Undesignated Planet

This place sucks.

Agreed

The first planet they were going to try to find the Wraith on was a planet that was hot and humid, filled with trees and swamps and all sorts of stinging insects that were apparently hell bent on trying to eat Melony alive one nibble at a time. The only good thing was that she didn't have to worry about picking up some obscure disease from a sting – hopefully.

She'd been miserable from the moment she'd emerged from the gate, and Talon was the only one she had to complain to – and because they weren't sure where the Wraith were (if there were Wraith on the planet) – she couldn't even complain aloud. Which was usually the best part about complaining in the first place.

Not even the Wraith could want to live in such a shit-heap…

Talon's amusement did nothing to ease her annoyance, especially as she silently slapped yet another bug.

They'd spend three days here, looking for the Wraith. That was how much she'd brought in supplies in the small pack she was carrying. After those three days, if they didn't find any sign of them – preferably in the form of a small scouting party – Mitchell would go back to Talonopolis and repack, and then they'd head to another of the several planets they had to choose from. They were half counting on the fact that the Wraith could sense her – although this wasn't going to be at all like the first Wraith hunt she'd gone on. This time, if and when they found the Wraith, she was going to kill them as quickly as she could instead of study them. She wasn't after them. Only their technology. And as far as she knew, she didn't need them alive to use it.

OOOOOOOOO

Melonyville

The planet was just as deserted, dry and hot as Jack remembered it being. And just as barren. And it reminded him of the last time he'd been there – with Melony, who had at that time been happy and whole, and fresh off her defeat of the Goa'uld with no idea that the hardest part was still to come with the loss of Brad Anderson. Jack felt a pang as he thought of it, remembering just how cocky she'd looked that day – and then how lost she'd looked the day of Brad's funeral. He wondered where she was, then, and what she was doing. And the thought made him that much more determined to find a way to get to her and find out.

"This place is just like I remember it…"

Jack looked over at Daniel, who was looking around – almost as if expected Melony to come out of the middle of nothingness to come and talk to them, like she had a few times before.

"It's a shit heap," Jacob said from the other side. The Tok'ra wasn't exactly sure what good he was going to do here in the meeting to come, but he and the rest of the Tok'ra already knew they owed Melony and Talon all the help they could give – and if that meant helping the Tau'ri find their lost Colonel, then that's what they'd do. Jacob was there to see what that might be.

"It's perfect for what we're doing," Sam told her dad.

They had a meeting scheduled with Tao. And then they were going to invade Melony's secret lab and give Sam a chance to sift through all the notes Melony and Talon might have left – looking for anything that might tell them how they could get Fuglier to work for them – and maybe upgrade her engines to take them to another galaxy in record time.

"It's-"

Jacob was interrupted by the arrival of a small Goa'uld craft – although the Jaffa weren't calling it a Goa'uld ship anymore. Now it was a Jaffa ship – a Liberator. A small fighter that was used when the Mitchell's Jaffa found any resistant Goa'uld populations that hadn't accepted the final treaty Melony had organized before she'd headed for Atlantis. These Goa'uld were given a choice. Free the people they enslaved – including the Jaffa – or suffer the wrath of Talon. The answer was always the same, and the Liberators were the first ships to attack the mother ships. This didn't happen often – there weren't that many Goa'uld left – but it did happen, and even though Melony wasn't there any more, her armies were constantly growing – as were the hordes of people who worshipped her for the very fact that she'd liberated the Jaffa, who had in turn liberated them.

"There's Tao," Daniel said, unnecessarily.

As they watched, the small craft landed, and the front hatch opened. Out of the ship came a single Jaffa warrior, dressed in a traditional mantle of silver chain mail and leather leggings. He was carrying a staff weapon, but it was obvious that he hadn't come looking for a fight. Tao knew these people, and knew how Talon and his host felt about them. They were friends. Her friends, and that made them his allies. And truthfully, Tao knew enough about the Tau'ri that he would much rather have them as allies than enemies, anyways.

"O'Neill."

As visitor – although it was neutral ground – Mitchell's First Prime spoke first. He was huge; just as big as Teal'c and maybe even broader in the chest. The golden seal on his forehead was a symbolized eagle – close enough to the eagle that Mitchell herself favored that Tao felt it was always a sign he'd been the first First Prime Mitchell had taken over.

"Tao." Jack gave the Jaffa a slight bow, using his customs instead of their own – which was designed to remind him that they held him in high esteem. "I'm glad you could come."

"If it is pertaining to Talon and his host, then it is my duty to come and render whatever assistance I might be able to."

Which was his way of asking them what they wanted.

Daniel spoke up.

"Yeah… let's have a seat and talk about that, shall we?"

He gestured to a small grouping of rocks that they'd used as chairs before – although this time there was nothing to give them shade from the sun. The Jaffa would never admit to being uncomfortable, though, and the others didn't think they'd be there long enough to get too sore. The meeting with Tao was just a grasping of straws in the dark.

Tao nodded, and the group moved over to the rocks.

OOOOOOOOOO

Atlantis

Alarms were going off all over the command room, and Sheppard ran into the room, tossing on his Kevlar vest and holster.

"What's going on?" He asked Weir; even though he could see for himself that the gate was dialing in.

"We're getting company," Elizabeth answered. Her voice was steady, although it was tense. They didn't have anyone offworld just then.

"Is it Mitchell?"

"We don't know."

The gate finished dialing, activating behind the shimmering shield of energy that protected Atlantis from invasion, and Weir and Sheppard both looked at Grodin, who was studying the laptop in front of him.

"No signal, yet."

Sheppard gestured to the security teams below him, and they all raised their weapons, ready. He nodded to Weir, who sighed and hoped that she wasn't making a huge mistake.

"Lower the shields."

A moment later several tall, and very naked forms came through the Stargate, and Weir breathed a deep sigh of relief. One that was echoed by Sheppard and most members of the security force – although they didn't lower their weapons and wouldn't until they'd been ordered to.

Kale looked up at the woman standing by Sheppard and smiled.

"Elizabeth. We found something that you might find interesting…"