AU: General Sam Carter arrives at the Mountain unexpectantly, shocking everyone in the room, but none greater than her father...
Chapter 18: The General's Daughter
Monday, 21st June 2004 – Midday – Stargate Command – General Sam Carter
Getting through security was cumbersome and time consuming, even with Colonel Dixon at my side. Of course, I expected nothing but their scrutiny. The infiltration of the Ashrak using the Nasyan people revealed many holes in our processes. Every security station inside the mountain had detectors designed specifically to sound an alarm if they detected a Naquadah signature. Of course, that meant I set them all off which led them to check for the presence of a Goa'uld with their portable ultrasound devices. Both of which were designed and built by Yours Truly when I was but a Captain.
"Sorry, Ma'am." Dave said with a wry smile as we entered the elevator on level 11.
"They are just doing their job, Colonel. Can't fault them for that." I replied earning myself a beaming smile from the man who was in charge of security when he wasn't heading up his off-world team. "How's Lainie and the kids?" I tacked on the end because despite his feigned nonchalance and what could be perceived as complaining about his four children, he loved every one of them fiercely and could often be heard talking about them with adoration and pride while his wife was more often than not referred to as sweetheart, angel or the most beautiful woman in the galaxy.
"They're…" he started then looked at my expression which included risen eyebrows and slight tilt – almost a twitch – of my head, wondering if he was going lead the way he frequently did by talking about the screaming and the crying and the lack of sleep. He smiled softly. "…really great actually. Our neighbours kid turned five last month and has started kindy, Tommy really wants to go but he's too young. Patrick is obsessed with farts and burps much to Lainie's utter disgust, John is right there with him and Ollie, well he's this tiny ball of absolute sweetness who has decided that sleeping through the night is a great thing." He chuffed over his four boys. He sighed and smiled, "As much as I wanted a girl, I love my little posse of Dixon boys."
"That's great to hear, Dave." I replied with a small smile. He looked sideways as we passed level sixteen. While this wasn't our first time in close quarters, the stress and packed schedule of our shared Washington trip had prevented us from discussing anything personal.
"Say, ummm… I don't suppose that I do…" He started to ask about any girls in his future when I looked at him. The man was incorrigible and predictable. "Right, can't tell me. Time-space hoop-de-doop." He muttered with a wriggle of his 'spider fingers'. I raised my eyebrow again and smirked, giving him a look that I hoped would convey the answer he was eager for without actually saying anything. "I do… we do…" He breathed with a look of pure wonder crossing his face. The elevator clunked as we passed level nineteen. "When?" He asked.
"Dave." I warned, though I couldn't stop my smile from forming. If this timeline was anything like mine, Lainie was already pregnant because those two just could not keep their hands off each other despite her only having given birth to Oliver a few months ago. They would find out soon enough and though in my timeline they were twin girls, I didn't want to say anything in case things weren't the same.
"Right, right." He agreed and clamped his hands behind his back. After two floors of silence, I looked at the man beside me hoping to change the subject even though I could see the unbridled joy in his expression.
"Did you tell Walter I was coming?" I asked. He smiled broadly and gave me the side eye.
"No, Ma'am." He responded. "I have $20 says he's gonna wet himself." I laughed. Despite being against the regulations, covert gambling and those 'betting squares' were alive and kicking. As much as the upper echelons would never admit it, gambling amongst those who risked their lives every day was totally a thing that did wonders for morale.
"Ah yes, with who?" I asked because I didn't think anyone else knew I was coming. Dave smiled again.
"General Hammond thinks he's gonna fist pump the air." He replied and I chuckled again. Of course he did. General Hammond had been a stickler for the rules in every way, however he was also a staunch believer in 'Don't ask, Don't tell' which covered all matter of conduct unbecoming evil. As long as he didn't ask Walter to place a bet for him and Walter never told him that said bet had been placed with those words, they were covered. I figured that was probably also how Jack and Major Sam got away with their little hands-on fling. Just something else to add to my long list of regrets. I had often wondered if we would get away with things but was too scared to find out.
"What about Sly?" I asked as the red numbers indicated level twenty-three had come and gone.
"Reckons he'll stand stock still with his mouth open." Dave replied. I had to agree since that sounded a lot like an initial Walter reaction after which he which go nuclear and tell everyone and anyone whether they were listening or not. Our resident Chief Master Sergeant was incredibly predictable in that way.
At level twenty-six, I took a deep breath.
"You ready, Ma'am." Dave asked as the elevator as approached level twenty-seven. He held his finger on the close doors button until I nodded my readiness. Switching to the open-door button, we waited for the sliding steel plates to part. Dave put his hand over the sensor and nodded for me to start my procession through the corridors.
Holding my head high, I begin my march down the hallway. It was like a memory from a dream, not that the SGC had changed at all over the years. It was still an ex-missile silo with fluoro strip lighting, prime coloured floor markers and grey all-round. We passed by several airman, most of them saluting the uniform out of habit. I recognised about half of them though with my white coiffure disguised by my uniform cover and my aged appearance, I doubted many of them gave a second thought to my identity. As much as I looked like Sam Carter, I was older and a higher rank than the one they remembered, so I doubted their memories would trigger that quickly.
Colonel Dixon had already given me a full run down of the events of the previous week involving the indominable Doctor Richard Woolsey. It was astonishing how different the little things were while the main events of the timeline – being Jack frozen in Antarctica – were the same. While Woolsey had been involved with the program review in my time, he had never attempted to insinuate himself into the SGC after his job was complete and I wondered if his involvement was one more of Kennedy's little parlour tricks to make my presence here necessary or if something else was going on.
We could already hear the increased volume of voices in the briefing room as we approached and stood outside waiting for optimum moment. Reaching into the inner pocket of my dress blazer, I felt the thick envelope nestled there that held the Presidential Order relieving Doctor Weir of her position and reinstating the SGC under military control with me at its head reporting to the new Head of Home World Security, soon to be Lieutenant General George Hammond. A second smaller envelope contained another order only to be used if he fought my takeover.
When the nasally voice of Doctor Woolsey insisted that Grace O'Neill be taken to the outpost to retrieve the ZPM, I looked at Colonel Dixon noting a sharp look of anger laced concern in his demeanour. With a sharp nod of my head, he opened the door. I strode in with him hot on my heels.
"Grace O'Neill will be doing no such thing." I stated loudly as my opening address to the entire room though my focus was solely on the snivelling little bald man at the end of the table, his glasses in his hand as he cleaned them on a small piece of fabric. I hadn't even bothered taking in the complement of the room, too eager to halt this weaselly little man's ideas of using a child for his dirty work when a familiar voice cut through the thick atmosphere.
"Debbie." I turned my head at my mother's name and stared straight into the eyes of my father. My very alive and well father. I felt the hitched breath and increased heart rate immediately, though didn't let it show. He looked so alive, so young, so… good. Every ounce of my mind cried out 'Daddy' in stereo while my body ached to run to him, to hug him, to take solace in his arms, eager to receive his comfort for the first time in 52 years, but I didn't. I couldn't. I had to be strong. Reserved. A General. Calling on all my training, I managed to remain perfectly still and composed, ignoring the little girl deep within my soul crying out for a father she watched die over half a century ago while half wrapped in the arms of a man who would never be what she so desperately desired.
~ ~ JC DC ~ ~
It couldn't be. It was impossible. Debbie was never in the Air Force. She was a civilian legal secretary working with the local JAG members at whatever base we happened to be posted to. Until she was taken from me. From us. It wasn't possible. But here she was, whole and beautiful, eyes of deep blue and white, blonde hair wearing the uniform of an institution I had given my first life too.
"It is not Debra." Sel'mak informed me, not that I listened because my entire being was focused on my wife. The love of my life. The woman who had given me her entire self before being tragically snatched out of my life, and the lives of our children so many years ago. Rising from my chair, I took a tentative step towards her.
"General Carter. It is good to see you." She replied coolly, her blue eyes unyielding despite the fisted hands showing her thinly veiled tension. A countenance I remembered well when our headstrong young children would test her patience.
"Ye, gods… she even sounds like my Debbie, Sel!" I retorted silently to my friend and confidante of the last three years as my breathing picked up a notch and I felt a warmth spread throughout my body while my heart rate spiked.
My eyes watered as I sucked in a deep breath. "Debbie?" I greeted again hoping for something more than cold deference. How could she be alive? How was she a General in the Air Force? How was she here, of all places?
"Jacob." Sel'mak warned, "You must remain calm. You must breathe slowly." The counselling tone of her voice echoed within my mind while I struggled with her suggestion as my breathing continued to spike uncontrolled. She no longer immediately took over when my emotions run high, not like she used to, choosing instead to seek permission before assuming control over my body. I tried not to think about the true reason behind why, instead choosing to believe her explanation that it was out of respect for her host. Sel'mak had been getting tired more easily lately but we never talked about the possibility that she was nearing the end of her lifespan.
An unfamiliar feeling of faintness wafted through my consciousness, and I suddenly felt cold. What was wrong with me?
"Sel?" I said out loud to my symbiont as my vision darkened punctuated by a few small white pinprick stars. The General stepped forwards suddenly and gripped the underside of my forearms, my hands immediately gripped hers in a belated attempt to not collapse at her feet. Moments later I felt what I likened to a brush of an arm moving me to the background of my consciousness. A smooth yet laboured action of Sel'mak's to prevent my extreme emotional turmoil from taking over.
"You must forgive Jacob, Samantha. He is experiencing difficulties with your visage." Sel'mak said for me as she relaxed the grip of my hands on the General's forearms.
"Samantha? Sel'mak, how is this my Samantha?" I asked my companion.
"I know not, Jacob." Sel replied while she worked to bring my body's reactions back under control. It occurred to me that I had been on the verge of a panic attack when Sel'mak made the decision to take over.
"It is quite alright, Sel'mak. Is he OK?" The woman before us asked. I looked at her again while Sel'mak continued to speak on my behalf, reassuring her that I was OK. That was when I noticed the scar running along her hairline, in the same spot as the injury Sam received during the Alpha site self-destruct before she was…
"Oh my God!" I cried out, though no one could hear me. "Sammie?" I tried to reach out for my daughter, my real daughter, wholly unsure how her presence here was possible. I had seen her die, I had seen Jack scream his anguish as she fell limp in his arms, I had watched as her lover – her commanding officer – continued with CPR for almost ten minutes after the light had left her eyes while he choked out tear-filled orders for her not to give up, not to leave him, not to let Anubis win. Finally, I felt the thrum of the naquadah which had been there the whole time, though I ignored it in my desperation to believe that my wife had returned.
Slowly, I felt the presence of Sel'mak melt into the background.
"Sammie?" I asked a million questions with just her name.
"Dad." She replied with a tight yet wholesome smile, her eyes holding back a sheen of tears. "I will answer your questions, I promise." I nodded my acquiescence, knowing I had to wait, and moved back to my chair, resuming my seated position at the table silently thanking Sel'mak for her intervention.
"Dad?" The bald doctor echoed then snorted indelicately. "How is it possible that…"
"The how is above your pay grade, Doctor." My daughter bit off with gritted teeth and harsh stare in his direction. She then turned her gaze across the table. "Daniel, Teal'c." She greeted with a small nod. They returned her nod though neither of them seemed surprised by her presence. I could not stop the smile from blooming across my face. My daughter was a General in the United States Air Force.
Elizabeth rose from her seat at the head of the table. "General Carter." She greeted my daughter. "You are here sooner than I expected."
"You expected me?"
"Not exactly, though I expected someone like you." Elizabeth gestured at the stars adorning the blue uniform. "Not as dead as we believed." She commented earning a wince from Daniel and a look of pained indifference from Teal'c. There was a story here, something was not right. My daughter stood here with an office some three ranks and at least ten years of service higher than what she had, though with the appearance of a woman in her mid-fifties. Attaining General at her age was possible. The impossible part was how she did it when she had died several months ago.
"How is this possible?" I asked Sel'mak, though did not receive an answer since the forced takeover from earlier had taken a lot of her energy reserves.
"Unfortunately, not even death stops the Air Force from reactivating some people, Doctor." Sam jested as she withdrew a thick envelope from the inner pocket of her blazer and handed it to Elizabeth. Elizabeth slowly opened the envelope and read the contents wearing a wry smile, then relinquished her chair and walked to another chair opposite me and sat down, yielding the head of the table to the new commander of this base. A seat that she deftly took then folded her hands over each other and looked at the man who sat on the opposite end.
"What the hell is going on?" Woolsey stood up and glared down the table at everyone. "This is no longer a military institution, the Interna…"
"Is not and has never been in charge here, Doctor. Your role here ended with the Program Review." She stated cooly.
"I have been briefly individually by the President of the United States of America. My position here is entirely…" Rather than answer his tirade, my daughter simply stalled him with a silent hand signal, then withdrew another envelope from her jacket and turned to Colonel Dixon, extending her arm.
"Colonel? If you would be so kind." She ordered without making it sound like an order.
"Ma'am." He replied with swift salute, then retrieved the envelope and opened it with a deft slide of his finger. Taking out the single page, he unfolded it.
"Nice and loud, Colonel." Sam said while staring down the doctor.
The Colonel smiled, cleared his throat – perhaps a little more theatrically than required – and began to read out the letter from President Henry Hayes. Words including 'recommendation', 'dismissal', and 'classified' interleaved with phrases such as 'underhanded tactics', 'exploitation of children' and 'return to military control' effectively terminated any controlling interests of the International Committee over the SGC. The Antarctic outpost would be headed up by civilian leadership when and if all SGC personnel were withdrawn and then only for the purposes of research and development. The US military would maintain a presence for the purposes of peacekeeping. Once he finished, Colonel Dixon handed the letter over to the scowling doctor. He turned his eyes to the page and read over the words at least twice, no doubt looking for a loophole.
"Unbelievable!" Woolsey scoffed as he balled the letter up and casually tossed it into the centre of the table. "That outpost is not US territory, therefore that letter is invalid. We can do whatever we want down there, including and not limited to removing the ZPM." He threatened with a look of smugness crossing his face as he crossed his arms and leant back into his chair.
Every head at the table turned almost simultaneously to stare at Sam. The corner of her mouth twitched as she stood from her seat.
"While that may be true, Doctor, what you fail to realise is that I have a fleet of X-302's and Prometheus at my disposal." She informed him of her firepower rather more coldly that I expected from my daughter.
"So?" He challenged.
Her mouth twitched again before her eyes went hardened like crystalline blue orbs. She leaned her hands on the edge of the table and stared Woolsey down. "I promise you that I will bury the outpost and anyone in it under 50 tonnes of rock and ice before you can remove that ZPM, because Thor will come." She ground out in a tone so unflinchingly severe that it drew a shocked glare from Teal'c.
"You would kill Colonel O'Neill so callously?" Woolsey retorted.
"He spent a decade saving my life, I owe him everything. If death is coming for Colonel Jack O'Neill, it will not be at the hands of some bureaucratic brownnosing lawyer, or his snivelling senator buddy who can't accept defeat. I would rather die myself than let the likes of you pull his plug. Do I make myself clear?" The question was direct and transparent. The new General Carter would not brook any attempts on the ZPM, nor would she hesitate to level the playing field – literally – if anyone so much as tried.
"Crystal, General." He replied, though without any respect in his tone.
"Good, now, I have a base to command, so if you don't mind." She replied sternly, then turned and made a bee line for the office that had been Hammond's, ignoring the open-mouthed look of complete shock on Master Sergeant Harriman's face when he walked up the spiral staircase unexpectedly alongside Sergeant Siler. News of her arrival would be all over base by the end of the day. Elizabeth followed hotly on her heels, no doubt to provide a handover of office.
"Well, that went well." Daniel commented while swinging side to side on his chair and presenting his cheesy wide grin to everyone left in the room.
"Was that…" Walter began to ask.
"Indeed." Teal'c replied to the energetic Sergeant while Woolsey stood up, gathered his folders and left the room.
"Yes!" Walter crowed and fist pumped the air, then abruptly turned and scooted back down the stairs. Colonel Dixon groaned, then withdrew his wallet and flung an Andrew Jackson at Siler who accepted it with a smug grin.
"Can someone please tell me what is going on here?" I asked exasperatedly looking from Dixon to Teal'c and finally settling on Daniel. The archaeologist smiled as he came to his feet with Teal'c following suit.
"Sure, Jacob." He gestured to the door. After a beat or two, I made my way out and headed in the direction of the elevators and his office.
The spectacle that had been the meeting prior to her arrival had left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Seeing her arrive and take charge – while unexpected and shocking – had been the highlight of my day once I got over the shock of her arrival. Once she had shot Doctor Woolsey's plan down with her last resort method, he seemed to back down and accept his defeat amicably which was a far cry to his behaviour of the last few days.
Something was definitely going on.