Realizations 5
To think that he had been a month from retirement, and now, nothing could have forced him to retire. Except maybe one thing, but he would never admit it. Fate was unforgiving, and temptation too strong. He would never utter such a thing, lest it come true. Just thinking about it, made him realize all the obstacles they had overcome. Obstacles larger than mountains, and yet, it seemed as if they were mere hills.
The job did not come without pain and second-guessing; few jobs did. This one depended so much upon all of them – for not only had they adverted disaster after disaster, but they had depended on one another. Theirs was a bond, true and loyal. A bond sprung only from the close proximity of death and constant reminders of failing. Their bond would last to death and beyond, he was sure of it.
The paperwork was a mess, it always was. The sheer cost to turn the lights on had threatened to overwhelm him when he had heard it. But it was the adventure, the mystery of the unknown, which kept him alert – though many times it had also nearly given him a heart-attack. The sheer magnitude of what they were doing, of where they were going, and whom they were meeting or fighting, was carefully maintained in a section where reasoning did not apply, lest proper awe become inevitable and then fear.
But there was always something worthwhile to have gained from it. Maybe a new ally, or perhaps a new bit of technology, if nothing else, they learned more about themselves. It wasn't always a good thing. More than once there had been a debate to keep the Stargate program functioning. Always those NID fellows would show up and make some crucial blunder – then blame the military. Yet each time disaster would be averted, mostly by the skin of their teeth, and occasionally yet out of pure luck. Physics would fly out the window and make room for anything they cared to try.
It had been luck, though, that had kept the program running for as long as it did. Luck had let him keep his spot as General for as long as he did. But when the time would arise for him to retire, he would like to think he would. He would miss the trips and the missions, reading about them and so on, but at the same time, he knew he had missed out on much of what his grandchildren had done. He was trading one job for another, and not necessarily letting go of the pain and second-guessing, for being a grandparent was filled with some of the former and much of the latter.
Until such a time came, however, he was more than happy to help his teams escape disaster and save the planet, despite the controversy it usually stirred up. General George Hammond wasn't bald without a reason.
