Vala dragged her toes along the dirt road as she followed Sam and Cameron back to the Star Gate. They had left the courthouse from a back entrance and managed to skirt the crowd without detection. Vala could have sworn that she heard pained cries coming from the direction of the town behind them, but there was a very good chance that they were in her imagination.

When they reached the Gate, Mitchell told Sam to dial the Earth. "Wait!" Vala shouted as she jogged to close the distance between them. "You said we weren't going back to Earth!"

"We're not!" Mitchell said, sounding annoyed. "I want to get on the horn with Landry and tell him what's going on. He might have a suggestion for us."

"Oh." Vala felt foolish for her outburst, but she felt so guilty for leaving Daniel behind. Logically, she knew there was little she could do for him by staying behind, but couldn't stop feeling like she should be there with him.

She waited quietly as Sam dialed the Gate. As soon as the wormhole formed, Mitchell was speaking into his radio. "This is Sierra Golf One Niner calling Sierra Golf Charlie, over." He waited, and after a moment, Vala could hear the familiar sound of Walter Harriman's voice over Cameron's radio.

"SG-1, you're late for your scheduled check-in."

"Yeah, I know. Listen, Walter, we've got a bit of a situation here. Could you bring General Landry to the phone?"

Another few minutes. Vala shifted restlessly from one foot to the other while they waited. Finally, she heard Landry's voice through the radio. "Colonel Mitchell? What's the situation?"

"Well, as it turns out, some of these people don't have the friendliest feelings towards us." Mitchell launched into the story, thought Vala noted that he seemed to be doing his best to tell the story as quickly and succinctly as possible.

At the end of it, Vala heard Landry sigh heavily. "I guess there's no point in telling you folks that this is exactly the kind of situation that I wanted to avoid."

Vala opened her mouth to argue, but immediately shut it when she realized she was on the receiving end of a rather poignant glare from Mitchell. "Sir, right now, we're just looking for a way out of this, preferably one with as little bloodshed as possible."

"Colonel, I hate to tell you this, but there's not a hell of a lot we can do. If it were all of you, we might be able to justify sending in a team, but for one man?"

"General, he's one of us. We can't just leave him behind!"

"I'm not suggesting you do, Colonel. It sounds like Dr. Jackson's life is not being threatened. The best we can do is have a medical team ready to treat him when you bring him back."

"Sir, with all due respect, this isn't Jackson's fault," Mitchell said through gritted teeth. "It's not like he's been convicted of a crime that he committed! They're punishing him for something that he didn't have anything to do with, and might not have even been the SGC's fault in the first place!"

"I understand that, Colonel, and I don't think it's right. That said, this is the way these people's justice system works, messed up though it may be. They aren't a threat to Earth or any of our allies. I cannot justify using military force against a non-threatening people to save one man. I'm sorry, Colonel."

"Sir, there must be something we can do," Mitchell pushed.

"I can't authorize anything, but this is your mission, Colonel, and your team. You have to do as you see fit. I'm sorry I can't be more help." With that, the wormhole shut down, and Vala and her teammates were left staring at the empty Star Gate.

"I don't believe him!" Sam exclaimed. "I can't believe he won't step in to help Daniel!"

"You can't really blame him, Sam," Mitchell said with a sigh. "He's right. If we start pulling out the big guns over every little disagreement, we'll start making enemies right and left, and we can't afford that."

"This isn't a little disagreement, Cam!" Sam argued. "They took us captive and are currently beating one of our own! I'd say that's a good enough reason for the SGC to do something!"

"He's in charge of the whole operation, Sam. Landry can't step in to every little conflict and every little mission. He's gotta look at the whole picture and decide what's worth the time and manpower and money-"

"I'd say Daniel's worth that much!" Sam shouted. "He's given more of himself to the Star Gate program than anyone!"

"I'm not saying he hasn't, Sam!" Mitchell's voice was getting louder too, now. "I'm just saying, from Landry's point of view-"

"And what about yours, Cam?" Sam challenged. "What is Daniel worth from your point of view?"

"HEY!" Vala shouted. "Look, we are officially on our own now. And I don't know about you, but I would much rather we work together than have the team fall apart now. Please, I need you. Both of you." Begging wasn't typically wasn't one of Vala's manipulative skills, but the desperation was real, and she figured if it would work, she might as well use it.

And sure enough, after guilty glances at each other, Cameron and Samantha each gave a muttered apology. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "Now, I don't know about you, but I would like to return to the town. I think Daniel could use our support, even if we can't get him out of this."

"Maybe we can get him out," Sam said thoughtfully.

"Sam, I am not going to attack or threaten these people!" Cameron said firmly.

"I wasn't talking about that. Besides, we don't have any weapons. I think we should go back and try the first idea we had."

"Which was?" Vala asked curiously.

"Try to persuade them to stop this."

"I thought you said that wouldn't work?" Vala pointed out.

"I did, and I'm still not sure it will, but at this point, we don't have much to lose, do we?"

"Okay, then," Mitchell agreed. "So, we'll head back tonight and-"

"Actually, I thought we would go back tomorrow morning," Sam suggested.

"Why wait?" Vala asked. "Don't we want to get back as soon as possible?"

Sam looked up at the sky, where the sun was beginning to set. "At this point, I'd guess that they're done for the day and everyone's gone home. I think we'd make more of an impact if we talked to them first thing in the morning, right when everyone's gathering."

"What difference does it make?" Cam asked.

"If we talk to Judge Loren alone, I'm not sure we could persuade him," Sam explained. "I don't think he likes this much more than we do, but he seems to feel like his people will turn against him if he puts a stop to this. But some of those people don't like this either, even the so-called 'victims,' and they've had another day to think about it. If we confront him in front of the crowd, maybe we can prove to Loren that at least some of his people would back him up in his decision, he might be more willing to listen to us."

"I guess that's as good a plan as any," Mitchell said, sighing heavily. "Vala?"

Vala shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose." She looked back towards the town. In the coming dusk, she could just make out lights flickering. She hated waiting for even another minute, much less a whole night, but she saw the logic in Samantha's plan. She just hoped Daniel could hold on for one more night.