Enesset looked at the tiny pinprick of a planet that supposedly housed the Aschen colony with a stern look on his face. The Jaffa was not the most conversational warrior amongst Bra'tac's legions, but he was one of the most dependable and, more importantly, cautious.
He'd been selected to lead the second scouting mission to verify the Tok'ra's intelligence. His mission, however, was different than that of Raknor's. The previous Tok'ra scouting missions had ended with the destruction of their ships in orbit, which required Enesset to be even more cautious than usual.
Bra'tac had assured him that the Alket's cloaking device would be sufficient to fool the Aschen's sensors, unlike those of the Tok'ra, but the System Lord had still insisted on a bit of prudence in their approach to the mission. Hence the long, slow advance from halfway across the star system.
Distant as they were, two larger ships were detectable in orbit around the planet with many more intermittent contacts. Enesset had seen the telemetry from Bra'tac's battle over Earth and wondered if these blips weren't a cluster of the block craft that the Aschen had used to attack the Human world.
Prior to the launch of this mission, the Jaffa had sought out word of mouth intelligence amongst the trading partners of Illicia…the world Enesset was now approaching. Like the Tok'ra had also told them, Illicia had been invited to join what was called the Aschen Confederation, though how much of an 'invitation' it had been remained to be seen. Regardless, Illicia's trading partners had seen a boon of exports coming from the planet, both in volume and quality.
On a lesser level, several other planets had reported a small number of individuals emigrating to Illicia with the Aschen's blessing. It seemed the Tok'ra had tried to infiltrate the planet through this means, but were discovered. This suggested the Aschen's ability to detect the presence of a symbiot within a host.
Enesset had mixed feelings about that…on one level he appreciated the irony of the Tok'ra losing their ability to hide within Humans…but on another level he worried about what other technology these Aschen might have if they could thwart the esteemed intelligence gathering capabilities of the Tok'ra.
The Jaffa knew better than to try and emulate the Goa'uld, and with the Alterran technology granted them they fortunately had another option…
As the planet of Illicia grew larger on the viewscreen the sensor images refined themselves into a number of smaller vessels, some of which were the block craft…but others were new ships that had not been included in the information packet from the System Lord.
"Tag the smaller ships and begin collecting data," Enesset ordered.
The Jaffa in the copilot's seat nodded and pulled up a sensor protocol and tied it into the ship's memory bank where a profile composite began to form…such skills had long been denied, even forbidden, to the Jaffa during the reign of the original System Lords, but now that a Jaffa had ascended to that rank things had changed, and changed greatly. Lord Bra'tac had not only allowed technical knowledge to the Jaffa, he had insisted on their training in it. As it was, Enesset and his crew knew far more about the 'magics' of the Goa'uld than their ancestors ever had.
One of the smaller ships began to break orbit, leaving the protective halo of the block ships. After half a minute the ship jumped into hyperspeed en route to who knew where.
"Plot the trajectory," Enesset ordered.
The copilot did as bidden then located a system along the path. He brought up the location on the central hologram.
"The second Aschen planet," Enesset mumbled as his attention was drawn to the two large ships. They were close enough now for the passive sensors to identify their designs.
The first was a control ship, identical to the one used in the battle at the Tauri homeworld. The second was a cube of block ships, all undeployed. It just hung in space alongside the curved command ship in a stark contrast of aesthetics.
"Take us into the atmosphere…slowly," he urged.
Thus far their cloak had held up against detection…but entering the atmosphere was another matter altogether. The disruption of the air on entry could be tracked unless they were very careful about it.
The pilot knew what he was doing, however, and slowed the ship to a stop above one of the larger cities, completely negating orbital velocity. The parked Aschen ships drifted off along their orbits while the Alket descended on its anti-grav repulsors.
Enesset kept a close eye on the enemy ships as the atmosphere began to lick at their craft, but neither moved. The Jaffa at the helm kept them steady all the way down to the surface where they bottomed out a mile above a large primitive city.
"Make sure all recorders are on," Enesset reminded the crew. "Zero presence survey protocols…let's get to work."
Raknor and Hret slipped off the sides of the cargo transport when it left the road onto a larger square pad made of the same substance. When the Jaffa dropped to the ground they instinctively touched their hands to the surface as their legs absorbed the drop. Raknor glanced at the black residue on his fingers, glanced at Hret who had the same on his hand, then wiped the grime off on his pant leg.
They fell into step with each other and followed the transport across the expanse toward six parked cargo ships…each a knockoff of the goa'uld version, but with the round edges blocked off in typical Tauri fashion. Raknor also noticed armed guards for the first time…they too carried typical Tauri weapons.
Behind the cargo ships was a slow, wide building that was little more than a thin cover over a dozen Human fighters.
When the Jaffa got closer they noticed subtle symbols on the cargo ships. Raknor couldn't make out the symbols, but he made sure to record the images. The fighters too, they found out as they circled past the cargo ships, had identical symbols at the top of the markings, then similar, but different markings below.
Hret touched his shoulder to get his attention then pointed off to their right. Raknor glanced in that direction and frowned. Beyond a row of thin trees there were a cluster of small boxes sitting in the sun next to another squarish building…but this building had the look of a prison about it. The windows all had reinforcing bars in the transparent material, multiple security recorders on short poles around the perimeter, an armed checkpoint at the only entrance, and a wire fence surrounding the perimeter.
The two Jaffa moved across the paved surface, through the trees, and in between the boxes toward the checkpoint when they heard a soft groan.
Raknor stopped and listened. The groan didn't repeat, but he was fairly sure it had come from one of the boxes. Hret pointed to the third closest one and Raknor nodded his agreement. They both crept up on it and bent down to look through two tiny slits in the metal.
Both Jaffa exchanged glances. There was someone inside…and given the metal construction and the sun beating down on it there was little doubt that this was anything other than some sort of punishment device. Raknor's first instinct was to free the person inside, but that wasn't an option…or was it.
Raknor waved to Hret and they jogged off into the middle of nowhere.
"Jorro," Raknor whispered into his communicator.
"I am here," the Jaffa in the ship answered through Raknor's earpiece, which also transmitted to all the other scouts on the planet, including Hret.
"Change of plans," he continued to whisper. He was cloaked, but it would do nothing to hide his voice. "I'm sending Hret back to the ship. He needs another gauntlet and a fast-acting sedative."
Hret nodded, suddenly understanding, and took off at a run back to their extraction point.
"It will take a few minutes to synthesize the sedative…" Jorro said, unsure what was going on. "Who is it for?"
"One of the natives…I think," Raknor said, not quite sure of who he was looking at through the tiny cuts in the box, but his instincts said this was one of the original inhabitants that hadn't wanted to do things the Tauri way.
He'd find out in a few hours, assuming the individual lived that long.
"You think?" Jorro asked, more confused than before.
"We found a prison," Raknor said quickly and quietly. "He might be able to provide us with some information."
"Understood. But won't that violate operational orders?"
"Indeed it will. I'll take responsibility."
"Your call," Jorro relented. "You going to drag him back, or do you want a pickup?"
"I'll let you know," Raknor said, ending communications. It would take a while for Hret to get back with the equipment, but there was a large field nearby with several auxiliary buildings that Raknor wanted to check out in the meantime.
"This is the one you spoke of?" Bra'tac asked as a withered Human was escorted up toward the head of the 'throne room.'
"She is," Raknor confirmed, bowing his head slightly upon arrival at the foot of the dais where Bra'tac stood.
"She is weak," Bra'tac said, glancing over her. The woman could barely stand, and would have fallen over if two Jaffa hadn't held either arm firmly. "You said she was in some form of torture device, yes?"
Raknor nodded. "Confined space, seated with knees to the chest and extreme heat, very little ventilation."
Bra'tac nodded. "I've seen such methods used before," he said, reaching out and putting a hand on her thin neck. He closed his eyes and concentrated.
For a moment nothing happened, then the woman sucked in a quick, noisy breath as if she was waking from a trance.
"Be still…" Bra'tac said, firmly but warmly. "You are among friends."
The woman glanced at the larger Jaffa holding her in place. "Where am I?"
"On a world called Dakara," the Alterra answered kindly. "My name is Bra'tac."
"Selena," she offered timidly.
Bra'tac nodded his head in greeting. "My Jaffa rescued you from your confinement and brought you here. They had hoped you could provide us with some information."
Selena's brow furrowed. "I don't remember any of that."
"You were delirious," Bra'tac told her. "Only now have I healed your wounds and cleared your mind."
She shook her arms loose and looked for the burn marks on them, then felt for the ones on the back of her neck. "How?"
"With a touch," he said simply. "I am an Alterra. These are Jaffa," he said, extending his hand toward his companions.
"I've heard of Jaffa," Selena admitted, "but not Alterra."
"That's not surprising," Bra'tac said dismissively. "Why were you tortured, Selena?"
She shrugged. "I woke up one morning and didn't feel like working, so they put me in the box."
"How long were you in the box?"
"Ten days…they took me out each night and said I could go back to work in the morning…but I wouldn't, so they kept putting me back in the box."
"Who are they?" Bra'tac asked, curious.
"The overseers," she answered, stretching her back.
"They are offworlders, are they not?"
"Yeah…they came to our world three years ago and offered our people a deal…and our stupid leaders fell for it."
"What kind of deal?" Bra'tac asked.
"They offered protection, food, technology, and a bunch of other junk that made the idiots drool with greed. All we had to do was join them and they'd make our lives easier," she said, ending with a sarcastic grunt.
"They did not live up to the bargain?" Bra'tac asked.
"I suppose they did," Selena said, clearly not agreeing with her own comment. "We don't have to worry about running out of food in the winter, our homes are cooled in the summer and heated in the winter, our water is crisp and clear, and we get a fresh set of clothes each day…but I'd hardly call that a fair trade for our freedom. They decide everything…where we work, when we work, where we live, what we eat, how we walk, what we can and can't say." She shook her head in disgust. "I hated the bastards even before they put me in the box."
"You cannot leave your world?"
"No…they have the ring of the gods guarded. Only those with permission can pass through…no one has that I know of in the last year. The overseers don't even use it. They travel by ship."
Bra'tac nodded gravely. "Tell me more of what they have done."
After they'd finished debriefing the prisoner, Bra'tac had her given quarters and provisions on Dakara with the option of travel to any world of her choice if she did not want to remain with the Jaffa. She'd said something about tracking down her relatives on Ido, but was more than happy to remain on Dakara for a while and do nothing but eat and sleep.
Meanwhile, Bra'tac reviewed the intelligence data that Raknor had brought back with him, as well as the data from Enesset on the Aschen. After several hours of analysis Bra'tac contacted Earth and requested SG-1 be sent to Dakara to meet with him as soon as possible.