They carried three large packs to the Gateship with them. Nothing too exciting, simply a lot of emergency equipment that the SGC could spare and what might come in handy on the off chance – and very unlikely possibility – that Rodney and Chelani somehow misdialed and they ended up somewhere else.
"Is there anything else we can do to help you?" Sam asked as they approached the Gateship that Ian and the others were going to take home with them. This one was in sight, but under a makeshift hangar of tarps and netting. The other two were cloaked nearby, but not close enough that any of them had to worry about running into it.
Ian shook his head, the rear hatch of the Gateship opening so they could climb aboard.
"We're set, I think…" He looked at the two of them, his expression unreadable. "I wish there was more I could do…"
Jack snorted, dropping the pack he'd been carrying onto the deck of the Gateship.
"Like what? You've already got us two new space ships and those ZPM things."
"Not to mention introducing us to actual Ancients," Sam added.
Ian nodded.
"Hopefully they'll help you with the Goa'uld. Anubis is going to be a problem, make sure you get the chair device in Antarctica up and running as soon as possible. It's your best bet against him."
Sam nodded.
"We'll be ready for him."
"Anything else?" Jack asked with a slight smile, and Ian knew he sounded like a parent getting ready to leave the children alone for the first time.
He couldn't help it, though.
He nodded.
"Make sure you keep an eye on Shawn – especially once he goes into the Air Force academy. Senator Kinsey is a dangerous man, and he'll be even more dangerous if he finds out about the relationship between you and Shawn. Watch him – and an admiral named Leaf, too, while you're at it. And the Asgard are going to want help with their stupid genetic problem, and Shawn's the answer. Dotty knows what to do, but she might need help from the Ancients and it wouldn't be a bad idea to let her know about them, because that'll probably come in handy to her as well."
"We'll take care of it," Jack promised. "Don't worry about us, Ian. We're going to be fine."
He nodded again.
"I know. I just want to make sure you guys have everything you need, you know?"
Sam smiled.
"We know."
Ian looked over at Jack.
"You might contact my dad, Jack. Don't mention me, of course, but he's an asset that you guys could really use here."
"You think so?"
"He's got a ton of political connections and he's retired military – not to mention he's a friend of yours, so he's already on the right side of things. You guys can use him."
"I haven't talked to him in years, though."
"Take Jacob Carter with you," Ian suggested. "He was there for my funeral, after all. He'll know the best way to approach him."
"It's worth considering," Sam replied, looking over at Jack.
"The guy's your VP in my reality," Ian told him. "You'll get along fine."
Jack nodded.
"I'll talk to Jacob about it next time I see him."
"Good."
He couldn't think of anything else he needed to tell them, so he headed for the front of the Gateship, followed closely by Sam, who had every intention of claiming the copilot seat so she could see what was going on.
"You should sit in the back, Sam," Jack told her. "There are actually straps back here you can use for seatbelts."
Ian scowled, looking over at Jack who had a gleam of amusement in his brown eyes that Ian had seen a million times.
"I haven't crashed a Gateship. Ever. How many have you crashed? Oh, yeah, that's right – one. Out of three flights."
Sam snorted in amusement as Jack sat down in the seat behind her.
"You should have brought us more ships…"
Now Ian smiled as well and keyed his radio.
"Control, this is Colonel Brooks. Is the embarkation room cleared out?"
It was Hammond's voice that came over the radio a moment later.
"Affirmative, Colonel Brooks. You are cleared to enter the embarkation room."
"Roger."
While Ian wasn't the happiest flyer in the world, he was very good at flying the Gateships. The craft responded immediately to him and a moment later they were cloaked and airborne.
OOOOOOOOOO
"Okay, Ian's in the air. Are we set here?"
Rodney looked over at Chelani, who had been seated in the chair in front of the dialing computer, but had relinquished that spot to McKay a few minutes before. The Ancient nodded.
"The computer is ready. We just need to load the same program into the Gateship."
Daniel had been watching from a few steps behind them.
"We're dialing from here, though, right?"
"Sam will, yes." Like McKay would trust Daniel to get him home? He didn't know Jackson all that well, but he knew the guy wasn't the super genius compared to himself and Sam.
"Then why do you need to put the program into the-"
"Because we need to make sure that even if the Gateship takes over the dialing program automatically – which they've done before – it'll be the same destination at the exact right moment."
"If there's that much danger, then why don't you just leave the Gateship here and go on foot?"
"Because there isn't that much danger. The Gateships are designed for dialing – it's what they do. You'll come to appreciate it later on, believe me. We're just creating a failsafe, that's all."
"Just in case," Chelani added.
"Atlantis is your destination?" Teal'c asked.
Chelani nodded.
"It is the destination we have programmed, but if all goes well we will end up back in the SGC instead of Atlantis."
Daniel's forehead creased in confusion.
"How do you figure that?"
"Because this is where the artificial gravitational field we're creating should bring us – in the right time and reality, though."
"But how-"
"Just trust me. That's how it works."
Before Daniel could say anything, one of the techs standing close to the blast windows looked up.
"Here they come."
Sure enough, the Gateship landed a moment later in the very center of the embarkation room. There wasn't a lot of space for anything else in there – which was the whole point of clearing the area out – but the rear hatch opened without cracking the concrete wall behind the Gateship.
Rodney grabbed up his laptop – and Ian's – and the group headed down to meet the others.
OOOOOOOOOO
"Are we ready?" Ian asked as soon as he left the Gateship and saw McKay standing there.
Rodney nodded.
"Everything's set." He looked at Carter. "The dialing sequence is locked in, you'll just have to initiate it."
Sam nodded.
"I'll take care of it."
Hammond stepped forward as Chelani and Rodney traded places with Sam and Jack.
"Do you need anything else, Colonel?"
Ian looked back at Rodney and Chelani – who both shook their heads.
"We're set, Sir. Thanks for everything."
Hammond smiled and offered Ian his hand.
"Good luck, Ian."
Ian smiled and shook hands.
"Thank you."
Rodney cleared his throat, getting Ian's attention, and when Brooks looked back at him, he handed the New Yorker a data device. Ian smiled and handed the device over to Sam, who took it, confused.
"What's this?"
"I had Rodney copy all the information on my laptop – and his. Between us, we have a lot of data for you to look over."
"Enough to keep you occupied for years," McKay added.
Sam smiled; looking excited and touched at the same time.
"Really?"
"Just in case we missed something," Ian told her. "A lot of it Sander and the other Ancients will probably already discuss with you, but there's stuff on there they might not have a clue about, so it's definitely worth looking at."
"I included some pictures of me," Rodney told her. "Of us, I mean."
"You can always edit those out," Ian added, earning himself a glare from McKay that he didn't even see.
Jack chuckled, and shook hands with all three of them.
"You'd better get going."
He didn't like long goodbyes, after all.
"Have a safe trip," Sam added.
Ian nodded, made sure that no one was standing on the ramp and then closed the hatch.
"Let's get going," he told McKay and Chelani. He led them back to the front and sat down in the pilot's seat, and frowned when he saw that something had been left on the center console. The frown faded when he saw what it was, and he smiled.
"What do you have there?" Rodney asked, coming over and sitting down beside him with his laptop already on and ready to interface with the Gateship's computer.
"Jack's idea of a joke…"
He handed the barfbags back to Chelani, and powered the Gateship up again.
"We're ready," Rodney told him only a minute later.
"Good." Ian keyed his radio for the last time. "Stargate Control, this is Gateship One, ready to embark."
Sam replied this time.
"Roger Gateship One."
In front of them the Stargate began dialing, and Ian looked over at McKay.
"Hey, thanks for coming for me."
Rodney shrugged, uncomfortable.
"Oh, well… um, you know… I…"
"Just say you're welcome."
"You're welcome."
Ian snorted, and the Stargate engaged in front of them.
"Let's go."
A moment later the Gateship vanished through the gate.
Jack looked over at Sam.
"Think they made it?"
She watched as the Stargate deactivated a minute later, and shrugged.
"I think so, but I supposed we'll never really know, will we?"
"Probably not."