Time frame: Stargate SG-1 - Post Atlantis 5x01. (Which, I'm aware, isn't really SG-1, but it does take place in the Stargate universe) Eureka - Post Season 1, pre Season line
Author's Notes: This is obviously AU. Very AU... In this world, some things (particularly the deaths of major characters) didn't happen, so just go with it. Many thanks to my betas, Margie and Elizabeth!
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate or Eureka. This story is not meant for profit.
Summary: Sheriff Carter's Sister is coming to visit. But can he find out what she REALLY does before she gets there?
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"Alright, sis. I'll pick you up at the airport tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to seeing you again... Yep, love you, too... Bye," Sheriff Jack Carter said into his cell phone.
"Sis?" Deputy Jo Lupo questioned as she entered the office carrying a steaming hot cup with a double shot of freshly brewed Vinspresso from Café Diem.
"What?" Jack asked, spinning around to face his deputy.
"I overheard you on the phone just now. I didn't know you had a sister," Jo commented.
"Yeah, but I don't get to see her much. She keeps herself pretty busy. She's a Colonel in the Air Force, working on some top secret project in Colorado. We don't even get much of a chance to talk anymore," Jack explained. "Now that I think about it, I've barely seen her in the last decade and not at all for the last year."
"Oh," Jo responded. A minute later, something clicked in her mind. "Wait... Carter? Is your sister Sam Carter, by any chance?"
"Yeah, how'd you know that?" Jack questioned, befuddled.
"I've worked with her before," Jo replied with a gleam in her eyes and the hint of a smirk on her face. "So, since it's top secret, you don't know what exactly she does?"
"Well, she always says she's working on 'Deep Space Radar Telemetry.' It's pretty obvious that it's just a cover, though." Jack paused a moment before a thought hit him. "Aw, you know what she does, don't you, Jo?"
The smirk was evident in full-force now. "Yep."
"And you're not going to tell me, are you?" Jack groused.
"Nope."
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Hopping out of his patrol Jeep, Sheriff Carter rushed through the front doors of the largest employer in Eureka, Global Dynamics. After passing through the always unpleasant retinal scanners, he hurried up the stairs in search of the Department of Defense's liaison to Eureka and Global, Dr. Allison Blake. After a few moments of scanning the crowd, he spotted his target crossing the lobby.
"Allison! You've got to help me here!" Jack called out as he swiftly approached her.
"Carter? Is something wrong?" she worriedly asked.
"Yes. My sister's coming in tomorrow, and apparently I don't have enough clearance to know what she really does!" Jack spat out.
"Oh. I thought it was something serious," Allison dismissed. "Wait, you have a sister?"
"Do I really never talk about her?" Jack wondered aloud rhetorically. "Yes, I have a sister. She works for the Air Force on some ultra Top Secret project. She's coming in tomorrow for a visit."
"Is your sister Sam Carter?" Allison asked, shocked.
"Great, you know her, too?" Jack asked, equally shocked.
"By reputation only. We were both stationed at the Pentagon at the same time, but I never had the privilege of meeting her," Allison admitted. "She's a legend at the Pentagon. She's an absolutely brilliant astrophysicist. Rewrites the laws of Physics with every published theory, and she's always proven right."
"Yeah, that sounds like Sam," he chuckled. "Even when we were kids, I couldn't understand the way she thought. It was like she could see a bigger picture."
"So, she's coming in tomorrow?" Allison queried.
"Yeah, and I'd really like to know what she's been doing before she gets here. Maybe for once I'd have the upper hand," Jack crowed.
"Sorry, Carter. I can't give you that clearance," she told him sympathetically. "I don't even have it myself. You'll have to take it up with Washington."
"I'll do that," he grumpily responded, turning and heading back to his office.
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"General O'Neill's office? This is Sheriff Jack Carter from Eureka... No, I'd rather not... hold," he said into his phone, banging his forehead against the desk for the umpteenth time.
"No luck?" Jo called across the office.
"You're enjoying this WAY too much," Jack shot back, not raising his head from the desk.
"Yes, hello," Jack spoke back into the phone when he heard the music turn off. "I'm sorry, I've just been playing phone ping-pong all day. I've already talked to the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, the Air Force again, the Department of Homeland Security, back to the Air Force again, and now you. I already have the highest security clearance available and I just want to know what my sister does. Hello? Hello? Oh, good, you're still there... No, I can't wait. I need to get this done today. I have the clearance and just need the General's approval... What? The General is on vacation? Don't you have any way to reach him?... All right, I appreciate you leaving a message for him. Hopefully he'll get back to you today so I can get everything taken care of this evening. Thanks for your help."
"Looks like you aren't gonna find out before she gets here," Jo mocked.
"Oh, go clean your guns or something!" Jack retorted.
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Published 04-17-09