Disclaimer: I don't own the Dukes of Hazzard or Stargate SG-1, not making any money, just cheap thrills.
Warning: Angst, Language
Rating: FRT
Italics and/or indicates thoughts/reading of files
Through The Looking Glass
Chapter 5
On a plane high above the American heartland, Cooter Davenport sat reading the classified files he'd been handed upon boarding the private plane. Amazing, I can't believe this program has been operating all this time and I never even heard of it. The stargate is a device that can be used to create a stable wormhole, allowing travel to other planets if they, too, possess a stargate. The stargate system was originally built by a race of aliens known as the Ancients. We do not know when the Ancients built the system or exactly when they disappeared. Several thousand years ago a member of a parasitic race known as the Gou'ld arrived on Earth. This Gou'ld took a human as a host(they do this by burrowing into the victim's neck and attaching to the brain stem), using this host the Gou'ld took the name of Ra, the egyptian sun god. Using a stargate, Ra brought others of his kind to Earth, where they too took human hosts and adopted the persona of various human gods. The Gou'ld took several thousand humans to other planets, working them as slaves in their naquadh mines(naquadh is an alien mineral with ten times the energy of plutonimum). Some of these slaves were also turned into Jaffa, the Jaffa became incubators for the infant Gou'ld and soldiers in the service of beings they perceive to be gods. Approximately ten thousand years ago, the humans on Earth rebelled against their Gou'ld masters, forcing them to leave the planet and burying the stargate. In 1928, the stargate was rediscovered in the Giza plain by a group of archaelogists led by a Dr. Langford. In 1945, hoping that the stargate was some type of weapon, the U.S. military began a series of experiments. These experiments ended when one of the researchers, Ernest Littlefield, went through the gate and was lost. In 1992, the stargate program was reestablished by Dr. Catherine Langford, daughter of the man who had found the gate. After several years of trying to make the stargate work, Dr. Langford brought a young archaelogist/linguist, Dr. Daniel Jackson to work on the project. With Dr. Jackson's help, the stargate was made operational and a team led by Colonel Jack O'Neill gated to the planet Abydos. During a battle on the planet they successfully killed the Gou'ld Ra and returned to Earth, leaving Dr. Jackson behind with his native wife. It was believed that there were no more Gou'ld. However in the interest of safety, a guard was established on the stargate deep within Cheyenne mountain. Two years later, a group of Jaffa came through the gate in Cheyenne mountain, killing several soldiers and taking others hostage. Col. O'Neill was recalled to active duty and sent to Abydos to investigate where these attackers had come from. Conferring with Dr. Jackson, Col. O'Neill was told that Dr. Jackson had discovered a map, containing addresses for thousands of other gates. While O'Neill and Jackson were at the map site, a group of Jaffa came through the Abydos gate and took several prisoners, including Jackson's wife and brother-in-law. Upon returing to the area of the gate, O'Neill was able to get the gate address from one of the injured soldiers. Later leading a team to the planet Chulac, O'Neill and his team were captured. The Gou'ld known as Apophis visited the prison, introducing the prisoners to his new mate(Jackson's wife) and chose another(Jackson's brother-in-law) to host another Gou'ld. He then gave the order to kill the remaining prisoners. The Jaffa known as Teal'c(first prime to Apophis) chose this time to fight against the being he had realized was a false god. Helping Col. O'Neill and his team, they fought their way to the gate and returned to Earth, bringing Teal'c with them. Since that time, Col. O'Neill and his team SG-1, have gated to many planets in the hopes of finding allies and/or technology to help in the fight against the Gou'ld. Cooter shook his head in amazement. Even with the pictures and mission reports he'd been given, he could hardly believe this was real. If it weren't for the expense involved, he would've been certain that somebody was playing a joke on him. He knew though, that none of his colleagues would risk being caught using government funds for something like this. That left him with no choice but to believe what he was reading. Of course, now that he'd decided it was true, that brought up the next question. Why was he being given clearance and access to this program? When the fasten seatbelt sign came on, Cooter hoped he would soon have his answer.
Arriving at Cheyenne mountain, Cooter was assigned an escort and shown to the elevator that would take him down to level 28 and the Stargate. "So, this stargate, I guess it's a pretty impressive piece of equipment?"
"Yes Senator Davenport, you could say that and yes they really do use it to gate to other planets." Major Paul Davis replied to both the asked and unasked question.
"Guess everybody asks that one, don't they?" Cooter asked the Major, an amused grin on his face.
"Yes sir," the Major replied.
They rode the rest of the way to level 28 in silence. Following the orders he'd been given, Major Davis escorted the Senator directly to the gateroom. Stepping into the control room, the Major cleared his throat, "General Hammond sir, this is Senator Davenport of Georgia. Senator, this is General Hammond, commanding officer of Stargate Command," the Major introduced the two men and quietly backed away.
"General Hammond, nice to meet you," Cooter greeted the middle-aged, balding man, offering his hand.
"Senator Davenport, good to meet you too sir," General Hammond replied, taking the offered hand and giving it a firm shake in greeting. General Hammond stepped aside as Cooter stepped towards the observation window. The General smiled at the look of awed amazement on the Senator's face, a look he'd seen on the face of every person when they first laid eyes on the gate.
"So, um this is the Stargate?" Cooter asked, turning towards the General and hooking a thumb over his shoulder towards the gate.
"Yes sir it is."
Turning back around, Cooter stared at the large gate, amazed at the size and beauty of the thing. "Whooeee, would ya look at the size of that thing? Y'all really go through that thing to other planets?" Cooter asked, looking at the General, seeing the other man nod in response, he continued. "And aliens, honest to God aliens come through that gate to Earth?"
"Yep, and not a single one of 'em can drive," a voice spoke from behind Cooter, startling him into silence.
Slowly turning around, Cooter's eyes nearly popped out of his head at the sight of his dead friend standing before him. "General, I don't know who this man really is, but I'm telling ya now I don't think this is funny."
"Cooter it's me, I'm really here, it ain't no joke," Bo tried to tell him, disappointed at Cooter's reaction.
"Bull! You ain't Bo Duke, Bo died fifteen years ago, trapped in a cave because of an earthquake." Cooter replied, getting angrier by the second.
"Only I didn't die Cooter, wish I had but I wasn't that lucky," Bo replied, not noticing that the others in the room had moved away from them.
"Now see, that proves you ain't Bo. No way would Bo Duke ever wish for death, he would fight to stay alive if there was any way to do it."
"You're right I would've, before that day in the caves at least. I'll tell ya what Cooter, I can prove I'm who I say I am. I'll tell ya something that nobody else would know,how's that?" Bo asked. When Cooter didn't say anything but only continued to stare at him, an angry look on his face, Bo went on. "Let me think...I know the perfect thing. That time those two men stole the General and wrecked him in the pond. Everybody thought it was me and Luke in the car and that we was dead. When you saw us out in the barn during the wake, you almost fainted. In fact if Uncle Jesse hadn't caught you, ya would've ended up on the ground for sure."
"I'll be a...it really is you, but how?" Cooter asked, too stunned to move.
"Turns out I wasn't alone in the cave. That earthquake opened up another cave and there was a stargate in there. There was also a Gou'ld in a stasis jar, during an aftershock the jar broke and the Gou'ld took me as a host."
"Wait a minute now, how can that be? The papers I read said that once a host is taken they can never be freed, the Gou'ld will kill the host before they'll let them go."
"That's true, I got lucky though," Bo replied, before telling his story once again. When he finished explaining how he had came to be back on Earth and free of the Gou'ld, Bo waited nervously for Cooter's reaction. He didn't have to wait long; a few seconds after hearing what had happened to his friend, Cooter gave a loud rebel yell and grabbed Bo in a bear hug.
"Man it's good to see you buddyro. I didn't think I'd be seeing you again until I was knocking on them pearly gates. How did Luke and Daisy react?"
"They didn't, they don't know yet Cooter. I can't go home until we finish the debriefing and the Pentagon has to come up with some kind of cover story. Even once I'm home, I'll never be able to tell them the truth," Bo explained, reminding Cooter of the classified nature of the Stargate program.
"Right, right. Sorry I wasn't thinking, well that answers one question," Cooter said.
"What question was that Senator Davenport?" General Hammond asked.
"I was wondering why I was being told about the Stargate while I was on the way here. I'm guessing it's got something to do with Bo, oh and General I'd appreaciate it if you just called me Cooter."
"Yes Sen...Cooter, you're right about why you're here. Do you happen to know Senator Bob Kinsey or Col. Harry Maybourne?"
"Kinsey, what's that old polecat got to do with this?" Cooter asked, knowing if Kinsey was involved it couldn't be good.
"Actually I'd prefer to discuss that with you in private. I know you'd like to spend some time with Bo, but we really do need to settle this as soon as we can."
"Why don't y'all go ahead and do that now, I've got a meeting with the debriefing team anyway," Bo suggested.
"Sounds good to me, but we are gonna talk later buddyro," Cooter told his friend, still not quite over the shock of finding his friend alive.
"You bet Cooter, General if y'all will excuse me," Bo said, giving Cooter one last hug and leaving the room.
Leading the way to his nearby office, General Hammond didn't say a word until they were safely inside with the door shut. "Please have a seat," Hammond offered, motioning to a chair and moving to sit behind his desk.
"Alright General we're alone so how about you tell me what's going on?"
"I didn't want to say anything in front of Bo, none of us here want to get his hopes up. We've been trying to get clearance for at least one of his cousins, though I'd prefer both of them to be given clearance. I was making pretty good headway too, until Col. Maybourne got wind of it. I haven't figured out why but Maybourne has decided that Bo is no better than a Gou'ld. He doesn't seem to grasp the concept that Bo is a victim, and he didn't do anything wrong. Well he went to Kinsey and that...polecat I believe you called him, stuck his oar in. He's told me that if I continue in my attempts to gain security clearance for Bo's cousins, he will make sure that Bo is locked up and never allowed to return home. I thought that's it, and then we found out about you and your connection to the Duke family. Now getting clearance for you was simple, especially since your friends with the President."
"So I'm here to help you do an end-run around Kinsey and this Maybourne fella? Well shoot General even if it didn't involve Bo I'd help ya. Anything that will upset Kinsey and you can count me in," Cooter told Hammond, a grin on his face.
"General, I need to talk to yo..." Jack O'Neill trailed off as he stepped into the General's office and saw a stranger sitting there.
"Col. O'Neill, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be debriefing Bo?" Hammond asked, clearly not pleased with the way Jack had burst into the room.
"Sorry sir, yes sir I am, I left Teal'c in charge. I thought with Maybourne in the meeting it would be a good time to talk, I didn't know you had company."
"Actually I'm glad you're here, I just wish you'd learn to knock Jack," Hammond replied, motioning the other man to take a seat. "Col. Jack O'Neill I'd like to introduce you to Senator Cooter Davenport."
"You're Bo's friend from Hazzard?" Jack asked, taking the other man's hand and shaking it warmly.
"Yes Colonel I am, I suppose whatever you need to discuss with the General involves Kinsey and Maybourne?"
"Yep," Jack replied. Turning back to the General he explained why he was there. "General, I don't like what Kinsey is pulling and you know that. Now I know you told me you had some ideas, but I thought I'd see what I could dig up in the meantime. Guess what I found out about Mr. Family Values?" Jack asked, tossing a manila envelope onto the General's desk.
"What's this Jack?" Hammond asked, picking up the envelope and carefully opening it. Pulling the contents out, George was surprised to see pictures of Kinsey and he wasn't alone. George Hammond wouldn't have been all that surprised to see pictures of the senator with a woman other than his wife. In his experience most politicians were hypocrites, and the ones who made the most noise about family values were often the worst. However pictures of Kinsey with his much younger and very male lover were a complete shock to Hammond. Dropping the pictures onto the desk, Hammond stared at Jack in amazement, "Col. just where did you get these?"
"Well you remember the other day when I took a few days leave? I made a little trip to a lovely little cabin in the Poconos, and guess who else was there? Now what do ya suppose the voting public would think if they were to see those?" Jack asked, gesturing towards the incriminating pictures.
Reaching forward Cooter grabbed the pictures from the desk, "You know I've always suspected he was cheating on his wife. I sure never expected it to be with another man though, Colonel, General, I've got a proposal for y'all. Now the way I see it, if either of you gentlemen show these pictures to Kinsey it won't work. He's got too much power, which he can use to destroy either one of you. Now me on the other hand, I'm just a good ole boy from Georgia who made good. I ain't go no skeletons in my closet that he can hold over my head and I've got just as much power as Kinsey. You let me show him them pictures and I'll tell him how the cow ate cabbage."
"You know Senator, I think I might grow to like you, in spite of your poor career choice," Jack said, a grin on his face and a twinkle in his brown eyes. "So when do you want to do this?"
"How much longer do you think it'll be until Bo's done with this debriefing?"
"Honestly, we could probably stop now, I think he's told us all he can. But the higher-ups are going to want to make sure, so probably another couple of weeks," Jack replied.
"Can I ask y'all something, why are you so determined to get clearance for Luke or Daisy?"
"For Bo's sake, you see Senator..."
"Call me Cooter please."
"Alright Cooter, Bo was forced to be a host to a Gou'ld for fifteen years. Now you don't spend all that time with one of those snakes in ya and not be affected by it. He's already had a few nightmares that I know of and I don't think that's gonna stop just cause he's home. Bo won't be able to tell anybody the truth though, and that's why we want clearance for one or both of his cousins. After all he's been through, he should have at least one person he can talk to when it all gets to be too much," Jack explained.
"I hadn't thought of that, I guess he's been through a pretty rough time the last fifteen years."
"No Cooter, he's been in hell for the last fifteen years," Jack informed him, making no attempt to sugar-coat it.
Swallowing hard, Cooter looked down at the pictures he still held. As he thought about the torment his friend had suffered, for no other reason than he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, his anger grew. How dare that pompous ass Kinsey threaten to keep Bo a prisoner for the rest of his life, just because he felt like his toes had been stepped on? Cooter couldn't figure out exactly how Kinsey's toes had been stepped on, but he knew the man well enough to know that's why he was behaving like he was. "Gentlemen, if you'll excuse me I believe I have a colleague to see. Would y'all tell Bo that I'll be back in a couple of days?"
"Oh you won't need to go back to D.C., Kinsey's here, he's staying at the Holiday Inn," Hammond explained.
"Thank you General, tell Bo I'll see him later," Cooter replied, standing up and moving to the door, the pictures once more safely in their envelope. "By the way Colonel, I suppose you have the negatives in a safe place?" At O'Neill's nod, Cooter turned the knob, opening the door and heading off to see Kinsey.
"Yes sir, I think I'm gonna get along just fine with Senator Davenport," Jack spoke the thought aloud, bringing a smile to the General's face.
Thirty minutes later, Cooter was pulling into the parking lot of the Holiday Inn. Climbing from the rental car, Cooter went into the office and asked for directions to Senator Kinsey's room. Taking the elevator to the third floor, he walked to room 318 and gave a sharp knock. Grinning at the shocked look on Kinsey's face, Cooter used it to his advantage and stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. "Hello Bob, what are you doing in Colorado Springs?"
"None of your business Davenport," Kinsey snapped at the other man. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm glad you asked me that Bob, I was invited here by a General Hammond," Cooter replied, grinning at the panicked look on Kinsey's face.
"Hammond, how do you know him?"
"I don't Bob, or rather I didn't until recently. He wanted to show me the Stargate and help reunite me with an old friend. You know Bob, I've known Bo Duke since we was kids, and I sure don't appreciate the threats I hear you've been making."
"Well isn't that just too damn bad. You don't think I care about what you think do you?" Kinsey snarled derisively.
"No, don't figure you do, not that it matters any. I actually came here to show you something Bob," Cooter told him, tossing him the envelope.
Catching the envelope, Bob Kinsey opened it and drew out the contents, never taking his eyes off of Cooter. Finally looking down at what he held, Bob nearly fainted at what he saw. He decided to try to bluff his way out of this, "So, why should I care about some doctored photographs?"
"You shouldn't, if they were doctored. But then we both know they ain't doctored, don't we Bob? Now you know I don't care what you do in your private life, but I've got a feeling your constituents wouldn't feel the same way. Here's the deal Bob, you're gonna stop threatening Bo Duke or anybody else connected with the Stargate program. You won't do anything to threaten Bo's family or to interfere with them getting clearance, if they are in fact able to. If you don't do what I'm telling you, well then I'm afraid those pictures are likely to turn up in some might embarassing places. Do we have a deal? Oh and call Maybourne off, don't bother denying he's your pet dog, I've done my homework."
"Alright we have a deal," Kinsey agreed, knowing he had no choice if he wanted to keep his careeer. "Now get out," he snarled at Cooter, throwing open the door and slamming it behind the other man when he stepped into the hall.
Cooter grinned, figuring he could let Kinsey have that one small victory. "That went well," he muttered to himself, heading for his car and driving back to the base.
TBC
A/N: Parts of the reunion scene in the gateroom, specifically Cooter's reaction to the gate and Bo's remark about none of them driving are courtesy of Firechild(Sparkx)
Okay y'all, don't forget the normal offering to the muse. Please review.
