The Med-evil Virus
Chapter 1: The Epidemic
The SGC was getting its favorite team ready for another mission. Colonel Jack O'Neil, Captain Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c, their Jaffa friend, were going through the gate to a planet that a probe had recorded as being like Earth during its medieval times. Jack was not too thrilled about this one, but, as always, Daniel was trying to get him to stop acting so negative.
"You know, Jack, the middle ages were some of the most exciting years of our history," Daniel was saying.
"I don't know about you," Jack shot back. "But a bunch of rich guys arguing with each other isn't exactly my idea of exciting."
"It wasn't all aristocratic debating," Daniel said, sounding offended. "There was the rebellion of Scotland against English rule, and there was the French Revolution, the one that had the incident with Marie Antoinette –"
"Alright," Jack said. "I've heard enough!"
At this point, before it could get any worse, General Hammond walked in, telling them that it was time to go. Sam and T'ilk were already waiting for them. The team watched as the curtain of what looked like rippling, silvery water that was the portal formed. They walked through unflinchingly, showing the obvious fact that they had done this quite a few times before. They sped through space at an alarming rate, coming out in a forest. They were looking around in search of any close by form of civilization. The first thing that they noticed was that there appeared to be no dial-up pad, but, eventually, Sam found it. It had been forced into the ground and covered with leaves. This slightly troubled her. Why was it hidden? she wondered. And where are all of the people? In any case, they were soon on their way out of the woods. The closely formed canopy had shielded them from the weather, but now, they were soaked within seconds. They soon spotted a village, however, and started to head towards it as fast as they could. T'ilk stopped them.
"Wait," he said. "Are we sure that they will greet us? How did people in your past react to strangers?"
"Well," Sam began. "From what I remember in History class, middle agers were sort of judge first, ask questions later kind of people."
"Not true," argued Daniel. "It all depended on where you were. Native Americans were relatively welcoming if you didn't bring disease, but the English were more likely to accuse you of being a witch if you weren't careful."
"Were the Irish friendly?" asked Jack, noticing a Claghdah (the Irish ring, with the hands holding the heart wearing a crown) symbol above on of the house's doors.
"I don't know," admitted Daniel.
"Only one way to find out," Jack said, starting towards the village once more.
The others looked at each other and shrugged, then followed him. When they reached the village, there was no one outside. No one to greet them or turn them away, no children running around, playing, but above all, thankfully, they did not see any sign of Goa'uld activity on this planet. Had it not been for the fire that was still cooking what looked like stew under one of the canopies, they would have thought that the village was deserted. Just then, an old woman ran out of one of the houses, shouting.
"Relno Kaa! Relno Kaa!" she shouted, waving her arms. "Keep away! The Relno Kaa has come to punish us!"
"Relno Kaa?" asked Daniel. "Is that a plague? We've never heard of it before."
She stopped right in front of them and stared at them. Then she said, "You must be outlanders. The Relno Kaa does not like us to have contact with the outside world. We fear the forest because he dwells there, and no one has ever come back, not even the smallest child. We fear the Great Sea because he dwells there also, we are allowed only to fish for food, not to swim. One of the young girls went into the forest not too long ago. We heard something, but we weren't quite sure what it was. Since then, we have been ravaged by famine. The fish will not come to our nets. Anyone who comes in contact with us will suffer the same. There is also one more thing, almost all of the younger ones have become fatally ill, and we have no cure for them."
"We might," offered Sam. "Let us take some of them back with us, or at least let us see them."
The old woman looked nervous, but nodded and beckoned them into one of the houses. There were easily twenty children, maybe more, scattered around inside the house. All of them were coughing up what looked like yellowish-brown mucus, some were wheezing. It reminded Sam of one illness in particular, one that she had gotten as a girl –
"Pneumonia," she muttered.
"Carter, could you talk a little louder, please?" Jack said impatiently.
"It's pneumonia," she said again. "It starts off with symptoms like those of the common head cold, but, if left unattended, it can develop into something more serious. If the people are dying from it, then I think it's bacterial, in which case, we need to take at least some of these children back to the SGC and give them antibiotics. Bacterial pneumonia is one of the worst forms, it's way more lethal than a viral infection."
"Look, Carter," said Jack. "If we take these people back with us, we risk the ones at the SGC getting sick, too. General Hammond would have our hides for it!"
"Sir, with all due respect –"
"Jack," Daniel cut in. "Is it any worse to let these children die? We're more immune to it than they are. We can help them, we have to."
Jack started to walk out of the house.
"How would you feel if it was Scarra, or anyone else on Abados?" Daniel shouted after him.
"This is neither the time, nor the place to start a fight," Teal'c said to them. "I believe Captain Carter and Daniel are right. If there is anything we can do to save them, we must do it."
"Alright, alright," Jack said. "I can see I'm outnumbered. We'll take them back to the SGC. Doctor Frazier can have a look at them."