"Let me get this straight, Major. You went through the gate onto P4X-396, where you came under fire and while fleeing discovered the two civilians, MacGyver and Dalton. They then led you to a quantum mirror, where you escaped into another reality, one in which alternates of all of you were present. You then worked out a way back, bringing along two completely untrained and uncleared civilians into the most secretive military base on the planet?"
General Hammon looked up at his flagship team. Carter had her arms crossed on the table, avoiding eye contact. O'Neill was doodling on the back of his folder, Daniel was looking guiltily at his shoes, and Teal'c was doing his stoic Jaffa routine.
"Is that correct?" Hammond probed.
A chorus of 'yes sirs' were murmured from the four in front of him.
"I understand your situation SG-1, and I honestly can't think of anything else you could have done in this situation. You couldn't have left either of them on the planet, or in the reality where they already had copies of themselves. We'll deal with the repercussions of what they've seen later. You did well."
Each member slowly looked up from the ground.
"Thank you for understanding, sir." O'Neill said sincerely. "Really, I am," He added when the three other members gave him an odd look.
o-O-o-O-o
"Thank you Colonel. Dismissed."
All four rose from the table but made no move to leave the room.
"General Hammond,"
"Sir,"
"General,"
They all spoke at once, looking at each other with surprise.
"I'd like to speak with you, sir," Carter started.
"Me too," Daniel added.
"I as well," Teal'c said.
Hammoned turned to O'Neill. "And you, Colonel?"
He gestured to his team. "What they said,"
"Okay people. What's going on?"
"It's about MacGyver." Daniel said, waiting for the three others to nod.
"Sir, I feel like he shouldn't be made to forget what he's seen."
"I agree General. He- or his double at least- single handedly hacked into the gate system in the alternate reality. That's a valuable skill. Terrifying, but valuable."
"Don't forget about the lock," Carter added.
"And, he helped me significantly during the gate project."
"He appears to be most skillful with his hands." Teal'c said.
"So what do you think I should do with him?" General Hammond asked, looking at each member of his team.
"Hire him," All but one said. O'Neill looked around at the group.
"What?"
o-O-o-O-o
"Come in, doctor," Hammond greeted his CMO.
Fraiser took a seat across from the General. "Sir?"
"I asked you up here because I have a strange request for you," He started.
"I doubt it, sir." She said seriously.
"Point taken. What are your capabilities for wiping someone's memory?"
"Impossible, sir." Fraiser said quickly.
"But…?"
"But I can make things fuzzy. There's no such thing as a magic memory eraser, but a certain drug class can cause permanent memory loss around an event. It's not perfect, but it might do the trick. Assuming you're talking about our guests."
"I am. Are there any other side effects of the drugs that I need to be aware of?"
"No sir, nothing that I can't handle. The memory loss itself is the primary side effect."
"Thank you, doctor."
o-O-o-O-o
Jack Dalton walked beside the very official looking guard on his way through the seemingly endless tunnels of what he assumed was a military base.
He didn't know where he was, or where he was going, he just didn't want to upset the guard with the big gun by doing something as stupid as running.
A moment later, after climbing a large set of spiral stairs, he was escorted into a small office. There was the General from earlier, and the doctor as well. She looked slightly different, and her hair was longer.
"Jack Dalton?" The General asked.
He nodded mutely. "Uh, yes. Yes sir."
"It's okay son. I just want to talk to you," He said as comfortingly as possible.
"Okay," Dalton said nervously.
"I need you to understand that you've seen too much, Jack." Hammond said.
Dalton nodded. He'd known pretty much from the instant he'd seen the base orbiting Earth that he was in deep water.
"There are a few ways we can deal with this. You can sign a nondisclosure agreement, and we'll watch you for the rest of your life to make sure that you don't release anything on what you've seen here, or we can alter your memory."
Dalton thought for a moment. "What do you mean by 'alter my memory'"?
"We mean, give you drugs that will create gaps in your memory from the last week or so, and blur out everything else so you physically can't remember."
Dalton nodded. "What happens if I don't do either?"
"You stay here. Under guard."
"Forever?"
"Forever."
Of course, General Hammond knew that would never happen. However, Dr. Fraiser had warned him that Dalton would need firm guidance to understand the gravity of the situation.
"What does the surveillance mean?"
"It means that we'll monitor all your communications, stop by your house every once in a while, and keep track of all your friends and coworkers."
Dalton thought for a moment.
"If I do the memory wipe, will you still watch me like that?"
"No, or at least not as much. We'll still watch out for you, but once you've proven you truly don't remember, we'll let you go."
Dalton thought for a moment. "Okay. I'll do the memory wipe."
o-O-o-O-o
"Sir? Can I ask you something?"
Carter was sitting opposite O'Neill in the commissary, finally the one she was used to seeing.
"Sure," He said, stirring his bowl of fruit loops.
"What do you think of MacGyver? Really. I want to know your honest opinion."
"As opposed to…"
She shot him a look.
"Fine. I think he's anxious to please. Too much so. I'm pretty sure he can't hold his own in combat, and would put whatever SG team you think he's going to be assigned to at risk."
"I wasn't thinking about a SG team for him sir. I was hoping he'd come on as a civilian programmer. Clearly he has the skills."
"The alternate version of him, you mean."
Carter frowned, suddenly realizing this error in her logic.
"Yeah. Our alternates wern't always us either," She pondered.
"Ya think?"
"I'm not suggesting that we throw caution to the wind and just let him poke around in the computers, but I do think we should at least see if he'd be interested."
"I'm telling you. This is a bad idea."
"So you'll agree? I only want to show him a printout of parts of the system. Even if he copied it and spread it all over the world, no one would suspect what it's a part of. It's just to see what he'll do with it."
"I don't think so, Carter," He said, getting up from the table.
"Sir-"
"I have something better in mind."
