Chapter 21: Work Party

Whilst their cell was a long way down the corridor they weren't quite the last ones and it took another several minutes to collect people from the remaining cells. By the time they had reached the last cell the group had swollen to outnumber the guards but only just. This served to reinforce Ronon's opinion that whoever these people were they knew what they were doing and had experience in controlling large groups of people.

When the final two people joined the group the lead guard turned to face them. "You have been selected as a works party. This means that you will be sent down to the planet we are currently travelling around to collect supplies. There is no civilisation on this planet so running would be futile, we will not chase you but you will be left on the planet to fend for yourselves when we continue on our journey. Furthermore," The guard continued, "It is in your best interests to collect as much of the supplies we require as you can as you will be the last people on this vessel to be fed; if we run out of supplies before we reach another planet with suitable resources you will not be fed."

That was effective Ronon thought looking around the group he was with; most carried looks of resigned determination and, looking closer at some, the shabbier dressed people in the group, some showed signs of the promise of the statement in their skinny frames. When he was finished talking the guard turned and led the group through a door on the left hand of the corridor. Ronon hadn't noticed it immediately as it was set into the rear of an empty cell. The door led into the largest ancient transporter Ronon had ever seen, it dwarfed the size of even the largest in Atlantis leading Ronon to wonder exactly how large the ship really was. When the door opened once again they were led into a cavernous hanger that contained dozes of what were unmistakably puddle jumpers although they had leads that were glowing a dull blue attached to them.

The group was split into three smaller groups and directed to enter the jumpers. Upon entering Ronon saw still more differences as he glimpsed the inside of the cockpit. It looked as if these people, whoever they were, had been able to do the one thing the earthlings had been unable to; power and control the jumpers without the ancient gene. The cockpit had a huge number of wires snaking from control panels and conduits, all connecting to a centralised control unit that looked a bit like the pictures Sheppard had shown Ronon of the helms on boats. Ronon couldn't help but smile as he was ordered to sit, in doing so he lost his vision of the cockpit. McKay would possibly result to killing to have a chance to examine this set up and Ronon now knew that if a hasty escape was necessary a small number of people would be able to get away and possibly get help for all the other people imprisoned on the ship.

The jumper lurched unsteadily as it took off throwing Ronon back into the present, it was apparent that either the pilot wasn't particularly capable or the steering system was very inefficient or a combination of both. Every little piece of information Ronon gleaned was stored away for future use; he wasn't adverse to physical work and as such he viewed this as a sort of recce mission.

The ride to the planet was brief and completely quiet. When they landed they were ushered out once again and placed back into one large group. The lead guard that had first addressed them was back again, this time holding a box which he put on the ground before removing an object from inside it, "This is one of the fruits you will be collecting today..." This introduction to the local food sources lasted several minutes in which several garishly coloured fruits were shown before the group was split into those who would collect food and those who would be searching for water.

Ronon and David were both placed in a food group. As they started off into trees that looked like willow trees that bristled with fruit a particularly ragged prisoner broke off from the larger group. "Would you mind if I joined you?" the man asked with no indication that he was unsure of himself.

Before Ronon could answer David chipped in "I don't see why not."

"Thanks" said the man smiling warmly "When you've done this as many times as I have you learn to collect with the strongest looking newcomers.

Ronon was interested now; maybe this man would have useful information...

"Why's that?" David asked, it was obvious he had seen and opportunity to gain more information from the man as well.

"I recognise areas that will be high in food production, always been good at it even if it isn't my planet, so I guide the strongest to them then help them collect as much as physically possible." He shrugged "It works in my favour to ensure that we all collect as much as possible so that we have a better chance of eating. Take my word for it; seven meal cycles without food is very unpleasant and no offence meant" he directed at David "you may not be much but the big guy like he could carry a lot" he directed this last part at Ronon. "So come on then enough talk lets work!"

The man walked off into the forest and Ronon and David just looked at each other before following.

As they walked Ronon asked "Do you know how long you have been on the ship?"

The man just shrugged again never looking back as he walked "I've learnt that every civilisation measures time differently on their planets so my time keeping probably means nothing to you, I've been on the ship as you call it longer than most of the others or you could say..." he stopped for a moment thinking "over one thousand meal cycles."

Ronon thought about this for a minute and decided a meal cycle was probably a day and taking this into account the man had been a captive for over three years. "What do they want the other for?" he asked.

"they power the vessel we are currently living on, have you not noticed the strange losses of power? That happens during changeovers."

Ronon nodded thinking about the timing of the last blackout followed by Sheppard's return.

"What?!" David demanded. "Do they hurt them?" he looked really scared, reflecting the worry Ronon himself was suppressing.

By this point their small group had reached a large clump of trees heavily laden with the fruit they had been told to pick. The man, who Ronon realised, had yet to give them a name, dumped his basket on the floor scurried up the tree and, while with one hand he stuffed fruit into his mouth, he began to pick fruit as fast as possible placing it in the basket.

Ronon indicated to David that they should do the same as the man answered their question; "The ones in the cells around me always come back in one piece. They sleep a lot and some of them cough like they are sick but we don't usually get to communicate with the others but I haven't see the ones that were taken at the same time as me for around three hundred meal cycles. I don't know where they have gone..."

Ronon nodded, it sounded like Sheppard and the O'Neils were safe enough for the time being. He had every intention of being on his way home before seven hundred meal cycles had passed.

The rest of the day passed relatively peacefully, they got into the rhythm of the work and soon vast amounts of fruit were being loaded into jumpers. When it came time to finish Ronon, David and their mystery guide returned to the meeting point where a quick headcount was conducted.

Ronon was relatively surprised to discover that everyone had returned. His surprise must have bee obvious in some way to their guide as he turned to Ronon as they loaded back into the jumpers. "We don't normally have any runaways unless there has been a prolonged food shortage and people decide letting go of hope is the better option to starving."

Ronon nodded in understanding, he was going to have to keep a close eye on every little detail of the guards routines from now on; he didn't want to go through one of these protracted food shortages and risk losing members of the team. The shortages must be severe to cause a loss of hope.

Before long they were back in their cells, after an uncomfortable few minutes in the corridor in which their group had gotten a good look at Sheppard, and relaying what they had learnt to Mitchell and Lily, Ronon choosing to omit telling Lily why her son was wanted.

A/N: Once again i find myself apologising i can only blame yet another country move and a the start of a medical degree... spare time is limited and sleeping has become somewhat of a priority but i promise this story will have an ending no matter how long it takes! Next chapter is almost done with the editing stages and i will post it shortly i hope you enjoyed this one. Again a big thank you to my beta amycat :)