Sophie glanced from the General to Nate and back again. "So let me get this straight. You," she gestured at the General, "Want to charge Major General Victor Dubenich with something that's going to get him drummed out? Or at the very least transferred somewhere, and I quote, 'So dank and remote that they have to ship sunlight in'?"

She received an amused nod in reply.

"And you," she gestured at Nate, "Want to make sure that a young man who should quite legitimately be charged with impersonating an officer and illegally entering a Most Secret facility is not charged with same. As well as ensuring the two Lieutenants who were with him are cleared of all charges?"

Nate looked considering for a moment. "Well, I'd like for that to be done first, actually, because I'll need them to help you with Jack's request," he informed her dryly, "But essentially, yes, that's what we want."

She narrowed her eyes at them. "How long do I have?"

The general smiled.

*****

Smiling quietly to himself, Jack made a start on the paperwork Walter had rushed through at his request. He was almost done when a thought struck him.

The phone was already ringing when his eyes fell on his trash can and he realised that he still owed retribution to Carter and Feretti for their prank earlier. On the heels of that thought came a second one suggesting that Carter may not actually answer in case this was the retribution.

He was about to give up and go find Daniel to make him call when the phone was answered.

"Carter?" he asked as all he got was dead air. "You there?"

There was a sigh, then she replied, "Yes sir. Was there something you wanted?"

Her tone was one of someone expecting the other shoe to drop.

"We've got the last one. All three are in holding, and Major Ford is here."

Carter was suddenly all business. "Who was it?" she asked as he heard the rustling of a jacket being donned and the sound of a door closing. "Sorry, sir, I just got in. I can be there in twenty minutes."

Just got in? He filed that away for future reference. She and Feretti had apparently been in hiding since they escaped the base mere moments ahead of his calls to first the main entrance and then the main gate. He would be checking his place for booby traps it seemed, because Feretti's idea of "the last place Jack would look" was always Jack's front room.

It didn't help that Ed and Jon were on Feretti's side more often than not and would let the man in and provide him with beer. Jack's beer.

"Thanks Carter. See you in twenty."

There was the briefest of hesitations before she agreed and hung up.

*****

"So you know the General?" Sophie asked of him once Jack had gone.

Nathan shrugged. "We were at the academy at the same time. He was the leader of the squadron I was assigned to as a first year cadet. Kept running into each other at postings. Figured it was easier just to keep in touch after a while."

She raised her brows at him, apparently not entirely sure she believed the story, but she let it slide. "And these three?"

Another shrug. "Never met 'em. But Jack would rather go for the head rather than punish three kids for following orders, legal or not." He paused briefly, then continued, "He knows just how hard it is when you hit the grey area of special ops, believe me."

"Well, wiping the problem of the three of them being in an area they have no clearance for is simple enough. You state 'Special Skills' and make their clearance retroactive. It's mainly used when personnel are needed for covert ops who haven't been cleared. They'll be checked out and clearance granted retroactively.

"Sergeant Spencer is actually the least problematic here. He's already got the right clearance level because of his original assignment, but Hardison's a pretty big problem. He's here because of computer crime, and technically shouldn't even be within spitting distance of the type of computing power you have here. We're going to need Lieutenant Colonel Carter to verify that she needed him specifically, and then she's going to need to go up in front of the JAG to explain why things were done the wrong way round."

She paused, considering. "I can call in a favour and get that heard this week, I think, provided my contact is still there. And we'll tag Parker on the back end of that hearing, because she was only assigned as personnel, not making use of her particular skill set on the job."

Nathan snorted at that. "That's because she was using her skill set off the job," he pointed out dryly. "She did volunteer to return all the intel she had gathered."

Sophie gave him a very old look. "Was this before or after she had passed the information on to her contact?"

He returned the look. "Mostly before. They've only done one drop since they were inserted, and that was three weeks ago. They're due another drop in a week, and for a large part of the first month, they weren't cleared for anything that Dubenich might have been interested in."

*****

Parker was watching Eliot pace the floor when she heard the lock click open. He had been at it for a good fifteen minutes, unable to put excess energy into any sort of meaningful action here in this ten by ten box of a room.

He and Hardison evidently heard the noise too, because Hardison was suddenly sitting upright on his bunk, ready to move to stand at attention by it, and Eliot was abruptly in position by the front corner of the set of bunk beds he and Parker were sharing. The door was swinging open by the time Parker lazily rolled off her own bunk, dropping neatly in next to Eliot.

The person who stepped through the door was not, as she had expected, a large MP with orders to transport them to Leavenworth for holding. It was General O'Neill himself, aiming for intimidating in dress blues.

Parker thought he looked more like a favoured uncle. She stared at him intently, trying to figure out what was going on. She was aware that her take on body language wasn't quite the same as everyone else's, but she was fairly sure she had the General figured out.

A glance across at Eliot revealed nothing, but Hardison looked petrified.

Ah.

Maybe she needed to work on that a little?

He looked them over for a long, silent moment, then stepped back from the door. "Please go with Major Ford," he told them quietly, voice giving away nothing. "He will arrange for your official statements to be taken and you will be signing some non-disclosure agreements about the things you have seen while in the employ of the SGC."

Parker had expected Hardison to object, had practically been counting on it, but Hardison appeared frozen with terror. After a brief moment, Eliot huffed out a near-silent breath and barked, "Permission to speak, sir?"

O'Neill gave him the hairy eyeball. "Permission granted, Sergeant," he said softly after a moment.

"May I ask why we're not already on our way to Leavenworth?"

There was a long, considering pause. "You're still here, sergeant, because as of this moment all three of you are material witnesses in a case of treason against the United States of America."