Disclaimer: I still don not own any of the Stargate characters or the show or anything.

Chapter XII

She took off through the woods at a brisk pace, leaving Sg-1 to deal with Klorel, who was tied up, and being led at gun point. The team took up a defensive formation as they walked, just in case this girl was leading them into some kind of trap. As they walked, the girl explained her story, her capture, and how she and Klorel had been left on this planet. They'd been on the planet's surface for months now, but she had had time to prepare "I grabbed this before we left," she held up a small black device, "It's a kind of global positioning device. I knew the coordinates of the Stargate and we've been heading towards it since we got here. Of course, Klorel didn't know, I told him we were following...animals, or the river or something. Anyway, we've been in the general vicinity of the gate for awhile, but I didn't risk leaving until today. Last month I went out collecting food -- Klorel still expects me to serve him." She rolled her eyes, but the team couldn't see it, "But I found something else. I think it can help." As it turned out, what she had found was a ship. It contained a single, dying alien who had fled to this planet believing it to be safe. He was too injured for Echo to help much, but she brought him food and water. And talked to him. And buried him. She said that she thought he had taught her enough to be able to fly his ship. The group reached a large, empty clearing, "It should be here!" the girl shouted against the wind. She walked determinedly towards the empty field THUNK "Oww...think I found it." She took a step back from the ship, which apparently, had the ability to turn invisible. "I'll go up, then send Klorel, then yourselves..." Her voice faded as ring transporters descended around her. She looked around; she had been on the ship enough times to know how to operate most of it, but not everything. Shortly after her arrival on the ship, Klorel appeared. Echo turned to him, leveling the zat at his chest. "Over there." She ushered him into a cell and raised a force field-like wall blocking his escape. She turned back to the rings to await the others. "Nice ship," observed O'Neill upon his arrival. The girl smiled, but then walked towards a control panel, raising another energy wall around the team. O'Neill looked stricken, "what the hell are you doing?" Echo glanced back at him, "Sorry, but I can't risk it. I can't trust you. After all, you do know a lot about the Gould, how do I know your not—" O'Neill cut her off, "We fight the Gould!" The girl walked away, trying to figure out how to launch the ship.

The mood inside Sg-1's cell was not happy. Teal'c felt slighted, he had recommended against trusting the girl who, in all likelihood, had been raised since childhood to serve the Gould. Jack felt responsible for basically screwing his team over by trusting some strange and paranoid kid. Sam couldn't believe that they had been imprisoned so easily, so gullibly. And Daniel felt betrayed. He had trusted that girl, he had assured his team that she was just scared, cautious, but that she would help them. There had to be someway to get through to her. He tried to talk to her "You can't keep us in here forever," Echo looked over from the front of the ship. "I know. I won't....I'll just...I'll go to where I need to go, ring out, and then you four can have the ship..." Obviously her plan wasn't very well thought out. Now Carter spoke, "I seriously doubt that you'll be able to fly this ship the entire way to wherever you are going. You'll need to rest..." Echo interrupted, "No, see, I'll just go to the other planets in this solar system, I'm fairly sure that at least one other has a Stargate on it." Carter looked horrified, "Listen, there's no way you can do this. Even if you do know how to fly the ship, you can't just randomly fly through space looking for a planet. And even if you did find one, it would take years to use the ship's sensors to find the Stargate unless you know exactly what you're looking for. You can't do this alone. You need our help."