DISCLAIMER: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of the people who made them up. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.
A Snake In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush
Part thirty-four
Daniel and Sam followed Jack through the 'gate in time to see Jack knocking a Jaffa over the head with the butt of his P90.
'Interesting use of your weapon, sir,' Sam commented, her eyes scanning the area to make sure it was now clear although Teal'c was also scouting the area.
'Yeah, well, he took me by surprise - did I ever tell you I hate surprises by the way? I figured it would be quieter to knock him out than to shoot him - we don't want to attract attention now, do we?'
A few minutes later SG12, one of the diplomatic teams, came through, looking around warily before moving away from the safety of the 'gate just as it snapped closed behind them.
'Ok, folks, we've got us a kindergarten to organise, so - Teal'c, I want you at point, Carter with him, SG12 you follow behind them and Daniel and I will watch our six. Got that?' Seeing he received affirmatives all round, they moved off, keeping a wary eye open for any hostiles.
Daniel could hear Jack muttering behind him. 'Trees. Oh look there's more trees. Why can't we visit a planet where there aren't so many trees?'
'Jack, you have to remember that most of the planets we visit aren't as technologically advanced as we are and they have smaller populations. They haven't had the need to cut down vast areas of forest to supply fuel and make room for them to live. Now, if you could have seen earth several thousand years ago, say…'
'Daniel - don't you have anything better to do than to torment me?'
'Not really, now where was I…' Daniel had a mischievous grin on his face that faded as Jack held up his hand to silence him, an alert look on his face. The hand changed position and was telling Daniel to get behind a nearby clump of bushes while he sought refuge behind a tree on the other side of the path.
They waited for only a few moments before they could hear the telltale heavy footsteps of a Jaffa patrol. As the patrol drew alongside him, Daniel stepped in front of them, waving his hands as he spoke.
'Hi, I wonder if you can help me, I seem to have lost my way. Am I heading in the right direction for the goa'uld stronghold?'
Before the two Jaffa had chance to turn their weapons on him, Jack had stepped out behind them and used his P90 to knock them out.
'Jack, do you mind if I ask something?' Jack nodded, curiosity getting the better of him. 'Has the budget for the SGC been cut?'
'What?' Jack exclaimed.
'Well, I just wondered. I thought maybe they were finding alternate ways of using guns to avoid wasting ammunition.' Daniel gave him a serious look, but Jack could see the twinkle in his eyes.
'Daniel, one of these days I swear I'm going to have to kill you.'
'Yeah, but just make sure you don't waste any bullets on me.'
They proceeded to join the rest of the group who were waiting for them further along the path having heard what was going on but realising that Colonel O'Neill had the situation in hand.
'Everything ok sir?' Sam asked.
'Just a couple of Jaffa and they're taken care of.'
They continued on their way and within an hour of stepping through the gate they had reached a clearing in the trees, a building standing in the centre. The building was surrounded by a fence with only one means of entrance, through a gate on the side furthest away from them.
Instructing SG12 to remain concealed behind the tree line with Daniel, Jack went off in one direction around the fenced building, Teal'c and Sam the other. They met up a few metres away from the entrance.
'What have you got?' Jack asked in hushed tones.
'Three Jaffa in total, two were standing at the entrance to the building, the other was patrolling the perimeter,' Teal'c informed him.
'I saw two guarding the gate.' Jack looked thoughtful, remembering Daniel's ploy to distract the two Jaffa earlier. 'There are only supposed to be a few Jaffa, Clare said. We've taken care of three, the five inside there make it eight. We need to keep watch over the next few hours to see if there's anything else we need to know.' Speaking quietly into his radio, he got Daniel to organise SG12 to watch the compound from the side they were on, while they remained on this side.
They waited until the sun had reached the middle of the sky before there was any noticeable change in activity within the compound. Two who had been patrolling relieved the two at the gate and they proceeded to a small outhouse. They emerged ten minutes later, one bearing a large bucket like container, the other carrying a pile of bowls and spoons.
'Feeding time,' Jack whispered.
Watching for another hour, they saw the two who had entered the large building exiting it carrying the same items they had walked in with, the only difference being that the bucket now appeared to be empty. They left the outhouse, one proceeded to patrol the perimeter, the other positioned himself on a chair beside the kitchen area and began eating from a bowl he had fetched from inside. Once he had finished, he relieved one who had been on guard outside the main building. This continued, one relieving the other until they had all eaten.
Jack, deciding that this signalled the end to any unusual activity for the time being, indicated that Carter and Teal'c should follow him back to SG12 and Daniel.
'Ok, this is what we're going to do…' Jack issued his orders and half an hour of activity later, Daniel was approaching the gate to the compound. He felt very exposed here and this was a little different from when he had challenged the Jaffa back in the trees.
The Jaffa were instantly on alert, ordering him to surrender himself and to hold his position. Daniel ignored their commands, but did raise his hands above his head as if to indicate he was harmless. The Jaffa patrolling the perimeter was approaching now as well.
'Hello there, I'm looking for the goa'uld who runs things around here. A couple of people who looked just like you told me that this was the place I was looking for.'
Staff weapons whined as they charged for the attack and Daniel got ready to duck quickly. Fortunately, Jack's plan was working smoothly and before they could fire there were a series of explosions at different points around the fence.
Taking them completely by surprise, Daniel pulled a zat gun from where he'd tucked it into the back of his pants and shot the two guards at the gate, the other three were taken out by Jack, Sam and Teal'c who had entered through the holes in the fence.
The four of them met SG12 in the centre of the compound, checking each other for injuries.
'Ok, time to rescue the kids then,' Jack said, leading the way cautiously to the building.
Once inside they found that their count had been wrong, two more Jaffa were inside a large room with twelve children. The children were huddled at one end, the Jaffa in front of them bearing staff weapons ready to shoot.
'Jaffa, kree,' Teal'c ordered, stepping forward with his own staff weapon at the ready. The guards hesitated, they had been here for years now and had not had to face up to a challenge in all that time, they had grown soft with lack of training and were unprepared for this attack.
The moment's hesitation was all that was needed, allowing Jack to take out one of the guards while Sam dealt with the other, leaving the children unguarded.
Glancing at them briefly to make sure there were no physical injuries, Jack ordered Sam and Teal'c to sweep the rest of the building to make sure all was clear before bringing SG12 inside.
Jack smiled at the children. 'Hi, I'm Jack. How you doin?' All he received in return was a closer huddling of the children, staring at him with wide, scared eyes. 'It's ok, we're not going to hurt you, we're here to help.' Nothing.
'Daniel - any suggestions?'
'I don't think they can understand you, Jack. Let me try.' Daniel moved closer to them, crouched down and tried to talk to them. 'My name is Daniel.' Daniel pointed at himself and repeated the name, then pointed at Jack and said his name. The children stared at him, not responding and not relaxing at all. Daniel carried on speaking in a calm, reassuring voice. 'We came to help you, to take you somewhere you can live a normal life, with people to take care of you, to look after you.' He continued in this manner but made no progress. He backed away and joined Jack, running a hand wearily through his hair in a gesture of defeat.
'Beats me Jack, they haven't said a word and until we can get them to talk, I haven't got a hope of getting through to them. They're not used to strangers and I think the fact we just shot the only people they have ever known doesn't put us in a favourable light.'
'We'll just have to think of something else then.'
At that moment the tightly huddled group of children moved as one further away from the door to the room.
'What on earth…' Jack exclaimed as he realised that the entrance of Carter and SG12 had caused the reaction. Hurrying over to them, Jack ushered them out of the room, leaving Daniel to try once again to get through to them.
'What's going on, sir?' Sam asked.
'We have a little problem,' Jack responded, trying to remain patient. 'The kids won't talk and they're scared half out of their wits. Daniel can't seem to get anywhere with them, but they don't seem quite so frightened of him.'
'Why don't I go in with Lieutenant Chambers, sir,' Sam suggested. 'Maybe they'll respond to us?'
'Ok, Major, Lieutenant, proceed.'
Carter and Chambers removed their weapons and their vests, entering the room dressed in their khaki pants and black t-shirts, offering as neutral a front as possible.
They moved quietly and slowly to a position just behind Daniel who was now sitting cross-legged on the floor. Sam placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her.
'We've come to see if we can help. Any progress?'
'None.' Daniel looked frustrated. He took pride in his ability to talk to people in languages he was unfamiliar with and in his diplomatic skills, but none of them seemed to be working here and he was at a loss as to what to attempt next.
Sam and Lieutenant Chambers sat beside Daniel and Sam tried to speak to them.
'Hi - I'm Sam. This is Linda. How are you all doing? Can you tell us your names?' Between them the two women tried everything they could think of. Sam stood up and moved closer to the frightened group, but they seemed to huddle even closer together, only relaxing their guard slightly when she retreated again.
Suddenly there was a change, the children started trying to peer around them, to catch a glimpse of something they had seen outside the door. Sam, glancing around to see what had caught their attention realised it was Teal'c they were watching. Standing up slowly, she indicated that Chambers should accompany her out of the room.
'Well?' Jack demanded, starting to let his frustration show. He'd lost count of the Jaffa and Goa'uld he'd dealt with, plus a host of other enemies and now he was being defeated by a group of frightened kids who didn't respond to him the way most children did.
'We couldn't get anywhere either, sir, but I've got an idea that might just work. They seemed to respond when they caught a glimpse of Teal'c through the door.'
'Teal'c? You've got to be kidding me, right? No offence, Teal'c,' Jack added as he realised he was receiving some hefty glares.
'Major Carter may be right,' Teal'c said. 'These children have been raised with Jaffa as their only companions and they may indeed respond to me.'
'Well, we've got to try something, off you go big guy.'
A few minutes later the sound of scampering feet could be heard and Jack risked a look through the gap in the door. Children surrounded Teal'c, all trying to touch him or grab hold of his clothing. Ten minutes later Teal'c indicated the rest of the group should enter. The children were sitting around Teal'c, the fear in their eyes had reduced but they were all still tense. As they saw Jack approaching followed by the others they tried to huddle together again, but a stern look and wave of the hand from Teal'c stilled them and they waited apprehensively to see what would happen.
'As you can see, O'Neill, I was successful.' Teal'c sounded a little smug.
'Way to go, Teal'c. Now what? We still have to figure out how to get them to the gate.' Jack said.
'I have given that some thought. Do not all you humans carry chocolate with you on missions?' Teal'c asked.
'Yes.' Jack wasn't sure where this was going.
'We can use it to reward the children for coming with us,' Teal'c replied.
'Teal'c - you want to bribe them? You've been spending way too much time with Jack,' Daniel complained.
'I have witnessed the success of this manoeuvre on many of your television programmes and on occasions when parents have been trying to make their children behave.'
'He's got a point Daniel, and at this stage I'm willing to try anything.' Jack turned to the others, 'Ok, everyone, lets have all the chocolate you've got, and yes, Carter that does include yours.'
Soon, there was a pile of chocolate on the floor beside Teal'c. Teal'c picked up a couple of bars, broke them up and gave a small piece to each child. The looks of pleasure on the faces of the children as they tasted the joys of chocolate for the first time warmed all their hearts, as did the sight of one brave youngster who moved closer to the pile on the floor, ready to help himself to more.
Teal'c halted him with a raised hand, indicating he should rejoin the rest of the group. Getting to his feet, Teal'c signed to them to stand also, and, gathering the candy and placing them in his pack, he took a child's hand in each of his own and proceeded to leave the room. The rest of the children hesitated before surging after him, keeping going until they reached the outside of the building where they hesitated at the unfamiliar sight of the sky and the world outside their room, but they could see the source of that delicious sweet food moving away from them and their desire for more urged them forward and they continued to follow.
As they reached the edge of the trees, Jack called to Teal'c to stop.
'Ok, this seems to be working. I don't want to lose anyone in the trees, Teal'c give SG12 and Daniel some of the chocolate and I want you to take charge of two children each. Carter, you take point and I'll bring up the rear.'
Teal'c did as asked, then broke up another couple of bars for distribution before proceeding to the gate. It was going to take a lot longer to return as Jack realised that the small legs of their new charges could not keep up the pace Carter was taking and radioed further instructions.
'Carter, unless you want to volunteer to carry this lot back, I suggest you slow the pace down. We'll take a break every thirty minutes as well. These kids aren't used to the exercise and this is all new territory to them.'
Two hours later, as the sun was starting to sink lower in the sky and the shadows of the trees were growing longer, they came to another halt at the edge of the tree line. Sam was scouting the area, searching for signs of goa'uld, soon joined by Jack. As soon as the area was cleared Sam dialled home, Teal'c keeping the children well out of the way to avoid frightening them as the event horizon formed.
Even by keeping them occupied with the last of the chocolate, the noise and sight of the gate activating caused the children to cluster around Teal'c for safety and security, clinging to him for reassurance.
Speaking slowly and soothingly, Teal'c indicated that they should take the hands of the adults they had been walking with and that they would walk through the shimmering circle that had just formed. Watching as Sam went through, Teal'c led the way to the steps in front of the gate. Turning to ensure that he was being followed, he beckoned them to follow him and, still holding the hands of the children he had charge of, stepped through and disappeared.
With some difficulty, the remaining children were persuaded to follow and soon Jack was the only one remaining. Taking one last look around, he too stepped through.