The rest of the way to the commissary Melony told Jack about recovering from the initial attack of the anti-Goa'uld device, and how she'd been introduced to the others once she'd asked for Sumner. She grew quiet for a moment, though, as both of them thought of their dead friend.
"Major Sheppard told you about Sumner?"
Jack nodded, his hand tightening on her waist, although Melony wasn't sure if it was to give her support or to take comfort from her being there.
"Yeah… he told me. It sounds like something he'd do, doesn't it?"
Melony nodded as well, and the rest of the walk was in silence.
When they reached the commissary, however, they found Daniel, Sam and Teal'c all sitting at a table, accompanied by Rodney and Elizabeth, all of who were nursing coffee and eating breakfast, while in the middle of a conversation that stopped as soon as the other three joined them.
Sam smiled up at Melony, as did Teal'c, both standing up and greeting her – Teal'c's smile positively beaming considering who it was, and Sam's quick hug warm and cheerful; obviously just as relieved as the others to see Mitchell looking so good compared to how she'd looked when she'd last been seen going through the Stargate.
"How are you feeling?" Daniel asked her as she sat down beside him, Teal'c moving over so he could flank her on the other side, while Jack and John sat down on either side of Sam, Rodney being moved to the side as Jack took his place with a look that warned him not to argue about it.
"Much better," she told him, glancing around the group to see who was missing that she might need to talk to. Seeing that really, these were the major players, Melony stole Daniel's coffee cup, taking an appreciative sip – it was the Talonopolis blend – and looked over at Jack.
"I'm going to go back to the lava base today. Want to come?"
Duh.
He nodded.
"I want to hear about the rest of what you've be doing here," he told her, taking Daniel's coffee cup from her and taking a sip as well. He frowned at the slightly odd flavor, but after a moment took another sip. It was pretty good.
Daniel frowned, watching as Jack finished his coffee, but turned to Melony.
"I want to come, too."
Of course he did. The Wraith were a deadly menace, but they were also a completely new species and there was no way Daniel would ever pass up a chance to find out more about them.
"I assume you'll want Colonel Carter and myself to go as well?" Rodney asked, a little pompously, as if he knew the answer already. Obviously, he'd been thinking ahead as well. "Since the problem of being able to get back to Earth has been solved, that frees me up to help you study the Wraith technology."
Melony shook her head, surprising all of them – except Jack.
"No. The last thing I want is the two of you anywhere near those darts right now."
"What? Why not?"
Even Sam looked a bit surprised by that statement.
"I'm not positive they don't have a remote self-destruct command on those darts," Melony told them. "And you two are probably the most important people here when it comes to figuring out their technology. I'd rather not have you both at risk until I know for sure."
Looking both pleased at the compliment and annoyed that he was being excluded, Rodney frowned.
"How are we supposed to help you figure out the technology without being able to get near the ships?"
"Talon and I'll look them over first – using the Goa'uld shielding devices augmented by the Ancient's ones. If we don't get blown to hell, then we'll disconnect the self destruct button that we're pretty sure is in the darts – assuming that it'd be the one that was triggered remotely once the Wraith figure out their patrol isn't coming back – then you can have at them."
Sam frowned as well.
"What do we do until then?"
"There's a pile of other stuff to look at," Mitchell told them. "I stripped a lot of gear off the Wraith I stole the darts from." She looked over at Jack. "Luckily, I brought them back on the first trip – otherwise I'd have to go find more."
"I said I was sorry," Jack told her.
"No, you didn't."
"I didn't?"
"Nope. As I recalled, you blamed Major Sheppard."
John looked over, and Jack gave him an apologetic look.
"I didn't really blame you… so much as tell her… it was your fault we were shooting at her…"
Sam smiled, as did Weir. Obviously Melony wasn't all that upset about the whole thing.
"What else do we need?" Weir asked. "Kale and the others should be back today with the power sources that they've found – providing their council gives them leave to return and help."
"Which they should," Sheppard said. "They've been up to their necks in helping so far, after all."
"True."
"Power sources?" Melony repeated, looking for more coffee to steal from someone.
"They're like miniature ZedPMs," Rodney told her. "Nowhere near as powerful as a ZedPM, but definitely something that might be useful."
"How miniature?"
He shrugged.
"I haven't really had a chance to get a good look at the one I have. What with everything else that's been happening, but they're more powerful than our own generators at least – probably a lot more powerful."
"How many did they have?"
"Kale didn't know," Elizabeth said. "They found them in the ancient city, but they didn't say how many they found."
Melony nodded, smiling gratefully at Teal'c, who had brought her a cup of coffee and placed it in front of her without a word.
"Then if you don't need McKay or Colonel Carter on another project, I'd like them to check out the power source that Kale brought, Doctor Weir," she said, looking at the two scientists. Both nodded, even as Elizabeth did as well.
"That's fine."
Plus it would keep them both off Talonopolis until Mitchell was certain the darts weren't going to blow up.
"I'll come with you," Sheppard offered, smiling a good morning to Teyla who had just entered the room and walked over to sit down next to Teal'c. "Want to come?"
The Athosian didn't know where they were going, but she knew she didn't want to be left behind, so she nodded.
"Yes."
"After breakfast, then," Mitchell said. There was no way she was going to get blown up on an empty stomach, after all.