3: First Mission

{Unknown Planet}

[Jennifer's POV]

With a slight tuck and roll, she landed in soft grass with an exhale. Her face was in the sweet grass, making her take a slow inhale first.

"C'mon, get up. This isn't the time to be lounging around." She heard Colonel Frost speak in agitation.

"It is her first time doing gate travel, Colonel. You should give her a minute."

Slowly, she pushed up off the ground. "That was a wild ride. Though… all the articles I read, including the file, said the pool was blue, not green. Naquadah doesn't turn different colors, even with different chemical agents. Kinda like the color though. Really kinda pretty." She smiled, dusting herself off.

"We can't figure out why it changed either. For all we know, it was time being shut down that caused the problem," Jenkins spoke to her before motioning for her to follow.

When they arrived to the ruins, she only blinked and moved closer, finding all of this rather interesting. "Hm." She breathed out through her nose.

"If you end up calling this… Legion of Ares, we're leaving your ass here."

Rolling her eyes, she looked to Frost. "And should I be stupid enough to do such a thing, I would be worshipped while your head was cut off, your body roasted over a spit, and fed to wild dogs."

"I hate it when you talk back."

"Then maybe you shouldn't say stupid comments."

She heard the Colonel growl a little, which completely unfazed her. Her fingers didn't touch the temple wall as she looked over some of the artwork and some of the carvings. She was absolutely ecstatic to see something like this. So much so, that she was admiring it all.

"This… This is far beyond what they've seen in Greece and Rome! The intricate designs, the way everything is held together… This is absolute beauty!"

"Yeah, yeah… What other information can you give us about this place?"

She rolled her eyes before looking to Colonel Frost. "Y'know, you really should pull that stick out of your ass." Another growl. "If you must know, this is a temple, or was a temple, worshipping Zeus. The artwork tells the story of when Zeus tried to court Hera. Our mythology says that Hera *willingly* went to Zeus. This depiction shows she wanted nothing to do with him, seeing as how they were siblings. Which, our mythology knew that. However," she spoke, moving to reveal a bird of some sort, "apparently Zeus had shifted himself into some sort of animal, played it up like he was in distress… And I don't have a good feeling about the rest of the story."

"If you had to take a wild stab at what happened…" Frost grunted.

"Well, knowing from our mythology, Zeus would have more than likely shifted back to his normal form and took her against her will. Ashamed, Hera would have married him. Together they had four children." Jennifer spoke. "This temple could have been ruined by time, judging by some of the age to the wall here, or it could have been destroyed by someone being vengeful."

"So, why would Ares' legion be here?" She heard Jenkins ask.

"Probably to defend his mother's honor." She answered simply. "And before you ask, Colonel, there's probably more than one temple. This one was probably brought here through the Stargate."

"Are you saying…?"

Nodding, she crossed her arms. "That there's a lot more going on here than we know."

"Shit."

"That's not the worst part."

"Worst part? There's a wor- What do you mean?!"

Her cheek puffed out, full of air. "So… Ares will probably be back to check out the temple and see how far the ruins are. He hates losing and hates everything not being destroyed to perfection."

She watched Colonel Frost lift his arms. "That's just great! Are you saying we should leave now?"

"Um… I would… But I don't know if you heard it. There was a bugle call in the distance… A war call."

"Great. Just. Fucking. Great."

"Let's just… Head away from the gate."

{After traveling for about an hour}

[Jenkins' POV]

He had to admit, seeing Quinten getting his ass handed to him by Jennifer was… Pretty hysterical. No longer was he the king of the zingers. He'd been overthrown by what Quinten would classify as a major nerd. Hell, the last little zinger she'd sent his way had almost made him burst out laughing, even with the threat of being shoved into a tree.

"Hey, look! A village! Er… Houses at least."

He looked to where Jennifer was pointing, seeing stone houses with red clay roofs. It was actually quite fascinating. Sure, he was a nerd himself, he just kept it to himself around Quinten, seeing his prejudices against nerds. He'd laugh his own ass off if Quinten found a nerdy woman to love. He just hoped it wasn't Jennifer, seeing as how sweet and kind she was. Even if Jenkins was the only one to have really received the kind end of her.

"We should go and see if they're friendly." He suggested, seeing Quinten frown.

Jennifer bit her lip and nodded. "I agree. We could learn a lot from these people, even just being in their neighborhood."

"Has it occurred to either of you that we could be facing a literal God in minutes?" Quinten hissed.

Jenkins only rolled his eyes, then snorted at Jennifer's rebuttal.

"I'm not planning on dying and these people might be able to help us. Feel free to stay here and scream if you happen to meet him."

She started moving forward, and Quinten reached out to smack his shoulder. Jenkins could only grin before following the woman towards the houses. His shoes hit the cobblestone road, and immediately, they noticed everything was too quiet, as if the place had been deserted. Jenkins situated his gun in his grasp, getting a little nervous about being here with it almost deadly silent. Jennifer didn't seem the least bit phased, however. She had wide, open eyes and a bright smile.

Even more of a one when a ball slid out and against her feet. Jenkins watched a shy child poke their head around a corner. Then continued to watch as Jennifer kneeled down and rolled the ball back to the kid. The child giggled, and ran off.

"Huh… Thought you liked kids," he murmured.

Jennifer looked to him with a raised brow. "I do. Small steps when you're working into a culture you've no idea how they deal with hostile people. Especially growly pants over there." She thumbed at Quinten, getting another snort from Jenkins.

Before he could say anything else, a man dressed in robes appeared. His beard was long and gray with flecks of white thrown in. His aged eyes peered behind wrinkles. He looked the trio over before speaking.

"Poios eísai kai ti káneis edó?"

"What?" Quinten grumbled, confusion written all over his face.

"He's asking us who we are and what we're doing here." Jennifer rolled her eyes. "You learn a few things when studying mythology."

"Well… How do we answer that question?"

He watched Jennifer adjust her shirt before speaking slowly.

"Erchómaste apó mia chóra péra ​​apó ta astéria. Erchómaste me eiríni kai elpízoume gia filía." She then looked at Quinten, translating her words. "I said, we come from a land beyond the stars. That we come in peace and wish to start a friendship. Happy now?"

"He's never happy." Jenkins let out without thinking, getting a look from Quinten.

The old man looked over Jennifer before approaching her. "You… Gave child… Toy back?"

Jennifer blinked then nodded. "Yes. Their toy rolled to my feet, and it sent it back." Jenkins had to admire that she was calm and collected. The last guy they had, Heston, would have absolutely flipped his shit.

"Oppa!" The man shouted out, getting the same scattered word through the village. "Come! We feast in your honor!" Jenkins blinked at the sudden catch that his English seemed far better. "We talk of friendship!"

Quinten frowned. "I don't trust them."

Jennifer looked to him and raised her brow.

"Do you trust anyone? Besides your barber."

"I don't even trust him."