Stargate SG1 Fan Fiction ❯ The Secret Life of a Major General ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )

Chapter 9

Bridge of the Niflheim, Far Side of Earth’s Moon Orbit
May 18, 2005
Late Afternoon

Hel accepted the communiqué from the Asgärd engineering department and felt a great deal of satisfaction upon learning that the Samantha Carter was going through final test flights and system analysis and would be ready for her command upon returning to the Ida Galaxy.

She would miss Niflheim after centuries of commanding the vessel, knowing every square inch of space and all the quirks that age bestowed upon the ship, but knew her enthusiasm for her new ship would make the transition easy.

Setting course for Kjóll, their shipyard station orbiting Orilla, Hel withdrew Niflheim from its orbiting path and once it cleared the planet and large satellite, engaged the hyperdrive engines. The black of space with the speckling of white starts streaked to white lines in a field of deep purple as Niflheim made its final voyage under Commander Hel.

On route home after work Jack singled a lane change and took the opportunity to check in on the twins in their car seats in the back of his recently purchased SUV to find them as calm as usual as they quite enjoyed car rides, which made commuting to and from work easy.

Moving the SUV into the left lane to take the next corner Jack’s world exploded into world of screeching metal and screaming children. Wrenching the wheel in a desperate attempt to regain control just as they impacted another vehicle, the force threw Jack forward to meet the steering wheel with brutal force and consciousness vanished for him.

Athena squirmed from the stolen vehicle she had been driving and sprinted to the side of the SUV. She had only a few moments before there would be too many witnesses and police arriving on the scene.

Reaching for the crumpled passenger door, she wrenched it off its hinges and was relieved to find both Mayer children hysterical, but physically unharmed. It had been a risk staging the crash to retrieve the children but even if only one had survived it had been deemed an acceptable risk. That both had was a fortunate bonus for them.

Jabbing both screaming children with a prepared sedative she did not even bother figuring out the child harnesses, just cut through the straps and hauled both children from their seats. Settling them into ‘mothering’ positions on her hips she hurried from the crash scene, moving quickly but not running she rounded the corner that O’Neill had just been about to take, to the car she knew was waiting for her.

The door of the idling car opened from inside and shoving the girl child towards the other man in the passenger seat, Athena slid into the back and settled in as the driver pulled into traffic and headed away from the crash scene.

Reaching for an armoured briefcase at her feet Athena withdrew a healing device and slid it into position on the hand not wearing her ribbon device. Activating the device she scanned it over the boy she still held to insure that he did not have any serious injuries. Finding none she exchanged the boy for the girl and did the same.

Finding no broking bones again, she knew the human child seats had done their job, aided by the fact that her target had been the driver and everything had been timed to maximise the twins’ survival.

Stripping off the healing device and ribbon device, which had been worn for its shield component, she stored both of them back into the briefcase. While she preferred to wear the ribbon device it attracted unwanted attention. Attention that she could not yet afford to have directed towards her or her companions.

“Did O’Neill survive?” the man beside her inquired curiously.

Athena thought back to the cursory glance she had given the man before answering. “O’Neill was bleeding from a head injury and the collapsed steering column effectively trapped him but I do not know if it caused serious injury.”

The two men were quiet at her news, but not dismissing of O’Neill as a possible future obstacle. O’Neill was known after all for surviving the un-survivable.

“Thank you Sir,” Landry voiced the response one final time before hanging the phone up. Looking up he took a deep and fortifying breath. Pressing down on the intercom, he paged his aide and when Sergeant Pierce appeared, he indicated that he wanted Dr Jackson to report to his office.

As the sergeant departed, he picked up his pen and began to draft a notice, thinking grimly that this was not news that he wanted to pass onto his staff. It was not news he wanted to know himself either. Halfway through composing the message Pierce knocked on his door and ushered Dr Jackson into the room.

“Jackson,” Landry greeted wearily. “Please have a seat.”

Looking increasingly wary, Daniel seated himself across from the general and looked expectantly at the base commander.

“I was just informed that General O’Neill was in a serious multi-vehicle accident this afternoon.”

“My God!” Daniel exclaimed in shock, hardly believing what he was hearing.

“He is still in ICU but his prognosis is good and a full recovery is expected.”

“What happened? What injuries does he have?” Daniel demanded, the volume of his voice rising with each question.

“O’Neill suffered a moderate concussion and bruising to the ribcage but no broken bones and superficial cuts from flying glass.” Checking the notes he had made during the call, Landry added, “He is in a drug induced coma while they monitor the swelling in his brain. There is a great deal of concern given his past history of brain injuries.”

Daniel closed his eyes and breathed a prayer of thanksgiving. Opening them again he found Landry watching him with the same solemn expression and he knew that there was more bad news yet to come.

“What has authorities convinced that this incident was more then a simple accident is the vehicle that initially struck O’Neill’s SUV was stolen hours earlier and no driver was identified. Also, further investigation revealed that his children were stolen at the scene of the accident.”

“Wait a minute—children? What children?” Daniel demanded. “Jack doesn’t have children!”

Landry looked nonplused at the question and statement. “I’m afraid you’re mistaken Jackson. The general has been a father since the beginning of the year.”

Daniel shook his head disbelievingly. “No, that isn’t… he would have told me—us…”

Wondering himself at why Jack apparently had not told Jackson about Tyler and Emily and yet he knew of them, Landry forged onward. “I am unaware about why you don’t know about O’Neill becoming the father of twins, but I assure you he has.”

Daniel just slowly shook his head from side to side, still not able to understand. Jack was a father again and had not told him? Was it only him that Jack hadn’t told? Did Sam or Teal’c know? Snapping back to the current situation he confirmed he would tell Sam as Landry was asking and was relieved to know that as soon as the rest of the base had been informed of the accident, a message would be sent to Teal’c as well.