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Chapter 4: Major Louis Ferretti
Man, the colonel sounded thoroughly pissed.
And he doesn't know the half of it yet. Considering he was calling from one of the biggest Air Force installations in the states, I wasn't real comfortable giving him more detail than necessary over the phone. We're both in enough hot water as it is and all he really needed to know was that more was going on here than just a case of Daniel not being in Nevada like he was supposed to be.
I still don't know as much as I'd like to.and not nearly enough to satisfy the colonel I'm sure. I just know that I saw Daniel go through the gate alone in the middle of the night with only Hammond, Harriman and, for some strange reason, Fraiser as witnesses. I wasn't supposed to be there. I'd left a report behind in the control room and was heading up there to get it when I heard the first rumble of the gate activating. I knew there wasn't anyone expected in or out that night so I was sort of anticipating an alert when I started up the stairs. When the alert didn't come, being the nosy bastard that I am, I slipped on up to get a look. I ducked out of sight and looked through the observation window just in time to see Daniel, in those funky Abydonian robes, starting up the ramp alone. Hammond was staring down there with a look I'd never seen on his face before and I swear his voice was almost breaking as he told Daniel to be careful and they'd see him in two weeks. I could just see Daniel's face from where I was.sad, determined.before he nodded to the general and stepped into the wormhole. As the blue light died with a whoosh, I could hear Fraiser protesting that Daniel was in no condition for this mission. The general had to clear his throat before answering that Daniel had to be.
Right about then I figured it was the better part of valor, not to mention ass preservation, not to get caught where I shouldn't be. I slipped out of the shadows and down the stairs while they were still arguing about whether Daniel should have gone out alone. I can't be sure, but I thought I heard Hammond say that he wouldn't be alone.but I can't be sure. He looked pretty damn alone when I saw him.
I tried to reach the colonel that night and most of the next day, until I finally got Jimmy in records to admit that the colonel had been assigned TDY at Eglin. I must've called a half dozen times before catching on to the fact that nobody was delivering my messages so I figured okay.I'll just keep my eyes and ears open and see what else I can find out. Which wasn't very much. A few innocent questions to Fraiser just earned me a guilty look and a wide-eyed stare. Harriman's been hanging around Hammond too long, I couldn't get so much as a blink out of him. Being fairly fond of my backside, I didn't even try Hammond.
Now here I am, freezing said backside off waiting at this private airfield. I don't know how the colonel managed to get his hands on a civilian aircraft in northwestern Florida.I probably don't want to know.but this is where he said to meet him. He is going to be shit deep in trouble when Hammond gets through with him. SG1 or no, there's only so much bull the old man will take from the colonel. Going AWOL.even from temporary duty.definitely falls under Hammond's definition of 'bull'.
I hear the plane before I see it. Cute little Cessna, I wonder.no I don't.that's one of those things I don't need to know. I'm not really surprised to see that the colonel piloting; he wouldn't want to involve anyone else in this.
Me? I got involved the day Daniel saved our asses on Abydos and it's kind of gotten to be a habit. I like Daniel. I know I didn't cut him much slack at first, but he really came through for us then.and so many times since. We talk a lot. I can listen to Daniel talk all day.I know that sounds strange for an old country boy like me, but the guy just knows so much about.so much. I've never met anybody that smart. Just off the top of his head he can leave me in the dirt with his words.not that he would. He always takes care to make sure I understand, explaining things in a way that doesn't leave me feeling like I'm any less than he is because I didn't spend over half my life in school. And I like to think I help him, too.he knows he can ask me anything. While I might laugh with him, I don't laugh at him.not anymore. We've been through too much for that.
The colonel shuts the plane down and climbs out, making his way over to my old Bronco. SGC pays me enough to get something better, but like my daddy always said.if it ain't broke, you don't need a new one.
Even in the dim moonlight I can see the colonel's face is locked into that 'screw around with me and die' mask that probably saved his life more than once in Covert Ops. I'm not at all sure that kind of attitude will make any headway with Hammond so I need to get him calmed down and thinking clearly before we get back to base. It's times like these when I really miss Kowalsky.he was better at taming wild-eyed Colonel O'Neill's than I am.
As the colonel climbs in beside me, I see the mask slip just a bit and start telling him the whole thing from the beginning. I can't gloss over the details.he'd see right through it anyway.but I can see him start to thaw a little as I talk. I guess he had that whole long flight alone to run through a bunch of pretty awful possibilities, but now.faced with the facts as observed by Ferretti.he's starting to chill out and think more like a commander than a worried friend.
I realize my own tension is easing up now, too. Whatever is going on with Daniel, the colonel is here and one way or another.even if it ends with us up on charges.we're going to find out the hell is going on.