"Tell me again exactly why I'm being used as a guinea pig...?" Carson asked a couple hours later.

Melony smiled, and tugged on the vest she'd just helped him into.

"Someone has to try them out. Why not you?"

"Why not Grodin? Or someone who's better at this than I am?" He asked, looking down at the 'gun' in his hand. It was vaguely gun-shaped, and it had a trigger, but it didn't shoot bullets, it shot a laser beam that would only react to the receivers that were on his vest – as well as the vest Melony was wearing, and the two that Major Sheppard and Rodney McKay had on.

"Because you were handy." She told him, checking the fit of her own vest as well. She didn't want to be getting her arms tangled up in it or anything, after all.

The radio on her belt crackled to life before Beckett could say anything else, and they heard Sheppard's voice.

"Are you two ready?"

"Ready?" she asked him.

Carson sighed, and nodded.

"As I'll ever be, I suppose."

She smiled, and keyed her mic, which was on her shoulder.

"We're ready, Major. We'll start in five minutes."

"Roger."

They were in the bowels of the city – although in a place that had already been explored fairly well. It wouldn't do to play a war game in unexplored territory in this city, they'd decided, since who knew what they might run into? No, while they did need a place that was isolated and uninhabited by any of the crewmembers, they also didn't want a place that might spring surprises at them that they weren't ready for. So they were in one of the lower levels that Sheppard and the others had explored almost immediately after their arrival.

"I'm going to get killed," Carson said, resigned. "You know that, right?"

She smiled, and touched his bearded cheek for just a moment.

"You'll do fine."

He didn't look so confident, but he didn't say anything, and she checked her 'gun' to make sure she could get it out of the holster easily.

"This probably isn't the time," he said, watching her, "but can I sleep with you again tonight?"

She looked over at him, a slight smile on her face although she had a serious expression.

"It's not the time," she agreed.

He nodded, and she relented.

"But, yes. If you'd like to, you're welcome to."

Since there was no doubt from his expression that he'd like to, her smile grew just a little, but then Talon reminded her that in a few minutes Sheppard and McKay were going to be looking for her, anxious to get a kill where they'd never been able to before and the smile faded.

"Kill McKay, and I'll let you sleep with me all week." She told him. Of course, she probably would anyways – schedules permitting.

"What do I get if I kill Major Sheppard?" He asked.

Melony laughed, and headed for the hall.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Since all four of them had the Ancient's gene – two had it naturally, and Melony and Rodney had it genetically engineered into their systems – the rooms in the city tended to accommodate them more than it would have if they didn't have the gene. This was normally a great help, since it allowed all four of them to use the technology of the Ancients – provided they understood it well enough to actually use it. At the moment, though, it was more of a hindrance, because they all four noticed that wherever they went, the lights would turn on around them.

Good for keeping from tripping or running into something in the dark, bad for sneaking up on someone.

Because of this, Melony decided that their best course of action would probably be an ambush. She and Carson went around to every room in their section of the level, allowing all the lights to come on around them, then she set Carson up in a well hidden nook just off one of the main corridors, and told him in a quiet whisper to keep his eyes open and be ready.

She was going to be the bait, and would try to lead Sheppard or McKay – or both – into the trap. Nodding his understanding, and swallowing nervously – even though he knew it was just a game – Carson hunkered down where he could see everything that was going on around him without being seen himself, and watched as she vanished.

Of the four of them, Mitchell was by far the best at this kind of thing, and she knew it. Even before she blended with Talon she'd been a member of an SG team and had been in on many ambushes and stalkings and covert operations. Once she had Talon, though, she had access to all his memories as well – which he shared freely – and that gave her an edge even over the SG members who had far more years of operations experience. And Sheppard and McKay definitely didn't fit that bill.

McKay was an egghead. A scientist who had spent far, far more time in the lab than in the field – no matter how long he'd had connections with the Air Force. He was learning, and he was getting pretty good, but compared to Mitchell he was still a rookie, and she knew that.

Sheppard was a pilot. He'd spent far more time in a cockpit than in the field – although he was a Major in the Air Force, and you didn't get to be a Major without having some experience in the field – and leading men – and Melony was more than willing to admit that John Sheppard was doing a great job of relearning as he went. He was a good leader, and showed himself to be a fairly good tracker. But he still wasn't as good as Mitchell.

So she would be the bait, because she was the one most likely to survive being the bait.

She walked silently, watching everything that was around her, and checking every spot that might be a good ambush site on its own – in case the other two had come up with a similar tactic – and went looking for the enemy.