Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 belongs to MGM Productions, Geeko Film Corp as do all of the characters who appear here or are mentioned. Highlander belongs to Panzer/Davis Productions; they are not mine and are only ‘borrowed’ for the purposes of the story.
Note: the story picks up shortly after where “Multiple Birds” left off with a little bit of interval taken into consideration.
“Going and Returning” by Karen
Amanda had been through many strange experiences in her lifetime but she had never seen anything quite like the swirling vortex of the wormhole, however she did not have leisure to study or even stand around mesmerized by the sight.
Vala and her the SG-1 team hustled her up the ramp and then through it with the sound of other voices calling out instructions.
When she stumbled and almost fell flat on her face Daniel Jackson was there to reach out a hand to steady her until she regained her balance. If he held on just a bit longer than was absolutely necessary well, she did not really mind. In the back of her mind she thought, 'even going to another planet, there are still gentlemen.'
That was her last conscious thought before her mind was preoccupied by other sensations; and just when she believed that her mind and body could simply not take it any more, simply had decided to shut down underneath the sheer tide of overwhelming and
contradictory sensations; she emerged on the other side of the gate.
Vala came over and offered her a hand up, "Don't worry, this happens to all first-timers through the Gate, or so I was reassured my first time, too. It will soon pass."
Amanda accepted the hand up and staggered to her feet. "It gets better?"
"Yeah, but if it's any comfort, I would suspect someone with your, ah, shall we say, constitution either might recover sooner, or feel it ten times worse. It's a toss-up, really."
"Very funny," Amanda replied her composure and confidence coming back now that she was certain that was not going to experience deja vu with her last meal.
"You okay," asked Daniel as he stepped over to where the two women stood.
"We're fine, Daniel," replied Vala.
Amanda regarded the pair with cool appraisal, and shrugged, whatever was going on between the two of them, or something that had occurred in the recent past, was none of her business, although she did have to admit to being intensely curious. She knew that her
presence on this mission, and the sheer fact that they hadn't tried to remove her from the base wask almost entirely due to Vala and Dr. Jackson's intervention on her behalf.
Too many secrets, too many lives at risk, not to mention her own, too risk her blabbing everything she knew about their project.
Of course there would always be the question of exactly who they were afraid she would tell about the Star Gate project.
Her first reaction when she was duly informed of the existence of life on other planets and that the Air Force, or at least this particular branch knew about it, had been to laugh in their faces. And when that did not fly, outright skeptism. It did not help that Vala had then taken it upon herself to inform them of the existence of Immortals.
“Now there's the rub," Amanda muttered under her breath. "It's like she gets a quick out of playing one man up on these military types. I can appreciate that even though she did it
at my expense. It does make me wonder why she bothered, and what I'm supposed to do about it, if anything."
Meanwhile Teal'C and Lieutenant Cameron Mitchell had fanned out around the immediate area hefting their weapons over their shoulders and were apparently checking for any possible danger, and finding none to judge by the set of their shoulders and their posture relaxed into a studied calm. "Anything? .
Mitchell shrugged and replied: "Nothing we can tell, from here. We'll need to move further into the surrounding countryside."
“According to pre-mission intel the distress signal came from these coordinates, but it's at least several hundred klicks from the position of the gate on this side," Vala added.
"Then we've got a lot of walking to do," Mitchell replied and set out. "Let's go."
Waiting for Daniel and Teal'c to gain some distance from the DHD embarkation site Amanda and Vala exchanged a significant glance and a silent raised eyebrow at the foibles of the men in their life Amanda and Vala, seeming to say without words 'can't life without them, can't life with them either.', before hurrying to catch up with the quickly diminishing upright forms moving across the grassy landscape that dipped up and down in successive waves much like the folds of a crumpled green blanket.
Scene2 Encounter
It was difficult really to not fall into a kind of waking dream, allowing her feet to take one step after another while he mind drifted. Vala, knew even before she had encountered Daniel Jackson through the medium of the Ancient mind-transfer device, that her own standing with the SG-1 team would always be on a slippery slope.
As much as she liked Daniel she was not anxious to invest too much in another relationship and risk further loss. The way her life had been going of late she really could not afford to indulge in that sort of thinking.
As they walked and that particular thought crossed her mind Vala allowed a small smile to slip out and she sidled closer to the very attractive, smart, man. He might have accused her of sending out mixed signals, but Vala really wasn’t playing any kind of keep your distance, come hither game; it was just way too much to act as if she was; it was all a matter of pushing the envelope without falling over the edge.
For his part Daniel’s reaction by both body language and the expression on his face was everything that she had been hoping for, so she stopped after a while and dropped back into her former place in the straggled line.
The light was fading fast and the sun that had beaten down on their heads through out the long walk through the seemingly uninhabited downs withdrew its warmth and light as it slipped below the tree line along the western horizon. A campsite had been chosen and
Teal’C had been elected to stand the first watch, while the rest of the team made a fire and huddled down to sleep.
Cameron, before he lay down took a good look around at their surroundings, unremitting green meadows, trees stretching out for as far as he could see in any given direction and no signs of habitation; and shook his head ruefully, wondering if maybe just maybe the intelligence data gathered from the reconnaissance robot sent through the gate prior to their departure for this world had been faulty. And if that were the case, then they might be advised to head back to the gate at first light tomorrow morning.
:
The sun of a new day had not yet risen above the tree line when Mitchell chose to strike camp. “W covered a lot of ground and we still have not found the source of the distress signal.”
“What are you thinking,” asked Daniel.
Amanda had picked up her sleeping roll and was shaking it out when she chanced to look up and across the meadows to the tree line along the horizon. At first it she dismissed what she saw as just another sunrise, albeit a very chromatic and spectacular sunrise on an alien planet; while she her mind was still attempting to wrap her head around that fact; she realized that the dark smudge marring the gradually lightening sky was actually.
“Smoke,” Daniel Jackson said so softly but startling her as came up to stand beside her that she dropped her sleeping roll to the soft spongy ground.
”Something’s burning over to the north-east,” Amanda replied a few moments later having once more regained her composure.
“I see it, too,” Daniel said. “We’d better tell Mitchell.”
“What’s going on?” Mitchell said coming over to where the two stood.
“See for yourself,” Daniel replied.
“It could be the smoke from a village,” Vala muttered. “I don’t see why everyone is making such a fuss over it.”
“Smoke from a chimney or bonfire is ragged. Smoke from a burning goes straight up.”
“I should think it was the other way around,” Vala said.
“I guess there’s only one way to find out,’ Amanda sighed. “Yay, more walking.” “Why couldn’t we have brought a horse, or something.”
“Too low-tech, they higher-ups would never have authorized it.”
“Funny,” Amanda replied, for the first time realizing that maybe this gig was not going to be either as dull or as bad as she had feared from the moment that Vala had literally roped her into coming along. She laughed and gave Daniel Jackson a comradely smack on his left shoulder, “You’d think if they were going off-world and making first contact with another civilization, they would try to as much as possible to blend in.”
Daniel could not help himself. He was still uncertain how he felt about Vala both personally and professionally as part of the SG-1 team, and now even without the knowledge of Amanda’s ‘longevity, he still was equally or even more uncertain about her, but he realized with a shock that he liked her. There was something warm and lively and spontaneous about her, that was not threatening or off-putting at all. As all this went through his head Daniel smiled and replied. “You’ve been reading too many sci-fi pulp novels.”
“Cute, very cute,’ Amanda replied, determined not to let him have the last word.
“Come on,” Mitchell said. “Let’s go.”
Scene 5: Aftermath
The acrid smell of burning wood, metal, and other less pleasant things grow stronger the closer they came to the source. Mitchell had been correct in his surmise that it was a village, or more accurately what was left of it. Amanda could not repress a shudder, both at the fate of these unknown people, but also at the sudden surge of a memory, a memory of a similar scene several centuries removed when she too had been accused of witchcraft and the entire town that she had once called home burnt to the ground in retaliation for a crime she had never even committed, nor would she have ever have dreamed of committing.
In the back of her mind she forced down the memories, the flashbacks that were insisting on making their way to the forefront of her mind and turned to face Cameron Mitchell. “This was no accident. These people were forced out of here.”
“I would tend to agreed with you. Fan out; look for survivors or even the source of the distress signal. Teal’c,. you’re with me. Vala go with Amanda and Daniel report back in a hour or so. But, remember…”
“Yeah, yeah,” Vala waved a hand in Mitchell’s general direction. “Be careful. We know. Let’s go.”
“This is the first sign of habitation that we’ve come across, and its been utterly destroyed,” Mitchell replied.
“Perhaps they were under attack and the villagers abounded it,” Teal’C remarked.
“Maybe, maybe not,” Mitchell replied. “Until we know for certain I don’t want to take any chances.”
**
Choosing to take the left while Mitchell and Teal’c went right, Vala strode down the narrow streets of the village coming within a few moments to the village square flanked on either side by the burnt out shells of what once had been a bar, and some kind of administrative center. In the center stood the ashy and cold remains of a bonfire and a chopping block, the pitted metal handle of an axe the only sign that people had once lived here.
Daniel bent down and picked up an object from the ground, turning it over and over in his hands as he examined it from all angles. “I was afraid of this.”
“What is it?” Amanda asked her curiosity about what happened overcoming her better protective instincts. The burning was at least a day or too old, and whoever or whatever had been responsible for it would likely not have lingered long to admire their handiwork; still against reason and logic, Amanda could not help feeling ‘watched’, could not help feeling that they were overlooking a vital but important element.
“You don’t think…”Vala trailed off.
“What are you two muttering about,” Amanda demanded at last, her patience wearing thin.
“Radio Cam, we need to get out of here.”
“What about looking for survivors,.” Amanda asked more out a sense of frustration than out of duty.
“I think I know who, or rather what did this,” Daniel muttered. “And if I’m correct in my surmise, then there won’t be any survivors.”
“The Ori?” Vala muttered. “Damn them!”
“What the heck are the Or?” Amanda insisted.
“Right now, they’re our biggest threat not to mention the galaxy’s biggest threat. We’ve gotta getta outta here,” Daniel answered and then dropped the object he had been holding and began to half walk and half run back in the direction they had come from tossing over his shoulder. “Vala, contact Cam, and then we need to get back to Stargate Command.”
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