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stargÅtefan.com : episodes > season 5 > next episode: the tomb

The episode first opens showing P3X-888 from "The First Ones" Chaka, the Unas whom Daniel had first encountered, emerges from the forest, sniffing cautiously at something left near the Stargate.

A ration bar.

Suddenly, he stops, sniffs the air. Out of the trees come three hunters, dressed in pioneer-style clothing, pointing Goa'uld weaponry at it. Chaka growls, pauses, and extends the claw he held the ration bar with. Immediately, the larger hunter fires his zat and Chaka goes down.

The scene zooms back and we find out it's Daniel watching a digital image, in shock as he watched Chaka's capture.

END TEASER

Daniel shows the playback of the video to the rest of SG-1 and General Hammond. He explains that for the past year, he's been going back to this planet with SG-11 studying the Unas, and has learned about 70 Unas words. Carter recognizes the Unas on the video feed as Chaka, the one who kidnapped Daniel. What they can't figure is why these men have Goa'uld technology and what did they want with an Unas. Jack quips that he doesn't care about the Unas, amending under everyone's stares that he does. Daniel wants to go back to find and rescue Chaka. Teal'c thinks its odd they have Goa'uld weapons. They have the digital image of the symbols the hunters dialed for their world. He later freezes frame on the ration bar, revealing every time he has gone to the planet, he had been leaving Chaka a familiar treat. Daniel had given these hunters the bait for their trap. Hammond, after a bit of silence, gives the go for the mission.

The team arrives on a well forested planet. Carter comments there is a huge population here and cultivated fields. Farmers, Daniel surmised. They arrive at a village and watch on top of a hill at the scene of Unas forced to hard labor below. O'Neill makes the decision he and Daniel would go down to the village, Carter and Teal'c stay where they are to cover them "in case these people don't like visitors" Jack looks over to Daniel, asking if he had any ideas? Daniel, as he starts for the village, murmurs, "Let's see how far honesty gets us."

An auction is going on in the town. It's the large hunter who shot Chaka with a zat before. He is shouting to a crowd of buyers about how the Unas he had was of good stock and would make an excellent breeder. The Unas is fighting them, howling as it is struck with a pain stick for discipline. Before the bidding could start, the Unas bolts, lunging for the crowd. The hunter fires his staff weapon several times, dropping the Unas right at Jack and Daniel's feet as they arrive at the auction area. He assures Jack and Daniel the Unas is dead. He notes they ‘are not from around here’. Daniel tries to explain they are peaceful travelers from the Stargate. At first, the man doesn't understand the circling gestures Daniel makes, but finally making the connection and asks if they came through the Chappa-ai. Daniel said they did, and the crowd of villagers around them reacts. Turns out no one has come through the Stargate for as long as any one can remember. Daniel explains their presence, saying they are traders, despite the look Jack gives him at the description, and that they came to buy an Unas.

The hunter told Daniel he came to the right place. His name was Burrock, the most respected dealer of Unas in his land. Daniel introduces himself and Jack as Colonel Jack O'Neill, explaining the term "Colonel" means Jack is their "head trader." Burrock likes that and tells them they can call him "Colonel" Burrock. He invites them for a drink.

"Honesty, huh?" Jack comments to Daniel.

"What? We're traders. We've...traded...We trade..." Daniel fumbles to explain as he follows them to the village's equivalent of a saloon.

At the saloon, there are Unas working, putting down their drinks. Burrock is amused at the fact Daniel thanks the Unas when it gives Daniel his drink. Daniel explains it as being "positive reinforcement"

We learn from Burrock that he obtained the symbols to P3X-888 from his ancestors. Apparently, their forefathers were enslaved by the Unas who served a being with "glowing eyes" This being left and never came back and his ancestors rebelled. Now, the "masters have become the slaves"

Burrock shows Jack and Daniel around his corral where he keeps his Unas. He comments on one, saying inbreeding has made it untrainable. Jack remarked maybe it was "pissed because you kept torturing it." Burrock only chuckled. He was hoping, by introducing new blood, to solve this problem. Burrock leads them to the barn showing them his Unas and in one cell is Chaka!

Chaka sees Daniel and calls out his name. Burrock is surprised, then angry as he realizes the Unas knows Daniel. He accuses them of tricking them. Daniel explains they came to get Chaka back. Burrock refuses, stating Chaka didn't have a branding mark proving it was Daniel's. Daniel points out Chaka spoke his name. But Burrock refuses. He gestures to his men, who step in with their zats.

Meanwhile, perched on the hill, Teal'c and Carter watch. They do nothing as they wait for Jack to give the signal.

Daniel refuses to leave without Chaka. Burrock offers another in exchange, a meek one who has been cleaning the barn while they were there. No, Daniel declares his Unas is named Chaka and he is coming with them. Jack called to Daniel, saying why don't they discuss what they can offer Burrock in return instead? Daniel reluctantly goes outside, Chaka in his cage shouting Daniel's name.

Jack tells Daniel he refuses to get into a firefight over this here. He asks Burrock what's the price. The trader replies two Unas of pure lineage in return. He told Jack he knows Chaka is worth it, otherwise Jack and Daniel wouldn't have traveled all this way for him. Jack tells him they'll think about it and they leave.

Daniel stops Jack, asking what is his plan. Jack tells him that right now, he's not sure if he's going to do anything! Was Daniel willing to go and hunt two Unas to trade Chaka? Daniel argues that isn't the point. Jack argues is it worth a few lives to save Chaka? And Daniel asks if they could avoid that? The two men turn to leave and head back for Carter and Teal'c.

The two men update the rest of SG-1 on what's going on. Jack plans to go after dark to break Chaka out. As they stood on the hill, Daniel watches through his binoculars as Burrock and his men dragged Chaka out, using the pain stick when the Unas refused his commands. Daniel, after a second, lowers his binoculars and walks away so he can't see anymore.

Night falls. Chaka is sitting in the cell. He tries to communicate with the meek Unas Burrock tried to offer Daniel in exchange. At first it won't talk to Chaka, then slowly it repeats what Chaka said to it.

Jack and Daniel sneak back into the barn. Chaka sees Daniel and calls out his name. Jack is applying a magnesium strip on the cell lock, telling the Unas to stay back. Daniel tells Chaka "Uh...back away" in English. Jack remarks he could have done that! Chaka doesn't understand until Daniel whispers "keka" and the Unas goes to the back of the cell. The lock sparks and opens. The Unas in the other cells begin to make noise. Jack tries to leave, Daniel tries to get Chaka to move, but the Unas doesn't, telling Daniel the rest of the Unas are marked for death.

Carter spies several men approaching the barn to check on the noise. She radios Jack to tell him they are laying cover fire, her on the hill, Teal'c in the village below.

Inside the barn, Jack spies a man on the upper loft. He fires and the villager falls. But then he gets zatted! Before Daniel can react, he and Chaka also get zatted. Up in the loft Burrock stares down at Jack and Daniel with a dark look.

Daylight and Carter's voice can be heard in the barn. Chaka ruffles around the hay and finds Daniel's radio. Daniel speculates he must have grabbed it from Daniel’s vest before they were zattedd. After a bit of trying to communicate with each other, Daniel finally learns from Chaka the word "Ko" means to give. Chaka passes the radio to Daniel in the cage across from him.

Sam asks if Daniel is okay. Daniel remarks he's been better. How about O'Neill, she asks. Daniel comments, "Physically he's fine. But I'm not expecting a birthday present from him any time soon"

Jack goes "Ko!" gesturing he wants the radio. Chaka gets it from Daniel and passes it to Jack. Carter reports there were too many of them and they're heading back for the Stargate to get reinforcements. They end transmission.

Chaka, after a while, tells Jack "Cha'aka." Daniel translates it means a lot of things. "In this case, thank you for trying. Sorry for getting you into this mess." Daniel defends Chaka, saying it wasn't his fault.

"Daniel, I'm chained up in a madman's barn with a bunch of Unas. Who's to blame is not at the top of my list of concerns. Not yet."

Chaka tries to urge the meek Unas to repeat what he said. It does and the larger Unas in the other cells does as well. Daniel is amazed. Apparently, language is a learned behavior among the Unas. That's why Chaka wouldn't leave last night. They had become friends.

"Daniel, dogs sniff each other's butts and are friends for life," Jack said. "We still keep them as pets."

No, Daniel says. This is different. They're intelligent beings and they choose freedom. They can't be left here.

The barn door opens and a little boy with his Unas comes in. He looks at Jack in his cell, telling him the villager Jack shot the night before was his father and the doctor says he will never walk again. Jack apologizes. Daniel tells the boy they were only trying to get back what was rightfully theirs. The boy tells him stealing is wrong and starts to leave. Chaka calls out to the large Unas, but the creature only pauses before following the boy out.

Carter and Teal'c arrive at the Stargate, only to find it surrounded by men. They could try and get through, but it would be ugly, meaning casualties. She radios Jack who tells her to hold her position. He tells her radio silence and ends transmission as Burrock steps into the barn with a pain stick and Jack's assault rifle.

The trader tells them beast stealing is punishable by death. Daniel asks what does he want? Burrock wants to know about the places the Chappa-ai can go. He doesn't understand why Chaka is so valuable to them when they could have gotten one of equal lineage? Daniel tells him the Unas are intelligent and that Burrock has no right to use them as slaves. Burrock replies the Unas had made their forefathers slaves, but Daniel says that doesn't make this right.

Jack interrupts, telling the trader they weren't going to tell him anything and Burrock might as well just let them go. Burrock responds he knows there's more to see out there. Jack tells him there were more of those "glowing eye" bad guys, but the trader says he would take that chance. Jack refuses to tell him anything, so Burrock touches the tip of his pain stick on the cell lock. The energy races up the chain that is around Jack's leg and he collapses in pain.

Daniel shouts for Burrock to stop and the trader in turn goes to Daniel's cell and does the same to him! Chaka roars in reaction, shaking his cell. The other Unas react as well. Burrock can't get them to quiet down and finally shoots one of the larger ones with Jack's P-90. It dies and the others fall silent. Burrock points the weapon now to the meek one, Daniel shouting "No!" but the weapon goes click. It is out of bullets.

Burrock comments the rifle is a most impressive weapon, although it doesn't seem to work after using it for a while. Jack comments dryly, flat on his back in the cell, why doesn't Burrock give it to him and he'll show him how it works? The trader of course doesn't give it to him, telling the colonel it seems simple enough to learn on his own. He goes back to Daniel, telling him he'll return to questioon them every morning and every night and he’ll kill an Unas each time until Daniel tells him what he knows. He leaves the barn with a parting, "Until tonight"

Meanwhile, Teal'c tells Carter he will not continue to do nothing. He goes, Carter running after him, into the village. He tells her a distraction may be the key to rescuing Jack and Daniel.

Sam radios the colonel, letting him know they may have a plan if they can create a big enough distraction. But there could be causalities. Does Jack still want to try?

Daniel tells Jack he won't leave these Unas behind.

"I don't think we're going to talk our way out of this one," Jack warns.

Daniel replies tiredly, "For once, I'm not asking you to."

Jack looks away, muttering "Damn it, Daniel." He tells Carter they have three Unas coming with them. "Do whatever you have to," he tells her. Just get them out of here.

The village is bustling with activity. Teal'c sneaks around to a cart of hay, planting C4. Carter does the same on some barrels. After they get into position close to the barn, Carter activates the remote detonator. The cart of hay blows and the villagers run for water before the fire can spread to the buildings. Then the barrels explode as well.

During the chaos, Teal'c runs out, firing his staff weapon at the guards, getting them to run after him. Carter sneaks in.

O'Neill asks where Teal'c is. "Trying to be popular," she tells him as she starts planting magnesium strips on the locks and gives them some for their chains. Daniel and Chaka warn the other Unas to stay back. Now freed, they all escape into the forest.

After a while, Chaka smells more danger, only to find it is Teal'c, who’s rejoined them. Daniel tells Chaka its okay. Teal'c is a friend. Chaka growls out "friend" and backs down.

They all arrived at the Stargate and stopped. No one seems to be guarding it any more. Maybe they are helping out with the fire? Or an ambush, Jack adds. The Unas moves towards the clearing in front of the Stargate despite Daniel's warnings to stop. Chaka knows why they stopped. The Unas begins sniffing around for signs of danger.

Suddenly, a staff weapon is fired and the larger Unas falls. Burrock and his men surround them. Chaka attacks one villager, not seeing Burrock coming up behind him with his staff weapon. Daniel shouts a warning and ducks when the trader fires at him. The meek Unas jumps out and lands on Burrock. It gets thrown off by the trader who points the staff weapon at him now.

Then, a shot is fired on Burrock's back. He falls and looks up to find Chaka holding the staff weapon of his fallen comrade. Daniel shouts to Chaka no, rushing over but too late. Chaka fires a second shot, killing Burrock.

The battle is over. Teal'c is dialing home. But Chaka now refuses to leave. Apparently, he thought he was just helping Daniel and his friends escape. Now he wants to stay and fight to free the other Unas. Jack tells Daniel they didn’t come here to arm the Unas for a war. Daniel says Chaka and the others did it themselves. They chose freedom and don’t they deserve a chance to fight for it? Daniel hands over his zat gun, telling Chaka he doesn’t have to kill, then watches Chaka and the meek Unas go into the forest with the staff weapons they took.

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