NEW GROUND

Written by Heather E. Ash

Transcribed By: Dee

TEASER

FADE IN

EXT – PLANET (DAY)

A young man and woman are chipping rock away from what is revealed to be a STARGATE.

YOUNG MAN: Another one.

YOUNG WOMAN: Perhaps the ancestors used it for astronomical calculation.

YOUNG MAN: A settlement must be nearby.

They hear the sound of the STARGATE dialing up and the chevrons along its ring start to light up.

INT – CONTROL ROOM, SGC

TECHNICIAN: Chevron four locked.

HAMMOND (to CARTER): Report.

CARTER: Sir, we’ve just got our first hit with the cold address program. P2X 416.

HAMMOND: Prepare the MALP.

EXT – PLANET (DAY)

YOUNG WOMAN (worried): We must leave NYAN.

The final chevron lights up and the event horizon shoots out of the STARGATE as the two people duck.

NYAN approaches the wormhole.

YOUNG WOMAN: NYAN! You’ll drown.

NYAN puts his hand into the event horizon.

NYAN: It doesn’t feel like water.

He jumps back as the SGC’s MALP suddenly emerges.

INT – CONTROL ROOM, SGC

DANIEL wanders into the Control Room.

DANIEL: What’s up?

CARTER: Cold dialing program made a positive hit on P2X 416.

DANIEL: I wonder why.

CARTER: Looks like the locals have unburied the STARGATE since the computer last dialed.

O’NEILL: Now see, that’s what I don’t understand. How does the computer know how to do that?

CARTER: It doesn’t, Sir. I created the cold dialing software to periodically redial cartouche STARGATE addresses that hadn’t connected the first time. This is our first hit.

O’NEILL (seeming less than impressed): Oh.

CARTER: Receiving MALP telemetry…now.

The camera on the MALP shows them the planet. NYAN wanders into view.

YOUNG WOMAN (off camera): NYAN? What is it?

NYAN: I don’t know.

He walks off camera.

DANIEL: Can you, uh, can you follow him?

The camera turns to show both NYAN and the young women he is with.

DANIEL puts on a ear piece to talk to them through the MALP.

DANIEL: Hello NYAN.

EXT – STARGATE CLEARING, PLANET (DAY)

DANIEL (through the MALP): Don’t be afraid. My name is DANIEL Jackson.

NYAN: Are you a mechanical life-form?

DANIEL: No, I’m communicating with you through that device.

NYAN: From where?

DANIEL: From another planet.

YOUNG WOMAN: This is a trick. We must report this NYAN.

NYAN: No, not yet.

She drags him to one side.

YOUNG WOMAN (whispering): Why?

INT – CONTROL ROOM, SGC

DANIEL (to HAMMOND): Sir, request permission to visit P2X 416.

O’NEILL: Wait a minute.

DANIEL: Jack, they’re obviously intelligent. Judging from their clothes and tools they appear to be close to our level of technology.

O’NEILL: And has anyone seen a DHD in this transmission?

The camera on the MALP pans around, but shows no sign of the dial home device.

CARTER: He’s right.

HAMMOND: Maybe you’d better take a naquada reactor with you so you can power up the Gate and dial out manually.

EXT – STARGATE CLEARING, PLANET (DAY)

NYAN (to the young women): MALLIN. I think we’ve found the gateway.

MALLIN: There is no gateway. That is Optrican legend.

NYAN: Well then how do you explain this?

MALLIN: This could be very dangerous, NYAN. Do you realise what this would mean?

NYAN: It would mean we were wrong. And the Optricans were right.

DANIEL (over the MALP): NYAN, is it alright if we visit you?

MALLIN (whispering): No!

NYAN: Yes.

DANIEL (over the MALP): Ok, we’ll be with you shortly.

INT – CONTROL ROOM, SGC

DANIEL (cont’d, to NYAN): Um, try to stay close to that mechanical device I’m speaking through and uh, try to avoid that big splash that you saw before. It’s, it’s kind of dangerous.

EXT – PLANET (DAY)

NYAN: We will be waiting here to welcome you, DANIEL.

MALLIN runs off.

NYAN: MALLIN, come back! If you tell them, they might kill whoever comes through! MALLIN!

END OF TEASER

EXT – STARGATE CLEARING, PLANET (DAY)

DANIEL and CARTER exit the STARGATE carrying a naquada reactor, followed by TEAL’C and O’NEILL. The wormhole closes behind them.

DANIEL approaches NYAN, who is waiting for them.

DANIEL: Hello NYAN.

NYAN: You’re human.

DANIEL: Yes. I’m, uh, DANIEL Jackson, the person you were talking to before. This is Major CARTER, Colonel Jack O’NEILL and TEAL’C. We’re from a planet called Earth.

NYAN appears speechless.

DANIEL: You alright?

NYAN: Then the legend is true.

DANIEL: What, uh, what legend is that?

NYAN: The Optricans believed that humans were brought to this planet by aliens that traveled through a gateway. But during the upheaval the gateway was buried and things could no longer come through.

DANIEL: What was the upheaval?

NYAN: A period of violent earthquakes and uh, volcanic eruptions covering most of this continent. About two thousand years ago.

CARTER: So if the STARGATE has been buried for that long, how did you know where to look for it?

NYAN: I was not looking for it. I was hoping to find a primitive settlement that was here before the upheaval. I was hoping to prove the Bedrosian theory.

O’NEILL: What’s that?

NYAN: That human life was created on Bedrosia…without a gateway.

O’NEILL: Ah.

CARTER: So this, this country is called Bedrosia?

NYAN: This continent.

DANIEL: And then who are the Optricans?

NYAN: A rival continent.

O’NEILL: Rival as in…what?

NYAN: We believe that we were created on this continent and the Optricans believe their holy gateway is on this continent. Therefore we’ve been at war for decades.

O’NEILL: Ok. CARTER, you wanna make sure the reactor’s all hooked up? Just in case. (To NYAN) Mind if I ask how close to the front lines we might be?

NYAN: A great distance. There’s no need for concern.

TEAL’C is keeping watch from the woods. He spots three shuttlecraft flying in towards the others.

TEAL’C: O’NEILL!

He points to the craft with his staff weapon.

NYAN: Oh no. No. We have to hide.

O’NEILL: I thought you said they weren’t around here.

NYAN: Those are not Optrican. They’re my people…Bedrosian.

O’NEILL: Good guys?

NYAN: Good is not the first word I would use to describe the ones that approach.

O’NEILL: Uh-huh.

NYAN: We must run now.

O’NEILL: Ok, CARTER, dial it up!

CARTER: I need five minutes before I can be operational, Sir.

NYAN: This way. Quickly!

He runs away, towards the woods.

O’NEILL: Screw it. Let’s go.

They start to run after NYAN, only to be stopped by a force-field beamed from one of the craft above. O’NEILL fires on the craft as does TEAL’C from his position in the woods, but to no affect, and the field quickly collapses around them, knocking them unconscious.

TEAL’C watches but can do nothing to help. He takes cover in the trees as another shuttlecraft flies over.

EXT – STARGATE CLEARING, PLANET (DAY)

O’NEILL, CARTER and DANIEL are kneeling before guards who are holding lance-like weapons on them.

O’NEILL (to a guard): Do you believe we come in peace?

The guard ignores him.

O’NEILL (to a second guard): Got a commanding officer around here?

The man also ignores him.

O’NEILL (sotto voice): Wow, tough crowd.

CARTER: What happened to NYAN?

O’NEILL: I’d imagine he’s saving his own butt right about now.

EXT – WOODS, PLANET (DAY)

TEAL’C is still hiding in the woods when he sees a guard searching for him. The guard turns away, but TEAL’C senses another man creeping up behind him.

He turns and fires and shoots the second man, who also fires his weapon and catches TEAL’C in the face. The guard is killed, while TEAL’C goes down clutching his face.

EXT – STARGATE CLEARING, PLANET (DAY)

A man exits one of the shuttlecraft. He appears to be the commander in charge.

COMMANDER: MALLIN. You said there were aliens here.

She approaches him from inside the shuttlecraft.

MALLIN: Yes Sir. Those people came through the gateway.

COMMANDER: No, they didn’t. It’s a trick. A contrivance.

MALLIN: Perhaps. But one of those aliens named DANIEL, he talked to NYAN through that machine that came through the circle.

He turns to MALLIN.

COMMANDER: The shuttlecraft will take you to my base. We will question you further on this matter.

MALLIN is taken into the shuttlecraft by a guard, and two more flank their commander as he walks over to the captured members of SG1.

COMMANDER: Either this NYAN fired at my craft or another Optrican is out there. Either way I want them found.

SOLDIER: Yes, Sir.

The commander’s aide takes a box containing a very large needle.

O’NEILL: Ok, that’s a needle.

The guard behind him touches him with his weapon, causing O’NEILL a jolt of pain. The aide then sticks the needle into the side of O’NEILL’S neck.

O’NEILL: Ow.

The aide takes another needle and repeats the procedure with both CARTER and DANIEL.

COMMANDER: Which of you is DANIEL?

O’NEILL: I’m in command. Colonel Jack O’NEILL here.

COMMANDER: I am unfamiliar with that Optrican designation.

CARTER: We’re not Optrican. We’re explorers from another planet.

DANIEL: We traveled through the STARGATE.

COMMANDER: This type of psychological warfare, simulating the Optrican gateway fallacy to undermine our most basic beliefs, will not work.

O’NEILL: Yeah, I know that could be hard to believe. So why don’t you let us show you how the STARGATE works and if you’re still not convinced, we’ll just take our stuff and go. Fair enough?

COMMANDER (to the guards): Erect a quarantine field.

He starts to walk away.

O’NEILL: Hey!

The commander ignores him.

EXT – WOODS, PLANET (DAY)

TEAL’C is lying unconscious in the woods, but quickly wakes when a hand touches his chest. He grabs the man by the throat.

TEAL’C: State your purpose.

It is NYAN.

NYAN: NYAN.

TEAL’C releases him and NYAN helps him to sit. There are burns marks on his face.

NYAN: We have to get away from here.

TEAL’C: Where are my friends?

NYAN: Captured.

TEAL’C (determined): I will not leave my friends.

He starts groping for his staff weapon, but can’t find it.

NYAN: We can’t get to them. RIGARS’S set up a quarantine field and as soon as he finds the soldier you killed…

NYAN trails off when he realises TEAL’C can’t see. He hands TEAL’C his staff weapon.

NYAN: You’re blind.

EXT – STARGATE CLEARING, PLANET (DAY)

The commander, RIGAR wanders over to one of the soldiers.

SOLDIER: They were starting to dig here.

RIGAR: Finish for them. I want to know what’s in there.

He heads over to his aide.

AIDE: I have the results from blood analysis. There’s a ninety-eight percent correspondence. They are definitely human. But none of them are showing a particle match from the Bedrosian Central Registry.

RIGAR: Then it proves they are Optrican.

The woman looks unconvinced.

RIGAR: Does it not?

She doesn’t answer.

RIGAR: Say what you were thinking.

AIDE: What if they are telling the truth? What if it is the gateway and the Optricans are right?

RIGAR: No, it’s a lie.

AIDE: How can you be sure?

RIGAR: I am sure because we have not spent our lives praying to a god who does not exist and many of our people have not lost their lives fighting a meaningless war. I won’t accept that. I have studied the book of NEFERTUM word for word, cover to cover. It is the truth.

AIDE: What if it’s not?

RIGAR: It is the truth. We began here. That device is a fabrication to fake the Optrican gateway myth.

AIDE: To what end?

RIGAR: To sow the seeds of doubt among our people. To create dissention from within. I will not allow our people to have their faith attacked in such a cynical way.

AIDE: What do you want to do?

RIGAR: We will not allow the events that have transpired here to leave this place.

AIDE: Then we must find this NYAN and the fourth…Optrican.

RIGAR: Yes. And we’ll find out what we can from the three we have in custody. Then we will dispose of them.

INT – CAVE, PLANET

NYAN has led TEAL’C into a cave.

NYAN: I come here for shelter. We also store supplies here. Are you injured in addition to your eyes?

TEAL’C: I will be fine.

NYAN: You can sit here. Here.

He helps TEAL’C to sit and offers him a canteen.

NYAN: It’s water. It’s amazing how one discovery can change everything. For years I’ve been searching for proof that we were created on this continent by NEFERTUM.

TEAL’C: NEFERTUM. The blue lotus blossom of RA.

NYAN: He’s represented in our texts by a blue lotus blossom. But what is RA? And how do you know about NEFERTUM?

TEAL’C: NEFERTUM was an under System Lord to the one named RA. It is with him whom I did battle.

NYAN: I don’t understand. NEFERTUM was and is the creator of all of us. He created this planet and this great continent.

TEAL’C: Correction. NEFERTUM was an alien who most likely brought your people though the STARGATE as slaves many thousands of years ago.

NYAN: That is what the Optricans say.

TEAL’C: They are correct.

NYAN: Oh dear NEFERTUM, this is blasphemy. If it is true, it could change everything. I must show my colleagues at the research academy.

TEAL’C: Can you be certain they will believe you?

NYAN: They are scientists as I am. They will realise they are wrong when presented with the evidence.

TEAL’C: Your military has the STARGATE in its command.

NYAN: Not the gateway. You. You are the proof.

TEAL’C: I will not be the proof and I will not allow my friends to be imprisoned as they are.

He rises.

TEAL’C: You must help me rescue them.

NYAN sees blood seeping through TEAL'C'S clothing.

NYAN: Let me see.

He reaches out but TEAL’C bats his hand away.

TEAL’C: Do not!

NYAN: You could have a serious injury.

TEAL’C: I will be fine.

NYAN: I have something that will help. I will bring it back with the other supplies.

NYAN runs off.

TEAL’C: NYAN. NYAN!

He tries to go after him but runs into the wall, disturbing some flying creatures that swarm around him. He slumps to the floor.

INT – PRISON TENT, STARGATE CLEARING

O’NEILL, DANIEL and CARTER are inside a large shelter, imprisoned inside small cages. O’NEILL tries touching the bars with the sole of his boot, but receives an electric shock.

O’NEILL: Alright. That hurts.

DANIEL: Well this day just keeps getting better and better.

O’NEILL: Yeah.

INT – CAVE, PLANET

TEAL’C is crouched by the wall, holding his staff weapon, waiting for NYAN.

INT – PRISON TENT, STARGATE CLEARING

RIGAR is examining SG1’s equipment. He walks over to O’NEILL and dismisses the guards.

O’NEILL: We should talk.

RIGAR: Yes. Let us talk about your friend in the woods.

O’NEILL: I have no friends. In the woods or otherwise.

RIGAR is then seen talking to DANIEL.

DANIEL: We’re not spies. We’re peaceful explorers. We travel through what you call your gateway.

He is then interrogating CARTER.

CARTER: Fine, the STARGATE then, but that’s what we came through.

RIGAR: All four of you?

CARTER: All three of us.

RIGAR: It is impossible for one to travel to other planets, much less through a circle of stone.

CARTER: The STARGATE isn’t made of regular stone. If given enough power, a wormhole forms within the circle and that allows us to travel to other worlds.

RIGAR: Wormhole?

It switches back to O’NEILL, explaining the workings of the STARGATE.

O’NEILL: Giant worms. Huge.

DANIEL then gives RIGAR his answer.

DANIEL: Wormhole is just an expression. It has nothing to do with worms. It’s a tunnel through space.

RIGAR: And how is this illusion of water created that I have heard described.

DANIEL: Well you’re right in that it is an illusion. It’s not actually water.

RIGAR: Then what is it?

Each of SG1 give their own explanations.

O’NEILL: Magic.

CARTER: It’s an event horizon made up of quantum particles that form a wormhole.

DANIEL: An alien race, the Goa’uld, used the STARGATE to transport humans from Earth to other planets. Which is how your people came to be on Bedrosia.

RIGAR gets annoyed and touches his weapon to the bars on the side of DANIEL’S cage, almost hitting him.

DANIEL (as the sparks fly): Ah!

RIGAR: My people began on Bedrosia as did yours. We were all created by NEFERTUM.

DANIEL: NEFERTUM. Son of SAKHMET, blue lotus blossom. That’s who you believe created you?

RIGAR: Yes.

DANIEL: Well he must have been a Goa’uld.

RIGAR: A what?

DANIEL: An alien. He must have transported your people through the STARGATE…ah!

RIGAR hits the bars again, cutting DANIEL off.

RIGAR: Optrican fallacy. (To the guards) Return him to the prison tent.

INT – CAVE, PLANET

NYAN runs into the cave, holding a case. He halts when he sees TEAL’C, shirtless, with his hand over his stomach where the symbiote lives.

NYAN: What are you doing? You’re an alien.

TEAL’C: Come no further.

He quickly pulls his shirt back on.

NYAN: DANIEL said you were all human.

TEAL’C: Speak of it no more.

NYAN: What are you?

TEAL’C: As I have said, speak of it no more. I did not believe you would return.

NYAN: You are the most important thing that has ever happened to my planet, although I have not yet decided if it is a good thing or bad. I brought something for your eyes. It is a healing device that, among other things, can regenerate the visual nerves. It will help most of your sight return within a day. Of course it was designed for humans, so how you respond is uh…

TEAL’C (cutting him off): I have no need for it. My sight will return on its own.

NYAN: Because you are alien?

TEAL’C: The others are human. I am a Jaffa. I possess within me a symbiote that accelerates healing.

NYAN: Forgive me, but you do not appear to be healing at all.

TEAL’C: My symbiote was severely damaged by my own staff weapon blast. It must first heal itself.

NYAN: How long will that take?

TEAL’C: It could be days.

NYAN: Might it not die itself?

TEAL’C: It is possible.

NYAN: And if that happens?

TEAL’C: Then I too will die.

INT – PRISON TENT, STARGATE CLEARING

RIGAR’S aide and two soldiers enter the tent.

O’NEILL: Problem?

They ignore him and go over to DANIEL’S cage, dragging him out. They take him outside.

SOLDIER: Move!

They drag DANIEL over to an angry RIGAR.

RIGAR (to DANIEL): Explain.

On the floor at his feet is the dead soldier who TEAL’C shot and killed.

RIGAR: Explain!

DANIEL: I can’t.

RIGAR: There is a fourth. He did this!

DANIEL: No there isn’t, I don’t know how this man was killed.

RIGAR grabs DANIEL and drags him over to where the soldiers have dug up another artifact.

RIGAR: Explain this.

DANIEL sees it is the DHD.

INT – CAVE, PLANET

TEAL’C: What do your people intend to do with my friends?

NYAN: They are evidence that everything my people believe in is wrong and that everything the enemy believes is right and that is not an easy thing for military minds to digest.

TEAL’C: Then they will kill my friends and destroy the STARGATE and deny this event ever occurred.

NYAN: Probably.

TEAL’C: We must soon depart.

NYAN: To do what?

TEAL’C: Rescue them.

NYAN: You’re still blind.

TEAL’C: I will manage.

NYAN reaches forward and snatches his staff weapon from him.

TEAL’C: NYAN!

NYAN: You will?

NYAN gives him back the weapon.

NYAN (cont’d): I will not be part of a suicide mission. This device only works within the first thirty hours. Do you want my help or not?

TEAL’C: You wish to use me to further your scientific aspirations, do you not?

NYAN: You are proof that my theories have been all wrong…

TEAL’C: Then perhaps you would be better off if I were no longer alive.

NYAN: TEAL’C, I’m a scientist. When I find evidence that my theories are wrong, it is as exciting as if they were correct. Scientific advance in either direction is still an advance.

TEAL’C: You sound like DANIEL Jackson. Do what you can.

NYAN holds up a device and a blue beam of light comes out and passes over TEAL’C’S eyes.

NYAN: The pain is the nerve regenerating. It will be a moment.

He switches off the device and TEAL’C touches his face.

NYAN: When I was out I went to a place where I could look upon RIGAR’S camp. Your friends are still there. RIGAR’S men have dug up a smaller device that looks related to the STARGATE.

TEAL’C: The DHD. Perhaps circumstances have become more favorable.

He looks around and sees a blurred shape of light.

TEAL’C: There! There, I see a light there.

NYAN: Yes, good, then it works on your kind.

TEAL’C: But I can only see a faint light.

NYAN: That was only the first treatment. We will do it as many times as necessary. There’s no guarantee, but it should help.

TEAL’C: Then do it.

NYAN: We must wait between treatments or we will do damage rather than good.

INT – PRISON TENT, STARGATE CLEARING

Soldiers escort CARTER and O’NEILL into the shelter and force them back into their respective cages. DANIEL is already inside one.

CARTER: DANIEL, you ok?

He just looks at her.

O’NEILL: Hey RIGAR? You know that ‘we come in peace’ business? Bite me.

RIGAR (to DANIEL): You have one last chance.

DANIEL: I don’t know how that man was killed. We are not Optrican spies.

RIGAR takes one of their zat guns and shoots CARTER. She slumps inside her cage, unconscious.

RIGAR: Is there another one of your people out there?

DANIEL: I don’t know how that man was killed. We are not Optrican…

RIGAR fires again, this time on O’NEILL. He falls back against the electrified bars of his cage, unconscious as he is being slowly electrocuted.

DANIEL (desperately): No there is not another one of my team out there! Turn it off!

RIGAR: What’s he look like?

DANIEL: Turn it off! You’ll kill him!

RIGAR: No, you will kill him!

He is cut off by the sound of the STARGATE dialing up outside. He thinks for a moment, then walks slowly over to O’NEILL’S cage and shuts off the current, before heading outside.

EXT – STARGATE CLEARING, PLANET (DAY)

The STARGATE is dialing up as RIGAR and the soldiers look on in surprise.

INT – CONTROL ROOM, SGC

HAMMOND is watching the STARGATE dial out.

TECHNICIAN (to HAMMOND): Chevron seven locked, Sir, wormhole engaged.

EXT – STARGATE CLEARING, PLANET (DAY)

The STARGATE suddenly opens, scaring the people watching. RIGAR appears shocked.

INT – CONTROL ROOM, SGC

TECHNICIAN: Ready to transmit signal, Sir.

HAMMOND (into the microphone): SG1.

INT – PRISON TENT, STARGATE CLEARING

The guard picks up one of SG1’s radios as HAMMOND’S voice comes through it.

HAMMOND (cont’d, over radio): This is General HAMMOND, come in. I repeat, SG1 this is General HAMMOND, come in.

The guard quickly takes it outside to RIGAR

AIDE: It is the gateway.

RIGAR: It is not the gateway. It is a trick.

SOLDIER: RIGAR, Sir.

He runs over and hands RIGAR the radio.

HAMMOND (over radio): SG1, please respond. SG1, please come in.

RIGAR (into the radio): Who is this?

INT – CONTROL ROOM, SGC

HAMMOND (to RIGAR): This is General HAMMOND of the SGC. With whom am I speaking?

RIGAR (over radio): The one who holds your people.

HAMMOND: I want to speak with Colonel O’NEILL now.

RIGAR: You will speak with me.

INT – CAVE, PLANET

NYAN is giving TEAL’C another treatment for his eyes.

NYAN: Almost there.

He switches off the device.

TEAL’C: Our objective is to free O’NEILL and the others. You will then lay down cover fire to enable one of them to dial the STARGATE.

NYAN: Getting inside the camp is going to be our first problem. The quarantine field is only penetrable by shuttlecraft.

TEAL’C: An obstacle easily overcome.

He looks down at his hands and sees their blurred shape.

TEAL’C: My vision is improved. Thank you NYAN.

NYAN smiles and TEAL’C gives him a zat gun.

TEAL’C: You may use this to defend yourself.

NYAN: I have never used a weapon before.

TEAL’C: I am confident that you will learn quickly. We must depart.

He stands and walks a little way, almost into the wall, but pauses and heads in the correct direction.

EXT – STARGATE CLEARING, PLANET (DAY)

RIGAR is standing before the open wormhole, talking to HAMMOND over the confiscated radio.

RIGAR: Tell me, how does this trick work? Is it some sort of projection?

HAMMOND: I assure you, what you are seeing is real. Now please let me speak to Colonel O’NEILL. (To the technician) Try to pull off the MALP.

The MALP is inside the same tent where SG1 are being held and the mounted camera pans around.

DANIEL is the only one conscious and he waves at the camera, trying to catch their attention.

RIGAR: From where do you broadcast? Are you in Optrica or within Bedrosian borders.

HAMMOND (over the radio): Once my people are returned, I will be happy to discuss an exchange of information with you.

He looks at the screen to see DANIEL waving at them.

HAMMOND (to the technician): See if you can get a clearer line of sight on O’NEILL.

The MALP starts to move, attracting the attention of RIGAR’S aide outside.

RIGAR (to HAMMOND): You will send the plans for this device. You will send the coordinates of your position. And when you have exposed your entire fraud, I will consider sparing your operatives’ lives.

He sees the prison tent moving and heads towards it with the others.

DANIEL tries signaling to the SGC, but when RIGAR enters, he signals for them to cut off transmission.

HAMMOND (over the radio): You will return my people immediately. Is that clear?

O’NEILL and CARTER are starting to wake up. RIGAR looks at the MALP.

HAMMOND(over the radio): Do we understand each other?

RIGAR (directly into the camera on the MALP): I assure you, if you attempt any sort of rescue, I will kill your people.

He fires the zat gun at the MALP and the camera goes blank.

INT – CONTROL ROOM, SGC

TECHNICIAN (to HAMMOND): We’ve lost all MALP telemetry, Sir.

HAMMOND: Shut it down.

The STARGATE closes.

INT – PRISON TENT, STARGATE CLEARING

RIGAR throws the radio and zat gun back onto the table with the rest of SG1’s equipment as more guards enter.

RIGAR (to the guards): Call in a transport shuttle. I want them moved to a more secure facility. Put them away until it gets here.

EXT – WOODS, PLANET (DAY)

NYAN and TEAL’C are heading through the woods, but quickly take cover when they hear the approach of a shuttlecraft. TEAL’C fires his staff weapon at the craft and forces it to land.

NYAN: Are you sure I should be the one to do this?

TEAL’C: You will perform well. Of that I am certain.

The doors on the craft open and a soldier comes out. NYAN shoots him with the zat. A second soldier comes out and TEAL’C fires at him, but misses. NYAN fires again and hits the man. They quickly run towards the craft.

NYAN (to TEAL’C): Stun, don’t kill.

They enter the shuttlecraft and its doors close.

EXT – STARGATE CLEARING, PLANET (DAY)

AIDE (to RIGAR): The transport shuttle will be here in a moment, Sir.

RIGAR: I will accompany the prisoners back to the base. You will remain here to guard the ring. Be sure…

He is cut off as a shuttlecraft approaches on an erratic course. It clips a ridge as it tries to land and skids to a halt.

NYAN exits and runs over to RIGAR, falling to his knees.

NYAN: Help me! Help me! He’s out there in the forest.

RIGAR: Who’s out there?

NYAN: The alien. He killed the soldiers and he tried to kill me with his lightning weapon, but I got away and I came here.

RIGAR (to the soldiers): Take the shuttlecraft! Find him.

Two soldiers immediately run for the shuttlecraft.

RIGAR (to the others): Put him under guard.

A guard takes NYAN into custody.

The shuttlecraft hasn’t yet taken off.

RIGAR (to his aide): Tell them to launch now!

AIDE: Yes, Sir.

She heads towards the craft.

AIDE: Why haven’t you launched this craft?

TEAL’C appears and stuns her with a Bedrosian weapon.

The remaining soldiers immediately fire upon TEAL’C, standing in the hatchway. TEAL’C hits the man guarding NYAN, even as RIGAR runs for the cover of a tent.

The soldiers take cover behind boulders. NYAN takes out his zat gun and shoots two of them. He takes their weapons and heads into the prison tent where the rest of SG1 are being held.

CARTER: NYAN.

NYAN hurries over and unlocks their cages. He hands the captured weapons to O’NEILL and CARTER.

NYAN: Hit the side button to shoot long range.

DANIEL: Where’s TEAL’C?

NYAN: He’s outside.

O’NEILL: DANIEL, dial us up. We’ll lay down cover.

They head outside and lay down covering fire as DANIEL runs over to the DHD and begins to dial. He presses the center stone and the STARGATE opens.

INT – CONTROL ROOM, SGC

TECHNICIAN: Unidentified traveler.

HAMMOND: Close the iris.

TECHNICIAN: I’m not receiving a GDO code, Sir.

EXT – STARGATE CLEARING, PLANET (DAY)

Still inside the shuttle, TEAL’C sees that the STARGATE is now open and sends the GDO transmission.

INT – CONTROL ROOM, SGC

The computer receives and reads the code.

TECHNICIAN: It’s SG1, Sir.

HAMMOND: Open the iris.

EXT – STARGATE CLEARING, PLANET (DAY)

TEAL’C: Go!

DANIEL runs for the Gate and jumps through.

O’NEILL: CARTER, go!

CARTER heads after DANIEL and gets through safely.

O’NEILL: NYAN, can you cover me?

NYAN: I will.

O’NEILL runs over to the shuttlecraft and dives inside. TEAL’C almost shoots him.

O’NEILL: TEAL’C!

TEAL’C quickly lowers his weapon.

O’NEILL (cont’d): Look a little rough there, TEAL’C.

Two shuttlecraft are approaching the STARGATE clearing.

O’NEILL: We gotta go. Ready? Go.

They head out firing. NYAN sees them and starts to follow, just as RIGAR stuns him. TEAL’C immediately starts back for him as O’NEILL shoots RIGAR with a zat gun.

O’NEILL: TEAL’C!

TEAL’C: He’s coming with us, O’NEILL.

Together, they haul NYAN though the Gate as the shuttlecraft overhead opens fire.

VFX: Shooting through wormhole.

INT – GATEROOM, SGC

There are armed soldiers awaiting them as O’NEILL, TEAL’C and NYAN come through.

TEAL’C: General HAMMOND, he’s a friend.

HAMMOND: Stand down!

The soldiers lower their weapons as NYAN collapses.

O’NEILL: A little help here.

DR FRASIER and two nurses rush over to check out both NYAN and TEAL’C.

INT – INFIRMARY, SGC

Both TEAL’C and NYAN are lying in hospital beds in the infirmary.

FRASIER: Well TEAL’C, all I can say is that Junior is a resilient little guy.

NYAN: Who is Junior?

TEAL’C: That is the name Colonel O’NEILL has given my symbiote.

CARTER: So how are you feeling?

TEAL’C: Greatly improved, Major CARTER. Thank you.

O’NEILL (to NYAN): Here’s some good news. The airforce has agreed to get you refugee status, which means you can stay here on Earth. With us. If you’d like.

NYAN: What would I do here?

DANIEL: Well I think we’ve got a little job for you NYAN, if you’re interested. I have a backlog of ancient artifacts gathered from previous missions and I could really use a research assistant. It would also be a great way to learn about the history of your ancestors.

FRASIER (to NYAN and TEAL’C): But for now, you both need to rest.

O’NEILL: And we’ll leave you to it.

FRASIER and the rest of SG1 leave the infirmary.

NYAN: Thank you, TEAL’C.

TEAL’C: You have saved my life, as well as the life of my friends. It is I who should thank you.

NYAN: I still wish I could have shown you to my friends in the science community. They would have been fascinated.

TEAL’C: Perhaps one day the situation on your planet will improve and you will get that opportunity.

He smiles and settles back in his bed.

FADE OUT

THE END