AN: Something light to start the year off. The planet in this episode is the one is from 'Bane'. The religious conflict is canon.
-x-

Having made great diplomatic advances, though fewer technological or military ones, the Soviets adopted a less aggressive stance. General Abramovich had been complaining for some time about their personal shortages which meant whenever they wanted to bring on a new team they had to place at least one experienced SG team member with them, leading to significant training commitments for the new teams and the degradation of their operational abilities.

Durov still refused to accept men straight out of the army for SG teams, and he'd been proved right on several occasions where initiative and particularly, political thought, was needed when making contact with new worlds. The SG teams had to be negotiators and diplomats, and even occasionally scientists, as well as good soldiers which meant they couldn't just take in new officers when they only had experience in tactics and fighting.

To reduce this problem and that of establishing a larger corps of Stargate-ready officers, the SGC had been renamed (officially) to the 'Buganak Institute of Metal Testing', a small artillery range in most documents, but one that required all sorts of unusual things like metal shipments and industrial chemicals that, if shipped to a normal base, might raise bureaucratic eyebrows. The SGC therefore now housed a small 'artillery training school' which meant they could have a larger proportion of officers assigned to the base without raising similar suspicions.

"We're still spread thin." Abramovich had grumbled and even with these changes it was true. The SGC now had bases, scientific expeditionary garrisons and smaller operations on a dozen planets, the largest of which composed the greatest efforts such as the continuing expansion of the Elysium base. On that planet General Thurius had now completely established himself, and the Romans now occupied the entirety of their defensive cone which had once turned toward Vulcan's base. Now though, Thurius had also made arrangements to move the Scythian-descended nomadic tribes off their land and to the other side of the large salt lake on that Planet. The Soviets had supplied barges and even a sea plane for the purpose and now the Romans were expanding again, the Greek and Illyrian cities being essentially absorbed into the new Republic. Having similar thoughts, Ivan the Unas had now brought most of the Unas tribes in the area around Vulcan's old base under his control using his weapons he'd been given and political techniques Durov had taught him. The Unas had broken several of the rifles by using them as clubs and had been asking Durov to get him something stronger the last time the Colonel had seen him. Durov's support of the alien had raised questions from Chapayev who was in command on Elysium, but Durov had assured his counterpart that the Unas would be useful later, and indeed he was, as they'd discovered pastoral tribes of the aliens on the other side of the mountains during aerial reconnaissance missions. They kept away from the Soviets and the new railway they were building and it had proven useful to understand the creature's society better to get an idea of how they'd react to encroachment on their lands, and Durov was planning to send out Ivan to see whether the pastoral Unas would be amenable to peaceful coexistence, at least until they could get fortifications built.

Part of this consolidation effort was a greater emphasis on diplomatic missions. Having only recently met the Asgard, Oannes and made inroads into Chulak, the General had decided exploiting these relationships and particularly building trust with friendly contacts seemed a more useful task for SG-1 than they going to yet another forest planet and looking round for anything of interest. "Leave that to the A-teams." The General had said, referring to the expanded Auxiliary units.

As such, SG-1 found itself on the world of Svoriin, one of Thor's realm of Thrudvang. It's location hadn't been recorded among Vulcan's addresses, but after Thor had transported them back to Earth the Cimmerians had reported flashes of light around their villages and the sudden appearance of carved stones which the Soviets had found out were gate addresses. They'd visited a few briefly, with the people there being friendly but primitive, but on a few occasions advanced. Svoriin seemed to be one such world and Durov smelt salt in the air as he stepped out of the Stargate.

Before them stretched a park, more a long avenue of grass with trees and decorative bushes, with large stone buildings on each side of the park.

"Sir."

Durov turned, stepping around the Stargate and going to Dimitri who handed him a pair of binoculars.

"Steam power." The Colonel remarked, looking out across a large bay at a harbour of funnelled ships. "You know I think this is the most advanced place we've been to yet." He said, "Where do you put them Chaya?" he called over his shoulder.

"About fifty years behind us sir," the Captain replied, "I don't see any road transport, but there are power lines over there look."

Indeed, something seemed to be going out in the bay, with power lines stretching out across the water from floating stations and then down toward a small island.

"Maybe they're laying a telegraph cable." Said Dimitri, taking a look through the binoculars.

Just then they heard a barking and a dog ran up, stopping at Durov's feet. The Colonel went down to his haunches and held out a hand for the animal to sniff, then patted it on the head.

"First time we've seen a dog." He said, "Did the Norse keep them as pets Comrade Severov?"

The Nordic expert came up, "Yes, they're frequently mentioned in the sagas. But that one looks a bit funny doesn't it? I don't recognise the breed."

"You think its native to the planet?" asked Chaya, "Isn't that…"

"Unlikely yes, it may just be an unusual mutation, they have been isolated here for thousands of years."

"Grisnir! Grisnir!" came a shout, and a young man struggled out of one of the decorative bushes, then stopped dead at the sight of them.

"'Grisnir' is one of Thor's goats." Severov said helpfully.

Durov smiled at the man, "Hello there! We've just come through the Stargate." He said, motioning to the ring.

The man, still frowning, motioned for his dog, which walked up and sat at his feet. "You Gemonites are a strange bunch." He said, "What's gotten into you this time?"

"Severov?"

"Don't ask me it's probably some local thing."

Durov stalled for time, introducing themselves and getting the name of the man, Skan. He knew they only had to wait a few more minutes and they'd get the check-in dial from the SGC. Skan refused to believe they were actually from another planet, but also refused to answer any questions, being very suspicious of them.

Eventually the check-in dial did come, and Durov requested two of the A-teams to come support them, as he had a feeling they might need to hold the Stargate once whatever security forces the Svoriin had showed up.

Two gardeners came up, startled by the commotion. One brandished his rake and cursed all Gemonites while the other muttered to himself. However, before any regrettable action could take place the gate activated. The Svoriins leapt back in wonder and Durov gave orders for two more teams to join them as support.

"Nice place isn't it Colonel?" grinned the Captain leading them as he walked out.

"Nice enough yes." Replied Durov and nodded at the Svoriins, "We need to find someone in charge, I'll take A-2 and you hold the Gate. Check in with us every hour and reinforce yourselves if you don't get a response. We couldn't see a dialling device so when they get it ready you'd better get it set up."

The Captain nodded and set his men to take positions around the Stargate and Durov looked to the surprised Svoriins.

"Now." He said, "Is there some person in authority we can speak to? I think it should be clear we're not from around here by now."

The gate activation seemed to instil the required impression in the onlookers and Skan went off with his dog, declaring it all to be none of his business. The gardeners stayed a little while more, regarding them suspiciously, but eventually one of them pointed out to sea and the Soviets saw two steam vessels chugging toward them. The ships drew closer and one set down a smaller boat with a dozen while the smaller of the steam ships came right up to the wharf and another party with different uniforms to the first disembarked and came toward them.

"Captain Rafmun Vandredsson, Sonden Navy." The first introduced himself.

"Olaf Bjarki, Commander of the Histvey tribute." Said the second.

"Durov, Colonel of the Soviet Army."

"Well he's definitely not one of ours." Said Bjarki, "I did tell you."

Vandredsson didn't rise to the bait, "We saw the Great Ring's activation from the docks, for official purposes though, and to confirm my colleagues thoughts, are you Gemonites?"

"We don't even know what they would be." Replied Durov with a laugh.

Vandredsson sighed, "Well, this is rather more complicated than I thought. Welcome to Sonden I suppose."

"We were under the impression this world was Svoriin?"

"Oh it is, but this city is Sonden, as well as the name of our state. You're…" Vandresson paused and took a breath, "Where are you from? Thrudvang?"

"Midgard." Replied Durov, which was the name the Cimmerians had for Earth.

The naval officers gasped.

"Yes we thought that might happen." Durov heard Severov mutter from behind him.

"Let's start from the beginning, that way we'll avoid any misunderstandings." Said Durov evenly, "We recently discovered the Stargate and have been exploring other worlds through it. We went to Cimmeria, another world under Thor's protection, and met him there. Afterwards, he told us about you and so we've come to meet you. We know Thor to be a powerful benevolent figure, but don't think he's a god. We have come in search of friendship with our comrades across the stars."

Bjarki was grinning, "Well in the same spirit of disclosure, our world is divided into different states, most of which follow the Gard, a… system of religious belief. The Gard states that Thor is our all-knowing benefactor who used the Great Ring to create us out of the chaos that preceded all things. Some of the states, my own for example, follow the teachings of Gemon, a prophet of Thor who lived eight centuries ago who said instead that Thor was but one of many gods spoken of in our legends who are protective of us, but did not create us. We believe instead that Thor's teachings and artefacts, like the Great Ring, will one day reunite us with him in Asgard. Gemon with his knowledge of our legends journeyed to other worlds, and we Gemonites continue this practice, which is why we thought you might some party of Gemonites."

"I can see how our arrival might have caused some concern."

"Well its not so long ago that we were fighting each other over this sort of thing. Now the Gand let us use the Ring when the storms come and we send through our best out into Thrudvang."

"You actively use the Stargate then? Where's your dialling device?"

Bjarki looked at him.

"About this high," said Chaya, stepping forward and holding her hand at waist height, "Round with symbols."

"I know of no such device. Every few years Thor sends the storm and when he does the Great Ring opens. That's how we Gemonites always knew Thor wanted us to go out to the stars."

Chaya questioned Bjarki a little more and they found out that the lightening seemed to power the Stargate, which Chaya granted was possible when challenged, but it still didn't solve the mystery of the dialling device. Chaya guessed their Stargate was set, possibly by Thor, on a single address, which was the only thing they could think of. The glyphs of the gate could be moved by hand with great effort, but it was unlikely the Svoriin had randomly tried to dial the gate every time it was stormy.

"This is a great day!" said Bjarki after they'd talked a little more. "What excellent news." And he came forward and shook all their hands.

"For you maybe. But I'm the one who has to report this to the Council." Said a pale looking Vandredsson, "It'll be the Wolf Times all over again, you mark my words!" and he stalked off toward his ship, his marines following him.

"Only if you care for it!" shouted Bjarki at the retreating figure. "Just like a Gandian." He said to Durov, "He's right though, in a way, the Gand won't like this."

Durov watched at Vandredsson went to what he assumed was the bridge of his ship, the Colonel could see the man's blue uniform as he went out to a signal lamp.

"Won't everyone in the harbour see that?" Durov asked, nodding to the lamp, assuming Vandredsson was using some sort of coded bursts to communicate across the bay.

"Oh yes." Grinned Bjarki, "It'll mean so much more coming from a Gandian, and there's enough captains there flying Gemonite colours that there's no hope of them keeping this quiet."

Durov raised an eyebrow, it seemed Bjarki was a shrewder fellow than he appeared. "We didn't come here to start a war, and I'm not planning to occupy this city."

"I don't think it'll come to war." Said Bjarki, "Though it all depends on the Gand. The Sonden are a decent lot but I saw the Wolf of Immsthum when we got here." He looked at Durov, "I suppose that name means nothing to you, but just remember if you have to address the Council that there's some states who are firmer Gandians than others. In general, our Gemonite beliefs are held fairly strongly wherever they are but the Gandians are much more variable."

Durov thanked him and handed him off to Severov while he radioed back to the SGC for more reinforcements and a couple of artillery pieces. A strong presence there might dissuade the Svoriins from attacking each other until the Soviets could have their say.

"I want you back here." Abramovich said over the radio once he'd reported the situation, "Something's come up."

"Received sir but are you sure?"

"Yes, Reniv can handle it over there, I need you back on Chulak."

Chaya looked at him over the radio set but Durov said nothing, "Alright sir, SG-1 will move out as soon as we've got the dial-back device."

The device took an hour to arrive and after that they took some time to turn the Stargate manually to dial to Earth. During this time a whole flotilla or ships, from little sailing boats to one large cruiser with two large turrets which interdicted the rest along with Vandredsson who took to sea to make his report in person. Bjarki remained there, but sent out his ship to break the cordon and take a message to sympathetic captains in the harbour, one of whom steamed out the bay before the Sonden navy could establish a blockade to take news to the various Gemonite states.

"I don't envy you this one Reniv." Durov said to the man when he arrived, "Tricky, very tricky. Be careful."

"Just wait till you hear what Abramovich has for you." Reniv replied ominously.