That afternoon was a reaffirmation to Mitchell just how talented those around her were. When she and Jack landed the dart in the field, O'Neill proclaimed himself ready to try the craft himself, and with him in the pilot's seat and Melony holding tight to the back of the chair, Jack proved that he was just as adept at learning to fly the thing as Mitchell had been.

She wasn't surprised. Not really. The little ship was really pilot friendly – if you had the talent for flying – and Jack definitely did. And once they landed, Sheppard and Teal'c proved to her that they, too, had that ability, because Melony didn't have any more trouble teaching either of them than she had Jack.

She pointed out the self destruct button to each of them, as well as the control that brought out the DHD – or whatever it was the Wraith called it – and explained that the rest of the controls would pretty much have to be figured out as they went along – such as the navigation controls and sensors. Since none of them spoke or read Wraith, they'd just have to wing it. Luckily, all of them were used to doing just that.

By the time the sun had reached its zenith and was beginning to go down, Mitchell was satisfied that each of them would be able to pilot a Wraith dart if necessary – and hopefully it would be – and called it a day, saying they'd better get back and see how things were going with the others.

"We haven't heard anything," Jack pointed out as they separated (Melony and Teal'c to the dart, Jack and Sheppard to the Jumper so John could give the general a quick lesson in piloting that craft as well). "So things must be going okay, right?"

"Sure…"

Of course, with Daniel you never knew, right?

Jack gave Mitchell a partial smile.

"We'll see you in a few minutes."

She tossed him a salute – a parade ground perfect salute that was only marred by the fact that she was smiling.

"Yes, sir."

They headed their separate ways, and a moment later both craft were lifting off from the meadow and heading back for the ravine parking lot.

OOOOOOOOO

When they returned to the lava base they found that their concerns – however small – were unfounded. Daniel hadn't wandered off. He'd been too fascinated with the the Wraith dart and the information Sam was supposedly getting from it to go wandering around a bunch of lava tubes. (Of course, had he been a geologist or a vulcanologist rather than an archeologist it might have been another matter entirely)

"How's it going, kids?" Jack asked as they emerged from the tunnel about forty minutes after they took off from the field.

Sam looked up from the laptop she'd been fiddling with.

"We're done, sir."

"Done?"

"Well, I've finished extracting the information from the device and inputting it into the computer," she qualified.

"Already?" Sheppard asked.

Sam nodded.

"It was a lot simpler than I expected it to be. Daniel's right; the Ancient's language and the language on this device – presumably Wraith – are very similar, which made it easy for the computer to accept the new characters, because most of them were already characters it had been integrated with when they brought it from Earth."

Jack gave her a look Sam was completely familiar with.

"It already knew the language, sir," she clarified.

"Oh."

"So you're ready to turn it over to Doctor Weir and Daniel, then?" Mitchell asked.

Sam nodded again.

"I've taken advantage of the time here to gather a little more data from the ship and put it on the hard drive as well, so the two of them should have plenty to work with. Probably."

"Good," Jack said, looking around and counting heads once more. Something he was used to doing where Daniel was involved. "Let's head back to Atlantis, then."

"But, sir, I could start on the ship's technology," Sam said. "Now that I'm finished with the data switch I-"

"Colonel, we'll be back first thing tomorrow. After we've managed to get some sleep and something to eat. And we'll even bring McKay so you can have help."

She nodded, seeing the practicality of that – besides, she was hungry, and they'd only brought MREs with them. If they went back, she could sleep in a bed instead of on cool lava, and she could have a real meal.

"Yes, Sir."

"Where's your Mok, Daniel?" Melony asked, curiously, looking around, now that things had been decided.

Daniel reddened slightly.

"It wandered off – probably to graze, or whatever they do."

"Too bad," Jack murmured, and Sam hid her smile, knowing full well that he'd wanted a chance to tease Daniel a bit. Ah well, that could wait as well. "Let's get going." And he led them towards the exit tube, and the Jumper.

OOOOOOOO

Once again, it was Weir and Kale who were waiting for them at the Jumper bay. This time, however, Rodney McKay was there as well.

"Welcome back, General," Elizabeth said as Jack and the others disembarked.

"Thanks."

"Any luck?"

Jack nodded, but didn't say anything. Sam, however, handed the laptop she'd been carrying over to Weir, who took it.

"This holds a copy of everything that device that Colonel Mitchell and Talon discovered on the Wraith dart. Most of it looked like 'writing' of some sort – although there were also some technological speculations of a sort that I wasn't able to decipher just then. Maybe the blueprints to building a dart or something."

Weir looked at it with eagerness and at Sam with just a little awe, and Jack knew it was because she was impressed at what Sam had accomplished in just that day.

"Thank you."

They could all tell that she was eager to head off and start looking through it immediately, but like Daniel, she had to wait, because Jack spoke up next.

"I want to have a quick briefing before you get too involved in that, Doctor Weir."

She nodded.

"After we get cleaned up and get a bite to eat," Mitchell added. She hadn't been doing anything all that grubby that day, but she felt grimy and she was hungry.

Weir nodded again, as did Jack.

Kale stepped forward, smiling down at Sam.

"Are all the women where you come from so intelligent, Colonel Carter?" He asked.

Jack scowled thunderously as Sam blushed brilliantly for no reason at all – it wasn't the first time she'd ever been complimented about being smart, after all – and Mitchell noticed the look, even as Talon figured out the reason before she did.

You'd better have a talk with Colonel O'Neill, Hot Shot. And the others, too

Why? It was an honest question, Melony said, silently. All he's seen are the scientists Weir brought with her – why wouldn't he think that it is unusual that they're all brilliant?

O'Neill looks ready to go into Alpha Male mode, Talon noted, and I'll bet your last dollar that it's because of those pheromones that Kale is giving off

What?

She looked over at Jack again, and realized that his initial scowl hadn't faded like it should have.

"Jack?" she spoke up, agreeing immediately with Talon. "We need to talk for a minute before the briefing."

"After we eat," O'Neill said, not even turning her direction.

"Now."

Now he scowled at Melony, but she didn't back down, and he knew she wasn't going to.

"It's important," Mitchell added, lamely.

Jack nodded.

"Let's go, then." He looked at the others. "We'll meet you in the commissary."