jeriendhal | "A Slight Detour", Part Fourteen

"Stay here, Terinu," Teal'c said, when they were within a half a klick of Lance and the Colonel's reported position, "I'll will scout ahead and determine the situation."

"Frell that," Terinu shot back. "I'm going with you. I don't have a comm that's compatible with yours. How am I supposed to know if you get into trouble?"

"You will hear sounds of weapons discharging," Teal'c replied. "I do not doubt your bravery, but you are young. Should we be attacked I cannot both protect you and rescue our friends."

Terinu's tail twitched in anger. "I've had to watch out for myself since I was eight. This'll be nothin' new."

The big Jaffa considered this for moment, then nodded reluctantly. "I understand. But please, I ask that you remain under cover at all times, unless it is absolutely necessary for you to reveal yourself."

"Don't worry about me. Ever." Terinu hopped up into the trees and kept pace with Teal'c as the Jaffa crept slowly through the underbrush, silently scouting out the situation. Terinu was the first to see green-scaled Galapados warriors surrounding Lance and the Colonel, but Teal'c wasn't that much behind him. The Jaffa backed away, and motioned him to drop out of the trees when they were at a safe distance.

"I do not recognize the race that have captured them," Teal'c admitted, "Are you familiar with them?"

"Galapados warriors," Terinu explained. "They were created by this Varn who calls himself the Genemage. They're big and tough, and at least a couple are smarter than they look."

"I see," Teal'c said. "Does this mean the Varn themselves may be on this planet?"

"I don't think so. I've only seen one in person once," Terinu grabbed his tail before it could give away his emotions with a frightened twitch. "Most of the time they like to show up as holograms when they want to give orders. They ain't big on being at the front lines of things."

"That may be an advantage. Ready your weapon." Teal'c headed towards the clearing where Lance and the Colonel were being guarded, while Terinu took the high position in the trees once again, the strange serpent shaped weapon in his hand.

He never actually saw Teal'c pull out the second zat from underneath his vest. The first warned the Galapados warriors had was when the first shot dropped Gisko to the ground. Terinu fired his own weapon, dropping two while Teal'c took care of the rest. The fight, if you could have called it that, was over in less than ten seconds.

Terinu dropped out of the trees as Teal'c emerged from cover to greet the Colonel and Lance.

"Nice timing there, Teal'c," O'Neill said, picked up his weapons from one of the Galapados.

"I had the aid of Terinu," Teal'c replied modestly. "He was the one who recognized that you were both speaking under duress, and provided intelligence on our adversaries' capabilities. He also fought well when we ambushed your captors."

Terinu felt himself bristle. Why the frell was Teal'c buttering up the Colonel like that? "We spotted 'em first and dropped 'em like tunnel rats. There wasn't anything to it." He chucked his zat back to Teal'c. "Here, you can have your peashooter back."

The Jaffa gave him a sharp look and replaced the first zat into his holster. "Are either of you injured?"

"Nope," Lance answered, after dusting himself off. "Gisko wanted to chat, not shoot. It looks they got ambushed by these Gou'ald too. We didn't get a chance to get anything more out of them though."

"Looks more like they were going to get something out of you, Freeman" Terinu gibed. "How much did you give away to them anyway?"

"Nothing, you little thief," Lance shot back, "How much have you managed to steal off your buddy here while you were out on walkabout?"

"Hey! Save it you two!" O'Neill shouted. "How about we secure our prisoners and then start insulting each other? Teal'c, you got some zip ties on you?"

By the time they'd secured Gisko and his soldiers, the Galapados general was just beginning to wake up from his zat induced nap. He looked around at his captured warriors, and let out a pained moan. "No, I have been defeated," he said softly. "I have failed my god."

Terinu looked over at Lance, who looked back and shrugged. It sure didn't sound like the usual confident Galapados who had successfully captured him and handed him over to the Genemage.

"Ah, win some, lose some, General," Lance said cheerily. "Or in your case, lose Terinu, lose your cloning plant, lose your Crust Breaker…"

"Do not mock me further, Lt. Freeman," Gisko hissed. "I am painfully aware of my tactical failures during our confrontations. Kill me now, and let me at least die before another Varn might confront me over my treachery towards my god."

"Huh?" Terinu blinked. Gisko turned traitor? Was that even possible?

"Oh?" O'Neill said, looking considerably more cheerful himself. "Well, if you want to start a little independence movement, trust me, you're in the company of an expert." The Colonel patted Teal'c's shoulder cheerfully.

"You—" Gisko hissed something untranslatable, but to Terinu it sounded really obscene. "I did not desire to go against the Genemage's wishes, but what else was I to do when the worm ate into his brain?"

"Worm?" Lance looked confused, his usual expression, the young Ferin thought.

O'Neill looked alarmed. "A thing about as long as my arm, with nasty teeth and little flaps around its head?" he asked.

"Yesss," Gisko hissed. "A routine patrol discovered this world, where none had been previously recorded. My master was sufficiently intrigued that he chose to personally investigate the phenomenon. My warriors and I of course accompanied him as his bodyguard. My master's technical servitors scanned the world, and found a large, pyramid shaped artificial structure buried in the strata nearby."

"Most likely a Ha'tak mothership," Teal'c observed. "It is unusual for the Gou'ald to attempt to hide their vessels, but perhaps Anubis found something of such value that they wished to avoid the attention of the few remaining independent System Lords."

"Gou'ald," Gisko said slowly, "so my enemy has a name." He straightened up as best he could, looking a little more dignified. "We scouted out the structure, and found it inhabited by many humans, of a type we had not encountered before. One of my squads was temporarily out of communication for a few minutes, but otherwise the scouting mission was successful, and we exfiltrated the structure and returned to our encampment." He shook his head. "The leader of my second squad was a trusted lieutenant. I had no suspicions that anything was wrong until it was too late."

"Wild guess here," O'Neill said, "your 'Master' started acting kinda funny after chatting with your lieutenant."

Gisko growled at the Colonel's flip tone. "The Genemage became… easily agitated… At first I thought that I had failed in him in some manner, but I could think of nothing that I could have done to rate the irritation he was displaying towards me. Even after the disaster that occurred during our assault on the Creo asteroids, he forgave me for my lapses and praised me for my bravery."

"Darn, I was shooting for you to get hooked up to the Crust Breaker like the Genemage did to Terinu," Lance said.

The Galapados warrior ignored the insult and continued. "I discovered the truth when the human warriors from the hidden structure arrived at our encampment. Rather than order the base defenses activated, the Genemage welcomed them inside. Then he ordered me to meet with himself and the leader of the human warriors in his private chambers. There were three of the strange warriors there, and three of my own Galapados. At the Genemage's order they seized me, and brought forth one of the worms from a container. The Genemage's eyes glowed yellow, in a manner I had never seen before, and he told me that I would now bow down to my true god, Lord Altjira."

"Altjira?" Lance asked, looking surprised. "That sounds like the name of one of the native Australian gods. The lord of the Dreamtime and provider of tools."

"Geez, is there any human religion the Gou'ald didn't infiltrate?" O'Neill said to no one in particular.

"I care nothing for Human heresies," Gisko hissed, "All that I know is that whatever being stood before me now, it was not my god the Genemage. Before the worm could enter me, I tore free of the grip of my subverted soldiers, and made my escape. I hid in the base until I could locate the few remaining Warriors that had not been subverted, and together we disabled our landing craft and escaped into the forest. We have been avoiding their patrols ever since."

Terinu laughed. "So your god the Genemage thinks he's some other god? What difference does that make?"

"It is extremely serious, Terinu," Teal'c said. "It is possible that Anubis, through this Lord Altjira, will attempt to infiltrate the Varn Domination. That would mean the Gou'ald would have an entirely new universe to conquer. One that is not prepared to face their unique threat."

"That still doesn't explain why this planet is in our universe in the first place," Lance pointed out. "Did the Genemage find out anything before he got taken over?"

"If he did, he did not see fit to inform me," Gisko admitted. "For now, I must find some way to contact one of my Master's fellow gods, and tell them of this new threat. Perhaps they would even know a way to free him on the worm."

O'Neill glanced at Teal'c, who nodded back. Then the Colonel turned to Lance and asked, "You think we can trust this guy if we free him?"

"That's not my first choice," Lance admitted, "But this situation is sounding more serious all the time. If we don't give them back their weapons, we should be all right." Leeza's cousin kneeled down in front of Gisko. "Okay, General. For now, it looks like we've got the same enemy to worry about. Altijira, or whoever he says he is, has got a couple of our people too. If we give you and your men parole, and help us free them, we'll help you do whatever is necessary to stop the Gou'ald from running amuck, and maybe even free the Genemage."

Gisko's mouth opened for a moment, and he ran a forked tongue over his teeth, considering Lance's offer. Terinu stepped on his own tail to keep it from twitching in anger. Who the hell did Lance think he was to start cutting deals with the Genemage's goons? They could free Rufus and the other guy themselves, without any help!

"Agreed, Lt. Freeman," Gisko said. "On my word of honor, my warriors and myself will work with you to free your companions, and you will aid us to free my subverted warriors and the Genemage."

"Right," O'Neill said. "Teal'c, help me cut them loose." He pulled out a knife and ducked down to cut the plastics handcuffs securing Gisko. A red bolt of energy crossed the space where he had been standing the second before, and blasted the tree behind him to splinters.

Terinu leaped up into the air in surprise, grabbing hold of a branch with his tail. Below, a squad Jaffa emerged from the tree line, firing their staff weapons. Beside them were a new set of fighters, dressed in glossy black battle armor with built –in weapons on their arms.

"Drones!!" O'Neill shouted, pulling Lance out of the way as the enemy began firing in earnest. "Everybody grab some cover!"