"But not such a good idea now?"

Melony shook her head.

"It was getting bad, from what I understand. If Talon hadn't managed to figure out how to reverse the process and send a-"

"Reverse the process?" Weir asked, just as Rodney came over to join them, carrying a tray filled with pancakes and sausages. Melony felt herself start drooling, but stopped just shy of stealing a piece of sausage and answered Weir's question instead.

"Yes." She shrugged. "I haven't actually discussed the details with him yet, so I don't understand it exactly, but the Wraith form a sort of bond with the person they're feeding on – a really nasty one, mind you – but it's similar to the one I have with Talon. Only their bond is one-sided. I guess that's what keeps the person from escaping them once they start feeding – that and the fact that it hurts like hell."

McKay shuddered, and he wasn't the only one. Melony started to apologize – obviously this wasn't really a good topic for breakfast discussion – but then Carson appeared beside her with a tray in his hands. He set the tray on the table and sat down beside her – putting her between McKay and himself – and handed over a cup of steaming coffee and a plate almost as loaded as Rodney's. Another plate for himself, and a cup of tea, and he looked at everyone curiously.

"Why's everyone looking so pale?"

"Colonel Mitchell here was just explaining to us how the Wraith feed," Sheppard said, shrugging. "Go on, Colonel."

"It can wait until we're done eating..."

"Nah, I'm interested."

"I am, too," Elizabeth said, agreeing. "Please, continue."

She nodded, taking a chance to take a sip of her coffee. Ah, hot and fresh. Perfect.

The story, Hot shot

Bah.

"So anyways, they form this bond to keep their prey from getting away, and normally that wouldn't be a problem, since it's not like a person can do anything about it once it's there – most of them are probably so wrapped up in the pain that they don't even realize it's there."

"And they don't live long enough to worry about it anyways," Sheppard speculated.

Mitchell nodded.

"Probably. I was different, though, because of Talon. He had a chance to see this bond in action, and use it against the Wraith."

"What did he do?" Rodney asked, fascinated in a morbid way – kind of like how a little boy wants to see someone else's cuts and warts.

"I'm not exactly positive," She admitted. "It's fairly complex, and I'm not-"

Let me explain it

Okay.

She broke off.

"Talon's going to explain it."

The symbiote took over, and the others noticed immediately. Where Melony's voice was soft and a bit tired just then, Talon's was deep and strong. It was the same voice they'd hear din the infirmary telling them that the Wraith didn't exist.

"Part of my genetic makeup allows me to use my host's energies to fuel a kind of healing," Talon said. "When the Wraith formed its bond with Melony, I was bonded to it as well, and had complete access to its energies. They are extremely powerful, and although it took me a few moments to figure out how they worked compared to my own – or to Melony's – I was able to use it to implement a reversal in its feeding. Instead of it stealing Melony's life force, I turned that around, sending its life into Melony to repair the damage it had done to her while at the same time working a sort of reverse healing on the creature and sending a shot of pain to its heart that eventually was so great it was forced to release her."

"Which is why it fell backward," Sheppard hazarded. "We'd been waiting for an open shot, but I was starting to think I wasn't going to find one."

Melony nodded, but Talon was still in control.

"Yes."

"So Colonel Mitchell isn't going to suffer a loss of years or anything from the Wraith feeding on her?"

"Not at all," Talon said, and the deep voice was slightly smug and maybe even a shade arrogant. "As a matter of fact, if we went back out and found another Wraith, I would be able to add years to her life in a similar fashion to what they do, now that I know how."

Melony took over then.

"But we're not going to, because I'm not going to let another one of them touch me if I can avoid it."

There were nods all around.

I wasn't planning on doing it. I was just telling them I could

I know.

She did, too. He wouldn't risk her that close to the Wraith again. Not without proper backup and safety measures.

"So could he have killed the Wraith?" Sheppard asked.

"Eventually." Melony said. "But I was the weak link, because I was going into shock from the initial pain of the contact – Talon couldn't heal me or even protect me from it because he was too occupied with the Wraith."

"So you're basically Wraith-proof, now," McKay said. "If he knows how to hurt them to make them let go when they start to feed, then you can't be killed by them."

"They have other weapons," Sheppard said.

Melony nodded.

"Exactly. I won't have to worry about them feeding on me, but they could still shoot me or whatever."

"That's not much of an advantage, then," Weir said. "You risked your life for nothing."

"Not 'nothing', Doctor Weir," Melony disagreed. "We found a weakness – this bond they form when they feed. There have to be other weaknesses, and it's just a matter of finding them and finding a way to exploit them. They're potent, but they're not indestructible."

"It's not going to be easy."

She shook her head.

"Nothing worth doing ever is."

"So what are your plans, then, Colonel?" Weir asked. "Obviously, you're as cut of from Earth as we are."

"And you're the ranking military officer on the base," Sheppard added.

Melony frowned.

"I wasn't supposed to be, you know," she said, taking a sip of coffee to hide the pain caused by the remembered loss of Colonel Sumner. "I made sure there was someone here that out-ranked me just so I wouldn't have to worry about taking charge of anything."

"But you're-"

"I'm not going to take command of the base, Major Sheppard," Mitchell said. "I'm on special assignment away from the SGC at the moment, anyways, so I'm not sure I really would have the authority to take command anyways – and I know I don't have the desire to. What I will do is continue working on the Wraith problem – alone and with you all." Her gaze went to Beckett for just a moment. "Of course, I'll place myself at your disposal so if you need an extra hand for a mission – or if there's something else I can do to help then I'll do it, but you folks have a primary duty to find yourselves a power source to get back to Earth – or at least get a message back to Earth."

"What's your primary duty, then?" Weir asked.

Sheppard already knew the answer, though. Even before she spoke up.

"I'm going to find a way to finish the Wraith."

"It can't be done," McKay said. "There are millions of them – billions. How are you going to-"

"I haven't figured it out, yet," Melony said, shrugging. "But I'll tell you this much; there was a time when people said that there was nothing that could be done about the Goa'uld, either."

Weir smiled. She had a point. Picking up her coffee cup, Elizabeth waved it towards the Colonel.

"Welcome to Atlantis, Colonel Mitchell."