"What do you mean?" Jack asked, curiously, thinking that she looked cute when she looked smug like that. Which made him scowl, because he knew where that particular thought had come from, and while he didn't mind thinking it, he'd almost been ready to say it – and that wasn't acceptable.

"One of the devices we found in that pile of things Colonel Mitchell left with us is a communications device," Sam said.

"Like a radio?" Sheppard asked.

"No," McKay said, shaking his head and acting as if it was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard. "We'd never be able to pass off our voices as Wraith – even if we had someone fluent enough to speak their language."

"This thing acts like a sort of telemetry," Sam interjected. "More like… a telegraph machine than anything else, I suppose – only with written language. Kind of like sending an email – only you can set it so that not only does one hive ship get the message, but all of them do."

"All of them?" Melony asked.

"It makes sense if you think about it," Sam said. "They'd need to be able to communicate with each other – to keep from overlapping their feeding areas or overusing any particular area…"

"Gruesome thought," Jack said. "But it makes sense."

There was silence around the table for a moment as they thought about that.

"That's how we know that the Wraith are on their way here," Elizabeth said, breaking into the silence. "We managed to get into their system and read those messages…" The look on her face plainly told them all that they'd read other messages that weren't very appealing, either.

"Yes," Daniel said. "The hive ship that was originally woken early spread the word to the others as they started waking, telling them of new feeding grounds with unknown – but rich – resources. They're all going to eventually converge on us, here."

"Staggering their arrivals?" Sheppard asked.

"No. They'll arrive at the same time, figuring that the best way to get the information they need will be to overwhelm us with sheer number."

"The odds would be on their side that they'd manage to capture someone willing to talk – and worse, give away Earth's address…" Melony said.

Daniel nodded.

"That's what they're thinking, we're pretty sure."

"Well, that's not going to happen," Jack said. "Whether we come up with a plan of attack using the Jaffa or without the Jaffa, we're going to start evacuating non-essential personnel back to Earth."

"Do we have enough power to do that?" Sheppard asked. He knew they'd brought some crystal something or the others that were supposed to give them a lot more energy, but he didn't know how much, and he thought there might be better uses for whatever extra power they had.

Sam nodded when Jack looked over at her for the answer.

"We have plenty," she said. "The crystals Tao and the Jaffa found are more than enough to augment the naquida generators – and add to that the new power sources that the Light Ones have brought in…" she trailed off, shrugging. "We don't have enough to power the shields and beat back the attack that we know is coming, but we'll be able to put up a pretty good fight."

"We're not fighting here," Jack said. "There's no way I'm going to risk losing a battle that might leave Atlantis standing."

"Actually," McKay said. "It's not standing… it's floating. On the water." He added as Jack shot him a scathing look.

"So if we're going to do anything, we need to take the battle to the Wraith," Sam said. She agreed with O'Neill on that.

"They're not all traveling together," Daniel said. "They're traveling in groups – at least we're pretty sure they are."

"Kind of like Carrier groups, sir," Sam said. "Hive ships surrounded by all sorts of back up ships."

"Yes," Daniel agreed. "So if we want to get them all together – but not here at Atlantis – then we're right back to the need to lure them away from here with the promise of something even better than what they think they'll find here."

"A new, rich, feeding ground," Jack said.

"Exactly."

Melony scowled.

If we got them all together, we could probably figure out a way to blow them all to hell, Talon told her.

Fuglier can't get through the gate, Melony said silently.

There are other ways. We'd just have to think of them

True.

Bring it up, and see what they think

"If we can lure them somewhere, we could probably use the crystals and the power sources Kale and the Light Ones found and do some serious damage to them – if not finish them completely…"

Everyone stared at her, and Mitchell scowled again.

"It worked once, why couldn't it work again?"

"You mean with the Goa'uld?" McKay asked, feeling a shiver run up his spine. He hadn't considered that, but she was right; if she had blown the Goa'uld up, there was no reason it couldn't work on the Wraith as well.

"Why not?" She asked, looking around the table.

"We don't have a ship to blow up," Daniel said. "Fuglier won't fit through the Stargate."

"Not to mention we don't have enough crystals to create anywhere near the explosion we'd need – if we even had a way to get the Wraith all together. Or a way to know if an explosion could get through their shields…" Sam said.

"And we don't have that shield dropping device," Daniel added.

"The device can be removed from Fuglier," Melony said, shrugging. "I've got to go back to get the rest of the crystals from Tao, anyways – since I imagine he wouldn't turn them to anyone else."

"No, he won't," Jack said. "You're going to Earth, then?"

She nodded.

"I'm going to have to. While I'm there, I'll pick up Fuglier to get me to Tao, and then take her to Melonyville and strip what I can off her."

"Want me to come?" Daniel asked.

She shook her head.

"You're needed here. I'd like to know more about the Wraith technology – what it can stand and what it can't – and you and Doctor Weir are the only two that read Wraith all that well. Colonel Carter and Doctor McKay will need help with their research."

"I'll come," Jack said.

Melony shook her head again.

"I'll go alone, Jack. You need to start evacuating people – and Doctor Weir is going to be too busy to do it herself. Which means you're going to have to do it for her. I'd also like you to start trying to come up with a way to get the Wraith where we want them. If all else fails, we can use Atlantis as the catalyst."

"But-" Daniel started to object, and Melony raised her hand to stop him. "Come up with a way to lure them away, and we won't have to, Daniel. But as far as I can see, the only thing that every Wraith wants is Atlantis. Which means it'd be perfect."

"If we had the Jaffa, we could lure them-"

"I'm not going to use the Jaffa, Daniel. I-"

"Just ask them, Melony," Daniel said, his expression pained. He understood where she was coming from, but he absolutely couldn't agree to blowing up Atlantis. Not if there was another way.

She crossed her arms over her chest again, and glared at him, while he met her gaze with his own pleading look, and finally she sighed.

"Fine. I'll bring it up. But I'm not making any promises – so don't count on them coming."

He smiled, relieved that she was willing to unbend just a little. It was more than he had really hoped for.

"Thank you."

"No promises…"

"I know."

Then, from beside her…

"Can I come with you?"

Everyone turned to Carson, who had spoken up, and then they glanced at Melony, waiting for her to come up with a reason that Beckett couldn't go, either. Jack had pretty much decided Melony wanted a chance to be alone for a while, to consider her options, and Daniel had just assumed she was tired of being responsible for others and would welcome the break. Surprising all of them, after only a moment's hesitation, Mitchell nodded.

"If you want to, yes."