Disclaimer
Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret productions, and Gekko productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.
Yellow, gold, and brown swamped the green of the plant life around them. It appeared slightly dazzling as they stepped out of the Stargate, all lit up in beams of sunlight creeping through the trees. Dust danced in the gentle breeze whispering its music in the trees around them. The ground beneath their feet had the crisp crunch of a surface untouched by rain for a while. "I would say this part of the planet is in its autumn, wouldn't you Major?" Colonel O'Neill threw his comment over his shoulder, as he strolled down the slope from the Stargate.
"Yes Colonel, it would seem that way," Sam responded as she followed him gazing into the trees. She turned her attention to the ATV, bringing it to a standstill to rummage in its contents for various items.
"Trees!" Jack continued to expound as he moved away from the Stargate. "I do so love the variety of landscapes these assignments give us."
Daniel looked at the retreating back of his friend and grinned. He settled the straps of his backpack comfortably to his shoulders and followed Jack away from the Gate. Teal'c eyed the trees doubtfully, they were more cover than he liked this close to the Stargate, and anything could be hidden in them. He gripped his staff weapon and warily followed the team towards the woodland.
Sam strode forward passing Daniel and Teal'c, slowing up alongside Jack. She consulted the compass now hanging outside one of her numerous pockets and dropped it back inside. "The buildings the UAV picked out are about two hundred yards in that direction," she pointed through the trees. Jack nodded and adjusted his direction. "More ruins for Daniel to explore," Sam continued as she kept pace. "We seem to be finding far more ruins than thriving communities."
"I've noticed," Jack responded a little grimly. "And some of them haven't been deserted that long either." They entered the ruins warily, far too many nasty surprises in the recent past had taken its toll. A new place required a great deal of caution.
The team displayed a tense wariness of seasoned soldiers in a new environment. Even Daniel Jackson the archaeologist, now wore that familiar look as he searched the ruins. They were the same people but changed subtly by long association. Some changes happening too slowly for them to notice, others obvious even among themselves. They had survived so much together over time, made the same friends, the same enemies. Now as they entered this village they all sensed that something was not right. It was not the obvious signs that were bothering them. The ruins bore the unmistakable marks of deliberate destruction and beyond lay a field of ruined crops. It was something they had often seen but the air bore an unfamiliar smell.
Daniel stroked fingers down a large blackened blast mark beside a doorway. "This damage is very recent," he murmured, as he rubbed his fingers on his jacket to remove the soot.
"Daniel Jackson is correct O'Neill. This looks like staff weapon fire," Teal'c added.
"Damn it!" Jack spat as he looked around. "Why do they have to destroy so much? It feels like they're clearing planets before we reach them."
"That's not possible Sir," Carter told him.
"Know that Carter," Jack responded. "Still feels like it."
"O'Neill…" Teal'c's voice barely reached him and he turned to look. "We are not alone. The trees." Jack followed Teal'c's gaze to the edge of the clearing. At first nothing was visible but then he could also see movement. He signalled the team to take cover within the broken walls. They peered from within the buildings, wondering what was causing the movement in the tree line. A creature crawled out of the undergrowth towards the ruined village. It had covered several feet before it looked up towards them. The small face was almost human. Large black eyes and a small nose protruded from under a mass of shaggy brown hair. It was clearly in considerable pain, they could hear it whimpering as it moved. Daniel looked towards Jack, waiting to see what he would do.
Jack knew his team well enough to know they wanted to help it, but he hesitated. Nothing else seemed to be moving. "See anything Teal'c?"
"No O'Neill, but that does not mean there is nothing."
"I know," Jack responded, and then came to a decision. He stood up slowly, allowing the creature to see him. He waved for Sam and Teal'c to stay and keep watch. Daniel he beckoned to come with him.
The creature stopped crawling towards the village as soon as it became aware of them. It tried to crawl away, back towards the cover of the wood. Daniel reached it in a few swift strides and crouched beside it. As it shied away from him he tried to calm it. "We won't hurt you, we only want to help," Daniel spoke softly, trying not to appear threatening.
"Find out if he's from the village and who did this." Jack ordered, the sweeping motion of his P90 following his eyes in an arc along the wood edge, searching.
Daniel offered his canteen to the injured creature and tried to look at the wound he could now clearly see in its side. "It doesn't understand me Jack, and I have no idea how to communicate with it. This wound looks like a blast from a staff weapon." He finished as the creature flinched away from his probing fingers. Daniel took his hand away and waved a hand, motioning it to calm down. As it responded and took a drink from the canteen Daniel continued. "It seems to understand my sign quite well, but I don't know how far that will go. I have never seen anything like him before."
Jack and Daniel lifted the creature and carried him back into the cover of the ruins. It was short and light, easy to carry. Its clothing was torn and dirty. They set it down within the safety of the walls and Sam pulled her first aid kit. She began trying to clean and dress the wound. She wrinkled her nose as she tried to work, Jack wondered if it was concentration or the smell emanating from their new friend. It settled down and watched curiously as Sam studied its wound. "Carter?" Jack's voice held a query.
"I can't tell how badly it's hurt sir. I'm uncertain if this hole has hit anything vital," Carter responded.
Jack watched for a moment and then turned away. His eyes joining Teal'c's scanning the tree line beyond the village ruins. "Come on Teal'c. If it's Go'auld, they're up to something." Jack walked away from the ruins.
As they searched the ground for definite signs of who had attacked the village, Teal'c's face took on a puzzled frown. "The System Lords have been known to leave survivors as a warning to the populace. Particularly when they mean to return," Teal'c stated in an uncertain voice.
"Or as bait to net more of them who try to help the injured," Jack added. He nodded in agreement with the Jaffa. " Not bait for us though," he continued, "they couldn't know we were coming here, or that we'd come now. We're stumbled into someone else's problems."
Teal'c studied the ground for a while longer, the puzzled look deepening on his face. "The blast marks may not be from Staff Weapons O'Neill."
"What've you got?"
"The tracks are not like any I have seen before. The feet are bare, open toed. Four toes to be precise and probably fur covered. Most of them are too big to be related of the injured creature."
"Fur covered? Feet, not shoes?" Jack lifted his cap to scratch his head, then pulled it back on. "Let's see if we can get anything out of our new friend." They moved back into the shelter of the ruins. Jack looked around at the surrounding damage, then back at the creature. "It's not human, what is it?" He asked this as he stared down at the creature.
"Humanoid," Carter replied. "Its injuries do not seem to be severe, but it's difficult to tell."
"I think we should get back to the Stargate," he continued, "I don't like this. Taking it with us may not be a good idea either. Difficult to explain it if we can't bring it back. I have a bad feeling about this."
"I think we may be a little late in our decision to leave," Teal'c commented. The tone of his voice brought Jack's head up sharply. They all turned to look in the direction of Teal'c's stare. The line of trees had quietly filled with tall fur covered creatures. Each carried a long Staff-like weapon. They stood silently watching them.
"They're all around us," Daniel whispered. "What are they?"
A low growl reached them, gradually gathering volume. "Why do I get the feeling they've been watching us?" Jack muttered.
Carter stood up beside him and lifted the muzzle of her P90. "What are their intentions? I think is probably of more interest to us Daniel."
Jack glanced at Carter and then the small creature still lying against the inner wall. "If it's one of them, it's very short."
"A child perhaps," Carter hazarded.
"If that is so, we should give it back. They may think we have injured it," Teal'c commented. All four of them had been watching the tall figures slowly advancing on their position. No one had given a second thought to what the little alien might be doing.
A shriek of rage immediately behind them brought the party spinning round. The small creature, now all fur, claws and very large teeth sprung at Carter. An unconscious step away from this sudden threat took her toppling over broken stone, into the open. The suddenly frightening creature leapt and landed on her chest. Jack let off a reflex shot into its body, but the creature didn't even seem to notice. As the teeth bore down towards Carter's face, a bolt of energy appeared from across the open ground. It caught the creature under the chin, snapping its teeth away from her and lifting it erect. The force of the bolt saved Carter from injury and slammed the creature into the broken wall. Two other bolts reduced it to a burnt out husk then everything went quiet. Both Teal'c and Jack reached down to pull Carter to her feet. "You OK?" Jack murmured as he eyed the now silent creatures that surrounded the village. He was wondering what to expect next, he certainly wasn't expecting their invalid to turn nasty. One of the tall creatures handed his weapon to another and walked towards them.
"You know what they look like," Daniel said suddenly, "They look like Wookies."
"Well that little fella wasn't an Ewok, and this isn't the movies," Jack responded.
"What I want to know is," responded a shaken Carter, "are we also on their menu." The creature stopped a short distance away and looked pointedly at Jack's weapon. After a moments consideration Jack lowered it. They had not been threatened, in fact the only violence had been directed at the little creature that had attacked Sam. Daniel and Carter followed suit, although Carter's P90 was much slower in dropping. Teal'c rested his staff weapon on the ground, which meant nothing with the speed at which he could handle it. The creature nodded and walked between them into the ruined building. It began to move rubble from the broken wall to one side.
The team stood and watched in puzzlement until Daniel realised what the creature was doing. "Jack, there's some sort of entrance under there." Daniel put down his weapon and began to help the creature which looked at him and grunted briefly. Teal'c left his staff weapon and also began to help. When the trapdoor cleared the creature wrenched it open to peer inside. He growled softly and after a moment a head appeared, and then another. Several creatures like the ones surrounding the village climbed out. They were of varying sizes and several were definitely adults.
Jack suddenly had an insight. "This ruined village belongs to the big ones, not the small ones. These must have been out hunting the creatures that attacked the village."
"How could such a small creature do this much damage O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.
"If there were enough of them, and they had weapons like these creatures do. Jack could be right," Daniel responded as he sat on the rubble he had just helped move. "That thing turned into all teeth and claws when our backs were turned. I think they were tracking it, not us."
Jack walked out to look at the remains of the creature they had tried to help and shook his head. "The little ones are dangerous and the big ferocious looking ones are friendly. Talk about misleading."
"Well at least we didn't shoot one of them," Carter commented. "And…" she added and Jack looked over the wall at her. "The Goa'uld are not here, haven't been here," she looked at Daniel, who shook his head. "I don't think there is anything here for us unless some scientist wants to try and communicate with our new friends."
"The Stargate calls us," Jack quipped as he smiled and waved at their strange new friends. "Thanks for saving our asses, but I think we will leave now."
As the four of them walked back towards the Stargate, they noticed they were being followed. "I wonder if they are making sure we get home safe, or making sure we are gone," Daniel commented to no one in particular.
"Doesn't matter which," Jack replied. "They are watching our backs until we get through the Stargate. Hopefully, that means no more nasty surprises."
Epilogue
The Gate Room buzzed with activity as SG5, along with a linguist and anthropologist readied themselves for a trip through the Stargate. The soldiers dubbed SG1's latest mission 'Wookie world', the mission brief detailing SG1's experiences on the planet still ringing in their ears. The Stargate activation brought the two newest members of the team's eyes to the forming event horizon. Their first glimpses of the impressive sight causing one to swallow convulsively. The soldier next to him grinned. "Nothing to it sir. It's like riding a roller coaster."
"I do not like roller coasters," the apprehensive linguist replied. The ATV trundled forward through the Stargate. A check of the area around the Stargate before going through seemed prudent. They wanted no vicious little creatures jumping them as they exited. General Hammond stood looking down into the Gate Room beside the video equipment. A sudden hiss from the speakers brought his eyes to the console. "Well?"
"Sir we are getting no signal from the ATV. It was destroyed when it reached its destination."
The General nodded his head as if he had half expected this to happen. "Tell SG5 to stand down. It appears we are not to be allowed to return at this time. Perhaps in the future the address will be open to us."