AU: We see another side to Brigadier General Martin Kennedy...
Chapter 22: Secret Squirrels
Tuesday, 16th March 2004 – The Pentagon – Brigadier General Martin Kennedy
The cop was an idiot. Then again, Samuels wasn't much better.
Shanahan had called the number left on the card multiple times over the last week and a half demanding more information. Who was the old woman? Why was Major Carter alive? Why did she have a kid? Was it O'Neill's? Samuels had answered every time, rather than outlining the parameters of his mission once then disposing of the phone as ordered. I couldn't expect the cop to comprehend the nature of orders, despite his position within the Denver Police Department. He wasn't military, but I expected more from a seasoned Intelligence Officer like Lieutenant Colonel Samuels.
Samuels didn't know that I kept tabs on every mission under my command. It was in my nature to be suspicious of everyone and everything. I could count on half a hand the number of people I actually trusted and still have change. Samuels certainly wasn't one of them. Neither was Kinsey, though one could always trust him to further his own agenda which was world domination. Well, the Presidency, which for a man like Kinsey was akin to world domination since his world did not exist beyond the borders of the United States of America unless of course it's existence served his purpose.
Shuffling a report about the NID's latest operation to seek a person with the Ancient gene to the side, I found yet again another report from Shanahan, this one from almost a week ago insisting that the old woman should be arrested for having carnal knowledge of a minor. The slow smile that grew would have looked out of place on my face had anyone seen it. I wasn't the most animate of people, or so O'Neill had told me once. Making a note on the scratchpad on my right to review police records for any such reports and ensure they disappeared would be one of my next tasks. It was the third such report from Shanahan with the first two demanding retribution for two attempts by Colonel O'Neill on his life. He was definitely an idiot. O'Neill did not attempt to do anything. If he wanted the cop dead, he would be dead and not in a public place like the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Complex. Picking up the report, I removed the staple and slid the leading edge of the papers into the machine to my left then pressed the button, smiling at the sound of shredding paper. A truly marvellous form of stress relief and the most perfect of all filing systems, short of flames that was, which was the next fate for those miniscule confetti-like scraps of paper. One could never be too careful.
The cop was obsessed with Major Samantha Carter. That had been the draw point to get him involved. Having him stalk her alternate at the behest of Senator Kinsey had been a stroke of genius. Well, that had been the original plan, before knowledge of the little time travelling incident reached my ears. A well-kept secret which only reached me when my contact followed the clone to her house. Of course, providing the Senator with a whiff of the cops obsession was all that was needed for Kinsey to 'suggest' sending Samuels to make contact. Just another pile of dirty laundry to stick to him when the time was right. We needed a scapegoat for when Kinsey finally dug himself a hole too big for him to get out of. Unfortunately, we still needed him. He was the perfect pawn to ensure that the SGC stayed firmly in the hands of General Hammond. There was too much at stake to entrust it to another Bauer.
We had thought the Senator's attempt on his own life using O'Neill's likeness was going to be the proverbial hole. Seeing the footage of O'Neill standing beside him playing nice made me smile. Not because it was funny, but because I knew that O'Neill would have taken him out silently while he slept in his bed, rather than with something so prosaic as a sniper rifle. O'Neill certainly would never have been seen, suspected, or caught – by anyone – which was something the NID just didn't understand about the man.
He was an enigma.
The Senators' blustering about mismanagement and corruption went a long way to proving just how competent General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill were. Human nature being what it was, the rise of capitalist opportunists was inevitable. So, when the Air Force gained control of off-world technology, those opportunists sought to take it and turn a profit. To stop them, we needed integrity-driven, loyal officers in command.
Losing Major Samantha Carter had been a blow I thought we would never recover from. With her death, we expected to lose Colonel O'Neill to one of three things – retirement, indefinite medical leave, or something more final. The arrival of Doctor O'Neill had been ideal and frankly a godsend that quite literally saved O'Neill's life and ensured the longevity of the Stargate Program. Along with General Hammond, I worked hard to ensure that her identity from five years before, and that of her daughter, were rock solid and unimpeachable. The only issue was her civilian status, which meant putting her in charge at the SGC was difficult since she would have to impress the soon to be formed International Oversight Advisory rather than just by showcasing her impressive military career. Despite her not being a seasoned military officer, I personally had no doubt that she could lead the SGC as effectively as her deceased counterpart.
It was only a matter of time before General Hammond retired. Kinsey was angling to get me into the seat assuming that I was his pawn rather than the chess master. If such a thing were to occur, I would lose my anonymity which would allow the red tape loving bureaucrats to gain a foothold. The Joint Chiefs had designs on promoting O'Neill but since his latest Ancient download and current mission to Antarctica without any assurances that he would return, Kinsey had managed to convince Hayes of Hammond's unworthiness, replacing him with a civilian leader of his choosing. Up until now, Kinsey had to wait for reports to be released to the Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee before he knew anything. With Doctor Weir in charge, he was receiving information before the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
With Hammond in Washington, our plan of action had been to lure Weir away from the SGC with an enticing offer – from the President – to head up mediation with other countries regarding the potential for going public with the Stargate – which we would work to undermine at every turn – and then install Doctor O'Neill as the new civilian leader at the SGC. That plan was before I knew that the mysterious time traveller was Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, or rather Samantha Joanne Carter.
The benign retired schoolteacher who just happened to be carried through the Stargate by Colonel O'Neill in early January of this year had turned out to be a future version of the exemplary soldier we farewelled a little over a month ago. A piece of information known by a select few individuals. Her identity and history being so watertight that not a single red flag had been raised by her sudden arrival at her legal place of residence in Cascade, Colorado.
The information coming through from our little Detective stalker was proof of that. The background check he ran on Major Carter proved that we had a lot of holes to fix in our processes as evidenced by the excessive backstop ID present on her record. In complete contrast to the Major, Shanahan's recent background check on the Lieutenant Colonel reported that she was an innocuous member of the community who worked for a living until she retired, paid her taxes, and voted in every election. Ms Carter had a history with real parents, a social security number, health insurance, records of her education, a vocation with solid links to an employer, a bank account showing recent and believable transactions and a proof of address in both Connecticut and Colorado. All of that information proved without a shadow of a doubt that O'Neill was incredibly thorough when it came to creating an identity and covering his tracks, though I should have known he would be a master of deception after years working in black operations.
While she was officially a retired schoolteacher, it would be relatively uncomplicated to have her identity reinstated and have her installed as the next SGC commander. The classified nature of her work meant that we could even reverse her death should it be required. The Major was due for a promotion within a year of her untimely death. I was confident that we could misrepresent her rank as full bird Colonel and concoct a reason for why she was suddenly alive and nearly 100 years of age. Upon her reactivation, we would elevate her to Brigadier General and then put the death knell on the Stargate going public.
A knock on the door had me looking up to find Major General Hammond entering. Standing to my feet, I saluted and greeted him as any Brigadier General should for his superiors.
"Sir. Welcome to DC."
"Please, call me George." He said with a smile as he removed his cover and took a seat on the opposite side of my desk. "It's been a hell of a week, Martin." He said, placing his cover on my desk, then picking it up again.
"That it has, and it's not likely to get any easier I'm afraid." I noted without mentioning the impending invasion that had our entire department on tender hooks. We had no idea when Anubis would get here only that he was on his way.
"Oh, I don't think we have much to worry about on that score." George noted with a smile that clearly revealed that he knew something I did not.
"Care to enlighten me, George?" I asked, noting that he flicked his eyes around the room. "It is clean. Swept first thing this morning and again straight after lunch. I assure you, no one is listening, and if they are…" I opened the small drawer to my left and produced an innocuous black device, "…this will ensure they hear nothing but static." It wasn't as flash as the Ancient device O'Neill used to disable the Zoo cameras, but since I was not lucky enough to possess the Ancient gene, I had to make do with Earth invented jamming technologies for my deceptions. George nodded with a wry smile.
"She told him everything he needed to know, or so Doctor O'Neill informed me and Doctor Weir yesterday before I left." He confessed. "SG-1 are already underway which I am told is an entire day before they left the first time around." So that was how the Senator knew about the outpost. Clearly Kinsey was circumventing the reporting process by having Weir report directly to him. That was a problem.
"Everything?" I sought clarification because my version of everything was generally different to most other people's versions of everything.
"Everything." He nodded again. "She told him how her O'Neill made the Tel'tak go faster, what planet to go to and what he was looking for, that the weapon we needed was right here in Antarctica and that Bra'tac's pilot is apparently a plant by Anubis." He outlined while fiddling with the braid on the visor of his cover. "D-Day is Thursday for us in DC, Friday for the outpost. If Jack uses her information, they will be back in plenty of time."
"You're assuming that things will happen the same way for us as it did for her." I said, playing the devil's advocate.
"True, however the trigger for this invasion was Jack taking the download on P3X-439, or so the Lieutenant Colonel informed us. Since he did the same thing at the same time on the same day last time, she believes that it is very likely that the invasion will play out the same." He explained in response to my cynicism.
"What about removing the knowledge?" I asked, hoping she had a solution for that since having O'Neill lose his life was not in the Air Force's best interest.
"We need the Asgard."
"We don't have the Asgard, George."
"Not yet, but Lieutenant Colonel Carter insists they will be in contact four months from now. All we have to do is keep the lights on that long and be ready to provide the assistance Thor needs in return." He advised.
"What assistance is that?" I asked since I did not like being kept in the dark on matters pertaining to or that could affect my ongoing projects. It was important that I remained several steps ahead to ensure that anything that happened was either orchestrated by me or, if inevitable and uncontrollable, could be utilised effectively.
"She wouldn't say. Though I am told that all of SG-1 will be commandeered for whatever they require." George stated albeit reluctantly.
"Hmm. Four months. The review is for three months. Doctor Weir is in charge during that period. We already know that she will find no evidence of mismanagement or impropriety, no matter how hard she looks." I informed him succinctly. "If things go the way I believe they will, the President will realise that he needs military leadership for a base with a front-line presence." I voiced my thoughts out loud for his benefit.
"Here's hoping." He agreed though with more apprehension than I was expecting. "The problem is that I will likely be reassigned before that period is up, and with Jack out for the count, the SGC will end up with some other General in charge, and we all know how that turned out last time, Martin. Unless that General is you." He stated, suggesting heavily that I accept the position that Kinsey was pushing towards me.
"It won't be me. That I can guarantee." I insisted, since I knew I had no intention of giving up my current position behind the lines. If I did so, Kinsey would expect me to follow suit and my deception would be revealed. "My preferred option would be to temporarily reactivate Colonel Carter with an immediate promotion to Brigadier General until O'Neill is in a position to assume the role." I informed him, purposely forgetting to add the Lieutenant to the front of her rank. He looked at me long and hard but didn't say anything. Hammond was a smart man. When he smiled, I knew he could envisage the plan I had for her. All we had to do was make it happen and assure her that it would be a temporary placement for one month, after which she could re-retire as Samantha Carter with her new rank intact and receive the requisite pension.
"A fitting reward for an exemplary soldier if I do say so myself." He responded with a smile one could only describe as being fatherly.
"Indeed. Unfortunately, there is one more thing that must be done to ensure that the Senator cannot resurrect himself." I stated drily while folding my hands together and resting them on my desk. Hammond merely looked at me with careful eyes and a silent request to elaborate. "The Senator has plans on seizing control of the Ancient outpost should we survive the week. If he does, O'Neill will not see out those four months and everything I have done will be for naught."
Hammond smiled once again as if he knew something I did not. "Relax Martin. Kinsey does not have the Ancient gene. He could not take full control without it or someone who has it." Rather than explain in words what I believed Kinsey had in mind, I merely placed my finger on the thin manila file bearing the standard USAF logo and classified markings that sat on my desk and pushed it towards him, the sound of cardboard on paper making a slight scuffling sound. He gave me a concerned look as he reached out to pull the file towards him with two fingers in a pincer grip. As he opened the front cover, his audible intake of breath and fisted hands was all I needed to ascertain his feelings.
Anger. Pure anger. Edged with a radiating hatred of the man who orchestrated the kidnapping of his own granddaughters.
"He wouldn't dare." He growled; hands still fisted though I noted a look of resignation on his face. Kinsey had dared once before and would do so again. He didn't need me to countermand his statement. Instead I merely stared back at the man offering him nothing but the raw and brutal truth. "When?" He whispered, still looking at the photo.
"If O'Neill is successful, he will move within 24 hours."
"Can you waylay him?" He asked, probably because he knew it was too late for me to actually stop this from happening. The Senator's pocketbook was large, and he would not hesitate to use it if I proved incapable. While I had the loyalty of many operatives who thought I was a bonafide NID sympathiser, their mercenary nature would see them walking away in droves if Kinsey got wind of my real mission.
"I can do better than that." I replied, "Providing you see that this makes it to the SGC before the end of the battle." I stated, passing him a copy of the photo. "Perhaps place it inside the classified file on the outpost." I suggested. He swallowed and ran his hand over his head, then retrieved the very file from his briefcase containing handwritten notes in O'Neill's unique scrawl along with a sketch of what looked like a large, jagged crystal, or rather a device made of several smaller crystals. Taking one of my paperclips, he placed the photo down and slid the clip over both it and the back of the file, then closed it and placed it back into his briefcase.
Without a word, he came to his feet. "Good day, General." He farewelled with a tight expression, then placed his cover back on and left with looking back.
With my plan for the future of the SGC set, I no longer required the Detective, Simmons or Samuels which meant it was time to cut them loose. Samuels was easy to reassign, the other two required a more hands on approach. Kinsey had already begun to dig himself another hole which he would not come back from after I placed my report on the President's desk confirming every underhanded action he had been involved with, including Hammond's forced retirement and the attempt on his own life using O'Neill. Though it was always good to have a backup plan in the event that the initial plan did not work.
Taking one last look at my copy of the photo of the young brown-haired girl sporting a unique and recognisable smile staring back at me, I unlocked my desk drawer, and placed the highly classified folder away before relocking the drawer. Whilst using this tactic was a last resort, it was the perfect way for me to meet with the soon to be General Carter without revealing her presence in DC before it was required.