As expected, the Apollo was immediately dispatched to Atlantis. It took the ship two weeks to get out there from Earth by hyperspace. Everyone went to the conference room once the Apollo made contact and an orbit around the planet. Woolsey was speaking with someone when he got a communication from the gate room. "Sir, Col. Ellis is calling to let us know that he's ready to transport someone down immediately."
"All right." Woolsey confirmed, "We're ready. Send him down."
Everyone associated with the military in the room that were in the conference room all stood at attention when the transport occurred because they knew who was coming down. General O'Neill hadn't aged much since his last visit to the city, but then again he was aging very gracefully to begin with but he didn't seem to be in the mood to socialize. Before anyone had a chance to greet him, General O'Neill immediately turned to Col. Sheppard and walked right up to him. "Where is he?"
Sheppard knew the General wasn't messing around, so he got right to it. "I'll take you to them right now. We have them confined to quarters."
The General gave Sheppard an awkward gaze. "Excuse me?"
"Well…" Sheppard started, "We thought it would be best to have them confined and not speaking to anyone else until you got to see them first. We gave them quarters because it was either that or the brig."
That seemed to settle O'Neill down a bit. "All right, I appreciate that. Take me to him, right now."
"Yes, Sir. This way." Without saying a word to anyone else, the two men left the room and were gone. Everyone pretty much was left hanging there without as much as a hello from the General.
"It was nice to see you again!" McKay called out, trying to pry himself into the moment.
"Give it up, McKay." Ronan huffed as he left the room.
As they were walking down the corridors towards the room in question, O'Neill seemed eager to know more about what was going on. "Do we have any new intel on the planet this mirror is located?"
"New intel has been hard to come by, Sir." Sheppard replied, "We tried to send a drone in there to scout the area, but they weren't kidding about it being a hot zone. The drone was shot down almost immediately after being fired in there. It's obvious someone doesn't want us to see what's going on in there."
"So basically that means he can't get back there to the mirror?" the General asked.
"Not by Gate, Sir. If you really wanted to get there, we could use the Apollo to get to the planet and then sneak in by jumper to sneak in." Sheppard and his team had been working on a plan to have something to present Gen. O'Neill with by the time he got there. This was the best he could think of, "If it comes to that of course."
"Of course." the general agreed as they kept walking.
A few moments later they came across a room in the city that was their destination. There were two armed guards watching the door and they stood at attention when the two men arrived. "They're all in there, Sir."
General O'Neill stepped through the door after it had opened, and the three men who had come through the gate were lounging out in the room. They had been given some books and magazines to read through and pass the time with. It was shocking to them to see another familiar face walk through the door. One of them in the corner stood up upon seeing General O'Neill, "Dad?" he called from other end of the room. Jack looked over at the boy, and couldn't believe what he was seeing. The boy had a lot of his mother's features, and looked very similar to the Charlie he lost all those years ago.
Before he could say a world Sheppard was the first to speak. "You're in the presence of two superior officers, atten-tion!"
The three men snapped to their feet and stood for the General, but a few seconds he waved his hands. "At ease, gentlemen." Jack then turned to Sheppard, "I'd like a few moments alone with Charlie."
"Yes, Sir." Sheppard pointed to the other two in the room. "You two… out in the hall with me." Sheppard stopped at the door just before he left, "I'll be right outside if you need anything, Sir." With that he walked out the door and it closed behind him.
Jack really didn't know how to start this off after everyone had left the room to give him and Charlie time, but before he could say anything Charlie had gotten up and met him halfway across the room and embraced him with a hug. It was clear to Jack that in his alternate universe not only was he still alive, but this Charlie had a very close relationship with his Dad. A few seconds later Jack took a deep breath, "How much have you been told so far?"
"Not much." Charlie answered, "I guess they wanted the news to come from someone familiar."
"Makes sense, but I might not be as familiar as you think." Jack replied as he walked over and grabbed a chair. "That mirror that Sheppard was talking about during the briefing was something special. It's the reason why we think you were suddenly in a room full of hostiles with little or no notice. I came across one just like it during my days with SG1."
"I'm sorry." Charlie suddenly interrupted, "Since when were you a member of SG1? I've been in the Stargate program for over two years and I haven't come across a single mission file with any mention of you in it."
Jack smiled, "I was getting to that. The mirror has the uncanny ability of transporting anyone who touches it to an alternate universe. That's what we think happened to you and your men. At the moment, you're not exactly in Kansas."
Charlie started to put all the pieces together. "An alternate universe?"
"That's right, sport. Same world, same place, same people, just with a few changes here and there."
"Like you being on SG1?"
"I was in command of that unit for eight years." Jack supplied with a hint of pride.
"Wow, that is a big difference." Charlie said as he started to rub his temples. "Wait a second. Col. Sheppard called you 'Sir'… what's your rank in this universe?"
Jack smiled and then casually pointed to the star that was located on one of his shoulders, "I'm not sure what I'm doing in your world, but over here I'm a Brigadier General."
Charlie's expression was one of shock as he suddenly realized the two stars that were each located on his shoulders. "Wow. That's amazing. Where I came from you retired to dedicate yourself to a more pressing rank."
"Let me guess." Jack said with a playful tone, "Ambassador? Secretary of State? Vice President?"
"Grandfather." Charlie said as he sat back down on the bed. "You left the military after my first son was born."
"Grandkids?" Jack said out loud as it was his turn to be shocked, "Wow."
"What does that mean?" Charlie said as he noticed something else, "I don't have any kids in this world?"
Jack took a deep breath, "You're gonna want to stay seated for this one. In this world, you didn't live long enough to become a dad."
"When did this happen? Was I killed in combat?"
"You were not old enough to be in the military. It was an accident and it happened a very, very long time ago."
"How long are we talking here?" Charlie asked, determined to know everything.
"You were five." Jack answered, "It was devastating to both myself and your mother. We never recovered and divorced a short time later."
"So in this world, I don't exist?"
"You did exist, and were loved. It's just that in this world nothing turned out as well as it did in yours. Accidents happened, and because of that one thing everything else shifted and changed."
"So I have to stay here in a universe where my wife and kids don't exist?" Charlie said starting to finally realize what he was being told.
"Hey, I didn't say that." Jack sharply responded, "We are working on plans to get you back to that mirror and get you guys back to your own reality."
Charlie seemed to be really upset by what he and been told. "I'm really sorry, but I could use a few minutes alone."
Jack wanted to give him another hug and console him, but realized that might be pushing it at this point. "All right. I'm going to be staying in the city for a while until we can figure out a way to get you back. So if you want to speak again, I'll be around." Jack didn't wait for a response and immediately left the room. As he walked out the door he motioned to both Sanchos and Rogers. "You might want to go in there. He might need you guys right now." After giving that order the two men walked back into the room and Jack a started to walk down the hall.
Sheppard ran up to catch up with the General, "Is everything all right, Sir?"
"That depends on your idea of all right." Jack said as he kept walking.
"Forgive me, Sir." Sheppard started as he was slightly confused, "but I had pictured this being a happier moment for the two of you."
"Honestly Sheppard, I didn't know what to expect." Jack said as he stopped walking. "But how would you react if you found out that in this world you never lived past the age of five, never went to high school, never went to the prom, met your true love, got married, had kids or even enlisted in the military?"
Sheppard paused to mull over the question. "Sounds like that would be a real kick to the minerals, Sir."
"Exactly." Jack confirmed, "And he didn't take it to well. I'm going to give him a little space to let the whole thing sink in."
"So what do we do with them now?" Sheppard asked, hoping the General had a good answer based on his experience with these situations.
"They're not a threat, so lift the confinement to quarters." Jack answered, "And until we can find a way to get them back to their own universe three more able bodies in the SGC that require zero training or intelligence clearing is an added bonus. I doubt you're going to turn away the extra manpower."
"No Sir, I'll use every able person I can get." Sheppard concurred.
Jack rubbed his forehead. "I assume you have quarters set up for me?"
"Yes Sir, I can walk you to them now."
"Good." Jack responded, "I'm feeling a little tired from the trip and am going to rest up a bit. I want to conduct a meeting of the senior officers of the city at oh seven hundred to discuss options on how we're going to get those guys back to their own world."
"Yes Sir, I'll make sure everyone is ready and has ideas to toss around." Sheppard then began walking ahead of the General and led him to his quarters.