Circumstances 1B
“I think it’s great, Sam. With this, people like Kinsey might shut up.” And that will be one less worry about the future, when I’m not there to take care of you guys.
“Sam, I told the General not to make you 2IC of the facility,” he blurted out. He was afraid of hurting her, but at the same time Jack was first an officer, and his decisions affected the entire planet. That was something he still could not get used to.
“What?” Sam gasped. She had never thought of her affair with Jack as a way to get power, and if he had told her that she would be 2IC, her first reaction would have been to refuse the offer. But still…
“It’s not that you aren’t capable… Well, actually it is. For now at least… Oh, Sam, you know what I mean.”
“It appears that I don’t, sir.”
“Stop it. Look, you said you could handle the whole affair deal, but at the first sign of a problem…”
Sam sighed, knowing that she was reacting to hurt emotions. After all, just a few months ago, she would never have challenged him. As his significant other, she could argue about everything except the military. In that respect, he would always be a senior officer. “I’m not angry, Jack. I’m just confused. I mean, do you think Ferreti is a better officer than me?”
“Sam, you are also a scientist. The 2IC of this facility cannot sacrifice the safety of this base for an idea, like you have done sometimes. I think you need to advance to a level where you are capable of being a commanding officer. And the truth is that you are a Major, and your CO is a Colonel. It wouldn’t make a comfortable base if you outrank your subordinates. There are other Colonels on this base. You earned your last promotion, and you’ll earn your next. Until then- be patient. With the command comes difficult decisions, and lots of sleepless nights.”
“Who will get it then?”
“As before, the head of SG-1.”
“Ah, Ferreti.”
“Do you have a problem with him?”
“No, he’s great. He actually has more experience going through the Stargate than most of the other people on the base do, and he is a great soldier. I guess it’s obvious you trained him, because he works a lot like you: with a lot of loyalty, respect and integrity. I like Lou- he is one of the closest friends I have on the base. He’s come through for us lots of times without the whole Jarheads-rule-and-flyboys-drool thing Makepeace used to throw at us. I mean, Lou is a flyboy too, but it’s nice to have someone who doesn’t act all superior. He’s also pretty good at strategy. And he held SG-2 together pretty well too,” Sam admitted. As she spoke, her voice and posture softened until her body language indicated to her lover that she wasn’t angry any more. “I just expected you to have more faith in me,” she finished, with a sad sigh.
“Sam, I have more faith in you than I have in anyone except the rest of the team. And after Ferreti, I’m sure you’ll make a great 2IC. But that will come in due time. It happened to me when I was forty, and even then I was a career air force officer, without any other job descriptions like chief scientist. So be patient, and remember that I trust you to be with me for the last few months of my life, and that is asking a lot.”
Sam smiled at that, but she knew it was true. The man in front of her was intensely private. He still refused to talk about his son with her, and only briefly with Sara. He visited the grave more often now, but he never asked Sam to go with him. She insisted on going if Sara was not present, but while he was there he only spoke to his son, and seldom out loud. There were many missions he refused to mention to her, and when he did he left out the important details. The stuff she knew about his private life came mostly from what he had dropped over the years, as well as what little Sara had told her. Although Sara and Sam had become close over the past few months, Jack’s ex-wife was uncomfortable telling his lover things he would not tell her himself. But when your lover was only going to live for a few months, you could put up with a lot of crap from him. So she reached out her arms to him and said, “Let’s go to bed.”
*
They arrived at the base the next morning for a briefing regarding SG-1’s return mission to the planet that Jack named “Energy-Saver.” As usual, the name caught on and by the end of the briefing even Hammond had referred to it by that name once. Then Sam did some last minute preparations, Ferreti got some more directions from his superiors, and Teal’c accompanied Daniel to the linguist’s office where he had left some important notes.
“Hurry-up Daniel! Carter can’t put the machine together unless you’re there to read the manual!” Teal’c and Daniel heard Jack bellow from the stairwell.
For a minute, it was like old times. By now both of them were used to the sight of Lou strapped up while Jack relaxed in fatigues, and the pain of leaving their commander behind was almost unnoticeable. SG-1 had, as always, dealt with the situation and moved on. Daniel lost his wife, but kept on going. Sam was invaded by a symbiote, but she was still one of the best officers in the SGC. Teal’c was separated from his family, and lived the life of an exile and a traitor to his own family, but he was never discouraged. Jack would remain, for the rest of their lives, the memory of the best part of the Stargate experience: the family that made the original SG-1. No matter what happened, he somehow kept a strange relationship whereby each one of them considered him their best friend. They loved him, and they would always miss him. Their personal lives may be devastated by his loss, but they would go on working, saving the planet. And on their missions, they were still able to be amazed, still able to love friendly natives and they still found reasons to laugh and be happy. No one was indispensable, and life went on. The Stargate, and its personnel, would survive Jack O’Neill. But no one would ever forget him, and a part of his team still expected him to go to the Tok’ra for a symbiote after the Nox told him they could bring people back but they could not extract disease. Even though Jack flatly refused to ever be a host, his friends and lover still expected him to give in or magically find a cure. After all, SG-1’s fairy godmother had never failed before.
But their fairy godmother had slipped up this time, and SG-1 was not intact any more. One day the usual four technicians (Jensen, Albert, Rickels, Christiansen) who monopolized the Colonel’s tests made a mistake and the results went to another technician, Lt. Rosen. Lt. Rosen, not being under the NID’s control, immediately reported that Colonel O’Neill's results had some abnormalities. Later, Janet realized that the tests had been falsified for the past six months, and by now the cancer was winning its battle with his body. She was full of remorse at the realization that it had been her idea to specialize technicians with specific patients. That way there was less time wasted with personal records. But when making those plans she hadn’t taken into account the fact that then those specialized technicians could join together and murder their patient without anyone else ever knowing. So now that system was scratched, but too late for Jack.
“DANIEL!”
“Jeez, I’m here. You know, two minutes from now, that planet will still be there. So there’s no point in being impatient.”
Jack just sighed and looked at Teal’c. “You know, I thought time was important for anthropologists.”
“Apparently not as important as it is for the military,” Daniel retorted.
“Gentlemen,” Hammond said warningly, but there was a slight smile on his face. He had missed this, but he would be the last person to admit that fact. “Colonel Ferreti, is the team ready?”
“Yes, sir!” Ferreti answered with a salute. After saluting Jack, formally and then with a smile, he led his team through the Stargate.
“Good luck!” Jack whispered as wormhole disengaged. He stood there until he was the last person in the Gate Room, and then he slowly walked to the briefing room, where he was supposed to meet Hammond so that they could discuss the new recruit. For some reason, Hammond refused to tell Jack her name. All he had dropped was that she was a woman and a good soldier. At 24, she was young to be on team but she was a trained medic and had already been on a few missions where, by escaping, she accomplished the impossible.
He walked into the briefing room with his shoulders slumped.
“Son, I know how you feel. I hate sitting here and sending people out to do dangerous work. I wish I could let you go. But under the circumstances…”
“With all due respect, sir, the circumstances suck.”
With that, Jack got up and left the room. Hammond sighed and looked at the folder in front of him. If he were to be truthful, he would admit that he was relieved. He wasn’t looking forward to the explosion from his friend and 2IC (for the time being). He read, for the thousandth time, the first few lines of the first page:
Name: Johnna Ryan O’Neill.
Father’s name: Jonathon Francis O’Neill, General, US Air Force.
Part 2
“Sam, I told the General not to make you 2IC of the facility,” he blurted out. He was afraid of hurting her, but at the same time Jack was first an officer, and his decisions affected the entire planet. That was something he still could not get used to.
“What?” Sam gasped. She had never thought of her affair with Jack as a way to get power, and if he had told her that she would be 2IC, her first reaction would have been to refuse the offer. But still…
“It’s not that you aren’t capable… Well, actually it is. For now at least… Oh, Sam, you know what I mean.”
“It appears that I don’t, sir.”
“Stop it. Look, you said you could handle the whole affair deal, but at the first sign of a problem…”
Sam sighed, knowing that she was reacting to hurt emotions. After all, just a few months ago, she would never have challenged him. As his significant other, she could argue about everything except the military. In that respect, he would always be a senior officer. “I’m not angry, Jack. I’m just confused. I mean, do you think Ferreti is a better officer than me?”
“Sam, you are also a scientist. The 2IC of this facility cannot sacrifice the safety of this base for an idea, like you have done sometimes. I think you need to advance to a level where you are capable of being a commanding officer. And the truth is that you are a Major, and your CO is a Colonel. It wouldn’t make a comfortable base if you outrank your subordinates. There are other Colonels on this base. You earned your last promotion, and you’ll earn your next. Until then- be patient. With the command comes difficult decisions, and lots of sleepless nights.”
“Who will get it then?”
“As before, the head of SG-1.”
“Ah, Ferreti.”
“Do you have a problem with him?”
“No, he’s great. He actually has more experience going through the Stargate than most of the other people on the base do, and he is a great soldier. I guess it’s obvious you trained him, because he works a lot like you: with a lot of loyalty, respect and integrity. I like Lou- he is one of the closest friends I have on the base. He’s come through for us lots of times without the whole Jarheads-rule-and-flyboys-drool thing Makepeace used to throw at us. I mean, Lou is a flyboy too, but it’s nice to have someone who doesn’t act all superior. He’s also pretty good at strategy. And he held SG-2 together pretty well too,” Sam admitted. As she spoke, her voice and posture softened until her body language indicated to her lover that she wasn’t angry any more. “I just expected you to have more faith in me,” she finished, with a sad sigh.
“Sam, I have more faith in you than I have in anyone except the rest of the team. And after Ferreti, I’m sure you’ll make a great 2IC. But that will come in due time. It happened to me when I was forty, and even then I was a career air force officer, without any other job descriptions like chief scientist. So be patient, and remember that I trust you to be with me for the last few months of my life, and that is asking a lot.”
Sam smiled at that, but she knew it was true. The man in front of her was intensely private. He still refused to talk about his son with her, and only briefly with Sara. He visited the grave more often now, but he never asked Sam to go with him. She insisted on going if Sara was not present, but while he was there he only spoke to his son, and seldom out loud. There were many missions he refused to mention to her, and when he did he left out the important details. The stuff she knew about his private life came mostly from what he had dropped over the years, as well as what little Sara had told her. Although Sara and Sam had become close over the past few months, Jack’s ex-wife was uncomfortable telling his lover things he would not tell her himself. But when your lover was only going to live for a few months, you could put up with a lot of crap from him. So she reached out her arms to him and said, “Let’s go to bed.”
*
They arrived at the base the next morning for a briefing regarding SG-1’s return mission to the planet that Jack named “Energy-Saver.” As usual, the name caught on and by the end of the briefing even Hammond had referred to it by that name once. Then Sam did some last minute preparations, Ferreti got some more directions from his superiors, and Teal’c accompanied Daniel to the linguist’s office where he had left some important notes.
“Hurry-up Daniel! Carter can’t put the machine together unless you’re there to read the manual!” Teal’c and Daniel heard Jack bellow from the stairwell.
For a minute, it was like old times. By now both of them were used to the sight of Lou strapped up while Jack relaxed in fatigues, and the pain of leaving their commander behind was almost unnoticeable. SG-1 had, as always, dealt with the situation and moved on. Daniel lost his wife, but kept on going. Sam was invaded by a symbiote, but she was still one of the best officers in the SGC. Teal’c was separated from his family, and lived the life of an exile and a traitor to his own family, but he was never discouraged. Jack would remain, for the rest of their lives, the memory of the best part of the Stargate experience: the family that made the original SG-1. No matter what happened, he somehow kept a strange relationship whereby each one of them considered him their best friend. They loved him, and they would always miss him. Their personal lives may be devastated by his loss, but they would go on working, saving the planet. And on their missions, they were still able to be amazed, still able to love friendly natives and they still found reasons to laugh and be happy. No one was indispensable, and life went on. The Stargate, and its personnel, would survive Jack O’Neill. But no one would ever forget him, and a part of his team still expected him to go to the Tok’ra for a symbiote after the Nox told him they could bring people back but they could not extract disease. Even though Jack flatly refused to ever be a host, his friends and lover still expected him to give in or magically find a cure. After all, SG-1’s fairy godmother had never failed before.
But their fairy godmother had slipped up this time, and SG-1 was not intact any more. One day the usual four technicians (Jensen, Albert, Rickels, Christiansen) who monopolized the Colonel’s tests made a mistake and the results went to another technician, Lt. Rosen. Lt. Rosen, not being under the NID’s control, immediately reported that Colonel O’Neill's results had some abnormalities. Later, Janet realized that the tests had been falsified for the past six months, and by now the cancer was winning its battle with his body. She was full of remorse at the realization that it had been her idea to specialize technicians with specific patients. That way there was less time wasted with personal records. But when making those plans she hadn’t taken into account the fact that then those specialized technicians could join together and murder their patient without anyone else ever knowing. So now that system was scratched, but too late for Jack.
“DANIEL!”
“Jeez, I’m here. You know, two minutes from now, that planet will still be there. So there’s no point in being impatient.”
Jack just sighed and looked at Teal’c. “You know, I thought time was important for anthropologists.”
“Apparently not as important as it is for the military,” Daniel retorted.
“Gentlemen,” Hammond said warningly, but there was a slight smile on his face. He had missed this, but he would be the last person to admit that fact. “Colonel Ferreti, is the team ready?”
“Yes, sir!” Ferreti answered with a salute. After saluting Jack, formally and then with a smile, he led his team through the Stargate.
“Good luck!” Jack whispered as wormhole disengaged. He stood there until he was the last person in the Gate Room, and then he slowly walked to the briefing room, where he was supposed to meet Hammond so that they could discuss the new recruit. For some reason, Hammond refused to tell Jack her name. All he had dropped was that she was a woman and a good soldier. At 24, she was young to be on team but she was a trained medic and had already been on a few missions where, by escaping, she accomplished the impossible.
He walked into the briefing room with his shoulders slumped.
“Son, I know how you feel. I hate sitting here and sending people out to do dangerous work. I wish I could let you go. But under the circumstances…”
“With all due respect, sir, the circumstances suck.”
With that, Jack got up and left the room. Hammond sighed and looked at the folder in front of him. If he were to be truthful, he would admit that he was relieved. He wasn’t looking forward to the explosion from his friend and 2IC (for the time being). He read, for the thousandth time, the first few lines of the first page:
Name: Johnna Ryan O’Neill.
Father’s name: Jonathon Francis O’Neill, General, US Air Force.
Part 2