"So, we have a go for the new base then?" O'Neill asked, leaning back in the General's chair. It was far more comfortable than the one in his own office, and since he had to come down here to sign off some paperwork, he figured he'd make his phone calls in comfort. "Sweet. Danny will be thrilled to hear it."
"So I expect," Hammond agreed over the telephone. "Jack, I've been talking to some people here, and it looks like a large section of the NID has decided to take up housekeeping elsewhere. Unfortunately, it looks as though a quite a number of them know about the Stargate Program, and are willing to do anything to keep Earth safe, including breaking the law."
"Why am I not surprised?" O'Neill stated dryly. "So, they finally decided that they were under too much scrutiny trying to hide in the ranks and now they've deserted."
"Looks that way, Jack. The NID is trying to track down their rogue agents, but so far they've had no luck in finding any of them."
"I'm not surprised about that either. They probably still have people on the inside covering their tracks and tipping them off when anyone gets close. Okay, that means we got a whole bunch of people who know about the Stargate program who have decided to take the law into their own hands. This is not a good thing, George. And I can guarantee you, they didn't all leave. Some have stayed behind to keep the others informed if anyone gets close to finding them."
"I know. Jack, I trust you have the base on high alert, but I think that Dr. Jackson is still in a great deal of danger. We think we have some idea what someone is trying to do, but in order to find out who and why, we're going to have to go along with what we think is their plans."
"Meaning?"
"The Pentagon is throwing itself into the idea of adding more scientific staff to the SGC crew. Unfortunately, we aren't going to get full control over who gets chosen to come in, though we will be allowed to do some recruitment through proven contacts, such as Dr. Gardner. They've also decided that if they're going to put in a scientific base offworld, there should be a broader spectrum of scientists in the group, such as the type that usually work with Major Carter. Astrophysics, geology, engineering, computers, they want the whole works covered. That way if something major is discovered, everyone who could possibly deal with it is already there."
"Okay, I can see that, but do they realize how hard it is to get these people to deal with each other? I mean, yah, Carter and Danny work together really well, but they and the people they've worked with are kinda the exceptions to the rule. Most the archeologists and modern scientists I've seen off the base hardly ever even talk to one another; it's like they don't really speak the same lingo. We got a pretty unique group here, George, and bringing in too many new people at once could really throw a wrench into things."
"I know, but the brass feel that the move is a necessary one. The question is, can we make it work?"
"Danny and Carter could do it, but that would mean them taking charge of a main part of the base on a permanent basis. I don't think you want to yank them out of the field to do that, do you General?"
"From your reports, Dr Jackson may no longer be able to work in the field anyway. However, I don't think that his working from an off world base instead of at the mountain would be a real problem, do you?"
"Stress is the biggest danger for him right now, but no, you're probably right. I'll let you argue that idea with the docs, though. I'll warn you, Abby has come to really like Daniel, and is already getting rather protective of him. And you may lose Janet to the new base if you move Danny there, I don't know that she would be willing to be split from him at this point. Though with Cassandra, I couldn't tell you for sure, she could go either way."
"Yes, I've noticed that relationship growing myself. Has Dr Fraiser said anything about turning Dr Jackson's care over to another doctor yet?"
O'Neill chuckled, thinking of how he'd found the pair that morning; Daniel sleeping against Fraiser's shoulder. "No, but I don't think she's going to wait much longer. They've gotten pretty close, and I have the feeling that one of them is going to make a move on the other as soon as he recovers from this." He spotted the woman in question coming up the stairs from the control room below and motioned for her to come join him. "In fact, here comes the doc now. George, I'm switching over to the speaker phone," he warned, clicking things over and hanging up the handset.
Hammond waited until things had clicked in before speaking again. "Do you think that Dr Sinclair would be interested in transferring? Major Davis is considering moving into the Cheyenne area to make his work easier, and flying to Washington as needed. He and Dr Sinclair are close enough that they're currently sharing a house here in DC."
"Advise him to keep the place. He'll probably be flying back and forth enough for it to be worth his while because I'm fairly sure she's going to want to transfer," O'Neill told him as Janet entered the office, shutting the door behind her.
"She who?" the doctor asked, curious about the conversation but not wanting to appear too nosy.
She looked tired, and O'Neill waved her in to take a seat. "Just talking with the General, Doc," he told her, rising to get her a cup of coffee. "We're on speaker now."
"Good, I can tell you both the latest development," she sighed. "Abby and Dr Warner just took Daniel into surgery. The poison has caused clotting in the main arteries around his heart, and they're going to do what they can to clear them out. Prognosis isn't good, though, especially with an upper respiratory infection that might cause further complications. They put him on a ventilator for surgery, of course, but he'll likely be on it for some time afterwards."
"He's beaten the odds before, Janet," O'Neill told her softly as he brought her her coffee. "He'll pull through, he's as stubborn as a damn mule."
"I hope so. Sir, are you considering asking for Dr Sinclair to be transferred to the SGC? If so, please do. My staff all like her, and she and Daniel seem to get along. I feel comfortable turning his care over into her hands. Barring routine exams, I feel that I should no longer be his primary care physician. I've already talked to her, and she admitted she would love to get away from the capital. And with her combat skills, she would serve admirably as a second field doctor."
"I can attest to her fighting skills, George. I trained her myself," O'Neill assured him. "She may have washed out of my black ops classes in the end, but she learned a hell of a lot about combat before I ever met her, and I taught her a lot more."
"If that's the case, then I'll put in the transfer request papers on Monday morning before I leave to come home," Hammond assured them both. "Major Davis is working on trying to trace whoever managed to intercept emails into and out of General Harding's office, but he admits that he probably won't have much luck. Jack, what about the letter itself?"
"Something new there, but not helpful. Seems the paper was made to be poisonous from the start, but we're not sure exactly what it's made from. As such, it was obviously handled with gloves, so the only fingerprints on it were Daniel's. Inkjet printer typed, so there's no way to trace what machine it came from. The letter is, as a clue, almost completely worthless unless we can trace who makes poisonous paper. And that's not damn likely."
"What about the writer?" Janet asked. "It comes across as having been written by someone in the Archeological community. Someone with a personal ax to grind with Daniel."
"Which anyone suitably motivated could have written," O'Neill pointed out. "Work yourself into the right mindset, and something like that can come together pretty easily even if you have no idea who the letter is really going to. General, you sure about staying there for the weekend? Given that our opponents can tap email systems, there's no real secure line of communications other than face to face. Phones are even easier to tap. I'm hoping that's something you've already thought of, or we've just given those bastards an earful."
"The entire Pentagon is being checked out this weekend to be sure there's nothing lying around, but I'm in Davis' office and these systems have already been checked for bugs. But all right, Jack, I'll see what needs to be wrapped up, get the request for Dr Sinclair's transfer done and in Major Davis' hands, then head home tomorrow morning. In the meantime, keep everyone out of trouble, and take care of Daniel."
"I consider it to be my personal mission in life, General. Have a good night, sir."
Hammond wished them both a good evening, and O'Neill hung up the speakerphone before turning his attention to Janet. "How are you holding up?" he asked gently, giving her a concerned look. She looked tired, and more than a little stressed out.
"It hasn't been easy trying to see him through this. He's in a lot of pain right now, and his condition is getting worse, and will continue to get worse before it gets any better. Actually, I was just planning on touching bases with you before I head to get a shower and some sleep," she admitted. "The surgery is going to take hours, and Abby told me she'd have me paged once Daniel is out of recovery." She took a deep breath, then let it out. "And in the meantime, I need to talk to you about something that has both Abby and I very, very worried…"
O'Neill leaned forward in the chair, resting his arms on the edge of the desk, one hand casually flipping a pen end over end in his fingers. "I'm all ears, doc," he assured her, and settled down to listen.
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Carter was relieved to find that Sarah was as good as her word when it came to accommodations at her home, which was a spacious two story house about twenty minutes away from the university. The bottom floor consisted of a two-car garage and a large workroom/office for Sarah that held her research books and artifacts she was in the process of cleaning or assembling for further study, as well as the standard laundry and utility rooms. Once the garage door was closed and locked, Sarah led her up stairs to the main body of the house.
Sarah's house was surprisingly rustic, and for the most part, it didn't display much in the way of artifacts, only a few pieces were placed here and there. Rather it seemed to be a place for Sarah to get away from her work, the couches deep and large, and plenty of thick pillows were always within reach. There were two couches there in the living room, set at a right angle to each other with the TV set placed for easy viewing from any seat. The coffee table in front the couches was dark oak and clear glass, four panes set in a square, and was huge, perfect for spreading out student papers for grading. There were a few bookcases in the living room, but the books on them were all for leisure, Carter found. Some historical romances, a few books on arts and crafts, and some little knick-knacks filled the shelves out comfortably without making them seem cluttered.
Sarah led her down the hallway to a series of three bedrooms and a large, generous bath, letting her pick which room she wanted to use from between the two spares. Carter chose the one with a full sized bed, smiling at the comfortable blue and green drapes and matching comforter as she settled her bag onto the luggage rack by the closet. "Very nice house you have here," she told Sarah. "It seems very, very comfortable, almost like a retreat."
"That's the whole idea," Sarah replied, smiling as she leaned against the doorframe. "Unlike Daniel, I prefer to leave my work at work, and rest and relax at home. When something does come up that requires me to do work here, it stays downstairs where it belongs. Now, feel free to get settled in and wash up if you feel the need, I'll go see what I have in icebox to fix for supper."
Dinner that night was grilled salmon filets and wild rice pilaf and Carter found that Sarah was an absolutely marvelous cook. After dinner, they retreated into the living room and, over chocolate mousse, passed a few hours catching up on things. They finally realized how late it was when the grandfather clock near the hallway chimed midnight, indicating that it was probably a good time to go to bed since they had to get up early in the morning to get things done.
The night was restful for both women, and Carter called the base in the morning, asking about Daniel's condition, then filling O'Neill in on where she was at and why. "I'm hoping that I can find a couple dozen good people here. The one I'm going to meet later this morning is in good form for an SG team, I think. She definitely has the fighting moves to be on one. And she shares a lot of the same educational experience that Daniel has, she's just not quite as advanced in them as he was when he joined the program."
"Where did she pick up the fighting skills?" O'Neill asked, curious.
"What I heard, she's got three close friends who are all military, Marine, Navy pilot and Army Corp of Engineers. At least, that's what she told the bully she took down yesterday in the cafeteria."
"Get names, Carter, and any other information you can on those guys. We just got clearance from the Joint Chiefs to pull staff from any branch of the military that we can find suitable people in. We can bring them in from Army, Navy or even the Coast Guard if we have to."
"Damn. How many people are we going to be able to pick up?" she asked, very, very surprised to hear this piece of good news.
"We got clearance for close to a hundred, if we feel we need them, and if we can find that many."
"Double damn. Okay, I'll talk to Dr Loring, and get back to you. I have a secured laptop with me, and I'll try to get an uplink to send data directly to the SGC."
"I'll tell Walter to keep an eye out for your link," he assured her, then let her go.
Dressed in a light top and wrap around skirt, Carter went out to meet up with her hostess in the kitchen, where Sarah was putting the finishing touches on some waffles, stacking them on a plate as she took them out of the waffle iron. "We've got fresh strawberries, blueberries and peaches to go with these, and there's whipped cream in the door of the icebox if you want it," she told Carter with a smile. "Coffee is brewing right now, or there's tea water hot on the stove. Teresa should be here in a few minutes; she's picking up salad fixings for the three of us for lunch."
"Sounds good," Carter assured her, getting one of the large, hot waffles and adding strawberries and peaches to it, but skipping the whipped cream. She took a seat at the nearby dining room table, she figured that Sarah probably didn't appreciate food in the living room with her cream colored rug. "I just got off the phone with the Colonel. Daniel went through surgery last night to try to clear some things up around his heart. The poison he'd been hit with has thickened up his blood, and they're concerned about clotting causing a third attack or even a stroke."
"How bad is it?" Sarah questioned.
"They had to leave him on the ventilator after surgery, and the Colonel says he's very, very weak. They're still waiting to hear from the Tok'ra. I'm hoping that my message got through to my dad."
"I remember meeting your father. He seemed a very sweet man," Sarah stated with a small smile of remembrance. "Selmak was very kind."
Carter paused mid bite, her eyes growing a little wide as she slowly chewed her waffle, then swallowed. "My father has his moments, but I don't think anyone has ever called him sweet before. He's mellowed, though, probably thanks to Selmac."
"Yes, well, I redefined a few terms while I was gone those three years," Sarah told her, turning off the waffle iron. "Believe me, compared to some people I recall running into, he was very sweet. Actually, I think part of the reason I liked him was that I was mostly talking to Jacob, not Selmak."
"True. Dad prefers to be in control and Selmak lets him have it most of the time, and is willing to be just a passenger," Carter told her. "We've noticed that with most of the Tok'ra we run into these days, we're mostly talking to the symbiote, not the host."
The doorbell interrupted any further talk and Sarah went to answer it, returning a moment later with Dr Loring following her, a bag in hand while the younger woman carried two more. The younger woman didn't seem to notice Carter right off as she swung her bags up onto the counter, still chattering away.
"…at any rate, John says his platoon is heading out for Iraq in three days, so he wasn't going to be able to call me for a while. Kevin's ship is still stationed in the Mediterranean and they're not due back for another three months. That leaves just Denise and I stateside. Fortunately, her ACE team isn't slotted to go overseas, they came back from there just before she was transferred in."
"ACE?" Sarah asked, a bit confused by the letters.
"Army Corp of Engineers," Carter supplied, smiling as Teresa gave her a most curious look. "Dr Sam Carter, Major, USAF," she said, wiping off her hands on a napkin, then offering her right one in greeting.
Teresa took it with a smile. "Dr Teresa Loring, it's a pleasure to meet you, Major," she told Carter. "What's your field?"
"Call me Sam, and I'm a theoretical Astrophysicist." Carter explained. "I work out of Cheyenne Mountain."
"Well, that's one field they don't need overseas," Teresa mused. "Must be nice knowing they're not going to send you over to the Middle East."
"Actually, I logged in plenty of flight time during Desert Storm," Carter told her. "I'm fully rated to fly about a half dozen of the aircraft we have over there right now, as well as a few that we don't."
Sarah finished empting the bags, putting away the lettuce, shredded cheese and other salad fixings for later, and putting a beautiful lemon pepper rotisserie chicken in the oven to keep it warm until lunch time. "Major Carter works with your idol, Daniel Jackson," she told Teresa, amused when the woman, who had been fixing her own waffle, paused and blinked in shocked surprise.
"Why would the military want to hire an archeologist to work in Colorado?" she asked slowly, surprise giving way to curiosity. "I applied to work for the Army to help deal with dig sites over in Iraq, but they turned me down."
"Daniel was hired as a translator right after that last lecture," Carter answered. "He does a lot of translating work even now, though his duties have expanded far past that."
"I've been thinking about hiring on as a translator for the military," Teresa mused as she finished making her breakfast and joined the pair at the table, bringing the coffee pot with her. She poured for herself and Carter, while Sarah fixed her own tea. "I do speak several middle eastern dialects."
"So are you still interested in joining the military?" Carter asked, trying not to sound to eager to hear an affirmative answer.
"I've been thinking about it. Army, most likely, like my friend Denise. She's currently serving up in Anchorage Alaska at their main office. She's got a Masters in Engineering, with bachelor degrees in languages and Archeology. Makes it handy when you're working on some building project and stumble across a two hundred year old camp site."
Carter chuckled. "She like Alaska?" she asked.
"Some, but says the winters are just too damn long. There's that sixty or so days of nighttime in the winter that's a real pain. The sun goes down the end of November and doesn't come up again until the beginning of February. And, of course, that's when they're doing all their planning for the next year's projects, so she can't even take leave to come visit and get some sunshine."
Carter thought about her own cover story and found a way to sympathize. "I do deep space radar telemetry, so you can guess what kinds of hours I keep," she told Teresa. "I sleep most the day, and work under a mountain all night."
Teresa nodded, her eyes narrowing a bit, though, as her look turned suspicious. "Why do you need a translator to work on deep space telemetry?" she questioned.
"We work with a lot of other countries, and some times it's easier for us to get Daniel in to talk to them than it is to miss something because someone in Russia doesn't have a good grasp of technical English," Carter explained. "He also does some work for the CIA doing translations from messages intercepted in the Middle East. I was rather surprised to find out that English is actually his third native language, he learned it, Egyptian and Arabic all at the same time."
"Really? I missed that somehow when I was checking out information on him," Teresa mused, distracted for the moment.
"Daniel was born in Cairo, Egypt," Sarah supplied. "He didn't move to the states until he was older…"
"He was eight," Carter added. "It was only days later that his parents were killed, and he ended up on his own when his grandfather didn't take him in. He's told some very eye-opening horror stories about being in the foster care system."
"He's not the only one with those. If Denise, Kevin and I hadn't been together, I don't think any of us would have survived the first couple of years in foster care," Teresa murmured.
"You were in the system too?" Carter asked.
"Three of us were," she admitted. "We all ended up fostered together with John's parents. After that, things took a turn for the better for us, but I knew a lot of kids who were treated as little more than slaves by their foster parents, adults who were more interested in getting government money and having someone to keep their house clean for them."
"Daniel told me once he had one family try to get their hands on his school grant money. Fortunately they never succeeded," Sarah told them. "Teresa, Sam is going to help you with the tests this afternoon, so that I can concentrate on the papers from my third class."
"Not a problem," Teresa assured her, and they all set about finishing breakfast before the morning's work began.
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Seated at Major Davis' desk at the Pentagon, General Hammond was not a happy man at all. "So, we know now who managed to get those letters switched around in Colonel Cartwright's office, but someone else got to him before we did," he mused. "Is his residence being searched for any further clues?" he asked Davis.
"I sent teams in to do that before I called you in, Sir. The place was thoroughly trashed. If there was any evidence there, it's long gone now, whoever did the search was very, very careful to make sure they got everything out of there."
"Which means we have a rogue NID officer now dead, most likely by the hands of his fellow rogues," Hammond mused, then let out a deep sigh. "So at this point we're at a complete dead end to get to the bottom of this mess."
"I'm afraid so, General. I would say that the man acted without orders, or else they decided he'd bungled his orders to the point that they couldn't afford to keep him around as a risk letting him get caught. Or else he was expendable to begin with, which could also be the case. According to NID files, he didn't have access to information on the SGC, so it's possible he didn't have any idea what those letters were that he exchanged out of the Colonel's office and took to the mailroom."
"So, that's turned out to be a literal dead end. What about the emails?"
"I've tried to trace them, sir, but no luck there either. Perhaps Major Carter might have better luck, but I doubt it. Experience has shown that she and I have similar skill levels with computers."
"Which leaves us with only the option of checking people as they join up, and try to find anyone who may be compromised." Leaning back in his chair, crossed his arms, shaking his head in frustration. "This isn't how I hoped this would go. But the NID are to damn smart to let us catch them this early in the game. All right, Major Carter is going to start sending you information on people very soon, possibly as early as this afternoon. Screen them as best you can, and take your time at it. I want good people, the best we can get, but I want as little trouble as possible."
"Yes, sir. Are you heading home this evening?"
"I wouldn't mind it. Is there a flight that I could catch out of here tonight?" Hammond asked. "Nothing against your place, son, but I'd like to sleep in my own place."
"Understandable. A flight heading to California leaves in four hours, sir. I can have them make a brief stop at Peterson to let you off without to much trouble."
"That would be just fine, and thank you, Major," Hammond told him, nodding as he rose. "You make those arrangements, while I fill out the transfer request for Dr Sinclair, and then I'll just need to collect my bag on the way to the airport."
"I'm glad Abby was agreeable to moving," Davis admitted, smiling. "She hates dealing with politicians."
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Once they were done with breakfast, the trio of ladies headed into the living room, Sarah curling up on the couch with a stack of reports to read while Teresa and Carter settled on thick cushions on the floor to easily work at the coffee table. The young woman showed Carter the key to the tests she was going to be grading. "You got an easy one, these are all multiple choice or true/false questions," she stated with a grin, handing everything over. "The ones I'm grading have some written questions, but it's material I'm familiar with so I don't have to disturb Sarah for answers."
Carter agreed and set about following the key, going through things fairly quickly to mark incorrect answer by marking the correct selection with a red pen. By counting the red marks, she was able to score each test with ease and finished up the second class' tests about the time that Teresa finished with the class she had been dealing with. Teresa took the tests with a smile, clamped the different classes into stacks, and set them aside. "So, what's it like working with Dr Jackson?" she asked.
"It's never boring," Carter assured her, reaching for the bag on the couch behind her and pulling out her computer. It only took her a few minutes to set things up while Teresa finished putting the tests away. "He has a way of looking at things that just makes you step back and go 'whoa, why didn't I notice that?'," she explained. "Maybe you'll get to meet him some time, but I'd like to know more about yourself. What are your plans when you get out of school?"
"Hopefully find a dig to head out on, but I don't know how successful I'm going to be given the unrest over in the Middle East. That's why I was considering the military, since linguistics is my back-up plan for a job. When it comes to Middle Eastern languages, the military is among the best and safest employer."
Nodding in agreement, Carter pulled out some papers from her bag and laid them in front of Teresa. "Good. Start filling those out. Oh, and I need some references, those friends of yours who are all military would be good ones. I just need to know their names, ranks and where to find them."
Teresa looked the application over. "I'm not sure I'd like working under a mountain," she admitted, considering the application carefully. "Even if it is working with Dr Jackson."
Carter chuckled, and decided to come clean. There was something about this lady she really liked, and she wanted to get her onto their team if she could. "Teresa, that's a cover story," she admitted. "Our real work has a lot to do with deep space, but not in the way that anyone would think of. It's also classified so deeply that the classification is classified. We answer directly to the President and the Joint Chiefs, no one lower."
Sarah looked up from her papers, giving her curious student a rather haunted look. "I know exactly what kind of work Daniel and Sam do, Teresa, and while it's extremely dangerous, it's also work you could be very, very good at. Trust me in this, I had a reason for bringing you here today, and grading papers is only the beginning of it."
Looking thoughtfully from one woman to the other for a long moment, Teresa quickly set about filling in the information Carter needed while answering her questions about her friends. It didn't take long for Carter to find the files for all three of them, and upload their information to the SGC to be considered for the program.
Once Teresa had finished filling out the application, Carter entered everything into the computer to send it to Walter. It wasn't long before she had a confirmation back that all the information had been sent on to Major Davis to be checked out.
She sat back with a sigh, stretching her arms out in front of her and locking her hands to get the kinks out. "When are you graduating, anyway?" she asked.
"Two months," Teresa told her, stretching as well.
"Next week," Sarah corrected without looking up from her paperwork. "You just need to take your finals, you're ahead in your work. I could arrange for you to have them Monday if you think you're ready for them."
"What?" Teresa asked, turning around to give Sarah a startled look that brought a chuckle out of Carter. "I didn't know that was possible."
"Oh, yes," Sarah assured her. "Arranging it would be no problem at all. Now, shall we head back to the kitchen and have some lunch?" she asked, laying the papers aside.
Rising from their cushions on the floor, Carter and Teresa followed her back to the kitchen, where they set about fixing their lunch. The fresh salad greens were perfect, and with slices of hot chicken, shredded cheese, tomatoes and Caesar dressing, it made a wonderful, filling lunch for three calorie watching women.
Settling down again at the dinning room table, Carter watched as Sarah poured all three of them iced lemon tea. "Teresa, what got you into archeology?" she asked.
"Actually, I started out with an interest in ancient languages that no one else would understand," Teresa explained. "That led to an interest of the people and culture behind those languages." She took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. "My mother died when I was born. My father didn't want to lose me, but he also didn't want to raise a child alone and went looking for a new wife. He found one when I was about three, and she was the wicked stepmother from hell. She was two months pregnant when they got married, but she 'lost' the baby right after the wedding. I say it that way because I don't think she was really pregnant to begin with, she was just using that to get him to the altar.
"Six months after the wedding, dad went out fishing with his new wife and some of her 'fine' friends. I never saw him again, they brought back a waterlogged body with an alcohol level well over the limit, said he got drunk, fell overboard and drowned. Of course, the fact he was an Olympic level swimmer and had never touch alcohol didn't come up in the investigation until a good many years later. By then she'd emptied the accounts, sold off everything and dumped me in the worse god-forsaken orphanage in southern California. And she'd completely disappeared into Mexico somewhere with all the money.
"By then I was in the system and an emotional wreck. It didn't help that the first two foster care parents I was given to were as bad as my stepmother and were just after the money. The second one managed to hide what they were doing until I was six and the case workers realized I wasn't in school. When they came to check on me, they found me locked in a back bedroom closet, in my underwear, and so thin you could see every rib. And I'm not exaggerating, I've seen the pictures they took."
Carter shook her head. "People like that need to spend some time in the same situation to teach them a lesson. Or be shot. Personally, having seen what that kind of abuse did to Daniel, I favor the wasting of a bullet myself…"
Teresa nodded. "After being pulled out of the second home, I spent time in an orphanage and met Kevin and Denise. Unfortunately, some bad apples wind up working in those places as well and we ended up bonding for protection from a couple of abusive care-givers. Unfortunately, when we tried to talk to the social workers about what was happening, they would hush us up with threatening looks when no one was looking and come up with carefully arranged cover stories.
"The good thing was that when I finally got into school, they began to realize how bright I was when I was advanced from kindergarten to the first grade, thus catching up to my age level in one year. Kevin and Denise were as equally smart, and we all worked together on our homework, so they were advanced into a special class for 'gifted' students with me by the end of the year."
"I can see a problem with this. From what I've heard, most people don't want the hassles of dealing with a 'gifted' youngster that's probably smarter than they are," Carter speculated, remembering more information she'd gradually gotten out of Daniel over the years. "How come you were never adopted?"
"With my 'stepmother' out there somewhere, they couldn't put me up for adoption, she might come back and want me again, and that would be a major mess. She neglected to sign the paperwork that would let the system try to find me a permanent home. So I was stuck in the foster care system.
"Then, I finally hit a bit of good luck, that first summer in the orphanage. There were a couple of new workers hired on, they were philippino, and they liked to talk to each other in their own language. That's when we found out that all three of us had a knack for languages. That was also about the time that one of the men working there tried to go after Denise, and when she was over heard warning us away from the him, he cornered us and threatened to kill us if she didn't shut up. We got away from him, but that left us feeling there was no one at all we could trust there until these new ladies came in. We started to pick up on their language pretty quick and began conversing with them in it. By the time school started up again we were fluent enough to tell them what was going on and what other workers were trying to do to the kids. And they couldn't shut us up because they had no idea what we were saying and the women insisted we were only 'being polite'."
"I hope they went to the authorities," Sarah put in between bites.
"They did, and a major sweep and background check was done on all the people working at the place. Unfortunately, that wound up closing the orphanage down and nearly split the three of us up again anyway. If it hadn't been for some publicity about the whole thing, we may never have seen each other again. As it was, a whole new group of people started applying to become foster parents, and local families picked up a lot of the children. That's when we met John and his parents… And that was the best piece of good luck we could ask for.
"John Heasley was in our special advancement classes and he told his parents about us. His family had just moved into a big house and had plenty of room, and he was able to talk them into taking all three of us."
"You got damn lucky," Carter stated after taking a sip of her iced tea.
"Yes, we were, but we didn't believe that for a while. We'd been hurt, and scared, and it took us some time to really start trusting the Heasleys. In the meantime, we wanted to find a way that we could pass messages to each other and communicate without anyone understanding us. I found a book on Egyptian Hieroglyphs in the library, and we set out learning the language. We got pretty good at it, really, and even after we learned to trust, it was still our own 'private language' for leaving each other messages. We taught it to John as well, and the interest grew from there to other very old languages. Not all of us speak the same languages, though, we kind of spread out our interests. We can cover about a dozen or so, ancient and modern, between us.
"We started attracting attention at school almost immediately. A few of our teachers, realizing that we were soaking up everything they could teach us faster than they'd ever seen, started working with us on getting scholarships and grants together to go on to college. We were fourteen when we passed high school equivalency and moved onto the college campuses for schooling instead. A few of our new peers took exception to being shown up by a group of 'children', but they got over it. Especially since you couldn't deal with one of us alone, we all worked together as a group. Now, our interests diverged at that point, but we still have some overlap. Languages are the big one. But John gained an interest in Geology, while Kevin got caught up in computers and aviation tech. Denise loved finding out how things work and went into mechanical engineering, while I headed for Archeology and Anthropology. Again, there's overlap. Denise has a bachelors degree in archeology, while John has a doctorate in Anthropology."
"So, you guys are used to being a team then," Carter mused, considering the story carefully. If they could pull them all in, it sounded as if, with some experience offworld under their belt, they'd have a ready made SG team… "Tell me more about your friends," she asked.
Teresa was more than happy to do so, and the more she heard, the more Carter knew they had to have these four at the mountain. Given the proper teaching and experience, their possibilities as a first contact team was incredible
There was a beep from Carter's computer a few hours later, and she returned to the living room to read the message that had just been forwarded to her. "Interesting. They've already done a first level background check on you. One of your friends is doing some high security work and they always check out close friends and family as well," she stated, smiling as she looked up to study the surprised young woman. She gave Teresa an amused look. "I need to get your fingerprints and send them in, and they'll have to do a more in-depth interview and credit check before you'll be accepted, possibly even a polygraph test, but if you pass all of that, it says here that you've got a job."
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O'Neill met with several of the SG team leaders, nodding to the group of four men. "Pierce, Reynolds, Harper, Dixon… Got a job for the four of you, and we need things done fast, which is why we're sinking so many people into this. You all have full teams ready to go out, plus we have about another dozen from five other teams who are willing to go while they have members down with one thing or another. We got clearance from the Pentagon to start building the science base, and I want to get it started as soon as possible. Now, we have a good start at P7H-696, there's a nearby river that the engineers believe might be damable for an alternate power supply, and there's a huge cave complex a quarter mile from the gate that could be turned into quarters and storage facilities. In particular I want you guys to get in there, and get a medical MASH-style unit set up. Harper, you and Dixon have done medical emergencies before, so you two will be in charge of making sure that things are up and running ASAP. Dr. Carmichael will go with a pair of nurses to take care of the medical equipment we're sending over and get everything set up. Find a protected area to set up the initial camp near the caves, and there's no limit on the size other than we don't want to leave any major evidence of the camp when you get finished."
"We're talking a long term camp then?" Dixon asked. He was the oldest of the four, and had been running covert ops for nearly as long as O'Neill had. "A big one?"
"Yep. Let people spread out, everyone can take their own two-man tent if they want, or pair up in a four man. You'll have big tents for the medical, and for general shelter for cooking and the likes. MREs for backup meals, but you'll primarily want to have a full kitchen there. Pierce, I know your team helped set up the first Alpha site, so you know the kind of layout we're going to need. However, I don't want the area cleared like the Alpha site was, leave everything as natural as possible. Understood?"
Pierce nodded, while the others all looked curious. "What's going on, Jack?" Dixon asked. "Sounds like you're moving quite a group in and fast. What's the rush?"
"The NID has had a lot of its personnel go rogue on them," O'Neill stated. "People who all know about the Stargate, and who seem to feel that Earth is being compromised by our actions. We know who's disappeared, but we don't know who they still have in the ranks, forming a fifth column to feed them information and help them steal any alien tech. Now, we're pretty sure that these guys are also behind the attack on Daniel, an attack that damn near succeeded in killing him. They didn't make it, Daniel was lucky and Harper and his team got him back fast. But we don't know that what they did won't kill him in the end."
"How bad is his condition, Sir?" Harper asked. He and Daniel were about the same age, and got on quite well.
"He had those two heart attacks and survived them, but there's a possibility of a third at any time. Doc says his lungs are being compromised, and that could kill him too. Basically, it doesn't look good." He paused, looking down at the drawings in front of him on the table. "This base was his dream, boys, he picked out the location and he wrote up the report that got us the permission and funds to make it. If we're going to loose him, I want him to at least know the work's been started and will be carried out. Understood?"
There were nods and murmurs of agreement as the men headed off to get things together for the earliest departure possible. They had a lot of work to do.
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Major General Jacob Carter was glaring, he knew it, but he hated being ordered anywhere, something his Tok'ra symbiote, Selmak, understood all too well. As she was considered to be 'oldest and wisest', she was as unused to being summoned as her host was. Any clue what's going on? Jacob asked her as yet another guilty looking Tok'ra scurried into a side hall before they reached him. A lot of people are doing their damnest to get out of our way as fast as they can. And no one is willing to look me in the face.
:I have noticed this: Selmak admitted, and he could easily sense her unease. :Whatever is happening, most everyone knows about it but us, and from their reaction, they're not expecting us to be happy about it. I don't like this at all.:
Jacob agreed, he had a very bad feeling about what was going on as he headed for the council room. When he arrived there, it was to find the entire council waiting, and that made him even less happy as he glared at the group. "What's going on here?" he demanded,
"We need to speak with Selmak, not with you, Jacob," stated Per'sus, his voice echoing the double tones that meant the symbiote was talking.
Jacob hesitated, then bowed his head, letting Selmak take control while he took the 'back seat', listening in on the conversation without being able to physically react to it. "What is going on here?" Selmak demanded. "Everyone we have seen since we arrived at the base has been unwilling to even look at us in the face, and is acting unusually guilty. Jacob and I are both getting heartily tired of being left out of the loop, as he says. In the last several Tau'ri months, you have done all you can to keep us out of any council meetings, but you didn't hesitate to summon us here as soon as we arrive through the Stargate today. A suspicious move, to say the least."
"Being with the Tau'ri has left you suspicious and temperamental, Selmak," Per'sus noted. "You never used to be so short with us before you blended with your current host."
"No, it has just been several hundred years since I had a host willing to support my telling you you're a group of idiots. Jacob is the most attentive host I've ever had, and what I miss of your stupidity, he catches. Now, what is going on here?" she asked, looking around the room. She recognized everyone there, except for a very young woman sitting between Anise and Garshaw on the far side of the table. "Garshaw?"
The tall, elegant woman hesitated a moment, then spoke. "The council believes that it for the best interest of the Tok'ra that you take a different host, Selmak, and let Jacob return to Earth to rejoin his own people."
Selmak could feel Jacob's anger at this announcement. "In other words, you feel that Jacob is a Tau'ri spy and you want me to get rid of him?" she questioned. "You're quite wrong, of course. About a good many things, it seems, if you think I would desert Jacob at your whim. We have no desire at all, either of us, to be parted."
Anise motioned to the young woman beside her. "This is Marana, and she has come to be your new host, Selmak. You have always preferred to blend with a woman, and she is both young and strong. Are you sure you don't wish to reconsider?"
"Quite sure," Selmak told the council, looking from person to person around the room and noting that while Garshaw didn't seem too surprised, or disappointed, everyone else was. "I believe it is time for this charade to end," she told them. "It's quite obvious to both Jacob and myself that we are no longer welcome on the council, so we will be leaving. If you wish to talk to me, I'm quite sure you know where to find me."
"You would turn your back on your own people, Selmak?" Per'sus demanded, his tone indicating that he would never have expected this reaction.
"You have already turned your back on Jacob and I," Selmak pointed out. "As Jacob would say, you can take your idea and go for a long walk off a short pier." Giving them one last glare he turned and stalked out of the council chamber, heading back to the tucked away tiny chamber they kept their few things in when they were on the base. :Well, Jacob, it seemed you were right when you told me the last time we were here that things were getting worse between ourselves and the council.:
Unfortunately, Jacob agreed, his tone soft with remorse. Sel, I'm sorry…
:It's not your fault they're scared.: Selmak pointed out gently. :Of what though, I'm not quite sure.:
"Selmak? Jacob?" came a call from down the hallway behind them as they entered the chamber, Selmak letting Jacob take control of his body to begin packing up their few belongings.
"We're here, Malek," Jacob called back, gathering up his possessions and tucking them into the rucksack he'd brought back on one of his early trips from earth. The Tok'ra were constantly on the move, so it didn't make sense to have a lot of possessions, and he kept anything of value that he might want back at the SGC or with his daughter.
The Tok'ra base commander joined them, leaning against the doorway of the little room. "You're remarkably calm, given what the Council was proposing," he noticed, then his eyes widened a bit as Jacob straightened, slipping on the armband that held his GDO. "You're going back to Earth," he stated. "Both of you?"
"You expect me to stick around and let them pull Selmak out of my head by force?" Jacob pointed out wryly, tucking away his second Tok'ra uniform and zipping up the small bag. "We're safer heading home, it's clear they don't trust either of us any more around here."
Malek nodded in agreement. "They're scared," he told them. "Scared at how fast and efficiently the SGC is at killing off the System Lords. Many of them worry that when they're done getting rid of the Goa'uld, they'll start trying to kill off the Tok'ra as well."
"And you?" Jacob asked, watching his expression carefully.
"I remember well the lessons we learned at the hands and knife of the Ashrak," Malek stated. "We are all brothers and sisters in the fight against the Goa'uld. I will not raise my hand against them. Nor will I try to keep you from returning to them. That's why I'm here, they do not plan for the pair of you to leave through the gate together."
"Well, then, we'd best get going before they get too much in place to stop us," Jacob told him, heading for the door out.
It was a long, rather harrowing chase, given that neither side wanted to hurt the other. But in the end, Jacob and Selmak, with Malek's aid, won out and made it to the gate, stunning the guards to keep them from interfering. Jacob dialed in the gate address for earth, then took off his GDO and keyed in his personal code. In moments he had the green light, pausing only to clasp arms with Malek in a silent goodbye before he turned and took the single, giant step home…