8: Infiltrating the Temple
Sundown on Chulak was a somewhat extended affair, given the system's two suns. When one disappeared below the horizon, it took a good hour or so for the second sun to go with it. The period between these two sunsets was often referred to by the locals, as translated from the common Goa'uld/Jaffa tongue, as the 'solitary twilight', when the later sun's twin left it behind. The reduced light levels left the skies with a seemingly dourer light, as if the later sun was disappointed that its twin had gone on without it.
It was at second sundown that the group departed for the temple fortress at the heights of Chulak's capital city. They took the pair of stolen Calsharan armoured cars the Jaffa insurgents had procured, with John in the rear passenger section of one, joined by Daniel and Natalia. Bra'tac was in the passenger seat, accompanied by Tesic., who manned the steering wheel. The other five Jaffa insurgents followed closely behind in the second transport. All of them were dressed in civilian clothing, somewhat dirty and tattered attire at that in order to give the impression that they were labourers. Bra'tac had a grey robe on over his Jaffa armour, and on his left arm he wore a blue armband that denoted him as the 'leader' of this group of local workers. Just another part of the ID systems that the Calsharan occupiers were implementing within the city.
The pair of armoured cars trundled through the city lanes at a steady pace, receiving the odd glance from local passers-by but otherwise arousing no suspicion. It helped that the windows were tinted, ensuring that outside eyes would not see the occupants without a much closer inspection.
John and the others kept quiet, the city streets under their increasingly lamp-lighted glow moving on by slowly. The thick wheels and all-terrain suspension kept the rough roads from jolting them about, allowing for a smooth drive. Through the pair of small rear windows, John could see the second car following them. In his lap, he had the modified Ori staff weapon (now more of a 'rifle') resting. Daniel carried a modified Calsharan plasma pistol, one of a handful of the enemy's weapons that had seen their lockout devices removed. And Natalia had with her a P90, along with several magazines worth of ammunition hidden underneath the Jaffa-made brown jacket she wore.
John noticed that Daniel appeared distant, more thoughtful even for him. He was leaning forwards, hands under his chin, eyes down as if contemplating some deep, philosophical conundrum. Maybe that was exactly what he was doing, but something told John that it was not quite the case in this instance.
"Something on your mind?" John asked him. "I mean, other than the fact we're driving into enemy-occupied territory?"
Daniel looked up, appearing confused for a moment, his train of thought having been derailed. He composed himself, looked about at the others, before he settled his gaze upon John.
"I was thinking," he said.
"I could tell."
"I was thinking about how the last time I was in that palace, I lost my wife."
John had heard about this, from the very early days of the stargate program. Daniel's Abydonian wife, Sha're, had been abducted by Apophis and brought here, to Chulak. She had been implanted with a Goa'uld symbiote and had, in turn, become Apophis' queen. Her loss had been what had driven Daniel to join SG-1 in the first place, a desire to find her and save her, get her back and free her of the alien parasite inside her. Things had not worked out that way, from what John had heard. Daniel's wife had been dead for over twenty years now, just another casualty in the war that had been fought against the Goa'uld. John had not realised that it was the very fortress they were headed for where so much of this had happened.
"I never thought I'd be back here," Daniel said. "It feels like a lifetime ago when I was."
"And look how far you've come. You don't need to worry about it. We'll get in, save Teal'c and get out, simple as that. No need to hang around."
"I'll be fine, John," Daniel said. "I just don't like the memories this place brings back. I guess it'll be different this time, though. No Goa'uld, just lizard men. I'm not sure if that's better or worse."
"That's up for debate," John countered. Bra'tac turned his head then, looking back at the others seated in the passenger section behind him.
"A Calsharan checkpoint lies ahead," he announced. "Remain quiet and hide your weapons. Tesic and I will do the talking."
John nodded. He turned to Natalia and Daniel, making sure that they had heard the instructions as well. Their weapons they hid within compartments underneath the very seats they sat upon, specially made for the purposes of this mission.
The road around them had opened up somewhat, the buildings more spaced-out, with much more greenery between them. They passed by one narrow two-storey house, situated to the vehicle's right. Standing upon it were a pair of Calsharan soldiers. Next to it was a small guard house, little more than a simple prefabricated metal shelter a few metres in width and height. A Calsharan officer stood outside of it, having watched the vehicles approach, before they slowed to a halt. This officer was cast in the bright illumination of a portable light. Another soldier was approaching the vehicle John and the team were within, and this guard tapped loudly upon the side window where Bra'tac was seated.
John gazed through the rear windows and found himself watching the other vehicle, in which the group of Jaffa insurgents was situated. The officer had approached their driver's side. A pair of armoured guards remained near the guardhouse, both displaying otherwise relaxed demeanours that also suggested significant boredom. John was all too familiar with what guard duty in an otherwise uneventful location could be like, and it seemed boredom was universal across many species of the galaxy.
Through the grated partition that separated the passenger section and the driver's section, John could see the sturdy stone wall that ran around the great temple's perimeter further ahead. The main gate was open, leading into a small cluster of tightly packed houses in which those who worked in the temple resided. Calsharan soldiers patrolled the top of the wall, casting searchlight beams into the dark.
Bra'tac opened the window. The Calsharan soldier asked for credentials, specifically a work pass. Another soldier came around to the rear, no doubt to search the passenger section and check over the other members of this 'Jaffa labour crew'.
"Good evening," Bra'tac said to the soldier. John looked back through the window. He noticed that the officer checking the other vehicle had raised his voice. Straight away, John detected a mounting tension in the air. He saw the way the Jaffa driver moved, gesticulating with one hand as if arguing with the officer. He could just make out their raised voices, although with the doors still closed he could not make out individual words.
"Something wrong?" Daniel asked him.
"He's taking too long," John answered, keeping his voice low. The soldier at Bra'tac's door scanned the electronic pass-card that the Jaffa Master had handed him. There sounded a beep, signifying that the document checked out.
"No, no, I think he's buying it." Daniel followed John's gaze. The rear doors swung open then, the Calsharan soldier shining a small light into the passenger section as he examined the occupants. With no weapons visible and simple Jaffa attire, the trio appeared no more unusual than any other labour crew. Now John could hear some of the exchange being spoken between the officer and the driver of the second vehicle. They spoke in the Goa'uld/Jaffa tongue, and the conversation had seemingly become heated.
John knew then that they had only seconds to act. He readied himself to leap from his seat and lift the lid off it. Daniel and Natalia turned to follow his gaze, and it was at that moment the Jaffa driver in the second vehicle pulled a Calsharan plasma pistol from his side and blasted the officer in the face.
The officer went down, a burning hole shot through his skull, half of his face having disappeared into a mess of charred, smouldering flesh from the impact.
"Let's go, let's go!" John was up on his feet then, bent over somewhat so that he did not hit his head on the ceiling of the passenger section. He popped open his seat, pulling the Ori staff rifle from within. The soldier standing outside had his back turned at that instant, his attention diverted to his commanding officer, who now lay dead by the second vehicle. John had his weapon levelled at the soldier in the seconds before he spun back around, and with a grim set to his features John hit the trigger. The weapon had virtually no recoil, and the blue-white bolt that flew out of the end hit the soldier in the chest. Armour sizzled and the smell of burning flesh became apparent, yet the soldier did not fall. John shot him twice more, sending the Calsharan soldier tumbling into the dirt road.
Someone on the roof nearby let fly with a missile launcher of some variety. The round struck the second vehicle, and with a roar of flame and a deafening thump the armoured car exploded, blackened pieces of metal raining all around, the charred hulk becoming embroiled with intense orange flames. They lit up the darkened street, sending forth wavering, flickering orange light.
John jumped from the rear of the armoured car and blasted the soldier who had fired the launcher, sending him falling from the second-floor rooftop nearby. Daniel was out after him, wielding the Calsharan plasma pistol. Natasha leapt out in his wake, P90 to her shoulder. She swept a rapid hail of fire across the guardhouse, causing one of the Calsharan soldiers to scramble for cover. A few of the bullets struck his rear, sparks flying and blood spilling as a couple of the rounds penetrated. Not the most ideal weapon here, but the Jaffa resistance fighters had had little else to spare.
"Next time, we bring our own guns," Natasha remarked, before she flanked around the side of the parked armoured car. The soldier who had checked Bra'tac's documentation was still there, his plasma rifle raised. Natasha hit him from the side with a volley of armour-piercing rounds, sending the soldier falling under the withering fire. As soon as he was down, Bra'tac and Tesic climbed out of the vehicle. They had little chance to react as plasma weapons fire started being hurled from the soldiers atop the great temple's perimeter wall, each bolt lighting up the night around it with an almost neon blue glow.
John hurried past Natasha, taking careful aim. He put two of the wall guards down with a few well-placed shots from his custom Ori-derived rifle, causing one of them to fall forwards and over the guardrail. This guard landed in a heap by the open gate set into the wall.
"Keep moving," he called back to the others. He started up the gravel road, which went slightly uphill towards the grounds of the great temple. The others followed, moving in a somewhat scattered formation. They had about one-hundred metres of open road to cross, flanked on either side by steep hill slopes and the odd, slim house. John was first to the wide-open front gates, and here he saw three more Calsharan soldiers rushing towards him. His appearance must have taken them by surprise, since they seemed to pause in their movements for a brief moment, standing only several metres away.
John cut them down with the Ori-derived rifle without hesitation. The searing blue-white energy bolts cut through their armour with ease, yet at least one of them remained standing after being hit in the chest twice. The lizards were tough, and so John planted several more blasts into this one, making sure that he would not be getting up again.
He had little chance to spare a thought for those who had died in the second vehicle, the woman Noha being one of them. He supposed he should not have been surprised, with the way this mission had been planned. Something had been bound to go wrong, and now here they were, charging headlong under fire into a heavily defended fortress. This was not his first rodeo, and he hoped it would not prove to be his last.
The group hurried through the gate, heading around a corner before going left down a lane flanked by modest stone-brick houses and paved with cobblestone. A right-hand turn brought them into a courtyard of sorts, and here the group were met by four Calsharan soldiers, an officer among them. An old fountain was in the middle, with arch-shaped openings around the flanks. There were some doors about, all apparently locked. Even the windows were protected by barred fittings comprised of elegant curves and Goa'uld iconography.
The team scattered. Bra'tac raised his staff weapon, putting a blast of yellow energy into the chest of one of the soldiers. Daniel darted behind one of the arches, sticking to a pillar there as he opened fire with his plasma pistol. The Calsharans had taken up cover amongst the fountain and archways, returning fire in a coordinated fashion. The officer was directing their actions, barking orders in their guttural language, motioning with his hands from where he had placed himself behind the old water feature. An errant blast of plasma destroyed the statue atop the fountain, blowing away about half of what had been a carefully carved replica of a Jaffa warrior standing proud with a staff weapon in hand.
"Daniel, flank them!" John shouted; his voice was hoarse as he pushed it hard in order to be heard over the noise of the firefight. Daniel gave a nod before he darted around for the left flank, John and the others pouring on the fire from where they had taken cover. A large ceramic pot situated by John's left blew apart, and he ducked on impulse as some of the pieces struck him.
"Natalia, with me!" John turned around, his back to the short stone wall he had come to crouch behind. A plasma bolt struck the top of it, showering him with dust. Natalia hurried forwards, keeping low as she came to join him behind the waist-high wall. Bra'tac and Tesic continued blasting away with their staff weapons, and another of the Calsharan soldiers went down when one of the blasts struck him in the head, the helmet doing little to absorb the entire impact.
Daniel was suddenly on the officer's flank, and he blasted the well-dressed Lieutenant from the side, sending him sprawling against the pavestones. The other soldier spun about, rising to his feet, only to be hit by Bra'tac and Tesic, the staff weapon shots putting the Calsharan down abruptly.
"Where to now?" Natalia asked, her weapon lowered and her senses alert. It was Bra'tac who motioned them onwards, taking the lead. He knew this place better than anyone, and so John had no problem leaving the old man in charge.
"This way. Stay close." Bra'tac pushed on forwards, taking them out of the courtyard and down another lane. The main temple was just ahead, a large structure with a front comprised of towering columns, arches and elaborate etchings within the stonework itself. They did not go for the main entrance, rather Bra'tac lead them down a winding side-street. There were no Jaffa civilians present, as most had been cleared out by the Calsharan occupiers, freeing up the space to billet the occupation forces. By now, an alarm was sounding somewhere deeper into the compound, ensuring that just about every Calsharan soldier stationed in the temple and surrounding neighbourhoods would come running. All pretence of stealth was gone.
Bra'tac lead them to a larger structure near the temple, situated at the end of a dead-end lane. A Calsharan armoured car was parked out the front. A large tower jutted from the temple complex further beyond, a stark stone structure that overlooked the surrounding temple grounds. It occurred to John that they had just run into a Calsharan barracks or, at the very least, an administration centre of some kind. Bra'tac, however, appeared confident that this was indeed the way to go.
"We can access the prison level through here," he said, heading for the entrance. John sighted movement on the upper level, and a door at the small balcony there suddenly flung open. A Calsharan soldier appeared, rifle raised.
John stopped by the armoured car, aimed and fired his Ori-derived rifle. The blast hit the Calsharan in the chest and they stumbled over the balcony railing. Their armoured bulk landed upon a wooden cart by the ground level entrance, causing the whole thing to break in half under the impact. Bra'tac came upon the front door then, with Natalia joining him.
John paused for a moment to catch his breath. Trust Bra'tac to take them headlong into Calsharan headquarters. He saw him nod to Natalia, who returned the gesture with a nod of her own before the former spun his staff weapon about and kicked hard upon the front door. Being of the traditional timber and hinged variety, it gave way easily.
Bra'tac let fly with a few blasts from his staff weapon. Natalia followed him into the building, and John came up quickly after them, stepping into an otherwise quaint living area and kitchen interior. Timber floorboards, hand-crafted wooden furniture and a fire-fuelled stove that was currently in the process of roasting some kind of small, four-legged alien animal. There were a trio of Calsharan soldiers inside, and one of them now lay dead, spread-eagled at the base of a stairway.
Natalia hosed the remaining pair down with her P90, bullets ripping up the kitchen benchtop, cabinets and stove all within seconds of each other. Both soldiers twitched and jerked and fell, blood spurting from the holes shot through their armour, splattering onto the wall behind them. And then, after a moment of violence, there followed quiet.
Natalia began to reload. John stepped into the room further, whilst Daniel and Tesic came in at that moment. Bra'tac lowered his staff weapon, satisfied with the work done. Without warning, a loud beeping cut through the quiet, sounding from somewhere further down the hall. It was constant, a rapid beep-beep that did not seem to have an end in sight. John realised it was the Calsharan equivalent of a telephone, and someone was very desperately trying to get in touch with the soldiers stationed here.
"There is a way into the dungeons further down the hall," Bra'tac said. "We should move quickly."
"What's our exfil plan?" Natalia asked, looking to John for guidance. That was a good question, and the original plan had hinged on maintaining a stealthy approach for as long as possible. Evidently, that had not come to pass. In fact, he wondered what could have possibly gone wrong back at that checkpoint. It seemed pointless contemplating it now. Maybe later he would give it a good think, maybe ask a few questions of the others for further perspective on the matter. Now, however, they had a Jaffa to rescue and a small army of Calsharan soldiers bearing down on them.
"We're going to have to improvise," John answered. Not what one might call a 'plan'. An 'idea', certainly, but right now they were on their own. That limited their options considerably. He wondered then, if only briefly, as to how Aithris was doing. He was, after all, missing all the excitement.
Aithris had indeed missed the excitement and had instead taken to watching the sunset through the viewport of the Goa'uld cargo ship. Granted, he could not see much from inside, flanked by forest as he was, although he had witnessed the blue of the sky gradually change into the deep purple-blue of twilight, which in turn had become the much deeper purple-black of night. The stars were out, as were the pair of crater-marked moons that appeared as sharp silvery crescents against the night sky.
Seated in the cockpit, Aithris was bored. This was nothing new to him, as he had spent a good chunk of his time on Earth after first arriving there more than a year before stuck in a cell. The humans had not all trusted him, unsurprisingly. He had lived inside Stargate Command and it was not until he had become a full-fledged member of SG-1 that he was permitted to spend any significant amount of time outside. So, sitting around bored out of his mind was something he had much experience with. Sometimes, he took the opportunity to meditate, or at least attempt to do so in the way that his father had shown him. It did not always work and relaxing with his eyes closed in an attempt to attain some 'deeper' perspective on things only left him feeling annoyed and antsy. He needed to be out there doing things, taking action. It was this trait that had seen him leave his home in the first place, essentially exiling himself. It was this that had seen him go to the humans of Earth for assistance in his quest to put an end to the ancient enemy, the 'Demons of the Void' or so the old records called them. And now here he was, alone and bored once more, waiting for the few friends he had to return from a mission in which the odds were stacked sorely against them. He should be out there with them, putting his life on the line for them and for the people they attempted to help.
Aithris sighed. Thinking about all of this only aggravated him. Normally, he was one to keep calm, rarely raising his voice or losing his cool. Since Sanctuary had been destroyed, he had found that control he had held over his emotions gradually slipping. And then there was the added stress of being in a team of people who counted on him, and he on them, to watch their backs. He cared about what happened to them, to Daniel and Natalia and even Colonel Sheppard. Sitting here while they conducted a raid into enemy territory was almost unbearable, for the thought that they might all get killed weighed heavily upon Aithris. And yet his role here was necessary, for he protected their means of escape.
Aithris' thoughts were interrupted then by a quiet beeping from the control console. A minor alarm sounded, ringing several times whilst Goa'uld writing flashed upon the main display. He knew the language, knew many other alien languages at that, and so he saw right away that it was a proximity alert. Life-signs had been detected within the vicinity, specifically something much larger than an insect or a bird. Actual humanoids, and the scanners attempted to discern just what species these life-signs might have been. It recognized several Jaffa among them, but there were a handful of others that the computers seemed unable to decipher. Aithris knew right away that they were Calsharans. The Goa'uld computer systems were unlikely to have that species on record to any notable extent.
Aithris was out of the seat in an instant. He could not see the source of these life-signs through the viewport, but they had to be close. With the terminal in front of him, he cycled through the external scanners, getting varying angles on the surrounding grassy clearing and the tree line at its perimeter. It was some ways from the rear of the ship that he saw the group, specifically that of about half a dozen Jaffa civilians in tattered clothing. They were being hounded by four Calsharan soldiers in armour, plasma rifles drawn, coaxing the civilians further into the clearing. A growing sense of dread filled the Nomad then, as the most obvious reason for their being out here came to mind. A grim certainty, which also suggested they had to have a vehicle nearby. Perhaps more soldiers waited for them?
Looking about the cockpit section, Aithris considered his options. He walked into the rear cargo hold, where he noticed a trio of Jaffa staff weapons lying in one corner. He picked one up, weighing the unwieldy weapon in his hands. Balanced, to an extent, but the firing end did carry a little more weight than the rest, as expected. It was at least a step up from the pistol he had at his hip, especially when dealing with Calsharan body armour.
Aithris paused at the exit door. Getting involved would essentially blow his cover. He could sit inside this cloaked ship and the enemy would remain oblivious to his presence. He would be here when John and the others returned, and they could leave without drawing further attention. There was a good chance John and the team would need to leave in a hurry, and so Aithris being here to keep the ship ready was necessary. Yet, Aithris could not stand back and allow an atrocity to occur. He had seen enough of that kind in the past year, and he immediately saw in his mind's eye the city on Sanctuary aflame. His home bombed and burning, only to be finished off by a vessel sent by the Void Demons themselves. Three million of his people reduced to thousands. He could not allow that to happen to anyone else, be they Nomad or otherwise. The Calsharans were certainly not the ancient enemy, but they were the enemy here and now and that was good enough for him.
He hit the control pad by the door, causing it to slide open. He emerged into the cool night air, booted feet stepping upon soft, moist earth. The door slid shut, keeping the cloaked ship hidden. Turning to his left, he started across the clearing. The half a dozen Jaffa civilians had been herded to the edge of a ditch. Two of them were women, the others mostly ageing men who hardly looked to be of a warrior calibre. Behind them, the four Calsharan soldiers had spread out, rifles ready. They did not see the approaching Nomad at first, not until one of them looked up and saw him when he was about fifteen metres from them. The Jaffa civilians appeared confused by his presence, and the fear evident on some of their faces became tinged with uncertainty.
"Soldiers of Calshara," Aithris announced, getting the attention of the four of them. "What do you intend with these people?" He motioned for the six Jaffa, farmers, labourers and housewives; not soldiers, and probably not insurgents.
"A Nomad?" One of the soldiers sounded stunned. He turned to the others. "What in Visala's name is he doing here?"
"Shoot him." The one in charge, as denoted by the silver trimming along his chest armour and shoulder pauldrons, delivered the order in as blunt a tone as he could manage. "We'll work out the details later."
"People of Chulak." Aithris turned to the frightened mix of harmless civilians. "Run. Get away from here."
"These citizens have been found guilty of aiding and abetting rebel forces." Now the lead soldier stepped forwards, closing the distance between himself and the Nomad by several paces. "They will be summarily executed, as you soon will be." He motioned for his three compatriots, and they came forwards, moving past him with their weapons raised.
Aithris was out in the open and outnumbered. For him, this was nothing new. He eyed each of his opponents in turn, determining which one of them was likely to have the better aim and the faster trigger finger.
He spun the staff weapon around in a blur of movement, levelled it up by his shoulder and fired. The blast caught the soldier farthest to the left in the chest, and he fell backwards into a smoking heap, his armour vest sizzling from the heat of the blast. Aithris darted to his left then as the other two opened fire, their first few shots swinging past him, searing off into the forest. Somersaulting, Aithris came up and fired the staff weapon again, putting the second blast in the thigh of one of the soldiers. This one yelped, stumbling. Aithris shot him twice more, the yellow bursts of energy knocking the Calsharan into the dirt. Blood spurted, followed by the scent of burning flesh.
The Jaffa civilians had seen the opportunity, sending them racing off into different directions. The soldier in charge, a Corporal, was knocked into by one of the ageing Jaffa males. His rifle fell from his grasp, and for a precious few seconds the Calsharan Corporal was distracted from the Nomad by his struggle to throw the old man off of his armoured bulk.
Aithris lunged forwards, swinging the staff weapon about, bringing the rear-end club hard into the stomach of the other soldier. As he partially keeled forwards, Aithris swung the weapon up and caught the Calsharan's helmeted head with an upswing. The visor shattered and the Calsharan soldier fell backwards, groaning. Aithris twirled the staff weapon back around and pressed the business end squarely against the space where the visor had been. He fired, blowing most of the Calsharan's head apart.
The Corporal had thrown the old man aside. He turned to Aithris, only to see the staff weapon pointing his way. Aithris did not hesitate to fire, sending the Calsharan Corporal falling backwards into the very ditch he had intended to throw the executed Jaffa into. Aithris strode over to the edge of the ditch, looking down at the motionless Corporal, sprawled as he was in the dirt, a smouldering hole in his armour where his heart had been. Satisfied that the threat was neutralised, Aithris allowed himself to relax a little. He turned to the old man, who had since risen to his feet.
"Get out of here," Aithris told him. The old Jaffa nodded, relief on his ageing features and a look of gratitude in his eyes. Turning around, he started running for the furthest tree line. Aithris watched him depart, feeling that sense of satisfaction he only ever felt after helping those in need. He had been trained to protect the vulnerable and to have no mercy upon his enemies. His handiwork present around him certainly signified the latter.
He heard shouts then, deep guttural ones that suggested Calsharan voices. Several white beams of light cut through the dark of the trees straight ahead, emanating from the small portable lights fitted to Calsharan armour and weapons. Several more soldiers were coming out of the forest, presumably drawn by the sound of weapons fire. Aithris counted about six of them, and he had little chance to formulate a proper plan of action before they started shooting at him.
He turned and ran, staff weapon in hand. His powerful legs carried him quickly across the plain, the blue of Calsharan plasma bolts zipping through the air around him. Some sizzled into the long grass, burning whatever blades of it they touched. Several more clipped the old Goa'uld cargo ship, seemingly burning into an invisible surface before the cloaking field recovered and swallowed up the visible damage. Aithris jumped around the cloaked ship, noticing the uneven wavering manner the cloaking field now displayed. The barrage of fire was having an effect, and more of it only came his way now that the ship's presence had been discovered.
He had no choice but to keep running. The Calsharan leading the charge appeared several metres behind, and Aithris leaned around the cloaked ship to blast him. As he did so, the Calsharan had pulled a grenade, and whilst he fell into the dirt, so did the primed explosive. Aithris saw it rolling his way and so resumed his sprint, racing into the nearest cluster of trees as it went off. A flash of blue-white energy erupted several metres behind him, kicking up a shower of dirt and enveloping some small part of the cloaked cargo ship in blue flame. The cloak failed, revealing the battered old vessel for all to see, and the concussive shockwave knocked Aithris off of his feet. He tumbled and fell down a slope past the trees, rolling a few times through undergrowth and over rocks and partially buried roots. Branches scratched at his arms and face, the staff weapon leaving his grasp somewhere along the tumble. Finding himself on his backside, he dug his heels into the mud in an attempt to slow his continuing and increasingly fast slide down the muddy incline.
By this point, his heart was pounding. His slide through the dense forest slowed as the slope eased, before he landed butt-first into a shallow stream of freezing cold water. Muddied and bloodied, he slowly rose to his feet, turning around to look back up the way he had come. From the slope above, he could see the flashing orange of a fire burning somewhere, but otherwise none of the enemy soldiers showed themselves. He had, for the time being, put a good amount of distance between them and himself.
He supposed he should have known better than to get involved. Then again, he certainly had not been about to stand by and allow several innocent people to be executed. Thankfully, he still had his communications earpiece at one of his ears, having survived the tumble. He put a finger to it, ensuring that it still functioned. The ears on a Nomad were thinner and slightly pointed when compared to those on a human, not to mention somewhat more sensitive. As a result, the small earpiece was a snug fit.
Turning around, he started running down the muddy bank of the stream, wondering with a grim look to his face as to how Colonel Sheppard would react when he informed them of what had happened to their escape ship. He had been trained to protect and to be merciless, but he had also been taught to be honest. He knew that he needed a plan to take the place of their original one that had involved using the cargo ship to get off of Chulak.
The stargate was not far from the city, and thus even closer to him. He started for it, having memorized the layout of the region from the aerial photos he had been shown at the briefing. As he moved, he activated his earpiece and broke radio silence. No use delaying the bad news, especially with what was at stake. And so, with honesty as his policy, he began to inform Colonel Sheppard that a change in exfiltration plan would be necessary.
