AUTHOR'S NOTE: Rated M for some language and mature themes and some off-screen violence. My apologies to any German speakers if I got the language bits a teensy bit wrong. Google Translate is not always the best. On that note, some of the things expressed here are NOT my opinions, feelings or anything of the sort. My apologies if anyone is offended, but sometimes one needs to tell the rough stories, no?
DISCLAIMER: Stargate, Stargate SG-1, and its related characters and setting are not my property and I'm only borrowing them for a little while for some free entertainment. No infringement is intended.
Chapter Four
Had they the energy, the team might have cheered when Godfrey called for a rest in a small clearing that had opened abruptly before them. He was mildly amused to see that in addition to most of his team being in only their uniform tee shirts, Myrrwnn had completely forgone the jacket they had offered her. He shouldn't have been surprised. The jungle was hot enough without a full-body fur coat.
Without being asked, Tenbaum and Keltit made a brief perimeter sweep and declared the area secure. Too exhausted for much conversation, the team settled near the center of the clearing. Godfrey looked over at Monroe, hoping that she was faring as well as the rest of them. He was pleasantly surprised that she'd not complained once during the three hour trek so far. English stoicism, Godfrey thought with a smile. He had begun to wonder if Myrrwnn really knew where she was going, but decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, she seemed to be fitting in fairly well with his team and a blatant show of distrust would disincline the woman from returning to Earth with them. This line of thinking had the unfortunate side-effect of reminding Godfrey about their check-in schedule. The major checked his watch and found that they were indeed a bit overdue. However, he felt that the existence of these 'others' here warranted a proper and immediate investigation.
Again, as it had been for every rest that he had called, the team broke into its smaller groups: he, Tenbaum and Finn found themselves walking the perimeter as Keltit, Monroe and Myrrwnn sat chatting. Godfrey hoped that the Jaffa would be able to speak more directly to the team without having to resort to translations from Monroe. Then again, he thought, that is part of what she's here for isn't it? Shaking away the thought, Godfrey sauntered up to the trio with an affable smile. "How goes it, ladies?"
The three all looked up at Godfrey with weary faces. Myrrwnn flicked an ear, as though shooing away an annoying insect and spoke, "Vrry well, Maydgoor." Her voice was stilted and uncertain, but it was clearly English. "Lnn has tawt me soom of yous speaking."
Godfrey couldn't help but to smile. "That's great, Myrrwnn Sounds like you're doing well with it. Keep up the good work."
"Major!" Ashley's call from the far side of the clearing was enough to make most of the team jump, as well as quite a few of those bird-creatures. As one, the team took to its collective feet and converged on Finn's position. "I was looking for a place to take care of our trash," she began innocently, "when I found this." She pointed to the ground and all eyes followed.
Beneath their feet was a small mound of recently disturbed ground. Monroe tentatively poked at it with the toe of her boot which earned her a sharp word of caution from the military types. "Just because it doesn't look like a mine doesn't mean that it isn't one, and this sure as hell looks like one," Godfrey scolded. "Still, we're not on Earth, so it probably isn't. Wally, you and Kel check this out and make sure it isn't going to blow up if we start digging at it. It could be nothing; it could be something. I want to find out."
Kel was the first to speak up. "There is no discernible presence of naquadah, Major, so it is unlikely to be anything of Goa'uld origin; and far too fresh to be left over from the invasion anyway."
"Naquadah is far too precious to be used in a mine, Kel." To say that the rest of the team was a bit surprised to hear Tenbaum speak would be an understatement. "I'd seriously doubt it would be wasted like that. Besides, the resulting explosion of even a tiny amount would practically make the thing a strategic weapon, not a tactical one. Not to mention it is, as you said Kel, too fresh."
Wally continued to report to the Major, "There was evidence that this site was used for an earlier encampment, sir. Off hand, I'd say this here might well prove it; we're clearly on the trail of the Jaffa's 'Others'. If Finn thought this would be a good place for a trash pit, what are the odds that they did too?"
Godfrey had to give the man credit; his logic sounded pretty good. The Major watched as Tenbaum, without awaiting permission, unslung his pack and dug out his entrenching tool. Silently, the man began to dig at the mound, hurriedly shoving aside pile after small pile of dirt. It was hard work in the nearly sweltering heat of the jungle, and he was soon running rivulets of sweat from his brow.
"Pay dirt!" cried Tenbaum as his tool struck something with an audible crunch. Monroe nearly squealed, begging the gruff airman to move carefully lest some significant find be damaged beyond research. Following her lead, Tenbaum set aside his shovel and began to excavate the artifact with his bare hands. Within moments he tugged free what looked like nothing so much as an empty can of Spam. Passing the thing off to their linguist with a wry and triumphant grin, he stood and brushed dirt and dust from his BDUs.
Monroe turned the metal can over and over in her hands, her brow furrowing ever more with each careful twist. "This...this simply can't be, Major."
Godfrey leaned over to get a closer look over Monroe's shoulder at the mysterious object. He could not in all honesty say that he wasn't puzzled as well, but hardly for the reason that Monroe was about to give him. "Sir, it's this writing. I'm quite ashamed to say that I can't read it, though I have seen enough examples. Major, this writing is German. That's not all, folks. Major, Captain, look at this." With that she turned the can to better face the men who came in closer to look at the design Monroe was pointing out. The figure was a stylized, very angular looking eagle atop a braided bar, and a wreathed circle. In the circle was a symbol that sent shivers down every Tau'ri's spine.
The symbol was a swastika.
The General was nearly frantic, though still reeling from the shocking discovery that he had, himself, made. The discovery which he was even now reporting to his superior. "Ja, mein Herr. The writing upon the monstrosity was clearly English. It has not been so long that none of our people can remember the look of it."
The man sitting across from the General, the man whose office this was, simply nodded. "It is good, Herr General; both that this discovery was made, and more, that it was made here. Better such surprises come to us on our own ground, rather than in the field-coming face to face with an enemy we'd long thought put behind us, ja?"
The General could only nod his own agreement. "It can only mean one thing: Heaven's Gate has been reopened on Earth. We can go home."
The other man raised a placating hand. "Wait, Jurgen, wait. That is not the only thing that it means. Think upon it for a moment. Does it not also mean that the Gate is not in the possession of our glorious Reich? I daresay that it does. We must find and capture one of them who came with the probe.
"There is more to this than we can at once see, my friend. Go and see what more your people may learn from the thing." The old man heaved a weary sigh. "It is a pity what they did before leaving the planet. Stupid, really. That planet could have been claimed for the Reich and Marx should have known that. Additionally, we might have returned there to see if any of these English remained."
The General looked up with sour eyes. "Marx did what he felt to be in the best interests of his command. If any Allies remain there, they are not going anywhere, Herr Generalfeidmarshal, and the planet may still be claimed for the Reich. With your permission, I would like to dispatch the Rommel at once. It will take them only a few days to reach the planet through hyperspace."
For a long moment, the old man pondered this option. It was true that the Devils and their so-called Gods had been cast down. So, too, had the strange, pale-faced priests that came in the wake of the aliens' destruction. At last he nodded his approval. "The Rommel may be spared for two weeks; no more. Your AG-1 will return with them."
The General was at once upon his feet, at attention; his boot heels snapping smartly together. "It shall be so, mein Generalfeidmarshal." He made a swift salute, then turned on his heel to exit the office. At last his panic was beginning to subside, only to be replaced by a new emotion which crept across his weathered face in a wolfish grin. Anticipation.
Stopping at the desk of his superior's secretary, a lovely little blonde girl (goodness, but could all this blonde become tiresome?), the General made quick use of the telephone. He called first his own base to recall AG-1 to duty-a briefing in one hour. As he spoke to his own underlings, he ordered them to make certain of the Rommel's combat readiness. She would be leaving within the day.
Next he called his wife to tell her that he would be home late and that she should not wait up for him.
"Now hold on, Wally," Godfrey intoned gravely, "I think we can say with relative certainty that no one from Earth has been here before – German or otherwise." He stared at the tin in his hand as though it were a serpent ready to strike.
Tenbaum was, for his part, most agitated by this evidence. "How do you explain it then, Major?" His tone was nearly petulant in its challenge. "We're not blind. Everyone can clearly see that...that damned thing."
Resting a hand upon the Captain's shoulder, Monroe offered in a soft voice, "Yes, we can see it. The fact remains that it cannot possibly be there. It didn't come from our Earth..."
Godfrey caught the implication swiftly, "Wait. Our Earth? You aren't saying this could have come from some alternate Earth; one where the Axis won the war? Are you?" The small woman's shrug did not offer him any comfort. He looked upon each of their faces and saw only anxiety there; those to whom any of this held any depth or meaning. Casting the offending wrapper aside, his bearing became stiff and his voice slightly stern. "Look, we can sit around and debate this all we like but it isn't going to change a thing. What's more, it doesn't alter the fact that we've got an alien facility to explore in the morning. It'll be dawn again in another twelve hours, so let's table this until we get back."
Everyone nodded, even Myrrwnn, though Monroe stooped to gather up the wrapper and stuffed it into her pocket.
The night passed in relative silence, the existence of that thing having disturbed nearly everyone, the team quietly broke camp. Tents were diligently packed away, the fire pit was buried. They took their trash with them. The pall of their discovery kept everyone on edge and even the cheerful twittering of morning birds could not ease them.
Ablutions and rituals completed, the team stared at the entryway. Once, it had been roughly hemispherical, and constructed to blend almost seamlessly with the surrounding jungle. Now, great chunks of earth been forcefully dislodged; what metal could be seen about the door had been twisted brutally and there were scorch marks. Wally voiced what they were all thinking, "They didn't take the time to find a proper way into the facility. They just blew down the door." Having no evidence to the contrary, Godfrey simply decided to let that pass.
Stepping to the entryway, Godfrey shone his light into the pervading gloom within. As soon as one would step inside, the evidence of a natural world vanished, giving way to smooth, clean machine-worked metal. Walls, floors and ceiling, all was a uniform gray and unmarked by any writings or devices that he could distinguish. The corridor stretched out for some thirty feet, he estimated, then turned left. The ceiling was pocked with two parallel lines of what looked to be lights, broken and long dead, recessed into the metal itself. "Okay," he said, turning back to his team, "it's going to be dark in there. Myrrwnn, you can probably see better than the rest of us. If you'd take point, I'd appreciate it. I'll go second, followed by Monroe. Kel will bring up our six. Let's go."
Their orders made clear, Myrrwnn nodded smartly to Godfrey and hitched up her staff. Stepping through the twisted remains of the doorway, ears swiveling rapidly to catch any sound other than the enormously loud humans following behind her. Cautiously, the group traversed the short corridor, tiny lights dancing along the featureless walls and floor. Ten feet past the first turn, the discovered short stairway leading down. Having no other real option than to return the way they'd come, Myrrwnn led them onward. What had struck her most was a distinct lack of sound or odor. The place felt completely dead to her.
Proceeding along this lower corridor a ways, they came to a junction that branched left and right. Their lights revealed an array of doors lining each path. Careful examination of three revealed them to be sleeping quarters, housing two to a room. Beds arrayed one to each side of the small rooms were accompanied by a pair of desks that were cluttered with detritus and covered by centuries of dust. Unable to contain her curiosity, Monroe stepped toward one of the desks and took up what looked to be a picture frame, its image obscured by an age of neglect. She raised the item to her lips and blew across the surface which sent up a small cloud of dust – but not quite enough to reveal the item's secrets. She drew from her hip the utility knife that she carried and gingerly scraped the edge along its surface. Slowly peeling away the layers of dust, Monroe at last came upon the image, a man and a woman grinning at the camera, their arms thrown casually over the other's shoulder. Large eyes with vertically slitted pupils stared back at her and she could not help but become ecstatic. Brandishing the image as though it were the most profound thing in the universe, she called for Myrrwnn. The large feline's steps were as silent as the facility itself, her footprints the only evidence of her passage. Monroe held up the image for her to see, beaming, "Look!" she cried. "Proof that your people came from this world. Major! Major!"
Godfrey cam bursting into the room in a huff, admonishing the linguist to keep her voice low. Monroe waved that away with an exasperated sigh, "Major, no one had been here for several hundreds of years, possibly several thousands. I very much doubt my shouting will awaken something."
A snorting giggle rose from behind Godfrey and Tenbaum, who both turned to see Ashley snickering away, "Doctor, you really shouldn't say things like that. Don't you ever watch monster movies? You never say that because it always makes the monster wake up. Then the screaming starts."
Godfrey had to smirk at that himself, turning back to Monroe. "While I'm in serious doubt there are really any monsters here, that principle's kind of the same, Doc."
"Oh, fine." Monroe smile and lowered her voice to barely a whisper as she showed to the rest of her team the picture she had found. "Now we know for certain, Major. Myrrwnn's people were from here, and they were at least as advanced as ourselves."
The major gave her a dirty look at the whispering, but nodded as he examined the photograph. After a moment's thought, he handed the picture back to Monroe, "Put it back, Lynn. Now we know. Put it back."
Frowning deeply, Monroe complied and gave Myrrwnn an apologetic look that the larger woman did not seem to understand. Setting the picture back upon the desk where it was found, Monroe turned to follow the others when Myrrwnn's hand upon her arm stopped her. Looking back at the furred woman, Monroe smiled warmly to see Myrrwnn thrusting the picture under her nose. "Pleeese," she mewled. Monroe stared deeply into Myrrwnn's liquid eyes and was moved to take the photograph from her and hide it in her own pack. "Thahnks yoo, Lynn."
They continued on for some time, occasionally peering through a random doorway only to find that it led only to another empty room. Each room was austere and impersonal as the last. Perhaps, Finn suggested, these were maintenance staff quarters. Monroe scoffed gently at that and responded that they were more likely akin to a medical doctor's "on-call" rooms in a hospital, where the scientists might retreat for much needed rest but were only permitted a few, most basic personal affects.
At last, they came to a pair of large, metal doors. As gray as the walls they were a part of, they looked quite heavy and possibly had been sealed at one time. Upon the wall next to these doors was a roughly circular hole, scorched black around the jagged edges and laid on the floor was what appeared to be the control mechanism. It was clear that the doors swung in both directions as evidenced by the swaths of encrusted dust that had been scraped away from the floor in their passage.
Just as the team was about to pass through the doorway the ground shook with a terrible upheaval and, even as far underground as they were, a muted thump was heard by all. Puzzled faces looked to each other for reassurance and found no answers there. "Maybe that was normal for this planet?" offered Wally. The others stared, incredulous.
"No, I think that may have been something else, but we've no time to check now," Godfrey replied. "Move on."
The decks were cold, he noted as bare feet were forced from the warm cocoon of his bunk aboard the Rommel. It was the incessant beeping of the inset wall clock that had awakened Werner and he scowled at the evil device. Who the blazes invented that damned thing anyway, a sleep-fogged mind groused as warm feet were again introduced to an ice-cold deck. And, he spat, why the hell can't we have carpets?
Pushing these ungracious thoughts aside, Werner made his way to the head and proceeded with his morning routine. Three days his team had been stuck on this ship, the pride of the Fatherland, named after one of the greatest military minds of the last generation. Rommel's tomb was a point of great pride for the Unterfuhrer, and all good Germans were expected to visit at least once in their lifetimes. Indeed, though maintenance of the tomb was a menial task, it was considered too important and too...holy so it had been decreed that the labor classes were not allowed to even view the tomb.
His thoughts were disturbed by another annoyed buzzing, this time from the comm unit near the door. "Major," the voice commanded imperiously, "Report to the briefing room in ten minutes." Werner grunted an acknowledgment that the speaker never heard and shuffled over to the bed, his mind more swiftly coming to alertness. He gazed down at his bunk and pondered making it neat – these naval types couldn't stand an unmade bed, he was sure of that – and stared at the back of a blonde head. "Uta," he softly intoned. "Uta! Wake up. We're expected for a briefing."
Sonntag rolled over, her left arm rising to drape languorously over her head as she blinked sleep from her eyes, "Karl, what?" she slurred from her half-conscious state. In her roll, the thin coverlet had traveled down her body to expose a small but pert breast. He averted his eyes as he answered. "The captain just called down and 'invited' us to a briefing. Get up." He turned away as Sonntag sat upright, the cover now falling completely away from her body and revealing her toplessness. He found himself wondering what they had been thinking, getting involved. But there were so few truly pure Germans that it was their duty to breed more. That Uta was attractive, eager and fierce in bed did not displease him. Though technically against the regulations, he was certain there was at least a tacit approval, if not a measure of jealousy, of the pairing. He scowled in her general direction and proceeded to retrieve their clothing from the floor and separate her uniform from his.
Once dressed and presentable, he found himself most annoyed at Sonntag's insistence at fussing with his uniform. She had taken half the time and looked twice as good. He took her hands firmly, but kissed them to soften his annoyance, looked at her and wordlessly nodded. The pair walked out from the small quarters together and turned left down the gunmetal gray corridor. He noted that Sonntag was fully professional now and made no move to sentimental foolishness like holding his hand. He felt a pang of sorrow in that. They dodged a few crewman as they made their way to the briefing room. The doors parted and admitted them into a moderately sized room, dominated by a long, narrow table and accompanying chairs. The table was of dark rosewood, as were the chairs, and on upright poles flanking the most ornate of them were the flags of the Reich and the German navy. Already there were several officers present, including the captain of the Rommel, Josef Kronburg, and his own commanding officer. The pair stepped into the room and at once came to attention, saluting their superiors.
"Ah, good. You are here. Sit, please," the captain offered them genially. Without further preamble, he continued, "As you know, we are returning you to A10-12-G. We are four hours from arrival."
Werner and Sonntag exchanged a look as well as the rest of the team. Marx was the next to speak, his tone was hard and matter-of-fact, "The Rommel will remain in orbit for three days, while we search the ground for any evidence of the probes former owners. Perhaps they return to gather their machine, and when they do we will be waiting for them. Gather what you need from the ship's stores while you can. We will have little communication with the ship while on this mission."
At this point, Geller spoke up, "Sirs, as eager as I am to see the beings who created that monstrosity, may I ask how we know they might return? After all, we destroyed the Gate."
Marx grinned. "Perhaps our explosives did not do as much damage as we expected. Maybe they were discovered and removed before detonation? A hundred things may have prevented the Gate from being destroyed as we had planned, Fraulein." He addressed the rest of the team as well, "Besides, all our evidence further points to the planet being otherwise deserted, and it is beautiful. One part of our mission is also to begin establishing a base from which to claim the planet for the Reich."
A puzzled Werner spoke up, "But, sirs, our efficiency for such a task is greatly reduced by the loss of the Gate. Why bother with a backwater three days away by hyperspace?"
Geller smirked at her obviously ignorant superior officer, "We have been studying the Gate system for many decades, Major. It is a simple matter of locating another Gate and its corresponding Key, then moving them." She looked so smug as she corrected him, "That done, all we need do is to open a portal to Neuberlin and the system will automatically correct its location in the database. Whoever built these things was, indeed, quite brilliant." She looked to her superiors with a triumphant gleam in her eyes. "I even know of a Gate that we might use."
Both officers appraised the ambitious young woman with skeptical eyes. "Explain, Fraulein Hauptmann," grumbled Marx.
Given now her perfect opportunity, Geller pressed on with boisterous enthusiasm, "Sirs, In some of our explorations, we have come across several mentions of a planet our computers designated U38-13-9B or, as these records have shown, Tollana. It seems that there may have been two planets with such a name, but we only need one. According to our research, one of these planets was destroyed in a great cataclysm and the Gate now awaits us; unguarded."
"My, but that is clever, Hauptmann. Very well." Oberstleutnant Marx stood, causing his team to rise as well, "If that is settled, make what preparations you need. We won't be enjoying the Rommel's comforts again for a while."
It had not taken them terribly long to locate the main lab, a generous affair with a multitude of relatively advanced equipment arrayed about a cavernous room. At one end there stood a small platform and a set of clamps set against the wall. There were cables snaking hither and yon from several computers only to end abruptly at the nothing which the clamps held. Early tests showed that there was no longer power in the facility, to none of the computers could be turned on for study.
Like everywhere else in the facility, the walls were of a dull gray tone and the computers were generally bland, with no visible means of input. Also like everywhere else, there was a patina of dust crusted over everything...except one place where many feet seem to have huddled for some time. In the center of this flurry of ghostly footprints, a blurred square patch of bare floor could be seen that seemed to match quite closely to the bases of the other computer devices in the room. Godfrey looked over the array of dead machines and heaved a resigned sigh. "Wally, if you had a generator, do you think you could get these going again; find out what they were being used for?"
Tenbaum shook his head slowly. "No, Major. I think whatever went on here is long finished."
"MAJOR!" blurted Ashley from a far corner near the bare patch. "Guys, come see what I found!" Her tone was nervously excited, and easily drew the others to her position. There, upon the floor sat a squat device, roughly cylindrical in shape. From it came a number of cables, some of which were still connected to one of the dead computers. Several of the computer's panels had been removed, exposing its guts to the empty world. Tenbaum crouched in front of it and peered inside and declared that several components looked to be missing.
Finn nudged the cylindrical thing with her foot and jumped back as it thrummed to life, bleeding a menacing ocher glow. It pulsed and hummed, but that seemed all the device was capable of doing. Kneeling beside the thing, she noticed that it was not covered with dust like everything else, and said so. "Uh, guys? I think I know where it came from."
Peering over Finn's shoulder, Monroe gasped as the infernal symbol was again displayed, revealed by the now glowing device. Muttering a curse, Monroe turned back to Godfrey and nodded, "It was them, Major."
Tenbaum moved from the computer to the German – they knew no other way to think of it – device. He, too, swore bitterly, then followed that with a muted and sardonic chuckle. "It's a generator, sir. They'd brought their own power source, like we'd bring a naquadah generator."
"Can we use it?"
"Sure thing, sir. It's built by humans, after all, and fairly antiquated ones at that." Tenbaum offered up a feeble grin and set about to tinker with the generator. Opening a small side panel, the generator's warm glow grew brighter as its inner core was revealed. "Oh," he said. "Look at this. It looks like they use slightly modified staff weapon power cells, bound into a tightly packed staggered array, so that no single cell is used for more than a few minutes, giving it time to recharge."
"That's nice, Wally,"Godfrey grumbled. "Try getting it plugged into one of these other computers and see if we can get one running."
The striking patterns of blue, green and violet turned slowly before them as the Rommel inserted itself into orbit. Within moments of achieving orbit, the pride of the Fatherland expelled a number of smaller vessels. Three were small, agile craft with wings swept back in a delta configuration. The fourth was larger and slower, drifting lazily toward the surface, its escorts buzzing frenetically about it. All at once, one of the smaller pointed its nose downward and streaked toward the planet's surface while its companions settled into flanking positions to either side of the larger craft. Minor chatter spattered the radio waves between craft and the great ship.
Trails of fire and smoke belched from behind them as they careened through the atmosphere, hurtling ever closer to the surface. The roar inside the larger craft was terrible and rattled Werner's head. He looked closely over his teammates, each securely fastened into their landing chairs. Hull vibrations were violent but blessedly brief, and the pilot announced that they were now well inside the atmospheric envelope and would be landing in a few minutes. Werner was already bored.
Sonntag, on the other hand, was quite radiant as her excitement shone clearly through her. She was still young yet, and had not tasted the bitterness that this life held in store for her. The losses and disappointments that would plague them all for as long as Heaven's Gate was used. The Devils had been defeated a generation ago – none now dared to set themselves against the Reich, he thought – but that did not mean the galaxy was now empty and ripe for the taking.
No, he thought amid the dissipating roar of engines and atmosphere, she will know death and despair in time, just as we all have come to know it.
A final vehement rattle of the drop-ship jarred them all, making Geller squeak in surprise, then the ride settled into a smoother whispering descent. Marx was then unfastening himself and barking orders. Two minutes later there was a soft thump as the ship settled upon the surface, a thrumming whir as the landing gate lowered. Here we are again, thought Werner sourly as he gazed out into the violet foliage; rather, what was left of it. As the team piled out, they were at once struck by the devastation at their landing site, a great gaping crater where the Gate had once stood. For a kilometer in every direction there was nothing but a flattened expanse of nothing.
Airmen were now unloading their base camp equipment and supplies and looking for all the worlds as though they did not envy AG-1 their assignment. The sun was high in the sky and the lack of available shade made it very hot. Marx was kind and allowed the team to remove their duty jackets while setting up the camp. Everyone welcomed the relief. While the tents were being pitched, Marx was speaking into his radio and informing Captain Kronburg that they had landed and all was well.
Within an hour, their supplies off-loaded, the landing craft's escorts offered the team a salutatory fly-by and streaked for the heavens as the lander itself slowly rose from the ground like a lumbering behemoth. The team waved amiably to the pilots and began to settle into their new accommodations for the next several days.
Tenbaum grumbled. Having to work with this piece of technology offended him at his very core. He'd heard the tales of his great-grandfather, an officer of the Wehrmacht stationed in Poland in the 1940s. He had seen no fighting – at least, not on the front. The "prisoners" had, occasionally, been a different matter. The family had worked hard to wipe that stain from their name, and now to be shown evidence that the horror not only continued but had even moved out into the galaxy-at-large disturbed Wally on psychological levels he had not previously been conscious of. He wondered, as he pulled at various wires and cables on the generator device, if the hatred that had fueled that desperate period of German history still held true. He prayed that it did not, but knew in his heart that it did. What was a Nazi without his hatred? A thug. Well, he corrected himself, they're certainly thugs with it, too.
At last finding the port he sought, he plugged one of the cables into an awaiting socket. Something within the computer's guts buzzed and the screen flickered drowsily. Monroe grinned. Ramping up the power slowly, Lynn marked off their progress and the alien machine came to life. He admonished her still not to touch anything; Wally wanted a chance to poke around the alien computer some himself. For all they knew the scientists had booby-trapped their equipment. Monroe scoffed at this and pointed to the other machine, the one with part of its memory core missing. Though with any luck, she said, the inhabitants had left some sort of back-up of their work here.
Tenbaum grumped, but nodded his agreement with her as he examined the now active screen interface. Symbols scrolled along the bottom like a news ticker, and along the right side there were other symbols which Monroe commented were not letters or numbers. Her chin was practically resting on his shoulder. Emblazoned across the rest of the screen was an image that they all knew just as well as the thing on the generator: concentric rings enfolded by nine chevrons, the inner ring sectioned and inscribed with thirty-nine non-repeating symbols. A Stargate.
Monroe whooped, which made Wally flinch. The Englishwoman blushed – it was a pretty blush, he noticed – and apologized to Tenbaum, her smile soft and imploring. Turning away from him she called to Godfrey, "Major! We've found something!" Godfrey paused to excuse himself from Durann, with whom he'd been speaking, and was quickly replaced by Finn. The major stepped over to them with renewed vigor and seemed glad that some progress was finally in the offing.
"What have you got...oh!" Seeing the Stargate so prominently displayed on the screen, even if it was just an image and not a video feed of the 'gate itself, was promising. "So the gate was studied here. Nice."
Monroe experimentally prodded one of the static symbols on the screen and was met with a brief flash and a grinding crunch from within the computer's casing. More symbols scrolled up the screen and seemed to be a running account of...something. The information was passing too swiftly for Lynn to decipher, but the group of symbols along the right side of the scrolling were clearly numbers. "Maybe it's a status read-out?" she offered helpfully. As she spoke, the scrolling came to an end and the last line worried her; she was not alone in this. The last line said very clearly: "Device Not Found".
By itself it meant nothing, Wally reminded himself, but he was certain that the others were thinking it, too: what was that quake earlier? He shrugged and touched a different symbol on the display and the screen became a video feed – of nothing.
No, not nothing. There was the sky, and the treeline beneath it. Chunks of jagged stone lay strewn about a large, blasted area. The ground was black, charred by a great heat. What grass could be seen at the edge was wilted and burned. "Not found" the computer had said. Now they knew what it was looking for – the Stargate. The Stargate that wasn't there.
But the area was far from empty, either. At the left edge of the camera's view was something black; not stone. Not burned. It was flat and billowing lazily in a slight breeze. Wally examined the screen and thought he had found camera controls. Pressing one, the camera nudged to the left. He pressed again and, again, the camera's view shifted. Holding the button, the camera panned to the left until they could all see the small encampment. Several small tents and one larger one dominated the view, and people were seen milling about. As they watched, two of the people, a man and a woman, stopped and spoke with each other. The blonde woman was leaning rather close to the man, and they seemed to be speaking amiably.
They were dressed alike, in matching gray uniforms of impeccable cut. A striking and impressive image the pair made, resplendent in their uniforms. At the collars were patches of two straight bars, and along their shoulders seemed to be epaulets of some sort. The man's left side was to them and they could plainly see that he wore an armband of some sort, though its details were obscured by distance. The dominant color of the armband, however, was not. It was a deep, rich red, and nestled in the center was a white circle encasing a black doodle of some kind. Tenbaum spat a vehement curse. "Wehrmacht," he said darkly. "They're goddam Wehrmacht!" Cursing again, he turned away from the screen. He couldn't look any more.
The others looked more intensely at the offending image, Monroe poking at the camera controls and finding one that zoomed the view. She nodded and confirmed Wally's assessment. The uniforms were clearly of 1940s German origin, virtually unchanged in sixty years. Their equipment, however, was another matter. As Monroe panned and zoomed the camera about the camp, she spotted various pieces of equipment that made little to no sense in the context of a Nazi encampment. Then again, she mused, there was not much about a Nazi encampment on another planet that made much sense either. Still, here it was and none of them could deny it.
Myrrwnn crouched in one corner of the room, isolated from the rest of the group who seemed so enormously bothered by these other humans. Her own ire was rising, and she considered abandoning her new companions. The murderers of her pride had returned and their blood cried for vengeance. But what then, she asked herself. The chappa'ai was gone, and she was not capable of fixing...
Rising to her feet, Myrrwnn strode to the others and loomed over them. Tapping Lynn upon the shoulder, she mumbled something in the tongue of the First Ones, "There is another way," she said. "The chappa'ai was not the only way off the planet, and our enemies do not know of it."
Just then, her ears flattened and her gaze turned upward. In the distance, there was a swift and intense roar. It was coming this way. Their enemies knew her friends were here, and may possibly be looking for them. The scent of animosity was thick in the room, and she smiled. Those who would crush your enemies are worth knowing better, the old adage went; but her friends did not seem to be in a crushing mood today. Except for Wally. His scent was different from the others. His spoke of a great rage and an underpinning of shame. This entire matter was affecting him, personally, as though it was his fault that these other humans were as they were. She did not understand the particulars and, so, could not try to comfort him. Best to allow the other humans to do so.
The Goddess, on the other hand, was as detached about the affair as she was herself. Keltit stood slightly away from the group and merely observed. She caught Myrrwnn's look and held it a moment, sharing the Jaffa's puzzlement.
The sound was growing nearer by the moment. Myrrwnn took Godfrey by the arm and pointed to her ear, then upward. The male's face screwed up in concentration and Myrrwnn suddenly realized just how handicapped these people's hearing really was. "Airship," she claimed, "Approach fast. Maybe two."
"You can hear that even down here?" Ashley was asking, her tone dubious. The humans' credulity lasted only a moment more before the muted roar of jet engines screamed overhead. "Oh," was Finn's only apology.
Godfrey was a flurry of motion, speaking rapidly. "Time to go, people."
"Go?" Monroe asked. "Go where, exactly? You saw for yourself that the gate is gone."
Standing tall, Myrrwnn spoke up, "Ship. Crrrashed but," she pointed to them, "can fix?"
For the first time since the Germans had been seen Wally spoke up, his voice low and dragging, "How much damage, Myrrwnn?"
The Jaffa could only shrug helplessly. "Hull not broken." She stood a bit taller, having been the pilot. "Controls broken."
Godfrey decided, "Fine, that's where we'll head, then. They may know we're here. They may not. Better to not find out by staying moving. Pack up, folks. We are leaving."
Marx smiled as he watched Werner and Sonntag chatting. Yes, they were getting along quite well, though it might mean a transfer for one of them. Which one, he wondered. Sonntag was a lovely young woman and more than dedicated to the cause, he knew. More than that, though, Uta was the best damned demolitions expert in the Korps. Still, Werner was his second-in-command, and as such deserved some consideration. It amazed Marx to think how high Werner had risen in the ranks when he considered how little dedication the latter showed to the Party. Oh, Werner was a fine Aryan and an honorable man, but Marx was sure that his underling could be convinced to give himself more to the Party and its goals.
On the other hand, Marx mused, the man is out here with us. He is exposed to the same risks as the rest of us. Not three months before, they had run afoul of some odd device that seemed determined to change Werner into something else entirely. Something reptilian. It was horrid. Revolting, actually. The incident had progressed so far that the man's eating habits had altered quite significantly. It had been utterly disgusting. Werner had been very fortunate that the Ausgehend's physicians had been able to reverse the effects, a tribute to the Reich's superior learning.
His musings were interrupted by a buzzing in his earpiece, "Oberstleutnant Marx, we have picked up several life-signs in the vicinity of the alien laboratory. They seem to be underground now and moving."
Marx scowled. Unlike the Devil's planes, after which the Reich's fighter craft had been designed, theirs were unable to mask their engine noise at all. The roar of jet engines still rumbled through the air at their passing. He supposed that such a sound might strike fear and terror into the hearts and minds of those lesser beings who might have the misfortune of hearing it, but he cursed the lack of engineering wherewithal it took to make them silent. A craft like that would do wonders for night-time attacks and other times, like this, when one did not particularly wish to announce ones presence. But, he lamented, our engineers have remained baffled.
In any case, it seemed that the planet might be once again inhabited. He clicked his radio and called to the pilot, "Can you tell what it is?" He frowned at the negative answer. Marx would not take the six hour march to the facility only to find themselves chasing a wild hare. "Very well." Switching channels, Marx called to the Rommel, "Marx to Rommel, come in."
A voice fuzzed by static replied quickly, "Rommel here. Go ahead."
"Your birds picked up a few life readings in the vicinity of the alien facility. If you would be so kind as to bring your considerable sensors to bear upon it, we might learn if it is worth investigating?" He flattered the behemoth and her captain shamelessly.
After a few moments the voice returned, "Six life signs, sir. Four register as human, one alien and," the voice paused. "One of the Devil's gods, I think."
Marx nearly let out a whoop of victory but cautioned himself. Now was not the time. The disembodied voice from the heavens was saying that the group was moving quickly and had already exited the facility, heading southeast. Marx called out to his team, commanding that they be geared up and mustered in three minutes. In those three minutes, while was himself gathering gear, he was getting direction and bearing for an intercept of these aliens. It was estimated at three hours. That was much better. He advised the ship to keep her planes well away from their quarry for the loud engines would alert them to the German presence if, indeed, it had not already done so. The team did not disappoint him, appearing before him in a rush and ready without a single question in their eyes.
"Our mysterious guests are abroad, and we will be meeting them here," he brandished a crude map of the surrounding area and pointed to a small ravine. "They are tired and far from home. We are strong and fresh and have the Rommel to support us. Move out!"
Monroe was panting heavily by now, being still slightly unused to the grueling pace her military friends were setting through the thick jungle. Her jacket had been left far behind, leaving her only the tactical vest and tee shirt. The sun was high in the sky, midday, but she could not tell through the dense canopy above her which only served to hold in heat and humidity. She paused for a brief moment, catching sight of Myrrwnn crouched upon a low branch and looking for all the worlds like the predator she was.
Godfrey had placed Myrrwnn on point, leading the way, with Keltit to the rear. However, in their furious pacing, things had become a little more jumbled. Lynn dared a sip from her canteen, then plunged on after her companions. She thought back to what had started this mad dash, what the airmen had determined was a low flying aircraft of some sort. Being underground still at the time, they had no way of knowing the plane's origin. It could have been Lucian Alliance or any of a number of splinter groups that had sprung up in the wake of the System Lords' collapse and subsequent Ori invasion of the galaxy. However, the major seemed convinced that it was a conventional jet engine, but not belonging to the vaunted F-302.
Ashley came back and grabbed Lynn by the arm and pulled her along, "Come on, Doc! Those planes could be back any time and we've still got two hours until we reach Myrrwnn's ship."
"Oh god," Monroe whimpered plaintively. "Two hours?" She despaired of making the entire journey at this pace.
"Get a move on, woman!" Ashley barked, her face flushed and streaked with sweat. The young woman's breathing was also very labored, Lynn noted and immediately felt ashamed of her whining. She silently apologized which was accepted with an equally silent nod and the pair plunged onward.
Soon after, the jungle began to thin, and the air less oppressive. Sunlight dappled the ground as jungle gave way to crumbled pavement, mostly shattered by the slowly encroaching march of nature. It did not take long at all for the team to find themselves standing at the edge of a ravine where, judging by the pylons standing like silent guardians of a forgotten past, a great bridge had once spanned. The bridge was now a collapsed ruin, its stones scattered about the base of the ravine as the only other marking it had even existed. The way down and, conversely, the way back up the other side looked treacherous in the extreme. Godfrey surveyed the possibilities and chose a route that would take them to the left side of the nearest pylon on their right. After allowing the team a short break of only five minutes, they began.
He cast his gaze upon the faces of his team as they carefully picked their way over crumbling pavement. His first mission off-world and already it was a wash. Guilt and responsibility weighed heavily upon Godfrey. It was his fault that the gate was gone, blown up by apparent lunatics. Yes, there was only one reason to destroy the gate like that: to strand them here. Godfrey could not even be certain that a rescue was forthcoming any time soon.
The way was treacherous, even in good light. Unstable. And the light wasn't good. Even now, the local sun rushed toward the western horizon as though it were late for a party with one of the planet's three moons. Godfrey's heart nearly stopped every time he heard one of their feet slip, sending a cascade of rubble tumbling down the slope they now traversed. There was another. Wait...
A sharp crack made Godfrey's head snap around in time to see Durann's eyes go wide. Weapon dangling uselessly at his side, the large man's arms pinwheeled as the pavement beneath his feet gave way. Snapping nearly clean, the small outcropping that Durann had chosen began to fall. Godfrey yelled, reaching futily for his teammate. Finn arrived too late as well, grasping only empty air. The pavement cracked once more, overbalancing Durann and sending him pitching forward down the ravine.
Feet over head, the Tok'ra tumbled downward amid skittering and rumbling stone. They yelped in agony as collision with a jutting stone snapped the man's shin nearly in two. The others could tell by the way his hand flailed that the wrist was likely broken as well.
It took less than a minute for Durann to reach the bottom of the ravine, only to find that it wasn't the bottom at all. Slamming heavily into a morbidly cracked portion of pavement, it gave way and in a moment he had fallen, shrieking, out of sight.
What caution there had been was cast to the wind as each rushed to the bottom as swiftly as they dared, and to the hole that had swallowed their friend. Myrrwnn, being the most agile, arrived first. She howled in anger, her expression one of excruciating guilt. Godfrey was right on her heels and peered over the edge of the crevasse. "Dur! Kel! You all right?" He listened for a moment. If either had answered, he could not hear it over the arrival of the rest of the team. After getting the rest to quiet he called again. Only a quiet moan rose from the hole. "Hang on, buddy. We'll get you out of here."
"No, Major. Our wounds are too great. Do not risk the mission for me," Kel pleaded softly over the radio.
Lynn could not even bear to hear such a thing. Not on their first mission together! "We won't leave you!"
"My host is dying. Please."
"Major, we're losing daylight." Tenbaum's expression was grave. He faced west, then looked back at his team. It was clear in his eyes that he did not wish to say what needed said, but said it anyway.
Godfrey was hearing none of that. "Dammit, Kel! We need to get you out of there!" He looked among the others and saw the same determination in their faces. In fact, Myrrwnn was already starting to climb into the hole to retrieve the Tok'ra. "Whoa, girl! No sense losing two of you."
"I get," the Jaffa defiantly declared. She growled firmly to show her resolve to the others. They would not stop her.
The major could do little but nod. "All right, but wait a minute. Sergeant, let's get some line and give her a hand."
"I've got line and a stretcher, Major. We'll get them."
Grueling, sweaty work it was to descend into that crevasse and the evening air was still and oppressive. Myrrwnn trusted not in the human's rope and slunk her way down carefully and with all the grace inherent in her people. Finn was not so confident in her own ability, and would have a loaded stretcher to bring back with her. With the line tied off and the others playing it out in careful measures, Finn dropped over the edge, repelling easily to the bottom. Even so, the Jaffa was there first.
Finn was no doctor but Pararescue had taught her a little more than just the basics of field medicine. At first glance, the Tok'ra looked in a bad way and this is what she quietly reported to Godfrey. Both arms were severely broken and one leg in at least three places. There was no telling if the man's spine was damaged and there wasn't yet time to ask. Finn administered a morphine shot, and tried to fit a bracing collar about Durann's neck. Myrrwnn was crouched nearby, one hand upon the man's shoulder and purring softly. Every so often, bits of rock and steel would rain down from above them where the others peered into the darkness.
Dammit, don't die on me! The chant played over and over again in Finn's mind. But she knew. The best they could do was to make Durann comfortable and not let him die in this hole in the dark. With only a flashlight trained on Durann, Finn worked as best she could to splint what breaks she found. Durann was bleeding from numerous gashes and...oh god, a rusted steel bar was actually running through him, protruding from his chest. She could not tell at once if it was attached to anything but her companion.
Just then, she felt Myrrwnn tense, could nearly hear the Jaffa's ears lay flat against her skull. The growl she heard was clear as a bell, however, as was the tightening grip upon her staff weapon. "Hurrrry," she rumbled to Finn as she rose. There was a flash of amber light and the well-known hiss-chunk of the Jaffa's weapon being primed. "Blood has been smelt, Finn. The Goddess must be moved."
Increasing her speed as much as she dared, Finn retrieved the stretcher from her pack and unfolded it. "Give me a hand with him." She looked up into the Jaffa's incredulous face. "I don't care what you smell, Myrrwnn. If you want me to hurry, give me a damned hand!" She heard the weapon snap closed and set aside. "Thank you," Finn said softly as she readied to grab the downed man's shoulders. "Get his feet. On three. One...two...three!" With a groan, they lifted Dur and settled him upon the stretcher. The shock dragged a shriek of agony from host and symbiote alike, the dual tones of Keltit's pain searing into both women's hearts.
Myrrwnn growled fiercely, taking up her staff weapon once more and priming it. "Predators come swiftly."
"I know, I know!" Finn paused only to wipe sweat from her brow, then hastily resumed securing Durann to the stretcher. She called up to the surface on her radio. "Major, we may have company down here. They're in a bad way, but they're secured and ready to be hauled up. Myrr and I will hold off whatever is coming." With that, she spun about, bringing her rifle to bear. Stepping to the Jaffa's side, she smiled.
"Go," the Jaffa murred. "I will cover." Her entire body was set as if stone. Nothing would move her. Her tail flashed from side to side, flicking and swishing in eager anticipation of coming battle. She could already hear the approaching pack. Letting out a small sigh of relief, she risked a glance over her shoulder to see that Finn was withdrawing.
Waiting until Finn was halfway to the surface again, Myrrwnn let our a roar and let loose three blasts into the ceiling with her staff. Satisfied that the resulting collapse would delay the predators, she closed the weapon and dashed deftly for the opening above.
Both Finn and the Jaffa settled upon the ground, Durann between them. Finn was doing her best to stall what bleeding she could. There was really very little that she could do. Tears welled in her eyes even as she worked, frantically denying the inevitable. She did not cease until a half mangled hand closed gently about her own bloodied one and a quiet voice spoke, "Thank you, Ashley. I owe you my life." Bright, clear eyes turned to regard the rest of the group, then came to rest upon Godfrey. "Major, we still cannot go on. Durann is beyond my ability to heal without aid." It was clear that Godfrey was about to protest and Kel shook her head. "No, Major. There will be no miracles today."
The major did not wish to accept this as truth, but knew there was no denying it. "You need a new host, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Shit."
"Yes." The Tok'ra offered a weak smile, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
Godfrey heaved a heavy sigh and stood, looking dourly upon his team. "All right, people, here's the deal: Durann is far too hurt for Kel to heal him so she needs a new host, pronto."
"Not a chance," Tenbaum said almost at once, scowling. His expression was as inscrutable as it was brief as he quickly turned away from the proceeding.
The Jaffa shuffled nearer to the stretcher. Again, she rested a taloned hand upon the wounded one's shoulder and said in a low, clear voice filled with sincere devotion, "I offerrr myself to the Goddess Keltit."
Keltit smiled warmly to the Jaffa, and laid her hand atop the others. "Myrrwnn, your offer is gracious and I am flattered. Your grace and strength would serve us well, but I feel that such service would be better used on your own. You know, also, that Jaffa do not make good hosts." It brought her to tears to see the woman's face fall, fleshy ears drooped in disappointment, but Myrrwnn bowed her head. She was hurt by Keltit's words but could only accept the Tok'ra's decree.
Monroe and Finn exchanged a glance and, for a time, neither spoke. At last, Finn blurted, "That leaves us. Flip a coin?" She tried to smile in an effort to lighten the dour mood.
From the stretcher, Keltit groaned weakly. She stretched out her hands to the women. "Both of you have expressed some wonder and curiosity about the blending. I offer you the opportunity, now, to sate that curiosity."
"Yes, I admit that I have wondered, but...I don't know that I could..." Monroe lowered her gaze, ashamed. She glanced again to Finn and shook her head.
"I'll do it." Finn leaned nearer to Keltit, schooling her face to show no fear of what was to come. "Just tell me what I need to do."
"Come near and kiss me, then we will become one." With sad eyes the Tok'ra accepted Ashley's mouth upon theirs, a passionless joining. A feeble hand rose to rest at the back of Finn's neck and both bodies tensed. A soft tearing sound could be heard...a squeal as Ashley winced. Keltit had launched herself hastily from her dying companion and into the girl's waiting mouth, warm and trembling. As carefully as she could in her hurried state, Keltit tore through Ashley's soft palate and wrapped about the girl's spine. As Durann's body fell lifelessly from hers, Ashley choked and scuttled backward.
It was the most curious sensation, she had to note, the feeling of another body curled tightly about her spine. A crunch that was more felt than heard signaled the symbiote's head passing under her skull. And then it was...amazing.
Within seconds of the joining, a hundred thousand memories flashed through Finn's mind. Lives not her own that spanned an uneven expanse of time. She sputtered and spat blood upon the ground even as the wound in her mouth was healed. She looked to her team and felt a strange pressure within her eyes. They must have flashed. The newly joined Tok'ra stared down at her former host, touched his cheek and wept bitterly. "I am so very sorry, dear one," Kel mewled in Ashley's voice. "It was never meant to end this way." She leaned down and kissed his flaccid lips briefly, this time there was tenderness in the gesture.
Rising unsteadily, they looked again to their team. "It is done and we are well." Kel smiled wryly as she watched Myrrwnn kneel before her, head bowed – a silent swearing. She rested her hand upon the Jaffa's head and gently scratched. "Thank you, Myrrwnn, but know that you are free now. I hold you to no bond or oath of service but that of desiring friendship. Rise, please, and call me 'Goddess' no more."
Godfrey stepped forward then and placed his hand on Finn's shoulder. "Are you sure you're both all right?" He smiled thinly at the smile that greeted his question. Looking to Monroe, he beckoned her near and whispered softly to her to keep an eye on the Tok'ra and to help them. Then addressing the rest of the team, Godfrey said somberly, "We'll be back to get Durann's body before we leave. For now, we have a cargo ship to reach and night's falling fast. Let's move out."
He stopped short as a high-pitched buzz went off behind him. He swung around in time to see Ashley point her zat at Dur's body and, with three rapid discharges of cobalt energy, disintegrated the corpse. Returning the weapon to a safe state, she holstered it and turned to follow only to come to an abrupt halt for all eyes were upon her. "It was what he asked for, Major." She spoke nothing more, instead pushing her way past the others and leading the way, Myrrwnn tight upon her heels.