Mal spun, dropped to one knee and aimed at the Alliance soldiers following them. "Get back to the Gate, dial and get the hell through it!" he shouted to the others.

Oliver and Van were well ahead of where he knelt, Lee was halfway between him and the others. She turned back to where he was. "I'll help cover the Gate so Van can dial!"

"No, get back to the Gate, I'll lay down cover." She took a step toward him and he sent her a scowl. "That's an order, Captain, go!" He picked off several of the soldiers and shot a glance at Lee. "Go, Captain!"

She hesitated a moment more before she pivoted toward the Gate. An explosion of some sort knocked her from her feet. Ears ringing, she rolled to her back and sat up. The spot where Mal had been was nothing but a patch of scorched ground that sloped off the edge of the hill into the valley that bordered the area where the Gate sat.

"Colonel!" she screamed.

"Lee, we have to go! They're closing in on the Gate!" Oliver shouted. "If we don't go now we'll be trapped here!"

"No, we need to find the Colonel!" She got to her feet but didn't get any further than that. Oliver and Van each grabbed one of her arms and hauled her back to the Gate before they gave her a shove through it and followed. She stumbled several steps down the ramp at the other end, spun and shouted up to the control room when the Gate disconnected. "Dial the planet back! Now!"

Oliver dragged her down the ramp out of range of the connecting wormhole in the nick of time.

She grabbed her radio and shouted into it. "Colonel, can you hear me? Colonel, this is Captain Kain, please respond!" There was nothing but silence in response to her shouting.

"Disconnect it," Sam ordered as she came into the Gate room. "What the hell happened?"

"The Alliance happened. We need to go back, Colonel Hughes is still on the planet! There was an explosion, he might have been hurt!"

"That isn't supposed to be an Alliance controlled planet." Sam frowned. "What were they doing there?"

"We didn't stop to ask. The moment they spotted us we turned tail and sprinted for the Gate," Van told her. "Mal was laying down cover fire so we could make it to the Gate and dial. The Alliance fired some sort of weapon and ..." he trailed off and shrugged.

"We need to go back!" Lee insisted.

Sam looked up at the control room. "Get a UAV in here and send it to the planet."

"Yes, General."

She turned back to Lee. "If we can determine the planet is safe then you have a go to retrieve Colonel Hughes."

"And if it isn't?" Lee growled.

"Then we try and think of a new plan."

"No, we need to go back now! If he's injured he could need help!"

"None of you are going anywhere," Elias told them as he stepped away from the wall where he'd been standing and listening to them. "General, I suggest you lock that planet out of the dialing computer along with Colonel Hughes' IDC. For all we know they already have their hands on him."

"Oh, you'd love that, wouldn't you? An excuse to make certain he can never return. He's out there probably injured and he's depending on his team to come to his rescue so you can shove your suggestions up your a—"

"Captain!" Sam snapped. "Mr. Albrecht, I will ascertain the situation before I make any decisions. If Colonel Hughes is in need of assistance then we will find a way to bring him home. We do not leave our people behind."

"He needs us!" Lee shouted.

"Lee, he was in the middle of that blast, it's more than likely this isn't going to be a rescue mission. It will be a recovery mission," Oliver told her gently.

She spun to face her brother. "Don't you dare write him off as dead! The Colonel is a survivor, he's out there. There's no way those assholes got him! No way!"

"She has a point, Oliver, Mal is damn good at what he does. If he had any opportunity to see that blast coming he would have found a way to avoid being directly in the line of fire," Van told him. "If anyone could survive that it would be Mal."

"It doesn't matter if he did, no one is going back to that planet," Elias told them calmly. "It's too dangerous. How many times are you going to allow SG-1 to put this facility, this planet, in danger, General?"

"Currently, no one is putting anything in danger," she replied.

He flung a hand toward the Gate. "That's bullshit and you know it. Hughes is out there in the midst of an army of Alliance soldiers, for all we know they already have him under their control! You may have the President's ear but that doesn't mean you're untouchable, you should remember that."

A smile tipped the corners of Sam's lips upward slightly. "That may be, Mr. Albrecht, but I suggest you remember I'm more invulnerable than you are. There's an advantage to being near the top of the totem pole." She strolled past him out of the Gate room.

He shot Lee a look. "This time, he isn't coming back. He's dead and good riddance."

Lee lunged at him. Oliver grabbed a hold of her vest and hauled her back before she could injure Elias. "Let me go, Ollie, so I can kick this bastard's ass!"

"You mean so you can get court-martialed? How does that help Mal?" Oliver asked.

She emitted a growl and stopped fighting to get free. "You're lucky he's here or I would have broken as many of your bones as possible before anyone could pull me off you."

Elias snorted. "Go right ahead, I'd love to throw the book at you and see you gone from this place."

"Try me, hippotwatamous." She shoved past him and left the room.

Oliver winced. "Great, she's using the T word." He looked at Elias. "You are so screwed, man. You should have given up a long time ago. Making an enemy out of my sister was about the worst move you could have made. Once she has a target in sight it's game over and you are her current target. You are in the deepest shit possible, man." He followed his sister from the room.

Van stopped beside Elias. "I grew up an only child, I would have given anything for a sibling. Here you were handed one and you can't even see how lucky you are. I'd be proud to call Mal my brother but all you can do is beat on him and attempt to break his spirit. I pity you, your life must be so desolate." He shook his head.

"My life is none of your concern. But, for your information it's perfectly fine. The only desolation in my life occurs when Malachy is around then I can't seem to get away from it. If you were smart, Doctor, you'd get the hell away from him before you end up in the muck and mire with him."

Van grinned. "Rather be in it with him than you any day. Have a fabulous day, twatwaffle." He chuckled. "Learned that one from Lee, just in case you were wondering." He strolled from the room whistling Another One Bites the Dust by Queen.

Mal rolled to his back with a groan and stared at the sky. Everything hurt. If he hadn't seen one of the Alliance men preparing to fire on him with what appeared to be a rocket launcher then he'd be quite dead right now. As it was, he was certain he probably broke something or a few things when he'd thrown himself over the edge of the incline that led down into the valley. He rolled, bounced, and flailed his way to the bottom where he came to rest beside a rather lovely jagged rock. He could hear the shouts of the Alliance soldiers up top by the Gate. He hoped to God Kain followed his order and got her ass through the Gate with Oliver and Van. If she'd been stupid enough to ignore him and gotten herself captured there would be little he could do to rescue her. He was in no shape to recuse anyone, including himself.

He knew he couldn't remain here much longer. It wouldn't take the Alliance long to begin searching for him when they didn't immediately find a body. The valley was the most likely place for him to end up.

"All right, Mal, time to get your lazy ass up and move." He rolled to his side and shoved his body up with a pained groan. "Yup, wrist is broken," he muttered and he got to his feet. It wasn't something he could worry about right now, he needed to get away from the Gate and find someplace to lay low until he could find a way to get back through the Gate and get home. He released another groan as he limped away from the spot where he'd come to rest after he'd thrown himself into the valley. His P90 was missing and his radio was no longer functioning. Which left him in a very deep pile of shit. He still had his sidearm and his Zat at least. He'd kill for one of those little wireless self-contained radios that Oliver was still working on. They really needed to begin carrying spare radios. He made his way toward the trees across the valley. He kept to the edge and used whatever cover he could find.

A voice carried to him from behind him somewhere. "Check the valley! He couldn't have gotten far!"

"Right, no time for a nice leisurely stroll, need to pick up the pace." He hurried his steps and tried to ignore the pain that radiated through his body. He didn't relax until he was in the trees. He continued moving deeper into the forest as he searched for a place that would provide him with enough cover that the Alliance wasn't going to find him anytime soon.

His path was slightly staggering and he did his best not to leave a trail any fool could follow. Eventually he found a small indent in the ground that may have been a stream at some point but was now dry and overgrown. Trees leaned over its now dry banks, their roots partially exposed so it appeared as if they were stepping away from the shoreline. It provided a place for him to hide while allowing him to still see most everything so no one could sneak up on him. After he gathered a few branches to assist in concealing his hiding spot, he settled in.

Once he was situated, he pulled out his first aid kit and began taking stock of his injuries. "Broken left wrist. Sprained right ankle. Too many cuts and bruises to count and one hell of a headache," he muttered. His back wasn't too happy either. "I'm alive, so there's something in the pro column. Too bad the cons outweigh it." He cleaned and bandaged what he could and laid back with a sigh while he slowly ate a power bar. He could see patches of sky through the tangle of roots and the tree branches above him. If the Alliance showed up he could scoot further back beneath the riverbank but for the moment he was content to simply remain still.

"Another day, another dollar," he said with a sigh. He contemplated whether General Carter would send anyone to look for him. That blast had been significant; it was entirely possible they believed he perished. "Which means it's up to me and me alone to get my butt home." He would have no idea if the SGC was attempting to contact him since his radio had been smashed beyond repair. What he wanted was a little nap but considering he didn't know if he had a concussion that was probably a bad idea. He drank some water and listened for any sound that the Alliance was close by.