"Now… I don't have to tell you that I really don't want to end up as part of the landscape, do I?"

Sam smiled over her shoulder at Jack, who was standing behind her, his hand on the back of the chair she was seated in.

"You don't really think I'd crash us, do you?"

He leaned over, his hand resting lightly on her shoulder now. They were the only two in the dart, so they didn't have to even pretend to maintain the whole General/Colonel relationship.

"If you kill me, you're sleeping alone tonight…" he whispered in her ear.

She shivered at the whispery breath in her sensitive ear, and smiled again.

"If you do that again, I'll probably end up killing us both."

He chuckled, and pulled back, resuming the duty of flight instructor. He'd already pointed out to her that the controls were similar to most other flight controls – and had pointed to the self-destruct button so she'd know what to avoid.

"Let's go, Colonel."

It didn't surprise him that she took to the dart naturally. Like those who had already been taught – and Jack himself – she found out quickly that the small craft was very maneuverable and incredibly forgiving – although it was also responsive as hell to the slightest touch on the yoke.

A fair distance away from them, Melony and Teal'c were doing some instructing of their own. Not every Jaffa was a pilot – although very few of them would admit it – but several of those who had volunteered to come to Atlantis had turned out to be excellent pilots, and a few of these were now being trained on the darts as well. They were spaced out some distance from each other – which only made sense since there wasn't a simulator to practice on – but by using only those with the most skill in flying there had only been one close call the entire afternoon, and the Jaffa in question had done a superb job of saving himself and his ship by pulling up before he managed to splatter himself all over the plains he had been flying above.

"They look good."

Indeed

Talon was, of course, just as proud of the Jaffa as Melony was.

The Jaffa didn't know it, but they were auditioning for the role of pilot. Carter hadn't actually told Melony the plan that she had rattling around in her head, but Mitchell and Talon both knew that if she was going to want to use the darts, they were probably going to need a few more pilots.

And the Jaffa weren't the only ones who were auditioning.

"Duck!"

The young Marine came trotting over to Mitchell when she called him, his eyes on the dart that was just coming in for a landing.

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"Are you ready?"

He grinned.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Why do I feel old when he calls me that?

Maybe because you're old enough to be his mother?

No, I'm not.

Pretty close

Melony bit back her next comment, and she and Duck watched as Teal'c and one of the other Jaffa emerged from the rear of the dart.

"Let's go commandeer that ship."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Bah.

They walked over to the dart, and Teal'c greeted Melony with a slight bow, while the Jaffa who was with him gave her a much deeper one. Mitchell acknowledged both of them with a smile.

"How did he do, Teal'c?" she asked, already certain of the answer. She'd been watching from the ground, after all.

"He is a very skilled pilot, Colonel Mitchell. You should be proud of him."

Which made the Jaffa in question raise his chin proudly, his back stiffening even more than it had been.

Melony hid her smile – even the Jaffa weren't immune to compliments, after all.

"I am, Teal'c." She turned to the Marine standing beside her. "Get in the ship, Corporal Sanders. And don't touch anything until I tell you to."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Duck headed into the dart, not even bothering to hide his excitement at having a shot at one of the Wraith ships, and Mitchell dismissed the Jaffa, waited for him to head off to join the others and turned to Teal'c.

"How are they doing? Really?"

"We have several who are impressive."

Coming from Teal'c, that was high praise indeed.

She nodded; glad they had such a talented group.

"Good."

"I will discuss it with you when you are done with this flight, if you wish."

"If he kills me, tell Sheppard I'm going to come back and haunt him."

Sheppard had been the one to tell Mitchell that Duck was a pilot. Not just a pilot, either, Sheppard had said. He was a hell of a pilot – and Melony had no reason to doubt him. But no matter how good a pilot he was, Mitchell was going to be the one to fly with him and make sure of his skills.

Teal'c gave her a rare smile, and nodded.

"I will inform him of such."

"Only if I die," she reminded him, turning and heading for the rear of the dart as well.

OOOOOOOO

She didn't die. Sheppard had been right. Duck was a very good pilot – maybe even a hell of a pilot – and he took to the dart like… well… like a duck took to the water.

Talon snickered silently in her mind at that, but Mitchell ignored him.

"You know what we're doing this for?" She asked the Marine as he brought the dart down for a smooth landing – at least as smooth as anything she could have done.

He nodded.

"We're going to take the fight to the Wraith."

Mitchell nodded.

"I don't know the exact plan just yet, but I do know we're going to need some good pilots."

"Do I qualify?"

She smiled.

"I'd say so."

"Then I volunteer."

"I was hoping you would."

And that was that.

So. We have our pilots.

Now all we need is the plan