AN: Remember how I mentioned the Waverider crew?
One Bad Hombre
They skirted the edges of town; Jack retrieved a piece of paper from a drainage ditch and shook his head. It was a newspaper dated 1881; the same month and date they had left the SGC. He showed it to Sam who frowned when she started doing the math for how long it would be before the Gate was dug up. Even if they made their way to Egypt… They weren't getting home that way.
"If we wait four years and go to California…"
"That's a movie, Jack." Daniel grumbles.
Jack shrugs.
They walked waving and nodding politely at those that shouted a hello but otherwise not engaging in the locals for now. The smell of the stockade and then the sounds assaulted them first. Daniel was unbothered but Sam put her bandana over her nose and tied it firmly behind her head.
"We appear to have found the equine and bovine trading center, O'Neill." Teal'c observed.
"Yah think?" Jack asked and bit back any further sarcastic reply. The smell was moderately overwhelming.
The sound was just as bad. One could hardly hear themselves think over the sounds of cattle lowing and cowboys hollering. There was a large circular corral, like something from an old western, which was filled edge to edge with cattle. Surrounding the corral at intervals were cowboys both on horses and on their feet, guarding their merchandise and speaking with potential buyers. Jack half expected to see John Wayne stroll up and call him pardner.
As they approached the area the dusty road quickly turned to mud. The closer they approached the stockade the muddier it became, until finally Daniel began having trouble moving, and knocked into Sam. The force of his body knocked Sam off her already tenuous balance in the thick mud, and she fell, face first, into the thick, goopy stuff.
"Oh god, Sam, I'm so sorry!" Daniel exclaimed, reaching down to help her up, while Jack turned around to glare at him.
"Watch your step, Danny. Large animals have a tendency to make mud considerably thicker." He put a hand down to Sam who took it gratefully as he hauled her up, clods of mud and all. He gave her a little wink. This was way better than his fantasy conversation with Felger.
A booming laugh to their right caught their attention, and a man on horseback stopped next to Jack. "Y'all should'a used the planks they set up for foot customers." He gestured about twenty feet away to show there was a series of wooden planks set up through the mud like bridges so people wouldn't get stuck in the mud.
"Ah. Thanks. We'll keep that in mind next time." Jack replied, waving the man off before gesturing that his team should head to the planks.
Once they clambered onto the bridge system, they turned to examine the Stockades once more. To the left of the cattle area was an area for horses. There were wild ones in a small corral which resembled the cattle area, only smaller, denser, and sturdier. Then there were individual runs attached to the stables. This is where they housed the - much more expensive - broke horses. Figuring that was what they were in the market for, the group made their way to the stables. As they approached they noticed signs posted at each run showing the age and level of each horse. Green broke horses varied in price depending on personality, and some were surprisingly more expensive than the sound horses.
"I do not understand. What does 'green broke' mean?" Teal'c inquired, raising an eyebrow at the odd use of language.
"Uh, it basically means they're newly trained and still need a lot of work." Daniel supplied, gaining raised eyebrows from Sam and Jack who knew the meaning, but hadn't expected him to. "But what I don't understand is why some of them cost so much more than the sound broke ones."
"That, my friend," a cowboy said from his place against the stable. "Is because people 'round these parts prefer to train a horse their own way. Lotsa neat little tricks ya can't teach a sound broke horse. My friend, Johnny, for example, his horse'll bend down on his knees so Johnny's little girl can climb on more easy."
"That is a useful skill for an equine."
"He for real?" The rancher asked of Teal'c
Jack shrugged. The best answer was often no answer. At least when it came to attitudes about ethnic matters. He eyed the horses and wondered how they would pay for one horse let alone four of them and Teal'c likely needed something large and placid. "Anyone looking for workers around here? We could use some jobs."
"Yer boy looks strong. Bet someone could use him fer shovlin manuer." the rancher laughed.
Jack scowled. "Teal'c is a free man. No one owns him." He growled.
"Hell, the're all free now mister." The other man barked a laugh. Free hadn't meant what people today would have thought it was though. Attitudes hadn't changed any in the last twenty years. A man like Teal'c was still treated like property and his association with three white folks only served to reinforce that attitude.
Meanwhile, Sam had managed to wipe most of the mud off her face in time to be shoved aside by a short burly man with a loose jaw, wide nose, and filthy blond hair under his bowl hat.
"Hey watch it." Daniel said as he caught Sam who had been almost dumped back into the mud.
Without a word, the short man rounded on him and tried to deck Daniel but he wasn't the passive geek Jack met years ago and he ducked the punch then flipped the other man's hat off his head to add insult to injury.
"Yor in for a world of hurt, fancy."
"I'm not trying to make trouble, buddy, you nearly knocked the lady down." Daniel said placatingly but the other man was having none of it. "I see you in town, boy. Yer a dead man."
Sam put a hand on Daniel's arm. "It's all right Daniel." She shook her head minutely at him. Let it go, she'd said, with her eyes, this one was itching for a fight.
Daniel sighed and shrugged.
Meanwhile Jack was negotiating with the other man about getting them some jobs herding cattle if they would front them some horses and lodging. It would start them out in debt but Jack knew his team could work it off quickly.
"Sara."
"Yes, Gideon?"
"There has been a minor change in the timeline."
"Where at Gideon?" Sara Lance asked the computer absently.
"Sheridan Colorado, 1881." She pauses. "A minor local criminal has been killed ahead of his time."
"What did he do?"
"Train robbery, hotel looting, and the occasional bank heist."
"How ahead are we talking here?"
"Two weeks."
Sara thought about it for a little while. "Sounds like no real loss. Keep an eye on it, Gideon, if it has any effect on the timeline let me know."
"Yes, Captain."
Meanwhile to keep Sam from getting shoved again, Teal'c had offered his services as a bodyguard. While they might mock him, once it was clear his position was that of protector most of the locals gave Sam a wide berth.
One of the ranchers stopped Jack. "You people lookin for work?"
Jack nodded.
"Ever herd cows afore?"
Sam and Jack looked at each other, smirked and nodded. There had been that incident on P7X-149 when the storm drove all the livestock nuts and the villagers had enlisted their help herding them back to the large paddocks they had escaped from the night before. It had been muddy, tiring work but the team had worked well as a herding group as Sam and Jack both rode well and Daniel was good with animals. Teal'c had been leery of the horses at first but caught on quickly.
"Ahight. On the morrow, we'll be movin' these on up to Sheridan. I've horses to spare so yah don't need a pony if ya 'taint got one."
"Ours went missing during an archaeology expedition." Jack said agreeably. They had talked about Colorado City but it was a thousand forty six or forty seven clicks to Colorado City. Jack looked to the others to see if the change of destination was acceptable.
"Probably the Beaufort brothers. Buncha slimy no good snakes."
"I hate snakes." Jack agrees. Daniel looks away trying not to laugh.
The ranger gives them an odd look. "Be at the gate at sunup and yeh got a job for a few days at least."
"We'll be here." Daniel says.
"Iffin yer sister needs ta bathe there's an inn up the road apiece."
Jack sighed. "We don't have any money."
"Got a stream 'bout a mile thatar way." He says and points vaguely north.
"I shall take Samantha to bathe." Teal'c tells Jack and Daniel, knowing Daniel would be embarrassed and Jack would be far too tempted.