Down the hall, Carson was wiping the rain from his face as he strode into the infirmary. He nodded to Jennifer as she entered a curtained off area with a suture kit and a tube of anti-bacterial ointment; the running litany coming from behind the current left little mystery as to its occupant. Ronon stood just outside the curtain, a small smile gracing his face; his posture left the Scot wondering whether he was there to protect McKay or keep him from running. Beckett moved further into the room to where several of his staff were replacing the emergency blankets wrapped around Mitchell with previously warmed fabric ones.

"How's the lad doing?"

Tiffany looked up from her place near Cameron's head, "temp is 93 degrees, BP is 72/59, heart rate's 55, and respiratory rate is 8. All of them are up from what we took in the gate room."

Beckett digested the information as he lifted the blanket to inspect the knife blade in the colonel's shoulder; not surprised to see a bit of renewed bleeding now that the man's temperature was coming up. Unfortunately, his temperature was spiking too quickly for Carson's liking; indicating that the infection was already a systemic one. They needed to get those lacerations cleaned out; Beckett was no forensic pathologist, but Mitchell's injuries spoke of a very interesting story.

"Alright, then let's get a scanner on him. We're moving to the OR as soon as his BP hits 90/65; the colonel can't afford to lose much more blood through this wound. Tiffany check his tags for his blood type please, we'll hang a liter before he goes in.

"He's A positive."

Carson looked up at the sound of Sheppard's voice, "John?"

John hesitated slightly before moving toward the group surrounding his friend, "I was on the medevac that pulled him out of his 302 in Antarctica. Trust me that's one trip I won't be forgetting anytime soon."

Sheppard's mind drifted back to that snowy afternoon as he watched Carson's team continue to work. There hadn't been an inch of the 302 that wasn't damaged; both wings had been shorn off, the nose crumpled so badly that John hadn't even been able to identify what type of aircraft it was. Of course, now he knew that was partly because it was the first 302 he'd ever seen. They'd learned from dispatch that it was the squadron leader's plane, but John nearly had the shock of his life when he'd seen Mitchell's name and call sign painted on the side of the craft just below the shattered canopy. At the time, the extrication and transport had been a blur, but now, two and a half years later, Sheppard could remember every detail.

John allowed himself to blend into the background as he heard Beckett tisk over the five broken ribs and the internal bruising the scanner revealed; it was several minutes before he realized that Teyla and Elizabeth had appeared at his shoulder.

"So…" Weir let her question hang in the empty air.

"So… Rodney found a life sign besides the four of us." The look Weir shot him clearly stated that wasn't the answer she was looking for.

Teyla also caught the glare and decided to bail Sheppard out yet again. "We found Col Mitchell roughly a kilometer from the ruins; it was apparent that he had been attempting to hide from someone. He has been unresponsive since we discovered him."

Elizabeth let that sink in for a minute, apparently the big question of how Mitchell had ended up in Pegasus would have to wait until the colonel woke up. "And what happened to Rodney?"

"We ran into the guys that had been after Mitchell when we got back to the gate. Apparently they though Rodney had a big 'ol bullseye on his ass." John gave a small smirk before he sobered again, "I'd like to send a team of Marine's and Zelenka back to get the bodies and see if we can find out what gate Mitchell came from. If there's a gate that somehow connects to the Milky Way, we need to know about it."

"Right, I'll get that organized." She nodded to where Beckett and his team were headed into the OR, "have Carson call me when he gets Col Mitchell settled."

John and Teyal collected chairs for themselves and Ronon and pulled them over to the area just outside the privacy curtain; the position allowed them to be close to Rodney when Jennifer was finished but also gave them a good view of Cameron. They'd just collapsed into the chairs when the nurse pulled back the curtain revealing a very sleepy Rodney splayed out on his stomach.

"Hey McKay, how you feeling?"

Rodney yawned deeply before giving Ronon a look that could only be described as half indignant, half goofy. "I was shot in the ass, then had a needle jabbed into me several times, how do you think I feel." He paused, a small amused smile appearing, "they gave me the good stuff."

His teammates laughed appreciatively at the off-hand comment; Rodney McKay on morphine ladies and gentlemen.

Sheppard gave a mental sigh of relief, the astrophysicist was going to be just fine. Sure he'd bitch and moan for awhile, milk the injury for all it was worth, but he would live to explore another day. John knew the injury had been far from life threatening, but he worried anytime one of his team so much as got a bad bruise. And he was trying really hard not to think about the way Carson had dove to protect Mitchell from the gun fire, headless of his own welfare. The doctor should never have been put in that situation; John knew he was a little bias, no civillian should be in that position, but especially Carson.

McKay lasted an hour before he started snoring, the rough rattling sound bringing Jennifer back to the bed. She muttered something about stubborn scientists as she checked the bandage quickly, "I told him to go home as soon as I finished."

"I will escort him to his quarters, I am already late leaving for the mainland." Teyla smiled patiently as Rodney mumbled incoherantly and batted wildly at her hands when she gently shook him awake. It took a lot of help from Ronon and John, but the evetually they got McKay upright, mostly; the Athosian slung his arm over her shoulder as he slowly regained coherance. "Please keep me informed of Col Mitchell's condition."

John gave a a nod as he and the runner settled back into their chairs for the wait; they didn't have to wait long before the excitement started. The two men jumped to their feet as one for Carson's assistants burst from the OR at a full run, only to return twenty seconds later with three liters of blood.

They shared a look as they slumped back into their chairs, that was not a good sign.

STARGATE: SG-1

"I'm sorry Dr. Weir, could you repeat that."

"Of course General, I said we found Col Mitchell on MX4-97P just a few hours ago." Elizabeth surpressed a snicker as the two star General open and closed his mouth several times without any sound. "He has several injuries, but Dr Beckett is confident that he'll make a full recovery."

Landry continued to struggle to regain his composure, and failed; "how?"

"I'm sorry General, I don't have an answer for you on that one; the colonel has been unconscious since we found him. We do know that he was being pursued by at least two men and several of his injuries indicate torture. How long has he been missing?"

"Just under three weeks." The General ran a hand over his haggard face, "was he alone when you found him?"

"Yes, why?"

"Col Mitchell was negotiating a peace treaty on planet known to the locals as Uglop; he and the rest of the delegates disapeared two days into the talks. Reports indicated that a group called the Coalition was behind it; but the planet has been back in civil war since the delegate disappeared. We need to find them."

Weir quickly considered the repercussions of the General's statement. "I currently have a team headed to the planet where we found Col Mitchell; they're attempting to find out where he gated in from. I'll have them search for any additional life signs."

"I'd appreciate that Dr Weir; we'll keep up the investigation on our end. Oh, and I dare say you'll be getting some more company from this galaxy soon." Landry signed off the connection and turned to Walter as the wormhole closed, "have Col Carter, Dr Jackson and Dr Lam report to the conference room and get a message out to Vala and Teal'c, let them know what's happened."

"Yes sir, but Dr Lam isn't due to report in for another hour."

Landry just nodded absently as he headed for his office.

Five minutes later Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson were staring at him in abject shock. "Um, how?"

"That's what we all want to know. Unfortunately, Col Mitchell is injured, he's been unconscious since Col Sheppard's team found him. So far there has been nothing to indicate how he arrived in Pegasus." Landry paused knowing that he no longer had their full attention, relief and renewed concern warred for control of their features. "This is a problem on several fronts people."

Jackson nodded, "we still need to find the delegates."

"And we need to know if there's another connection between the Milky Way and Pegasus besides the Atlantis Gate." Sam slumped back into her chair considering the implications of these new revelations, but her mind kept drifting back to Cam. The General had said he was going to be fine, but Sam knew she wouldn't be able to put her mind to rest until she saw him. She knew Beckett was a very competant physcian, but that didn't stop her from wanting Cameron back here where they could keep an eye on him. Unfortunately her sense of duty was also nagging at her consciousness, they still had a job to do and Cam would kill her if he knew she was sitting at his bedside rather than out looking for the delegates. "What are they going to do with Mitchell?"

"He was still in surgery when Dr Weir contacted me; he will remain on Atlantis until Dr Beckett deems that he is fit for gate travel."

Daniel cleared his throat, "you know Carolyn is going to want to be there."

"I've already begun arranging it." Landry was truly looking forward to see his daughter smile for the first time in three weeks. Too bad it would have to wait; there were days when he really hated this job. "Dr Jackson, I would appreciate it greatly if you could tell Carolyn as soon as she gets here. I have to brief SG-3 for their extraction of SG-12."

Sam and Daniel stood to leave when the General effectively indicated that the meeting was over. They stared at each other for several seconds, idiotic grins spreading across their faces, before Sam threw her arms around Daniel. It wasn't a real victory yet, but at least they had Cam back, in a manner of speaking anyway.

They parted as Jackson made his way to the infirmary. He knew that Carolyn had spent almost every waking minute on base since Mitchell had disappeared but that she'd finally been coerced into going home for a real night's sleep last night; he knew because he was the one that had talked her into it. He entered her open office and settled into the chair for the wait.

Dr Lam stopped dead on the threshold of her office door, taking in the sight of Daniel Jackson sprawled out, dead asleep, in one of the chairs. She hated to wake him, she knew he'd lost nearly as much sleep as she had over the last few weeks, but there could be only one reason he was sitting in her office: there was news on Cameron.

She gently shook his shoulder, "Daniel."

Jackson blinked up at her through blurry eyes for several seconds before everything clicked back into place, "Carolyn, we found him." He really did try to grb her before she got too far, but Lam was too quick for his sleep addled state; he finally caught up to her at the entrance to the main infirmary. "He's not here Carolyn; he's on Atlantis."

Suddenly Daniel found his arms full of a friend for the second time in as many hours.

"Is he ok?"

"He was injured, unconscious since they found him. But Dr Beckett thinks he'll be fine, and he's almost as good of a doctor as you are," he added hasitly when her eyes began to well up.

Carolyn knew Daniel was trying to make her feel better, and she knew she should be happy, Cameron was safe. It wasn't that she didn't have confidence in Carson, the Scot was a wonderful doctor and she trusted his judgement implicitly, but she needed to be there.

Jackson instantly recognized the decision in her eyes and cut her off with a pre-epmtive strike, "the General's already working on getting you a ride there."

They'd just broken from their hug when the klaxons sounded and a med team was summonded to the gate room.