Greetings, All! This is both my first Stargate fic and my first NCIS fic. It's set at the end of Stargate Season 8, just after Jake Carter dies, and the end of NCIS Season 2, just after the plague. Kate is not dead in this, so it's happily AU. Feel free to drop me a review and let me know how you like it!
(Note:
These characters do not belong to me. At all. I'm simply
borrowing them until Jack O'Niell starts trying to sing the Simpson's
theme and Carter bites my hand.)
Enjoy!
Gia
Tony DiNozzo popped his head over the flat-screen monitor, located his quarry, noted her feigned indifference to his nosiness, and then returned his eyes to the computer screen. Technically, he was finishing the long overdue and surprisingly boring report on the plague he'd contracted. In reality, however, he was enjoying the fact that he could once again non-covertly annoy Kate. He smirked. Yes, being back in the saddle was good.
He glanced at McGee, and, confident the young probational geek remained engrossed in his technical technicalities, made to throw a wadded up piece of paper in Agent Todd's direction.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, DiNozzo. She's got some ammo of her own over there."
Damn! His hand froze in mid-air. Apparently McGee was paying more attention than he appeared. Tony glanced at Kate, and noticed she had an evil grin on her face. Had his most trusted friends been conspiring against him whilst he lay on his sickbed?
He never got to ask, as Gibbs entered the room.
"Todd, McGee, grab your gear. We've got a dead Seal in Colorado, and we've got to be there in two hours."
"What about me, sir?" Tony asked, surprised to be left out.
Gibbs shot a somewhat calculating yet annoyed look in his direction. "DiNozzo will be coming a bit later with Abby and Ducky. If," he added, "he promises to sleep on the flight. He looks like hell."
Tony did his best to hide his frustration as Kate giggled and McGee smirked. "I do not look like hell. I just feel like it."
"Gibbs! Come look at this." Kate carefully tiptoed around the brightly lit, taped-off crime scene, looking for clues as McGee took pictures of the footprints in the sand. Finally getting where she wanted to be, and noticing that her boss was near as well, she squatted and pointed at the scuffmarks in question, glad for the flood lights that had been erected around the schoolyard as night fell.
"There were definitely more than just two people here," she started. Gibbs studied the dirt carefully without comment, so she went on. "Two larger, one smaller, and there was a struggle. Mostly on foot. That," she pointed to a nearby section of ground, "is a clean knee mark, I think."
There was silence for a moment, save for the chatter of the local cops and the snapping of McGee's camera. "Our guy was one of the big ones, by the look of it," Gibbs finally agreed. He stood. "This doesn't make sense."
"Why not?" Kate got up and followed him to the edge of the restricted area, taking a moment to pull her wind-bothered hair back into a ponytail.
"Just how many Navy Seals get axed on high school grounds? And, until Ducky can get here to inform me otherwise, I have to assume that Lieutenant Nick Morgan died of a broken neck. He's one big man, so one big man who dealt the blow."
"Dr. Jackson, please report to General O'Neill's office immediately."
Daniel sighed, shooting the PA speaker a frustrated glance. How was he ever going to get anything done if Jack kept bothering him? When would the man realize that frequent trips to the commissary for pie would not get his paperwork done? Nor would it truly help him forget that Jacob Carter was dead, which is what Daniel knew he was trying to do. Sam was doing the same thing, only with their findings from P4X-229.
Reluctantly placing his latest sketch back on the desk, he made his way to Jack's office. As he approached, he saw Sgt. Harriman leaving the area with a distinctly harassed and worried expression on his face. Curiosity piqued, Daniel knocked and opened Jack's door.
"Hey, Jack. What's up?"
"In. Sit down." Jack was on the phone, and was apparently quite peeved at the person on the other side.
"Well, I don't care what you might have thought, Captain! You don't call in other agencies until you've been through us first! Didn't it even cross your mind that something abnormal in Colorado Springs probably had something to do with the SGC? It's your job to make sure these things don't happen….Right….Right….Well, get it right next time, Soldier, or you won't have a job." He grunted as he dropped the phone.
"Hey, Danny. You know, you would think that, knowing just how useless I am at bureaucracy, they would give me underlings smart enough to make up for it." He rubbed his hand through his hair and sighed. "Jon's gone missing, and a Navy Seal was murdered up at his high school."
Daniel blinked owlishly. "Jon? As in…you-Jon? Your clone?"
"That's the one! The 'me' with killer acne and brand-spankin'-new knees. Instead of immediately calling us about the dead sailor, though, Captain Jerk-off at the Pentagon called NCIS. They've already been on-site for an hour."
"Oh. That's bad. I assume you called me in to tell us to get over there?"
"I want you, Carter and Teal'c to run over there, flash them the President's credentials, and make sure they breathe a word of this to no-one. Hopefully, they haven't even put Jon in the picture yet."
Daniel took the envelope Jack held out to him. "Yeah, okay, we can do that."
"And then, you're in charge of figuring out where he is."
"Are you sure that's wise? I..I mean, he hasn't seen any of us for over a year now."
"Ah! Correction, Danny-boy. Little Jonathon O'Niell has not seen any of you for the past year. I think it would do him good to have his butt saved from God-knows-who by his old friends, don't you agree?"
Daniel suddenly felt very guilty, and it must have shown. Jack dropped his joking demeanor.
"Sorry, Daniel. He understands why you guys wouldn't visit. It's a bit…weird…to think of him as me, when he looks so damn young and handsome. Still, from the evidence we have, he's been kidnapped, and he needs SG-1, the people he trusts, to get him back. If it were me, and it is me," Jack added with a smirk, "I'd choose you three over some Navy goons any day."
Daniel grinned, relieved but still uncomfortable. "Any time, Jack, any time."
Two hours later, Kate and McGee had finished searching the immediate crime scene and had branched off with flashlights to search the bushes and trees surrounding the school. Ducky had arrived to deal with Lt. Morgan, towing along Abby (with her briefcase of equipment) and Tony (with his increasingly haggard-looking face). The Chief Medical Examiner agreed with Gibbs' theory on the cause of death, although he seemed somewhat reticent on exactly how the man's neck was broken.
After another few minutes of ground survey, Gibbs called them all back together, aware that the area needed to be clear before the sun rose. The team gathered around, save Ducky, who was still pouring over the body in the van they'd borrowed.
"Okay, we've got a Navy Seal dead, in civvies, in a Colorado Springs high school. From what we can tell, there were two other people involved – one large, one small. This occurred after school, around six, with no witnesses. I need questions, people."
"Why was he in Colorado Springs in the first place?" McGee asked. Gibbs nodded.
Kate took it one step further. "Why here, at a high school? Was there a child here he knew? A friend?"
"Hmmm," Abby added. "Was he the 'good' guy, or the 'bad' guy?" At Gibbs' look, she defended herself. "What? There were other people here! What if he was the attacker? Or maybe he was trying to protect or save someone."
Tony rubbed his hands though his hair in thought. "Was he on a mission? Are we sure this wasn't government related?" He sounded as tired as he looked. After they got this mess cleared up, Gibbs was going to make sure he stayed in bed for another few days.
"No," he answered. "Not government related. His superiors checked out everything just before they called us. There were no mission reports or orders outstanding for Lieutenant Morgan."
"Or, perhaps they were simply well hidden!" Ducky's breathless voice rang out through the night sky as he made his way to the group. "I'm sorry I didn't find this before, Jethro, but he had it ensconced in the sole of his shoe." The man handed Gibbs a folded and somewhat damp piece of paper with a pair of tongs. Gibbs opened it with gloved hands, read it over, grunted, and took a deep breath.
"It looks like our sailor did have orders, but they were signed 'Zehuti.' I want to know who this is."
"The Egyptian moon god." Everyone looked at Abby, so she repeated herself. "Zehuti was the god of the moon and the judge of the underworld. You know, deciding who went into which part of hell and all that jazz."
"O-kay," Gibbs answered. "I still want to know who this man or woman is, who calls himself Zehuti. But right now, it's late, and we need to get this cleaned up before students get here in, oh, two hours."
"Actually," came a voice from the road, "we'll clean up."
Gibbs turned a surprised eye towards the man who was heading towards them in the twilight. He was flanked by two others– a very large black man with a black toque, and a tall, capable- though sad-looking blonde woman in fatigues. Suddenly wary, Gibbs felt his muscles loosen up for an altercation. Even without his companions, the man in front of him could probably cause some damage if he wanted to.
"My name is Dr. Jackson." The man stuck out his hand to shake. Apparently, causing damage wasn't on his mind this morning. Gibbs silently returned the man's grip without turning his eyes away.
"Yes, um," Dr. Jackson continued, "this is Colonel Carter and Murray. We'll be relieving you of this case. Per President Hayes' order, it has become classified. We'll need you to hand over all evidence before you leave."
"President Hayes?" Apparently, Kate couldn't help herself. Gibbs sighed.
"Yes, the President has requested that the investigation be turned over to us," Colonel Carter repeated as she handed an envelope to Gibbs.
"The Colonel Samantha Carter?" Abby squeaked. She elbowed McGee sharply in the ribs before continuing. "McGee! This is the woman I was telling you about. Who wrote all that hinky stuff on space-time physics and quantum mechanics!" Gibbs raised his eyebrows at Abby, but she continued on anyway. "Abby Sciuto, Forensic Specialist with the NCIS. I'm absolutely ecstatic to be meeting you."
Colonel Carter looked surprised but modestly pleased as she shook Abby's hand. This, of course, did nothing to stop Abby's next question.
"Why are you here, working on a murder case? Ooh! Was the late Lieutenant the victim of an unfortunate rift in the space-time continuum?"
"Abbs!" Gibbs barked, just as Murray made his presence known.
"I believe DanielJackson and ColonelCarter have already expressed that this case is now classified, AbbySciutoForensicSpecialist."
It was Kate's turn to squeak, as she was standing closest to the stoic giant. He somehow seemed bigger when one became aware of his booming voice. Gibbs saw Tony unconsciously move between him and Agent Todd. Murray noticed this slight movement as well and raised his right eyebrow in a rather impressive way.
Gibbs decided that enough was enough. Setting his jaw, he skimmed through the envelope's contents. Everything looked legit.
"Alright. They've got jurisdiction here. Ducky, transfer the body and all related materials to their vehicle. Abby and DiNozzo, you help him. McGee, get them the film you took from earlier. Kate, you're with me." Gibbs pulled both her and Dr. Jackson aside, debriefing him on their findings so far.
Well? What do you think? Free coffee (of the virtual variety) for those who review. I'm all about feedback. Cheers! Gia