Sure, he hadn�t liked her that first day, when she came in, all disapproving of the leaps being taken by the military and so incredibly not George Hammond, but he�d been pretty focused on the fact that the Asgard weren�t picking up their phones and that meant he was on a fairly short timetable for living the rest of his life while the knowledge of the Ancients filled his brain so far beyond capacity it would literally kill him, and he�d been short with pretty much everyone, frustrated by the fact that he couldn�t find what they needed in the mess inside his head, frustrated that he was losing the ability to communicate, frustrated that his sacrifice was looking like it was going to be in vain, so Elizabeth hadn�t exactly taken it personally. That moment, when she had been put in charge, hadn�t been the optimum moment for a new boss to be sprung on everyone, though she doubted Kinsey had cared when he started the process that had led to Hammond being replaced with her, a civilian anti-military politician who, he thought, he could control to further his own agenda. Still, Jack had never snapped at her, had gotten angry around her, but never at her, and, while she knew she had asked a lot of him the last time they had spoken, Elizabeth got the distinct impression that there was more going on. The problem was, if Jack wasn�t willing to offer it up on his own, she doubted she would find out what the something more was, especially not when all her connections in Washington were on the stale side after disappearing, literally, from the face of the Earth.
�Sheppard has the whole gene thing wired. Do you know how long the migraines lasted when I had to control that thing? The Jumper? Yet you say he does it like it�s nothing. The geeks at Area 51 have been begging for someone with that kind of control over the Ancient doodads and whatchmacallits and various rocks and crap they have there,� Jack continued.
�The headache was probably caused by the time travel component. John�s never had to deal with something like that,� Elizabeth tried. Not that John and Rodney hadn�t tried to find the time machine after Elizabeth�s older alternate timeline self had mentioned that the thing existed. Even though they knew it had been destroyed in the crash that killed the alternate Radek and John, both John and Rodney had been like kids trick-or-treating, going from lab to lab, searching for anything with Janus� name on it, anything that would indicate that Janus had left some of his research behind. He had, after all, apparently brought his research to the Milky Way with him, since a Jumper with a time machine component had been what had brought SG-1 to the past to get the ZPM that had gotten the �Gate open to Atlantis to mount a rescue operation during the siege.
�He�s doing it, doc. Your simple favour? Not so simple. You�re lucky I didn�t hang myself with all the strings I had to pull.�
Elizabeth sighed softly. She�d known before she even asked that it was going to be nearly impossible for Jack to do what she wanted him to. Even if he had been in his position for months, years, it would have been nearly impossible for him to get her request pushed through, let alone in the twelve hours he�d managed in. The very thought of the kinds of deals Jack had to make was scary and mind-boggling and, honestly, Elizabeth hadn�t thought he�d had it in him. Jack O�Neill was no politician, not by any stretch of the imagination. The thought of him surviving in Washington for long was, unfortunately, a little bit on the laughable side. Unfortunately, because, really, she didn�t know anyone else who would be a better ally in Homeworld Security for the SGC and Atlantis than Jack. General Hammond had had his hands tied with the fact that the position was so new no one knew how far he could go, how much power to let him have, but over a year of the position being a reality, even a super top secret reality, had given a fairly decent definition to the parameters of the job, and, having read them over herself, she knew that Jack was perfect for the job. He understood all the facets, or, at least, almost all of the facets. He knew the field realities of Stargate travel. He knew the administrative realities of running the SGC. And, sure, he didn�t exactly know the science parts, but, just from listening to him in meetings while she had been in DC, she knew that he understood a lot more than he liked to let on. Eight years with Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson doing the science thing, from both ends of the spectrum, in his vicinity, under his command, had to have given him something of a basic understanding of some things, after all, and it wasn�t like Jack was a dumb man. Still, Elizabeth wasn�t sure how long Jack would last. Not just because he couldn�t really do the politicking thing that was so necessary in Washington, but because he�d been ready for retirement for so many years, had actually retired for a time at least once that Elizabeth could recall, and what amounted to a desk job wasn�t going to keep him around for long. Which was unfortunate, but it was still a reality.
�I know. I asked for something pretty much impossible and you came through for me, beyond what I had even dared hope for. But, in my defence, I never said it was a simple favour. I just said it was a favour.�
�Not much of a defence,� Jack muttered. �But that�s not the point. The point is, Sheppard is already at Area 51, he�s scheduled to be there for another two weeks at least, he�s already finished qualifying on the 302�s, and locking him in a mountain with Caldwell and Landry right now is like begging for a Court Marshal. Get him to spend a few days, a week, maybe, doing the lab rat thing, and when he gets back to the Mountain some other thing has happened to take the focus off him and his shiny new starbursts.�
Elizabeth sat back in her chair, cringing as the metal launched a pained protest to the angle she was