"Lots of interesting nebulous things going on?" "Yes Sir." "I don't see squat." "You wouldn't Sir, during the day." "When the local suns sets and it gets dark, you can actually see a luminous layer of ionised gas around the dying core expanding." "Fascinating." "You don't care." "Hey, I like gas as much as the next guy." "Five hours to darkness, Sir." "Okay." "Carter?" "Yes Sir?" "We've never been to this planet before have we?" "We meaning humans from Earth." "No Sir, why?" "Colonel." "Major." "You have to see this." "Okay." "You'll have to let us know where you are." "Right." "Head east." "Incredible, isn't it?" "That had to hurt." "Teal'c, what you got here?" "I am unfamiliar with this type of vessel, O'Neill." "It is not Goa'uld." "It's not Asgard or Tollan either." "Some of these markings resemble ancient Celtic." "Hello!" "Looks like there were no survivors." "Actually there were three of us." "Now what?" "You tell me." "We're peaceful explorers, okay?" "We didn't come here to harm anybody." "Unless otherwise provoked." "I'm Aiden Corso." "Captain of the Sebrus." "This is my First Officer, Tanis Reynard and navigator Lyall Pender." "Colonel Jack O'Neill, US Air Force." "Teal'c, Major Carter, Jonas Quinn." "We're from a planet called Earth." "Never heard of it." "It's..." "Nice." "It's nice." "I'm sure it is." "Sorry for the less than warm welcome but you kinda snuck up on us." "We didn't hear your ship land." "No, you wouldn't." "How long have you been here?" "Too long." "Rough landing." "It's not as bad as it looks." "We were on our way to relieve an off world mineral extraction team when an asteroid storm blew us right off course." "Fuel line got messed up in the crash and all the reserves leaked out before we knew what was happening." "You wouldn't happen to have a whole load of extra fuel in your ship would you?" "Not exactly." "I think the engines are okay we just don't have enough power in the batteries to fire them up." "All we have access to is a few auxiliary systems." "Communications?" "First thing to get hit in the storm." "Couldn't even get a distress signal off." "What's frustrating is that our home planet Hebradon must be close." "We could plot a course if you could take three passengers." "That might be a problem." "We did not travel to this world by vessel." "We came through the Stargate." "Excuse me?" "Big O?" "Decent walk that way." "We didn't know what that was." "A transportation device." "That explains a few things." "I take it you don't have one where you come from?" "Not that I know of." "Really no ship?" "No ship." "How does this Stargate work exactly?" "Well basically each Gate has an address based on its home planet" "That address..." "Carter, Teal'c." "Excuse us a moment." "Any suggestions?" "We could offer them sanctuary on Earth." "Or we could fix their ship." "I'm just saying it's possible." "If all they need is fuel then maybe we can find an Earth equivalent." "I may be able to recharge their batteries using a Naqahdah generator." "I'd have to take a look at their technology." "And why would we do this?" "So I can take a look at their technology." "They seem to have space flight capabilities beyond our own..." "And maybe they'd be grateful." "Who knows what else they may have to offer." "OK." "We charge by the hour, no flat rate for these kids." "The Celts were formidable warriors in their time." "Their descendants may make valuable allies." "You've seen Braveheart too often." "But that doesn't mean we aren't going to help you folks out." "Carter has to have a closer look at your ship." "Worse case scenario, you end up on Earth." "Thank you, we'd like to see your world and learn more about the Stargate." "If you could get our ship going, our first priority would be to get home." "Let's take a look." "T?" "I do not know O'Neill." "Keep me posted." "Indeed." "What can you tell me?" "Not as much as my chief engineer could." "He's dead." "But I'll do my best." "Still?" "There is something out there O'Neill." "Move!" "Move!" "Drop low." "They're gone." "He is dead O'Neill." "What the hell was that all about?" "These guys have been hunting us from the moment we crashed." "With your own weapon?" "Captain?" "Colonel, I'm sorry I didn't warn you about that sooner." "It's been so long since they attacked, we started to think we were free and clear." "Who the heck are they?" "We don't know." "They've killed five of my crew members since we crashed." "Skinned `em alive and hung `em up in the trees." "Whoever or whatever they are, they're savages." "Where are they from?" "Don't know." "There's no civilisation on this planet as far as we can tell." "We haven't seen any ships either." "Now that we know the Stargate is a transportation device,... they must be coming through that." "Sir, she's in need of medical attention." "All right, let's all get back to Earth then." "Colonel, if you can do something to help her, please do it." "But I'm staying with my ship." "From what you've said, it's still our best chance to get back to our home planet." "and I'm not giving it up to these things, not after that they did to my crew." "Besides, defences should be able to keep them at bay." "Yeah that was kind of annoying." "We should be able to defend this position until your people have chance to fix the ship." "All right, Carter, Jonas, get her back to the Gate, we'll watch your six." "We'll be back." "Thank you." "Their home planet is called Hebradan." "By the sounds of it, their ancestors might have come from somewhere near the Outer Hebrides Islands off the coast of Scotland." "Based on its position in space, I've determined that it doesn't have a Gate." "At least one that we're aware of." "Then how did a society of humans evolve there?" "It's possible the Goa'uld kept a Gate there as long as it suited them and then took it with them when they left." "The real mystery is how their society managed to advance so far beyond Earth's level of technology." "These engines are way ahead of anything we could build." "They use liquid nitrogen to fuel an ion propulsion system." "Personally I can't wait to see how they generate..." "Your evaluation of these people Major?" "Cautiously optimistic, Sir." "Can you fix it?" "If I can recharge their batteries using the Naqahdah generator... and there are no other system problems resulting from the crash then.." "Take whatever you need." "Thank you, sir." "And SG15." "Yes Sir." "Got a name for these guys?" "Nothing polite." "What kind of weapons were they using before they got yours?" "Don't know." "Nobody survived the first attack and ever since then they've been using ours." "Must like `em better." "How many could they have?" "Eight or nine." "They travel in pairs?" "Scouting party." "Probably trying to test your fire power." "Which isn't very accurate." "I was trying to wound him." "Well the one who got away I'm sure is reporting to his friends right now." "Yeah, so you say." "Believe me Colonel, they come back, they'll come back in force." "Sir." "Hammond sent SG15 as back up." "We have the Gate covered, Sir." "Good." "We have an unknown number of armed and apparently hostile aliens in the area." "We got your back Colonel." "Sir, I brought some equipment back to fix the ship but I'll need help to get it there." "Indeed." "How are you?" "Hey." "Fine." "At least they stopped the bleeding." "Painkillers aren't bad either." "Should be up and around pretty quick." "Good." "I guess I owe you." "Not a bit." "So, looking forward to seeing anybody when you get back?" "I hate to sound like a hopeless case but my parents died when I was young... and I've been serving with Captain Corso since I graduated flight school ten years ago." "He and Pender, they're like my family." "Especially all we've been through." "So, tell me more about the Stargate." "How does it work exactly?" "Basically it uses a dimension outside of our known time and space... that we call subspace and creates a wormhole that is like a tunnel between two connecting Gates." "And how many Stargates are there?" "There's a lot of them." "And there are other humans out there like us?" "Oh yeah, yeah." "Some primitive, some advanced, some non humans as you're already aware of, some are good, some are bad, some are very bad, but all in all it is pretty amazing." "Yeah." "Sounds like it." "No engine diagnostics." "No life support status." "We've been running the auxiliary weapons systems directly off the battery, but without a computer we don't know how much power we have left." "So the first thing we need to do is give you a boost so we can get your computer back online." "Then we can give you a full diagnostic." "Any idea how we can interface our power source with your system?" "I'll show you the engine room." "You know, my form is more telling people what to do." "fly this way, fix that, don't crash." "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't." "This is the main power coupling." "Well this will do the trick." "We'll have to jerry rig something but it should work." "Amazing." "For a supposedly less advanced human you're pretty comfortable with our technology." "Well you're in luck." "I have a little more experience with this type of thing than most people on my planet." "Besides all we're really doing is plugging your ship into my battery." "Whatever you say." "That didn't sound very good did it?" "So let me get this straight here, Major, you're an officer in your home worlds military, you're a scientist, an explorer and apparently you're a pretty fair mechanic." "And I make a mean soufflé." "Sorry." "Oh, it's something you eat." "It's very difficult to make." "Ah, well add to that list, funny, charming and beautiful." "I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you." "See rule number one when you're stranded on an alien planet and someone offers to fix your ship, flatter them profusely." "Pass me that." "Yeah." "Thank you." "And continue at will." "Colonel O'Neill doesn't trust us, does he?" "Well trust is something you have to earn with us." "Colonel O'Neill is less concerned with showing distrust." "So why are you helping us?" "Well it's the only way you make new friends." "Take a chance on someone and hope they don't make you regret it." "Don't move." "Hey!" "Take it easy." "We can't let it get away." "I was thinking of taking it alive." "Why would you do that?" "Because that's how you gain Intel on an enemy you know little about!" "I know all I need to know, Colonel." "Those things get a hold of you or one of your friends, you will too." "Dammit." "Teal'c." "Carter." "Yes sir?" "We spotted one of the aliens, we're going after it." "Roger that, sir." "You're safe here." "We're secure inside the ship Sir." "O'Neill out." "Don't get your hopes up;" "this is as far as I'm going." "You know, I've been stuck on this rock with a novice navigator and a grumpy first officer who doesn't like men." "But I will attempt to control myself." "Mind if I have a look?" "It's interesting; it's not like your other one." "It's a little less lethal." "It's not Earth made." "One shot stuns, two shots kill." "So do you have anyone special back home on Earth?" "Nothing I'd care to discuss." "All right, that's a little too interesting for me to let go." "How about you choose a topic?" "Colonel, we can cover more ground separately." "Teal'c gave me one of these, we can stay in contact." "All right." "Not too far." "General." "I was in the area." "Is there anything more?" "I was just looking for some reference on the name of the ship." "There's a slightly different spelling but basically the same." "Is it significant?" "I'm not sure." "At 0625 hours there was a security breach in the main computer system." "Someone tried to gain access from a remote terminal in the infirmary." "You think Reynard tried to hack into it?" "Do you believe she's capable?" "I don't know." "It's possible." "Well I'm on my way to question her about it." "Yes sir." "General?" "If you don't mind, I have another idea." "A little home away from home here." "If the hunters used the Stargate, why set up camp here?" "That's a pretty fair question." "You also do not believe the Hebradans story?" "That alien I caught sneaking around was just about to tell me something when Pender shot him." "These appear to have come from the Sebrus." "Yeah." "Colonel, I got him." "Pender!" "Pender, I said alive." "Where is he?" "HE was right there." "You said you had him." "I did." "I had to have hit him." "T, what have you got?" "I believe it is blood, O'Neill." "Told you." "There's a connection dislodged back here." "You got it, really?" "Hah." "Only one way to find out." "Yeah." "Unbelievable." "Okay, Captain, how do we boot up the system?" "Call me Aiden." "OK." "You know, I've been saving this for a special occasion, we haven't had that many around here." "No thanks." "Come on." "No, I can't really." "I'm on duty." "All right, then I'll have one for both if us." "To friendship." "And to you, Major." "You can call me Sam, that's my first name." "Sam." "It's pretty." "Not really." "It's short for Samantha." "Even prettier." "What does it mean?" "Samantha?" "My father wanted a boy." "What about you, does your name mean anything?" "I was named for my Uncle Aiden who died swimming drunk across a river on a dare." "And Corso, my family name means `smells like a dead bird' in Ancient Hebridian." "Yeah, we're a real high class family." "Well I'm sure they'll be overjoyed to see you again." "Probably not." "I've been stuck on this planet for a long time now, dreaming about getting off of it, now suddenly I don't want to leave." "Well we'll stay in touch." "I'm sure." "You'll want to know about all the things we have that you don't." "You don't have to make it sound like that." "Like what?" "I don't know, cheap." "Like that's not the only reason you're helping us." "It isn't." "You know, Sam." "I've never met anyone like you before." "Aiden." "Right." "You should remain professional." "Major." "This place is amazing." "You holding up okay because we could go back to the infirmary..." "I'm fine." "And this is where I do my work." "Sorry about the clutter." "Just cataloguing some artefacts we found on P4X 131." "It's an alpha numeric designation we assign to the different planets we go to." "They're beautiful." "Gold." "Love this stuff." "Tell you something, the galaxy is full of it." "Sorry." "It's okay, I don't think that any of its broken." "Just caught me off guard." "Thought it was obvious." "No.What?" "Huh?" "How much I wanted to kiss you since we first met." "That." "Oh right." "That's kind of obvious." "Look I'm really sorry." "If you don't find me attractive..." "No, look, hey you're attractive." "I just, I don't know, we just met and you're injured and the thought never really crossed my mind." "I hope you don't think this is some kind of saviour complex." "You know, I fall for the guy who saved my life because..." "I thought you were very cute way before that shot." "Are you supposed to do something about that?" "Oh yeah, right, right." "Jonas." "Yes sure, I'll be right there." "It was General Hammond." "He wants to see me so if you're going to be okay alone here for a few minutes." "Sure, my two friends are just out in the hall there." "So we'll talk more later." "OK." "Okay, let's try a full reboot." "Ship Sebrus requesting assistance." "We have been hit by an asteroid... thrown off course." "Repeat, prison transport Sebrus requesting assistance." "Repeat, prison transport Sebrus requesting assistance." "Crap." "Pender." "Pender, this is O'Neill." "I told you to stay in visual range." "Pender, respond." "All right, let's not lose our heads here." "I mean you no harm." "You're pointing that thing at my friends head." "Please don't shoot me." "Whatever you've been told, it is a lie." "Is that true?" "I am Warwick." "I am the Captain of the Sebrus." "Hands where I can see them." "Sam." "Call me Major." "Sam." "Hands where I can see them." "It's not what you think." "What do I think?" "Actually I don't know." "This ship is a prison transport." "Yeah, that's right." "Sit down." "Tie up your legs." "I'm sorry that I lied to you but I just couldn't tell you the truth." "Why not?" "Because I'm the reason we're here." "I don't understand." "Hands behind your back." "I allowed the prisoners to gain control of the ship." "When the storm hit us, the life support went out in the cells." "They were gonna die." "The prisoners?" "Those aliens, they didn't come through the Stargate, they came here with us." "They were our prisoners." "Prisoners of war." "Your planet's at war with them?" "I let them go." "We crashed before they could kill us all." "It's the honest to goodness truth Sam." "I was just too embarrassed to say I let that happen." "We might have weathered that storm if I'd have let them die." "You have to believe me." "Where's my radio?" "Sam." "Please hear my side of the story before you kill me." "We're not gonna kill you." "You shot my first officer." "I was just trying to wound him." "And as I recall, you started things." "We thought we had no choice." "We had to stop them from enlisting your help." "And who are they according to you?" "Escaped prisoners." "The Sebrus was a prison transport vessel." "Three years ago my crew and I were transporting Aiden Corso and two of his accomplices to a prison colony." "We hit an asteroid storm and began to lose power." "Our only hope of survival was to set down on this planet." "And then?" "We had no choice but to take them out of transport stasis." "The ship had insufficient power to sustain their lives." "How many were there.. of you?" "My crew was eight." "Including myself." "We watched them in shifts." "My first officer and I were looking ...for food and water when they overpowered the men guarding them and killed them in cold blood." "Corso then took over the ship and used its defences against us." "We tried many times to retake the Sebrus but recently we were just lucky to stay alive." "They hunted us like wild animals." "You must believe me." "They are the worst Hebradan has to offer." "No matter what, they must not be allowed to go free." "Who's that?" "My wife." "Your wife?" "Athea." "My kind, the Zeraken, helped liberate the Hebradans from the Goa'uld thousands of years ago." "It was your people that brought them advanced technology." "Since then we have lived in harmony." "With few exceptions." "Colonel, this is Carter." "Come in." "Yeah, go." "Sir, I've got everything under control but we need to talk." "In person." "Tell me about it." "Stay put." "We're on our way." "Carter out." "My thoughts exactly." "Major Pierce this is General Hammond." "Read you loud and clear, Sir." "I want you to hold your fire." "Jonas Quinn and a guest are en route." "Roger that." "Colonel O'Neill, come in Sir." "Jonas and Reynard have arrived back from Earth." "Must be out of range." "I think they're onto us." "Yeah, starting to get that feeling." "Reynard and Jonas are on their way back." "Yeah, where's Carter?" "Outside unconscious." "I take it she didn't buy your story?" "Yeah, she's too smart." "Had to keep trying anyway huh?" "Yeah, I tell you it's in my blood." "She fixed the ship though." "It'll fly." "Fire it up." "Carter!" "We're going home." "Really?" "Pender's warming up the ship now." "You might want to reconsider that." "Forget what we stashed on Hebradan, it's nothing compared to what's through that Stargate." "What do you mean?" "I mean, going back is not worth the risk of getting caught." "Not when there are riches out there beyond our wildest dreams." "Come on, I've learned enough to get us a good head start." "They've got the Stargate covered." "And we have hostages." "It's a trap." "No doubt they have armed the ship." "We can't leave her down there." "How do we disengage the ships defences?" "It can only be done from inside." "Cover me Teal'c." "Indeed." "I know how to disarm the defences." "I will go." "We'll watch your back." "They have Jonas Sir." "They're gonna try and escape through the Stargate." "You all right?" "A little groggy Sir." "I will stay with her O'Neill." "Hey there guys." "Why don't you put those weapons down?" "You best do that now or he dies." "All we need to do is dial up the Gate and go through." "No one needs to get hurt all right." "Yeah, sure." "Whatever you say." "That's right, whatever I say." "Reynard?" "You get that address from my lab?" "Yeah." "And everything else you said is..." "Not everything." "You are cute." "All right let's go." "All right that's far enough." "Don't come any closer." "Back off or I'll kill him." "Colonel, just let them go." "Nobody's going anywhere." "Really?" "I'll be fine." "It's not worth the risk." "Let 'em go." "Sir?" "Let `em go." "Wise choice." "Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to Earth." "You planted the address?" "Call it intuition." "Well done." "Thank you Sir." "Everybody locked up okay?" "They're all in transport stasis." "Mr Quinn, I never did ask you how you figured out who Reynard really was." "Just a feeling really." "Although I did come across something interesting while I was researching the name of your ship." "There was another ship built by the descendents of the Ancient Celts on Earth." "It was called the Ceberus." "Coincidentally it was designed specifically to transport convicts to a penal colony." "The names were so similar I thought maybe there was some significance in Celtic history and uh..." "The meaning of the word never changed." "Incredible." "Well that and I've always been suspicious of a girl who kisses on the first date." "What?" "Colonel." "I want to thank you for everything that you have done but mostly for trusting me." "It's my pleasure." "timing: johnnyha@wp.pl"