Stargate SG1 Fan Fiction ❯ The Secret Life of a Major General ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8

Living Room, O’Neill’s Residence, Alexandria, VA
May 8, 2005
Afternoon

Enjoying a lazy day off, even more now that the twins had been put down for their afternoon nap, Kerry stretched out on Jack’s couch and put down the mystery book she was reading. She and Jack had plans for the evening but a phone call fifteen minutes ago looked like it might change those as he had locked himself into his home office indicating that whatever the reason for the call could escalate.

Tilting her head back on the arm of the couch, she eyed the living room’s bookshelf with some interest. Jack’s reading selection was eclectic to say the least, but what had her interest was the five photo albums that she did not remember seeing before. Maybe he had finally got the last of his boxes unpacked? She knew that there had been a few in the spare two bedrooms.

Rising from her relaxed pose, Kerry crossed the floor to the bookcase and pulled out the albums. Taking them back to the couch, she settled them onto the coffee table and picket up one of the newer looking ones. The book was full of photos of a casually dressed, and younger, SG-1, the now deceased Dr Janet Fraiser, and her adopted daughter Cassandra Fraiser. The photos were for all seasons, casual barbeques at Jack’s old house and birthday parties for the alien girl dominating.

Setting the album aside she picked up a second one to find it full of pictures of his life before SGC, his former wife Sara, and deceased son Charlie. Pictures at home, on vacations, parties and events, school fairs and awards, pictures crowded with a variety of men that she knew had probably served within him at his various postings.

The third and forth albums were essentially the same, chronicling the passing of time and growth of Charlie from infant to a young boy.

The last album was more of a surprise, full of older photographs with many of them black and white. She knew that this was most likely the photos that had been passed onto Jack by his mother. It began with photos of a young couple she guessed was his parents—due to the man’s strong resemblance to Jack—and more photos of family and friends before infant pictures of Jack who became an adorable toddler who looked so much like Charlie and the twins, and then pictures of a second infant who was probably his sister Julie.

The years past, the two O’Neill siblings aging with photos of vacations, parties, weddings, and funerals until judging from Jack’s appearance he was in his early twenties, there were photos of another funeral and turning a page a slip of paper fluttered to the floor. Setting the album aside onto the coffee table she leaned down and picked up the piece of paper, discovering it to be the yellowed sections of an old newspaper. Folded together were two newspaper clippings, year and date inked onto the margins.

Kerry felt rather short of breath as she read the heading of the larger section reporting a tragic vehicle accident that claimed the lives of three local teens graduation night. Hardly believing the names the newspaper was reporting had been killed; she looked at the second clipping to find that it was an obituary.

The young woman pictured was Julie O’Neill.

Double checking the inked dates, the month matched up with graduation month and the birth and death date of the obituary indicated the newspaper had been issued a week later.

According to these pieces of paper, Julie O’Neill born August 4th, 1958 had died June 20th, 1974.

But that was impossible! Jack had said Julie and her husband, Kenneth Mayer who was another fatality of the 1974 crash, had died back in January of this year. But if they really had died thirty years ago, as it was strongly implied by the newspaper report, obituary, and funeral photographs, and not five months ago… who were Tyler and Emily Mayer?

In a Farrow-Marshall office while viewing the reports compiled through the day, legitimate ones regarding the aeronautics firm that would have to be dealt with as vice-president and personal ones regarding Trust interests, Athena paused at a notation regarding surveillance of a certain CIA agent’s activities.

That was most peculiar. Why would Agent Johnson be investigating the histories of Tyler and Emily Mayer? She was after all O’Neill’s lover and thus far closer to the source and situation then anyone else. Unless… unless she had come across something that indicated the Mayer twins were not who—or what—they appeared to be.

Opening up a new window on her computer screen, she logged into a secure network belonging to the Trust and accessed the dossier for the Mayer twins, compiled by human Trust operatives at Lord Oceanus’s request twenty-nine days ago.

Reviewing the files Athena once again found nothing unusual about the data. The oldest copies of O’Neill’s military dossiers actually listed his sister as a family member before the information was simply dropped. The Mayer family themselves from all records were ordinary American citizens who lead normal lives. And the Trust agents had been very thorough in their investigation, comparing the compiled history for the Mayers with other dossiers that they knew had been created either by the armed forces or government departments and came to the conclusion that the Mayer twins situation, though suspicious due to the relation to O’Neill, was legitimate.

But if Agent Johnson was suspicious…

Athena reached for her phone with its secure line and dialled a number. The call was answered within two rings and the melodious voice of her line-father issued through the line.

“<Greetings line-father,>” Athena began in Goa’uld, “<I believe it will be necessary to revise the Mayer situation. I have learned that Agent Johnson is making inquiries.>”

“<That does indeed signify there is more to the Mayers than the human investigators have been able to uncover,>” Oceanus observed.

“<Especially when one takes into consideration that O’Neill knows precisely what type of information needs to be fabricated,>” Athena pointed out.

“<That is true, but the agents analysing the data reported that it was unlikely the Mayer situation was not legitimate due to the sheer volume of data needed to be falsified and diversity of areas. It was, apparently erroneously, decided that O’Neill did not have the necessary resources.>”

“<Even when he was a mere colonel he demonstrated himself to have a wide variety of resources at his disposal,>” Athena commented remembering the number of Trust operations O’Neill had fouled before he had the resources of being base commander and now, more troublesome, directorship of a department devoted to intergalactic security.

“<It was foolish of them to ignore the possibility,>” Oceanus chided ignoring the fact that he himself had ignored the possibility. It was after all only the human agents that made errors that lead to mission failure, not an exalted being such as himself. “<I believe it prudent that our initial plan concerning the Mayers be implemented.>”

“<I shall see to it Lord Oceanus.>”

“<Good. I look forward to seeing you shortly.>”

“<Yes line-father,>” Athena responded before placing the phone receiver back into its cradle. Turning her attention back her computer screen she pulled up the relevant file regarding the plan to retrieve the Mayers, double checked O’Neill’s travel route and time before sending off orders to the other two operatives that would be needed to carry out the mission, and scheduled a vice-president visit to Farrow-Marshall’s Nevada plant.