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Superstitions Have a Beginning |
The ring stood in the middle of an arid wasteland with no visible sign of civilization in any direction. Because of this there was no one to witness when the outer portion of the ring began to spin around, occasionally pausing so chevrons could lock one of the odd symbols into place. No one saw the gigantic wave of what looked like water rush out and then collapse back in so that the center of the ring was now filled with a shimmering pool. No one witnessed the short, squat robot come through the portal and down the three stone steps of the pedestal to roll along the dry, cracked ground on treads. A slender metal arm extended with what looked like a camera of some kind, examining the control device standing to the left of the ring, apparently making sure it was intact.
After a few minutes, five human figures came through the portal. Each was dressed in clothing patterned in mottled browns, greens and tans. Four carried weapons and looked around cautiously. The fifth was carrying a control module and an equipment case. She descended the steps and went over to the robot, un-strapping something on it’s back. One of the men looked over towards her. “How long should we give it?”
“The UAV can travel faster then the MALP or us. I’ll just steer it about five miles out and then run it in a circle. If there’s any sign of town or village within about eight miles, we should be able to identify it.”
“Let’s hope the locals are friendly.”
The woman finished unfolding the UAV, securing the wings into a flight read position, and picked up the control module. The tiny propeller began to spin furiously until she could order it forward. It lifted off a bit shakily, but evened out as it climbed higher. The leader of the group moved closer to her side so that they could both watch the monitor with the visual feed back from the recon bot.
~***~
“They fear technology, Dylan. Having the Andromeda in orbit makes them more uneasy than our being here.”
“Well, they’ll just have to get over it. I’m not going to abandon my ship.” Dylan frowned as he saw some of the locals pointing upwards, their movements fearful. A second later he heard the mechanical buzzing and looked up. A tiny aircraft, like a model of an ancient air ship, was flying over the town. “What the…” He pulled out his communication unit and signaled the ship. “Andromeda, there’s a small craft flying over Seefra. Any idea where it came from?”
“I detected a powerful energy surge six miles south of your present location. Sensors detect five life forms present at the location, all scanning as human. Four are armed with what looks like primitive projectile weapons.”
Dylan looked towards Rhade as he lifted the com unit back to his mouth. “Thank you, Andromeda.” He turned off the unit and gave an inquiring look to his friend. “Shall we go check it out?”
“The craft is likely reconnaissance, gathering information on the local terrain and populace. A small, five man team could be here for specific sabotage.”
“Or a welcoming party. Either way, we won’t know until we ask.”
“You’re optimistic view of life will get us both killed.” Rhade took a drink from his flask. “I suggest we don’t go in unarmed.”
“Wouldn’t dream of suggesting otherwise. Shall we?”
~***~
“So there are people here.”
“And easily spooked, from the looks of it. I wouldn’t expect a warm welcome.”
“When do we ever?”
“Sir? Bogies, two of them.” The leader looked up to where the soldier was pointing. Sure enough, what looked like two aircraft were headed their way. The leader pulled out his binoculars and got a better view.
“Nice design. Streamlined, graceful. Definitely not Death Gliders.” He lowered the binoculars, his jaw set. “They’re coming right for us. Everyone keep sharp.”
They watched as a group, keeping their eyes trained as the two crafts straightened out and slowly lowered to the ground, landing gear extending. The cockpits lifted up to allow the pilots out, two men in what looked like plain, leather street clothes.
“If those guys are an inch under six feet, I’ll take the omelet MRE,” commented the doc behind him. He grinned. Everyone knew that was the most disgusting of all the MREs the military had come up with. He stepped forward, keeping his sidearm where he could reach it, but not where it would be immediately threatening. The two men walked towards him to meet him. The one in the forefront did look to be about 6’3” or 6’4”. He had a boyish, ‘all-American’ face, though age was starting to show. The second one wasn’t as well kept and was taking a drink from what looked like a hip flask. When he lowered it, both the stranger and the soldier froze in shock.
‘Holy Shit!’ The officer couldn’t believe what he was seeing. ‘It’s me if I had stayed with the rock band instead of joining the Air Force.’
The taller of the two strangers noted the resemblance as well, and also noted the sudden shock and discomfort of the men in question. There was murmuring coming from the soldiers still by the gate, all of them a bit uneasy. Apparently deciding to break the ice, he took a breath. “Welcome to Seefra One. I’m Captain Dylan Hunt, and this is my associate, Telemachus Rhade.”
The lead soldier nodded. “Lt. Colonel James Coburn, United States Air Force. This is my team; Captain Miles Stone, Sergeant Michael Pepper, Specialist Theodore Bear, Private First Class Hyram Walker and our civilian consultant, Dr. Tia Maria Daniels.”
Captain Hunt shook Colonel Coburn’s hand, but seemed confused. “I’m sorry, did you say you were with the US Air Force?”
Coburn frowned, pausing a bit. “I did. You’ve heard of it?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard of it… but it doesn’t exist any more. Earth unified under one government over two thousand years ago.”
Dr. Daniels gave a short laugh. “That’s a good one. The governments of Earth actually agreeing on something for once?”
Coburn arched a brow. “I assure you, it exists. We’ve only been here for less than an hour. I doubt that there has been any major political change in that amount of time.”
Rhade decided to speak up. “If you don’t mind our asking, how exactly did you get here?”
Coburn nodded back at the metal ring behind him. “We came through the Stargate.”
“Stargate?” Rhade cast an appreciative gaze at the ring. “This relic has been here for as long as anyone can remember. No one knows anything about it. They can’t even decipher the writing.”
“They just never had the right resources to do so. It forms temporary, stable wormholes between physical locations, allowing an object to move great distances in a few seconds.”
Dylan’s interest was peaked. “Really? I don’t think we’ve ever encountered anything like that before. How does it work?”
“If you’ll give us a moment, we need to dial in and check in with home base, let them know what’s up.” Rhade looked suspicious, but Dylan seemed interested. “You’ll want to step back a bit. The establishing event horizon will vaporize anything it touches.” Once everyone was clear, Coburn nodded to Tia who began to dial the home address. Coburn watched the two locals, noting that Rhade wasn’t missing a thing, from which panels Tia hit to the spinning outer ring of the gate. Both men, however, took a half step back in surprise when the wormhole established with a rush of energy.
The event horizon settled into the ring, making it safe to get closer. Coburn reached down to activate the communication system on the MALP. “This is SG2 to Stargate Command. SG2 to Stargate Command.”
“Coburn? You’re not due to check in for another three hours. Is there a problem?”
Tia bit back a smile. Dylan could see the somewhat grainy image of an older, but still attractive, man on the small monitor in the front of the curious bot.
“No, General, no trouble. We’ve made contact with two members of the local population.”
“That was quick. Friendly?”
“They didn’t start shooting, Sir.” There was humor in Coburn’s voice. The man on the screen nodded and looked towards Dylan.
“How ya doing? General O’Neill, United States Air Force.”
Dylan smiled. “Dylan Hunt, captain of the Andromeda Ascendant.” Rhade shifted uneasily behind him, his dark eyes darting to the random soldiers. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?”
“Exploration, Captain. Pure, simple exploration.” O’Neill looked back to his officer. “Coburn, be on your best behavior. I expect regular updates. You know the drill.”
“Yes, Sir. Coburn out.” The transmission was terminated as the officer turned to face Dylan and Rhade. “I’ll let Dr. Daniels do the honors of the usual meet and greet. It’s what she’s good at.”
~***~
“So the people here on Seefra are afraid of advance technology?”
“They’re superstitious about it.” Rhade topped off the doctor’s glass. The slip fighters were only big enough for two people each. Coburn had ordered the rest of his men to guard the ‘Stargate’ while he and Tia traveled to the settlement. Currently they were seated at a table with Dylan, Rhade, Beka and Harper. “They believe it will bring about their destruction if they allow tech to advance too far.”
“Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous in your life?” Harper had tried chatting up the doctor at first, but she showed no interest. He had been placated, however, by her request to help her set up some equipment intended to get readings on the atmosphere and geological make-up of the planet. They had set up the equipment and left one of Harper’s androids to guard it while they joined the rest of the group inside.
Rhade noticed that Coburn and Tia exchanged a speculative look before the officer spoke. “It’s not as unheard of as we would like.”
“You’ve heard of such superstitions before?”
“Not voiced in such a way, but the general idea isn’t foreign to us.” Tia leaned forward. “What kinds of religion have been followed on Seefra? What’s the pantheon?”
Dylan shrugged. “I haven’t noticed any, and most of the history of this place has been forgotten.” Rhade noticed that Dylan omitted that this was once Tarn Vedra, but did not press the issue.
Coburn frowned and looked at his companion. “What do you think?”
Tia shook her head. “Can’t say for sure. A full scale archeological survey would have to take place, if we could find a place to dig.” She frowned, pondering for a moment. “Are there any pyramid structures on this planet? Old ones.”
Dylan was about to respond when the android left to guard the equipment came back in. “Pardon me, but your tests have completed.” He handed Tia the small, hand held unit with the results. She scanned through it, her expression one of surprise. She let out a low whistle.
“Tell me, Seamus, what are your names for the two metals with the atomic weights of 223 and 374?”
“That’s easy, Kistrium and Gallium.”
Tia nodded, more to herself than to anyone else. Coburn arched a brow in her direction. “Why do those numbers sound familiar?”
“Because we call them Trinium and Naquadah.” She turned over the hand unit to a shocked looking Coburn. Rhade arched an inquiring brow in his direction.
“Something important?”
The man with Rhade’s face nodded. “Very important. A planet with a Stargate. Veins of Trinium and Naquadah. A populace with a superstition that advancing technology will bring out their destruction.” He looked towards Tia. “Sounds like the history of Seefra includes some old friends of ours.”
The woman nodded. “Does seem to have their fingerprints all over it. So, Captain Hunt… I was asking about pyramid structures?”
Dylan looked from Tia to Coburn and back again, uncertain of what was going on. “There are a few, but no one’s really shown any interest in them. Life here is a struggle to survive. However, if you think they’re important…”
“They are. I’m sure the Colonel will be happy to explain on the way.”
~***~
Rhade cut through the dried yet thick vines with the laser blade. “So, these Goa’uld are parasitic organisms that take over a host body, preferably human, and pass themselves off as gods.”
“That’s them.” Coburn yanked at one of the vines, pulling it free with a grunt. “Actually, you’re the second person I’ve met who could have been my twin. The first was System Lord Camulus, a Goa’uld who sought asylum from us for a time.”
“Was it granted?”
“For a time.” The officer smiled. “He didn’t appreciate being treated like a prisoner and tried to trick the general into blowing up the planet. We caught on to him and General O’Neill tricked him instead. We sent him back through the ‘gate to another system lord who wanted him dead. With any luck, he is.”
Rhade made a non-committal sound. The more time he spent with Lt. Colonel James Coburn, the more he liked this human with his face. The man was clever, disciplined and alert. Much like Telemachus had been when he still cared about such things. “So these aliens enslave human populations which are actually the descendants of people they took from your planet millennia ago.”
“So it goes. According to the experts, that being people like Dr. Daniels up there as well as other civilian consultants, we’ve yet to find fossil records that indicate sentient life of this form having developed on its own anywhere else. As far as we can tell, all human life actually began on Earth, but thanks to the Goa’uld and the Ancients, humanity has been seeded throughout the galaxy.”
“But the Goa’uld do what they can to keep these pockets of humanity from becoming too technologically advanced.” Rhade paused to take a drink from his flask. “I have to wonder why we haven’t run across them before. The Commonwealth spanned three galaxies. It seems like we would have encountered these System Lords.”
“That’s easy, Rhade.” Harper wasn’t doing much cutting, but he and Doyle were doing a lot of the lifting. “Blame it all on Trance and her mojo. We’re not in our universe any more; we’re in theirs. Whereas in our universe it was the Ubers and the Magog that caused all the problems, here it appears to be these snake thingies.” He ignored the disgruntled growl that came from his former crewmate. “Personally, I’m hoping to get a chance to get a closer look at the Stargate. Imagine, being able to create a stable wormhole! Who needs slip stream routes?”
“Anyone wanting to move anything too big to fit through the ‘gate.” Coburn exchanged an amused glance with Rhade. Harper noticed and fell back a bit, muttering something about doppelgangers.
“So why is Dr. Daniels so interested in pyramids?”
“The Goa’uld ships are pyramid designs, as are the landing pads for them. Most pyramid structures on the planets we’ve visited are left by them and often served as temples and strongholds. It’s highly unlikely that a Goa’uld would abandon a world with as much naquadah and trinium as Seefra. By studying the pyramid we might be able to figure out which of them lays claim to this place.”
“And thus what risk we might face should they turn their attention back towards Seefra.”
“Precisely.” Coburn stopped as Dylan signaled that they had arrived. “This is good.” The sarcasm was thick. Rhade looked up and saw why. A rockslide was between them and their goal.
“Looks like we have our work cut out for us.” Rhade sheathed his blade, examining the rubble. “What do you think?”
“A few well placed charges and we should be able to blast our way through.”
“What?!” This last came from Tia who was now scrambling over a fallen tree towards Rhade and Coburn. “You might damage some valuable artifacts if you do that!”
“I think that it’s worth the risk.” Rhade nodded in agreement with Coburn.
“Well I don’t! There’s still so much about the Goa’uld we don’t know. We might destroy valuable information.”
Coburn gave a mirthless chuckle and looked towards Rhade. “You’ll have to forgive her, she’s a DDJG.” Tia gave him a rather vicious look.
“A DDJG?”
“A Dr. Daniel Jackson Groupie. They think the universe revolves around him.”
Tia shot him a ‘drop dead’ look. “Dr. Jackson happens to be brilliant, and if he heard that you were even thinking about using explosives on an archeological site he would feed you your P-90.” She stepped past him, glaring. “And I’d help.”
Rhade took a pull from his flask, smiling through his grimace at the burn of whiskey. “I think she likes you.”
“No she doesn’t. I’m not smart enough for her. She likes her men brainy.” Coburn examined the rubble. “I still go with explosives.”
“I agree.” Telemachus looked over his shoulder at the woman. “I would recommend that we distract the good doctor first.”
“I agree.”
Harper proved to be an excellent distraction. He and Tia were deep in conversation about wormholes and the Stargate program before the first explosions went off. Rhade grabbed her to keep her out of harms way when the subsequent blasts happened. She kicked him for his troubles. “Coburn! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
The other human laughed and looked at Rhade, who still had a hold on the woman. “I think we’ve made her angry.”
“Call off your psycho twin!”
“I think you’re right.” The Nietzchean looked towards the settling dust and saw that the rubble had been mostly cleared. “Your pyramid, Dear Doctor.” He let her go and gestured towards the now blackened and scarred walls. She shot her a dirty look before walking towards the structure, taking care to step between large chunks of rubble and covering her mouth and nose with a bandana from her pocket to keep the still settling dust from clogging her lungs.
Rhade and Coburn stood back, both scanning the area cautiously while the woman studied what looked like a door. It took her a few moments, but she finally located the mechanism for opening it. The sound of stone grinding against stone brought the ‘psycho twins’ back into focus. Coburn scowled. “Hold up. We all go in together.”
“What are we likely to find in there?” Rhade didn’t like the place. The stale air that had rushed out when the door slid open seemed to make his hair stand on end and his bone blades flexed in response.
“Maybe some forgotten tech, gate coordinates to planets we haven’t been to yet, some idea of which snake-head used to be the boss around here. Could be anything.” Harper got Gogol and Doyle to fire up some lamps brought down from Hunt’s ship. The androids went in first to light the way. Dr. Daniels waited for Rhade and Coburn, using the time to study writing just inside the entrance. “What does it say?”
“Here stands the prison of Hatcher, lieutenant of Lord Marduk.”
“That’s promising.”
Rhade frowned at the indecipherable script. “Someone you know?”
“Not this ‘Hatcher’, but Marduk’s on the ‘Dead Snake-Head’ list. SG-1 took him out a few years ago.”
Dr. Daniels nodded. “A nasty piece of work, even for a Goa’uld. He was so evil that his own high priests turned against him, imprisoning him in a sarcophagus with a flesh-eating creature that would devour him even as the sarcophagus kept healing the damage.”
“So it was one of those devices you were telling me about earlier, the ones that can even bring you back to life if you’re put in quickly enough.”
Coburn nodded. “However, Marduk abandoned his host and infested the creature instead. He escaped when a Russian team was foolish enough to uncover him, killed and devoured them, and later changed hosts again when SG-1 and a Russian unit went looking for the first team.”
Daniels was still reading over the inscriptions. Rhade noted her studious expression and stepped closer. “What else does it say?”
“It looks like the rebellion was wide spread and very well organized. According to this, the high priests made a calculated hit on all of Marduk’s lieutenants at the same time the ones with Marduk made their move. Hatcher was taken down and imprisoned within a sarcophagus somewhere within this complex. This world was sort of a holding place. None of the other system lords knew of it, so Marduk didn’t use it much. He was keeping it in reserve in case he ever got into a messy war and needed to get his hands on a lot of building materials in a short amount of time.”
Rhade was impressed. “A secret stash.”
“And enough to keep his fleet well populated.” Coburn nodded in approval. “Use the trinium and naquadah to build ships that would far outclass anything he went up against.”
“Well, in this case here was a price to be paid by the rebels. This Hatcher guy got wind of the attack and tried to wipe out the planet by ‘poisoning’ the sun somehow. They stopped him, but just barely. The survivors then had to improvise.”
“Building the twin man-made suns that the planets all orbit around. Does it say why there are nine planets, all exactly alike?”
“Not exactly alike. This is the main world; the trinium and naquadah deposits are here. The other worlds that look like this one were constructed to confuse any Goa’uld who might lean of Seefra’s existence and lay claim to it, to buy the people time to mount a defense. The last here is a warning about not drawing attention to themselves.”
Coburn nodded. “And there is the beginning of your superstition against technology. Nothing attracts the attention of the Goa’uld as quickly as a world becoming too advanced. They wouldn’t want a human world to get good enough it might become a threat.”
“And over time that superstition persisted, even though the basis of it has been forgotten.” Rhade nodded and looked around the entrance way again. “These Goa’ulds sound like a real piece of work.”
“They are. And a major pain in the ass. But, if the other system lords never learned of this place, and since it’s still without a system lord I’m willing to bet that they haven’t, Seefra’s fortunes may be about to change.”
The Nietzchean gave his double an inquiring look. “How so?”
Coburn shrugged. “Trade agreements between Earth and Seefra could be reached. This system needs food, water and medical supplies, for starters. Those are all things we can provide. Most of the people here seem to be hurting for employment and mining can be a steady job. This looks like the beginning of a beautiful partnership.”
Rhade smiled. “As long as I get a cut of the action.”
“Uhm… Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, I hate to rain on your love fest here, but shouldn’t we be looking for that sarcophagus?”
Coburn gave the woman a quelling look, but tightened his grip on his P-90. “The girl has a point. Confirming that this Hatcher is still imprisoned and secured is imperative. Not to mention the SGC would appreciate the chance to study a healthy Goa’uld up close.”
“Then by all means, let’s begin our search.”
The kept things in an orderly manner, moving slowly enough that Tia could scan the walls for inscriptions and directions. Everything was dull until they came across a chamber where the tech was alive and humming. Harper was like a kid in a candy store, but the SGC personnel weren’t happy.
“Care to share?”
Coburn looked over at Rhade. “It’s highly unlikely that everything has been running this long without attention.”
Rhade tightened his grip on his weapon. “You suspect someone’s up and about.”
“Yeah, I do.” He looked over to the short, over-excited engineer. “Can we put him on a leash or something?”
“Nah, he’d like that too much.” Rhade looked over at the female android. “Doyle, keep an eye on your master. Don’t let him get into any trouble.” She nodded and moved closer to Harper.
“Colonel, I found the sarcophagus.” Tia was standing in a doorway, hands on her hips as she looked into a room. Rhade and Coburn made their way over to see a chamber that looked as though it had recently undergone some type of traumatic even. There was a long, gold sarcophagus inside, lid open. “It looks like your barbaric archeological methods came with consequences.”
Coburn scowled. “Hunt now, lecture later.”
“What are we looking for?”
Tia sighed. “Something that looks human. He or she will be very attractive, the Goa’uld’s prize physical beauty. Resonating voice, glowing eyes, huge ego and, after this long in a sarcophagus, stark, raving mad.”
Rhade gave a snort. “Sounds like most of the women attracted to Harper. We should use him as bait.”
“Since we don’t have Dr. Jackson, he’ll have to do.”
“Not funny, Colonel.” Dr. Daniels glared at the two men before she walked back to the center of the room. “Hatcher couldn’t have gotten very far.”
“Then we should get moving.” Coburn tried to raise the men at the ‘gate, but the communicator didn’t work inside the pyramid. He bit off a curse. “Looks like we’re on our own.”
“Should make things interesting.” Doyle followed her commands and kept close to Harper. Dr. Daniels stayed somewhat between Rhade and Coburn, apparently trusting them to take out anything that might get to her. All of them would have felt better with a larger force, but since that wasn’t an option they were determined to stay alive. “Any idea how to go about tracking this thing?”
“It’ll find us. Just keep in mind that they’re stronger and faster than we are.” Coburn scanned another side room. “And let’s hope that the high priests thought to destroy any ribbon devices.”
Tia peered through a doorway and threw herself back and to the side just in time to avoid being hit by a wave of energy, which blew a hole in the wall behind her. “No such luck!”
Doyle threw Harper to the ground and Gogol lay down over him to shield him. Tia pressed herself to the outside wall, bringing her weapon to the ready as Coburn and Rhade flanked the door to the room. “What exactly does a ribbon device do?”
“Energy weapon for the most part. Also used for torture. You have to have naquadah in your system in order for it to work.” Coburn licked his lips, listening for movement inside the room. “This is Lt. Colonel James Coburn of the SGC. Lord Marduk is dead and gone. You have no Jaffa or slaves to call upon for help. Surrender and no harm will come to you.”
The response was another energy blast. “I don’t think he’s interested.” Rhade looked over to the woman. “Any knowledge that might be useful, Doctor?”
Tia frowned, thinking. “Well, he was in there for a while.”
“Meaning?”
She leaned over to peer at Coburn. “He probably pre-dates the personal shields.”
The human officer smirked. “Meaning that, with the exception of the ribbon device, he doesn’t have much to work with.” He looked over at his double and held up three fingers. One by one, he counted down. On ‘zero’, both men whirled and entered the room, weapons blazing.
Hatcher’s host was a petite woman with coal black hair. As suspected, she didn’t have a personal shield and, being on her own, she was no match for Coburn and Rhade together. Rhade’s energy pistol knocked her back against a wall. Coburn’s P-90 riddled her with rounds. Taking advantage of her shock at the attack, Rhade hurried forward and ripped the ribbon device from her hand. The Goa’uld’s eyes flashed in defiance before her body stilled.
“What now?”
Coburn looked down at the body. “Now I recommend we put her back into the sarcophagus and lock it.”
“Won’t that heal her?”
“It will, but the SGC and the Pentagon will want a live, healthy specimen. Not to mention they’ll want the sarcophagus itself. We always seem to manage to wreck them before they can be studied properly.”
Rhade smiled and nodded. He holstered his weapon and took out his hip flask. “So this is what’s out there, outside of this system?”
“Yeah, but don’t judge the Goa’uld by this one. Usually they come with a fleet of ships and hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers. And now there are the Kull warriors that Baal’s using. Jugernaughts that are damn hard to bring down.”
“And you run around fighting these guys.”
“Hey, it’s a kill or be killed set up. They kidnapped countless humans and have kept them subjugated for thousands of years. That doesn’t sit too well with us.”
Rhade nodded. “Understandable. So, after you kill a Goa’uld, what do you do?”
Coburn shrugged. “Go home. Get debriefed. Go out and get drunk.”
“I like that plan.” Rhade took a swallow and recapped
his flask. “You’re buying.”