EV: Interlude: Earth Reactions to the Abydos Mission

Colonel Jack O'Neill was furious. He'd done what he needed to do and gotten everyone home, even though Daniel had decided to stay to learn more about the hornet's nest they'd stirred up by going out there, though part of Jack suspected there was more to that. After all, Daniel and Sha're had been getting awfully chummy by the time that they'd packed up camp and headed back to Earth. Jack wished him luck on that front, talk about a fish out of water. You couldn't get more out of water than an alien desert, after all.

Of course, then the damned pencil pushers and spooks had gotten involved! Hell, there'd been a Spook from the NID and a Lawyer working for the Senate Appropriations Committee there during his debrief, not just General West for crying out loud! The NID sending a Spook was bad, they only did official debriefings when things had gone completely FUBAR, but the Lawyer for the Senate Appropriations Committee was worse. That screwed with funding, and it had been explained to Jack multiple times that operating the Stargate was expensive as all Hell.

Of course, the NID Spook, Barrett, was easy enough to talk to, for a Spook. The Guy only ever seemed to ask questions every now and again, and generally let the Lawyer handle playing bad cop. That was something the Lawyer seemed to be good at. He was a weasely, bald little Man who probably was someone's college roommate or something, and that's how he got his Staff Job for the Appropriations Committee. Jack didn't like this Woolsey Character, and he made that pretty evident during the debrief. General West had needed to order Jack to knock off needling the Man.

Still, the questions were pretty damning on their own. The NID and Senate Appropriations Committee wanted to know about these Goa'uld that seemed to control most of the Galaxy. Jack could only tell Barrett what he'd picked up from fighting them and dealing with their tech, plus whatever he'd managed to get out of Daniel and Skaara before they'd had to pack up camp and report back in for debriefing. It really ought to be Daniel here, which Jack knew probably hadn't helped their case.

Now here Jack was at the end of the interview, having spilled his guts about anything he could think of to mention that he knew about how the Go'auld operated. Clearly, though neither Agent Barrett of the NID or Dick Woolsey were impressed. General West remained as stonefaced as always, but the Man's face was practically carved out of Granite, so that was nothing new.

"So to summarize, you engaged with and assassinated the leader of a hostile foreign power possessing control of hundreds of planets, with enough manpower to successfully invade the Earth a dozen times over, and a level of technology capable of faster-than-light travel and directed energy weaponry?" Questioned Agent Barrett.

"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds stupid." Huffed Jack.

"This isn't a laughing matter, Jack. Earth could be in danger, not just the US, but the whole planet." Pointed out General West.

"They don't know who we are, anything that they knew blew up when Space King Tut's Ship exploded, for crying out loud!" Griped Jack.

"Until they go searching for this Ra of theirs on Abydos and find your Abydonian Friends and Doctor Jackson. Then what?" Queried Dick Woolsey.

"Listen, Dick. . ." Began Jack.

"It's Richard. Actually, to you, it's Mister Woolsey. I work for the Senate, you know." Interrupted Dick Woolsey.

"Dick, you have to understand that these guys are some sort of feudal empire. The first thing that Ra's subordinates are gonna want to do when they find out that Ra's gone isn't invade Earth, it's fight each other for the spot as the new King of the Hill. They've all got their own little empires within the bigger empire." Pointed out Jack, using the name he knew the Guy didn't like on purpose.

"And what happens when someone gets that level of power?" Asked Dick Woolsey.

"I dunno. We haven't sorted through all the info that was on the Computers of the Cargo Ship we hijacked. You guys shut it all down pending investigation before we could figure out if there were also folks out there who might be willing to be our allies or sell us tech to keep up with the Goa'uld." Retorted Jack.

"It sounds like these Goa'uld are the biggest concern going out in the Galaxy. Who would want to help fight against that?" Questioned Agent Barrett.

"You tell me. Aren't you Spooks supposed to be good at motivating rebels and stuff?" Queried Jack back at him.

"It doesn't matter. Even if we had enough information to plan with, the whole thing would be highly expensive. You'd need to set up an entirely new command structure for Gate Operations, fund and arm rebels, pay diplomats, and draw up nondisclosure agreements. You're essentially talking about forming an entirely new branch of the Military here. The Committee isn't going to fund something like that sight unseen." Smirked Dick Woolsey.

"So what, we just stick our heads in the sand and pretend the Goa'uld don't exist? Did Freeman and Porro die for nothing?" Asked Jack.

"Nobody's saying that, Jack." Tried General West.

"Right now, though, you don't even have a plan to bring to the Senate Committee to get them to approve a new command. Hell, you don't even have the info you need to make a plan." Reminded Agent Barrett.

"Indeed. When I return to Washington, I'll be recommending to the Appropriations Committee that they freeze all black budget funds going to Project Giza. The Stargate will remain under guard here in Cheyenne Mountain, but otherwise the Project will remain inactive for as long as it takes for you to actually bring the Committee something concrete that they can approve of." Informed Dick Woolsey.

"If I were you, Colonel, I'd get on sifting through the Data from those ship computers if you want any hope of putting something together to wow the Senate Committee." Advised Agent Barrett.

And with that, Jack was dismissed. After that little gem of a debriefing, Jack was considering retiring again. He headed for the Mess Hall, grabbed a tray, and took a seat alone at a corner table. Jack sighed as he began to scoop the Blue Jello from the Mess Hall into his mouth in a robotic motion, thinking over his potential decision to resign again. On the one hand, if he resigned, he could maybe fix up his Old Cabin out in the woods, live like a mountain man out there. That might be fun, though he swore the Lake out that way had no fish, from how he kept coming up empty after trying to fish in it. It would even be relaxing. Of course, on the other hand, if he did that, then it was likely no one would come up with a good enough plan that the Senate Committee would OK reopening the Stargate and going out to stick it to the Goa'uld.

Well, that wasn't completely true. Kawalsky might, but as much as Jack and Chuck went way back, he didn't have the same sort of veteran status that Jack did to be able to put together a big operation like this. He'd spent too much time running training classes out at Kirtland and missed out on a big section of Jack's Service Jacket. He was also the only one who'd come close to figuring anything out. After all, who would have been next in line after him, Feretti? Jarheads were great for fighting out in the field, but Jack would rather trust his Grandma to put together an Operational Plan. No, if he didn't do it, no one would.

Of course, if the Stargate never reopened, Freeman and Porro really would have died for nothing, and the Goa'uld would show up over Earth eventually with another one of those Battleships. If that happened, Jack wasn't so sure the Earth would come out on top. In fact, he was pretty damn sure they wouldn't. When he thought about it like that, there really wasn't much in the way of a choice here at all. He had to stay on and keep sifting through the Data, so he could put together a plan that the Senate Committee would approve.

And that just meant that Jack O'Neill would have to take charge and handle the planning, though he could probably ask Kawalsky and Ferretti for advice, at least. Hell, he might even ask Brown and Reilly too, just to get the Navy and Army's opinions. After all, an interservice Special Forces Command was one of those things that looked good to the Bean Counters and Politicians, right?

As Colonel Jack O'Neill ate Jello and began to plan, however, another conversation was taking place in General West's Office. . .

XXXX

"This isn't good, General. These Aliens aren't going to sit tight and just let bygones be bygones, no matter what Woolsey thinks." Sighed Agent Barrett.

"Tell that to the Senate Appropriations Committee. We can't do anything if they shut down our funding." Shrugged General West.

"This is Kinsey's fault. He's got a bug up his ass about Government Waste." Grumbled Agent Barrett.

"He's the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee. If he wants to cut spending, that's his prerogative." Pointed out General West.

"It's cause he's trying to gather steam for a presidential run in two thousand. More politics, and he's playing it while the Earth could be at stake, General." Insisted Agent Barrett.

"So what do you want me to do about it? Like I said, I can't do anything if he cuts my funding. Besides, I'm an old man. I'm retiring in a year." Demanded General West.

"But you have contacts. Ones who are good at digging up dirt and getting their hands dirty." Pressed Agent Barrett.

"If this is just more recruitment for the NID, I'm not going to be as polite as I was when I dismissed Jack from the briefing." Warned General West.

"General, I'm not Robert Kinsey. I don't play games with the literal fate of the world at stake." Refuted Agent Barrett.

"Then here. I'm gonna give you the info of someone with the First Special Operations Wing out in Hurlburt, a Colonel named Harry Maybourne. Talk to him, he knows the sort of people you might want to look into." Agreed General West. He wrote down the contact information on a slip of paper and slid it across the top of his desk toward Agent Barrett, who took it with a nod.

"Thank you, General." Nodded Agent Barrett.

"I'm sure you know to memorize that and burn the paper afterward." Frowned General West.

"What Paper?" Grinned Agent Barrett.

"Exactly." Intoned General West.

Then Agent Barrett left to go do whatever it was Spooks did when they weren't annoying the rest of the world. General West sighed as he reached into the bottom left-hand drawer of his desk and pulled out a bottle of Scotch and a Glass. Alien Overlords with Spaceships and Ray Guns. It sounded like something out of one of those Flash Gordon Serials he used to watch as a Kid. What was the world coming to? General West poured himself three fingers of scotch and downed the glass, shaking his head. Either way, it wouldn't be his problem.

He was retiring soon, after all. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. As we see from the situation, Kinsey is being Kinsey, and the NID is being the NID, all while Jack is trying to plan out a more robust version of the SGC to take to the Senate Appropriations Committee for approval. Suffice it to say that by the time the Stargate Program starts back up again, it will not only get funding and personnel from every branch of the US Armed Forces, but also be a lot more of a force to be reckoned with compared to the scattershot approach of canon.

At any rate, the next chapter will have us back with Erlang Shen for the first part of the preparations for War with Cronus.

Stay tuned. . .