"Stand down," a voice ordered the group, and Riley, Jesse, and Jace looked up to see a mild-age woman standing behind them. "You are not from here and you're not Goa'uld."

"That is correct, Ma'am," Jesse said, as she shot a glance around to see that the men had lowered their weapons. "What's going on here?"

"We're protecting ourselves from those who would want to hurt us," she said, as she came up to them. "You are different, like Keirra."

"Who's Keirra?" Jace asked, as he came up next to Jesse, and she shot him a concerned look. "What? It's the name. It's different."

"And what Jace was popular back where you grew up?" Jesse asked, as she turned to face him.

"Yes, it was."

"Oh, really."

"Uhm, guys," Riley said as he stepped in between them. "I don't think this is the time to have a little spat over names."

"She started it."

"I did not."

"Enough!" the woman snapped, causing them all to jump and face her. "That's better. Come with us. You'll be added to our collection."

"Collection?" they all mouthed, as they followed the woman away from the gate.

"Why doesn't that sound like a good thing," Jace asked Jesse as they passed a bend of the path only to come to a halt at the base of what seemed like a huge bird cage full of people. "That could be the reason."

"I don't have a good feeling about this," Jesse said, as the woman opened the door and they ducked in, only to have the door lock behind them. "I feel like a bird in a cage."

"Is that because we're in a cage?" Jace asked her, only to receive a punch in the arm. "Okay, I may have deserved that one."

"What are they all here for? Most of them look human."

"The question I want to know is how did that woman notice that we were different," Riley said, as he climbed up onto a ledge and helped Jesse and Jace onto it. "She knows more than she's telling us."

"That's because Theresa knows everything about everybody," a voice came from above and they looked up to see a young woman dressed in a pair of black pants, and a white t-shirt perched on the wall above them. She dropped down next to them and it was then that they noticed her three foot tail. "Don't worry, it doesn't bite."

"Let me guess," Jesse said, as she looked up at the girl. "You're Keirra."

"How did you guess?"

"Because Theresa said that we were like Keirra. We were different."

"You have to be different in order to survive the trials."

"Trials?" Jace asked, as he looked up at her. "What trails?"

"They are to test to see how powerful you really are."

"What happens to those who fail?"

"They are sold off as slaves or killed."

"Dang, that's not good."

"How long you been here, Keirra?" Riley asked, as she began to twitch her tail.

"A while. Long enough to learn the language and how to get on Theresa's good side."

"How did she acquire you?" Jesse asked, as she looked over at the others who were watching them with dagger eyes.

"She found me unconscious after a Goa'uld attack on my village. I was the only one left alive and she took me as your prize possession. All because of the tail."

"We've never met anyone who has a tail before who's human."

"It's in the genes." She then turned to face the door and frowned. "Something is wrong. Very wrong."

"Why do you say that?" Jace asked, as Jesse and Riley joined Keirra's side. "Guys?"

"Someone's coming with an army?" Jesse asked Riley, as she moved over to his side. "Please tell me my eyes were wrong."

"No, they're right," Riley assured her. "It's an army. An army of replicators."

"Who would bring them as an army?"

"Someone who doesn't fear them, would be my guess."

"We're dead," Jace said as he began to pace. "It figures I find other living beings only to end up being killed by those nasty bugs. This is really fun on how my life is ending up." Keirra slapped him on the face and grabbed his shirt. "What?"

"We'll get out of this," she said, as she turned to look at the roof of the cage. "How good are you guys at climbing?"

"Why?" all three asked in unison.

"Because that's the only way you guys can get out of here alive. These cage is what those nasty bugs want, and we're in their way."

"Good point," Jace said, as he began to climb up the walls towards the top.

"What about the others?" Jesse asked them, as she looked at the others. "We can't leave them here."

"They all are all ready dead," Keirra said, as she jumped up onto the wall and snagged a hold. "This cage somehow holds the spirits of those who die. They died along time ago."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I've been here long enough to know that. The only living humans on this planet are Theresa, her guards, and you guys."

"Well, since we're the only humans, let's go." Riley and Jesse started to follow Jace and Keirra up towards the top of the cage. "We are not in shape to do this."

"Yeah, I know," Riley said, as he grabbed onto Jesse's arm as she slipped and pulled her back to safety. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'll be better once we are out of this stupid cage."

"Hello, you guys are so slow." They looked up to see that both Keirra and Jace had gotten the top off and were on the outside looking down at them. "You guys coming or what?"

"I'm gonna hurt him," Jesse whispered to Riley as she blurred up to them, with Riley right behind her. "Yeah, we're coming. It's you who are slowing us down."

"You guys blurred?"

"Yeah, we can do that." They all peered down to see that the replicators had started to eat away at the cage. "Okay, did anybody have any idea how to get off of the top of the cage?" They all shook their heads no. "No, that's what I thought."

"All we have to do is get to the gate and we're okay," Jace pointed out, as he started to climb down the side.

"Yeah, and pass the thousand replicators who want to eat any technology that is advanced on this planet." They all followed him down the cage and hid in some bushes.

"So, they don't eat humans."

"No, but they do love the little bugs that are in our blood stream."

"That's gotta suck."

"Ri, you think that you and Jace can grab our stuff. Keirra and I will get to the gate."

"Okay." Jace and Riley took off in one direction and Jesse and Keirra went the other way.

"Oh, by the way," Keirra said, as they ran for the gate.

"What? You don't want to leave?"

"No, it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"I prefer Kee, then Keirra."

That got Jesse to stop and shoot her a smile. "That's it? Okay I can deal with that. Run!" Kee glance behind her to see a swam of replicators coming towards them. "I don't like them." They took up their pace and came to the stargate just as Riley had punched in the symbols on the device. "We're going home?"

"For now," Riley, said as he looked at the replicators. "This was the only other free world that I knew off that wasn't Goa'uld occupied or swamped with Replicators." Riley handed them their weapons and they got ready to go through the gate.

"Good enough reason." They all backed away from the gate and Jace and Kee shot them a concerned look. "Time to go." Riley and Jesse grabbed onto them and blurred for the gate. They hit the event horizon just as replicators jumped at them.

TBC

TBC