Set: Season 3
Spoilers: Deadman's Switch, Shades of Grey
Disclaimer:The Looney Toons characters are the property of Warner Bros. Stargate & SG1 belongs to MGM, Gekko and the actors who so
wonderfully portray the characters. I just get to play with them for a short while (cries forlornly into pillow).
A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I can understand now why other authors ask for them!
I am currently vainly attempting to thwart the efforts of my plot bunny's evil twin to change this story to
Angst/Drama against my will!!!
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Chapter 7: What's Up Doc?!
Daniel leaned against the pine tree, lungs heaving as he attempted to catch his breath. The chill of the early evening air seared his lungs, making breathing difficult. The urge to cough increased exponentially with the amount of time he spent in the ever deepening snow.
Despite three full years in Colorado, he was still to get used to cold conditions such as these, and he'd had to adapt his movement to compensate for the developing drifts in much the way he had to adjust his movement over the dunes of Abydos, only it was so much easier to sink into the snow than the sands!
"Jack always told me there'd be days like this," he sighed to himself. "He forgot to warn me that I'd have whole years of them, though!"
Sooooo not the way he had planned on spending his day! Being chased by Bounty Hunters had not made it anywhere on his list of things to do - Jack was going to kill him for this - for taking off on his own, without waiting for backup. Though exactly how he would have managed that when his first warning of the impending situation was of Simon galloping furiously up to his position yelling: "Bounty Hunters - run!!" in pidgin-Ancient, he wasn't sure!
He stared back in the direction he had come from, dropping the branch he had been pulling behind him in an attempt to disguise his passage, grimacing at the still very obvious disturbance of the fresh snow.
The most bizarre thing about this chase, he pondered, was the almost complete lack of any noise from the pursuers. No dogs, no taunts, no staff weapon blasts, no guns - though he supposed those might yet make an appearance. Nothing apart from the occasional electronic whirring from the miniature flying saucer thingy they had searching for him.
He kept expecting miniature ray guns to pop out and a strange, short, Martian-like character in a pseudo-Roman outfit to jump out, point a ray gun at him and demand to be taken to his leader!
Oh boy! The cold was obviously causing some serious damage to his brain's freezing neural pathways if he had started to call up images of somewhat obscure cartoon characters, whilst acting out the part of Daffy in the middle of duck season!
Peering around the trunk, he carefully checked behind him for evidence of his pursuers. The larger, manned, flying dinner plate (saucer was waaay too understated!) couldn't maneuver through the forest, but the probe had no problem with the overhanging foliage. So far he had managed to stay out of direct vision of the thing, but after 30 minutes of running, (okay, shuffling really) the trees ahead were thinning out and signs of civilization were appearing - fences, power cables, smoke, the occasional glimpse of a gallows or two!
Okay, maybe that last bit wasn't true - this lot were much more likely to have a 'Hangin' Tree' rather than a gallows - but why then did he feel like he was trapped in a seriously warped version of "Rawhide meets the Looney Toons"??
Pushing himself off the trunk, he changed course once again, heading in the direction of the smoke he had seen earlier. As he moved he felt rather than heard the passage of bullets past his ear. The hunters were getting their range sorted out.
A new sound could be heard above the others - horses blowing sharply through their nostrils. They were catching up. Daniel had been warned about the Melth'm search horses - hulking great creatures with their endurance, their persistence and their sense of smell as keen as a blood hound's. Just what he needed - huge monster horses after his blood! - As if the tracks he was leaving weren't bad enough! Who were these guys!
"And how could they tell that I hate horses?" he thought to himself as he moved in the direction of the stream he had noted earlier in the day. Could he manage to throw the trackers off his scent long enough to double back to Laroda City or to find someplace to hide?
He stumbled on through the soft snow, shivering even more as the moisture seemed to seep into his very bones, his standard green jacket and vest not affording him much in the way of protection.
"Sam, can you read me? … Sam? … In case you can, I've got what seems to be the entire planet's quota of Bounty Hunters on my trail, and they appear to be trying to herd me off to the north west of Laroda City. I'm going to try to double back at some point and meet you there. I don't think I'll be able to keep in touch in case they can track our radio signal, so I'm requesting radio silence…" He broke off as a fit of coughing made talking impossible.
Regaining his breath he continued, "Don't come after me. There's no point you getting caught as well! I'll contact you when it's safe. Daniel out."
Pushing ahead, he hoped at least some of his message got through and that the others wouldn't try to find him and end up caught as well. Someone had to stay free to alert the SGC to the situation.
"Owww! Crap!!", Daniel gasped as he felt a sharp pain in his right arm, and he stumbled to his knees. The sound of a gunshot followed milliseconds later, alerting him to the nature of the injury. Looking down he could see the growing blood stain on his sleeve.
"Damn! So much for a bounty worth only one week's rations!" he thought to himself with grimace as Aris Boch came to mind. They seemed to be putting a lot more effort than was warranted into his capture.
Pulling a bandana from his vest pocket, he positioned it over the wound, tightening it somewhat awkwardly using his left hand and his teeth. It soaked through rapidly and he fumbled around looking for another before giving in and heading on, cradling his arm against his chest in an attempt to stop the blood dripping onto the snow.
He staggered on, literally falling into the stream he had been looking for, drenching himself, gashing his head, jarring his wounded arm and leaving him feeling light headed and as cold as a filleted cod in a deep freeze. Gasping through the cold and pain, he struggled back to his feet, and lurched along the pebbled stream bed.
"Think, Jackson, think!" he muttered to himself between chattering teeth. "What would Jack do if he were here?"
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"I'm tellin' you T, when I get my hands on him he's gonna wish the cold is all he feels!!" Jack grumbled as they jogged towards Sam's position. "You see this?" he said, pulling at a short lock of silver hair, "it used to be brown before I met him. Now that it's completely grey, he's determined to make me completely bald too!!"
"It is not possible to be simultaneously both completely grey and completely bald, O'Neill!" Teal'c countered, eyebrow elevated to indicate bemusement.
"I'm just sayin' …"
"Sir? Do you read me? Over."
"Go ahead, Carter."
"I met up with Simon. He says Bounty Hunters from Wyattville tracked Daniel down to the site he was working on. Simon was able to give him a few minutes warning to get away, but they were still able to track him. He says the Hovercams can block radio signals within a certain range, which could be why Daniel didn't contact us."
"I'm still gonna kill him when I find him! … Does Simon know which direction Daniel was headed wh …"
"Sam, ……… read me? …"
"Daniel? Where the hell are you?"
"… 'm? … In case …… the entire …'net's quota … bounty hun' … trying …herd …… 'th west … 'da City... try …back …… you there. … don't think … in touch …… track our … signal, … 'quest … radio silence…………"
"Daniel can you read me…? Daniel!"
"… Don't come … no point … caught … I'll contact … safe. Daniel out."
"Daniel!!"
"We've lost the signal, Colonel."
"Ya think, Carter!?!"
"DanielJackson would appear to be somewhat incapacitated by his lack of appropriate apparel, O'Neill. It would be prudent to find him quickly before prolonged exposure to the elements renders his condition even more perilous!"
Jack sighed, "Love to, T, but somehow I don't think that'll be as easy as it sounds!" as he joined Sam at the forest outskirts.
"So, Carter, were you able to make out what Daniel said?"
"I'm not sure, Sir. I think he said the Bounty Hunters were herding him either north west or south west from here and that they may be able to track our radio frequency."
"He also told us not to follow him, O'Neill, and that he would contact us when it was safe."
Jack stared at them. "How could you have possibly made all that out from the jumble of noise that came out of the radio? Have you been taking lessons in 'static-babble' from Daniel?" he queried, fingers crooked in the air to indicate inverted commas.
"It was not necessary to learn this static-babble,O'Neill. The meaning was obvious."
"Oh Yeah! As obvious as the nose on Abraham Lincoln's face!"
At the confused looks on his teammates faces, he asked, "What!?! My grandfather used to say that all the time!! … So. Carter! Forget to tell us about the extreme weather?"
"No Sir!" she replied indignantly. "The weather conditions for this time of the year are supposed to be milder than they are at the present, but the temperature is still above what we would consider to be extreme. The temperature scale used on Melth'm is close to the standard Celsius scale used in Europe. So although the local gauges may indicate a temperature below zero, in actual fact, the temperature is currently only about 28 degrees!"
"A fact I am sure Daniel appreciates, seeing he is wearing a standard uniform rather than cold weather gear!"
Sighing and letting the matter rest without further comment he added, "And what does Simon have to say about the situation? Does he have any idea about where Daniel might be headed and how we can get him out of this mess?"
"He says that Daniel was aiming to eventually double back to Laroda if he managed to shake them…"
"Which seems unlikely given the type of technology they can access."
"Yes Sir. That's why Simon says Daniel was going to try to lay low in some outbuilding if he managed to get free of the posse."
"We're calling it a posse now?"
"The Bounty Hunters are calling it a posse, O'Neill."
"Of course they are! Could this day get any more twisted!" he sighed. "How much of a head start did Daniel have over that posse, Carter?"
"Simon says about a 10 minutes start; but Daniel doesn't have a good idea of the terrain, and the Hunters are working with the tracking horses, so he thinks they may catch up to him before he breaks out of the forest."
"Does he have any idea of any place we can safely meet up with him?"
"No, Sir. He says we should return to Laroda City and wait for Daniel there."
"Uh Uh. Not gonna happen!"
"Sir?" Sam enquired in a puzzled tone of voice.
"No can do, absolutely not, no, non, neit, nada, nix, ain't gonna do it!"
"May one ask why, O'Neill?"
"Not leavin' Daniel out here on his own to face down 20 armed men - even if they only intend to capture him. We have no idea where they will take him if they do catch him, or how soon he will be moved off world - 'cos believe me, they won't be keeping him here for long with the sort of Bounty they have out on him!"
At Sam and Teal'c's grave expressions he added, "Also … 'cos Simon didn't … say… so to speak!"
After a stunned pause, Carter responded, "Colonel, don't you think that given the circumstances that was a little …"
"I believe the word you are looking for is insensitive, Major Carter"
"Harsh much, Teal'c?"
"I do not believe so, O'Neill. Your levity at this moment only serves to increase the disquiet we are currently experiencing, rather than alleviating it!" Teal'c added with a disapproving frown. "In fact, your overall behavior towards DanielJackson of late has been highly questionable indeed."
"Uh hum! OK. Soooo … Moving right along then, does Simon have any other really useful pieces of information for us, Major?"
Wincing slightly at the tone of Jack's voice, Sam replied. "He did give this to me before leaving to try to obtain additional information, Sir. It's a portable VC - their version of TV. Apparently the local channel is doing a live broadcast of the chase."
She handed over a small 'Netbook' sized device.
Jack turned the small screen over and around in his hands several times, looking for the On switch before Sam reached over and pressed her thumb over a coloured square at the bottom of the frame.
"Cool. So how come we can receive a picture from this thing when we can't get a radio signal?"
"I'm not certain, Sir, but it probably has to do with the transmission wavelength of the vidcast being completely different to that of the operational frequency of the radios, and thereby not being blocked by the HoverCam scrambler. Though it's more than possible that if the HoverCams are capable of targeting radio signals, they may also be capable of selectively targeting a wider range of other usable frequencies."
"And, so, therefore …?"
"Sir, they probably don't want to block the vidcast as it serves a number of purposes - it gains the Guild exposure and gains ratings for the broadcast channel, plus it may cause a member of the viewing audience to come forward with information on Daniel's whereabouts."
"Indeed"
"Sooooo not what I wanted to hear! So you're telling me that not only are we up against the Bounty Hunters Guild - a galactic organisation, I might add - but we are up against the local population as well?"
"It would appear so, O'Neill."
Heaving a sigh, Jack made up his mind. "So what's showing here on ESPN, Carter?"
"It seems like a reality show, Sir - sort of like those Police car chases you see late at night."
"Sweet! So what vehicles are the locals using? Cars, jet propelled sleds, some sort of nifty ski doohickeys?"
"Horses, Sir."
"Horses, Carter?"
"You will remember from our meeting with the Town Council, O'Neill, that horses are the preferred mode of transportation for the local law enforcement officials."
"Yes, Sir. The type of terrain and the weather on Melth'm is such that horses are more maneuverable and much cheaper to use than any high-tech vehicles they have access to or could pick up in trade. They have also done extensive breeding programs on this world to select for horses suitable to a variety of conditions and jobs which would be carried out by other animals on Earth."
"They appear to be particularly proud of their domesticated tracking equines. It would seem these creatures are capable of detecting one specific scent of many from a phenomenal distance, even in wet or cold conditions."
"Yeah, about that. What's with the whole 'Wild West' thing they have goin' here? I thought the snakes weren't taking people from Earth any time in the past 700 hundred years or so?"
"DanielJackson, explained it as being a case of 'Convergent Evolution', O'Neill."
"And we don't know if the Goa'uld had anything to do with the establishment of a colony on this world, Sir. From what we've seen of their records, Daniel thought they may have been an Asgard protected planet at some point."
"Riiiight. Of course … !", the perplexed Colonel responded.
"O'Neill. If, as I suspect, the Bounty Hunters have been utilizing the proficiency of the tracking equines, Daniel Jackson is in even more peril than I previously supposed. We should expedite the formulation of a plan of action."
"Not that I want to rain on your parade or anything but - just how much of a head start do the hunters have on us?"
"I believe that will not be an issue for too long, O'Neill", Teal'c said whilst gazing in the direction of the town.
Turning sharply, Jack could see a flurry of snow heading swiftly towards them. "What the…?"
"It's Simon, Sir", Carter clarified for him as the Melth'm native bought himself and the four horses with him to the equivalent of a screeching halt.
"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, Teal'c. The Laroda City council members wish me to offer you the use of these steeds in your search for your missing teammate. They do not approve of the actions of the Bounty Hunters Guild and those who employ them and wish to render assistance in whichever way they may. I also have cold weather coats for your use."
Blinking in bemusement at the torrent of words issuing from the normally quiet young man, Jack opened his mouth to reply when Simon continued.
"The vidcast said Daniel was being herded in the direction of Hubert's Drift, about three leagues north from here. If we wish to intercept them and prevent his capture we must move soon."
"Sir? I think you'll want to see this!" Carter interrupted.
["… enough to seat five or six. Silus has the controls … say Hi Silus!...Jonno, the nav … and here to oversee the commissioning of the new hover unit is Lord Thoth's personal assistant and technical advisor, Seshat…"]
"Oh that's just great! Now there's a Goa'uld involved as well?" Jack complained, staring at the slim, attractive female in the tight brown leathers riding shotgun in the vehicle.
["… seems to indicate that the subject was hit twice, possibly in the arm and the shoulder, by both the probe's ballistic weaponry and by a tranquiliser dart fired by one of the guild hunters. The blood trail is sparse but still trackable, and suggests that Jackson is headed in the direction of Wyatt's Brook".]
["That's quite a ways, Dorango! Will he be able to make it in his condition?"]
"Oh for cryin' out loud! What is it about Daniel that he always ends up in these Snake-induced life and death situations?"
Sighing heavily he added, " Well, Simon says we should hurry, and who am I to dispute that. He is the local expert. Mount up, kids - we're off to catch us a Daniel!"
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Leagues: Antiquated unit of measure approximately equal to 5 km or 3 miles.
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