Work Text:
Takes place in 2013
General Samantha Carter, of Stargate Command in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, was sitting at her desk wishing that all of the paperwork sitting in front of her that was required to keep the SGC running would simply disappear. Or that her personal assistant would be half as good as Sgt. Harriman, had been. Sighing, she half wished that a non-threatening emergency would pop up, so that she would have a valid reason to not do the paperwork sitting in front of her. She now understood why her husband and the base’s former commander, Jack O’Neill, had always run from it or shoved it off onto somebody else, namely the aforementioned Sgt. Harriman. Perhaps she could bribe him to come out of retirement or maybe just come in on certain… Her musing was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Happy for the distraction, she answered it, smiling as she said “General Carter.” Even though it had been years since her promotion she still thought of her father every time that she said her rank.
“Hey Sam, it’s Tony.” Major Tony Toungette was currently stationed at a forward operating base in Afghanistan but had previously been stationed at the Air Force Academy and had often funneled candidates Carter’s way for the SGC despite not knowing about the Stargate itself. “I might have a candidate that you would be interested in.”
Leaning back in her chair, Carter was intrigued, especially since the major had never recommended anyone that hadn’t worked out. “Tell me more.”
Toungette chuckled. “This kid is EOD and is some sort of bomb wunderkind. He has something like a 95% successful diffusion rate.” He paused to allow that information to sink in for a moment. “He’s also known around the camp for being quite resourceful. Apparently, he has the ability to look around him and use what’s available and he can make something out of nothing. I heard that he once used his Overwatch’s phone battery and a gum wrapper to defuse a bomb that was already counting down. Heck, the other day he apparently tweaked the air units to make the air colder! And you know how valuable that is over here. I don’t know if you heard about our day of a thousand IEDs, but he and his partner defused 124 of the bombs, which was a new record.”
That was impressive! Sam thought, leaning forward, she grabbed a pen and an almost empty notebook, she definitely wanted to look into this individual. “What is this wunderkind’s name?”
“Specialist Angus MacGyver. He’s Army.” Came the quick response.
Carter laughed as she jotted that name down. “That’s a mouthful, spelt M-A-C-G-Y-V-E-R?”
“Sounds right. I don’t have his record pulled up, but I hear he goes by Mac. To be honest, if my first name was Angus I would, too.”
Carter agreed. “Thanks for the heads up, Tony. I really appreciate it.”
“Are you ever going to tell me what it is that you really do under that mountain?” He asked as he did every time that they talked.
“Like I’ve told you before; Deep Space Telemetry.”
“Yep, sure, and I’m a monkey’s uncle.”
“It’s nice talking to you, Tony. Take care.” Carter said, smiling as she hung up the phone.
She was intrigued by what he had told her and pushed all the paperwork that she should be working on to the edge of her desk. Pulling up the Armed Services database on her computer, she typed in the name that Tony had given her and located his personnel file. He had a high ASVAB score, and most of the reports were praising how smart this Angus MacGyver was. Sam noted that there were a few insubordination warnings, however nothing that was a red flag. He looked like a solid recruit. When she reached the bottom of his file she noticed that there was a note: Jack Dalton permanently attached as overwatch.
Now that was interesting, she thought as she minimized Specialist MacGyver’s file and pulled up Dalton’s. Quickly reading the file she saw that Dalton was Former Delta Force and had served a stint in the CIA before re-upping into the army. His service record showed several warnings and a couple of charges brought against him, most for insubordination. She was sensing a theme.
She was just about to start digging deeper to see if one or both men would be a good fit for the program when her phone rang again. Not recognizing the caller ID she quickly answered it. “General Samantha Carter.”
“General, you don’t know me, but I am the Director of a covert agency, and I need you to drop your interest in MacGyver… and Dalton.” The Dalton part sounded like it was added as an afterthought.
Carter didn’t appreciate being told what she could and could not do, especially by an anonymous voice who hadn’t yet identified themselves. “Excuse me? Who are you to tell me who I can and cannot recruit?”
The voice on the other end of the line continued, “I know that they would make an excellent addition to the SGC, but they have already been spoken for.”
Carter froze, how did this man know about the SGC? “Who are you exactly?” She demanded.
He sighed, “I am the director of the DXS.”
Carter paused, then leaned back in her chair and said thoughtfully. “I was under the impression that Patricia Thornton was the current director of DXS.”
“I’m her boss.”
“Let me get this right. I’m guessing my pulling up Dalton’s and MacGyver’s personnel files pinged your account, so you decided to call and warn me off, however you won’t tell me who you are, except that you are Thornton’s boss.” His grating holier than thou attitude was truly annoying and was quickly getting on her nerves, and she had dealt with McKay for years.
He paused for a moment. “That is entirely correct. We will be recruiting them both as soon as they finish their current tour of duty. My agency is much better suited to their skill set.” He paused again and then added, “However if you really need him, I’m willing to allow you to have Dalton.”
Sam didn’t know what it was about this man that set her teeth on edge, but right then she wanted to have Dalton and MacGyver beamed in and signed up for the SGC before this arrogant voice knew what had happened, and she could do it too. She paused, that gave her an idea that sounded like something that Jack would do. Deciding to give into her inner O’Neill instead of listening to her inner Daniel Jackson, their former team member who was the more diplomatic presence, she said. “I’ll give what you said the consideration that it deserves.” She hoped that her answer was vague enough to cause him to think that she was giving into him.
“I appreciate that. Have a good day.” The caller said before he hung up.
Smirking and putting her plan into action, she picked up her phone and called her administrative assistant. “Sargent, I’m going to be out of office for a little bit. Have two folders with our new recruit paperwork ready in the conference room when I get back.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Came the crisp reply. The woman was excellent at her job, but as Jack would say, she had no sense of humor.
Her next call was to the commander of the Hammond. When she had been promoted to General and given command of the SGC, the Hammond had been reassigned to stay in orbit around Earth, Colonel Ufkin was now in command. After two rings he answered, “Ufkin.”
“Colonel, this is Carter. I need priority transport to an Army FOB in Afghanistan.”
“An Army base, ma’am?”
Carter could hear the derision in his tone, and it brought a smile to her face, the rivalry between the services was still strong. “I’ll fill you in when I get up there, what’s your eta?”
“Uh,” She could hear a few faint whispers, “It will be about ten minutes before we can beam you onboard ma’am.”
“Okay, I’ll see you then.” With that done she made sure to call the leader of the FOB that she was headed to, to inform him of her arrival. Looking over the personal files that she had printed on MacGyver and Dalton she located the name of their commanding officer, Colonel Martinez.
Once again, she picked up the phone and placed a call this time she had several people to go through before actually speaking to Col. Martinez. “Colonel, this is General Samantha Carter of the Air Force.”
“What can I do for you, ma’am.” He answered warily. She supposed it wasn’t every day that an officer from the Air Force called him.
“I will be stopping by in a few minutes to talk to you regarding a couple of your men.”
“Are any of my men in trouble, ma’am?”
“I’m heading up a special project and a couple of your men have been brought to my attention, so I wanted to meet with them to see if they would be a good fit for my project.”
“Which ones?”
“Specialist MacGyver and Sargent Dalton.”
“Of course, it would be them.” Martinez sighed, causing Carter to raise her eyebrows. “I’ll have the gate guards informed about your arrival.”
“No need, I’m already in the area and would prefer to remain as under the radar as possible, just let your admin know that you are expecting me and that I’ve gotten everything else taken care of.” Being able to beam into places was fun, but coming up with cover stories for how you got to be in a certain place without anybody seeing you was a pain in the butt.
“Yes, ma’am. Shall I put Dalton and MacGyver on alert?”
“Not yet. I’m looking forward to meeting with you Colonel.” Once she had hung up the phone, she grabbed a couple of their standard non-disclosure agreements. She looked down at her uniform, both Hammond and Landry had worn their Class A’s while O’Neill had worn his BDU’s unless forced to dress nicer. She tried to mix it up a bit and wear both, today she was glad that she had put on her Class A’s. Grabbing her jacket she straightened her uniform and stepped into the area of her office that was unshielded for pick up. She only had to wait for a minute before the familiar bright light transported her to the bridge of the Hammond.
“At ease, Ufkin.” She greeted the man standing at attention as he sank back into his chair.
Motioning to the unused seat beside him, “Sgt. Knighton is at lunch, please have a seat.”
She gratefully sat at the terminal and input the coordinates that she had copied for the FOB. Once she was done, she looked back up at Ufkin.
“Set a course to the coordinates that General Carter has provided.”
“Setting a course, sir!” An airman replied on the other side of Ufkin.
Turning, Ufkin eyed Carter, “An Army base? What’s next, the Navy?”
Grinning Carter replied, “Well this particular grunt would have made an excellent Air Force cadet.” She listed off some of MacGyver’s accomplishments.
After she finished, he sighed, “Well I suppose that it’s not too late to switch to the right team. What’s the plan?”
“I’m going to beam down and talk to their CO for a bit to feel them out. Get them to sign the NDAs, then beam them up and take them to Cheyanne Mountain for the full court press and once I get them to sign back on, return them back there.” She just hoped it would all work out the way that she planned.
“Sounds good ma’am. Just making sure that we are where we needed to be.” He glanced at the instrument panel and then looked around the bridge before lowering his voice, and asking softly, “Okay, I’ve got to ask. Is it true that you really blew up a sun?” After that question Ufkin spent the rest of the time talking to Carter about some of the more daring exploits that SG-1 had gotten into.
“If you could beam me into the women’s facilities, I doubt that many people will be in there, so it should be clear.” A quick scan of the area indicated that it was empty and she was beamed down. On her way out of the bathroom, she stopped at the mirror to make sure she looked presentable. Her now long hair was braided and out of the way. Sometimes she missed her shorter hair and thought about cutting it but now was not the time to dwell on such things as she was a woman on a mission.
“Welcome General Carter!” Colonel Martinez greeted her as she was shown in. He shook her hand and gestured to a seat in front of his desk. Once they were both seated, he asked, “So you have questions about MacGyver and Dalton?”
“Yes, I am in charge of a top secret project, and they were brought to my attention as potential candidates.”
“I’m guessing that MacGyver was suggested to you and Dalton was added because of MacGyver’s file.” Martinez stated, as he steepled his fingers and looked at her.
“You would assume correct, however Dalton’s record looks like it would be a decent fit on his own merits.” Carter countered. She wondered why everyone was dismissing Dalton’s service record. This was the second time that Dalton had been talked about as if he was an afterthought, but he was former CIA and Rangers, she shelved the thought for later consideration.
“So, you’re looking for both brains and brawn? If that’s the case, then they are indeed the perfect pair. MacGyver has brains for days, but the boy lacks the sense that God gave a common loon, Dalton though... He might not be the brightest crayon in the box, but he is one crafty hombre.” Martinez paused for a second, “They did have a rocky start though. When I went to inform them of their new partnerships about a year ago, I found the two of them tussling in the barracks. Since then, they’ve been one of our best teams, though I wouldn’t tell Dalton that, he might get a big head.” He said chuckling.
“So, Dalton is competent?” Carter let the question hang.
“Exceedingly. MacGyver might be a genius, but Dalton makes sure his head stays where it should be. They work better as a set; and I learned that the hard way.” He shook his head ruefully.
“How are they under stress or in live action?” Carter queried, not wanting to bother to recruit someone who would break at their first alien contact.
“Pure steel. Dalton’s been down range before with the Rangers, so he’s bombproof, and MacGyver has proven to be equally unflappable. The kid deals with bombs all day. He has to have nerves of steel in order to be able to do that.”
Carter nodded, those were just the type of people that she wanted in the program. “Alright, I’d love to meet with them. And I hate to impose on you, but since this is a top secret project, I’m going to need your office.”
Martinez looked slightly annoyed at that but didn’t comment about the inconvenience, “Yes ma’am. I’ll have them brought in and then I guess I’ll go grab some chow.” He stood up and saluted her again, once she saluted back, he said, “It was nice meeting you.”
She had time to scan through the NDA’s and place them on the conference table that was in the room before she heard the door open, looking up she saw two soldiers walk though. Seeing her they both came to attention and saluted, “Sargent Dalton and Specialist MacGyver reporting as ordered, ma’am.” The older one said.
Carter eyed them for a moment. They both looked as if they had just returned from the field, dirt and sand stains on their uniforms. The younger one, MacGyver, reminded her greatly of a young Daniel Jackson. They both had the same big blue eyes, shaggy hair, and expressive faces. “At ease.” She said as both men settled into parade rest. “If you gentlemen would care to join me at the table?” She requested, gesturing at the two seats opposite her. Once they were seated Dalton immediately picked up his packet and started rifling through the paperwork, while MacGyver continued to give her his complete attention. “I am in charge of a special project that is based out of NORAD.”
Dalton’s eyebrows bunched together and he looked up from the paperwork he was reading, “The Santa Claus tracking people.”
“That’s not all they do Jack.” MacGyver said sighing.
The tone of MacGyver’s voice was very familiar to Carter; she used it on her Jack quite frequently. “Specialist MacGyver is correct, that’s not all that we do. However, before I can tell you more I’m afraid that I’m going to have to insist on you signing those papers in front of you. It’s a…” Before she was able to finish her sentence, Dalton had grabbed the pen she had set out and scrawled his signature where it was indicated on the paper. Closing the folder and setting the pen on top, he pushed it towards her.
Seeing that MacGyver hadn’t even looked at the papers in his folder Dalton huffed, “Now Mac, if you don’t sign, we don’t get to hear the good stuff. I know that all this secret squirrel jazz is new to you but just sign the damn thing already.” He looked up at Carter, "Please excuse my French ma’am.” Carter almost laughed out loud, but it had the intended effect. MacGyver huffed and picked up the pen. He read through the papers more intently than Dalton had then neatly signed his name and like Dalton pushed the folder of paperwork towards her.
“Thank you for that, gentlemen. If you wouldn't mind grabbing those pens and stepping over here.” She scooped up the file folders and stepped into a clear area. Tapping the comms she had been given when she got to the Hammond she said. “We’re clear to beam.” The two men looked confused for a second before the bright light encased them and they were transported to the Hammond’s briefing room.
Windows lined one side of the large room allowing the occupants to see out. In her ear she heard Ufkin, “We are on our way back to Stargate Command.”
“Understood.” She then turned her attention back to her guests. Dalton was staring out the window with his mouth hanging open and a huge grin on his face.
“That’s!” He giggled manically, “That’s!” He took a deep breath, “That’s Earth!” He was bouncing on his feet, “I’m in space!”
In contradiction to his excited companion, MacGyver was looking around, assessing his surroundings with a bit of suspicion on his handsome face. “You are on a Daedalus class ship called the George Hammond. With this technology we can go all the way to the Pegasus galaxy and beyond.”
MacGyver’s face drew up and she could see him muttering to himself, much like Daniel often did when he was trying to figure something out. Frowning, he asked, “But the power consumption?”
“The short answer is that we have naquada generators and a ZPM to power the ship,” Carter grinned at Mac’s curious but confused expression, “We can get into what those are later.”
Dalton whirled around grabbed MacGyver’s arm and drug him to the windows, “Turn that big brain of yours off man and enjoy the view. We are in space!”
“But…” MacGyver started to protest.
“Is what you sit on, now shut your mouth and enjoy the view.” He dropped MacGyver’s arm and stood bouncing watching as the Earth moved slowly by as they traveled to Stargate Command. Carter did have to admit that the view was something to behold. It was nice to stand in silence without a single person demanding something from her, and she felt a tiny bit of tension bleeding from her shoulders. Her father had been right; she was meant for space.
The trio stood at the window and watched the wonder that was space until Col. Ufikn’s voice interrupted the peace that Carter was feeling. “One minute to Stargate Command.”
“Understood.” She said to him breaking the spell that had come over the conference room. Two sets of questioning eyes turned her way. “I’m sure that you both have a million questions. Please hold onto them for a few more minutes. Make sure that you gentlemen have the pens that I gave you earlier and if you would join me over here.” The two did as instructed.
“Over Stargate Command, ready to beam on your orders ma’am.” Ufkin said.
“We’re ready to beam.” Carter responded. The bright light once again surrounded them, and they were transported to the briefing room which overlooked the gate room in Stargate Command.
“We’ll be hanging around for transport back. Ufkin out.”
Dalton looked no less excited to be in the briefing room than he had on the Hammond, “Where are we now? Are we on another planet? Am I going to meet aliens?”
Carter gestured to the seats at the table as she sat down in the head chair. As they took their chairs, she attempted to answer some of his questions, “Currently, you are under Cheyenne Mountain. Probably not on this visit, but if you decided to join us then yes, you would eventually meet and work with aliens.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve meet the little green guys!” Dalton exclaimed as Mac rolled his eyes at him.
“They’re actually grey.” A soft voice came from the doorway. Without even looking behind her Carter knew it was Daniel. “Sorry Sam, I didn’t realize that you had guests in here.”
She turned her seat around, “Come on in, Daniel. I was just about to tell them about the Stargate program, and you do a much better job of it than I do.” Daniel Jackson hesitated, still standing in the doorway holding a book in one hand and pushing up his glasses in the other.
“If you’re here to tell us about the aliens get on with it.” Then seeing Mac cringe at his words, and processing what he had said, Dalton added, “Please, sir.”
“Dr. Daniel Jackson, please met Sargent Jack Dalton and Specialist Angus MacGyver.” Carter introduced everyone as Daniel made his way to the table.
“Of course, he’s named Jack.” Daniel muttered, as Carter hid a smile.
“Sir, if you don’t mind, I prefer to go by Mac.” Specialist MacGyver requested as he shook Daniel’s hand.
“And I’m either Daniel or Dr. Jackson, I’m not in the military, so no sir. I’m a civilian archeologist and linguist. So, Sam’s recruiting you into the Stargate program?”
Carter sat back and let Daniel take over as he explained the history behind the program and how it worked. Dalton looked bored at the technical aspects, just like her Jack, while Mac leaned in his expression one of wonder. When Daniel had finished with his explanation Carter said, “Any questions?”
Both men immediately began peppering them both with questions. Mac’s questions were about the technical aspect of the Stargate, while Dalton kept asking about the Asgard and when he could meet an alien. She was just about to wrap it up when the klaxons of an incoming wormhole blared. Both Mac and Dalton reacted quickly, Mac looked around worriedly, assessing what was happening, while Dalton immediately stiffened and looked ready for anything. “Gentlemen, if you’ll join me at the window, SG-4 is scheduled to return.” She didn’t have to say any more before both men rushed over. It was a routine return and once the team was off the ramp and the stargate closed she turned to the two men who were both staring in disbelief and asked. “So, would you like to join the Stargate program?”