"Setting a fire could do the job, and would allow me to link up with the team in case I'm needed. I want to make sure we get away from this mission too. Why don't I do that and prepare to cover a retreat. A double-click of the radio will send me towards the team, three clicks sounds the retreat." Randall looks around as he finishes speaking and then digs in his bag for fire-starting material.

OOC GM Question

Marcus never detected any magnetic anomalies, but did register the normal magnetic north, which only confirms that the planet has a magnetic field. It wouldn't likely be habitable without it. That also means the planet has a liquid iron core, since the planet's spin is what generates the magnetic field.

The town/city isn't laid out in a square, and otherwise seems oriented in a north-south direction.

James was recalled to join the team again, rather than left out there by himself. Besides, he's the next in the command line. If Randall is going to cause the diversion rather than lead the rescue team, then James will have to lead them.

Oddly, with all that you've seen, but, more importantly, all that you haven't seen, it doesn't look like it should turn into a firefight.

Since you can't wait until nightfall to perform the rescue, it's pretty much a given that you will all be spotted. So probably the best course of action is for Randall to head around the right side of town and make his way to beside the pyramid. The rest should go left until you line up with the street that leads directly to the pyramid and make a straight run till you are close, then use the cover of the buildings until the diversion draws out the Jaffa.

In case your radios get jammed and Randall can't signal when to go, you all synchronize watches and pick a time... 20 minutes from... NOW.

Randall heads out first because he'll need time to start the diversion. Five minutes later, the rest of the team heads out.

As expected, a few people notice them as they dash and dodge from one house to the next. It does seem, though, that a few people come out of their houses to look at the team as they pass by. No alarm is given; in fact, the people appear either confused or curious.

They reach the central street without incident, and then start running down the street, two on each side, just in case. They also reach the last two houses on each side without incident, and duck behind the houses out of sight of the pyramid, though there was no way to tell if there was any kind of guard on the pyramid that might have been watching them.

However, no one comes out. And again, the people that see the team don't sound any kind of alarm, don't try to stop them, and don't even approach them. Some go over to another person, neighbor perhaps, and converse while looking at the team, but they are even polite enough not to point!

Now it's down to waiting... three minutes to go.

I start whooping and letting out Apache warcries to try to draw Jaffa.

James motions for the others to stay hidden and also finds cover

though Mick may not have all of the military training as the others he is still a decent marksman and can handle his own in a fight. As James signals for them to find cover He finds his spot as close to the pyramid as possible. the faster they can get in and out the sooner Thorne can meet up and they can get back to the gate for reinforcements.

He sits in his spot waiting for the signal to go. he has his pistol ready because it will be easier to run with.

Randall moved into position with a similar result to the rest of the team. By himself, however, he was able to dodge from house to house without being seen. Or, at least if someone did see him, no alarm was raised. He would have expected a few citizens to follow, but no one did.

The step pyramid is at the center of the back side of the town, and up close, it's resemblance to Aztec pyramids is obvious.

Randall moves to the side of the pyramid and begins whooping and hollering.

The rest of the team is close enough to hear this, so no other signal needs to be given.

Five minutes go by with no reaction from the pyramid.

Marc finds what he thinks is a good vantage point and hides as ordered.  He readies the P90 to help support the team if it becomes necessary.

It was not too long ago that he was not a big fan of weapons.  Its surprising what you can learn to do when you need a tool to survive.

Another five minutes go by, and there is still no response from the pyramid.

"Captain, i would suggest firing your weapon" James says over comms as he keeps a look0out

Randall starts firing into the air and continues yelling warcries.

Randall has to fire quite a lot of rounds before there is activity from the pyramid. A section of the side steps suddenly swings upward and two Jaffa with staff weapons start to walk out. They point them at Randall but do not fire yet.

Mick looks around to try and get the rest of the teams attention. when he does he motions that he thinks it is time to move. He also tries to silently mouth that Thorne has spent a lot of ammo for this.

James and Mick were on the left side, while Eddie and Marcus were on the right, all hiding around the curve of the buildings.

James and Mick couldn't really see what was going on unless they moved around to the back of the building. The 75-foot wide unpaved street was a main route, based on what you've seen so far. The step pyramid that it led up to was 175 feet wide at its base and 75 feet high, with a temple-like structure on the top.

There was a 50 foot wide clear area around the pyramid. The houses were all a uniform 30 feet in diameter, so that put James and Mick about 250 feet away, while Eddie and Marcus were maybe 350 feet away. Eddie and Marcus can see Randall, but not the Jaffa yet, who haven't exited the pyramid.

Is anyone still playing here? Is anyone going to move?

Mick chirps his radio to check with Thorne. He knows that the team will have to move soon either good or bad but he still holds out hope that everyone will get off this planet the way they came.

Randall has created the diversion; it required shooting, but he's going to run out of ammo soon. The rest of the team has a clear run to the pyramid.

Mick hears the signal to move. He is hoping that the others will be ready to go with him.

He waits for confirmation of movement from whomever is closest before he sprints to the pyramid and tries to find the entrance and how to open it. Once he finds it he will wait for at least one of the others before he opens it. better safe than sorry.

Mac follows Eddie into the next posisiton.

Presumably the step pyramid is symmetrical, but no one has actually determined that there are flights of stairs on all four sides.

However, James and Cormac saw that a section of the stairs on the left side where Randall is lifted up. It seemed as if it started several steps up, and covered about 7 feet in height.

All four of the rest of the team rush forward. When they reach the steps, Cormac looks for some way to open the unseen door. He doesn't find what he was looking for, but finds what he really wanted. As soon as he steps on the fifth step, the door starts to open. Clearly activated by some kind of sensor, it can presumably be turned off from inside.

Hinged at the top, the section of steps begins to rise from the bottom.

Beyond is a short narrow hallway that seems to lead into an open area.

Just about this time, you can hear the sound of staff weapons firing.

James motions hes going to scout ahead and for Wright/Mclane to form up to act as a backup/rearguard

He hated when plans worked! At least better than expected. He had no idea how many Jaffa there were in the blasted pyramid, but only two had appeared. The steps had raised and two of them had appeared in the opening... but hadn't exited.

He wasn't going to be the first to start shooting... well, AT them. He'd fired into the ground; shooting into the air was a bad idea as the round could still come down and kill someone accidentally.

He didn't speak Jaffa, and he was pretty sure they didn't speak English, but he started yelling insults at them anyway. It made his 'performance' more believable... and more confusing.

They started yelling back... probably telling him to go away.

He had to admit that he was baffled by their actions. Surely SGC personnel weren't so commonplace that they wouldn't want to investigate? Who was this stranger? Weren't they even curious.

Perhaps not, but certainly impatient. It was only a few minutes of shouting and gesturing before they lowered their staff weapons and fired. And missed.

For a second, he thought they really had bad aim, but then realized that NO ONE, certainly not Jaffa, had aim THAT bad! They were firing warning shots! That he understood, and fired a few rounds at the stone of the pyramid next to them.

They looked REALLY confused after that. Apparently, Randall figured out, they'd never seen projectile weapons before! That had been one of the big advantages the Tau'ri had over the Goa'uld servants. He'd guess that not one in a thousand Jaffa could repair a staff weapon let alone make one.

++Are you guys in yet?++ Randall called over the radio. ++It's starting to get a little hot over here!++

As James takes point Cormac follows with Marcus on his hip.  He scans the area to make sure their was nothing missed. He also checked to see if there was anything he would even remotely recognize from his time with Dr. Jackson.

++We are now L.T. Moving to excavate target.++ he wanted to scream  get out of there now Thorne but he knew better.

++We will double time it so you're not hanging out too long.++

Randall started to actually start edging away from the pyramid whilst continuing on with his distraction; never turning his back to the Jaffa.

I hope they got the target out alright. Two more minutes and I'll extract myself. Thorne thought.