Reaching for the Stars - A Stargate Quest

The air was tense as you sat there in the meeting room, the leaders of the SG-Teams coming in one by one. Meanwhile, Dr. Jackson was going over his notes again and again. You were still not quite sure what to think of him. He very clearly had some issues with the military, but he was diligent in his work. And fast. Captain Fraiser was not at all happy with yanking the Jaffa out of the medical coma, but she was not quite as angry anymore when they were already done after only four hours.

Now all you could do was to hope that the archaeologist knew to ask the right questions and that this Teal'c was providing you accurate information. Besides the question of his loyalty, there was now also the question if his knowledge was out of date. It was likely still better than going blind and you were short on alternatives. Or it could get all three teams ambushed and killed, because they relied too much on faulty intel. You truly did not know to properly appreciate aerial and satellite recon until you had to do without like some Napoleonic general.

"Alright," Dr. Jackson began as everyone had been seated. O'Neill and Ferretti were sitting together on one side of the table, while Sergeant Yi was trying not to fidget in his seat on the other side. "Quite a bit different from my usual audience," he joked with a nervous laugh as behind him, the display was showing a rough map.


"I have talked with Teal'c and together we drew up a rough map of the planet, which Master Sergeant Harriman kindly helped me to… militarify. As you can see, the climate near the Stargate on Chulak is temperate to cool and the landscape is dominated by hills and forests that rise into steep mountains to the north. There are two clusters of agrarian villages, populated entirely by Jaffa, east and north of the gate and a large city to the north-east near the mountains that is predominantly populated by Jaffa and a smaller number of human slaves."

"When you say Jaffa, does that mean they are all soldiers?" Sergeant Yi asked with a worried tone.

"Not quite. Culturally, all Jaffa are warriors, but these are non-combatants. Older Jaffa. Women. Children. They are…" Dr. Jackson visibly wrestled with himself before spitting out the next words. "The Goa'uld see them as breeding stock. The able bodied and skilled Jaffa are drafted into Apophis armies and the rest stays behind to ensure the next generation grows up and is trained. I can't say how they will react if they spot you, but only the patrols will be armed."

"Speaking of," O'Neill got up and pointed to one of the map symbols. "Did Harriman make a mistake or is that supposed to be cavalry?" Dr. Jackson nodded with a serious look. "On horses." Another nod.

"I'm… not sure why this is weird. Teal'c seemed to think that is normal."

"We haven't been using a lot of horses in warfare for a while now Dr. Jackson," you cut in while the Major was getting back to his seat. "Seeing no gate guards, but cavalry formations is quite a bit different than what everyone here expected."

"Actually, those things are connected. Teal'c mentioned that Ra decreed at some point in the past that slaves and Jaffa should not be allowed to use Stargates on their own and that they should be moved out of settlements to ensure this is adhered to. Probably a response to the revolt on Earth and Abydos, which might have spread to other cities too. So, the Goa'uld started placing the gates on open ground and have some guards nearby that can either capture people arriving on the world or call in orbital bombardment."

"Is that a risk for this mission?" You were already mulling over the political cost of cancelling this. It was high, but not as high as having to rebuild the SG teams from the ground up.

"There are some Death Gliders stationed at a base in the north, but most of Chulaks Jaffa and the Mothership usually protecting the planet are on a campaign against another Goa'uld named Heru'ur. They are still fighting over Ra's territory."

"I guess we could hide in the forests from those, but…" Major O'Neill turned to you. "The bureaucracy still churning over those MANPADS, Sir?"

"You will be properly equipped for this, Major. It will take another week at least before we officially can buy any Stingers, but the quartermaster will notice a strange error with our supply shipment in about two hours."

"Very unfortunate, Sir."

"Carry on, Dr. Jackson," you called out to bring things back on track. "What do you know about the Air Force personell."

"Well, things are complicated there. They were originally captured to potentially serve as hosts for adult Goa'ulds, but as far as he knows, none of them were chosen. The surviving prisoners were then brought to a stone quarry at the northern edge of the city as workers. Maybe they are still there. Maybe not." He pointed towards the yellow markers around the city. "A few days before he and Apophis fought at Abydos, Teal'c was informed that some slaves had overwhelmed a few guards and escaped from the quarry."

"That's been weeks ago," Feretti cut in. "By now they could be anywhere. Or were already captured again."

"I can't say more about that," Jackson apologized. "Teal'c pointed out three locations where they could conceivably hide for longer. The mountains west of the city, the deep forests to the east and the central stretch of heavily forested hills between the gate and the city. According to him, they would have fresh water and enough room to hide from the patrols sent to capture them. You all know better than me if this could work. If they were captured, they were either sent back to the quarry or…"

The room fell silent at the implication, but you didn't give it time to linger. "We knew that it might already be too late for them, but so far, we only have conjecture. They might be holding out in the forests and just waiting for rescue. Proposals?"

At once, O'Neill was back up and began pointing at the map. "The most straightforward option would be to go over at night, head straight to the forests and then try to either track the escaped slaves or try to recon the city. Maybe cross the river to check out the quarry if we can. If we pack heavy, we can hold out a few days and wait for a good opportunity. We got a massive advantage through our night-vision gear and can easily lose them in rough terrain or make it back home by going for the gate at night. As long as we stick together, we can easily overwhelm their patrols in an emergency."

"Or you get stuck again," Sergeant Yi spoke up deadpan. "Sir. Sorry."

"He got you there, Jack." Ferretti laughed while O'Neill was silently mouthing the word 'traitors' while clutching his chest. "Better to spread out a bit. Keep one team near the gate that can make a run for it in an emergency to get whatever backup General Harrison can scrounge up to bail us out. If we split up into individual teams we can cover more ground and are less obvious. Could even try to send out Jackson to talk with the locals. It's likely they noticed something happening and saves us from having to comb the wilderness for something that might not even be there."

"That…" Dr. Jackson looked more than slightly nervous, before nodding with a defeated look. "This is what I signed up for, I guess. Yeah. We could do that. I think I can pass for a native with slightly weird accent."

"If we are worried about being found, why not try a diversion?" Yi spoke up again, the words tumbling out faster than he meant them to. "Take a stand at the gate while one team makes for the forests and then 'flee' when reinforcements arrive. They won't notice the team that stays on Chulak at night and it can stay hidden for much longer than three teams together."

"Long term operations behind enemy lines are risky business, Sergeant. Take it from someone who knows what he is talking about." O'Neil was uncharacteristically grave as he spoke, but you did notice that he did not directly argue against Yi's proposal. "That team would be on their own and odds for successfully calling for backup are slim if we move far from the gate, even if both other teams are on stand-by."

"General?" The Major turned to you. "I think you can take this as our recommendations. What are your orders?"

[] Go with O'Neill's proposal. The teams move as one through the central forest and will try to find signs of the escaped slaves or to cross the river to scout the quarry.

[] Take Ferreti's suggestion. The teams will split up and hide in the forests to observe enemy movements while SG-1 and Dr. Jackson try to learn more information from the civilian population.

[] Try Yi's idea. SG-1 will make a dash for the forest while SG-2 and SG-3 will engage Jaffa patrols and reinforcements at the gate before falling back to Earth. SG-1 will be on their own from there on out.

[] You have your own plan: Write-In

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AN: I've been rolling for events on Chulak every turn and Teal'c could only deliver you intel that was up to date as of the end of Turn 1, so there's a lot that you will have to figure out by your own recon.