"Hello. I'm Doctor Lott."
"Colonel Jack O'Neill," Jack said, introducing himself. "How is he, doctor?"
Lott hesitated.
"We just finished up and they're wheeling him into recovery."
Sam sighed with relief. If they were wheeling him into recovery, then that meant that Ian was alive – which was more than she dared hope considering how badly damaged the Ancient ship was.
"Is he going to be okay?" Jack asked, forcing down his own relief.
The doctor gave a noncommittal shrug.
"Barring any complications, we feel he should recover… but it's still too early to tell – and he was seriously injured. It was touch and go for a long time, there…"
"Can we see him?" Sam asked.
Lott shook his head.
"Not yet. Let us get him settled in, first." He hesitated again. "He's not an alien. You know that, right?"
Jack smiled – a relieved smile.
"We know."
"Do you know who he is? He didn't have any identification on him… We're not even sure if he's-"
"Does he have four parallel scars running across his chest like this?" Sam asked, running her hand along her own chest.
"Yes. We were trying to figure out where he got them…"
Now it was everyone else's turn to smile. They definitely knew it was Ian, now – despite the fact that they had all been pretty sure it was. How many guys were walking around with scars from a bear attack on their chests, after all?
"It's a long story," Jack said, turning to Fraiser. "This is Doctor Janet Fraiser. She's going to need to see him, now, and get his room secured."
Lott frowned.
"I'm afraid he's going to need constant care, Colonel O'Neill. We're set up for that sort of-"
"And we'll be happy to take advantage of your facilities for as long as we need them, Doctor," Janet said, interrupting. "But I assure you, the team I brought with me is more than capable of handling Ian's health. We've been doing it for some time, now."
"Ian?" Lott repeated. "Is that his name?"
Jack scowled.
"It is, but we'd prefer to keep that to ourselves for a while longer…"
There was no mistaking that he was telling the doctor to do the same, and Lott nodded.
"I won't spread it around, then. If he has family, however, you might have them come – just in case he takes a turn for the worse."
"We'll keep that from happening," Janet said, firmly. "Take me to see him."
Even if he wanted to argue, there was no way Janet was going to let him. She turned to Jack.
"I'll get you a report as soon as I know his condition, Colonel."
Jack nodded and they all watched as the two doctors left, closing the door behind them.
"Now what, Jack?" Shawn asked.
"Now I call Hammond."
OOOOOOOOOOOO
The news conference was scheduled almost immediately after word was received. Now that they knew for certain who was responsible, and that the Goa'uld ship had, indeed, been destroyed by the away team, it was definitely time to let the world know what was going on. At least some of what was going on, anyways.
Hayes stood in front of the entrance to Cheyenne Mountain, the best area for the press conference to take place, what with the mountain strong and unperturbed in the background, with the rest of the world leaders around him – again showing a solidarity that would have been impossible only a week before.
In a moment, the TVs of the world were all showing the same thing, and Hayes cleared his throat, wishing once more that his speechwriter had been handy.
"My fellow Americans, and other citizens of the planet Earth…" he started, wishing that the Soviet Ambassador had been able to come up with a better introduction than just that - and that the other delegates hadn't thought it sounded okay to them. It sounded corny – at least to him – although the press was listening intently and none of them had even cracked a grin.
"… I'm sure many of you have already seen the footage of the alien ship that crashed in Iowa, and I know that speculation and rumors are rampant as to the implications of the wreckage…"
Actually, the farmer that owned the field was well on his way to being a very wealthy man, because already people were starting to head that direction – by automobile at the moment, because of the flight restrictions – but eventually, the place was going to be a very busy tourist spot, and he'd heard on the news that the farmer – Sheldon Long, as he recalled the name – was letting the government take care of things at the moment, but was definitely talking about making plans for some kind of charge to let people come to the exact spot of the alien crash – as soon as it was cleared by the military.
"… we have good news," Hayes continued. "The mothership itself has been destroyed – by means of a joint military mission with US forces and resources from other countries…"
Which was true enough, since McKay was Canadian. Luckily, that made it possible for him to give the credit to all the countries, keeping anyone from having hard feelings about being left out.
"… we will have more details about that later – once we know exactly how it happened – but for now, at least, that threat has been met with and dealt with."
There was a lot of murmuring from the reports who were covering the press conference, and Hayes paused to let them talk amongst themselves for a moment, and to make a comment or two with their home studios who were undoubtedly already live with the conference. After a moment, though, he continued, and the press grew quiet once more.
"How do we know there aren't others out there, however…" he asked them, gripping the sides of the podium that he was standing in front of. The murmuring returned, because of course, they were all thinking just that. Hayes didn't give them time to chat this time, though. "We don't," he admitted. "They may come, and they may try the same thing they just did. But we're ready for them now. I know there are rumors of an air battle over Antarctica…"
Actually, there were more than just a few rumors, since the Goa'uld death gliders hadn't been hiding from the population as they entered Earth's atmosphere and had been spotted by more than one group of people who had already had their eyes glued to the skies. Some had even managed to get pictures – which were mostly out of focus due to the high velocity of speed the gliders were traveling at – and those pictures had been liberally splattered across the news as well.
"… the rumors are true. Our pilots – the pilots of the world – met the enemy face to face and came out ahead. There is more to it, of course, but the jist of the story is that we – as a world – faced the enemy and weren't found to be lacking. When we have more information about this battle, we will share it – as well as sharing the identities of those who fought it."
"What about the guys in the alien ship?" one of the reporters asked, interrupting before Hayes could continue. Rather than ignore the question, the President smiled.
"We have information that they both survived the initial crash and are being cared for."
"Do we get to meet them?"
Now the President hesitated. He couldn't speak for Canada – not in that kind of instance.
"That'll be up to them," he finally said.
OOOOOOOOOOOO
"Twenty bucks says that if given the choice, Ian's going to tell them all to go to hell," Andrew said, softly, watching the conference from the small waiting room.
Shawn smiled, but it was Jack that answered.
"It's not going to be up to him."
But he was pretty sure Andrew was dead on about Ian's response. First, though, they had to get him back on his feet. Then they could worry about the rest.