"Do we separate?"

"What?"

McKay rolled his eyes, looking exasperated as he double-checked to make sure his 'gun' was working. He'd have to come up with a good name for the thing eventually – something properly awe-inspiring, or maybe something that just sounded really technical so no one could pronounce it.

"I'll go one way, you go another?" He said, slowly.

Sheppard shrugged, looking around a corner.

"It's not going to matter..." He said. "The minute we enter a room or a hallway all the lights come on, so they're going to see us coming."

"We could just wait for them to come to us," McKay said. He was more than willing to sit back and let that happen.

"Nah, she'll expect that..." Besides, he hated sitting and waiting. It was too stressful. You never sat back and waited when you were in a dogfight, after all. You attacked. You went on the offensive. This was the same thing.

"Well...?"

Sheppard scowled, looking over his shoulder.

"You know, you're the one who's supposed to be learning this stuff – why don't you tell me what you want me to do? Pretend to have some initiative."

"Fine." McKay thought for a moment – debating whether or not to try an ambush – although Sheppard had already given him the hint that an ambush wasn't going to be the best way to go, so he discarded the notion. "You go to the left, I'll go to the right, and if you die, I'll try not to trip over you."

"Good plan."

The two separated, and Sheppard advanced, his 'gun' up and ready.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Carson Beckett was a peace-loving sort of guy – for goodness sake, he was a doctor, after all. If six months before someone had come up to him and told him that he'd be in another galaxy, in the middle of the lower levels of a lost Ancient's city hiding in a hallway with a fake gun in his hand waiting to 'kill' a couple of people – and hoping to kill them because he'd maybe impress a woman he really really wanted to impress – he'd have told them they were nuts, and probably have prescribed something strong. Really strong. Oh, yeah, and add in the fact that the woman he wanted to impress – okay, maybe that he loved – had a Tok'ra symbiote hanging out inside her, and he'd have simply had them committed to an institution.

But here he was; crouched down low in a little nook, trying to hide in what little shadows there were and waiting in ambush for his adversaries to show their hides so he could 'kill' them. Preferably quickly so they didn't have a chance to kill him, too.

He hated guns. He wasn't all that fond of any weapon – since he'd seen first hand plenty of times what kind of damage they could do – but he really hated guns, because the damage they did was so often fatal before he had a chance to get in and fix it. But here he was, learning how to use one so he'd be able to kill someone before they could kill him – on the very off-chance that the situation arose.

He sighed, and looked down at the weapon again, glad that at least it wasn't a real gun. He wouldn't-

A noise interrupted his own musings, and he realized that he had absolutely no idea how long Melony had been gone. She'd said she was going to go find the others and lead them into the ambush, and Carson wondered – but hadn't asked – why she didn't just go kill them herself. As he'd sat there waiting, though, he'd figured that one out on his own. She didn't need the practice, and he did. She was probably also trying to teach him some kind of tactical lesson, but he wasn't sure what it could be – something about ambushes, maybe?

Whatever it was, here he was... ducking every time he heard a noise, but trying to look and see who was coming also, his 'gun' up and ready and his heart racing almost as if it were the real thing. Probably.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

She saw him coming before he knew she was there. It wasn't hard – as they'd all noticed the lights came on everywhere they went, so she simply watched for the lights to come on. He was moving slowly and quietly – cautiously – but she was in as much of an ambush spot at that moment as Carson was, and had she wanted to 'kill' him herself, he'd have been dead. That wasn't what this was about, though, so she didn't even take her 'gun' out of its holster. Instead, she used one of the oldest tricks in the book and pulled a small piece of junk metal out of her pocket and tossed it a little to the side. It landed with a soft clatter on the floor of the corridor, and she saw him freeze, swinging his weapon over towards the origin of the sound. Of course, there wasn't anything there.

She moved from her sheltered spot, and started back the way she'd come, every now and then tossing another piece of debris to make a noise – leading him in the direction she wanted him to come while at the same time keeping him from finding her exact trail – which would never do. She wasn't supposed to 'die' after all. That wasn't part of her plan.

They reached the area where the lights were already on, and she knew he was becoming more cautious. It didn't matter, though. He was in the trap now – it was just a matter of springing it.

Hoping that Carson was paying attention to the sounds that were happening around him, she allowed her foot to scuff the floor, which drew her quarry's attention and hopefully would tell Carson that she was close by. Of course, she knew he'd have no way of distinguishing her scuffle from anyone else's, but at least he'd be paying attention. She made the last turn around the corner, coming into view of her quarry at the same time she came into view of Carson's spot. If he was paying attention – and she was pretty sure he had to be – he'd see them, now.

OOOOOOOOOO

He heard the noise again. Louder this time – closer. Beckett held his breath, uncertain if it was Melony he heard or one of the others. Whoever it was, though, they were getting close to his hiding spot. Moving as silently as he could, he stood up, and saw a movement in front of him. Adrenaline coursed through him as he brought his 'gun' up, and he felt a thrill of excitement mixed with maybe a little anxiety. He was going to make a kill!

A second later, the movement was closer – although whoever it was was still in the shadows, and he couldn't see who was there. Another noise – this one from a different direction, and Carson swung his weapon around, startled. He saw gray and fired, and heard the piercing howl of the receiver on the other person's vest as the laser from his 'gun' struck it, and then heard a curse. A decidedly feminine curse. His heart dropped. He'd just killed Melony.