"Doctor Weir was just telling us about some of the other races they've met," Carter told O'Neill, ignoring the threat of being mentioned as a conspirator to shoot Mitchell down. Time enough to worry about that later, after all.

Jack looked at Kale, who was towering above the others.

"Yeah?"

She nodded, as did Kale and several of the others.

"Some of them have proven to be allies we can depend on, General," Weir said, also turning to Kale. "The Light Ones and the Farmers who live on the planet with them have proven not only to be good trading partners, but Kale here is the one who helped Colonel Mitchell find the lava base."

Jack scowled. His first impression of the Light One hadn't been all that favorable – of course he'd been irritated at the time, which would always color things, he knew – and he hated to have to change an impression once he'd made it.

"Is that so?"

Kale smiled, not at all taken back by the stranger's scowl. He'd finally figured out who this man was, and had realized that this was the one person Colonel Mitchell had spoken of most frequently as they'd sat around fires on quiet evenings, talking. Kale liked Jack O'Neill already, whether O'Neill wanted him to or not.

"Colonel Mitchell is seeking an end to the Wraith – an admirable and noble cause – and one my people would aid by any means we can."

"Ah."

Well what could he say to that?

"So… do you live here, then?" Daniel asked Kale, his gaze also taking in Kelan and Char.

Kale shook his head, but before he could say anything, Weir interrupted.

"The Light Ones have discovered a type of power source on their planet and Kale and the others are here to show them to us, to see if they're something we can use."

"And are they?" Sam asked.

"They're-"

"Why don't we take this conversation out of the hallway?" Jack asked, interrupting as well. He didn't want to stand around when he didn't have to, and he didn't like having the Light Ones towering above him like they did. Sitting would be better.

Weir nodded, seeing the reasoning behind that.

"Let's go back to the conference room. Rodney? Will you go get the device Kale and the others brought?"

"I'd like a tour of this place," Daniel said, looking around. If Jack wasn't worried enough about Melony to want to stay by her side, then Daniel wasn't going to panic over her being injured, either, and he was beginning to realize that he was actually in the lost city of Atlantis. Atlantis!

"Later, Daniel," Jack told him.

"But, Jack, we're-"

"I know, Daniel. Later."

He didn't care about Atlantis. Really, he didn't care about the technology that the Light Ones – or anyone else – could bring to the table, either. He just wanted to hear more about the Wraith, and knew that the technobabble was probably more important to the goal Melony had given herself than the city was. And he wanted to know more about the people Mitchell and the others had aligned themselves with. Melony was a fine judge of character – she liked Jack after all, right? – but he wanted to see for himself what kind of people Kale and the others were.

Daniel was disappointed, but he didn't argue. Plenty of time to see the city, he supposed. It wasn't like they were leaving that afternoon or anything – although they definitely had the ability to get back, and Sam had made sure to send a message back through the gate before it had dropped, telling Hammond that they were safe – and had found the missing expedition as well. So the people in the SGC wouldn't be worrying about them, either.

The group turned and headed back for the end of the hall, which led to the briefing room, but Jack held back for a minute, gesturing to Beckett.

"If she wakes up – even for a minute – come get me."

The doctor nodded. He was pretty certain, though, that Talon would keep Melony out for a while, to facilitate his healing.

OOOOOOOO

"So this thing isn't a ZPM?" Sam asked, looking at the device that Rodney had brought to the briefing room, sitting it on the table in front of them all.

McKay shook his head.

"There are similarities, I'll admit, but they don't generate anywhere near the power the ZedPMs do – although it's still an important find – and it's always possible that the Light Ones will find even more powerful ones when they continue to search their city."

"Tell me again why you don't live there anymore?" Daniel asked.

"Because we do not-"

"Daniel." Jack interrupted, again. He wasn't in the mood for a story. Especially since they'd skirted this issue once already. "Later."

"So…" Char had turned to Teal'c, who had remained mostly silent during the last hour or so while the others had been speaking. The Jaffa intrigued the Light Ones, though – as he did Teyla as well – for the same reason Mitchell did. Teal'c's symbiote caused his life force to shine brighter than those around him, as Talon did for Mitchell. And the Light Ones had heard of the Jaffa from Kale, who had heard of them from Melony. "Do your people truly believe Colonel Mitchell is their god?"

Teal'c turned to O'Neill, wondering if he should answer this, but Jack shrugged. Who knew what Melony had told them – although Jack knew that she would never have boasted about such a thing.

"Many of them do, yes," Teal'c said. "I, myself, know better – although my people owe her a great debt, as do I."

"She's a worthy ally," Kale said with affection, causing Jack to scowl. He didn't like how chummy everyone was with Melony – especially the tall aliens.

Of course, he hadn't missed just how chummy Elizabeth Weir seemed to be with Kale, either – that was hard to miss, considering how close he was sitting to her and the tender looks he'd toss her direction. Jack wasn't so sure he liked that, either, and he knew he didn't like the way Char was looking at Carter whenever she spoke up. Something about these people just oozed sex appeal, and Jack didn't like that, either.

"Back to these non ZPM things," Jack said, ending the mutual admiration society meeting for the moment. "What can we do with them?"

McKay shrugged.

"We can use them to power the systems in Atlantis for several years."

"That's it?"

"They're not that powerful, General. They're much better than our own generators, but they're-"

"What if we could augment their power?" Sam asked.

"What?"

"We brought crystals with us," Sam said, gesturing to the bag they'd brought through the gate with them. It was filled with the crystals they'd received from Tao. "Similar to the ones that Colonel Mitchell used on Fugly when she-"

"How many did you bring?" Rodney asked. He didn't need her to tell him what the crystals did; he already knew. How many times had he wished he had some here on Atlantis?

"Several."

"Why?" Weir asked. "What crystals? What-"

"With even one good-sized crystal we could bring the shields back online," Rodney said, interrupting. "With more than that, we could have a steady power source to bring the gate online, able to go back to Earth at any time – and could send back some of the power devices so they could open the gate to us at any time as well."

Weir stared at him.

"They're that powerful?"

"They're not powerful at all, Doctor Weir," Sam said. "They simply augment the power in other things."

"Could you imagine what they could do with a ZPM…?" Rodney said, speculatively.

There was a silence around the table at that statement. Most of them didn't have a clue, but the ones who did looked so stunned at the thought that the others couldn't deny that it had to be something fearful indeed.