Harold Maybourne

"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man."

- Jack O'Neill regarding Maybourne

Harold "Harry" Maybourne is a former U.S. Air Force Colonel, senior NID official and fugitive who is currently king of a primitive society offworld.

Precious little is known about Maybourne's background, as his personnel file remains classified. He did begin working with the NID while still a uniformed Air Force officer. Throughout his career, Colonel Maybourne was a controversial figure within the NID, as he frequently pushed for programs which his superiors deemed either unsafe or downright illegal. He also recruited several shady characters for the NID, from officials like Colonel Frank Simmons to secret operatives like Colonel Shawn Grieves.

Colonel Maybourne's career in the NID came to a close in the year 2000 when a sting operation led by Colonel Jack O'Neill revealed that Maybourne had been illegally running off-world operations, and had been stealing advanced technology from some of Earth's alien allies (such as the Asgard, Nox, and Tollan). Maybourne fled before he could be arrested, and remained hidden for some time. He was eventually captured, however, when he was discovered to be involved with an attempt by the Russian government to conduct a stargate program of their own.

Within months of his capture, Maybourne was briefly released in the custody of Colonel O'Neill, as part of an effort to uncover some of Maybourne's old contacts from the rogue NID. However, once Maybourne finished helping O'Neill, he managed to escape, and remained on the run for a few years. He occasionally returned to the United States when O'Neill needed further help handling illegal NID activities, including several incidents involving Colonel Simmons, Maybourne's former protégé.

Maybourne unexpectedly turned himself in to O'Neill's custody in 2003, claiming that he knew the location of an off-world weapons cache. Insisting that he be brought along, Maybourne partook in what was likely his first off-world trip. Upon reaching the planet, however, Maybourne incapacitated SG-1, and activated a transporter. Colonel O'Neill grabbed him at the last moment, and was transported along with him to an remote, uninhabited location. With no way of returning to the stargate, O'Neill and Maybourne remained trapped for several weeks, before the rest of SG-1 realized that they had been transported to a moon in orbit around the planet, and sent a Tok'ra transport to rescue them. Rather than force Maybourne to return to a life prison sentence, O'Neill arranged for the Tok'ra to find Harry a quiet planet to retire on.

Two years after Maybourne and O'Neill parted ways, the SGC learned that the planet he was living on had become a target for the Goa'uld Ares. O'Neill (now a Brigadier General in command of the SGC) could not allow Maybourne to fall into the hands of a Goa'uld, as he was privy to a great deal of classified information about Earth. SG-1 traveled to the planet, and discovered that Maybourne had set himself up as king of the local community. However, after nearly two years as community leader, Maybourne had changed. He was unwilling to abandon the people who had entrusted him with their safety, and instead insisted that SG-1 could repel Ares just as they had done to other Goa'uld. SG-1 did indeed succeed in defending the planet, largely due to the discovery of a small Ancient vessel. Maybourne remained on the planet as a benevolent ruler, finally using his considerable education and intelligence for a good cause.