Aragorn, standing a short distance from the two remaining strangers, watched as the ones called O'Neill and Carter rapidly made their way towards the rising smoke. His thoughts were interrupted by Gimli's gravelly voice.

"I don't like it," the dwarf grumbled, his words low enough that only Legolas and Aragorn could understand them. "I've never seen anyone like them before. They resemble Men, yet they dress strangely and carry odd devices. Besides, we found them in Fangorn! What good can come from that forest? Or any forest, for that matter." He ignored the displeased look Legolas shot him at this last remark.

"Their confusion when we spoke of Saruman and the Uruk-hai seemed genuine," the Elf pointed out.

Gimli grunted. "Perhaps they were trying to deceive us."

Aragorn looked over at the strangers. The fair-skinned one--Daniel Jackson, he had called himself--had taken the odd, circular shaped things off his face and was polishing them on his sleeve. The darker one with the ever-stoic expression stood rigid and alert, as though expecting something to spring from the forest and attack.

Daniel finished cleaning his glasses and stepped towards Aragorn, unable to contain his curiosity any longer.

"So, tell me more about this...Saruman," he suggested.

Aragorn nodded slightly. "The White Wizard was once wise and noble, but now he has allied himself with evil. He has ravaged the land of Isengard, and he breeds his army of foul creatures in its caverns. His forces have begun attacking the people of Rohan, pillaging their towns and burning their homes."

Teal'c, who had been listening silently until now, spoke up.

"Do you consider this Saruman to be your god?" he asked.

Aragorn bristled, and Gimli gave a roar of outrage. "Never!" he growled, hoisting his axe as if to chop Saruman off at the knees. Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

Aragorn placed a hand on the dwarf's shoulder to calm him down, then spoke to Teal'c. "Saruman is powerful, to be sure, but he is not a god."

"Does anyone think of him as a god?" Daniel inquired.

Aragorn and Legolas exchanged a quick, puzzled look. Then Aragorn shook his head. "No one would be so foolish."

Daniel opened his mouth to reply, but was cut short as O'Neill strode up, Carter close behind.

"Daniel, Teal'c, we're heading back to the Stargate," he stated with no word of explanation.

Daniel blinked at O'Neill as the Colonel walked past him. "But Jack, I've only learned a little bit about Saruman. I really think we should stay for a little longer and get some more information."

"Later, Daniel," O'Neill called over his shoulder as he disappeared into the forest.

It didn't take them long to reach the gate, and Carter dialed out as O'Neill kept a wary eye--and his P-90--on the trees. A none-too-happy Daniel caught up with them moments later.

"What'd you tell the natives?" O'Neill asked before the archaeologist could voice his displeasure.

Daniel blew out a disgruntled breath. "I apologized for your abruptness, first of all."

O'Neill looked unfazed as usual. Daniel continued.

"I told them you'd decided to return home and report to our leaders. They seemed a little suspicious but didn't press for details. I think they're going to continue searching the forest for their missing friends."

O'Neill nodded, apparently satisfied. Behind him, the seventh chevron locked into place and the Stargate whooshed to life in a burst of liquid blue.

Carter's fingers danced over the GDO as she pushed in the code. "Ready to go, sir," she reported.

"Jack, at least tell me why we're leaving now," Daniel persisted.

O'Neill sighed and readjusted his baseball cap. "Carter and I went to check out those Uruk...whatevers..." He glanced over at his second in command.

"Uruk-hai," Carter supplied.

"Right. Turns out they're Jaffa."

He paused. Daniel cleared his throat. "So...it's not like we've never encountered Jaffa before."

"These weren't human, Daniel," O'Neill explained patiently. "It was sort of hard to tell exactly what they used to look like. The bodies were all pretty burned up. But there were a few severed heads lying around, and trust me, these things are big, ugly, and definitely alien."

Teal'c's raised one eyebrow to maximum height. "In all my years of service to the Goa'uld, I never heard of non-human Jaffa."

O'Neill's face was grim as he stepped up to the Stargate. "I was afraid you would say that, Teal'c."


Sirens wailed and red lights flashed as the gate spun. Soldiers streamed into the gateroom, weapons trained on the Stargate. Sergeant Davis looked up from his keyboard as General Hammond strode into the observation room.

"Receiving SG-1's signal, sir," Davis reported.

"Open the iris," Hammond commanded, then turned and began making his way to the embarkation room.

The iris slid back, revealing the azure event horizon. Seconds later, SG-1 reintigrated on the Earth side of the gate.

"Welcome back, SG-1," Hammond greeted, looking over his premier team and relieved to see them injury-free for once. "You will debrief in one hour."



Hammond sighed and leaned back in his chair at the head of the briefing room, looking weary. "So you think you've found a new Goa'uld, one with non-human Jaffa."

"It would appear so, sir," O'Neill confirmed.

"I don't think we can be positive yet that Saruman is a Goa'uld, although the fact that he's attacking innocent people is certainly characteristic of one," Daniel said, about to slip into his lecture mode.

O'Neill shot him an odd look across the table. "What else would he be?"

"Well, I don't know, but if he is a Goa'uld, it seems strange that he's not impersonating a god," Daniel said. " I mean, Aragorn and Gimli were pretty adamant that they would never consider him to be their god."

"Aragorn also said that Saruman was once wise and noble," Teal'c added. "I do not know of any Goa'uld who could be described in that way."

The briefing room was momentarily silent as everyone pondered this.

"So the situation is, we've got a hostile being who may or may not be a Goa'uld, that is attacking the people of this world for reasons unknown," Hammond stated.

"General, I think we should return to the planet and gather some more information on Saruman," Daniel said immediately. "Find out whether or not he's a Goa'uld and go from there."

Carter nodded. "Knowledge is power."

O'Neill mock-frowned at her. "Now Carter. That's a cliché, and we all know how I feel about those."

Carter grinned, pretending to look abashed. "Sorry, sir."

Hammond shook his head with a wry smile and stood up from the table. "You'll leave at 0900 hours tomorrow. Dismissed."