"Back up?" Sheppard repeated.

It was Teal'c who answered, though. The First Prime well aware of what Mitchell was planning.

"How better to find a cat than with a dog?"

Everyone looked at him with varying degrees of understanding, but Dex was still watching Mitchell, his expression clearly showing he didn't have a clue what she meant.

"We're going to ask for help from some allies of ours," Melony explained. "They have a peculiar ability to transform themselves into very large wolf-like creatures, and might be exactly what we need to help track down any more of these cats."

"Presuming they're willing to help," Weir said, smiling despite the words. She was well aware that the Light Ones would come if Mitchell asked them to. And there was no doubt that Kale would be with them – she hoped.

"They'll help," Rodney said, shrugging. "They live for that kind of thing – helping humans and all that."

"They aren't human?" Dex asked, interested.

"Nope."

"They look human, though," Sheppard said, quickly. "They're just tall…"

"And naked," Rodney added.

Melony shook her head; not at all surprised that McKay was the one who had added that little detail. Talon snorted as well, causing her to smile.

"They sound… interesting…" Ronon said, uncertainly. "I'd like to meet them."

Melony nodded.

"That won't be a problem. It'll probably take them a couple of days to respond to our request, and that should give you time to go home and check in with your people and let them know that you're alive. If you're interested in coming with us to hunt for cats, you can just come back…"

"That's fine," Dex agreed.

"But you can't go anywhere today," Carson said. He hadn't missed the fact that Ronon was drooping a fair bit. "Today you spend resting and gaining your strength back."

He looked like he was going to argue, but he glanced at Melony for a moment, and then back to the doctor. And nodded.

"Okay."

Surprised that he wasn't going to get more of an argument, Carson smiled.

"A bit more rest will have you feeling far better than you'll know."

"That's what I'm going to do today, too," Mitchell said, standing up. She looked at Weir. "Would you mind sending a message off to Kale?"

"Not at all."

"Thanks. If you need me, I'll be in my quarters."

She was still a bit beat up, too, after all, and could use some time in bed.

Alone?

Hush.

Luckily, she was more than used to comments like that coming from Talon, so she wasn't even blushing when she left the room.

OOOOOOOOO

"Colonel Mitchell?"

Melony looked over her shoulder and saw one of Lieutenant Ford's men standing at the door to the gym. He saluted, since he was wearing a sidearm, and Melony returned it.

Kline

Thanks.

"Yes, Corporal?"

"Colonel Sheppard asked me to come get you, ma'am. He's in Stargate Operations."

Mitchell frowned, wondering if the Light Ones had answered already. It was the morning after they'd sent the message, and it seemed like it was too soon for a reply, but maybe they'd been hanging out with the Farmers when the message was sent.

If that was it, Weir would have sent for you, not Sheppard

Good point.

"Tell him I'm on my way, Corporal. Thank you."

The corporal saluted, Melony returned it, and the young man took off at a trot.

She looked back at the people who were working out in the room. It wasn't her self defense class; this one was being taught by a couple of the Jaffa – who were intimidating enough that even the cocky Marines in Atlantis were willing to listen to what they were being told. She'd just been watching to see if there was anything she could do to help. Of course, there wasn't. The Jaffa were competent instructors when they wanted to be – and these Jaffa were some of the best instructors that Teal'c had.

"I'll be back in a bit," she told Duck, who had been watching the lesson as well – and participating when given the opportunity.

"Yes, ma'am."

OOOOOOOOO

There was a fair-sized group of people standing in front of the main monitors when Mitchell walked into the room. All of them were looking at the monitors, and even though none were facing her, she could feel the tension in the room.

"What's up?" She asked, crossing the room and looking at the monitors as well. What she saw was a picture of what looked like a ransacked city, leveled more or less and pretty much in ruins.

There's no smoke, so it's not recent

Yeah.

Sheppard turned at the sound of her voice, as did Ronon Dex, whose expression was bleak.

"We have a problem," John said.

Melony looked at the screen again, and then at Dex. It didn't take a genius to connect the dots.

"That's your home?"

He nodded.

"They say it is."

"It's the address he gave us," Weir confirmed.

"Looks like Wraith…" Sheppard said. They'd seen plenty of other cities that looked just as bad – although now that the Wraith were gone it was going to happen less frequently.

"Yeah." She could see that. She looked at Dex again. "There might be survivors. Let's go check it out."

Wordlessly, he nodded, but his expression plainly said he didn't expect there to be anything alive in that mess. Unfortunately, Melony was in total agreement.