Colonel O'Neill quickly raised his weapon to point at the woman with the sword. She had reached out and touched his team mate without warning. However, she quickly stepped back and said something.
"Wait, do not attack me!" Tamil said to the stranger who had been trying to communicate with her. He gave her a surprised look and said something back to her. Now that she had a good look at him, she could see that he was not much older than she and wore an odd pair of spectacles. "I cannot understand you yet. I used a spell that allows you to understand my language, but it does not let you speak mine." The man turned to his companions and said something. The one pointing the weapon at her lowered it again. "I will cast the spell again, this time on myself, but I need to touch you again for the spell to work."
Daniel Jackson looked at the woman in surprise and related the information to Jack and Sam. "She says she needs to touch me again so that she can understand me. Apparently, she believes it's some kind of magical effect. Whatever it is she did, I can definitely understand everything she's saying now and I don't seem to be hurt." Daniel extended his hand. The woman spoke something then reached out and grasped his hand for a second.
"My name is Tamil Farlong. My friends and I thank you for your assistance against the necromancer priest and the undead. What is your name?" Daniel was taken aback by the warmth of her expression. Now that she was standing close, he got a good look at her and realized she was beautiful.
"I'm… uh, Daniel Jackson." He adjusted his glasses nervously, "Doctor Daniel Jackson. We're not really from around here and don't really understand what just happened there. But, uh, we're glad to have helped." Daniel's uncertainty caused him to be just as uncertain in his speech.
Tamil turned her attention to the wounded soldier back in the corner and the fourth member of Daniel Jackson's group. "We should see to your companion and the other wounded man." The other man, the one who had pointed his weapon at her when she touched Daniel's shoulder spoke. Tamil turned to Dr. Jackson. "Please tell your friend that your other companion should be fine."
Daniel looked at Jack. "She said Teal'c will be okay. She can understand what we say now, but her technology, or 'spell' as he calls it, only seems to be able to make you understand the meaning of what someone else says, not let you speak other languages."
"So," Jack quipped with a straight face, "sort of like the same as you." Daniel took a second to digest the comment. By that time, Jack and Sam had reached Teal'c. Just as they reached him, he took a stumbling step forward.
"Teal'c! Are you alright? Can you move everything?" asked Samantha.
The Jaffa nodded. "I seem fine, Dr. Carter. The effect was temporary. I was immobilized, but heard everything that happened."
Tamil Farlong walked over to the man standing against the wall. She noticed he was wearing the uniform of a soldier of Neverwinter. Though she didn't have much experience with soldiers, it was apparent from the decorations on the uniform that he was an officer. "Commander Tann?" she inquired.
The soldier confirmed his identity and told her about the circumstances of his capture. Tamil explained that she'd been contracted by Lieutenant Vallis, his second in command at the fort, to find out what had happened to the patrol. She asked about how serious the threat from the necromancer was. Tann stated that he thought there must be more to the threat than what this one priest had at his disposal. Then he asked for help in searching for the rest of his men.
Now that the team could see that Teal'c was fine, it was time to get some answers. Daniel asked Tamil if they had seen a Stargate, describing what one would look like. Tamil shook her head. "I've never seen anything like that. Or even heard of anything like that. What you are describing sounds like magic well beyond anything I've ever dealt with before. I'm really just a girl from a small village. I only started being an 'adventurer' about a week ago after my village was attacked.
"We might be able to find out more information in a larger city like Neverwinter. I'm on my way there myself with my companions. If you'd like to join us we could help you get there." Daniel repeated her words to the rest of SG-1. "Right now, though, we have a more immediate problem. This is Commander Tann from a local military fort. He was separated from his men before he was captured. He's worried for their safety. I'm hoping you would be willing to help."
Answers were going to have to wait. After searching the room and taking anything valuable from the necromancer and the chest by the altar, Tamil led the group back to the doorway that Khelgar had broken in and into a much larger chamber. Captain Carter pointed out several skeletal remains and rotting corpses that had fallen to the ground. Moving to a corridor, Tamil gestured for Neeshka to take the lead.
Colonel O'Neill and the rest of SG-1 watched as Neeshka moved to the front of the group. At first glance she seemed to be a slender human female about the same height as Major Carter. She didn't need to come too close, however, before they realized she was not human. In addition to having large, triangular shaped ears that pointed back sharply along either side of her head, she had both horns and a devil-like tail. The twin horns curled up from her forehead turning back delicately and pointed back over her head. Her tail was long and thin, with a thick pointed end that seemed to wave about aimlessly. Despite these alien features, as well as red pupil-less eyes, she had an attractive and very feminine look.
Whatever she was, she moved soundlessly, carefully examining the walls and floors as they moved along the corridor. Her hand shot up in a silent signal and everyone froze in place. O'Neill scanned the distance for enemies, but it soon became clear that she had located something on the floor. She pulled out a set of small tools and expertly set to work.
"Booby traps," Colonel O'Neill explained for Daniel's benefit. Now he understood why the strange woman was sent first. In the dark corridor he could barely see, but she had no difficulty spotting near-invisible wires and pressure plates on the floor. Looking ahead, Jack spotted a few forms slowly lumbering towards the group. More zombies.
A few zaps from his zat as well as Major Carter's, plus an explosive blast from Teal'c's staff weapon and the undead were all the way dead again. Neeshka called something out and started moving forward. SG-1 and the others followed close behind.
They came to a door on the left-hand side of the corridor. There were faints sounds of someone struggling and the sound of metal hitting flesh. Neeskha waited while Tamil, Khelgar, and Commander Tann moved up right behind the door. Colonel O'Neill noted that the soldier suddenly seemed unhurt, whereas earlier he had appeared gravely wounded. Tamil Farlong had Daniel explain that she, the dwarf, and the commander would charge in first and that she wanted his group to cover them with their weapons.
It was a good plan. When Khelgar swung the door open and began his charge they could see that the room was filled with undead zombies slowly backing a single soldier into a corner. As Tamil charged in, she started to whistle a sort of marching melody. Upon hearing it, each member of the group felt stirred by a feeling of resolve and determination.
Not that they needed it. While there were a large number of zombies, those fell very quickly to the power of the zat'nik'tel and Ma'tok staff weapon. A few of the creatures sensed the new arrivals and turned to attack them, but they were far too slow. SG-1 had clear shots at slow moving targets that made no attempt to dodge the blasts. The few that actually engaged the three lead combatants were quickly cut down, but the encounter was over in less than a minute.
Commander Tann expressed his gratitude to the group for helping rescue his soldier. The man was scratched badly and had several deep gashes from where he had been raked by the clawed hands of the zombies. Tann pulled a vial from a loop on his belt and handed it to the solider who promptly drank it. To SG-1's surprise, the large gashes closed up and many of the smaller scratches disappeared completely.
"My guess is that's the local version of Red Bull," O'Neill joked. "Make a note to bring some of that stuff back when we finally find the Stargate."
Tamil regarded SG-1 with a slight frown on her face. "I'm grateful you are willing to use your powerful items to help out, friends, but these zombies are really not much of a threat." Daniel repeated her words in English. "You should really save their magical charge for something more dangerous. I only wanted you to help out if one of us was getting overwhelmed. Otherwise we can handle it with our weapons. Again, I really appreciate you using your magic to help, but I don't want you to use it all up so easily."
Colonel O'Neill raised his eyebrows as he heard Daniel's translation. His respect for the dark haired female as a leader grew. A good leader knows to conserve resources while not needlessly endangering those under their command. "Daniel, please assure the lady that we have more than enough 'magical charges' that we won't run out any time soon. And tell her she's welcome."
With that, the group went on to rescue the rest of Tann's patrol. After coming to a dead end, they backtracked and went down another passageway. Neeshka signaled the party to halt several times while she disabled a number of booby traps.
They came to a second room and discovered an entire pack of rotting corpses in a circle in the middle of the room. They were eating one of Tann's men. There were nearly twice as many of the undead this time. There was also something other than zombies as well. These pale skinned creatures looked up from their feeding when the group charged in and were quick to turn and attack. They moved fast.
Some rapid firing from SG-1 took down most of the ghouls, but one managed to reach Khelgar and swipe at him. The dwarf gave a "hmph" sound in reply and split the creature in half with his axe. It took a bit longer to destroy this group, but most of the zombies crowded around the dwarf, Tamil, and Commander Tann. Neeshka intercepted a few that broke off from the main group, giving SG-1 time to blast them. Despite being a somewhat longer battle, there were only a few minor scrapes to take care of once it was over.
After briefly expressing sympathy for the fallen soldier, Tamil poured a bottle of water on his remains. She explained to Daniel that it was holy water and would prevent there being any chance that Tann's patrolman would become one of the undead himself. Then the group moved on in search of the last of Tann's lost patrol.
Neeshka led them through a few trap-strewn rooms. She noted that these traps seemed to be set by a different person than the pervious ones. She pointed out that several zombies had set off some of the traps and been destroyed. There were only a few remaining and SG-1 very easily wiped them out with energy weapon discharges. After going through a few rooms and finding a hallway filled with a series of traps which Neeshka expertly disabled, they located the last of Tann's men who had collapsed with exhaustion at the end of a passageway.
With the remaining two of the commander's men safe, the group headed out of the crypt they had been in. As soon as they were outside, Major Carter started studying the star configurations in the night sky above them. Commander Tann sent the two rescued men ahead to apprise the fort of his coming. He promised his rescuers food and shelter at the fort.
"Well, that was fun," offered Colonel O'Neill. "I sure hope this is just a local thing, because if we've gated into the 'Night of the Living Dead' planet this is going to be one lousy mission. I hate that movie."
Daniel was about to ask some questions but Tamil interrupted him. "Sorry, Daniel Jackson. I'll answer your questions later. The magic I used to allow us to communicate will be wearing off in a minute or two. I'll gladly explain things to you tomorrow, but first I will need to rest and meditate to regain my magic. We need to make camp once we get far enough away from the graveyard." She thanked him for his help, but midway through her comments her words suddenly became incomprehensible again.
When Daniel explained the situation to the rest of SG-1 they were surprised. Teal'c suggested that their technology may be solar powered and the batteries had run down. Samantha Carter thought that was a good possibility. Colonel O'Neill had his own take.
"I'm guessing that it's sort of like mobile phone service. Our friend just has a magic translation plan that only gives her a certain number of free roaming translation minutes per day. Whatever plan she's using, I suggest we go with a carrier with unlimited minutes."