Author's note: Sorry this chapter isn't so long... it's necessary, though, of course. Also, I did something I normally don't like to do, and made time slip by fairly quickly in it. I could have written out more detail, but it would have been dull, and not fun to write....

OOOOOOOOOOOOOo

They didn't have a goodbye party for her. There wasn't a ceremony or anything like that, either. Only a few people knew she was leaving, and those were the people who walked with her to the hanger when she finished her cup of coffee with Daniel. Janet, Daniel, Jack, Sam, Teal'c, and a few Marines who'd heard what was happening and had asked to come see her off. No fanfare, no parade.

There were a few hugs, some tears and a lot of promises to keep in touch, but no one tried to get her to change her mind, and no one clapped her in irons and tried to take her to the brig. All of them wanted to, though.

"Don't worry," she told Jack, giving him a final hug. Generals and Colonels didn't hug all that often, but she'd known him long before he was a General, and he'd met her when she was in pigtails and braces. God, they'd come a long way. "I'll be fine."

"You come back to me," he whispered, pressing a hard kiss against her cheek as he hugged her. "If you don't, I'll come looking for you."

"I'll be back."

She let go of Jack, and gave everyone a last look. Then she turned and passed through the invisible barrier of Fuglier's shields, and entered her ship without a word. A few moments later, the engines began to power up. A moment after that, the ship went invisible as well, and Jack motioned for everyone to move out of the hanger through the side door, while two of the Marine guards opened the main hanger doors.

Then she was gone.

OOOOOOOOO

"I can't believe she's gone..."

Jack turned to look at Sam, who was as pale as he felt. He tried to say something reassuring. That was his job, after all, right?

"She'll be back."

"I hope so."

Daniel put his arm around Janet, and the two of them walked off, with Daniel taking another look up into the air, even though he knew he'd never see her, even if she was hovering above them.

"Colonel Mitchell is quite capable of handling anything that is tossed in her direction." Teal'c said, putting his hand on Sam's shoulder. "I am certain she will return as she has said."

"Yeah," Jack said, sighing. "Me too."

He turned and headed back to the cavernous entrance to the SGC. He had work to do. Whether he felt like doing it or not. A moment later, Sam and Teal'c followed.

OOOOOOOOO

Where shall we go first?

"I don't care..."

It's not too late to change your mind

"I know. I'm not going to, though." Mitchell turned on the navigational display, and brought up a hologram of the closest star system that held one of the un-treatied system lords. "Let's start with Cereous, shall we?" She asked. He'd be the one that would put up a fight, if any of them did. Of course, she didn't really feel like killing anyone, she just wanted something to take her mind of how much she hurt, and a hard-fought battle was just the ticket.

He's not going to put up a fight

"I know."

OOOOOOOOO

Three days later, when she entered the system and encountered the first Prime of Cereous, she found Talon was right. The system lord immediately put himself at her disposal, and asked her for her terms. Mitchell outlined what she wanted, and had capitulation immediately. She sighed, and sent a message off to Tao, to let him know what had happened with the newest system lord, then pulled up her navigational display once more.

"You choose this time..." She told Talon.

And so the month went.

One after another, they visited small star systems, which were ruled by petty tyrants. All of who knew exactly who Mitchell and Talon were and knew just how deadly they were. None wanted anything to do with her deadly little ship and all of them were more than willing to conclude a treaty with them.

By the time she'd finally concluded what she and Talon had begun two and a half years before, Mitchell was no closer to finding the peace of mind she'd been hoping to discover. She still ached every time she thought of Brad – a deep ache like an abscessed tooth – and even though she managed not to cry herself to sleep every time she laid down, she found it was just as easy to stay awake and not have to fight the tears back. Talon had to remind her to eat most of the time, and had to cajole her into sending occasional messages back to Jack so he wouldn't worry about her. Much.

"Where to now?" Mitchell asked, dully, a month and four days after she and Talon had left Earth.

Home

"Melonyville?"

Earth, love. It's time you go back and face things

"I don't want to go back, Talon. I'm not ready to."

They need to see you. You need to see them. We'll figure out what to do from there, but you can't keep running. Besides, we're out of system lords

That elicited a slight smile from her. He was right about that. The Goa'uld menace was completely shut down, now. Major and minor, all system lords were officially under her control now. She poured herself a cup of coffee – the only thing that had really kept her going this last month, besides Talon, of course – and sighed gently.

"Fine. We'll go to Earth and regroup. I'm not staying long, though. We'll find something to do elsewhere, even if it's helping the Tok'ra with their new colony."

You can always be Mayor

"Or President..."

The banter fell short, though. She wasn't in the mood for humor, and hadn't been much company for Talon the last month.

Why don't you send Jack a message? Let him know we're coming?

She nodded, and slid her hand along the device on her wrist.