Jack stumbled slightly as he caught Daniel’s arm again, his hand waving to catch his balance and then going to his chest once more.
“Do you need to….?” Daniel whispered in concern. Jack shook his head and they went back to their seats. Sam leaned over to him, also very concerned. Jack shook her off and paid attention to the next speaker.
After the memorial, they stood in line to offer condolences to the family. The crowd was polite and moved in an orderly fashion, despite the elbow to shoulder squeezing. Several people leaned in to quietly ask Jack about his health. He assured them he was fine, just a little weak from the surgery.
“Jack, should you be out of bed?” Hammond asked when they crossed paths.
“Not according to Warner,” Jack whispered. “I’m fine. How’s the Missus?”
Hammond had the decency to pink up a little. “She’s fine, thank you.”
“I think I want your little monkey off-world, George,” Jack whispered again. “I think I want him on Kalam. He needs special training.”
“I think so, too,” Hammond said, slightly grim over losing a talented cadet.
“They’re in orbit. He can go back with them,” Jack said. Hammond agreed.
They came to the family and shook hands, murmuring appropriate offerings. Jack looked around as they left the building. Hayes and his wife were already gone, as per Jack’s silent orders. They caught up with Maynard who excused himself from his wife’s side.
“My wife sometimes uses this,” Maynard said, handing Jack a walking cane. “Arthritis.” Jack thanked Mrs. Maynard and used the cane to walk away from Daniel and Sam.
“Mr. Baker,” Jack called out as they approached the man. “Can we talk for a moment? I was out of line the other day, and I’d like to apologize. Please.” The Secretary of Defense was still slightly ruffled, but he agreed to walk with them.
“Ah, Ken.” Jack looked up at the darkening sky and breathed in the cool evening air. “You’ve been a naughty boy, Ken. Ah ah. Walk with us, Kenny.” Jack took the man’s struggling arm in a friendly grasp.
“What’s the meaning of this, General?” Baker asked, keeping his voice low. “You’re already treading thin ice.”
“When we turn the corner, you will be arrested, Kenny,” Jack told him. “I’m afraid I need to insist. The charges are murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, and treason. By the time you get to the holding cell, all the evidence will be on General Maynard’s desk. In about a week, when people begin to notice your absence, those charges will be leaked to the press. But don’t worry, you won’t be alone; Mrs. Vidrine will be joining you.”
Baker stopped. “You’re insane, General,” he hissed, looking around.
“That’s a possibility,” Jack agreed. “The evidence is real, however, and so are the charges. Ah. Your chariot, sir.”
As they turned the corner, Baker paled at the sight of four men that were waiting for them. All the men were in black suits, standing with their feet spread and hands clasped over their belt buckles. Jack halted and turned to Baker.
“You’re an archaeology buff, Mr. Secretary,” Jack said. “You met privately with a certain dead professor in Florida, you brought visitors back to DC, and infected Mrs. Hayes and Senator Friedman, as well as sending the visitors around the globe to infect others. Why did you not carry one, yourself, I wonder? Mr. Kendrick?”
The cadet stepped out from a dark car and slowly approached.
“It’s okay, son, go ahead,” Jack nodded. Baker wasn’t sure what the boy was doing, staring at him.
“Leverage, sir,” Grant said, staring into Baker’s eyes. “He knows about Colonel Carter and knows that if she got near him she’d sense him if he was holding a … visitor. So he convinced them to let him stay unattached in exchange for….. his own territory.”
“Territory?” Jack and Maynard both questioned. “What territory? There are no ha’taks in the area, so how would he get there?”
Baker lifted his chin and glared at them. “There is a mothership hidden in this solar system, but you won’t find it, General….”
“On Mars,” Grant reported. Baker panicked and tried to pull away, wondering who the hell the kid was.
“No, there isn’t,” Jack said. He pulled his cell phone out and dialed. “This is O’Neill. Point that thing at Mars and tell me if you see anything.” He waited. “Thank you.”
“Nothing on Mars except dust,” he said. “You’ve been had, Kenny-boy. I’ve said over and over not to trust those sneaky snakes.”
“Sir?” Grant interrupted. “The promised territory was Earth.”
“Idiot,” Jack informed the man. Desperate, Baker lunged at Jack, caught his right arm, pulled it behind his back and held a knife at his throat. Guns were instantly produced and pointed.
“Come on, Ken,” Maynard tried reasonably. “You know you won’t get out of this alive.”
Jack slammed an elbow into Baker’s side and slid out of the hold to turn and punch the man. “You don’t sneak up on a man like that,” he informed Baker. “I’m not well, if you haven’t heard.” He slammed the heel of his hand at Baker’s head and the man went down. Maynard nodded to the men in black that were waiting. Baker struggled and was escorted by insistent secret service.
“Mr. Kendrick.” Jack slung an arm around Grant’s shoulders.
“I know, sir,” the young man said, not liking it.
“Yes, you do, son, and that’s the problem,” Jack said gently. He touched his comm. “I need Ninurta and Jonathan, please. If they are available.”
When the two were front and center, Jack had a quiet talk with them. Ninurta agreed that it was in Grant’s best interest to be off-world. He promised the young man a chance to see his family and to tell them that he was on an off-world mission and he’d be back. In the meantime, he could help with the emergency. All hands were needed.
“We come around all the time,” Jonathan assured him. “Don’t worry, you’ll see them soon. You’ll like Kalam, I guarantee it.”
“Your records will reflect that you graduated with honors, son,” Maynard told Grant. “Your records will be classified as Security Level 8 under HomeWorld Security. That is the max. Colonel Carter and Dr. Jackson are Level 8’s, if that offers you perspective. No one should be asking you any questions. You will officially hold the rank of lieutenant as of this moment. Once every five or so years, you will be promoted. Your paychecks will be automatically deposited and available to you when you are home. If you would like someone specific to have access to your accounts and use of the money, we can see that it happens. See General O’Neill, if you have any problems. Of course, this all happens if you remain in the Air Force. You do owe us some time, which you can work off off-world.” The young man stood nervously as he accepted his fate, and offered them salutes before heading off with his friend, Jonathan. Ninurta was amused at the gloom and doom emanating from his new recruit.
Maynard and Jack walked back to the church after seeing Grant beam out with the other two. Jack kicked the cane around, swinging it back and forth.
“That was very sneaky of you, Jack,” Maynard commented. “Using hand signals to notify us. Were you really shot?”
“Yup, I was,” Jack nodded. “Ask Dr. Warner. He’s very pissed that I’m not in bed.”
“I’ll bet he is and I’ll be hearing about it. And Mrs. Vidrine was involved how?” Maynard asked. “I should probably know in case someone asks me.”
“They were having an affair,” Jack said. “She was going to be his queen. Vidrine’s autopsy showed several blood clots in his brain and small puncture wounds on his body. He was injected. They hired a sniper to take me out because my death would have caused enough of an upset that they would have gotten away with the planet. Not to toot my own horn, mind you.”
“And how did that body get on my lawn?” Maynard asked.
“Sorry,” Jack shook his head. “You’ve got me on that one.” Someone in black leather, with green eyes was probably to
blame, but Jack wasn’t going to push the investigation of it all.
Maynard shook his head in time with Jack’s. “It’s probably a good thing Mr. Kendrick is leaving,” he said. “When I think of all the information flooding into his head….”
“Yes,” Jack agreed. “He’d be assassinated a month after knowledge of him got out. The Anunnaki will teach him how to control it. I can’t, I’m just getting the hang of my own stuff and more is happening.” He stopped and turned. “Kendrick said all the evidence will be on your desk. Francis, this won’t go to trial,” he warned.
“I know,” Maynard nodded, grim. He looked at the ground for a moment and then at the church. “Jack, whatever happens, it cannot touch my office.”
“Don’t worry,” Jack said, “you can honestly say you have no idea how it got there. I have a feeling it won’t be touching any office. You just concentrate on spin control.”
They watched Sam and Daniel pacing by their rental, waiting for him.
“Jack, are you sure you can trust the Anunnaki? Furlings? Whomever,” Maynard asked. “We don’t really know them. How can you be sure of them?”
“I can’t,” Jack admitted. “I know that they haven’t let me down yet, and even the lies have a truth in them, if I listen close enough. It’s a game for them. Teaching me how to listen. I do trust Jonathan, though; if something starts to happen, I trust that he will get a message to me. I trust Teal’c and Bre’tac to call me. I trust Malek, as strange as that sounds. The Asgard trust the Anunnaki, and I trust the Asgard.”
Maynard was silent for a moment. “I know he isn’t really your son, Jack. Vidrine gave me the report. It has since been accidentally destroyed.”
Jack pursed his lips for a moment and then gave Maynard a lazy salute before handing him the cane and walking to his partners. He dipped Daniel over the hood of a car and kissed the breath from him.
“Hey,” Sam poked them. “Church. Mind your manners.”
“Yes, about that,” Maynard said. He took an uneasy step. “One of my kids…..”
“Just go with the flow, Francis,” Jack told him. “Love is a good thing. Keep telling yourself that. Paul!” He motioned to Davis who had been waiting. “Is Alvin still around?”
“Yes, sir, at Andrews where it was left,” Paul told him.
“Good. Can you get home another way?”
Sam and Daniel rolled their eyes and leaned against the car, hands covering their eyes.
“Yes, sir,” Paul said blandly.
“Who is Alvin?” Maynard asked. He noticed his wife waiting and he nodded. She slowly approached.
“My al'kesh,” Jack told him. He whistled to a passing MP jeep and it stopped. “Francis, if you will excuse us? It’s been about a week and I’m going into withdrawals.”
There was silence in the jeep for a moment after Jack gave the driver their destination.
“Hold out your hand,” Daniel told him. Jack looked at him. “Hold out your hand.”
Jack held his hand out. Daniel turned it over and smacked two fingers across the top of Jack’s wrist. “Bad boy.”
Jack chuckled and tossed an arm across the back of the seat. He winced and rubbed at his chest.
“Are you really alright?” Sam asked.
“Yes, I am,” Jack nodded. “I’m a little winded, but the wound itself has healed. Sometimes the new skin stretches and that’s what stings a little.”
Their driver took them directly to the al'kesh, putting them at the door.
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Jack said.
“You’re welcome, sir,” the driver said, standing tall next to the driver’s door. “Ma’am?” Sam stopped and turned to him. “Rumor has it you are the new CO in Nevada?”
“Yes, I am, Lieutenant,” she confirmed.
“Congratulations, ma’am. I’ve put in for a transfer to that base, ma’am. I have one of those ‘talents.’ I’m hoping it can be of use.”
All three paused and looked at the enterprising guard.
“Oh? Which talent is that, Lieutenant?” she asked, and looked closely at his uniform. “Lt. Fox?”
Fox’s partner tried to disappear and keep any mistakes from latching onto himself.
“I can smell minerals, ma’am,” Fox told her.
“Excuse me?” Sam tilted her head.
“I smell minerals,” Fox repeated. “I don’t know how, but I’ve always been able to sense mineral deposits. Different kinds of minerals. Like a dousing rod in my head. I even found underground water for my family’s farm. I’m from Altus, Oklahoma, ma’am; water is a hard commodity to find out there.”
“Geronimo country,” Daniel commented as he looked over the man’s dusky features. “You’re Apache.”
“Yes, sir,” Fox proudly said.
Sam looked at the men. She took her new bracelet off and held it out.
“What is this?” she asked. Fox took it from her and smelled it. Confusion began to cross his face and he held it close again.
“Almost….. no. I’ve never….. It almost resonates as gold but there is something different about it.” He handed it back to her, embarrassment on his face. “I’m sorry for wasting your time, ma’am. You stumped me with this one. I’ve never sensed this one before, and I thought I’ve smelled all of them. The gold is almost gold, the diamonds are almost diamonds. Almost a cross between diamond and ruby, if gems could cross-breed. Neither is quite, though.”
“What’s your first name, Lieutenant?” she asked. Fox felt a report coming.
“Arnold, ma’am.”
Jack took his cell phone out and dialed. “Colonel, there is a transfer request in the system for a Lieutenant Arnold Fox. Process it a-sap and get it over to Sam’s office. And have his security level changed right away. HomeSec Level 4.”
“Don’t worry, Lieutenant,” Sam told the surprised man. “Your sniffer isn’t off. If you have a wife and family, tell them to start packing. Welcome aboard.”
“Uh, fiancé, ma’am,” the guard said, not believing what was happening. “Thank you, ma’am. Sir.”
Fox’s partner stared at him in disbelief.
“You snooze, you lose,” Fox told him.
They had barely gotten the door closed when Jack pushed Sam up against a wall. Daniel smiled and shook his head as he went to get the al'kesh into the air.
“Daniel, hover in orbit for a while,” Jack called out. “Over…. mmmm…… Niagara Falls.”
“Jack, how romantic of you,” Sam said as her pants were abruptly dropped.
Chapter 48
Too tired to sleep, Jack checked on the kids, the puppy was in his kennel on the porch, and then went to the living room to find his book, settling into a chair. He heard keys in the door and waited. Katie came in, looking as exhausted as he felt.
“Dad, you’re home,” she noticed, coming to a stop.
“I’m home,” he nodded. “How’s the hospital?”
She put her purse down, her chin quivering. Jack put his book aside and opened his arms. She slid onto his lap and buried her face in his chest. In between her crying and hiccupping, he got that a child had died in her arms. He rocked her as he did when she was little and let her cry for a while.
“This won’t be the last time, honey,” he said quietly. “Never get used to it. Don’t harden yourself to it. You do your work and break down on your own time. Here.” He picked up his glass and held it to her mouth. She took a sip and sputtered; her eyes were already watery.
“Ugh!” she declared.
“Don’t get used to that, either,” he told her. “Scotch. Bad for your liver.”
She stuck her tongue out, trying to get the taste to dissipate. “Nasty,” she said, and wiped her face. “What’s this?” She tugged on his t-shirt, seeing a new scar. “Did you get hurt?”
“I’m fine,” he told her. She looked at him. He needed to tell her because the rest of the kids knew…. “Really. Okay, I got shot a couple days ago but I’m fine now.”
She fro
wned. “That’s a bullet hole? Shouldn’t it be… I don’t know…. bleeding?”
“So Dr. Warner thinks,” he said. “He got the bullet out. I chased down a bad guy and I’m home now. See?” He showed his teeth and spread his arms. He got a smile out of her. She hugged his neck and pecked his cheek before getting off his lap. “Take a nice hot bath,” he told her. “It’ll help you relax. Do you have any tests tomorrow?” No she didn’t.
“I’m done with all my finals,” she told him. “I don’t see why I have to go to school when all my finals are done.”
“Neither do I,” he said. “But go anyway. Getting back to your routine will help you feel better. I’m proud of you for helping out.”
Everyone was home and healthy. Jerrie was taking time off to visit with her parents for a couple of weeks; gearing up for summer vacation. Jack began to relax.
Maynard told him to try and stay out of trouble. For a couple of days, at least. He didn’t intentionally piss people off, it just seemed to happen that way. Somewhere, sometime, the snowball started down the mountain and it had yet to stop. It was hard to admit, but he was actually afraid of the future; the changes that were happening were much faster than he was comfortable with. He wasn’t sure he wanted things to be changing, anyway. Were they responsible for the changes? Would the world have begun the changes without them? Without the Stargate? That’s stupid, he told himself; of course, they would have. The gate had nothing to do with it, it’s all genetic. Maybe he should just admit that it was the changes within himself that were scaring him more than anything else. This certainly wasn’t what he had in mind for himself a year ago; he had been considering getting himself command of a 303, putting Sam on as his second, and talking Daniel into joining the crew with a promise of an Atlantis stop once in a while. Jack had figured on fishing for a while, getting into the hair of several generals, and getting himself shipped out. Damned Goa’uld changed all his plans.
He heard the baby snuffling through the baby speaker and smiled; he was beginning to believe that the universe had plans for him whether he agreed with them or not. He made a note to discuss self-determination with Daniel again.
The Anunnaki Unification, Book 3: A Stargate SG-1 Fan Fiction Story Page 20
