Out of the Blue
I was going totally and completely stir crazy. Being stuck in the mountain was not doing either my tan or my temper any good at all. My paperwork was gone – victim to my first few days out of the infirmary. I had even written my report on the Thor/Juliet incident and handed it to General Hammond as requested.
He had handed it straight back.
Four revisions later he had finally accepted it and very obviously placed it in my file sitting open on his desk. It was a wonder that it fitted – the file was so thick that it rivalled ‘War and Peace’. If they ever make a movie based on the Stargate and my adventures, I want one of those action guys to play my role – you know, Bruce Willis or Arnie. Or maybe that George Clooney – he even looks a bit like me.
After the little incident with the file, I slunk off to drown my sorrows in a very large cup of stomach lining stripping mess hall coffee.
I could feel the eyes on me as I walked the corridors. Surely Hammond wouldn’t have told anyone what happened? Surely no one knew about the reasons behind the shooting?
But I could hear the whispers as I passed.
Paranoid – that’s what I am and with very good reason. I’d had a hectic few months, culminating in my attempted murder. Was it any wonder that I was beginning to feel just a tiny bit stressed?
I walked into the mess hall and stopped to look around the room. There was Ferretti and his team at one table, Major Brown and the Marines at another and a third occupied purely by some of the scientific staff. They all looked at me expectedly as if waiting for me to burst into flames or something. I nodded to Lou and stalked over to the coffee pot with as much dignity as I could muster. I was pouring myself a mug of the thick potent brew when I heard a soft footfall right behind me. I jumped about ten feet in the air, spilling the hot liquid over my hand.
“Shit Lou, what are you trying to do to me! I just got out of the infirmary. I don’t want to have to go back with a suspected heart attack.”
“Sorry, General.” Lou looked quite shocked at my reaction. What he didn’t know was that my nerves were almost completely shot. I was just waiting for Juliet to reappear to finish what she had started. I couldn’t stay inside the mountain forever and the knowledge that I was better at this sort of game than her didn’t help.
I really had to get a grip.
I smiled at Ferretti reassuringly. “That’s okay, Lou. No problem.”
“Ah – we were wondering…” he hesitated and looked slightly embarrassed.
“What, Major?” My voice must have had a warning tone because he finally just blurted it out. “We were all wondering if you really played poker with Thor?”
Was that it? That was the big thing that everyone had been whispering about? I could feel the relief. Not Juliet. It was just Thor.
This I could cope with.
I grinned and took Ferretti by the arm, pulling him towards the table where his team sat.
“Sure, Lou. It’s true. Want to hear all about it?”
My day was finally getting better.
o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o
I managed to avoid George for several more days. I also managed to avoid my team. I know that Hammond had told me to explain what had happened and why, but I figured, hey – I wasn’t going up top. No need to worry about getting shot while I was down here and therefore no need to worry about telling Carter and the others.
I’d tell them.
I would.
Just not yet.
When the time was right.
I knew that it would be a cold day in Hell before the time was right.
I was called into General Hammond’s office on the Tuesday. I must admit to feeling just a tiny bit of trepidation. The fallout from the Thor thing hadn’t been anywhere near as bad as I had thought it would be, plus according to Ferretti, it seemed that I had become a bit of a legend on base.
Not that I wasn’t a legend before, of course.
The story of my poker lessons had spread, including the fact that I had won a new space ship. Of course George had told me in words of one syllable that I couldn’t keep it, but the mere fact of winning it in the first place still gave me a glow of pleasure. I had explained to the General that I had had no intention of making Thor pay the debt, but he hadn’t seemed to be impressed by my generosity.
I knocked on the General’s door with the unpleasant thought that he might have finally decided to properly discipline me. As he had left me on that night when Thor visited he had muttered something about my cleaning the latrines with a toothbrush, but I was sure that he had been just joking.
I was sure.
I decided to buy a new toothbrush just in case. One with hard bristles.
“Enter”
I stepped smartly into the office as befits my current status as Teacher to the Asgard and stopped dead in my tracks.
Crap.
“General O’Neill. I asked the rest of SG-1 to join us.”
Three accusing glares were pinning me where I stood.
Well – two glares and one sardonic smile. Give you three guesses who owned the smile?
“Good morning, General O’Neill.”
“Teal’c.” I couldn’t help but smile back. Teal’c – my main man. My comrade in arms. He understood.
“I have been searching for you O’Neill. I wished to enquire as to the reason for the shooting.”
It was deliberate, I’m positive. I saw George grin behind my team’s back. Teal’c raised that eyebrow that I am so sick of and plastered a patient look on his face.
Speechless is not a term that I would normally associate with myself, but it took on a whole new meaning at that moment.
Speechless.
Struck dumb.
Maybe the ‘dumb’ part should be emphasised.
“Yeah, well – I’ve been busy. Writing reports.”
“Report, Jack. Report. Singular.” George interjected, still grinning.
I knew when I was beaten. Take it like a man, Jack.
“Okay, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you before. I was shot by an NID agent that I had run into in Washington. She had a few problems with something that I’d done and was a bit angry about it. Now the General is worried that she might try to get me again, so we have to be careful when I’m topside.” I rushed out the words and then took a satisfied breath and looked at my team, waiting for the words of support.
Suddenly Daniel and Carter appeared to have learnt that irritating eyebrow thing off Teal’c. All three of them just stood there with matching expressions of disbelief.
“And?”
“And what, Daniel?”
Carter jumped in. “What exactly did you do to cause an NID agent to want to kill you, Sir?”
“Maybe he was just his annoying self, Sam. God knows – I have the urge to kill him at least once a day.”
“Oh, ha ha, Daniel.” I was hurt by their lack of concern for my welfare.
“Why don’t you go ahead and tell them, Jack?” I swear that if Hammond’s grin got any broader it would split his face right across.
I SO did not want to do this.
“I laughed at her.”
“What? That’s it? You laughed at her? You expect us to believe that, Jack?”
“Would this have something to do with your other injury, O’Neill?”
That’s it! Confirmed. Everything that I suspected. Teal’c is still working for the System Lords. He is undermining the SGC from within with me as his prime target.
I saw the look of comprehension on Carter’s face as the truth dawned.
“So, Sir, you slept with her and then laughed at her?”
“It wasn’t like that, Carter. She was trying to discredit me. Get at the SGC through me. I just turned her own tactics back on her and she didn’t like it.”
“I understand, General” But I could see that she didn’t. Didn’t understand at all.
o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o
Carter isn’t talking to me. Except when she has to.
Daniel keeps giving me disapproving looks.
Teal’c just looks stoic, but I can see the grin hiding inside him.
As far as team dynamics go – the word ‘sucks’ springs to mind.
And I’m still trapped here inside this damned mountain.
Finally I broke and did what I swore I would never do. I went and begged George to forgive me.
I think that he understood how desperate I had become by my grovelling across his office carpet on my belly. Well – okay. It wasn’t that bad, but it came close.
He virtually patted me on my head and told me to be a good boy in future.
Then he threw me a bone.
The X-304 was ready for a test flight.
o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o
The Captain greeted me at the hanger with a quick salute and a very puzzled look.
“General O’Neill. I’m here about the X-304.”
“Yes, Sir. I’m Captain Fisher. The X-304 is right in here.” He indicated the closed hanger doors. “I understood that I was to participate in a test flight, General.”
I walked to the doors and gestured for them to be opened. Two Airmen sprang to obey, pushing back the heavy metal and revealing the new craft.
It was a beauty. A sweet little ship combining all the best features of the X-302 and the Al’Kesh. This time we might finally have got it right. I walked around it, taking in the sleek lines.
“General, if I may ask – is the pilot joining us soon?”
I turned my attention to Captain Fisher. He stood beside me, glancing out to the car in which I had arrived as if expecting someone to be hiding in the trunk.
“The pilot is already here, Fisher.” I smiled.
“Sir?”
“I’m the other pilot, Fisher. I’ll be ready in a few minutes. Just give me time to get changed into my flight suit.”
He recovered well, I’ll grant you that. He snapped to attention and threw me a crisp salute. “Yes, Sir.”
When I walked back out towards the hanger, I could see the glances being exchanged amongst the assembled personnel. Word had obviously spread that some senior officer was about to be taken on a joy ride in their new toy by the Captain. Captain Fisher pointed towards the co pilot’s seat. “If you would, Sir.”
“I don’t think so, Fisher.” I climbed up and snuggled myself into the front position with only a brief twinge reminding me of my latest injury. Fisher stood on the ground, his face resigned. “Coming, Captain?”
He glanced at his watching men and obviously realised that now was not a good time to argue. I could almost feel the waves of hostility issuing from him.
“Sir, I’ll just taxi it out.” His voice was cold.
“Thank you, Fisher.” I sat back to enjoy the ride.
Our craft soon sat on the end of the runway, poised like an arrow waiting for flight.
“Ready, General?” He was warning the elderly officer to hold on because it was going to get bumpy.
“I think that I can take it from here, Captain.” I gently gripped the controls and began my takeoff run.
The X-304 shot into the air, executing a nice little roll as soon as she cleared the ground. I made one swift, low run at a ninety-degree angle over the airfield, before heading her nose up and out.
“Sweet!”
I could hear nothing from the seat behind me. For a moment I worried that perhaps I had lost the Captain in that first roll, then logic set in. “You okay back there, Captain?”
“Yes, General. Thank you for asking Sir.” His voice had thawed a little. “I take it that you are familiar with the X-304, Sir?”
“You could say that, Captain.” We did several more rolls, and then I began a dive towards Earth. “She certainly handles well.”
Fisher’s next words seemed to be a bit strained. “Yes, Sir. She does. Are you going to pull up soon, Sir?”
The ground was rising up to meet us at an astonishing speed. The thought that Teal’c would have loved this passed briefly through my mind. Bet he was sorry that he had pissed me off. I could hear slightly panicked movements behind me and gave a private smile. There was the airfield – just below. I could almost see the horrified expressions on the upturned faces before I pulled up and angled in over the runway.
Then my sense of mischief got the better of me.
“You know, Captain, I just don’t feel like going back to the paperwork yet. What say we take her for another run?”
I didn’t give him time to answer – not that I thought that he would object. A lowly Captain has no objection to anything that a General suggests.
This time we kept going up.
“I’ve been looking at your record, Captain Fisher.” I don’t think that anything that I could have said would have surprised him more.
“Sir?”
“Your security clearance was recently upgraded.”
“Because of my work with the X-304. Yes, Sir.”
“That was partly the reason, Captain. However, you’re about to see the main reason in a few minutes.” I kept the craft in a steep climb and watched as the Earth fell away beneath us.
“What do you know about the development of the X-304, Fisher?” I made a few small adjustments in our course as I spoke.
“Not much, Sir. I was brought in for the preliminary test flights.” He hesitated. “Ah, General?”
“Yes, Captain?”
“We seem to be rather high.”
“Yes and we’re going a lot higher. This craft has a few capabilities that you aren’t aware of. That’s one of the main reasons that you are here.”
“Sir?”
“Didn’t you wonder about the technology used in the X-304, Captain?”
“Well, yes Sir, I did. It seemed a huge leap in advancement. I asked a few times about it but got told to just fly the thing and leave the technology to the scientists.” His voice was bitter, resigned.
“Its those questions that brought me here, Fisher. You’ll be getting your answers in a few minutes. Sit back and enjoy.”
Then I did something that I love more than almost anything in the world.
I flew.
Up and up. Away from the confines of the Earth and up into the blackness of space. The stars multiplied around the canopy and the blackness got that quality of velvet that you only see when you leave the atmosphere. There was awed silence from my passenger. I could only imagine what must have been going through his mind as we climbed, ever upwards.
The silence was broken by a loud gasp.
“General O’Neill.”
“Fisher?”
“There seems to be some sort of space ship at twelve o’clock, Sir.”
I had seen it a minute or so before the Captain, but then I’d been expecting it.
“Yes, Captain. That’s where we are headed.”
The Tok’ra had finally realised that the Gao’uld were on to their “cargo ship” disguise. They had branched out into troop transports, a much larger craft as yet still able to be used in Gao’uld held space without discovery. One of the reasons for this trip was to see if the X-304 could safely dock in the Tok’ra ship’s cargo bay. We didn’t want a repeat of the X-301 incident where Teal’c and I had to be ringed up through the vacuum of space.
I lined us up with the ship and radioed in.
“This is Starwarrior. Request permission to come aboard.”
Jacob Carter’s voice replied. “Permission granted, Starwarrior. The door is open.”
“Want to take her in, Fisher?”
I was pleased to hear him answer without hesitation. “Yes, Sir!”
We had as smooth a landing as I could have wished, easing into the bay with no problem whatsoever. Looks like I had my answer – the X-304 would be going into mass production as soon as I made my report to Washington.
Captain Fisher and I were helped down from the craft by a bland faced Tok’ra, as welcoming as I expected him to be. I nodded my thanks and gesturing for Fisher to follow me, made my way to the bridge.
“Jack. Good to see you.” Jacob walked forward, hand outstretched. “Who’s your friend?”
“General Jacob Carter, meet Captain John Fisher.”
“General Carter?”
“US Air Force, retired, Fisher.”
I snorted. “Yeah, right! Retired.”
“Jacob is retired, General O’Neill, from the US Air Force, but not from the Tok’ra.” Selmak’s voice echoed through the room.
Just what I had wanted. I watched for Fisher’s reaction.
He blinked. Twice.
And reached instinctively for a sidearm that he didn’t have.
My type of airman.
o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o
“How did it go, Jack?” I had reported to General Hammond’s office as soon as I got back to base.
Taking a seat, I smiled broadly. “Fine, Sir. The X-304 is everything that we had hoped for.”
“And Captain Fisher?”
“We’ve found ourselves our first pilot, George. He was perfect – calm, cool and collected, with just the right instincts.”
I thought to our landing back at the airfield. Fisher had been silent all the way home then, just before I brought the craft in, had asked one very perceptive question.
“Did I pass, Sir?”
I waited until we were out of the plane before answering.
“Yes, Captain. You passed. With flying colors.”
I left him grinning.
o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o
My little jaunt into the outside world had made me more stir crazy than ever.
I was damned if I was going to be stuck, hiding in the mountain.
I was going out. Checking my mail. Mowing my grass. Buying groceries.
Getting back to normal.
I didn’t tell George what I planned. I knew that he would argue; tell me to wait until she had been found.
Well I was sick of waiting.
I don’t do waiting.
I waved a cheery farewell to the guard on the gate and drove happily off.
I was even whistling as I drove down the mountain.
The shot came out of nowhere. Straight through the windscreen, missing me by a millimetre. I swung my truck to the right, peering through the shattered glass and pulled onto the side, all the while feeling that annoying sense of déjà vu. I mean to say – how many times do I need to get shot at in the space of a career? Did I need a sign “Beware possible target here, approach at own risk.”?
I leapt out of the vehicle, gun drawn and ducked behind it. The shot had come from the trees across the road. I couldn’t see any movement, so I settled in to wait. I had my suspicions as to the identity of the shooter, but there was more than one possibility. I had upset quite a few people in my time. Assuming that this was Juliet might just get me killed, for good this time.
Long seconds past.
Then the sound of a scuffle came from the bushes. Twigs snapped and undergrowth moved.
I stayed where I was. Mother O’Neill didn’t raise a fool. An idiot perhaps, but not a fool.
“O’Neill!” Teal’c’s voice called, “It is safe to come out now. We have her.”
We have her?
The rustling became louder and Carter appeared holding tightly to the arms of a squirming Juliet, flanked by Daniel and Teal’c. They all had ‘cat’s got the cream’ looks on their faces.
Oh for cryin’ out loud!
They’d set me up! Used me to bait the trap and catch their prey.
Was I that predictable?
Obviously – yes.
I walked over to them, avoiding Juliet’s gaze.
“You pig!” She spat towards me, but I had expected something like that and dodged to one side. Carter tightened her hold.
“Hi, Guys.”
“General.”
“Ah – thanks.” I knew that I sounded ungracious, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“No need to thank us, O’Neill.”
“No, Jack. We were getting sick of trying to avoid you while you avoided us. There are only so many storage closets that we can duck into without looking very odd on the security cameras.”
“Plus I was dying to meet your girlfriend, Sir. See what sort of woman you’re attracted to.” Carter looked down at the glob of spittle soaking into the ground at my feet and smiled. “Now I know.”
“General Hammond was surprised that it took you this long to break out, Jack. We’ve been ready to go for days.”
I couldn’t help myself. I grinned. They’d all been in on it. Just waiting to save General O’Neill’s skin again.
Then, like a bolt out of the blue, it hit me – no matter what I did, I could never lose their friendship. Throughout all my adventures and misdeeds it was the one abiding truth.
I might test it, but I could never lose it.
The End
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