Author's Note: Yeah, it's not the most original name, I know... but I'm terrible at coming up with good names.

OOOOOOOOO

"How is Kale going to help you?" Sheppard asked.

"If he's willing," Mitchell corrected. She shrugged. "I need to start looking for a planet that I can use for some private studying – I want to eventually capture one of those Wraith darts and study the technology, and –"

"Why not capture it and bring it back here?" Weir asked. She wasn't sure exactly how Colonel Mitchell planned on capturing a Wraith dart without capturing the Wraith that went along with it. "Then you could have help studying it..."

McKay nodded.

"Because it's entirely possible that the darts have homing beacons on them – or something like that – and the last thing we want is for the Wraith to find Atlantis."

Good point.

"Besides," Melony continued. "It's also possible that there's some kind of self-destruct mechanism on them – either activating once it's away from the pilot, or pilots, or when you start tinkering with the equipment – and it'd be better to have it away from Atlantis if it blew."

Another good point. It was obvious that Mitchell had thought it out.

"I still don't see what you need Kale for..." Sheppard said.

"If he's willing – or Aron, or one of the others – then I'm going to see if they'll help me by flying me around some of these planets that you guys have been to and have found to be deserted to see if I can find a place to turn into a lab."

"Like the secret lab you and Talon had on Melonyville?" McKay asked.

"Melonyville?" Sheppard asked.

She smiled, slightly.

"It's the informal name of a deserted planet that held a secret lab that Talon and I used to develop Fugly – the ship we blew up when we finished the Goa'uld." She explained.

"Why not use a Jumper?" Weir asked. "You could probably get more area covered that way."

"I could," she agreed, "But if it's not a deserted planet and there're Wraith there, then I don't want to risk them shooting me down because they have sensors that can track a Jumper. If there do happen to be Wraith on a planet I'm looking at, I'm hoping all they'd find on their sensors – or whatever – is a couple of life forms flying around, or maybe even just one, and won't bother to check it out."

She held up her hand before anyone could ask another question.

"It's all moot if I can't get the Light Ones to help me," she told them. "Which is why I need to go talk to them. I'd like to do it this way, but if they won't help – and they might not – then I'll be forced to use a Jumper."

Which was more dangerous, if she was right.

"Well, I'm willing to come with you," McKay said, looking slightly hopeful.

Melony smiled; she knew exactly why he wanted to go, and there wasn't going to be time for anything like that. But she wouldn't use that reason. She had better ones.

"It's going to be dangerous," she said. "I don't know that there won't be any of those Dark Ones near the gate when I come through, and I don't have a way of contacting the Light Ones without drawing attention from anything else who might be in the area."

A pained look crossed McKay's face – it was obvious he hadn't thought about the Dark Ones.

"I'll go with you," Ford said. "You should have some backup and I'm-"

"You're needed here," she interrupted. "With Major Sheppard. I don't know how long I'm going to be gone, and I don't expect things here to come to a crashing halt while I'm gone. Missions still need to be done, and you guys still need to keep looking for one of those ZPMs."

She had other things to worry about at the moment – she'd leave the power source search up to them.

Besides, we have a score to settle with the Wraith

Yeah.

"How long will you be gone?" Weir asked. She'd obviously decided that if Mitchell wanted to go she wasn't going to stop her. Of course, she really couldn't stop her if she wanted to – Mitchell wasn't under her command, although she usually listened to Weir's decisions and followed them when they made sense.

Mitchell shrugged.

"I'll check in with you guys in a week. By then I should know one way or the other if I'm going to be able to get help from them. If it's going to take longer, I'll let you know, then."

"When are you leaving?" Carson asked, speaking up for the first time. He didn't like the idea of her leaving, either. He certainly didn't like the idea of her putting herself in danger. Either with the Dark Ones – if they ended up making an appearance – or with the Wraith.

"I'll have to do a bit of figuring to make it so I arrive through the Stargate during the morning or early afternoon," she said, reminding them all that the days were a lot shorter there than they were here. She didn't like the idea of going through the woods that surrounded the Stargate without at least a little daylight to give her an idea of what was going on around her.

Chicken

You disagree?

Not at all!

She didn't smile, because what she was discussing with them was serious and she wanted them to know she understood that, but she knew that Talon would feel her amusement.

"We can figure that out in a matter of minutes," McKay said.

Melony nodded.

"You mind doing it for me?"

"Not at all."

McKay headed up the stairs towards the computers that were in the command center, and Melony turned to the others, silently asking if they had any more objections or questions. None of them did, though. They all looked slightly worried – Carson more than the others – but her reasoning was sound, and she clearly had it all thought out. What could they argue about?

"Five hours from now the sun should be rising on the Farmer's planet," McKay called down to Mitchell.

She nodded, looking up at him and then at the others.

"Then I'll go in 6 hours."