Chapter 12

July 12th, 1947, Washington, D.C.

To President Truman's credit, he didn't make any motion that would indicate guilt or knowledge, no sharp intake of breath, no sudden flutter of the eye, no double take, just a silence in the air.

"Pardon?" He asked curiously after a couple of second. "I'm sorry, senator, did you just say…interplanetary gateway?"

Taft in turn made no motion one way or another, he merely sounded inquisitive and slightly assertive, the sound of man trying to divine what unknown was currently out in the ether of Washington.

"Indeed, recently I was contacted by a couple of concerned individuals who had…how shall I say … an interesting story to tell. Now these men I trust and suffice to say they have a good ear to the ground in terms of military matters in this nation. Now they tell me that there is some kind of classified project that involves an "interplanetary gateway", and that millions of dollars have been sent to this program. Now for the life of me can't seem to locate any mention of this supposed program, so I decided that it … behooved me to investigate further, especially if there are funds being misallocated."

Truman looked at the bespectacled man and grimaced internally. "Bastards." he though "Didn't just go to the damn press."

Crossing his fingers, Truman centered himself and spoke "Well senator…that's quite a tale, I don't quite know what to make of it."

"Well as I said, it seemed a bit…strange, and if there were something that was so hypothetically classified, I figured it might be pertinent to national security to not drag any sort of information like that out into the Chamber without some kind of confirmation."

Chuckling, Truman continued. "Well senator, I can assure you, I haven't heard of any…what was it "interplanetary gateways" it sounds like something out of one of those pulp magazines kids like to read. We might be working on many scientific projects of varying levels of classification, but we don't have space travel. Maybe one day, but not today."

Chucking along with Truman, Taft nodded "Heh heh, it did seem a tad strange, please bear in mind the people who brought this too me were, how should I say…very involved with the military, but I don't know, maybe with the war over the tensions finally gone and they can finally let their brains relax."

"Likely, I went a tad strange for a day or two after I left the Guard, you just get so used to a routine and structure, then one day its gone, and we've been working hard the past six years keeping everything organized, what with the mobilizations and demobilizations."

"Probably true, the war's been over for almost two years now, but we're still reeling for everything and it seems like new things keep peeking over the horizon. That speech you gave was fairly spot on I feel, its good to see some action being done to stop Stalin's advancement without getting us too tied down overseas, and the best part, we're just giving the Greeks and Turks money, Russians can't quite complain about that."

"Indeed." Truman said enthusiastically, happy the subject had shifted.

The two then spent the next fifteen minutes making small talk, discussing policies, agreements and disagreements, for all it was worth, Truman considered it fairly productive. Finally, Taft made a motion to get up. Shaking Truman's hand, he smiled.

"Well, I'm glad we got all that strangeness cleared up and got some real work done"

"Agreed!" Truman said warmly, releasing his hand.

Grabbing his hat, Taft started to move towards the door.

"Of course, now that we've cleared up the issue of classified projects, I'll need to open two formal discussions in the Senate. First, we'll need to have some professionals examine my friends, if people who've gone batty can be in high places, we'll need a full examination of the military to make sure they're in tip top shape."

"What'll happen?" Truman asked.

"Well, likely some psychiatrists will meet and talk with them, then give a report to the Senate, tell us their opinions, and of course the evidence for the case against the men. Shouldn't be too hard, once every Senator hears about how some of our top men were talking about gateways to the stars it shouldn't be too hard to open a formal inquiry."

Truman simply stopped and looked at Taft, who continued.

"Then of course there's the budgetary matters. I've been going over some records for the defense budget and there seems to be a gap in some of the spending. Its nothing much, a bit here a bit there, why at first glance it looks like its all being spent accordingly, but if you look closer, its clear funds are being shuffled around to other sources. The Appropriations Committee will need to be informed immediately so we can get to the bottom of this discrepancy. It shouldn't be to much, we'll just be going over the military's budget for the past couple of years with a fine tooth and weeding out anything that doesn't belong." He finished his voice taking on a definite chill to it.

As he began to move towards the door, Truman's mind raced, he know the next several seconds would be critical. Robert was in the opposite party, he'd made numerous opinions very clear, where would he be on the Stargate though?

It didn't matter, he needed to remain silent.

"Wait." Truman said, slowly rising from, his desk to stare at Taft. Robert might have been larger and better built than Harry, but Truman narrowed his eyes as he focused on the senator.

"What do you want, Senator?" Truman asked.

"What I want Mr. President, is for you to stop wasting my time, I want some damn answers about what the hell is going on in our military that warrants you gutting our Navy, one of our main lines of defense, because according to some of my friends, its because of a project that involves a "Stargate", and if what they say is true, then it would warrant a closer look. Now Mr. President, are we going to talk as men, or are we going to dance around this issue for another fifteen minutes?"

Breathing sharply, Truman nodded. "Have a seat Senator Taft, I'll have something brought in that will explain everything."

An hour later, the film reel stopped and the lights turned back on. Truman had told Taft everything, the discovery, the initial contact at ES-2, the next year of base building, and recently the attack at ES-5 and his plan for two combat recons.

"Well that's the long and short of the situation right now senator. Do you have any questions?"

The Senator dove right in:

"So, am I to understand that currently there is little civilian oversight on this Initiative?"

"Well we do have civilians involved, and Dr. Langford is in charge, and that's the current plan, to have a civilian in charge of the Initiative."

"But currently the organization is predominantly military?"

"Yes."

"And right now, the biggest problem you've had is getting the funding you need without attracting attention?"

"Correct."

Locking his fingers together, Taft didn't speak for several moments, Truman wondered what his next though would be.

Finally, the Senator cracked his knuckles and spoke "I believe I can help you Mr. President."

Truman shook himself, surprised at the ease of the situation. "You can?"

"Well specifically, we can help each other. I can work to get you that budget you wanted for the program, well maybe not entirely that much, but enough to finish our bases and get tem equipped and manned to how you want, AND to keep this NID operational."

"What's the catch?"

"No catch, just something small, something as a reasonable person I think you can agree on."

"What?"

"Oversight. As loathe as I am to say it, there needs to be some kind of higher government supervision on this project. From what you tell me it's been ad-hoc for the moment and is answering directly to you. That's fine for a chain of command, but for check and balances it does nothing."

Truman raised an eyebrow "Really, I'm surprised you're okay with everything else, exploring other worlds, working with the British and Commonwealth, spending money."

Taft snorted "Mr. President, I may be in favor of keeping America focused on its interests and others misconstrue that as me burying my head in the sand, but no. Any fool can see the potential benefit of this program, and with the crash landing in New Mexico its clear there are aliens with space travel capacity outside this gate network. We need more information. I also realize trying to keep this to America is also a fools errand, I dislike entangling alliances, but when it's literally for the protection of this planet from extra solar threats, its only makes sense to work together. Same with the money."

"But you want more government in the program."

"No. Oversight. Keeping this program lean and mean is preferable, but we need to keep an eye on this, especially this NID. For god's sake look at Hoover and the FBI, its practically an entity on its own, no one can shit without Hoover getting his nose deep in it. Can you imagine something like that, but with access to alien technologies? Also we need to keep our teams honest and ensure that in any possible first contact situation, we don't do something to fuck up and piss off more aliens. I'll admit, I'd like to get as much technology back to Earth as possible, but we shouldn't do that if its at the expense of alienating ourselves with other possible races out there, or even bring more down on us. We've got enough with the 2's and 5's."

Truman couldn't fault Taft's logic, he'd had his own misgivings about what NID could do, but was prepared to look over them for the security of Earth. Taft's proposal sounded fair.

"Another thing I'd ask is that you approve more of the proposed carriers for the Navy. I know you authorized one, but let's bring it to an actual production run, not just one prototype."

"Really? Those things will be expensive as hell to build and it'll take time to get them out."

"I know, but we have to remember there's another threat out there, Earthside. We need a strong shield to keep ourselves safe here. I don't want us doing anything to provoke Stalin and the others, but having no defense is tantamount to leaving the door open and letting the Communists in."

Truman though for several seconds before continuing "I know we've been doing our damnedest to keep the budget balanced, but if you're onboard and can convince Congress to accept a raised defense budget to cover the gaps and provide for the Navy, then I'm more than willing to accept."

"I'm glad to hear that Mr. President." Taft said grabbing some paper and writing several notes down.

"One last thing." Truman said, brandishing the newspaper with the denouncement of his plan for the Marines. "What do you make of this?" he asked

Looking up, Taft spoke "Well, you're going to have an uphill battle in the Capitol, Vandergrift has been making a lot of friends in the House and Senate, that speech he gave last year won him a lot of points, and as you can tell, the public love his boys…Now me personally I just want to make sure our Air Force and Navy are well equipped and prepared, and if we can trim some fat anywhere, there would be good."

"Well the Army and Air Force are already onboard, what's the word with the Navy?"

"Officially, they're sympathetic to the Marines and want to help them…Unofficially, they're prepared to stand by the Army's recommendation in exchange for guaranteeing the independence of their air wings against the Air Force."

Truman nodded "Eisenhower, Marshall, and several others are also ready to give a recommendation for unifying the Marines into the rest of the military. If we can get the backing of the three branches and their higher officials, and can deliver a conclusive report to Congress, we should be able to secure that portion of the plan."

"Agreed. The Navy is still hammering out the plans for their new "supercarrier", but from what my friends tell me, this thing will be impressive. Capable of holding heavy bombers, jet fighters and if worse comes to worse, nuclear weaponry. Combine with the Army's experience with amphibious landings like in Italy and Normandy they'll be able to make a strong case for the integration."

Truman again nodded in agreement as he too began to take notes. While informal processes and agreement making such as this were easy to handle, actually bringing them into fruition would be somewhat difficult.

"Well, at least Forrestal will be happy." he thought aloud "He was hounding us for days about giving the Navy more money, but I couldn't figure out how for the life of me to get that to him, even with the rocketry plans."

The two talked for more than an hour, hammering out ideas and minutia for the military. They'd be bringing in several generals and admirals in the coming days, as well as meeting with several House and Senate leaders to make sure everything would come according to plan. Taft would be in charge of the secret oversight committee for the SGI, the composition of which would include himself, as well as several senators and congressmen, in addition to a few military and justice officials. The plan was to make it reasonably comprehensive from the various branches of government to ensure all of the needs for America and her allies would be met. To Taft's chagrin, bur at Truman's insistence, it was also decided that the British would have an observer in the Oversight group as well, with open placement for other observers to come in as nations could be brought up to speed on the program, such as the Commonwealth nations.

Speaking of which, Truman noted that he would be meeting with the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand ambassadors in a week to bring them into the program, with the British ambassador there to give support.

His thoughts also wandered over to the SGI themselves. They'd be embarking on their expeditions fairly soon either tomorrow or the next day. He prayed each night that the aliens would miraculously not be the same ones that landed in New Mexico, yet Harry Truman expected and prepared for the worse.

For all he knew, he might be the last president of the United States before an alien assault brought the world to its knees.

July 12th, 1947. Area 52 (SGI Headquarters)

"What do you mean, burnt to a crisp?" Langford asked Hammond as the soldier radioed from Camp Roosevelt.

"Like I said, we went to ES-5 with a full assault force, and found the forest burnt down. We managed to backtrack to the stream and initial ambush site and found nothing; it was as black as the ash. There's nothing here, or if it was here it's dust."

"Jesus. What happened?"

"No clue sir, it could have been a bad brush fire, we don't exactly know what seasons are like on these alien planets. For all we know we arrived in the middle of the dry season and all that plasma and explosives started a flame. The aliens might have started it, lighting, or some other thing. Point is, we've been walking around here for a good day and haven't found anything, no base, no bodies. Nothing, just ash."

"Christ. Okay, well you and your men did well Lieutenant. Get some rest and we'll try ES-2 tomorrow. Hopefully, we'll actually find something there that we can take home."

"Will do professor" Hammond finished as the gate shut down.

Massaging his temples, Langford took several notes. With the forest in ES-5 gone and no known contacts there, the site was now being assigned to the off limits folder for the time being. They still knew nothing about the Scorpion Warriors and who or what they were. Same with the Eagles. Was ES-5 the Scorpion's home, same as ES-2 to for the Eagles. There were just so many unknowns and he felt bad about sending his men into that kind of danger.

"What kind of malicious being are these?" He though to himself…

Elsewhere, in the Milky Way…

Ba'al looked into the small sphere and took a breath. It wasn't as though he was not looking forward to this conversation, so much as the general awkwardness of it. In general though, any conversation with Selket tended to go that way. One didn't expect to converse with the Queen of Shadows and get a clear answer for anything.

His main goal was to figure out what had happened on one of his worlds. Reports indicated that an entire quarter of the continents forest had burned down and after ruling out any involvement from Sokar, the only other forces he could think that might be operating in his territory that might be operating were the Tok'ra or Selket. Either way a quick word with her would likely confirm any suspicion.

Soon the sphere began to ripple and the image of a woman with dark hair and almond shaped eyes looked at him.

"Ba'al." she said simply.

"Ah Lady Selket, a pleasure as always, I hope I've found you at a good time."

"What do you want?" She asked coldly

"Hmm, straight to business again. A pity, I always though we enjoyed good conversation" he replied sardonically.

"If you want to use my Ashraks Ba'al, then you already know the terms and the price…And the rules" she said, her voice booming slightly "I won't have you going behind my back to try and kill Sokar again with my soldiers."

Ba'al raised his hands slightly in peace "Oh no, I won't try that again, I'd be rather foolish to try and lose your wonderful services. No, all I'm after is information."

"What do you want?" Selket asked with a small sigh

"Ah, well it just so happens I captured a Tok'ra infiltrator. I won't bore you with the messy details, much as I know you like them, but suffice to say it would seem that on my border with Sobek there might be operatives operating there. I also know they tend to make things difficult for you, what with them trying to work in your shadows. I just wanted to see if there was any truth to that pest's dying worlds, I'd hate to have any…complications in any future business arraignments between us."

Selket paused for several second before speaking, he head raised hgh. "Yes, infact m agents have neutralized several of the Tok'ra in the area as well. There base is somewhere in the border…If you really want to get them you'll likely want ot move there."

"Ah, well my thanks my Lady, as always I hope to work again soon" he finished as he deactivated the sphere.
Looking to his First Prime, he spoke with a lower voice.

"It looks like Selket got our defector, I guess Sobek gave her a good price. Go ahead and have your Jaffa take apart the guest quarters, it looks like Ammit won't be joining us after all."

The Jaffa nodded and moved off to give orders. Looking out the window of his palace, he sighed.

A pity really, he rather enjoyed that forest…

July 13th. Camp Roosevelt, ES-3

As the last symbol light up, the Stargate activated with a familiar woosh. Assembled in the main bay was the assault recon force. A full half of the SGI's military force was prepared to embark on the expedition; four American squads, two British squads, as well as four Sherman and two Cromwell tanks, with a trio of M8 Greyhounds for rapid exploration. In addition, four half tracks and six universal carriers were loaded with the squads who would be going through, with an additional two half tracks mounting quad machine gun turrets. Finally a small of contingent of four jeeps and four deuce and a half's were there for additional scouting and transportation respectively. All in all, twenty nine vehicles would be going through with the soldiers, for a total of more than one hundred personnel. It would be the Initiatives largest expedition to date.

A pair of privates wheeled the gun cart camera through the gate. Word was that a better version of the device, mounted on remote control treads was in the works. After a miniature, a voice came over the wireless.

"Looks clear, no Eagle warriors on screen, but it looks like things have been busy."

"How so?" Don asked

"Well, some of the grass looked flattened, almost like a walking trail and it leads away from the gates. From the stills we got from that last camera, that wasn't there before, so its possible our friends have been busy."

"Noted." Don said, as he stood on the back of the lead half track and looked at the assembled force. Technically a force this size would warrant the command of a captain, but with none available, Don had divided the load between himself and Lieutenant Powell, with Powell and his adjutant Norwell being in charge of the British component of the expedition, and Hammond and his adjutant (Simmons in this case) taking charge of the American half.

"Now hear this!" Don said, his voice booming over the din "Footage cam back positive, we are a-go. Everyone mount up!" He heard the scramble as the men quickly jumped into their respective transports. The tanks and other vehicles were already manned and running. Over the wireless he continued

"You all have been briefed, you know the mission, we're to try and ascertain the identity of our foes and see if they were the ones who landed that ugly ass spaceship in New Mexico, with the secondaries being to try and bring some bodies and equipment back for our labs boys, that what our lovely trucks are here for." He said gesturing to the back of the assembly.

"Tanks will take lead, then the carriers, then the tracks, then the recon vehicles. We fall in around the gate while the jeeps and greyhounds scout ahead. Once contact is made, we'll come down the wrath of god on these things and make 'em wish they hadn't been born!" He finished with a resounding cheer roaring through the building.

Roaring forward, the lead Sherman rolled up the ramps and quickly disappeared through the event horizon, followed shortly by the second, third and forth Sherman, the Cromwell's quickly following them through.

"Lets get to it boys! Tally Ho!" He heard Powell bark to his men as the tiny carriers rocketed up the ramp and launched themselves one by one through the gate.

"Look for the blokes with the golden helmets, careful observation boys" he finished as his carrier disappeared through the gate.

Don felt the half track rumble as it drove up the ramp. Griping his Thompson tightly, he hoped their new equipment would be sufficient for this engagement.

"Hope those bastards like explosives" he though as he felt the cool touch of the shimmering pool ahead and vanished from Camp Roosevelt to the fight ahead…