AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, people, here we go again... I know you all know I'm a Danny whumper, and this story is no exception when it comes to that. My apologies to those who don't like it, but you'll just have to live with it. ;-)
"Ya think this thing's actually going to fly?" Jack asked from both Carter and the Tok'ra representative who had taken SG-1 and Ramsey to their transport. The ship was hidden in a forest. It was a tel'tak all right, but even past the tree trunks and branches, Jack could see it had a few holes in it. It'd clearly been in a firefight. So much for returning it in perfect shape, when it was such a mess to begin with.
"It has a working hyperdrive, so yes, it will fly. Some non-critical systems are off line and some compartments have been sealed because of air leaks, but it should not matter on such a short distance," the Tok'ra answered. He was young, or at least the host was, and seemed a bit nervous. "I apologize for this. It was damaged when we were fetching Doctor Ramsey from the planet. At that time, the cloaking device was damaged. It has now been repaired."
"Way to go," Jack grinned. He hadn't thought they'd get one of those. That made things a whole lot easier, if it really did work. Instead of trying to somehow sneak around Anubis's ships or posing as one of them, they could just fly by unseen.
"I'll see if I can do something about the 'non-critical' stuff during our trip, sir," Carter added.
"Carter, I'd rather have you check it before we're somewhere in deep space without heating and oxygen."
Once they got in to the ship, Carter quickly confirmed that the Tok'ra hadn't lied: the ship would fly, had a working cloaking device, and the things that didn't work wouldn't matter. Jack told her that if they weren't important, she should just leave them be, but she insisted. They had time, she would spend it in a useful way.
The trip from this planet, P5Z-whatever to Dinoland took some six hours. Plenty of time to learn the latest news on the dinos. Ramsey and the rest of SG-1 sat down near to where Carter was working, so she wouldn't miss anything.
"So, apparently you learned the dinosaurs' language?" Daniel started interviewing Ramsey.
"Oh yes, I did, though you can't believe how hard it was. I still speak with a horrible accent."
"Wow," Daniel smiled. "I had to communicate with them in Goa'uld, since I never had the chance to study the real, original language of the Neotroodon. It must be... alien. I can just imagine--a language created by dinosaurs..."
"Well, the grammar is really quite simple. It's the sounds that are difficult--at first, it all sounded like random growls and roars to me. I wrote some notes about the language, but it's not much. I hardly know anything about such stuff."
Daniel kept going once he got started with the questions. At some point, Jack realized he was only listening with half an ear. "How about the society in general? The culture? Who leads them? Do they live in families--are they polygamous? What's the material culture like? Any original mythology that you know of?"--on and on and on.
Jack did get the most important details from Ramsey's explanations. Among them was the question about leadership. Apparently, the dinosaurs had some kind of a democracy of their own, with one leader who was elected and didn't have absolute power, like a president, and then a council of elders, a senate, as Ramsey called it. He also added that it wasn't quite as simple as that, but that he didn't really understand all the details of dinosaurian politics.
Barney had held the 'presidency' for the first three years after they'd gotten rid of the Goa'uld. That was one reason why he hadn't kept in touch with the Tok'ra. He had wanted to step aside earlier, but the other dinosaurs had insisted, and he'd done as the people wanted. After three years, he had finally handed the office to a regular dinosaur. A female one, and according to Ramsey, the very concept of sexism was alien to the dinosaurs.
Ramsey described the Neotroodonian culture as something that reminded him of Amazonian Indians, which, he admitted, he didn't really know that well, either. Nature was very important to the dinosaurs, so they only built from natural materials, and tried not to harm the jungle unnecessarily. And enjoyed dancing and music and storytelling, and ceremonies. Which SG-1 got to prove as soon as they reached Dinoland and met the dinosaurs.
They came out of hyperspace well in time before they reached the planet, so they could approach it carefully. By the time they found that there were two Goa'uld motherships and several ha'taks in orbit, they were all holding their breaths. Carter had checked the cloaking system and declared it was all right. Nevertheless, a regular cloaking device would not make the ship completely undetectable, so the atmosphere was pretty tense as they flew past the large ships.
For once, SG-1 were in luck, the cloaking held and they weren't noticed. As a precaution, they landed closer to the temple complex than the gate, so that there'd be no risk of them accidentally exposing the dinosaurian settlements or the gate to Anubis.
Of course, the precaution meant that SG-1 had to spend most of the day walking in the rainforest. It was just like Jack remembered, hot, humid, extremely green and very dense, the undergrowth so thick that it really could hide who knew what Ancient stuff. Or huge dinosaurs, or Anubis's Jaffa. Jack was constantly on his toes, afraid that they'd run into either.
Ramsey admitted that he only knew the general direction where they should go, and wasn't sure he'd be able to take them directly to the capital. He was sure they'd meet the dinosaurs sometime before they got near to it, and they did.
Though Jack knew perfectly well what the Neotroodons looked like and knew to expect them, they still gave him the creeps. A group of almost human-height lizards walking on two feet, with cold reptilian eyes, sharp claws and teeth suddenly emerging out of the jungle was enough to make anyone uneasy. These dinosaurs also carried weapons, spears and bows, and had leather belts and even jewelry, made of leather, precious stones and clay.
"Ramsey, remind me why the dinos need these patrols anyway, will ya. I mean, before Anubis came, there were no other sentient beings here, right?" Jack asked in a low voice, as the scouts growled excitedly amongst themselves, probably about SG-1.
"Well, there are... Or rather, might be. We're not certain, but even though the last Ruler died, one Goa'uldosaur may have survived. And we know for sure that some dinosaurs who supported the Goa'uldosaurs did survive and escape. We've even managed to capture and execute a few, but some remain."
"The roles have been reversed," Teal'c noted. So they had--the last time SG-1 had been here, the good guys, the dinosaurs willing to fight for their freedom from the Goa'uld, had been rebels. Now, the rebels were the bad guys, and this could be a very bad thing. If there still was a rebel Goa'uldosaur somewhere out there hiding in some distant part of the planet, they might get together with Anubis, and who knew what'd come out of that.
"And you never thought to mention this earlier," Jack muttered to Ramsey. It could be an important detail, but then again, maybe not. Why would Anubis want a dinosaur for an ally, anyway?
The Neotroodon scouts finished their conversation and explained it to Ramsey, who translated it to SG-1. One of the scouts would head to the capital right away, as fast as he could. The rest of them would slow their pace to walk with Ramsey and SG-1. The advance scout was going to announce to all and everyone that SG-1 were here, and that there should be a gathering, a ceremony, and an impromptu feast as soon as they reached the capital. Which was great, Jack thought ironically. Taking part in a dinosaur party was definitely the best way to start a desperate mission to save a planet from Anubis.
So, against all reason and completely contrary to anything Jack could've expected, he found himself standing in the middle of the dinosaurian capital's town square, in front of a stylized statue representing a human and a Neotroodon. According to Ramsey, it was supposed to be Barney and Daniel, though the figures were so vague that they weren't recognizable. The statue was made of stone, and it was the only thing of its kind as far as Jack could see.
Capital wasn't exactly the best possible choice of word for the settlement, since it looked more like some kind of an Indian village than a city. The houses, or huts, were large, built of wood, huge leaves, bamboo-like stems and other natural materials. No stone or bricks anywhere. Although many trees had been felled to make room for the buildings, it still looked as if they were partially hidden in the jungle, and most of the huts had trees growing through them.
Jack wasn't big on ceremonies like this. SG-1 was surrounded by the largest bunch of Neotroodons he had ever seen. There were dinosaurs all around the square, in the huts, among the trees and bushes, hundreds of them, it seemed.
Apparently Barney didn't enjoy the situation either, because the Tok'rasaur was stepping around nervously. Jack was a bit surprised to see that--Barney had, after all, been the president for three years, so he had had time to get used to ceremonies. Since SG-1 had been taken here as soon as they'd arrived, they hadn't had the chance to talk to him yet. Daniel stood between him and Jack, looking more at ease than the dinosaur, eagerly taking in the newly reshaped dinosaurian culture.
The current president walked past them, giving a low nod to each, and stopped next to Teal'c.
Before the president got started with her speech, Daniel suddenly shouted "No!"
Jack's eyes turned to where Daniel was looking, and he just caught a glimpse of a dinosaur amongst the crowd lowering a blowgun. That glimpse cost Jack a fraction of a second, which was enough for Daniel to step protectively in front of Barney. Talk about déjà vu.
With a soft whoosh, the dart from the blowgun sank deep into Daniel's right side. It had to be one of the damn rebel bad guys. Of course, they'd targeted Barney, whom the dinosaurs pretty much hero-worshiped. Though they probably wouldn't mind taking Daniel down, either.
It didn't look as if the dart had caused too bad an injury. It was long but slim, clearly designed to pierce a dinosaur's thick scaly skin. Nevertheless, Daniel was wavering on his feet. Jack put an arm around his shoulders.
Barney leaped in front of Daniel, took the dart between his teeth and, without warning, pulled it out. Daniel grunted at the sudden sting and fell to his knees, slipping from Jack's grip.
"Hey!" Jack shouted at Barney, but Barney shook his head--a human gesture he had learned.
"It had to be done. The dart is poisoned," Barney said, now holding it in his clawed hand. That figured. Of course it had to be. Barney went on to growl orders at some dinosaurs somewhere around the square. Jack ignored that, a weak voice from Daniel taking all his attention.
"Jack..." Daniel uttered. "Can't... Can't feel my feet."
Jack absently noted that Carter was now standing behind him. Ignoring her as well, he knelt in front of Daniel, putting his hands on his shoulders.
"What kind of poison?" he heard Carter ask Barney. "And how much?"
"Lethal. Enough to kill one of my kind," Barney answered, not leaving much hope. Something that was lethal to a dinosaur would probably be twice so to a human. "In less than one of your hours, the victim becomes paralyzed and finally suffocates. But there is an antidote, and I have already sent for it."
Jack breathed out of relief for that. Barney really knew how to choose his wording. A dinosaur shouldn't scare people like that. It'd be all right, they'd give Daniel the antidote and he'd be fine. But either Daniel hadn't heard that, or hadn't realized what Barney had said, because he was staring at Jack with wide, frightened eyes.
"Jack... Can't..." he repeated, his lips barely moving. Already paralyzed, Jack thought with a sinking feeling. As if to back up Jack's thoughts, Daniel went completely limp. Jack held his grip and set his friend gently on the ground.
Less than an hour, Barney--like hell. Daniel had went down in less than a minute. The dinosaurs had better hurry with the antidote.