Daniel shrugged his shoulders, "Without having met them, I don't know how we should approach them… My guess is that we tell them Thor sent us."
Jack looked over at him, "That's it? That's your plan?"
"Do you have a better one?" he shot back.
He stared at his friend quickly before looking up to the control room and spinning his hand in a short circle, "Dial it up."
When they arrived on the other side they looked around and were unimpressed by their surroundings. "Are desert planets popular these days?"
His teammates all looked at him questioningly before heading away from the Stargate.
"What?" he asked them as he jogged to catch up with them.
Sam looked over at him, "You weren't at that last desert planet so you can't complain… sir."
He shrugged his shoulders in response as he walked beside Sam. "So where are we headed?"
Sam pointed to the looming rock wall that lay several miles away.
"Why?"
"Because it's the only structure in sight and only place where people might possibly live," she explained to him.
Jack nodded his head accepting her answer.
Fifteen minutes later Teal'c, who had taken point, stopped the group and pointed to the area just in front of the rock wall.
Jack pulled out his binoculars to see what Teal'c was pointing out.
"Greeting party," he told them as he passed the binoculars to Sam. "At least I hope."
Fifteen minutes later SG-1 was standing face to face with ten inhabitants of the planet. Both groups carried weapons but were not aggressive as they pointed their weapons to the ground.
"Daniel?" Jack implored.
Daniel nodded his head as he stepped forward removing his sunglasses and hat. "Hello… We are peaceful explorers from a planet called Earth. I am Daniel Jackson. That is General Jack O'Neill, Colonel Samantha Carter, and Teal'c." He pointed at his friends as he introduced them, each one acknowledging with their own greeting, a wave, a smile, and a head tilt, respectively. They waited for the other side to make a move.
The man who appeared to be the leader of the group looked at his men and then stared at the person in the rear.
Daniel noticed that the man in front waited for a signal from the last person before speaking. "May I inquire as to how you arrived here?"
Daniel answered for his team, "We came through the Stargate – the Chappa'ai." He began motioning with his hands when he didn't receive a sign of recognition on their faces. "It's the large open circular ring about a half hour walk back that way."
The eyes widened on all faces. Except of the person who remained in the rear. She watched the four strangers before them for several moments before stepping forward. "Why have you come here?"
It was then that the members of SG-1 realized that it was a woman. Daniel looked back at Jack wordlessly asking him if they should reveal their mission so early on.
Jack spoke for the group, "To be honest, we came to save your people."
The entire group, except the woman, stepped back.
Jack looked at his teammates wondering what he had said that had offended them so much. He pleaded with his teammates to mend the wounds.
"Why?"
Sam looked at Jack and Daniel and received their blessing to explain the situation to the woman. "Thor sent us."
The eyes of the men in the group widened even more. The woman who had stepped forward closed her eyes and lowered her head in what appeared to be a gesture of relief and thanksgiving.
Sam looked at Daniel who urged her to continue. "He asked us to help you and avoid the disaster that will befall your planet."
The woman stepped forward to stand in front of Sam, "Thor heard our pleas."
Sam smiled gently at the woman, "Yes."
She smiled back at Sam and then turned to her companions and smiled back at them reassuring them that all would be well. "Come, we have much to discuss… I am Chani of the Fremen. This is my father Stilgar…" She continued to introduce their party to the members of SG-1.
As they began walking towards the rock face they talked.
"Was it you who discovered the asteroid?"
Chani looked at Sam quizzically.
"Asteroid," Sam repeated as she began to explain it, "The large rock that is headed for your planet from outer space."
Chani nodded knowingly as she now understood the question, "Ah, you mean the petras. No, it was my husband Paul who discovered it."
"How long have you known of the petras?" Sam asked their guide.
"We have known of it for a week. We went to the temple two days ago…"
Daniel's attention was finally peaked, "Temple?"
"It is actually more like a sanctuary… But through it we are able to contact Thor…"
The members of SG-1 all looked at one another remembering their mission to Cimmeria.
"When do you suspect the petras will strike your planet?" Sam asked.
Chani paused and looked at their potential saviors, "It will strike Arrakis in eight days." She slowly looked at each of the strangers, "Can you really help us?"
Daniel answered, "We are going to do everything that we can."
She accepted their answer as they continued back to their city.
"How many people are there on Arrakis?"
Chani turned to Daniel and answered his question, "In our sietch, which is the largest, there are 175,000 people."
Jack let out a low whistle.
She continued giving them the statistics, "There are four other sietches on the planet, totaling another 80,000…. Is this a lot of people according to your planet's standards?"
Daniel shook his head, "No. Our planet has…" he turned to Sam supply the answer.
"24000 times as many people."
This caused their entire group to stop in their tracks as they tried to fathom such a world with so many people.
Stilgar finally spoke, "What is your planet like?"
Daniel grimaced as he tried to explain to them what Earth was like. "Let me ask you, is your entire planet like this?" he asked as he spread his arm across the horizon of sand.
"We believe so, yes. There are regions to the north and south to which no one has traveled and returned… It is very cold there," she warned them.
As Daniel and their hosts began talking about their respective planets Jack and Sam hung back to discuss their options.
"Can we pull this off?"
Sam looked over at her CO. "I don't know, sir. Depends on how willing they are to trust us and relocate them to another planet."
"Will it even be possible to mobilize that many people through the Stargate in seven days?"
"I'm not sure sir… It'll probably depend on the types of transportation that they have… It'll be close though sir." She quietly did the math in her head, "If we allow six days to transport them… We'd have to move almost 2000 people an hour twenty four hours a day…"
Jack stopped as he stared at her, "Really?"
Sam nodded.
Jack slowly began to walk again, "Wow! That's a lot…"
"Yes, sir."
"We don't even know where we can take them… Any thoughts?"
"Sir, none of our allies would be able to take in this many refugees…"
"So what do we do with them? We're supposed to help them, right?" he reminded Sam.
"Yes sir, but there's nothing that we can do with our technology. We can't bring any of our ships here in time and try what we did with Earth."
"So you have no ideas?" he verified.
Sam shook her head, "I didn't say that. I'm just not sure if one of them is viable or if you'll agree to it."
"What is it?"
"P5J-319."
He looked at her, "The planet we're excavating?"
"Yes sir."
He raised an eyebrow at her as he pondered her suggestion. He wasn't able to comment on it as the group stopped several meters in front of the base of the rock wall.
Looking around and not seeing anywhere to go, Jack spoke up, "What now?"
Stilgar pointed to a barely discernible stairway that climbed up the side of the cliff that led to a ledge thirty meters above the ground. "There is the entrance to our Sietch."
"What's it like?" Daniel asked as they began the climb up in single file.
Their hosts all smiled to themselves. "You must see if for yourself," one of them told him.
Once they reached the ledge they entered a dark winding tunnel illuminated periodically by torches. When they emerged on the other side of the tunnel after five minutes they understood what their hosts meant.
The sight before them caught their breaths. The rock wall they had emerged from completely surrounded a city made of tents. Not one rigid structure was visible throughout the organized city that was teeming with life. They looked down into a market place where they watched customers and vendors haggle over prices while children raced between stalls keeping themselves occupied.
As they proceeded further into the city they were amazed even more. While the inhabitants of this city appeared to be nomadic, there were signs of advanced technology – especially in their transportation vehicles that hovered above the ground.
They continued through the throngs of people as they headed towards the center of the city. When they were in the center they headed towards one of the rock walls and made their way into a large cavern.
"Where do you get all your food and textiles?" Daniel asked, amazed by the variety he saw in the city.
"We have caverns through out the interior face of the rock wall, there are underground rivers and pools that we are able to tap into," she explained to them as she walked ahead and entered a room off to the side and spoke to someone on the other side. "Paul… Thor has answered our prayers."
She stepped aside as a young man stepped out from the room to greet their guests. When he stepped out he stared oddly at their clothing and weapons. "You have come to help us?"
Daniel answered on behalf of his team, "We hope to." There was no sense promising them anything concrete.
The man nodded his head before addressing one of SG-1's escorts. "Gather the council." He then turned to and approached the strangers. "I am Paul Atreides."
Jack stepped forward and performed the introductions this time around. "A pleasure to meet ya," he happily greeted him.
"From where do you come?"
"We come from a planet called Earth… We arrived through the Stargate," Daniel briefly explained.
"They arrived through the Rosetten," Chani supplied.
Paul quickly looked over at his wife, shocked at the answer. "So it is a portal through the stars?"
Daniel smiled, "Yes. The Rosetten can connect two planets."
"Unbelievable…" Paul mumbled as he processed the implications of this new piece of information. "Can you relocate us to another planet?"
Jack, Daniel, and Sam all looked at each other and shared an unsure look. "Before speaking with your council, may we speak with you and Chani in private?"
Despite his concerns, Paul dismissed everyone else in the room so he could get some answers from their potential saviors. Once it was cleared, he repeated his question, "Will you relocate us to another planet?"
"That is our intention, however it depends on how willing your people are to trust us and how fast we can mobilize them," Sam began.
Paul nodded in understanding. "Yes that is a concern… We do not have much time to move them all… I believe that most of our people will be willing to move," he mused to himself.
Daniel looked at Sam surprised, "Really?"
Chani answered his question, "Everyone on Arrakis has been informed of the petras. We have already begun preparations of evacuation… And now that it seems our prayers have been answered, it will not have been time wasted."
"Where would your people have evacuated to?" Daniel questioned.
Paul and Chani shared a look and held their own wordless conversation. With a nod from Paul, Chani explained, "I have seen a vision of my people emerging from a Rosetten surrounded by a wall of stone… There is a pillar in the sky… and a structure as tall as the sietch wall in the center of this city with many stone walls surrounding it… It is a fortress that would protect us…"
All of SG-1 looked at each other amazed by her description of a planet where they would be safe. It couldn't be coincidence could it?
Chani watched them hopefully, "Have one of you seen a similar vision?"
"Uh… No," Daniel cautiously revealed as he looked to Jack and Sam for help on how to proceed.
"Chani," Sam began as she stepped forward. "We recently came upon a city that sounds similar to the one you described… It's abandoned."
Chani and Paul shared a relieved look with one another.
Sam continued before they got too excited, "The city is buried under 36 feet of sand." Their hosts stared at them quizzically. Sam looked around for a point of reference as she headed to Jack, "Six times his height. We're currently trying to dig out the main structure, the one as high as the sietch wall, but it's going to take us a while."
Paul nodded as he thought of the situation. "But we could live there?"
Jack answered, "We only have plans to dig out the ziggurat and let Daniel study it."
"So if we were able to dig out the rest of the fortress our people could live there?"
Jack looked to Sam and shrugged his shoulders, "I guess."
"We can't guarantee though that you'll be able to live there… We haven't found any readily available sources of water or animals."
Paul dismissed it, "The Fremen understand the desert and how to find life in it… We would not burden you with taking care of our people… Would your people take us there?"
Jack raised up a finger as he requested a minute with his team. "What do you guys think?"
Daniel spoke up first, "We have to help them any way we can… I think we could learn a lot from them and make an alliance that would be useful."
"What would we gain?"
"They have hovercraft technology, and who knows what else. And I'm sure we could work out a deal to use P5J-319 as an alternate site or a fall back position," Sam pointed out.
"So that's a yes?" Jack clarified.
Sam nodded her head, "Yes, sir."
"Okay," he clapped his hands before turning to Chani and Paul. "We can show you how to get there and we will try to help evacuate your people, but it'll have to be quick. There's a lot of people we'll have to mobilize."
Paul raised his hand and waved it back and forth. "Transporting our people through the Rosetten will not be a problem. We have many transport vehicles that are capable of transporting 400 people at a time."
"Yes, but will it fit through the Rosetten?"
Paul smiled, "Yes… Drivers often test their skills by skimming through it as fast as possible."
"Really?" Sam asked as she envisioned a train that didn't require tracks.
"Yes… We must propose your idea to our council but I believe that our people will become good friends."
Jack stepped forward to shake his hand, "To friendship."
TBC
Please review and let me know what you think of this story. I really do enjoy knowing what you think of my imagination!
A/N: The names of the people of Arrakis come from Frank Herbert's Dune Series. This is not a crossover with those novels, I'm just borrowing their names and in the next chapter I make a reference to a situation that occurs in the novels, but it won't affect the understanding of anyone who has not read those novels. Though they are good and I do recommend them!
