Categories > TV > Stargate: SG-1 > We Shouldn't Keep Meeting Like This
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2001, Earth, United States, Colorado.
Colonel Jack O'Neill came running into the Gate room. With the base's regular commander, General Hammond, away at the Pentagon, O'Neill had been left in charge-and responsible should anything go wrong. Daniel had only left for Abydos a few hours ago. Nobody had expected him to be back so soon. Still, the Gate had been activated from off world. Guards stood by with weapons at the ready, just in case the arrival was not Dr. Jackson.
When SG-1's archeologist stepped out of the vortex, there was a relief of tension that immediately picked up again when several more people followed after him. First came two Abydonians who were carrying some sort of contraption between them. Behind them were two more guards who had a man between them with a familiar, if unexpected, face.
"I'll be damned," Jack O'Neill said under his breath. Daniel came over to him while soldiers relieved all the Abydonians of their burdens. "So, how'd you conjure that one, Daniel?"
Daniel gave a small smile. The Abydonians, whom he knew intimately, had told him all they knew. It was a bit of a coup for him to have the intelligence on someone for a change. "According to Kasuf, he arrived three days before I did," he replied. "They thought he might have been one of ours. That's why they informed me. They found that...mechanism at about the same time I found him." He waved a hand at the object that had been carried with them before indicating the captive, who had, a little over a year ago, managed to vanish from the SGC without a trace. "He claims it's his."
"You actually got him to admit to something?" the astonished Jack said. When last he saw him, Captain Harkness had not been all that communicative. At least, not when it came to details about himself. He had been more that happy to chatter on about absolutely nothing until the cows came home. "Maybe I should let you handle the interrogation, Dr. Jackson," O'Neill joked.
Daniel fidgeted for a second and cast his eyes down before replying, "It wasn't that hard. He was drunk."
"Still is, by the looks of him."
Harkness was indeed unsteady on his feet. Not that this stopped him from taking in the Gate room with marked interest while the guards were escorting him out. Seeing this, the Colonel said, "You think maybe you should have blindfolded him?"
"Huh?" Daniel raised his eyebrows in surprise and then cleared his throat. "I...uh, never thought of it. Sorry."
Jack saw his face flush as he spoke. There was no reason for Daniel to be that ashamed. "Never mind, the damage is done. Let's make sure Sam gets that... thing. Maybe she can figure out what it does." O'Neill was certain that the mechanism would give Major Samantha Carter hours, maybe even days of joy in figuring out the technical details.
Jack O'Neill, of course, got stuck with the interrogation-again. For once, paperwork proved to be worth it, as there were a whole lot of interesting facts connected with the name "Jack Harkness" who held the rank of "Captain." The wait for the captive to sober up provided Colonel Jack O'Neill with ample time to go through all the information again.
Aside from the report of about a year ago, which he himself had filed, there was a report of a Captain Harkness who had gone missing in action in the trenches in World War One. Then, some twenty years later, there were reports from both London and Berlin that mentioned an American volunteer, again named Jack Harkness. This individual had appeared and disappeared sporadically all throughout World War Two. There were photographs with the latter reports, and O'Neill thought the man must have been an ancestor of his prisoner. In fact, they looked so much alike, they could be twins. Talk about a strong family resemblance.
Then he started looking through the US military records. Korea, reportedly killed in action in 1952. Vietnam, 1967, missing in action. Then, Jack recognized the man personally from a Special Forces operation in 1988. He even had a sneaking suspicion that the incident had something to do with his promotion to Major soon after. There was no paperwork on that incident-at least, not that he was permitted to see. It would probably have made a good episode of the X-Files. Even more interestingly, Harkness'fingerprints, taken the last time he was captured, matched those found after an unexplained Gate activation on the planet P2T-112 in 1998. The collective files made up an impressive pile.
When Jack walked into the cell where Jack Harkness was being held, the other man looked up for maybe a fraction of a second, then resumed staring at the floor. This was odd, O'Neill thought. Even though Harkness had not been forthcoming about himself before, he had been gregarious to the point of exasperation, talking, laughing and joking with anyone in sight. From Daniel's report, he had been just as expansive while drunk. Very likely he was still considerably hung over, which would serve him right.
Harkness was seated on the bunk. O'Neill studied him a moment before he took the chair that was next to the table in the room. He threw a glance back at the Marine keeping guard near the door and returned his attention to the silent man across the room.
That whole tableau held for about half a minute. Then, completely ignoring the other two people in the room, Jack Harknessstretched himself out on the bunk and closed his eyes.
Colonel O'Neill sighed. This was getting ridiculous. "Comfortable?" he asked.
"I've been in worse places." Harkness replied, then sniffed his own shirt and said: "A shower wouldn't have hurt, though."
"Last time we did that you skipped town on us."For a fraction of a second a grin appeared on the Captain's face. It was gone again as quickly as it appeared. "That's not going to happen again."
"No? Good. Then maybe this time we can discuss who you are."
"Jack Harkness-" Harkness started, only to be cut off by O'Neill who finished the reply.
"Captain, 4553610-S-57-C-5124. Yes, we got that last time. Maybe you want to tell me-"
O'Neill lifted the large stack of files from the desktop and let them fall again. They would have made a resounding thump, had they stayed together. Instead, the files shifted, slid and then fell over, dropping to the floor and shedding any loose items from inside. Jack cursed, then finished his question, "Which of all these Captain Harknesses is you?"
O'Neill started to gather together the files again. Harkness idly turned his head to look. One of the papers that had fallen out of a file must have caught his interest, because he suddenly twisted and grabbed for it. He never got as far as picking it up, though, because the guard pulled his gun and aimed it at the Captain, who froze.
Colonel O'Neill picked up the paper that Harkness had been trying to reach. It was part of the British from the Second World War. Attached to the paper was the only photograph in that file. It showed two men, who were clearly close friends. One was dressed in a British Army uniform, the other, an obvious ancestor of the current Captain Harkness, was in RAF gear.
"Never got to see granddad before?" O'Neill asked.
The answer was silence. Harkness wasn't going to get anywhere today, Jack thought and scraped together the ruins of his files before leaving.
The same scenario played out over and over, day after day, one interrogator after another. The prisoner would give no information other than his name, rank, and serial number. Not even Teal'c's interrogation technique-stare at them until they talk-had worked. When he was not under interrogation, Harkness seemed to spend his time either lying on his bunk, or engaged in some occasional improvised physical exercise. Surprisingly, he turned out to be an avid reader, initially requesting Charles Dickens, but when that was unavailable, settling for Douglas Adams.
Colonel O'Neill was getting frustrated by the lack of progress. After all, they couldn't keep the man locked up here forever. Stargate Command's supposed colleague but also frequent rival, the NID, were already salivating to get their hands on this prisoner and his toys. After all, he had been arrested on an alien planet and could well have knowledge of technologies that not even the SGC or the NID had gotten their hands on.
O'Neill already knew for a fact that Captain Harkness had knowledge and access to a considerable amount of unfamiliar technologies. The way he had escaped captivity the first time meant that someone or something had teleported him away. Also, according to Sam and the techniciansa great deal of the...vehicle he had with him on Abydos consisted of similar systems to those used in the transport rings or, indeed, the Stargate itself. But beyond the question of where he had gotten his hands on /those /particular toys, there was the bigger question surrounding the other components. They were of a design that none of the technicians had seen before, and as to their function... That was anybody's guess.
--
2001, Earth, United States, Colorado.
Colonel Jack O'Neill came running into the Gate room. With the base's regular commander, General Hammond, away at the Pentagon, O'Neill had been left in charge-and responsible should anything go wrong. Daniel had only left for Abydos a few hours ago. Nobody had expected him to be back so soon. Still, the Gate had been activated from off world. Guards stood by with weapons at the ready, just in case the arrival was not Dr. Jackson.
When SG-1's archeologist stepped out of the vortex, there was a relief of tension that immediately picked up again when several more people followed after him. First came two Abydonians who were carrying some sort of contraption between them. Behind them were two more guards who had a man between them with a familiar, if unexpected, face.
"I'll be damned," Jack O'Neill said under his breath. Daniel came over to him while soldiers relieved all the Abydonians of their burdens. "So, how'd you conjure that one, Daniel?"
Daniel gave a small smile. The Abydonians, whom he knew intimately, had told him all they knew. It was a bit of a coup for him to have the intelligence on someone for a change. "According to Kasuf, he arrived three days before I did," he replied. "They thought he might have been one of ours. That's why they informed me. They found that...mechanism at about the same time I found him." He waved a hand at the object that had been carried with them before indicating the captive, who had, a little over a year ago, managed to vanish from the SGC without a trace. "He claims it's his."
"You actually got him to admit to something?" the astonished Jack said. When last he saw him, Captain Harkness had not been all that communicative. At least, not when it came to details about himself. He had been more that happy to chatter on about absolutely nothing until the cows came home. "Maybe I should let you handle the interrogation, Dr. Jackson," O'Neill joked.
Daniel fidgeted for a second and cast his eyes down before replying, "It wasn't that hard. He was drunk."
"Still is, by the looks of him."
Harkness was indeed unsteady on his feet. Not that this stopped him from taking in the Gate room with marked interest while the guards were escorting him out. Seeing this, the Colonel said, "You think maybe you should have blindfolded him?"
"Huh?" Daniel raised his eyebrows in surprise and then cleared his throat. "I...uh, never thought of it. Sorry."
Jack saw his face flush as he spoke. There was no reason for Daniel to be that ashamed. "Never mind, the damage is done. Let's make sure Sam gets that... thing. Maybe she can figure out what it does." O'Neill was certain that the mechanism would give Major Samantha Carter hours, maybe even days of joy in figuring out the technical details.
Jack O'Neill, of course, got stuck with the interrogation-again. For once, paperwork proved to be worth it, as there were a whole lot of interesting facts connected with the name "Jack Harkness" who held the rank of "Captain." The wait for the captive to sober up provided Colonel Jack O'Neill with ample time to go through all the information again.
Aside from the report of about a year ago, which he himself had filed, there was a report of a Captain Harkness who had gone missing in action in the trenches in World War One. Then, some twenty years later, there were reports from both London and Berlin that mentioned an American volunteer, again named Jack Harkness. This individual had appeared and disappeared sporadically all throughout World War Two. There were photographs with the latter reports, and O'Neill thought the man must have been an ancestor of his prisoner. In fact, they looked so much alike, they could be twins. Talk about a strong family resemblance.
Then he started looking through the US military records. Korea, reportedly killed in action in 1952. Vietnam, 1967, missing in action. Then, Jack recognized the man personally from a Special Forces operation in 1988. He even had a sneaking suspicion that the incident had something to do with his promotion to Major soon after. There was no paperwork on that incident-at least, not that he was permitted to see. It would probably have made a good episode of the X-Files. Even more interestingly, Harkness'fingerprints, taken the last time he was captured, matched those found after an unexplained Gate activation on the planet P2T-112 in 1998. The collective files made up an impressive pile.
When Jack walked into the cell where Jack Harkness was being held, the other man looked up for maybe a fraction of a second, then resumed staring at the floor. This was odd, O'Neill thought. Even though Harkness had not been forthcoming about himself before, he had been gregarious to the point of exasperation, talking, laughing and joking with anyone in sight. From Daniel's report, he had been just as expansive while drunk. Very likely he was still considerably hung over, which would serve him right.
Harkness was seated on the bunk. O'Neill studied him a moment before he took the chair that was next to the table in the room. He threw a glance back at the Marine keeping guard near the door and returned his attention to the silent man across the room.
That whole tableau held for about half a minute. Then, completely ignoring the other two people in the room, Jack Harknessstretched himself out on the bunk and closed his eyes.
Colonel O'Neill sighed. This was getting ridiculous. "Comfortable?" he asked.
"I've been in worse places." Harkness replied, then sniffed his own shirt and said: "A shower wouldn't have hurt, though."
"Last time we did that you skipped town on us."For a fraction of a second a grin appeared on the Captain's face. It was gone again as quickly as it appeared. "That's not going to happen again."
"No? Good. Then maybe this time we can discuss who you are."
"Jack Harkness-" Harkness started, only to be cut off by O'Neill who finished the reply.
"Captain, 4553610-S-57-C-5124. Yes, we got that last time. Maybe you want to tell me-"
O'Neill lifted the large stack of files from the desktop and let them fall again. They would have made a resounding thump, had they stayed together. Instead, the files shifted, slid and then fell over, dropping to the floor and shedding any loose items from inside. Jack cursed, then finished his question, "Which of all these Captain Harknesses is you?"
O'Neill started to gather together the files again. Harkness idly turned his head to look. One of the papers that had fallen out of a file must have caught his interest, because he suddenly twisted and grabbed for it. He never got as far as picking it up, though, because the guard pulled his gun and aimed it at the Captain, who froze.
Colonel O'Neill picked up the paper that Harkness had been trying to reach. It was part of the British from the Second World War. Attached to the paper was the only photograph in that file. It showed two men, who were clearly close friends. One was dressed in a British Army uniform, the other, an obvious ancestor of the current Captain Harkness, was in RAF gear.
"Never got to see granddad before?" O'Neill asked.
The answer was silence. Harkness wasn't going to get anywhere today, Jack thought and scraped together the ruins of his files before leaving.
The same scenario played out over and over, day after day, one interrogator after another. The prisoner would give no information other than his name, rank, and serial number. Not even Teal'c's interrogation technique-stare at them until they talk-had worked. When he was not under interrogation, Harkness seemed to spend his time either lying on his bunk, or engaged in some occasional improvised physical exercise. Surprisingly, he turned out to be an avid reader, initially requesting Charles Dickens, but when that was unavailable, settling for Douglas Adams.
Colonel O'Neill was getting frustrated by the lack of progress. After all, they couldn't keep the man locked up here forever. Stargate Command's supposed colleague but also frequent rival, the NID, were already salivating to get their hands on this prisoner and his toys. After all, he had been arrested on an alien planet and could well have knowledge of technologies that not even the SGC or the NID had gotten their hands on.
O'Neill already knew for a fact that Captain Harkness had knowledge and access to a considerable amount of unfamiliar technologies. The way he had escaped captivity the first time meant that someone or something had teleported him away. Also, according to Sam and the techniciansa great deal of the...vehicle he had with him on Abydos consisted of similar systems to those used in the transport rings or, indeed, the Stargate itself. But beyond the question of where he had gotten his hands on /those /particular toys, there was the bigger question surrounding the other components. They were of a design that none of the technicians had seen before, and as to their function... That was anybody's guess.
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