"Talonopolis?" Jack repeated, looking at Sam. "Why would you want to blow-"
"They're not going to," Melony said, firmly, her eyes flat and angry at the very thought. "The Mok are extinct everywhere else in the universe, and I'm not about to-"
"Better the Mok than humankind," McKay said.
Mitchell glared at him.
Absolutely not, Talon said to his host. He was just as furious at the idea as Melony was. More, even.
"Look, Colonel…" Sam said, quickly, before Mitchell could really get angry. "We could move the Mok to another planet. Talonopolis is really an ideal place for this plan, though. The base you built is impervious to sensor readings – which means we can hide anything in there, including the weapon that we use to blow the place, and we know it's already unstable, because of all the volcanic activity. I've been there. I've seen the hot room as you guys have been calling it. That's our best access to the volcanic belly of that planet."
"No. Find another planet."
"We don't have time to go looking through a lot of different worlds, Melony," Daniel said. "Sam's right; we can move the Mok someplace safe, and-"
"You have Mok here?" Tao asked, interrupting.
Mitchell nodded.
"Not here, but we found some on the planet they're discussing. A sizeable herd of them," she told her First Prime.
"Really?"
It was the first show of emotion they had seen from the Jaffa, and a confirmation to those who didn't know it already that the Mok were apparently something special.
Mitchell nodded again, and Tao stood up.
"I agree with Lord Talon. This planet that holds the Mok is unacceptable for the plan, and until you find a substitute I will not call upon the Jaffa to assist you."
They all stared at Tao with varying degrees of disbelief and chagrin in their expressions, but Mitchell could feel Talon positively gloating. The symbiote was not willing to lose the Mok – not after finding them flourishing when they'd been thought to be extinct.
"Melony… we need Talonopolis," Daniel said, hoping to appeal to her because he knew that she could get the Jaffa behind her if she was behind the plan. They'd known Mitchell wasn't going to be happy when they announced which planet they wanted to blow up, but none of them had expected a flat out refusal. They'd expected her to listen to reason, at least. Like she had when they'd originally brought up the idea of using the Jaffa to lure the Wraith away from Atlantis. And this time the only danger was to a small group of animals. And even that wasn't certain, because they could always move the Mok to someplace else.
If they'd asked Jack, they would have been told to expect something like this, though.
"You can't have it, Daniel."
"Be reasonable, Colonel…" McKay said. "It's just a bunch of animals."
The look she threw his way this time was filled with disgust and fury, and Rodney backed down immediately. Especially with Tao standing beside Mitchell, looming dangerously close and seeming to swell with anger of his own as he watched them argue with his goddess.
"The Mok aren't just a bunch of animals, McKay," Mitchell said. "They're special, and I'm not going to kill them just so you can keep Atlantis up and running."
She looked at Sam and Daniel, too angry to even be sorry for being stubborn.
"Find another planet."
"We don't have time to survey all the planets on the list and still come up with a viable plan," Daniel said.
"How about if we find a good planet for the Mok?" Sam asked. "A good one. One they can thrive in."
"I would like to see these Mok," Tao said. Like Talon, he'd only heard of the creatures, and was really excited to hear that they weren't extinct as had been thought. Of course, he hid that excitement fairly well, but those that knew him well would notice the difference. Which meant Melony noticed.
"I'll take you," she said.
"But we're not done here, Melony," Daniel said.
"We're done, Daniel," Jack disagreed. He could tell from the way she was acting that Melony wasn't going to change her mind, and that there wasn't any use trying to talk to her until she'd had a chance to get over her anger. He wished that they had told him what they'd been plotting, because they'd certainly bungled it. There were ways to talk to Melony to get her to think reasonably – even about something like this – and he would have been able to advise them. As it was, they'd angered her and she'd clammed up tight. Which was what she always did when she was mad. He knew, because it was what he did, too. After he chewed everyone out around him.
"But-"
"Daniel."
The archeologist backed down. He didn't like it, and it showed, but he stopped arguing. Tao turned to Mitchell once he was certain that there were going to be no further arguments.
"You did not mention the Mok before."
It wasn't an accusation. Whether Talon and Melony liked it or not, Tao thought of her as his goddess and would never take such a tone with her, but it was a question.
"I didn't think it would come up," she admitted. "But I would have shown them to you eventually. I have some pictures that I took of them – and some video. Want to see?"
Why not ask if he liked killing Goa'uld?
Tao smiled and nodded, and she and the Jaffa walked back towards Fugly while the others looked on in varying disbelief.
Weir turned to O'Neill.
"What do we do now, General?"
Jack sighed and looked at Sam and the other scientists.
"Is Talonopolis really the best hope for this plan to work, or are you just being too lazy to look for a better place?"
Sam didn't take offense at the question, knowing that he didn't mean it offensively. He was just making sure that they really needed that planet. She nodded.
"Yes. It's perfect."
"Then we wait for her to cool off a bit, and we try again. This time without springing any surprises on her." He looked at Carson, who had been sitting off to the side more or less just watching events unfold, since no one had told him about wanting to blow up Talonopolis, either. "Why don't you go calm her down?"
"Me?"
"Just go, doc."
He'd use whatever he could get, just then. Even Beckett's relationship with Melony.
Not looking at all excited at the prospect of being used in such a fashion, Carson nonetheless got up and headed off after Melony and Tao.
"What do we do now?" Sheppard asked.
"We wait."