"I do not know what the Zeg'ra look like," Tawaret replies to Lucky.

"You would need to ask the Nedavil."

"I am not withholding information from the Tok'ra," Randall answers Sarah. "I will give that info to them as soon as I am able."

"If our alliance with the Tok'ra can't survive this delay, then it's not much of an alliance in the first place."

"I realize I think of things from a military perspective, and I'm pretty sure that you don't, Sarah, so there are bound to be things that we will never agree on."

"So tell Tawaret what you think is prudent, but we will continue with our return up to the surface... floor by floor."

"Yeah...," Lucky started with a bit of a scowl, "I was afraid you were gonna say that." Two aliens in their midst was creeping him out somewhat, the idea of releasing an entire species from stasis was extremely low on his to do list

The major heads over to Tawaret. He understands Sarah's concern, but his military training is over-riding her civilian sensibilities.

"So, Tawaret, do you know how to revive any of these people?" he asks her. "Can we revive just one of them? Or do they all have to be revived at the time?"

"I believe you said there was a leader. Do you know where he is? Should we revive him first?"


Although he was listening to  her tone, he really didn't know if he'd be able to detect any subtleties in a Tok'ra's voice, but it didn't hurt to try. He was also concerned about the words she used to reply.

She could be lying, but he didn't think so. Hathor had been imprisoned and was just as nasty when she'd  finally been released as she had when she'd gone into stasis. And that was the point, wasn't it? Stasis--preserves you just the way you are.

In Tawaret's case, even her host had been preserved. That tended to lend a bit of credence to her tale. It meant these people couldn't remove the Tok'ra from the host. They also hadn't been inclined to kill the host to release the Tok'ra (or Goa'uld, if that's what she was).

After she answered, he turned to the rest of his team.

"What do all of you think? Should we finish exploring before we release anyone else? Or should we release the leader and make use of his knowledge of the place as we explore?"

He had a hard time thinking of these sleeping people as the enemy, but there was always the possibility that they were so nasty that they made the Goa'uld look good. As far-fetched as that was, it was an alternate explanation for why the Goa'uld might have attacked them.

For that matter, they hadn't seen any indication that the Goa'uld had attacked. Or if they had, it had been so long ago that evidence was already gone.

Sarah, having made her point, been listened to, and ultimately 'overruled' but out in the field, the Major's decision, right or wrong, was his to make.   SGC would scrutinise matters, as it always did, after the fact.  For now though, they were still a team and she nodded, accepting.

As the Major then headed to Tawaret to question her himself, Sarah joined to translate....

Then, when the Major offered an open question she replied, "You know my thoughts on this.   We have know understanding of whether we'd be releasing one or many and no trust that we aren't releasing a host of criminals, killers or worse.  We're here to investigate and explore, not trigger every trap along the way.  Take this to SGC once we've explored all the levels if necessary, but don't open a Pandora's box we, as yet, no reliable source of information."

The idea of releasing all of the aliens worried Lucky far more than just one. "Boss, I'm with Miss Morgan on this one. SGC can send a first contact team back to let the locals out of their cage and do their meet and greet with a whole species.We let one of them out, they won't be happy we didn't wake them all." He glanced at Tawaret, "No offense, but we kind of got lucky the first time, no guarantees on a second. I say we take Miss Tawaret with and get back to our mission."

He quickly added respectfully,"Sir."

"It wasn't as much luck as it sounds," Randall replies to Lucky.

"The light was blinking and we just... well, reacted. It still begs the question, though, of why it was blinking. It should have lasted as long as the rest of these."

"On the other hand, there was two lifeforms in there. It might have used up more energy dealing with the duality."

"I understand where you're coming from, Lucky, but I can't say that I agree. However, I can get behind that."

"Okay, now that that's settled, let's head out. I want Tawaret in the middle, with two people in front of her at all times, and at least two behind her."

"Kylie, I realize that you like her, but you need to stay away from her... for now. Liking her makes you vulnerable."

"Alynita, anyway you can verify her story? I don't know if Tok'ra have some innate ability to... detect a queen. I feel like I'm in deep water now, and it's up to here!" He holds his hand about a foot over his head.

"Lucky, you and I will take point. Sannis and Cormac will take the rear."

He heads back to the elevator.

"Sir, I've had that feeling since we left the base." Lucky replied with a nod. With his rifle in hand, he moved to take the lead as they moved to get ready to move out.

And Sarah... we'll just ignore you.  Got it.  Sarah will fall in... wherever really.  Probably behind the 'Queen', her natural sense of self preservation not wanting to turn her back on the woman given what she feels is the current level of... deceptive confusion?   At least Randall was right to question how 'convenient' this all was.  She almost shrugs and sighs as she walks.  Time would tell.

As they headed back out of the 'storage' chambers and headed back to the elevator, Randall looked towards Sarah.

"I'm expecting you, Sarah, to keep an eye on Tawaret," he said to her, "from wherever you think that would be best."

Of course, it all became rather moot in the elevator. There didn't seem to be anyway Tawaret could be harmful at the back, but clearly she should be kept away from the controls.

Speaking of the controls, he examined them again, having a bit more data to work with now.

"So, the levels we designated as 'K' are the engineering-utility levels. The J levels are the control levels for the hibernation levels, which we designated with the letter 'H'. That was convenient."

"The 'G' buttons indicate blocks... we figured that out as we descended, since for each 'G' button, we had to go through the 'A' through 'E' levels. We've been to one 'A' level, and one 'B' level... the ones associated with what we called the 'G1' level."

"So, Tawaret, do you know what the rest of these levels are?"

As he asked her, he pushed the 'G48' and 'E' buttons.

"I do not know. I was not here long before the Sleep was sounded," Tawaret replied. "While I was on a few levels, I did not understand what their purpose was."

"Is there a reason you rise so slowly?" she then asked. "If you keep pressing the buttons, the lift goes faster."

She was not concerned about the Major's comments. She realized that his actions were as much for their protection as hers. She rather liked being in the middle; it meant the Major was putting himself and his men in any potential danger first. He may not have trusted her, but he was taking no chances.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:54, Tue 20 Dec 2016.

Randall gives Tawaret an odd look for a moment, and then starts laughing.

"Ha-ha-ha! That would really have been thinking outside the box!"

He pushes both buttons again and keeps pressing them.

As Randall presses both buttons again and keeps pressing them, the elevator immediately starts moving faster. Fortunately it's only going up a few levels.

Then it stops, and the door opens.

At first, it looks like all the upper levels... just a circular hallway around the central elevator column.

However, there's a door immediately opposite the elevator door.

"Now how come one of us never thought of that?" Lucky smirked, looking at the others. " Any time my computer doesn't do what I want, I beat on the keyboard a little harder."

Having learned about the different wavelength of light that the people of this facility could see into, he'd become suspicious of any blank wall that they encountered... like the door in front of him, for example.

"Can any of you see any symbols on the door?" he asked the rest of his team. He couldn't remember now who had the camera with the infrared lens. He thought it was Kylie.

"How about you, Tawaret? Can your vision see into the infrared? Or do you know what level this is? Alynita?"

Sarah wasn't sure of the choice of destination but remained 'silent' for the time being barring translation for Tawaret.

Lucky merely shook his head, waiting on the others.

"Yes, I can see into the low end of the spectrum to see the symbols that they use here, but, alas, I don't know the meaning of the symbols," Tawaret finally answers Randall.

"I was not here long enough to learn the details of the culture. I do know that there are work levels, habitation levels, and medical levels. I do not know which one this one is."


She had no idea how long she'd been in slumber. Her time sense did not mesh with the Nedavil's chronology in the first place, and they didn't have any long-term timekeeping instruments.

She was quite relieved to learn that the Tok'ra still existed. And that Ra was dead.

She still didn't know enough about these Tau'ri to decide if she should be impressed with them slaying Ra when the Tok'ra could not.

Stepping out into the circular hallway, Randall can see that there are several doorways around the perimeter. There is one straight across the hallway, of course; that one is obvious. But stepping over to that door, Randall can see another door down on the left and another down on the right, each about 40 feet away... and thus visible just at the edge of the curve.

Walking down to the next door, he can see yet another one.

He is able to get Tawaret to inform him that they are all at least partially different. Each one has two or three symbols. The first one is the same on all doors. The second and third symbols are all different. Kylie confirms and records this with the infrared lens on her camera.

Sarah will follow along....

"Split up and cover more ground or stick together?" Lucky asked, looking at the Major. He considered saying more, but figured his mouth was going too much as it was

OOC: SG-X4 and SG-X5 came through with SG-X3 way back when, if anyone remembers. They've been busy up on the surface.

Originally, a MALP came through and was stuck up top. On the return, a FRED was brought along because its treads could better negotiate the run-off 'path' down to the shrine.


=== SG-X5 ===

Colonel Thomas hasn't so much led his team as babysat it. The three cultural anthropologists have been busy getting to know the Avians. It's not so much that they have a caste system is that there are certain roles that get filled by those that are the best qualified for it. One of those roles is 'defender' or 'warrior'.

Colonel Thomas's primary role is to watch out for the raptors attacking again, while his secondary role is to guard the anthropologists. It quickly becomes clear that they aren't in any danger. The Avians do not seem to have much aggression within them, though they fight to protect their aerie.

The first thing that was done was to show the team how to get down to the shrine that houses the ring transporter. After that, the two military men were post in positions where they could watch out for the raptors.

One of the Avian warriors that joins his men informs them, through an interpreter, that the raptors have never returned after an attack, but then they have never been repulsed without taking several bodies with them. So he cannot say what will happen.


=== SG-X4 ===

Major Brooks, after about a ten minute delay while SG-X5 acquired a guide for him, has taken the engineers down around the backside of the mountain. It's essentially the area behind the gate. There are no nests built on that side of the mountain.

Fortunately, Sergeant Brayce can speak to the Avian guide... a bit awkwardly at first, but it develops fairly rapidly.

They were first given a tour of the shrine where the ring transporter is, so they'd know what it looks like, where it is, and how to get to it.

This team has to climb down the mountain. Brayce and Robinson are expert mountain climbers, as are the engineers, so they all brought many ropes and climbing gear.

The procedure is that Robinson goes down first until he finds a sufficient large, stable enough ledge; he's assisted by their guide who can fly down and scan the area first. One of the engineers then goes down, then their equipment is lowered, and the others follow.

As near as they've been able to determine, they need to climb down about 9,000 feet before they can start planting charges for the seismograph.


=== SG-X3 ===

Tawaret lets the team know how to open the doors so that they don't need to pry them open with a crowbar. Placing a hand on the wall next to the door is the equivalent of 'knocking'. The door pops open outward, you grab the edge of the door and pull it open.

Once you enter the room beyond, the purpose becomes somewhat obvious: it's an office. There are chairs in the room, a window to the next office on the opposite wall, and another door next to the window.

While not in the front (That's probably Lucas' job) when Sarah is able to enter the room she'll be looking for anyone else there and assuming no one is there, she'll be looking out of the window.

Lucas took up a position off to the side of the group, watching along the corridor. He knew searching was not really his thing, so posting guard for the others was about as helpful as he could be. He stood so he could see as far along the corridor as possible yet keep the team in full sight to give them the maximum warning should he see something.

OOC: As I catch up on my posts, I look at the dates of the posts that came after my last post. In this case, Sarah posted the day I went into the hospital! So she's been waiting patiently for nearly a month for a reply!


There are no people in the office, nor does Sarah see any people through the window. What she does see, however, is an 'examination' room. It appears just like a doctor's office back on Earth, except the size of things is a bit off. Plus, the 'tech' equipment is made of stone. Typical medical equipment are set up on the counters and tables, or hanging from hooks on the wall: stethoscope, tongue depressors, what were probably once bandages, etc.


SG-X4 has no problem reaching the 9,000-foot mark down the mountain. However, they don't really know if that is far enough. The secret facility could way farther underground. The other problem is that there is no way to communicate with the SG-X3 team inside the mountain.

The engineers set up their seismographic equipment, and then proceed to drill as deep a hole as they can and set a single charge. The hope is that the seismographs will indicate a hollow area in the mountain, which should be the facility. It may take several charges, at several different levels, to establish just where they are in relation to the bottom of the facility.

"Ready when you are, Major," Sgt. Robinson informs him.


SG-X5 is having the worst of the mission so far--sit around and wait. Oh, sure, they are keeping watch, and the Avian warrior with them has information to impart. The Raptors never attack at night, they always come from up the canyon, and a raiding party consists of about two dozen 'warrior' Raptors.

After about 6 hours, Sergeant Glosten is the first one to spot them. His binoculars give him a greater range than even the Avians' vision. Appearing first as just a speck, he soon realizes that this is a group of Raptors. He can't make out details yet, but it is definitely flying creatures. It appears more as a swarm than a mere flock.

Once he points this out to the Colonel, it is the Colonel's responsibility to inform the Avians. He now learns that there is much more time to get prepared than usual. A 'panic' alarm does not need to be sounded... just start getting everyone to shelter.

SSgt. Tate spots the second group... coming from UP the canyon. They are a bit closer, but still not in panic range.

Between the two groups, the Avian warrior estimates that there are over a hundred Raptors. He is nearly in shock. He's never heard of such a large group attacking before. In fact, he was not aware that there were that many Raptors in existence.