STARGATE: EXPLORER

by Lady Grey
Alpha/Beta by Jude

August 30

Daniel hurried to catch up to his companions, heedlessly snapping twigs underfoot, and brushing against leaves and limbs in his path. He lamented the loss of the mule, but realized he'd have had to leave it behind for this trip into the forest anyway. The fairies zoomed past him into the woods, disappearing ahead of Daniel and the two larger aliens.

Scout glanced down at Hunter, with a nod over his shoulder to indicate their human friend. “Noisy, is he not?”

“We teach him to walk soon,” the little alien replied nonchalantly.

“I know how to walk,” said Daniel in his own defense. He slowed his pace a little and took more care to step quietly. “See?”

The aliens chuckled and shook their heads as they exchanged an amused look.

Daniel listened and watched the two as they moved with the easy grace of big cats, avoiding debris on the ground, carefully choosing where to place their feet, swaying and dipping their bodies to keep from touching anything in their path. He barely heard Hunter’s small boots padding the soft, damp forest floor, and the only sound of movement from Scout was the almost-indiscernible rustle of his clothing; their stealth was impressive.

Another of Scout’s people joined their party, suddenly appearing not far from Daniel's left elbow, as if he'd been traveling with them for some time. In short order, a third member of Forest Clan caught Daniel's eye, then a fourth. None of the other travelers seemed to consider their unexpected emergence, seemingly out of thin air, as noteworthy.  Daniel had seen some damned strange things in the past, so he made an effort to shrug off the sensation of uneasiness their growing numbers were causing him as they trekked through the trees.

He studied the newcomers, curious about Forest Clan. As with Grass Clan, their coloring seemed to match their surroundings, with hair in darker shades of green, brown, gray, or black, and skin tones varying from tan to chocolate brown. They were an elegant people, uniformly attractive, some recognizably male or female, others enigmatically androgynous.

As they moved through the vegetation like shadows, Daniel waited for them to speak to one another, since he was anxious to hear their language, but they kept silent as they walked.  After a few minutes, the hush started to feel a tad creepy, so he turned to the nearest member of the Forest Clan for a little conversation, making an effort to keep his voice down.  “Is your clan always this reticent?”

The female sidled up to him, matching his stride. Her skin was caramel colored, her light brown hair streaked with mahogany, eyes a piercing gray. “Beware the Sadeesh,” she whispered, and laid her fingertips on her lips to indicate Daniel should be quiet.

“What is that?” Daniel murmured back, leaning closer to hear the answer.

Scout held up a hand in a familiar gesture, and Daniel stopped in his tracks, as did everyone else.

The female pointed, and Daniel squinted at movement in the distance.

His eyes widened when he got a good look at the thing that had caused the party to halt. It was as big and dangerous-looking as a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but covered in short gray and black mottled fur. Large triangular ears swiveled all around as it paused and listened for movement, its huge, ugly head turning from side to side.  Finally it seemed satisfied that nothing interesting was nearby, so it continued through the trees, making lots of noise in the underbrush.

The party stood frozen until the sadeesh stalked away, disappearing in the distance. Daniel let out a sigh of relief.

“That must be what eats the thing that stepped on my vehicle,” Daniel mused quietly.

“Us, too, if catch us,” said Hunter with a nod. “Stay quiet. May be more.”

They walked for hours through the seemingly trackless woods. Daniel was surprised at how fit he felt, amazed yet again by his miraculous recovery. His energy level was good, and he had no trouble keeping up with the others.

When Scout suggested they stop to eat, the Forest Clan climbed up the trunk of a giant tree, then dropped a vine down for Hunter, to help haul him up. Daniel decided to show his agility, so following their custom, he climbed up by himself, using the hand- and foot-holds he’d seen the others use.

“Did we come up here for a reason?” he asked, settling astride a large limb, resting his back against the trunk.

“To be safe, while we rest,” answered Scout. “We have far to go yet, and must travel quietly to avoid more sadeesh. High in the trees, we may eat in peace and enjoy quiet conversation for a little while.” 

That made sense. “Tell me about your city. How far away is it?” Daniel pulled out his canteen and one of the MREs, tearing the pouch open with his teeth. He opened the body-temperature packet of macaroni and cheese and tucked the rest of the contents of the pouch into his jacket breast pocket for later. 

Scout grinned, his merry eyes dancing. “On the other side of the world.”

Daniel almost choked on the first bite of his food. “Excuse me? And you plan for us to walk all the way?”

Everyone laughed so good-naturedly, Daniel found himself smiling.

“You see soon,” said Hunter. “Not far now.”

“Ohhh-kay,” Daniel drawled in English, more for himself than his hosts. He didn’t get the joke, but hoped someone would explain it to him eventually. He studied his hosts, ever curious about the difference in size between races. Some were only six inches tall, others six feet. He dug into the silver entrée pouch for another bite, hoping his next question would be answered and not put off, as many had been so far.

“Why are the Clans so different from each other?”

Hunter and Claire looked to Scout, keeping quiet, waiting for a cue from their larger cousin before responding.

“In the long-ago,” Scout told him, accepting a handful of dried berries from Hunter, “the People were one race, all one size, all alike. We traveled to many places through the Wheel of Worlds, roaming everywhere – forest, grasslands, deserts, lands of snow and ice.”

“The Wheel of Worlds?  We call it a stargate,” Daniel told them, doing his best to translate the English word into Ancient.

With a slight nod, Scout continued. “We made our homes everywhere, and over many eons, we adapted to the lands in which we lived. Some became small. Others very small.” He smiled at Claire and Jack, seated comfortably on each of Daniel’s shoulders, before meeting Daniel’s openly curious gaze. “Still others became giants.”

Sadness seemed to settle over him like a heavy weight. “In those days, we were still innocent, and we sought to make friends wherever we went. We trusted easily and shared our gifts generously, but in time, those we believed to be our allies betrayed us. They plotted against us, attacked us, and most of the People were killed. The rest were brought here, where even more died from exposure, starvation, and disease. We were left here with nothing -- no tools, weapons, or food, to survive or die, however the All decreed.”

Scout defiantly lifted his chin, gazing at Daniel through narrowed eyes that now glimmered with anger. “When the time comes, we will fight those who imprisoned us in the long-ago time. Until then, we train and prepare for when we meet our enemies once again.” 

Daniel nodded, saddened by this tale of woe. “Many humans would do the same,” he agreed. “Some would try to negotiate for peace, though I have learned that doesn’t always work.” 

A memory flashed through his mind, and he smiled a little. “An advanced race we once met in our travels through the stargate told my people we were ‘very young’, and that we did not always do as we were told, which was true. Like you, we also wanted to learn, which is why we went through the stargate the first time, just to see what was out there.”

He sobered, remembering why they had begun regular ‘gate travel in the first place. “An alien race called the Goa’uld attacked us and kidnapped one of the team guarding the stargate. Our soldiers went after her.”  Suddenly, he wasn’t hungry anymore. He stared at the MRE pouch as more memories fueled his buried rage. “The Goa’uld killed her. They came to the planet where I’d made a home with my wife, and they took her, too.”  Emotion choked him, constricting his throat.

“They also kill her?” asked Hunter, popping a few more berries into his mouth. There was curiosity in his open gaze, along with a flicker of grim sympathy in his purple eyes.

Swallowing his anger down, Daniel nodded. “We fought them for many years, but they finally destroyed my world. Destroyed it.” He didn’t know what else to say. Holding back tears, he felt his chin trembling as he met Scout’s sympathetic, understanding gaze.

The alien turned on the tree limb beside Daniel, his knee just touching Daniel's thigh as he reached behind his guest to pluck a bunch of grape-sized blue berries from a stem sticking out of the trunk. “You wish to kill them, these Goa’uld?” he asked flatly.

“Yes,” Daniel rasped. He was ashamed by how much he wanted vengeance, but comforted himself with the belief that Earth deserved justice, too.

He straightened as the face of a handsome blond man seared suddenly through his memory.

Zeus, Daniel realized, another hole in his memory suddenly filled. That was the being who had destroyed his planet. Daniel owed Zeus retribution; the debt had to be repaid.

“All of them?” Scout glanced up from beneath his dark lashes, his golden eyes flashing, sparking with some fiery emotion, his expression unreadable. He popped several of the berries into his mouth, his tongue stroking along his lower lip to catch a dribble of juice. 

“Yes.” Daniel directed his gaze guiltily at his hand, the silver food pouch trembling in his grip. He shrugged. “No. Maybe. I do not know. I want justice for my people. I want freedom for those who live under the unjust rule of the Goa’uld.”  He explained about the relationship between the symbiote and its host, the difference between the personalities of Goa’uld and Tok’ra, and the dependence of the Jaffa on the Goa’uld for their lives.

“Do I want to destroy them?” he continued.  “That is a hard question, because it has no simple answer.  I do not know how to kill all the Goa’uld without killing their hosts or causing the extinction of the Jaffa,” he admitted, “but if I could, I would do it. Definitely.” He sighed and shook his head, then made eye contact with Scout. “I do not know how the People feel about that, but if you are also at war, maybe you can understand.”

“We do,” agreed Scout with a nod. “Perhaps you might join us in our fight for freedom.”

Daniel shrugged. “I would need to know more first. I must speak with your elders and learn about your enemies before I make any decisions.”  He'd learned many hard lessons over the last ten years, and had come to trust his instincts about aliens. These seemed like good people with values similar to his own, and if their tale of genocide were true, then it would be right to help them. If they had lied, he would eventually discover the truth.

“We not take war lightly,” Hunter warned him.

“Nor do I,” Daniel agreed. “I have been in battle many times, and have seen firsthand the horror and ugliness, all the suffering it causes.” Memories swept him away, his body remembering the smell of burned flesh and gunpowder, the sound of P90 and staff weapon fire, the fear and chaos that had set his heart pounding and his nerves on edge. He closed his eyes as a shadow of remembered agony gripped him in the seconds before ascension, then carried him back to the moment he’d handled the naquadria core that had killed him.

He’d cheated death over and over again in the last decade. He didn’t particularly want to live a long life now, anyway. His home was gone, as were his friends and family. He was rootless, a nomad who would never belong anywhere again.

“You have been wounded in battle,” observed Scout, his head tilting with curiosity, his expression gentle, respectful.

“Many times.” He lifted his weary gaze after a moment to Scout’s unusual amber eyes, then dug in the pouch for another bite of food he didn’t particularly want to eat. 

“You must have been a great hero on your world,” said Jack into his right ear.

Daniel chuckled bitterly and shook his head. “No. Not really. I was rather a nobody.”

“Then your people must have had very high standards for heroism,” deduced Scout with a grin, “or else they were fools." He gestured to his comrades, who began to pack away their refreshments. The Forest Clan leader turned back to his guest. "Come, friend. We will continue our journey.”

After several more hours of walking, Daniel knew he was utterly lost in the woods. He’d been buried in his thoughts for some time now, depending on his new friends to warn him of any danger and keep him safe. Daniel did his best to pay attention to where they were going, but his mind wandered during the long spans of quiet, tumbling over old memories, examining his life.

He’d improved his combat skills over the last decade, but had never really applied himself to truly developing his effectiveness in the field. He studied how these aliens moved and did his best to emulate them, taking care to follow in Scout’s footsteps as closely as possible. His efforts didn’t go unnoticed, and as soon as Scout announced they had passed out of the territory of the predatory sadeesh, the air of silence and watchful tension lifted from the entire party.

“You are learning to walk well,” observed Claire from her perch in his pocket.

“Sometimes I am a little slow,” he whispered dryly. “Do you know how much further we have to travel? I did not quite understand the joke you all thought was so funny when I asked earlier.”

“You are not enjoying the journey?” Jack asked, a smile in his amplified voice as he buzzed near Daniel's ear. “I have not often visited Forest Clan. I find this place much more lovely than the rocky lands that are Sky Clan’s watch.”

“It is beautiful, yes,” agreed Daniel, “and this has been a pleasant trip – except for the nearly-being-eaten-or-trampled parts.”

He sighed, inhaling a deep breath filled with the scents of rich earth, thick greenery, damp and flowers. “So why do you not travel much? Why not live here with the Forest Clan, if you prefer the woods?”

Claire jiggled against him, shifting her position in his pocket. “Sky Clan watches the Wheel of Worlds. It is our sacred duty to all the People of Far Lands.”

“And you warn the others when visitors arrive? That would make your race the first line of defense.”

“Sky watch Wheel.”  Hunter’s voice floated up from behind him. “Grass defend. Forest attack. Mountain destroy.” 

Scout chuckled, his rich voice floating over his shoulder. "Yes. Hope you never meet any of the Mountain Clan in battle, friend."

“You are alive only because the People allow it,” Claire assured him.

Those statements were made with such nonchalance, Daniel didn’t doubt their veracity. A little shiver of respectful fear shimmied up his spine, then faded away with Daniel's confidence in their friendship. “Um. Thank you. May I ask why you chose to let me live? Not that I am ungrateful, only curious.”

“An admirable trait,” declared Scout, “and the very reason why you are here. We wished to learn about you and your people. Like you, we are curious, and cannot abide a mystery. We had to know what you are.”

As a thought struck Daniel, he stopped in his tracks. “What happened to my teammates who were killed?”

“You walked in their ashes when you returned,” Scout told him, a touch of compassion in his voice. “We did not know the traditions of your race for the dead, so we honored them with ours, and mourned their loss as family.” He paused, turning to make eye contact, genuine sadness etched into his beautiful face.

Daniel choked up, a sudden rush of tears blurring his vision. He swallowed down his grief, blinking to clear his eyes. “Thank you,” he growled huskily.

He contemplated that, trying to imagine what it must have been like from the People's perspective when SG-13 had come through the stargate, and all the events afterward. Then another idea occurred to him. "Did others of my kind come through the Wheel of Worlds, searching for my team?"

"Yes," answered Claire from his pocket. "We were still studying your companions and the equipment left behind, so we hid your camp from them. The searchers found nothing, and left through the Wheel. We believe they did not know your friends were killed, or that you were taken. We were not ready to show ourselves to any of you, then. Perhaps we were in error in that decision, but it is done."

With a nod, Daniel agreed. The aliens had actually performed a valuable service by keeping the camp intact, because those supplies had given Daniel food, shelter, clothing, and survival gear he wouldn't have otherwise had. Considering the weakened state he'd had been in when he’d returned to that world, he might not have lived without their indirect assistance.

Still, all that was history now, and the SGC was gone. It would be best to concentrate on the matters at hand and leave the reminiscing to another time.

They traveled quietly until the golden shafts of sunlight cutting through the leaves of the massive trees surrounding them attained a long afternoon slant. Some of the trees were as lofty as sequoias, others broad and leafy, with huge trunks and gnarled roots and branches spreading a thick canopy above their heads. Daniel felt as if he’d suddenly stepped into a scene from Lord of the Rings, to a place peopled by alien fairies, dwarves and elves. There was something surreal about the experience, both magical and perfectly ordinary. Daniel had walked in hundreds of forests, traveled and talked with many aliens in the last decade of his life, and there was little about this trek that was any different from all those other missions, save the fact that he was the only human among them.

“We have arrived,” announced Scout, coming to a stop in the mossy landscape.

“Where?” Daniel glanced around them and saw nothing but forest.

Everyone else in the party had also halted.

Facing the expanse of woodland ahead of them, Scout held up his left hand, and the air seemed to ripple around his palm.  Sun-dappled trees began to shimmer and fade before him, and after a moment, part of the forest landscape just ahead of their party vanished. 

At first, what lay before them was so bright, Daniel was temporarily blinded. As his vision adjusted, he saw a twenty-foot ring cut into the forest floor, completely cleared of trees and vegetation, lit by the unbroken glow of late afternoon sunshine. Geometric shapes and symbols he didn’t recognize were scored onto the floor, and the circular pavement gleamed with what appeared to be precious metals and gems, glittering in the daylight.

The Forest Clan escort stepped onto the platform, heedless of the materials on which they walked. Hunter followed them, and the group turned to wait for Daniel. Even Claire extricated herself from his pocket and flew off to join them.

“Are you not coming?” she asked with a grin, flying backward so she could see him.

“Oh, yes, of course I am.  Sorry.” He stepped onto the disk, unable to take his eyes off the design beneath his feet. "Are we really going to the other side of the world?"  As he spoke, the golden disk under his boots promptly disappeared as he felt a suspiciously familiar tingle, something like the sensation that accompanied an Asgard transporter beam.  The floor appeared to turn to silver, the design repeated in a plain base metal that was no longer in the midst of the woods.

"We already have," Scout confirmed, a touch of wry humor in his resonant voice.

"Well, Toto," Daniel murmured aloud in English, strictly for his own amusement, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

End Chapter 11

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