The man frowned, looking at Dex menacingly.

"I am Cane, leader of the Shasari. Not a light one – whatever that is. You will address me as Master."

Ronan scowled, his weapon still pointed at the man.

"Not likely."

One of the other cats growled, a high-pitched rumble that sounded like a mountain lion about to attack a deer, and Mitchell made it a point to aim her P90 at that one.

"Hold on, guys…" she said, not wanting things to escalate too far to turn back. She'd had her fill of killing cats – and certainly didn't want to get into a war with any Light Ones, no matter what they were calling themselves. "Let's not do anything rash… or anything you'll regret."

Cane glanced at her, about to say something – and then visibly changed his mind.

"Who are you?"

"Colonel Melony Mitchell. These are my companions; Teyla Emmagin and Ronon Dex." She looked pointedly at the cat she had her weapon trained on. "We're not here looking for trouble."

"Then you chose the wrong planet to visit," Cane said.

"That doesn't mean we can't handle trouble," Dex replied.

The Light One – or Shasari, whatever he was calling himself – looked at him dismissively, obviously confident that he and his cat friends had the upper hand and that the three in front of them were not a threat. But he glanced at Mitchell again, and she was pretty sure he had some questions he wanted answered before they killed the trespassers.

Sure enough, he ignored Dex to address her once more.

"What are you?"

"Excuse me?"

"You are not human."

"Yes, I am."

"Your life force is stronger than these," he said, gesturing to Teyla and Ronan.

"Which doesn't mean I'm not human."

"I have never met a human like you…" he said, uncertainly.

Mitchell shrugged, but hoped that meant he was curious enough that he wasn't going to do something stupid. Maybe they could talk it out, after all.

Maybe monkeys will fly out your a-

I get it.

Talon didn't think the Shasari were going to be willing to talk things through. They might look like Light Ones, but they definitely weren't like the Light Ones they knew.

"I'm unique…" Melony told him.

"I should rip you open and find out what it is that is different about you."

"I'd rather you didn't."

One of the other cats shifted, looking from Cane to Mitchell, obviously waiting for a command to do something – and probably unused to having lengthy discussions before taking care of unwanted guests. Cane glanced at him, and the creature stilled, his ears going flat against his head in an obviously angry gesture.

"Pame wishes to kill you now and be done with things," Cane told her, confirming Melony's (and Talon's) guess that these Light Ones were telepathic like their counterparts on the Farmer's planet were.

"Well, that's not good."

As if surprised by the response, Cane hesitated.

"I am not so willing to do away with you, however. Not until I know more about you. And learn whether there are more of you coming."

"Well… I might be more willing to sit and chat with you if your buddies weren't looking at us like a bunch of mice…"

The Light One frowned.

They probably don't have mice on this planet, Talon said.

Whether they did or not, he seemed to understand the analogy, and ignored it.

"Where are you from?"

"That's classified."

"Meaning you won't tell me?"

"Meaning I don't know who you are, and have no intention of sharing that sort of information with you until I know what you might do with it."

"We outnumber you…"

There it was again. Aggressive and confident, Cane wasn't above trying to intimidate her and the others – and they couldn't let that happen, they knew.

"So you think," Ronon said dangerously.

"Are there more of you?"

"We don't need any more," Dex replied, sidestepping the question. The Jaffa at the Stargate were experienced warriors – all the Jaffa were – and they'd been on the cat hunt with Mitchell and the others, but it was best to not let these guys know about them if at all possible – and being confident kept Cane and his people on their guard, which was fine with the Atlanteans.

Cane's pale eyes narrowed, and one of the cats crouched even further, obviously ready to pounce.

Instantly all three of them had their weapons on him, and Mitchell was already reaching with her other hand for her zat, certain that things had just gone from bad to very bad and the next step was going to be a bloodbath. Obviously Cane had decided the same thing, because he was stepping back, starting to transform into his feline form, ready for his own part in the battle.

"Stop!"

The voice was commanding, and seemed to echo through the woods – and inside Melony's head where usually only Talon was heard. It was easily apparent that everyone else heard it, as well, because Teyla and Ronon both froze, turning their heads incredulously, and the cats that were in mid pounce reacted as if they'd been shot, all of them falling heavily to the forest floor and picking themselves up painfully.

Cane had never reached cat form, and was instantly back in full human, reeling just as badly as the other cats were at the voice that must have been echoing through their own heads.

Mitchell turned, more used to the sensation of having voices in her head than Teyla or Ronan and able to gather her wits far quicker.

Coming toward them was a Being… a human shape – about the height of a Light One, but exuding a power that she'd never felt from Kale or any of the others – or from these cat-like ones. He was muscular and handsome, with hair as pale as Cane's and eyes just as pale she saw once he moved closer.

"Cane… this is no way to welcome strangers," the man chided.

"My Lord… I-"

"No excuses," the stranger interrupted. "Apologize."

"That's not necessary," Melony said.

The newcomer turned to her, and she could feel a momentary flash of anger that had to be coming from him. Then it was gone, and he smiled.

"If you say so. You are, after all, the one who was in danger."

"We were doing okay."

He smiled again.

"Come. I will take you to Cabble."

Melony frowned, and glanced at the others.

"Who's that?"

"Not a who, Colonel Mitchell," he said, amused. "A place."

"I don't-"

"You wanted a place to sit and chat, did you not?"

Proving that he was telepathic as well – and probably had been 'hearing' their conversation with Cane.

She looked at Ronan and Teyla, and they both shrugged, leaving the decision up to her.

"Who are you?" Melony asked, more to buy time to decide whether they should go or not. (It wasn't like they could be in any deeper than they already were, though, really).

"I am Hu, God to the Shasari."