14
He and his fully armed escort arrived at D quite quickly, Jack watched as a team consisting of Peter, Pete, Jane and June approached the open barn type doors and covered each other as they went in. He watched the time until the came out, June was carrying the box, but Pete was nowhere to be seen, Jack had a feeling of Déjà vu, he remembered the mighty midget when they were training Lt Elliot, another good man who had died too young, he had seen Hailey around a couple of times when he had visited over the last few years, but hadn't seen her recently, he wondered what had happened to her, Sam would know. He made a mental note to ask.
Teal'c stepped around the building, the rest of the gang with him. Pete staggered out of the doors coughing to clear the smoke in his lungs from the 'explosion' that had 'killed' him.
Jack walked up to the group, everyone except Teal'c came to attention and saluted… he wanted to tell them not to bother but felt discipline would suffer if he allowed them the same casual attitude he had allowed in his last 3 commands, it was hard enough with them being relatives, without breaking all formal barriers down too soon.
Teal'c handed over a clipboard, the marks for each team, and each team member were displayed in the bold easy to read Jaffa handwriting. Jack was NOT surprised to find Luke scored low on working with the team unless he was the one in charge, and a side note said he refused to listen to any other opinion but his own when he was team leader, Jack had a sinking feeling that HE was going to be saddled with the man in the end, there was no way he could be sent through to Pegasus with his attitude, at least in the Milky Way he had a chance of not ending up on someone's menu through his arrogance.
Jane, Pete and Jon scored highest. None of them were married and thinking about the Presidents call earlier he provisionally marked them for Atlantis.
"Sir!" Jack would have groaned out loud, but he didn't want Luke to know he was getting under his skin.
"Major?" he turned
"Wouldn't we be better being trained by someone who is actually a member of the armed forces? I mean no disrespect intended towards Teal'c" oh Jack bet there wasn't any! "but what qualifies him to teach US? OK so he was high in the ranks of the enemy at one time, but just because he is a turncoat shouldn't mean we have to obey him"
"Major O'Brien!" Jack snapped and his brother jumped to attention. "Teal'c has shown his loyalty to Earth more times than YOU have seen combat! Added to that his experiences offworld and as a Jaffa to the Goa'uld, and his exceptional skills as a warrior he should automatically command your respect, however if you feel unable to follow his orders, just let me know, I'll have you busted down to Second Lieutenant so fast your head will spin and we will see how much you enjoy being the bottom of the pile!"
The man was bright red, especially as everyone else was witnessing his dressing down. Jack had every reason to berate him publically, because if he didn't there was a risk that his attitude would spread to the others, and Jack couldn't have that happening.
"Teal'c!" he said and watched the man walk forwards with his leonine grace "Do you have a problem with this soldier?"
"No O'Neill, he will be worthy when he grows up" Jack saw Luke about to open his mouth, but one glance from Jack shut him up.
"Tell him how old you are!" Jack instructed, Teal'c paused momentarily and decided to give his real age not the time since his birth.
"I am one hundred and sixty three Earth years old" he stated, Jack watched the reactions of the other people.
"And please tell the Major your rank" he said
"My rank, according to your President of the United States is a Colonel of the United States Air Force" Jack smirked, he was ever so glad he had managed to persuade President Hayes to give the man a commission almost to the rank he deserved, Teal'c had sacrificed so much to stay with the humans… his wife, his world and his life with his son, 50 years on a spaceship… and now he was living a separate life from his second wife and his grandchildren so that he could be training this moron!
"So Luke" Jack said, bringing it down to the personal, "Anything you want to add before I allow him to rip your head from your shoulders? After all, we have a perfect safety record, no one would be surprised if it eventually broke." He had watched the colour drain from Lukes face, and though the others seemed surprised at the revelation of Teal'c rank they didn't have the same problem, because all had so far treated the man with the respect he deserved.
Jack wondered just how many of the old mans prejudices Luke was carrying around, he remembered the epithet directed at Teal'c during the party and wondered if the bigoted attitude he had grown up with was a part of Luke's problems… but then everyone had always found an excuse for Luke… maybe THAT was the main problem.
"I'm assigning you to work with the scientists" Jack decided, tired of trying to get blood from a stone. "Report to level 19, Samantha Carters lab, at 1600 for instructions.
"B…B…But, the training course?" Luke spluttered
"Forget it, you just flunked" Jack said "there's no way I'm having your attitude put a team in jeopardy, you can work with the tech on base. You won't be going off world again unless there's no choice" he turned his back on the fuming man.
He and Teal'c walked towards the others, Jane was coming along so well Jack was tempted to hurry her through and ask her if she wanted to go to Atlantis, but he knew as well as anyone that shortcuts in training led to nothing but dead soldiers. Teal'c promised to push her, IF Jack would put in for a promotion for her when she was finished. Jack was happy to oblige, from her service record he wondered why she was still a Captain anyway!
Though Teal'c had the rank he never used it, preferring to remain Jaffa rather than USAF, the rank was more honourary, a sign of the Presidents confidence in the man rather than a proper commission, T wouldn't have thanked him for the paperwork the job entailed. But that didn't mean the rank wasn't real… it was! And Jack intended for everyone to know he had it!
He looked at his watch, it was 1500 already, where had the day gone? With the next day being Saturday and the teams training, Jack felt he could safely leave and visit with the Nellis bunch on Monday. Nellis was a good location for the meeting because they had a huge underground hanger that Jack could park the puddle jumper in, rather than him just seeming to appear out of thin air while on the ground, and risk someone walking into the cloaked craft.
He jumped in the jeep, his security people following and he went back to the mountain.
He got to Sams lab with 20 minutes to spare and he explained about Luke and his attitude to first Jon and then Teal'c, Jack hoped she would generate more respect from the man as she had been an active front line officer, of good standing and the correct age group… if he had a problem it would either be with her being a scientist or female, and if he damaged his chance with Sam, who was the most reasonable person he knew, then he wouldn't be worth the effort of training.
Luke marched up, flanked by the SF who had given him a lift and had volunteered to guide him to the lab. He marched in and saluted Jack, offering his hand to Sam to shake. She did and she smiled at him, Jack gritted his teeth, and left before he said something he may regret.
At 1800 he finished the pile of papers that had piled up while he had been incapacitated, his staff were excellent at keeping the dross away and only giving him the stuff he needed, or wanted, to know. No bunting or mix up of potatoes for him to deal with nowadays, Damn! He was glad he shoved all that to Hank… Hank was better able to deal with it, having been on a desk since the early 90s… Jack had hated that part of his duties when he ran the SGC, and no matter how he tried he really couldn't bring himself to care about the small rubbish, even if he cared about the people who DID care!
He slipped his jacket off the back of his chair… damn he was going to have to wear his class As on Monday at Nellis! He looked at the BDU jacket, he wondered what the people would say if he went like that? He had to admit he didn't look much like his idea of a Lieutenant General unless he was in the full regalia, and that would make Boris the chimp look like he had power.
Then there was the fact that Sam wouldn't let him… she used any excuse she could to see him in his full get-up, though the after effects of THAT were always worth the trouble of wearing the starched collar!
He would be damned though if he was going to put on the full monkey suit when he went to the gulf… dessert camos were fine for there, they would stop him sweating like a pig… Class As heavy woollen cloth plus middle east weather was a sure thing for impending heat stroke!
He made his way to Sams lab to pick her up… he had a niggling feeling he was forgetting something, but he couldn't think what, and as he usually never forgot anything important he dismissed the feeling… all he wanted was to get home, crack a beer, light the grill and eat a steak! If Daniel and Teal'c came around, as they often did when he was in the springs, so much the better… if not he wouldn't mind a quiet night in with his wife!
OoΩoO
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