"There are no ships in orbit," the Jaffa helmsmen of the cloaked Alket reported.
"That we can see," Raknor added. "The Tauri also possess cloaking technology. Can you locate the chappa'ai?"
The Jaffa worked through the passive sensor data. "It must be on the other side of the planet," he said, glancing up at Raknor.
"Proceed," the commander of this mission ordered. Bra'tac had entrusted him with a ship and eight Jaffa to covertly verify the Tok'ra's reports. Raknor had had previous contact with the Tauri and knew something of what to expect, which was part of the reason why he'd been chosen for this mission. The other part was that in lieu of a true First Prime, Raknor had taken over the default duties of being Bra'tac's go to man.
The Alterra had instructed him to tread lightly with the Tauri, but to do what he needed to discover what they were up to. Bra'tac wanted more information before he contacted the SGC.
"There it is," the helmsman reported as the Alket swung around to the other side of the planet.
"Hold position," Raknor ordered. "Bring up all surface scans of the area around the chappa'ai."
A hologram materialized behind the pilot and copilot's seats. The surface scans weren't overly detailed as a result of the active cloaking device, but they gave sufficient detail to mark seven distinct settlements.
"Enlarge," Raknor said. This planet was supposed to have a population between 5,000 and 10,000 Humans.
The hologram expanded and more settlements appeared, though much smaller in size. The geographical map continued to expand out to a thousand kilometer radius.
"Tag all the habitations, then focus back on the ones nearest the gate."
A few moments later nine settlements appeared, all in close proximity to the gate and by far the largest on the planet. The smallest of the nine was ten times larger than the next smallest settlement, and it appeared to Raknor that these sites had to have been expanded with help from the Tauri. The basic readings that they were getting indicated multiple level buildings…and that was something that the local population of Osser wasn't capable of building on their own.
"Enlarge 30%."
The map expanded and several smaller dots appeared around the circumference.
There was a small ridgeline separating the main settlements from the others on the north side of the stargate. One small settlement was sitting in the middle of a large open area several kilometers square. The right angles of the clearing suggested it wasn't naturally occurring.
Raknor toggled the map controls and checked several other breaks in the forest. They were all clearings bordered by precise lines, but only two of them had settlements inside the boundaries. Raknor continued to inspect the hologram while the other Jaffa on the bridge waited silently.
Off to the east Raknor found one clearing irregularly shaped…and it was within range of one of the larger settlements.
"Take us here, here, and here," he ordered, pointing to three distant positions on the map.
The cloaked Alket lowered its boarding ramp as it hovered a few meters above a dirt road in the middle of a plowed field. Raknor and Hret stepped out from the cloaking field of the ship but didn't appear. They were wearing personal cloaking devices of their own, ones capable of seeing each other and the Alket behind them…though it only appeared as glowing grid lines to Raknor's ocular device as it lifted up above the nearby treetops and moved off to the second position to deposit another infiltration team.
It was midday with a cloudless sky and overbearing sun. Off to their left there was a large machine cutting down more trees along the edge of the clearing and a small workforce cutting apart and disposing of the lumber. Another group used smaller, handheld machines to cut up the ground where the trees had been and convert it into tilled soil.
Raknor and Hret walked together silently under cloak down the small dirt road toward three small white domes in the center of the growing field.
The domes weren't fully sealed. Near the ground they didn't touch, but instead were latched to several metal poles imbedded into the soil. The domes were made of some type of taught clothe stretched over the metal framework. Inside a plethora of different sized crates were visible, some of which were open.
Raknor carefully rummaged through the open crates. Most were bags of grain, but there were also some more of the handheld machines that they'd seen used in the fields. They definitely looked like Tauri technology…Raknor used his ocular device to capture several photos of the crates' contents.
After he finished he motioned for Hret to follow him outside. Once in the clear they ran off down another dirt road in the direction of the nearest settlement. They had six hours to scout the colony before they were due for pickup…though Raknor could contact the ship and reschedule if needed.
The dirt trail led into the woods and meandered through some low hills until it abruptly stopped and a hard, black surface replaced it with white lines down the center and along the edges. On either side of the black material that stunk of chemicals, crushed white rock an arm's length wide outlined either side before transitioning into low cut green plants, so thick you couldn't see the dirt beneath them.
Raknor and Hret hesitated at the sight of the alien landscape, then cautiously moved forward down the road.
On either side of them there stood squarish buildings, most three levels high with many windows. Behind them, in the distance, two much larger buildings dominated the horizon, easily three times as high and a kilometer long. The roofs were angled up to a peak, but otherwise they were little more than large rectangles.
Raknor and Hret moved off the road and onto a smaller, lighter path that led across the greenery to the individual buildings. They chose one of the smaller, three level structures and approached the entrance, taking surveillance photos periodically.
They stopped just outside and waited for several minutes, but no one seemed to be around. There was, however, a surveillance camera covering the door.
Raknor consider for a moment. The device probably couldn't see through their cloak, but it would detect when the door opened.
He shook his head. This needed to be a zero impact operation. They couldn't leave any hints behind of a cloaked operative. They'd try another route.
Raknor pointed Hret off along the side of the building onto the green plants. They checked each window they passed by, trying to observe any activity inside. They went all the way around the perimeter but none of the windows were open, nor did they look to be capable of such a function. Also, no one could be seen inside.
Raknor waved Hret on and they made their way back to the road. There were other buildings toward the settlements' center, more square in design and higher than they were wide. They'd check those out next.
When they were halfway there they noticed a group of twelve people walking down the road back to one of the three story buildings in front of a small ground transport meant for two passengers, but only one seat was occupied. The woman driving the four wheeled transport looked to be an offworlder, based on her clothing. She wore a trim uniform of high quality as opposed to the baggy, blue full body suits that the twelve walking men wore. She also had a small, flat information device in her hand.
When they arrived in front of one of the particular buildings the group stopped in formation…two by two…and seemed to wait on the woman to proceed.
She checked off some information on her device and said something to the workers in the common tongue. They broke ranks and shuffled into the building while she casually drove off.
Raknor ran after the woman with Hret following a step behind. The small transport wasn't very fast, and they could nearly keep pace with it as they ran. The woman gained ground slowly, but the wide open arrangement of the settlement made it difficult for her to get out of sight of the cloaked Jaffa.
The woman eventually led them to one of the larger buildings on the outskirts of the settlement. This one the Jaffa could enter without trouble…the bay doors were open, and they simply followed the woman inside.
The facility was quite large, but little more than a basic framework with an open aired interior. Many large farming machines were docked here, with maintenance workers scattered among them. Raknor saw one moving out three bays down and wondered what its purpose was. It had a long, wide comb with pointed teeth on the front attached to a thick body suspended on two large wheels up front and two smaller ones in the rear, on top of which stood a clear glass cockpit.
Raknor took several seconds of video then let it pass. He'd follow it up later.
The woman they'd followed had rendezvoused with another two identically dressed men. They conversed with each other briefly before another set of a dozen blue-clad workers emerged from some sort of processing area and one of the well dressed men took a transport of his own and led them out of the building.
The woman and the other man continued their conversation and Raknor moved closer, recording what he could of it. They were not speaking the common tongue, as most Humans in this galaxy did. Bra'tac had explained to Raknor and several other high level Jaffa that the common tongue had originally come from the Pegasus galaxy and was brought to Avalona by a Lantean named Merlin, who then spread it to several worlds during the reign of the original System Lords. Upon discovering a common language between several of the worlds they eventually conquered, they decided to use the language for their Humans slaves and thus spread it throughout their domain.
What Bra'tac didn't know was that the common tongue of the people in Pegasus had actually originated from before the Ori/Alterra split. It was the common trade language in Destra, while Lingara was a more advanced, more technical language specifically created to allow for a plethora of terminology and intricacy that the sciences required.
Over time, the zealotry of the Ori deemed Lingara as the Holy language and pushed to abolish all others. In time they succeeded, and Lingara became the standard. When the Alterra left Destra several thousands of years later the trade language went with them in their linguistic database…though it was never used again.
When the Lanteans saw that the more primitive seed species in Pegasus had advanced far enough to comprehend basic languages they intentionally taught them the old trade language, partly in defiance of the Ori's original edict banishing the language, but also because the Pegasus natives weren't advanced enough to comprehend the intricacies of LIngara…the language of the Ancients. Thus the common tongue reappeared in Pegasus…and it was that language that the Lanteans used to communicate with their less advanced brethren.
Subsequently, the Ori resurrected the old trade language when they too created a primitive version of themselves. The idea of their subjects speaking the Holy language for their pathetic, day to day lives was offensive, to say the least. It was decided that they should use the old language for their meaningless existence while learning the Holy language through patient and diligent study…further ingraining them on the path to 'enlightenment.'
Most front line Jaffa had been required to learn the common tongue in order to deal with the slaves, and Raknor had been among them. Others had not, and those were primarily the priests and other temple workers who saw such knowledge as an affront to the language of the gods.
Those gods, in turn, had spread the common language as a way to further deitize themselves. The language of the Goa'uld became the Holy language, and not knowing it further degraded the slaves and set them apart from the Jaffa who oversaw them.
Raknor, however, had also been taught a third language…Batu. It had originally been implemented by the System Lord Hera as a 'battle language' for her Jaffa that could be used for secret communication during combat. Orders could be yelled out in the heat of battle and the enemy would be unaware of what was being said. It had proved so useful that several other System Lords sought out the language and taught it to their own Jaffa…thus ending Hera's advantage.
Raknor had also heard several other languages spoken, but the one these Humans were using was totally unfamiliar to him…but even more bizarre was the fact that when these white clothed leaders spoke to the blue clothed workers they did so in the common tongue.
After recording a sample of the language Raknor and Hret slipped into the processing area that the workers were coming from in an attempt to backtrack them to whatever they were working on.
The bit about the language bothered Raknor. It seemed to confirm Tok'ra suspicions that the local inhabitants were not equal partners in this endeavor…that is, if the blue clothed persons were in fact the local inhabitants. Their general appearance supported this, but Raknor couldn't be for sure.
No closed doors stood in the Jaffas' way, only a labyrinth of corridors that led into the enclosed section of the building. Hret was nearly run over by a group of workers as they passed by, but he eluded detection by cramming himself into a wall niche.
Raknor nodded his approval and the two moved on. They eventually emerged into a large, open aired factory on the opposite end of the rectangular building from the vehicle bays. Hundreds of blue clad workers swarmed over the machinery, most of which looked primitive to the Jaffa's eye. Interspersed among them were yellow clad individuals…but they didn't look any different from the blues. Only the white clad leaders appeared to be offworlders, and there were only a handful of them visible.
Upon further exploration, the Jaffa discovered the factory was not a single unit. There were three different sections processing different materials. One appeared to be some type of ore refinery...the second was a forge for the metals…and the third was a packaging plant for the crops coming in from the fields.
The Jaffa worked their way through the third section and found a link to a separate loading bay with transports taking on the grain. One of the open topped long-bed transports was nearly full.
Hret pointed towards it and motioned that they should get on. Raknor nodded and they weaved their way across the loading dock and climbed up opposite sides of the transport. They sat down on top of the grain bags, still obscured beneath their cloaking devices and waited for departure.
Ten minutes later the transport pulled out and headed down the black road toward another settlement.