The planet they gated to was a barren one. Sandy and desert-like, there were no trees and very few plants. There was a bright sun shining down on them the moment they came through the gate, and Jack felt the heat immediately, but his attention was on the form that was standing close by, leaning against the landing gear of a very odd-looking little craft.

"Jack!"

Mitchell grinned as she pushed away from the ship and walked over to the four newcomers.

Jack hugged her tightly, smiling. She looked great. Even better than she had before Talon – which was saying something, because she had always been in good shape. Her pale hair was still as short as ever, and her pale gray eyes were still filled with well-being and intelligence. She looked great.

"Hey, Melony. You look great."

"As always."

She looked over at the others, although she still had one arm around Jack O'Neill – God, it was good to see him again!

"Welcome to Melonyville, SG-1." She said, gesturing around her with her free hand. "Population... well... five. At the moment." She grinned. "Five and a half, or six, depending on what you count Talon as."

"It is good to see you are well, Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c said, giving her a slight bow, and looking over at the ship that she'd been leaning against.

"Thanks, Teal'c. I am well." She nodded to Jackson, and Carter.

"How's everything going at home?"

"Well, the Bears are winning..."

"So hell finally froze over?"

Jack scowled.

"Smart ass."

She laughed and let go of him, walking over and shaking hands with Sam and Daniel. It really was good to see them. She'd been away from Earth far too long.

"We just had an interesting conversation with Jacob Carter, Melony," Jack said, walking over towards the ship and looking up at it.

"Oh, I'll bet you did," She said, dryly, then waved him away from the ship. "Don't go too close, Jack. It can hurt you."

"On the ground?"

"Oh, yeah."

He took her word for it, and stepped back over to stand with the group, but he was still looking at it.

"It's... um..."

"Fugly." Melony supplied.

"Yeah."

"Fugly?" Teal'c wasn't the only one who didn't understand the term. Daniel was – of course – the one to ask for a translation.

"Fucking ugly."

"Ah."

Carter smiled, filing that one away for future reference.

"But it's devastating," Mitchell told them, grinning.

"So we've heard."

"From Jacob Carter?"

Jack nodded. "What's going on, Melony? Jacob says the Tok'ra don't have a clue what you're up to, and that you and Talon won't reply to their calls."

"We're trying to keep the Tok'ra out of this, Jack. Just like we're going to keep Earth out of it as well."

"Why?" Asked Daniel.

"Because if what we're doing fails, the shit is going to hit the fan, and in that case Talon and I'll be the only ones who get splattered."

She ignored the look on Teal'c's face as the Jaffa tried to sort out her latest expression, and gestured for them to follow her.

"Come on, guys, I've set up a place to talk that's out of the sun."

With her arm casually around Jack O'Neill's waist, she led them around the odd looking little ship and towards a sort of tent-like structure that had a roof but no walls. It didn't have furniture, but there were rocks they could sit on, and it was out of the sun, like she said.

"Melonyville could do with a little decorating," Jack told her as he sat down on one of the rocks.

She smiled.

"I'll get on that as soon as I can find a designer."

"Is this area secure, Colonel Mitchell?" Teal'c asked.

"Yeah." She sat down on a rock as well. "There's about a thousand Jaffa in orbit around the planet guarding us – although they have no idea it's you who they're guarding." She smirked. "They have very strict orders that I'm not to be disturbed, and they're not to let anything near me."

"If you don't tell me what's going on, I'm going to hit you over the head."

Jack didn't like the thought of a thousand Jaffa anywhere near him. Even if they were doing what she told them to.

Mitchell grinned.

"Okay. About three months ago, Talon and I finished the last of the weapons we needed for the ship." She gestured over at the little craft. "Before I blended with him, Talon and his previous host had been stuck pretty much in the lab for years, and he'd been using that time to come up with various other ship components – all highly experimental and all prototypes, but working prototypes that could be built easily, once the science behind them was figured out."

"Which he did before he met you?" Daniel asked.

She nodded.

"Once he and I blended, and we got back from the planet with the pyramids – the one with all the crystals – we started building the final weapon we'd need."

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"He hasn't named it," Melony said, shrugging. "And I'm not going to. But it has two important functions. The first is that it uses the crystals we harvested from the walls of the pyramid to amplify the frequency of our own shields, while using them in connection with the sensors to get the frequency of the target's shields."

"Why?" Jack asked, looking completely lost.

"Because once I have their frequency, I can jam it, and take out their shields."

"Take them out?"

She nodded.

"Just like that?"

"Oh yeah. And there's not a thing they can do to stop me."

"That's amazing," Carter said, looking stunned. "I had no idea the crystals could be used in such a fashion. I've only just started examining them for their ability to magnify the spectru-"

"Carter." Jack was already getting a headache from Mitchell's description of her ship – which he needed to hear. He couldn't handle listening to Carter's gobbledygook as well.

"Sorry, Sir."

"The point is, Jack," Melony said. "I can take down their shields. And once they're down, we fire the primary weapon, and the ship blows up. No matter how big."

"No matter how big?"

"I've destroyed a number of Hatak."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"Can anyone learn this technology?" Daniel asked.

She nodded. "That's why I asked for Major Carter specifically." Mitchell reached inside her jacket, and pulled out a stack of laser disks and hand- written notes, and handed them over to Sam, who looked down at it in awe.

"Is this-?"

"Those are the plans for the primary weapon – which also includes the device that drops the shields. It's all in there. The stuff on disk will be easier to read than my handwriting, but you'll need to research it all really carefully before you even think about trying to build any of it."

"Why are you giving it to me?" She asked. "Don't get me wrong, I'm impressed and obviously interested, but..."

"Because it's got to be shared, and I'm not going to let the Goa'uld have it – which means keeping it away from the Tok'ra for now, until we make sure there aren't any spies. You're smart enough to figure it out without our help in a worse case scenario."

"My father-"

"I trust your dad, Major." She assured her. "Even better, Talon trusts him, too. But he answers to the council, and we know the council has been infiltrated before. What I want you to do is hold onto that. Look through it, and try to understand it, of course, but don't do anything else until you know for sure that I'm not coming back. And don't let anyone have access to it yet. I'm sitting on the only one right now, and it's important that it stays that way for the time being. If all goes well, Talon and I'll be available to help you build it all, and we'll integrate it into the Earth's defenses ourselves."

"And if it doesn't?" Jack asked, his face grim.

"Then by us keeping the Goa'uld from knowing that anyone from Earth was involved in anything, you should have the time to learn it, understand it, and build it yourself. Along with a bunch of modified ships once you get the technology down. With this stuff, Jack, the Goa'uld aren't going to have any hold on Earth."

"What are you planning on doing, Melony?"

He liked the thought of a weapon – or weapons – that would kick Goa'uld ass, but he didn't like all this talk about her not coming back. It sure sounded a lot like she didn't plan on coming back to Jack. Which would also explain why she had made sure to write that Brad Anderson wasn't welcome in their little powwow. She wouldn't have wanted him to worry.

"Talon and I are going to demand that he be confirmed as a Major system lord."