Cameron whistled as he made his way through the tall grass toward the gate; he knew that if he didn't keep his mind occupied and his body moving he would be face down in the dirt, again. Cam wasn't stupid, he knew he was reaching his limit, but his team and the village were more important than his health.

He caught movement out of the corner of his better eye, both were fairly swollen, and had his gun primed before his brain reminded his reflexes that Teal'c and Vala had been keeping an eye on the Ori ring platform. "Hey guys, all quiet on the western front?"

Twin looks of absolute confusion met his question.

"Right, forgot who I was talkin' to. I'm headed back to the SGC to grab some things for Sam."

"But won't General-" Vala stopped abruptly when she received a sharp elbow in the ribs from Teal'c. She shot him a sharp look, but kept her mouth shut.

Mitchell had closed his eyes to ward off a sudden wave of dizziness, so his missed the silent exchange, but he knew something was going on. He gave them a strange look, "What is up with every-"

The distinct sound of a ring platform powering up had Vala and Teal'c racing for cover and Cam reaching for his radio, "Sam, phase shift now!" He stood transfixed, waiting for the village to disappear; it vanished only a fraction of a second before he felt a strong hand grab the back of his collar and haul him over the rocks to cover.

Cameron barely registered the sound of the rings powering down as his recently-broken ribs reiterated how little they appreciated sudden movements. He knew that Vala and Teal'c were busy keeping an eye on their new arrivals, so he took a minute to allow the pain to subside before crawling over to keep a lookout with them.

The Ori soldiers and another Prior surveyed the area before moving to check on their downed comrades. The Prior waved his staff, instantly reviving the soldiers, "what has transpired here?"

The young soldier looked up, mystified at the disappearance of the village. "I do not know, we had captured SG-1 and the village leader, but the villagers attacked. The Prior was killed."

Vala, Teal'c and Cam ducked down as the Ori separated to begin searching the area. "That was close."

Mitchell shook his head as he and Teal'c stared at her in amusement, "thank you, Captain Obvious. How long do you think they'll stay?"

"They will stay until they believe the village has been destroyed."

Cam dropped back to his butt behind the boulders, "wonderful, guess we just wait for them to leave or it gets dark; either way, we're going to be here a couple hours." He grabbed for his radio as a sudden thought struck him. "Sam, if you can hear me, it worked. You activated the phase shift in time, the Ori are clueless as usual," he whispered, relief flooding his voice.

Back in the village, Carter also felt relief wash over her. Now all they had to do was get the thicker cables here so that the village could remain hidden indefinitely; her initial simulations had over-estimated the capabilities of the power sources, they really only had about six hours left.

Knowing that the technology would be safe, Sam made her way to the edge of the village where Daniel and Kitchny stood, watching the action.

Jackson glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "Mitchell's gotta be one of the dumbest men alive, at least when it comes to his own life." He sighed, allowing his frustration to show through, "we came running as soon as we heard his message over the radio; idiot stood out there ready to distract them if you didn't activate the phase shift in time. Luckily Teal'c's a little smarter than Mitchell is, hauled him back behind those boulders; I'm pretty sure they're still there."

Sam nodded, "yeah, he and Vala caught on to that SG-1 trait of sacrificing yourself for the team a little too quickly."

Next to her, Kitchny shifted uncomfortably, "how is it that they do not see us?" He had every faith in the team, but this technology was new to him and it was extremely unnerving to be standing in plain view of people that would gladly kill him on sight.

Carter winced, wondering how she was going to explain that to him. Kitchny and his people were still mystified by the technology of their staff weapons, so it was highly unlikely that he would have any chance of comprehending M-theory. "Um, well… it's ah-, kinda like we picked up the entire village and moved it to a different world." She stopped realizing how crazy that sounded. "Ok, so not really, we're in a different dimension so they can't see, hear or feel us. Does that make any sense?"

Kitchny nodded, but the confusion didn't leave his face.

STARGATE: SG-1

Four hours and three hiding spots later, the sky was finally darkening and Cam's legs were completely numb. He glanced at his watch knowing that time was running out. Cameron peered through the tall grass at the soldiers again, "damn, and people say I'm stubborn. Are they ever going to leave?" He wasn't really expecting an answer as he weighed their options for success; none of the scenarios ended as well as he would have hoped. "Alright, I'm going to try for the gate; if we don't get those cables to Sam soon, she's not going to be able to maintain the phase shift."

Teal'c gave him a hard look, "Col Mitchell, Vala Mal Doran and myself are much more capable of stealthy movement at the current time."

"Yeah, I know, I'm not a 100 percent right now. But you guys can also put up a much better fight than I can if the power source conks out before I get back.

Vala looked like she still wanted to argue, but she remained silent knowing that he was right.

"I'm not going to say no to covering fire, but don't betray your position unless you have too." Cam bit his lip against the pain as he commando-crawled through the high grass toward the gate; the Ori soldiers had stayed fairly close to the village, so the temple and the hills blocked their view of the gate. He just hoped that none of them were trained sprinters so that he would have time to dial and get through the gate before they could cover the distance; the gate wasn't exactly quiet once it started dialing.

Upon reaching the DHD he glanced back to make sure that Vala and Teal'c were in place, but well hidden. It was like he'd told Bra'tac during the first invasion of the Ori fleet, 'he was all about noble death. Pointless noble death, on the other hand…', yeah not so much. He was also rather happy to see that none of the Ori soldiers were in sight. He hunkered down as low as possible, while still being able to see to dial, and readied his weapon.

He punched in the sequence and sent his IDC as quickly as possible; he listened for the distinct clunk as each cheveron locked while he watched for the Ori's approach. Sure enough, they hadn't wasted any time in moving toward the noise and appeared in his visual field just as the kawoosh erupted from the gate. He knew that he had to give Walter time to open the Iris before he dashed through, so he sent a thank you skyward that the soldiers wouldn't be able to spot him crouched behind the DHD for at least another hundred yards.

Mitchell debated whether he should fire off a few rounds before he made for the gate, or if he should take the stealth approach; he decided on the later. Cam made it to within ten feet of the plateform before the Ori opened fire. He returned fire without looking as he ran up the steps and dove through the puddle.

Three point two seconds later he hit the ramp rolling. "Close the Iris," Cameron yelled as he scrambled to his feet and jogged from the gate room; no point in sticking around to get yelled at. He caught a fleeting glimpse of Walter's stunned face just before he made it to the hallway.

Mitchell knew his appearance was garnering a number of strange looks, but he ignored them as he made his way to Sam's lab. He was slightly surprised to find Bill Lee working on a new piece of ancient technology once he got there. "Hey Doc, how's it coming?"

"Well, its…" Lee's eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he gave Cam a visual once-over, "ah, shouldn't you be in the infirmary?"

Cameron shrugged him off with a dismissive wave of the hand as he pawed through Sam's equipment for the needed cables. "Naw, its worse than it looks; gotta get these back to Sam ASAP anyway. Good luck with that thing," he gestured to the device on the lab table and headed out the door.

Cam jogged back down the hallway; the cables in his left hand, his right wrapped firmly around his rib cage. Glancing at his watch, he couldn't believe twenty minutes had passed already. He was thirty feet from the gate room when a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Cameron Mitchell, where exactly do you think you're going in that condition?!"

As soon as he heard Carolyn's voice, he knew he'd been set up. Samantha Cater, you are a dead woman!