"Are you sure this is safe?"

The group had entered the forest in a carefully considered formation; with two Jaffa on point with one of the wolves (Char) and Sheppard, three on each flank – each with another wolf and a P90 toting Atlantean – and Ronon, Mitchell and Kale falling back to take the rear to guard against any of the cats coming up behind them. With the remaining four Jaffa in the middle of the group guarding (and carrying) their supplies, Lieutenant Cain was in the most protected spot Mitchell could put him in, but he had been nervous since they'd entered the wooded area, and was constantly watching the trees around him as if he expected to be attacked any minute.

"Nothing will harm you," one of the Jaffa told the nervous young doctor, confidently. Since Mitchell had personally charge him with the specific task of keeping an eye on Cain, the Jaffa was going to make sure he did just that. Cain, however, didn't look all that reassured.

"There's probably nothing this close to the edge of the forest," Ford said, also watching the trees.

"You don't know that, though…"

"Nothing's going to get past the Light Ones."

Cain was new to Atlantis, though – he'd come after the ambush of the Wraith – and he didn't have the same confidence in the Light Ones that everyone else seemed to have. All he knew was that he was offworld and on a mission he hadn't volunteered for, and he was fairly scared – although he tried not to let that show too much.

Ford wasn't fooled, though – and neither were the Jaffa, who were pretty good at reading humans.

Meanwhile, at the back of the group there was yet another conversation going on.

"Why are you doing this?" Ronon asked, as they walked, his eyes watching the trees but his question clearly for Melony.

"Doing what?"

She was wearing the same gear as the Atlanteans; having decided that Jaffa armor was just too hot and heavy for hiking through the woods. She was carrying a staff weapon, however, instead of a P90, for the extra whacking capability that the staff would give her if they ended up in close-quartered fighting.

"Putting these people in danger looking for these cats…" Ronon said, waving at the Jaffa and the Light Ones ahead of them. "You don't live here. It's not your problem."

"You think I should let the villagers try to deal with it on their own?" She asked. "Let them try to kill these things with pitchforks and hoes?"

He shrugged.

"I don't know…"

"They wouldn't have a chance…"

"I know."

"Not to mention, you had a hand in creating the situation in the first place."

He scowled, but he didn't deny it, proving to her that he might have already considered that – which was probably why he'd gone with her and this group instead of looking for a suitable planet to ambush some Wraith with Teal'c. If he hadn't been hiding in the forest, the Wraith wouldn't have come, after all, and the cats wouldn't have killed and fed on them and changed. Ultimately, it was the fault of the Wraith, but it wasn't too hard to put the blame on Ronon, and he'd probably done just that in his mind.

"Which doesn't tell me why you're here…" he pressed.

"For the same reason Kale is," Melony said, reaching out and running her hand through the thick fur of the Light One – who rumbled his approval at the touch. "We can help, and it's the right thing to do."

He grunted, but didn't reply, and when she looked over at him, his expression was unreadable. They continued walking in silence.

OOOOOOOOOO

"We can't use that planet," Rodney said.

Teal'c nodded his agreement. The planet in question was inhabited, and they'd never lead the Wraith to a planet that already had people. Even if it was only a couple of Wraith. The Jaffa hit a button to bring up the next planet, and Rodney shook his head again.

"That one's barren, but there's no place for an ambush of any kind. They'd see you the minute they came through the gate – and if they had a dart, you'd be toast. We went there and it was so hot. It has two suns – although one is far enough away that it doesn't melt the rocks or anything, it's still so hot that the soil is nothing more than dust, and we could probably have fried an egg on the rocks, if we'd have had one."

Teal'c glanced over at McKay.

"I am ready to stop for a while."

The two of them had been looking through the files that Sheppard and the Atlanteans had made of all the planets they'd visited most of the afternoon, and both of them were ready to take a break. Rodney, because his tightly wrapped ribs were really starting to ache and he was ready to go find Carson and ask for something to ease the pain, and Teal'c because he was tired of being in the same room with McKay, who had a story for every planet they'd looked at.

Rodney breathed a silent sigh of relief and nodded.

"I'm all for stopping."

After he spoke with Carson, maybe he could find something to eat.

Teal'c turned the video screen off, but before he could get up, the door opened behind them and Elizabeth walked in.

"Any luck?"

"Not really," Rodney said, before Teal'c could say anything. "Most of the planets we've looked at so far have been ruled out for one reason or another – mostly because of populations of people or something like that…"

Weir nodded.

"Have you heard anything from Colonel Mitchell's group?" Teal'c asked, more than ready to change the subject.

"No, not yet. Do you think we should have?"

Weir hadn't expected to hear anything for at least a day – maybe more – or until they'd managed to catch or kill at least one of the felines.

Teal'c shook his head.

"Probably not. Undoubtedly, they will wait to contact us until they have something worth relaying."

"We'll give them a day or so," Weir said, knowing that he would follow her lead. "If we don't hear anything, we'll give them a call."

"I'm sure they're having a great time," Rodney said. "Camping out in the fresh air… hiking and living off the land…"

Boy, was he glad he wasn't with them.