Holy Crap! Thirty! This writing in short chapters is faster, but sure it seems longer… anyhow,
Enjoy!
M.
Chapter Thirty
"The moment Teal'c identified me, he called to the Beta Site," Sam explained.
"Why beta and not the SGC?" Jack asked with a frown.
"You will have to ask that to him, sir. What I do know is that Teal'c arrival was expected at the Beta site along with Doctor Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran for a training session with the newly created teams. My appearance at Sakkara had occurred a couple of hours before he was due to leave and as one of the members of the council, he was asked to oversee the prisoner while their healers attempted to treat me. Despite the situation as was in, he identified me and traveled to Beta where he encountered first Doctor Jackson, and then they talked with the base commander who was Colonel Mitchell."
"Colonel Mitchell was never in charge of the Beta site," one General commented interrupting her.
"As I said, sir. There are things I only know because they were told to me," she answered again, but Jack didn't miss the way she clenched her jaw.
"Continue, Colonel," Hayes ordered her, and she nodded.
"Very well. Colonel Mitchel granted for Doctor Jackson and Teal'c to return to Sakkara along with medical staff to verify if I was treatable and retrieve me to the Beta side as soon as possible. As far as I know, Colonel Mitchel wrote to the proper channels to announce they found me and stating the whereabouts of all the personnel which was expected to be in Sakkara but wasn't."
"And what about your situation, Colonel?" Hayes asked.
"I was unconscious for the first nine days since they found me, sir. They isolated me into a pseudo infirmary for the next thirty-five days. My daughter was found to be in a healthy state, and she was under a less restricted quarantine."
"No documents indicating that you were found exists, nor documents proving the state in which you arrived at Sakkara. The only documents from your so called miraculous return are those found at the SGC when you finally appeared using the Beta Site GDO," Jack pointed. She clenched her jaw.
"They might not be any documents, sir, but there are witnesses. Plenty of Jaffa's can confirm that I was found and the status in which I was retrieved from the Tel'tak. Also, I was moved for another thirty days to the Beta Site. However, as there are already denials on who was the CO at that time, I can provide you the name of at least fifty officers who happened to be at Beta during the time is was in quarantine and had contact with me on a controlled basis."
Jack clenched his jaw, she had mentioned being on quarantine before and told him she was at the SGC four days before he saw her at the ball for the first time in over a twenty months. But knowing she was at Sakkara and then at the Beta for so long without him learning about it was too much. Someone knew she was alive and someone had failed to inform him! The squeal and the noise coming from outside stopped them from talking anymore.
"You can't go in there, sir!" Amelia's voice was heard.
"He might not, lady. But I sure will…" Then the door opened.
"Mister President," Vala winked. "Jack… Sam! You look… more like yourself," she grinned checking Sam over.
"What's the reason for this intrusion?" One General exclaimed outraged.
"I'm sorry, sir. I couldn't stop her," Amelia grimaced behind Vala.
"Don't worry Amelia; I'm quite sure Miss Mal Doran has a valid reason to interrupt us. Mitchell, I take you aren't here to stay outside," Cameron nodded and placed Naysa on the floor before entering the room. "Thanks, Amelia, I'll take care from here. Mister President, do you mind if I deviate this meeting towards asking them what are they doing here?"
"I know what they are doing here, Jack." Hayes grinned.
"You know?"
"Yes. Miss Mal Doran, Colonel Mitchell, please take a sit."
"I love when people call me Miss Mal Doran, sounds so… powerfull," Vala grinned as Cameron pushed her to get to the closest empty chair.
"Colonel Carter, you were saying you were transferred from Sakkara to the Beta Site,"Hayes affirmed.
"Yes, sir. I was put on a special diet during my stay in Sakkara, and due to the restricted conditions of my quarantine when the Doctors noticed I had improved they started to talk about moving me to the beta site. They thought I wouldn't scare anyone out of my situation any longer," she smiled. Jack noticed from the corner of his eye that both newly arrived flinched at her last comment.
'The human body can only gain between 3 to 4 pounds on an overindulging week. But if you are already consuming over 2500 calories and you are absorbing less than it, you won't gain weight, Jack!' Jack recalled his Doctor explaining it to him several times. He observed her and tried to calculate how much she could've had weight back then. Jack remembered he had put somewhere around 15 to 25 pounds in the same amount of weeks, yet he couldn't bring himself to imagine how she could've looked like without them knowing how skinny she was at the moment. He sighed and refocused and noticed he had missed the next question.
"I was confined to the infirmary again; they wanted to keep an eye since I didn't react quite well to the processed food and that provoked a minor setback whenever it happened."
"How did you arrive at the SGC?" General Johnstone asked.
"I was days away from completing the Beta site quarantine when Colonel Mitchel and the medical staff agreed that, since I had already completed one at Sakkara, forcing Naysa and me to stay in such cramped conditions were unnecessary. He organized our return, by calling Doctor Jackson to bring me back and we contacted the SGC."
"There was no notification of your quarantine at the Beta, Colonel. Nor were documents stating Doctor Jackson's permission to bring you over," General Lacroix smirked.
"I understood that, General. The moment not so friendly guns surrounded my daughter, and I was very enlightening. Doctor Jackson claim of us being refugees was the only thing that avoided us being shot. As a result, they placed us under quarantine again on one of the isolation rooms at the SGC."
"When was that, Colonel?" President Hayes asked.
"Seven days ago, sir."
"And how come you are here if you were placed in quarantine?" The same General from before inquired.
"The SGC CMO received orders and so did I. She had to free me and put me and my things, meaning my daughter, on transport to DC three days after my arrival to Earth."
"This is all nonsense. Just tell us the truth, Colonel. You escaped with an alien ship and had issues finding your way back. And of course, as you couldn't arrive on the same ship you escaped, you had to take some time to find another."
"Colonel Mitchell, Miss Mal Doran… have you managed to acquire what I requested?" Hayes interrupted
"Yes, sir," they said passing him a couple of folders that he carefully skimmed through, then he grinned.
"Colonel Mitchel, please make sure General Lacroix keeps in his place until his arrest can be arranged."
"What? Mister President, we are here to study Colonel Carter's fate. This is outrageous, what reasons you would have even to consider to arrest me? I have done nothing out of the rules!"
"General, I would keep my mouth shut if I was you. However, the rest of you need an explanation. So please, retake your seats. Now, is my turn to talk." The room felt silent; Jack looked at Sam to see if she had any idea of what was going on. She seemed calm what told him she at least had an inkling.
"When Colonel Carter arrived at Sakkara, Beta site, under the temporary command of Colonel Mitchel was notified. They issued a notification to the SGC stating she and a child were found in Sakkara to where Teal'c, Doctor Jackson and one of the medical crews from Beta were sent to verify the claims and health of one of our own. The notification arrived at the hands of General Price and as no other command knew about it, not even the proper channels, we could blame him for keeping information to himself, maybe even take his claim that he lost the document. Except that, you knew General Lacroix. You gave him the order of not informing HomeWorld or any other member of the Air Force. Miss Mal Doran," he trailed, and she grinned widely, taking some papers out of the folder in her hands and giving one to each of the presents.
"Not happy with not informing it, when she was transferred to the Beta, you ordered him not to announce it. Therefore, we had for forty days not one but two unknown people on a top secret base."
"Come on! She was in quarantine, Mister President!" General Lacroix intervened.
"No, General. She wasn't there… not according to what we knew." Hayes added, his usually friendly expression changing to one of disdain.
"Mister President if I may?" Jack asked, and Hayes nodded, "how do you know all this?"
"Doctor Jackson managed to keep his promise to your wife, General. When he returned to the Beta site, he enlisted the help of one person who managed to contact me."
"That's me," Vala grinned. "When Daniel told me Sam was alive, I couldn't believe they didn't bring her straight to Earth. He explained his theories and I, well, I found my way to your Mister President. It wasn't an easy task."
"Miss Mal Doran risked her own life to explain to me what they thought it was happening. They knew there were just a handful of people they could trust. However, they were clever to know that alerting you; General O'Neill would alert them. During this time, this small team was gathering information about the situation at hand. General Price was arrested early this morning, he not only collaborated with keeping information from getting to the proper channels, but he was selling information as well. Now, his connection to General Lacroix proven to be very difficult to get. However, there was a conversation with a Doctor Ellis that pointed us in the right direction, we found several calls to an unknown number from the General Price's office, and after a lot of pushing, eight days ago we found who the owner was. General Johnstone, please bring the MP to take General Lacroix, here you have all the charges," Hayes added passing a folder to him.
Silence took over the room as the notion of being deceived by one of their own had started to settle. It was even more frustrating when they failed to understand the reason behind his actions.
"Colonel Mitchell," Hayes interrupted the quiet musings once General Lacroix left the room along with the MP's. "Given your successful job as temporary commander of the beta, I'm placing you as a temporary SGC Commander until the arrangements to find a new General to fill that position can be made. Colonel Carter, welcome back to Earth and the USAF. Taking you out of the KIA state proved to be quite the task, I will greatly appreciate if you try and not to get in that position again. Your rank is also reinstated, and you will be retributed for all the missing months. However, due to the particular health conditions, you are currently presenting, and by the advice of several Doctors who had checked your medical records since you were reported as alive to me, you will be placed on medical leave until you can be reevaluated in four months."
"Thank you, sir," she grinned.
"Now, those ID's you have are perfectly valid, even if not entirely accurate in your daughter's case. Wich reminds me that with the information you gave to me the day you were recalled to Washington, your little girl's papers are being processed, and we hope to have them by the end of the month, apparently not even the President can make that happen faster, " he chuckled. "As for you General O'Neill, do take the leave I advised you to take eight days ago. You know, sometimes we say things because we know better." Then he stood up, "Now if you all excuse me, I do have a country to run."