Tao was standing about twenty feet from Fuglier, watching the ship when Carson walked up to him. There was no sign of Melony, so the doctor assumed she was inside the little ship getting something, and he started past Tao, thinking that he'd at least have a chance to talk to her in private and maybe help her calm down. Before he could move more than a step, however, Tao had reached out and grabbed him by the back of his collar, halting his progress.

"Hey!"

The First Prime looked at him, unconcerned.

"Has My Lord Talon introduced you to the force field that protects this ship?"

"What?"

"The force field. Have you been introduced to it?"

"No."

"Then go no further or you shall surely die a most painful but sudden death."

Carson paled, remembering that Melony had said something about the protections on her ship and her laboratory on the planet and introducing him to them, but he'd forgotten all about it.

"I forgot about that…"

"Apparently."

He wanted to be annoyed by the superior tone in Tao's voice, but the Jaffa had just saved his life so he couldn't really be annoyed about anything. It had been a close thing.

"Have you been introduced to them?"

"Yes. My Lord Talon asked me to wait, in case someone followed."

"That was wise of her…"

"Indeed."

He stood beside Tao, feeling small and insignificant next to the towering Jaffa, and waited in silence for Melony to return. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Mitchell made an appearance, coming out of the hatch with a small video camera in her hand. She didn't look at all surprised to see Carson standing beside Tao, and she gave him a tight smile when she walked over to them.

"Let me guess… you've been sent to talk sense into me?"

Carson shook his head.

"I've been sent to calm you down a little."

Melony's smile turned a little warmer at the admission, and she linked her free arm through his.

"Come with me and Tao… we can talk while he looks at the video I've shot of the Mok."

He nodded, and walked with her and the First Prime towards a small overhang that would provide a little protection from the sun. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing and would keep the sun's glare off the screen of the video camera. After quickly showing Tao how to use the play selection on the camera – and the reverse and forward so he could look at it again if he wanted to – she took Carson's hand and sat down with him only ten feet or so away from where the Jaffa was sitting.

"So judging from the look on your face while they were telling me this brilliant plan of theirs, you didn't have anything to do with this…"

He shook his head.

"It's the first I heard of any of it. But then, they weren't keeping me in the loop, either."

"Or Jack, from the looks of things."

"That's a fair guess."

She smiled and squeezed his hand. At least it wasn't a conspiracy. Well, it was, but the scientists were the only one involved, and you just had to expect a scientist to come up with a plan like that.

"I'm sorry we couldn't have that time alone…"

He nodded, his eyes locked on her own – and once more he was aware just how lucky he was that it was him she loved.

"I am, too. But there'll be time later…"

He brought her hand up to his lips and turned it over, kissing her palm lightly, and Melony smiled again. Yeah, he was probably the best one to have been sent. Jack couldn't have made her feel as good as Carson did. And for obvious reasons.

"Let's hope."

"This is amazing!"

The exclamation drew their attention towards Tao, who had been watching the video and ignoring them. Mitchell smiled, because she thought it was pretty amazing, too, and squeezed Carson's hand before letting it go and walking over to stand by her First Prime, looking over his shoulder.

"The ones with the things hanging behind their ears are males," she said, pointing to one. "The others are females."

"Did you see any young?"

The eager look in his expression was so out of place to Carson that he stared at the Jaffa and not at the picture – after all; he'd seen the Mok, but never an excited Jaffa.

Mitchell shook her head.

"No. But we didn't have a lot of time to explore."

"This herd cannot be allowed to be destroyed, my Lord."

Melony nodded, looking over at the pavilion where everyone else was with a slight scowl.

"I have no intention of losing them, Tao."

As much as he didn't want Melony mad at him, Carson still had to ask the next question, because he was honestly confused by her outright refusal to consider a plan that everyone else said was their best shot for defeating the Wraith.

"I don't understand…" he said. "Why couldn't they be moved to another planet…?"

Melony turned, and Tao scowled.

"Because they don't exist on any other planet, Carson," Mitchell told him – and he was glad to hear that she didn't sound angry at the question. "We don't know for certain they'd survive on another planet."

"But they did before, right?" he asked. "You told me they were extinct because they'd been killed off because of their fur…"

"They were."

"Then they might be able to survive somewhere else as long as they weren't hunted… wouldn't they?"

She scowled.

"It's not a chance I want to take…"

"The Jaffa could watch them and protect them. Who'd hurt the Mok with the Jaffa around?"

Which appealed to Tao's pride.

"The Jaffa can watch them just as well on Talonopolis."

"Not if the Wraith take over," he pointed out.

Melony frowned, because truth be told, she hadn't actually considered that. The Wraith would make it difficult for her and Talon to keep the Mok where they were – and Talon was grudgingly agreeing even as she thought about it.

We probably would want to move them, anyways, he admitted. Someplace with a large Jaffa population would be ideal, because he's right; the Jaffa will not let anything happen to the Mok

Yeah.

She hadn't considered the Jaffa as caretakers for the Mok – of course, she'd had a lot of other things on her mind, too – but the Jaffa were perfect. And it'd give them something to concentrate on if they started getting bored with farming. Figuring out how to breed Mok could become a lifetime task, after all – even for the long-lived Jaffa.

"We could probably find a good planet for them," Carson said. "One that's just like Talonopolis – or even better. With lots of those hot springs for them to-"

"Stop, Carson," she interrupted, not liking the way he was suddenly pushing the idea onto her. "I'm thinking about it."

I'd like to see the Wraith taken out in one huge swipe, Talon told his host. They're probably right about using Talonopolis – the planet is unstable, and the lava flow will hide any weapon we use

Of course, he wanted to protect Atlantis if he could, too – as long as it didn't kill the Mok or risk the Jaffa.

"The planet's unstable…" she mused aloud. "Not that it's going to implode any time soon, of course, but eventually it probably will – and the Mok would have to be moved anyways…"

True

Bah.