"Where are they?" McKay repeated.
"They're not here."
"I know that, genius. That's not what I asked."
Ian scowled, but before he could say anything, McKay spoke again.
"This is bad. I mean, bad."
"It's not that bad," Ian said. "There's nothing here…" He just wished he knew what had happened to the others.
"There's nothing here!" McKay snapped. "That's what's so bad!"
"Relax, Doctor McKay. The others are probably fine."
"They're probably fine? No! They probably got vaporized on their way through the event horizon. You have no idea what the gravitational field of a wormhole can do to a person, kid. Let me assure you, it's not a pretty-"
"I know what it can do," Ian interrupted, annoyed. "I also know that the wormholes can be hijacked – which is probably what happened. SG-4 is probably somewhere else – and hopefully they're okay, and maybe even working on getting back here."
It was all he could think of at such short notice, but the more he thought about it, the more he was certain he was right. It wasn't the first time he'd emerged from a Stargate with less people than he'd gone through with.
"Hijacked?" McKay repeated. "That's not likely." He looked around, his own mind starting to get over his initial panic and switch into gear. "Although maybe there's more than one Stargate here, and we came out one and SG-4 emerged from another one. It's happened before, after all. Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter –"
"O'Neill," Ian corrected. "It's not what happened. There's only one Stargate in the city."
"How do you know that?" the astrophysicist snapped. "We've been here a total of-" he looked at his watch. "Three minutes, and already you're an expert? We might as well be wearing red shirts, kid, because we're screwed."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Red shirts? You know, like on Star Trek?" McKay rolled his eyes; amazed that anyone had missed such an easy reference.
"I don't have a fucking clue."
"You've never noticed that on Star Trek the guys wearing the red shirts are always the ones that die – usually a horrible and painful death?"
"I've never seen it," Ian told him, turning away and shaking his head in disbelief. "Come on, we have work to-"
"You've never seen Star Trek?"
Ian scowled.
"Forgive me for not being a nerd. Now come on. We need to-"
"How can you not have seen Star Trek? It's a classic!"
"Jesus, McKay. Are you coming or not?"
He ignored the question and headed for the broad staircase, looking around with interest.
McKay watched him head up the stairs – and watched as lights came on all around them – and hurried after him.
"What is this?"
"It's their embarkation room. We need to find the Gate Ship bay, though."
"What? What's a Gate Ship?"
"It's our ticket home – once we figure out what the point of origin is."
OOOOOOOOOOO
The briefing started as soon as everyone was in the room and seated, and Hayes gestured for Hammond to take control of things – which wasn't surprising. The general explained to those in the room what they were dealing with as quickly and pointedly as possible – with as few details as he could give. Not because they were keeping it a secret, but in the interest of time. The diplomats were all stressed, and many of them had flown thousands of miles under serious security against God only knew what kind of threats to be here. They were tired and anxious, and had people waiting back home that needed to hear from them. As soon as they knew what was going on.
Hammond gave them a brief history of the Stargate, and then a rundown on the Goa'uld, since they were the aliens that were giving them the trouble at the moment. The room was completely silent during this briefing, with the diplomats looking at him in varying degrees of disbelief and shock. And the silence continued for several minutes after Hammond finished.
"This is ridiculous!" The French ambassador finally said, breaking the silence. "I've never heard anything so outrageous in-"
"It's true," the Russian ambassador interrupted. "The Goa'uld are real. We have people who have seen them – and have lost several more to them. They're easily as dangerous as General Hammond has said – and more so."
"You mean you've known about this?" The Canadian diplomat asked, surprised and annoyed. More annoyed, really, since the Stargate program had been going on literally under his nose and he hadn't heard a peep about it.
"We've known, as well," the British Prime Minister said, making Elizabeth Weir give a silent sigh of relief. It was true that they hadn't known all that long, but it definitely seemed a lot less of a secret to have several of the other countries know about it – and the last thing they could afford just then was a lot of in-fighting.
"The point is, people," Hayes said. "We've got a serious threat on our hands – but we also have allies that are already working to help us out. As well as some of our own brightest and best."
"Like this boy here?" The Chinese ambassador asked, sarcastically, gesturing to Andrew, who was seated beside Hammond. "Or this one?" he asked, looking at Shawn, who was standing against the wall on the opposite end of the room from where Kinsey was seated.
Hammond scowled, but the President simply nodded.
"They're as bright as they come, Ambassador Chang," he said. "And I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they've saved our bacon more than once. But in this case, we're talking some serious firepower on the way – in the form of a group of aliens who call themselves the Asgard. If they come in time – and we don't know how much time we have, but we're hoping we have plenty – then these Goa'uld will be driven away."
"Only to come back at another time," The French ambassador said.
"We'll worry about that when it comes," Hayes said. "As I understand, we're working on ways to protect the planet even as we speak. New weapons, and new-"
"Weapons that will be turned against your enemies, I suppose?" Ambassador Chang asked.
"Weapons that will better mankind," Elizabeth Weir said, speaking up for the first time. "We have to remember that this isn't about one country, right now," she said, fervently. "This is about our planet, and our people. Your people, and mine – and those who don't have anyone here representing them. If you want to get into petty arguments later, then that's fine, but for now, there are 4 billion reasons that we should all present a unified front when we address the world. And I don't think it'd be too far fetched to say many of them are scared."
"Well said, Doctor Weir," the British Prime Minister said, nodding. "My people have waited too long for information." He looked at Hayes. "So what do we tell them? The truth?"
"That would only cause a panic," the Russian ambassador said. "And riots and hoarding."
"What do you suggest, Mr. Drazchov?" Hayes asked, even though he already knew. They had already had a discussion about this while Drazchov was flying in.
"I suggest you go to your media, and with the rest of us in the background, showing our full support, you tell them that you don't know who or what is above us, but that you're certain they do not pose a threat to us – and that we are already working on communications with these aliens, and to remain calm until there is a reason to do otherwise."
"And if you're wrong, and they do pose a threat?" the German ambassador asked.
"Then it'll be all in my lap," Hayes said. "And the entire world will know it."
It was the least of their worries, really. Politics had to play a second fiddle against the threat the world was facing just then.