"Welcome back."
When Jack and Sheppard emerged from the back of the Jumper, Weir and Kale were the only two standing there waiting for them. Telling Jack that the Light Ones had returned with their doohickeys and Carter was off with McKay somewhere studying them.
"Thanks."
"Find anything interesting?" Weir asked.
"Apparently Daniel thinks that the language the Wraith speak – or write or whatever it is they do with it – is some kind of Ancient offshoot," Jack said.
"Really?"
O'Neill and Sheppard both shrugged.
"That's what he said."
"He also said he'd need more time to look at it."
"I speak Ancient," Weir reminded the general, eager to help as well.
"I know. We're not going to remove you from the city, though, and we're not going to bring the device here – just in case there's some kind of homing thing on it. The last thing we need is to have the Wraith coming here."
"So what can I do to help?"
"I'm going to see if Colonel Carter will come back to Talonopolis with us and try to remove the information from the device to something more compatible with our own computers," Jack said. "When she does, we'll bring that information here, and you and Daniel can explore it to your hearts content."
Weir nodded, deciding that that was a pretty good plan.
"I'll take you to Colonel Carter, then."
Jack nodded, and looked over at Sheppard.
"Get done what you need to do, and meet me back here as soon as possible."
John nodded.
"Yes, Sir."
He headed off one direction, while Jack, Weir and Kale went the other.
OOOOOOOOO
They found Sam and McKay in 'his' lab, along with the other male Light One that Jack had been introduced to; Char. The two scientists were studying one of the power sources – which was sitting on the table in front of them – while Char was apparently explaining to them where they'd found it and how many others there were.
Jack scowled to see the male seemingly so chummy with Carter – not that she wasn't more than capable of deciding who she hung out with, he just… didn't like her hanging out with people he didn't know. And definitely not when they were aliens. Aliens always seemed to hurt her – and Jack wasn't looking forward to having to kick some Light One ass if Char did something stupid.
She smiled when she saw him walk into the room – which made his scowl fade – and McKay looked over as well.
"Rodney?" Weir said. "General O'Neill's going to steal Colonel Carter from you for a while."
Now it was McKay's turn to frown.
"Where is she going?"
"To the lava base," Jack said, thinking to himself that if McKay kept sounding so possessive of Sam, Char wasn't the only one that was going to get his ass kicked. "We need her."
"Melony found a device that might have some information on it that we can use," Jack told Sam. "But we-"
"Don't want to bring the device here – in case it's booby trapped, or there's a homing signal coming from it…?"
Jack smiled.
"Exactly."
"I'll get some equipment together and meet you wherever you want me to be."
"There's plenty of things already at the lava base, Colonel Carter," Rodney told her. "I stocked it, I know."
Sam nodded, taking his word for it.
"Then I'm ready."
"Good. Let's get back then, before Daniel wanders off and gets lost. Or gets eaten by the Mok."
"The Mok?"
Jack nodded, his brown eyes filled with humor.
"It keeps following him around. Melony says it's a male, but I think it's a female – otherwise it would have lost interest by now."
"A Mok?" Kale asked, curiously.
Jack looked over at him.
"Yeah. This big cow looking thing with a fuzzy black coat and these two water balloons hanging down on either side of its ears."
Weir wasn't the only one to frown in disbelief, and Jack scowled.
"They look like water balloons."
"They're actually sperm sacks," Rodney said, smugly. He knew because Carson had told him – and Melony had told Carson. "Not water balloons. Colonel Mitchell's correct. It's definitely a male."
There was a definite gleam of humor in Jack's eyes as he looked at Rodney.
"You're sure?"
McKay nodded.
Before Jack could say anything else, though, Sam interrupted.
"We'd better get going, then. I'd like to get back and continue what I've started here as soon as possible."
Weir nodded as well, because she was interested in seeing this Wraith language that might be Ancient as well, and Sam, Jack and the Light Ones walked with her back towards the Jumper bay.
"Did you get a chance to look at the dart?" Sam asked Jack, who nodded.
"I did. And when we get back I'm going to have Melony teach me how to fly it."
"Sounds fun."
O'Neill smiled, reaching out and putting his arm around Sam before he could even realize what he'd been planning on doing.
"Once I learn, I'll teach you myself," he promised.
Surprised, she returned his smile, wondering what had come over him.
"I'll hold you to that, Sir."
Jack dropped his arm, but his smile didn't fade. Even though they ended up waiting for Sheppard for several long minutes.