Sticks and Stones - Chapter 36 - by Emma Nisbet (grnfield)
Over the next few hours Teal'c and his men walked the start of the route from the ravine back towards the Stargate. Having completed the journey between the ravine, construction zone and mine, several times in the last two days they found no resistance there but once they got into the more densely wooded area they encountered several groups of Jaffa who were completely unprepared for any attacks and were efficiently dispatched with no real difficulties.
Once he was as certain as he could be that the Chamakan people would encounter no hostile forces on the start of their long trek to the gate Teal'c returned to the ravine.
When he arrived he was glad to see that Reynolds had successfully persuaded the exhausted Chamakan people to rest and that most of them were fast asleep, huddled under the myriad of blankets and furs that lay around the ravine. Other than these feeble coverings, the Jaffa had provided no shelter for their captives. Teal'c knew from experience that the warriors would not care if the Chamakans perished due to exposure to the elements - they would simply go and collect more able-bodied workers from the surrounding villages to replace the dead or dying.
Before he became the shol'va, Teal'c had helped his fellow Jaffa in tasks such as this, he and his comrades had emptied entire worlds of their people and worked them to their deaths until none remained. Usually whatever task had been set would have been finished by that time but should the Jaffa have found they had run out of workers prematurely then it was a simple task to travel by Ha'tak to the nearest inhabited planet and acquire an additional work force. Once the job had been completed, more-often-than-not the Jaffa would pick out the strongest of the surviving workers and load them back onto the Ha'tak before lifting off and systematically wiping out the remaining captives on the planet below. This gave the Jaffa a ready-built work force for whatever task they were assigned next, and also ensured that their Goa'uld continued to be known for being a ruthless God that should never be crossed.
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Standing at the entrance to the ravine, Teal'c quietly surveyed the pitiful remains of the peaceful people of Chamaka. The sheer, grey rocky sides of the canyon provided some shelter from the winds, and also a little from the rain but, other than the blankets, the only real warmth offered to these men, women and children came from the small fires, started by the SGC soldiers, around which the sleeping people were huddled.
Very soon Reynolds finished his circuit of the perimeter and approached the brooding Jaffa. The Colonel could see that Teal'c was clearly deep in thought and stopped in front of the large man, within his line of sight but at a safe distance, and patiently waited for his comrade to return to the present time.
#
Teal'c's eyes settled upon Colonel Reynolds and his face softened slightly.
"You have done well, ColonelReynolds. The Chamakan people appear to have acknowledged your guidance and settled down to their respite as requested. We shall allow most of them sleep for maybe another hour but several of the strongest males will need to be enlisted immediately so they can assist with the preparations required to leave this place."
"Thank you, Sir. And certainly I'll get them for you." Reynolds replied. "I'll do that straight away, Sir."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow at the Colonel who was still standing in front of him. "Are you requiring my presence on another matter, ColonelReynolds?"
"What?" the Colonel replied, suddenly looking around himself and realising that he didn't actually need Teal'c to dismiss him. "Er, no…sorry, Sir. Going now…I'll be back with some of the most able bodied men shortly Sir."
Teal'c other eyebrow now raised up to meet its partner and the large Jaffa once again cast his gaze on the spluttering Colonel.
Reynolds immediately shut up and, blushing furiously, turned and scuttled away to find the strongest and fittest of the Chamakan people. He had no need to call Teal'c 'sir' and certainly didn't need to wait to be dismissed by the formidable warrior but something about the much larger man had always thrown Reynolds into a state of disarray. He knew that Colonel O'Neill had trusted Teal'c with not only his life but with those of the rest of SG-1 for many years but secretly part of Reynolds was glad that Teal'c had been placed with SG-2 as opposed to SG-3. Truthfully he wasn't sure if he'd have been able to give orders to a man almost three times his age and with infinitely more experience in the field. As it was, every time he had to work with Teal'c, Reynolds found himself acting like some inexperienced Sergeant instead of the full bird Colonel that he really was.
Teal'c followed the other man with a smile twinkling in his eyes, he knew the effect he had on some members of the SGC and he always tried his hardest to put them at ease. Unfortunately with certain individuals this didn't always prove to be successful - with Colonel Reynolds being one of the worst examples of this. With his small blunder Colonel Reynolds had successfully separated Teal'c from his bad memories and the Jaffa went down into the canyon with a heart slightly lighter than it had been just five minutes before.
#
Once Colonel Reynolds had woken the fittest of the Chamakan men he gathered them near to the edge of the canyon where Teal'c and Sergeant Bell met them. Corporal Franks and Sergeant Grimm were patrolling the area above the ravine even though Teal'c was pretty certain that no Jaffa remained in the immediate vicinity.
Teal'c quickly explained to the men that the other Chamakans would have to be woken soon so they could be moved back towards the gate, and eventually the safety of the SGC. There were a lot of sick and injured people currently in the ravine who wouldn't be able to walk at the required pace and he asked for suggestions to make the journey safer and easier for all those involved.
Teal'c had an idea in mind himself but in his eyes it was an unpleasant plan and he decided that he would rather not distress the people with by suggesting it. Therefore he was glad when Daroli, a burly Chamakan man with long black hair, put forward the notion that they utilise the carts they had used to transport bodies to their final resting places. All the straw would be cleared out and the carts made as sanitary as possible before the elderly and infirm were loaded into them, along with the blankets and furs that currently covered the sleeping Chamakans.
#
They made good time stripping, cleaning and preparing the carts and very soon they started rousing the sleeping people and were ready to set off.
Teal'c, Bell and Nicholson took up the front of the party, in their full Jaffa armour. The Chamakans followed behind and Reynolds, Franks and Bell brought up the rear, also in full armour. The idea was that if they were challenged by any Jaffa along the way then the three people at the challenged end could claim they were moving the people under orders of their God. The three disguised SGC members from the other end could hopefully come round behind the Jaffa and eliminated any threat that they posed.
The Chamakan men took it in turns pulling the carts through the woods. Several times they had to back track to work out a better route round a particularly dense area of trees and they finally approached the Stargate just before dawn. There was a tense moment when the marines at the gate saw them approaching and assumed defensive positions. Luckily after a brief moment of panic for all concerned, Teal'c managed to remove the face of his helmet and the marines breathed a sigh of relief when they realised who was there.
The men of Chamaka carefully help the occupants from the carts and assisted the marines in escorting everyone through the wormhole to the SGC. A couple of the men hung back to speak to Teal'c and thank him for saving them.
Daroli, the dark haired man who had suggested using that carts, questioned Teal'c as to what he would do next.
Teal'c replied honestly, saying: "Once you are safely through the Chappa'ai, I hope to return here as I most desire to learn the fate of my Tau'ri sister and her brothers-in-arms. They have not returned from their venture aboard the Ha'tak vessel and I cannot desert them when it may be they have been captured and therefore be at the mercy of the System Lord, Ba'al."
Daroli grimaced at the thought that Teal'c's comrades may have been captured or killed in the course of freeing the Chamakan population from slavery. He made a pledge to Teal'c that if there was any way he or his fellow Chamakans could help then the 'mighty warrior' was only to ask and they would do their best to assist him.
Teal'c bowed his acknowledgement to the grateful man and realised that, other than the four marines, they were the last ones standing near the still active gate.
Teal'c gestured towards the gate and gave Daroli a gentle push in the right direction. The young man got the idea and warily stepped through the wormhole. Teal'c turned to the marines and was informed that, until further orders came through, they would be guarding the gate. Four SG team members were still unaccounted for and unless rescue was absolutely impossible no-one would be left behind.
Teal'c stepped onto the dais upon which the Stargate stood and sorrowfully looked up at the sky. He once again located the Ha'tak and sent up a silent prayer to his friends to stay safe until a rescue plan could be put into action. He followed the prayer with a vow that should they be mistreated in any way while in the company of the Goa'uld then said Goa'uld would have to suffer the wrath of Teal'c. Not only Teal'c but bearing in mind Samantha Carter was one of the ones on the Ha'tak, then undoubtably the super-powered wrath of a certain Colonel Jack O'Neill would also fall heavily on their heads too.
Then Teal'c lowered his eyes from the sky, nodded to the marines and stepped back through the gate to Earth.