Chapter 2
With the new emphasis on ships the subject of this last mission proved to be extremely important to the denizens of the Pentagon. It was a planet that was rather large, although not quite in the league of the gas giants, and incredibly rich in minerals; it was also located on the outer reaches of Bassett's former territory and on the out edges of the Milky Way. The natives were originally of Scandinavian stock with mostly light hair and eye coloring. And though originally from Earth, they had adapted to their new homeworld. While they were rarely over five feet two for the males and roughly six inches shorter for the females, they had a much sturdier frame than the typical Tau'ri, broad boned but not brutish in appearance. The increased pull of gravity not only affected the proportions of the humans but also of the animal and plant life. It also made walking, for a native of Earth, moderate exercise and running was down right strenuous. It also made SG - 1 rethink just how much gear they wanted to stow in their packs.
SG – 7 had originally made contact with the natives of this arboreal world, which they called Stord. They claimed to have mines of trinium and naquada that were essentially played out. From the scans that the research team had done this was far from the truth. The inhabitance also had a pile of ore awaiting transmission through the Stargate. They claimed it was forbidden for them, except to make offerings, to even approach the Stargate or the Jaffa of their Lord, the god Apis, a minor underling of Bassett, who came occasionally to collect their offerings.
Upon further study of the culture it was soon realized that this was originally an Asgard protected planet but due to its extremely low population and position in the galaxy it was lost in the shuffle of galactic politics.
It soon became apparent that these people were a lot crafter than they seemed at first glance. They piled up ore that was just about worthless slag and then hid themselves in deep caverns far from the Stargate when the Jaffa appeared. The Jaffa had just about given up trying to collect ore, too much effort involve for so little payoff, on a planet that wasn't conducive to heavily armored warriors.
Daniel was anxious to study the culture and accompanied SG – 7 on a return trip. He convinced O'Neill to contact Thor to again reassert Asgard dominance over the planet. Daniel saw this as a means of protecting the inhabitance. The Pentagon approved because they saw it as a vast source of the rare but essential minerals.
Contacting Thor proved to be an extremely difficult feat but, when accomplished, the ball was thrown back into O'Neill's court. It seems that the planet was under the wing of the blind Hoder, who in his depression in the part he played in the death of his brother Balder, ignored the people he should have protected. Thor sent a message to the peoples of Stord to accept O'Neill as his trusted friend and ambassador to the Tau'ri and that he, Thor, would return in the fullness of time. And so General Jack O'Neill kitted up for perhaps his last trip off world on a mission with SG-1.