With no way to activate the gate, Daniel and Vala decided it was time to visit the village. Daniel had an uneasy feeling. He desperately wanted to get his new little family back to Earth as quickly as possible. He thought about the star charts he'd looked over before leaving for Baku'te. This had to be one of those few planets with a gate, so that gave him some idea where they actually were in the galaxy. But, he was very concerned about being in old Apophis territory. The last thing he and Vala needed was a run in with the Lucien Alliance. He was also suddenly all to aware of how odd it was that they had not seen any farmers in the fields. Something was very wrong here.

They were near the edge of town when they reached the first house. It was vacant, and it was obvious whoever had lived there grabbed only what they could easily carry. The second and third houses were no different. As they left the third house, Daniel began to get the feeling they were being watched. Vala looked anxious, too, but they kept walking. They were almost to the fourth farmhouse when Daniel saw an older man motioning for them from behind a barn. Daniel looked at Vala and she nodded, so they quietly walked to the man.

"Salutations strangers. I am Grevon. You are obviously from a far away land. How do you come to be here in Manuset?"

"We are travelers," Daniel began. He intentionally left out that they were from Earth. "My name is Daniel Jackson and this is my wife Vala and our son. We were attempting to travel home through the chapa'i, but it is broken. We need to fix it so we can return home."

Grevon sighed, "you're timing is not good, Daniel Jackson. You should come with me. I will explain things over noon meal." With that, Grevon turned and started walking. Daniel and Vala followed. They walked almost a mile, staying in the shadow of the trees, to a small farm. "Please come inside quickly."

Inside, an older woman, presumably Grevon's wife was stirring a pot of stew on the wood burning stove. She stared at them for a moment. "Grevon, what have you done?" she asked quietly.

"I found them near the empty homesteads. They are not from our world, Jana. I could not let them enter the village without knowing the dangers. Doesn't he remind you of our Traysen?" Turning to Daniel, he added, "Traysen is our son. He was one of many who managed to escape through the chapa'i before they came."

"Who are they?" Daniel asked. "And, what exactly were they escaping from?" Even as he asked the question, Daniel was quite sure he knew the answer.

It was Jana who answered, "They are the ones who have replaced the false god Apophis as our persecutors. Apophis was vile. He sent his jaffa every few cycles and stole some of our people. We believed we were finally going to be free when we learned of his death and then the Lucien came. They come every harvest. They take so much. Our people starve in the difficult winter. They do not care. If we do not produce enough crops they attack us. They are monsters with no regard for women or children." By the time she finished speaking, Jana was shaking. Grevon put his arm around his wife.

"We've encountered the Lucien Alliance before," Vala said with a frown. "They are ruthless."

"If you have met them then you understand why our people decided it was time to leave. After the last harvest, we sent out people to find a suitable world. It took a few months, but once we found a good place, half of our people went to build our new homes and plant food. Our son and his family went with the first group. They rest of us tried to maintain things here. We hoped to be gone by the time the monsters returned, but they came early. When they realized what we had attempted, they executed our village council and disabled the chapa'i. We fear they will kill us all once the crops are harvested. We have tried to stall, but the first snows will soon come and the crops will freeze. We will be of no use to them except as an example of what happens to those who defy the alliance."

Daniel looked at Vala and Shifu. He knew they were in the same danger as the villagers if they didn't find a way off this planet. "We looked at the DHD, the device that controls the chapa'i, and it is missing a crystal. If we could get it back, we could make the chapa'i work again. Do you have any idea where they might have taken it?"

Jana answered, "it is most likely in the house that belonged to our village elder. The one the Lucien left in charge has taken it as his home. He is a ruthless man. His name is Seba."

"Well, at least we have one advantage," Vala said looking at Daniel. "We haven't met him yet, so he doesn't know us."

"You say you've dealt with the Lucien Alliance before, do they come to your world as well?"

"No," Daniel replied, "but we are part of a team that has battled them and beaten them a few times. They would probably not be very happy to see us."

Grevon smiled, "I thought you might be able to help us. I saw your weapons. You are of the Taur'i, yes?"

Daniel and Vala again exchanged glances. When Vala nodded, Daniel answered, "yes, we are members of SG1."

"The heroes who freed us from Apophis! You are here to help us. I knew I was right to bring you here. We must make a plan. For now, you will take our son's house. They do not know he is gone yet. They would not know him if they saw him, so you will take his place. I will get messages to the others and we will plan. With SG1, we have a chance."

Daniel definitely didn't want to go to war with these strangers, but he also knew they would have to have the crystal I'd they were to escape the fate of the villagers. It certainly didn't look like they had much choice. "Well, we appreciate your hospitality and we will try to help if we can but my first priority has to be protecting my family. Let's see what we can come up with and go from there."

"That is fair. Thank you. Let us eat then we will get you settled in Traysen's house. I have a crib in the barn you can use for your son. We will do our best to keep your family safe. We only ask you do the same for our families."

"Of course," Daniel promised.

After the meal was eaten and Daniel and Vala were left alone in their new home, they discussed their newest problem. "I don't think we have much choice," Vala groaned. "We have to get off this planet and this Seba has what we need. If we have to be part of a rebellion to get the crystal then we will just have to make sure we win."

"I'm sorry, Vala. I was so desperate to get to the device and rescue Shifu, I didn't research Manu properly. This is my fault. If I'd been more patient, at least we might have help on the way."

"And, how exactly do you think you could have known we would end up on this planet, Daniel? You couldn't have prepared for this even if you'd spent years looking for answers. It could be worse. This doesn't seem like the kind of place where I'll be burned at the stake. We just have to outsmart this Seba, save the villagers, and go home. That's a small task compared to some of the missions we've accomplished." Vala smiled as Shifu began to gurgle. She looked down at the baby, "Shifu, it looks like you're going to get to see daddy and mommy at work. Now, be a good boy and don't follow in our footsteps. I think you should be an accountant when you grow up. It's nice and safe."

Daniel laughed, "once upon a time, I thought archeology was a pretty safe field."

"Oh, darling, didn't you watch Indiana Jones as a child? Surely, you were at least a little prepared."

"I love you, you know," Daniel said as he put his arms around her and kissed her hair.

"Yes, you've told me," Vala smiled. "And, if you think we are going to die on this backwater planet now that I have you, you've got another thing coming. We will be successful, Daniel, and then we are going to find some nice deserted ruins. I believe we have some ravishing to do." Daniel kissed her deeply and held her close to him. They would be okay. It was time for their happily ever after and Daniel was going to make sure they got it.