"Shit!"
It happened a lot sooner than either of them expected. The gateship had barely sidled into position near the hangar opening of the Goa'uld ship when suddenly there were swarms of death gliders were emerging from the ship like angry wasps. And all of them were heading for Earth.
"Do you think O'Neill's in place?" McKay asked, his face as pale as Ian was sure his own was.
"God, I hope so. Hold on."
They didn't have time to think about whether or not Jack and the others were ready – or to wonder how they were going to repel that attack heading their way if they weren't. Ian had responsibilities of his own. He sent a mental command to the AI on the gateship, and in response, the little craft moved into the shield range of the mother ship.
McKay tightened his grip on his seat, but he really didn't expect that this was the moment he was going to die. In order for the death gliders to be able to exit the ship, it had to lower its shields. As long as there were still gliders pouring out – and there was a trickle of them, still – then the shields should be down. So unless the boy managed to crash them head on into one of them, they should be able to make it into the hangar, at least.
Sure enough, the gateship slipped right in, easily dodging the smaller craft of the Jaffa, and settling into an only slightly bumpy landing on the edge of the hangar bay where it wouldn't be in the way.
"They're going to find us here," McKay moaned, suddenly terrified now that they were actually in the ship. It was all well and good for SG-1 to do this sort of thing – they were trained for it. He was a scientist and had absolutely no business being on any kind of operation like this!
"We'll be okay, I think," Ian said, getting out of the pilot's seat and sprawling on the floor once more to retrieve the ZPM.
"We're on an alien ship in another alien ship which we're going to blow up out from underneath us," McKay snapped. "How do you think we're going to be okay?"
Ian didn't answer. Mainly because he didn't have an answer for that. He finished disconnecting the ZPM from the gateship's systems and stood up.
"Are you leaving now?" McKay asked, looking from Ian out the front view screen. There was a lot of activity out in the hangar, even with all the Jaffa that had flown out.
"Almost…"
The HUD shifted displays, showing the inside of the Goa'uld ship that they were on and a red dot that blinked gently, showing him where they were located.
"What are you doing?" McKay asked.
"Looking for the quickest route to the bridge." Duh.
The screen went back to its passive monitoring, but McKay was still staring at it.
"You've just told them we're here!"
"What?"
"They're going to know you scanned the ship, you idiot! They have sensors, you know?"
Ian frowned, chagrined. He hadn't thought about that, really. Then he shrugged.
"It can't be helped. I had to know where to go."
"They're going to find us," McKay repeated, panicked.
"The ship's in stealth. The only way they'll be able to find it is if they physically run into it."
"Which they probably will."
"They have other things to worry about, McKay," Ian said, setting the ZPM down long enough to check the load in his Glock and to make sure that his zat was still in its holster. He didn't have a P90 – not for this kind of thing – but he did wish he had SG-4 with him to back him up instead of one hysterical scientist. "I'll be back as soon as I can…"
"You hope."
"I hope."
Ian pulled a couple of devices out of his pocket.
"What are those?"
Despite his fear, McKay was as nosy – and probably nosier – than anyone else.
"My get to the bridge free pass," Ian answered. He held one up. "This one will cloak me – like the ship, pretty much."
"And the other one?"
"It's a surprise for Anubis that I picked up while I was looking for the gateship bay."
"What does it do?"
"I'll tell you later… Where do you think I'll find one of those power relays?"
McKay hesitated, thinking.
"Somewhere close to an active power station. The bridge for sure, but-"
"I'm not going to have time to do anything on the bridge," Ian interrupted.
"There's got to be one in here," McKay said, annoyed at the interruption. "The hangar has to have at least one."
Ian nodded, and picked up the ZPM. Then he activated the cloaking device and vanished.
"Wish me luck," came the disembodied voice.
"Good luck."
The rear hatch opened, then closed, and McKay was alone.
OOOOOOOOOOO
The Tok'ra ship had no problem finding the coordinates that had been entered into its navigational computer. Only minutes after finishing reentry into Earth's atmosphere, SG-1 – and Jacob and Thor – found themselves hovering above a solid sheet of ice, and surrounded by nothing but for as far as they could see on the horizon.
"There is, indeed, something down there, O'Neill," Teal'c said after a moment, looking at his scanners.
"A weapon?" Jack asked, leaning forward as if trying to look down below them.
"I cannot say. There is a hollow space in the ice, a mile and a half down."
"That's got to be the spot," Sam said.
"Indeed."
"Let's hope this works," Jacob said as Teal'c activated the enhanced ring transporter. An instant later they heard the familiar thrumming sound of a large amount of energy passing through the ship's systems, and on the screen in front of them, an indicator showed that the ring device was doing exactly what they'd hoped it would. The ice was being cut through at an astounding rate.
"We will be through in only a few minutes," Teal'c said.
"Won't be soon enough for me," Jack said. "We're really exposed, sitting here like-"
There was suddenly an alarm, and everyone on the little ship looked at the readout that suddenly came up.
"We've got company," Daniel said, his voice tense.
On the screen were what looked to be hundreds of smaller vessels – death gliders, for sure – and all of them were heading their way.
OOOOOOOOOO
"Scramble the fighters!" Hayes ordered.
He was really only ordering his own men – who had three computer stations at their disposal to order up their air wings – after all, he had no authority over the other diplomats, but they all responded to the command, and in an instant the orders were sent and the command given to launch the defense.
All around the Antarctica waters, aircraft started launching from carriers, roaring to the coordinates that they'd all been given, and joining up with air groups from not only other parts of their own countries, but other countries as well. The fight was on.