A/N: Thank you to everyone for the wonderful reviews! While this chapter is not a cliffhanger, there is still another twist to the story so keep reading!

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Some time had gone by before one of Palaki's guards again entered the cave. "The Elders have arrived. It is time for the battle," he stated.

Sam and Daniel helped get Jack up off his cot and, with one of them supporting him on each side, brought him out of the cave. They helped him sit down on a large boulder near the cave entrance.

"Daniel?" Lopaka questioned, "I am quite surprised that you requested the rite of Pukaua Koa."

"We didn't!" Daniel stated with conviction. "Palaki, is not being honest with you!"

"Why would he do that, Daniel? I have known Palaki all of my life. I have know you for just one day."

Teal'c inclined his head slightly as he addressed Lopaka. "Your gift is to be fair and even tempered when dealing with others. In order to be fair you must hear us. We were taken from our quarters last night and brought here against our will. We have no desire to participate in this battle."

Lopaka looked from Teal'c to Palaki and then at the other counsel members.

"Lopaka, you can not believe them," Palaki began, "they are evil and will bring down the wrath of the gods upon us all!"

"Where is Nika?" Daniel asked.

"The women are not allowed to witness the rite of Pukaua Koa." Lopaka stated.

"That's too bad," Daniel began "because with Nika's gift she could tell you that we are telling the truth. The Goa'uld are false gods, they do not know we are here, and they will not punish you for listening to us."

"Palaki intended to fight Colonel O'Neill but he put something into the Colonel's drink to make him sick." Carter tried to explain to the elders.

"Palaki told us that he will do battle with you, Sam." Kona stated.

"Yes," she began, "As I explained to Palaki, I am second in command and it is my job to take Colonel O'Neill's place."

"Carter..." Jack said and then immediately regretted the exertion as he doubled up in pain, leaned over and put his head in his hands.

"Look at him!" Carter indicated the slumped over form of Colonel O'Neill. "The rest of us are fine. Why would he be sick and not the rest of us if Palaki didn't give him something to make him sick!" Sam moved over to where Jack was sitting on the boulder with his head in his hands. She put her hand on his shoulder "Sir?" She asked softly.

"Enough!" Shouted Palaki. "We do not have to listen to these false accusations by these strangers. They requested the rite of Pukaua Koa. let's get on with it!"

"But, we didn't request the rite of Pukaua Koa!" Daniel shouted, his arms flailing wildly. "What about you other Elders, what do you think about all of this?"

The oldest looking man of the group stepped forward. "I believe that Palaki merely wants to preserve our way of life. He is concerned for us, and while his methods may not be approved by you, his intentions are good."

"Ok, look," Daniel began again, "tell your people that Palaki has killed Sam in the rite of Pukaua Koa and the rest of us left in disgrace, never to return again. You save face, your people will believe that we are wrong and the gods are still watching you."

"We can not lie," The oldest of the group stated. "There are those among us who would know that we are not telling the truth and it would defeat the purpose."

"Then those people who can tell truth from lies should be brought here to talk to us!" an exasperated Daniel bellowed.

"Lopaka," Teal'c began in an even tone "surely you can see that this is the only fair thing to do. You have it in your power to know whether or not we are telling the truth."

Lopaka looked around the group as if looking for an answer. When no one said anything Teal'c continued, "Major Carter is a formidable warrior and she will kill Palaki in battle."

Palaki made a sound somewhere between a snort and a laugh. Teal'c ignored it and continued, "We do not wish to harm any of your people, we want to be friends, however, by insisting upon this battle will we never be friends and both of our peoples will lose."

"Teal'c's words are wise." The oldest and most judicious of the Elders spoke.

Between gritted teeth Jack said "Carter, we're overdue..."

Sam looked at the Elders and said "You took our weapons and the devices that we use to communicate with our leaders. When we did not check in with them this morning they began making plans to come and rescue us."

Teal'c jumped in and added "You have heard the stories of the powerful weapons possessed by the gods? We possess weapons just as powerful. When our friends come through the gate to find us they will not hesitate in using the weapons. They could decimate your entire village in a few moments."

Suddenly, from a distance, the group heard the voices of Nika and Lailene shouting "Stop! Wait! Do not begin the battle!"

Everyone turned to look in the direction of the voices and saw Nika and Lailene running as fast as they could in the rocky terrain by the cave.

Nika arrived first and took a moment to catch her breath while the Elders and SG1 looked at her in anticipation.

"The strangers were brought here against their wishes and Palaki took their weapons and communication devices away from them while they slept." Nika huffed between breaths.

Lailene held up an Alice vest and a P90 "We found these things in Palaki's hut." She said.

"What were you doing in my hut?" an angry Palaki exclaimed.

"Each of you standing here has been given a gift and you have all witnessed many of the activation ceremonies," Nika began. "How long does a person normally sleep after drinking the Kumu nectar?"

One of the Elders responded "About eight hours."

"Yes!" Nika exclaimed "Lailene and I went to the hut where the strangers were staying so that we would be there when they awoke."

"They were gone." Lailene stated simply.

"They could not have left on their own," Nika continued. "I knew then that Palaki was behind their disappearance. We went to his hut and found the stranger's foot coverings, packs, weapons and communication devices in his rooms."

"We also found sleeping root," Lailene added and gave Palaki a stern look.

"Palaki, we know you put the sleeping root into Jack's drink." Nika turned to Sam and said "He's sick isn't he?"

"Yes." She replied, still standing beside the Colonel with one hand on his shoulder.

Finally, the one Elder who had remained silent throughout all of the conversation, stepped to the forefront. "I have been listening carefully to everything that has been said here. Palaki, your intentions were good, but your methods were flawed. You can not take people against their will and force them to participate in the rite of Pukaua Koa."

"Kolomona, I..." Palaki began, but the Elder held up a hand to silence him.

"Kolomona," Lopaka addressed the wise Elder, "What shall we do? All of the people in the village believe that we are here to witness the rite of Pukaua Koa. They will not understand when we tell them the rite did not take place."

"Lopaka, how can the rite of Pukaua Koa take place when it was not requested, and these people were brought here while they still experienced the effects of the activation ceremony?" Nika asked.

"As difficult as it will be for Palaki, we must tell our people the truth," Kolomona, the wise Elder, stated.

Just then the radio in the vest that Lailene still held cracked to life. "SG1, this is General Hammond. SG1, please respond."

"You must let me answer that," Sam said to the group of Elders.

"General Hammond is our leader," Daniel began. "He's contacting us through the ring of the gods. If we don't answer he will send more people here with weapons to look for us. They will think you have hurt us and they won't be patient or understanding."

"What Daniel is trying to say, is that they will shoot first and ask questions later," Jack interjected from his position on the boulder.

Lopaka nodded to Sam and she took the radio from Lailene.

"General Hammond, this is Major Carter," she said into the device.

"Major, what's going on there? You are 6 hours overdue for a check-in." the General's stern voice came through the walkie talkie.

"Yes, Sir, we had a bit of a misunderstanding with the locals, but we've got that all worked out now."

"Major, where is Colonel O'Neill?"

Sam walked over to the Colonel and handed him the radio.

"I'm here General. We're all ok, like Carter said, it was just a misunderstanding. We'll check in with you again in 8 hours."

"Very well. If I don't hear from you in eight hours I will send SG3 to extract you."

"Understood. O'Neill out." Jack handed the radio back to Sam.

"Very well," Lopaka began, " we will all travel back to Kanaka and go to the village commons. We will call everyone together and tell them the truth about this misunderstanding with the strangers."

"Um...couldn't you call us something else, say the Tauri, instead of strangers?" Daniel inquired.

"The Tauri? What does that mean?" asked Kona.

"It is where we are from...all of us," Daniel made a sweeping gesture to include everyone standing on the rocky cliff near the cave entrance. "Your ancestors were taken from Earth hundreds of years ago by the Goa'uld."

"This cannot be!" Palaki firmly stated.

"How else can you explain the fact that I understand your language? There are people on Earth who speak the same language."

"Daniel!" Jack admonished from his position near the cave entrance.

"Uh, how far is it back to the village?" Carter asked.

"Nearly a three hour walk." Lailene supplied.

"There is no way that Colonel O'Neill can make that in his current condition." Sam replied.

"That is why we brought the antidote to sleeping root." Nika responded as she held out a coconut cup with a small amount of a white powder in the bottom. "We must mix it with water," she said.

This time Daniel and Sam looked at Teal'c to see if he thought it was safe. Teal'c merely nodded his head slowly in the affirmative.

Sam brought the leather canteen over to where Nika stood. "Ok, how much water do I put in here?"

"Not much. It should be about the same amount you drank at the activation ceremony last night."

Sam nodded and poured about two ounces of water into the cup. Nika swished it around to mix the powder with the water and then handed the cup to Sam. She took it to Jack who took the cup with both hands and drank the contents.

"How long does it take to work?" Sam asked Nika.

"He will start feeling better shortly and will be back to normal within the hour."

Lailene and Nika had brought SG1's boots and while they waited for Jack to recover everyone put their boots on for the hike back to the village.

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