DISCLAIMER: All characters and property of Stargate SG-1 belong to MGM/UA, World Gekko Corp. and Double Secret Productions. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.
"Daniel?" O'Neill gestured towards the three spherically shaped structures in front of him, his eyebrows raised in anticipation.
Daniel peered through his glasses. "Ah. Well now. I guess they're round," he replied helpfully.
O'Neill turned his hand, "and..?"
"Well they appear to have no visible means of entry or exit. Their surface seems to be metallic. There are no symbols or indications as to what they are." Daniel shrugged. "Jack, I don't know what they are," he said simply.
"Well that makes me feel better," O'Neill said, as he looked at Carter.
"Any thoughts from my left?" he said.
"Um..no. Daniel said everything I would have, sir," she replied.
"Well, we don't have a lot to choose from, do we? We either go look at these darn things and figure out what they are and how in God's name they weren't there last night, and maybe make contact with the aliens, or we go back to the Stargate for another try at getting near it. I'd go for looking at the golf balls for the moment. Any objections?" O'Neill watched them slowly shake their heads and then he turned forward. "Didn't think so. Okay then. Let's get closer".
There was no protective cover between the trees where they were and the first sphere.
"Down and shuffle," O'Neill ordered and the team dropped and started the slow progress towards their targets, their weapons raised in anticipation.
After some ten minutes, the feeling that someone was watching them started to burn into Sam's mind. She couldn't shake it. She turned swiftly and caught a glimpse of movement behind them, near to the trees. She rolled onto her back and raised her weapon. Raising to a half sitting position, she caught sight of a dark shape pass swiftly from the trees and then fade. She blinked. She didn't like what she'd seen.
"Colonel! Movement behind us!" she shouted.
"Damn it, Carter, get down!"
She heard O'Neill's voice and dropped flat on her back for a single moment. Her friends were further away from her now, moved nearer towards the sphere.
"What do you see?" O'Neill shouted.
"I'm not sure...I...." Carter's voice slowed and then stopped. The sky above her shimmered and warped. She could swear she'd seen a translucent shape. She ran her hand across her eyes sensing mistiness, but it didn't clear. The atmosphere started to stifle her, her breathing increased as she gulped for air and then the pain started. This time it was intense. She gripped at her stomach and cried out, her energy drained in a single moment. She dropped her firearm to the ground, as what felt like a clamp of steel gripped her arm tightly, squeezing it until she dropped the weapon and then letting go.
A shape now loomed above her clearly, its eyes burning a dark red, boring into her, its face unseen, shrouded by darkness. She reached for her knife and swiftly withdrew it. It reached towards her. Clawed fingers reaching for her, a whispering all around her, voices she couldn't comprehend, whispered warnings, cold whispers. Voices, willing her to defend herself at all costs.
And then she felt the hand upon her shoulder and she swung. She swung with all her might with her knife and buried it within the creature, which was trying to kill her. She scrambled backwards as she watched it cry with pain. She watched the other creature who hovered menacingly close, laugh. The sound was ugly, warped somehow. She saw it move and then fade towards the trees once more. She rocked on her knees to ease the pain which tore at her gut, her head exploding with a pressure the like of which she'd never felt before. She raised her eyes to look at the creature she'd knifed and gasped.
"Way to go, Carter," O'Neill whistled through his teeth as he grabbed at Daniel's shocked figure and clapped his hand over the wound she'd made.
"The human had no Goa'uld inside."
"And yet there were traces. Interesting."
"Yes, an interesting victim. The Goa'uld's self interest combined with human compassion. Perfect. It has been long since Goa'uld walked this world. Long. This will make an interesting mind to subvert."
"Yes, the taste of terror was strong within her."
"And the feeling of despair within the other when she attacked him."
"The female had warning of our presence."
"Yes, I felt this, but she is weakened."
"Did you taste anything from the third human?"
"He is confused. His thoughts are incoherent, masked from us. His mind is not open and his feelings are blocked by past experiences. Of the three he may be the most difficult to turn."
"And that will make the hunt more enjoyable...and longer"
"Yes.... And longer."
Teal'c shifted slightly in his seat. He was too far in now to turn back. He had to tell them everything about Feldos, he had to know if the people of this world would try to go where the Goa'uld had once been too afraid.
"The Goa'uld are selfish and arrogant," he continued. "To turn an enemy to their own devices and use them is worth more than destroying them. It is a living victory, on display for all to see. But they did not want their own people straying to the planet accidentally. They did not want the Feldori to be able to leave through the Gate to seek revenge. Gran'arl devised a plan to both imprison the Feldori and prevent any unfortunates that were sent there from ever returning."
"They imprisoned an entire species on their own planet?" asked General Hammond somewhat incredulously.
Teal'c nodded. "This is so. There was no evidence that the Feldari used another means of travel other than the Stargate. There were but a few of them roaming the surface. The Goa'uld knew that they had the upper hand."
"How did they do it?" Hammond persisted.
"I will explain. All Jaffa are taught about Feldos, and it is the Jaffa's duty to protect their Goa'uld larva from ever coming to harm. So both Jaffa and Goa'uld had to be stopped. To that end, the Goa'uld sent human slaves to the very edge of the gate and planted hidden warning devices which emit pulses only recognised by the Goa'uld or their larva. The warning pulses send the larva into a state of collapse and the Jaffa must withdraw in order to protect them. A Goa'uld would simply retreat. If a Jaffa or Goa'uld has forgotten Feldos, he is soon reminded that it is forbidden to travel there."
"And what killed the Goa'uld armies who went there originally?" General Hammond asked.
"Clydor tells that when he arrived on the world it was a dead world, barren and lifeless. He saw hundreds of Jaffa bodies wracked with a plague of some sort, their Goa'uld larva torn from their bodies and discarded. He tells that the few aliens he saw possessed no human bodies, that they were dark things without form. The human slaves were separated one from the other and lured to their deaths. He tells of a madness, which took his fellow slaves and turned one against the other. It is also said that the screams of a thousand men echoed in his ears for a day and a night until he could bear it no longer and fled from his hiding place to the gate, dragging several slaves with him. These slaves no longer possessed their own minds."
"Teal'c, this plague. Is it dangerous to humans?", Janet asked worriedly.
"It is not. The Slaves of the Goa'uld were not harmed when they planted the warning devices and Clydor returned safely, as did the changed ones. It is believed that the Jaffa died because the larva within them were infected, or that Clydor did not see the real truth."
"And imprisoning the inhabitants of Feldos, how did they do that. I assume the aliens used the Stargate to travel to other worlds? Hammond asked.
"Gran'arl believed that they did. It is believed that those who inhabit Feldos harvested victims from many planets. Their travel unnoticed on some worlds. All gates are not as well guarded as yours, General," Teal'c replied. "The Goa'uld slaves also put up defences on the other side of the gate which are intended to imprison all who reach there, including the Feldori. Nothing can get near to the gate once on the other side. Many slaves died in this attempt and the Goa'uld sent many to their deaths at the hands of the Feldori so that the defences could be in place. Success was finally Gran'arl's and as far as legend tells, no Feldori may leave, or their victims."
"What of the false appearance seen by the probe? Could the Feldori be causing that?" Janet asked.
"I do not believe the Feldori have done this," Teal'c replied. "The legend of Gran'arl and Feldos is dark indeed. I have heard that Gran'arl's final dark act on Feldos was to encourage the innocent to reach the world and feed the Feldori's darkness. He despised the aliens for taking his armies and yet in a darker moment was feeding them. I believe that it is a holographic projection and is Goa'uld in origin."
"Like animals in a zoo," muttered Janet, shaking her head.
Teal'c turned to look at Hammond. "General, if you intend to rescue O'Neill and the others you must remember one thing. Feldos is like no other planet you will visit. The Feldori suck the life and soul from their victims. They prey on all that come through the gate and take them for their own ends. They drain them until all desire for life is gone. The Goa'uld have never defeated or killed any of them, they have merely imprisoned them."
"And SG1, Teal'c? They're not Goa'uld. Could they survive on the other side as Clydor did?" Hammond persisted.
"I do not know," Teal'c replied, his eyes darkening. "Captain Carter will find it difficult. Her connection to the Goa'uld will not make things easy for her. If the aliens of Feldos realise that she has Goa'uld in her they will take great pleasure in conquering her."
The General and the doctor exchanged worried looks. A planet which terrified the Goa'uld and an alien race which couldn't be defeated. A planet which the Goa'uld had taken the trouble to prevent their own kind from wandering into and had turned into a living hell for anyone who did. A planet, SG1 were now currently trapped on. General Hammond sank into his chair to consider his options. Not that any would come to mind.
"Oh God, Daniel, I'm so sorry," Carter cried as she scrambled across to the half seated figure of Daniel Jackson, his arm cradled by his other hand while O'Neill started to tend the wound from the limited medical kit they carried. She reached out and touched him gently.
"What did I do?" Daniel asked as he searched her face with surprise.
"Nothing. You didn't do anything. I mean...you did...you tried to kill me...or at least something did...then it wasn't you.... Then..." Sam put her head into her hands and pulled her fingers fiercely through her hair. Her stomach ached intolerably as did her head. She couldn't.... wouldn't.... believe that what she'd seen could have been so wrong, and yet it obviously was. She couldn't trust her own eyes any more.
"Sir. I need to be restrained. I think I'm losing my ability to function as a Stargate officer. I formally request..."
"Carter! Hold it right there. No one gets restrained on my missions unless I say so. Understood?" O'Neill said as he concentrated on finishing off Daniel's dressing.
"Besides, there's only two of us, and you're way too much of a handful to restrain right now," he joked lightly. He knew she was hurting. They all were. Attack from within was a hard pill to swallow, especially when no one understood what the Hell was going on.
He was angry with himself. He hadn't been able to stop Daniel from rushing off to help Sam when she'd cried out. He should have been there first. He was the soldier. Daniel had blundered in giving her no warning of his approach. If he'd reached her first... Then again if he'd reached her first he might have been the one stabbed.
He sat up and stopped bandaging for a second, his eyes narrowing. Where had that come from? The feeling that self interest was important. He shook his head. He'd almost heard the thought spoken before he thought it. He looked over his shoulder and then the other one. Then he looked at Daniel.
"Are you okay, sir?" Sam asked, seeing O'Neill with a disturbed look on his face.
"Yes. Of course," he replied, brushing aside her concerns and his own. His voice softened. "Sam, you reacted, that's all. You thought you were under attack and you reacted. Happens to everyone once in a while. Let's try to stay focused everyone. Let's try to get home."
"You didn't see anything attack me.... Did you?" Sam said, her eyes dropping to the ground.
"Nope," Jack replied and Daniel shook his head as the bandaged was clipped into place.
Sam's mind whirred.
O'Neill helped Daniel to his feet and took his bag to add to his own.
"And Carter?"
Sam turned to him.
"You okay? What was that cry for back there? Before you..well you know?"
"The pain again, sir," she said quietly. She didn't think they'd understand about the iron grip on her arm if they hadn't even seen the strange shapes. She was beginning to doubt her own mind.
"You okay now?" O'Neill asked.
"Yes fine, sir" she lied unconvincingly.
Daniel and O'Neill exchanged worried looks and then moved towards the first globe.
"This meeting is on a "within these walls only" standing, is that understood everyone?" General Hammond stood at the top of the table and looked at the three people who sat before him.
Everyone muttered their accord and the General nodded.
"People, we have a situation the like of which I have never witnessed before, the like of which I hope we never witness again. SG1 are on hostile territory and are seemingly trapped there and quite possibly in a life-threatening situation. Now, we don't know whether they're in a position to get back somehow or if they're injured. In fact we don't know a damn thing. We've sent three probes in since they left and all three sent back the same damn pictures. A beautiful, peaceful planet with no sign of hostiles." Hammond hesitated.
"Now, you all might wonder what we're going to do about it. Well, I'm gonna tell you right now. Our first concern is that Teal'c told us that the planet is barren and extremely hostile. The probes tell a different story. Lieutenant Cartwright, can you take it from here?"
Lieutenant Anne Cartwright rose to her feet. She was an attractive woman in her thirties. Confident and painstaking in her work on the probe pictures over the last six months, she knew that finally she was about to make a difference. She flicked her dark hair back from her face with one hand and moved to the monitors.
"As you can see, the pictures from all four probe cameras are almost identical. We have analysed them frame by frame. The computer simulation of the final version, an amalgamation of all the film we have from P3F231, shows that somehow, as I believe Teal'c warned us, some sort of device on the planet is sending us back a loop projection of an entirely false view."
"How does that help us?" Janet asked, as she entered the room, nodded to the General briefly and sat down.
Captain John Turner from Weapons Analysis rose.
"May I?" he said.
The General nodded, listening intently.
"The probe is programmed to enter only a few feet onto the planet surface before returning through the Stargate. We watched its progress and at no time was it tampered with in any way. This means that the Goa'uld defences only come on line when a body is some way from the gate. This would make sense, since whoever planted the defence system had to return safely before activating it. There is therefore, a small degree of safety within the Stargate perimeter, when the aliens won't even know we're there. That's our window to work with," he concluded.
"Are you thinking of doing what I think you are, General?" Janet asked as she turned to her Commanding Officer.
"Doctor, we have to get a small specialist team into the area just at the exit from the Stargate to analyse the mechanism which the Goa'uld put there. Once we've done that, if it's safe for us to go through, we can disable the defence system and find SG1."
"General Hammond, I believe that the holographic image is projected until an alarm is triggered at a certain distance from the gate. The Goa'uld defences are not there to kill anyone who enters the planet, but to prevent them from leaving. My glimpse of the world as it really is, was possible because my friends had just triggered the system and interrupted the image," Teal'c said.
Hammond looked around at the people in front of him, the worry etched on their faces. "Given all these facts, people I think we have a fighting chance."
He continued. "Besides, I think we may have the upper hand. The Goa'uld defence system is set up to prevent people from leaving. The aliens won't be expecting someone to disable the gate before they're aware they've arrived." Hammond smiled triumphantly.
"General Hammond, freeing Colonel O'Neill and the others will provide an escape route for the aliens. Do we really want to do that?" asked Turner.
"I've thought of that and I don't like the idea any more than you. For that reason we'll be setting a charge on the gate as soon as we've located SG1. Once everyone's home safely we'll blow their gate forever," Hammond said.
Cartwright cleared her throat.
Hammond turned. "Oh yes, and there's one more thing we've found out which I think you should all see. I warn you, it's not pretty. Lieutenant Cartwright, please tell us what you've found."
"We analysed the probe pictures and readings in the hope of finding some trace of the alien culture or a clue to what we are dealing with. Usually one probe or even two is all it takes to get relevant readings and give us a go on a mission or not. Having four readings theoretically should give us more." She paused, looking at the General.
"Please continue, Lieutenant," Hammond encouraged.
"The readings the probe bought back were similar in every respect except for the last one. We programmed the last probe to go a little further from the gate. Here's a computer enhancement of what we saw when we analysed each spectrum result figure by figure." Cartwright flicked a switch and new monitors flared to life. The readings on the graph followed the same path on each of the probe's readouts. Alongside, played the footage from the camera. In the final reading from probe four a significant spike raced across the top of the graph and then dropped.
"What was that?" Janet asked with interest.
"We weren't sure. We had to tweak the equipment about to get a really true reading. We've never encountered this sort of thing before. What we do know is that it's an energy reading of some sort, pure energy. It only occurs quite some distance from the gate. Then we noticed this." Cartwright leaned across and grabbed a pointer. She re-wound the footage shots and then froze the final frame. "See..There..As the spike in energy hits the chart, this appears."
Janet felt a shiver go down her back as the shot was enlarged frame by frame. A finger of fear licked at her spine. She looked at Hammond who nodded at her imperceptibly.
In the corner of the camera image, a tiny smudge of darkness appeared. As the image was enlarged it became clearer. So clear that the small group in the room could see the outline of claws fingering the ground impatiently at the edge.