It was dark when they stepped through the Stargate.

Colonel Durov raised his weapon, looking through the trees for any sign of life. His team materialised around him, fanning out into a crescent with him at the centre.

"Alright men, forward, skirmish formation, Petrenko, relay back that we're here and setting off to get Dr. Markhov."

Private Petrenko, their radio-man began turning the handle of his radio, unlike the old man-portable radios used in the War, the current radios used by Stargate Command were smaller, and therefore had less range, but were far lighter and smaller.

"SG-4 said the natives took Markhov due west." Whispered Dmitri, their heavy weapons specialist. He was lugging an RPK light machine gun as well as several grenades. Durov had his PPSh-41 as usual, while the others of his squad were equipped with the new AK-47 rifle. An excellent weapon in Durov's opinion, both rugged and durable it was due to be adopted in the Red- in the Soviet he should say, Army, in the next few months, however due to the fact that the commander of their base had a direct line to Comrade Stalin's desk they were afforded early access to the weapon.

The planet they were on was apparently known as Avnil, Durov was unsure of where the name had originated, but there it was, the people there were an Iron Age civilisation, however they were also cave dwellers, because of the great levels of UV radiation brought about because of an insufficiently thick atmosphere. To study this unique environment SG-4 had escorted Dr. Markhov through the Gate to take atmospheric readings. The problem being that the natives took offense to this and attacked SG-4, wounding one man and dragging Markhov off into the night.

Several cavemen had been shot during this encounter of course, but their bodies were nowhere to be found.

"Sir, trail up ahead." Came the whisper of Ilya, their Slavic sniper and tracker.

"Take point." Replied Durov and nodded forward.

The squad moved out after the sniper, rapidly following in the trail of broken stems and branches that marked the savages path. The mission was a time-sensitive one, as if they were caught outside in the daytime the results would apparently be 'unpleasant'.

Up ahead a glow broke the darkness. Ilya held up a closed fist to halt them and peered into his scope. "Twenty plus primitives, some armed, they're feasting. The Doctor tied up at the eastern edge, either unconscious or sleeping."

The question of how to measure direction was an interesting one for the SGC to deal with, as their compasses didn't work on some planets they mainly had to rely on the sun and its direction. This was made more difficult on one planet with a binary star system, where there seemed to only be a brief night period between two longer day ones, one for each sun.

"SG-1 move out," ordered Durov, "Petrenko, Dmitri to the right, Ilya with me, Ivanovichs to the left, do not fire unless threatened, I'll scare them off, then we get Markhov and get out."

Technically they weren't supposed to kill natives, however General Abramovich had made it abundantly clear that he valued their lives at next to nothing and therefore didn't care if a native accidently got shot, especially if they were one of the excessively primitive tribes like the Avnilians. The Abydosians were considered 'friends' for instance, possibly because of their Naquadah reserves, and their cartouche, but also because several of the base personnel had struck up friendships with the villagers.

While Dmitri and Ilya had both been at Stalingrad with Colonel Durov, and had therefore been among the first he had contacted with offers for places in the program, the Ivanovich brothers and Private Petrenko were part of SG-2, their main response team. SG-1 had evolved to become the first exploratory unit, while SG-2 was a double strength unit designed to protect the base and its personnel, they were the first responders, providing support. Thankfully they had not been necessary yet, and Colonel Durov only needed a couple more men to take on some cave-men, not a whole three teams.

So far the SGC had made more cultural and sociological discoveries than military ones, most of the teams just escort archaeologists to ancient ruins on other planets and watched out for natives and wild animals.

That being said, both the General the Colonel knew that it was ruins that had given them the Stargate in the first place, and as such, ruins should not be taken lightly. Perhaps they would find some great cache of weaponry.

Durov glanced both ways to check his squad was in place, then, aiming his weapon in the air shot a short blast upwards.

The sound sharp crack of gunfire filled the forest for a second, startling the primitives from their meal.

Durov fired again, this time a slightly longer burst.

The primitives still did not scatter, and some were reaching for weapons. The Colonel aimed for one and riddled its chest with bullets. The thing he loved about his gun was just how fast it fired, and with a drum magazine it made the weapon almost into a proper machine gun.

With the death of their leader the tribe scattered. One of the Ivanovichs clubbed one with the butt of his rifle as it almost ran into him but the rest escaped unharmed.

"Ilya, revive the doctor, Dmitri, time?"

"Two hours till sunrise Comrade Colonel." Replied the big man.

"He's not waking up Sir, and he has a nasty bruise on his temple, he may have a concussion." Said Ilya, checking over Markhov.

"Alright." Replied Durov, "Dmitri, grab him, give me your gun."

"Sir." Grunted the specialist, handing over his light machine gun and hefting the doctor in a fireman's lift.

Colonel Durov let his sub-machine gun dangle from its strap behind him and felt the weight of Dmitri's weapon. He preferred lighter weapons for the mobility, but he was proficient is most types anyway.

"Double-time it back to the Gate, if you see a caveman once scare him off, if you see him twice shoot him, watch your fire."

They jogged back through the undergrowth, Dmitri stubbornly loping along like a carthorse, Ilya ghosting through the undergrowth in that peculiar manner that only snipers possess.

Soon they made it back to the Gate, well within time, and dialled home. The Stargate engaged, the vortex spilling out, they grabbed the robot probe and made their way back home.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"And you say this device has the ability to block ultraviolet radiation?" asked Abramovich sometime later.

"Yes indeed Comrade General." replied Major Chernov, head of the Engineering Division of the SGC, "It's a kind of shield. I should think used by the aliens to prevent harm by the planet's harsh sunlight."

"The size of the shield?"

"Contingent only on the power supplied I would think, of course several laws come into effect there like the cubic law, but we should be able to erect a fairly large field. We're calling it the Markhov device, given that it was Dr. Markhov that led us to it after his capture after all."

"Very well done Major, please forward me the report once you've complied it." Said Abramovich dismissing the man. When Chernov was gone he picked up the red phone on his desk and dialled one. "Get me the Chairman." The general waited a few seconds and was greeted with an inquiring voice.

"Comrade Stalin." General Abramovich addressed his Commander gravely, "The Stargate Program had recovered its first piece of alien technlology."