08x13 - It's Good to Be King

[bunniefuu]

The w*r between Baal and the System
Lords has reached a critical stage.

According to intelligence, Bastet and
Olokun are dead, Morrigan's capitulated,

Lord Yu and Amaterasu are rallying their
armies for what will be their last stand.

As we predicted,
the Jaffa were no match for the Kull.

The Tok'ra also said
that in the face of defeat,

some of the System Lords
are actively seeking areas of refuge.

Planets they abandoned long ago are now
being scouted as possible sanctuaries.

And this affects us how?

One of these planets,
which fell under the domain of Ares,

happens to be where the Tok'ra dropped
off one Harry Maybourne two years ago.

And this affects us how?

The Tok'ra have their hands full
with pressing matters.

They strongly suggest we get
to Maybourne before the Goa'uld do.

If we do not retrieve him,
Harry Maybourne faces certain capture.

t*rture. Interrogation.

Perhaps even death.

All right. Fine. Go get him.

Yes, sir.

The people of this world
are fairly primitive.

No phones, no lights, no motor cars. I bet
Maybourne jumps at a chance to leave.

What about the other inhabitants?

We'll relocate them.

We may not have a lot of time.
Ares could be here in a matter of days.

We don't mean you any harm.

We are allies of the Tok'ra.

Looking for a friend. Harry Maybourne.
Maybe you've heard of him.

Shifty fella.

Beady eyes. No?

You will follow us to the village
and meet King Arkhan.

He will discern your true intentions.

Not exactly the trusting type.

Which leads me to wonder
whether Maybourne is alive.

Presumably the Tok'ra
put in a good word for him.

Maybe we should get them
to do the same for us.

Maybourne.

This is King Arkhan.

My lord, our hunting party encountered
these offworlders by the gate.

Hey, guys.

Long time no see.

I should have known. I should
have known you'd be the ones to come.

You were expecting us?

Sort of. Where's Jack?

- General O'Neill's back at the SGC.
- No kidding?

General O'Neill? That doesn't sound right.

Good for Jack. Nice to hear
he's doing well for himself.

As, evidently, are you.

Uh...

This? Yes, well...

It's a long story.

Food!

Drinks for our guests!

We don't have time for this.

You should try one of these. It's called...

- Ojen fruit.
- Right.

- It's a cross between guava and mango.
- Sort of a "guango"?

I like that.

People. Henceforth,
ojen fruit shall be called "guango".

So shall it be.

I get to name all kinds of stuff. You should
see the Grateful Dead burial ground.

You have to get out of here.
You're in danger.

I know. The Goa'uld are coming.

You should peel it before you eat it.
I find the skin kind of tart.

- You know about the Goa'uld?
- Oh, yeah.

You were warned by the Tok'ra?

I haven't heard from the Tok'ra
since they dropped me off.

Then how?

I can read the future.

Mm.

- Really.
- What are you trying to pull?

He speaks the truth.
King Arkhan is a prophet.

He foresaw your arrival and the hand
you will play in defeating our enemy.

Garan's right. It's all part of the prophecy.

Maybourne,
what the hell is going on here?

Let's go for a walk.

OK.

Here we are.

I found this place about ten months ago
when I was out on an afternoon stroll.

- It is quite a distance from the village.
- I enjoy long walks.

Right. Long walks,
rainy nights, and candlelit dinners.

- Why are we here, Maybourne?
- This writing is in Ancient.

- What do the locals know about these?
- Well, not much.

They avoid the area
because it's close to the naqahdah mines,

the site of their former enslavement.
Bad luck and all.

- This is incredible.
- No. No.

This is... interesting.

This is incredible.

What is it?

It's a record of the planet's history,
covering major events -

only some of them haven't happened yet.

- What are you talking about?
- They have a complicated lunar calendar.

Took me a while to figure it out,
but once I did, I realised...

there were references in the text to things
that are gonna happen in the future.

I know, it sounds crazy.

I didn't think much of it either at the time.

But then this big meteor shower happened
exactly on the date the stone predicted.

You sure you're reading it correctly?

My skills may not compare
with Dr Jackson's,

but I've picked up
a decent understanding of Ancient writing.

As a result of my translations, I predicted
a major flood would destroy the village

unless I convinced the elders
to move to higher ground.

And, of course, you told them
where these predictions came from?

No. Well, not in so many words.

Look, these are simple people.
This stuff would mean nothing to them.

I had to play the role of prophet
to convince them.

And out of gratitude, they made you king.

Like I said, it was their idea.

Well, he's partly right, anyway.
It is a historical log.

"In the 45th cycle, the ground will tremble
and devastation will be wrought."

Yeah, yeah. Big earthquake
couple of years back. Before my time.

Skip ahead. We're in the 54th cycle.

- "In the third moon of the 54th cycle..."
- Which is now, give or take a few days.

- "...the oppressors of old will return..."
- The Goa'uld.

"...to seek dominion over the land."

- "Those of a distant world will come..."
- That's you guys.

"...to vanquish the evil
and restore order once again."

You see? They come, you defeat them.

Happy ending. That's the prophecy.

Sorry, but we didn't come here
to fight the Goa'uld.

- We should get going.
- Actually, um, this is interesting,

and there's a lot here to translate.

- (Daniel) Sam.
- Go ahead.

- Maybourne was right.
- What do you mean?

Well, from what I've been able to decipher,
it's pretty clear.

The script is a historical log
compiled by an Ancient

who travelled through time
to study the evolution of life.

Daniel, we know the Ancients
experimented with time travel,

but we have no evidence
that they mastered it.

We do now. To my knowledge, these
are only a couple of hundred years old.

Which means they were carved
after the Goa'uld had left.

But the Ancients predate the Goa'uld.

The only explanation is
an Ancient travelled to the future

and then back to a time not too long ago.

- I don't know.
- There are references to the travel device.

It's described as being inside a small ship.
Now, if I'm right, it may still be here.

I think it's worth a look.

All right. We're on our way.

(Carter) Daniel.

Go ahead.

We've been at it a while.
Are you sure it's around here?

Just give it a little more time.

I hate to say it, Daniel,
but we can't risk staying much longer.

I'm scrubbing the search.
Fall back to the gate.

Sam.

Daniel, we have no way of knowing
when the Goa'uld will get here.

- (Daniel) It could be days.
- (Carter) And it could be hours.

Colonel Carter, Daniel Jackson.

I have found something.

- It certainly looks like a ship.
- These appear to be flight controls.

So what's this?

Could be the time device.

It bears little resemblance
to Ancient designs we've encountered.

Judging from Maybourne's wall,
it worked at some point.

I'm guessing it manifests some energy
field that encompasses the entire ship,

allowing the traveller
to literally fly though time.

- I wonder.
- Uh-uh.

Let's not touch anything just yet.

- I'm kind of fond of this era.
- OK, so what do we do?

We bring it back.

Judging by the dimensions, it looks like
it was designed to fit through the gate.

- OK, how do we get it there?
- This vessel appears to be undamaged.

The engine may yet be functional.

This is Ancient technology.

We'd need an Ancient to make it work.

Or someone close.

Jack.

It's great to see you. How long's it been?

Oh, since that time you got us
stranded offworld and tried to k*ll me.

That takes me back.
I guess congratulations are in order.

- You made general.
- You made king.

Right. Well, it's, uh, not a contest, hm?

Do you mind?
These guys are torturing that ditty.

Uh, right. Take five, guys.
I taught 'em that expression.

Ah.

I'm hoping that you can stay for a while.
You know, check out the sights.

Take in the culture.
I want you to feel at home here.

Harry, you're aware this place is going to
be overrun by a gaggle of bad guys soon?

Yeah, well, maybe.

Right.

Carter told me about this prophecy.
It's not going to go down that way.

Come on.
You've defeated System Lords before.

No. You've got to tell these people to start
packing. We'll take as many as we can.

I can't.
I already told them you'd save the day.

Let me ask you a question.

Did this prophecy mention
anything about casualties?

How many people
would die in the fighting?

- It's not really that detailed.
- Anything about the king surviving at all?

Actually, there's... no reference
to me specifically.

- I just assumed...
- Do you really wanna take that chance?

Do you wanna roll those dice?

- It's not gonna be easy to convince 'em.
- You can do it, Harry.

You're the king.

And remember, it's good to be king.

- Nice ride.
- Yeah, Ancients like to fly in style.

Nice!

Whoo-hoo!

You're gonna have to help me, Carter.
Got any quarters?

I can't help you with this one, sir.
You're on your own.

Fine.

How do we know we're not
gonna end up back at the Alamo?

For one thing, that was on Earth.

But, more importantly, I've separated
the time device from the control circuits...

I think.

Concentrate on powering up the engines.

Concentrate?

Got nothing.

You've proven your Ancient gene
allows you to operate Ancient technology.

It's no different
than the device in Antarctica.

Just...

focus your mind.

Good.

Good.

Not so good.

Tempus fugit, girls. Tempus fugit.

I sure collected a lot in only a couple
of years. I guess I'm a bit of a pack rat.

- When will you address your people?
- I'm getting to that.

I'm thinking about what I'm going to say.

- Perhaps you should consider the truth.
- That's one strategy.

Whatever you decide, we are running
out of time. We must leave soon.

Yeah, I know. I know.

No, no. Just leave that.
That stuff, over there.

The primary power source is depleted. We
need to re-route to the secondary output,

which was originally designed
to power the time device.

Of course we do.

OK.

Try it now, sir.

Dammit!

I'm just not that familiar with
Ancient technology. I need a little time.

- That is one thing I can't give you, Carter.
- You can't be serious.

Sir, this technology is too valuable to lose.

What do you want me to do?
Call in reinforcements?

We're not throwing down
with a couple of Jaffa.

We're taking on a System Lord
and his band of merry bad guys.

- Inside and out. I want that thing gone.
- (branch snaps)

Surrender your weapons,
or die where you stand.

Oh, if I had a nickel...

Lower your weapons.

I... don't think so.

We will not allow you
to take King Arkhan from us.

Good King Arkhan is a fraud.

Our king is wise. He is a seer.

He may be your king, but he's no seer.

He can only interpret what's been
written on pillars of the temple ruins.

Those hold the prophecies. Anyone who
can read them can make the predictions.

That is a lie!

Why don't we just go back to the village
and let King Arkhan explain everything?

First, lower your weapons.

- Jack?
- Daniel?

They're not going to sh**t.

Are you?

God, I miss going offworld.

Oh, yeah.

- (O'Neill) Who'd have thunk?
- Oh, hey, Jack.

I, uh, spoke with Garan.

I'm sorry to hear about what happened.
I had nothing to do with it.

I know, Harry.
You're always the victim in these things.

OK, look, I'll admit
that when I first found the ruins,

I did plan to use them
to my personal advantage.

- But all that changed once I became king.
- Oh, please.

It's true, Jack.

I care about these people.
I wanna help them.

Then tell 'em the truth.
Come clean on all this stuff.

I've already arranged
for an assembly with the village elders.

I'm gonna tell 'em we have to leave.

Well...

Here goes nothing.

My friends.

I wish I were here
under better circumstances,

but the fact is I come
before you all to deliver a warning.

The village is in danger,
and the time has come for us to leave.

We must abandon our world.

Arrangements are being made to help us...

temporarily relocate to a safe place.

But the prophecy was clear.
The enemy will be defeated.

Uh, yes. Uh...

The prophecy was clear,
but only up to a certain point.

After that, it was somewhat unclear.

Sort of a...

murky clarity.

Of course the enemy will be defeated.

But there is a chance that some of us
may get hurt or even k*lled in the process.

- I am not willing...
- (man) lmpossible.

You assured us we would be safe.

Yes, I...

I remember that.

However...

The truth is...

I've not been entirely honest with you.

I am not a seer.

I don't possess insight into the future,
or... divine powers that set me apart.

I'm just a regular guy,

no more or less special than any of you.

But the prophecies.

The prophecies don't come from me.

They come from the walls of the old
temple, written in stone for all to see.

I have the ability
to interpret these writings,

and with the proper understanding,

any of you could do the same.

I am a pretender.

I took advantage of you,

and...

and for that I am deeply sorry.

What about the design
for the new water mill?

Was this written on the temple wall?

No, that was from me.

And our new medicines. Our legal code.

The irrigation system.
Were these things also found in the ruins?

No.

These were not the acts of a pretender,
but of a leader.

Guys, I'm touched. Really.

(Garan) What does it matter
where the prophecies came from?

All we need know is that
each one of them has been fulfilled.

- As this latest will be fulfilled.
- Let's not get carried away here.

We will defeat this enemy. And we will do
so under the leadership of our great king,

Arkhan the First. Arkhan! Arkhan!

Arkhan! Arkhan!

Arkhan! Arkhan!

Arkhan! Arkhan!

Arkhan! Arkhan!

Arkhan! Arkhan!

Arkhan! Arkhan!

Arkhan! Arkhan!

Jack. Look, sorry about that.

Not my problem, Harry. If these folks
don't wanna go, they don't have to go.

Teal'c, you and Daniel
head on back, secure the gate.

Carter, you and I will take care of the ship.

Jack, Jack, wait a minute.

I know it sounds crazy,
but Garan was right about the prophecies.

They have all come true.

Harry, we're not staying.

And if you wanna come with us, I suggest
you get your royal butt to the gate.

(Stargate activating)

(Daniel) Jack, come in.

Go ahead.

We got a little problem here.

Ares' Jaffa just came through the gate.

We're cut off. If you blow the ship now,
you'll give away your position.

Guess we're staying for a while.

Welcome, strangers.
I am King Arkhan the First.

It is with a joyful heart
that we welcome you.

I'm Trelak, first prime
to the great Lord Ares, your god,

who will be returning to reclaim
this land and his loyal followers.

Of course, of course.
Glad tidings of comfort and joy,

comfort and joy.

Lord Ares demands
nothing short of complete obedience

from both you and your people.

Any resistance will be dealt with harshly.

Understood.

Gather your subjects.
Inform them of our arrival.

Of course. I'll address them immediately.

- Do you have something to say, sl*ve?
- I am not a sl*ve.

I apologise. My servant spoke out of turn.
She will be punished.

Of course she will.

k*ll me if you want, but know this:

In the end, your people will be defeated,
just as the prophecy has foretold.

The prophecy?

Pay no attention.
She's frightened beyond reason.

It foretold of your arrival
and of your defeat.

Another predicted rain today with morning
frost, yet what fine weather we enjoy.

Silence!

Where may I find this prophecy?

If what you say is true, then we would be
fools to stay and meet our certain death.

It is written on the walls of the old temple.

Go with her.

Sam, Jack. This is Daniel.

Ares' first prime
sent men to check the ruins.

Once they see the Ancient writing,
they will search the area.

(O'Neill) Carter. How's it going?

- Just a few more minutes, sir.
- (Daniel) I thought you were blowing it up.

O'Neill's given me a chance to get
the engines online so we can fly it out.

(Daniel) You're cutting it kind of close.

I know.

I have prepared a feast in your honour.

Come.

Please, sit.

Partake of our bounty.

This fruit, for instance,
it's sort of a cross between...

I'm not interested in your offering.

You were warned.
Anyone who refuses to accept us will die.

You've made yourself perfectly clear.

To you, perhaps.

But your subjects seem
less than willing to accept our terms.

They cling to archaic beliefs,
prophecies, portents,

that thr*aten
to undermine the rule of our god.

That won't happen.

I can see to it.

How?

They're simple folk, easily influenced.

With my help, you'll have no trouble
bending them to your will.

It's here.

Dammit.

(O'Neill) Carter.

Sir.

They're headed our way.

I need more time.

Yeah, of course you do.

Those were Tauri weapons.

What's a Tauri?

Time's up.

You're too late to save this world.
I've already received word.

Lord Ares has just arrived.

I'm done, I think.

You're good to go, sir.

I'm doing the best I can.

What were you and your allies planning?

Know this, shol'va.

I'll see to it that you suffer slowly.

And I will see to it that you die quickly.

I think not. My men guard the gate,

and the mothership
descends as we speak.

(g*nf*re)

You were plotting in concert
with the people of this world.

Treachery is something we cannot abide.

I couldn't agree more.
You think you feel outraged?

Lmagine how I feel.
Betrayed by my own people.

(ship approaching)

Sir, we're detecting another ship. It's big.

Shol'va!

- You are a man of your word.
- Indeed.

You're doing great, sir.

Relatively speaking.

Weapons.

Weapons.

- Keep f*ring, sir.
- Nothing's happening.

Weapons must be depleted.
Hopefully you hit some vital systems.

Think that was vital?

Relatively speaking.

- You sure you don't want to leave all this?
- I can't abandon these people, Jack.

I made a life here. I can't walk away
from my home, my friends.

My wives.

Wives?

Go.

Wives.