The packs were passed out to the away team and while they were making sure that everything was where it was supposed to be, Melony helped Dex tear down his little camp and put out the small fire. No sense in burning the forest down, after all. He gathered what little he had and put it into a rucksack of sorts, slinging it over his shoulder, and Melony looked at the others.
"Ready?"
There were assorted nods.
"Specialist Dex and I will take point," Melony said, hefting her staff weapon once more and shouldering her own pack. "Ford, watch our six, Sheppard and Teyla have flank." She looked at Rodney, who was still gnawing on the skewer of meat. "Rodney?"
He looked up.
"Yes?"
"You're going to need your hands free in case something happens."
He flushed slightly at the light reprimand and dropped the skewer into the sandy remains of the fire pit, and then wiped his greasy hands on his pants.
"Sorry."
She gave him a slight smile, knowing that his hands were going to be too slick to grab any weapon if he needed one. Hopefully, though, he wouldn't.
"See if you can reach Boyett. He should have made it to the gate by now."
And she wanted to make sure that he and Duck hadn't run into any trouble.
"You left Boyett in the village?" Sheppard asked, frowning.
She shook her head.
"We had him and Sergeant Sanchez with us, but Sanchez fell out of a tree and hurt his ankle, so I sent them back."
"What was he doing in a tree?" Ford asked, curiously.
Mitchell smiled.
"Someone had to check out the dead Wraith in the tree."
John looked at her soiled uniform again.
"So to get even with you for sending him up there, he dropped the Wraith on you?"
That could explain why she was so… well covered… in goo.
"Close."
"Something pulled the Wraith up into a tree?" Ford asked.
"And ate part of it," Rodney confirmed, although he did wish they could come up with a different subject since he'd just eaten. "Why don't we get going so we don't run into whatever it was that did it, hmmm? I'd like to be back to the gate by dark."
"There's plenty of time," Dex said, moving to stand near Mitchell. "Even stopping to get your weapons we'll make the village in only a few hours."
They headed out, Dex's hand on his sidearm, telling Melony that he was being just as careful about the strange whatever it was in the forest as she was.
"How did you catch Colonel Sheppard's team?" she asked, her eyes on the woods in front of them. It was one thing to hold a conversation, but another to not watch what was going on around them.
"I stalked them for about an hour," Dex said, watching the forest as well. "Waited until they were separated by brush and branches and took the opportunity to stun them one at a time."
Mitchell glanced at the weapon at his side.
"That's a nasty piece of hardware you're carrying."
He nodded, drawing the big gun.
"It's a specialty weapon. Stun setting. Kill setting. It'll knock a Wraith back even on stun, and will put a hole in one on kill."
"Will it kill them?" Melony asked, interested. If not for the fact that they were on the move and he needed to have the weapon close – and they needed to pay attention to what was going on around them – she would have loved to try the thing out.
"Not with just one shot, but it will if I concentrate them." He looked at her staff weapon. "What's that?"
"Staff weapon," she said, holding it up so he could see it – although he didn't reach for it, either.
"You can fire it or use it in close combat?"
Mitchell nodded, not at all surprised that he'd seen that immediately.
"Yes."
"I've never seen anything like it."
"It's a Jaffa weapon."
Like that meant anything to him.
"You mentioned Jaffa trackers…" He made it a question, and Melony had no reason not to enlighten him a little.
"The Jaffa are a warrior race, and some of the finest trackers I've ever seen."
"Sound like my kind of people."
She smiled.
"They're impressive."
He moved a branch, holding it for her so she could pass through, and then followed. Having her walk so close beside him, however, reminded him that she was different from those she was with – even different from Teyla, who was admittedly from a different world than the others.
"Are you a Jaffa?" He asked her as he caught up.
She shook her head, pleased at the compliment, even though he didn't realize how much of a compliment it was.
"No."
"You're not like the others, though." Again it was a question as well as a statement.
She shook her head.
"I am, but I'm not. It's a long story. One that I'll be happy to tell you – once we're out of here and that thing is out of your back."
She'd rather he heard that particular story from her than from Rodney McKay, after all.
"Fair enough."
She smiled, and started to ask him another question about the weapon at his side, when a noise caught their attention. Nothing big; it was just out of place in the quiet forest – much like the noise that had alerted her and Talon to his original attempt at ambushing her and McKay.
When he turned to look the same direction she did, she didn't need to ask if he'd heard it as well. He'd already drawn his weapon, lifting it just enough to have it at the ready.
A crashing noise from behind them announced Rodney's arrival, the astrophysicist fiddling with his radio, which he'd been using trying to raise Boyett or Duck, and not paying attention to what was going on around him. He was in the middle of the group, after all, and nothing ever happened in the middle of the group.
Both Ronon and Mitchell turned to tell him to be quiet, and that moment of distraction was all that it took.
A flash of tan dropped down from a tree above them – not from the direction of the noise they'd heard – and there was a scream identical to the sound they'd been hearing from the forest since they'd arrived. Mitchell had just long enough to register that it was a cat – a large cat – before it was on her, bowling her to the ground even as she felt Talon take over and twist to the side. She felt claws catch in the flak jacket she was wearing and knew the thing – and the move Talon had made – had just protected her from what would have been a killing blow. She'd lost her staff weapon, but reached for her knife with one hand, grabbing the creature's neck with the other to keep the teeth off her. They went rolling into the brush, the creature snarling, and Talon just trying to keep up.
Rodney froze, but Dex had already brought his weapon up towards the battle being fought, but the creature was locked with Mitchell and even Dex couldn't make the shot without risking hitting her.
"Kill it!" Rodney yelled, and there was more noise in the background as the others made their way to the scene.
Ronon started to reply, but a snarl from behind him was all the warning he had before another tawny form emerged from the brush and was on him in an instant.