ZnK here with chapter four! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Please leave a review at the door!

–

Journal, December 26th, 2000,

What a disappointment... When I returned to the SGC, I was given a long lecture on the danger of bringing foreign creatures back to earth by General Hammond. And I had to sit through it for nothing. Sure, the Lupus provided me with information on its species, it informed me that it was a carnivore, and that it was decidedly not nocturnal. Most likely, it tends to hunt in packs as well, which would make this a lone wolf.

Other than that, I found nothing that could enhance my own already considerate physical or mental capabilities. Unless, of course, I want to grow thorny scales, but I certainly have no wish to do so, or I would have done it already. Though I admit that its eyes were fascinating. It sees in infrared. I wonder if I could somehow add such a trait to my right eye...

–

"I'm home!" Harry called as he stepped into his apartment. Today was a Friday, so Tonks wasn't working. She had Fridays and Sundays off, after all. And so, as predicted, a pink-haired missile came flying from the living room, impacting with his chest, arms wrapping around him tightly. Even with his incredible durability, the fact that Tonks had also been injected with Acro Elixir made that kind of useless at the moment, and he had to wheeze out a "Nym!" to get her to let go of him.

"You've been gone for a week!" Tonks scolded as she smacked him on the chest. "You said you'd be back soon!"

"I wasn't given leave until now," Harry defended with a lackadaisical shrug. "But I'm here now, aren't I?"

Tonks harrumphed, crossing her arms and muttering a, "I suppose..." Then, she took Harry's hand and led him into the living room, pushing him down on the couch and sitting down next to him, snuggling into him. "So, anything interesting happen?"

"This and that," Harry said with a nod, picking up the remote for the telly and turning it on. "You know, coming up with revolutionary serums, discovering and naming an alien species, and..." Harry coughed and muttered, "...getting kissed by an alien..."

Tonks blinked, then her head shot up to look at him incredulously.

"Wait, what?" she asked in shock. "You what?"

"Hey, I didn't kiss her. She kissed me," Harry defended immediately. "I stopped her from Lo'machening with me."

Tonks obviously didn't need him to translate what 'Lo'machen' meant to understand it.

"Why?"

Now, it was Harry's turn to blink. What did she mean by that? He gave her a strange look, but before he could ask what she meant about it, she elaborated, "Why did you stop her?"

"Because I'm dating you?" Harry said uncertainly. "Didn't you state quite clearly two years ago that you didn't want me having sex with other women unless you got to join in?"

"Human women," Tonks clarified. "You would have gutted her on the spot if you didn't like it, so it must have felt good, right? How did it feel when she kissed you?"

"It felt... It felt... right, you know?" Harry said, still staring at Tonks in confusion. This was decidedly not how women tended to react, he knew that much... "Kinda like when I kiss you."

"What did she look like?" Tonks asked, sounding... interested? "Green skin? Horns?"

"She looked human enough. Just, you know, she had a Tok'ra symbiote in her, so technically, there were two of them," Harry said, still confused. "Why are you not angry with me? I don't know much about women and relationships, but I'm pretty damn sure that you should be angry right now..."

"Well, had she been a human, I would have been," Tonks said with a shrug. "That would have said that you didn't find me an interesting enough human to stay with. But she's an alien. I don't think the rules count for that."

"You're... You're not a normal girl, are you?" Harry asked, blinking down at Tonks, who grinned.

"Noticed that, did you? Besides, if you did shag the alien bird, that would probably make her more open to a threesome, which would mean that I can join in."

"Well, she did say she wouldn't have minded sharing me with you."

Tonks gave a sultry smirk. "How interesting. But right now, I have a week's worth of sexual frustration to take out on you, so get your cute butt to the bedroom."

"You go ahead," Harry said as he stood up, scratching his head. "I gotta do something first."

Tonks got up as well and took off her Weird Sisters T-shirt as she headed for the bedroom with a whispered, "Don't take too long."

Harry stood there, staring after her for a few seconds, then headed straight for the kitchen. He picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Potter's Palace of Love, Adrian speaking, how can we fondle you today?"

"Bruv," Harry said, already used to Adrian's peculiar way of answering the phone.

"Oh, hey, Boss! How's America?"

"It's pretty good. I need to talk to you about something."

"Shoot."

"Women are... strange."

"Just noticed that, did you?"

–

Harry once more stepped through the Stargate onto Vorash, finding Anise, or Freya, waiting for him in front of it.

"Welcome," she spoke, her voice showing that it was Freya who was in control. "I was very pleased to hear that you accepted my invitation. I had feared that my advances would deter you from associating with us anymore."

"Why would it?" Harry asked curiously as they walked across the sand.

"From what I have gathered about the people of earth, your kind have many inhibitions and stigmas surrounding intimacy, and I had feared you would be too uncomfortable to be around me."

"I think you will find, Freya," Harry said, giving the woman a smirk, "that I am decidedly not like most humans. Besides, it's not like I was opposed to your advances. Like I said, I have someone else who I am loyal to. I told her what you did, you know."

Freya glanced at Harry. However, she didn't speak, probably merely waiting for Harry to explain how she reacted.

"She reacted differently from what I would have expected. Something about people from different planets not counting as infidelity, or something like that," Harry explained. He hadn't been listening too hard. It was difficult to do so when the woman saying it was jumping your bones, after all. "I admit to being very confused. I mean, I have read all I can about women, and from what I can deduce, women don't usually react like that, nor do they announce that they can share their man with someone else."

"My people practiced polygamy," Freya said as she stopped. Harry stopped as well, and the rings shot out of the sand, transporting them down into the Tok'ra tunnels. When they materialized again, she continued, "It is not a foreign concept for me. Even if I hadn't been raised around the concept, having Anise in my body has made me a lot more open to the concept of sharing."

"Understandable," Harry said with a nod as he followed Freya. "So, what did you bring me here for? I'm sure it wasn't just for that."

"No. The Tok'ra High Council was reluctant to allow the Tau'ri to partake in this project, but Anise and I argued in your favor," Freya said, smiling as she led Harry into a chamber that was unmistakeably a lab. It looked more like a chemistry lab than anything else. "We have been working on creating a poison that we plan to use against the System Lords."

"What does it do?" Harry asked curiously, walking up to one of the stations, staring at the two bubbling liquids in large glass containers.

"At present, nothing," Anise said, having taken over control. "We hope to create a poison gas, which will kill a symbiote."

"That's pretty dangerous for a Tok'ra to make."

"Indeed. That is why it is one of our most closely guarded secrets."

"Well," Harry said, stretching. "I could probably help you whip something up. Let me see your current findings."

Anise nodded and picked up a tablet and page-turning device, handing them over to Harry, who started looking through it.

–

Journal, December 28th, 2000,

I have started a joint project with the Tok'ra Anise/Freya. We are working on a poison that will be capable of killing a Goa'uld symbiote. Although the poison won't kill the host, the Goa'uld is capable of releasing a toxin that can kill the host. Not to mention the fact that the host has been through a Goa'uld sarcophagus countless times. Ah well, it makes no difference to me.

In any case, Anise and I have agreed that making a single compound and keeping it in the Tok'ra base would be too risky a thing to do, and therefore we have decided to create two compounds that react to each other when mixed, and they will be kept far from each other until the time comes to use them.

–

Journal, December 29th, 2000,

Anise and I have made significant progress with the poison. Due to the fact that it is lethal to symbiotes, Anise suggested that we pick another location in which to experiment with it. I suggested the SGC, and though it took an incredible amount of arguing with the Tok'ra High Council, Anise has gotten them to agree to it on the condition that we not reveal to the SGC staff what we are working on. It makes no difference to me.

We are currently working on a way to cause a reaction when the two compounds mix, causing it to vaporize.

–

Harry snapped his fingers in quick succession, catching Anise's attention as they stood in Harry's lab in the SGC, the door locked.

"You know, we don't actually have to find two ingredients that are compatible with the compound and are capable of vaporizing," he announced, an idea hitting him. "We just have to keep it in a device that can vaporize it."

Anise furrowed her brow in thought and mused, "That would eliminate the risk of having the compounds accidentally mixing while in the Tok'ra base..."

"Want me to design something for you?"

"No, I shall have a couple of Tok'ra make something for it," Anise said, shaking her head. "I understand that today is a holiday on earth?"

"Yeah, New Year's Eve, where we celebrate the mark of a new year," Harry said, shaking his head. "Never really saw the excitement in it. It's just another day, really."

"Celebrate?" Anise asked, tilting her head to the side in a fashion that Harry had to admit was very cute.

"Yes, most people dance, eat, drink alcohol, and watch or light fireworks. It's a grand spectacle pretty much all over the world."

"It would be interesting to see that."

"Yeah, well, my family doesn't exactly celebrate New Year's Eve like that," Harry said, smiling. "We just spend the evening at someone's house, have a nice dinner, alcohol is usually consumed, and then most of the night is spent with me being ribbed by my family for being, as they say, 'dense when it comes to social events.'"

"You do not enjoy the company of others?"

"I like others just fine. It's just large crowds that I don't like. That much stupid in one place might be contagious."

Anise smiled at that, and Harry was happy to see that she actually managed to tell when he was telling a joke.

"You've never celebrated something like that?" he asked, and Anise shook her head.

"No. I have been too wrapped up in the fight against the Goa'uld since I was spawned, and Freya's culture had no such celebrations."

"So, you wanna come?" Harry asked, making Anise blink.

"Excuse me?"

"My family would skin me alive if I didn't join them for the celebrations," Harry said, shrugging. "So, I will be leaving this base soon, and since no one is allowed in my lab when I'm not here, you can come with me."

"Have you received permission to leave the base from General Hammond?"

"Yeah, but even if I hadn't, I would've left anyway," Harry said, grabbing Anise's hand and pulling her with him. "Come on, let's go."

Anise, blinking in confusion, followed him.

And so, an hour later, Harry and Anise stepped into Harry's apartment, which had surprisingly been cleaned up today. It was spotless, not at all the usual mess.

"Well, this is my home, for now. It's not much, but in any case, I'm not here very often."

"From what I can see, you do not have a lab where you can work," Anise commented, her brow furrowing in confusion. Harry just smirked.

"From what you can see," he said cryptically, leading her into the living room. "Oh, hey, Nym!"

On the couch was Tonks, dressed very casually in a pair of sweatpants and one of Harry's shirts, her posture suggesting that she was feeling very lazy, considering half her bum had slipped off the couch, one leg up on the coffee table as she watched the telly.

"Oh, Harry," Tonks said as she looked up at him, a grin appearing on her face. "Welcome home! Wasn't sure if you'd join us this year."

"And risk your wrath for the entirety of next year?" Harry asked, snorting. Then, he gestured for Anise. "Nym, this is Anise, inhabiting the body of Freya. Anise, this is Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be called Tonks by everyone except me."

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Anise said, bowing her head as Tonks stood up, her eyebrows rising in surprise.

"Wow, wicked voice," she concluded, walking up to Anise and looking her over. "And you are a cute one."

Tonks looked something like a predator eying its prey as she looked Anise over.

"Thank you?" Anise said uncertainly.

"Neither Anise nor Freya have ever celebrated New Year's Eve, so I invited her over," Harry explained, grinning. "Where is everyone?"

"They're on the way. I told them to bring food, so we wouldn't have to cook. We just have to supply the alcohol," Tonks said, to which Harry nodded. "Of course, Hermione won't be drinking, yet again."

When he saw that Anise tilted her head to the side curiously, he explained, "I went to school with her. We grew up together, so she knows what I'm like. She's afraid that she'll get so drunk she'll pass out, at which point I would cut her open and poke around inside her."

"I think that's a pretty justified fear," Tonks remarked.

"I never said it wasn't," Harry said with a shrug.

There was a knock on the door, then Harry heard the sound of said door opening, which could only mean one thing. Adrian and Hermione had arrived, judging by the fact that he saw two souls enter the apartment.

"Happy New Year!" came the cheerful voice of Adrian as he came rushing into the living room, a wide grin on his face as he wrapped his arms around a visibly shocked Anise in a hug. "Oh, it's so good to see- Woah, I don't know you!"

He immediately let go of Anise, blinking in surprise as he stared at her. Then, he slowly turned to look at Harry and Tonks. Then, without hesitation, he rushed forward and wrapped his arms around them, hugging them tightly, which, considering that he'd been injected with Acro Elixir, hurt a lot.

"I thought for a second I was in the wrong house," Adrian said with a snort as he broke the hug. "So, who's the new bird?"

"She's a Tok'ra," Harry explained, gesturing for Anise. "Adrian, meet Anise, inhabiting the body of Freya. Anise, this is Adrian, my clone."

"You created a clone?" Anise asked in surprise.

"Yeah, haven't I mentioned that before?"

"I don't believe you have."

"Well, I did, and this is him. And Anise, the girl behind you is Hermione Granger, Adrian's girlfriend and my childhood friend. Hermione, meet Anise, a Tok'ra. I think I told you about the Tok'ra..."

"You did," Hermione said with a smile, holding out her hand for Anise to shake, which she did, also bowing her head in greeting. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

Adrian had changed a lot since he was created. His hair had grown out slightly, looking even wilder now than Harry's, and he had a small scar through his right eyebrow, along with one on the left side of his neck that went down into his shirt. His eyes had long since been magically altered to perfection, so he didn't need glasses. He was currently wearing a pair of black dress shoes, black dress pants, and a black button-up shirt.

Hermione, on the other hand, had once more made use of Sleekeazy's, so her hair was sleek and shiny, tied into a long plait. She was dressed much less formal than Adrian, wearing a pair of white sneakers, jeans, and a fuzzy, pink sweater.

"I don't see any food," Harry said, raising an eyebrow. "Unless you have it all in your pockets?"

"Food," Adrian said, snapping his fingers as he put on a look like he was only just remembering it. "I knew there was something I forgot."

"You didn't forget. You have just as good a memory as I do."

Adrian allowed Harry to give him a stern stare for a few seconds, then nodded with no shame at all and said, "You're right. I just didn't care. So, you're going to have to supply the food and the booze this year."

Anise closed her eyes, and when she opened them again and spoke, her voice showed that the symbiote had relinquished control to Freya.

"Am I to understand that there will be no celebratory dinner?"

"You sound a bit stiff," Tonks said, nodding as she seemed to decide on something. "Alright, Hermione, Anise, and I-"

"That's Freya now," Harry interrupted, making Tonks blink.

"That's... gonna give me a headache quick... Alright, anyway, Hermione, Freya, and I will head out and get something. You boys stay here and wait for the mutts."

"What?" Freya asked, blinking. "I thought-"

"Oh no, love, you're hanging with us now," Tonks said, slinging an arm over Freya's shoulders, then leading her away, along with Hermione. "But you're gonna need to change to blend in. I've got some clothes that should fit you."

Freya cast a confused look at Harry, who just nodded reassuringly, as she was led away from the living room, leaving Harry and Adrian alone.

"So, let me get this straight..." Adrian said five minutes later as he came out of the kitchen, holding two beers, one of which he tossed to Harry, who caught it, sitting on the couch. Tonks, Freya, and Hermione had already left. "...you've got Tonks wanting you to bring some alien bird home for you two to shag senseless, and you've got a polygamist alien who's dead set on shagging you, who also has an alien symbiote in her body, which, while sexless, has a feminine personality, and wants to jump your bones as well?"

"Pretty much," Harry said as they both opened their beers, Adrian sinking down on the couch next to Harry. "But... that's not how women are supposed to act, is it?"

"Why do you assume I know? I used to be you, remember?"

"Yeah, but you took a decidedly different path in life than I did."

"True. Well, from what I can tell, there's one woman on every planet who's different from the rest, and you managed to get them attracted to you," Adrian theorized, shrugging. "Merlin's ballsack, I want to go on adventures through the Stargate, too!"

The door was slammed open, and a loud "Woof!" was heard, which could only mean that Sirius and Lupin, already inebriated, had arrived.

"You're early," Harry said, seeing the two older men enter the living room. Sirius, as he always did when he had consumed alcohol, was feeling young again, and was wearing a pair of sneakers, baggy jeans, a T-shirt, and an old leather jacket, while Lupin, always a proper gentleman, was wearing a modest, light brown suit and waistcoat, which matched his hair, over a white shirt. His appearance had greatly improved since his days as a werewolf. He had no gray in his hair, no premature wrinkles. In fact, he appeared full of vitality.

"Early?" Lupin asked, blinking as he fished a watch out of his waistcoat and looked at it. "I thought we agreed to meet at five. It's ten past. I'd say we're late."

"Yeah, but you're always late. Usually, however, you are an hour late," Adrian commented, which made Sirius give a bark-like laugh.

"Well, we didn't want to show up completely drunk this time," he said as he moved over to the couch. "Budge over."

Without waiting to see if Adrian made to move, Sirius plopped down onto the couch. Thankfully, Adrian had managed to move at the last second.

"Someone else was here," Lupin said, sniffing the air. He had retained a few wolfish traits even after he was cured. "Never smelled a scent like this before. Smells kind of like a kind of metal."

"That would be naquadah," Harry explained. "The guest I brought has it in her blood. She's a Tok'ra. I think I told Sirius about it, which means he must have told you."

"Oh, is this the alien girl who wants you to mount her?" Lupin asked, which made Harry twitch and glare at Adrian, who shrugged.

"Hey, what can I say? It was funny, so I shared the laughter with others."

"Can't believe Tonks would be okay with that, though," Sirius said as Lupin went into the kitchen to get himself and Sirius a beer as well.

"Well, Tonks is kinda like Harry, isn't she?" Adrian said, to which Sirius blinked and gave him a puzzled look. Adrian elaborated, "Nutters."

Harry's eyes narrowed as he stared at Adrian for a few seconds. Then, he said, "I don't think I like this independence of yours... You always side against me..."

"Only when it's funny."

"I should have installed some kind of loyalty function in your brain that forced you to side with me all the time..."

"But you realized that I have your level of intelligence, or at least the level of intelligence you had at that point, and with that realized that I would figure out that you had installed such a thing, and I would remove it, making it a wasted effort on your part, which was reason enough for you not to try it."

"Sirius, smack Adrian..."

Sirius, without even hesitated, reached to the side and smacked the back of Adrian's head, then went back to sipping his beer.

–

"Why are-"

"Shh!"

"I don't-"

"Shh!"

Freya sat, looking incredibly confused, in the couch, next to Harry, who had Tonks on his other side. Four comfortable chairs had been brought out, which allowed Adrian, Hermione, Lupin, and Sirius to sit comfortably while they ate the food Tonks, Freya, and Hermione had brought back. Chinese, which came as no surprise to Harry. It had taken Freya a few minutes to master the chopsticks, which provided plenty of amusement for them all, but she finally got it after a while.

Now, everyone had fallen silent, and they were all staring at Sirius, who had consumed a large quantity of alcohol. His was leaning against his hand, his elbow resting on his knee. In his other hand was an empty beer bottle, which barely touched the floor. His eyes were drooping, and he seemed completely out of it as he gave little half-snores now and then.

Then, with a clink, the bottle fell from Sirius' hand, and his eyes closed completely.

"Alright," Harry said, grinning as he reached into his pocket and took out a black marker. "Let's put him on the kitchen table and give him something to worry about."

"I don't understand," Freya said as Adrian and Lupin picked up the sleeping Sirius and carried him into the kitchen. "What are you going to do with him?"

"Oh, we're just going to convince him that he's been through a vivisection," Harry said, still grinning as he looked at the confused-looking Freya, who, he had to admit, looked very cute like that.

"The mutt always passes out on New Year's Eve," Tonks supplied, grinning as well. "On earth, there's a rule that you pass out at someone else's house at your own peril. We're about to demonstrate why."

And so, ten minutes later found everyone except for Freya snickering at the sight of Sirius, laying shirtless on the kitchen table. His upper body was riddled in lines, which showed where Harry would have put the scalpel had he actually performed a vivisection. His face, however, was the most hilarious. Half his beard and mustache had been shaved off, and many doodles had been drawn on his face, including half a fake mustache, domino eyes, smiley faces, and so on.

"I'm curious," Harry said suddenly, glancing at Freya. "Can a Tok'ra get drunk?"

"We possess a heightened metabolism. It is incredibly difficult for us to get intoxicated due to the high speed with which my symbiote filters out foreign chemicals."

"Join the club," Tonks said, a grin appearing on her face as she looked at Harry. "Alright, bring out the SMIE."

"SMIE?" Freya asked curiously.

"Strongest Moonshine In Existence," Tonks said as Harry walked over to the pantry, taking out five large bottles filled with a clear liquid. "See, Harry has developed a compound that has made us incredibly strong. This has also... er... Harry?"

"It's heightened our metabolism as well," Harry explained, moving into the living room with the others following. "When it was discovered that it was extremely difficult for us to get drunk, I was pestered into brewing this."

"What is it?" Freya asked as she and Tonks sat down on either side of him, with Adrian, Hermione, and Lupin sitting in three of the chairs. Lupin had a bottle of Ogden's in his hand, as he would never be able to handle the SMIE.

"It's, uh... It's for the best if you don't know," Harry said, handing one of the bottles to Freya, and one to Tonks, while Adrian and Hermione reached over and each took one as well. "Alright, then. Let's put Anise to the test."

With that, they all took a swig.

–

Slowly, Harry's eyes opened, and he sat up in the bed, rubbing his eyes drowsily. He felt Tonks' leg rub against his, but then blinked. That wasn't Tonks' leg, unless she had metamorphed in her sleep. He glanced down, and saw Freya snoozing peacefully to his right.

"Wait..." Harry muttered, blinking. "I wouldn't do something like this without Tonks around..."

Speaking of Tonks, just as he mentioned her name, he heard her cute mewling to his left, and he looked over to see... a leg. Most of Tonks was sprawled on the floor, only her right leg remaining on the bed.

Memories of the night before came rushing back to him, something he hated about drinking SMIE. It was excellent at erasing memories. Thankfully, however, he had designed it so that the memories would return, using a magical ingredient that he wasn't allowed to reveal to Muggles.

Tonks, as always when she got drunk, had become very... frisky the night before, and had been very insistent on Freya joining them in bed. Harry honestly hadn't thought that Freya, being from a polygamous world where there weren't so many inhibitions regarding intimacy, could get so embarrassed by the things Tonks whispered in her ear.

Freya stretched slowly, then, as Harry glanced down at her, her eyes opened.

"What...?" she muttered, looking around in confusion. "What happened last night?"

"Give it a minute, it'll come back," Harry said, reaching up and turning his bolt. Freya put on a look of concentration, furrowing her brow. Then, her eyes widened, and she uttered a small "Oh..." and looked around. "Where is, hm, Nym?"

Harry gestured for the leg on the bed, which was twitching slightly. Tonks had given Freya permission the previous night to call her Nym.

Tonks made a pleased noise, and Harry looked down to see her screwing her eyes shut, stretching slowly with her toes curling.

"Ooh, I looove SMIE!" she announced drowsily as she pulled her naked form up onto the bed. "There's nothing that packs a kick quite like that." She grinned at Freya. "So, how did you like your first official day on earth?"

"It was greatly enjoyable," Freya said coyly. "I do not understand your customs and traditions that well, but I am very eager to learn about them."

"Well, I think you'll find that most all celebrations end like they ended last night for us," Tonks explained as Harry got out of bed, heading for the shower connected to the bedroom.

And so, three hours later, Harry and Freya walked through the SGC, Harry stretching lazily. In Freya's hand was a case containing the two compounds for the poison. They had agreed that, since there was no risk of accidental vaporization, it would be safer to keep the poison on Vorash.

"Thank you, for bringing me with you," Freya said, smiling at Harry as they walked. "I greatly enjoyed the time I spent here."

"Same here," Harry said with a smirk. "I'm looking forward to seeing you again."

"As do I, and Anise."

They entered the Gate Room, where the Stargate was already in the process of dialing. The seventh chevron locked, and with a kawoosh, the wormhole formed. Freya looked at Harry and bowed her head, then made her way up the ramp, leaving through the Stargate.

"I take it this secret project of yours is coming along nicely?" General Hammond asked as he walked up to Harry, who watched as the wormhole closed. He had been a bit disgruntled at the fact that he wasn't allowed to know what they were working on, but for some reason, incredible though it may have sounded, he trusted that Harry wouldn't do anything truly dangerous.

"Pretty much," Harry said, still staring at the inactive Gate. "General?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"I'm going to need you to order a couple of GE M134 Miniguns to be sent to my lab."

Hammond blinked and looked at Harry. "Just a couple?" he asked sarcastically.

"Four would be best, but I can do with just two," Harry said, not missing the sarcasm, but simply choosing to ignore it.

"Doctor, that type of weapon doesn't come cheap. Care to tell me what you're planning on doing with them?"

"Oh, I'm just planning on designing something that will make Stargate defense much more comfortable, and which will make guarding the Gate on other planets a lot easier."

Harry grinned slightly and turned to Hammond. "You should be able to piece things together from there, General," he said, patting Hammond on the shoulder as he walked away.

–

Harry was in his lab, working on the framework for what would become his automated turret. Around him were several dismantled staff weapons, and his face was set in a look of deep concentration as he worked. He had a screwdriver tucked behind his ear, a lit cigarette was dangling from his mouth, and on all the tables in the lab were blueprints, plating, circuitry, everything he'd need.

A knock on the door brought Harry's attention away from the framework.

"You know, people normally knock before they enter a room, General," he said, mimicking what Hammond had said the first time Harry stepped into his office.

"I just thought I'd return the favor," Hammond spoke as Harry looked at him, and immediately noticed that something was wrong. There was a look in his eye... A brief Legilimency probe immediately informed him of what had happened. Ah... Hammond made a gesture for everything in the lab. "What, exactly, are you doing here, Doctor?"

"Designing a turret, General," Harry said. "An automated turret, to be exact, which will lock onto symbiote signatures. I'll make sure it only locks onto immature symbiotes, so as to prevent if from shooting any Tok'ra. Hopefully, the Jaffa rebels will accept the Prometheus Serum."

"Sounds like a good weapon. Unfortunately, I won't be around to see it completed," Hammond said. Harry already knew that, but faked a look of surprise nonetheless, raising an eyebrow as he puffed on his cigarette. "You were locked up in here when I gave my goodbye speech, so I just came to let you know. I have stepped down as commander of the SGC."

"Reason?" Harry asked, getting to his feet.

"Frankly, I'm getting tired of sending good people out there without knowing if they're going to come back," Hammond said, which Harry knew was a lie. However, since he couldn't flaunt his ability to use Legilimency, he had to pretend that he only suspected that the man was lying.

"I'd be surprised if anyone bought that excuse," he said with a smirk, but he held out his hand for Hammond to shake. "It's a terrible loss, General. I doubt anyone could run this base with the same wisdom you have displayed."

Hammond looked surprised. Without a doubt, he didn't think Harry would ever be capable of saying something like that. He shook Harry's hand, nodding slowly.

"I have sent for the weapons you requested. I managed to procure four of them, like you asked. I sure hope that you know what you're doing."

"I always know what I'm doing, General," Harry said, giving him a mock salute. "Take care of yourself."

"I'd say the same, but I doubt you'd take that advice."

Harry snorted in amusement as Hammond left the lab. Shaking his head to himself, he went back to working on the framework. Something was missing...

"It needs legs..." he muttered, nodding as if to confirm his own decision, then moved over to the blueprints on his desk, getting to work on redesigning them.

Now, if only he could figure out a way to get Hammond reinstated, that would be great. He had gleaned from Hammond that someone from the NID, the National Intelligence Department, also known as the National Institute for Defense, had blackmailed the General into resigning by threatening the lives of his grandchildren.

How was he to do something about that?

"Bah! Makes no difference to me..." Harry decided as he kept designing.

–

End of chapter four! What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Let me know!