Chapter 29

The preparation to be made for the celebration of the Harvest festival were overwhelming. Many others from the surrounding villages would arrive soon with couples of all ages, young people looking for prospective mates and a gaggle of children. Sudra had so much to organize never mind procuring the ingredients, the vegetables, herbs and meats and preparing the dishes for the feast. The handier and more artistic of the villagers were preparing goods to trade.

The Harvest festival was usually a three day affair. On the first day the members of the four villages gathered. They brought gifts of their signature food stuffs and hand crafted articles to trade. Long lost relatives reconnected and new relationships were initiated. There was a gathering of women to prepare the wide array of dishes to be served and a gathering of men who would slaughter, dress and spit the main course, the old ox. It was a time for the newcomers to feel as though they were truly members of the community. The carcass of the beast would be placed on a spit and roasted over a fire and become the center of the feast along with all the other delectables. On the last day families would gather together and prepare for the trip home with the possibilities of new members added or daughters or sons left behind to form new bonds. The villages elders in conjunction with the family elders arranged and agreed upon matches before the prospective mates packed their bags.

That first day the village would be in turmoil due to preparations and in turmoil due to the influx of people. The old woman said a silent prayer to the sky god Ba'al that he would bless them with sunny skies and warm weather. She had no idea where she could shelter so many if it rained. She wondered where she would have enough room for everyone to lay their head at night to rest. The new structure was begun but nowhere near finished. Already some of her own people had begun to move in. She'd worry about that later.

And as for help, all the young unmated women and a few mated but dissatisfied, were busy arranging their hair and draping their clothing to be as alluring as possible and they weren't yet given permission to hold the feast. The young men were strutting around looking important without managing to do a lick of work. There were a few silly young thing that could easily be taken advantage of, their heads turned by a handsome face and promise of a better life. She couldn't be everywhere and do everything, she needed to delegate.

But Sudra was getting ahead of herself. First the demigod Belial would judge them. He would grace them with his divine presence and assess the harvest and grant them an allotment. If and only if they were pleasing in his eyes were they allowed to celebrate the festival. This was a good years and all the people had fond hopes. But gods could be fickle.


Belial was a most ancient Goa'uld. As his name reflected, his first host was an Unas. He still longed for that incredible host. He loved the strength of the beast and the terror it invoked in men's eyes. This ferocity, so lacking in his own nature, he drew from the creature and reveled in it.

Times and styles had changed and he could not face the disdain of the other Goa'ulds. He did not want to be viewed as a primitive savage both uncouth and uncultured. So, many, many years ago he chose to transfer to a human host. It was more acceptable to the others. The Unas reminded them of a more primitive time, a time they would rather forget. Now they were gods, well for about twelve thousand or so years, thanks to Ra.

Unfortunately for Belial he was never a very dominant personality and so he had to serve a more powerful god. He wanted what every Goa'uld wanted - power and all others to fall down before him. The only problem was he was afraid to take that step to assert himself. He saw so many fall before the great lords, never to rise again.

He found himself serving the great bull Ba'al. So he chose an unassuming human host thick of waist with a head of hair and beard done up in long curls in the style of the ancient Sumerians. He kept the attire and regalia to match. Ba'al always looked amused to see him. It paid not to look threatening in Ba'als presence. But he was amazingly efficient and Ba'al saw his potential. Part of Ba'al's genius was he knew how to select the order of Goa'ulds the level directly below him and keep them subservient.

It grated on Belial to be subservient, was he not a descendant of the revered Annunaki, was he not fated for great things. Belial for the sake of his existence had to conform to the wishes of his master and the other System Lords, after all look what had happened to Anubis when he dare ascend. Or what of the fate of Marduk, this he was sure was Ba'al's doing.

Ba'al was an upstart, a usurper who as soon as he began his ascendancy through the ranks of the Goa'uld thought nothing of slaughtering anyone who stood in his way and destroying anything that he could not possess. All that went before could fall as long as he dominated. Ba'al had lasted this long because he was clever as well as ruthless. Belial was no fool he would bend the knee and grovel. Better alive to grovel than rotting and forgotten.

While Belial, in his subservient guise, may have had to conform to the style of host that the other Goa'uld preferred, there were certain tastes he had developed in his former host. Tastes he did not flaunt but tastes he still enjoyed. His first host had a taste for human flesh, the younger the better.

If he only could, Belial would return to the species of his former host - so powerful, so imposing, so terrifying. He feared he would not survive the transition to either a new host human or an Unas.


Sam thought long and hard about the next step they might have to make. She wouldn't, couldn't do this lightly. When they were Thera and Jonah they felt the connection from the first and fell together – bonded and bedded within a few weeks. But O'Neill for as much as he seemed to joke around was a pretty serious person, he would not take this step unless he meant to commit.

Sam had done the hearts and flowers thing with Pete. She had gotten tired of it while the bouquets were still arriving. Right now there were probably some posies wilting in a vase on her kitchen counter. She smiled to think of the Colonel on her doorstep with a bunch of bedraggled flowers probably from the local gas station.

Jack was serious about people he cared for. He was married before and she wondered if he had any expectations. She knew he still loved Sarah and wondered if he ever kept in contact. For all she knew there was still something there. Sam knew she was just fooling herself. The devastating loss of his son destroyed his marriage and maybe a future marriage and having children as well. Where did she fit in his life and if so when?


The Harvest Festival would be celebrated as soon as Belial gave them leave and they could begin the preparations. Sam was a little nervous about the buzz going on in the village. It was said that the demigod might, if they were so blessed, visit their hamlet and grant them his blessing for their excellent harvest. The other villages would celebrate with them. No one had recognized them so far, would their luck hold?

They really had to resolve things soon. Sudra, the old woman, made it know she needed to speak to Thera. Sam thought the reason Sudra wished to speak to her was to tell her that she would have the opportunity to look over the shepherds, cattlemen and other farmers for a new prospective mate. Or chose to remain as Jonah's mate and bear his children. There would be the same opportunity for Jonah.


Things were easier between them now. However there was a undercurrent of emotions.

Night after night they spent time outside, sometimes plotting and planning, sometimes chatting about their day, and sometimes in companionable silence. He most often let her go in first. During the day in order to placate Sudra and for their own need for reassurance and support there had been more hand holding, more occasions walking to the fields with his arm slung around Sam's shoulders. And once too often looks more smoldering than kisses. But at night and the shared bed too much closeness led to touching, touching led to caresses and where that led they feared to tread.


He sat outside the lodge needing to come to grips with the problem at hand. Okay, he wasn't one of the intellectuals of the team but he wasn't a fool either. He had a problem to solve and he did what he usually did - reduce it to its simplest terms. Stay or go. If they stayed was it together or apart? No question there – together. How much together? This hot potato he'd throw to Carter.

But if they left – do they run or steal a Tel'tac? If they could possibly steal a Tel'tac, do they look for a Stargate on the planet or on the Ha'tak. He bet his boots it was on the Ha'tak.

But... If they ran which direction? There were four choices but that was easy. Definitely not north, been there done that. Due north was a range of foothills the looked challenging, past that the mountains were formidable. So okay, too mountainous and too damned cold. While at the mine Jack thought the shipments of ore always seemed to head, well, up. No help there. East and west there were other settlements they knew of with no Stargate, so south was the probably option. So he narrowed it down to three options run south, take a Tel'tac to the Ha'tak or stay put and hope for the best.

He had been outside for quite a while when Sam joined him.

"Hey" was all he said as he stared off into the distance. She returned the "Hey" and slid down and sat beside him in silence. After what seemed like hours but in fact was scarcely five minutes he heaved a great sigh and said "I don't know what to do."

Sam was so used to him being the decisive one, occasionally listening to the team although not always following their advice. He make the final decisions and he was responsible to the outcome whatever that might be. His being at a loss threw her.

He went on "Stay or go. A toss of the dice, a flip of a coin?"

"We throw the dice every time we go through the Stargate. Fly through a wormhole, get disassembled and reassembled."

"It's all a total crap shoot." Jack muttered.

"If you throw the dice you could stop during a winning streak, take your winnings and go home, or throw again and possible lose it all or win it all. We're not the kind that stop." Carter said.

Jack gave her a grim smile "You know they're not going to let me play much longer. They going to take away my team and give me a desk and shove a ream of paper at me."

"It's not that I want to go out there without you. You've taught us well, that part of you will be with us." Carter said.

"I'll have your back, I'll always have your back."

She bit her lip to keep from replying "I love you too."

Sensing things were getting too personal he went back to the problem of the moment.

"So" he asked again "Stay or go?"

"Stay?" Sam questioned.

"Yeah, I don't think it's a good idea either. No one knows we here so it's pointless to stay and wait for rescue that will never come. And if we go there are two options. Work our way south and look for the city with the Stargate or steal a Tel'tac and fly it to the Ha'tak to find the gate there. Both are crazy."

Sam was thoughtful and replied "I think we have to be ready for either option and take our chances when we can."

"Yeah." Jack said "And I think this Harvest feast is the perfect opportunity, might be the only opportunity, the chance to get any new intel that might help with the final decision and the chance to disappear. Lots of new folks, a lot of food and a lot of booze. I'm banking on total chaos. The whole normal schedule will be upended and it might be three days before we're missed. They might even think we went off with one of the group of the herders."

They were quiet and let this decision churn within them. There were only a few weeks if that to prepare for any eventuality.