Chapter 22: The Private Briefing
1925hrs: Embarkation Room….General Hammond watched as SG3 & 25 steeped through the Star Gate. Teal'c stopped just before entering the open wormhole. The former first prime turned around placing his staff weapon at his side. Teal'c then bowed slightly to the watching general placing his free hand on his heart. He then entered the wormhole to complete his mission. George understood the jaffa's meaning, it's an honor to serve with you. Teal'c wouldn't take 'NO' as answer from the Tok'ra even if he had to abduct one of them. God help the poor souls that said no to the jaffa.
With the two teams safely sent off George headed to his office. The general was about to find out if the rouge NID done as he suspected. He took his seat behind the desk motioning for the rest to do the same. Major Carter and Dr. Frasier sat in front of him while the rest stood. "Sir, Major Carter,I'm going to blunt because there's no easy way to say it. Detective Shanahan and now Ms. Shanahan bugged the major's house" Agent Barrett informed them from his position against the wall looking at everyone.
Sam already knew this because of the pictures she found of herself. She tried to draw strength from her visit with Jack. This meeting was going to be even harder to get through. Janet placed her hand on Sam's leg lending some strength to her friend. George nodded for Malcolm to continue only because it was necessary. "The house was wired for audio/video recording. We wanted to wait before removing the equipment. We didn't want to do anything without the major's approval." he explained.
"I appreciate that Agent Barret. It's going to need examination so remove it at your connivance. Were you able to look at any of the equipment?" she said with a touch of sadness. "We were able to examine most of the wiring using your portable x-ray /infrared scanner device." Malcolm informed them. "There was no marking of any kind found. No serial numbers, fingerprints, manufacturer or model." Agent Johnson took over from here. "I discovered a motion sensor in your hallway Major Carter. It was hidden in the smoke detector." The agent spoke to the room mostly Sam. "Once motion was detected it started recording automatically. The transmitter box was trying to send the feed to Shanahans laptop. Since it burnt up in the fire the signal had nowhere to go." She finished.
Colonel Maybourne stepped forward for his part. "I located power source turning it off as a precaution." He paused looking right at the Sam. "It's safe to return to your house Major if you want to."Sam knew her house would never be the same. Returning back to her house wasn't going to happen except for personnel items. Maybe she could stay with Janet.
George wanted to beat the life out of Shanahan for what he did. His goddaughters privacy violated and Colonel O'Neill teetering on the edge. The weekend wasn't supposed to like this. Sam's answer brought George out of his thoughts "...I don't think I'll be returning home except for personnel items. My privacy's been violated too much. I'll probably just sell the place." she answered.
"Sir," Sam said looking at the general. "I know you're wondering why I wanted Dr. Frasier to attend the meeting." she looked around and then back at her godfather. "The pictures I referred to in the debriefing weren't only of Miss Jezebel. There was several of me. There was only one video taken of me. I would like for Janet confirm the photos since she's the CMO and my friend." she asked partially pleading. You could have heard a pin drop after what Sam divulged. The two other women felt for the major. Having ones privacy violated in such a way was unthinkable.
Janet looked at her friend seeing pain beneath the 'good solider' act. "Dr. Frasier, please verify the photos for us. Give me your honest opinion if you would." the general ordered. Maybourne was hiding his anger well. Major Carter was a fine officer and women. She didn't deserve this kind of treatment. He'd have to get with the Major and make sure that none of the offensive material didn't make it too any adult websites. If any did the backlash would end her career.
Agent Barrett watched Major Carter closely. She was lost in her own thoughts. He heard many rumors' about Colonel O'Neill and her. Malcolm hoped they weren't true because he felt a growing attraction towards the major. He had since first meeting her. Malcolm also thought Agent Johnson was attractive as well. The CMO was nice looking too, a spitfire of a woman at that. He was having a problem concentrating on the problem at hand due his recent divorce. It had only been 5months ago. Every woman he had the pleasure of working with invaded his thoughts. Malcolm's friend warned him of this. Counting down from 10 he regained control becoming the NID agent once again.
Janet's was on an emotional roller coaster. She went from outraged to the verge of crying. The pictures showed Sam various states of dress, in the shower, and walking around her house in just her panties. There was a note under the shower picture 'recorded me in the shower and bedroom'. The CMO had seen her in many states due to injuries and medical checkups. These pictures shouldn't be unsettling but they were. Her friend's privacy had been violated badly. Janet also read a note meant only for her, 'No pictures or videos of Cassandra were found'. That was a minor miracle considering how much time Cassie spent at Sam's place.
"Sir, these are pictures and video of Major Carter at home. Her privacy was violated in the worst possibly way." she informed her superior. George cursed to himself at the news. Jacob trusted him to protect his daughter and he had failed. "Thank you Dr. Frasier, Major Carter. Was any of this….rubbish emailed or sent out to adult websites?" he asked hating that had to. Sam squared her shoulders pushing back a tear. "I checked his email and printer history. There were no records of any activity with the offensive materials." barely staying composed.
She had to get out of here to the safety of her lab. There were too many prying eyes around. Sam felt as if she was suffocating from pity. She didn't do pity! "I'm glad to hear that Major, very glad. File these away in your office for now. Unfortunately if we are able to prosecute the Shanahans we'll need them for evidence, understood." the general ordered. "Understood Sir." was the response. All Sam wanted to do was burn the pictures till they were ashes. Her godfather was right though, they were incriminating evidence. "Was there any audio/visual recordings concerning classified subjects?" he asked. "None Sir, the only time we discussed classified subjects was during team nights and that was in code. I never let Pete attend our team nights when we had them." she told the general.
George was sort of taken back at his goddaughter's cryptic omission. Was the rift between SG1 bad enough for team night's to stop? If so, that explained the tension on his flagship team. He chose to file that away for another time; there were more important matters to attend to.
"Agent Johnson, has anyone toldthe Shanahan's about their property yet?" the general asked. "I don't believe so sir, they are celebrating as if nothing is wrong. I believe that they were not aware this was part of the plan." Kerry answered honestly. Harry cut in saying "that would fit the M.O. of the rouge NID Sir. They've done this type of cover up many times. This does two things, 1: it gets rid of any lingering evidence & 2: the reaction is genuine." Maybourne explained to everyone. "Then all we have left is accusations and theories." Janet clarified.
Sam just sat in her seat feeling defeated. There wasn't any evidence left go on. She had been used and had her privacy violated. Pete & Jezebel got married. Jack was fighting for his life with little hope of the antidote working. The general kept her on base instead of going off world looking for help. Sam truly felt helpless at this moment.
"...the rouge NID are still after me sir, do you think I could hid out on one or our allied planets?" Harry asked bringing Sam out of her thoughts. George thought for a minutebefore answering. "We'll keep you on base until another option comes up. Maybe Thor can help you out in that regard." he replied then continued. "In the mean time Agents Johnson and Malcolm will make arrangements for the Shanahan's original discharge records make it to the right hands. Colonel, please assist them as you can." the general ordered getting a crisp 'Yes Sir'
He looked at each individual settling on his goddaughter. "If there is nothing else, your all dismissed. Agents Barrett and Johnson let me know as soon as you have completed your task." George said. "Yes Sirs" came from both people.He stood bringing the debriefing to an end. "Major Carter, could you stay for a minute." the general asked. Sam sat back down as everyone filed out returning to their duties.
Janet closed the door behind her. Her friend was going to need a lot of help getting through this ordeal. Janet vowed to be there for her no matter what. George walked around his desk opening his arms. Sam went to her godfathers embrace letting loose her tears soaking his shirt. "I'm sorry Samantha, I failed to protect you. Please forgive me." he said asking for forgiveness. She continued to cry shedding the strong solider persona. George just kept holding her until she was ready to talk. Sam stopped crying after awhile. She focused on her godfathers'heartbeat to steady herself. Sam pulled away and sat down.
George followed suit sitting next to her. "It's not your fault uncle, I should have known better. I ignored everyone's warnings. I was being stubborn." she said pausing to wipe away some stray tears. "I wanted to believe that I was worthy of being loved." Sam explained. "My dear, you are worthy of love, a true love that will stand the test of time. A true man loves a woman as a whole. Not just for what they see on the outside. Jack loves you that way. The two of you hide your feeling poorly by the way."
George told her chuckling on the last part. "We do...we'll have to work harder if he lives." Sam responded quietly then continued. "I'm a black widow; every man that had feeling for me has died." Sam answered back. "Jack hasn't died yet and I don't think he will. He's a stubborn man, believe me. Do you know how much paperwork one of his schemes can cause?" the general asked smirking. "He is a bit of a pain in the arse sir, but I wouldn't have him any other way." she gave a half smile back. "Neither would I Samantha, despite the paperwork." Sam felt a little better now. Her godfather was always a big teddy bear when needed.
"We have teams out getting help, everyone here admires Col. O'Neill. They would follow him to hell and back. Hell, I would too! So don't you worry? One of our allies will come through for us. The colonel will be better than ever." George reassured her. "Thank you Uncle George, I needed that." Sam replied and hugged him. "I'm here for you my child. I can't always act as your godfather but I'm here for you." he replied patting her back. Sam stood composing herself using a tissue to dry the tears up. "I'll go see Jack before I continue with my duties Sir, if that's okay with you." she asked the general. "That's fine Major; tell the colonel I said hi. I'll drop by latter on and visit with him. You're dismissed." George informedthe major. Sam returned the salute and made her way to see Jack...
CMS Harriman watched Major Carter leave before knocking on the general's door. "Enter Walter" George ordered his aide. Walter walked in holding a vanilla file folder and a neutral face. "What have you found out?" he asked hoping the major wasn't a NID mole. "Sir, Major Rollins hasn't done anything suspicious or out of the ordinary." Walter replied.
"What about Doctor Chase?" he asked his aide. "Doctor Chase's record is clean. There's only one red flag that came up." Walter informed his superior. "Colonel O'Neill and Doctor Chase had a heated argument concerning Teal'c. The doctor used several racial slurs regarding him. Col. O'Neill overheard him in the locker room. The argument almost came to blows. There's been bad blood between them ever since." George thought over the information then spoke. "Does he have any connection to Major Rollins?" he asked. "I didn't find any Sir. Col. Maybourne would be able to do a more thorough search." Walter told the general.
"What did you find out about Jeffery Rollins?" George askedleaning back in his chair. "Jeffery Rollins is Major Rollins grandfather. He's same person that Colonel Maybourne killed in his safe house. Mr. Rollins was former Navy Intelligence specializing in hypotension." he said with a grimace. "Damn the luck!" George cursed tossing a pen.