Chapter 2
A/N: Sorry this one is short. Bleh.
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A small machine almost seemed to poke its front through the event horizon cautiously. As it came further forward it could be seen that it had no wheels, but hovered on whirring air jets. A thing that looked suspiciously like a camera turned slowly round as the thing gliding gently down the ramp towards the soldiers.
"Hold your fire," said O'Neill, still looking warily at it. In the command room the static-filled signal could still be heard.
"Oh, its got - &%##%@ - viewer working, Robskere, look! Is that peopl - @#%^ - take a look? " The machine got to the bottom of the ramp and set off towards the soldiers, who were staring at it in bemused fascination. Jack kicked it and glared at the marines, who hurriedly looked back at the Stargate. Just as well.
Abruptly two people stepped in, emerging through the event horizon. At the clicking of guns trained in their direction, they froze.
They were humanoid, deeply tanned brown haired people, a man and a woman. The seemed to be quite young The woman's long hair had intricate red braiding decorating the waves framing a narrow face, and the man had a leather and red embroidered headband over dark short curly hair. They both had a crimson tattoo marking across their left forehead, of zigzag lines curling around the eye and a sun and triangle design above the eye. Their clothing was loosely cut sandy material, but belted neatly, both wearing trousers of a sort and sturdy boots. A pen seemed incongruously stuck in the top pocket of the woman's pale shirt, and she seemed to be taking in more the surroundings than her companion, who was warily eying the hostile soldiers. They both had strange devices strapped to their left hand, with bindings tightly down the wrist and arm, and the way the man was holding his hand showed it was clearly a weapon of some kind. O'Neill's first reaction was that it was a Goa'uld arm weapon, but on second look the arm bindings seemed to be leather, and the metal had a curious green sheen to it. He shook his head.
"Hold it right there," Colonel O'Neill's voice rang out in the Gate room. The pair of people both turned their heads towards him, the man with his hand swung forward pointing at them, his other hand at his side. The woman wore a kind of bemused smile.
"Hand over your weapons and state your business," continued the Colonel, a zat gun pointed steadily at them as he walked unhurriedly up to the metal ramp.
The hovering machine meanwhile had bumped into the back wall of the room and was turning aimlessly in circles. The man's eyes darted to it, but the woman began to speak first.
"We mean no harm," she said clearly, suddenly being recognisable as the voice on the transmission. She unclipped the bindings on her arm at the elbow, and began to unwind it, nudging her companion to do similarly.
"We are but explorers, trying to discover what worlds lay behind the Sider- Ost," she continued sincerely, a faint alien accent to her English as she flipped over the protruding metal of the device on her hand and it folded neatly in on itself. Proffering the device and its dangling straps, along with a gun-like object from a hip pocket, she earnestly nodded her honesty.
"Sider-Ost?" interjected Daniel, looking interested and coming up beside Jack, who inwardly sighed.
"Short for Sidera-per-Ostium, that thing," she said, pointing back at the Stargate. "My brother and I have been researching..."
Jack stepped forward hurriedly and took the weapons, nodding to Teal'c as he disarmed the silent man.
"You can explain all this later. We'll just take you out to some holding rooms for now. Take the... machiney thing with you." The woman looked confused, but Daniel tapped Jack on the shoulder.
"I'll go with them? You can sort out the Tok'ra?"
"Gee, thanks, Daniel. What I always wanted. Sure, go ahead, whatever. Just keep them out of the way," said Jack impatiently. The brown man, standing between two soldiers, spoke his first words.
"I do not understand, what have we done wrong?"
"Come through at the wrong time," said Daniel aside as the two aliens were escorted off, a couple of marines trying to herd the floating machine behind them.
"Some friends of ours are due to come through the Stargate. Can I ask you something? Sidera-per-Ostium? Doorway through to the Stars?"
The woman looked surprised. "That is how it would be rendered nowadays, certainly. How did you know?"
Daniel's eyes gleamed as the Stargate suddenly began to activate behind them.
"Let me tell you a little bit about this planet. Have you ever heard of a language called Latin?"
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A small machine almost seemed to poke its front through the event horizon cautiously. As it came further forward it could be seen that it had no wheels, but hovered on whirring air jets. A thing that looked suspiciously like a camera turned slowly round as the thing gliding gently down the ramp towards the soldiers.
"Hold your fire," said O'Neill, still looking warily at it. In the command room the static-filled signal could still be heard.
"Oh, its got - &%##%@ - viewer working, Robskere, look! Is that peopl - @#%^ - take a look? " The machine got to the bottom of the ramp and set off towards the soldiers, who were staring at it in bemused fascination. Jack kicked it and glared at the marines, who hurriedly looked back at the Stargate. Just as well.
Abruptly two people stepped in, emerging through the event horizon. At the clicking of guns trained in their direction, they froze.
They were humanoid, deeply tanned brown haired people, a man and a woman. The seemed to be quite young The woman's long hair had intricate red braiding decorating the waves framing a narrow face, and the man had a leather and red embroidered headband over dark short curly hair. They both had a crimson tattoo marking across their left forehead, of zigzag lines curling around the eye and a sun and triangle design above the eye. Their clothing was loosely cut sandy material, but belted neatly, both wearing trousers of a sort and sturdy boots. A pen seemed incongruously stuck in the top pocket of the woman's pale shirt, and she seemed to be taking in more the surroundings than her companion, who was warily eying the hostile soldiers. They both had strange devices strapped to their left hand, with bindings tightly down the wrist and arm, and the way the man was holding his hand showed it was clearly a weapon of some kind. O'Neill's first reaction was that it was a Goa'uld arm weapon, but on second look the arm bindings seemed to be leather, and the metal had a curious green sheen to it. He shook his head.
"Hold it right there," Colonel O'Neill's voice rang out in the Gate room. The pair of people both turned their heads towards him, the man with his hand swung forward pointing at them, his other hand at his side. The woman wore a kind of bemused smile.
"Hand over your weapons and state your business," continued the Colonel, a zat gun pointed steadily at them as he walked unhurriedly up to the metal ramp.
The hovering machine meanwhile had bumped into the back wall of the room and was turning aimlessly in circles. The man's eyes darted to it, but the woman began to speak first.
"We mean no harm," she said clearly, suddenly being recognisable as the voice on the transmission. She unclipped the bindings on her arm at the elbow, and began to unwind it, nudging her companion to do similarly.
"We are but explorers, trying to discover what worlds lay behind the Sider- Ost," she continued sincerely, a faint alien accent to her English as she flipped over the protruding metal of the device on her hand and it folded neatly in on itself. Proffering the device and its dangling straps, along with a gun-like object from a hip pocket, she earnestly nodded her honesty.
"Sider-Ost?" interjected Daniel, looking interested and coming up beside Jack, who inwardly sighed.
"Short for Sidera-per-Ostium, that thing," she said, pointing back at the Stargate. "My brother and I have been researching..."
Jack stepped forward hurriedly and took the weapons, nodding to Teal'c as he disarmed the silent man.
"You can explain all this later. We'll just take you out to some holding rooms for now. Take the... machiney thing with you." The woman looked confused, but Daniel tapped Jack on the shoulder.
"I'll go with them? You can sort out the Tok'ra?"
"Gee, thanks, Daniel. What I always wanted. Sure, go ahead, whatever. Just keep them out of the way," said Jack impatiently. The brown man, standing between two soldiers, spoke his first words.
"I do not understand, what have we done wrong?"
"Come through at the wrong time," said Daniel aside as the two aliens were escorted off, a couple of marines trying to herd the floating machine behind them.
"Some friends of ours are due to come through the Stargate. Can I ask you something? Sidera-per-Ostium? Doorway through to the Stars?"
The woman looked surprised. "That is how it would be rendered nowadays, certainly. How did you know?"
Daniel's eyes gleamed as the Stargate suddenly began to activate behind them.
"Let me tell you a little bit about this planet. Have you ever heard of a language called Latin?"