Sticks and Stones – Chapter 31 - by Emma Nisbet (grnfield)
Once Teal'c and his replacement-Jaffa had left for the ravine, Ferretti, Carter, Sands and Davies slipped off in the opposite direction to retrace their steps of the previous day. It took a fair while for them to skirt around the construction site and climb the hill that they'd hidden on the day before.
The sun was climbing in the sky by the time they finally settled into the trees. The Chamakan men and women were hard at work and the Jaffa patrols were in place around the perimeter.
After watching for a while Sam managed to work out a pattern in the Jaffa behaviour. Every thirty-eight minutes a group of three Jaffa would march under the Ha'tak, stand under the transport rings and one would then activate the ring control mechanism on his armband. The three Jaffa would then disappear up into the bowels of the ship, only to return exactly twenty-seven minutes later. At least, Sam assumed that it was the same warriors returning but with full armour on there was no way to tell for sure.
After observing the routine for another couple of rotations, Sam realised that the travelling up and down to the ship was obviously a standard routine for the Jaffa. The area underneath the Ha'tak was virtually unguarded most of the time and as far as Sam could gather, the only time the area was actually under scrutiny was when the three Jaffa, who's turn it was to enter, were heading towards the area. The rest of the Jaffa were too busy watching the poor Chamakan builders and punishing them when they felt the workers were not being as efficient as they should be. When the rings activated to deposit the warriors back on the planet, no-one paid the slightest bit of attention to them at all.
Sam pointed her observations out to Ferretti and the others and all four watched as another set of warriors approached the ringing area. After a brief but very hushed discussion, the decision was made to try and infiltrate the Ha'tak vessel via the ring transporter. It was a risky idea but with the Ha'tak positioned how it was, perched on it's platform on top of rather unstable looking rock pillars, there was no other possible means of getting aboard.
Once on board they would try to ascertain the threat level on the ship, attempt to locate the Goa'uld system lords and find out the level of their personal guard. Once these variables were taken into account then a further decision would be made as to how to best to proceed and the next part of the plan would be agreed upon.
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A whispered radio message was put through to Teal'c who confirmed that the Jaffa would continue with their thirty-eight minute routine throughout the day. He voiced his concern at the idea of the four humans entering the Ha'tak vessel, although he conceded that it was better that they did it now, while a large proportion of the Jaffa were still down on the planet.
While in discussion with Teal'c, the others were informed that his band of false-Jaffa had successfully overthrown the original warriors and had handed over the Chamakan men and women to the other Jaffa without raising suspicion. They had then made contact with the young women of Chamaka and assured them that they were no longer alone. The youngsters had been well fed this morning and the adults would also be, when they were delivered to the ravine, later that evening. The young women had been set the task of carefully spreading the news to the working men and women once the Chamakans were all back together for the night.
Teal'c had marked 'his Jaffa' with a bloody patch on their right wrists. This mark was visible enough that the Chamakan people would know which Jaffa were friendly, whilst being unobtrusive enough that the non-Tau'ri Jaffa would not realise there was anything untoward about it.
The quiet transmission was brought to a close and Teal'c wished his friends all the best. He hoped to hear from them when they returned from the ship, although both parties acknowledged that this might not be for some time.
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By the time Sam and Ferretti were ready to put their plan into action it was only about four hours to dusk. They were well aware that, as soon as the light started to fade, the Jaffa would deliver the Chamakans back to the ravine, leave them with Teal'c and his men, and then return to the Ha'tak. For Teal'c and his people, this would be the riskiest part of the ruse but everyone was well aware that if Sam, Ferretti and the others were not off the ship by the time the Jaffa returned then their task was going to be made all the more hazardous.
The team crept down the hill and ducked down behind some of the many large boulders to watch as the next team of Jaffa ringed up to the ship. Sam started her stopwatch, and once twenty minutes had passed they crept under of the Ha'tak. After remaining hidden until the last possible moment, the four soldiers stealthily placed themselves inside the ringing area, assumed a defensive formation, and waited for the Jaffa to return on their standard twenty-seven minute schedule.
Sure enough, just thirty-two seconds later, the rings activated. To a casual observer there would have simply been a flash of light and four Tau'ri soldiers would have transformed into three Jaffa warriors in the space of just a few seconds. In actual fact the humans and the Jaffa merely changed places - the human's went upwards, into the ship, and the Jaffa warriors descended to the planet. Neither group felt the passing of the other, and the Tau'ri were relieved to find themselves alone in the transporter room of the ship.
They immediately hid themselves behind the packing crates that seemed to be present in nearly every transporter room they had even encountered. Ferretti took a brief moment to wonder about the lack of common sense displayed by both the Goa'uld and the Jaffa. The most logical place that an enemy would board a Ha'tak vessel was through the transporter room and yet they were very rarely guarded and usually full of 'junk' that made plenty of great hiding places. He shook his head and motioned for his team to follow him down the corridor and away from the rings. They had seven minutes left before the next three Jaffa came up from Chamaka. Seven minutes in which to secrete themselves away because if they weren't careful they'd find themselves trapped between the three new Jaffa and the as-yet-unknown-number of unfriendlies already onboard the ship.