Summery: A routine trip off-world has long-lasting effects for SG-1. Meanwhile, Jack has terrestrial trouble too, when his half-sister is recruited to the SGC and his worlds threaten to collide and all his secrets are in danger of being exposed.
Disclaimer: I do not own "Stargate SG-1" the series. I believe it is owned by MGM. No copyright infringement is intended. No disrespect is intended. I am merely intrigued by the possibilities.
A Matter of Degrees
by: Visions2share a.k.a. Vi
"Like you'd have believed anything Daniel or Carter or Janet or, even, General Hammond had to say if you thought for a moment I was involved?" Jack challenged Susan.
They'd left Leah and Amy with their father, and those with clearance had moved to Jack's home office – behind locked doors and soundproof walls.
Susan hung her head – she didn't want to admit it, but Jack was right – she'd have never even listened to the orientation lecture. Hell, she wouldn't have agreed to sign any of the forms even.
Still, "But you knew before I started?"
"President Rhodes wanted me to recruit you," Jack admitted, "but I knew you wouldn't even really listen to the offer."
Susan could only nod in acceptance of that fact.
"But why not?" Dr. Jackson interrupted.
"Because of our family," Jack told him – under selling it.
"Should not the familial bond between siblings occasion a higher degree of trust than of that with a stranger?"
Who was this guy? He looked like a bodybuilder – like a champion of the WWE but spoke like he'd escaped the confines of a Jane Austen novel.
"No. Not with our family anyway, T," Jack didn't seem to even notice how odd his friend was.
"But why?" Dr. Jackson tried again for an explanation. Was he always curious? Or merely nosy?
Jack didn't answer. Susan figured he was trying to keep his anger under control. Maybe if she explained – very briefly – they could move on.
"Our younger siblings have a 'fondness'," massive understatement, "for elaborate practical jokes. The crueler the better. And I don't want to get into it any more than that."
Susan had to give Dr. Jackson credit – for all his curiosity – nosiness? – he knew when politeness demanded he back off. And to make sure the subject changed, she had more questions for Jack.
"I didn't read anything in the briefing materials about enlisted Army personnel being part of the program."
Jack frowned as if trying to remember something. "I don't think there are any at the moment. There are a handful of Army Rangers – but I think they are all officers currently."
Susan raised one eyebrow in disbelief. "What about you, Jack?"
Jack started and then blinked a couple times, but before he could answer, Dr. Jackson did it for him.
"Jack's a colonel in the Air Force. Second in command of the entire program, after General Hammond, and leader of our premier field team."
"Funny…" Susan started.
Jack sighed then began, "It's a very long story that I won't get into today. Sufficed to say, I was drafted into the Army when I was eighteen – did a tour in 'Nam – I was recruited by the DXS during my time there. Staying in the Army was a cover for my intelligence career. Although I did interface with each branch of the military occasionally," Jack plucked at the chest of the curious Air Force t-shirt he was wearing, "like pulling training duty at the Academy to keep an eye out for potential recruits to the intelligence community. Either way, eventually I retired. Charlie died. The PTBs needed someone to keep an eye on West and the original Stargate project. An Army sergeant wouldn't do. I was a general in the DXS. But the program already had a general. It was decided that I'd be placed in as an Air Force colonel. After the first mission, I returned to my retirement. But when Samuels showed up here and then the program was up and running – I wanted to stay a part of it – and it was simpler for everybody if I just stayed on as an Air Force colonel."
Susan tried to weave the story Jack told into the timeline of his life as she knew it and what she knew of the history and command structure of the Stargate program.
It was the large black man her brother called 'Tea' that spoke first.
"I, for one, am pleased you stayed, O'Neill."
"Yeah," Dr. Jackson spoke quickly after his large friend, "me too, Jack."
"Ah, thanks guys!" Jack made a show of acting bashful.
"I just have one question though," Dr. Jackson continued.
"Just one?" Jack's tone was sarcastic, but not cold.
"If you are Dr. Mallory's mystery super genius brother – why did you let Sam get herself in trouble looking for your name? You could have just told her."
"But if O'Neill had done so – might we not yet be unaware of the physical and psychological malady currently affecting MajorCarter?"
…
"What's wrong with Carter? Other than her leaving her common sense on a different planet?" Jack still couldn't be easy about the lengths she'd gone to in an attempt to find his name. She was out of control.
"Actually, Jack," Daniel said, "that's why we're here. Janet has her in an iso room for monitoring and says her test results are bizarre."
"What?!"
"DoctorFraiser and DanielJackson believe MajorCarter's brain chemicals and hormones have been altered causing her to act most unlike herself."
"You're implying something was done to her?" Susan asked.
"On six-two-seven – the planet with the untranslatable ruins where we all got heat stroke," Daniel helpfully reminded him what mission paired with the seemingly random numbers.
"It cooked her brain?" Jack asked.
"No. Teal'C and I have been tested and are unaffected. We're supposed to take you in to be tested, too."
"Then we'd better go," Jack made to stand.
"We cannot return to base until we have fully briefed you, O'Neill. We have each given our word to MajorCarter."
"Briefed on what?"
Daniel glanced at Susan, then spoke to Jack, "I don't mean to be rude. But Sam wanted us to explain it outside of the mountain to save embarrassment, so even though your sister is a doctor and has clearance, I think Sam would prefer as few people knew the details as possible."
"Indeed."
"Okay," Susan volunteered, "I'll go see if Leah has come up with a wish list for her birthday. If there is anything I can do, as a doctor, or a sister, please don't hesitate to ask." Susan made a point of giving Jack a kiss on the cheek, he thought she meant to be reassuring. It didn't help. Then Susan had left and Jack was alone with Daniel and Teal'C and a truth he really didn't want to hear.
…
"… Teal'C thinks maybe you were distracted while we were there, too. Between that and what Sam experienced, it seems likely that you may have been affected as well. Janet wants to run tests."
"Do you think you were affected, O'Neill?"
Jack squeezed his eyes closed. "Worse – I think it's maybe somehow my fault. … … … Well, not the weird neurochemical or hormone levels, but the stories — that's my fault."
"How could that be? MajorCarter, herself, said that when she could both hear the narrative and see you that you were not actually speaking."
"I wasn't, but I was reading short erotic romances, just silently to myself, of course, but they were kinda hard to ignore."
"You were reading them?! From where?" Daniel wanted to know.
"Those wall panels. You had me taking rubbings — remember?"
"Of course, I remember the rubbings. Although, I haven't really studied the ones you took yet – I can't even get a good translation for the formal panels I took rubbings of. The graffiti would be nearly impossible to translate without context."
"Graffiti? It wasn't graffiti – it was Latin written in a Demotic form alphabet, I'll grant you, but it was too neat, planned and complete, to qualify as graffiti."
"You could read it?"
"Isn't that what I just said?"
"Indeed."
"You can read Latin?"
"Why are you surprised? You already knew this, Daniel!"
"Well, yes, I knew you could read some Latin and had retained some latent understanding of the language of the Ancients. But are you telling me you could just read those wall panels casually, like you would a billboard on the side of the road?"
"Yes … I mean I had a little trouble on the first few – some of the word choices were odd or didn't translate to modern English the way terrestrial Latin would – but I got it figured out after a couple tries."
"Just like that you…"
"DanielJackson! Is that not how MajorCarter described the stories she heard? That at first the voice 'stumbled in the telling occasionally' and would return and make corrections?"
"Sam did say that – I'd forgotten. Did you do that, Jack?"
"I did. But only on the first two or three panels. By the time I got to the fifth I had it fairly well figured out."
"Just as MajorCarter indicated."
"So maybe she really was hearing you read her stories."
"I guess. But how? I didn't – wouldn't have dared – say any of it out loud."
"Because you were hiding your ability?" Daniel pushed.
"Sure," Jack capitulated easily just to further vex his friend, "but also because those 'stories' weren't just erotic they were downright pornographic."
"Hmm," Daniel took off his glasses to clean the lenses in a well-practiced gesture Jack had seen all too often when Daniel was uncomfortable.
"Might that not be a further reason MajorCarter was so reluctant to discuss her current fixation?"
"Well, I certainly wouldn't be in any rush to bring any of it up in conversation," Jack agreed.
"Indeed."
"I suppose we'd better head into the mountain so ol' Doc Fraiser can play with her big honkin' needles again," Jack sighed. Oh joy.
"Jack?" Daniel stopped him before they could leave the room.
"Daniel?"
"Now that you've admitted to having, let's say, hidden talents…"
"Daniel," a warning.
"What?"
"Daniel," get on with it.
"Would you help me translate the rest of the ruins from six-two-seven?" a rush of words.
"Daniel."
"It's just," a hurried explanation, "if we can figure out what the place was for, maybe we can figure out what happened and how to get Sam back to normal."
Was that all? Like Jack would ever hold back his skills when someone's health hung in the balance? Especially a teammate's. Especially, especially Carter's.
"I guess I'll have to, won't I?"
Author's Note: Not a short chapter today. I had an anonymous reviewer wonder why Susan and her family were included in the story and so I thought I'd give a quick answer here. The first reason is she is a remnant of the original version of the story which I couldn't cut out without an almost complete rewrite. The second reason is I really like seeing inside the SGC from her point of view as an outsider, I think it is more realistic than everybody automatically accepting the program without any issues. Sorry to use an author's note to reply to a review, I'll try not to do it too frequently. I won't be posting tomorrow as it'll be Sunday for me. Chapter 34 will go up on Monday. I hope everybody has a good weekend! Thanks for reading! ~ Vi