DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters and property of Stargate SG-1 belong to MGM/UA, World Gekko Corp. and Double Secret Productions. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author. Not to be archived without permission of the author(s).
Daniel's words faded away into the silence of the briefing room, but he appeared not to notice. Jack laid a supportive hand on the younger man's shoulder, only to have him start violently, and jerk away. "No!"
"Daniel..."
"Oh, God. I'm sorry. I thought... I mean... It was all..."
General Hammond interrupted the young man. "It's all right, son. A perfectly understandable reaction. Take your time. How long did the colonel," Hammond almost gagged on the title, "talk to you?"
"I don't really know, General. Everything's fuzzy and confused. All I know is the game seemed to take forever. But it could have been six minutes or six hours, I really don't know."
"How many times did you play this, this game, Daniel?" Jack was struggling to control his anger in the face of his friend's obvious discomfort.
Daniel thought for a moment. "Just once ... I think. No. That's right. Just once. Same questions over and over. Like I said before, I..I started crying and sc..screaming. Then the other man, I think you said he was a major, came running in, and pulled me away from the colonel." He stopped, struggling to organize his thoughts. "From then on, the colonel never got near me, alone, again."
"Damn good thing." Jack's fist hit the table with a resounding thump, earning him a silent, but very visual reprimand from the general. "Uh, sorry, sir. Anything else, Daniel?"
The young man templed his fingers as he contemplated his next words. After a short, but poignant pause he continued. "Well, the major was almost always around. Or he would show up just after the colonel started asking questions. Then the major would interrupt and they would argue. I didn't even think it was strange at the time. I didn't know anything about military rank back then, so it didn't seem odd. But thinking back, I can see how really strange it was that the colonel actually deferred to the major. I seem to remember the major saying something about 'just a kid who couldn't possibly know' but the colonel kept shaking his head. It's pretty obvious that they were talking about me, but I have no idea why or what I was supposed to know. All I know is that the colonel really scared me." He paused thoughtfully. "His game scared me too. Some of the pictures were ... ugly."
Major Harris spoke up. "Colonel Roland Parker was enough to scare most grown-ups. I can only imagine the effect he'd have on a small child. He was a very young Ranger in Korea. By the time of Viet Nam, he was deeply involved in a variety of special projects which took him around the world, including Egypt." Harris paused to allow the significance of his findings to sink in. "After 'Nam, he officially retired from the military. Unofficially, he was still active duty. He took on the assignments that no one else wanted."
"Terrific. Any idea where the s... where he is now?" The SG-1 commander was now in full angry colonel mode.
"The records show he died in 1982."
"Sweet. Anyone wanta bet he's not dead?" Jack looked around the room, his eyes landing on Samantha Carter. Her faraway look got his attention immediately. "Something on your mind, Carter?"
"Hmmm? Oh, sorry, sirs." She leaned forward and the words rushed from her mouth. "Could all this have anything to do with the symbols? Teal'c and I managed to identify all but nine of them."
"Carter!"
"What symbols?" Daniel Jackson's question was uttered simultaneously with O'Neill's warning.
Sam groaned as she realized what she'd done.
"What symbols, Sam?"
"Might as well go ahead, Carter."
"Sorry, sirs." Turning an embarrassed face toward her friend, she responded. "Daniel, enlargement of the films of the columns showed symbols that match the Stargate."
"Show me!" The Egyptologist was on his feet in a flash.
"Daniel, I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"Show me! Please!" Daniel looked urgently from one officer to the next, his eyes finally landing appealingly on the General.
Hammond took a deep breath to steady himself. The intense blue eyes watched his every move. "Dr. Jackson is correct. This whole incident revolves around the tape he was sent. Show him the symbols, Major. Now."
"Where's the next symbol, Sam?" Daniel stared at the enlargement on the screen in front of him, finishing up the almost legible notes on his pad as he asked the question. The young scientist had been studying the symbols to the exclusion of everything else since they'd arrived in the lab.
"Daniel, the next one..." Her voice trailed off helplessly.
He glanced at her for a moment. "It's okay, Sam, I can handle it. Put up the next one."
Gulping, she nodded. Casting a worried look at Jack and Teal'c, she positioned the next image on the enlarger.
The young scientist nearly choked on his coffee as the image took focus on the screen. Don't think about it. Concentrate on the symbol. Identify the symbol. Oh, God, that's her. See only the symbol, Daniel. Forget about...
"Daniel?"
"Oh, s..sorry, Sam. You, uh, can't, uh, really see, uh, all... Uh, just a minute. I, uh, I..."
O'Neill motioned Carter and Teal'c to leave. He'd remained with the others in the photo lab for almost three hours as Sam fed Daniel the pertinent photos as slowly as possible. Most of the enlarged images were safe, containing nothing but the pillars from the scenes in Egypt. However, later images from the New York disaster had been added to the research material. Two of those had rather graphic pictures of the accident in process. These had carefully been reserved for last, on the off chance that Daniel Jackson would grow weary and call it a day. 'Fat chance was more like it' he thought bitterly. Days with only minimal sleep and food were not uncommon for Daniel Jackson on a mission, and this time the mission was personal.
Daniel appeared to be frozen in place, eyes darting everywhere in the room, except the screen. Jack moved forward and clicked off the projector. "Time to call it a day, Daniel."
"No, Jack, r..really, I'm fine. I just need to, need to..."
O'Neill waited. He didn't have to wait long.
The younger man turned to face his friend. "It was so long ago, Jack. Why do I remember it as if it were yesterday?"
"A defining moment, Daniel."
"What?"
"I've heard it said that everyone has defining moments in their life. My guess is that this was the one of yours. Probably the first."
"Terrific. ... Do you think it's true, Jack, that my parents were murdered for this?" Daniel's arm swept over the projector and its contents.
Jack O'Neill silently cursed the fates that always seemed to thrust Daniel to the forefront of danger, physical or emotional. If the phone call to Major Harris from that Captain in New York had been five minutes later, then Daniel would have been safely on his way to the lab with Sam, oblivious to the accusations of an ancient archaeologist. "I don't know, Daniel. I can promise you that we'll find out."
"I..I'm not sure I want to."
"Excuse me?"
"I've spent the last few years devoted to the Stargate program, Jack. It's been the main thing, no, the only thing in my life. What if it cost them theirs?"
"Major Carter?"
"Hmmm?"
"Major Carter?"
"Oh, sorry, what is it Teal'c?"
"I have called you several times. Are you all right?"
"Just thinking about that damn tape and the double damned phone call."
"Yes, I was most surprised that Daniel Jackson did not to react to the allegations."
Sam sighed. "He will eventually. He's trying to bottle up the feelings."
"I saw no bottle, Major Carter."
"No, uh, sorry Teal'c. That's an idiom for control what he feels."
"Ah, the pain of his parents' deaths."
"Yeah, and the fact that he may be working for the same military that caused them."
"I do not believe the military of yourself, Colonel O'Neill and General Hammond would do such a thing."
Sam smiled. "Thanks Teal'c, but you, better than just about anyone, should know that not all of us are the same."
"That is true, there are a few without honor."
"That's putting it mildly, and that was a different era."
"I do not understand."
"The United States was involved in a very unpopular war, there was civil unrest, the college campuses were full of students protesting everything. Even the highest level of government was not exempt from the corruption of the times."
"Ah, yes, your president Nixon..."
Sam was surprised. "What?"
"I have read much of the presidents of this country of yours, Major Carter, Daniel Jackson suggested that it would be a good thing to know."
She smiled sadly. "That sounds like something he'd recommend."
"Excuse me, Ma'am?"
Sam turned to look at a young Airman. "Yes, Airman Simpson?"
"Ma'am, I have a package for Dr. Jackson. Sergeant McCandry said that under no circumstances was I to give it to him. I had to go to either you or Colonel O'Neill, Ma'am."
"Thank you, Airman. Dismissed." She stared aghast at the post-mark. "Holy Hannah!"
"What is wrong, Major Carter?"
"It's postmarked Washington, DC."