Chapter Four: Between a Rock and an Unas.
Even with the minimal head start and a load to carry, the Unas had managed to put a sizable distance between it, and the search party. Despite his high level of fitness, Jack was finding it hard to close that distance. He kept pushing the team on, the thing had to stop at some point. As strong as it was, it was still technically a juvenile and had to be flagging by now.
Teal'c continued to lead the way, following the deep tracks, indicative that it was still carrying Daniel, and the occasional smear of blood, indicative that Daniel was still alive.
Hawthorn was as professional as ever, alternating with Jack in watching the six, while Hawkins simply followed their lead. Neither speaking out of turn or offering any options and the Colonel was starting to regret bringing him along. But something had to be done about the kids attitude. He seemed to think he was owed something, that his role, his life was more valuable than that of Daniel's. It wasn't that Daniel was more important than anyone else, Jack wanted to prove that everyone who served under his command was a valuable as the man standing beside him. No one was left behind, ever, and it was something he would do for anyone, even this punk. He'd been the one left behind and it wasn't a fate he would wish on his worst enemy.
"O'Neill!" Jack jogged ahead to Teal'c as the Jaffa called out to him in the usual way. He broke through the quickly thinning brush and came face to face with a stream, the waters of which were not deep but fast flowing. It would be easily crossed but he knew that wasn't the reason Teal'c had alerted the Colonel.
"S'up?"
"It would appear the Unas is trying to throw us off his trail." Jack closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief.
"What?"
"There," Teal'c indicated the smear of blood across one of the rocks further up-stream. "And there." The Jaffa pointed out another further along the same bank, heading to higher ground but Jack still wasn't following.
"Okay, so they went that-a-way."
"They did not. The Unas did, for a short time. See his tracks here?" Teal'c lowered and with gentle fingers traced the distinctive tracks. "They are shallow. Here, he no longer carries DanielJackson, yet we are expected to believe he does, because of the blood trail."
"So he dropped Daniel some place and back tracked to leave a false trail?"
"That is correct, O'Neill."
"Sneaky son-of-a-bitch."
"Indeed." Jack pulled off his cap and ran a hand through his wet hair before replacing it.
"You know, I cant help be feel a little bit, tiny, amount of respect for the damn thing."
"You should, O'Neill. We are, as you say, on its home turf. If we do not grant the creature the respect it deserves, things could end very badly for all of us."
"Got it." The Colonel swallowed thickly, not liking the sound of that one bit and slowly rose back to full height. "So, think you can pick up real the trail?"
"I will need but a few minutes."
"Alright, do your thing, T." Jack turned to Hawthorn and Hawkins who had just emerged from the tree line a moment ago, both eyeing the water warily. "Relax, its not deep enough. Pull up a rock and take five, Teal'c needs to find the trail."
"How long are we expected to do this, sir?" Jack turned and fixed the Sergeant with a glare.
"As long as it takes."
... ... ... ...
With the greatest of care, Chaka collected the unconscious Dan'el from the ground and cradling him once more in both arms, he began his journey anew. It had taken him many steps and placed him in considerable danger to back track like he did and plant the false trail. He knew it would likely only buy him a little time, but at this point, with the human tribe closing in, he had to take what he could get. He was doing what he could to make it hard to be tracked, covering his trail and walking up and down the various streams and brooks, as well as attending to the wound that marked Dan'el.
Chaka had found a familiar piece of cloth scrunched up and hanging from one of the compartments in the armour Dan'el wore. He had seen Dan'el wear this piece about his head during their last encounter. At first Chaka thought it was for protection, but it did not protect him well enough when the young Unas had charged at him on that fateful day. Now that he held it, Chaka could seen why. It was nothing but fabric and not a very hard wearing one at that. Still, it was large enough to wrap around Dan'el's head and tie off, applying pressure to the gash and stemming the flow of the crimson that marked their trail. Dan'el had also groaned, having felt the pain and Chaka had to read this as a good sign.
Steering towards the woodlands once more, Chaka picked up the pace, negotiating the terrain with ease even with the weight of the man in his arms. He had explored most of this region since he had left his tribe. For as long as he could remember it had been forbidden to set foot into these threes. He did not know why and when he had questioned his elders, they had not been able to provide him with a straight answer. Merely that they were dangerous. No longer a prisoner of his own superstition, Chaka had boldly entered the forbidden woods and found nothing at all of interest. Just a lot of rocks, most of which had been placed upon one another to erect some kind of tower, but the woods had long ago claimed the rocks for itself and vines and roots now ran through the grey angular stones.
It was here Chaka had made his home, nestled between two of the grey stones, which measured to more than twice his height. A longer beam ran across the top of the stones, creating shelter from the rain and Chaka had removed the debris and dirt from inside before moving in. He had his animal skin blankets and made a comfortable bed at the rear of the little cove, while the rest of his belongings consisted of his woven rope, animal bones ready to be carved into edges or points, to make weapons for hunting. There was a fresh kill hanging on a nearby tree having long ago drained of the blood, which he had gathered in a crude wooden bowl that hung from the rodents slit throat. There was much goodness in the blood, he could make it into a delicious paste.
Chaka entered his home and placed Dan'el on the bed. Still the man did not wake.
"Dan'el?" Chaka called gently to his friend and with a large clawed hand, he poked the human's chest. He was rewarded with another groan and this time Dan'els features altered slightly. The brows that framed his still closed eyes creased slightly, before relaxing once more. Another good sign to be sure and Chaka pulled the warm blankets down over the man, before standing once again.
Night was drawing in and he would need to start a fire. But night also brought a blessing. The men following would have to pause. Chaka had taken great care to hide his tracks between here and the streams, it would be difficult to track him during the day, impossible by night. It gave Chaka all the time he would need to prepare.
... ... ... ...
As promised Teal'c only required a few minutes to pick up the trail and they were walking once again. It didn't seem as smooth going as the first leg of the journey, Teal'c often had to pause and read the signs in the ground to be sure they were not being led once more in the wrong direction. It was during one of these pauses that Jack realised it was getting dark and he cursed their luck before patting Teal'c upon the shoulder seeing the Jaffa stand to full height.
"It's gonna be dark soon," The Colonel stated to which Teal'c simply nodded.
"It will be difficult to track during the night."
"But not impossible right?" He asked hopefully.
"It is not a chance I would like to take O'Neill, the Unas is taking more and more precautions by masking his tracks. He knows we are following. If I loose his trail in the dark, it will be almost impossible to pick it up again."
"I was afraid you'd say that," The Colonel sighed and plodded wearily back towards Hawthorn who was sat taking a drink from his canteen while Hawkins patrolled their rest stop, P90 at the ready. "Okay, go to ground, boots on." He blinked. "Wow, Deja'vu."
"You're only just realising this now, sir?" Hawkins spat and shook his head before taking a seat, his back against one of the many trees.
"Two words, Hawkins." Jack said as he strode past the Sergeant to take up the first watch of the night. "Thin. Ice."
... ... ... ...
Okay, moving had been a bad idea. He probably should have tried to open his eyes first, but since his last thought continued where it left off, he was trying to escape from being pulverised into mush.
"Dan'el!" Even with his eyes still closed he knew who that was and the civilian slowly lifted his head from the dirt, an act made harder by the fact it not only hurt like hell, but it felt like a tonne weight.
"Cha-ka!" He had started to call the Unas' name, but as the juvenile reached to help Daniel back onto what seemed to be a bed, the sudden movement brought a stabbing pain that shot through the left side of his head and face. "Ka, ka..." He reiterated the point and Chaka seemed to understand, letting Daniel go and sat back simply watching as the civilian slowly straightened himself, propped up against the stone slab that had been covered in some animal skins, one of which was still tangled around his feet.
"Dan'el, itey," Chaka slowly reached forward to touch the tender area around Daniel's left eye and the civilian slowly opened his eyes, still quite breathless with the effort of moving and trying not to vomit. "Dan'el, itey." Chaka repeated and Daniel slowly realised what the Unas was trying to say.
"Yes, Daniel hurt. Dan'el, itey." He repeated Chaka's words to confirm he had understood and filed the new word away for later use, assuming the concussion he undoubtedly had would allow him to remember any of this.
"Chaka an'tack Dan'el." This time there was no motion or gesture to help Daniel understand and the confused look the dazed linguist gave the Unas seemed to get that message across. Chaka held up his right hand and indicated a small scar. "Dan'el an'tack Chaka,"
Daniel searched his memory realising the significance of the scar. The Unas had been shot during his raid on base camp three months ago, the wound had continued to bother Chaka but with some convincing, the native Unas had allowed Daniel to remove the bullet and finally allow the wound to heal.
"Yes, Daniel helped, Chaka." He smiled kindly. "Dan'el an'tack, Chaka." Again Daniel committed the word to memory.
The young Unas made an approving grunt, obviously pleased that Daniel understood.
"Chaka an'tack, Dan'el." Chaka reached forward to indicate the head injury and Daniel, while touched by the concern and wish to help, he wasn't sure this was something Chaka could treat. But how to convey that with provoking an unwanted response, or even hurt his feelings?
"Chaka," Daniel began, having to close his eyes briefly as the room had started to spin. "Dan'el itey, Daniel hurt. Humans an'tack Dan'el. My people can help me."
"Ka," Chaka shook his head as if disgusted, annoyed.
"So much for not hurting your feelings..."
"Human, itey Dan'el."
"Human hurt me?" Daniel frowned and tentatively probed the left side of his head as he tried to remember. He hadn't been able to see who it was that struck him, it had happened too fast, but he knew it wasn't Chaka. The last thing he saw before he knew no more was the Unas rushing from cover after the attack began. "And you helped me, you saved me."
"Chaka an'tack, Dan'el." His Unas friend again reached forward and got two giant hands under Daniel's shoulders and slowly lifted the still very dazed and confused civilian from the ground. Daniel squeezed his eyes shut as the movement, no matter how gentle sent his head spinning in a nauseating way. His hands weakly clung to anything he could get a hold of as he struggled to ground himself and cease the motion of his surroundings. The elevated position done little to comfort him, the fact his ass was now dry was overshadowed by the fact he could feel the blood thump furiously in his head. Daniel felt himself sway where he sat and only a well placed hand from Chaka kept him from tumbling off his perch.
"T-Thanks..." Daniel gasped out, feeling his mouth filling with water as his stomach protested being handled in such a way. He swallowed hoping somehow to keep hold of its contents. The last thing he wanted to do was puke all over his friends nice clean floors. "Chaka, I really need to..." Chaka gazed at him oddly and Daniel closed his eyes to focus on what he needed to say. It was getting harder to concentrate but he had to stay with it. For a start he needed to know where he was so he could let the others know.
The others.
How long had he been gone?
Carefully Daniel lifted his arm to check the time, seeing that at least five hours had gone by and he groaned pitifully.
"Jack's gonna kill me."
"Ka! Chaka wukta humans. An'tack Dan'el." The young Unas pushed Daniel down into the animal skins and the civilian didn't have it in him to resist. He whimpered as his head thumped and he reached up to nurse the afflicted area.
"Wukta? What is wukta?" He cracked his eyes open just in time to see Chaka hold up what looked like a weapon. It was a crude knife fashioned from a smooth stone, the edges of which had been carved into a jagged tip. "Weapon...death? Kill?!" Daniel sat up shaking his head and immediately fell back. "Oh god that was a real bad idea..."
"Nona-ke." Daniel felt the weight of the animal skins fall around him as Chaka pulled them over the stricken human.
"No, I can't rest." Daniel forced his eyes to open once more just as Chaka started to grind some kind of plant between two rocks, both of which where smooth, no doubt taken from a stream or river. One was shaped oddly, the erosion of the water having created a concave, making it into a sort of bowl. It was this Chaka used to grind the deep red leaves into a paste. "Chaka, ka-wukta humans. You can't kill my friends."
"Humans keka!"
"No-ka. Humans aren't dangerous." Chaka again shook his head, the grunts and growls far from threatening, he was simply confused. Everything Daniel was saying obviously contradicted what he himself had witnessed. "Chaka, please..." Daniel couldn't think of anything else to say as he met the Unas' eyes. Chaka grunted and turned back to his task, grinding the leaves he had gathered.
This was bad. If Daniel didn't find a way to explain to Chaka that while he had been attacked by one of his own kind, that didn't mean all of his people had it in for him, there was no telling who or how many people could be hurt. Though he had to admit, having Chaka on side when Jack came to vent his frustration at having to trek across the same alien landscape to rescue him a second time from the same Unas, was a definite plus. What he needed was a way to tell Jack that Chaka wasn't a threat...
And then he realised.
"I have my radio..." He felt like a fool for not realising sooner but if he was being honest, he wasn't at his best right now. Chaka was caught up in his work and so Daniel opened up a channel. "Daniel Jackson, to SG-1, come in please..."
... ... ... ...
It had gotten dark some time ago and the four man search party huddled together for warmth around a small fire. Teal'c was now on watch and the two members of SG-12 were sleeping just to Jack's left. The Colonel himself couldn't sleep, he was to angry. Angry that once again they were in an almost identical situation to that of three months ago. And Daniel wondered why he didn't want to come back!?
Jack sighed and looked up at the sky barely visible beyond the thick canopy above.
"Trouble sleeping?" The voice drew the Colonel from his thoughts and he turned to look at the young Sergeant Hawkins as he sat up rubbing his eyes.
"Kinda. Why are you up?"
"Same." Jack studied the face of the man, three months ago he looked so different, in that short amount of time he had aged years. Clearly the loss of his brother had hurt him more than even he realised and Jack suddenly understood what Daniel had seen back then.
"Listen, I know you've heard it all. How sorry everyone is for your loss."
"Yeah, and I don't need to hear it again."
"Good cos I wasn't gonna say it."
"Oh you know another done to death cliche?'
"You ask anyone, I hate cliche's." Jack smirked and continued. "I heard it all before myself. I could give you a dozen of them."
"Please don't." Hawkins jaw seemed to tense as he stoked the small flames and added more branches.
"Again, wasn't going to." Jack sat forward meeting the others mans eyes. "The way you behaved at the memorial was a disgrace. People are prepared to overlook that behaviour because they feel sorry for you, because they can understand how angry you feel, even the man you blamed understood, probably better than most."
"Of course he did." Hawkins sniggered and shook his head.
"Yeah, he did. But you know what, even after all the crap he's taken, after all the people he's lost, not once has he let it change him, like you let it." Hawkins didn't look up from the fire, nor did he respond and so Jack continued. "You wanna know why I tried to stop you that day? It wasn't to protect Daniel, Daniel's all grown up and he is more than capable of fighting his own battles. I done it for your brother, for Dale, who was a damn good man and an even better soldier."
"Again I know all this I don't need to hear it from-"
"Oh I think you do, because from what I've seen, you don't have a damn clue what any of that means." Jack stood up, his anger at the man now to much to bare, but it had to be said so he wasn't about to stop now. "You wanna know why I'm prepared to do all this again for the same guy? Not because he's special or even a friend. Because he is one of us. And we do not leave our people behind. It was something your brother believed in, something he risked his life more than once to ensure. Risked it pulling your ass out of the fire too.
"You might wear the uniform and carry the gun, but you know something? While he's a civilian egg-head, who gets far to wrapped up in dusty tomes and hunks of rock, Daniel is more of a soldier than you'll ever be if you don't get your act together." The Colonel hoped he had given the Sergeant something to think about, enough to make him reconsider the attitude and subordination he'd seen all over his personal file in the last few month. He hated to see people loose their way so was only to happy to step in and kick them into touch with some tough love. Trouble was, it didn't always work.
Jack stepped around the camp fire and moved to relieve Teal'c when his radio burst to life.
"Daniel Jackson to SG-1, come in please..."
The Colonel very nearly had kittens as he grabbed the radio to respond. "Daniel! It's about damned time!" Teal'c lifted his brow with a smile, glad like Jack to hear from their missing team mate.
"Hey Jack, I'm fine thanks for asking."
"I'm sorry, hey Daniel, how are you ol-buddie-ol-pal?" He shurgged, rolling his eyes at Teal'c who for the most part tried to remain neutral.
"Oh fine, bit of a headache," Jack had known the younger man for a long time and he knew without needing to see the guy that the headache he was admitting to, was likely a head injury of some kind. The look of concern was shared by the Jaffa.
"The blood we have seen maybe from his head injury." Teal'c added quietly obviously coming to the same conclusion as the Colonel.
"Daniel, we've seen enough of your blood on the way out here to indicate you're anything but 'fine' so cut the crap and report."
"Well..." Daniel's voice was weak as he began. "I lied, its a stonking, great, big headache and I have no idea where I am, but I'm not alone..."
"We figured as much, Wilder reported seeing an Unas running from the camp around the time you done your vanishing act."
"James didn't happen to see who attacked me did he?" Okay, that wasn't a question Jack expected. Maybe Daniel's head injury was responsible for this confusion, since it seemed pretty obvious that it was the Unas who had attacked and carted him off, just like last time.
"Like I said, Wilder seen an Unas..."
"Chaka didn't attack me, Jack..."
"Chaka!? Isn't that the one who-"
"Yes Jack, he's the same one." Again Daniel's voice trailed off in to a weary sigh.
"Daniel-"
"Jack, please just listen...I don't know how long I-" The channel suddenly closed and Jack waited a moment before he tried again.
"Daniel, stay with me buddie..."
"..orry. Chaka didn't attack me. Someone at base camp did...Chaka saw it happen, it's why he brought me here, to protect me."
"He told you this?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. I've been trying to explain to him that, not everyone wants to kill me...he doesn't seem to want to take that chance."
Jack had to admit, the more he heard about this Unas, the more he was starting to like it.
"Who would have cause to harm DanielJackson?" Teal'c asked softly, aware of the two members of SG-12 not to far away, one of whom had already held a grudge against the civilian. Jack read the subtle way Teal'c glanced towards the camp fire and couldn't think of any reason not to assume it had been Hawkins.
"J'ck..." Daniel's voice was even weaker. "I need...I need you to do something for me..."
"You are not getting another memorial. It's my company policy to only do one freebie!" There was laughter from the radio followed by a groan and a curse.
"Make me laugh again...and you're gonna have to make it two freebies... but that's not what I need you to do." There was a pause as Daniel took a moment to calm down. His breathing had sounded a little labored and the Colonel felt completely helpless.
"What do you need, Danny?" He asked in a soft voice, his tone serious.
"Don't...don't hurt Chaka..."
"Daniel, you're obviously in need of immediate medical attention, I'm not about to go tip-toeing around your pal just to spare its damn feelings!"
"I'm serious..."
"So am I!"
"Too loud..." Daniel groaned pitifully and Jack immediately felt guilty.
"Sorry..." Jack sighed. "Listen, I'll do my best, but if it comes down between choosing him or you, the Unas looses every damn time, Danny." He knew Daniel wouldn't like his answer but there was very little the Colonel could do about that. He wasn't about to loose a friend. Not this time.