This is the last chapter of this story. I have another story in my head which I will flesh out and start writing in the next few weeks.

As a plug for me, I have written a few books in the past, and they can be found through Amazon. They are a detective series based out of Charleston, SC. The pen name is same as I use here, so feel free to look them up.

I have another story I am working on in my head for here. As I stated in the last chapter comment, I want to flesh it out a little before I begin to write it. I will start posting it once I have a few chapters down and am sure I can take the story to conclusion.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my perspective to SG-1. I tried to add a little realism to the series, giving it the spin of perspective.

As always, Comments are welcome.

posted 20Jan2021

SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1

It had been three weeks since the infamous meeting. Walter had arranged for General Hammond to travel to DC twice to make an in person plea for the SGC and gate program. The first time had been cordial, the General returning with no real hope. The second time the General had been removed by security. On that visit, General Hammond also had Walter put him on the schedules for Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense. When those meeting also failed, the General pulled a "hail-Mary" and got on the President's calendar.

That too failed.

Now Walter was threading his way through a literal mountain of paper work that rivaled Cheyenne itself. Every person assigned to the program had to be immediately identified, their status changed in the bureaucratic military systems as "untouchable" to "in need of orders", the responsibility of the CSS and FSS. Walter was the SGC liaison for the process. Even now, names were being matched with assignments all over the world with the people here. The downside for them and their loved ones would be the very quick turn from orders to travel, a process which normally took months would now take weeks.

The last of the SG teams had returned while General Hammond was in DC the second time, and Siler's team had replaced the parachute cover on the large circular device. Walter and his team had begun to mothball and cover the computers and stations in the Control room, the entire area looking as it had when he had first been allowed in this part of the base.

One thing that really rankled Walter was what the government had done to Teal'c. He had not been allowed to return through the gate, and it was scheduled to be removed and buried in two days. As the Shuttle program was not even close to capable in taking Teal'c to another planet, he would be stuck on Earth for the remainder of his life. He would never again be able to see his son or wife, all because one Senator had made a decision.

Walter passed a very angry Col O'Neill who had just stepped out of the General's office. Walter was on his way in, another stack of papers for signature.

"Come in," the General stated as he saw Walter, "More?"

"Yes sir," Walter stated, "I think this might be the last stack."

"You said that two stacks ago," The General mentioned as he began to blindly sign form after form.

Waiting silently, Walter picked up the papers as the General finished. Turning to leave, Walter realized the General was walking behind him as they both traveled toward the elevators.

"Figured I should check the commissary," the General stated for no reason, "See what they have left."

Walter gave a laugh as he went to his office. Walking past the armory, Walter saw Teal'c and Dr. Jackson dressed in their tactical black uniforms. When asked, Dr. Jackson stated they were doing a final inventory for the Colonel, confirming the distribution of the weapons the base had accumulated between two black op units and Area 51. Teal'c just stood there, not a sound or expression escaping him.

Not wanting to question their word, Walter continued on to his office, a nagging doubt in the back of his mind.

Ten minutes later, a female voice sounded over the intercom announcing an unauthorized activation of the gate. Dashing out of his office, Walter literally ran into Siler at the corner of the hallway, both men almost knocked off their feet.

"Sorry," Both men said at the same time.

"Where are you going?" Walter asked his tall friend, the gate room a different direction.

"MALP storage," Siler responded, "Airman Sanderson just called me and said one was missing. I just checked them all two hours ago."

"You don't think," Walter started. Both men looked in the direction of the gate and control rooms. Without another word, they both dashed down hallway C, the one Siler had just come from, a team of SFs with weapons drawn thirty feet ahead of them. The corridor at C-9 was sealed. It took Siler only a minute to bypass the lockdown, General Hammond now standing beside him.

As the blast door began to open, the men poured through when the gap was large enough, the General among them. As the last of the SFs were through, Walter and Siler followed them, reaching the gate room in time to see the back of a staff weapon clear the event horizon. It could only be SG-1.

Without direction, Walter ran to the control room, looking to see what coordinates the team had just entered. As he reached his computer, the gate again began to activate. On habit, Walter reached out and closed the iris, watching his screen for a received code. As if he needed further proof SG-1 had just hijacked the gate, the code displayed was theirs.

The General waved his hand and Walter opened the iris. Not ten seconds later a MALP rolled through, clearing the ramp before it stopped its auto pilot action.

"Get this thing analyzed," General Hammond yelled to the room, Siler stepping up to pull the memory drives. "Clear the room!"

With that order, the SFs all filled out and Walter again activated the iris on the gate.

General Hammond went to his office and Maj Ferritti, joined Walter in the control room. After Abydos, Maj Ferritti had been in bad shape, he had even been scheduled to leave the SGC, but with help from Dr. Frasier he had been cleared for full duty for the last four months, leading SG-2. As injured as he had been, Walter was always impressed he was walking, but at least he hadn't died and come back like SG-1

"So who was it, and where did they go?," Maj Ferritti asked.

Walter looked at the screen, giving it a double take before he said, "We need to see the General."

Walking to the back of the conference room, seeing General Hammond had never made it to his office, Walter and Maj Ferritti walked up to him.

"Sir, we've confirmed that it was SG-1," Walter stated, "They went to the coordinates that Dr. Jackson brought back with him from that," pausing to think of the correct term, deciding on, "other place"

"If what he saw was indeed real," General Hammond stated, "that's the origination point of the Goa'uld military attack on Earth."

Walter responded, "Pretty hostile place to go, wouldn't it sir?"

"You want SG-2 to go get them," Maj Ferritti asked, "Bring them back sir?"

Sadly, General Hammond answered, "You'd only be bringing them back for Courts Martial."

"Permission to speak freely sir," Maj Ferritti asked with General Hammond responding, "Go ahead."

"Sir, Col O'Neill saved my butt more than once," Maj Ferritti stated, "I'd like to go back him up."

"I can't send your unit in..." the General started

Maj Ferritti interrupted him with, "My men and I are willing to take the risk Sir"

Nodding to the officer before him, General Hammond could only say, "I'll take that under advisement, Major."

Seeing this as their dismissal, Maj Ferritti and Walter left the General to his thoughts.

"I hope he clears us," Maj Ferritti said under his breath, "I would hate to follow without orders."

Walter pretended to ignore that statement.

Not more than ten minutes later, General Hammond called for Walter to get SG-2 ready to depart immediately and have a MALP prepared.

Maj Ferritti and SG-2 had anticipated the orders, and were in the gate room before Walter could finish the PA call for the team. They even had Siler with them, repairing the MALP earlier used by SG-1.

As the gate was dialing, Walter calling out the chevrons as they each locked in sequence, General Hammond gave an impromptu brief to Maj Ferritti and SG-2 in the gate room. The plan was to send the MALP through, and if clear, follow it to the hostile planet.

As chevron seven spun into place, Walter prepared to make his standard statement only for the computer to begin beeping angrily, the chevron refusing to lock.

"...Will not lock," Walter called out to the gate room, confusion clear on his face to the men looking through the window one floor down.

"What happened Sergeant," General Hammond yelled up at him.

"I'm ss-sorry sir. I don't know," all Walter stuttered back as his reply

"Well, find out," General Hammond demanded.

Going over the information, looking and relooking at the dial sequence computer readings, Walter was dumbfounded.

If they hadn't seen SG-1 dial the exact same address not more than thirty minutes ago, he would swear it was invalid. The data on the screens showed the same as if they had just randomly put in points to a non-existent gate.

"Sir," Walter called, "It's like the gate is not there. On the other side I mean."

"Well you damn well better figure it out Airman," The General yelled, his face getting flush with his anger, "I have people trapped out there."

Walter continued to work the problem as General Hammond left the gate room, SG-2 seeming unsure as to what they could or should do. After ten minutes, they too left the gate room, Walter still no closer to figuring out what had gone wrong.

From his station, he could hear General Hammond in the briefing room, pacing the length of the large window that looked down on the gate room.

For three hours Walter worked, only further proving his original thought, the gate just isn't there.

Knowing there was nothing more he could do, Walter slid his chair back from the computer and let out a long steady breath. He needed to find a problem he could solve.

Sliding his chair back, Walter's phone rang, and he answered it with his usual efficiency, listening to the voice on the other side, "This is Mr Crowley with Cairn. I have standing orders to give ya'll a ring if we see anything unusual as you somehow have access to equipment yet unlisted." The voice stated, almost bored with making the call, "There are some unusual blips showing near the second moon of Saturn. Likely some asteroids but I'll let you decide."

With that the phone went dead, and Walter digested the information from the man. The Goa'uld were here, and Dr. Jackson had been right all along. He quickly dialed up their connection at NASA, learning they had also been informed and were moving the Hubble telescope now. They expected visual confirmation within twenty minutes.

Finding the General upstairs, still pacing at the window, Walter spoke up, "Sir, I think we have another situation."

As the General turned to acknowledge him, he continued, "We just spoke with Cairn Deep Space Radar, and they picked up two large blips passing Saturn. They're heading towards Earth."

"Any identification yet?"

"Not yet, Sir," Walter replied shaking his head, "NASAs just repositioning Hubble right now. Then we should be able to get a closer look."

After a moment, General Hammond looked out towards the gate and stated, "Guess Dr. Jackson is lucky."

"How so Sir?"

"He won't have to be around to watch his nightmare come true for a second time," The General answered, looking directly at Walter before he turned away and went into his office, picking up his phone to inform the President of the current situation.

Walter could only nod, a wave of remorse sweeping over him before he too returned to his desk to wait on further news.

Walter did not wait long. General Hammond entered the Control room, calling together the entire staff. He informed them the President had mobilized all military, even guard and reserve units, and that the SGC would be the Command and Control center for the Air Force response. He gave his instructions, checking to see if Walter had heard any new information on what they were facing.

"Not yet sir," Walter informed him before the General dismissed the room, each of them working on their assignments.

In only one hour, the room had transferred from the gate control room the nerve center of the Air Force response to an invasion. Each person in the room had a task to complete, and they were all performing that task as if their lives depended on it. In all honesty, the entire planet could depended on their actions.

Now it was time to wait.

According to NASA, the two pyramid ships were still about two hours out. The people at the SGC had been working in nervous anticipation of the coming attack. Of everyone on the planet, the people inside the mountain complex were in the unique position to both know what was just outside their planet's safe little bubble, and just how unprepared they were to do anything of consequence to stop the coming attack.

To make matters worse, Lt Col Samuels was now sitting in the middle of all of it.

General Hammond descended the staircase into the control room, his BDU's a fresh change from the usual blues. As he had almost reached the ground level, the General noticed the blight in his Command and Control, or C2, room

"What the HELL are you doing here," the General demanded of the invading officer.

Unperturbed, Lt Col Samuels responded, "Reporting for duty sir. I'm to coordinate with the Pentagon"

"By whose orders," the General asked, now standing squarely before the untrustworthy officer.

"The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. At the request of Senator Kinsey," he responded, a fake look of confusion on his face as he finished, "He did try to contact you."

Ignoring the officers answer, General Hammond asked, "Maybe you can tell me why our forces haven't gone to full alert? If we don't get our assets moving now they're going to get caught on the ground."

"The current thinking at the Pentagon is to do nothing that would alert the Goa'uld we know they're there," Lt Col Samuels replied.

"Let me guess whose bright idea that was," General Hammond responded with a sarcastic voice.

"General Hammond," Lt Col Samuels said, "May I speak freely?" Without waiting for a response he continued, "I know I seem to have lost your respect, sir, for whatever reason. But we wouldn't be in this situation, that is, at the brink of war with the Goa'uld," pausing for a breath he continued, "If you had heeded my advice and buried the stargate in the first place."

"Was that 'I told you so' Col Samuels?," General Hammond snapped.

"I'm not here to point fingers, sir," Lt Col Samuels said, walking towards the middle of the room, "I'm here to help coordinate our preemptive strike against the Goa'uld ships. That is if the President approves." Turning back to the General, "The Joint Chiefs are briefing him now."

"And with what do you intend to strike?"

Smiling just a little he answered, "A new weapon sir. I've helped to oversee its development at Area 51 with Col Maybourne. Two prototypes are being prepped for launch at Vandenberg Air Force Base as we speak. If all goes well history shall mark this day by two brilliant and unexplained flashes that occurred in the night sky." Looking more serious now he finished, "The world should never know how close we came to Armageddon."

With that said, he turned his back on the General and looked down at Walter and his computer screens which now showed the details from NASA and the links with the missile site in California.

General Hammond turned and left the control room, going back up the stairs he had just descended. He did not want to say or do anything that the Airmen would need to deal with. His anger and disgust at a once fine officer who was now nothing more than a stooge of both Col Maybourne, and Senator Kinsey. He was sure the Lt Col Samuel had let his fear of the unknown allow him to become their puppet.

Walter, taking the first opportunity to extract himself from the presence of Lt Col Samuel, went to his office to call Ericka. He knew he couldn't tell her anything, but he still needed to hear her voice.

She answered on the third ring.

"Hello sweetie," Walter said. "I'm afraid it will be another long day here." Silence was his only answer so he continued, "I might be stuck on base till sometime tomorrow."

"I just don't understand," Ericka finally said. "You work inside a mountain in some Deep Space Telemetry program," the cover story still sounding wrong to Walter, "What on Earth could keep you there for so long, so often?"

Wishing he could just tell her the truth, Walter decided a half truth was the best he could do, "There is something NASA just found near Saturn. They seem to be moving in our direction and the people here are working on the issue."

"So they should stay," Ericka said, her voice now pleading with Walter, "But why do you need to stay?"

"I am part of the team," Walter answered, wishing he could just tell her everything. He was an integral part of the SGC. He was the person who controlled the gate, programmed the computer, or at least did his part to the program Capt Carter had written. He wanted to tell her how he was interwoven into the fabric of the people and the minute details of almost every day-to-day activity here. He wished he could say anything more, but there was nothing he could add.

Suddenly, Walter could hear the background noise of a baby crying, followed by the sound of cloth and skin rubbing against the mouthpiece of Ericka's phone.

"I have to deal with the baby," Ericka stated, the strain of her voice almost visible to Walter. "Bye"

Suddenly the dial tone was a deafening sound in his ear.

Knowing there was nothing more he could do, Walter replaced the receiver and returned to the control room. He would do whatever he could to help the people here. He would do his part to keep his family safe.

The day became a blur.

The two ships, both pyramids in the center with a broken artistic ring circling them according to the pictures provided by NASA via the Hubble telescope, had been stationary for almost 18 hours. Lt Col Samuels believed it was because they were waiting for a response from Earth, and the longer we did nothing the longer they would wait. General Hammond believed that Lt Col Samuel was a fool, and there was a reason for their action which we didn't know just yet.

Walter sided with the General.

Lt Col Samuel was also sure that the missiles at Vandenberg would be able to destroy the Goa'uld "mother ships" because they were nuclear warheads with naquida enhancements, and housed in "stealth" technology that could defeat radar. That was assuming the alien species even used radar.

It had been almost twenty hours.

Walter was at his station, dialing up a planet which SG-6 had scouted months ago. It was uninhabited, and sported a climate and eco system similar to that of Earth. For that reason they were about to send a team through, a large mixture of scientists and soldiers, as a potential last ditched effort to save humanity. If Earth was to be destroyed, they would be our "Arc" to repopulate our way of life. They were on their way to the Alpha site.

The best part, all but three of them had any idea what the stargate was, or even where they were about to go to.

General Hammond was briefing the group as Walter completed the dialing sequence, the blue water like explosion not phasing the seasoned General but causing the crowd he was addressing to each flinch or cower as the blue field expanded outward with a whoosh, only to snap back into place creating the rippled water effect.

As the General stepped down, those gathered were ushered towards the gate. The few who had seen the gate in action, or had gone through it before, did not hesitate. As the first few crossed the blue event horizon, those who remained gained the courage to follow, the room slowly emptying until all that remained were the SF members on duty for the room's security.

They again waited, but not for very long.

There was activity according to NASA. The two ships were again in motion after almost a day of stationary orbit near the moon. As the room reacted, Lt Col Samuel got on the secure line they had with Vandenberg.

"Restart the countdown," which had been holding at two minutes, waiting on the ships to move, "Hold at T-Minus twenty seconds. We'll launch the weapons the moment they settle into orbit.

It was only minutes before the ships were in orbit, staying above the United States. Lt Col Samuels still on the line with the missile launch facility in California. Once the orbit of the ships had stabilized, he called for the missiles to launch.

Walter, watching and listening to everything around him, braced. He stood as the General and Lt Colonel walked over, both of them intent on the monitor showing the launch trajectory to the room.

His ear piece in, Walter placed his left hand to his ear, pushing the device a little to block out the noise in the room as he listened to the reports.

"Vandenberg reports a good launch," he stated to Lt Col Samuel.

"Yes," Lt Col Samuel said, the satisfaction clear in his voice and mild fist shake imitation of the child actor in "Home Alone"

Suddenly aware of his surroundings, he sighed and said, "I'm sorry sir. For what it's worth, I seriously doubt SG-1 is aboard those alien ships."

Walter continued to parrot the information he was hearing, "The weapons should reach their target in, after a quick pause, "four minutes."

"In the meantime let's keep moving these people through to the Alpha site," the General said in a steady voice.

Reaching up to the phone that was now tied into the gate room, Walter announced, "Group 9 prepare to disembark."

"Sir," Lt Col Samuel said, "We might as well wait to see the result of our strike before moving more people through."

"I don't think so," General Hammond responded.

"Evacuation may be unnecessary," Lt Col Samuel said, his face showing his disbelief his plan couldn't possibly succeed.

"From your mouth to God's ears, Colonel"

Walter continued to listen to the reports in his ear as one of the other technicians worked on dialing the gate.

"The warheads have separated," Walter said, "one minute to go."

"Any indication of countermeasures?" General Hammond asked.

"I don't think they're going to know what hit um'," Lt Col Samuel said causing the General to roll his eyes.

"Thirty seconds to impact," Walter continued the updates looking up towards his boss, "Still no countermeasures."

Lt Col Samuels started quietly chanting "Go, go" to himself.

As the strike continued to get closed, Walter started a countdown at seven, stopping at four when the weapons both exploded before impact with their targets.

"Space Command reports that the warheads struck some kind of energy field just prior to impact. No damage."

Lt Col Samuel yelled out, "That's impossible!"

"NASA confirms, sir," Walter said, his voice taking on a slight level of anxiety, "The Goa'uld ships are still up there."

After a moment, the look from General Hammond to the Lt Colonel all the "I told you so" he would allow, the General ordered the continued evacuation to the Alpha site. The General then excused himself to make a call to the President to explain the electro-magnetic pulse from the blasts had jammed up the satellite system and it would become difficult to warn the public. He also advised the President to board Air Force One.

It did not take long to make the call, but in that time they have been able to move three more teams through the stargate.

One of the Airmen advised the General that teams 12 and 13 were ready to disembark to Alpha site now. As the General turned from the Airman to return to the C2 center, Lt Col Samuel began to engage him.

From his seat, Walter was able to see and hear the entire exchange. The Lt Colonel was looking worse for wear, his uniform in shambles as he had been pulling at his tie since the missiles failed. He had offered two weak suggestions for random strikes, both of which were shot down by General Hammond immediately.

Then the Lt Colonel made the most ridiculous request Walter had ever heard, "...I respectfully request permission to join one of the teams headed for the Alpha site. At least..."

Before he could even fully finish his request, the final syllables hanging in the air, General Hammond again shot him down. "Permission denied." After a short pause to ensure the Lt Colonel heard every word, "The idea is to send the best and brightest Colonel. When the time comes you will stand beside the men and women of this Command in defense of this facility."

"But sir," he started before being cut off again by the General.

"I ask no more or less of myself," With a look of disdain he finished with, "Dismissed."

Walter's respect for the General climbed higher than he thought possible with that simple exchange.

Ten minutes later, Walter's headset chirped with another update.

"Sir, Space Command reports the two ships seem to be moving closer together."

"What's the status of the Shuttle Endeavor?" the General asked.

"On the pad and standing by."

"We've got to find out what's going on up there," the General said as he moved to another station looking at their screen.

Walter, taking the General's cue, moved to confer with the other tech's in the room, while none of them had much, if he could glue together all their information they might be able to figure something out.

As he was at Dr. Taylor's station, his headset again began to chirp words in his ear. The voices all seemed to mesh together, but he was able to catch some of their meaning and reported to the room.

"Sir, Sir! We've got reports from all over the country," a smile spreading on his face. "A huge fireball in the night sky"

The room erupted in cheers, papers thrown into the air and fluttering back down in the chaos around the room.

Endeavour had been launched just moments after the General originally inquired about their status, now seeming as an afterthought.

The room quickly regained its military bearing. Everyone returning to their posts as the events of the evening were not yet truly over. They were still awaiting NASA's damage assessment from the space explosion, and word on the potential fallout of the debris falling into the atmosphere.

Walter was at his station when the gate began to activate.

"Incoming traveler! Incoming traveler!," Walter yelled into the base intercom. General Hammond appeared by his side as the computer showed the IDC, "It's SG-1's signal Sir"

"Open the iris!"

Without hesitation, Walter opened the iris and watched with the entire room to see who would emerge from the gate, only to see Dr. Jackson walk through alone.

General Hammond, running into the gate room called out, "Dr. Jackson, was SG-1 aboard one of those ships?"

The exchange that followed between them was informative. Dr. Jackson had used a gate that was aboard the ship to dial up the Alpha site. From there he had been able to dial back to Earth. When asked were the rest of SG-1 were, he hesitated for a moment.

Then Dr. Jackson informed the General of their actions over the last day. He quickly told the man of their gating to a ship instead of a planet. Of their planting of C-4, the discovery and capture of Col O'Neill and Teal'c, Capt Carter setting the charges to a timer, and the rescue of Teal'c and Col O'Neill, and the death of Skaara or Klorel. He further went on to tell of their recapture just after realizing there was a second attack vessel, and the delay they had witnessed as Apophis awaited the resurrection of Klorel before his attack. Once the team realized the attack was close, as was the timer counting down to zero, they attempted to transfer to Apophis' ship to sabotage it as well. He had been unable to join them as he was almost dead, but jumped into a sarcophagus to heal before he gated out. He could only guess they had been successful since both ships had been destroyed.

"Sir," Walter's voice carried over the gates speakers, "NASA reports there are two smaller ships in a decaying orbit. Hubble was able to get a picture and you won't believe it," Walter said with excitement, "SG-1 made it!"

This led to another round of cheers, another explosion of papers.

As the merriment began to die, Dr Jackson asked, "Question. If they are in broken ships, and in a decaying orbit, how do we get them?"

As if the answer was obvious, the General stated, "Endeavour."

Two hours later, the report from NASA about the safe transfer of space cargo led to a third round of cheers.

Following that news Walter had finally been able to go home, his shift having lasted 36 hours. He and Ericka had a long talk, and with the permission of General Hammond, Walter was able to give Ericka a basic understanding about the fireball that had lit up the sky. He had been given the authority to inform her that there had been an astrological event which the military had tracked and effectively ended. He was not able to tell her about the stargate, aliens, or other planets, but the basic truth had worked.

Ericka as least knew why her husband had been busy, would continue to be busy as long as they were here. Her husband was a hero to a world that would never even know it had been in danger, doing his part to keep it safe.

When Walter returned to work the following day, he learned that NASA planned to keep the Endeavour in orbit for five days. It was necessary several reasons, formost of those being the limitations of the shuttle. In order for them to align the craft for a proper re-entry in an acceptable weather window, they needed at least three days. In order to placate the public on the historically quick launch, they needed to remain in orbit for the briefed mission period. That had allowed for as few as five days and as many as fourteen.

In the five day time, Capt Carter was officially able to say she was an astronaut, Col O'Neill complained about the cramped space, and Bra'tac and Teal'c stayed in states of Kelno'reem to ignore it all. Lt Col Mayfield, the Mission Commander, still not fully briefed on the specifics of who these people were, or how they could have possibly become stranded in space, focused his attention on the three experiments they were conducting on the effects of launch and Zero-G on several hybrid plants that could be used to help scrub the CO2 from a long term space project. If his information was positive they would transfer the experiment to the ISS with the next re-supply ship out of Russia. The remainder of the crew each found some project or another to keep them busy and away from their guests.

When the Shuttle finally landed, Walter scheduled the transport that helped to ferry away SG-1 from the shuttle when the usual fanfare of crowds were distracted with the astronauts led the procession to a briefing area that had been established on the far end of the tarmac.

When Walter received word that SG-1 was now aboard the waiting C-17 for transport back to Colorado, he finally was able to let out a sigh of relief. In those five days since the lead team, previously listed as AWOL due to their unauthorized departure from the SGC, departed to the anomalous address brought back from some phantom zone by Dr. Jackson, the atmosphere towards the SGC had changed once again. They were again fully funded, Senator Kinsey no longer the only member of the Appropriations Committee aware of the nature of Area 52. The President again fully behind the project, gaining several points politically with the destruction of the Goa'uld fleet above the Earth.

Walter was again secure in his future. The SGC now had the clout to remain active, exploring the galaxy for many years to come. The lead technician for the control room was able to sit back and know he would be here, the final line for those stepping into and through the gate, for many years to come.