Epilogue:
"Are you certain this will work, Lieutenant?"
Ian pulled his head out from under the workspace he was working on, just in time to hit heads with Sam, who had emerged from the workspace next to his. Hammond winced, but Sam just rubbed her head and gave Ian a rueful smile. It was one of the hazards working on computer systems sometimes – especially when you were connecting hardware that had no business ever being attached to anything on Earth.
"It's going to work fine, sir," she said, answering for Ian, who was looking for a bolt he'd dropped when he'd collided with her.
"The device doesn't seem to be very large…" Hammond noted, leaning over to look at the apparatus that Ian was bolting into place under the computer that controlled the iris – which was next to the one that controlled the Stargate itself.
"It doesn't have to be," Ian said, picking up the bolt and turning his attention to Hammond, now. "The field is expandable – and it has a wide range to begin with."
"How wide?" Jack asked curiously, coming over to stand beside Hammond.
"Most of the state of Colorado," Sam said.
"Really?"
"Maybe more."
"That's impressive," Hammond said, leaning over again, as if he couldn't believe the little thing could do so much.
"We'll have more coverage once we can figure out a better power source," Ian added, moving just a little to avoid being tripped over by the technicians who were moving back and forth in the room working on projects of their own.
"Don't you have any alternative power sources stuck in your head?" Jack asked.
Ian shrugged.
"Several. But we can't shield the base's computers against the backlash that most of them would create – and a couple would probably melt the entire mountain around us."
"Which would be bad…"
Sam smiled at the understatement.
"A little. Yes."
"And we don't have to do anything special?" Hammond asked.
"No, sir." Sam pointed at the palm scanner that controlled access to the iris. "We'll set up something like that right beside this – so the iris can still be closed even if we allow the Asgard access to the base – and it simply has to be palmed like this one does."
"It'll be kind of nice to not have to worry about Thor popping in unannounced," Jack said.
"He'll still be able to pop in," Ian corrected. "He just won't be able to beam down – or beam anyone else up – unless we give him permission."
"So we'll be hidden?" Daniel asked.
"No," Sam said, shaking her head. "Thor and the other Asgard know where the SGC is. We can't erase that."
"But they'll have to ask for permission to pop in now," Ian said. "Just like if they wanted to gate in."
"They won't like that," Daniel said.
"They'll get used to it," Hammond replied.
He, for one, was happy to have some kind of safeguard on the base, now, that could keep his people from being beamed up without so much as a by your leave.
"It'll be good for them," Jack agreed.
"Speaking of good for you…" Hammond said, changing the subject as he looked down at Ian. "You need to let me know when you want to take your leave, so I can arrange the time off."
Ian shrugged.
"Mom's in Europe doing a show for about a month, so there's no hurry."
"You could just spend some time with your dad," Jack suggested.
Ian shook his head.
"That wouldn't be a good idea, Jack."
"Well, let me know," Hammond repeated. "And finish this up as soon as possible. I want my Stargate back."
Sam and Ian both nodded.
"Yes, sir."
OOOOOOOO
The room was almost empty when Sam brought up the subject of Ian's vacation once more. She and Ian were both under the same workstation, now; Ian holding a few wires while Sam fused them together and prepared the final touches on the device.
"I thought you and Nathan were getting along pretty good…" she said, not looking up from the delicate work she was doing.
"We are."
"Then why not go visit him?"
"Because it'd just ruin everything."
"How so?"
"It just would," he said, reaching for a soldering tool and handing it to her. "Without mom there to be a buffer, one of us would say the wrong thing, and we'd end up right back where we started."
She turned to him.
"You really think so?"
He shrugged.
"Maybe not that far back, but it would still screw things up."
"What about just going for a weekend?"
"Nah."
"What if we went?"
He frowned.
"Who?"
"Us. Jack, Shawn, Jake and me."
"You want to?"
Now it was Sam's turn to shrug.
"Why not? Your dad keeps inviting Jack out, and it'd be a good vacation for us. With the Anubis thing going on, we wouldn't be able to be gone for more than a few days, I bet, and where better to go than the other side of the country?"
"Are you sure?"
"Think the invitation is still on the table?"
Ian shrugged again.
"Most likely. I could call him if you want…"
Sam smiled.
"You do that. Any weekend would do fine – or even early in the week; we could take some leave ourselves."
"We could go fishing…"
"Not if we want to take Jaffer."
He chuckled.
"Sailing, then."
"That we could do."
"I'll give him a call when we get done and ask him."
The more he thought about it, the better it sounded.
It was obvious Sam was all for it, too, because her smile was contagious.
"I'll talk to Jack and Shawn, but I'm pretty sure they'd like a vacation as much as I would."
Things had been hopping, lately, after all, and they could use a little relaxation and time away from the SGC. Preferably without it being life or death.
"Good idea, Sam."
"Well, I am a genius, you know?"
He snorted, and turned back to what they were working on.
"I thought I heard that somewhere."
The End!
So! Now we've solved the Asgard problem – although it's not an immediate fix, of course – and Ian's out of the academy and an officer and gentleman (cough, cough). How was the story? Hated it? Liked it? It was okay? Any of the above? Let me know, and thank you for the reviews during this one!
