See part 1 for header notes. Slight GW crossover also here, as well as a brief appearance by SG11 from "Things SG teams are no longer allowed to do".
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Nathan settled into the chair at the far end of a long table in what Jack had informed him was the main briefing room of the base. Two guards had been placed at the door, which was now firmly shut, and there were what were apparently blast shields over the windows through which Nathan had been given his first view of the Stargate.
He studied the trio who had arrived un-cuffed, the two marines on one side of the table, the blond in the odd uniform on the other.
Jack was at the head of the table, expression stern.
"Major Brooks?" he began.
The tall man nodded. "Yes sir. We were correct, unfortunately. Lieutenant Johnson, USAF, is not, in fact, the real Lieutenant Johnson. We've still got some work to do on that – we're hoping to get some information from the imposter during interrogation. He's a member of Delta Force. Master Sergeant Eliot Spencer. The captain has the details from Colonel Une."
Jack blinked. "You set colonel Une on someone who might not have been the person we were looking for?" he demanded of the short woman, who shrugged.
"Could have been worse, sir," she commented offhandedly. "We could have asked Preventer Maxwell for assistance."
The blond snorted. "Believe me, General, he was eager to help," he informed. "Preventer Yuy had to remove him from the vicinity in the end."
Jack's lips set in a firm line. Mischief had been happening and he hadn't been privy to it, Nathan recognised. "And Colonel Une's opinion was?" the General asked after a beat.
Brooks spread his hands on the desk. "She believes he was tricked into it. If he was, that'd mean we've got all three of the conspirators we uncovered."
Pinching the bridge of his nose briefly, Jack nodded. "I am not looking forward to breaking this to Teal'c," he muttered. "Preventer Merquise. Do you have Colonel Une's report for me?"
The man nodded. "Indeed, General." He slid a disc across the table. "She sends her regards."
Jack nodded. "I've got some files to go back to her if you have time to wait. They're from the last joint mission; our share of the debriefing." He glanced at his own notes. "Your opinions on the Master Sergeant?"
Merquise sat back in his chair, bringing a hand thoughtfully to his chin. "He's a fighter, but not a shooter. Doesn't like guns at all, in fact, although he is as good a shot as Preventer Yuy." He paused briefly. "He's cornered. This will have started off as an appeal for help, but he will very rapidly have found out that the person who initially hired him holds all the cards; that they have more leverage than he does. As with the other two, he will have got in over his head far more rapidly than he would have thought was possible. Captain O'Neill would have more insight into the situation, but they may have threatened his family."
He sat forward slightly. "We are willing to offer assistance to track down the source of the problems, if you so require," he finished.
After a brief glance in Nathan's direction, one only the short woman followed, Jack looked intently at each of the trio close to him in turn. "Alright. Brooks, O'Neill, I expect your reports on my desk tomorrow morning. Preventer Merquise, your usual accommodation is available to you. And now, lady and gentlemen, they are waiting for you in the infirmary."
He gestured for Nathan to follow him as he rose and headed for the door to his office again.
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Jack studied the younger man sat in front of his desk. He was cuffed to the arms of the chair, ankles shackled, long hair tied back in his usual neat braid.
Now that he was looking for them, he recognised the signs. The posture was slightly wrong for a regular in the air force; closer to Jack's own when he had been elevated to black ops thanks to his skill as a sniper. The hair could be excused as cultural, and in fact had been in his "official" jacket.
He had been surprised about the gun thing. A lot of the guys he had known in black ops had been fascinated with the latest gun, the latest gadgets.
He let the silence stretch, going over his notes from the meeting, as well as the files from the previous investigations of the other two infiltrators, with the occasional brief glance at Spencer. Nate was sat quietly in the corner, reading a sanitised version of one of SG1's mission reports with a rapt fascination.
There was a clink as Spenser finally fidgeted a little, making a cuff knock against the chair arm, but Jack still didn't look up. He continued to read, until Spencer let out a resigned sigh, then looked up, staring at Spenser impassively.
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Eliot mentally rolled his eyes as the silence stretched. He had done his homework before embarking on this assignment. General Jack O'Neill, former black ops, now head of a Most Secret research project out of Cheyenne Mountain which, despite it being listed as a research project, had the highest level of combat specialists assigned to it of any onshore base.
So maybe it was combat research, he had thought, until he had been given records on the number of archaeologically and anthropologically qualified civilian staff also assigned to the base. He had taken particular interest in the head of the civilian staff – obviously, he hadn't been with the project since the beginning. That honour had gone to Catherine Langford, whose father had apparently discovered the gate in Egypt.
But still, a black ops trained officer in charge of an onshore base? And a research post at that? He had understood then why he had been ordered to investigate. The casualty rates were as high as those of any front-line posting, even among the civilian staff, and that just didn't add up.
It wasn't until he had got here; until he had been given his induction and then been shown the Stargate; that he realised his assignment may not have been entirely kosher.
When he had questioned his orders though...
He had been curtly informed that if he did not continue to carry out orders, the fact that he was impersonating an officer would be exposed, and certain information about him obeying an order that was technically illegal would come to the attention of General O'Neill.
By that point, Eliot had really not wanted that to happen. He had genuinely liked the man, had on occasion been invited with several members of other SG teams to barbeques at the General's house and had even met the guy's three adopted kids. Two adopted kids and the younger clone; equally cranky in Eliot's mind, but with acne and teenagers to complain about too. And he liked Teal'c. Teal'c who seemed to have taken a shine to him, which was probably the reason he had been invited to the barbeques in the first place, and with whom he could discuss fighting techniques and learn new methods.
Outside of his original unit, this was probably his favourite assignment, which had no doubt led to him being less careful than he should have been, which had, in turn, led to his current predicament. And using the pilots to arrest him just hadn't been fair. Not in the slightest.
Much soul searching later and O'Neill still hadn't looked up; nor had the other man who was sat across the room, reading a file. He stretched a little with a sigh, bringing O'Neill's head up slowly, and began to speak.