In reply to Rajip Mojdar (msg # 849):

Kaspar, jaw hanging low, watched Rajip during the young Ranger's out-of-the-blue revealing of his attitude towards Jaffa. When Rajip was done, Kaspar turned a smug look towards Hilda.

"See? It isn't just me." he says, then raises a hand in a halting gesture towards an expected response from Hilda, "However ... sentiments towards Jaffa enslavement aside, I do believe it is time that we return to the ha'tak and ... deal with the issue ... of the Jaffa.  Convert 'em or kill 'em; either way we can no longer ignore them."

Kaspar focusses on Rajip, "That's what's called strategy, Staff Sergeant - I define, in a broad way, the objective we need to achieve. Right now, we need to remove the Jaffa from the equation. The actual doing of that task is called tactics - and that's you."

"She ..." Kaspar points at Hilda, "...is an excellent warrior and quite skilled at taking out Jaffa, but her duties are as Team Scout and resident Protector of Our Hard To Replace Asgard. You are the Team Tactical Leader. So get to thinking up a plan for how we are going to take out those human Jaffa. You have until they start shooting at us to come up with something."

Kaspar smiles, then winks at Rajip, "And I'm confident it will be brilliant."

Cut off from answering Rajip with a repeat of her speech yesterday to Kaspar, or to Hammond several days ago, Hilda only bared her teeth in a wolfish snarl. But she cooled herself, answering instead 'Already I have said my mind on this – I'll let Kaspar tell you my vows. But do not tell me the Jaffa are slaves or thralls, not when I was slave to them. They are karls – free-men – bound to the Goa'uld.' It seemed petty to argue over terminology, but she felt it necessary to remind these people of Midgard, who had never been thralls, not to forget the crimes the Jaffa committed freely upon those beneath them. They were not innocent victims; she'd seen proof of that.

Aggrieved, she spoke before Rajip, answering questions not yet put to her 'We can ambush them in the forest; this I know well, if the rest of you can hold your ground. But if you want to parley with them, then think: why would they want to talk to us, who are not Jaffa?'

In reply to Hilda (msg # 851):

"Ah, yes! As to that..." Kaspar shifts a little awkwardly - he's still wearing his backpack - and reaches into one of the pockets of his trousers.

"I propose that I openly approach the Jaffa and display this..." Kaspar holds up one of the metal medallions that had been found aboard the ha'tak amid some of the Jaffa remains.

"I'm hoping that this might get me enough time to try and talk them over to our side. After all, they are effectively what the Japanese would call Ronin - masterless rogue warriors. Maybe they'd listen to an offer of a change of employment."

"However, even if they don't," Kaspar continues, replacing the medallion into his pocket, "My open approach could just as easily be used by us to draw them out into a trap."

As she eyed the medallion, Hilda was of course dubious. 'You are obviously not Jaffa. They will think you stole it, or looted it. And they would be right.' she pointed out.

In reply to Hilda (msg # 853):

Kaspar nodded in agreement, "Yes, that's a very likely outcome. In which case they will either try to kill me or take me prisoner. So, if either of those outcomes do appear to be about to happen, I will duck-and-cover as best I can, and all of you will shoot the Jaffa. A lot."

Kaspar grinned confidently.

"Tactics are easy to come up with," Rajip replies. "Coming up with tactics that will work... now that's a different story."

"Yes, the Jaffa will know that we aren't fellow Jaffa... although I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss that possibility... there can be other Jaffa that they don't know about."

"I'm pretty sure they won't know we are Tau'ri. In any case, we are on this planet, so they are apt to think we are natives. That means we should know how to survive on the planet. Also, based on our weapons, they are going to know we have some sort of industrial base."

"I think that gets our foot in the door."

'You could not duck and cover fast enough, old man.' Hilda warned, amused by Kaspar's daring nonetheless.

Although she was none too enamoured of the plan, her memory of the Þrymskviða – the comic story of how mighty Thor was disguised in wig and dress as comely Freyja for a wedding to the ettin Thrym, and how Loki excused Thor's small, frail, grey form with outrageous lies – inspired Hilda to a plan of her own, although not altogether a serious one. 'Ha! Why don't I pretend to be a Jaffa shield-maiden? I have a staff weapon and armour to wear. You can draw a symbol upon my brow. I can show the symbol and ask whom they serve. This will put our boots through the door!' The Norse had, in fact, invented trolls.


OOC: Yes, with my +0 Bluff and Disguise scores. :D
This message was last edited by the player at 00:46, Sun 18 Dec 2016.

"Pardon my interruption of your discussion on tactics," Freyda offers, "but might it be more prudent to establish what is happening within the ha'tak first?"

"We could be busy attacking the Jaffa only to have the ship fly away while we are doing so."

"To our knowledge, the Goa'uld have no way of communicating through an open wormhole, unlike your radios. So while those on the other end can open the stargate, even send more troops through, there is no way for them to know what has transpired on the other end. More troops just become incommunicado as well. There is no way for the Goa'uld on the ship to tell those back home that he needs crystals."

"As far as we know."

"That does not mean that a hundred gator troops have not been sent through."

"While I do not wish to see the Jaffa killed for just being innocent bystanders, I see no way to trust them as a group. We can offer to help them, but we will not return them to the Goa'uld... if there is another Goa'uld that would take them and that they would serve."

"If they agree to join us... that is what I fear we cannot trust. We have no way of knowing how loyal they are to the Goa'uld. They might actually believe that the Goa'uld are gods."

"I apologize if you've already considered this, but I have not heard it conveyed to the others. We Asgard are not great tacticians. We can consider many options and take appropriate measure against them, but we rely on our technology for our tactics."

"Those are some good points, Freyda," Rajip concurred.

"Even you have to admit, Hilda, that attacking a hundred gator-men inside the ha'tak would be suicidal! We should definitely try and find out what's in there first."

"We know that there's a Goa'uld still in there. If they had control, they would have opened the door by now and come looking for us."

"So, since Freyda and Vasandra have the most familiarity with an ha'tak, which level would you think is the best entry point?"

"Hilda... do you want to go in with Gavan to scout? It'll need stealth, as well as possible combat ability."

'The goddess speaks wisdom,' Hilda agreed with Freyda, of course.

'As Lady Freyda said, we cannot trust the Jaffa. The Jaffa also will not trust us. They might if we had one of Hammond's tame Jaffa, but we do not. We offer them nothing: not one of their own to speak to them, nor a home safe from their former masters, not service to a better master. Trying to parley with them is a foolish task.'

'And I did not say to attack a hundred of these gator-men at once. That would be a quick path to Valhalla.' she corrected Rajip, but it was clear that a glorious death in battle was not actually a bad thing to the Viking, only a pointless and early one. 'But we will need to fight some to get to the Ring of Stars. They will guard the Gate. They will not let us pass freely while we have the keys.' she pointed out.

'I will scout with Gavin.'

In reply to Hilda (msg # 859):

As Kaspar had been listening to the valid points his Team was discussing, he'd loosened, then slid his backpack off his back, to the floor.

"Okay, those are all some really good points." he says, nodding, "And I had, actually, considered some of them - just maybe not as completely as all of you. However, I really don't think our basic strategy has changed - which is that we need to get access to the 'gate and report or return to the SGC."

"In order to achieve that goal, we have to look at some facts. Fact One - as we've all noted, we do not know for certain what is happening inside the ha'tak. Are there more Gator-Jaffa? Less Gator-Jaffa? Is the Goa'uld inside there an enemy of the Goa'uld that the Human Jaffa followed? Just how likely are the Human Jaffa to join-up with the Gator-Jaffa Goa'uld, if they are asked?"

"I want to address that last question, first. As far as we know, despite our efforts to introduce them to one another, we did not, in fact, get the ha'tak opened as we left. The Human Jaffa outside the ha'tak saw us running away from the ship - they did not see us emerge through its hull - and they may have identified us as Humans. Maybe. But they never saw any of the Gator-Jaffa. As far as the Human Jaffa know, they are still stranded on this planet, and their Goa'uld God must be dead, or has abandoned them - because he certainly hasn't come out of the ha'tak."

"So, with all that on their minds, they may be receptive to an offer to parlay. And, if we can do that before the new Goa'uld inside the ship can get to them, we may be able to convince them it's in their interest to help us take him out."

"Which brings me to Fact Two - which isn't, really, so much a fact as it is my opinion as an Anthropologist. I believe that it is in our best interest to try and sway the Human Jaffa to work with us, before we attempt even a reconnaissance inside the ha'tak. We need their numbers to ensure we can neutralize the Gator-Jaffa. But, even if we can sway them over to aid us, will I trust them? Hell no! I will assume that they will think they are using us, just as we are using them. It's just that the chances of us double-crossing them is lower than them double-crossing us. So we recruit them, but we stay ready for a double-cross by them."

"Now, I had thought to try and let them capture me, and I would then try to sway them. You all have convinced me that that plan would probably fail. However - Hilda, I really think your suggestion of you walking in there pretending to be another Jaffa has real merit. Oh, they'll be suspicious about who you are, how you got there and whatnot, but the appearance of a strange female Jaffa will be easier for them to accept than the appearance of an over-weight Tau'ri Polack who speaks Jaffa rather badly - something they have no experience with. But, I mean, you know how they act, how they think, you can easily mimic their behaviorisms - uh - actually, can you speak Jaffa? I've just been taking it for granted that you do."

"And do you believe you speak it well enough that they won't immediately point you out as false? Ideally, you'll only need to speak with them for a minute, or two, to point out their desperate situation, and offer them an option for escape - if they'll just agree to meet with the rest of us."

Hilda stared dumbfoundedly at Kaspar. 'I was joking.' Regardless, defeated by an array of arguments she found insane, she answered his questions 'I know the Jaffa tongue,' At this point, she switched to Goa'uld to demonstrate, proving herself more natural in it 'It is the same as the Goa'uld's. I probably speak it better than I speak Tau'ri. I probably have an accent, but Jaffa of different worlds and different Goa'uld have different accents,  so this is no problem. But I learned it from my slave-masters – they chose me to learn it, to pass on orders to my kin, because I was the smartest.' She was a little proud of that, despite the actual source and reason for this praise. 'But in truth, I learned very little of Jaffa ways. And there are few Jaffa warrior women. If we do this, we must hope they will excuse my differences as being the products of a different warrior band, a different Goa'uld.'
This message was last edited by the player at 00:00, Fri 06 Jan 2017.

In reply to Hilda (msg # 861):

"Yes, that's what I'm hoping." Kaspar responds, "Even though your appearance as a female Jaffa might, to them, appear odd, it should also look just familiar enough that it may also provoke a curiosity that will make them hold their fire until they figure out what is going on."

Kaspar gestures down at his own appearance, then gestures over at Rajip, "Whereas, if either one of us were to appear - even if we held our hands abouve or heads - we would appear as an unknown; our uniforms are nothing like they've ever seen, but if they remember seeing something like them when we were running from the ha'tak, they will also remember our strange weapons. And they will be more likely to shoot something that is unknown to them, than they are to shoot something that looks sort of like them, and that speaks like them, and is equipped like them."

Kaspar looks at the young Ranger, "Rajip, what is that saying that Southerners in America use? If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's gotta be a duck...?"

In reply to Kaspar Radoslaw Gorski (msg # 862):

"Okay, I think we have a plan." Kaspar says, "Hilda, dig up whatever of your Cimmerian gear you may have brought with you. Perhaps the First, here, might have some things you could make use of, if you're short of anything. Slim as they are, the First are still reasonably close to our humanoid form."

OOC: I presume we're back in our quarters for this planning, rather than the watch-bird control room.

As much as Hilda disagreed with the entire plan and thought it doomed to failure, this actually filled her with a giddy excitement. A disguise, a lie, a clever ruse – such things were a saga built on. And though she thought it all doomed to failure, it would surely go disastrously wrong in the most hilarious way possible. 'My shield,' A wooden round shield emblazoned with a Stargate-like pattern, 'My helm,' A simple conical steel helm with nose guard. 'My plains-people bow,' A composite longbow, not of Norse style. 'And my sword.' An impressive straight-bladed sword with cross-guard and heavy pommel, with clear Norse styling.

She rummaged through her pack and pulled out her Norse-style leather armour. 'I smuggled this in, I did not trust this "tactical deployment vest"... Would that I had Jaffa mail for more armour. But, after the woman warriors I have seen on Tau'ri television, perhaps I should wear only loin-cloth and bra?' she teased, but reflected 'I should show some of my tattoos; Tau'ri warriors do not display these, but Jaffa wear them proudly on their brows. We can paint Thor's Hammer upon mine... But I will need a tunic.'

"Well, keep in mind that you have one big advantage over these Jaffa--you know what really happened!" Rajip comments.

"You know that their god is dead. You know that he was killed by the slime god. You know that the slime god is dead... slain by you! You know that another Goa'uld is now on the ship. That he's the one that sabotaged the ship. That he has the gator-men as servants. And... you have the control crystal that is keeping them stranded and confined in the ship."

"We can give you a crystal to take with you to show them. Show-and-tell is always popular among the uneducated."

"You have to use your judgment as to which version of the truth you think will work the best. Perhaps you can tell them that the other Goa'uld killed their god, and get the Jaffa to avenge him."

In reply to Rajip Mojdar (msg # 865):

"Oh, I like all those ideas, Sergeant! Very good observations." Kaspar nodded in agreement with Rajip's suggestions, "And I leave the various accoutrements of your disguise to your better judgement, Hilda. But..."

Kaspar paused to grin - for, of course, there had to be a "but".

"We don't know much about the Goa'uld out in this star cluster - remember that Freyda had no knowledge of the markings for either of the Goa'uld, or their Jaffa, that we've seen so far. But I'm not confident that that means they are not familiar with Asgardian themed icons - which, I note, some of your body art is distinctly derivative of. Especially the Warhammer of Thor. Do you think you should risk using that, specific, symbol?"

'Yes.' Hilda answered, utterly resolute, angered that Kaspar would suggest she not. 'I will wear no false god's rune upon my brow. I will not swear to a Goa'uld, even falsely. I will wear the Mjǫllnir... or the rune of Lady Freyda.' she added, gesturing to the Asgard she'd accepted as a surrogate goddess. Freyda's rune would be less well known than Thor's, at least.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:26, Fri 20 Jan 2017.

In reply to Hilda (msg # 867):

"Hilda," Kaspar frowns, "Nobody is asking you to swear fealty to any Goa'uld. And there is no issue of falsehood, here. Disguising and presenting yourself as a Jaffa is not lying! It is a deception, a legitimate Ruse of War."

"And before you say that there is no difference between a lie and a deception, I would point out that a lie usually involves someone violating their honor with the intent of hurting another. However, a deception against ones enemy is an entirely honorable tactic of warfare. Hell, in the Sagas of the Norse People of the Tau'ri, there are tales said of the Asgard - of Odin and Thor, themselves! - going among their enemies disguised as someone else."

"And if that isn't good enough, then I ask you - if there is no difference between a lie and a deception, then what were they doing..." Kaspar points at Freyda, "...for all those generations of your people that the Asgard presented themselves as looking just like humans?"

"I'm not asking you to give your Word to these Jaffa! Tell them things they want to hear, sure. Even make vague promises. But never give your Word! This is pretend, this is..."

Kaspar's visage suddenly lightens, as a thought occurs, "This is play-acting! Just like the Bards - no, just like the Skalds, when they tell a tale and pretend to be all the different people in the story. You are just pretending to be a Jaffa. You will have to act like a Jaffa, speak like a Jaffa, even claim to think like a Jaffa, to make them believe you are Jaffa - until they either choose to help us, or everyone starts shooting at everybody."

"And if that happens, then duck and pray. Pray a lot."

Hilda looked long and hard at Kaspar, as though he were an especially foolish and wayward piglet. 'Listen well, grandfather. I know the tales of the gods, of Odin's wandering in disguise, of how Thor put on Freyja's wedding dress to marry Thrym – the Þrymskviða is what gave me this idea. And I know how they disguised themselves as men to guide us. I learned this at the feet of Hermod himself. And I disguised myself as a slave when I fought the ettins, to get close to them, to surprise them. I have no fear of disguising myself as one.' she declared.

'But there is magic in runes. To paint them on my skin is to invoke their magic: wardings, blessings of the gods,' To demonstrate, she tugged up her jacket and shirt to reveal lines of runes tattooed in black across her firm abdomen, 'Or curses. False or not, I will not take another god's mark on my body. I must be true to myself.'

In reply to Hilda (msg # 869):

Kaspar shrugged.

"Okay, then. But, as you suggested, it'll probably be safer to use Freyda's Symbol, then. She's probably obscure enough in Goa'uld databases to be unknown."

Kaspar tossed a grin towards the Asgard scientist "No offence meant, Freyda. The Goa'uld probably just don't respect - yet - the actual threat you present to them."

In reply to Kaspar Radoslaw Gorski (msg # 870):

OOC: I am still here. I will always be here. I am trapped in a cybernightmare that will not let me leave ^_^  Okay, StarMaster, break's over! Figger out a storyline for us, and let's go! ^_^



Kaspar claps his hands together and rubs them vigorously.

"Right then, Team, as the Americans say," Kaspar looks around for where he placed his pack, "Let's get this show on the road! Hilda, as soon as you've finished with whatever prep work you need, we will leave. Asherrra, please inform the Elders that we will be leaving shortly, and that we thank them, and all the First People, for their aid and their kindness. We shall be leaving shortly. If you will be coming with us, get whatever gear you need - you should plan to be away from the city for a day or two, I think."

With the nature of her disguise settled, Hilda kept tugging up her shirt and tank-top, then proceeded to undress, without anything resembling shame or embarrassment, nor concern for the propriety of others. She tried only to catch Vasandra's eye, curious to know if the dark elf woman was curious too.

So off came her deployment vest, then BDU jacket, and tank-top, before she tugged off her combat boots and dropped her trousers. Wearing only her underwear (a practical black bra and underwear supplied by women on base), Hilda was revealed in all her Cimmerian glory, as a beautiful woman and a powerful warrior, short and slim yet busty, her lithe body holding compact muscles and sinews like steel cords just below her soft curves and pale skin.

Yet her body carried the scars of work and battle: the burn of a too-close Jaffa staff weapon blast on her left leg, a cut from a sword on her right forearm, and a bracelet of wolf-fang bites around her left wrist. There were also mysterious tattoos of ancient Norse design: a complex, stylised dragon on her upper right arm, a wolf upon her chest, and lines of runes around her back, belly and legs.

Together with her SGC dog-tags, she wore an iron arm-band around her upper left arm, a silver ring, a Thor's hammer pendant, and a necklace of wolf fangs.

Then the vision was past, as Hilda hauled on her leather armour vest and skirt, tying it firmly into place. She put her combat boots back on, because there was no going without footwear (and the paw-footed First had no substitutes that would fit). She belted on her sword sheath, donned her conical steel helm with nose guard, slung her bow and quiver, took up her round shield with its Stargate design, and hefted her looted staff-weapon. 'I am ready.' she said with meaning, every inch the ancient warrior, no longer a modern soldier.

'We can draw on Freyda's rune before we meet the Jaffa, before I sweat it off. Where is the Jaffa sign you took from the bones?'

SG-X1 was used to moving out at a moment's notice, so Kaspar was the only one that actually had to pack up... well, he and Hilda, who had to pack her BDUs away now that she was in her traditional Cimmerian armor.

The best Hilda could determine was that Vasandra watched her striptease with 'mild' interest, though she thought she caught a brief flash of approval on Vasandra's face. Somewhat sadly, this seemed to be normal for Vasandra, if not all Netjerians--she didn't express emotions very often. About the only time Hilda had seen any display of emotion on Vasandra's part was when she realized she was in a Ha'tak, and when she deployed the drones.

Asherrra returns in a few minutes, carrying a small furry haversack. Similar items had been observed around the city, but were usually involved in work, carrying foodstuffs. She was also wearing a fine metal belt from which a knife of some sort was hung. It appeared to be a two-prong blade--a tighter version of a katar.

You could also see a small flattened egg-shaped device fastened to the belt.


This time, as you exit the city, there are hundreds of cat-folk gathered around the main thoroughfare to watch the group leave. The idea of waving good-bye isn't apparently part of their culture, but one female quickly moves over to Asherrra, exchanges a few words and rubs noses with her.

Hilda is in the lead this time, leaving Rajip to bring up the rear. Vasandra is just in front of Rajip, directing the long-range drone ahead of the group, scouting the forest to either side of the path as well as the path ahead.


Thus the group makes its way back to the vicinity of the ha'tak. The drone shows the same set-up as when they left, and when the First People let them use their drone.

Clearly now, the situation is not what Kaspar thought it was. The Goa'uld inside do not appear to have come out yet, and the Jaffa outside are apparently still waiting for something to happen... to be rescued maybe?

The Jaffa are still sending a patrol of 2 around the Ha'tak about every hour. These Jaffa seem primarily concerned about the Ha'tak itself, rather than any possible threat from the forest.

The only question now is: do you confront just the two patrol Jaffa first, or confront the whole group?

Hilda found the token of the Free Jaffa that Kaspar had insisted she take the other day and that she had subsequently forgotten about – it was in a vest pocket of her BDU – and tucked it under her armour at her breast. From what she understood, the Free Jaffa moved among their people in secret, so even a false Jaffa would not show it openly until she must.

On the journey back to the ha'tak, she insisted she lead the way, some distance ahead, in case they stumbled upon a Jaffa patrol and needed to urgently try to deceive them. Hilda felt so good to be back in her armour – armour she understood, not this kevlar – with weapons that felt right in her hands, honest sword and shield, not thunder-weapons and fire-staffs. She was fighting in forest and mountain, in her native environment. She felt like a true Cimmerian warrior again, going a'viking against her enemies. Only she was going not to slay the Jaffa, but to try to treat with them. That felt wrong. I am sorry, Astrid. I cannot slay these Jaffa.

'It is easier to persuade two than many.' Hilda said when they stopped to confer, 'And it is easier to defeat them too. We also know the ways and times they patrol. We will set an ambush – I know the place – where I will show myself and try to parley with them. If I succeed, then all is well. If not, then you attack and save me. If I die, then I shall kill you day after day in Valhalla until Ragnarok comes.'


OOC: I can use my Trailblazer ability to share my Forest and Mountain Training feats to the team, so we should be able to set an effective ambush.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:37, Wed 01 Mar 2017.