Disclaimer: Based on the Stargate SG-1 novel "The Price You Pay." Story and Characters belong to Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, and those wonderful people at MGM. Maedori is the little girl SG-1 passes in the street in "The Price You Pay," by Ashley McConnell, I just gave her a name. (A combination of two of the other characters names). In other words, nothing you see before you belongs to me.
A.N. This was written for my AP English class. Now I bring it to you. Enjoy.
It was the morning after the return of the Rejected Ones, the morning after the celebrations that followed the opening of the great ring in the center of M'kwethet. Twenty young men and women had been selected as the tribute to go through the ring to the Goa'uld, twelve had returned. Mae'dori's parents had not joined the celebrations this year. Her elder brother had been chosen, but he had not returned.
Mae'dori was three years old, and she did not understand why her mother and father mourned their son. The Rejected Ones taught that to be chosen as a permanent servant of the Goa'uld was the greatest honor. Should they not be proud?
The small girl sat on the edge of the garden wall surrounding their home, thumb in mouth, listening to the occasional sobs from inside.
From across the street came a group of four strangers dressed in odd clothing like nothing she had ever seen in M'kwethet. When they reached the wall where Mae'dori was sitting, she looked up into kind blue eyes covered by strange rings of glass.
"Hi." The stranger greeted with a gentle smile. He had shaggy brown hair that stuck up in several places, as if he had dunked his head under water and hadn't had a comb.
"Hi." Mae'dori replied around her thumb.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to talk to strangers?" Another man admonished with a teasing grin. He was slightly taller than the first with brown eyes and graying brown hair.
"No."
Mae'dori peeked around the mens' legs to take in the entire group, the two men that had spoken to her, a blonde woman and another, larger man with a strange gold symbol on his forehead.
The woman spoke next. "They aren't afraid of what comes through the gate. Maybe the Goa'uld don't come here." This confused her, why would they be afraid of the Goa'uld? Yes, the Goa'uld were their masters and would punish them for insufficient tributes, but they also kept the people of M'kwethet safe. Didn't they?
"No," the larger man replied, as if to Mae'dori's question. "I have seen shipments of goods and slaves I was told were from this world. This is a safe supply world for Apophis. And the Councilors know of them."
"Then the DHD has got to be here somewhere," remarked the one with the graying hair. "It's not as if somebody can open up a wormhole from the other side and pull them through the wrong way. But Where?" The group shared a bewildered look (except for the large one with the mark on his forehead, who remained impassive) and started off down the street, ignoring the confused child staring up at them from the edge of a garden wall.
Mae'dori had no idea what a DHD was, but for some strange reason their conversation about the Goa'uld disturbed her. Maybe there was a reason her parents mourned in her brother's absence. Maybe the Rejected Ones lied when they spoke of the greatness of the Goa'uld and the honor of the Chosen Ones.
But Mae'dori was young, and she didn't yet understand why the stranger's conversation had caused her unease. Besides, it was ten more years before she was old enough to be chosen.
