Teal'c, Daniel and Jacob met them at the entrance to Cheyenne Mountain. Sam smiled in surprise and hugged her father.

"Dad!"

"Hi, Sammy." He looked over her shoulder at Jack. "Jack."

Jack smiled a greeting of his own.

"Jacob. Let me guess… you're here to tell us why the Goa'uld have suddenly decided to make an appearance…?"

"I wish I was," Jacob said, shaking his head and looking over at Ian. "Are you all right?"

Ian nodded. He was still a little tense and his stomach muscles were clenching, but the ride to the base had helped restore a little of his equilibrium.

"I'm fine."

"He had a bit of trouble with the flight," Jack explained.

"Ah."

Jacob, of course, knew all about Ian's fear of flying – even though they never actually discussed it. He had, after all, known him for far longer than Jack had.

"What news do you have for us, dad?" Sam asked as Jack greeted Teal'c and Daniel.

"Not a lot, I'm afraid. I didn't know what was going on when I came, and we haven't heard anything about any of the Goa'uld getting ready to do anything here. Last we heard, they were all focusing on Anubis."

"Well, someone got distracted," Jack said as they headed for the entrance to the mountain base.

"Yeah. I'm going to head back and see if we have any intel to share… besides, you guys are about to get a lot of company, and I'd rather not be here to explain my role in things just yet."

"Company?" Sam repeated. "Who?"

"The President, for starters…" Daniel said. "He'll be in tonight. After that a large group of various VIPs from all the countries that he decides to invite."

"Why are they coming here?" Ian asked.

"Because Hayes is going to tell them about the Stargate."

"He doesn't have a lot of choice," Jacob said. "The Ha'tak has really thrown things in chaos from what I've seen – and if there's an attack in the makings, then the rest of the world needs to know what's going on."

"Obviously," Sam agreed.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'll come see you off," Sam said, looping her arm through her father's. She was sorry to see him go after such a short visit, but she knew that he was right about going.

Jacob smiled, squeezing her hand in his own.

"I was hoping you would."

"Have we heard from the Asgard?" Jack asked. "Any clue what they know about-"

"We haven't had a chance to contact them," Daniel said.

Jack frowned.

"Why not?"

"Because Shawn and Andrew are both apparently off hiking with the rest of Andrew's family, and we can't find them to have them call. For that matter, they probably don't even know what's happening – unless someone took a radio with them."

Jack's frown deepened.

"We're sure they're okay, though, right? There's no way that the Ha'tak was after them or something?"

Daniel's expression clearly showed he hadn't even thought of it, but Teal'c shook his head.

"The Ha'tak did not fly over Colorado, O'Neill. I am certain that Andrew and Shawn are unharmed."

Which meant that Teal'c obviously had considered that possibility and had dismissed it. Which made Jack feel a little better. But he was still going to worry until he knew otherwise.

"I'll call the Asgard, then," he said as they boarded the elevator. "And meet you guys in the briefing room."

"I'm going to go take a shower," Ian decided. He felt clammy with the dried nervous sweat all over and his uniform was still damp from being under the heavy flight suit.

"Don't be long," Sam said.

"I won't."

The elevator opened and he left them, heading for the locker rooms, and Jacob smiled after him, even when the door had closed.

"Some tough guy…"

Jack shook his head.

"It took a lot of guts for him to get in that fighter, Jacob. It's definitely not the best way to cross the country."

"I know, Jack. I was just teasing." Jacob looked at Sam. "Before I forget to ask; does the word ascension mean anything to you?"

"In what context?" she asked, wondering what he meant.

Jacob shrugged.

"I don't know. It's just a word that's come up a few times in regards to Anubis. We just don't know how it applies."

"Maybe it's an ascension to his new status?" she guessed. "He hasn't been all that powerful for all that long, right?"

Jacob looked thoughtful, and shrugged.

"Maybe that's it. I'll see if we have developed any more information about him while I'm gone."

"Stay out of trouble, Jacob," Jack told his father in law as he turned to leave them and head for his office.

"Always, Jack. I'll see you soon."

"Yeah."

OOOOOOOOOO

Sam watched as the Stargate disengaged, and sighed. She loved when her dad came for a visit, but it seemed like he was never there all that long, and they never really seemed to have any quality time. Which made it that much more difficult to see him off when they could have had a bit of time to spend together. At least she had a chance to see him, though, she decided, as a motion from the control room caught her eye and she looked up.

Sergeant Harriman was waving at her, gesturing for her to join him. She nodded, and headed for the door that led to the stairs, wondering what he wanted.

It only took a glance to figure it out when she entered the room, however, and she definitely didn't need to talk to him. A pair of legs was sticking out from under the workstation that held the cloaking device Ian had installed. Sam frowned.

"What's going on?"

This wasn't the time to be playing with that device – and those weren't Ian's legs.

There was a muffled noise, and then the legs moved, sliding around as the rest of the body came into view, and Sam groaned inwardly as Rodney McKay came into view.

"Sam! What a pleasant surprise."

She scowled.

"What are you doing down there, McKay?"

"I was just… checking out this shielding device I've heard so much about. It's actually quite impressive. You do good work."

"You didn't mess it up, did you?" Sam asked, leaning over and trying to get a good look at the device.

"Of course not," McKay said, sounding a little huffy. "I was just looking." He smiled, and patted the spot next to him on the floor. "You're welcome to look for yourself, though…."

Harriman rolled his eyes, looking around for Teal'c – or even better, Colonel O'Neill. It would be amusing for either of them to have heard that particular invitation, after all. Not for McKay, but for the others.

"I want you to stay away from that, McKay," Sam told him, crossing her arms and definitely not taking him up on his invitation. "The last thing we need is for you to start meddling with technology you don't understand."

"Oh, please. There's no technology on Earth that I don't understand," McKay told her. "And you're good, but you'll never be able to make a piece of equipment that I can't figure out."

"Just stay away from it, McKay. I'm warning you."

She didn't feel like getting into an argument, and certainly wasn't going to answer that particular challenge. All they needed was for McKay to learn that the device was Ancient technology. He'd never leave it alone.

"I was just looking," he repeated. "Does it run on a naquida power source? I couldn't see any-"

"What are you doing here?" Sam interrupted.

"Looking at the shielding-"

"On this base," she clarified, impatiently.

McKay scowled, clearly not impressed with her impatience.

"I didn't want to be here, okay? I was minding my own business, on my way to a very exclusive lecture when my plane was diverted here and I was told that my particular talents might be needed. If you'd been here instead of off gallivanting around the east coast, then neither one of us-"

"McKay…" Sam could feel her blood pressure rising.

"What?"

"Shut up."