Alisana, Sam and Vala stand in place with their heads turned looking back at the enormous beast in the doorway, they're just looking at each other and although their instincts are telling them to run for their lives, for some reason they can't bring themselves to move, like a stand off to see which of them will make the first move, them, or the beast.
The beast stands in the doorway, about 20 feet tall, its head is enormous and not human, it has a long protruding snout and mouth, big glaring eyes, pointy ears and two huge horns either side of its head, one is broken with only a partial stub remaining, it appears to have a ring made of gold stuck through its nose with a broken chain hanging from it, its face in fact resembles that of a Bull, its torso is more human in appearance, very bulky with lots of muscle and big strong arms with hands and 4 fingers, its feet are covered in hair and look like hooves.
"Dius." says the beast in a deep voice, to the surprise of the girls standing below, the beast can talk.
"I'm sorry could you repeat that." says Vala.
"Give me the Dius." says the beast.
The girls look at each other without a clue, "It wants the Dius." whispers Vala.
"What's that?." asks Alisana.
"I don't know. Sam?." says Vala.
Sam shrugs her shoulders.
"We don't have it." says Vala, turning to face the beast.
This appears to enrage the beast as it punches the side of the doorway breaking a chunk out of the gold bricks, it then roars at them looking extremely angry.
"Run!" says Sam.
They take off running through the room, there's no time to take it slow and avoid the dangerous floor panels that activate the room defences, they step on a few as they run and energy blasts are fired at them from either side of the room as they duck and dive out of the way.
The beast remains standing in the doorway watching them run, they're like tiny insects to him, he rips a chunk of gold from the wall and throws it in their direction.
"Watch out." shouts Vala, seeing the chunk of gold flying towards them.
When the gold hits the floor it was thrown at such a force that it breaks and cracks the floor directly in between the girls causing them to stumble and fall in different directions, the beast then enters the room after them.
Alisana ended near the side of the room beside a pedestal, "Vala." she shouts, seeing her laying on the floor near the other side of the room, "Get behind the pedestal." she shouts to her.
Vala looks back and see the beast coming towards her, she jumps to her feet and run behind a pedestal, the beast stops momentarily and looks at her hiding and then quickly turns and sees Sam laying in the middle of the room on her back.
"Sam, run Sam...run!." shouts Alisana.
The beast runs passed Vala, it rips a pedestal out of the floor as it goes by and heads towards Sam.
Sam gets to her feet and after a brief skid on the floor she runs flat out towards the back of the room with the beast hot on her tail, it swings the pedestal at her like a baseball bat a number of times but she manages to duck and avoid it, then her luck comes in as the beast is hit on the back of the leg by an energy blast from the defences and trips and falls on to the floor.
Sam stops and looks back.
"Don't stop." shouts Alisana.
"Keep running." shouts Vala.
The beast looks up from the floor and sees Sam running away in the distance, after hitting the floor in a rage with its fist it gets to its feet and begins chasing her again.
Sam makes it to the back of the room but when she reaches the foot of the enormous chair she has nowhere else to go, after picking up speed the beast leaps in to the air and roars holding the pedestal over its head ready to bash Sam as she cowers on the floor.
As the beast is in mid air just several feet off the ground coming down, a sudden explosion occurs to the side of it and the force blows the beast off its path away from her, it roars in pain as it flys through the air and lands hard on the floor near the corner of the room.
Sam raises her head and looks around in surprise at what just happened.
Vala and Alisana are equally as surprised and when they look around and face back at the doorway, they see Jack and Teal'c standing there, Jack drops the pin of a grenade on to the floor before they both run in to room towards them.
Teal'c shoots the defence weapons through the holes in the wall and disables them, then he runs over to Vala and helps her up.
"Oh, Muscles..." says Vala, grabbing his face and kissing him repeatedly, "..you're beautiful." she adds.
"Are you injured?." asks Teal'c, prying her off of him.
"My hair's an absolute mess but I'm fine." replies Vala.
"Head to the exit, quickly." says Teal'c, then he runs to catch up to Jack.
Jack runs down the middle of the room towards Sam.
"Jack." shouts Alisana.
"Get out of here, go now." shouts Jack as he runs passed her, he didn't stop because he could see her moving and knew she would be able to get out on her own.
The beast is laying on the floor unconscious when it exhales and inhales deeply through its nose and it awakes, after shaking off the concussion it sustained from the blast it grabs the pedestal beside it and starts getting to its feet, Jack sees it getting up and as he's a few meters from Sam he falls on to his side and slides across the floor towards her while firing his weapon at the beast.
Teal'c runs sideways across the room opening fire on the beast to drive it back.
"Jack." says Sam, throwing her arms around him in relief.
"Are you all right?, look at me, are you okay?." asks Jack.
"O'Neill!." shouts Teal'c as he runs out of ammo.
Jack pulls a clip from his vest and throws it to Teal'c, he catches it and reloads his P-90 and continues firing.
"Ready to go?." asks Jack.
Sam nods, "Yeah." she says.
Jack and Sam get to their feet and they run flat out back down the middle of the room towards the doorway, "Lets go, Teal'c." he shouts.
The beast is being bombarded with a hail of bullets but somehow manages to swing the pedestal which scrapes Teal'cs arm when he tries to dodge it, knocking the gun from his hands.
Jack saw this happen and turns around to go help him, "Teal'c!" he shouts.
"Do not stop, O'Neill." says Teal'c, pulling the knife from his belt.
As the beast comes to him, Teal'c flips around and lunges the knife deep in to the back of its leg, the beast leans back and roars at the ceiling in pain.
Jack stops and turns back around after seeing Teal'c pull two grenades from his vest, "Go, go!" he shouts, running towards the doorway with Sam.
Teal'c pulls the pins and when he's a few meters away he throws the grenades at the beast and runs like heck towards the others, they go off and blow the beast backwards, the ceiling of the room which was already weakened from the previous grenade blast starts to break and fall on top of the beast.
Jack and Sam join Alisana and Vala at the doorway, "Come on Teal'c, come on." they all shout as he runs towards them with falling rocks behind him, he makes it in the nick of time and leaps out through the doorway moments before the entire structure of the room implodes.
"Can we please go home now." moans Vala.
"Do you know the way back?." asks Sam.
"Yeah, this way." says Jack, they all start walking back through the tunnels.
"Way to go, Teal'c. You looked pretty cool back there." says Alisana.
"Yeah, Teal'c, action hero." jokes Vala.
They walk and talk and joke as they make their way towards the exit and fresh air, but it appears the danger isn't over yet as they hear a rumbling sound in the walls around them, then suddenly the beast comes crashing angrily through the wall of the tunnel behind them.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me." says Jack, opening fire on the beast, "Go." he shouts.
With the beast on their tail they run quickly through the tunnels, the beast doesn't appear to be deterred by the fact that its too big to fit through the narrower tunnel sections, it just keeps on coming and ripping its way through the dirt and rock walls behind them.
"Wind, I can feel the wind." says Sam.
Finally they make it out of the tunnels and in to the clearing, they all stop out of breath and inhale the beautiful clean air under the night sky, they back away slowly after hearing the roar of the beast that's still coming for them and heading their way.
"I have no weapon, O'Neill." says Teal'c.
Jack gives him his side-arm and they both stand facing the tunnel exit, "All of you stay back." says Jack.
The beast comes bursting out of the entrance sending the surrounding dirt flying through the air, it stands and looks at them briefly and then with a deep roar it lunges for them.
As Jack and Teal'c are about to open fire they stop in shock as they find themselves staring out in to space.
"Colonel." says a female voice.
"What?" says Jack, looking curiously at Teal'c.
"I did not say anything, O'Neill." replies Teal'c.
They turn around, "Swanson." says Jack, seeing Captain Swanson sitting in her chair on board the Alliance ship.
The 'Alliance' was dispatched to Terion by General Landry before they returned to Terion to search for their lost team mates, it arrived in orbit a short time ago, they tried to transport SG-1 on board as soon as they arrived but because they were so deep within the tunnels their locator signals weren't strong enough to get an accurate lock on them.
"Excellent timing." says Jack.
"Thank you, I'm just glad we got here in time." says Swanson, "Sgt, please escort them to the medical bay." she orders.
"Captain, I'm detecting a ship leaving orbit." says Major Higgins, sitting at the weapons and sensor console.
"There was a Tel'tak down there, we never found who ever was flying it." says Jack.
"It's powering engines." says Major Higgins.
"Disable it." orders Swanson.
Major Higgins attempts to shoot the ship to disable its engines but he's not fast enough, "Sorry captain, it's gone in to hyperspace." he says.
15 hours later the Alliance arrived back at Earth and SG-1 were transported safely to Stargate Command where they were given yet another examination by an insistent Dr Lam, they were all given the all clear after suffering only minor injuries and mild dehydration and malnourishment which was easily remedied.
Colonel Mitchell was transported to the Alliance when they initially arrived at Terion as his locator signal was the only one broadcasting strong enough due to him being outside, he was knocked unconscious by a mysterious foe but he has also made a full recovery.
They're all still in the infirmary tucking in to a hearty meal and discussing recent events.
"What was the new information you had for us?." asks Mitchell.
"I'll let Dr Jackson tell you." replies General Landry.
"Daniel?" says Jack.
Daniel places his knife and fork on to his plate and after swallowing a large chicken nugget he explains.
Using the information he got from Paito and using his books for reference, he believes that a Goa'uld known as Apis came to Terion thousands of years ago, Apis was once a system lord but a disagreement over power between him and Ra led to a war between them, Ra had the stronger army and inevitably won the battle.
When Apis was defeated, not wanting to endure the excruciating death that Ra probably had in mind for him, he fled. Like all Goa'uld he didn't just give up, he wanted revenge but in order to do that he needed power, more power than Ra, I believe he found something on Terion, something that would give him that power.
"What was it?." asks Vala.
"I don't know." says Daniel.
"Was it that beast?." asks Sam.
"Yeah, what the hell was that thing anyway?." asks Jack.
Daniel takes a deep breath to think, "Well, based on the description you gave me of what you saw, I think it was a Minotaur." he says.
"A Minotaur?." asks Mitchell, unconvinced.
"Yes." says Daniel, he can see they're all doubtful, "Apis was actually a bull deity in ancient Egypt, dearly worshipped and very important in the ranks of the Gods and Egyptian burial rituals, It doesn't really make much sense because the Minotaur was more prominent in Greek mythology, not Egyptian. But, from what you said you saw it certainly sounds like one." he adds.
Sam secretly quivers upon hearing him mention the Greeks, she still hasn't told them about what she went through, an experience she wants to forget.
"I think we're crossing some boundaries here, this is the first time we've seen a connection between the Egyptian gods and the Greek gods. This could be very significant, we should go back and..." says Daniel.
Jack interrupts him, "Forget it." he says, firmly.
"What?." asks Daniel.
"We're not going back to Terion." says Jack.
"All right, all right. Minotaur aside, who do you think was flying that ship. More to the point what were they doing there." asks Mitchell.
"Perhaps they were the ones who set that thing loose." says Vala.
"That's a good point. The Terions have lived there for hundreds of years and they never saw it, why did it just show itself now." says Daniel.
"Indeed." says Teal'c, as puzzled as the rest of them.
"Who cares, I'm just glad to be home." says Alisana.
"Me too." says Vala.
"Me three." says Sam.
The team continue to eat their meals while silently thinking about what happened and what Daniel just told them, whoever was flying that Tel'tak probably set the beast free, but who was it and why, they obviously weren't interested in the beast considering they left it behind, so what were they after that was worth all that trouble, the beast briefly spoke and wanted something called the Dius, what was it, what the hell is going on.
The 'Alliance' was sent back to Terion to try and get some of those answers, but they found nothing, the beast was nowhere to be found and believed to have retreated back in to the tunnels, as a precaution they sealed off all the entrances and exits they could find to contain it if it was still alive, Paito and the woman and children were relocated back to their old home world of Mos and the Stargate on Terion was removed.
For now the answers to recent events allude SG-1 but no doubt they'll find out...soon.
The End.
To be continued in further adventures, watch out for them. Thank you for reading my story and all my stories, I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy writing them for you :)