"Where is Earth?" one of the men asked.
"Far away, but we traveled through the Stargate to get here." The men looked at each other in confusion.
"Ah the chapaa'ai, the stone ring."
"The stone ring. We did know what it is or does." Daniel stepped forward and noticed how thin they all were. Then he remembered what was on the column.
"Why are you here?"
"To look at these columns, and the drawings are in a language I understand."
"You know what it says?"
"Yes I do... how long since you last had rain fall?"
"Many days."
"Can you take us to your village?"
"We have little water and food left."
"I understand, there's something I want to check out, if that is OK with you."
"Come."
"Sam, come in," Daniel said over his radio.
"Yes, Daniel?"
"We made contact with hunters from the village. They are taking us there."
"OK, we will meet you there, Carter out."
"This, Sam, is she your leader?" the women asked.
"Team leader, yes."
"Are there other women leaders on Earth?"
"Yes there are...so tell me about your people. I would like to know more about them." They talked until they arrived at the village.
By that time, Sam and Teal'c arrived at the same time. They all talked to the villagers to learn how bad the drought was, and the location of the nearest river. Sam noticed Daniel was walking around in one part of the village and looking at the video recorder.
"Daniel, what is it?" Sam asked as she walked over to him.
"Sam, we can help these people."
"How?"
"See this here?" He pointed to the video.
"Underneath us is a river and from what I saw on the UAV video recording, the river runs into the main river down the embankment."
"Are you thinking of a well?"
"More than just a well, Sam, irrigation for their fruit trees. From what they told me, they spend half a day going back and forth from the river to the fruit trees and the other half hunting for food.
"How far down is the underground river?"
"Four to five hundred meters."
"I'll go and talk to Jack."
"Sam, there's a cavern where there are some sort of fire squids, according to what I've translated so far and they are somehow connected to the ship.
"Fire squids... like drones... a missile of some sort?"
"Could be."
"I'll be right back." Sam turned and walked towards the Stargate while thinking over what Daniel had just said.
When she got there, she dialed the gate and sent the GDO code through. Then she walked over to the MALP camera.
"Sam."
"Jack, how would you like to go off world?" she asked, grinning.
"You found the ship then?"
"Yep. Daniel spoke to the villagers and, before you say anything, a hunting party found Daniel and Lou."
"Oh, so are they ok?"
"Yes, but the villagers are in dire need of help, Jack. I'll explain to you when you get here."
"Ok I'll be there as soon as I can." Then the gate shut down.
Twenty minutes later, Jack stepped on the platform and the gate shut down. He walked down the steps and over to Sam.
"Sam, so tell me what's going on."
"Sure, on the way to the ship."
"Ok." They walked the track that lead to the ship. On the way, Sam told Jack everything. He asked some questions, which Sam was able to answer. By the time they reached the ship, she had finished telling him everything.
"So we make a hole somehow, then how are we going to get the water to go up to the village?"
"Pipes. They grow bamboo here, which is hollow and thick. If we can join pieces together, that would make the pipe. As for getting it to the surface, we can help make a windmill."
"Ah so it would be pumped up."
"Yes. I think we can help them, so…"
"How are we going to make a hole down to the river?"
"Daniel mentioned some drawings about fire squids, drones. I want to see how big the area is, the ship has them... so." She pushed a button and the back opened forming a ramp.
They walked in and up the front. Jack unclasped his gun and put it down, then he sat. When he touched the console in front of his seat, everything turned on. There was even a 'heads up display' over the front window, showing information about the surrounding area.
"Woo... now what?"
"Find out what sort of fire power this ship has."
Jack put his hands on the pads in front of him, then the screen changed. They saw where the drones were kept. Sam walked towards the back, closed the door then walked back up the front.
"Ok, try starting the engines and move back and up at the same time." Sam sat down next to Jack just as the engines started. Jack was able to move the ship until it was in the air.
"Ok, let's go to the village."
"Which way?"
"Left." Jack followed Sam's instructions until the ship landed next to the village.
Daniel, Lou, and Teal'c ran to the ship with the villagers behind them.
Sam walked to the back area of the ship and opened a compartment. Inside, she found one object that resembled a squid. She removed it and then opened the back door and walked out as soon as the ramp was formed.
She looked to Daniel, "Here's your fireball, Daniel."
"Amazing... so now what?"
"Remember that long hollow bamboo we saw on the way here?"
"Yes."
"We need to harvest enough for five hundred meters plus... they are going to be a pipe line and we are going to build a windmill." Daniel grinned at her.
"What about the hole?"
"The fire ball can do that. Jack and I will be back, soon. We're going to check the underground cavern. From what the ship scans show, there's a large cavern beneath the center of the village, with a tunnel that connects the underground river to the above ground one. Don't worry, we will be back."
Then she walked to the back of the ship, and got on just as Daniel was telling the villagers what they were planning to do. As soon as Sam sat down, she heard a clunk knowing that the chamber with the drone was closed. Jack started up the ship and they left to head to the underground cavern.
When they saw the entrance, Jack flew in following the scanners until they found the underground cavern. They flew through the tunnel even though the ship was three quarters under water.
They had flown for over two hundred meters when they entered a larger cavern. Jack located a place to set down, so he flew over to it and landed the ship. When Jack landed, he turned the engine off and stood up just as Sam turned on her gun light.
Jack picked his up, turned his light on, and then followed Sam who opened the back door and walked off the ship.
They looked around. "Jack look." She walked over to where the squid balls were stored.
"Is that them?"
"Yes, we can fill up the chambers, since there was only one left in it."
"Ok, let's get it done." They walked back to the ship.
Within a few minutes, they had both chambers full of drones. "Let's go see where the village is from here." Jack said.
He started up the ship and they left to go up the river. Sam used the ship sensors to detect the village location.
"Stop." Jack stopped the craft.
"Right above us is the village center and it's all clear."
"Ok hang on." Jack moved the ship until it was on an angle.
"Weapons," he said then one fireball left the ship and went straight up to the cavern ceiling and through the clay and dirt.
They were watching it on the screen. When it broke through to the surface, Jack made it stop and saw it drop to the ground. Then he turned the ship around and flew it out of the cavern and back to the village. When they landed and got off, Sam got the drone and put it back in the chamber.
Then they walked over to the hole. "Now what?"
"Let's go and give the villagers a hand."
"Why not?" They walked to the others.
They spent the next seven hours building the pipeline and putting it down the hole, while others built the windmill. When it was finished and checked, Jack was given the honor of releasing the windmill brake. When it started turning, they all waited.
"It didn't work," one women said. Sam stepped forward and put her hand under the pipe opening.
"It is working, give it time for the water to pump up. I can feel the air on my hand." She stood back and they all continued to watch.
Soon, water started trickling and then it began to pour out and into a long large deep trough. Every one cheered when they saw that the plan had worked.
"Nice Sam." Jack gave her a hug.
"Thank you for your help. You saved us a lot of time," said the village leader.
"You're welcome. We're going to send a team to help you set up irrigation so you wouldn't have to carry the water to your fruit trees," Jack said.
"Jack."
"Yes, Daniel, you can come back to check out more on the ruins."
"Thank you." Jack smiled.
"You know what to do when it's full," Sam said.
"Yes we do, thank you."
"You're welcome."
"Ok campers. Let's go home." They said their good byes to the villagers as they walked to the ship.
"God, I miss going off world."
"At least there were no Jaffa to worry about, this time."
"True, Sam, too true." In a few minutes, they had arrived home.
They landed the ship in the gate room until a hangar could be arranged. After they all got cleaned up and had their post mission exams, Jack went to make some calls. Sam went to find a place where the ship could stay until a permanent place was found. By the time they got home, it was late. Jack thanked his Mom for looking after the children before she left to go home. Jack and Sam went to bed a few minutes later.
Over the next few days, Jack was getting a group together to go to the planet where he and SG1 had been. He spoke to the leaders of the teams and passed them the file on what been done on the planet and explained that their mission would be whatever work could be done to help them. The teams, and Daniel, left the next day for two weeks.
When the two weeks were up and they returned home, Jack sent Daniel to Abydos for three days so he could visit with his wife.
When Daniel returned he was smiling. Jack was at the bottom of the ramp waiting for him.
"By the looks of your face, you had a good time."
"Yes thanks, Jack."
"Good. Now after you have a shower and got the all clear from Doc, you can go and study your rocks."
"Jack, they're artifacts."
"I know," Jack said, smiling, as they walked out of the gate room.
Two days later, SG1 went off world once again.
Almost a month later, Sam and Jack were in the mess hall talking about Sokar and figuring they had a month to do any preparations for their next significant event.
"Jack, I've been thinking."
"That's nothing new."
"Funny, I was thinking about a bomb to blow up Sokar's moon."
"Let the Tok'ra do it."
"Jack you remember what happened the last time Tok'ra had a choice between blowing up half a planet that was full of Jaffa and Jaffa slaves or the moon."
"Yeah I remember, some of the slaves were Tok'ra."
"Yes. I was thinking of Langara. We could go there on Friday," Sam said.
"Remind me, which planet is that one?"
"Jonas Quinn's home world and that's when..."
"Now I remember... are you sure Sam?"
"Yes. They have the naquadria. I could use some of it to make up the bomb, and then the Tok'ra wouldn't have to use their supply of naquadah for the mission."
"I'll think about it."
"Ok." They talked about other things for few more minutes before returning to their own work areas.
Jack went and spoke to Daniel for few minutes about Sam's idea.
"Jack that's a good idea, plus it would give us a chance to convince them that if they build the bomb..."
"Yeah, I know... are you sure you're ok with this?"
"Yes, Jack, I am."
"I'll think about it." He walked out of Daniels lab, with his head down, deep in thought.
In their Thursday morning briefing, Jack looked at SG1. "Tomorrow you're going to PYX483."
Daniel and Sam looked at Jack and smiled. "So finish whatever you are doing today. Tomorrow you head out at 0900." He stood and walked back to his office.
The others stood and walked out of the briefing room while talking among themselves.
Author's Notes: Feed back, yes please
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]