NOTE: This is the second to last chapter of Level 28. We finally discover a way into the Rogue NID agents. Jack and Sam face a small court martial. And Jack learns everything about Adrienne, even if we don't. The end is a shocker. DON'T MISS OUT!
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PART TWENTY-FIVE: Inquisition
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There was calm in Cheyenne the days that followed. The control room had been cleaned up, Janet reinstated against her will, funerals finally over, and yet, Sam could not help feel a presence missing as she stood before the Gate.
"It's strange not having it, isn't it?" Daniel said, coming into the Gate room.
"No, that's not it at all. It's like something's still coming but it can't."
He raised an eyebrow, both hands carelessly set in his pockets. "More aftereffects of Ascension?" She nodded. "Sam, do you remember anything more of it?"
"A warning: Don't let the threats of tomorrow make you forget to live today. One of Orlin's, I'm afraid." she said lightly.
He wondered if she saw how Adrienne has showed him. He wondered if they'd ever know what Adrienne really was, what Sam now was but for how long.
"Come on. The NID got word of what'd been going on here and Kinsey wants a word in the briefing room," he said with disgust in his tone. Kinsey was not welcomed, still or ever.
She shook her head. "You go ahead. I'm waiting for someone."
He was worried about her but nodded along and left her to her thoughts. She looked to the Stargate as if it spoke to her, as if it was telling her something she didn't want to believe. But still she smiled and he left her to it. She'd come along eventually.
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Jack left the infirmary the man he had been what seemed like years ago, but he had a single image locked in his head. Even though he remembered everything and felt deeply for the lives he'd struck down in his path, all he could think of were possibilities. New opportunities had presented themselves. His job meant nothing to him anymore, after all the times he'd faced death and possession and reanimation in the last couple of months. He'd seen a lot but sometimes the truth just smacks someone in the face with a piece of wood and keeps walking.
"Dad!" he heard someone call from behind. It was such a strange thing to hear. Adrienne had spent the last 3 days telling her… everything. At least, he thought it was everything. He knew there were things she kept from him but he trusted her judgment in keeping those things from him. After all, she'd just spent half a year trying to make herself obsolete.
"Hey, Ree, what's happening?" he said casually, walking through the halls as if nothing could bring him down. He was on his way to share some news.
"Well I think the monkey population's a little out of control but nothing much."
He laughed and responded, "You know, that's be so much easier to laugh over if I knew for sure you were kidding."
She smiled and they walked side by side. "It's time, Dad. He's here."
"Heh. Is everything in place?"
"Yeah. Janet's awaiting the sample as it is. The clone already has your DNA. It's just awaiting the rest."
"And Sam?"
"I didn't tell her. Have you talked to her since… that day?"
"Not about this. Plans mostly."
"I'm sorry I might have to miss the wedding. You in a tuxedo would have been quite a sight."
"Better late than never. We've waited long enough, I think."
"Ah my dear old man. You've no idea just how long," she said, falling behind his step. When he turned around, she was already gone.
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"Hey," Jack said coming into the meeting room then stopped. "What's going on?" he asked, looking around. Daniel and Teal'c sat on one side of the long table, both looking incredibly uneasy. On the other side sat three very menacing-looking officers and Senator Kinsey who wore an extremely smug face.
Sam came up behind him and stopped just as he did. "General? What's going on?"
"It's a meeting, Carter," Jack said, still slightly shocked.
"Yes, I see that. Thank you," she said slightly sarcastically.
Hammond gestured for them to sit down. They sat side by side at the nearest end of the table. Two chairs had been separated from the table and placed at the end. It looked and felt far too much like an inquisition.
Kinsey cleared his throat and began. "Welcome Major. Colonel. We are gathered here in light of a recent amount of proof concerning an illicit relationship between you two. General Hammond believes we should hold this in your presence on SGC grounds with the accompaniment of your team members."
Jack got lost in Kinsey's smug demeanor but Sam did not like this at all. "What do you mean illicit relationship?" she asked.
"Relationship?" Jack said, raising an eyebrow. "Are you kidding me? You mean it takes a room full of officers to tell us how we feel? Man, I knew the Air Force was strict but this is ridiculous."
"Jack, I think they're trying to fire you," Daniel finally spoke through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, Daniel, I got that. I just want to know what the hell they think they're doing coming after both of us. There's enough in my file to put me in federal jail."
"What proof? Collected by whom?" Sam asked.
Kinsey got smug again. "This team of NID officials was gathered to--"
"NID? Pardon me if I don't trust them," Sam spoke. Jack decided to shut up now. He thought it was best for both of them. It was no longer his own record in jeopardy and he knew Sam was probably freaking out over this.
"No matter, Major. I promised them I'd listen to their proof before taking any action," Hammond said.
"Then talk," Teal'c said out of the blue. For a moment, everyone stopped and looked at him.
The officials opened their folders and spread a few papers out on the table. Oh shit, Sam thought. Jack's mind was in outer space. It was not making her any less perturbed. He was annoyed, she could tell.
A very strange officer with a long, crooked nose pressed the record button on a video camera aimed at both of them. Jack sighed and sat back in the seat. Sam refused to calm down and her tone was getting aggressive.
"Let's begin," the long-nosed man said, "with the first act of indiscretion recorded nearly 8 years ago on the 15th of August 1997 after an encounter with the people of P3X-797. Is it not true that you, Major Carter, at the time Captain, sexually attacked your commanding officer, Colonel O'Neill, in the men's locker room?"
"I was affected by the alien virus!" she defended.
Jack leaned forward and said, "And might I add, nothing happened."
"Very well, then how do you explain the various emotionally outbursts from both of you reported by fellow officers concerning your relationships. Let's see the list: once reported by Dr. Frasier after Colonel O'Neill's disappearance on the planet Edora for 2 months, once by Dr. Lee after Colonel O'Neill's disappearance with Colonel Maybourne, by various members of the rescue operation after Major Carter's disappearance on the Prometheus and on the Alpha site a few months ago. Apparently several objects were harmed in Colonel O'Neill's warpath on that one... shall I go on?"
"All of that is bogus," Sam said. "You can't prove that it was in any way sexually explicit in any of those occasions. There's no punishment under that."
"True, Major Carter. There is no evidence of sexual misconduct and thus we cannot prosecute under NQ-135. But according to I-89, if a relationship, sexually involved or not, reaches a point where it interferes with regular base operations, it may be cause for mutual termination."
"This is an act, isn't it?" Jack said. "You're just trying to divert attention from the real fact."
"No Colonel. I'm trying to put an end to your shenanigans before anyone gets hurt," Kinsey jumped in rudely.
"Shenanigans? Well someone decided to use his random word dictionary today. Good for you, Bob," Jack joked menacingly.
It was not helping Sam's mental state. "Sir, I think it'd be best not to antagonize the nice agents with a pink slip half filled in their pockets," Sam whispered through gritted teeth.
Jack smiled. He wasn't letting them get to him. "No, Carter," he said then looked to Kinsey. "You brought all this on us now because of Adrienne, right? You think she's enough proof of a 'previously-existing relationship.' You want to take both us down because you know Adrienne can kill you with a snap of a finger. Because she can stop you before you kill us all. Because you know she knows what you are, Kinsey, and don't think ruining anyone's career is going to stop that. You're still going down, Bob. If I don't do it, she damn well will."
"Is that a threat, Colonel?"
"Damn right," Jack yelled, standing up and slamming his fist on the table. Daniel caught his glass of water before it tumbled over. Jack called for Adrienne to show herself and like a figure walking through the clouds, Adrienne appeared as if reintegrated front to back right before them, walking towards Kinsey.
"Hello, Senator," she said with menacing red eyes. Daniel loved it when she did that. It made the creepy politicians squeal. "Aren't you glad to see me again? Killed anyone lately, darling?"
"Colonel, get her away from me!"
Jack laughed. Sam smirked to herself. "Oh you're on your own now, Kinsey. I've got no control over her."
"Major Carter! Don't let her do this!" he yelled as Adrienne picked him up by the neck effortlessly from his chair.
"I'm sorry, Senator. Did you say something? I think there's something in your throat," she responded, standing up beside Jack.
"You'll regret this!"
"Oh we already do. But see if we let you leave this office right now, Senator, we'd be responsible for the killing of several millions," Daniel said, getting up as well, his tone just as calm. Only the officers that had come with Kinsey seemed to be in any way shocked and scared.
"Adrienne, would you please escort the senator to his prison cell?" Hammond asked, lying back on his chair.
"They'll know I'm missing! You'll never get away with it!"
"Oh you see, that's where you're wrong," Adrienne said with an evil smile, and with a flick of her hand, she slashed the senator's arm open and gathered his blood in a little, floating, red ball. She commanded it go to Dr. Frasier and it floated on its way down to the infirmary. "That little ball is going to ensure there's a Senator Kinsey sitting in your office tomorrow morning, the same way I'm the promise there'll always be a Jack O'Neill in this base. Oh, don't worry. I would never force you to meet your clone. It might kill the poor thing to know what it came from."
Teal'c smiled. Jack noticed it and did a small gesture of surprise with his eyebrows. Sam smiled at the gesture.
"Now Senator, if you'll accompany me, there's a nice little prison cell on a planet not to far from... the sun. You should like it there. It's full of human waste. You'll feel right at home," Adrienne said, and pushed him through the hallways to the control room.
The airmen escorted the bewildered NID agents to a nice cell until Frasier could erase their memories with the same Dargol chemical they'd used on Linea all those years back.
"Well done, SG-1. I'll leave you to enjoy your time off," Hammond said and walked off to his office, but not before turning around and finishing, "And Colonel, the papers made it through. It's official."
Jack smiled and thanked him. "What papers?" Sam asked, suspicious.
"My resignation," Jack answered. They all stared at him.
"You mean after all this you're still leaving? WHY?" Daniel yelled.
Jack put on a devious smirk and turned to Sam who was still standing beside him with the same bewildered face. "So I could do this," he said and pushed her hair back from her eyes before giving her a kiss that left her smiling for 3 days. Jack and Teal'c just stood with wide-open eyes for a few minutes before backing out of the room as quickly as possible.
On their way out, Adrienne was about to come in and caught a glimpse of the saliva fest before Daniel pushed her out into the hall. Teal'c had already disappeared and it was just Daniel and a laughing Ree in the hallway outside the meeting room. "Did you see that?" she said still laughing. "I can't believe I'm gonna be conceived in the meeting room. Oh God, we're going to have to sterilize the entire room!"
Daniel laughed and said, "We might have to sterilize Jack."
She smiled and bit her bottom lip before she realized she was staring into his eyes. The smile faded and she excused herself, "I should probably check on that blood sample for the clone."
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To be continued in PART TWENTY-SIX:
--What's going to happen to Adrienne now?
--Is her job done?
--How has the future changed?
--How is Jack going to take the news of the baby?
--Will Daniel ever meet his child?
--And… catch a sneak-peek into the sequel, as well as read some deleted scenes never before read. Notice how the plot would have changed if these scenes had been kept.
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SPOILERS and TIDBITS: The date the long-nosed man mentions as when Sam attacks Jack sexually while under the "alien virus" is the actual date "The Broca Divide" aired in the US. The regulations Kinsey mentions are actual regulations from the air force found at and there is also mentions of "100 Days," "Paradise Lost," "Grace," and "Death Knell"… some of my favorite shipper episodes. "Yeah, sure, you bet'cha…" comes from "Small Victories." It's sad that I know each episode by memory.
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The sequel is just a few days away. Add me to your author alert list to get an e-mail notice of its release. Thank you so much for reading this far.
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