Ch55
On American soil, Jack and Sam spent Christmas and new year with their family and friends. Jack made sure that no team remained off world for the holidays knowing himself how hard it was to the team and their family when that happened.
"Jack?" Sam lowered the book she was reading on the bed as he entered their room.
"What do you have there?" she asked him, noticing he was frowning at his hand. He showed her an envelope.
"Please tell me it's not another documentary about the SGC." He chuckled.
"If it is I'm not going to be very happy with myself," Jack added shaking his head.
"It's from the batch?" She sat forward.
"Yup, and has my name and this date on it." He lowered the envelope on the bedside table. "But first I need a shower." She wriggled her eyebrows. "I don't mind company."
She chuckled joining him. Once they were, comfortably cuddling in bed later, Sam crossed on top of him and grabbed the envelope.
"Ready?" She asked, her eyes glinting with curiosity. He nodded, grabbing it, he opened the envelope and took the letter out. He sighed after he finished reading it.
"Shit." He huffed.
"Jack? What's wrong? It can't be that bad…"
"It's not if you compare it with other letters." He looked at her and placed a string of hair behind her ear. "It's said that by this March, whoever oversees the SGC will be transferred to Washington."
"What? That will be you," she frowned.
"Yeah, I guess so. It says that I'll oversee Home World Security if Henry Hayes becomes President."
"He is the next President, Jack"
"I know, but if this is right again, the new SGC CO will be an old friend of mine. Apparently, Hank Landry will take over at my recommendation."
"What is he like Jack?"
"He's a great guy. A Major General"
"Anything else we should prepare for?" He lowered his eyes to the paper still in his hands.
"We need to talk with General Francis Maynard, he will be the new Joint Chief of Staff, and with the new President. It gives us a date."
"Talk? About the SGC?"
"And Kinsey." She nodded. "And there's more…"
"Well, it looks like a long letter. What more?"
"Australia," Sam raised her eyebrows. "We need to deliver to more letters in three days."
"Same people?"
"Yes, no. Nikki Caetano and Josh Holiday"
"Could they be part of the crew?"
"Who knows," he shrugged. "Want to check it?" he asked, and she nodded. She read it quickly, and they talked about it until Jack grabbed the letter and threw it behind them.
"Jack?" she asked mischievously, biting her lower lip and making him groan with it. "What are you thinking?"
"I think that the shower wasn't enough," he said huskily, as he caressed her under the cover and moving forward to kiss her.
"Is it ever?" she asked when they parted with jagged breaths.
"Never." He whispered against her lips before they consummated their love several times that night.
Two days later, Jack and Sam took the ship to Australia, making sure they reached there in the night when it would be easier for them to complete the delivery hiding. They went to Sydney. First, Jack parked two blocks away from their destination and Sam walked to the building, once she was sure she was in the right place, she slid the envelope under the door of Nikki's apartment. Before returning to Jack.
Once she reached the parking spot they had found, she looked around to make sure no one was looking at her until with an all-clear Jack opened the door, and she jumped inside.
"It's done," she grinned seating next to him.
"Good. Let's go to Cairns."
He landed the ship in a park not far from Josh's apartment. Sam walked the distance separating them from his home and repeated the process of pushing the envelope under the door, before getting back to the ship.
"Let's go home," Jack said giving her hand a light squeeze before turning on the ship again.
"Good idea," she grinned, and they flew back to Colorado Springs.
"General O'Neill, Colonel Carter," General Maynard welcomed them to his office at the Pentagon a week later. "Please take a seat and tell me, what can I do for you?"
"We need to talk, sir" Jack seriously.
"And may I ask what is about?"
"Have you been informed about the Stargate Command?" Sam asked
"Yes, about it and about you two as well."
"And still, there are things you might not have been informed about, General," Jack added
"Like what, General?"
"Kinsey and NID," Jack pointed, and Maynard sat back in his chair
"Well, I know all about your dislike of the vice president, General."
"I'll bet you won't like him either sooner than later, sir," Jack commented making Maynard frown
"And why is that?"
"General, I'll suggest you cancel any other appointments you may have for today," Sam intervened, Maynard looked from Sam to Jack with raised eyebrows.
"Are you two serious?"
"I'll bet my career and stars on my word, or hers, General," Jack added seriously. General Maynard picked the phone shaking his head.
"Captain, cancel all my appointments for the rest of the day and hold all the calls. Thank you, Captain." He lowered the phone and observed at the man and woman seating in front of him. "That's done, tell me what you know."
They take turns to explain everything to General Maynard, providing him with evidence from over the years against members of the NID and Kinsey. One they are finally done, it's afternoon, and General Maynard looked at them frowning.
"Well, this is shocking news. Not only you've come and tell me this, but you have proof of it."
"We couldn't come without proof, sir." Jack pointed
"Sir, did you have a chance to see the documentary that was done at the SGC?" Sam asked seemingly out of the blue.
"Yes, I have."
"I guess you haven't seen this one," Sam added giving him a pen drive.
"There's a copy, sir."
"Is that the one we talked about last night?" Jack asked her.
"Yes, sir," Sam grinned at Jack, who nodded back at her.
General Maynard inserted the drive in his laptop, and soon he was listening to the version they gave him. Jack and Sam watched as his expressions changed during the twenty minutes that it lasted.
"General O'Neill calls a spade: spade, sir. And he will always tell you exactly what he thinks of you, as you've heard and seen."
"That's pretty obvious from this. However, Colonel, I have a feeling there's more than just your affirmation?"
"Yes, sir. Plenty," Jack added
"General O'Neill," Maynard said leaning back after a couple more hours of discussions.
"Yes, sir?"
"Care to share how on God's Earth you've managed to keep yourself in control for seven years with all of this happening?"
"I … can explain it." Jack started
"Then explain…"
"That's all work of Colonel Carter, sir. She has been able to help me keep my temper at bay and gave me excellent advice whenever I've needed it. Also, the whole staff knows about my bad temper, and they are great at putting up with it. Or at least, to identify it."
"How's that?"
"Whenever they know I'm in a bad mood, they go and get her from her lab."
"And when she's not around? I understand she's a field commander."
"Oh, when she's gone… they try to keep clear of me until SG1 returns. And they almost worship the ground Sam walks on, cause they all know she's the only one who can calm me down." By the time he finished, Sam was beet red
"And how often do you lose your temper?"
"Only when Kinsey is around"
"or Felger," Sam added.
"I should transfer him to area fifty-one, and then he can be Maybourne's problem," Sam giggled.
"I don't think, Maybourne would like that. At least not after the last scientists you sent to him," she commented scrunching up her nose. Jack frowned thinking about it.
"Oh, yeah!" Jack turned to the General
"Well, thank you both for everything. I had no idea how bad it was between SGC and the NID."
"Now you know, sir," Sam said. They stood up and saluted each other
"I'll be talking to the President tomorrow about the SGC."
"General, if you can show him that pen drive, and if any of you need me to talk about anything related to the SGC, I'm just a phone call away," Jack added
"Thank you, General." They both said turning around towards the door.
"So, Sam? What would you like for dinner?" Jack asked as they reached the door.
"Food Jack, food," she grinned. They closed the door behind them, and that made them unable to heard General's Maynard chuckling at them.
The next day, General Maynard was at the oval office waiting for the President. As soon as the commander in chief entered they started a meeting in which General Maynard disclosed everything he knew about the SGC.
"You've got to be kidding me," Hayes added laying back in his chair.
"No, sir. Here is a disk of the documentary that was made sir."
"Have you seen it?"
"Yes, sir."
With a huff, the President walked over to the television and DVD player, to set the disc they were given and sat down later to watch the full documentary being played.
"Whoa, I'm impressed."
"There more, Mr. President."
"More?" The General moved and changed the documentary to the one that Sam and Jack had given him the previous day. Before returning to his seat.
"You need to watch this, sir." Sighing deeply, Hayes pressed play turning the tv off when they finished.
"Oh my..." he added in disbelief. "Does the vice president know about the SGC then?"
"Yes, sir. Since it was opened seven years ago."
"And this General O'Neill? Don't you think he shouldn't say those things on camera?"
"He was honest, sir. If you want me to point you to a man in who you can trust with this, I will point you to him." the President stood up and walked out the door scratching his forehead.
He returned with Kinsey in tow, and the three of them discussed subjects related to the SGC. Being just brought up to speed with the situation, General Maynard was having issues defending the SGC, while Kinsey didn't have any attacking it.
"General O'Neill," Jack answered his phone.
"General O'Neill, it's General Maynard."
"Sir? How did it go with the President?" Jack asked warily.
"He's shocked, General."
"Well, anyone in such position would be, don't you think? But I'll take this is not why you are calling."
"No, the President spoke with Vice president Kinsey."
"Let me guess, he had a huge pile of terrible things to say about SGC," Jack sighed.
"Yes, you were not exempted," to Maynard surprise, Jack snorted. "General?"
"That's nothing new, General. Is that why you are calling? Searching for a pep talk of sorts?"
"Advice will be nice, yes."
"Has he seen what's on the pen drive?"
"Yes, according to him you provoked him"
"Provoked him? You got to be joking! The nerve of that man!"
"General, the Prometheus is in orbit. Is the President's alone?"
"Yes, he is."
"Good, keep it that way. I'll be there soon as I can, and the President and I can have a chit chat, thanks for calling General."
At the Oval Office, President Hayes was seating with General O'Neill's folder in his hands when a bright light shone in the room. He lowered his folder blinking a few times only to notice a man standing in the place where the light shone before.
"Mr. President," He said saluting. "I'm General O'Neill, sir. Commanding Officer of the Stargate Command"
"What? How?"
"Asgard transport beam, sir."
"Huh?"
"An Asgard transport beam that's installed at the Earth ship named Prometheus, which is currently in orbit, sir. The beam took me out of the SGC and down here in a matter of seconds."
"Oh, yes. I've heard about the Earth Ships…" he frowned. "What I'm yet to learn is why are you here, General?"
"General Maynard called to inform me about a conversation you held with Kinsey. May I?" Jack said pointing at a seat and Hayes nodded. After that, they talked for over an hour, before a knock on the door interrupted them.
"General O'Neill! What the hell are you doing here?" Kinsey asked loudly in shock.
"As you could see the President and I were having a meeting."
"You can't trust him, Mr. President! He's a loose cannon, he and his team have managed to put Earth at risk sometimes."
"Yes, I know that, Robert! He has explained it to me. He also made a nice case with what he and his personnel have done to save not only Earth but people from other planets, protecting them and us from the Goa'uld."
"But Mr. President? Earth"
"Sit down, Robert!" Hayes ordered so loudly that he couldn't do more than sitting. "Now, I expect honest answers from both of you," he squinted at them, and they both nodded, with that, Hayes started asking hundreds of questions.
Hours later, Kinsey left the room with a bitter expression on his face, while Jack now sported a smirk. He stood up ready to leave DC and return to the SGC. Stopping only because he remembered something from the letter he read.
"Mr. President, do you know George Hammond?"
"Yes, I do, why?"
"Talk to him, in person. He still has full clearance to the SGC, and we can have him beamed over here for that to happen," Jack stepped forward and jotted down George's phone number in a paper he had on him. "This is his phone, just tell him to call me if he needs a ride."
"I'll think about it."
"Cool and sir, if you want to come by to the SGC at any time, I can help you with the transport," he said taking a stone out of his pocket. "Complement of the Asgard," he grinned.
"Thank you, General." Then he pressed the rock, and white light engulfed the room, and Jack was gone. Hayes shook his head before getting back to work. He stopped only to pick the phone and place a call.
Later that night, Jack and Sam were watching the news when the phone rang.
"Hello?" Sam answered
"Hey, Sam. Is Jack there?" She smiled.
"Yes, he is uncle, George," Sam said passing him the phone
"Hi, George, long time not talking to you," Sam could hear George laughing.
"Yes, it has been too long. Anyhow, I received a strange call from the President."
"Did you, really?"
"Oh, Jack. Don't play dumb with me. He said you offered transport."
"When do you want to see him?"
"Tomorrow, if that works for you."
"Sure, come straight to your old office. I'm sure the personnel would like to say hi to you as you come through."
"I'll bet they do. Is around ten a good time?"
"For you? Of course."
"See you then, good night!"
"Night," Jack said lowering the phone.
"I guess the President talked to uncle George?"
"Yeah. Let's go to bed," he leaned over and kissed her neck
"I warn you, General. I need some tiring out," Sam giggled
"Then with even more reason, come with me," Jack wriggled his eyebrows and turned the TV off. And they rushed upstairs, turning the lights off along the way.
Late during the afternoon of the following day, a bright light engulfed Jack's office.
"Hey George, did you have a good chat?" Jack asked without raising his eyes from the file he was reading.
"Yes, he showed me a very interesting movie. It was on a pen drive," he chuckled.
"I can't say it wasn't true." They spoke for a while until he left. A few minutes later, Sam entered Jack's office.
"Hey!" Jack looked up and smiled at her.
"More paperwork?"
"Yes, sorry," she said with a grimace as she lowered the folders.
"A few minutes earlier and you would've seen George."
"Oh, too bad I would've liked to hug him. Did he talk to the President?"
"Yep. Now we wait."
"Aren't we used to that by now?" She smiled, and he nodded. "I'm heading home, any idea when we would be expecting you?"
"Judging by what you just brought in, I'll be home for an hour." She chuckled.
"See you at home then."