Another chapter. I keep apologizing for how long this is taking me. I'm just so busy at work that writing has become almost impossible. Hopefully I'll have some time off soon. In the meantime here is an update.
"So what are we gonna do with Hubbard and the General," Burke asked as they walked once more down the corridor of the underground facility.
"Good question," Jack answered as he headed for one of the doors. "They have to stand trial, but until that time they need to be held somewhere – yes," he said suddenly, as he found what he was looking for.
"What is it?"
Jack grinned. "The control room."
"Control – but this looks like a supply closet."
"Mmm hmm," Jack answered as he moved to the shelves containing bottles of cleaning supplies. He grabbed the edge of the shelf and pushed. It immediately swung out and behind it was a metal door. "There we go," he said with a smirk.
"How the hell did you know that was there," Burke asked him. "And why didn't you say anything before."
"Because before I needed to find the weapons and deal with Hubbard, Caine and good ol' Shesmu."
"That still doesn't explain how you knew this was here."
"Well – they needed to hide their computers and what better place than a storage room," Jack reasoned. Of course the real reason was he immediately felt the difference in the room when he opened the door. But he wasn't about to tell Burke that. That poor guy was still trying to process the fact that there really were aliens.
"How are you going to get in?" his companion asked. He clearly didn't buy Jack's explanation of finding the room, but he wasn't going to press it – at least not for now.
Jack pushed on the door, which opened immediately.
"Are you telling me they didn't even lock it?"
Jack glanced at him and shrugged. "I guess they figured being hidden was enough." He also didn't tell Burke that it had been locked. He was just able to open it with his new found Ancient abilities. He must admit they came in handy sometimes – although he would still rather do without.
He walked forward, followed closely by the CIA agent. They entered into a small room with a bank of monitors and a large control panel. All but one of the monitors was active and showed various rooms in the complex. They could see Caine and Hubbard – and watched the two men try and get free. They couldn't see the small closet with Shesmu, but they were able to see the outer room, which remained empty.
The remaining monitor was connected to a hard drive. It was off until Jack reached over and hit the start button. A few seconds later it was on – although the screen showed nothing other than a field for a needed password.
"How are you going to get in," Burke asked. "You don't know the password."
"I'll just have to figure it out," O'Neill replied. He pulled out the chair in front of the monitor and sat down slowly. "Now what would good old Hubbard use as his passcode?"
"It could be anything," his sidekick answered.
"Mmm – although people tend to use something they can remember. Now it's not going to be something as simple as his birthday. He's too smart for that. But it will be something important to him."
"How do you know that Hubbard even set the password? It could have been Caine."
"No – Hubbard is the one in control, even if Caine thinks he is." Jack stared at the computer for a few seconds and then slowly grinned. He put his hands on the keyboard and typed in a number. The same message remained – asking for the password.
"I say we take it with us," Burke told him. "We're gonna need an expert to break in. You're never going to get the password by putting in random numbers."
"Who said they were random," Jack replied. He considered the keyboard in front of him and the once again typed in a combination of numbers and letters. Instantly the screen changed.
"We're in!" Jack grinned. Now was the time he wished Carter was here. She was much better at this sort of thing than him – although he did know computers better than most people would have suspected. He just didn't like them that much.
"How the hell did you do that?" Burke was staring at the screen in wonder. "How could you possibly know his password?"
"I didn't. I just guessed."
"You guessed?"
"Well – I knew that he's an arrogant son of a bitch and that it would be just like him to use a code that was a dig at me. For some reason he really doesn't like me!"
"So what was it?"
"The password? It was my serial number followed by Beauregard."
"Beauregard? Where the hell did that come from?"
"Hubbard is from Virginia – he grew up in the town of Manassas – which is where the first big battle of the Civil War was fought. The Confederates won and they were led by General P.G.T Beauregard – one of Hubbard's hero's."
"How could you possibly know that?" Burke asked, flabbergasted.
"Sam did a bunch of research on him," Jack replied. "She thought it would be good to have as much info about him as possible."
Burke just shook his head. He was getting to the point where nothing would surprise him. "So, can you figure out what's here?"
"Oh yeah," Jack slowly smiled as he scrolled through various files. A number of them were encrypted and he would have to spend some time figuring them out. But there were a number of things that were easily accessible, notably some emails, that painted a pretty clear picture of what had been going on.
Jack whistled when he saw some of the names in the emails. "Crap," he muttered after a few minutes.
"What is it?"
"The people involved," he answered slowly. "Hubbard was right. This goes all the way to the top. It looks like the President and a number of his cabinet knew what was going on. At least they knew about taking me and my – interrogations -"
"Bastards!" interjected Burke,
"Yeah, that they are." Jack sat back and sighed, rubbing his hand over his mouth and chin. "Dammit. This is going to be a real mess. They also knew about the weapons and about the Goa'uld. How the hell are we going to deal with the fallout on this one?"
"But can we prove any of this? They're going to race to protect each other and you'll end up being the scapegoat."
"Yeah – that's what they'll try to do. We'll just have to stop them."
"And how are we going to do that?"
Jack turned slowly in his chair and looked up at Burke. A slow grin appeared on his face. "Through a pre-emptive strike," the Air Force officer told him. "The stuff Hubbard has here – it's pretty damning. I say we leverage it."
"Leverage it?" Burke frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean we let them know we have the tape. Here," Jack said, reaching down and hitting a key on the computer. "Watch this." It took a second for the video to start, but as soon as it did the CIA agent's eyebrow went up. A moment later his mouth dropped open and he whistled. "Oh man – are they screwed."
In front of the two men the monitor played. On it they could see the President, Hubbard, General Caine and about half a dozen other men and one woman. All of them were in the oval office, and Hubbard was speaking.
"Who they hell are they?" muttered Burke as the video ended.
Jack froze the screen and turned to his companion. "Well – you know the President, Caine and Hubbard," Jack told them. "If I'm right I think that's Jim Causton, Secretary of Defense," he said, pointing to the man on the screen. He continued with the others. "That's Barry Davies, Secretary of the Interior, Randolph Jeffers, Secretary of Labor -" Jack continued to point at each person and list them by name and job.
"The woman?" Burke asked as Jack continued.
Jack glanced at his friend. "Have a problem with women?" he asked. Before Burke had a chance to answer he continued. "She's Judith Erickson, Secretary of Energy."
"How do you know all this?" Burke looked in amazement at his friend. He then frowned. "And no, I don't have a problem with women. It just looks like the President's cabinet is a bunch of white men. She stood out."
"Mmm. Yeah – although clearly she was in it with them!" Jack suddenly hit a key and began to look through documents on the computer. "Yup – there's lots more here. Hubbard was really guarding his backside. He's got enough on all of these people to put them away for a long time." Jack grinned and swung around. "And we have enough to hang him out to dry!"
"So all of this proves the President and his men – and woman - were all willing to have you tortured and then sell you to the highest bidder in return for space weapons," Burke said. "Nice folks! Weren't they worried about Shesmu getting this special – knowledge – they're talking about?"
"Nah – they didn't plan to let me live to tell him anything. Hubbard was going to double cross Shesmu and kill me."
"So why didn't he?" Burke frowned.
Jack looked a teeny bit uncomfortable but then decided to tell something of the truth. "He did. He gave me poison," he told the other man.
"Poison? God – are you alright?"
"Yeah – it was close but fortunately Shesmu had a sar – uh had the antidote on his ship."
"He just had an antidote lying around?" Burke asked skeptically.
"Well, Hubbard used a well-known poison," he ad libbed. "And the Goa'uld are a paranoid race. They keep the antidote close by. Fortunately Hubbard didn't know that."
"So if Shesmu saved you, how did you end up with him in the closet and you free?"
Jack grinned. "I've been fighting these guys a long time," he said. "They're arrogant which means they think they're invincible and therefore they're careless."
"So – now we have the video and all the documents," Burke turned back and indicated the computer, "and we have the three amigos locked up. So, what next?"
"Next? Next we let them all know we have this stuff. I think we could send a clip of the video to the President."
"And what about Hubbard, Caine and the Goa'uld?"
"Mmm, yeah! What about them?" Jack continued to sit, his eyes glazed over in thought. "Well, I think a little trip somewhere might be in order."
"By trip – I don't assume you mean to Yellowstone Park."
"Nope." Jack pushed himself to his feet. "First let's get all of the information on here and then we'll take care of the – what did you call them? – the three amigos."
For the next few minutes Jack played around with the computer. He sent the files to a secure computer – set up by Walter, plus he copied everything on a couple of zip drives. He gave one to Burke and kept one himself.
"There, that should be enough," Jack said. "Now, we have a few conspirators to deal with, and then it's on to the White House!"
Burke's eyebrow went up. "You're really going to go to the White House? What if they don't let you in?"
"Us in Burke – us." Jack headed out the door and turned towards the room with Caine and Hubbard. But then he stopped and looked at Burke. "Let's do this," he said.
A moment later he stood and looked down at Hubbard and Caine. The two men had finally gotten loose from their bonds, but hadn't been able to get out of the room. Jack held a gun on the two. "Alright – get up."
"What are you doing?" Hubbard asked angrily.
"Taking you someplace safe," he said. "Now move."
"And if we refuse?" the General asked.
Jack sighed and slowly moved the gun so it was pointed directly at the General's shoulder. "Then I shoot you and we drag you behind us. Now move!"
Jack figured he must have sounded angry enough – and dangerous enough – that the two men stood. Burke quickly retied their hands behind their backs and then Jack had them walk in front until they arrived in the ring room.
"Okay – let's go. And don't try anything because I really, really want to shoot you," Jack told them. "Burke, you want to come?"
"Come? Where?" he asked, his eyes wide. "You don't mean to the space ship?"
"Of course. Come on – you can help me."
A few seconds later they arrived in the Goa'uld ship. Burke looked around in wonder still half freaked out by all that was happening. Jack figured that it was finally becoming real to the agent. "Okay Burke – let's find a secure place for the two of them. Then you watch them while I go and get Shesmu."
"Can you handle him alone?" Burke wanted to know. "I mean – he is an alien."
"Mmm hmm – that's why I need to find myself a zat."
"A zat? What's that?"
"A weapon. It'll stun him long enough for me to bring him here."
"Okay – but be careful."
"Don't worry. I have lots of experience with the snakeheads." He glanced at Hubbard and Caine and grinned. "Have fun campers."
"What are you pulling O'Neill?" Hubbard hissed. "You're not going to get away with this."
"Sure I am. Oh – and by the way – we found all the information on your computer. You and the President and his cabinet secretaries were all bad boys – and one bad girl. I wonder if they know you have all of that information on them."
Hubbard scowled and looked furious. With a chuckle and a wave O'Neill headed out to try and find a zat. He still didn't want to use any of the weapons Shesmu had given Hubbard, but he figured the Goa'uld had to have one of his own somewhere.
Sure enough – a short ten minutes later he had found a cache of weapons. He pulled out two zats and a staff weapon. He really didn't care much for the staff – finding it unwieldy to use – but he knew it would make him look more threatening to Shesmu.
"Okay – I'm going to head down now and get our friendly Goa'uld. Here, take this," he handed Burke a zat and showed him how to open it. "Just remember – one shot stuns, two kills and the third – well it makes things disappear. If you've stunned one of them with it, you have to wait at least 15 minutes before you can use it again or you'll kill the person. And watch these guys carefully," he told his friend. "You can't trust them."
"Yeah," Burke grinned, examining the strange alien weapon. "Can I shoot them if they try anything."
"Please do," Jack grinned back. "I'll be back as quickly as possible." He then gave a short wave to the two bad buys and ringed down to the farm.
He quickly made his way to the closet where Shesmu was imprisoned. He reached out his hand for the door –
"Ooph!" Something hit him on the back and the next thing Jack knew, he was falling to his knees. The zat dropped from his hand and he realized he'd just underestimated the Goa'uld.
Daniel and Sam were going to kill him. He didn't even want to think about what Teal'c was going to say. He gave a brief prayer that he'd soon find out.