Disclosure - Disclosed
Disclosure - Disclosed
by Airam
Summary: Why would the President grant them an exception? He must have had a personal connection. Crossover with Jack Ryan novels.
Category: Action/Adventure, Drama
Crossover: other (not listed)
Season: Season 7
Pairing: Jack/Sam
Rating: 13+
Warnings: minor language
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 2005-03-01
Disclosure - Why the President would amend the rules for Jack and Sam. A crossover with Tom Clancy's novels.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Stargate characters or concepts. I am merely borrowing them. I am also borrowing several characters from the Jack Ryan series by Tom Clancy (up through Executive Orders). I have the utmost respect for Mr. Clancy, so any mischaracterization of them is my fault.
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Pairing: Sam and Jack of course!
Spoilers: For Stargate SG-1, all the way up through Season Seven and the first episodes of Season Eight where Jack takes over the SGC. Jack Ryan Novels, up through and including Executive Orders (and a spoiler from The Bear and the Dragon, Robbie is VP).
Timeline: So I have taken a few liberties with this to combine the two worlds. Stargate timeline- this is about three and a half years after the end of season seven where President Hayes has been recently inaugurated. Jack Ryan timeline- this is probably in the early summer before he himself is elected as President, so between Executive Orders and The Bear and the Dragon. One of the big liberties I have taken in combining the two worlds: President Hayes from Stargate is President Durling from Tom Clancy's novels. So in conclusion, Jack O'Neill has been head of the SGC for three years now, so it's been ten years since the beginning of the series. Jack Ryan has been President for about eight months.
Author's Notes: So the idea of this crossover came from reading "A New Life" by Brenna (I highly recommend this story!) The idea of writing a story about Presidential intervention came from reading a whole bunch of stories where the President gives them an exemption, I always wonder why? There'd have to be a personal connection right? He'd have to have met them right?
Also, I will try my best to clearly distinguish Jack O'Neill and Jack Ryan. If I just use Jack, hopefully the context will be clear so you know which one I am referring to.
I hope you enjoy this. Please send me any and all types of reviews (comments and critiques). Well, on with the story!
--- Prologue
It was after eight o'clock when General Hammond stepped into the office. The man behind the desk looked up when he heard his door being opened, unannounced. A slight smile appeared on his face when he saw George, "General, how the hell are you?"
"I told you to call me George, Arnie!" he teasingly chastised his friend as he held his hand out and shook hands.
"Not when you're in uniform!" he retorted. "How are things over at the Pentagon?" he cautiously asked him.
Hammond let out a deep sigh, "It's getting harder and harder! I'm glad we're finally doing this... How the hell did we do this the past eight months, Arnie?" he asked him unsure himself.
What they had done was keep the biggest secret on the planet a secret from even their own government over the past few months, ever since that fateful night in October when a crazed JAL pilot had crashed his plane into a Joint Session of Congress. They had kept an organization run by the United States Air Force a secret from the new President, the new Congress that had been elected, the new Cabinet, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the recently confirmed Vice President. There were only three people in official Washington who knew about Stargate Command: General George Hammond, former CO of the SGC; Major Paul Davis, liaison between the SGC and the Joint Chiefs; and Arnold Van Damm, Chief of Staff to the last two presidents and, now, the current Commander in Chief of the United States who had been unexpectedly promoted.
Before that night in October, there were quite a few people in Washington who knew about the SGC and their mission. But that night, the President, the Secretary of Defense, the Joints Chiefs, their aides, and almost a thousand other innocent victims died in the fireball that had become the Unites States Capitol building.
Once things had reasonably settled down after the incident, Arnie had met with Paul and George on how to proceed. They had decided that it was too dangerous to let anyone know about the program. Besides, it wasn't like they could report anything to Congress, and the ones who were newly elected were too wet behind the ears to hear something so vital as the SGC. With respect to the President, and the Cabinet he was forming, they knew he had enough on his plate. And besides, they didn't know if he would be there after the next election. Luckily the SGC's budget for the coming year had already been approved, so they could operate under the radar, albeit carefully and with a lot of side-stepping done by Major Davis and General Hammond over at the Pentagon.
But now, things were different. President John `Jack' Patrick Ryan had finally gotten his best friend, Rear Admiral Robert `Robbie' Jackson, USN Retired, confirmed by Congress as his Vice President. There was now an official Washington and an established line of succession to the presidency. After recent polls showed Jack Ryan with a twenty-point lead over his challenger for the Presidential election in November, the three co-conspirators had concluded that Jack Ryan would indeed be their next President for the next four years, and it was time to let him in on the secret that was the SGC.
Arnie shook his head, "I don't know George... But after tonight, we'll either still have our jobs or be brought up on charges of treason!"
George looked at the Chief of Staff, who he now called a friend and colleague, seriously, "How will he react?"
"He's a historian and an analyst... And he understands National Security..."
George chuckled, "Hopefully he'll understand Global Security!"
Arnie laughed as he stood up and called Mrs. Ellen Sumter, executive secretary to the President. As he waited for her to pick up, he smiled at George, "I hope so too... Mrs. Sumter, is the President done with his meeting?... Okay, thank you very much." He replaced the receiver and walked around the desk to lead George to the adjoining Oval Office. "I guess it's time to find out..."
George took a deep breath as he followed Arnie down the private adjoining hall connecting the two offices. "Mr. President, I need to talk to you," Arnie called out as he led George in.
President Jack Ryan looked up from the briefcase he was packing up, "What is it Arnie? I'm tired and I want to go see my family," he tiredly told him before noticing the Air Force general following his chief of staff.
"We have a meeting," Arnie succinctly told him.
Jack was startled as he looked down at his desk schedule and then up at his head of security, Andrea Price. She was as shocked as he was; she wanted to pull her own copy of his itinerary out but stopped herself because there was an unknown man in the room with her charge. Jack looked back at Arnie and the general, "What meeting?"
"One that isn't on the books, sir. Sorry, I had to keep this one quiet, even from you." He saw Andrea take a step closer, "You too, I'm sorry," he told her as he looked over at her. "Jack, this is General George Hammond, there's something we need to tell you."
George stepped forward to shake hands with the President, out of the corner of his eye he saw the Secret Service agent take an even bigger step closer, "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. President."
Jack shook his hand as he looked at the faces of the three occupants in the room, "Uh... yeah... Arnie what's going on?"
"We need to talk in private," he told him as he indicated Agent Price with his eyes.
Jack squinted his eyes as he stared at Arnie. He was about to speak when Andrea interrupted him, "I don't leave this room Mr. President." Jack looked at her questioningly, Andrea explained, "With all due respect Mr. Van Damm, I don't know General Hammond. And I like the fact that neither the President nor I knew about this meeting even less. I'm here to protect you sir... No disrespect General."
Arnold was about to protest, but Hammond spoke up first, "None taken, ma'am. Let her stay Arnie. I have to warn you both, that what we are about to reveal to you is the most tightly guarded secret in the world, there are only three people here in Washington that know the whole story of what I am going to tell you Mr. President."
Jack was interested now, "What is it?"
Hammond spoke again, "No disrespect to you ma'am, but sir, do you trust her?"
"Agent Price is the head of my security detail, I trust her with my life," Jack smiled.
"General, I don't tell anyone about what I see."
"Not even the rest of the agents on his detail?"
"Generally, no...
"Well you're not going to tell them what we discuss here."
"General-" she was interrupted though by Arnie
"Andrea, this is serious stuff!"
She looked at them wide-eyed. She then looked at the President, who was silently analyzing General Hammond. "Andrea, it doesn't leave this room," he quietly ordered her.
Arnie spoke again, ready for the assault he would get from the Secret Service agent again, "I've also had all other monitoring equipment in this room turned off."
"You what?" Andrea yelled as she brought her hand mike up to her mouth to find out what was going on.
"Wait Andrea" Jack ordered her. He didn't know why, but he trusted the General in front of him; perhaps it was all his time he spent as an analyst.
"Sir!"
It was now Arnie's turn to speak up, "Andrea, turning off all recording devices has been standard procedure for the past ten years whenever discussing what we're about to reveal."
"What?" now it was Jack's turn to be startled. "What the hell have you been keeping from me Arnie?" he demanded of his chief of staff.
"Calm down Mr. President. Now, more than ever, I need you to be calm and listen." Arnie glared at his President. He knew he would win, he often did.
Jack stared at the pair in front of him for a long minute. He then turned to Andrea and nodded his head before coming around his desk and leading Arnie and George to the couches in the center of the room. "Okay, you have my complete attention," he told them as he sat down.
Arnie and George looked at each other as they sat down. Arnie nodded at George to have him start off. "Mr. President, as I said earlier, what I'm about to tell you is known by only a handful of people here in DC. I should start with some history... In 1928, the greatest discovery on Earth was made in Giza, Egypt," he began as he pulled out several folders from his briefcase and started to pull out a few pictures. "They found this," he told the President as he laid a picture of the SGC's Stargate on the table.
Jack leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees as he looked at the picture. Andrea herself even subtly leaned in to look at the picture. "What is it?"
"That, Mr. President, is a Stargate. It is a piece of alien technology used to travel instantly between different planets across the galaxy."
Two pairs of eyes stared at Hammond wide-eyed. Jack was the first to find his voice, "Alien technology?" he finally stammered out.
"Yes Mr. President. We are not alone in the galaxy. There are thousands of planets out there populated with humans."
Jack looked down at the picture and then up at Arnie, "Is this some kind of joke?"
"Mr. President, we have been fighting a war with aliens for the past ten years. This is very much real. This is one of the aliens we've fought," he told him as he laid a picture of Niirti on the table.
"She's just a woman!"
"What you are seeing sir, is a human. However, you are only seeing the host. What you can't see, is this," he told them as he pulled out another picture. "This is the Goa'uld parasite that lives within a host and has complete control of the body and mind."
Jack and Andrea stared at the pictures in silence, they had never seen a creature like this before. Arnie stood and walked to the mini-bar to retrieve two glasses of whiskey. When he came back, he offered them to Jack and Andrea. Andrea absently accepted the drink as she continued to stare down at the picture. As Arnie was sitting down, Jack looked down at the drink he now held in his hand and then up at Andrea, who was as confused and shocked as he was. "Sit down Andrea."
She absently sat down on the couch next to the President as she continued to stare at the pictures in front of her. "That... that thing lives in people?" she asked with a trace of fear and trepidation.
"Yes."
Jack looked at George. "I think you better start from the beginning..." he told him as he took a small sip of his drink, enough to calm his nerves but not affect his judgment.
"Yes sir... Ten thousand years ago, a race called the Goa'uld arrived on Earth through this Stargate. A Stargate is capable of creating a stable wormhole between two Stargates located on different planets throughout the galaxy. It allows for near instantaneous travel between planets that are hundreds of light years apart. There's a lot of physics and science behind it that I can have someone else explain to you later, Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter is the world's expert on the Stargate and alien technology... When the Goa'uld arrived on Earth, their hosts at the time were the Unas," he pulled out another picture. "When they arrived, they discovered the human race, and decided that humans would serve as their new hosts. The Goa'uld made themselves out to be Egyptian gods, Ra, Apophis, Anubis, Hathor, Osiris... the list goes on and on.
"We're not sure why or what happened, but for some reason the Goa'uld left Earth after a few hundred years. But, not before taking thousands of humans from here through the Stargate to other planets to serve as slaves and hosts. The Goa'uld have populated the galaxy with the descendents of our ancient ancestors from Egypt and across the world. Once the Goa'uld were gone, the Egyptians buried the Stargate to prevent their return. In 1928, the Stargate was uncovered. It took almost seventy years to figure out how to work that thing. Lt. Colonel Carter was able to develop the mechanism we use to operate the Stargate. Dr. Daniel Jackson was the one who figured out what it was and how to use it.
"Eleven years ago, we sent a mission to a planet called Abydos, at the time we thought it was the only planet accessed by the Stargate. While our team was there, they encountered the Goa'uld first-hand, they were able to destroy the Goa'uld they encountered, Ra. After Dr. Jackson had figured out how to return home, the team came home. Unknown to us, Dr. Jackson stayed on Abydos alive and well; he was married to a woman there, Sha're. When the team came back they told us that the other side had been destroyed, so we closed down the project... A year later though another Goa'uld System Lord, named Apophis, came through our Stargate. We went back to Abydos and found Dr. Jackson, who by that time had found out that there was an entire network of Stargates out there connecting thousand of planets.
"We at the SGC have been fighting the Goa'uld ever since. I was in charge of the SGC for the next seven years. The Stargate is located below NORAD at Cheyenne Mountain." Hammond paused as he let his brief overview sink in.
"Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this?" Ryan asked his chief of staff.
This was the question Arnie had been dreading, he took a deep breath before explaining. "As long as the Stargate has been operational we have kept its secrets classified to the highest levels. In the past, all the knowledge and background of the Stargate has been limited to the base personnel, the President, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, SecDef, a few members of the Senate Armed Forces Oversight Committee, an SGC-Pentagon liaison officer, and myself. We don't let anyone tell anyone on their staffs. You can understand why."
"Why haven't I been told about this?" Ryan glared at Arnie as anger slipped into his voice.
Arnie and George shared a look with each other. "Honestly, Mr. President, you had too much on your plate at the time."
"You don't get to make these types of decisions for me!" he yelled.
"There are a lot of decisions I make that I don't tell you about. Listen Jack!" he yelled back before Jack could interrupt him. "I made a call, I take full responsibility for it. But consider what was happening when you came into office! You were the entire US Government! You had no Congress! You had no Cabinet! You had no Joints Chiefs! You had no one to succeed you in the case of an accident! The only people left in DC who knew about the SGC were the two of us and Major Davis, who serves as the SGC-Joint Chiefs liaison. We met and decided that it was in your best interest not to burden you with this.
"We had enough going on at the time here on Earth, I couldn't have you be distracted by what was going on under a mountain in Colorado and throughout the galaxy! We were under attack here, on our own soil! Generals Hammond and O'Neill know how to do their job, I let them do it! We couldn't tell Congress because they were all too new to really understand the gravity of what we were telling them. We couldn't tell Bretano because he had enough to do trying to shape up the Pentagon and we didn't know if he would be here after November. And the Joint Chiefs we didn't tell because... hell I don't remember why we didn't, but we didn't!"
"So you're only telling me now because you are pretty sure that I'm going to win the election?"
"Yes!" Arnie exclaimed back. "Can you honestly tell me that you would have been able to handle hearing this information while trying to rebuild the government and dealing with that war we had with Daryei?"
Jack stared at Arnie for a long time before his face visibly softened, "You're right... But damn it, Arnie, you can't keep stuff like this from me."
"I know Mr. President, but I had to. Can you understand that?"
Jack nodded his head, "Yeah... I'm too Catholic to know that global security trumps national security."
Hammond silently chuckled. Jack looked over at the general, "What's so funny General?"
"General O'Neill said you were too Catholic," he told him lightly.
"Who's General O'Neill?"
Hammond explained, "He's the current CO of the SGC, has been for almost three years now. You actually know him, it's Jack O'Neill."
"Jack?" Ryan was shocked. "I was at his and Sara's wedding! Sara and Cathy were best friends from college... He's running the SGC?"
"Yes sir. When I was the base CO he was the team leader of our best team, SG-1. When I was transferred to the Pentagon under the previous President, he got promoted."
"He hates working behind a desk as much as I hate being President!"
"I don't know about the last part sir, but you're right he doesn't like it too much. But he makes a point of going out into the field every once in a while."
"I can't believe he's a General... I lost touch with him after Charlie..." he quietly added.
"A lot of people did sir. He was actually the one that led the first mission to Abydos. It was right after Charlie, the only reason he agreed was because he knew it was a suicide mission."
"Jesus! I know Sara took it pretty hard, but I had no idea..."
"Not many people did," Hammond reassured him.
Silence settled on the room for several minutes as Andrea and Jack continued to process the information. Jack finally spoke, "I want to see it."
Arnie and George shared another look with each other- things were going well. "We already have that scheduled."
"When?" he asked.
"Next week, you're doing a rally at NORAD and you were scheduled to go on vacation with your family for the next four days. If you'd like, we have it all set up for you to go to the SGC and no one will know about it."
"What?" Andrea asked. "You've been planning an under the table trip for the President and you didn't tell me about it? I'm head of his security detail! I need to know these things!"
"What was I going to do Andrea? Tell you about what was going on under that mountain before I told him?"
Andrea opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't find words to express her frustration, she knew he was right. She was still having a hard time accepting the fact that there were aliens out there in the universe who were bent on enslaving or killing every human on Earth. "I just hate surprises!" she told them.
Jack looked over at Andrea and smiled slightly at her, "Me too! ... How do we do this? How do we go about letting the proper people know about this?"
"Who do you want to tell first?" Arnie asked him.
"Well Tony and Robbie need to know... It'll be easier to tell the Joint Chiefs if they know about it already."
"They can come with us to Colorado," Hammond told him.
"I'd also like to tell Cathy."
"Uh, Mr. President, I'm not sure that's such a good idea..." Arnie began.
General Hammond interrupted, "No, that's okay. Jack said it'd be okay for her to know, he knows how close you two are."
"Thank you... She's not going to believe this... Hell, I hardly believe it myself!" he added with a slightly hysterical laugh.
"Most people have a hard time believing it without seeing it. May I suggest though that we don't tell anyone before we get there?"
Jack nodded his head, "That'll be fine." He leaned back in the couch and sat staring at the pictures, he finally spoke in a quiet voice, "I'd like to go through."
Andrea quickly turned her eyes to her charge, "What?!"
"I want to go through that thing. General, can Jack arrange that?"
Andrea was still shocked, "NO! I can't have you traveling to another planet! It's not safe!"
Jack turned to her and gently spoke, "No one out there knows who I am, I'm not in any danger of being assassinated out there."
"That can be arranged sir," Hammond told him.
"No!" Andrea still wasn't pleased with this. As she stared into Jack's eyes she realized that she was going to lose this battle. "Then the entire detail goes with us!"
George let out a small hiss as he took a sharp intake of air. "Ahh... actually that would be more dangerous..."
"What?" Andrea was indignant.
"The SG teams there will be able to provide security, they know what to expect when going off-world."
"I'm sorry Mr. President, either I take my own team or I won't let you go!"
"With all due respect Agent Price, but your agents are trained to protect a single individual. They aren't familiar with real combat situations. We don't plan on taking the President to a dangerous planet, but we have to be prepared just in case. And that means taking a team who can handle themselves in a combat situation against aliens."
Andrea turned to the President, "Sir, I really don't like this idea. We don't know what could happen out there, and I don't feel safe with you going out there without people to protect you."
Jack studied her- he knew she was right. He did respect her, so he sought a compromise, "What if we augment my security with some people who are familiar with combat situations?"
"Who do you have in mind?" Hammond asked.
"Clark and Chavez."
"Who are they?"
"You think a couple of spooks can protect you?" Andrea asked.
"They've already had that job Andrea, they did it while I was the NSA." He then turned to Hammond, "John Clark is a former SEAL who did a few covert missions in `Nam. He's the best recon and field officer at the Agency. Domingo Chavez is a former Army Ranger, he was part of the team that I helped get out of Columbia a few years back. They've both seen combat and they do their jobs well. Andrea, I trust those men with my life as much as I trust you and Roy to protect me and Cathy."
Andrea stared hard at the President, she knew he meant what he said. She grudgingly relented, "Does that mean Roy's coming to?"
Jack nodded his head, "You, Roy and Robbie's head of detail will be the only ones in the Secret Service who know about this. John and Ding will work with you while we're there. They're right, we have to keep this secret tight..."
"So the only one's accompanying us to the SGC will be yourself, the Vice President, Secretary Bretano, your wife, and your security detail of five?" Hammond asked for clarification.
"Yes," Jack responded.
Arnie and George stood up, "Okay Mr. President, I'll make the final arrangements. Don't worry, Andrea, I'll fill you in on them. Thank you Mr. President."
"Thank you Mr. President," Hammond also said as he shook hands with his commander in chief. "I'll see you next week." The two men then left via the adjoining hallway to Arnie's office.
Jack and Andrea remained on the couch still in a state of shock from everything they had learned in the past hour. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Jack got up and retrieved the bottle of whiskey and poured more into their glasses. Andrea tried to refuse. "Andrea, we just learned that we're not alone in the universe and in a week we are going to go to another planet! I think we both need another drink."
There was no point arguing with that. "Is this for real?"
"I think so..." As Jack thought about it some more he started to get excited about it, "Can you believe it that we're going to another planet in a week? ... There probably aren't a hundred people who can say they have... This is a chance in a lifetime!"
Andrea shook her head as she saw the excitement on his face, his excitement spread to her. "It's definitely the experience of a lifetime!"
***
A week later SGC
Cathy leaned over to Jack as they rode down in the elevator, "Jack, where are we going?"
"To see the most amazing thing," he told her cryptically.
All the inactive military personnel shared an unsure look with each other. Ding quietly whispered to his partner, "Why are we bodyguards again?"
John shrugged his shoulders, "Because he asked us to Ding," he told him as he pointed to Ryan.
"Yeah, but he's got the Secret Service Mr. C."
John didn't have time to reply as the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened. "If you'll follow me," General Hammond told them as he led them out of the elevator. They walked down a long corridor and made a few turns before he led them to a conference room guarded by a Sergeant.
The guard snapped to attention when he saw General Hammond, "General Hammond."
Hammond smiled, "Sergeant Matthews. How've you been? Jack tells me that you're a new father."
The man beamed back with pride at his former CO, "Yes sir. A little baby girl, her name's Janet Alexandra."
"Congratulations Sergeant!" All the members of the entourage were now in the conference room looking around and wondering what they were doing there. The blast doors were down at the moment. George walked over to the controls and asked the guard a question, "Where's General O'Neill, Sergeant?"
The man hesitated before answering, "Uh, he's down in the control room. SG-1 is overdue by four hours."
General Hammond looked back with concern, "Do we know anything?" The guard shook his head. "Would you go tell him that we're here but that I can start the presentation?"
"Yes sir," the man snapped as he raced down to the control room to find the CO.
Robbie was the first to ask the question that was on most everyone's mind, "Where are we? And what's SGC stand for?"
General Hammond faced them all, "What you are all about to see is the most highly classified secret in the world. We are twenty six floors below ground level in the heart of Stargate Command." He then turned and flipped a switch that retracted the blast shield so that the occupants could look down into the embarkation room.
Everyone stepped forward to take a look. Except for Ryan and Andrea's face, there were only blank confused expressions, they didn't know what they were looking at. Tony Bretano asked the obvious question, "What is that?"
"That ladies and gentleman is a Stargate. It is-"
"Off-world Gate activation," the speakers blared as the klaxons started and the Stargate came to life.
"Excuse me!" Hammond told them as he rushed down to the control room to see what was going on.
"Off-world activation?" Ding whispered as they watched the ring of the Stargate rotate and start to light up.
Within seconds of the klaxons starting the Gateroom was filled with a platoon of Marines with their rifles drawn and aimed at the center of the open ring. They watched in awe as a metal shutter sealed across the center of the ring. All of a sudden they watched as the ring stopped rotating and they heard a large whooshing sound as the area behind the sealed Stargate lit up. After a tense ten seconds they watched as the shutter opened and revealed a vertical wall of shimmering water. "What the...?"
What they saw next surprised them even more, they saw three people step out of the water, one woman and two men. They noticed the man with glasses was limping down the ramp and heavily relying on the tall black man for support. From one of the opening side doors an older man in BDU's stepped through, "What the hell took you guys so long?"
"Is that Jack?" Cathy asked her husband, who nodded back.
The woman smiled at her CO, "Daniel had a... run in with a deep hole sir."
General Jack O'Neill looked at the man with glasses, "Danny, how many times have I told you to watch where you're going?"
Daniel just glared at him. George walked up behind Jack, "Jack, now you know how I felt whenever you guys were late coming through the iris."
Jack spun around, "I was never that bad!"
Sam laughed, "Sir, you were worse!"
Jack looked back at his Major, "No I wasn't!"
Daniel spoke, "Yes you were!"
"No I wasn't!"
"Were!"
"Wasn't!"
"Were!"
"Was not!"
"Ah, how I miss that sound," General Hammond laughed as he looked up at the conference room and saw them all staring down at them. "Why don't you guys go get checked out and meet us up in the conference room right away, the President's waiting."
"Yes sir," Sam told him as the trio headed off to the infirmary and get cleaned up.
As Jack and George walked up to the conference room they spoke, "Was I really that bad sir?"
"Jack, you can call me George now! And yes, you were that bad! I hardly ever remember you guys coming through the gate on time or early."
"There were plenty of times that we came through early!"
"Yes and you were usually under fire and getting the Gate room all shot up as you all threw yourselves through the gate!"
The two men laughed as they stopped in the control room for several minutes to discuss SGC matters. After fifteen minutes they finally entered the conference room.
"Jack!"
"Jack! Cathy!" O'Neill called out as he walked over and gave each of them a hug, much to the dismay of Agents Andrea Price and Roy Altman who watched him closely. "It's good to see you guys!"
Cathy whispered into his ear, "It's been too long."
Jack stepped back, "It has. By the way, congratulations Mr. Pre-"
"Don't even finish that Jack, or I swear to God I'll get one of my detail here to shoot you in the knee!"
Jack raised his hands to his heart, "That's low man! As if I didn't have enough to worry about with my knees, you were always trying to go after them!"
Cathy shook her head as she smiled, "Don't worry Jack, I won't let him hurt you. Because if he does then I'm going to have a chat with his doctor before he gets his next physical!" she told them with an evil look in her eye.
Both men cringed at the thought of painful physicals. "What is it with you doctors? Do you guys always exact your revenge through physicals? The Doc here threatened me with that all the time..." As soon as he had uttered the words his face fell as he remembered their fallen colleague. The tension filled the room as they saw the unease in both General's eyes.
Jack Ryan knew his old friend had a hard time discussing his feelings and so he decided to start with introductions. "Jack there's some people I'd like you to meet... Jack O'Neill this is Robbie Jackson, Tony Bretano."
"Mr. Vice President, Mr. Secretary," he addressed them as he held out his hand.
"And this is Andrea Price, she's head of my detail, Roy Altman, he's the head of Cathy's, and Kevin Cross, he's Robbie's."
Jack nodded at all three, knowing they wouldn't shake hands while on duty. "And this is John Clark and Domingo Chavez."
Jack immediately saw that these men had served in the military and seen action, "Mr. Clark, Mr. Chavez."
"General," they both replied.
"Ding. Mr. Chavez is my dad," he told him with a smile as he made an attempt to lighten the mood.
"I know what you mean, I still have a hard time responding to General. Whenever someone yells `General,' I start looking around for him," he told them as he pointed back at General Hammond. "Well, shall we sit down?" he asked as he led them back to the conference table.
After a few seconds of playful arguing and Cathy finally pulling her husband away, O'Neill sat at the head of the table. On his left were General Hammond, Robbie Jackson and Tony Bretano. On the right were Jack and Cathy Ryan. Andrea, Roy, and Kevin took up positions behind their charges while John and Ding went to cover the entrances. "John sit down," Ryan ordered.
"Sir-"
"John, I didn't bring you here to just serve as my bodyguard. I brought you along for your experience. Right now, I am relying on you for your experience."
"Yes sir," he told him as he took the seat next to Cathy Ryan.
O'Neill spoke, "I'm glad you could make it Jack, I've been wanting to tell you for a while... I would have loved to have been there when General Hammond told you!"
"Which reminds me Jack, `Too Catholic'?"
O'Neill uncomfortably looked over at Hammond. Robbie, Tony, Kevin, and Ding were the only ones in the room to notice the small smirk appear on Andrea's face. `What's she know?'
"Well you are!" he defended himself with the truth.
Cathy leaned over, "Jack, what are you talking about?"
"Just the fact that, apparently, I'm too Catholic to not put national security before global security, even if it is done without my knowledge!"
"What the hell are you talking about Jack?" Robbie asked for everyone else that was still in the dark. "Global security?"
"Yeah, that's what we do here," O'Neill clarified as he tried to look out the door.
"What exactly do you do here?" Tony Bretano asked General O'Neill.
Jack O'Neill looked at Hammond momentarily, "Shouldn't you be doing this?"
"You're the one in command of the SGC now!" he lightheartedly told him.
"Yeah, but you're better at this stuff than I am. And you didn't have to tell the Vice President and the Secretary of Defense," Jack whined.
"You're right, I just had to tell the President!"
Jack's eyebrows came together, he had him on that one. He then turned to everyone around the table, "Right... So... Uh what do we do here?... To put it simply... we save the world."
They all just stared at him, not knowing whether to take him seriously or not. Through most people's mind similar thoughts were racing, especially after watching his interactions in the room below. The questions ranged from: They put this guy in charge, Where did they find this guy, They made Jack a general, and in Andrea's mind: This guy is in charge of saving the world from aliens?
Ryan turned to his friend, "Jack, why don't you start by explaining to them what the Stargate is?"
Jack sat up, "Good idea... I was just hoping that Carter or Daniel would be here for this, they do a better job of explaining all this stuff than me... Ah, here they are!" he excitedly exclaimed as Sam and Teal'c walked in. "Where's Danny?"
"Getting X-rays done on his ankle, sir," the female Lt. Colonel replied as she stood at attention at the opposite end of the table with Teal'c standing next to her.
"Figures... Anyways, ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you the leader of SG-1, Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, and Teal'c. This is President Jack Ryan..." he continued on with the formal introductions for Teal'c's benefit. They all eyed Teal'c curiously, or more accurately, the gold emblem on his forehead.
"Carter, why don't you explain to them what we do here?"
"Yes sir. What have you told them so far?"
"That we save the world," he helpfully told her.
"That's it?" Jack O'Neill merely smiled back. "Riiight... thanks for the introduction sir," she flashed him a coy smile before she stood back and started her presentation. "Did you all witness what happened down below?"
"Yeah, what was that?" Robbie asked.
"That was a Stargate. It is a piece of alien technology that was created by the Ancients millions of years ago. The St-"
"Aliens?" Ding asked from his post. "Like little green aliens with big black eyes?"
Jack couldn't help himself, "Actually they're not green, they're gray... very nice the Asgard are..."
Sam tried to contain her smile, "General O'Neill is referring to the Asgard, an ally of ours. Most of the individuals we have encountered though have a human form. In fact, Teal'c is from a planet called Chulack." Teal'c turned to the others at the table and slowly nodded his head once. They all stared intently at Teal'c for several seconds before Sam continued with her presentation. "As I was saying, the Stargate is capable of transporting objects across the galaxy to other Stargates that are a part of a vast network set up by the Ancients. The Stargate is able to allow for near instantaneous travel across the galaxy by creating a stable wormhole to a receiving Stargate that we dial to."
Over the next two hours Sam filled them in on the history of the Stargate and went into the physics behind it, much to O'Neill's dismay but to Tony and Robbie's pleasure. Halfway through the presentation, Daniel limped into the conference room and provided them with information from an anthropological point of view.
When Sam and Daniel had finished their presentation, those recently introduced to the work of the SGC sat (or in the case of the detail, stood) in silence as they let the information further sink in. It wasn't every day that one found out that there were aliens out there and that there was even one sitting at the end of the table with them!
"How long have you known about this Jack?"
President Ryan looked over at his wife, "We've known about it for a week."
"We?" Cathy asked as she looked over at her husband's best friend and Vice President. Robbie shook his head and shrugged his shoulders as he waited to hear his response.
"General Hammond and Arnie briefed me and Andrea on the Stargate program last week."
Robbie and Tony's eyes went wide, "Arnie knew about this?" Roy and Kevin looked over at Andrea as they recalled that she hadn't been anywhere near as shocked as they were through out the presentation.
"Yeah... Apparently Arnie, General Hammond and a Major Davis have been running the SGC from DC without anyone's knowledge."
Tony turned and looked over at the Pentagon man sitting next to him, "How the hell have you done that without my knowledge?"
General Hammond steeled himself before making his response, he'd been expecting this question, much as he and Arnie had anticipated it when briefing the President. "Mr. Secretary, I sincerely do apologize for the deceit and side stepping I have had to do at the Pentagon to keep this place running, but Arnie and I decided it was in the best interest of all those involved that we do so. The Stargate Program is funded by Project Bluebook, have you heard of it?"
Tony looked over at Robby, who used to be a J-3 (Assistant to the Joint Chiefs) during the previous President's tenure, and more recently Tony's operations no-bullshit man. Robbie shook his head, "I've never heard of it."
"The Project is very well hidden... And to be honest Mr. Vice President, I'm glad to hear that you've never heard of it."
"Excuse me General?" he asked in a slightly threatening tone.
Hammond didn't even flinch, a slightly annoyed former Admiral and current Vice President was nothing compared to facing a few Goa'uld! "Knowledge of the SGC has been tightly controlled in Washington D.C. Previously it had been limited to the President, his Chief of Staff, the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs, a few members of the Senate Armed Forces Oversight Committee, and the liaison between the SGC and the Pentagon. All meetings are held in closed rooms and everyone is forbidden from discussing any of it with anyone on their staff, sir. Now that you are all aware of what goes on down here, you can understand why... We'll be holding you all to the same standards as well."
Tony was about to say something but was interrupted by the President, "And I agree with him. I know how important it is to keep certain things from becoming public knowledge, this trumps every single thing I have done with the CIA."
Everyone around the table nodded their heads in understanding. They all remembered the fiasco with the two reporters who had ambushed him on live TV and revealed classified information from his days as a CIA analyst.
No one more than John Clark understood the vitality of keeping certain classified operations a secret, in thirty years with the Agency he had done too many covert operations to not understand that. He enjoyed his privacy and wished for the sake of those here, who risked their lives every day they went through the Stargate to defend this planet, that they would be able to continue to do their duty and not be distracted by the media.
Tony nodded his head at the President, "Yes sir," as everyone else also nodded their heads in acceptance.
"Now that you have been informed, Mr. Secretary, I'll be briefing you and the Joint Chiefs on a regular basis."
"I also want regular updates," Ryan stated.
"Yes, Mr. President."
"Well..." Jack started, "now that we got the history out of the way, you guys want a tour of this place?"
"Excellent idea Jack," the president responded as he began to stand up, which was accompanied by everyone else standing up with him.
Jack smiled and looked over at Sam, "Did you hear that Carter?"
"Excuse me, sir?" she asked as she looked at him with a confused expression.
He grinned even wider as he replied, "The President of the United States just said I had an excellent idea!"
Sam tried hard to hide the smirk that was spreading across her face, "Congratulations sir... I knew you had it in you!"
General Hammond merely nodded his head and smiled as he watched the banter between his two best people. The others watched on with curious eyes at this interaction between two Air Force officers.
"Hey! I'm not the one who has `dumb ideas'!" he countered back.
Sam smiled and bit back a retort, she didn't know how far she could push the envelope in the presence of the President, Vice President, and the Secretary of Defense. Daniel however felt no such inhibitions. "Yes, but, Jack, who calls on her for her so called `dumb ideas'?"
Jack glared at his best friend, he wasn't going to answer him.
But Teal'c was, "The Asgard."
Daniel beamed with pride as he turned to his teammate, "Exactly! And would you like to explain to everyone here who the Asgard are?"
"Teal'c don't answer that! That has nothing do with this discussion!" Jack warned.
Teal'c looked over at his friend and raised his eyebrow before turning away and looking at President Ryan. "I believe it has everything do with this discussion O'Neill. The Asgard are the most advanced race of beings in the universe. They have relied upon ColonelCarter many times to save themselves and their home planet."
O'Neill was about to say something when he heard his old friends chuckle. Cathy spoke before her husband, "Jack give it up! As much as I love my husband and think how smart he is, a `dumb idea' in these Asgard's mind is a lot more of a compliment than an `excellent idea' from him," she said as she pointed at her husband.
"Yeah, but-"
"Jack, just admit it! She's a hell of a lot smarter than you are!"
Sam grinned, "Thank you Mr. President! I'm glad someone around here appreciates me, sir."
Jack raised his voice, "Hey I appreciate you being around here Carter! I know for a fact that this place wouldn't function without you!" Jack smiled at the compliment he gave his favorite scientist.
Sam was still having her fun though, "Is that why you are always ordering me off the base, sir?" she asked him sweetly.
Jack opened his mouth to speak but found he had no response to that. It was the truth after all, he just wished it would never come back and bite him in the ass! "Yeah... well... Damnit!" Jack grinned as he shook his head at the Colonel and conceded defeat as he began to lead them on a tour of the base.
Daniel leaned over to Teal'c as they followed, "Two more points for Sam."
Ninety minutes later they were back in the conference room. "So Jack, what's on the agenda for the next few days?"
"Well sir, we'll have you come back tomorrow in the morning to brief you some more on what to expect on traveling through the gate. We'll-"
"We get to go through that thing?" Robbie asked with a grin on his face.
"Yes sir. We're scheduled to take you all through the day after tomorrow to take a look at our Alpha Site and meet some of our allies," Jack explained to them.
"What's it like?" Robbie asked.
"You used to be a fighter pilot right, sir?"
"Yeah, I flew Tomcats for the Navy."
"Then you'll love traveling through the Stargate!" Jack promised him.
"Why can't we go through tomorrow afternoon?" Ryan asked.
"Because you're coming over to my house tomorrow night for dinner," O'Neill supplied.
Jack and Cathy looked at their old friend, "Andrea, care to explain?"
"Yes sir. Mr. Van Damm, General Hammond and I thought you might enjoy having dinner with General O'Neill. And it's my understanding that Sarah Mills and her current husband, Greg, are leaving for Europe the day after tomorrow."
"Don't tell me you're starting to do things without my knowledge too now?"
Jack spoke up and bailed the Secret Service agent out, "I told them not to tell you, I wanted it to be a surprise!"
"You know I don't like surprises Jack!" Ryan reminded him.
"I know," he smugly replied.
Ryan shook his head before looking over at the head of his security detail and whispering, "Let's not try and make a habit of this, okay?"
Andrea nodded, "Yes sir."
"Thanks though."
"Your welcome," she quietly replied.
Ryan then looked up at everyone else, "So what time is dinner?"
"It's at six o'clock... Mr. Vice President, Mr. Secretary, I'd be honored if you'd both join us tomorrow night for an informal, yet formal, grill out tomorrow evening," Jack O'Neill told them.
Both men looked to the President and saw that he would be happy to have them there as well before accepting the invitation. "Excellent!" Jack cried out.
* The Next Night Jack O'Neill's home
"I can't even remember the last time I grilled out!"
Jack O'Neill looked at his friend and current commander in chief, "That's a shame... You really should do it more often, you know that you'll lose your touch if you don't do it often!"
"Don't I know it... Hell, Cathy and I had to almost fight just to serve breakfast for our selves!" he informed him.
O'Neill reached out with the tongs and began to turn one of the many shish kabob skewers spread out on his grill. After a moment of silence, he seriously asked him a question, "How is the job?"
"Hard! I can't believe people fight for this job... One of the most annoying things is that I can't even do any of my own work or research! That's what I loved about being an analyst, it was like solving a puzzle... Now, someone else does all that for me and I just get the highlights and have to make a decision on it!"
He nodded his head in understanding, "I know what you mean..."
President Ryan looked over at Jack O'Neill and nodded his head, "Yeah, how did you become a General? Didn't you promise yourself that you would never sit behind a desk?"
Jack chuckled, "Yeah I did... I hate sitting behind that desk and watching all the teams go through and do all the exploring... It's no fun worrying about your teams..." At that moment, Sam and Cathy Ryan walked out to the patio carrying trays of vegetables (for Teal'c) and hamburgers for the small children (the First Children and General Hammond's granddaughters). "And it's all her fault," Jack exclaimed as he pointed the tongs at Sam Carter.
"What did I do this time, sir?" she asked as she set a tray down and helped Cathy with her tray before holding out a few beers to both men.
"Bully me into taking Hammond's old job."
"For the record sir, it was Daniel who mentioned that you could do whatever you wanted," she told them with a smile.
"Yes, but I couldn't leave you guys with someone much worse in charge, now could I?"
Sam shook her head, "You're not going to let me live that down are you, sir?"
"Not anytime soon," he told her as he turned back to the meat on the grill. "Oh and Carter, probably not a good idea to put the First Lady to work!"
Sam opened her mouth to speak, but Cathy beat her to it. "Trust me she didn't! I had to practically order her to let me help her out."
Jack Ryan nodded his head and smiled at his wife. "Don't you hate doing that Cath?" He then looked at both Jack and Sam to explain, "Sometimes we just want to feel like normal people again!"
"And if they don't get it, they order the rest of us to treat them like normal people," Robbie chimed in as he walked up to the group. "Do you remember that time in your office where you ordered me to call you Jack, forced Andrea to sit down, and enjoy myself or you'd have Andrea shoot me?"
Ryan chuckled, "Yeah I remember... Sometimes a man just needs to feel like a man, and not the President of the United States."
"And having a relaxing night at a friend's house is just that..." Cathy commented.
"How do you guys know the General here?" Robbie asked.
"Sarah and I were very close friends back in college. Jack and I got to know him after he married Sarah and he was stationed at Andrews."
Sam looked over at her CO, "When were you stationed at Andrews, sir?"
"Wouldn't you like to know!" Jack told her with a smug grin.
She just stared at him while Cathy laughed. "Sam, don't you ever want to just wipe that smirk off his face?"
"The Air Force doesn't look too favorably on assaulting Brigadier General's, ma'am!" she told her in a round about way that she would love nothing more at times.
Cathy turned and began to lead Sam away, "Well, I know his boss, and I'm sure we can maybe bend the rules a little... No one should have to suffer, as I'm sure you have, working with him for... What? How long have you worked with him?"
"Ten years, ma'am."
Cathy turned to look at Sam before looking back at her husband and friends, "Oh dear God, I'm so sorry! Jack should give you a medal!"
The three men watched the two women walk off as Cathy continued to laud Sam for her perseverance.
"She definitely deserves a medal!" Jack Ryan added as he continued to tease his old friend.
"More than you know, sir! And not for just putting up with me!" he quickly added. "She's the smartest person I've ever known and one of the best soldier's."
"Hell of a combination," Robbie commented.
"Oh yeah... She can ramble with the best of them about her little doo-hickey's and then come up with a way to save the planet."
Ryan shook his head, "You know, for as much work with the CIA as I did, it all pales in comparison to what you guys do here! It's hard to fathom that while I thought I was doing something important by bringing down the Columbian drug cartel, I had no idea that the fate of our existence was at stake and being defended from Colorado Springs!"
"And I used to think flying Tomcats was an experience, I'm betting that it'll be nothing compared to what we do tomorrow!"
"It is pretty exciting," Jack agreed.
"So how many times have you guys saved the planet?"
Jack O'Neill shrugged, "I don't know, but Carter's definitely leading the race of coming up with ideas to save the planet."
"Like what?"
"Well, she once had this idea to take a meteor through the planet by jumping into hyperspace..." he told them as he turned the skewers.
Both men's eyes went wide as their mouths opened in shock. "She flew a... meteor through..? How did she know it'd work?"
He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know... I just know that most of her ideas work and she comes through in the clutch..." He went on to tell them stories of her other ideas that had saved them, and other planets, many a time.
The President and Vice President looked through the patio windows and saw Sam speaking with Tony Bretano. "Damn!" Ryan whispered.
Robbie then turned to O'Neill, "You make sure that we don't ever lose her, you hear?"
Jack looked up and into his house as his eyes sought out Sam. She happened to look up at the same moment and they both shared a small smile with each other. "I don't plan to, sir." `I don't know what I'd do if I lost her...' Jack wondered to himself.
TBC
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