A Father's Fault
By Teri

Summary: I have never pictured Jack as being careless or derelict, but we have been told he left his sidearm somewhere his adolescent son could reach it. This never seemed right, so I decided it was time to explore what really happened to Charlie O'Neill.

Disclaimer: As always, I am in no way associated with the owners or the creators of Stargate the Movie or the Series.

Dedicated to Sirius who I bandied this idea around with some time last year. :)

Even as the Commander of the SGC, it turned out that General Hammond had not been privy to all of the early records concerning the Stargate program. As the new Head of Homeworld security, and as an old friend of President Hayes, he had access to most if not all of the reports ever generated. He had requested some of the earliest materials from when Catherine has been in-charge of the project, before she hired Dr. Jackson, and before O'Neill was brought in to it.

He was looking for something that now seemed inconsequential compared to what he was reading now. He couldn't fathom the implications of what he read or rather that he didn't want to fathom it. He had given his life to the Air Force and although he had seen dirty underhanded tricks he still couldn't imagine this.

There was a small note from General West with one sentence that would change how he viewed the entire Stargate project and his view of Jack O'Neill, "anticipate possible worse case scenario. Will need officer, driven, unattached, and expendable. O'Neill stationed over at Falcon AFB would be perfect if not for his family."

General Hammond felt a lump in the back of his throat as his own mind flashed to pictures of his daughter and granddaughters as he took note that the message was dated about one week before Charlie O'Neill had died supposedly by his own hand with his father's gun. He knew how Jack suffered. If there was anything worse than loosing a child it was loosing a child and believing yourself guilty of causing it. He wondered if he could lighten his friend's load.

Jack had stuck his neck out for him on many occasions. Protected his granddaughters too.

His mind flashed back to when he asked Jack if there was anything he could ever do to pay him back for his help. Jack just stared at the General, "well, nothing right now. But one day I may ask you to…buy back my soul."

"Perhaps, now it is time for me to do just that." He sighed as he pushed the paper away for him and reached for the phone. His plan, buy back the soul of Jack O'Neill.

" " ' " ' " " ' " ' " " ' " ' " " ' " ' " " '

General Hammond was sitting on a park bench in Druid Hill Park, about an hour's drive North of D.C., far out of the way of the traditional Washington crowd. He was dressed casually and looked like any of the other men that took their morning walks there. Behind him approached a man in a dark suit and sits beside him.

"Hello, General," the man in the suit began.

"Whitlow," the General greeted briefly.

"Shall we walk?" Whitlow rose from the bench.

"As I told you on the phone, as I have told you numerous times before, I don't really have time for all this cloak-and-dagger stuff," the General explained.

"Please," Whitlow looked exasperated, "walk. As I have told you before, it makes it harder for the parabolics."

"Somethings never change," the General chuckled as he stood. "I'm glad to see the paranoia quotient is as high as ever."

"You never know who's listening." Whitlow smiled for a moment before getting to the topic at hand, "I thought we were even after the Touchstone incident?"

"We were. I am putting myself in your debt now," Hammond said fully aware of the precarious position such a debt could cause.

Whitlow nodded, "what do you need to know?"

"I want to know about Charlie O'Neill."

"Charlie O'Neill?" Whitlow looked like he was trying to place the name, "General O'Neill's son?"

"Yes," Hammond nodded.

"He killed himself with his father's gun. Bad show that, messy. O'Neill never struck me as being careless enough to leave his weapon unsecured around a little kid."

"I think there was more to it." The General stopped walking and looked at the other man, "what do you know about the relationship between O'Neill and West and about O'Neill's recruitment into the first Stargate mission."

"I don't know much. I know that O'Neill was considered a good choice because West believed the first mission was a suicide mission and it was believed that O'Neill with the loss of his son only weeks before would be willing to take that risk. Not a lot of men with his skills will walk into situations like that. Something that is nearly impossible, sure. Certain death? They like there to be a small chance of survival no matter how slim, but O'Neill? Figured he was eager to join his son, but still a hard-ass enough to give his all to the mission, his duty. Noble SOB that way. As for his prior relationship with O'Neill, West was the one who organized mission East Fly and had been the commanding officer when he and Cromwell had their excursion into Sadam's backyard."

"Both of those missions . . ." the General began remembering what each of those missions were. The one mission that O'Neill thought was the first failure of his military career to the point that it was the one the Gamekeeper had pulled it from his memory and of course he was one of the few people who knew of Jack's four months spent in an Iraqi prison.

"Those missions nearly had him killed," Whitlow agreed.

"Seems like more than a coincidence." Hammond pondered.

"Oh, it was. Back when O'Neill was green he was sent on his first mission for ops. He . . . It was a bad mission; everything got fowled-up from the start, bad planning, bad all round. It was a miracle that O'Neill and two more from the team survived. Actually, the men credit the young Lt. O'Neill with much of the credit for anyone surviving; he was already a quick thinker on his feet. Unfortunately, not everyone survived, including an equally green Lt. Kirby West."

"West's son." Hammond concluded.

"West's son." Whitlow affirmed.

"An eye for an eye . . ." the General found himself musing.

"And a son for a son . . . Poetic really."

"Do you know this for a fact?"

"That Kirby West died and that General West blamed it on O'Neill? Yes. That West had purposefully tried to have O'Neill killed with the botched missions? No, just supposition. That General West played a part in the death of O'Neill's son? None at all."

"Can you find out?" Hammond asked. "Can you find proof?"

"I don't know."

"Come on, Whitlow. You've got your fingers in every agency. Surely, you can find something?"

"You have a lot of faith in me." Whitlow took a deep breath, "this isn't something that would have been well documented. However, the theory makes sense, but I am not sure it is something I want to get involved in. There could be consequences."

"What do you want?" The General asked knowing that it would be nothing good.

"Nothing now George, but your word of honor that when I ask I can count on you."

The General had always been careful not to make deals like that Never agree to something without knowing the full terms, but he remembered why he was here and who he owed, more than he could ever count. "Agreed."

Whitlow smiled, "I'll be in touch, George." He turned and started to walk the other way, away from General Hammond.

"I'm sure you will be," Hammond muttered to himself as he started to walk back to his car, "I'm sure you will be. "

Well, I hope you all like the start of this story. I thought it was time to find out what really happen to Charlie. Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Teri

March 18, 2005