All eyes focused on the rippling event horizon waiting for the first signs of something or someone coming through. They didn't have to wait long; a single humanoid form stepped through the gate and walked down the ramp as if it had all the time in the world. It seemed oblivious to the fact there were weapons aimed at it. It simply looked from one end of the room to the other, observing, processing and calculating before speaking.
"We demand you return the Keelya to us. You trespassed onto Bosanti territory; your transgression will not go unpunished. Be warned this act of aggression will not be tolerated!"
"This is General Landry…"
"We demand you return the Keelya to us. You trespassed onto Bosanti territory; your transgression will not go unpunished. Be warned this act of aggression will not be tolerated!"
General Landry considered his next move. It was obvious they had a pissed off alien on their hands, but the fact that they were somehow responsible for this didn't sit well with him. He needed to find the underlying cause of this, sooner rather than later, if the threat was any indication of things to come. He tried again to speak with the alien but whenever he attempted conversation, he was interrupted with the warning.
Frustrated he ordered the defence teams to stand down; maybe actions would speak louder than words.
The alien failed to respond either way and instead chose to remain silent.
"General may I?"
Receiving the go ahead Daniel left the control room. Holding his hands up to show he was unarmed, Daniel entered the gate room and cautiously approached the alien.
"Hello…, I'm Daniel Jackson," Daniel greeted the alien, after a moment of indecision; he decided the best way to approach him was to get straight to the point- he looked like a no nonsense alien. "I understand that you believe we have something that belongs to you, and I understand that you're not happy about that but you too need to understand that we have no idea what it is you want or what act of aggression we have committed against your people. If you would explain it to us then we can begin to rectify this misunderstanding." Daniel looked appealingly at the alien who was slightly taller than himself, bluish grey in colour with large bug-like black eyes, a long thin slit for a mouth and a small nose. Its arms and legs were long and spindly. It looked remarkably like the Asgard.
It appeared he had gotten through to the alien as it began to tilt his head left then right as if considering his words.
"I believe your words to be sincere. I will give you the opportunity to speak in your defence. Please lead the way to a more appropriate setting."
………………………………
Cameron and Kara had been watching the entire exchange with complete fascination. They were so eager to discuss what had transpired that through their excitement they failed to notice the voices outside the briefing room.
"Uh oh!" They both looked at each other, they had nowhere to go.
"Quick, hide under the table!" Cameron whispered quickly as he pushed Kara forward. They had enough time to crawl under the table before their mom, Daniel, General Landry and the alien walked through the open door.
They had no choice but to listen in on the conversation, it was one they would remember word for word for as long as they lived.
Daniel waited for the alien to be seated before making the introductions. "I'm Dr Daniel Jackson, this is General Landry, the leader of this facility, and this is Lt. Col Samantha Carter."
The alien nodded at each person as they were introduced to him as a sign of respect, "I am Kortin of the Bosanti."
Sam couldn't look past the uncanny resemblance to the Asgard, "Forgive me Kortin but I have to ask, are you, by any chance, related to the Asgard?"
Kortin looked directly at Sam and spoke in clipped tones, "Yes, the Asgard and the Bosanti share the same ancestry."
Sam couldn't help feeling she had in someway offended him, "I'm sorry if I've offended you, Kortin, it wasn't my attention."
Kortin acknowledged her apology with a bow of his head, "The Asgard and the Bosanti have a very unstable relationship that goes back many generations. Though we are distant relatives, for reasons that will remain private, we prefer not to be associated to each other. Now please we are digressing from the matter at hand…"
General Landry decided to take a back seat in this particular situation and gave Daniel diplomatic license, as he had built a rapport with Kortin- the fate of the planet may depend on it, it was reasonable to assume that they were just as technologically advanced as their distant cousins.
"You mentioned us trespassing…could you be more specific?"
"Your presence on Suki."
"Suki?"
"Yes."
Clearing his throat Daniel tried to clarify, "Suki is the name of your planet?"
"No, my planet is called Bosanti."
"Is it just us you have an objection to or…?"
"No, all species are prohibited from stepping onto Suki."
"If that's the case then why haven't you buried the Stargate?"
"The Stargate is for the use of the Bosanti only; it is where we keep the Keelya."
"Yes, you mentioned the Keelya, how do you know it was us? I'm sure if it's a planet with an active Stargate then we weren't the only one's to have visited it?"
"What you assume to be a planet is in fact, Suki, the largest of the moons of the Bosanti home world, and you were the only people to have come through the Stargate other than ourselves, therefore the most logical conclusion would be that if the Keelya is not in our possession, then it must be in yours."
"I don't understand, is it not possible that the Keelya was taken via ship?"
"No."
The three of them looked at each other baffled, it wasn't making any sense.
They were getting nowhere fast, so Daniel tried again, "I'm sorry but you've lost us, can we go back a few steps?"
"I believe it is best if I start from the beginning. The Bosanti are the judicial body for a few hundred worlds spread throughout the galaxy. Long ago we felt the need to establish a penal colony and where the lesser civilized would be placed, it was decided that Suki would serve well in that regard as it could support life. A stargate was transported from a dying planet and placed there. Satellites as well as defence weapons were placed in orbit issuing warnings to any passers by. The Stargate was reprogrammed to only link with the one on Bosanti. No other Stargate can connect to it as the link to the local system of gates had been severed. Over the last few generations as each world gains independence, we have found very little use for the colony. Suki is now where only the most prolific of criminals are executed, that is how we learnt of the Keelya's disappearance."
"If what you are saying is true then how could we have gated there and removed the Keelya, you have already said yourself that it couldn't have been removed via ship?" Sam asked.
"The answer is simple. Every hundred years a severe electrical storm occurs on Suki, the storm was powerful enough to supercharge the gate, attract a passing wormhole, and therefore establish an otherwise impossible, connection. However as the nearest Stargate to Suki, other than our own, is 10 light years away then this could not have occurred, this leaves only one possible explanation" Kortin looked at them one by one, " you must have dialled the gate address directly and taken the Keelya."
They all had a horrible feeling about where this was heading, they waited for Kortin to drop the bombshell.
"Since the address of the Suki Stargate is one that has been created specifically by us and is not available to anyone else and the record shows that the last address dialled was to this planet, you and only you could have taken the Keelya," Rising Kortin faced General Landry, "You must at once return the Keelya to us and inform us of how you learned of the gate address."
The General in return looked at Sam who shrugged, "Kortin if you could give us the address for Suki we can input it into the computer, the computer will then tell us when we gated and how we came across the address."
"Very well."
A strong beam entered the room for all of a second, when they were able to focus their eyes; they saw a tablet on the table.
"All the information you require is there Lt. Col Samantha Carter."
Picking up the tablet Sam left the briefing room only to return a few minutes later visibly confused.
"Carter?"
"Sir, the gate address on the tablet matches that of PX6-701."
"PX6-701?"
"Isn't that the planet from the scrolls?" Daniel asked remembering and then it dawned on him, "the weapon we brought back is the Keelya."
"Yeah."
"Scrolls?" Kortin asked, reminding them of his presence.
Daniel explained though he couldn't quite understand it himself, "We came across some scrolls a long time ago that promised to lead us to a powerful weapon that we could use against the Ori. The address on the scrolls seems to match the one you gave us, I don't know how but it does."
"That is not possible." Even Kortin now looked just as confused. "May I see these scrolls?"
Daniel ran as fast as he could to his lab. Pulling open filling cabinets, drawers trying to find the scrolls and his translation.
"Come on they've got to be here somewhere!" He muttered banging his fists on the desk, frustrated.
He spent the next couple of minutes throwing things around until he finally came across them, in a box in his storage room. High tailing it out he tried to go over in his head of what all this could mean.
Out of breath, Daniel passed the scrolls and his translation to Kortin who spent the next hour going over them. Finally, he looked up and spoke.
"Your translation is flawed Daniel Jackson, the gate address you have extrapolated from these scrolls is incorrect. I would advise you to look over these again."
"Flawed how?" Daniel asked shocked.
"At this moment in time it is imperative that I return to my home world with the Keelya, but after that I would be happy to return and provide you with assistance, General Landry it is obvious that this entire incident has been a misunderstanding. If you would please…"
General Landry sighed with relief; there was one less enemy out there wanting to wipe them off the face of the planet.
………………………………
Major Henderson entered the briefing room carrying the Keelya in its protective storage case.
Carefully, Kortin opened the box and picked the device up, inspecting it. Happy with its condition he activated the transporter beam and sent it to the orbiting ship.
Kortin stood up ready to leave when Sam stopped him, walking around the table toward him she stood directly in front of him and asked quietly, "What did this thing do to my Cameron?"
That's all for now folks, don't forget to review. The more reviews I get the quicker I will write the next chapter!