jeriendhal | "A Slight Detour", Part Thirteen

One hour earlier.

"Kneel before your god, Vulpine," Altjira demanded. Daniel glanced quickly at Rufus, who didn't seem inclined to move. Indeed, the foxish alien quickly recovered form his shock, and let a small smile cross his face.

"Well, I'm sorry, old boy," he said, "But unless you've got the Holy Den Mother hidden under your robes, I think I'll just stand, thanks."

"Have you so forgotten the glory of the Varn Domination?" Altjira said with a growl.

"Oh, I haven't forgotten," Rufus answered. "Sadly, for a group of gods, you appear quite mortal."

"Ah, Rufus, you might want to speak a little more politely to this guy," Daniel advised softly.

"Oh, I'll be perfectly polite," Rufus said through bared teeth.

Altjira made a gesture, and the guards shoved Rufus and Daniel to their knees. "Who led you to this world, Vulpine?"

"Pure chance, believe me," Rufus said, "We just needed a place to set down for a few hours."

"Do not think you may mock me and be unpunished." The Varn, or whatever he was raised his arm, and Daniel caught a glimpse of a Gou'ald hand device. A yellow energy beam shot from it and struck Rufus full in the chest, and the Vulpine let out a scream as he began to glow from an inner fire. Altjira dropped his hand, and Rufus fell to the floor beside Daniel.

"Polite… yes…" Rufus muttered weakly.

"He's telling the truth," Daniel said quickly, before Altjira could strike again, "they're ship was damaged from an internal explosion, and they set down for repairs."

"At the same time the most meddlesome of the Tau'ri warriors come to this world as well?" Altjira asked mockingly. "Do not test my patience." He raised his hand device once again and another blast struck Rufus. The Vulpine's scream was cut off as he mercifully dropped unconscious.

"It's the truth!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Your lies are of no consequence. With what we have discovered here, soon the Tau'ri will be totally defenseless against the combined might of the Gou'ald and Varn empires."

"Uh, yeah, about that. What the heck happened to this planet anyway? I assume it and the Gate are supposed to be in our universe, not this one. Unless the Ancients are even smarter than we think they are." Three cheers for Gou'ald egos, Daniel thought, he needs to talk about his marvelous plans for universal conquest to a fresh audience.

"I was assigned to this world by Lord Anubis, and instructed to study the Ancient ruins and any devices which I found. We were fortunate in discovering the remains of a quantum mirror."

"Which you naturally attempted to use, before showing it to Anubis," Daniel said carefully. I do not like where this conversation is going.

"In attempting to repair the device, it was necessary to provide an alternate power source. Rather than disable my ship's systems, I merely borrowed crystals from the local Stargate."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, we found that out."

"This proved to exceed the mirror's need for power. The results were… unexpected."

"Instead of transporting yourself, you managed to move the entire planet to a new universe," Daniel concluded. "The only connection left to or home universe is through the Stargate, maybe."

The Varn/Gou'ald smiled. "Precisely. And now we have an entirely new universe to conquer."

"You have to get off this world first," Daniel noted, "As it turns out, the laws of physics work a bit differently here. A standard hyperdrive won't do you any good." His face froze, and it was all he could do not to kick himself. What did I just say about egos?

"Yes," Altjira said menacingly, "and now your Vulpine friend and his allies have provided us with the means."

TBC