So Close, Yet So Far

Posted on Mon Sep 12th, 2022 @ 8:16pm by Lieutenant Colonel Jonathon Raynor & Master Sergeant Ezekiel Chambers & Thayara & Lieutenant Ralph Brennan & Scarlett Hayes Dr. & Major Alexander Preston & Major Amy Carter & Sienna/Arldana (Hayes)

Mission: The Rise of the Valkyrie
Location: P3X-611 (Official Name, Unknown)
4618 words - 9.2 OF Standard Post Measure

/// ON ///

A long quiet moan escaped John's mouth as the jarring feeling as he came around. The last thing he remembered was a massive shock to his nervous system. He had felt as though a jackhammer had been directly on his nerves causing a total physical shut down of his movements just a couple of seconds before falling to the ground.

Which was the next feeling he felt, as though he had fallen straight on his face. So when his hands slowly drug across the ground to feel his face for cuts and blood, he was also wondering if he was even dreaming. Not twenty-four four hours ago, they had been pondering how alien these planets were going to be. It was no doubt, upsetting to find that the planet they had found themselves on was more jungle-like, similar to what they had survival training in the jungles of South America. But now he found himself in a different location, which felt like a smooth solid concrete surface but without the imperfections.

The blurry haze slowly disappeared as he blinked a couple of times and his body, though aching, was starting to become easier to control and move around. The colonel blinked more as he noticed the medium dim light that seemed to shine up them was now showing what they had seen before, a crystallized underground structure. Grey, dull, and uniquely designed, the tunnels were starting to seem as though they were endless. But there was a more pressing concern... he and his teams had been zapped by device very similar to the damn zit guns, the Zat'n'ktel of the Goa’uld and Jaffa army.

As he looked around he saw his team now in a large round room with the crystallized walls and one entrance, wide open. At the center of the room was the pile of all their equipment stacked on a large long table-like structure that seemed to have risen from the ground or crafted with laser precision with tools he wasn't fully sure had been used. Unique design for a dungeon or cell, John thought to himself before realizing that he had more than his own personnel.

He saw a female brunette who had moaned from a couple of feet behind him, which caught his attention real quick. She was fighter and athletic but wasn't awake.

"Yo, wake up," he called out to his teams as he kept his focus on the female. "How's everyone doing?"

Thayara heard the sound of voices, speaking a language she was not familiar with. Her heart was pounding, which could only mean she had been caught and shot. How the so called gods hadn't ordered her instantly dead was beyond her thus far, but it gave her a fighting chance. She slowly sat up, willing her eyes to open. Her eyes first landed on a man, close by, watching her intently, dressed in a way she'd never seen before. She lowered her chin a bit as her eyes narrowed suspiciously and she quickly shifted her feet under her. One hand moved to the bottom of her leather made corset and shifted a slight fold of leather aside. "Who are you?" she demanded in her own Jaffa language.

Noone else was getting up and quite honestly, he wasn't sure how long before people started to wake. But this Jaffa chick, he could tell was trying to talk to him, but wasn't sure what it was she was saying. But their gear, which was in the middle of the room. He made his way slowly to the center of the room and looked it over, nothing stopping him he thought. So he slowly moved his hand to the gear, but was stopped when zapped by an energy barrier.

"Shit! What the hell?!" he pulled back shaking the sting of his hand. From the gear, a robotic voice quickly spoke out in Goa'uld. Someone's translator was on. Lucky him as he looked over at the female Jaffa. "Hey sunshine, you understand me now?"

Thayara tipped her head, "Yes... But you did not answer my question." She stood up, now that there was some distance, but she was still ready to fight and pull a weapon. "What god do you serve?" she demanded in her native tongue.

The colonel cocked his head and looked at the gear. "I'm not going to hurt you, but the device that is translating needs you to be a little bit closer for it to pick up on you and translate it back to me," He tried to explain as the device spoke for him while raising his hands slowly. "See, no weapons."

Thayara looked him over as he stated he had no weapons. He was a fool then. Even with spotting her own staff on the table she was not unarmed. She moved closer, close enough that she could see more of the items on the table, but had just enough distance between the man and his group that she could react if they jumped her. "What god do you serve?" she repeated her question.

"What god? Well I'm not much of a believer, but I'd really hope that the big God up stairs would have a cool name like Chuck or Jack. But I don't serve anyone," John remarked shrugging as he looked her over. "You uh... got some god you working for or like body art?"

Thayara touched her forehead with a disgusted look on her face. "I no longer serve any false god." she said with a bit of a huff. She was about to ask more when she heard another voice, she backed away a step and fell silent, wanting to observe these people and not be caught between them.

"What in God's name?" Zek let out a low groan as he shifted. All of his nerves were on fire and his muscles felt stiff. He wasn't bound but his gear wasn't where it was supposed to be. He stood up slowly from where he'd been sitting and glanced around the room to take it in. The first move in any captive situation was escape.

He watched the colonel try and get some of the gear and figured he wouldn't try that trick. As he approached the field, he took a long look at the woman the colonel was conversing with. She was one of those Jaffa and he had half a mind to knock her on her ass, but decided instead to start looking for a way to get their gear.

"There's only one God, and he sure don't dress like those damn fools you call gods," Zek said it, not that loud, but the translator picked it up. "Dad gum it, there's gotta be a way into this thing."

"Hey, language, dad gum it," the colonel looked at the Sergeant and ordered half jokingly. "Must be some control panel somewhere. But I haven't seen it thus far."

"I might could, but I doubt it," Chambers chuckled as he started looking over the cage that had their gear. "Just like an officer, let the grunt do all the work. Why don't you tell that pretty jaffa lady we could use some help? Probably her friends that locked up."

"I am a captive as well, those here are no friends of mine." Thayara said firmly as she looked the man over. "I can not cross the barrier any more than you can, I lack the technology and weapons that could do the job." she said motioning to her staff weapon, mixed among their items on the table.

Lieutenant Keller woke to the feel of cold stone against her cheek and she bit back a groan not wanting to make a sound as she listened to those around her. She heard the colonel and chose to shift slightly so she could push herself up onto her hands and knees as she slowly got her bearings.

"Colonel? Sir?" She asked softly as she looked around the cell.

"Relax Lieutenant," John called out as he started to watch his people spoke up as they woke up to the surrounding area..

Scarlett stirred with a groan, hearing Keller’s voice. The last thing she remembered was being hit in the back by a blast, the initial shock had caused memories that weren’t hers to flash before her eyes, before she lost consciousness. Slowly sitting up she looked around. “Wh...where are we?”

Brennan, never one to be left behind, started to rouse too. He struggled to his feet and began to stumble around, trying his best not to step on any unconscious colleagues. He stopped and sighed, "Oh... not again," But yes, once again, he was hit by that all-too-familiar feeling of nausea and went off to what could be considered the corner of the room, letting go of a skerrick of the stomach contents he had left within him. Cleaning himself up, which has become as second nature as breathing by this point, he moved towards Raynor, who he could see standing near a woman who was as unusual to him as a feeling of general wellness. "Colonel, you okay?"

"Yep just got a second round of zapping due to that damn shield," the colonel replied as he looked looked over at his naval lieutenant. "I wouldn't go off touching it yet. Our fancy Sergeant is looking for a control panel while I been talking to this female Jaffa that was thrown in with us.

Rolling over, the Franco-Albertan let out a pained "Tabarnaaak," as he heaved himself off his stomach and onto his back. He quickly patted his stuff down and offered a heavy sigh, followed by "Not dead, someone took my shit," he called to the collection of people around him. Finally sitting up he got a quick bearing on where he was, before examining the central table and the fact no one else had touched it. "Magic shield?" He asked, forcing the sarcasm to the group. Zek and Jason were there, meaning no one escaped whatever it was that had scooped them.

"Some sort of energy shield," the commanding officer remarked as he looked over at his Canadian counterpart.

Scarlett stood up gazing at the walls, “Wait, this is...a Tok’ra base! I recognize the design of the walls from dreams I’ve had over the years!”

She looked around the cell walls, she didn’t really know what for but she hoped she’d know anything important if she found it. Her attention was drawn to the entrance as it suddenly lowered another force field and a prisoner was unceremoniously thrown in. He wasn’t one of theirs, his clothes were dirty royal under-armor similar to Jaffa design and it looked like he’d been well mistreated.

Waiting for the forcefield to go back up before stepping closer, Scarlett caught site of the man’s face a sudden flash of images in her mind making her step back for a moment. None of it was clear, but something told her she knew this man. “Are you...alright?” She offered a brief smile.

The new arrival just looked over at the woman and the rest of the group. He wasn't used to the language they spoke but watched them closely as he held his arm close. It was when he saw the Jaffa female which through him off but slowly moved a couple steps closer to her over the other group. He simply kept his tongue as he leaned against the stone like wall. Looking at the entrance, there were now two guards on the outside of the force field, which was reactivated.

Scarlett moved away over to Raynor. “Sir I...feel like I know him” She gazed at the new arrival then back at Raynor. “When he was thrown in I had, what can only describe as...flashes of images, memories!” She shrugged her shoulders. “It must be Shani’s memories.”

The colonel looked at the worn out man to size him up. He was worked up a bit with bruises, busted lip and bloody scratches, but wasn't in line with a beating. It looked more like a close proximity to some field explosions or battle conflict. The glamerous atire though.

"Well Doc, how about you keep those memories and spontaneous desires of communicating with him on pause. Not till we have an upper hand. We may out number him, but if you have memories of the guy, that means that man has been around the block a time or two."

While the pair discussed, Preston began feeling around the walls. Whatever this structure was, it was too perfect and that was starting to bother him. Carefully he felt around the edges of the stone-like structure, trying to find a seam or anything that might indicate what this was. "Like it was three-dee printed," he muttered under his breath trying to get a feel for the things in the space. Digging in one of his pockets he muttered nonsensically in a combination of french and english as he looked for a feeling. Finding it, he grasped the tool in its pocket, withdrawing a leatherman. Flipping through he found his small knife and scratched at the material.

"It's fucking impressive, I'll give it that..." he finally said more aloud.

"Find something interesting, Major?" Brennan asked Preston, moving towards the Major.

"If you gave me the best 3D printer on Earth, access to any and all material sciences we had at our disposal, and a kiss from God Himself I couldn't design walls this perfect," he replied looking back to the other man. "Whatever built this is far beyond our capabilities, even after the Asgard ponied up their expertise."


“They’re made by the Tok’ra” Scarlett looked towards Brennan and Preston. “They’re crystalline tunnels, these were obviously abandoned.”

"If they left then that probably isn't good news for us." Brennan opined. He turned to Scarlett. "Have you spotted any evidence as to why they bugged out?"

“No” Scarlett shook her head. “I wish I had more access to Shani’s memories, then I might have more answers! I just remember the look of these tunnels.”

"No sweat, Doc, you can only remember what you can," Brennan smiled. "Anything else you can tell us about these caverns? Do you think these tunnels are unique to this planet?"

Scarlett shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea, these flashes of images just come and go. If I get anymore I’ll let you know.”

"Please do," Ralph nodded. "Anything you can tell us will be useful, Doctor."

Moments later the forcefield shimmered away again, the guards tossing in one more arrival. A woman looking somewhat worse for wear, yet her attire and physique suggested she was from a people that included female warriors, very much like the mystical Amazonian women.

She took one look at those in the cell and backed herself away to a defensible spot. She took a few more minutes of eyeing up those in the cell before speaking. “Tau’ri?” was all she said.

"Who's asking?" Brennan asked the mysterious newcomer, keeping a safe distance. His hand-to-hand was rusty. He squinted slightly at her, trying his best not to be interrogative. "I assume you're not Goa'uld?"

“Goa’uld?” The woman shook her head. She seemed somewhat confused, especially the way she looked around at everyone. “I am...not Goa'uld, but you...are the Tau’ri? You came through the Chappa'ai? The Gate?”

"In that case," Brennan started, looking around for a moment at his colleagues, "Well, I guess we are, yes, the Tau'ri."

"Tau'ri?!" Thayara said her eyes widening. "The Tau'ri are just stories." she said looking around at the group. She remained near the table, so she could understand what they were saying. Her eyes moved to the man holding his arm, he clearly wasn't a part of this group, he was dressed vastly different, so who was he? She moved her hand to her corset again, flicking aside a bit of leather on the bottom, she could be armed in a flash if need be.

Sienna sat quietly her head was pounding, she felt more tired than anything else so she decided to curl up in the corner where she sat.

"We got anything to tie these three up?" The Texan said out loud, two rather attractive women and some other fellow. HE didn't give a damn who they were, they needed to be secured. Of course they were all prisoners. "And if they ain't using these damn tunnels, who the hell has us in here? They're gonna need a good ass whoopin'."

Raynor raised an eye brow before the group slowly heard footsteps coming from the hallway. Before the group, they saw three figures, two warriors on either side of a female, middle aged and wearing armor unlike any they had ever seen, almost royal but not. She looked at the group on the other side of the forcefield and held up one of translation devices.

Scarlett looked towards the three wondering what it was they wanted. Given the translation devices she was hoping they were here to say something good, rather than something bad.

"Who is the leader here?" the female asked in her native language, which the translator translated.

"That would be me," John Raynor replied as he raised a hand and looked at the woman.

"Who do you serve?"

This line made John look at Thayara before looking at the new arrivals. "Seriously, why do y'all keep asking those question. Would Stargate Command work for you?"

"You are humans, not Jaffa and only one of you is a Goa'uld. Was this your plan to flush us out?"

"What?"

The group looked over at the male arrival that was in royal armor. "He is Goa'uld."

The man looked over and squalled at the arrival. He finally spoke up loud enough for everyone to hear. "Kel nok shree Goa'uld."

The colonel blinked before looking between the Jaffa female warrior, the man in with them and the woman and the two guards on the opposing side of the force field. "Alright I got nothing. What did the guy say?"

"He said he is no Goa'uld." Thayara said, as she eyed the man who spoke untrustingly. "He said so rather forcefully, but he is no Jaffa." She started to stalk towards him, speaking in Jaffa her eyes blazing, as she pulled the wire from her corset and strung it between her hands. She was moving further from the table as she spoke, "Do you have a false god within you? I will cut it out and rip its head off with my teeth." she said threateningly.

"Well this escalated quickly," John spoke up as he watched the female Jaffa pull out a cable weapon. But just then, the force field dropped at the door and the two guards raised their arms, which seem to have weapons on their wrist bands. "Yo! Xena, warrior princess, got company!"

"Damn, just when it was getting interestin'," Zek glanced out at the person in the hallway and then the two guards. If he charged and tackled her, maybe surprise the three of them enough to let everyone else make a move on the guards. "I bet the little critter in his head don't taste too bad with some barbecue sauce."

Thayara was not about to let her enemy live, when the force field dropped she started to rush the possible Goa'uld. She jumped on him and wrapped her wire around his neck, dragging him to the ground. "Who are you?!" she shouted. "Speak you vile snake!"

Carter had thus far remained quite and 'under the radar', stood in the corner waiting and watching. As far as prisons went this had to be one of the better ones she had been in. Hell the SAS recruitment process had been harder than this... Well it had been harder than being in the SAS but that was neither here nor there!

With the two guards coming into the room they had been held in it confirmed what she had suspected. They either didn't see us as a threat or were to confident in their abilities to control this number of people. Human's for them were weak and easy to manipulate and control. If it came to a fight they would lose, fast.

Scarlett was quick to try and defend the male stranger that she still had a familiar feeling about. “Stop it!” She stood trying to reason with the woman who was trying to throttle him. “Let him go! You won’t find out anything if you kill him!!...please!”

The Colonel blocked Scarlett quickly to keep her from getting in the middle of any of it. "Yeah... this escalated quickly!"

Sienna was taking in everything from where she still sat, she was curious who the woman was who stood outside the cell. All she knew was she’d been captured and tossed in with a group of strangers she didn’t know.

Carter started forward moving quickly and quietly from the shadows, she didn't know who to what to expect from guards, or even if the man that was just now being pinned to the ground. She didn't know much about the parasite but it didn't matter right now, everyone deserved due course. SHe put herself between the Guards and the stranger.

"Don't think so" she said, her arms loose by her side. She had been the boxing champion for her regiment a few years on the run and she sure she could make her point with these two.

Without hesitation the two guards quickly stunned Carter and Thayara with their wrist weapons before focusing their weapons to the man the Jaffa warrior had tackled and Raynor. The two that were stunned dropped to the ground as though they had been hit by a Zat'n'ktel but was like a wave of energy instead of what had always looked like lightening surge flying through the air.

Preston watched the two that had flown into action get stunned, looked at the guards, and then raised a hand to the rest of the members of Stargate Command that were present as if telling them to back down. In numbers they might be able to knock the guards down, but their stuff, including the GDO was under a force field that meant that getting home was going to be a challenge. It was better to stop and wait, and see if there was a more diplomatic solution before going straight for the numbers game.

"Escalated indeed," the leader of the guards spoke as she walked up to Raynor. "What is this Stargate and what do you know of the Tau'ri?"

There was a slight pause before he eased his stance and looked at the woman. She was an attractive, almost middle aged woman. But she stood there as though she had more then just decades of life experience. There seem to be no fear nor hatred, but only a desire for information.

"The name is Colonel John Raynor, we are from Earth. I guess the Goa'uld call us the Tau'ri. Whatever the case is, we are under the command of Stargate Command. It's part of our military which is a joint mission complex. Our mission is to defend and explore the galaxy." He paused and looked around the room. "The ones in the uniform I wear and the gear we carried are under my command. My people."

"There were a couple of them that had Zat'n'ktels as sides and she has traces of being a host or offspring of a host."

John looked at Scarlett and then the others of the group. I guess it's best to let her explain. But we didn't come here to cause issues. I'm I missing something?" He looked at his group.

Scarlett looked towards the woman. “My mother was host to a Tok’ra symbiont called Shani for several months whilst pregnant with me. When I was born both my mother and Shani were too weak to survive. Over the years I’ve had glimpses of memories that aren’t my own. I can only guess they belong to her.”

"Can I ask, how do you know that she has these... traces? Is there a significance to it?" Brennan asked the guards, moving forward carefully to get a glimpse at the downed personnel to check for vitals, as well as satisfy the group's quest for knowledge. That said, he knew better than to get any closer than necessary. It seemed no matter the planet, whether it was bands of desperate human pirates or alien guards, unstable and unpredictable menace infested the galaxy.

“It’s me that has the traces Lieutenant” Scarlett looked at Ralph. “I carry traces of Naqueda in my blood from the symbiont that once inhabited my mother.”

"He does as well," the guard leader spoke as she nodded to the man whom was attacked. Everyone turned to look at the strange man in worn royal armor, who in returned looked over at Scarlett. "He is not your leader?"

"I take offense to that," John spoke up rather insulted. He crossed his arms and looked at the woman asking the questions. "You seriously believe we would be following someone that goes out looking like that?"

"Hol mel" the man called before slowly raising both himself of the ground. He then started to tap his chest. "Kel nok Tok'ra."

"What about Tok'ra?" John asked looking down at Thayara but then rolled his eyes and looked at the lead guard. "Nevermind, wanna translate sense you won't let us have our translators and knocked out Xena, warrior princess there. At least she was willing to answer." The guard looked at him and glared at him for a moment before her eyes flashed bright.

"Oh shit... you are Goa'uld."

"I am not, and from what this man is saying, neither is he. He says he is Tok'ra," she responded and sighed. "Why did you come here?"

"To look for allies, as stated earlier," the colonel answered again, being more cautious with his words and body language. "And you say you are not Goa'uld, but your eyes glowed. Tall tell signs of being a snake head. So... Tok'ra. They are the same as them aren't they?"

"Indeed, but Tok'ra translates as rebels. But they do things covertly, and not seeking allies. We are not Tok'ra."

Annoyance colouring his tone with the back and forth that was going no where, Alexander stepped from where he'd slunked to, and more towards the group themselves. "Listen, I like a good manège as much as the next, but can we get to the point? We aren't Goa'uld, you aren't Goa'uld, he's not Goa'uld. So, we all have a singular enemy, that being the Goa'uld. We were told there were a group of Valkyries here that might be good allies." He looked to John and shrugged. There was a time and a place for a clear leadership structure, and a time to step up and let a leader get out of a round about conversation. "If you're not them, then we are wasting time, ours and yours."

Scarlett approached the colonel's side giving the woman on the other side of the group a curious look. “If he’s Tok’ra” She looked to the man they’d tossed in earlier, “but you aren’t Goa’uld, then just who are you? Are you enemies, or are you allies of those who fight for freedom from the Goa’uld?”

The woman looked at Scarlett and her eyes lit up one more time. "We are the Valkyrie."

~Fade~