Three weeks had been a nice break after the last frustrating mission. SG22 received the message to report for briefing at 10:00 hours. On arrival in the briefing room General O'Neill looked like he'd already had a long morning. "Have a seat people and lets get this over with." His opening statement was short and not terribly polite, but that's just how he was sometimes.

"The upper brass considered sending you back to P3X-559 to wreak a little havoc but, in the end they decided not to waist the time on a world where the people are willingly doing Ba'al's will even if it is under false pretense. The feeling is that with Anubis moving in that area the people on that planet might be better off organizing to fight even if it is under false pretense. Without any defenses laid they would become Anubis' slaves without a fight." The General was keeping a pretty straight face, but those fairly perceptive among the team members could tell that he wasn't entirely in agreement with the decision.

"Instead you will be going to P3R-881. It is in the same region of space and is fairly close to P3X-559 in relative terms. This will be a basic explore mission. Meet and greet the natives and assess the situation. Because of it's proximity to the other world it is likely that Ba'al considers it his territory, it is also likely that they will also be preparing to meet the forces of Anubis. For that reason this could be considered a dangerous mission, I want you to be careful going in and don't take any chances. If the natives are hostile or aggressive don't waist time with them and come back through." He looked to Captain Wright, "Use your best judgement, and either come back through or make contact in 5 hours."

He gestured to the screen which lit up with pictures of the world and the area around the gate. "Looks like an agricultural world, or at least the area around the gate is. There is a town only a couple miles from the gate. Looks like a low tech world." The first image had been of the the fields of something like wheat surrounding the gate. The second was less promising, it showed a large standing stone with a large engraved symbol near the top.



"That's why we don't want you to take any chances. Ba'al is the trickiest of the Goa'uld. Be careful over there even if it is a low tech world. Never know what surprises Ba'al might have waiting. Any questions?"

Steve shook his head at the idea of questions. *Why don't they build these city's around the gate? Ah, right. System Lords would like the idea of someone building up an 'ambush' zone for when they come through themselves. Selfish but useful.*

Meet.. greet.. assess. I wonder if all the missions are like this, maybe this team is the fuckin' SGU "Welcoming Committee" or somethin'. I can't believe they're payin' me for this shit. Oh well.. whatever.

Aradia kept her inner dialogue to herself though, nodding through the briefing, and shook her head at the end, indicating she had no questions.

Hell, I haven't even been doing this long enough to know what to ask if I did..

Her lips twisted into an very faint smile, but nothing else.

"No sir, let's flush." Vinny said, eager to get going. So much had happened these last few weeks, he was looking forward to something 'normal'.

Like walking through a shimmering stable wormhole in space to investigate an alien world that was being dominated by a parasitic ass-tard.

With a smile on his face Steve mentally moaned, *Agriculture. Low tech world.*

*Translation: No singles bars and nothing worth stealing. Yippee.*

SG22 lined up before the ramp just under one hour later loaded with the standard mission gear. This would be the second time through for the team and this time there was no doubt going in that it could be considered hostile territory. Ba'al's mark was right there carved in stone according to the malp images. As always the gate dialing was a profound experience. The power of it somehow registering in a primal way; the raw power of the forming event horizon atomizing the very molecules in the air before it. Once established there was little time to waste. Without knowing what reception waited on the other side it paid to be prompt and get the drop on anyone who might be waiting.

As it happened there was no one waiting on the other side, but there were peasants tending the crops scattered in the fields surrounding the gate. They had all stopped what they were doing to watch the travelers come through and bow of course. No one approached, but one young man did run off in the direction of the village.

The area immediately surrounding the gate was like a crop circle in an English field, but bordered with occasional standing stones. The largest one of which stood opposite the gate and just as the pictures showed, it bore the carving of Ba'al's symbol.

Aradia muttered quietly to Vinny and the others, her eyes trailing the kid.

"We need to stop him or anything? He's probably running off to tell someone we're here."

Probably.

"Let the brat run, if not him, then someone else will, not like we're fuckin' incognito." Vinny said, pulling a cigar out and walking down into the field. He gave the surrounding area a look, making sure that the 'farmers' weren't jaffa in disguise, and that there were no 'snakes' in the grass.

"KT, scan for snakes. Gumby, gimme a recon of the town." he added, talking around his cigar as he lit it from a zippo. "Let's go."

Flipping closed the lighter and replacing it into his pocket, he started heading in the direction of the town, following the worn path from the natives.

Aradia glanced at Vinny, surprise flickering across her face.

"A recon of the - you mean you want me to change, in front of everybody?"

"'Fraid of the natives darlin'? Lay down in the fuckin' grass if it'll make ya feel better."

She rolled her eyes, and he heard her make a noise of amusement.

"Hardly. I just didn't know how early we showed our hand, ya' know?"

With that, she closed her eyes, and concentrated. She shifted again, like last time her body contorting into the shape of a hummingbird.


Unlike last time however, she didn't immediately shrink in size, and after a quick hop which failed to result in flight, the massive bird tilted it's head towards Kyria, meeting her gaze with creepily large, beady bird eyes.

Damnit! Kyria, can you hear me? If you can hear me, tell Vinny I just need a sec to try again, k?. I don't think I can do this right, after just stepping out of the gate.

Steve blinked at the change. A 150 lb bird has serious combat abilities...

Except of course that a 150 lb humming bird couldn't walk, much less fly. Steve put on a poker face. As funny as this was she could still probably beat him up.