AN: I hate phone shopping. We spent an hour and a half waiting in line today before just giving up. They had ONE guy running the kiosk and both his computers were not working. I literally just need a cheap phone to use at work to help customers and make emergency calls.

Oh well. At least you get another chapter of Shards today.

Chapter 4

"Commander, I told you already I'm pleading no contest." Jack said in a low snarl that usually shut subordinates up, even Sam who hadn't been afraid of him for years now.

"Colonel, I'm well aware of what you planned to do and I think I understand why you intended to do so but it won't have the effect you are hoping for. If you plead out, there is nothing to stop General Bauer from going after Major Carter next. It might be better to drag out a hearing until we can find a way to neutralize the situation."

"'We', Commander?"

"Yes sir. We." Harm told Jack, his expression firm.

"This isn't the plot to 'A Few Good Men', Commander. You aren't going to trick that egotistical prick into telling on himself." Jack said in exasperation.

"I don't need to, sir. I just need to cast doubt on his reasons for pursuing the case in the first place."

Jack really looked at the guy for the first time. He was about Sam's age or so. And he'd doggedly been trying to talk him out of pleading out. Jack breathed a thoughtful snort while he considered Harm's logic. The kid might be right. If Bauer was preoccupied by Jack's trial, he might leave Sam alone. At least until after their baby was born anyway.

"Does Carter know there's a target on her back as well?"

Harm nodded. "Bauer told her 'You're next' when she was leaving the 'Gate' room. Whatever that means exactly." Harm told him.

Jack scowled. It had to have happened after he'd been so politely removed himself. Sam didn't need that kind of added stress. "Commander, I don't care if you win my case or not. I only care that you keep him and anyone else from NID away from her for as long as possible. The only thing Carter is guilty of is not wanting to be raped."

"Dr. Jackson told me it took two of you to secure her safety the first time." Harm told him.

Jack nodded. "If I had gotten my ass kicked, Teal'c was next." He told him.

"So the only reason you are even in this situation is you decided as a team to do things in a logical manner."

Jack just sighed. "We thought we could just fake it if anyone said anything until we formulated an escape but everything we came up with had a pretty low success rate or relied on variables we couldn't track. It actually worked for a while."

"Until you were given no further choice."

"Until I was given no further choice." Jack agreed and Harm noted his expression was one of despondence. He had not wanted to sexually assault his junior officer. He'd been given no other option that didn't endanger her. "Carter reminded me that she knew it might come to that and I had consent. That it was better it was me than a bunch of random guys every night and not being allowed to tell them no."

"You did it to protect her."

"Well, of course I did it to protect her! I couldn't let them just rape her!" Jack snarled.

"I'm pleading not guilty on your behalf, Colonel. I can't bring my team in on the case because of the security clearance issues but I can bring in someone to dig into General Bauer's actions and motivations. He's not dumb enough to commit perjury or incriminate himself but he might not be smart enough to cover his tracks."

Jack nodded. "Call this guy." He said and handed Harm a folded piece of paper. "If anyone can ferret out a snake, it's him. Include 'Starsky and Hutch' in the note." Jack was thoughtful for a moment. "Tell him it's for Carter. He's willing to go pretty far to protect her."

"Any particular reason why?"

Jack just shrugged. "He has a thing for women that can kick his ass."

Ham just looked at Jack oddly. "He has the clearance to look into this?"

Jack nodded. "And it keeps your people out of the mix. You really don't want them involved in this, Commander. If it blows up in your face, he can disappear into the wind. They can't."

Harm thought of how hard Sarah and Bud had worked for their positions on his team. The Colonel might have a point. "All right. I'll track him down."

"All rise." The bailiff told them.

An interim judge advocate for the tribunal came in and waved them all down. "Next case." He told the bailiff.

"Docket number five oh six dash one thirty four SM dash twelve. US versus Colonel Jonathon James O'Neill. The accused is charged with sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, violation of fraternization regulations, and conduct unbecoming of an officer."

"Does the defendant wish to enter a plea?" The advocate asked Harm.

"Not guilty, sir." He said firmly.

"Enter a plea of not guilty for the accused." The judge told the court reporter. "We will reconvene this general court marital again at ten hundred hours three weeks from today." The judge gave Jack a speculative look as everyone filed out.

Outside in the hallway, Daniel, Teal'c and Sam waited for him. Because Jack was confined to base, the court was being held in a conference room on level seventeen. Option two was the judicial chambers at Peterson but George had pulled some strings to keep Jack on the base until his trial was over. He'd arranged for a team of guards to shadow Sam when she needed to leave the base as well. Daniel and Teal'c weren't in any particular danger but she was if George guessed correctly.

"Today was just a formality everyone. We have three weeks to get our ducks in a row." Harm told them. Sam should have been glowing with pregnancy but she only looked strained and tired. "How are you feeling, Major?" He asked her politely.

"I'm fine, Commander." She replied, noting Jack was studiously avoiding looking directly at her.

"Well, I have crap to do, kids. Danny, will you escort me to my box so I can work myself to death while Uncle Sam figures out how to give it to me in the ass?"

"Yah, sure, Jack." Daniel said distractedly. He wanted to be angry at the man for his attitude but Jack was trying to keep Sam from getting her hopes up too high given Bauer's track record in the past.

Harm left them to their duties as he had his own. Somewhat unusual for this discovery was that the tribunal convened was a pair of Generals and a navy Admiral. Harm figured much of that had to do with the clearance issues regarding the case. The crux of the case was they had been trapped on an alien planet by a crime syndicate.

There wasn't much he could do about it in any case. The lead judge seemed to be a Citadel professor but of engineering not law. Harm wasn't sure how that would play out, frankly.

"All rise." The bailiff intoned.

Everyone stood as the General presiding over the case entered and sat followed by another General and an Admiral.

"All those having business with this general court martial stand forward and you shall be heard." The bailiff said as he stood in front of the courtroom to tell Jack, General Bauer and their counsels. "General Michael Kerrigan is presiding."

Kerrigan was a dark haired man with a receding hairline and piercing blue eyes and for some reason it rang a bell for Jack but he couldn't place where he knew the name from until he heard his voice. Ah. He was one of Sam's former professors… that was… just great.

"Is the government prepared to make an opening statement?" Kerrigan asked.

Bauer's representative was an attractive brunette Lieutenant Colonel that Jack wondered how she had gotten herself clearance for this as he knew just about everyone in the Air Force cleared to discuss the SGC having been second in command for years. He wondered what rock Bauer dragged her out from under.

"Yes sir." She said in a clear firm voice as she walked toward the table acting as a judicial bench to make her statement. "The facts in the case are clear. Colonel O'Neill had a sexual relationship with his second in command who became pregnant. This violates the code of conduct he swore to uphold. The defendant has admitted Major Carter is pregnant with his child. Major Carter, Doctor Jackson, and Mr. Teal'c who were witnesses all agree that Major Carter's commanding officer had sexual relations with her. None of them dispute the fact that Colonel O'Neill fought for the right to sexually assault Major Carter in the internment camp they were imprisoned in."

She smiled slightly. "Now I know Commander Rabb is going to try to convince you there were mitigating circumstances. That they had no other viable choice. Yet… all we have is their word about this. We don't have anyone who isn't on their team to collaborate their testimonies. We only have the evidence which is… obvious." She said giving Sam a significant look.

General Bauer sat in the prosecution side with a smug smile on his face. Jack just stared stonily ahead.

"Colonel O'Neill sexually harassed Major Carter. He chose to engage in a sexual relationship with a subordinate officer. Colonel O'Neill is guilty by his own admission. His conduct was unbecoming of an officer and those are the facts of this case." She said, sitting down.

"Commander Rabb, your opening argument." General Kerrigan said.

Harm stood as he began his opening salvo. "Members of the tribunal, Colonel O'Neill doesn't dispute his actions. In fact, I had a difficult time convincing him he isn't guilty of misconduct. Yes, he had a sexual relationship with Major Carter with her expressed consent during their imprisonment on the planet… but what my colleague leaves out is Major Carter's options were either sex with her commanding officer or repeated rape by strangers. Sex with a man whom she knows and trusts not to hurt her… or being violated night after night by anyone who chose to do so in any way they chose."

Harm started pacing a little. "Colonel O'Neill didn't want to sexually assault his second in command. Even after Major Carter gave him consent to avoid rape, he still did not want to abuse her trust in this way. Further pawning her off on a teammate was not an option given the strict rules of the facility about conduct. Anyone who intervened in a rape was killed by the guards. Any woman who resisted being raped by assaulting her rapist was killed by the guards. Had her team tried to protect her in any other way they would all be dead. All Colonel O'Neill was trying to do was protect his team to the best of his ability. He made a difficult choice with limited options. He put his team's safety above his own. Colonel O'Neill's ethics are such that he protected his team above all else… including at his own legal expense regardless of what it cost him personally." Harm finally sat.

"Would the government like to call its first witness?"

"Yes, your honors. The government calls Sergeant Thaddeus Henderson." Lieutenant Colonel Saunders said.

After the man was sworn in, she began questioning him. "Sergeant, you were on duty the day the team designated SG-1 returned to Alpha Base?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"And how did they return?"

"The people that had them brought them back by ship, Ma'am."

"It doesn't sound like they were prisoners does it, more like guests."

"Objection." Harm said sharply.

"Sustained. Redirect your witness, Colonel."

"What was the general mood of SG-1 when they returned?"

"They seemed happy to be home mostly."

"Mostly?"

"Well, I overheard my CO asking Colonel O'Neill about Major Carter's baby and Colonel O'Neill admitted the baby was his."

"And what did your CO say about that Sergeant?"

"He told Colonel O'Neill he'd have to tell General Hammond about it."

"Did Colonel O'Neill have any kind of reaction to that?"

"Ma'am? He seemed kind of sad, ma'am, then said he knew. Like he understood what with it being the rules."

"Objection, the witness is speculating." Harm said.

"Sustained. Colonel, your witnesses are to answer the questions not psycho-analyze the accused. Redirect your witness Colonel."

She nodded curtly. "Yes sir. One last question. Who was it that brought them back?"

"I answered that already, Ma'am."

"I mean specifically, who were they?"

"Aliens, Ma'am."

"The prosecution rests." She told the tribunal.

"Commander Rabb, your witness."

"I have no questions for this witness, your honors."

"Very well, Sergeant, you may step down."

"She didn't seem to have anyone very important." Sam said from the Colonel's bed in his guest quarters. Daniel was next to her digging through the Chinese food Teal'c had gone to get for them all.

"That is because we have all the witnesses of value." Teal'c said as he smothered an egg roll in mustard.

"Dr. Jackson, how long did you say it would take to get your witnesses from the prison?"

"I didn't. Londaris said he'd try but he had to sneak us off world so for all I know he was arrested. There's just no way of knowing, Harm." He said with a disconsolate shrug. Sam patted his arm affectionately.

Jack was sitting at the card table doing paperwork again. He'd eaten very little and spoken even less.

"I believe Administrator Londaris is extremely clever and shall avoid capture. If it is possible to secure the men in question, he will do so." Teal'c told them.

"Realistically if they don't show up most of the case should fall apart with the fact that you were all legally dead before anything untoward happened between yourself and Colonel O'Neill, Major."

Sam nodded a couple times thoughtfully. "She's going to argue that we aren't reliable witnesses, isn't she?"

"Yah, probably."

"Then we're just going to have to convince General Kerrigan that we have no reason to lie." Daniel said vehemently. "Surely he wouldn't think one of his own students who he's mentored would do so."

"Daniel… ixnay…" Jack growled from across the room.

"Pardon?" Harm asked. "One of you knows General Kerrigan personally?"

Sam sighed. "He was my mentor for my PhD thesis." Sam admitted quietly. "I didn't expect him to be here but honestly there aren't many people with enough clearance to try this case so it makes sense." She looked at Harm. "He won't lay any more weight because it's me. If anything, he's gonna be pretty disappointed in me for this." She stared into her noodles, lost in thought.

Across the room, Jack's scowl deepened but he said nothing as he stared at his paperwork. I'm sorry Carter. I'm so sorry he thought.