Jack nodded.
"Daedalus is a couple of days out and on her way back here. You guys can go check the damage done and report back if you run into anything that might give us a better idea of what we're facing."
"Or we can leave right away with Lantica…" Mitchell pointed out.
He looked over at her.
"Does Lantica have hyper drives?"
Melony wasn't the only one to shake her head.
"Sub light only. She's too small for that kind of energy output. But she'll fit through a Stargate."
Jacob looked over.
"Lantica?"
"Her new ship," McKay told him before Melony could.
"It goes through the Stargates?" he asked. "Like the Puddle Jumpers?"
She nodded.
"It's a good design, so we stole it."
"And gate travel is a lot faster than even hyperdrive," Rodney added.
"There isn't a gate on Irila," he told them.
"There must be one in the area." McKay wasn't ready to give up on taking Lantica just yet – and really, Mitchell wasn't, either.
"We can find the closest one to your planet and use sublight the rest of the way," she said.
"It'd be faster than waiting for Daedalus," Sheppard agreed.
"Depending on how far away the nearest gate is," Rodney qualified, looking over at Jacob, questioningly.
Carter shrugged, thinking it over – or maybe having a quick discussion with his symbiote.
"It'd be faster through the gate, probably," he conceded. "But probably not all that safe – not if the people who destroyed those other ships are still in the area. You're going to want a bit more firepower than whatever your little ship can bring to bear."
McKay bristled at his choice of words.
"Her little ship has the same firepower Daedalus does," he snapped. "Only slightly scaled down to fit the smaller stature of the craft."
Jacob started to say something, but Sam interrupted.
"He's right, dad," she agreed. "We designed Lantica to be a first class scout ship. Which includes the possibility of weapons exchange as you well know."
The agreement was grudging, but he did nod.
"You shouldn't go alone, though."
"We can cloak," Melony told him. "We're not going looking for trouble, we're just going to go to check it out."
"We'll be fine," McKay said, shortly, still stinging at having Lantica's safety questioned.
Jack looked over at Mitchell, the question in his expression even though he didn't verbalize it. She nodded.
"We'll be fine," she echoed. "If it's a would be system lord then we need to put a stop to things before anyone else gets hurt."
"And if it's something or someone else?"
"Then we put a stop to that, too," Ronon said, speaking up.
"You'll wait and hook up with Daedalus," Jack replied, not looking at Ronon but at Mitchell and then Teal'c.
"If it's not a Goa'uld," Melony told him, "we'll wait for Daedalus."
She was willing to take on any Goa'uld – anytime – and there was definitely something personal in that, but an unknown was another matter entirely.
Not to mention if we find a previously unknown we need to make sure we live to tell about it, Talon pointed out.
That, too.
Jack nodded, accepting her word, and looked at the entire group, now.
"What kind of equipment did you bring with you?"
"Basic stuff," Melony replied.
"More guns than clothes," McKay pointed out. "And not much for food, so we're going to need to raid your stores for the trip."
Sam smirked but didn't comment on the fact that McKay had been the one to mention food. Of course, from the amused expressions on those around the table who knew him best she was pretty sure they'd all noticed.
It was a measure of how much Jack had thawed when it came to McKay that he didn't comment on it, either. Instead he just nodded.
"We can do that."
"Did you have breakfast?" Daniel asked, looking at his watch. He knew the difference in time from Earth and Atlantis and had realized that they had practically been pulled out of their beds to come at Jack's call. Not that any of them were complaining, but he was surprised he hadn't heard any stomachs grumbling.
"We got up early," Melony admitted. Of course, she didn't admit just how early it had been.
"We can eat after we've had a chance to go through the armory," Sheppard said, looking over at Mitchell, who nodded her agreement. They'd brought their primary weapons, but with an unknown it wasn't such a bad idea to have more weapons with them – and there was a handy little compartment on Lantica to put it all in until they were needed.
"And other supplies," she added.
"With more than just you and Talon there are more mouths to feed," Sam pointed out. "Good thing it's bigger than the jumpers."
"We'll split you up," Jack said. "McKay, you and Carter make sure the ship's ready for anything you might run into – I want video set up, too, so we can get recordings of anything you guys see. Sheppard, you, Teyla and Teal'c get tac vests, weapons and any ordinance you think you'll need for the trip. Ford, you and Dex go figure out what else you'll need besides weapons."
"And me?" Melony asked, fairly certain she knew what was coming.
"You're going to meet with me and Jacob and we're going to look over what information the Tok'ra managed to salvage from the planet. You can fill the others in on the way there."