DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN STARGATE SG-1 OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS.
"THE CONSPIRACY"
Chapter One
"Excuse us! Hey! Gangway! Coming through!"
Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, and Dr Jackson pelted madly down the corridors towards the access elevators. They'd been in Daniel's office discussing a recent encounter with the Asgard, when they'd noticed they were late for their briefing with General Hammond.
Twenty minutes late.
And General Hammond was apparently in a REALLY foul mood that day.
AND today was the day that General Hammond was due to decide whether or not the team's pay rises would go through. They couldn't afford to displease him in any way.
Things weren't looking good. A technician, walking innocently along, carrying a large sheaf of papers, didn't notice the speeding members of SG-1 until the very last moment, and only just managed to throw himself through the door of a nearby office to avoid being trampled by Colonel O'Neill.
"I heard the General's been yelling at people left, right and centre all of this morning!" Sam announced as they charged round a corner. "Something's really pissing him off!"
Jack wasn't listening. He was too busy, desperately trying to formulate excuses in his mind that might explain their tardiness.
"Teal'c must be down there already – maybe if we're lucky he'll keep Hammond engaged in conversation so he doesn't notice the time!" Daniel suggested hopefully.
"Are you kidding?" Jack yelled. "Teal'c, engage someone in conversation?!"
Sam got to the elevator first and punched the button. Nothing happened.
"What's wrong with this thing?!" she exclaimed, hitting the button again.
"The elevators are out of order for repairs, Major," said a sergeant who happened to be walking past.
Daniel rolled his eyes, "Great! The briefing room is four floors away!"
"We'll have to take the stairs," Jack decided.
He threw open the door to the emergency stairs, and the three of them careered down four floors' worth of staircases as if their lives depended on it. An army of Replicators at their backs couldn't have made them move faster. Jack got to the bottom of the stairs first and yanked open the door. They bolted down the corridor; the briefing room was just around the corner.
Unfortunately, turning the corner from the other direction happened to be an elderly, bespectacled researcher, staggering under the weight of fourteen thick ring binders that contained all the information the SGC had on off-world plant biology. Jack collided full force with the guy, and the fourteen binders, not to mention their painstakingly ordered contents, went flying. Sam managed to swerve out of the way of the two fallen men, but lost her balance and fell on to her hands and knees. Daniel contrived to trip over the three of them and landed on top of the pile of strewn documents.
"MY NOTES!!!" the researcher screamed. "For the love of – those took me months to organise!!!"
"Sorry – love to stop and help you – matter of life and death – gotta go – " Jack managed to pant out as he scrambled to his feet and sprinted the remaining few yards to the briefing room, Sam and Daniel close behind.
The ominous silence was almost a physical presence as they entered the room, tidying their hair and straightening their clothes, trying to make it look as if they hadn't just been involved in a mad dash to the briefing. Hammond and Teal'c were sitting at the briefing table, talking in low tones, their heads bent over a manila folder crammed with documents.
"Ah, morning, General Hammond," Jack said cheerily, flashing what he hoped was a winning smile. "Not late, are we?"
At the sound of his voice, both Hammond and Teal'c looked up suddenly, their faces betraying a sudden moment of alarm, before slipping back to their normal expressions.
"N-no, Colonel," Hammond said quickly, hastily stuffing the manila folder out of sight below the desk. "Certainly not."
"So what's the briefing about, sir?"
Hammond seemed distracted, "Hmm? Oh, yes, the briefing. Yes, I wanted Dr Jackson to explain to us some of the research he has been doing on the social structure of the Goa'uld."
Daniel closed his eyes briefly, knowing with a horrible sinking feeling that he'd left that oh-so-carefully prepared report back up in his office. He didn't think General Hammond would be too delighted at waiting while he made another four-floor trek there and back, so he did the first thing that came into his head: improvise.
"Uh – yeah – great," he said with fake enthusiasm, jumping to his feet, and walking to the whiteboard on the wall, then remembering he'd left his marker pen in his room too.
The others looked at him expectantly, with the exception of Jack, who hated listening to reports on deep scientific material, and had taken on that glazed, faraway expression that he perfected so well, that made him look as if he was paying rapt attention, while in reality he was happily daydreaming about fishing, or opening a nice cold bottle of beer. If anyone asked him a question he could simply fob it off to Carter.
While Daniel droned on in a suitably vague manner, recalling what information he could while hastily inventing the rest, Jack slipped into an increasingly vegetative state, resting his head on one hand.
"Sir, you're drooling on your sleeve," Sam whispered to him.
"What? Oh, thanks," Jack whispered back, hoping General Hammond hadn't noticed him nodding off.
He needn't have worried. Hammond was only half paying attention to Daniel anyway; his mind and his gaze kept slipping back to the manila folder sitting on the floor beside his chair. Teal'c sat wearing his usual emotionless mask, staring at Daniel, concealing the fact that his thoughts were centred wholly elsewhere. Only Carter was really listening.
"And that's the end of my report," Daniel said finally, the conclusive tone of his voice acting as the trigger to rouse Jack from his somnolent state.
Feeling the need to give some indication that he'd been listening, O'Neill resisted the urge to clap. He settled for wearing an interested look and saying, deadpan, "That was very interesting. It taught me a lot of things I never knew about – um – that topic."
Relieved he'd got away with making up a lot of nonsense on the spot, Daniel hurried back to his chair.
"Well, that concludes our briefing," said Hammond, getting to his feet, grabbing his manila folder in what he hoped was a surreptitious manner, and walking quickly to the exit. As soon as he had gone out of sight, they heard his footsteps quicken as he dashed up the corridor.
"Where's he in such a hurry to get to?" Jack wondered. "And Teal'c, what were you two talking about when we first got here?"
Teal'c eyed him for a moment, then said, "We were discussing nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Indeed."
"Are you sure?"
"I am."
Jack didn't know how, but he'd developed a near-foolproof ability to tell when Teal'c was lying. How, he had no idea, since the Jaffa's facial expression barely changed come rain or shine, but Jack knew now that his friend was lying. Then an idea struck him.
"Would it have anything to do with our prospective pay rises?" he asked, priding himself on his deductive brilliance.
"As I said, we were discussing nothing. Now, I must go."
"Go where? Why don't we head over to the mess and grab a sandwich?" Jack suggested.
"I must rest."
They said nothing and watched the big man leave the room.
"He was lying, wasn't he?" asked Sam.
"Yeah," Jack answered. "I wonder what they were talking about. And why Hammond didn't tear into us for being late."
"He looked like he had a lot on his mind," Daniel put in. "He wasn't paying a blind bit of attention to my presentation."
"Yeah. You know, that report was a pretty good job, considering you made it up on the spot."
"It's a skill you pick up after a lifetime in academia," Daniel said dryly. "Plausible improvised nonsense."
Jack glanced at his watch, "Nearly lunchtime. You guys want to go to the canteen and see what's good?"
"Then settle for the most edible-looking alternative when we find there isn't anything good?" Sam asked.
"Right!"
They left the room and began walking in the direction of the cafeteria.