Notes - this is going to be a fairly brief chapter, because I have to double-check details about this planet with it's owner (it feels weird typing that, but I digress...). I should have more up tomorrow, or this evening at the earliest. Hopefully, as soon as possible, cos I'm having way too much fun with ideas for this!
minihagrid - thank you SO much for a good review :) most people just say 'write more now', so thank you for the constructive feedback and sorry about the meanderings in the middle of the chapter. I was working things out as I typed.
Lady Cinnabar - Yes, you worked it out! I am evil! Muahahaha! But here...have more fic :) I'm not THAT evil. Yet ;)
_________________________________________________________
"Well...this is nice." Scanning the dim cavern that they had emerged in, a blazing flare held overhead, O'Neill grinned down at Daniel,who was sprawled on a pile of rubble and shattered rock, covered from head to foot in a coat of dust. "Fascinated yet, Daniel?"
"Could you...uh...maybe help me up? I seem to be caught on something."
"Sure." Shouldering his kit to one side, the flare still held in his left hand, O'Neill stretched out his right hand to Daniel, hauling him upright. The Linguist staggered forward a step, turning to look down at what he had snagged onto, a look of surprise crossing his face. "What?"
"Is that what I think it is?"
Teal'c stepped around the two and approached the vessel that Daniel had fallen on, the vehicle half-buried in the grit and loose grey stone surrounding them. "It is one of the oldest models of Goa'uld scout vessel, used over five millenia ago." He stated. "These would be sent to inspect the condition of a StarGate, if there had been some fault occurring."
"And did they crash and bury themselves underground a lot too?" O'Neill inquired dryly.
"Perhaps it is a traditional landing technique from times past." The Jaffa responded, just as dryly. He moved around the vessel to the area that housed the cockpit, one brow rising marginally at the sight of a corpse protruding from the shattered screen, the body shriveled and clearly inhuman in origin. "It appears that Ra sent otherworld technicians to deal with this gate."
"They did a real good job of it too." O'Neill returned his attention to the closed StarGate briefly. "Carter, whats up?"
Major Carter looked around from the gate which, like the scout vessel, was partially buried and so heavily coated in dust that it could barely be identified as a seperate structure from the towering walls that crowded in on them. Only the minimum of the outer rings were blocked, which meant the gate could be opened, but it was resting against the walls at a forty five degree angle, seeming to balance precariously against a narrow lip of rock.
"I don't think either of these things started out here." She replied, returning her gaze to the gate. "Ra usually would place a StarGate at places of importance or that would be easily accessible, like open plains. He wouldn't put it in a cave that would be so hard to reach."
"Maybe they were buried by an earthquake or something?"
"I don't think so, Sir." She ran her hand along the rim ot the gate. "If it had been an earthquake, there would be structural damage to the gate and this cave wouldn't be so clearly defined." She glanced at him. "If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that the gate and the ship were both dragged down here and buried by the invaders."
"I believe Major Carter is right." Teal'c added. "There are lacerations on the outer surfaces of the vessel that should not have been there. They could have been caused if the vessel was dragged along the ground. It appears that the invaders did not wish anyone else to share their territory."
O'Neill nodded. "It looks like they've been here for a while as well."
"Uh, Jack?"
"Daniel?"
The linguist was standing near the cockpit, staring down at the ground. "You might wanna take a look at this." The other three hurried towards him and he motioned to the dirt at his feet. "I don't think we're the only ones who have been in here since these things were buried."
In the inches deep dust, there were distinct markings that looked almost like pawprints, complete with indentations of claws.
The only difference was that the pawprints had clearly defined toes and heels, unlike any wild or domestic earth animal.
While, at first glance, they looked like simple pawprints with a circular indentation behind them, with some abberation of vision, the paw prints became footprints made by feet with pads on soles and toes, much like on the soles of felines and canines on Earth.
Squatting down on his toes, O'Neil traced a finger around the pawprint closest to him. "Okay..." He looked up at his three companions. "Either we had a lion wandering around in here with a ball tied to the back of it's ankle, or we've just found out what the feet of the natives of this place look like."
"How long ago do you think they were here?" Jackson asked, glancing around. "It can't have been that recently."
"If Teal'c is right about the age of the ship..." Teal'c gave him a measured look and O'Neill raised his hand in submission. "All right, the vessel is over five thousand years old, so if it was buried about then and it took this long for this much dust to generate, the last people to visit could only have passed through here a couple of years ago."
"So they could belong to the invaders?"
"Or survivors of your Y'likas, Carter." O'Neill straightened up, glancing around. "We need to get out of this cave, if we're going to see what this planet's about and that looks like a good place to start." He motioned across the darkened cave towards a chink of light gleaming between the stones. "Looks like we're going to have to dig ourselves out."
"Its not like we haven't done that before." Jackson muttered, shrugging off his rucksack and following O'Neil across the rough, unlevel ground towards the small speck of light. "Maybe they won't have filled in the hole too much."
"I would say that is hoping for too much, Daniel Jackson."
Daniel pulled a sour face. "I thought you might say that."
***
"This place is incredible."
"Daniel, you say that about every planet we visit."
The historian grinned weakly. "Well, they are all pretty amazing, but this..." He gestured to the sweeping, grassy plain edged by gentle hills that swelled into mountains that they had broken out into, after an hour of digging their way out of the cave contaning the carefully buried StarGate and Goa'uld ship. "Wow."
"Again, that's what you say every time."
"At least he's reliable, sir." Carter couldn't help smiling.
"Yeah, yeah."
Behind them, a sloping rockface rose to tower high above them, the opening of the cave still visible. Apparently, they had emerged from a cave at the mouth of a valley, in a steep canyons, which opened out into a plain spread with golden grasses that swayed gently in a summery breeze and on into a beautiful forest.
On the horizons to the East and West, mountains were almost clearly visible, deep purple in the distance and tipped with white clouds, stark against the clear blue sky. A river ran nearby, through the valley that they had just exited, what looked like water flowing onwards, south, across the plain.
The trees were scattered here and there and drew together to form the forest ahead of them, some evergreen, some coniferous. The variety of colours were incredible and beautiful, some the familiar green of earth, but others, strange hues of scarlet, violet and amber.
"Which way, Colonel?"
Jack glanced at her. "Are your gizmos picking up any signs of civilization?"
"O'Neill," Teal'c pointed towards the south-east. "There is a large settlement over a hundred kilometers in that direction."
A pained look crossed Daniel's face. "Nothing closer?"
"A few isolated shacks, but the best bet does seem to be aiming for the main settlement." Sam looked at Jack. "What do you think, Colonel? Do we risk that journey, if it could mean walking into hostile territory?"
O'Neill was gazing pensively in the direction that Teal'c had pointed. "These people hated Ra when he tried to take over thousands of years ago." He remarked, half-talking to himself. "Maybe they would want to be allies in the fight against the Goa'uld now as well."
"It is always a possibility, Sir."
"If not, we'll know to close down the gate and we don't need to approach, unless we know that they are civilised..."
"So do we go?"
The Colonel nodded. "Let's check it out. There's no harm in it and it'll shut Daniel up."
"Hey!"
"You know you would have wanted to say something if he said we were going straight back." Sam chuckled.
"Well, yeah," Daniel grumbled, following O'Neil, Carter and Teal'c down the smooth slope towards the plain and forest. "But that's not the point."
"That is always your excuse, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c glanced back at him.
"He always has to be consistant." Carter smirked.
"Or boring." O'Neill added, muffling a laugh at Jackson's sound of indignation. "Come on, Daniel. Keep up. We don't want you getting lost on your fascinating planet, do we?"
minihagrid - thank you SO much for a good review :) most people just say 'write more now', so thank you for the constructive feedback and sorry about the meanderings in the middle of the chapter. I was working things out as I typed.
Lady Cinnabar - Yes, you worked it out! I am evil! Muahahaha! But here...have more fic :) I'm not THAT evil. Yet ;)
_________________________________________________________
"Well...this is nice." Scanning the dim cavern that they had emerged in, a blazing flare held overhead, O'Neill grinned down at Daniel,who was sprawled on a pile of rubble and shattered rock, covered from head to foot in a coat of dust. "Fascinated yet, Daniel?"
"Could you...uh...maybe help me up? I seem to be caught on something."
"Sure." Shouldering his kit to one side, the flare still held in his left hand, O'Neill stretched out his right hand to Daniel, hauling him upright. The Linguist staggered forward a step, turning to look down at what he had snagged onto, a look of surprise crossing his face. "What?"
"Is that what I think it is?"
Teal'c stepped around the two and approached the vessel that Daniel had fallen on, the vehicle half-buried in the grit and loose grey stone surrounding them. "It is one of the oldest models of Goa'uld scout vessel, used over five millenia ago." He stated. "These would be sent to inspect the condition of a StarGate, if there had been some fault occurring."
"And did they crash and bury themselves underground a lot too?" O'Neill inquired dryly.
"Perhaps it is a traditional landing technique from times past." The Jaffa responded, just as dryly. He moved around the vessel to the area that housed the cockpit, one brow rising marginally at the sight of a corpse protruding from the shattered screen, the body shriveled and clearly inhuman in origin. "It appears that Ra sent otherworld technicians to deal with this gate."
"They did a real good job of it too." O'Neill returned his attention to the closed StarGate briefly. "Carter, whats up?"
Major Carter looked around from the gate which, like the scout vessel, was partially buried and so heavily coated in dust that it could barely be identified as a seperate structure from the towering walls that crowded in on them. Only the minimum of the outer rings were blocked, which meant the gate could be opened, but it was resting against the walls at a forty five degree angle, seeming to balance precariously against a narrow lip of rock.
"I don't think either of these things started out here." She replied, returning her gaze to the gate. "Ra usually would place a StarGate at places of importance or that would be easily accessible, like open plains. He wouldn't put it in a cave that would be so hard to reach."
"Maybe they were buried by an earthquake or something?"
"I don't think so, Sir." She ran her hand along the rim ot the gate. "If it had been an earthquake, there would be structural damage to the gate and this cave wouldn't be so clearly defined." She glanced at him. "If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that the gate and the ship were both dragged down here and buried by the invaders."
"I believe Major Carter is right." Teal'c added. "There are lacerations on the outer surfaces of the vessel that should not have been there. They could have been caused if the vessel was dragged along the ground. It appears that the invaders did not wish anyone else to share their territory."
O'Neill nodded. "It looks like they've been here for a while as well."
"Uh, Jack?"
"Daniel?"
The linguist was standing near the cockpit, staring down at the ground. "You might wanna take a look at this." The other three hurried towards him and he motioned to the dirt at his feet. "I don't think we're the only ones who have been in here since these things were buried."
In the inches deep dust, there were distinct markings that looked almost like pawprints, complete with indentations of claws.
The only difference was that the pawprints had clearly defined toes and heels, unlike any wild or domestic earth animal.
While, at first glance, they looked like simple pawprints with a circular indentation behind them, with some abberation of vision, the paw prints became footprints made by feet with pads on soles and toes, much like on the soles of felines and canines on Earth.
Squatting down on his toes, O'Neil traced a finger around the pawprint closest to him. "Okay..." He looked up at his three companions. "Either we had a lion wandering around in here with a ball tied to the back of it's ankle, or we've just found out what the feet of the natives of this place look like."
"How long ago do you think they were here?" Jackson asked, glancing around. "It can't have been that recently."
"If Teal'c is right about the age of the ship..." Teal'c gave him a measured look and O'Neill raised his hand in submission. "All right, the vessel is over five thousand years old, so if it was buried about then and it took this long for this much dust to generate, the last people to visit could only have passed through here a couple of years ago."
"So they could belong to the invaders?"
"Or survivors of your Y'likas, Carter." O'Neill straightened up, glancing around. "We need to get out of this cave, if we're going to see what this planet's about and that looks like a good place to start." He motioned across the darkened cave towards a chink of light gleaming between the stones. "Looks like we're going to have to dig ourselves out."
"Its not like we haven't done that before." Jackson muttered, shrugging off his rucksack and following O'Neil across the rough, unlevel ground towards the small speck of light. "Maybe they won't have filled in the hole too much."
"I would say that is hoping for too much, Daniel Jackson."
Daniel pulled a sour face. "I thought you might say that."
***
"This place is incredible."
"Daniel, you say that about every planet we visit."
The historian grinned weakly. "Well, they are all pretty amazing, but this..." He gestured to the sweeping, grassy plain edged by gentle hills that swelled into mountains that they had broken out into, after an hour of digging their way out of the cave contaning the carefully buried StarGate and Goa'uld ship. "Wow."
"Again, that's what you say every time."
"At least he's reliable, sir." Carter couldn't help smiling.
"Yeah, yeah."
Behind them, a sloping rockface rose to tower high above them, the opening of the cave still visible. Apparently, they had emerged from a cave at the mouth of a valley, in a steep canyons, which opened out into a plain spread with golden grasses that swayed gently in a summery breeze and on into a beautiful forest.
On the horizons to the East and West, mountains were almost clearly visible, deep purple in the distance and tipped with white clouds, stark against the clear blue sky. A river ran nearby, through the valley that they had just exited, what looked like water flowing onwards, south, across the plain.
The trees were scattered here and there and drew together to form the forest ahead of them, some evergreen, some coniferous. The variety of colours were incredible and beautiful, some the familiar green of earth, but others, strange hues of scarlet, violet and amber.
"Which way, Colonel?"
Jack glanced at her. "Are your gizmos picking up any signs of civilization?"
"O'Neill," Teal'c pointed towards the south-east. "There is a large settlement over a hundred kilometers in that direction."
A pained look crossed Daniel's face. "Nothing closer?"
"A few isolated shacks, but the best bet does seem to be aiming for the main settlement." Sam looked at Jack. "What do you think, Colonel? Do we risk that journey, if it could mean walking into hostile territory?"
O'Neill was gazing pensively in the direction that Teal'c had pointed. "These people hated Ra when he tried to take over thousands of years ago." He remarked, half-talking to himself. "Maybe they would want to be allies in the fight against the Goa'uld now as well."
"It is always a possibility, Sir."
"If not, we'll know to close down the gate and we don't need to approach, unless we know that they are civilised..."
"So do we go?"
The Colonel nodded. "Let's check it out. There's no harm in it and it'll shut Daniel up."
"Hey!"
"You know you would have wanted to say something if he said we were going straight back." Sam chuckled.
"Well, yeah," Daniel grumbled, following O'Neil, Carter and Teal'c down the smooth slope towards the plain and forest. "But that's not the point."
"That is always your excuse, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c glanced back at him.
"He always has to be consistant." Carter smirked.
"Or boring." O'Neill added, muffling a laugh at Jackson's sound of indignation. "Come on, Daniel. Keep up. We don't want you getting lost on your fascinating planet, do we?"
