Chapter 21
Area 51, Underground Facility
South Nevada
5 October 1995
Built thirty stories under the earth, a complex whose existence very few knew about housed the dramatic remains of what military scientists posited to be alien remains and parts of their spacecrafts that had shattered beyond reconstructive efforts.
The upper echelons of the organisation had determined that almost all of their meetings were to be held on site where the carefully-embalmed, glass-encased inhabitants provided visually dramatic reminders of the urgent need to prioritise Earth's security above everything else.
Thomas Baker, like many others in the elite, exclusive group who called the shots in national security, never tired of the glimpse into an alien world that must exist somewhere beyond humanity's imaginings. Next to him, a slightly agitated Peter Vandenburg paced the length of the room.
A familiar voice boomed above the entourage, interrupting their musings, unmistakable in its controlled fury.
"General Baker, General Vandenburg, you'll forgive me if I don't say it's good to see the both of you again."
Baker and Vandenburg stood up slowly as Senator William Curtis walked into the secure briefing room, calmly buttoning his uniform jacket. It was thought that Curtis's bark was worse than his bite, until one realised he pulled enough political strings in the puppet house to make sure what he said would materialise.
Being at the receiving end of Curtis's tirade was a forgone outcome, Vandenburg thought, particularly since the mission that Curtis ordered had gone awry.
"It was unexpected, Sir," Baker replied evenly. "But it's not the end."
"Your merry men of hired help are not exactly living up to expectations right now," Curtis spat. "You promised that O'Neill and Carter would be taken care of swiftly after they disappeared from Colorado Springs."
Vandenburg cut in. "With due respect Sir, we've the resources to –"
"All the resources wouldn't help a whit had you not sent the most incompetent fools to finish this simple job."
Baker tried his best to pacify the irate man. "Senator, I assure you th –"
"Your assurances carry little weight, Generals. We sent O'Neill to take care of Carter. Now they're both missing, together, and declared enemies of the state. You've sent more people after them and they're mostly all dead! How could a single man leave so many damn bodies in his wake?"
"O'Neill was the best black-ops soldier that we had. It was clearly a gamble we took, and lost."
Baker watched Curtis storm his way to the exhibits, relaxing only after he caught sight of the specimens. Curtis paced a little then swung around to face Baker.
"So where the hell are they now?"
"We suspect that the tracking device implanted in O'Neill's laptop for his original mission had been discovered and taken out. They were last seen in Richmond and we think Carter was injured quite badly. They couldn't have gone very far. And even if they are a step ahead, we did manage to get a trace each time," Baker said, looking at the Senator's dishevelled appearance.
Curtis glared at Baker's scrutiny. "Speed that damn thing up, Baker. Do everything to get back on their tails," he growled in impatience. "What about the other issue?"
"And the dealings with the Israeli armament groups have stalled, according to our bridge agent," Vandenburg said. "The funds arrived a day late and now our suppliers are demanding an extra charge for that delay. The point is, Senator, there are bigger things you need to think about than two soldiers who have gone AWOL.
"We're talking about two people on the run carrying state secrets, one of whom is possibly holding the key to opening Pandora's box, Generals," Curtis hissed. "And if you think we should let it go in light of what's happening, then I think you're sorely mistaken. There's too much to lose here, too much at stake. There is a reason why the Roswell files and the Kamchatka mystery stay as fabrications of the media. The public relations office and diplomatic team are having a hell of a time with the top brass in the Chinese government trying to convince them that solar flares were indeed occurring when they apparently weren't."
"Senator, our scientists are still working on finding a more plausible explanation for the occurrence of the power outages," Vandenburg said. It was why they needed Samantha Carter alive, he thought. But sending those men to retrieve her but not kill her without the knowledge or approval of the Senator was something that ended badly. Carter had escaped, he suspected, thanks to O'Neill's interfering ways.
"I look forward to reading about it, Vandenburg," Curtis said evenly.
"Yes, Sir."
"Might I remind you, Generals, if there are any two people who can cause trouble, it would be O'Neill and Carter," Curtis said as his parting reply. "Finish your job or you wouldn't have one at all."
Kerry Johnson's residence
Washington D.C.
6 October 1995
It had begun to rain, Kerry noticed idly with a glance out of the apartment window. A heavy sort of rain that was atypical of the rapidly cooling October weather where showers tended to be lighter and misty.
Jack was talking, explaining their situation with as few details as possible, how they had ended up contacting Colin, how he'd offered them a place to stay and how the fire had raged in his property in the middle of the night. But he had made no mention yet of what exactly he and Samantha Carter wanted.
She hadn't asked anything of his personal life in the last decade. He hadn't offered up any information that even hinted at it. But who was she to ask anything of him when she had walked out on him so long ago?
The drinks she'd offered them sat on the table untouched.
She interrupted him smoothly. "Jack, I think I get the idea. Now tell me what you're looking for."
Finally, he reached out for the bottle and took a sip of the beer she'd given him, closing his eyes briefly as he swallowed.
Guinness. That hadn't changed.
"I'm going to list some names. Tell me if they sound familiar to you."
Peter Vandenburg
Thomas Baker
William Curtis
Winston Orville West
Adrian Lowen
Richard Tomasson
Robert Slate
Tommy Creech
Derek Wallace
Lionel Tennyson
Kerry closed her eyes briefly when she heard the names, feeling each one that he spoke like a knife piercing her chest. Not only were they familiar, she'd read them, spoken them out loud so often that they were seared in her memory. She couldn't have forgotten them even if she wanted to.
And not especially if she thought she knew where he was going with it.
"Yeah, I know them."
She saw Jack and Samantha heave a collective breath of relief.
"Ms. Johnson," Samantha told her politely, "You don't know how grateful I really am to hear this. People have died because of us. I think we owe it to them to get to the bottom of the matter."
"How did Colin and Rosie come into this? What could they have done to warrant this…hideous act? "
"They're collateral damage," Jack responded bluntly. "They was killed because we turned to them. Because Col asked too much. They were innocent."
She hadn't known anything of Col's involvement. It took her a while to gather her emotions. "If Colin sent you to me, then he was right that I would help you with it."
"There's also this," Samantha said and pushed a small badge towards her, merely confirming that they had indeed run into a formidable organisation that had infiltrated many government sectors.
She looked down, wondering if her own career was going to go down the drain because of this very meeting. But she would do anything for Colin and Rosie, when it had been their kindness that helped her find her feet all those decades ago. Even more so if this would help Jack get to the bottom of the matter.
"OK," she agreed. "Give me a minute to get my stuff."
Sam looked at the man sitting next to her in trepidation when she left. "Think this might be it? She seems to know something. I wonder how Colin knew her."
He shrugged and swung an arm around her shoulder, squeezing it once in reassurance. "Anything other than the dead ends we've been chasing so far."
Kerry Johnson returned with some files in her arms and set them down carefully on the coffee table, pulling out several photographs in high contrast monochrome.
They lined the table like a patchwork tablecloth, sewn out of scraps of black and white linen.
"This is Major General Peter Vandenburg." She tapped the photo in the far right corner. "That's Adrian Lowen. Next to him. Thomas Baker. Richard Tomasson. William Curtis."
She listed the names methodically until she had put names to all the faces, then pulled out a stack of papers from another file, setting them down on her lap.
"It began a long time ago. And to understand why things are the way they are now, I'll need to tell you a story," Kerry said, then sighed internally. They were just getting started and it was going to be a long night. "What do you know about Operation Majestic?"
Sam looked up, startled. "Isn't that the code name for the Roswell incident that the US military tried to pass off as a hoax?"
"Except that it wasn't."
Sam was intrigued. "You know more?"
The CIA agent nodded and continued.
"In July 1947, the Roswell Daily Record intercepted a rumour that said the Roswell Army Air Field had released the news of the capture of two flying saucers. The official story went that both had crash-landed on a ranch in a remote region of New Mexico and that the rancher stored the remnants of the crash until such a time when he was able to contact the Sheriff's office. Recovery efforts began almost immediately. The news of unidentified saucers and the prospect of existing alien worlds in the world's media started, from then on, to capture the public imagination. But it was noted as well that public reaction also bordered on near hysteria especially among many religious groups when the news leaked out. To calm the storm, the whole Roswell mission was quickly declared a hoax. That was done easily. The reports were written in a contradictory fashion on purpose. Inconsistencies in witness interviews were inserted to render the whole story unbelievable and more like the product of people's wild imaginations."
"And what's the unofficial version?" Jack asked.
"A secret operation had indeed begun to recover the wreckage for scientific study. But the space ships weren't saucer-shaped, and neither were they reconnaissance crafts that the covert ops team had initially determined," Kerry continued. "There were two different types of ships, each with a completely different build and structure, that appeared to have crashed because of a collision in Earth's upper atmosphere. Their propulsion units had been completely destroyed, and no identifiable parts remained. But the military team was able to recover some metal remnants, as well as the mangled remains of the…beings that were actually piloting the crafts. At present, we think that they've been embalmed and stored in Area 51 for scientific study, in a location deep within the complex that not many know about. But that's not a confirmed fact."
Jack whistled softly and turned to look at Sam, who looked equally shell-shocked at the CIA agent's revelation.
Kerry pushed the files towards them. "The files are here, if you want to read for yourself. The forged records have made it incredibly difficult to differentiate myth from reality, but I think I've pretty much told you what I've untangled from the thousands of classified documents that have found their way to my desk."
"How does this relate to all the names we've asked you about?" The blonde was asking.
She held up a hand and nodded, wordlessly asking them to let her finish. "The recovery operation team became Operation Majestic-12 in the months following the crash, an official but top secret research and development team that reported directly to the then-President Harry S. Truman. The names of the Majestic-12 are in here."
Kerry took out a sheet of paper, turned it a hundred-and-eighty degrees until it faced them.
Jack took it, then held the sheet between the both of them.
**TOP SECRET/MAJIC -12**
SUBJECT: OPERATION MAJESTIC-12 PRELIMINARY BRIEFING
DOCUMENT PREPARED 20 OCTOBER, 1948
BRIEFING OFFICER: ADM. ROSCOE H. HILLENKOETTER (MJ-1)
**EYES ONLY DOCUMENT**COPY ONE OF TWO
Upon the authority of President H. S. Truman, Operation Majestic 12 is established on the recommendation of Dr. Vannevar Bush and Secretary James Vincent Forrestal.
The members of the Majestic-12 group are determined to be as follows:
Adm. Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter
Dr. Vannevar Bush
Secy. James V. Forrestal
Gen. Nathan P. Twining
Gen. Hoyt S. White
Dr. Detlev Bronk
Dr. Derek Hunsaker
Dr. Charles W. Souers
Mr. Gordon Gray
Dr. Donald Menzel
Gen. Robert M. Montague
Dr. Lloyd V. Berkner
**EYES ONLY DOCUMENT**COPY ONE OF TWO
Kerry started speaking again after they'd finished skimming the list of names. "The UFO phenomenon was the only thing the press talked about at the time. All kinds of flying objects were suddenly reported to have been seen in the sky by civilians. Stories also got increasingly ridiculous – UFO attempted landings, alien kidnapping, crashes, hovering over remote areas where few could actually witness anything. You name it, someone's told it. More often than not, these testimonies were nothing of substance where credibility was concerned. But above all, what do you think it meant for national security? Or rather, international security?"
"If we were to assume that the Roswell incident happened as you've said," Sam began, "then Earth is entirely unprepared for any sort of threat if these alien beings are malevolent in nature. Which would either lead to the development of new technology and experimentation to counter this perceived threat, or to a typical cover-up if the development were insufficient for any kind of defence."
Kerry nodded in agreement, feeling an unwilling spark of admiration for the woman's quick thinking. "Don't forget that this happened merely a few years after the Second World War. Public sentiment was starting to turn anti-war, particularly by those who had lived through the horrors of both World Wars. Nevertheless, Earth had to be defended. And by all means necessary," she continued. "Millions of dollars were channelled into nuclear technology as a viable defence for a hypothetical space invasion. Not long after, the Cold War began, and suddenly there were threats of nuclear invasions echoing throughout the Western hemisphere, turning former war allies into enemies."
She paused, wondering how to proceed with her findings.
"That's where I come in," Kerry finally told them. "Not long after I joined the CIA, a high-ranking officer – whom I will not name for obvious reasons – approached me and asked if I could work on uncovering the presence of a secret organisation within the government and the military, whose members had long infiltrated every vital sector dealing with security and scientific research."
"What would this guy stand to gain from this?" Jack questioned sceptically.
"I'm not too sure," she admitted. "But it sounded like an interesting and exclusive project which only a select few knew about including me, this man and supposedly the President. The trails, as I've found, have only led deeper and deeper. Some have turned cold, but mostly, they're part of a big jigsaw that I can't quite piece together fully just yet. Majestic-12, the group that was formed with the aim of research and development, eventually became what you now know as the Aegis at some point in time, an organisation with the aim of protecting Earth by any means possible and I mean by any means possible."
"The R&D team turned renegade protector of Earth?"
Kerry remembered that casual, ironic tone well. "Apparently. As far as we know, the Aegis's mission took on an offensive edge, guarding the Roswell secret with a zealous fire that some would compare to the behaviour exhibited by religious groups. From the original twelve members, the numbers grew to include several directors and deputy directors from law enforcement and all branches of the military comprising mostly high-ranking officers in charge of secure facilities. The Aegis's reach extended to also include several civilian contractors whom they could call on anytime for intelligence or brute strength."
She pointed at the photos that lay on the table. "These are merely a handful of members, but they are very important ones. My superior and I are on the verge of realising just how far down the roots of this organisation actually go. It's one of the most difficult things to uncover, given the elite status of the group."
"Were there any other incidents similar to the Roswell situation that had given the Aegis sufficient impetus to exist?" Sam asked.
"There's a lot of speculation about an incident in 1967 in Kamchatka as well, which the Aegis took to mean another potential invasion of Earth. The reports look remarkably similar to those of the Roswell's eyewitnesses testimonies," Kerry recalled. "But acting on the presumption that Earth is perpetually vulnerable, having been visited by alien species whose intentions will never be figured out? I'd say this is good enough reason for the Aegis's ranks to swell. Unfortunately, the documents I have are in Russian, and it took a lot of time to translate them so it's not all –"
"Show them to me," Jack cut in, earning himself identically incredulous looks from both women. "I could help you with those if you want."
It broke the sombre mood in an instant.
"Russian, Jack?" Sam raised an eyebrow.
"Just something I had to learn because of several missions in the USSR early on. Just a bit," he told her dismissively, shrugging awkwardly, then tried to clarify, "not that I can understand everything that well anyway."
Smiling, Kerry handed the papers to him. "You admit to a lot less than what you know, Jack. The most vital ones are found on pages 1-23, not that you'd want to read them all."
He scanned through them in what looked like an effortless read, then turned back to the smirking women who were impatiently awaiting his translations.
"Apparently there are three similar witness reports of a slew of sightings in July, September and October 1967, all occurring in the Caucasus region of south-western USSR. Something about a large object that took a flight path heading east. These sightings were then quickly classified as 'myths' by the governing authority who immediately released a statement of official scientific experiments involving a space mission and craft testing."
"Yeah, I think we know that already," Kerry told him thoughtfully. "Try reading from page 20 onwards."
"Could have said so earlier," he groused, earning an amused look from Sam as he flipped the pages. "Looks like an exploratory probe they were testing, a Soviet spacecraft test called a 'Fractional Orbit Bombardment System' – a name given by the Pentagon. Russian science experts claim that the thing simply made loops around Earth, the re-entries into the atmosphere happening precisely at the time of the reported mass sightings. Not too long after, the Pentagon released a statement confirming the Russian probe test, urging calm among some frazzled US citizens."
Test flights and cover-ups. Deliberate forged reports that overshadowed eyewitness statements.
Sam's gaze wandered to the pendant that lay on the table, thinking about its symbolism in mythology.
The Aegis was represented by the shield on which Medusa's head was mounted.
Which history later commemorated as the form of an amulet worn for protection.
In a flash, Sam realised that she and Jack had gotten it wrong.
If the ancient cultures had taken to wearing the amulet which was symbolic of a deity's protection, the secret organisation had, rather presumptuously, probably worn the pendant to signify their pledge to protect the Earth at all costs.
The Roswell incident had been sufficient warning of Earth's inadequate resources and fragile political situation in the late 1940s, she reflected. But it hadn't changed much since then, especially when it came to territorial disputes and the stockpile of armaments. The Kamchatka incident in Russia had merely driven the Aegis's impetus deeper to keep Earth an isolated planet, away from the dangers in the galaxy that the human mind could never fully imagine.
A fully functioning Stargate would have been a threat instead of any help to them, according to the philosophy of the Aegis. If that large ring could open a stable wormhole simply by the action of punching in a specific combination of glyphs, who knew what they might find on the other end? Hypothetically, the discovery of new technology and advanced races would aid tremendously in bolstering Earth's security. But the pessimist in her, recently emergent in the past weeks, knew it also meant an open door to unspeakable horrors that no one on this planet could deal with.
The pieces were slowly falling into place.
If a military risk analysis always tended to consider the worst-case scenarios, then it must have been the potential fallout that they were considering if the Stargate had been activated. Convinced of the cons outweighing the odds, they must have decided that it would, at all costs, remain an unsolved mystery. To the extent where it meant she and poor Catherine and all the others who were lost since the madness began, were meant to be part of the collateral damage which in the bigger picture probably counted for nothing.
It made her more than furious.
"What's General West's part in all of this?" Sam asked Kerry suddenly, wondering how that man played into the picture.
Kerry didn't answer immediately. "I can pretty much say that Winston O. West isn't part of this group."
"How would you know that?"
Kerry smiled ironically. "General Winston Orville West hanged himself in his house a few hours ago, complete with a suicide note next to where his body was found. A replacement for his command in Cheyenne Mountain, which is reportedly NORAD, hasn't been found yet. And when a General does something like that, you know it's big news. It's not been released to the press, but these things will get around sooner or later."
"A General committing suicide is big news," Jack confirmed grimly, noting Sam's look of shock. "The press will be all over this. The military's going to come under scrutiny when this happens."
"It's also unusual as well," Kerry continued from where she left off. "As far as the CIA's concerned, the official story that I've been given is this: West is guilty of several corruption charges, his activities having been monitored by the CIA and the FBI for some time. We still have an account of his dealings and evidence suggesting that he hanged himself out of guilt for betraying the country he had vowed to serve. That's not exactly part of my investigation, but as I said, news tends to get around. "
"Do you think that the Aegis is responsible for this?" Sam asked. "Or who will be taking over his command?"
An indefinable emotion crossed Kerry's face. "It's possible. We can't rule out anything, not when their modus operandi is too shady for us to pin down," she reflected. "The short answer to your second question would be that no one knows. His position is empty for the moment. West's corruption is going to be dealt with the way the military does best with certain things – and what I really mean is that it's going to be covered up as best as it could especially because such things are bad for morale. But even that has a way of leaking out, especially when you've got too many channels of communication open. After what West has done though, even I wouldn't be surprised if his replacement is given hell during the screening process."
Jack exhaled noisily and rubbed his hands through his hair. He hadn't liked how the jigsaw pieces were coming together, hated how he'd been part of an elaborate scheme that had operated with its own brand of justice that basically stemmed from paranoia. He despised in particular, how he'd been moved – like the many others before and after him – like an ignorant pawn on a chessboard.
He forced himself to swallow the tide of rising anger, then shifted his thoughts to the Aegis's far-reaching networks.
It was increasingly evident that there were moles even in the top-secret facility in Cheyenne Mountain. If Carter had become a target of the Aegis, then it seemed that Winston Orville West had been too preoccupied in his private sector funding that he hadn't even known she was snooping into the aeronautical firms that had been providing him with a ready cash flow.
Then it could only mean that West, unsuspectingly, had become a target himself. The extra cash that exchanged hands under the table simply meant that he had a reason to keep the Stargate program alive and kicking. Which meant, going by the way the Aegis worked, that he was as much a threat to them as Carter had been.
He reached for another thick file on the table, pulled it towards him and flipped through the pages. Printed on several sheets of paper tucked deep within was a lengthy list of names that had no label or heading.
Jack took it out gingerly, careful not to upset the carefully arranged stack of papers within the folder.
What he saw made him catch his breath.
His eyes were flinty when he spoke. "Kerry, what do you think this is?"
She took it from him, frowning as she saw its heading. "I only just received this today but haven't read it yet," she started slowly, her eyes skimming the names, "but I think you just found part of the evidence that might incriminate the Aegis."
The hardness in his voice hadn't left. "Look again. Carefully, this time."
She perused the list until she reached the bottom of the second page, then froze in shock.
Sean Patrick Charles O'Neill
D.O.B: 24.04.1902
Location: 47.405785, -91.241455, Northern Minnesota
Status: Threat to National security; update: threat neutralised, 06.12.1965
Elimination: In excess of the use of _ 2-Butoxyethanol over a period of _
"Believe me, Jack, I never knew," Kerry said, turning troubled eyes to him.
Prickling apprehension crept around his neck and caused him to clench his fists. "I hope so, because that's my grandfather we're talking about."