Sticks and Stones - Chapter 29 - by Emma Nisbet (grnfield)
The nine members of the SGC made good time and just had one quick stop for food. Within a couple of hours it became clear that they were approaching the base construction zone when they caught sight of the topmost point of the Ha'tak vessel. They scouted around a vast area of devastation until they finally came to a halt on a wooded rise above the area where the base was being assembled. Once they were certain they had not been spotted they ducked down in the trees and paused a moment to regroup.
Ferretti took out his binoculars and scanned the location. The Ha'tak had been placed in the middle of the area and was sitting on a crudely constructed landing platform, supported on four corners by large stone columns. Looking around, it was clear that the Chamakan people were being used as slave labour with little care being taken as to whether they would survive the punishing work schedule they were being forced to adhere to.
Lou handed his binoculars to Reynolds and turned to inform the rest of SG-2 and 3 what he had seen.
"It seems to be mainly women and elderly men who are doing the actual construction of the base. They're well guarded although looking at the state of the people down there it seems hardly likely that they would be able to escape if they were given the chance. Most of them are about dead on their feet and don't look like they've had a decent meal in weeks. I don't think everyone's gonna make it 'til dusk. There's too many Jaffa for just us to do anything about it now, we're going to need reinforcements - and lots of 'em."
"Ferretti, get over here." Colonel Reynolds called urgently.
Lou quickly slid into the space next to where Reynolds was crouched with the binoculars. Reynolds handed them over to him with a grim look on his face. "By the back wall, two o'clock."
Ferretti placed the binoculars close to his eyes and peered in the direction that Reynolds had directed. After a moment he looked back at the other Colonel, "Damn," he said with a grimace. He had looked over just as the body of an old man was thrown onto an open topped cart. It was the cart that Reynolds had spotted a few moments before - a cart full of bodies.
Ferretti raised the binoculars again and took a close look at the tired, toiling people. "Damn it," he whispered to them. "I wish we could do something for you here and now. We ain't no use to you dead ourselves though. Hang on people, just hang on. We'll get you out just as soon as we can."
"Amen," Reynolds whispered in reply.
Lou turned to him, not realising that his whispered prayer had been overheard. "We gotta find out what the situation's like in the mine, then we're gonna go back to the SGC, get ourselves plenty of backup and kick some serious Jaffa arse."
The two Colonels returned to their teams and quickly gathered everything together. Carefully they covered any trace of their impromptu stopping place and headed north, towards the location of the mine. They had to make a large detour around the base to avoid the Jaffa patrols but in less than two hours they were in the vicinity of the mine.
They passed by several wrecked villages, many with bodies left where they had fallen in the street. After leaving the last village behind the teams realised they could hear the sounds that the mine was producing so they decided to move deeper into the woods. The sounds grew louder as they got nearer and Teal'c suggested that he go forwards and bring back a report of the situation before the rest of the teams moved in.
As it turned out this was exactly the right thing to do. Teal'c silently edged towards the source of the noise and was momentarily shocked when the tree-line just stopped at a very sudden drop-off.
Teal'c lay on his stomach on the edge of the drop and surveyed the area. This was clearly where the bulk of the Chamakan males were being held and they were being worked until they collapsed and died. Teal'c wondered about the brutality of his former brothers-in-arms, his whole life he had never embraced the Jaffa mentality that any lesser beings could be used and abused as and when the Goa'uld saw fit. He had always tried to act as protector as much as he could without being discovered although this was not as much as he would have preferred to do. Had he been found out then he would have almost certainly lost his primeship and most probably also his life. He had seen his father executed by the removal of his prim'ta and Teal'c had had no desire to suffer the same fate so did only what he could without being detected.
He stayed in his position on top of the drop-off for many minutes, watching the Jaffa and trying to pinpoint discrepancies in their patrol areas. He realised that he had dallied too long when he heard his radio click once. Carefully he clicked the talk button twice to let his team-mates know he was safe and then slowly crept back into the trees to rejoin them.
"ColonelFerretti, we cannot proceed in the direction which we are travelling." Teal'c reported as he joined the others hidden in the trees. "After a distance of approximately five hundred yards the ground drops away, straight downwards into a heavily guarded area around an opencast of the mine. The mine appears to be being worked by the able bodied males of the Chamakan population. There are also many male children present although from those I saw I would estimate that the youngest was aged at no more than eight years. I see no way to penetrate the working area from this angle, the side nearest to our present location is a sheer drop. If the Jaffa were not present it would be possible to rappel down to the floor and make contact with the Chamakan people. However, with the guards posted as they are, anyone descending down the rock face would be easy targets for staff weapons fire."
"The aim is not to make contact at the moment, Teal'c." Lou reminded him. "Much as I hate to leave the poor people down there to suffer any longer unfortunately it's necessary at this time. This is purely a fact finding mission. If we go in there with all guns blazing not only will we probably end up dead but so will many of the Chamakans. Once the Jaffa know things are kicking off over here I'm sure they'll have no qualms about getting rid of the women there…and let me remind everyone that we've not located any of the younger women or the children yet."
"They will undoubtedly be together, ColonelFerretti." Teal'c stated solemnly. "Although the children will not fare well in the situation that they have been thrown into and I fear many of them will have perished. The young women will be required to prepare the Han'sak - a basic nutrient compound, similar to what you Tau'ri call porridge. The prisoners will usually be moved when dusk falls as this is the least productive time of day. Men, women and children will be gathered together once a day for their meal."
"Just one meal a day? No wonder they can't keep working like they are," Sergeant Grimm commented with a shudder. "Why put them all together, just to split them up again after the meal?"
Teal'c shook his head. "They will not split them up again until the sun rises the following morning. The Chamakans will spend the night in one group, most probably in a natural gulley, or ravine, with only one entrance. It is this gulley that we need to search out next, it is where we will find the children and young women. This grouping of prisoners minimises the number of guards required during the hours of darkness and also suffices to subdue the prisoners further. If they see their loved ones then they are reminded what they have to survive for. They will also come to realise that if any attempt to escape is made, then the two other groups will suffer the consequences.
"That's just sick," said Sam quietly. "Plus the fact that if they don't see their families they'll know that they've already died. That won't make anyone want to work harder, that'd have the opposite effect - surely?"
Teal'c looked at Sam with a hint of sadness in his eyes. "That is untrue MajorCarter. Then the people will begin to work for the survival of their very race. Unfortunately this has been happening for many centuries, the Jaffa know that, once subjugated, these people will work until they drop. They will be made to believe that if they successfully complete the tasks they have been assigned then they will be set free. Hope is a very powerful weapon in the hands of the Jaffa, MajorCarter…and they wield it with great dexterity."
"Major Carter, let's take a look at the map that SG-5 produced during the original mission here." Ferretti suggested. "Teal'c, take a look and see if there's anything that looks like the sort of gulley that the Jaffa might use."
"Indeed I will look at the map although I expect us to find that the gulley is a fair distance in that direction." Teal'c gestured to an area to the south of the mine.
"Aw, man. We could've past it on the way." Reynolds exclaimed. "What makes you think it's that way, Teal'c?"
Teal'c looked in the direction that he'd pointed, "ColonelReynolds, there is a heat-haze clearly visible in that direction. I deduced that this would be caused by the cooking fires being used by those at work in the gulley."
"Well it might be clearly visible to you, Teal'c." Ferretti grouched, "but it sure ain't to me."
Sam was hunched over, examining the map. Suddenly she lifted her head and said, "Teal'c's right, Sir. There is a ravine a few klicks to the south of us. From what I can see it is - or at least it was - open at both ends. However the faces are loose scree and it wouldn't have taken much to cause a rockslide that would block off either one end or the other. I think it's our best guess, Sir."
"Agreed," replied Lou. "We'll go and have a look, check out the situation in the ravine, then get back to the gate and contact the SGC."
"We all going together?" Reynolds queried.
"For now, yeah." Lou replied. "Let's find out what we can before we decide if everyone's going back to the gate or not. Whatever happens we're gonna have to sort out some reinforcements."
#
Getting nine people to the ravine undetected proved extremely difficult, and more than once they had to lay low in the undergrowth to wait for a Jaffa patrol to pass by. It took far longer than it should have done to reach the ravine and then more time again to find a safe spot where they could see both the entrance to the gulley and the inside of the area itself.
By the time the teams were safely hidden above the ravine, dusk was close to drawing in, and with the last vestiges of sunlight the SG team-mates got a look at the conditions inside the gulley area. A few Jaffa patrolled the open end and the far end had been blocked off by a land slide - as Sam had guessed when she'd looked at the map earlier. They were dismayed to see that both the teenage girls and the young children were just as grimy and undernourished as their adult counterparts although thankfully they seemed to be being left more-or-less undisturbed within the compound.
It was decided that the three members of SG-3 would quietly slip away and head for the gate to report in with the SGC, while SG-2 and Sergeant Grimm stayed by the ravine and watched the proceedings there. It was arranged that, if at all possible, SG-2 would remain in the area and SG-3 would meet up with them before first light the next morning. Travelling under the cover of darkness was far from ideal but with the use of night vision goggles the teams had a distinct advantage over the Jaffa.
#
It wasn't long after SG-3 left that the first troop of Jaffa turned up with the men and women from the base construction area. The strongest of the group were pulling two open topped carts between them. Both carts were covered in tarpaulins but Ferretti soon realised that one of these was the cart of bodies that he and Reynolds had seen earlier. The fact that there were now two carts, and that both were clearly full, filled the gentle Colonel with sorrow.
The Jaffa ordered the cart bearers to an area out of sight behind the trees, before herding the rest of the prisoners through the entrance of the ravine to mix with the rest of the Chamakan people.
Not long afterwards the male prisoners arrived from the mine. They too were pulling several carts full of bodies. These carts were directed onto the same path as those from the construction site while the remaining men were ordered into the ravine.
The cart bearers returned approximately half an hour later, both groups of carts arriving shortly after one another. The women pulling the first carts had tears rolling down their faces and the men following them all wore grim expressions. The carts were now empty and each one had it's tarpaulin folded up inside, waiting for the next day when the carts would surely be filled again.