The Birth of Iconia

Chapter 5

It was Samantha Carter's first day, with the new Stargate arrangement. Since she was working incognito, through GD, she had chosen to come into GD in civilian attire, so was wearing a light blue skirt and blazer over a white blouse.

Before she went to Altair, she would be meeting with Henry who, along with Zane, was going to be accompanying her today. Outside, Henry's office, she stopped at the desk of Larry Haberman, Henry's administrative assistant. He had been Douglas Fargo's assistant while he was the CEO of GD, and it had been a smooth transition to simply let him retain the job with Henry.

"Good morning. Can I help you?" Larry said when she arrived.

"I'm waiting to speak to Dr. Deacon," she told him.

"I'm sorry," Larry said, officiously. "Dr. Deacon has scheduled the day out of his office today. I'm afraid he won't be able to meet with you."

"Yes," Sam told him. "I'm going with him. I'm General Samantha Carter." She fingered her name badge at him, and his eyes almost popped out of his head.

Larry seemed torn between running, fainting, screaming, and saluting as he realized he had done the wrong thing. He finally settled on saying, "Yes, Ma'am" in a trembling, high pitched voice.

Again, he didn't seem to know what to do. This guy is too much, Sam thought. I'm surprised Henry keeps him on. To Larry, she said, "You want to let Dr. Deacon know I'm here?"

Suddenly, Larry was a flurry of movement, and he squeaked "Yes… Right… I will, Ma'am."

He disappeared for a moment, then appeared. "He's in his office, Ma'am." He visibly gulped, then squeaked, "You can go right in."

"Thank you," Sam said much more graciously than she felt.

She entered Henry's office, and to her surprise, found her brother sitting there, talking with Henry.

"Wow!" Jack exclaimed when he saw her. "You look great, Sis."

"Thanks, Jack. No offense, but what are you doing here?" she asked him.

"I'm going with you today. Research for disclosure. Jack, Daniel, and I have been talking with the President about it. Since we're likely to be in a war with the Ori within a few years, it might be the perfect time to let the world's population know about the Stargate Program. That would give us access to all of Earth's manpower. I'm researching our capabilities, so I need to talk to you two and Zane regarding the 305s."

She nodded at that and said, "I see." She held his gaze for a bit, and he heard in his mind, And how do you feel about Disclosure, personally, Jack?

The thought came back. No comment.

Her eyebrows went up for a moment, then she took the seat that Henry had offered when she first came into the room.

Henry said to her, "Good morning. I guess under the circumstances, I should call you, Dr. Carter."

"That's liable to get confusing," Jack said, wryly.

"Well," Sam commented. "At least Zoe's not here right now."

"That's true," Henry laughed. "So, how does it feel to be a 'civilian' again, General?"

She laughed. "It's pretty interesting. Of course, I'm not really a civilian, but as far as most people here at GD are concerned, I'm no longer in uniform. Once Zane gets here, I'll go over this again, but I'll fill you in. While we're here, I'll be under you and Zane in the chain of command. Once we get to Altair, I will ultimately be the one responsible, but I plan on turning you and Zane loose, as long as you keep me in the loop. This is going to be one of the most mixed up operations I've ever worked in, because the ships will be under the label of Colson Aerospace. Therefore, once Holly Marten gets here, she will be the head of that division of Global. So while the Altair shipyards are mine, Holly will be in charge of that division at Colson. Right now, the military doesn't have any other labels going on any ships being built at Altair, so Holly and I will work somewhat jointly. If we were to branch out, I would be in charge of the shipyards, and Holly will have the GD / Colson part of it. Eventually, my job, and hers, may very well become more administrative, but for now, I'm hoping to get my hands just as dirty as you do, Henry."