(Mostly SG-1 right now – but don't worry, I'll make up for that. Slight spoilers for SG-1 episodes 1969, 2010 and Sight Unseen. If you haven't seen Sight Unseen, I recommend reading the short synopsis first, a little prior knowledge is required before reading this chapter.)
SPOILER: For those who haven't seen Sight Unseen, it's an episode in which a device makes everyone in the area see 'bugs' from another dimension (like: they are there, but they're not really there, so you can't do anything about them); something that causes major panic in Colorado Springs. The situation is quickly dealt with, however, one man manages to get past the quarantine borders: Vernon Sharpe. Jack saves the day by telling him a half-truth cover story and passes the 'cure'.
Part XI
Present DayMajor-General George Hammond wasn't happy.
Not at all.
In his forty-two years in service of the United States Air Force, he had seen his share of ugly things. Hell, he had even done his share of ugly things. But nothing – nothing he'd ever witnessed could compare to this.
George had seen the Middle-East, the South-East, the Far-East, the East-East; parts of Africa, parts of Europa, parts of South-America. He'd seen almost the entire world. He thought he'd seen it all, had been planning his retirement.
Fortunately, the powers that were thought otherwise, and sent George on – what he thought would be – his very last assignment for the Air Force. He was wrong. Guarding some circle-shaped object wasn't the very least of his problems. The aliens that came through and rampaged his facility were.
Those were the times, George thought, as he reminisced the early years of the Stargate-program. Life had been relatively easily. SG-teams went and came back, exploring planets – boldly going where no man had ever been before. Sure, they occasionally brought back some weird gizmo that would nearly destroy the entire base, or a strange virus that would wipe out every single employee inside the mountain – but still.
These were different times. First contact had been made – several times actually – alliances had been established, enemies had been pissed off. Traveling to other planets had changed into traveling to other galaxies. To other dimensions. And worse: through time.
It wasn't the fact that it happened, it was just the fact that it was – traveling through time. It shouldn't even be possible in the first place! There was the time (Oh, how he hated that word) that SG-1 only traveled back to 1969. Sure, he could deal with that. He'd even witnessed it. Then, there was that weird note, with the Colonel's blood and handwriting on it – no problem.
The fact was, that – at this very moment – eighteen real-life time-travelers were inhabiting his facility. And it was then, that George realized he hadn't seen it all. Not yet, anyway.
However, there were far worse problems to deal with than just his inner struggles. For example, how to get the damn time-travelers back to their time. Oh, and how to shield off Apophis' attack; estimated time of arrival: too damn soon. And that wasn't all: how to cover up the story that was all over Colorado Springs – and would soon be all over the US…
ALIENS AMONG US
"Major," he started, "Please tell me – you've got any idea how to cover a story this size up? And any theories on how it came out in the first place?"
"Well – for your first question, sir," the blonde Air Force officer replied, "I don't know. Yet. And as for the latter… well, one of the names stated in the article, I mean – one of the persons being interviewed, was Budd P."
"Budd P." Jack said sarcastically, "How creative. Gotta be some sort of genius."
"Actually, he's an astronaut," Carter answered, "Lieutenant Budd Philips. One of the three astronauts of the NASA shuttle Challenger III…"
"Challenger III?" Hammond inquired, "Isn't that the shuttle-"
"Yes, sir," the Major confirmed, "That's the exact same shuttle that spotted the Falcon – or Gundam – in the first place. And it's the shuttle that took photos of the thing. My guess is that they didn't relay them just to us, but to the Colorado Springs Courier as well."
"Without any authorization from NASA?" Jack asked, "That's a little hard to believe, isn't it, Major?"
"Yeah, well – I don't know exactly how they did it either, sir. Fact is, they did it and we can't change anything about it. The only thing we can do right now, is change the outcome of this… situation."
"And that's exactly what we're going to do, Major," the General ordered, "Colonel – you and Teal'c continue working on some sort of strategy in case Apophis' decides to launch his attack. Doctor Jackson, you finish those interrogations and after you're done, you can help the Major here with thinking up something damn convincing for covering up the story in this morning's newspaper…"
"Sir?"
"Yes, Major?"
Carter slightly hesitated. "Well – I wasn't finished yet…"
"Please," Hammond sighed, "Don't tell me it's worse than-"
"I think it is," Sam confirmed what the General didn't want to hear, "We may have a mole in our midst."
It had become a commodity over the years. Anyone who lived in Colorado Springs, was getting used to weird things happening at Cheyenne Mountain, and anywhere in the vicinity of that same military complex. No one actually knew what was going on there, but there were rumors.
Of course, when there's curiosity, there were rumors. And boy – people were curious indeed. Certainly after this morning's edition of the Colorado Springs Courier. The newspaper that was read between a cup of coffee and a croissant. The newspaper that was read in the early morning traffic jam. The newspaper that was read by many people. A lot of people, indeed.
However, the Courier wasn't exactly a sensational newspaper. It was more of a… quality newspaper. It rarely contained any gossips or unconfirmed rumors. That was, until this morning.
Or was it?
Many Colorado Springs inhabitants began to doubt. Some thought it was nonsense, others didn't know what to think. And even worse: most of the people believed it to be true. Which it of course was – but they couldn't possibly know that for sure, other than to rely on their 'quality newspaper'.
However, Vernon Sharpe – proud owner of one of the local fuel stations – thought otherwise. Ever since he encountered the aliens a couple of months ago, he'd always known they'd come back some day. The proof being this morning's edition of the Courier.
Admittedly, the aliens from the pictures in the paper looked a little different than the ones he'd encountered – but after all: bugs or no bugs, aliens they were still. Checking his watch, and seeing there were no customers, he decided to call it a day. Grabbing his keys and his cellphone, he made his way to his car and drove towards the one place the source of this mystery could be:
Cheyenne Mountain
"A mole?" General Hammond now nearly yelled, and Carter quickly closed the door to his office – which had been open the whole time.
"Yes, sir," the Major confirmed, and handed him 'the' newspaper, "Read this."
" '…not only do we have eye-witness reports on the alien(s) entering our atmosphere, we also received information from a reliable source within the military. Turn to page six ("EXTRA-TERRESTRIALS AT OUR PLANET THIS VERY MOMENT") to find out more about the story the US Government has been trying to hide from us – for quite some time now.' " Hammond followed the instructions and turned to page six, only to find some disturbing images. "Damnit, Major. This isn't just some blurry picture – this is a full size poster of the damn thing entering our atmosphere!"
"I know, sir," Carter sighed, "The article is even worse."
George skimmed through pages six and seven. " 'Government cover-up… going on for years… planet in jeopardy… alien contact… several times…'. This sounds an awful lot like someone from the NID would leak, Major – not someone from inside this base!"
"Well, yes, I concur, sir," she replied, "But later on in the article, they go in full detail about how 'brave Americans continuously put their life at stake to save this planet from extra-terrestrial threats', and somehow that doesn't strike me as something the NID would say. Granted, the first few paragraphs aren't all that flattering, but the entire article doesn't necessarily has to based on information from one and the same person…"
"So, Carter, you are saying there are multiple moles?" Jack now interrupted, "I hate to say it, but isn't that a little… far-fetched? It might as well be some civilians we encountered over the years, leaking information to the media."
"Colonel, those people have put their very own signature under the non-disclosure agreement! Surely they know what they're risking when they hand out information like that?"
"True, General," Jack answered, "But even that has its price. I mean, wouldn't you like to receive a hell of a lot of money if you knew a respected newspaper was going to publish an article – or in this case, a full report – on the thing you promised not to talk about, something the government couldn't possibly credibly deny if it were to be revealed?"
"Come again, Colonel?"
Jack shrugged. "I'm just saying – with the right amount of money, people are willing to do a lot of crazy stuff."
"Well," the General continued, "In theory it sounds nice, but do we even have a single clue who we're talking about here?"
"Not really, sir."
"Well, then – get on it!"