Here's the next installment of SG1 on the Alchemy Planet. Sorry that it took me so long to get an update. (Computer issues, sigh.) I hope you enjoy it. I admit that I forgot some of the words that Teal'c normally uses. If someone could tell me how to spell those words, I'd fix them in this chapter. What was that word that he calls the people of Earth? I honestly can't remember how it's spelled. Sigh, oh well. Enjoy the story, and please leave me your feedback.

Edward paced through the streets, griping at his brother. "That stupid Mustang," he said, "He calls me all the way back to Central just to submit a report, and then when I get there he says, 'Oh, sorry, I couldn't see you over the stack of papers on my desk'! If he weren't my superior, I'd really let him have it." Edward raised his right fist, clenched tightly. No doubt, a blow from that mechanical arm would definitely hurt.

He was still fuming when a panicked little boy came running up the street and ran into Edward, knocking him down. Upon closer examination, Edward saw that it was the same child that had accompanied the attackers on the train. "Wrath, what are you doing here?" he said.

Wrath jumped up off of Edward, crying, and started to run away when Edward reached out and grabbed him by one of his ankles. "What has scared you so badly?" Strange for a homunculus to be scared of anything. Anything but the Gate, that is, but there shouldn't be any reason why the Gate was scaring Wrath right now.

"Let me go! Let me go!" cried Wrath as he tried to wriggle free from Edward's grasp.

"Not until you tell me what's going on," said Edward.

Wrath started crying even harder, as he said, "Please let me go, before they come!"

"They? Who are they?" asked Al.

But Wrath didn't answer. He had managed to break free from Edward's grasp, and was running like mad down the street.

"Hey, wait, come back!" called Ed as he started to chase after Wrath, but Al stopped him.

"You won't get any information out of him, so why torture him?" asked Al.

"Are you getting soft to him? Have you forgotten what he is?" said Ed.

"No, I haven't forgotten what he is, but he's still a person. He deserves some respect, Brother," said Al.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," said Ed, still fuming.

"Why don't we see if we can find out what scared him?" said Al.

"Fine," said Ed.

So the two walked down the street in the direction that Wrath had come from, keeping their eyes open for anything that could possibly frighten a homunculus. It didn't take long to find out. People were running like mad, trying to find cover. Marching down the middle of the street was an army of people wearing strange armor and...were those staff weapons they were carrying?

"Brother, these people look like that 'Teal'c' guy," said Al.

"I noticed," said Edward.

"Where do you suppose they came from, and what are they doing here?" said Al.

"I have no idea, but it doesn't look good," said Edward.

The brothers couldn't think of what to do, so they just stood there in the middle of the street, looking. They had never encountered anything like this before. What was going on? Before they knew it, the intruders were upon them.

"Brother, what do we do?" asked Al.

"Just run, you idiot! Get out of here!" said Ed.

"I won't leave you!" said Al.

"Do you want to get killed?" said Edward.

"I'm not going to run and let anything happen to you," said Al.

The men approached the two brothers. "Surrender, and our God will spare you," said one of them.

"We won't surrender to anyone!" said Edward.

"Then you will die before your God!" said the man. With that, he started firing his staff weapon at the two brothers. Fortunately, he kept missing. What were they to do? They had to do something, or they were going to be killed. Sooner or later, that weapon was going to hit.

Edward clapped his hands together, and once again caused blue sparks to fly out of his fingers. A sharp blade once again appeared on his mechanical hand.

"Brother, this isn't a good time for one-on-one combat," said Al.

"What other choice do I have?" said Edward.

"What about that thing Colonel O'Neill gave you? That 'zat' gun? Maybe it would work?" said Al.

Edward figured that it was worth a try. After all, Al was right in that one-on-one combat would be pretty dangerous in a situation like this. He pulled the zat gun out of his coat, aimed it at the one firing at him, and fired. A blue-colored laser-type beam shot out from it and hit the attacker in the chest, causing him to collapse onto the ground.

"Wow, it does work!" said Edward.

"Brother, did you kill him?" said Al.

"Not if what O'Neill says is true. I think I just stunned him. That was just one shot," said Edward. He was glad that he could just stun these guys without killing them. It had been hard enough for him when he had managed to kill Greed a while back. Al was right, homunculus or not, he was still a person, and it was hard to deal with killing one of them, even if it was necessary. But back to the intruders.

Edward was firing shots left and right, stunning one man after another. It was a good thing that he was so used to fighting, since that allowed him to dodge the shots they were firing at him.

Finally, the two brothers heard footsteps running up behind him. "Good work, FullMetal, I'll take it from here."

Edward turned and saw that it was Colonel Roy Mustang. "For once, I'm actually glad to see you, Colonel," said Edward.

"Oh, so, would you like to challenge me to a fight with your alchemy again?" said Mustang.

Edward remembered the last time he and Roy had had a mock battle with alchemy, and decided against it. He didn't particularly care to get burned by the Flame Alchemist again.

"Edward, you're okay!"

Ed turned to see Samantha and the rest of SG1 running up to meet them. Samantha bent down and hugged him. Edward blushed a bit, but he didn't resist. Samantha kind of reminded him of his mother.

"When we saw those Jaffa warriors land, we went and immediately alerted the authorities to their presence," said O'Neill, "So how did that zat gun fare for you?"

Edward chuckled, "It worked fine. I'm glad that I had it. I guess that I'd better learn to trust your hunches."

"So what was that name that that man called you?" asked Sam, still kneeling beside Edward.

"What name...oh, you mean 'FullMetal'? That's my second name. Every state alchemist is given a second name to differentiate them from the rest. His second name is the Flame Alchemist," he said as he pointed to Roy.

"Why are you called, 'FullMetal'?" asked Colonel O'Neill.

Edward said, "Well, I'm the only state alchemist to use auto-mail."

"That's what they call your arm here, right?" said O'Neill.

Edward nodded, then turned around to see how the military people were handling the intruders. He turned to face SG1 again and asked, "So, do you know who those guys were? I noticed that they had the same kind of weapons as Teal'c."

"They are a race called Jaffa," answered Teal'c, "They are the slaves of the false gods known as the Goa'uld. I myself was one of them at one time. But when I realized that the Goa'uld were not gods, I left the service of the Goa'uld and joined with the people of Earth."

"Then...you're serious? These guys are actually from a different planet?" said Edward.

"I am certain," said Teal'c.

"Well, what are they doing here?" asked Edward, a slight bit of nervousness entering his voice.

"The Goa'uld have but one objective: Total domination of the entire universe. They conquer every planet they come across, and kill all who oppose. The reason that we came to this planet is because members of your people had managed to come through to our world without the use of the Stargate, and we needed to make sure that the Goa'uld didn't discover your method. They have already tried to conquer the Earth several times unsuccessfully. They deem our people a serious threat." said Teal'c, who had never spoken so much at once in his life.

Edward seemed pleased that Teal'c considered himself a member of the human race. Wait, was he really believing what he was hearing? All this about aliens and Stargates and other planets...it was hard to take in all at once. Yet, he couldn't deny the existence of those people that he had just shot down. These members of SG1 were probably telling the truth all along.

Edward coughed, "So...I have some free time now, since I'm not on an assignment. Could you use an alchemist in your band of explorers?"

"Yes, especially if that alchemist doubled as a guide!" O'Neill joked.

Edward laughed. He was growing to really like Colonel O'Neill. "So," he said, "Would you like to go to my hometown, Rizenbul, to meet Winry?"

"The machine freak? Yeah, I'd definitely like to talk to her," said O'Neill, "But is there any faster way to get there than by train?"

"I'm afraid not," said Edward, "The greatest development on this world is alchemy."

"I guess that to get something, you gotta lose something," said O'Neill.

"Equivalent trade!" Daniel piped up.

Everyone laughed at Daniel's little joke, especially since it came from Daniel who rarely ever jokes. "Yes," said Edward, "If you want to use the terms of alchemy, I guess that you could call it equivalent trade."

When the six people arrived at the train station, Edward once again went and paid the fare for all of them, without a word. When he saw how guilty the SG1 team felt for having him pay again, he said, "Don't worry so much about it. Like I said, I got the military to pay for your travel expenses last time. They'll reimburse me again, so don't worry."

Everyone relaxed. They boarded the train, and once again sat in two bench seats that were facing each other. "So," said Edward, "Can you tell me anything more about these 'Goa'uld'?"

"Sure, if you'll tell us more about alchemy," said Carter, "Equivalent trade, right?" She winked at him, and he chuckled.

"No problem," said Edward, "I'll tell you whatever you want to know, but it's not my fault if you don't understand it. It's a rather complicated subject."

"Oh, I'm sure that Sam won't have any problem understanding it," said O'Neill.

Samantha looked to Edward eagerly, waiting for him to begin explaining the details of alchemy. Ed smirked at her eagerness, and began his lecture. They discussed alchemy and the Goa'uld all the way to Rizenbul.

Finally, the train stopped. The six passengers stepped off the train and stretched their arms. They were the only ones to step off the train at this stop.

"Boy, you didn't say anything about this place being in the middle of nowhere!" said O'Neill.

"Sorry, I didn't think about it," said Edward, "But you wanted to talk to Winry, right?"

"Right, that's what we want to do," said O'Neill.

"Alright, then let's not waste any more time, come on!" said Edward, "It's this way." He then started walking off, waving to the others to get them to follow.

I'm really starting to like this kid, thought O'Neill.