Washington D.C.
United States of America
The Sons of Liberty Café
Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter walked out of the cold, bitter winter into the warm, inviting atmosphere of the Sons of Liberty Café. She informed the employee at the podium of her arrival, and he guided her to an open table near the back, next to a painting of the British surrender at the Battle of Yorktown. Her luncheon companion, predictably, had not yet arrived. She removed her coat, placed it on the seat, and sat down to wait. Carter was dressed in formal military attire, and while she had briefly considered wearing civilian clothes, so as to seem less conspicuous, the high profile of her guest made this irrelevant. The café was a favorite for the cities' politicians, and Carter glanced around the room to see if she could identify any of the café's other guests. When her head was to her right, out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a man looking at her. When she turned to get a better look, she discovered that he was instead focused intently on his newspaper. Carter turned around quickly so as to avoid attracting attention.
Just then, she noticed a man enter the Sons of Liberty Café. It was Kyle Wethers, the influential president pro tempore of the senate. Wethers was a man of average height, with light, wispy hair, and powerful, intelligent eyes. He was also young for his position, only 41 years old, and very prominent in the political hierarchy. Wethers was accompanied by a young, attractive woman, his personal secretary. As he entered the dining room, several of the guests near the door greeted him, and he responded warmly, briefly chatting with them and shaking their hands. He continued this procedure as he walked between the tables to his reserved room in the back. Along his way he passed by Carter's table.
"Good day, Colonel Carter," Wethers' said, a smile on his face. Carter began to stand, but he waved her down.
"Good day, Mr. Wethers," Carter responded with militaristic efficiency.
"It's an honor to finally meet you in person, Colonel," Mr. Wethers said genuinely. "I've heard so much about you from your father. His death was a great loss for the nation and the Air Force. You have my deepest condolences. Jacob was a good man."
Carter was touched by the man's piety. "Thank you, very much, Mr. Wethers."
"Please," Wethers said. "Call me Dan."
"Sam," Carter responded likewise.
Wethers nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Are you staying here in Washington long?"
Carter shook her head. "No, only for a few days," she answered, her voice slightly guarded.
"There's some business I have to attend to before returning to my duties."
"Pity," he said in reply. "We probably should have lunch sometime soon, then. Jacob was a good friend of mine. I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about."
"I'll consider it," Carter said with a hesitant smile.
Wethers seemed delighted by the response. "Splendid! Just give a ring to Kim here," he gestured towards the smiling woman next to him, "and we can get things arranged." He reached into his suit and pulled out a business card. "It was nice to meet you, Sam. I hope we talk again soon."
"Thank you, Dan," Carter said politely as the politician walked away, loudly greeting some men a few tables behind her.
As Wethers walked away, Carters' companion arrived, and this time, she did stand up in greeting. "Hello, sir," she said promptly.
"Good day, Colonel Carter," General Hammond said, his round face smiling. He sat down first, with Carter quickly following.
The waiter soon came by and took down their drinks before leaving as quickly as he had appeared.
"It's good to see you again, sir," Carter genuinely said. "How are things at the Pentagon?"
"The same," he responded with a note of fatigue in his voice. "A whole bunch of paperwork and bureaucracy. Almost like what I had left behind," he added with a sense of knowing. "Which is why, I assume, I am here?"
"Yes, sir, it is," Carter said. "I was wondering if there was anything that you could do about it?"
As she was talking, she noticed that the very efficient waiter was making his way through the tables towards them. He was just passing by the man with the newspaper, when suddenly the man started to get up to go to the restroom and accidentally hit the waiter. The waiter tripped and fell right next to Carter and General Hammonds' table, spilling their drinks on the floor. The patrons closest to them all turned and observed the aftereffects of the accident, exhibiting neither keen interest nor much apathy.
Both Carter and the man helped the unfortunate waiter to his feet, and the man apologized to the waiter for having hit him. Carter was impressed by the degree of guilt the man showed, and after having made certain the waiter was alright, the man promptly made his way to the restroom. The waiter briefly apologized to both Carter and General Hammond, and quickly made his way into the back to retrieve fresh drinks.
General Hammond quickly forgot about the incident, and returned to their conversation. "No, Colonel, I am afraid there is little that I can do," he said with a sense of regret. He then lowered his voice to a low whisper, so as to not attract attention. "With my retirement finally coming up, I'm slowly being removed from the information loop. When I found out what was going on at Cheyenne, I went to Air Force Chief Duvall, but he knew just about as much as I did. He promised me he'd get in touch with the White House, but they didn't explain to him why they shut down the program. It seems they want to keep us out of the know."
The waiter returned, without trouble, and served their drinks. He took their orders, and was off again.
"Have you spoken to General O'Neill yet?" General Hammond asked once it was safe to resume.
Carter shook her head. "No, but I'm planning on visiting once I'm finished here in Washington. Teal'c is being held in Area 51, along with Ba'kru, the Be'nox soldier we've captured. They're going to hold Teal'c indefinitely, until they figure out what to do with him, and they've run Daniel through a series of security checks and are going to let him go. I'm going to met him back in Colorado tomorrow, before I visit General O'Neill." Here she paused for a moment. "Is there anything you can do to help get him out?"
General Hammond leaned back in his chair slightly as he thought the matter over. "Well," he said softly. "I don't see that there is much for me to do to help. He violated a presidential order, and I doubt anyone except the president himself could get him off. The best that can be done is to try to lessen his sentence."
"Couldn't we argue that he was just performing his duty of protecting the nation, and the planet, in trying to find a means to combat an enemy?" Carter said, speaking her mind, trying to formulate a plan.
General Hammond nodded his head slightly. "I don't know if we'd be able to bring up the Stargate program, even in a military court. If we are to try to do anything, we'll probably have to try through the Joint Chiefs. But I wouldn't expect to get much out of them."
"Because of the recently appointed Chairman?" Carter asked.
"Yes," General Hammond replied. "The Chairman resents the Air Force's control of the Stargate program. He always felt that the other branches should have had more control of it than the Air Force."
"So, he's a political appointee?" Carter stated.
"Put into power by the Vice President," General Hammond stated. "Chief Duvall has tried to convince both the Chairman and the other Chiefs to reinstate the program, but the Chairman is adamant, and the Vice President already has the President convinced."
"And what about the Russians?" Carter asked once the waiter had gone after serving their food. "They've been saying about how they have been excluded from the program, and now that we're out, they should be asking us for it back, shouldn't they?"
"That's the strange thing about all this, Colonel," General Hammond said as he began to eat his food, a stab of concern in his voice. "The Russians don't want it back. In fact, they support our shutting down the program."
Carter was taken aback by this odd change. "That doesn't quite fit into their M.O. What did Colonel Chekov say about this?"
"He hasn't said anything, Colonel," General Hammond replied, "because just a week ago he had been recalled back to Moscow. The Kremlin hasn't sent us any explanation as to why."
"Well, the Russians are still pretty shaken up by the Go'ald incursion into their military, perhaps their president recalled Colonel Chekov because he needs leadership he can rely on."
General Hammond sighed, the pressure of his work and the number of his years catching up with him. "That could be Colonel," he said. "But, I believe there's a connection between Colonel Chekov's recall and the closing of the Stargate program. There's something deeper going on than a simple budget cut. For the past few months the administration has looked with increased suspicion at all military personal connected to the program, including myself. I have been finding it more difficult to perform my job with both the White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff becoming more distant. I'll do what I can to try to get the program reinstated and General O'Neill released, but, in all honesty, I don't see either happening. In the mean time," here he lowered his voice so low that Carter wasn't sure whether or not she heard him correctly, "be careful with whom you associate. We can't be too sure whom to trust now."
As Carter began to comprehend what General Hammond said, she felt a chill run down her back, and was unable to explain why she felt it. They resumed talking in normal voices, but did not continue the conversation further. After finishing their food, and raping up a small discussion on General Hammond's grandchildren, General Hammond got up, said his good-byes to Colonel Carter, and left for the Pentagon.
The man with the newspaper, having returned from his urgent trip to the restroom, resumed his seat and started to finish his paper. Carter quickly ate her food, not wanting to cause any suspicion, left an adequate tip, and also took her leave. The waiter arrived a few moments after she had left, and began to clean off their table. He grabbed Carter's tip, and as his hand moved towards his apron pocket, it quickly grabbed a small, metallic object from under the table, and with no one the wiser, swiftly stuffed it into his pocket along with the tip. The two Homeland Security agents, the waiter and the man with the paper, shared a knowing glance as the waiter made his way into the back.