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SG-1 is just wrapping up a pre-mission briefing when Walter enters the briefing room. “Sir, we have a situation,” he says to General Landry.
“What type of situation?” Landry asks, warily, given that such a statement generally does not end well.
“There are two Secret Service agents at the gates citing National Security,” Walter explains. “They are who they say they are, but they don’t follow the typical chain of command.”
“What does that even mean?” Landry asks. “How do we get rid of them?”
“Their assignment is just as classified as what we do here,” Walter responds. “And they’re based out of South Dakota.”
“Shit,” Landry mutters under his breath. “I’ve heard some rumors and if even half of them are true, they’re not going to be easy to get rid of,” he adds. “Mitchell, Carter, see if you can find out what they want.”
“Yes, Sir,” Cam and Sam say in unison, saluting the General before leaving the briefing room.
“So this day just got a lot more interesting,” Cam says as he and Sam make their way to the surface.
“Interesting isn’t always good,” Sam reminds him. “Though I am curious as to what brings the Secret Service to our door.”
“Exactly,” Cam responds. “Them being here is interesting until it becomes problematic.”
“Once you’ve been here long enough, you’ll realize that unexpected company always becomes problematic,” Sam says, shaking her head.
“We don’t know their names, do we?” Cam asks once they reach the front gates and see the two agents, one looking incredibly impatient.
“Well it’s not like we’re the welcoming committee,” Sam points out. “More like the please go away and pretend you’ve never heard of us committee.”
“Has that ever worked?” Cam asks.
“Of course not,” Sam responds. “But we do want to keep them off guard.”
“More gate keepers?” the female agent says, as Cam and Sam approach. “What does it take to get a sit-down with your General?”
“Knowing our General’s name would be a good start,” Sam says cooly, and Cam is content to let her take the lead given that being polite and friendly are pretty well ingrained into his DNA.
“You do realize who we are, don’t you?” the female agent says, clearly agitated.
“Myka,” the male agent says warningly, and Cam isn’t sure if that’s a first or last name.
“Shut up Pete,” Myka responds, and it’s obvious that one is a first name. “Technically they’re obstructing a federal investigation.”
“Do not piss off the people with guns,” Pete warns, shooting Cam and Sam an apologetic look. “Vibe,” he adds, when Myka is about to protest.
“Fine,” Myka snaps. “You take over,” she adds, though she’s clearly not happy about the situation.
“I’m Agent Pete Lattimer and this is Agent Myka Bering,” Pete says. “I apologize for the fact that Agent Bering isn’t used to our badge not getting us everything we want instantly.”
“Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell and Lieutenant Colonel Sam Carter,” Cam responds, noticing the look of surprise on Agent Bering’s face. “You though we were low-level lackeys didn’t you?” he asks.
“Given that your uniforms don’t give any indications of rank, yes,” Myka responds, somewhat sheepishly. It’s obvious that there’s more that she wants to say, but at least for now is still deferring to her partner.
“Your work is classified enough that we don’t know what it is and our work is classified enough that you don’t know what it is, so we seem to be at an impasse,” Sam responds. “And given that our General wants you off his base, what are you able to tell us?”
“Vibes,” Pete says, cutting off whatever Myka was about to say. “Is there anyone at your base that has been behaving differently?” he asks.
“Define differently,” Cam responds. There’s been a few cases of shit happened off-world, but he doubts that any of that would be of interest to the Secret Service.
“More irritable, less cooperative, wanting to make things go away before learning all the facts,” Pete says pointedly.
Cam and Sam exchange a look, as the description definitely describes Landry. “He’s always irritable and uncooperative,” Sam says, but it sounds weak even to her ears.
“Is there anything in his office that wasn’t there before?” Pete asks. “It could be exacerbating some of his less pleasant traits.”
“Are you implying that there’s an object that can make people assholes?” Cam asks.
“Pretty much,” Myka responds. “We’ve traced it to this general location and need to neutralize it.”
“So you know it’s here, but you don’t know what it is,” Sam deduces.
“Unfortunately,” Pete admits. “That’s how it works most of the time.”
“If there is an object, Landry’s not going to let them in,” Sam points out.
“So we have to get it out then,” Cam responds.
“What are you planning to do, snoop around the man’s office and hope you don’t get caught?” Sam asks.
“Not me,” Cam replies, and Sam immediately protests because she knows this is going.
“She’s a doctor, not a soldier, we can’t put her in that kind of danger,” she says.
“She’s his daughter, Sam,” Cam counters. “No one else can do it.”
“If he’s not is his right mind, that probably won’t stop him,” Sam argues.
“She’s not Janet,” Cam says and by Sam’s expression, he knows he hit the nail on the head in a way that’s going to earn him the silent treatment when this is over.
“Low blow,” Sam hisses.
“Sorry to interrupt, but do the two of you always argue like an old married couple?” Myka asks, raising an eyebrow.
“What are you talking about?” Cam asks, too quickly.
“We’re not here to rat you out, you do you,” Pete responds. “Though you should probably pretend that you’ve gotten rid of us and go tell your General.”
“I beg your pardon?” Sam asks.
“Pete gets vibes when bad things are going to happen,” Myka explains. “I’ve learned to take them seriously. Is there somewhere we can meet later?”
Cam gives them the name of a bar on the outskirts of Colorado Springs. “They specialize in discretion,” he adds.
“Thank you,” Myka responds. “Good luck,” she adds, which fills both Cam and Sam with a feeling of dread as they head back into the mountain.