Beyond the Iris: A Stargate Story

Prelude

2003

General Hammond

In the darkest pits of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, I stared down at the pile of folders on my lacquered cherry wood desk. I was supposed to be retired by now. Supposed to be at every dance recital my granddaughters' had, taking my wife on cruises in the Bahamas, and going on hunting retreats with my brothers. Yet something always pulled me back to the SGC, my heart was here, and thankfully I knew my family at home understood. It was not, however, in this heap of files on my desk. Yet, I suppose I should be thankful. Stargate Command was granted the extra money for personnel hiring that I had requested months ago. There were hopes for an additional gate technician, another medic, or even another SG team all together that would go a long way in the fight to protect Earth.

That's not what was received. Instead, we were "gifted" three administration positions, with two only being temporary contracts that had been predetermined for the position directly from the Air Force Chief of Staff's office. Inspector Generals to be exact, inspect my ass I wanted to tell them. The officers both had been hired for a month already but had been going through debriefing and training before setting their boots down to lay the groundwork for reorganizing the way office life was understood here. There wasn't much I could say, they were temporary and external hires, and I had asked for funding. There were twenty-seven applications for the one position granted I was slightly looking forward to,  a cataloger. Many of the archeological teams and science heads had been asking for someone to organize all of the findings. I was looking forward to someone who would organize and compile mission logs in a more streamlined back catalog. With the right person, we could have a real workhorse here helping to find missing elements in any key areas to defeat the Goa'uld. Twenty-three of them alone were from Area-51, all with the same qualifications, just minor differences in prior work.

I was skimming through the eighteenth one when there was a knock on the door. I leaned back in the plush red leather chair I momentarily had debated on selling in a blink of frustration just for the extra office funds and grumbled, "come in." Colonel Jack O'Neill slid into my office and closed the door behind him surprisingly gently. He sauntered over to the black tufted armchair in front of the desk and plopped down. "How can I help you Jack?"

"I have vacation leave I need to take." He pursed his lips together. "A little over a week of use or lose."

"You know I don't schedule that, you can go over to CSS and work with them." His look of disdain was enough for me to open my calendar and go along with his charade.  "When do you want to take it?" I sighed and shoved all the folders off of my desk to get a better look at the color coded schedule I had there.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go up north on a fishing trip with me, let's say the 12th?" He sat there twiddling his thumbs and looking at everything but me. I tried very hard to tamp the laugh that was threatening to bubble out.

"Is this a genuine invitation, or is it a mandatory one for what you have planned?"

"I genuinely am inviting people up to my cabin." There was a small glimmer in his eyes and a smile crept over my lips.

"People?"

"People."

"Teal'c has leave that week as well, is he attending?"

"He declined, I did ask. He is going to Chulak for a visit."

I pretended to look back at my calendar and nodded. "And Dr. Jackson is?"

"Apparently, some college in Virginia has put in a two week request for him to help on a project out in Jerusalem. One of their professors thinks they found the Holy Grail or whatever." He carelessly batted at the air and looked back at me. "What are you getting at sir?"

"I just want to know what my teams are up to Jack, you of all people should know that." I jotted something down on the page and nodded. "Right, well your team all seems busy. Funny enough, Major Carter also asked for leave around the same time as you."

"Well, we all try to take vacation around the same time, makes things easier here."

"Yes, how courteous of you." I blinked. "What is Carter doing?"

"I believe she is visiting family, her brother maybe? Not sure." His blank stare back told nothing.

I tsked and set the schedule down. "It's granted. Don't do anything stupid Jack."

"Wouldn't dream of it sir." He grabbed another file from the pile and opened it on the desk to look over.

"These for the new gate tech?"

"No," I sighed. "I was denied that, these are for our cataloguist."

"Our what?" His brows rose up and he nearly choked on his words.

"Someone to organize mission reports, new tech, to keep in contact with various bases about the items we send to them and vice versa."

"A secretary?"

"Manners colonel," I let out an exasperated sound, "but they'll have a few clerical roles for me personally." He looked down at the stack and pulled a loose one from the pile slapping his hand atop it.

"This one's it, I can tell." He turned on his heel and raised his hand in the air as he walked out. "Don't miss me too much." The door slammed behind him and I took the file he had taken from the pile.

Might as well begin calling for interviews. I thought to myself as I picked up the phone to start the torture that was hiring. Normally I would leave this to HR, but I knew this position needed to be hand chosen for any immediate trust that I would place in them.