McKay found himself holding his breath, even after they emerged from the wormhole. The view from the front window of the little ship was hardly promising, after all – and certainly not what he'd expected.

"We're in space…"

Ian nodded.

"Yeah."

"But, how is that possible? We just went through a Stargate. We should be on some planet somewhere!"

"We're over some planet," Ian said, pointing.

McKay stood, leaning over towards the New Yorker so he could look the same way Ian was, and saw that they were, indeed, above a planet. A large gaseous planet that looked incapable of sustaining life.

"What the hell…?"

"It's an orbital Stargate," Ian explained, deciding it was just as easy to explain as put up with the barrage of questions and dumb looks. "Designed – I'm assuming – specifically for the gateships. Or other orbital craft, maybe. Provided they fit through the gate."

As he was explaining it, an image was coming up on the HUD, showing an orbital Stargate above a different planet, and a gateship emerging from it.

"Wow…" McKay said softly, feeling as if he'd definitely been born into the wrong race of people. "That's… amazing."

"Yeah."

Ian wasn't quite as impressed. Mainly because very little impressed him.

McKay scowled, annoyed that the kid wasn't as amazed as he was.

"You don't understand just how impressive it is, Lieutenant. To actually build a Stargate that is solely designed to remain in space… they had to keep it in orbit without letting the planet's gravitational field eventually pull it-"

"I know." Ian interrupted. "Listen, doctor, you need to make a decision…"

"What? What kind of decision?"

"Whether to come with me or to have me drop you off at the next stop."

"What?"

Ian pressed a button on a panel, and they both saw the planet below them once more as the little ship they were in changed its bearing to position itself for its leap into hyperspace. Only when they'd made the jump did Ian look over at McKay, and the astrophysicist was a little concerned at the odd expression on the boy's face. He looked just a bit scared, and a lot resolute.

"I said; you need to make a decision."

"I heard you," McKay said. "I just don't understand what you're talking about."

Ian hesitated, trying to figure out how best to explain.

"This is going to be dangerous. What we're going to be doing, I mean."

"I gathered that," McKay said, sarcastically.

"More dangerous than you might think," Ian said, holding in his temper with a visible effort. "The best way to take on Anubis is going to be face to face. To do that, I need to get face to face with him."

"This little ship is going to take on a Goa'uld mothership?"

Ian shook his head.

"It wouldn't be able to do it. Not head to head. But that isn't what I meant."

McKay frowned, his agile mind going over what Ian had said. A wild idea dawned on him, one that was impossible – except that the kid was just pale enough and scared enough for it to maybe be true.

"You mean you're going to face him? Up close and personal?"

Ian nodded.

"I'm going to try."

"That's insane! You're going to get killed."

"Not necessarily…"

"Yes, necessarily. You can't take on a system lord!"

"I have before…"

"This is ridiculous. What are you planning to do? Ask him to stop?"

Ian scowled.

"Fuck you, McKay."

"Well you're being stupid," Rodney snapped. "You don't have a chance against Anubis. He'd eat you alive."

"You need to decide whether you want me to drop you off at the next planet or not," Ian said, ignoring the comment.

"Or come with you?"

"Yeah."

"Then I want you to drop me off, of course, because I'm certainly not going to go with you. I have no intentions of allowing your ego to get me killed as well."

"This has nothing to do with my ego, you stupid bastard."

"Oh, no, not at all. You're just going to go up against Anubis all alone, without any help, and it's all about saving the world, right?"

"I couldn't give a shit less about the world," Ian snapped. "It's about saving my folks – and my friends. And I'm not going to just go up against him. I'm going to wait until he's distracted by the weapon Jack's going to be controlling. While his ships are being shot down around him, I'm going to dock on his flagship, find him and kill him."

"That's not going to work," McKay told him. "He's going to be surrounded by Jaffa. How do you expect to get around them?"

"They're not going to be a problem. They won't even see me."

"And how are you going to pull that off?"

"The same way I hid the SGC from them. With Ancient technology."

McKay paused, but only for a moment.

"And how are you going to hide this ship? I think they're going to notice something's going on when they see it."

"It'll hide itself. It has a cloak."

The astrophysicist frowned.

"It's not going to work. You should just leave it up to the others to-"

"There's no one else, McKay," Ian told him. "I don't know who all can use the Ancient's technology – and we don't have time to test people."

"Well, then, you can drop me off on Earth before you go kill yourself."

"I can't drop you on Earth," Ian told him. "If I do, they'll pick up the ship heading through the atmosphere – even with the cloak on. I'll drop you at the next planet, though. We should be there in about an hour."

"Where is it?"

"Here…" he pointed to the HUD, where an image of the next planet they were going to obediently came up in response to Ian's silent request. "It's small, and has a breathable atmosphere and moderate temperatures. You should be okay there."

McKay frowned.

"Is there a Stargate?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'll just use it and go home."

"It's an orbital one."

"Then that's not acceptable! You'll have to drop me somewhere else."

"There is no where else. That's the only one on the way that you can survive on without a suit."

"Yeah? Survive for how long? Until you come back for me? That's not going to happen."

"I wouldn't forget where to find you."

"You're going to be dead, Lieutenant!" McKay snapped. "Haven't you been listening to me? There's no way you're going to survive this stupid plan of yours. Anubis is going to kill you, and then he's going to get hold of this ship and all the Ancient technology on it, and then he's going to destroy all life on the Earth before moving on to find another Asgard protected planet to attack."

"He won't get this ship," Ian said. "I'm going to blow it up. While it's still in his docking bay."