"I suppose this is a bad time to mention just how little I like camping?"

Sheppard looked over at Cain, wondering – again – if Beckett had been thinking clearly when he'd assigned the young Lieutenant to the away team. The man had done nothing but complain pretty much the entire day they'd been looking for feral Tree Cats. They hadn't had any luck with the cats, and that had made Cain's griping that much more annoying.

"It's a little late for that, yeah," John said, tossing another log onto the fire that one of the Jaffa had started as soon as they'd decided to stop for the night.

The forest was dark and silent, and they'd chosen a small clearing to stop in for the night. Mainly to give them a little space if something happened in the night, and to keep from burning down the forest with their campfire.

"Only we can prevent forest fires," Mitchell had said to the Jaffa, quoting Smokey the Bear. It had made the human members of the group grin – all but Cain, Ronan and Teyla– but the Jaffa hadn't had a clue that she was making a joke (and she'd known that of course) so they'd simply been more careful about how deep they dug their fire pit and were careful to line it with rocks.

"I don't like it…" Cain said, wrapping his arms around himself to get warm and scooting a little closer to the fire. "If I wanted to be out in the woods I'd have become a logger and not a doctor."

"Just make the best of it," Teyla said, patiently. Far more patiently than Sheppard could have – or the Jaffa would have. "There is no choice in the matter."

Cain sighed, and leaned back against the pack that one of the Jaffa had set down nearby. They'd already eaten (a meal of MREs that had given Cain one more reason to complain – although he'd noticed by then that the Jaffa who was always beside him seemed to be getting annoyed, and he'd made sure to keep his griping a little more toward the humans and away from the Jaffa) so there wasn't anything for him to do now but watch as the others settled in and Colonel Mitchell arranged the watches to her satisfaction. At least he didn't have to take a watch with the others. Being a doctor had its advantages sometimes.

"Double watches," Mitchell was saying, separating the Jaffa into groups with the humans and putting each group with one of the Light Ones – who were still in wolf form. "Sheppard? You have first watch. Wake me when you're done, and I'll wake Ford and Ronan." That would leave Teyla's group for the dawn shift – which was the shit shift, really – but it would also allow them to have the most unbroken sleep to compensate.

Melony looked at those who were teamed with the humans she'd mentioned, waiting for any questions, but the Jaffa were all pros, and the Light Ones were more than capable of being awake the entire night if necessary. Sheppard headed out with his group – and Kale – for their watch, and Mitchell came over and sat down by the fire next to Cain, stretching out and propping herself up on her elbows. A low growl behind them startled the doctor and made Mitchell look around. Char was sitting close at hand looking at her expectantly. When Melony sat up to see if she could figure out what he needed, the Light One simply moved into position behind her, silently telling her that he was willing to be her backstop.

She smiled, touched at the consideration, and leaned back once more, this time into a soft furry body.

"Thanks, Char."

There was a soft rumbling in reply, and Cain looked over at them in disbelief. Bad enough he was pretty wary around the huge creatures (and how did she manage to tell them apart?) but to have one willing to be cuddled up against like that… it was crazy. Crazier than anything he'd faced that day at least. Everything was crazy since he'd gone through the Stargate.

"You should get some sleep, Lieutenant," Mitchell told him. "Tomorrow's probably going to be a lot more of the same." (is anyone reading this?).

He nodded, silently, and pulled a blanket from his pack. It wasn't cold out, but it took him a long time to fall asleep.

OOOOOOOOO

Wake up, Hot Shot

The words in her mind woke her even as she heard someone kneel down silently beside her, and was sitting up as Ford reached his hand out to shake her awake.

Quietly, Talon warned.

"What's up?" she asked, softly. She could see the concern in his expression in the faint light of the full moon above them. The fire had long since died to almost nothing – only some glowing embers – and it didn't give off any heat and precious little light.

"Something's happening…" Ford whispered.

Char had been behind Mitchell when Ford had arrived at the fire pit, but when she'd sat up the Light One had stood up, his nose in the air, testing the night with all his senses, his body rigid.

Melony immediately had her Beretta in her hand, and she went into a crouch, looking around the clearing. The Jaffa who weren't on watch were waking up as well, each of them reaching for staff weapons while watching the perimeter of their camp. None of them could hear anything or see anything, but the three Light Ones that had been off watch were all on their feet and tense. More importantly, none of them were changing form to explain what they were sensing, which meant they thought they needed the form they were in just then.

She glanced at the sleeping form of Cain, wondering if she should wake him.

He won't do you any good, Talon said, giving his vote to just let the doctor sleep. Lin'at won't let anything hurt him

Sure enough, the Jaffa she'd assigned as personal bodyguard for the doctor was already moving into a protective position near him, silently watching the dark with his staff weapon in hand. Melony gave a purely mental agreement, and reached out to put her hand on Char's shoulder.

The Light One tensed even further, his attention on the trees around them and a low growl forming deep in his chest.

"Ford…" she whispered, looking over to him. When he turned his head from the outer perimeter, she motioned for him to start building the fire up – and put her finger over her lips to remind him (unnecessarily) to do it quietly.

The Lieutenant moved towards the firewood they'd gathered the night before and started quietly piling some of the logs onto the embers, paying far more attention to his surroundings than to what he was doing.

"Something is out there…"

Ronon had appeared from nowhere, moving as silently as the Light Ones. He was knelt beside her, his huge gun in his hand and his eyes trying to scan the forest around them as well.

"Any idea where?"

He shook his head.

"Everywhere, to judge by the way the dogs are acting."

"The-"

A scream from the darkness interrupted her and it was immediately followed by a furious snarl. Immediately the still night turned into a chaos of screams, snarls and battle cries, and Mitchell turned just in time to see several huge dark shapes hurtling toward her and the others around the fire, fangs and claws gleaming in the light of the slowly growing fire.