Young Writers Society

We likely would be facing voracious beasts. Ones we would prefer not to get too close to. Now that Maahes had reminded us of the fact, my previous decision not to pick anything up seemed more and more ridiculous.

And come to think of it, what could be a better way to repay Kartiel for his hospitality than to threaten to scorch the flesh off his face with one of his own tokens? Or perhaps, actually do so? If only there were a way to do such a thing without putting our chances of returning home in jeopardy. Well. He probably didn't need legs to send us back... what was I doing, again? Oh, yes.

From among the gaudy silvery plated weapons, I selected a respectable grey rifle, with a minimalistic design. It wasn't exactly German engineering, but from what I had seen, Lantean may have been a touch ahead. I slung it over my shoulder, and looked to Nadira, Codix and Raiden.

"Anyone else?"

Nadira and Codix patted the weapons they already had on them. "We're good," Codix said with a confident smile. "We stocked up back in the armory."

Raiden picked up a pistol and a dagger of some sort. Strapping them to his waist, he picked up one more - one that looked like an assault rifle.
"I'm good, we can yeet," he said, walking over to everyone else as he strapped his final firearm to his back.

Aegeas patted the oversized gun whose barrel poked over his head. "We're all going to die," he said, "So might as well get it over with."

"I mean we could live but not with that attitude, you pessimistic pessimist," Raiden said, frowning at the otter.
"On the plus side, you're either right, or pleasantly surprised."

"I'm tired," Aegeas said, shoulders slumping and eyes drooping. "We've been standing around here like idiots for some a******'s entertainment, and the most we've come up it with is that we need to bury the weapons he left for us. What else do you think is going to happen?"

Maahes buried the weapons, gently patting down the soil to make sure the weapons wouldn't easily be dug up by whatever animals lived in the undergrowth of the forest. He took a deep breath that technically amounted to nothing - it wasn't like he had the lungs to take in the air. But he had been doing it to blend in for so many years that it had the intended effect of calming him down.

He had to be the leader here. He was the only one remotely used to exploring new worlds, and he would have to motivate everyone to journey into the unknown.

...He wished Cam was here. Cam was a better leader than he could ever be, and Cam being here would mean that the rest of his team would be, too. He felt so helpless being the only member of SG-1 present.

He really had come to rely on them, hadn't he?

"We're not going to die," Maahes promised. "I might not have explored a world like this before, but I've explored countless new and unfamiliar ones. We might not know what's waiting for us. And that's scary, but we can get through it. My team and I always do."

He gave Aegeas a reassuring smile, then went to the front of the group.

"I'll stay up here," he said. "Boris and Codix, you should take the rear. Nadira, come up front with me - I'm sure your systems will be helpful in analyzing whatever we come across. Aegeas and Bo, each of you should flank a side. And, Raiden, come up front; you have good instincts."

He faltered.

"Does that, uh, sound like a good plan?" Maahes hesitantly asked.

Nadira and Codix gave each a long look before nodding.

Bo snapped his fingers and gave Maahes an enthusiastic thumbs up as he bobbed his head. "Sounds great to me, boss."

He pulled out one of his guns from his belt and made sure it was on and ready to rumble. He even spun it in his hand for extra measure. "Okay. I call the right side!" He said, already running over to the right side of the group. "'Cause uh, you know-" he pointed to his missing eye. Well, the scar, now. "Only got me right eye, aye-aye?"

Aegeas looked at Bo and blinked. Yes, humor was exactly the thing they needed right now.

Tromping his way over to the left side, Aegeas stared out at the wilderness. Hopefully Maahes's promises would be a little less hollow than they'd sounded.

Boris nodded to Maahes. "Aye. We'll get by fine, with your leadership.

...It wasn't right, that you should be marooned here just for having taken our side earlier. I hope you will find us good company, in the mean-time."

Having nothing else to say, Boris took his position in the rear.

They walked for a short time in the formation that Maahes had suggested. For the most part, the group was quiet; they all were observing their surroundings for possible threats. Bo and Raiden did try to crack the occasional joke to lighten the mood, but all were too focused on the possibility of getting hurt by something lurking in the wilderness.

When the sun began to set over the trees, Maahes knew it was time for them to set up camp for the night. He scanned the nearby area for somewhere decent, gaze finally settling on a cave. He ushered the group towards it, maneuvering around fallen trees and protruding roots. The cave unfortunately was still on the same level as the forest they had just left, but Maahes knew it was the best they were going to get.

He grabbed some firewood on his way into the cave and placed it in the center of the rocky floor, conjuring a flame and setting the wood ablaze as he watched the rest of the group enter the cave as well.

"Let's stay here for tonight," Maahes said. "I can keep watch."

"We could do shifts," Codix suggested. "You shouldn't be staying up the entire night, especially when you're our leader."

Maahes gave a small smile. "Don't worry about me," he said. He surveyed the cave. It was thankfully small enough to prevent things from lurking in the darkness, but large enough to house their group. "Spirits can't sleep, and keeping watch is a good way to keep me occupied."

"I'll keep watch with you," Nadira said. "I can't sleep, either. Codix has to turn me off when he sleeps, and I don't want to be shut off in a place like this."

Aegeas breathed a sigh of relief as he slumped his way into the cave. As far as he could see, it looked safe enough, and he was happy to find a surface more level than the rough and bumpy jungle floor.

Heading over to a corner of the cave, he unslung his weapon and set it on the ground. Peeling off his shirt and sitting down, he stared at the dried blood that covered his arms and legs. Not to mention whatever was still on his face. The foliage had replaced a good amount of it with dirt and leaves, but that wasn't much better. He wanted a bath.

Sighing, Aegeas began scraping blood and dirt out of his fur with his claws.

Bo sat closer to the front of the cave, despite his instinctual survival needs urging him to go as deep into the cave as possible. Were anything unfortunate to happen in their sleep, he wanted to be the closest to the danger - which he felt he could safely assume, would happen near the entrance. One quick check around the cave assured him that there was nothing to his knowledge that could be found problematic or dangerous.

But what did he know about alien caves? He knew close to nothing.

He was just hoping nobody was going to get killed.

As he flopped onto the rough rocky floor, he cradled his largest gun to his chest, finding it strange how the heavy metal weapon did so little to help him feel secure, despite its size. Then again, none of his weapons ever did. And on a foreign planet, he had a feeling it really was as useless as it felt.

Of course, he was never going to say any of that out loud. Everyone was probably thinking the same if they weren't too tired to think at all. They didn't need to voice it. He propped his upper body up with one arm and looked around the fire and towards Aegeas, who he noticed was doing his best to try and clean himself after their bloody wraith fight. He wished he had like.... wet wipes on him or something. Like some soccer mom with babies.

He would need a lot of wipes though.

"Ya'll can just holler or poke me if something happens. I'm a light sleeper," he said with a smile. "Even if I'm a heavy person."

He swung up his arms, throwing himself an inch or two off the ground, and thumped back onto the rock for demonstration.

Aegeas sniffed, a weak smile on his face. After another minute, he figured he'd gotten rid of about as much dried blood as he was going to - not a lot. He slipped his pants off, and, in black boxers that were surprisingly still dry, crawled his way over to the fire. Sitting down, he wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his head on his knees, watching the flames dance and scatter.

Boris turned restlessly, in the far off shadows where he had settled. It had been such a long time since he had been a soldier- eleven years, to be exact- and by now he had become far too accustomed to city comforts.

He would have thought that he would sleep soundly after that eventful day- all that running, and fighting, and drinking- but now that he tried to sleep on the dusty cavern floor, he felt as though he wasn't yet sufficiently tired for it.

So when he rolled over, and by chance his foot discovered a crevice in the dark, he wasted no time in quietly rising to survey how far it went. Naturally, he meant to tell his comrades about this feature later, but for the time being, there was no harm in investigating a little further on his own. The little alcove became a tunnel, through which he could hear rain from outside, clearer and clearer as he went.

It led out into a forest clearing, a wide empty space of wild, sprawling grass between the cavern and the mighty canopy, bursting with the sounds of insects, and the sound of rain hitting metal. Intrigued, Boris followed the uncanny sound, and encountered there a sight of equal irregularity. He did not entirely trust his eyes, pitch black as it was, but it seemed that there was a great hole in the air, where the rain stopped almost five meters above the ground. Less deniable was the great depression imprinted on the tall grass, in the same place.

He approached the empty shape, and reached out to feel the body of a metal craft, which could only have belonged to their elusive surveyor. Luckier still, it only took several
minutes of fiddling blindly to force the back door open with a satisfying hard click.

Apparently, Kartiel had believed the invisibility of his craft sufficient protection, and thought it unecessary to go so far as to lock any doors. This negligence was more than equal to an invitation, his peace virtually begged to be disturbed, a request Boris was glad to oblige.

The interior of the spacecraft was of Atlantis' like- cold, metallic, far too harshly lit for Boris' taste- and yet, it seemed homelier than Atlantis, if it were possible for the ship to be considered at all homely. Perhaps it was the comparative simplicity of it that granted it the illusion of such a thing.

Sounds came from a room halfway up the corridor inside.
If someone who lacked regard for the concept of sportsmanship, who also just happened to possess a rifle, was to stand at the end of the passage, right by the cockpit, they would find Kartiel an easy target.
Thusly Boris waited for his foe, though his heart was not in it.

Yes, the perpetuation of Kartiel's relative wellbeing was a criminal offence, but the remedying of this mistake would serve only to solidify his exile, and the knowledge of this put a damper on his thirst for justice.

Violence, Boris was well capable of, practiced in, and on some occasions, enjoyed, but he knew that contrary to popular belief, it was not a universally applicable solution to any given problem.

No, what he needed here was compromise.

Even where flattery failed, there was always bribery, and where bribery failed, there was always bargaining.
Now, bribery and bargaining sounded similar, but the prime difference between the two was that for bribery, Boris would have needed to actually possess something that Kartiel wanted.
But for bargaining? He merely needed to make it sound as though he did.

He slung the rifle back over his shoulder, and leaned casually against the wall by the cockpit. He was in no hurry.