Chapter 1 - Arrival
A motion in her peripheral vision caused Major General Kate Lippert, US Army, to look up from the report she was reading, to see Admiral Harold Garner walk into her new office. Kate had just moved to her new command, head of the NORAD command and control center, and was going through summarized reports of the week's activities of the various other commands at Cheyenne Mountain, as well as those of her own command.
"Sir," she said as she rose, "I wasn't expecting to see you until this afternoon."
"Actually, I'm here to be your escort, Kate," he replied, stopping just inside her door. "You have an appointment to see Jack O'Neill in the Deep Space Radar facility in 15, and I'm going to see you to his office."
She looked at her commander, puzzled. Admiral Garner, a four-star, was the senior flag officer of the various commands housed at Cheyenne, which included both NORAD and NORTHCOM. And he was going to be her escort? Surely her EA would handle that mundane task. It still irked her somewhat that she, a two-star flag officer, was expected to go to the Brigadier General's office for their initial meeting, rather than he extending the expected courtesy to come here to greet her. A West Point grad (in fact, a graduate of one of the first classes to admit women), she was military through and through, especially when it came to protocol. What's more the man had even failed to attend the flag officers' reception held in her honor when she first arrived at her new assignment, sending last minute regrets, another breech of military etiquette. Couldn't even spare two minutes for introduction? She meant to comment to him at this meeting today. All she knew of O'Neill was what was contained in his official Air Force bio, and that he had been promoted to his position, Commander of the Deep Space Radar facility a little less than a year ago, after having been 2IC for 7 years.
But now, here stood her CO to "escort" her to O'Neill. Curious, she moved around her desk to the Admiral's side. "I suppose we can't keep the man waiting. And I'm honored, sir, but it really isn't necessary for you to accompany me."
Garner smiled broadly, and turned to leave, Lippert following.
"Oh, I wouldn't miss this for the world!"
Down a hallway, and then down an elevator, they moved toward the lowest levels of the mountain, where O'Neill's Deep Space Radar Telemetry project was housed. Strangely, she had not yet been shown this particular part of the Mountain, even though she had gotten "The Tour" when she first arrived. To her, it seemed another slight, or at minimum a glaring oversight. The elevator stopped, and the two officers exited to a large room, where there was a guard post. The SF's on duty saluted them, and the Admiral signed in, motioning Kate to do the same.
"You have a package for me, Sergeant?" Garner asked the NCO on duty.
"Yes, sir," he pulled out a manila envelope, marked with classification stamps, and handed it to the Admiral. Garner turned again to Kate, and led her to another elevator and they proceeded down again.
"Before we meet Jack, I want to let you know a couple of things, Kate. First, this is not a joke - no trick on the newbie - which is part of why I'm coming along. Approval for you to have access to this facility comes from the Joint Chiefs. You are authorized for an overview only, and will not be briefed on its day-to-day missions. In fact, your need to know is only because of your command's proximity to the project. In fact, for the first few years of the project, even I didn't have clearance to know about what was going on down here. But, as we discovered, when there's a problem below, there is sometimes a problem above, and that necessitated allowing all commanders in the mountain to have clearance."
He looked at her puzzled face with a smile, paused, and his expression became serious. "And there have been problems," he said ominously. "I want you to know, I understand that you may be a little miffed in the breach of usual protocol - you may have some questions about why Jack did not come up to brief you, rather than vice-versa, but you will see that this installation has the highest security classification in the country, and information cannot be discussed in the NORAD spaces - only within the confines of the SGC itself."
"SGC?"
"And as for Jack O'Neill," he continued, ignoring her question, "let's just say, that if and when this program ever goes public, he will be one of the greatest heroes this country, our world, has ever known. You and I will be bragging to our grandchildren that we knew him, and his people, especially those of SG-1," he handed her the envelope. "This is the classified version of Jack's bio. You'll have a chance to read it while you're here. Before you leave, please leave it with Dr. Jackson, whom you'll meet later."
Garner paused for a moment, taking a breath before continuing, "Kate, I respect the hell out of Jack O'Neill, and so will you when you get to know him."
Kate looked at him with amazement. What is going on here? The elevator was coming to a stop now.
"Well!" Garner exclaimed, rubbing his hands together, a smile broadening across his face, "As Jack likes to say, 'We're not in Kansas anymore.'"
The door slid open, and there in the hall stood Air Force Brigadier General Jack O'Neill, unfolding his arms from across his chest, calling the SF's with him to come to attention. Garner quickly stepped out of the elevator, moving forward to shake hands, clapping Jack on the shoulder.
"Jack, how are you? May I introduce Major General Kate Lippert, Commander of NORAD Command and Control Center?"
O'Neill shook his hand and turned to Kate. "Sir, Ma'am, welcome to Stargate Command."
"Stargate Command?" she asked, shaking his hand.
O'Neill's mouth quirked up into a crooked grin. "For the past eight years, it has been the mission of this command to explore other planets by means of an alien transportation device called the Stargate. My command is a front-line exploration and, when need be, combat unit, made up of a mix of scientists, Special Forces, linguists, and other specialty personnel. We are a joint military and civilians force."
"And Jack was the first man through the Stargate," Garner injected.
"Well, not exactly," O'Neill replied, cocking his head to the side.
Kate was staring at him, open-mouthed. Despite Garner's assurances, surely this was a joke on the newbie. She turned to Garner with a sharply questioning gaze, and he broke out laughing, slapping Jack on the back.
"I bet this just never gets old, does it, Jack?"
"No, sir, it doesn't," he smiled. "I think we should adjourn to my office, where you can sit down, Ma'am, to be briefed."
Garner moved back toward the elevator, still laughing. "Sorry, I have to get back to my office. I just had to see the look on your face." Kate stiffened as he moved past her and whispered "Decorum, Kate, decorum; you look a little pale."
O'Neill and Lippert remained in the hall, Lippert still unmoving, as Garner chuckled while getting into the elevator. As the doors closed, O'Neill turned more serious and offered, "Sorry, Ma'am, there's just no easy way to break it." Then he turned, motioning down the hallway, "Let's just take a walk out to see the ol' Gate, and then we'll have a chat in my office, shall we?"
Kate shook her head, still having trouble believing what she had just heard, and walked with him. "Please, lead on. And it's Kate."
"Kate, and I'm Jack."
They moved on down a long corridor that ended at blast doors. O'Neill swiped his pass card, and the doors opened up into a cavernous room. To the side, towering over them, was a huge metallic ring, covered with odd symbols. A metal ramp led up to the gate. There were equipment banks along the walls, as well as ordinance, some heavy ordinance, with SF's guarding the room.
"This, Kate, is the Stargate. The device was uncovered in Egypt in the 1920's. It was stored away and forgotten for decades. A team of scientists then worked on the project for many years before it was activated a few years ago."
He paused and let her take in the sight, her eyes wide in awe. Yes, even just standing there, it is impressive. Wait till you see it in action, Jack thought as he smiled to himself.
"Please, come up to my office, and I'll fill you in on our mission."
They sat in Jack's office for a few minutes, while he gave her a brief overview. After that, he handed her a file folder, saying, "This contains a brief history of the Stargate, explains some of the technology we use, some of the people we've met, both allies and enemies," he trailed off, his eyes going down to his desk. She opened the folder, leafing through it briefly as he continued.
"I'll give you some time to read it, but of course, that folder must remain here. Now, I'd like to give you the nickel tour, and introduce you to some of the personnel who make this place happen."
They moved out to the briefing room, where three people awaited them.
"General Lippert, may I introduce you to SG-1, our flagship exploration team. This is Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, astrophysicist and commander of SG-1, Dr. Daniel Jackson, archeologist and linguist, the man who deciphered the glyphs on the Stargate enabling us to dial the first planet we visited, and Teal'c, Jaffa warrior and ally from the planet Chulak. "
At this last, Kate turned to O'Neill with a startled look.
"It's in the folder," he said softly. Just as they sat at the briefing room table, sirens began sounding and a strobe light began flashing. At that moment, a man came dashing up the stairs, and addressed O'Neill.
"Sir, we have a problem. Could you please come to the control room?"
O'Neill quickly excused himself, saying he would catch back up with them later. SG-1 rose to follow, but O'Neill waved them down. "Continue General Lippert's briefing. I'll let you know if I need any of you. Kate, I leave you in SG-1's capable hands."
Kate watched him leave, her brow creasing in concern.
"Ma'am," Carter began, "I know this is all a bit shocking, and you must have a lot of questions."
"I'll say!"
"Perhaps if you took a few minutes to read the folder, and we can explain and take a tour."
Kate sat at the briefing room table and hurriedly read through the documents she had been given, both the history of the SGC, and O'Neill's bio that Admiral Garner had supplied. As she read, she took in the worried glances of SG-1, who kept looking toward the stairway, and toward what would have been a window, if not for the metal plate that had slid across it. Finally, she closed the files, gave a low whistle and exclaimed, "This is just unbelievable!"
"We get that a lot," Daniel smiled. "Now, if you'll come with us, General, we'll take our tour."
Kate felt like a wide-eyed child, as she followed Jackson and Carter through the rear door of the briefing room into the halls of Stargate Command. She noted that they moved away from the gate's direction. "Perhaps you'd like to see our labs," Jackson suggested.
At that moment, a loud call came over the speaker just over their heads, "SG-1 to the Gate room!"
All of them stopped in their tracks, abruptly turned and raced back in the direction they had come. Colonel Carter took Kate by the elbow and said quickly, "If you could please wait in the briefing room, ma'am, I'm sure we'll be right with you."
Kate slowed to a halt in the briefing room, as SG-1 charged past her. Colonel Carter shouted to an SF who was clambering up the steps in the opposite direction, "Stay with the General!" and then they were gone, leaving her with the SF.
"What's going on Sergeant?" she demanded.
The man swallowed hard and replied, "Don't worry, Ma'am. Just the usual."
"Well, Sergeant, after what I just read, I'm not going to just stand here. Hand me a weapon."
The SF drew his sidearm and offered it to her. "Yes, ma'am, as long as we remain here as General O'Neill ordered."
Lippert considered pointing out that she outranked the other general, but thought the better of it. This was his area of expertise, not hers, and she had no idea what situation might be underway in the room just below. Fortunately, she didn't have long to wonder, because a couple minutes later, O'Neill returned to the briefing room. "Sorry, Kate, for the interruption, but we're going to have to cut this short today," spying the 9M in her hand, he smiled. "Can't give you the skinny right now, but, you won't be needing that now, and I'll make sure you get to read it in the next briefing."
"Uh, huh, the short version," and she hazarded a smile, offering the weapon back to the SF.
"Ye-es," he drew out his response.
Yes, this was going to be an interesting assignment, she decided, much more interesting than she had thought.
Later, Kate entered Admiral Garner's office. "I don't know what to say, Hal. Don't know if I rather would have not known, or demand to know more detail."
"Um, I've thought as much myself," he smiled. "Our weekly briefing takes place Mondays, 1300. The other flags meet me here in the office, and then, unless he's otherwise occupied, we all accompany Jack to visit the SGC for his brief."
"Yes, sir. Look forward to it. I think."
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New General
by LatergatrStory Bemerkung:
Some foul language. Violence.Disclaimer: Stargate Sg-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended.
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