Disclaimer: I do not own stargate or any of its characters.
Chapter 6
They all stood and stared at the empty space where the stargate should have been standing.
"Maybe we took a wrong turn" Jack said as he walked further into the clearing. They heard a sound coming from the trees up ahead and the three men raised the guns they had taken from the guards. A woman dressed in white walked out of the trees with several guards on either side of her. As she walked a little closer they were able to see who it was, Lady Dallen.
"No wonder we couldn't find her" Sam said quietly as she and Janet moved forward to stand next to the others.
"Where's the stargate?" Jack asked.
"We have hidden it"
"What did you do roll it down the hill?" Jack asked getting really annoyed now.
"You have disturbed the Circle of the Gods, you will only make them angry"
"They are not Gods" Teal'c stated automatically.
"And you don't think rolling the gate down the hill will make them angry" Jack said.
"If our people don't hear from us they'll send more people through the gate to find us"
"And when they do they will find themselves in the middle of nowhere and you will be nowhere in sight"
"They'll look for us"
"And when they are unable to find you they will stop looking and return home. They will deem this planet too dangerous to come to and never come through our gate again"
"Tell us where the gate is and we will go through and never return"
"We have no assurance of that, we will not risk your return and we also can not risk you going to look for the gate"
"What is that suppose to mean?" Jack said tightening his grip on his gun. Daniel unconsciously moved slightly in front of Janet and Teal'c steeped closer to Sam. The guards that had been following them walked out of the trees and the ones that had been with Lady Dallen walked forward weapons at the ready.
"Go, that way" Jack said and everyone ran for the cover of the trees. The guards started firing at them and Jack, Daniel and Teal'c fired back to provide cover as they ran. They made it into the trees without anyone being hit and continued to run in to the forest. They ran for over ten minutes before they stopped.
"I can't hear them anymore" Sam said as she listened carefully.
"Nor do I" Teal'c confirmed.
"What do we do now?" Daniel asked.
"We have to find the stargate. SG2 went through few hours ago, they can't have gotten it far in that time"
"That's if SG2 made it through"
"They would have radioed us if there was a problem and even if they didn't go through we contacted the SGC for equipment only a couple of hours before that"
"They are close" Teal'c said, he had been listening carefully for the sounds of the guards following them.
"Right now we have to find somewhere to hide from these guys"
They all started moving again but before they could get very far they were once again under fire form the guards who had found them. They continued to run until they found themselves on the outskirts of the city.
"Oh we do not want to go in there" Jack said and a bullet narrowly missed hitting his head and hit the tree next to him instead, making him jump and look at the tree accusingly for a second.
"We don't really have a choice right now" Sam added and they all headed into the streets of the city.
They had only been walking through the city for a few minutes before Sam understood exactly why Jack hadn't wanted to come in here. A man jumped out and made a grab for her, she was pulled away by Jack and Daniel whilst Teal'c moved in between her and the man. The man backed away and then ran off down an alleyway.
"We have to find cover" Jack said simply and started walking again but this time he kept close to Sam. He glanced over to Janet and saw that she was being flanked by Daniel on one side and Teal'c on the other.
It was only a few minutes later when they heard a man cry out in pain, they rounded a corner to see two young boys beating a young man.
"Hey" Jack said instinctively and the two youths looked up at the five of them and ran off.
Jack helped the man to his feet who smiled gratefully "Thank you, usually people would not help" he said as he looked at their clothes. "You are not from here are you?"
"No"
"I heard a rumour that some people had come through the Circle of the Gods, I did not believe it but you are the ones aren't you?"
"Yes we are" Jack answered hesitantly, he did not want another reaction like the one the Council had given them. The man seemed to study them for a moment but was interrupted when a fight broke out nearby.
"Come, we must get off the streets"
Jack hesitated a moment before following the man but quickly realised they had no other options. They followed him through the streets and into a large brick building which looked like it had seen better days. It was an apartment building and it looked about as safe inside as it did outside. There were several people standing around in the corridors watching them as they walked by. The man quickly led them into one of the apartments and closed and locked the door behind him.
"This building is no safer than the streets however you are safe inside the apartment. Please sit down" The man said gesturing to a couple of sofa's in the centre of the room. "My name is Kaleth"
"I'm Jack, this is Sam, Daniel, Janet and Teal'c"
"What happened to you? I would not expect those who have come through the Circle of the Gods to be in this part of the city"
"The Council didn't like us coming through the 'Circle of The Gods' they hid it from us after we came through and then tried to kill us. We ran into the city to get away from them"
"I'm afraid you have not found the safest place to hide. However you are welcome to stay here, at least for now"
"Thank you, we appreciate that"
"Why is it so bad here?" Daniel asked.
"It was not always so but the Council got greedy and began to take more of the cities resources leaving the larger part of the population with very little. Eventually things got so bad here that people began to fight each other for things. It gradually got worse until we became what you see now. The council refused to help, they had more than enough resources. Instead they fenced themselves off and increased security"
They sat and talked with Kaleth for hours as he told them about the city. They also told him about earth and the Goa'uld, he was shocked at their claim they were not Gods but to their surprise had been open minded about it.
"Do you know where they might have taken the stargate?"
"No, I can not even believe that they would move it"
"Well we have to find it" Jack said, he was about to stand up when Kaleth put a hand on his arm to stop him.
"That would not be wise, it is almost dark and it is even more dangerous to walk through the streets at night. Besides if the Council Guard is looking for you they will not give up quickly, you should wait a few days until they stop the search. You are welcome to stay here until it is safe for you to leave"
"You're right. Thank you"
"I have a spare room through here, he said as he walked toward a door and everyone followed him. The sofa's will also be suitable for sleeping on. My room is through there and the wash room is in there" Kaleth told them as they walked into a bedroom that had a double bed in it.
"I will let you get settled in" Kaleth said as he turned and left the room.
"Sam, Janet why don't you two sleep in here and we'll take the sofa's" Jack suggested and they all nodded in agreement. Everyone put down the gear that they were carrying and turned when they heard Kaleth walk in with a pile of clothes.
"So that you attract less attention" he said as he handed clothes to Daniel Teal'c and Jack.
"Thank you very much"
"These belonged to my daughters, they left some time ago, they should fit you" he said to Sam and Janet who smiled gratefully and watched as he once again left the room.
"Well get comfortable" Jack said "We're going to be here a while"
TBC