NationStates Jolt Archive

They had recovered it from a raid on their people. Considered it scant recompense for the loss of a Village yet studied it anyway. The Tower of Light in the Heart of Giltheran poured over it's secrets attempting to decipher the runes. Clerics prayed for visions and recieved them, determining that it's purpose was that of a gateway. Similar in many regards to the Elfgate centered on the Tree Of Souls... yet this one seemed to link into a network.

Now they where close the final piece of the puzzle had been solved, the high Mages stood gathered before the device waiting. It was they hoped their one chance their one chance of getting back their lost people. They would if need be search all of the planets on this list, face any danger. By now the project had been 'handed over' to the care and control of the Bladesingers. It was in their eyes up to them to lead the hunt, and the device had been moved to the Lodge of Stars Falling. Surronded by Elven Knights, and locked deep in a vault surronded by alarms and wards, for if it could act as a doorway out it could also act as one coming in.

'Type in the first set.' The mans voice came clear from the side as he looked on, it had been his Lodge that was the first attacked by these Goa'uld his, at least the mans eyes, failure that had lost them the Township and the priests. He would lead the efforts to recover the lost.

A small, slight, even for the Tel'Quessir man stepped forward, his face calm yet small beads of perspiration dripped from his face, his feelings where felt by all around them if they had miscalculated here none knew the potential effects. Still he calmly depressed the runes on the strange device that seemed linked in some manner to the Gate way... as he pressed the last one a the gateways own ring begin to move, and the same runes where locked into place on it. With a loud displacement of air the gate formed a seemingly freestanding gateway of falling silver water...

With a nod of relief the first Elves to use this gate formed up, at their head the ancient Bladesinger who led the Lodge, the first to step through it, the first to go seeking what had been lost. With a look around him he nodded and stepped forward into the strange silverly water and was gone... Transported across the vast distance of space to the first of the many alien worlds they would have to visit in their hunt. They had but a single word, a single suspect Lord Atum. It was vague hope only that led them out in the depths of space, seeking others to have suffered from this man, this false god, and perhaps clues to where he may have sent their Kindred.

Fortunately for the knights of Giltheran, the beings that granted the visions they prayed for, of locations that would aid them in combating the tyranny of Atum, were sufficiently wise to not send them direct to the lair of Atum, as that would result in instant death, due to barriers controlling access to the ‘stargate’ on that world.

Instead, they had been lead to a place where the population knew the System Lord, and where the defence of the stargate was lax. This place, a world called Abarusten, was one of the backwaters of Atum’s ‘glorious’ domain, rarely visited by its prefects, with minimal garrison. ‘Heresy’ was rampant on Abarusten, and with good reason. Among the hundred inhabited worlds that Atum claimed for his own, this one was unique in only one way.

Claimed long ago from another System Lord, Abarusten had been found to be almost worthless as anything but a source of hosts for the goa’uld parasites. But in time, many of the goa’uld from the world’s meagre population of twenty eight thousand had disappeared into obscurity. Others had become minor functionaries, always careful to avoid the highest ranks of the Atumite court.

The matching gateway, standing in the open air at the crest of a hill, had a similar pedestal near it. The gateway itself stood on a wide stone platform, surrounded by standing stones, overgrown with ivy and other creepers that marked the perimeter of the clearing.

For those that knew what to look for, there were plenty of signs of nearby habitation, diffuse smoke rising from several nearby settlements in the crisp morning air, a narrow path into the trees, signs of a campfire, still warm, near the stargate, and other such detritus of the less than conscientious, but relatively harmless camper.

He stepped out onto an alien world and looked around, nodding inspite of himself. It was clear, safe for the others that already would be following him. Traveling through the gate had been a strange process, a part of his mind was still unsure if he had actually felt the process or was imagining it. He was also unsure just how much time the trip had taken. From his experiance of the Elfgate system he estimated only a fraction of a second had passed.

It was this experiance of the Elfgates that they planned to use after this brief exploration. For now through the rest of his 'squad' came through the gate. Many had been trained by him, or at least by his Lodge, others had came from various towers or seminaries. They had a wide range of skills from Mages to Clerics, to Fighters like, well like himself. One of the Squad a minor Noble even wore his families ancient 'Elvish' Plate. Rare and expensive such armour was passed down through Generations, and maintained before almost anyother concern. Indeed due to the almost exact fit needed to use such armour, it cost almost as much to have it resized for each new wearer as a normal suit of armour cost to make, still it provided the best protection, if rather ornate.

For now through the Ten Elf Scout group moved out, with a slight gesture to the closest seeming rise of smoke. Leading them was the ultimate Cliche, a 'Wood' Elf scout, still few could match his tracking skills at home in any wilderness, no matter how distant from his own. No sound passed the lips of the team, they had a job to do, Five minutes after they moved out the Gate Closed, only to reopen and more Tel'Quessir emerged. They had been unsure how long the gates stayed open and been unwilling to risk losing men inside it should it close the first time it was opened. Now through the backup moved out. On the otherside of the Gate back on Earth, they qued up Three seperate lines moving to the beat of Drum. One beat a second each beat tellignt he men qued up what action was expected of them, Beat, Step into Gate, Beat the rest of the line steps forwards, Third beat step into Gate. This continued for the entire Five Minutes.

The Men who emerged from the Gate where there to hold it, after all, their leader had just gone onto a strange, potentially hostile world, it would be, unwise to let him run the risk of being trapped on said world.

For no through the attention is focused on the scouts, as they cautiously moved down of the hill towards the nearest settlement. Unsure what exactly they would encounter.

The woods were dark, darker than one would have expected, and the air had a chill tang to it that spoke of silence. It spoke of sleeping watchers all around, watching, and waiting. The morning air carried the song of stirring birds and retreating night-animals.

As they passed down the beaten track, easily found, towards the settlement, those with the skill to determine them could see tracks, concealed but still there, of light-footed persons, sometimes singly, sometimes multiply. Always they were a little way off the established paths of the forests.

In time, a group of strange men and women, in some form of procession two wide, appeared in the distance, marching up the path towards the elves. Their coming was heralded by the low ‘dong’ of a large bell, which appeared to be made out of brass, carried by two men. Eight of them carried an object on a bier between them, seeming to be a shaped block of, what one would assume was heavy, stone.

The bell rang again, and the strange assembly continued their way up towards the stargate glade, bearing behind them a tall staff, not a weapon, but a golden icon of a circle, within which was part of another circle, a rising sun perhaps, or a mound. Before them at the head of the procession, two women swung censers, burning with some strange incense that trailed red smoke.

With a Gesture the Elves scattered into the woods watching as the strange procession approached. The Humans where unarmed, and for a moment the Bladesinger pondered his options. While he needed to make contact with the inhabitents of this place, these looked like Priests, not exactly perfect people to approach in convincing people to turn against their False god. For a moment then he considered letting them simply pass unmolested until he considered their destination. It had to be the Gate, and if the troops deploying their missed them then...

If they where discovered it was all over, they could not deploy enough people to hold the gate permanetly. Or at least not at the moment. A few quick gestures and they all knew what was needed of them a nod here and there, they contined to wait. As the procession then continued it's way, not exactly on the look out for an ambush, and even where they, it was unlikely they would the Tel'Quessir even the Sun and Moon Elves where at home amongest the trees. Even the unusual ones of this world followed the same basic laws of wood craft.


When the 'Pilgrims' where in the place they revealed themselves Some standing up from amongest the undergrowth, some dropping from trees, and as a final warning the leader simply appearing from he air, as he cancelled an invisibility spell. Translation spells already in place the command was simple. 'Surrender. You are surronded, and while I have no desire to harm any of you, we will not hestitate.'

A startled reaction ran like quicksilver through the group of priestly types as they were ambushed, whispers of surprise and alarm, they’d heard rumours about things that happened when one strayed into the forests, but they’d never done so themselves, nor heard of something like this happening so close to them. The procession came to a halt, and one of its members, seeming to be a leader of some form, stepped out, demanding to know ‘the meaning of’ this ‘brigandry.’

It was obvious that at least, jumping out of the woods on people with weapons ready was not exactly the best way to introduce yourself, even if it was practical. The rest of the group seemed too afraid or calm to draw attention to themselves in any way.

Closer examination of their robes and ceremonial gear would reveal a slight shabbiness and laxity to the way their outfits were worn, quite unlike that one would expect. Among some, silver face paint seemed to be the fashion, but this like everything else, seemed hastily applied.

In the end there where a million things the Bladesinger could say but he rejected them all 'My name Is Melfaris Dilesin. I am a Bladesinger, not a thief. By the Seldarine I swear to you this, Do as we tell you and you will come to no harm, nor shall we take any of your possesions. Resist and we shall be forced to unfortunatly kill you.' Looking at the man he nodded 'Firstly we have questions of our own. What are you doing with that stone? Where is your settlement, and have you heard of the False God Lord Atum?'

Even as he spoke two of the Party seperated from the group observers and moved intowards the 'Pilgrims' they moved causually not in any rush, it would be their job to escort the prisoners back to the Stargate first through they had to check for weapons and bind the prisoners

Despite dubious looks from the group, they answered the questions truthfully, and were rather forthcoming. “This ore is called Naquadah, which we are taking to the star-gate as an offering to… appease… the god you speak of. It is rather essential that we deliver it on time, the gods,” he pronounced that term with considerably sarcasm, “are not patient or forgiving with those in their power. We come from a town about a mile down the slope that way,” he grimaced with annoyance, “Which I would be able to point you in the direction of if you didn’t insist on tying my hands… And yes, we know all about Atum here… Why do you ask?” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, this was a major change of tack in Atumite spies…

Thinking a moment on the answers given to him he spotted a problem almost unconcerned he spoke his next question hiding the fear in his mind 'Do you just send this, pausing a moment at the unfamilar word 'Naq-ua-dah through the gate or does one of you go with it?' For now why he was asking the questions could wait, this was importent. Should the Material not be sent it seemed someone would come and investigate, that he could afford. On the other hand he could not trust any of these strangers to deliver it for him, who knows what they could say once free. Nor could he send one of his men through in disguise, any amount of ceremony could be involved.

On the other hand it presented a oppertunity, while obviously not a final answer at least they would gain the location of another link in the chain. Not one he cared to investigate in person, a majour processing point would likely have a large contingent of guards but it was something he could eventually use to his advantage he suspected. Besides now they had had a chance to study the gate several patterns in the dial up sequence had emerged. Something that gave him the impression that the addresses where not arbitary.

The human leader thought for a moment, on the one hand, if they told the truth, that might be the end of them, if they lied, they may have an opportunity to escape. Though of course, if they did lie, it was likely these intruders would deem them useless anyway. Thus, he told the truth, “We send the material through the stargate unaccompanied…”

Meanwhile, the silence in the early morning woods was unbroken, but there was something nearby that was not quite normal. The birds and wildlife was silent, but it had been for some time, since the ambush had begun.

Nodding he turned a moment to the two Elves directed to take the prisoners back. 'Allow them to send the Naquadah through the gate then. No need to alert anyone by a missed deliverly. Then secure the prisoners till my return.' Turning back to the group 'Thank you for your honesty, I have only one last question and then my comrades will take you to the Gate. How many Jaffa guards are there stationed in the Town you mention?' Melfaris knew that the It was unlikely Melfaris knew that he could defeat any decent sized Garrison nor was it his mission to do so. Still he had to know how many defenders he had to deal with in getting in out unnoticed.

To the distracted Tel'Quessir the silence of the woods went unnoticed. Indeed perhaps a little pride went into it, The Tel'Quessir where Masters of Wood Lore, who could sneak up on them in the woods? Certainly none of the Goa'Uld or their followers, at least as far as this group was concerned. They where, apart from Melfaris, Young and with little Practical experiance. (Being ex-students of his Lodge) Yet perhaps even had they not been it would have made little differance in this case. Besides who expects anyone to be sneaking up on an armed group, that has just ambushed another group...

The classic ‘snap’ that tradition demanded came next would be the snap of a dry twig breaking. This however, wasn’t the snap that was experienced. The ‘snap’ that actually came was rather more unfamiliar to all of the elves; it was the crackling fiery snap of goa’uld designed staff weapons opening.

As they were doing this, the captive’s leader was explaining that there were only ten jaffa in the village. These jaffa, he neither explained nor knew, were supposed to be guarding the stargate at all times. Fortunately for the Tel’Quessir, these particular jaffa, despite being the elite of Lord Atum’s army, wisely didn’t like this forest at night, and chose to be less than fastidious in carrying out their duties. There were, in total, around one hundred and forty Jaffa warriors on the planet.

But, returning to the ambush from the land of exposition; Immediately after the fiery crackling of the staff weapons being activated, they opened fire. One of the assailants used a wicked device that embraced his hand in a silver web holding a glowing crimson jewel to his palm to send the nearest invaders flying, for the very brief periods required for one to be pushed downwards into the ground. Two dozen bolts of red light lashed out from figures dressed in green suede and leather on both sides of the forest track. The ambushers ducked and held position behind the trees, continuing to fire with staff weapons with glowing scarlet jewels in the pommels.

Of course, in a little slice of cosmic irony, the wood elf in the group was the target of several ambushers…

There was no cry of Ambush, or alarm. It was fairly evident they where underattack. A Small part of Melfaris admired the skill of the unseen attackers. Sneaking up on the Tel'Quessir in woodland was not an easy feat. A she dived for whatever cover he could find he reviewed the situation. Already half his squad was down, and they where outnumbered. The options ran through his mind in short order.

Stand and fight, we are likely to be defeated, in fact it's a certainty.Looking around he shock his head in anger. His mages where down and he'd used his invisbility spell for the day. So one of them vanishing was hardly an option... perhaps a dimension door away from the fight... Even as the desperate plan went through his head another of his class went down. With a shake of his head he decided. No other option for it. Standing up he raised his hands above his head.
'We surrender' It was the only option left, he had to preserve the lives of his people. If they had a hope he would have stood and fought, they didn't so he surrended. A desperate last stand would gain him nothing, now it was time to take the long view. His only hope was they where better treated than the last of his kin to return after being captured by the followers of Lord Atum. His friend had lost an arm from that imprissonment, and had never been the same, the humour had gone from his eyes.

Satisfied that there would be no return fire, the figures, clad in their green and brown camouflage, emerged. If the elves knew anything about jaffa, they would know that these assailants weren’t jaffa warriors. They lacked the build and armour, but most importantly, they lacked the brands and tattoos of slavery on their foreheads.

Though if they knew less, they would easily mistake the assailants for jaffa, given their weapons. Many of which were currently pointed at the surrendering elves. The leader of the group came forwards, holding the same ribbon-device before him and a pistol like weapon in the other.

He stopped for a moment, surveying the Tel’Quessir party. His eyes glowed suddenly and he snapped a command to his minions: “Tok’ra Sha'lokma'kor!” The surrounding ambushers suddenly opened fire, pummelling the remaining elves with accurate red bolts, and then for the Tel’Quessir, everything seemed to fade to blackness, but for the dimly felt impacts on gritty soil.

…

Now of course, the Tel’Quessir were, on the whole, highly religious, but the awakening wasn’t what one would expect of the afterlife. For a start, it included headaches, and the dubious vision of octagonal crystal ceiling, while not unpleasant, was doubtless not what one expected.

A brief inspection of their surroundings would reveal that they were all together, including those who had fallen, and all of them quite alive. Though it would be hard to tell, the weapons they had been ‘slain’ with were Intar, non-lethal weapons used in training the jaffa legions. Of course, a more likely assumption would be that they had been revived from death, something that was one of the prominent facts about the Atumites after Melfaris’ friend’s… experience.

The room they were held in had a surprisingly smooth floor, a table, and numerous crystal chairs and benches, all part of the floor of course, as well as a multi-layered luminescent ceiling. In its doorway a blue marked the floor, walls and ceilings, beyond which a guard stood leaning on another staff weapon, this one without the characteristic glowing crimson Intar jewel. He pressed a jewel-button on a device on the back of his hand, and spoke rapidly…

So where all prisoners unusual the question is what do to about it. For now I can see little hope for escape A furtive examination of his possesions and those of his companions confiremd that most if not all spell componments had been removed, including their Spellbooks. In any escape plan they formulated then that would be the number one priority, In the mean time he had a limited number of cantrips and lesser spells at his dispossal, and it appeared they would soon meet their 'hosts'

A new priority then emerged, his comrades must not suffer as his old comrade did, he was a Bladesinger it was his responsibility to suffer so that other Tel'Quessir did not. His Oath bound him to protect all Tel'Quessir before himself. It had been the same Oath that had led him to surrender now it would be that oath that drove his next comand. He could buy them some time. 'The Squad Will take a four hour reverie make yourselves comfortable.'

As he gave the command he recieved various nods as the Tel'Quessir settled in around the room, some resting on Benches others the floor, and still others sitting on chairs. It didn't matter where they rested only that they had a place to rest. In a short time the room was filled with Nine semingly asleep Tel'Quessir although it was a rest far deeper than sleep one which allowed the Tel'Quessir to Wander along memories and sort them out. A Valuable and neccersary practice for a race with several hundred years as a life span. It allowed some said editing of memories, to make them more concise and easier to recall in waking life. It Also allowed a person to visit the more plesent memories and relive them.

Now Melfaris stood alone the only awake Tel'Quessir when the guards came for them, he would lie inform the their captors that his people could not be awoken for Four Hours. It was actually not a complete lie, for the next four hours it would be hard to bring the Tel'Quessir to a wakened state but not impossible. Now he would wait for what he was sure would be a flunky of Lord Atum, he had after all seen the eyes and knew what it fortold, or at least thought he did.

After a while, two more guards appeared, and gestured towards the only elf in there not in some kind of trance. The one who had already been there pushed another button on his arm and the doorway crackled with blue lightning that descended to the floor in a vertical wall.

“You will come with us,” one of the new tok’ra guards said confidently.

---

The ‘interview room’ held numerous devices of innumerate functions, all made with iridescent casings that seemed to be made of some kind of shell. They pushed Melfaris down into another uncomfortably hard chair, and waited a moment. There were no doors to theatrically open, and thus when a short, one could say, plain woman dressed in the same camouflage-green garb entered, it was with no theatrics.

“I’ll make this brief,” she said, in a surprisingly human voice “Who are you, where are you from, what are you doing here and why are you doing it?”

Milfaris looked at the woman and shrugged these questions would not harm the Tel'Quessir back on Giltheran if he answered. More importently in answering them he would keep the womans attention focused on him and away from his Squad. Protecting them was more importent than his own life. 'My Name is Milfaris Dilesin. I am from the Islands of Giltheran, where your 'Master' has recently been making war.' His voice took on a hint scorn and disgust at the word Master.

Looking around the room he considered the next answer carefully before answering 'My mission here is simple several Months ago, Your Master launched an attack on my home. In the process he captured a Settlement of my people. Razed a Holy site to the ground and killed many a innocent. I am tasked by my Friend and King with Finding the abducted Tel'Quessir and securing their release.'

Pausing a moment as through finished he stared at the woman, and steel seemed to enter his features and tone. 'As for WHY I am doing it. You could not understand. You could not hope to grasp the nature of the Oath I swore almost two centuaries ago, the lives of all Tel'Quessir before my own. My Blade and my Spell to stand as a Shield before the Tel'Quessir, as Corellion stands in our defence in the heavens. So Crawl back to your Master Lord Atum, and tell him, we are finished with him. When we have our people back we will repay him for all his Sins.'

He thinks we’re a goa’uld, she thought, after a moment, in surprise.

Perhaps we ought to humour his delusion? the voice in her head replied.

I don’t think that would be wise, she thought back. you mischievous thing.

Just for a few minutes? the voice asked plaintively.

No.

Bah.

. . .

The woman sighed, “Oh will you please shut up?”

“I know of your people, vaguely. For your information, it was Atum’s lieutenant, Thoth, who ordered the attack in question. No. I don’t know where your people are, and unless you happen to have a personal invisibility device, you won’t be finding out in a hurry…” she added facetiously.

“Now, for your information, as you are obviously unaware of it, we are not the goa’uld. We are nothing like them. If we were, you would be in considerably greater discomfort than you are from our… less than accommodating furniture by now…

“We, have fought the goa’uld for two thousand years. We are the Tok’ra, and we oppose the goa’uld and their ways completely. If you are, as you say, enemies of Atum, then you have no reason to fear us.”

. . .

Now can I speak?

Oh, go on then.

. . .

Her eyes glowed steadily, and her voice changed, taking on the reverberant quality of goa’uld voices, “We are, biologically similar to the goa’uld parasites, but that is where the resemblance ends. We share our lives with our willing hosts. We would rather die than become as depraved as they are…”

Shaking his head at the womans answers 'I have seen the results of Goa'uld interogations but that this differs is not enough to convince me of your words.' He paused a moment and an slight smile came to his face.
If they had heard of his people then they had to know something of their reputation as spellcasters. It would explain the removal of such minor things as Clay from his people.

It would then be time for a giant bluff, the creature before him's insistence that they where different from Goa'uld did deserve further investigation but first the bluff. 'Actually I do, in a round about way possess such a ability you describe. I possess many abilities your science would not comprehend. Do you think us ignorent savages who stumbled through the gateway, off to take on Lord Atum while being armed only with Sword and Bow?'

She narrowed her eyes and gave him an exasperated look, “We are aware of these abilities, yes. It may interest you to know that your predecessor’s sword became one of the great debacles of Atum’s military before they settled on how to deal with it.”

“In any case, I will consider what you suggest,” she nodded at the two guards, “Take him back to confinement,” she said, “I’m sure he’ll like to share what he’s managed to get out of me with his friends.”

Standing at her dismissal he shrugged, 'Debate it all you wish, it would appear we are not going anywhere. With that in mind, and with your assurances that you are different to the Goa'uld I have a request. You have taken from a few of my comrades certain items, holy symbols, amulets and the like. I would request they be returned to their owners as a sign of good faith. In return you have my assurance of our good behaviour while we are your guests, and that as such we will not attempt to contact our friends now establishing camp at the Stargate.'

In this he was being truthful, well almost he had certain further plans that would arise from the return of the holy symbols, attempts to get at the truth to discover if these 'Tok'Ra' where lying to him or not. If they where truthful then the rest of his request was an honest one, if not. Well there where ways to contact the forces at the gate, that was true.

Without waiting for a reply he turned to the two Guards and held out his hands, 'Shall we be off then?'

The Tok’ra woman sighed, “Yes, very well,” she said, raising her hand in a dismissive gesture, “Very well, describe these items to the guards and they shall provide them, assuming they don’t seem dangerous,” she said, disappearing through another unbarred doorway.

The bladesinger was taken back to the ‘containment area’ by the two guards, though they weren’t inclined to drag him along by his wrists, tempting though it seemed. They had limits to the melodrama they could stand. Shortly after, the requested objects were provided, slid through the force-field, which was clearly one way, on a small steel tray.

The guard even took the opportunity to ask if any of the room’s inhabitants were hungry. Of course, he had an ulterior motive for that… If he could use up some of the dreadful jaffa provisions currently served at every meal, in order to use them before they became inedible after being acquired from a recent raid, then perhaps the Council would be forced to negotiate for proper food from the Liberty settlement again…

After taking a few moments to consider the question the Bladesinger nodded, his people could do with some food he supposed. Now it was time to consider his options... he and his people where trapped. he spent some time considering his options while waiting for the food to be brought, when it was he looked at the strange packets and dried husks and shrugged surely it can't be that bad...

He managed half a bite before spitting it back out, it had to be amongest the foulest substance he had EVER had the misfortune to taste. he looked up at the guards that had brought it to him 'By the Seldarine what is this.. this concoction...' He paused a moment in thought and then smiled...

A cantrip was a minor spell it needed no componments being as it was fairly useless it was taught to apprentices to help them lean how to focus their minds. Most mages memorised it daily out of reflex he was no exception, and it had no practical use... but at least he could make his food ediable. Not tasty or even plain but at least he would be able to swallow the food. That should confuse his captors somewhat he suspected no sane being was expected to eat this dross...

It was difficult to tell when it was night and when the new dawn came, but soon enough, more of the rations unfit for Gruumsh were shoved into the room. About an hour after this, the Tok’ra woman who’d interviewed the leader returned to the cell and entered, taking a seat that seemed to have been hewed out of a crystal like those that made up all the surfaces of the underground base, with a narrow back that looked like It would stab the back of one’s head if one tried to lean back in it. “Apologies about the food… we got this stuff when we were anticipating getting arms from a raid… and we’re determined to eat it, lives were lost getting it, after all, so it’s all we have in at the moment. We have just decided that you’re probably not goa’uld agents…

“And we would like a demonstration of this invisibility… How long does it last, and so on?” she asked, her face something between sceptical and curious.

Looking over the woman before him Malfaris shrugged 'Then in the interest of fairness let me say I find it Unlikely Your a Goa'uld so I shall answer your questions...' Pausing in thought he smiled, no need to make it too easy that food had been horendous and while he could understand the principle she was adhering to he wouldn't feed it to his prisoner's. There where supposed to be rules after all...'It really depends on the situation and the caster I'm afraid.... I suppose of those of us gathered here, depending on the spell used, an hour tops assuming no hostile action is made....'

Smiling a moment he stood up to look at the woman 'As for a demonstration, on one condition, you have to answer a question for me....' as he spoke his head dipped a second and in the corner one of the other prisoner's dropped his head in near silent prayer, a name was mumbled a few times. To those who could speak the language of the Tel'quessir he was reciting a passage from his faith's holy book about the importence of the Truth and how a lie always is uncovered.

The Tok'ra nodded her head in acceptance it seemed innocent enough a manner point...

'Are you a Goa'uld?' he asked it simply, this was not meant to be the same as in the interogation before, just something he ahd to ask. Still... the Tok'ra's response was understandable if you knew the history of her people, while she answered the question with a simple no her tone , her bodies stance managed to convey how insulted she had been by the question for a second her body bristled but from the back of the room the man who prayed before spoke up...

'Complete truth. We thank the Seldarine for revealing unto this fact.'

with that Malfaris smiled and mumbled a few words of his own his voice carrying over the room, strangely both enchanting initself, and for the power behind the words... and then he was gone, where he had been standing before was emptiness. he was no longer present.

when a second later his voice rang out again, a short song and two doorways appeared in the air, one roughly just to left of where Malfaris had been standing the other behind one of the guards outside the cell... strangely this was not an escape attempt as a hand reached out and tapped the guard on the shoulder malfaris appeared his happily surrendering to the guard...

'That was for the food.'

And so, it wasn’t long before they were moving through the woodlands again, this time, they emerged onto the surface closer to the stargate than they’d been before. The tok’ra tunnel network extended for quite a way under the hill in which it was built, and they seemed to reach the surface by exclusive use of concealed sets of rings that functioned rather like teleportation circles.

The party had a number of Tok’ra with them, armed with various bits and pieces of jaffa and goa’uld weaponry, especially the pistol-sized weapons. Many of the elves’ escort didn’t seem to be very keen on this whole operation, but they were professional enough in their way of moving through the woodlands, despite being heavier than the elves, they had a certain sneaky grace to their movements that came with many lifetimes of experience.

At the stargate, the group paused, and the Tok’ra began to operate the dialling device, punching in three symbols, one jagged, another like a smooth line, and the third like two triangles touching, then the device dimmed suddenly, and the next symbol, a glyph like the letter y reversed and spun onto its side, refused to light.

The stargate span again, in the opposite direction though. The chevron-symbols began to light one after another. The tok’ra whom the expedition had ‘questioned’ previously frowned, “Err… Hide!” she said, and spun about on her toes, running full pelt for the tree line.

The rest of the Tok’ra (and, one would presume, the expedition’s members) followed suit.

The stargate roared, and snapped back into place as a rippling curtain of whiteness like a choppy sea. With a sucking buzzing noise, it disgorged three figures. Two more such ranks of hawk-headed jaffa warriors, their armour gleaming in the morning sunlight, their heavy boots treading into the slightly muddy dirt and leaving heavy prints, followed. With parade ground precision, they snapped to attention and brought their staves to a parade ground rest.

Another figure followed them down the steps, dressed all in golden robes. Female, and short, she moved with a surprising grace despite the weight of jewellery on her. One of the tok’ra was kind enough to provide a whispered translation of her instructions to her minions.

“They’re here about the delay in the naquadah shipments,” he said, “They’re going to the nearest village,” and with that the jaffa turned on their heels and prepared to move out. The goa’uld with them, meanwhile, drew back her hood, to reveal a face that was familiar, if not personally, then by its features, right down to the pointy ears.

They’d come looking for those taken in the goa’uld raid. And they’d found one. Her eyes flashed, and she snapped a command that set the jaffa detachment in motion, and began walking beside them.

If the small band had paused to think they might have considered the full future ramifications of their coming actions, but it likely wouldn't have made much difference. Before them was something horrid, a perversion, one of their people had been trapped, and was now being controlled by this thing. A Goa'Uld had taken control of a Tel'Quassar, the fate of the missing elves was becoming frightfully clear, it was something they had not even allowed themselves to consider.

All Tel'Quassar share a limited connection to each other, their emotions carried across the weave, it's end result is normally nothing more than an acute ability to read each others body language, lovers share, of course, a deeper connection, true love an even deeper one. Yet even stranger's can feel each other on some instinctual level. Right now the female that had stepped through the portal practically screamed to the Quassar of her pain, her impotent fury and struggle, of being trapped within her own body. She fought still, but slowly she was surrendering, they could feel it, the overwhelming sense of defeat was ever present. Already she fought simply because to give in would be the final admission that this was her fate until the Seldarine called her to Arvandor.

The small band responded without thought or planning, rage filled their hearts, her pain was felt by them all, but unlike her they could do something about it.

The arrows flew rapidly unleashed upon the guards, as quickly as the first volley was unleashed the archers knocked and let loose with a second flight. From the under-growth Melfaris rose sword in hand, by unspoken agreement it fell to him to subdue the Goa'uld, it would be impossible to do so without harming the host, so he would not try. As long as she survived the fight long enough for a healer to get to her, they would have to accept any other losses.

As he ran he sang and gestured with his free hand towards the nearest Jaffa in his path, as he did so small balls of energy flew from his hand towards the Jaffa. It was unfortunate now he thought that he had wasted dimension door in his little display earlier but it was too late for regrets now.

The jaffa preformed as they usually did. Poorly.

Several were skewered by the initial volley of arrows, and another was incapacitated by a sorcerous gesture that caused small bolts of energy to hit him, burning neat little holes through his thick armour that now looked as though it was a cake in which a child had poked its fingers. Hawk heads turned and staves came up to fire a return volley, about six left, some injured by arrows in less vital locations, for the initial nine. Before they could fire, another volley knocked three more out of the fight.

Still, the arrows weren’t as effective as they could have been, the thick armour serving to deflect or stop some of them, though the chainmail hauberks beneath did nothing, and placed shots were accounting for the rest.

Melfaris, meanwhile, charged at the goa’uld. This was probably unwise, but she seemed too astonished to notice him until it was almost too late. Almost. At the last moment, she raised her hand, wrapped with a metal band that encased a red, translucent stone. The stone flared briefly, and he was picked up from his feet and hurled back a few paces.

The goa’uld-infested elf strode over, her palm out, with a sneer, convinced that no one would shoot her – for she had divined their intent. Before she could do much more, however, before a flickering line of lightning hit her chest. She shook briefly and flopped over to one side, hitting the floor with a thump. One of the jaffa, meanwhile, the only survivor, turned and ran headlong back to the stargate, dropping his weapon as he did so, but before he’d gotten more than twenty paces, he fell under a rain of arrows and plasma bolts.

The Tok’ra leader stood up, at last, and walked over to Melfaris, glaring down at him, “you mind telling me what that was about?”

Taking a moment to recover from the attack Malfaris had the honesty to look embarrassed as he regained his feet. ‘Do you mean our attack or my own, apparently inane charge towards the Goa’uld?’ for a moment a smile appeared on his face, before being banished. ‘Never mind, for the second, well in all truth I had not realised all Goa’uld carried such things. We have had limited exposure to the Goa’uld before this. About two I think, in a direct confrontation, Atum and a black ops operative, I underestimated them.’ His tone for the moment was light hearted as he gave this confession but now his features darkened as he turned to face the Goa’uld.

His tone changed his manner changed, ‘as for our attack, look at her. Such pain screamed at us, normally the connection is a dull thing, a light comfort, the knowledge that you are amongst the Tel’Quassar, that you are home safe. From her through such loss, fear, despondency, defeat and self-loathing. ‘what else could we do, what else would you have us do, we could not allow her to continue to suffer so.’ Now he walked slowly towards the woman as he reached her he knelt beside her.

‘Can she hear us, can IT hear us?’ not waiting for a response he looked down on the Goa’uld and gently stroked the woman’s face ‘Be at peace, it will soon be over, the Seldarine protects, and has not forgotten you.’ for a second his manner changed, and while the gentle soothing caress never stopped his manner did. ‘And as for you, parasite, she will be free of you soon. That I promise.’ As he knelt by her form he did not move even as two others approached him, one the Cleric from before another was dressed in robes mostly both joined Melfaris by the woman’s side, studying her looking up at the pair the question was carried in his eyes, not that it was needed, they all thought the same thing.

‘we cannot remove it here, but given time, we could I think. It might hurt her but I suspect she would accept the pain to be free of this thing. The others how many do you think they have done this to?’

Pausing before answering Melfaris shivered, ‘Until we know better we have to fear all of them.’ At his answer the other Tel’Quassar muttered under their breaths an exclamation and a prayer. ‘Aileasel Seldarine’ Pausing in his attention to the woman at last Melfaris turned to look again upon the Tok’ra. ‘How long till this group is missed do you think and what is the response likely to be?’

The Tok’ra leader frowned, “We can remove them, though the process is not perfect. The goa’uld parasite releases a virulent toxin into the host when it dies or is forcibly dislodged,” she started methodically shooting the dead jaffa with her pistol, resulting in one after another disappearing, “I can answer your questions more definitely, though. Several of your kind have been observed as goa’uld hosts, but no more. It takes a significant time to wait for a new goa’uld symbiote to mature, seven years,” she added, “a small number of these were initially created from a genetic sample taken after Atum’s disappearance.”

“I suspect that when this patrol is found to be missing, another, several times the size will be sent. When the first patrol can’t be located,” she said, prising a staff weapon off one of the corpses, and tossing it to the tok’ra who was gathering the patrol’s weapons, “They will probably send an entire army to occupy this world. At present there’s about two centuries here as a garrison, but I would expect thousands of jaffa to arrive. All the settlements are within marching distance of the stargate, though, so I don’t anticipate that they’ll send any space craft, at least, not initially.” She shot the last of the jaffa several times, and his body too disappeared. Detailing one of her minions to the unenviable task of disguising the tracks from there to the stargate, she looked expectantly at the elf.

‘The Toxin isn’t an issue, if you can remove the thing from inside her, we can care for her body, of that I can assure you.’ Listening to the rest of the report Malfaris smiled, it wasn’t a pleasant look. ‘Thousands of them coming through that gate…’ gesturing with his hands towards the gate his lips turned up in a almost feral look…

‘Funny thing about deploying an army through a gate like that, it’s never pretty to face an armed force on the other side.’ He paused a moment in consideration examining the stargate and picturing the Jaffa warriors he had seen in his mind. ’Even walking side by side, I can see no more than Seven or Eight at once, taking into account the time needed to let the man in front step out of the way and you have a very messy picture. I can have an army here very quickly, my king, my friend, has left me a portion of the Royal Guard to play with.’ with a shrug of casual explanation as if none was really needed but given as a courtesy ‘Getting his people back safely is the prime concern of the state. Especially now in light of these events.’ Pausing a moment to look at the rescued Goa’uld he continued ‘In any case we should be able to hold them long enough to get the people of this world to safety if they are as close to the gate as you claim… If not, well we will deal with that problem when and if it arises.’ Standing now he turned towards a lightly armoured elf, and snapped a command

‘Lathyell return and order the Elladar and Dalsien regiments to deploy immediately through the gate… and ready the rest of the troops to follow. I want the Eagle’s and Pegasi to follow the Elladar and Dalsien through.’ with his order given he paid no more attention to the Elf, who quickly turned to obey… shortly afterwards the sound of the stargate opening was heard, and the Elf ran through it.

As Lathyell left Malfaris returned his attention to the Tok‘ra guide ‘These two centauries of Jaffa, where are they stationed and how long would it take them to respond to trouble at the gate? If we are to take on the Thousand’s coming through it, I do not want a hostile force to my rear. We can I think smash the ground force, but if we get distracted by a concentrated threat to our rear, it will get ugly. Also how long will it take you to evacuate your base? I take it you have no plan to remain on this world when the enemies naval forces show up?’

The Tok’ra quickly supplied information on the garrison. They were billeted in the ‘capital’ of the planet. Which was as near as this world came to a city. The planet’s major city was called Riverside. It was about an hour’s walk from the stargate. Riverside incorporated seven temples (some of them in disrepair since polytheism was banned), twenty-seven smaller shrines, and the first stages of a pyramid accompanied the growing settlement. From the direction they would be approaching, there were forty-eight soldiers in three platoon strength units, each with its own building, one on the far side of the river. Another two jaffa served as honour guards outside the city’s palace, which was the centre of governance used by the village elders, and also contained a set of teleportation rings. Furthermore, another ten were spread throughout five guard towers, each armed with heavy staff-cannons.

Worryingly, three of these overlooked the road to the stargate, though their firing arcs weren’t clear once one got in close. Another guarded the eastern flank of the city (the stargate was to the north east) and the fifth was on the other side of the city, positioned with the fort there to control access over a wide flood-plain which was farmed. A peninsula in the river served as the ferry point, and positioned there, the soldiers could cut off access from one side of the city to the other. Divided into three shifts, another hundred jaffa were present in the city at any one time, variously sleeping in the homes of their (illegitimate) families, or going about their business in the town.

The Tok’ra had been careful to arrange for a certain laxity in the garrison. This was the cause of the lack of guards at the stargate, which was a command from Atum himself, to be obeyed throughout his domain, there was even a special battalion, the gate guards, ten of whom were present on every world, and were better equipped than their brethren. These too could be found in the city at times, or the nearest village to the gate. That left thirty-four jaffa on Abarusten unaccounted for. Of these, four manned the Aerie, another hour’s walk from the gate, which contained the planet’s two death gliders. The other thirty would be on ‘visibility patrols’ to the many other settlements on the world, a long and arduous mission that consisted of squads of ten jaffa hiking around the planet by circuitous routes, and visiting every settlement once every three years or so to inspect their devotion. Accompanied by clerics and tax assessors, they were the bane of many a village, if an infrequent one.

While explaining all this, she also took the time to note that the Tok’ra would also have to evacuate, and sent one of her group (along with the goa’uld-elf) back to the base to make that happen, and remind Melfaris of their original intentions.

As he thought over the new information on the city turning it over in his mind, examine what he had been told, by his side the Tel'Quassar in robes that had joined the Cleric in examining the Goa'Uld spoke up.

'I knew something was bothering me, you said it takes seven years and that the current group where pre-prepared after the attack on Atum. Why could they not use symbiote’s’ all-ready grown, why do they have to wait for the new batch to mature?' In part the question arose from the mans natural curiosity, the same desire that had driven him to the study of the Arcane arts. In part through he felt sure something about the answer would prove important later on, besides it gave Malfaris time to consider their options without leaving an uncomfortable silence.

As this went on the elf in question sat in consideration, it seemed likely the information they sought lay in the town, an attack on the garrison would be messy, he was still concerned it would be necessary but if they struck anyone with knowledge of what they where might well destroy the information before they could secure it....

which meant a raid, they would have to get into Riverside in advance of the attack and secure the information, and they would have to do it quickly. He was operating on a tight time limit. The planet had to be secured before the main Jaffa force started to arrive. In the mean time Aerial superiority had to be gained... That was happily the easiest thing to arrange.

'Okay it seems we have little option, somehow we have to get into Riverside and secure any information they might have on the location of our people. We have to do this before our forces can attack.' as he spoke he turned to look at his steadily diminishing band. 'Isinfear I need you to do two things, go with the Tok'ra back to their base, care for the girl. Get her home I don't care what it takes, she gets home. The other thing is I need you to relay m orders to the Troops when they get here. The Eagles are to take out that Aerie. Capture it if possible if not destroy it before it can launch their craft. The rest of us, unless our Tok'ra companions can provide a quicker means into Riverside...' pausing expectantly here Malfaris looked at the reminder of his group an evil glint in his eyes... 'It's time to see if you remember your lesson's.'