained an SG team for more than two years."

"So what was different about you four?" Gibbs pressed, calmly taking a drag of coffee.

---------------

"Well, Colonel Havelock was pretty new to the program, sir," Staff Sergeant Lopez explained, mumbling slightly in his nervousness. "After Colonel Reynolds got transferred, they wanted to bring in some fresh blood or something. Colonel Havelock was just coming off a command in Iraq. General O'Neill said his fit-reps were all outstanding and he had good command experience, so he brought him in."

"You weren't the first Stargate team the colonel commanded," Gibbs prompted.

"No, sir," the sergeant agreed, eyes flashing. "Colonel Havelock's original team was ambushed their second time through the gate. The whole team was killed except for the colonel and his first sergeant."

"What happened to the first sergeant?" Gibbs asked.

"Sir?"

"He's not on the team anymore."

"I don't know, sir," Lopez admitted. "When they brought us in, they only told us about the ambush."

"What was Colonel Havelock like?" Gibbs changed tack.

---------------

"He was a good leader, sir," Lieutenant Cook asserted loyally. "He knew how to inspire his men in the field."

"What about off the field?" Gibbs queried insightfully.

"Well, sir," the lieutenant shrugged, "the colonel was one of those guys with the theory that to be a good leader, you have to keep a distance from your men. Truthfully, sir, we didn't see him much except for missions."

"So you didn't know him except as your colonel."

"Yes, sir. He was a good Marine, though. I don't know what happened on that ambush, but our team never saw a fight we didn't win. And the colonel sure wasn't afraid of 'em. Fights, I mean. We even called him 'Jack the Jaffa-Slayer' sometimes," Cookmiled sadly. "Not to his face, of course."

"Of course," Gibbs agreed with a slight comradely smile. "When's the last time you saw the colonel?"

----------------

"Just after the mission to P3X-389," Corporal Lee gulped, eyes wide as he watched Gibbs slurp his coffee. "After our post-mission checkup, the colonel took off."

"Where to?"

"He didn't say, sir," the corporal stated, as if that should have been obvious. "But I guess I assumed to take a shower. We got pretty dirty in a scuffle with some Jaffa."

"How would he have gotten to the locker room from the infirmary?" Gibbs asked vaguely, feigning doodles on his notepad.

Lee's brow furrowed at the question. "I don't under--"

"It's a simple question, Corporal," Gibbs interrupted easily, his flinty eyes belying his friendly smile.

"Well, sir," Corporal Lee frowned, thinking, "the fastest way would be to go down corridor F, take the west elevator up three levels, and then it's a straight shot along corridor H."

"What time did you return from," Gibbs paused, peering at his notes, "P3X-389?" The fact that he had only found out about interplanetary travel in the last two hours did not show at all in his expression.

"Yesterday at 0913, Rocky Mountain Time, sir."

"That's very precise," Gibbs noted.

"A Marine should always be precise, sir!" Lee sounded off.

"Hoorah," Gibbs agreed softly.

-----------

"Isn't he being a little too friendly?" Daniel asked, peering through the glass that separated Jack's office from the briefing room.

"He's making them comfortable," Tony explained, "so they'll open up more. During an interrogation -- that's when he gets nasty." Tony grinned.

"I see," Daniel frowned, clearly not.

Tony sighed. "You ever hear the expression, 'You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar'? This is the honey stage. Once Gibbs catches the flies, he gets out the fly-swatter."

"Ah." Daniel was beginning to understand, though Tony's imagery was...unusual. "So, at this point, he's trying to...what?"

"Right now, he's just getting a feel for the colonel," Tony lectured, relishing the opportunity to play teacher. "If he's not the kind of guy who has a lot of enemies, it makes our job that much easier."

"And if he is?"

"If he is," Tony shrugged, "we cancel our weekend plans."

-----------

"As Colonel Havelock's CO," Gibbs growled, trying to ignore the way Jack twiddling a pen back and forth in his hands, "do you know of anyone who would want to kill him?"

"If I knew that, Agent Gibbs," Jack replied lightly, "I wouldn't have had to call you in."

"General --" Gibbs began, the barely restrained frustration evident in his voice.

"Gibbs, please," Jack insisted, "it's Jack. Or, at the very least, O'Neill."

"Okay, Jack," Gibbs continued, mentally adding a three-letter suffix to the name, "I'm running an investigation here. If you want my help, you will cooperate without any more unnecessary comments. If not..." Gibbs smiled mirthlessly, "well, let's just say that's not an option any more."

Jack raised an eyebrow in a fair imitation of Teal'c before shrugging and nodding in agreement. "Okay, no more jokes. So, what was your question?"