Twenty minutes later, Melony was standing in an almost empty field with Hammond beside her. Fuglier's cloaking device was off now that she was landed, and Mitchell was about ready to go. But Hammond wasn't completely finished with her.
"You are going to be back, right?"
She nodded.
"Eventually, yes."
"Not before you head back to Atlantis, though?"
"No. I'll go there from Melonyville."
"And after that?"
"I'll be back, General Hammond," she told him, feeling warm and fuzzy inside at hi obvious concern. "It just might take a while."
Hammond nodded and handed her the pack he'd been carrying. While Melony's pack was filled with changes of clothing, and extra ammunition for her Beretta, the one he gave her had more important things.
"There's some lunch in there – and dinner if you stretch it out," He told her. "Fresh coffee, of course, and soup in a thermos, too, so you don't have to survive on MREs until you absolutely have to."
"Thank you, sir."
He gave her a smile, and stepped back, knowing she had a ways to go and needed to get going.
"Keep in touch, Colonel. That's an order."
Melony smiled and nodded.
"Yes, sir."
"And tell Jack that he'd better get back here and take his desk back before I go insane."
Her smile widened.
"I'll do that."
The hatch on the ship opened and Melony went through, not being one for long farewells.
A minute later the little ship was powering up once more, and then the cloaking device engaged and Hammond heard rather than saw it take off. He sighed, and headed back to the base, where he'd start getting things ready, just in case they had an influx of refugees like Mitchell had warned might happen.
OOOOOOOOOO
I missed this little ship"Me, too."
She was sitting at the helm of Fuglier, already with nothing to do now that the little ship's hyper drive was engaged. Fuglier had the fastest drive known – and was the only ship to carry it – but it would still take them a full day and a half to get to the planet that she'd messaged Tao to meet her on. During that time, she and Talon would discuss what they'd tell the Jaffa – since they'd promised that they would bring up the issue of the Wraith with them – and they'd start working out which pieces of Fuglier they could strip to take back to Atlantis with them and what would have to be left behind because they wouldn't have time to integrate it into the technology of the Jumper that they'd use. Plans had to be made, but they couldn't really be made with just the two of them this time. Not when there were so many other people involved. Mitchell just wanted to make sure that the Jaffa weren't going to be involved as well. That race of people had already been through enough as far as she was concerned.
OOOOOOOOOO
Colonel Samantha Carter was tired. Not so unusual, really, because she'd had very little sleep in the last couple of weeks – something that she was normally used to, although eventually it had to catch up to her. Like it was doing now. Normally, however, she had Teal'c or Daniel – or even Jack to watch over her and nag her about getting sleep. But it had been different this time. Jack and Teal'c had gone off with Colonel Mitchell to hunt for Wraith, and Daniel had been so preoccupied with the Wraith language that he hadn't been sleeping all that much himself lately. She had been free to work through the night several nights with only breaks to grab a quick bite to eat, or snatch a half hour of sleep when her tired eyes refused to focus any longer.
When O'Neill and Mitchell and the others had returned, Carter had assumed that they were too tired to notice how tired those around them had been. Mitchell's group was dirty and ragged, and had immediately headed for showers and food, telling her that they, too, hadn't been taking care of themselves properly.
Then there had been the briefings and the grumbling about using the Jaffa – and Mitchell's adamant refusal to even ask – which Sam was pretty sure she agreed with, even if it did mean losing Atlantis. Then Mitchell had left to head back to Earth, and everyone had been once more thrown into a flurry of preparations, trying to find that ultimate advantage while at the same time trying to anticipate what the Wraith would do. And Carter hadn't slept any more the next two days than she had the last two weeks. And she didn't figure anyone had even noticed.
She was wrong, though.
Opening the door to her quarters to grab a quick nap the night after Colonel Mitchell left for Earth, Sam was brought up short. Sitting in a chair that had been positioned in the corner of her room was General O'Neill, looking for all the world as if he'd been there for hours – although she knew it couldn't have been anywhere near that long, since he'd been in the conference room with Teal'c and Weir only minutes ago. Beside him, sitting on her bed, was a tray that held a steaming plate of food and a pot of coffee.
Sam hesitated, confusion and worry warring with each other for a moment.
"Sir…"
"Carter."
He was appearing to enjoy her confusion, because he didn't say anything else.
"Um…" she looked around to see if maybe there was a surprise party or something going on that she didn't know about, but there was no one else in the room. "You're in the wrong rooms, sir…"
He gave her a slight smile, one that warmed her heart and made her belly flip-flop.
"No I'm not, Sam."
The warmth in his voice turned her insides to goo, but Sam could also hear a lot of uncertainty in his voice, too, and knew that he wasn't quite as sure of himself as he was trying to appear. Which made her feel awkward, because she wasn't sure what was going on.
"Sir?"
He stood up, and walked over to her, and she felt her heartbeat quicken at the look in his eyes. Eyes she could so easily fall into and never emerge from.
Jack smiled at Sam, and reached out, taking her hand and guiding her over to the chair he'd just vacated. There was no way he was going to be able to sit her on the bed and be able to concentrate on anything – and it was extremely important that he be able to concentrate just then.
"We need to have a talk, Colonel," he told her. "So sit down, would you?"