SG1-25 Hostile Ground(70)
“I’m what, now?”
It bared its teeth. Maybe it was smiling. “You are of use.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
George Hammond had told himself that the current situation was just about as bad as it could get. He’d been wrong. He hadn’t factored in the appearance of the man now standing in his office, but perhaps that was due to his own short-sightedness: vultures always circled while the carrion was still kicking.
“What do you want, Maybourne?”
Without waiting for an invitation, Colonel Harold Maybourne sat down in the chair opposite, tossing his hat onto Hammond’s desk. “I’d say a more appropriate question would be ‘what is it you want, General?’”
Hammond took a breath, biting back the reply that sprang to his lips. The worst thing you could do with men like Maybourne was play their game. “Can we dispense with the obfuscation, Harold? I have a planet to defend.”
“Yes, I had heard that.” Maybourne leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. Though his expression was solemn, self-satisfaction radiated from him in waves; Hammond could practically smell it. “The situation, I believe, is grave.”
“And how would you know about that?”
“I have sources.”
“Not official ones. You are so far from this chain of intel, Maybourne, you might as well be shucking corn back in Iowa. So I’ll ask again, how would you know about that?”
By rights, Hammond knew he should be sticking to the eyes-only directive for the current situation, but he couldn’t resist prodding Maybourne, shaking him up a little to see what fell out. Besides, he was neither confirming nor denying anything. And by the looks of it, his little test had worked. Maybourne shifted in his seat, eyes flitting to the side as he realized he’d given away more than he should.
You think you’re a big player in this game, thought Hammond. Son, you’re nothing but Little League.
But the colonel made an admirable attempt to recover. “I think, General, that we should focus on what’s important here. The Earth is in trouble and something has to be done. I don’t believe I’m speaking out of turn when I say that I may be the one to do it.”
At that, Hammond’s fraying temper almost snapped. Only one last tenuous thread held it together and that thread told him there was hope yet, that, against the odds, SG-1 might still make it back and put this whole damn thing to bed. A tiny fragment of hope, but there it was.
To reveal anything else to Maybourne at this stage would be unwise. But Maybourne, it seemed, was less circumspect.
“General, I’ve succeeded where Jack O’Neill failed. I’ve been able to set up an off-world base. An Alpha Site, if you will. Just say the word and we can begin evacuation immediately.” He cleared his throat and had the good grace to look mildly uncomfortable. “Of course, there would need to be a… discussion about the chain of command. My people, however, have already proven more than resourceful in establishing an efficient operation. If you were to speak to the President–”
“Now just wait one damn minute, you slick son of a b–”
“No, General, I’ve already waited long enough. We all have. This entire planet has done nothing but wait, and now it’s about to pay the price. That gate isn’t simply an on-ramp for the intergalactic highway, George. It’s a weapon. You and your teams might be happy to take your little hearts and minds trips around the galaxy, smiling at the locals, while the Asgard and the Tollan and the Tok’ra pull the strings and play you like puppets. But there are factions who believe that more… robust measures need to be taken to ensure the safety of this planet. You had a duty of care, General, and you failed. If we’re waiting on anything, it’s for the other shoe to drop.”
Enough was enough. To hell with eyes-only, to hell with playing the cards carefully, this idiot had just pulled on Hammond’s one remaining thread. “You’ve got some damn nerve, Maybourne. You come in here and tell me how your people can save us? Do you have any idea why we’re in this position? It’s because of your people and what they’ve done. They’ve lied and they’ve stolen and they’ve turned our allies against us. You and your people put Earth in danger, and you’ve done so in the most underhanded way possible. Don’t you dare accuse me of failing this planet; the blame falls firmly on your shoulders.”
“The blame, sir, falls with the SGC and your command. The blame falls with your flagship team, always ready to play the heroes and take the glory. So tell me, General, where is SG-1 now? Where are your heroes?”