Sam folded her hands before her on the briefing room table. "Before we begin this briefing I have a small announcement to make. SG-1 will have a science officer from now on."

"You finally found someone willing to put up with us?" Lee asked with a smirk.

"He volunteered for this and asked specifically to be assigned to SG-1," Sam answered.

"Guy must not know us well."

Sam grinned. "I think you'll find, Captain, he knows you rather well." She turned as Oliver came up the stairs. "You new science officer, Dr. Kain."

Lee jumped up from her seat. "No! Anyone but him! This isn't fair!"

"Sit down, Captain," Sam ordered.

Lee sank into her seat, her glare directed at her brother.

Oliver cleared his throat. "I know you aren't happy about me being here, Lee, but ..." He paused and folded his arms together over his chest. "After the team couldn't get home and you were out there somewhere lost I just ..." He sucked in a deep breath. "I'd rather be lost out there with you than sitting here worrying whether you're okay and wondering if I'll ever see you again. And if you'll remember before I left for Pegasus you did ask me if I'd rather stay here as SG-1's science officer."

Lee sighed and sank into her seat. "I'd probably do the same if you were lost." She pointed at him. "And I asked that to be nice and mostly because I knew you'd never pass up an opportunity to stay with Atlantis."

Mal grinned and shook his head at them. "Welcome to the team, Dr. Kain." He looked from Oliver to Lee. "Fair warning the first time the two of you fight I'm slapping the both of you."

Lee grinned at him. "That's gonna get old fast."

"Yeah, your hand will hurt." Oliver grinned at him.

Van chuckled. "It will be nice to have someone on the team who knows how things work so everyone will stop expecting me to fix everything."

Oliver grinned. "Why do I feel like I'm in trouble?"

"All right, let's get on with the briefing, shall we?" Sam asked.

"Yes, of course." Oliver took a seat at the table.

"We're continuing our investigation of the Furling worlds, correct?" Mal asked.

Sam nodded. "Yes, the planet you're scheduled to go to is uninhabited as far as we can tell. I'd like you to do a search of the area and see if you can find anything that indicates the Furlings were there or there was any kind of settlement there at one time."

"I'm sure it won't be an issue if the place is deserted. Were there any ruins?" Mal asked.

"Not that the M.A.L.P. picked up."

"Well, then everyone be prepared for some walking," Mal announced.

"All right you leave in an hour, dismissed."

"Not quite yet, you can remain seated."

Sam frowned at Elias as he swept into the room. "You weren't invited to this briefing, Mr. Albrecht."

"I invited myself. It seemed prudent that I be here considering your new addition to SG-1." He indicated Oliver. "I don't think I need to reiterate my previous reason why I believe Captain Kain is not suited to this type of work. She has reacted emotionally in the past and clear thinking isn't her strong suit."

"I assume there's a point to this?" Sam snapped.

"Indeed, she reacts emotionally under normal circumstances, how do you think she'll react if her brother is placed in danger? This is a perfect example of why this team needs to be disbanded immediately and you need to be removed from command. This is a reckless decision."

"I stand by my decision, Mr. Albrecht. SG-1 you're dismissed, get ready for your mission." Sam stood and went to her office.

Elias hurried after her. "General Carter, wait a minute!" he called out and followed her into her office. The door slammed shut behind him.

Lee rolled her eyes. "I hate that man."

"Don't we all?" Van asked.

"Oh look, he left his briefcase. What kind of secret IOA stuff do you think he has in there?" Lee reached out and pulled the briefcase in front of her and opened it.

"Lee, you shouldn't look in there," Van hissed while he shot a look toward Sam's office.

"Shush, it will only take a minute." She shuffled through the papers in the briefcase. "Apparently he's going shopping after he leaves here, he needs milk and TP." She shuffled more things around. "Oh ho what is this?" She held up a folder that was marked top secret.

"Lee, put that back," Van told her. "What if he comes back out here or looks out the window?"

She flapped a hand at him and opened the folder. "Hey check this out, you know that IOA agent they sent out on that recon with SG-13?"

"Yeah, what about it? There was nothing on that planet except a small village of farmers," Mal said.

"According to this, while they were on the planet the IOA agent claims they spotted Alliance soldiers in the village trying to convince the farmers to grow Kassa for them." Lee frowned at the report. "I don't remember hearing anything about that."

"Neither do I," Mal told her.

"If the Alliance was there we need to know," Van insisted. "If that IOA agent saw the Alliance there why didn't he tell SG-13 and why is the IOA keeping this a secret?"

"We need to tell the General about this." Mal stood. "Put that folder back before Elias comes out here."

Lee threw the folder back into the briefcase, shut it, and shoved it back across the table. It wasn't a second too soon either because a moment after she put it back Elias stalked out of the General's office, snatched his briefcase from the table, and left the room.

The moment he was gone, Mal went into her office. "General, we need to have a talk." He shut the door as soon as the others came into the office.

"Colonel, this office isn't big enough for a meeting, what is going on?"

"The IOA is hanging onto some information about P7X-204. The agent who went with SG-13 claims the Alliance was in the village trying to convince the farmers to grow Kassa, we need to find out if that's true."

"How do you know this?"

"I may have seen a folder in Elias' briefcase," Lee told her.

Sam shook her head. "Captain, are you telling me you were snooping in his things?"

"I don't snoop, General. Let's just say it was a strategic peek at something that happened to be within my sight. "

"It doesn't matter how we found out the information we need to go to the planet!" Mal insisted.

"The answer is no. You already have a planned mission. I'll inquire about the information but beyond that I will not authorize a mission to the planet."

"We can't wait, General! We need to convince the farmers not to align themselves with the Alliance, it's a bad idea! SG-13 was there almost three weeks ago, time is of the essence!"

Sam stood. "I understand that, Colonel, but the answer is still no. I suggest you go and prepare for your current mission. Dismissed."

"General—"

"You are dismissed, Colonel!"

Mal nodded, spun and left the office. The others followed slowly.

"What do we do now?" Oliver asked as they left the briefing room.

"We go to the Furling world as planned," Mal answered.

"Then what?" Lee asked.

"We dial P7X-204 and investigate. The General doesn't need to know we were even there unless it becomes necessary."

"Like if we find flowing fields of Kassa?" Lee answered.

Van frowned. "I doubt we'd find flowing fields, they haven't exactly had time to grow anything significant."

"Look, let's get this over with. I don't like going behind General Carter's back but I don't see another way to do this." Mal turned and strode off down the hallway to get ready to leave.

Mal hesitated when he stepped into the Gate room and found Elias there. "Is there a reason you're still here?"

"I disapprove of this mission. Your team should be split up to minimize the destruction you leave in your wake."

Mal snorted. "I think you need to take a look in the mirror, brother." He stepped past Elias to wait near the ramp.

Oliver sent Elias a grin. "My sister might be emotional, but I'd rather have her guarding my back than you any day." He breezed past Elias.

Van steadfastly ignored Elias and went to stand beside Mal and Oliver.

Elias grabbed Lee's arm as she passed him. "Captain, I think you and I should have a talk."

"Release my arm or I'll punch you again and this time I will make certain to break something much more important than your nose." Her eyes flicked down before she grinned at him.

"Come now, Captain, can't we be civil?" He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"General," Lee called out.

"Yes, Captain, is there a problem?" Sam's voice came over the PA system.

"Mr. Albrecht refuses to take his hands off my person, permission to punch him, ma'am?"

"Mr. Albrecht, I suggest you release the Captain before I grant her request."

Elias released her and stepped back. "I do apologize, Captain."

"Sure you do. Don't touch me again, you've been warned. Next time I won't ask for permission from the General before I injure you." She shoved past him and went to join the others.

The Gate connected and they walked up the ramp and stepped through the Gate.

Elias grinned, turned, and left the Gate room.

Mal turned. "Van, dial up P7X-204. Captain, you and Oliver stay here and do some recon of the area so we have something to report when we get back. Van and I will check for any indication the Alliance was on the planet."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, maybe I should go with you."

"I second that idea, I should stay here in case we find any writings or structures," Van told him.

"Excellent point if you find anything we'll need to tell the General what you found and if you aren't here to read it then we'd be a little stumped," Mal said.

"And if there's any technology I need to be here to try and identify it. No offense, but you two are just the hired guns," Oliver added.

Lee grinned at him. "And we both know you can kick ass on your own, brother."

He grinned. "I can. Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"All right, if you get into any trouble find a place to go to ground and we'll find you when we get back," Mal told them.

"Don't worry about us," Oliver replied.

Van dialed the planet and he and Oliver watched as Mal and Lee vanished through the event horizon.