Chapter 5: DEFCON 4
Upon their return to Colorado Springs and the SGC, Hammond called a meeting of all SGC personnel in the gate room. He explained in detail exactly what was happening, about what could happen, and what the government wanted to happen. He felt it was his obligation to make them aware of the possible dangers.
"Until this whole situation is over, I'm suspending normal gate activity," Hammond added. "For security reasons we won't be going on the normally scheduled missions. I just feel this would be the best bet knowing the current situation."
After Hammond finished his speech Sam headed up to the gate room and sent her father a brief message explaining what was going on. She wasn't in the least bit surprised when he replied a minute later saying he was coming through.
"Incoming wormhole!" Walter called about half an hour later as the gate whirled to life. "We're receiving the tok'ra IDC."
"It's my dad," Sam said. "Open the iris."
Jacob looked rather pale as he hurried down the ramp to pull his daughter into a tight hug.
"Hey, kiddo, what's going on?" he asked, eyes wide.
Sam beckoned for him to follow her up to the briefing room. There she sat down and explained in detail what had happened over the past few days.
"Jesus Christ…" Jacob groaned, leaning back in his seat and putting one hand over his eyes. "I leave for a year or two and the whole place goes to hell…"
Sam nodded in agreement. "We're still hoping that Koranov is just bluffing."
Jacob looked at her seriously. "Sam, look, if he's actually going through with it, god forbid, I want to know. I will come through and bring you, Mark and his family through to the Tok'ra, security clearance be damned. I'm not going to let my family be blown up with the rest of the planet."
"Dad, they've got evacuation plans." Sam replied, reaching out to touch her father's arm. "And they're not taking this lightly."
"I know, I know," Jacob smiled tightly and squeezed her hand. "I just worry about my little girl."
Jacob headed back later that day. The next afternoon the four members of SG-1 were all crowded into Sam's lab. None of them seemed to have anything better to do than bother Sam while she tried to repair a motherboard from one of the UAV's.
"Isn't that supposed to be Siler's job?" Jack asked, his yoyo swinging dangerously close to a shelf where Sam had several piles of equipment neatly laid out.
"This is a bit more complicated than he's used to," Sam replied, not looking up.
Teal'c was standing silently in one corner and Daniel sat across the table from Sam, his chin resting in his hands as he watched Jack act the fool and Sam yell at him to be careful. They all snapped to attention, however, a moment later when the door opened and General Hammond walked in.
"As you were," he said, waving for Sam and Jack to sit back down.
"You don't look to happy, sir," Jack commented. Hammond indeed was wearing a rather sour expression on his face.
"I just received word from the secretary of defense," he sighed heavily. "He's preparing to move the country to DEFCON 4. Koranov is apparently being perfectly serious about his demands."
"And whatever he's asking for is worth risking nuclear war?" Daniel asked, raising his eyebrows disbelievingly.
"Right now that's what we're trying to decide. You see, Dr. Jackson, he's demanding we shut down the Stargate program for good, which includes closing all our bases off world." Hammond leaned on the table. "The president is calling another meeting and he wants you two," he gestured at Sam and Jack, "as well as myself to be there again."
"Wait, I have a question," Jack said, raising his hand.
Hammond turned to him. "What is it, Colonel?"
"So, we're moving the country to DEFCON 4, and the people won't even know why?" Jack looked disbelieving. "I mean, what, are we just going to tell them it's classified? Or can we say that Russia is threatening us?"
"I honestly don't know what they're going to tell the American people," Hammond replied with a shrug. "I assume that's what this meeting is going to be about."
"When do we leave, sir?" Sam asked.
"Tomorrow afternoon, 1300 hours, so be ready." He nodded to them all before leaving the lab.
Daniel sighed. "How come you two are the ones who get to go to these meetings?"
"Because we're the military people on the team," Jack said with a grin. "They don't wanna talk to no civilians."
This only increased the scowl on the young archaeologist's face. "That doesn't make much sense. I think a civilian could probably lend vital –"
"Danny, I was only joking!" Jack said, holding his hands up. "I don't know why the president is only asking me and Carter, but that's what he's doing. So hold down the fort for us, ok?"
"Yeah ok." Daniel mumbled.
"You know, the amount of money the air force spends shipping us back and forth to Washington could probably feed a third world country for a year," Sam complained as they clambered out of a limo in front of the white house.
"What are you, standing in for Daniel or something?" Jack asked, holding the door open for her. "Quit complaining, Carter, you know you like all this red carpet treatment."
Sam looked down at her feet. "All I see is concrete, sir."
"Come on people, let's not keep the president waiting," Hammond said, ushering them up the steps and inside.
As they entered the waiting room outside the oval office, Sam was happy to see Dryden standing off to one side. He smiled and waved, making his way over.
"I was hoping I'd see you here," he said, grinning. "Pity it's on such a dark occasion."
"Yeah," Sam sighed, nodding as she scanned the room to see who all was there. Dryden opened his mouth to say something else, but suddenly Sam held up her hand silencing him. She looked up at him, her eyes wide. "I'll be right back."
Slipping in between people, she made her way over to Jack and grabbed his arm.
"What is it, Carter?"
"Sir, you see the man standing over there with the horn-rimmed glasses?"
Jack squinted. "Yeah, he's some political big shot. What about him?"
"He's the one…the one that interrogated me." Sam was speaking in a whisper, her lips close to Jack's ear. He froze, turning to frown at her.
"Carter…are you sure?"
She nodded. "I saw him the last time we were here…I was just too afraid to say anything…"
"Shit…" Jack mumbled under his breath. "I've got half a mind to go over there and ask him who the hell he thinks he is…"
"Sir, don't. Just go tell Hammond."
Jack shook his head. "Not Hammond, I'll go tell the goddamn president!"
Sam opened her mouth to argue, but the doors to the oval office opened then and people began moving in. Jack grabbed Sam by the arm and pulled her over to the president who stood by the doors, greeting people as they entered and flanked by two security guards in dark suits. The president look shocked when Jack told him about the man, but he assured them that he'd have him removed. Dryden was called over, a few words said to him, and he moved off with a couple security guards to corner the man with the horn-rimmed glasses.
The constant niggling worry remained in Sam's mind, however, even as she took her seat next to Jack and the secretary of defense stood up to address them.
"As of 1200 hours tomorrow the United States will officially be at DEFCON 4, as decided by the joint chiefs of staff," said the secretary of defense as he faced them all. "This is in anticipation of the very real threat that Koranov is posing. Many of you have voiced certain concerns about this, and the president will address those now."
The president stood up, smiling at them all. "Now, the biggest question most of you have been asking is what the public reaction to this decision is going to be. I agree that we cannot just go ahead and take drastic military action concerning something the American people know nothing about. As such, I have been strongly considering going public with the Stargate program."
Murmurs filled the room at this. Jack and Sam turned to Hammond, but the general forcibly looked the other direction.
"With all due respect, Mr. President," Jack said after a moment. "So what, we're going to tell everyone 'Oh, we've got this great program where we've been traveling to distant planets. By the way, Russia is threatening to nuke us if we don't shut it down' ?!"
"We owe the people the truth, Colonel." The president replied. "Dealing with an alien invasion is one thing. It can be prevented without anyone ever finding out about it. But this…this is something else. This is something that's happening in our own world, in our own country. We won't be able to keep it quiet and people are going to wonder what the hell is going on."
Everyone took a few minutes to exchange looks and have silent conversations between each other before someone asked, "What does General Hammond think of this?"
"I agree with the president," Hammond replied. "I think our best course of action would be to go public. However, I cannot caution enough how careful we must be in going about this."
"And Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter?" the same man turned towards Jack and Sam. "You two know more about the program than probably anyone else. What do you say?"
"Well, this is the first we'd heard of it," Jack said after sending Sam a confused look. "And I think it's a positively insane idea. But…as Carter can vouch for, I'm always one to support insane ideas."
All eyes turned towards Sam then, and she felt herself flushing slightly. "As General Hammond said, if we're going to do this we'll have to be very careful. A revelation on this scale could cause mass hysteria at the best."
The president nodded appreciatively. "I'm having a public address written up that will be broadcasted tomorrow. In it I explain about the Stargate program, as well as the current situation. After that I'm leaving it up to General Hammond to decide what information is going to be released."
"Once the press gets their hands on something like this," Jack muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "good luck keeping anything secret…"
The meeting continued with all the officials arguing back and forth about the finer points of the plan. The draft of the president's speech was brought in and they only argued more. Sam sat back in her seat, listening patiently while her hands twisted around in her lab. She was experiencing that sort of frenzied feeling in her mind again as too many thoughts chased themselves around. All the time she was worried about the future and her thoughts kept returning to the man with the horn-rimmed glasses.
Finally she couldn't take the arguing any more. Quietly she excused herself and stood up, slipping out into the empty and quiet waiting area. She took a seat by one of the windows and put her hands over her face.
A few minutes later someone sat next to her, putting a hand on her back.
"Carter? Everything ok?"
She looked up at her CO to find a concerned expression in his eyes. She slowly shook her head. "No, it's not sir."
Jack leaned back on the couch. "Yeah, this all is a bit overwhelming."
"They're in there, making these decisions," Sam said, pointing towards the closed doors. "Do they even realize how this is going to effect…well…everything? Not just our lives, but everyone's lives. And what if this just makes Koranov more angry and he actually follows through with his threat?"
"I'm sure they're taking that into consideration, Carter."
"I know, sir, I just…" She ran her fingers through her hair and looked desperately around the empty waiting room.
"You just what?" Jack leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and frowning slightly.
Sam sighed, forcing herself to calm down. "I'm just terrified about what's going to happen."
Jack nodded, looking at the floor but putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezing comfortingly. They sat in companionable silence for a while until footsteps caused Jack to guiltily shift away.
Dryden spotted them as he entered the room. "Hey, is the meeting over yet?"
"Nope, they're still going at it." Jack stood up, smoothing down his jacket. "In fact I should go in there and make sure they're not trying to make any completely ridiculous decisions…I'll see you in a bit, Carter." He gave Dryden a nod before quietly re-entering the meeting.
Dryden took Jack's seat next to Sam. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah." Sam managed a smile. "Just…overwhelmed. They're going public with the Stargate program."
"Are they really?" Dryden raised his eyebrows. "Jesus…well, I guess I won't be needing that security clearance after all." He grinned a little, then assumed a more serious expression. "Anyway, we've got Charles Lambertson in custody," at Sam's confused expression he explained, "the man who'd interrogated you."
"Oh, right…"
"He's definitely involved in something illegal, but he's not talking right now." Dryden sighed. "They're going to keep working at him and I'll probably head back there later."
"Thank you." Sam said quietly.
"Yeah, no problem." Dryden touched her shoulder lightly. "Hey, I think you promised to join me for dinner next time you were in town…"
"That I did." Sam grinned. "I'll have to check with General Hammond, but I should be free."
"Great." They both looked up as the doors opened. "And speak of the devil…"
Sam wished greatly that she was able to enjoy the dinner. But both she and Dryden had too many uptight thoughts to relax completely. They made an attempt, joking and trying to talk about normal life. But lurking around the edges of the conversation was always the knowledge that by this time tomorrow, the whole country would be different.
They took a limo back to Sam's hotel. She leaned against the door, looking at Dryden and the way the light from the streetlamps caused shadows to chase themselves over his face. He caught her looking and turned, a faint smile playing over his lips.
"I enjoyed tonight, despite everything." He said, reaching for Sam's hand.
She gave his fingers a slight squeeze. "Me too. We'll have to do this again once things have settled down."
The car pulled up in front of the hotel. Sam had her hand on the handle of the door when Dryden leaned in to place a soft kiss on her cheek. She blushed despite herself.
"I really like you, Sam," he said. "From all the stuff I'd read about Major Carter I never thought there'd be such an amazing person behind all the sciency stuff."
Sam rolled her eyes. "Stop while you're ahead there, Dryden."
"Ok, I will," he said with a chuckle. "But I just wanted to tell you that incase I don't get another chance to talk to you."
"You will," Sam murmured, her expression growing suddenly serious. "Dryden, we will see each other again."
He squeezed her hand. "I hope so."
If Sam had any hope of getting a decent amount of sleep that night, it was quashed the minute she got to her room. Jack grabbed her by the arm, pulling her into Hammond's room where they spent a good two hours talking about the meeting.
"On a lighter note," Jack said after getting sick of discussing the results of going public. "How'd your dinner date go, Carter?"
"It was good." Sam was fidgeting with a tiny bottle of lavender pillow spray. "We were both too nervous about the current state of affairs to really enjoy ourselves, but it wasn't a bad night or anything…"
The phone rang and Hammond got up to answer it. A few minutes later he returned to the table.
"That was Colonel Anderson," he said, folding his hands. "They've been interviewing the man who kidnapped you, Major."
Sam's eyes widened. "What'd they find out?"
"That they nipped this thing, luckily, in the bud. He was a member of a spy network here in the US that's financed and controlled by the Russian government. Apparently he's been passing information on to Koranov."
"Jeeeessusss…" Jack groaned, leaning back in his chair. "This is getting thicker by the second."
Sam nodded glumly and looked down at the table, wondering vaguely if she was ever again going to get a good night's rest.