Earth
"You gave them what?"
"A hotdog cart, eighty crates of hotdogs, buns, and the works."
"And one of those big umbrellas," Carter added, reminding Jack.
He nodded, and turned back to George Hammond, who was standing in Jack's office – which had originally been his office.
"And a big umbrella."
Hammond stared at him.
"And in return they – he – gave you all the crystals?"
"Not all of them, sir – General. George – just some."
"But more than enough for us to gate to Atlantis – and enough to gate home from there."
"As long as their DHD is working," Hammond said.
"We're assuming that the only reason the Atlantis expedition – and Colonel Mitchell – haven't contacted us is because they don't have the power to do so," Sam said. "We'll take the crystals and a couple of naquida generators with us, and we won't have that problem."
"And if they haven't contacted you because they're dead…?"
"Then we'll know, and we can bring them home." Jack said.
It wasn't an option he wanted to accept. He liked Sam's much better.
Hammond frowned.
"And you're going because…?"
"Because I'm the one that sent them all there in the first place," Jack said, a little stiffly. "And because the President agrees that you are more than capable of running things around here until I return to take over the reins once more."
Hammond's frown turned into a scowl.
"And just how long are you going to be gone?"
"Not long."
"How long is that?"
"I-"
"Jack. I retired, remember? The Goa'uld aren't a threat any more and I-"
"You're the best choice to run things here, Sir," Jack said, interrupting. "I have to go. I need to check things out myself, and bring her – them – home if they're dead. We don't leave our people behind, and I sent them, so it's my responsibility to bring them home."
"You're taking supplies?" Hammond asked, rhetorically. Had he gone to the window of the office he would have been able to look down into the embarkation room and see the supplies already being gathered and stacked on anti-grav pallets, waiting to be sent off with SG-1 – and General Jack O'Neill.
"Lots of supplies."
"Which doesn't mean you're going to be gone a long time…"
"We'll be back as soon as we know the situation."
Hammond scowled again, but there wasn't anything he could really say to it. Jack had the President's permission to go – the President would do anything for Jack (and Mitchell – and they all knew that Melony was Jack's reason for going) and Hammond had been called back to duty to resume command of the SGC while O'Neill was gone. For the duration plus 2 months, it said on his orders.
"Fine. You go."
Jack smiled.
"But you'd better haul ass back here as soon as you can," Hammond growled. "I'm too old for this crap anymore."
"Yes, sir."
Atlantis
"Well, it's not a ZedPM."
Everyone at the briefing table looked disappointed – except for the Light Ones who didn't know what a ZedPM even was – only that it was something the Atlanteans really wanted.
"However…" Rodney said, looking a little smug. "It's not completely useless, either."
"How so?" Weir asked.
Rodney pulled out his laptop, and set it on the table, opening it and showing the others a representation of the device he'd just examined.
"It is a power source – one that's about as potent as our own naquida generators."
"So we could use them?" Sheppard asked.
"Hence the whole not completely useless thing," Rodney said. "Yes, we can use them. And really, if we had enough of them, we might even be able to get the shields active again – but it'd take a lot."
"We are more than willing to look for more," Kellan said from her position beside Sheppard. "There were several in the building Char found – it could be that there are many more rooms just like it."
"Is there any way we could hook a bunch of them together and use them to activate the gate back to Earth?" Weir asked.
Rodney hesitated. He, of course, had already considered that. "If we have enough… possibly. It'd be considerably more dangerous than using one ZedPM, however."
"How come?"
"Because if we-"
An alarm suddenly sounded, causing everyone to jump in varying degrees of surprise.
"Offworld activation! Doctor Weir to the control center!"
As a group, they all went, the Light Ones following the Atlanteans, Sheppard calling for security teams to converge until they knew who was coming. Of course, they didn't have all that many friends in the area – and one of their few gate-traveling allies were already there – so the choices were limited.
"Who is it?" Weir asked breathlessly as soon as she was within speaking range of Grodin, who was sitting at the gate controls.
"It's coming through now…" he said, looking back down at his computer, and then staring.
"Well?" Rodney asked, looking at Grodin and then over at the gate, which was protected by the shimmering shield.
"It's the SGC…" Grodin said, looking up and meeting Weir's eyes.
"Are you serious?"
She felt a stab of excitement and relief.
He nodded.
"It all matches. No one else would know their-"
"Lower the shield," Rodney said, interrupting. The last thing they needed was to fry any help or supplies that might be coming through – and boy, was he hoping they were sending through some chocolate, because he really wanted a candy bar.
"Yes," Weir said, breaking out of her shock. "Lower the shields…"
All eyes turned to the gate, as Weir, and Rodney walked down the staircase, following Sheppard, who had his weapon out – just in case – and was waving at his men to look alive and be alert. Again, just in case.
The shield dropped, and apparently just in time, because a moment later a tall figure holding a P90 emerged, flanked by a blonde woman, a Jaffa and a brown-haired man in glasses. All of them were dressed in BDUs and armed to the teeth – although the one with glasses was carrying a large bag – but the weapons were lowered as soon they emerged and saw their reception.
Jack O'Neill looked around, searching for a particular face and not finding it – although he did see many that he knew.
Weir smiled, feeling almost giddy with relief and excitement, and she thought her heart was going to explode when O'Neill walked up to her, the rest of his team moving out of the way as large pallets of supplies started coming through the gate behind them.
"Doctor Weir," Jack said, relieved at finding her and her group looking so alive and healthy – considering all the other possible alternatives. "You're looking... alive..."