1590 A.D.
The heavy armor-clad footsteps announced the entrance of her First Prime. The large Jaffa knelt before his master and bowed his head in submission.
Her eyes glowed a bright gold, accentuating the blackness of her long straight hair. Every move she made spoke of her arrogance and poise. Finally she turned her attention to the slave knelt before her.
"Bar'tok, what have you to report?"
The Jaffa stood, but kept his head lowered in submission. "We have found a small group of humans near a shoreline. We believe you will be satisfied with them, my Queen. They are made up of mostly men, and are a small enough group to transport. They have but few supplies, and are cut off from most other humans on the planet."
"You believe these will be able to withstand the labor of a mining camp?"
"Yes, my Queen."
"We shall soon see."
As happened so often on missions such as these, Daniel felt as though he had stepped back in time. Walking through the town square, Daniel took note of the 1600s style of dress and buildings. The homes were made of wood or old-style bricks. Women wore simple floor-length dresses; men wore plain button-up shirts and black or brown pants.
Night had fallen as they came to a stop in front of one of the brick homes in the village. Robert Viccars opened the front door and turned to SG-1. "This is my home. I know it's not much, but..."
"Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine." Daniel said, speaking in behalf of his teammates.
After bidding Thomas and Edmond goodnight, Robert led SG-1 into his home. Upon entering, they immediately saw a small, fair-skinned, blonde woman sitting in the corner sewing.
"This is my wife, Elyn."
Elyn quickly rose to greet the newcomers.
"Howdy, ma'am." Jack said.
"Elyn, this is Jack O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, Sam Carter, and Teal'c." Robert introduced. "I've offered them a place to stay for the night. They've come from Earth."
Sam watched as the woman paled visibly. "Are you all right?" Sam asked, the concern showing in her voice.
"Earth is real?" Elyn asked in a whisper. After a moment, her attention turned back to her husband. "Then the stories are true."
"What stories?" Daniel asked.
"We'd best save that for later." Robert said. "It has been a tiresome day for us all. And I am due to work in the mine tomorrow."
Daniel wanted to protest, but he could tell by the look on Jack's face that his arguments wouldn't get far. With a sigh, Daniel decided to let his questions wait until morning.
"Have you eaten?" Elyn asked her guests.
"Oh, we're fine, thanks." Jack replied.
"Well, then if you'll wait here, I'll get a room ready for you."
Jack nodded as Elyn walked out towards the back of the house.
After making sleeping arrangements for their guests, Elyn and Robert left their guests to themselves in the small spare bedroom of their home.
Jack had just taken off his pack when he noticed what Sam was doing. She had pulled out the soil sample that she collected earlier…along with a kit of testing chemicals.
"Carter, don't you ever quit?" Jack asked, trying to sound annoyed at her.
"No, sir." Sam said with a smile. "Robert mentioned he had to mine, and it reminded me of the sample I'd taken."
The others watched as Sam carefully squeezed a measured amount of chemical from a dropper into a test tube of soil. Immediately the chemicals reacted to the sample, changing the liquid around it from light blue to dark green.
Sam's raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Holy Hannah!" Amazed, she turned to look at her CO. "Sir, do you know what this means?"
"Of course I do." Jack said with a sly look, "But maybe you should explain it to Daniel."
Sam smiled and shook her head. "Sir, I only put a very small amount of soil in this sample, yet it showed a massive reaction to the testing chemical."
Jack merely blinked in reply.
"So, the sample contains naquadah." Daniel clarified.
"Not only that. I'd have to run some more tests on it, but it appears this variation of naquadah is much more powerful than any other samples we've encountered before."
"More so than the substance naquadria found on Jonas Quinn's planet?" Teal'c asked.
Wide-eyed, Sam turned to the Jaffa. "It very well may be."
1590 A.D.
Elizabeth felt a soothing calm wash over her as she watched the waves crashed into shore. This was her favorite part of the day. She had lost track long ago of how many times she had walked up and down this sandy beach. But it never failed to lift her spirits. Here she could just be alone and think.
Things were definitely looking up for the colony. Despite the drought, they'd managed to come to an amicable trade agreement with the Indians. So, at least they didn't have to worry about starvation. Winter was months away, and as long as the ships returned before then, they would be fine.
Elizabeth came to a stop at her normal spot on the beach and sat down. Shielding her eyes from the descending sun, she scanned the horizon to the left, and then slowly panned to the right. An involuntary sigh escaped her lips; there was still nothing to be seen but ocean.
She lay back, propping herself up on her elbows. She closed her eyes, inhaled the salty sea air, and listened to the sound of the crashing ocean waves.
She'd only been lying there for a few minutes when she heard a distant rumble.
'Thunder?' she wondered, her eyes flying open. They had been praying for rain to come for weeks now.
But this sound was not like that of normal thunder. The sound was continuous, and it was getting louder, closer.
Elizabeth jumped to her feet and quickly scanned the horizon once again. At first, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, but she soon spotted it.
'A ship!' her mind yelled, but she soon realized that she was wrong.
She couldn't help but stare in awe…this was nothing like anything she had ever seen before! It appeared to be a large triangular object, and it was moving across the water much too quickly to be a ship. Fear settled in the pit of her stomach. Elizabeth may not have understood exactly what was going on, but something was telling her that what was coming was not good.
Snapping back to reality, Elizabeth took off running down the beach. Whatever it was, she had to warn the others.
Daniel tried sleeping, but although he was tired, sleep still evaded him. As the early morning light began to filter in, Daniel finally decided that getting up might help clear his head. Careful not to wake the others, he crept out of the small bedroom and walked towards the sitting room. Once there, Daniel was surprised to find that Elyn Viccars was already awake.
"Are you not well?" she asked, getting up from her chair.
"I'm fine." Daniel lied.
"If you were, would you not be sleeping?"
"Well, you're up." Daniel said, trying to divert attention from himself.
"Yes. I always am at this hour. The quiet helps me to think, to sort things out." Daniel nodded and so she continued. "Perhaps that is why you too are awake..."
Daniel sighed and was silent for a long moment before he replied. "Have you ever said something out of anger that you didn't really mean?"
Elyn laughed lightly. "Many times. My family tends to have a quick temper...so, that is why you are unable to sleep."
"Yeah." Daniel confirmed.
Elyn nodded knowingly. "She will forgive you."
"Who will?" Daniel asked suspiciously.
"Your mate."
Daniel marveled at the perception this woman had. "How did you..."
Elyn merely smiled.
"Right." Daniel sighed. "The worst part is, it was my fault. I forgot a very important occasion for us and she was angry with me. And instead of apologizing I…" Daniel sighed again. "I didn't even get to talk to her before I left."
Elyn placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "You have a kind heart, Daniel. I'm sure when you return home you will make things right."
"Thank you, Elyn."
She smiled and turned to go. "And now, I have chores to do. You try to get some sleep."
A few hours later, the others were up and dressed. Elyn had prepared breakfast for her husband and guests six of them sat around the breakfast table.
"How long will you be gone?" Jack asked Robert.
"I will return after midday."
"Mind if we tag along with you, Robert?" Sam asked. "I'd love to get some more samples of the ore your people are mining."
"I'm sorry, Morrigan forbids it. Besides, it is unsafe."
"If I may, Robert," Daniel began. "How long has it been since Morrigan came here?"
Robert leaned back in his chair and rubbed his reddish-brown hair in thought. "Many years. Never in my lifetime, nor my father's. Yet, she commanded that we mine the ore and send it to her through the Great Passageway."
"You said today was your turn to work there. How many of your people work in the mines?" Sam asked.
"Fifteen men work in there on any given day."
"Only fifteen?" Daniel asked in surprise.
"Yes, the ore we mine is very volatile. Mining it is quite a risk. That risk increases with the number of people working inside the mine. And then…there are the tremors…
"Tremors?" Sam repeated.
"Yes, every so often the ground below us begins to shake. Over the years, it has caused many cave-ins to occur. So we feel it best for only a few to work at a time. The schedule for doing so rotates daily."
"You know, she probably wouldn't even notice if you stopped sending her the stuff." Jack said.
"Why do you think that?"
"We have seen it before on other worlds." Teal'c explained. "Often the Goa'uld abandon a planet when it no longer serves their purposes."
"Goa'uld?" Elyn asked.
"The false gods we spoke of previously."
"They are a race of parasitical beings." Daniel spoke up. "They use people as hosts, and they often force other humans to worship them by posing as gods."
"So...Morrigan is a..."
"Gould." Jack supplied.
"When are you supposed to send the next shipment of ore to Morrigan?" Sam asked.
"Later today," Robert answered. "If what you say is true..."
"Your people would no longer have to risk themselves in the mine." Sam finished.
"I'm still not sure that..." Robert's words trailed off as the room around them began to shake. An echo rumbled loudly outside as the planet's tectonic plates groaned in protest. Dust from the beams above began to fall upon them as the seismic disturbance continued to rattle the small village. After a few long seconds it was over, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
The earthquake seemed to have made up Robert's mind. "I'll call a meeting of the elders."