It took three weeks before the signal was finally picked up by a deep space Tok'ra scout ship. The ship was too far out to be able to call in any additional ships to triangulate the signal so it was forced to simply trace it back to its source. It took another month and a half to do so.

"Why are the Tok'ra being so helpful?" Max asked Jack. They were relaxing in the briefing room having a thumb war while waiting for the rest of the team to show up.

"No doubt they have some ulterior higher than thou arrogant justification, but as long as they're being helpful lets not question it too much." Jack said and pinned Max's thumb.

She grunted and wriggled her thumb free. They continued battling for a moment.

"So the Tok'ra are Goa'uld that are not evil? Right? How does that work?"

"Hmm well in Jacob's case it saved his life, he shares his body with Selmak and he gets to be cured of cancer."

"Still."

"Yeah I'm with you. No snake belongs in my head."

"But Selmak is such a nice snake." A voice interrupted them Jack looked up and grinned.

"Ah yeah, hi Max this is Jacob Carter." Jack said releasing Max's hand and standing. Max grinned at the new arrival and shot a glance at Jack.

"Carter?"

"Sam is my daughter."

"Oh, cool, well dang good for her, uh Hi I'm Max Holloway, promise I don't normally babble." She said and offered him her hand. He shook it and smiled at Max.

"I could have announced myself a little better."

"Well... yeah I suppose. So you're a Tok'ra now?"

"Yes, for several years."

"Herm, so how does it work? I mean does.. Selmak?" Jacob nodded.

"Does Selmak just give you a nudge and you let him er her? Take over?"

"Him, he just asks."

"Wow."

"Would you like to meet Selmak?"

"Uhm. Okay. I guess."

Jacob smiled and his eyes lit up, literally.

"Hello Miss Holloway. Word of your actions has reached us I am indeed honored to meet you."

"Whoah! Holy Shit!" Max cried and leapt backwards. In spite of her good intentions Selmak looked far too similar to Akna for Max's comfort, she reacted on instinct. Embarassed Max got herself under control.

"I am so sorry Selmak, that was rude I didn't mean to-"

"Word of your unfortunate experience with the woman called Akna has reached us as well. I apologize as well I did not mean to frighten you and should have realized my appearance would effect you."

"No way you're way nicer than her and I'm an idiot I know she was trying to look like a Goa'uld and you guys are physically similar, I really am sorry Selmak that wasn't fair."

Jack was smirking at the pair.

"Okay kids looks like the rest of the field trip is here." Jack said. Carter, Hammond, Jackson, Teal'c and a few more Tok'ra dressed in sand colored robes and tunics arrived. Selmak and Max exchanged nods and smiles and took their seats.

Max was far more shaken than she would ever admit. The flash of gold-yellow eyes and the growl of Selmak's voice had shaken her to her core. It was like standing in front of Akna again. She remained stiff and tense.

"We've found the planet but its going to be difficult to reach. The nearest gate is at least two solar systems away-"

"It doesn't have its own gate?" Carter asked confused, that was impossible. It had to have a gate for the team to use that was how they had reached it in the first place.

"It has a gate but we do not know the address. It seems it was once a gate from a mothership that was transplanted to the planet's surface." The annoyed Tok'ra continued. Carter nodded.

"We can give you the address but you will need your own transportation from that location."

"What about the Prometheus?" Jack asked the General.

"It won't be available for this op for quite some time. The shakedown is nearly complete but its too far out to call back and send to the target planet without taking months and the crew is overdue for a changeover."

"302s?" Jack asked.

"They might work but we would need another pilot."

"Can't Teal'c fly one?" Max asked.

"Well obviously Carter and O'Neill can fly the 302s, so either danny and I can ride with them and Teal'c cane take a third." She continued.

"General?" Jack asked.

"Clear him to fly it and I'll see what I can do Colonel."

"Wait, don't tell me you guys don't want him to fly it 'cause he's an alien? Dudes that's just wrong." Max growled.

"They are concerned Max Holloway because it is a very expensive machine." Teal'c grunted.

"Whatever." Max grumbled. The annoyed Tok'ra continued.

"The planet appears to be very similar to your Earth. the climate is more moderate. The settlements are devoid of adult humanoids. There are five that we located. The larges is in the center and the other four makeup an equidistant square with the large settlement at the center. There is no advanced technology. There are sown fields but it does not appear that any of the children work them. We made detailed scans and have brought you recordings of them."

"I don't mean to be rude but why are you doing this?" Jack asked finally. Jacob shot him an exasperated look.

"You asked for our help." The Tok'ra growled.

"Right, Analin right?" The Tok'ra nodded.

"Okay, Analin, we have a pretty good relationship but even we wouldn't go to all this trouble just 'cause." Jack pointed out.

"We too are curious about these ... 'immortals'. We would like to learn from them and help the children on the surface."

"You want immortal hosts." Max accused. Analin did not flinch or back down. He stared at her silently.

"Tell you what before you get your britches in a bunch why don't you see if its even possible?" Max growled. Adam who had remained silent during the thumb war debate and the following events put a hand on her arm in warning. She glanced at him and he shook his head minutely.

"Or not." She said and settled into her seat. Adam leaned close to her.

"Any Goa'uld whether Tok'ra or not will be killed attempting to possess us, our Quickening fries them."

"Oh." Max said.

"That is an excellent point." Selmak said. Max winced. No one wanted to let the Tok'ra know how old Adam was. The information the Tok'ra knew about the immortals was 'common' knowledge amongst the SGC and her allies but Adam's age was strictly need to know.

"I don't think that would be a good idea." Max objected.

"Why?" Selmak asked genuinely puzzled.

"Er, well ... Ask doc Frasier." She stalled.

"Hmm It's possible the unique immortal energy could damage a Tok'ra or simply make er 'bonding' impossible." She admitted. Selmak sat back frowing. Janet tossed Max a puzzled look, Max waved it away.

"I see, perhaps some simulations should be run, but the point remains we would like to help these people." Selmak continued returning the conversation to its main topic.

"How?" Daniel asked.

"What do you mean how?" Max asked surprised.

"How about water, education, clean clothes, fresh food, someone to teach them and care for them-"

"Right in order to do any of that we have to creat a truce. They don't seem to have any kind of system of government, and no real discernible leadership. What do you suggest we go in shooting?" Daniel asked.

"Er... huh." Max sighed.

"We don't have enough information. We should review the Tok'ra data and see what we can come up with." Carter said.

"How long will that take?" General Hammond asked.

"I'm not sure but give me a day and we should have something at least." Carter said.

"Very well. Colonel please see that Teal'c is cleared for the 302s, should have done it some time ago, Analin, Jacob please feel free to stay with us while Major Carter analyses the data, I'd like Dr. Jackson, Dr. Pierson and Max to stay behind please." The party broke up. Janet snagged Max and got her to explain why a bonding with a Tok'ra wouldn't work and then left as well.

"You three are the best bet we've got to figure out these Feral kids. I want you to hash out some kind of rules of engagement. I don't want to send my people into a situation where they have to kill children, I also don't want to have to leave them to their fates. See what you can come up with." As the General left the three sat for a moment and stared at one another.

"Huh, any ideas?" Max asked.

"Well obviously someone is tending the fields and taking care of the villages, maybe not very well or all of them, but that first village we ran into was fairly well kept." Daniel pointed out.

"That the one where a little girl stabbed you with a butcher knife?" Adam asked.

"Yeah so?"

"Very smooth." Adam laughed.

"All right Brainiac, feel free to chime in any time." Max snarled.

"There must be adults somewhere." He pointed out.

"Okay why aren't they taking care of the children?"

"Maybe they are?" Daniel said.

"Er, how? They're savages." Max pointed out.

"Well maybe that's why the adults aren't around. Maybe the kids are naturally aggressive like that. The girl you took with you was almost entering puberty. You said she was the calmest right?"

"Well, yeah."

"So maybe once they're out of infancy they're just naturally savage and are left alone until they're safe to be with the adults."

"Thats insane." Adam pointed out. He was trying to make Origami out of a file folder.

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Okay assuming that's true where are the adults? The Tok'ra said they only found five settlements, the children were the only occupants in them."

"True but they didn't scan the whole planet, or the subsurface and Sam hasn't analyzed the data yet either."

Adam gave up on his swan and tossed the battered folder toward a tiny trash can.

"Okay, say you're right. The children get to be say a year or two old they get violent so they're left at the settlements. When they near puberty they start to calm and the adults come for them, right?" Adam asked. Daniel shrugged.

"How do the adults know to come? How do the youngest children survive amongst the group? What caused the violence in the first place?"

Max groaned.

"We need information. Why don't we go see how Sam's doing?"

"Its been half an hour Max I doubt she has anything." Daniel said.

"What else are we going to do?" She sighed.

Sam chased them out and ordered them to give her at least a couple hours. She had the science team make the data a top priority and let them loose. When the trio of troublemakers returned she had a preliminary report.

"We haven't found much but there is one interesting discovery. Underneath the main settlement there is a heavy concentration of iron and other metallic ores. Now it could be that these are natural deposits -"

"Or its a gian underground city where the adults live!" Max said excitedly.

"Or something along those lines. We're conducting further analysis but we still don't know why our gates jumped to this address or how, and we don't know for sure that there are any adults around."

"There has to be somewhere." Adam said.

"Okay look, you never saw any teenagers right? No young adults at all? Where are the kids coming from? Mushrooms? The stork?"

"What about us Adam?" Max challenged.

"We're sterile foundlings, where do we come from?" Adam frowned hard at her. Daniel and Sam blinked, they'd known Adam was sterile from tests run to save Max's life when the two first arrived at the SGC, but that the entire race was, well it was surprising. Max assumed from their reactions that Jack hadn't shared her little revelation from days before. Max coughed to break the silence.

"I don't know Max." Adam admitted.

"Maybe we come from here." She said. He scowled.

"The stargate was buried for thousands of years and no one has been bringing baby pre-immortals through it anyway, there's no way we could be-"

"We don't know that Adam, Sam said she doesn't know why that gate has been doing the things it has." Max argued excitedly.

"Max don't." Adam warned tiredly.

"Don't what? Have some kind of hope?"

"If you live long enough you try to find out where we come from Max its a given. The Game is a lie you know that, the War* proved that but the rest? The prize? I don't know anymore. They say I'm the oldest of us, if I try very very hard I can even remember bits of my first life but I don't know where we come from no one does we aren't meant to." he said gently.

"Fine but that doesn't mean this won't lead us to it."

"Sam what do you think?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know Daniel. This could be some kind of underground city or it could be a natural deposit of iron. We need to run more tests and we need more detailed scans."

"Could one of the 302s be outfitted with better scanning equipment? We could send someone out there to get our own data maybe focused on the main settlement."

"It would have to be converted to a single seat but it might be possible."

Sam's radio crackled on her shoulder.

"Major Carter to the gate room." Sergeant Walter Harriman's voice crackled.

"Acknowledged." Sam replied. The group tagged after her still arguing.

Analin and Jacob/Selmak were waiting at the base of the ramp for Sam.

"We have to go back honey, I'm sorry I wanted to spend some time with you. There's been some problems with one of our cells."

"I'm sorry to hear that Dad, has anyone been hurt?"

"Not yet which is why we need to hurry. I hope you can help those children." The two bid their farewells and the Tok'ra left.

"Hmm." Max said with a frown.

"What?" Daniel asked peeved.

"Convenient."

"Put the paranoia away Max." Adam said and nodded toward the personnel entrance. Jack and Teal'c had arrived.

"The big guy is all good to go, as if he wouldn't be." Jack snorted.

"Good we kinda have a plan sir but its going to take a little time to get it ready."

"No rush we have all the time in the world." Jack said.

Two weeks later a 302 had been outfitted with advanced scanning technology and dispatched to the nearest gate. The pilot was under orders to gather as much data about the main settlement as possible and if possible the address for the local gate. The wormhole from the SGC to the first Gate would be maintained to facilitate communications.

"Approaching the planet now control." The pilot said over his comm. The pilot was Major Jake Wesleyan. Top of his class and go getter.

"Understood, we need you to get as close to the settlement from orbit as you can, don't enter atmosphere though you may not have enough fuel to break out again." Carter warned from the SGC control room.

"Copy that control." There was a pause as he maneuvered closer.

"Establishing geosynchronous orbit over the center of the settlement control."

"Copy."

"Initiating scanning protocol Alpha with immediate storage and transfer to the SGC." There was a soft electronic whine and a click.

"Looks like there's definitely something underneath that town control. Big and it goes at least a mile under the crust."

"Sweeeeet." Max growled. Adam elbowed her in the ribs. A digital representation of the planet and pilot were being displayed on the monitors around them. The image was being updated by the continuous data feed from the 302 to the SGC database.

"Control I'm getting some kind of EMF readings... Oh shit control some kind of weapon has been launched from the surface of the planet!"

"GET OUT OF THERE WESLEYAN!" Jack snarled over the comm.

"Taking evasive action!" Wesleyan snapped. The image on the screen showed a blob tracing the little image of the ship, the blob looked huge.

Wesleyan carefully did not look out his view screen at the approaching projectile, he concentrated on dodging it and continuing the scan. His HUD beeped and flashed indicating the scanning was complete. Wesleyan decided to abort the other scanning presets and head for the SGC, after losing his pursuer.

He throttled the 302 to max and darted toward the still open gate from the SGC. He dodged around planetlets, and a thin asteroid belt, skimmed moons and still the projectile followed, finally Wesleyan veered as close to the local star as he dared, the gamble worked. The greater mass of the projectile dragged it into the sun. Sighing in relief he wiped the sweat from his face.

"Bogie is down Control, heading home." Wesleyan reported. The control room erupted in cheers.

"That guy can totally fly." Max said in awe.

The wormhole to the Feral's was closed and Wesleyan dialed the address for his poit of departure a space gate near Sol. Once on the other side he entered the coordinates for the SGC and headed home.

"I hope that was worth it." Adam said.

"Absolutely." Carter said excitedly. As soon as it was clear Wesleyan would be safe she had begun to pore over the data.

"There's a city under that settlement all right, and according to the scans its more than six times the size of the settlement."

"Big." Jack said mildly.

"So, what the adults are subterranean?"

"Maybe. It makes a kind of weird sense. A lot of earth species are basically subterranean as infants and then become surface dwellers in maturity."

"Only because they're vulnerable as infants and living in dens underground is safer."

"Maybe that's why the adults live underground." Max said.

"Okay well what about the fields? Those things were perfect, like agribusiness perfect."

"Well at the epicenter of the biggest fields, there's a cleared spot, I would guess that the underground group comes up during the night and tends the fields from there, possibly with heavy equipment." Carter hazarded.

"So we should aim for a night operation and try to land near those empty spots." Jack said.

"Yes sir, I think so I mean we still have a lot of work to do on this data but yeah I think that's our best bet."

"Okay. General?" Jack asked.

"How much time do you need Major?"

"Two days at least."

"You have a go in 48 hours Colonel."

"Thank you sir." Jack said.

*See Shattered/Shattered 2:Genocide Avenged