Hanging a Millstone

Prologue

The weather was deceiving. Warm sunshine spilled into the training yard inside the compound. The occasional breeze cooled the skin. It would have been pleasing if Zuri was not watching the Prior do his work.

Bakari was on his knees before the Prior, the man's staff merely inches from the boy's face. Bakari was eleven, just a few years older than herself. He had always been kind and comforting. He was not as questioning as herself, but apparently he was questioning enough.

"No doubt may taint this place. Your destinies cannot be corrupted by sin. May your punishment be a testament to the truth of the Ori."

Zuri gritted her teeth as she listenend to the pale man's words. They were probably going to give Bakari the sickness again. Zuri had suffered it many times, each time worse than before. She pushed some brown hair out of her face and tried not to look away. She owed it to her friend to not look away.

Bakarai's golden hair and tan face reflected blue light as the Prior activated his staff. Zuri tried to ignore the energy pull within herself, a faint reminder of the gift the Ori had given them all. Bakari's eyes glowed as the staff let out a small ball of light. It landed on Bakari's head and tendrils of light rapidly laced themselves around his body. His eyes, lifted upwards towards the sky, shone with a familiar blue light. This is no sickness.

Blue energy lanced from Bakari's form and Zuri swallowed hard. It was so bright. She put her small hands in front of her eyes. She peeked through her fingers. The blue energy seemed like fire as it engulfed Bakari. Her friend made no sound as his flesh turned to ash and the light within exploded, leaving only vapor.

For a moment, Zuri couldn't move. The she finally looked down. She felt a firm hand on her shoulder. It was Alila. She was one of the oldest of them. The Prior spoke.

"You are Enci. Let the truth of the Ori be known."

The truth? The truth was Bakari had been gentle and she could not count how many times he had shared that with her to make life easier, more bearable. The truth was Bakari had only asked one question; he had only wanted to know one thing in return for his service.

Zuri squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't do it anymore. She didn't know if not doing it was an option; this was all she had ever had. She had to try. She stirred up the power within herself. She just wanted to be away. Alila would wander would happen, but only for a minute. The older girl was devout. Zuri felt her body shift and suddenly the sunlight lessened. She opened her eyes. She had teleported into the forest, as far away as her young body would let her go, and she ran.

XXXX

Major Saunders laughed as he handed the last load of antibiotics to Chieftain Jahi. The natives of P9X-0247 were an amiable bunch, as far as he could tell, and had been thriving since they had been freed from under the heel of the Goa'uld. They were also generous allies, letting the SGC look at the weapons, technology and temples the Goa'uld had left behind. They also traded spices and healing agent; some of which had not been able to fight an annoying bug that had been going through the main villages. SG-27 had been called to deliver some medicine, which was fine with Saunders. It beat excavation duty. He knew anything they found would be extremely helpful, but it didn't take away from the fact that it was boring.

"Once again the people of the Tau'ri have proven generous," Jahi began as he and Saunders walked out of the healer's building. "Thank you," he said with a bow.

"Please, chief, it was the least we could do."

"Generous and humble," Jahi bantered back playfully.

Before he could respond Saunder's radio burst to life. "This is Mayfield. We have incoming through the gate."

"This is Saunders. What's coming?" he answered immediately.

"It's priors, sir," the chilled voice said on the other end.

"Priors?" He'd never heard of more than one at a time.

Suddenly cries erupted a couple blocks away. East. Saunders moved quickly. He pushed the chieftain behind him and held his gun. He stalked silently, hearing shouts of terror along the way. He came to the main street; there was a cowering crowd. In the middle walked a prior, an old man robbed in white with a long staff. Beside him were two teenagers, one boy and one girl.

"We come for the harvest. For those who would serve the truth of the Ori," the old man proclaimed. His seemingly blind eyes peered into the crowd. Beside him, the girl and boy held small devices in their hands. They disappeared into thin air.

So that's how they got here so quickly. That did not make things better.

"You are honored with the choosing," the Prior declared. Shouts erupted from the back of the crowd.

"Give me back my baby!" Saunders heard. Gasps went through the throng as the people peered up in the air. There was the boy floating above the crowd, a trail of infants behind him. There had to be half a dozen. The young man landed softly next to the prior, the babies still levitating. Before Saunders knew it the girl had appeared, a clean dozen infants under her power. But Saunders also noticed the device was still in her hands. Maybe… He took aim and fired above the crowd. He hit the device, knocking it out of the girl's hand, but still the children were floated. The rest of his bullets fell uselessly to the ground as the prior stopped them.

"Insolence," the Prior said simply. He lifted his staff and Saunders found himself barreling through the air. The side of a building came up fast. The last thing he heard was the chieftain screaming as darkness claimed him.

XXXX

Cameron Mitchell leafed through the brief report for the seventh time. Beside him, Teal'c was silent, as always. Mitchell already knew that SG-27 has barely escaped with their lives after a run in with not one, but three priors. Saunders had a concussion and Davis had two broken ribs. They had been extremely lucky. The inhabitants of P9X-0247 had not faired well. Just under two dozen children were supposed to had been taken, for what they didn't know. Yet. If Carter and Jackson have anything to do it. Both doctors had put their genius to use on figuring out the one piece of evidence, and the one lead they had, that they priors had left behind—the handheld device Saunders had shot. Mitchell knew that if anyone could figure it out it was those two. He had tons of faith in them. He just couldn't stand the wait. The priors had never been seen with such force, and apparently they were getting younger—Saunders and Davis, both, had reported that two of the priors weren't even old enough to drink. That didn't bode well; the Ori were on the move and up to something. Whatever it was Cameron would bet his next leave that it wasn't good. With SG-27 incapacitated, the relations with P9X-0247 and the lives of a dozen families on the line SG-1 had taken over. Well we would, if the briefing would start?

At that moment Sam and Jackson entered, Landry not far behind them. Sam gave off a small smile to Cameron and Teal'c as she sat down. Jackson just sat down and repositioned his glasses. Cameron tried not to grin back. Part of him still couldn't believe it. He had made it to SG-1 and he had gotten the band back together. Focus, Mitchell, Landry's talking.

"Since time is of the essence, let's try to make this brief," Landry began as he took his seat at the table. "The count of abducted infants is 19. According to SG-27, the priors teleported to the main village, grabbed the children and teleported back to the gate."

"Are we assuming that they somehow teleported the children to them, sir?" Mitchell asked. That part of SG-27's report seemed sketchy.

"That seems to go with all the eyewitness accounts, yes. Now, we're not completely in the dark here. Davis saw the address the Priors dialed into the gate and Saunders was able to cause them to drop one of their devices. Jackson, Carter," Landry.

"Now it took sometime to get past the damage inflicted by the bullets," Jackson began as he sat up in his chair. "But, we have been able to determine that the device is in fact of Ancient origin and exhibits ancient technology."

"Part of the memory core was damaged during the attack, but we have been able to gather some data," Sam explained. "The devices are biological scanners. Not only were they set to scan for a certain age range, but they were set to detect certain DNA signatures and biological compositions."

Okay, so they wanted specific babies. "Did it say exactly what the Ori want with them?" Mitchell.

Sam looked frustrated. "Unfortunately, no. But gathering from the phraseology used in the device, I'm leaning towards augmentation My guess is that the priors are looking to re-sequence the children's DNA and input artificial DNA structures in their own DNA sequence. Now, there's a bit more to it, but the bullet damaged that segment of information. All I can gather is that there's another component or device involved in changing the genetic structure. But the end result would most likely be child with a Priors cabilities."

The room was quiet for a moment. Cameron blinked as he brought his hands to his mouth. Building supergates for hordes of armed masses were one thing, but experimenting on babies?

"I'm really starting to hate these people," Cameron said quietly.

"Indeed," came the deep timber from Teal'c.

Landry looked at them pointedly. "They already have a head start on us, people. Take the address Davis gave us and go get these children."

XXXX

Zuri materialized high in the tree. She had always been small for her age and she easily tucked herself into the nook of the trunk. It had been several moons since she had fled the complex. She opened her eyes and took in all sound around her. Hiding, looking, listening—it had all become second nature to her since she had left. The others hunted her now and if she didn't take it all in she'd end up like Bakari. Just one question, one thing—that's all it takes.

She looked ahead along the common road, the road to the camp. Zuri found three familiar forms upon it. The Prior, Alila and Karu. But, with them were children. Zuri took a deep breath. She knew this day would come, a harvest day. Things were changing. There was talk of new territory that needed converting. They would need fresh blood for this campaign. Especially what with me and Bakari… Zuri pushed the thought away and focused on what was at hand. She didn't know if she had enough energy to take on all three of them. While the Prior was old and didn't have a lot of maneuvering capabilities he was powerful and Alila and Karu were the best among her brethren. No doubt, that's why he had them accompany him.

She doubted that even if she did survive a frontal attack that she could secure all of the infants. Zuri counted. There were 19. Definitely not. But, if she did get them away, what would she do with them? She didn't have time for these questions. It wouldn't be long before they arrived at the camp. And then, Zuri knew all too well, those children would go into the chamber and be changed. Unless….

Zuri closed her eyes and visualized her destination. She felt her power unfold and when she opened her eyes she had materialized inside the training ground. She found herself on the edge of the training yard and she immediately ran to the wall and dipped into the shadows behind a tree. The training compound was constructed in a large circle, with a stone wall surrounding it. At the northern edge of the compound the wall opened to the common road. Just before the opening was the training yard—a large dirt area lined with large pillars. The Prior had once said that the pillars had the story of the Ori engraved on them. Zuri was not certain of the Prior's words now, but she did know that the pillars were used for target practice. She peeked her head around the tree trunk and peered over the distance between her and the yard. The youngest mobile group was at target practice. They were being supervised by five of the older ones. Good. The last thing she wanted to was to hurt one of her younger brothers or sisters. They were innocent, and she had no quarrel with them.

Zuri changed her focus to the buildings on her far left side. Just past the training yard was the temple; its huge brown and white structure dwarfing all the buildings behind it. Beyond that were the quarters, but the temple was Zuri's destination. She looked back at the yard. Everyone was busy, no one was looking her way. That was fine, but she wasn't taking chances. She followed the wall until she had made her way directly adjacent to the back of the temple. She took a deep breath and began levitating herself. She darted through the air and landed next to the temple wall. The back of the temple housed the cleansing rooms and the Prior's quarters. But the Prior wasn't there. She pulled at the door; it was locked. She really didn't want to do this. It was noisy, but she had to get in. Zuri felt for the energy inside her and drove it to her fingers. A small energy blast erupted out of her hand and hit the door. The door flung back and twisted slightly. Zuri took a step into the tall, long dark hall and steadied herself. She tried not to think how familiar this was, how many sicknesses she had suffered in these halls or how many times she had been disciplined. She focused on the 19 infants and sped her way through the labyrinth of halls.

Zuri found herself in the inner sanctum. She crept along the hall and peered around the corner. There was the nursery, behind a long window wall, where the youngest of them were kept. Neema, a tall, dark skinned girl with long straight hair, was tending. She was one of the eldest, like Alila and Karu. She also was a perfect shot and had excellent senses. There was no way Zuri would make it past her. She really hadn't wanted to use more energy, but she had no choice. Zuri teleported herself and sighed when she realized she had made it past the nursery. Just beyond her were the changing rooms and the chamber. The changing room, where they all had accepted their desitinies. It was a somber room bathed in blue light. Zuri slowly walked inside. The room was large. There was no one there, but the room had already been prepared for the children's arrival. In the middle was a large table with enough holdings for two dozen infants. All along the walls were crystal consoles and devices, but those weren't her concern. Just north of her was the chamber. It was a metallic blue half moon shape that was encrusted with crystals at the bottom and beside it was a tall half moon pillar console. Zuri sped over to the console down at the bottom were the control crystals. If she couldn't take the children at least she could stall the changing, and figure something out. Zuri grabbed the clear activator key crystal and pulled it out of its slot.

Zuri wasn't sure if she could teleport again. If she had to teleport she would rather it be on her way out of here, not past Neema's sharp eyes. She'd go out through the front. She raced through the halls, not caring who saw. Now, time was of the essence and besides if she went fast enough they wouldn't catch her. She raced past a class of children her age. She got to the beginning of the training yard when blasts began dogging her heals. At the steps to the temple was a boy around Bakari's age. Zuri could swear it was Faraji, but she didn't have time to check. What was important was his attack had alerted the five older ones in the yard to her presence. Apparently, she hadn't gone fast enough. Zuri stopped and focused her mind on the forms of the five in front of her. She felt her mind take hold and she used her invisible force to slam them against the far wall. She tucked the crystal under her arm and raced for the wall. She levitated herself over it and landed softly on the other side. Zuri closed her eyes and teleported deep into the tree lines.

XXXX

Cameron surveyed the area in front of him, his gun at the ready as the rest of SG-1, SG-12 and SG-14 arrived through the gate. Landry had insisted SG-12 and SG-14 tag along on this one as there was a distinct likelihood there would be multiple priors. And since SG-27 was now spending a lot of time in the infirmary, Cameron had a tendency to agree.

"Everyone accounted for?" Cameron asked as the gate shut.

"Yes," Carter said as she came to stand by his side on his left and Teal'c on the right.

"Alright," Cameron began as Jackson took his place next to Sam. "Birden, you, SG-12 and SG-14 stay here and keep the gate secure. We'll radio in an hour."

Cameron looked out before them. There was a dirt road that wound its way into a forest. Just perfect…

"Betcha twenty bucks that leads to baby snatchers and a nice, cozy trap," Mitchell quipped.

"I do not see how we have any choice," came the reasoning from Teal'c.

Well, before we go OK Coral… Carter had adapted and fixed the Prior scanner. She'd brought it along, stating that if the Priors had used it to find the infants, then so could they. Cameron watched as she consulted the device. "I'm afraid I have to agree with Teal'c. There's a massive amount of the bio-signatures emanating a couple klicks south of here."

"Then I guess we're off to see the wizard," Cameron said.

They started down the dirt road four abreast, guns at the ready.

P9X-538 was like many other planet they'd visited. There were dense trees with dark green leaves on either side of the road. It was sunny, but not too hot and Cameron could hear some birds in the distance. The planet didn't look the least bit like the home of psychotic-holier-than-thou kidnappers. Cameron automatically quickened his place. They needed to get this over with as soon as possible. Whatever the Priors were planning, he hoped they'd spring the trap soon.

"We're coming up on something," Carter announced as she looked down at the device. They raised their weapons and gazed ahead. The road curved dramatically to the left, obscuring the view of what lay ahead. Mitchell took point and rapidly lead them around the curve to—

"A village?" Jackson exclaimed as the town sat before them.

"Why those pesky priors, always keeping us on our toes. Carter," Cameron questioned his comrade slightly. "Are you sure that thing's working?"

Carter stared at the contraption. "According to this, we're in the right place. All of these people have the DNA signatures that have been programmed into the device."

Cameron surveyed the town. It wasn't that big; it couldn't have housed more than two hundred people. The homes were made of simple brown stone and brick; the fashion was reminiscent of the Renaissance. There were two stone rectangular pillars on either side of the entrance into the village. There were engravings etched into each side. Jackson was already walking towards them, his face perplexed at another puzzle.

"Jackson, what we got?" Cameron peppered at the linguist. He knew he probably needed some more time, but that was something they didn't have.

"It's definitely Ancient," the archaeologist began. "It's a declaration for the village. Apparently, this is the village of the harvest; those who birth the Enci."

"Who the hell are they?" asked Mitchell. With all their postering the Ori were cryptic.

"It doesn't really say, beyond the fact that they're the instruments of the Ori."

"Isn't that everybody these days?" Cameron quipped back.

"Uh, guys…" came the concerned voice of Sam.

Cameron and Jackson looked up to see that they had drawn a crowd. Among them came a short, large bellied man with a staff.

"Infidels. You have no place here unless you have come to bow before the will of the Ori," the man said with authority.

"Jackson," Cameron whispered simply. He really wasn't in the mood to speak to a brick wall.

"Uh, we don't know about that," Daniel slowly began. "But, we are looking for some children. They're all infants--"

"The Prior said you would come. You have come to stop the harvest," the man said with a glare.

"Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to stop the blessing?" came a shout. Cameron scanned the ground and found the speaker. It was a diminutive woman, who couldn't have been more than twenty-five. She glared at SG-1 with barely held contempt. She plucked a stone from her feet and hurled it at them. It hit Sam square in the shoulder.

"Hey!" yelled Cameron as he raised his gun at her. This sent a murmur through the crowd and they backed up slightly. "I don't care if you're going to bless 'em, kiss 'em and dump 'em in holy water—they were taken against their parents' wishes and they want them back."

"Then they are fools!" the woman called back. "It is an honor to give your child over to the harvest."

"See, that's just it. Their parents didn't give them up- they were taken," Sam reasoned.

"Wait," Daniel said as he gestured with his gun. "Are you saying that you give your children willingly to the Priors'."

The woman held her head high. "It is an honor."

"It makes sense," Carter whispered to her teammates. "I mean, do you see any children in this crowd?"

Mitchell scanned the faces. There wasn't a person younger than twenty.

"Welcome to the village of the damned," Cameron said to himself.

"More like village of the blind," Sam relied.

"I suggest you return to wherever you call home. You have no say over such matters." The apparent village leader stared at them, his staff held out before him. As far as this guy was concerned the conversation was over. Well, you're not the only one who can be hard headed pal.

"Look," Cameron began pointedly. "We're not going anywhere, so you can either help us or we'll help you get out of the way." Cameron raised his gun simply for effect, but it seemed to do the trick. There was silence for a moment and then the leader stepped aside.

"Fine. You won't be able to stop it. Just follow the road."

At his words, the crowd parted.

XXXX

Village elder Enz watched the backs of the strangers as they left on the common road. The Prior had been right about everything. The outsiders had been every bit as confused and blasphemous as he had said. He just prayed that he had done the right thing, having faith that the Prior and the Enci would handle the threat. His faith in the Ori was strong but the strangers had possessed weapons, that were no doubt powerful.

"Do not worry. Their insolence will cost them their lives," a low voice said.

Enz peered over his shoulder, into the forest. Out of the trees, came a tall, graceful figure. Her long brown hair spilled over her shoulders and complimented her tanned skin. She looked like something from the gods.

"Lady Alila," Enz muttered as he bowed. "I… I…"

Lady Alila purred. "Have peace. For this day, I will kill them myself."