"The level of radiation is basically charging the ore within the rocks. If nothing else, it's worth going to see if there's any form of power worth harnessing."

Doctor Rodney McKay sat back in his seat and looked round the room. The presentation had gone over reasonably well, considering the obvious concerns. Still he could tell by the expression on Sheppard's face that at least one person wasn't sold. And neither was Elizabeth Weir.

"I don't know Rodney," she said quietly. "That's an awful lot of radiation to put someone in contact with."

"They wouldn't be in contact with it as such."

"I understand that, but still-"

"We're talking a something that could be this galaxy's version of naquadria," Rodney argued, watching with satisfaction as this little piece of information was absorbed. It was his last card and whilst he was betting on it heavily, he suspected that it was a winning one.

He was right. He could see it in the glance Elizabeth shared with Sheppard, the expression on the colonel's face. The glance annoyed him a little because once she wouldn't have done that. But then once she had trusted him implicitly and, while she did still trust him, it was no longer the blind confidence she'd had. She looked at him.

"This would be solely a fact-finding mission," she said, her tone firm. "There's no side-steps, no experiments outside establishing whether or not this ore has the qualities you think they will."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "I realise that."

Sheppard sat forward. "You're talking about something that could be weapons grade yeah?" Rodney nodded in confirmation. "Then there's one person you should take."

"Well I was going to take a team and…" Rodney trailed off as he realised whom Sheppard was referring to. "No!"

"Oh come on, Rodney, she's an explosives expert. And while I appreciate your enthusiasm, I need a level-headed opinion of what you find."

"But…" Rodney looked at Sheppard and saw that he wasn't going to brook arguments. "Whatever."

"I knew you'd see sense," Sheppard told him with a grin. He hit his comm. "Lieutenant Cadman, could you come to the briefing room immediately?" He sat back again, giving Rodney a victorious smirk.

Rodney glared at him; Sheppard knew full well he and Cadman didn't see eye to eye. It had been a while since they'd last worked together, again under duress, and the last time he'd seen her she'd just sort of looked at him in a way that had let him know precisely how much of his accusion about being a Trust operative she'd heard. He turned his attention to his datapad. This was too good an opportunity to miss out on and yet he might because if Cadman didn't agree, he wasn't going. Sheppard was chancing a new source of firepower simply for the chance to see her reject the whole idea out of spite. Rodney shook his head in disgust.

Lieutenant Laura Cadman was in the training room sparring with Teyla when Sheppard's call came through. She lowered her sticks, breathing hard but grinning at her opponent.

"Saved by the bell."

"You or me Lieutenant?" Teyla returned. "You are most capable. Maybe one day when you have the time you could show Colonel Sheppard a thing or two."

Laura laughed. "That'd be fun." She grabbed a towel from the bench and dried her face. She glanced down at the vest top and cropped trousers she was wearing. "Immediately," she sighed. "No chance to change then."

"Colonel Sheppard does not stand on ceremony," Teyla reminded her.

"Good job. I wonder what he wants? I'm meant to be on downtime for another three days."

"There is only one way to find out."

"That there is. See you later, Teyla. Thanks for this."

Teyla bowed her head and Laura left the room, heading for the briefing room. As she walked down the corridor, she glanced out of the windows she passed. Outside the day was clear and bright, which made her frown. "Immediately" hinted at some kind of emergency, but they were obviously not under attack.

She reached the briefing room and activated the door. Stepping in, she saw Doctor Weir talking quietly to Colonel Sheppard. Across the table was Doctor McKay who glanced up at her briefly, looking extremely pissed off. Okay. Laura halted at the doorway, deciding that having a quick escape route at her back was probably a good idea.

"You wanted to see me sir?" she addressed Sheppard and ignoring Rodney as much as he was ignoring her.

"Yeah. How do you feel about a little day trip Lieutenant?"

Laura considered the offer, glancing again at Rodney's irritated expression. "I don't know sir," she said lightly. "What's it involve?"

"Sun and sightseeing," Sheppard replied with a grin.

"Seeing what?"

"This," Rodney spoke up suddenly. She looked at him and he pushed the datapad towards her. Intrigued by his sudden change of demeanour, Laura crossed to the table and looked at it. It was part of the Ancient database, information on a planet and... The data displayed made her blink and she stared at Rodney.

"What is that?" she asked in amazement.

"You tell me Lieutenant," he challenged her. "You're meant to be an expert."

Laura sank into the chair next to him, her eyes on the datapad and her brain working rapidly. What she saw didn't make that much sense, not because she was stupid but because the possibility was so remote.

"This isn't possible," she murmured in denial of what she was seeing.

"And yet there it is," Rodney replied.

"If this is correct…" she looked at him again. "The Pegasus answer to naquadria?"

"Exactly."

"But…" Laura still couldn't see how this was possible but it was there in plain view and Rodney's somewhat superior attitude confirmed the findings. Knowing he would have checked this data forwards, backwards and upside down, she felt a growing excitement. "Cool."

Rodney threw a smug look in Sheppard's direction, then sat back in his chair and folded his arms. "I told you so," he told him.

The colonel sat forward and looked at Laura. "As an explosives expert I need you to accompany Doctor McKay and get some samples. I can trust you be evaluate the situation clearly and not blow anything up."

"Thank you," Rodney muttered darkly.

Laura was still examining the findings. "Looking at this, the levels of radiation are likely to get into dangerous amounts," she said.

"Yes. I had planned on going by myself, but the good colonel recommended you."

"Jeez, thanks sir," she said sourly, giving him a hard look. She turned to Rodney again. "You offered to go to a radiation hot planet by yourself?" She couldn't help the incredulous tone creeping into her voice.

Unsurprisingly, he didn't look impressed. "I don't appreciate your insinuation, Lieutenant. Some gains are worth the risk. And anyway, this is my find – I don't want Zelenka or Kavannagh stealing it."

"Of course not," she said in mock seriousness. Sheppard snorted.

Rodney didn't seem to notice. "So to minimise the amount of exposure there's no team, just us."

"You and me?" she echoed. "Did hell just freeze over?"

Rodney gave her a hard look but before he could say anything Doctor Weir spoke up most probably to forestall the argument she saw brewing. "We'll be sending a MALP shortly," she said. "Once we have exact readings we can plan the mission better. I've already given Doctor Beckett a preliminary report based on Doctor McKay's forecast."

"So what do you think Lieutenant?" Sheppard asked her.

She thought about it, weighing the obvious dangers with the possible gains. Feeling Rodney's gaze on her, she looked up at him. Beneath the calm mask she saw excitement and nervousness. Knowing Colonel Sheppard as she did, she suspected the mission depended on her 'volunteering' – it certainly wouldn't have been Rodney asking for her assistance.

"This is never going to be suitable as a power source," she said, focusing on him. Weir and Sheppard didn't have anything to do with this now; it was between her and Rodney.

"I never said it was," he pointed out. "However as an alternative to our dwindling supply of drones, it's perfect."

"Could be perfect," she amended. "We might not be able to find a safe way to hone the ore."

"I'm not sure that's necessary. It just needs to be fire-able."

"Is that a word?"

"You knew what I meant didn't you?"

"Well, yes."

"Then it's a word."

Laura shook her head slightly with a smirk. "It might be, but we still need to be able to handle it. You know, without suffering radiation burns?"

"You're jumping the gun, we aren't mining it right now. This about ascertaining its suitability and whether we could mine it safely eventually."

"Hey you want to drag me to some souped up radiation hot spot, you give me a little assurance here. Dying of radiation poisoning isn't that high up on my things to do list."

Elizabeth coughed, interrupting them effectively. "Why don't you two argue about this after we have the MALP results?" she suggested. "All this is conjecture until I'm convinced you'll both be safe."

"We weren't arguing, we were discussing," Rodney said airily.

"It sounded like arguing," Sheppard pointed out.

"Heated discussion," Laura expanded quickly.

Colonel John Sheppard looked from McKay's innocent expression to Laura's cheeky grin. He lifted an eyebrow, then sighed.

"Oh dear."

Elizabeth went to catch up with paperwork whilst she waited for the MALP to return, while John had a few reports to write. Their leaving the room left Rodney and Laura to their own devices. Rodney paced impatiently, hating the uncertainty of waiting. Laura remained seated and tried to read his preliminary report again. However she was distracted by his continuous walking up and down.

"Will you stop that?" she groused finally. "I'm trying to concentrate here."

"Oh I'm sorry, am I putting you off?"

She gave him a withering look. "Grow up and sit down. If we're gonna do this McKay, we might as well go in clued up."

"I am clued up. I've been studying the original scans for nearly a week."

"Yeah well, while you were sat on your ass, some of us were doing real work out in the field. So give over and let me read this will you?"

He gave a sniff but he did stop pacing. He sat down in the chair next to hers, watching her. She found his intent observation almost as off putting as his pacing. She gave an exasperated sigh and looked at him.

"What?"

"I never thought you'd side with me."

"If I'd have noticed what you neglected to tell Doctor Weir and Colonel Sheppard, I might not have done. There's an awful lot in here they wouldn't like."

"If you don't like it, you know where the door is," he said in a somewhat sulky voice.

Laura sighed. "Must you be like that? I didn't say I wasn't going to go. This is a find in a million."

"So what's your problem then?"

"Oh I don't know. Let's start with the interference levels. Does Doctor Weir realise that radios aren't going to work?"

"It's a minor detail."

"No, it's not and you know it isn't. I understand why you're glossing over that kind of stuff with Weir and Sheppard and I don't really care cos they're not going. But I am, so stop lying to me Rodney."

He stared at her for a moment and then nodded slowly. "Okay, you have a point. I guess you have a right to know the worst-case scenerio. No, we won't be able to check in, not via the radios anyway. The transmitter won't cut through the atmosphere. We could haul a heavy-duty one with us but I don't see the point. Once we're there we can't return to Atlantis until the suns go down and I doubt Elizabeth is going to allow a second team out unless it's seriously the last thing she can do."

Laura looked at him and then down at the laptop. "We've done none-contact missions before," she said slowly. "At least it's only the environment that's hostile."

"So that's a 'yes' then? As to whether you're coming?"

"I have to say yes, don't I?" she retorted archly. "Else you can't go.

A flash of annoyance crossed Rodney's face that Laura suspected was more at Sheppard than herself. Then it tempered into something else entirely. He looked at her almost warily.

"If you're saying yes, I guess you're not still be angry at me."

"Angry about what?" she asked before realising. "Oh, the Trust thing?"

"Yeah, that. I never actually... admitted I was wrong."

"It's called an 'apology' Rodney." Laura reminded him with a short, soft laugh. She gave him a long, steady look. "Yes, you were. And I saved your ass."

"I know," he replied. "And I appreciated it even if I didn't exactly say... well anything. You also saved Kavannagh's, which I'm not so appreciative about." He gave her a crooked smile and she had to grin. He shrugged then. "You saw something I didn't. Having a second pair of eyes was useful then and I guess it would be given the circumstances we'd be going into. So while I might not have been overly happy about Sheppard's recommendation, I suppose if I have to take someone... well I'm glad it's you."

Laura frowned as she thought that over. "Was there a compliment in there?"

"Nah," he said with a sudden grin that made him appear more boyish than she thought was possible. "Don't be stupid."

"No," she said, turning her attention back to the report with a smile. "Of course there wasn't."

The meeting reconvened an hour later. The MALP had scanned the planet, sending back a three-dimensional layout as well as the vital readings for radiation and oxygen. Its findings were displayed on a large screen as Laura Cadman and Carson Beckett took their seats.

"We're reading nitrogen levels slighter higher than those on Earth but still within acceptable levels," Rodney announced. "There's very little water though. Major difference is it's a twin star system – it has two suns. The MALP reads radiation and UV at Earth-like levels, but the secondary sun is unstable and giving out major flares."

Beckett looked up. "That's concerning."

"I agree," Rodney said. "However there was a steady increase in the UV levels before the flare that the MALP witnessed. We can take diagnostic equipment that will pick up such increases, which would give us enough warning to get undercover."

"Pack plenty of sun cream huh?" Laura quipped.

"It's not funny Laura," Beckett said. "A flare could be seriously damaging."

"I know Carson. Don't worry, I'll look after him."

"That wasn't quite what I meant," he replied sourly.

"Carson, we're capable adults, not children," Rodney explained as patiently as he could. "No it's not going to be a walk in the park but the dangers are manageable."

"I agree with Rodney," Laura said, ignoring the incredulous looks that crossed the faces of the others at that statement. "There's no problem that a little care and attention can't account for. This is too big an opportunity to miss."

"Well that's it," said Sheppard after he recovered from his shock. "We need every possible advantage we can get over the Wraith."

"I still say it's a bad idea to expose anybody to those levels of UV," argued Beckett.

Elizabeth sighed and looked at Rodney. "You are sure the risk is minimal?"

"Yes I am," he replied firmly. "The MALP shows there's a series of hills half a kilometre from the 'Gate. We take a jumper and fly to them. There are deep caves that offer complete protection that can be used as a base and the jumper's shielding will protect us there and back."

"Do you have a problem with that Carson?" Elizabeth asked him.

"I suppose not."

"Well that's settled," Rodney said brightly. "So can we get on with it?"

"Wait a minute Rodney," Elizabeth said quickly. "I think we'd all feel better establishing a schedule of contacts."

"Ah," he said and looked at Laura.

"We can't," she told them.

"Pardon me?" Beckett said, looking worried.

"Why not?" Elizabeth wanted to know.

Laura took a deep breath. "We realised from the original data readings that there'll be too much interference even a few hundred yards from the Stargate."

"But the MALP worked okay," Sheppard said, looking puzzled.

"So will the jumper, but we have to leave it behind the hills so we'll only have the comms."

"I don't like that," Elizabeth admitted.

"You're not going," Rodney retorted. Elizabeth glared at him.

"He does have a point ma'am," Laura said respectfully. "I know exactly what the risks are. We both do. We can do this and then… well best case is we find something to replace the drones, something that'll blow the Wraith out of the sky."

"And worst case is you both suffer fatal doses of radiation," Beckett pointed out.

"Which you can be assured we'll do our best to avoid," Rodney said.

Elizabeth looked at him and then at Laura. They both seemed confident, though in Rodney's case that was nothing unusual. She addressed Laura. "You are completely sure about this?"

Laura glanced at Rodney and then looked back to Elizabeth. "Yes," she said firmly.

"Okay," Elizabeth said slowly, ignoring the stare from Carson. "You have a go, but please be careful."

Laura nodded gravely. Rodney sighed in relief; he'd been nervous that Elizabeth would have second thoughts and cancel the mission. He looked at Laura and she smiled faintly at him. However Carson was hovering, his expression worried.

"I really don't like this," he told them.

"We'll be fine Carson," Laura told him, her tone hinting at slight irritation.

Carson looked at Rodney. "You need to take care of her."

"Oh please," Laura said crossly, standing up. "I can take care of myself. This is why I'm here, this is my job. Stop treating me like I made out of glass."

Rodney shifted in his seat, uncomfortable at witnessing their disagreement. Carson sighed and walked off, muttering to himself.

"He's just worried," Rodney told Laura.

"Well he needs to stop. I'm not his responsibility."

"I take it you and he aren't… you know?"

"No. Not that it's any of your business."

Her snappy tone made Rodney look at her carefully. "You okay?"

"Oh don't," she said, giving him a pleading look. "We spilt up, it's not like somebody died. I have enough people acting like I have the plague without you at it as well."

"Alright," he said easily. "Forget I asked."

Laura gave him a wan smile. "Alright, I will."