• Spoilers: Enigma, In the Line of Duty
• Season/Sequel info: During second season after 'In the Line of Duty' and before Sam is promoted in 'Secrets'
• "I think, for all their superior technology, a people who find slavery acceptable haven't advanced much in ways that really matter." - Daniel Jackson
• PG-13 [D]

PROLOGUE: EARTH

"Okay people, what have we got?" General Hammond finally entered the room and began the briefing. Sam, almost bouncing with impatience, took a calming breath and turned on the TV monitor beside her.

"P2X987, sir." She pressed a button on the remote control she held. The monitor showed a scene of a clearing about 100 meters across surrounded by what appeared to be pines.

"Trees! Great! We have to go halfway across the galaxy to explore a forest?" Jack said sarcastically.

His captain gave him a patronizing smile. She knew how he felt about their too-numerous missions to tree-covered worlds. But this one was different.

"So… what's so special about this planet?" Daniel grinned at her, catching her excitement.

"Just this." Sam clicked the remote’s button several more times and they all leaned forward to watch as, frame by frame, a blurred object move across the screen from right to left just above the top of the tallest trees.

"UFO," murmured Jack.

"Obviously you’ve had the image computer enhanced?" Daniel pushed his glasses further up his nose.

Sam smiled as she pressed the button one more time and they saw a shiny silver rectangular object, the alien sun glinting on the metallic surface.

"Definitely a UFO," Jack stated confidently.

"We think it’s a vehicle." Sam turned to appreciate their reactions as she continued, "Without knowing it’s size and therefore its distance from the camera, we can’t be accurate about its speed. But if we assume it’s tall enough to accommodate a human, say 3 meters, that would put its speed in excess of 500 mph. We didn’t pick up any sound from it and it appears to have neither wings nor rotors yet it travels above the trees. We seem to be looking at an advanced vehicle that uses a silent propulsion system and some kind of anti-gravity technology that we can only theorize about."

"Wow," said Daniel. Jack gave a low whistle. Teal’c raised an eyebrow.

"Have you ever seen the Goa’uld use a vehicle like this, Teal’c?" asked General Hammond.

"It does not appear to be Goa’uld technology."

"Any sign of civilization, Captain?" Hammond continued.

"No, sir. The MALP has detected no life signs, not even animals or birds. UAV shows no signs of habitation within a 30 klick radius."

"30 klicks? I guess if the inhabitants travel around so fast, they could be a long way from the ‘gate," Daniel pointed out.

"So how do we find them?" The prospect of trekking for days through a forest on a wild goose chase to find the locals was not appealing to Jack. He recalled their previous encounters with technologically superior aliens. They had had a spectacular lack of success in gaining anything useful from them.

"The UAV has come down just over 10 klicks away, so we could just go retrieve that and maybe whoever’s there will come meet us." Sam wouldn’t allow her eagerness to meet the builders of such a vehicle to be dampened by her less than enthusiastic CO.

"Conditions on the planet?"

"Atmosphere is similar to Earth’s, slightly oxygen rich, temperature 14C, gravity 0.76G. No detectable hazards, no pollution and only the usual background EM radiation."

General Hammond surveyed his number one team.

"Then people, you have a go," he concluded the briefing and rose to leave. Sam had a big smile on her face.

PROLOGUE: P2X987

The wait had been a long one but now – perhaps – it was to be rewarded.

It had been nearly a sun-cycle ago that the Portal had first activated. She had been some distance away but had felt the energy-spike and, although she had never felt it before for herself, she knew it meant that the Portal was being used. She had hurried to a position in the trees from which she could observe without herself being observed.

She had seen the robotic device emerge from the shimmering end of the conduit through space/time and watched as it moved about, presumably sampling the environment. She immediately concealed herself within an energy cloak. She couldn’t be seen in the trees but she didn’t know what other sensors this machine had and she didn’t want her presence to be detected.

Her scanner showed that signals were passing in both directions through the conduit, indicating remote control of the device and immediate retrieval of its data. There was no one else within scanner-range. She sensed a General Transport Vehicle passing to her left but it was a long way off and did not change course – its occupants had not noticed the Portal’s use. Eventually the conduit dissipated and all was still. She was disappointed that no people had arrived, possibly the conditions here were not to their liking? Or maybe they would come soon? She decided to wait.

Now her scanner confirmed what she could already feel herself – no energy output in the robotic device. She wondered if it would be safe to approach it. It might record her presence and alert whoever had sent it, if they initiated another conduit. Still cloaked, she decided to risk a closer look. When she was close enough she used the scanner again. It showed her what the device detected. It measured many aspects of the environment and also had optical and audio sensors. But what she found most interesting was what it couldn’t detect. And it wasn’t recording her presence; she didn’t need the cloak after all.

As she returned to her hiding place the Portal was activated again. At this distance the enormous blast of energy caused by the conduit establishing was almost a physical blow and momentarily she reeled. But she recovered in time to conceal herself within a cloak once more. This time an aerial device came flying through. It passed overhead and flew in a wide circle. Signals passed to and fro through the conduit again. This must be another remote control device sending back its data. Eventually the device hit the ground some distance behind her and the conduit dissipated again.

And now the Portal was activating for the third time, perhaps she was at last to be rewarded for her long wait. This time she knew what to expect. She created an energy-wall around herself, protection from the intensity of the initiating conduit. Then, changing the barrier into a cloak, she watched as four figures stepped out of the shimmering Portal. Three of them immediately spread out and surveyed their surroundings holding metal objects pointing forwards, scanners possibly, whilst the fourth approached the Pedestal, apparently checking it was working. The conduit dissipated. Only four had come.

There was a time when many great warriors had arrived, carrying weapons that spewed forth energy, capable of causing death. But not in her lifetime. Still, four was better than none. If more had come it might have been difficult for her to cope with them alone. And there was no one anywhere near so she would not have to share them.

The figures drew together again and conversed in a language she didn’t know then began to move towards her. For a moment she feared that she had been discovered but their relaxed demeanor told her it was not so. Besides, she rationalized, their devices were primitive; they didn’t possess any technology that could penetrate the cloak that concealed her.

She had never needed to converse with anyone except in her own language. But the strangers looked similar enough to her own people. If their brain physiology was as similar as their bodies and, as she suspected, their psychic output was unguarded then, after a short time of hearing their speech and thoughts together, she would be able to telepathically assimilate enough of their language to communicate. She could easily hold them until then. Silently, she moved away to prepare her trap.

CHAPTER 1

"Chevron seven locked," the technician announced. SG-1 stood at the bottom of the metal ramp as the kawoosh blossomed towards them.

"SG-1, you have a go. Good luck," General Hammond told them over the intercom from the control room.

"Okay kids, lets go get this UAV and," Jack turned to his 2IC as he spoke, "maybe make nice with the natives." As he headed up the ramp Sam followed, grinning. Daniel gave Teal’c a slight shrug before they too disappeared into the event horizon.

They stepped out onto a world looking a lot like the one they had just left.

"Sometime we gotta work out why so many places look like this," grumbled Jack as he, Sam and Teal’c spread out taking up defensive positions, surveying their surroundings while Daniel checked the DHD.

He made sure it was working and identified the point of origin before turning to Sam, "Okay, which way?"

She consulted the homing device she held. "095°," indicating the direction with a wave of her arm.

"That’s just about east in your terms, Daniel," Jack teased.

Daniel was about to respond but then decided not to give his tormentor the satisfaction. Jack gave him a grin before turning and heading off, compass in hand, and the others followed.

The trees were similar to conifers but taller and spindlier, with only a few branches near the top. The going was easy, there was no undergrowth and, apart from dead leaves, the ground was bare earth. But it was hard and compacted; clearly there had been no rain for some time. Even if anyone – or anything – had passed this way, they would have left no tracks.

They were walking along a slight incline; the ground fell away to their right and rose on the left. It was eerily quiet. As Sam had told them in the briefing there were no birds or animals and, now they were here, they found there was no wind either. Everything was completely still and silent except for the sound of their own movements, which they unconsciously tried to minimize.

The lack of undergrowth and the thinness of the tree trunks worried Jack. There was no cover if they should encounter hostiles but at least they couldn’t be taken by surprise. He verified they were still on track then glanced back. His 2IC was behind and to his left, then Daniel and, as expected, Teal’c was rearguard. As he turned his eyes to the front again he was startled to see a figure before him, to the right of their line and only a few meters away.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed in alarm and surprise, bringing up his MP5 even as he skidded to a halt. He heard the captain suck in a breath behind him and sensed Teal’c raising his staff weapon.

Where the hell did she come from? There was nowhere she could have been hiding; although she was slim, these thin trees could not have concealed her. He was kicking himself. How had he failed to see her? In this terrain she must have been visible. He must not have been paying close enough attention and now he had led his team directly into potential danger. His only consolation was that she didn’t actually appear to present much of a threat.

She seemed to be unarmed, her hands empty and hanging loosely at her sides. She looked human, somewhat shorter than Sam; her age could have been anything between 15 and 25. She was wearing a vest and pants made of an earth-brown fabric. Some kind of camouflage? Was that how he had not noticed her? Surely she must be cold wearing so little in these temperatures? 14C Carter said, but that was in the sunshine by the gate; under the trees it must be several degrees colder. Her bare arms sported numerous gold-colored bracelets, both above and below the elbows. The lower ones were inter-linked and continued past her wrists onto the backs of her hands. Her hair was the same color as the elaborate golden head-dress through which it was intricately woven.

"Where in hell did you come from?" Jack voiced his thought brusquely, as soon as he had recovered himself. He glanced around; the girl appeared to be alone. No-one and nothing else was in sight, the silence oppressive. What was she doing miles from anywhere on her own and how did she get here?

She regarded them impassively, unmoving.

"Urm, I’m Daniel, this is Jack, Sam and Teal’c. We are peaceful explorers from, um…" Daniel was not quite sure where to pitch it, whether she would understand the concept of other planets and the possibility of travelling to them through the Stargate. Nothing in her appearance indicated development past the Bronze Age and the extravagant jewelry suggested someone of high-status in a primitive society, yet her clothing was simple. Perhaps she wasn’t one of the people who built the vehicle they had seen. He decided to pitch low.

"From a far away place…" he went on. Suddenly he felt unnerved as the girl’s gaze turned on him and he dried up. Something about the way she looked at him gave him the feeling that he’d pitched too low, way too low.

"We won’t hurt you," Sam tried, although the girl didn’t look fearful, her expression was blank.

The stare switched to the captain.

"Er, Daniel, we don’t seem to be getting through here. Care to try something else?" his CO asked.

"Sure, got any suggestions?"

"How should I know? You’re the linguist."

"Well... her clothing doesn’t give much away… and the jewelry... urmm. I haven't seen anything like this in any Earth culture…" Daniel trailed off, his mind racing through possible languages he might try but then discarding them.

They were all startled when the young woman before them spoke in a soft, accented voice as though she was unused to speaking English, "I am Jand-Ezri, daughter of Jand-Evrin of Galz’wa and I claim you as my captives."

They all looked at her in surprise.

"Captives?" Jack glanced round at his team as though checking that he had heard correctly. Did this weapon-less hardly-more-than-a-child really think that she could overpower four trained and heavily armed, okay, three trained and heavily armed soldiers and one slightly dangerous archaeologist?

Daniel bobbed his head once in confirmation never taking his eyes from the girl. Clearly they had somehow got off on the wrong foot with her. Probably it hadn't helped, insulting her intelligence by pitching low like that. He had to make things right, explain things to her. He smiled reassuringly, holding his hands wide.

"We are peaceful travelers. We came through the Stargate, the… um stone circle." he waved his hand to indicate its direction back the way they had come.

Her eyes were on him now, an emotionless stare. Did she even blink?

"We are from a planet called Earth, we mean you no harm…" he went on.

"Those metal objects you carry are weapons, are they not?"

"Urm… yes. But they are for self-defense only."

"Then your self-defenses have failed you. You are now my captives and you will follow procedure." It was neither a request nor a command, a simple statement of fact.

Jack found her absolute stillness and apparent self-assurance unnerving. "Procedure? What procedure?"

"You will lay down your weapons and equipment and remove your clothing."

"WHAT?" he exploded, "you have got to be joking!" Not gonna happen and especially not the last bit.

"And if we refuse?" Sam jumped in.

For the first time there was a flash of emotion on the young woman’s face. It was surprise. "You cannot refuse. Compliance with procedure is mandatory." The emotionless mask was back almost as soon as it had slipped.

"Oh, well in that case… mandatory, of course." Jack’s voice dripped sarcasm. The usual MO for a would-be captor was threats of violence, though it didn’t actually look as though this girl was capable of more violence than a pillow-fight at her last slumber party. Still, rule number one: never underestimate the enemy.

"Okay, we’re outta here." He turned to continue walking in the direction they were heading. If she had anything to threaten them with, he wanted to force her to play her hand.

"Escape is not possible." Again she was surprised but the colonel had turned away and did not see it.

His hand, resting on his MP5 in front of him, was the first part of him to make contact with the wall he couldn’t see. His momentum carried the rest of his body forward, crushing his hand between the invisible barrier and his weapon and ramming the latter into his body. Last of all the right side of his face and nose contacted the wall. He hissed in shock, sparkles of purple and blue danced before his eyes but he wasn’t sure whether they were really there.

Slowly he turned round. His team had not moved and was watching him, surprise and consternation evident on their faces. The girl had not moved either but her face was as blank as ever. Holding his right hand in contact with the force-field, a vague purple glow emanating at the touch, he walked around to determine its extent. Four pairs of eyes watched his progress. It was circular, approximately four meters in diameter, SG-1 were on the inside and their captor was on the outside.

As Jack neared his starting position Daniel spoke, "So, what’s this all about? I mean… captives. Why? What have we done?"

"You have come to Meri’ci," she stated simply.

"Meri’ci?" Daniel queried. He looked to Teal’c, who indicated with the smallest movement of his head that the name was unfamiliar. "Is that the name of this place? Is it a crime just to come here?"

"None who come to Meri’ci ever leave. All will become clear in time." Then turning her attention back to Jack she continued, "Now you have verified that you are indeed captives, you will comply with procedure."

"And if we won’t?"

"You must. Compliance with procedure is—"

"Mandatory, yeah, we know." Still no threats, Jack noted. He raised his weapon towards her. "Lower the force-field and release us."

Daniel was about to protest his actions but the girl spoke again, "You are now threatening me with the weapon, which is for self-defense only?" It was almost a reproach.

"Yeah well, let’s just say I get very defensive when I’m trapped inside a force-field. Look, we know when we’re not welcome. Just let us go. Then we’ll go back through the Stargate and not bother you again."

"Your weapons cannot penetrate the energy-wall." That damned self-assurance again.

As they stood staring at each other Daniel, alarmed at the dangerous silence, could contain himself no longer.

"Jack, you can’t shoot an unarmed girl!"

"Daniel! You don't seem to be grasping the situation here." He didn't take his eyes from her.

"Jack, I'm sure we can—"

"Negotiate?" Jack finished for him. The archaeologist nodded.

"Fine. So negotiate." His CO waved his arm in invitation for Daniel to continue but before he could do so the young woman spoke again, more forcefully this time.

"No, no negotiation. You are my captives. You will comply with procedure. Now!"

The colonel shook his head at Daniel, who stood dumbly. Then, turning back to their captor, he very deliberately raised his aim and opened fire. If he had any expectation at all of the result it was that either the bullets would pass through the force-field or that they would ricochet off. They did neither. The force-field erupted with purple and blue dazzling light as the bullets actually embedded themselves into it. As it lit up they could see it was cylindrical in shape and around 4 meters high. When he ceased fire and the sparkles died away, the bullets were left seemingly suspended in mid-air then, very slowly, they slid down.

"Incredible, the force-field actually absorbed the energy of the bullet impacts."

"I’m glad you find it so fascinating, Carter. Teal’c, you try."

"Er, I don’t think that’s a very good idea, sir."

"You have a better one, Captain?"

Her expression said she didn’t. Jack nodded to Teal’c who raised his staff weapon and fired.

Again the force-field erupted into light but this time it was red and orange, as though a wall of fire surrounded them.

"Enough! Did I not tell you that your weapons cannot penetrate the energy-wall, that escape is not possible? I have been patient with you but I will tolerate no further delay. You will now comply with procedure." There was exasperation more than anger in the young woman’s voice. She had not moved at all throughout their encounter, remaining absolutely still and relaxed. She was far too confident for Jack’s liking.

"Okay, okay." He held his hands up in a placating gesture then released the straps of his pack and dropped it. It would make his next move easier. He had seen force-fields before. He had in mind the Goa’uld personal shields which could stop bullets but not slower moving objects. It was worth a try. Around him his team had also dropped their packs. He felt them poised, waiting to take their lead from his next action. He reached round his back and, in one smooth motion, released the knife he carried there and threw it.

His target didn’t react at all, not even a blink. Jack’s throw was deadly accurate. No aiming high this time, he’d finished playing games. If the knife had reached her it would have struck in the middle of her chest, right between her breasts. But instead it hit the force-field immediately in front of her, purple light flaring, and hung there for long seconds before tumbling to the hard earth.

She turned cold unblinking eyes on him. When it came her voice was deadly and low. "You intended to kill me? How peaceful is that? I told you that I would tolerate no further delay. Why do you defy me? You are the leader?"

For a moment Jack didn’t realize that her final question actually required an answer. "Er, yes," he hesitated.

"Then you have just cost the life of one of your companions."

CHAPTER 2

Jand-Ezri raised her left hand with the palm towards her. Now they could clearly see the decorative gold jewelry that covered the back of her hand. At one side it was attached to a bracelet around her wrist and at the other it was kept in place by fine chains attached to rings on her fingers. Sam’s heart lurched when she saw that it was set with a white gem. The design was different but she was struck with the idea this might be just as deadly as a Goa’uld ribbon device.

The girl’s gaze, and probably her aim, were on Sam. Whether intentionally or not she never knew but Daniel suddenly took a step forward, putting himself directly in the line of fire.

"No, wait…" he began. Then perhaps he realized what he had done as the young woman’s gaze fell on him and he stopped dead.

The gem on her hand flared red. Daniel gave a small gasp and fell. He landed hard on his back, his unseeing eyes wide and staring at the sky.

"Daniel!" Sam was immediately at his side, feeling his neck for a pulse she already knew she wouldn’t find.

"NO!" Jack knew even before Sam looked up with tears in her eyes.

She shook her head, "No pulse, sir."

He swallowed hard. Stupid! What a senseless way to die. After all they’d been through Daniel couldn’t die like this – not this easily, not this pointlessly. Not killed by a spiteful girl because Jack had thrown a knife. She hadn’t even threatened them, hadn’t warned them what she could do.

"Move away," their captor ordered them.

Their eyes fixed on their friend’s still form, they were all too consumed by shock and grief to react.

"Move away from him," she repeated more insistently. Vaguely Jack was aware that she was still aiming the gem towards them, some part of his mind was still sufficiently alert to recognize the danger. But Teal’c was already moving, he hooked Sam under her arm, her other hand swept Daniel’s eyes closed as she was pulled up and away from him.

"That wasn’t necessary." Jack tried to keep his voice from cracking.

"On the contrary, now you have learned to obey," the young woman replied evenly. "Move away."

"The energy-wall?" Teal’c inquired.

"Just move."

They moved as she directed but did not encounter the force-field. Teal’c reached out to check if was still there. It was but somehow it had moved with them. Now both Daniel and the girl were on the outside of it.

Jand-Ezri knelt at the young man’s side. She unclipped a device from the back of her belt. Starting at his head she moved it down his body, holding it a few inches above him and watching it intently as she did so. Teal’c assumed it was some kind of scanning device, though what useful data she could obtain from Daniel’s dead body he couldn’t imagine.

She fumbled with his jacket. After a few moments she worked out the zipper and opened it. Pushing the flaps of fabric back revealed the black T-shirt covering his utterly still chest. She repeated the scan of his body before replacing the device behind her. She placed the back of her left hand over the middle of his chest. There was a flash of blue light between the gem on her hand and his T-shirt. His body tensed briefly and then he gasped air into his lungs. His team-mates released a collective breath of relief. Daniel was alive. She had resuscitated him.

The girl reached behind her again and produced what looked like an open loop of gold wire. On one of the ends was a stud with a pin protruding. She fitted it around Daniel’s neck then rolled him onto his side, facing them. His face was ashen, his lips still tinged blue and his eyes were open but unfocused. He didn’t look at them and Sam wasn’t sure if he was even conscious.

"What is that thing?" she asked.

"It is a ‘collar of coercion’. It is capable of causing its wearer intense pain. If you resist further, your friend will suffer greatly."

She made some adjustment at the back of his neck then apparently pushed the pin home. Daniel reacted in pain, crying out and grimacing. Immediately she applied the gem on her hand to his neck and, from his reaction, it seemed the pain was gone at once.

"If you tamper with it, it will cause severe pain. If you attempt to remove it, it causes death. Do you understand?"

Nods and Yes’s all round.

"I hope so."

She rolled Daniel onto his back then placed the gems on both her hands against his temples. The blue light glowed again. He opened his eyes and looked straight at her. There was the trace of a smile on the girl’s face. Taking his hands she pulled him into a sitting position then walked away from him. As she went she retrieved the colonel’s knife, which was still lying where it had fallen, and dropped it into a large rectangular box which had not been there, at least not visible, before. It was dull silver in color and somehow suspended or hovering about a foot above the ground. Jand-Ezri didn’t appear to use any kind of control but the box silently glided forwards and came to a stop by Daniel.

"You will place your weapons, equipment and clothing in the cart," she stated, motioning for the three of them to return towards their friend.

Reluctantly Jack began to remove his gear. His mind was running through possibilities for escape but right now coming up empty. When he had dropped his weapons and equipment in the cart he stopped. Taking their lead from him the others did the same. He looked at their captor, waiting for her reaction.

"Continue," she ordered.

He sighed, he had decided he didn’t like this girl and he really didn't want to have this argument with her. But he’d be damned he if he would meekly give in to this indignity and not just on his own account. He looked at Daniel. He would be much better at persuading her but the poor guy had just been dead. Some color had returned to his face but he was still pale and it seemed the small effort of removing his gear had exhausted him, he was leaning on the cart for support. Carter took up the case.

"You can't expect us to undress here!" There was anger and some anxiety in her voice.

"It is procedure for off-world captives." Emotionless.

"Where we come from it is unacceptable to... to force people – prisoners – to undress. It is unacceptable to be undressed, except in certain circumstances. Which wouldn't include being out here in the middle of a forest." Then she added under her breath, "And in mixed company."

"We are not where you come from." The young woman was unmoved.

"It would violate our dignity, cause us great distress," Daniel volunteered, "We are raised from infancy to keep ourselves covered."

"It is procedure. You must comply."

"In fact, stripping prisoners is used as a form of torture," Jack tried, "do you wish to torture us?"

"Do you wish for a demonstration of how much pain the collar can give Daniel?"

No, none of them wanted that. The colonel looked at his team. Teal’c looked stoic as usual but both Carter and Daniel looked deeply unhappy. He couldn't blame them.

Since Daniel was the one threatened, perhaps he felt the need to take the lead. He shrugged at Jack then started to undress and the others did likewise. But when they were all down to T-shirts and shorts he stopped. Very quietly, his eyes never leaving her face, he said to their captor, "That’s as far as we go. Do your worst."

They all stood watching, awaiting her reaction again. There was a long pause, as she looked from one to another then her eyes returned to Daniel. "You would rather have the pain the collar can inflict than comply?"

He nodded once, returning her gaze steadily, trying to appear more confident than he felt. Her eyes flicked over them all again. Daniel unconsciously held his breath, wondering whether he would get any warning before the pain struck.

To his infinite relief she backed down, "Very well. I will permit this leniency but if it is an attempt at deception you, Daniel, will be the one to suffer."

The cart containing their equipment and clothing glided away, its contours outlined with purple light as it passed through the energy-wall. It came to a halt behind Jand-Ezri; again she did not appear to use any kind of remote control.

"Daniel, come."

He took a step forward then stopped. "The force-field?"

"Just come."

He walked towards her and passed straight through the barrier just as the cart had done.

Jack looked at his 2IC and quirked an eyebrow. "How's that work?"

"I have no idea," she replied sincerely.

As Daniel stood before the girl, she took the scanner from the back of her belt again and scanned him from his head down to his abdomen. She examined the data displayed on the device’s screen before replacing it. Looking up at him she reached out and touched his glasses delicately.

"This is to decorate your face?"

"Er no. It’s – um – they’re glasses." He removed them to show her, "They are to correct my eyesight. I can’t see properly without them."

For all her superior technology, or maybe because of it, the concept was obviously beyond her. She was clearly puzzled as she turned the glasses over in her hands then held them up to peer through the lenses. Eventually she handed them back without comment.

Following his captor’s gesture Daniel went over and sat by the cart, leaning against it. It shifted slightly with his weight then adjusted and settled back into its previous position.

Jand-Ezri turned to Sam, "You, female, come."

As Sam moved towards her, she deliberately kept her eyes away from the colonel. If she looked at him she would see the unspoken command she knew he wanted to give her. It was an order she did not want to follow, for Daniel's sake. Any attack on this woman would count as resistance and that would cause their friend to suffer she had told them. Sam had no idea how that thing around his neck worked or was activated, no idea what effect it would have on him or how much pain it could inflict. But she did know that she didn't want to be the one responsible for finding out.

As she stood facing her, Jand-Ezri retrieved her scanner and scanned Sam’s body as she had Daniel’s.

"Turn and kneel," she ordered.

Sam obeyed, still not looking at her CO. She saw the loop of wire in front of her face on its way down to her neck. She prepared herself for the pain she knew was coming as the girl’s fingers fastened the loop and probed her neck for the correct place to insert the pin. She felt the sharp point against her skin. The pain was worse, much worse, than she had imagined it would be. It flared all the way down her spine and exploded in her head. She felt herself cry out and begin to fall forwards. A hand on her shoulder steadied her and then there was warmth on her neck, soothing the pain away. Jand-Ezri was using the gem on her, she guessed. She gestured for Sam to go over and sit with Daniel. Sam allowed herself a glance and a small smile at the colonel. He did not look pleased.

"Jaffa, come."

The implications of her order were obvious to them all. Jand-Ezri recognised Teal’c as Jaffa; she knew about them and therefore probably about the Goa’uld. There was technology here which would greatly interest the Goa’uld but Teal’c couldn’t remember ever hearing about such a place as this. Perhaps if, as she said, none ever left this planet they had actually overcome any of the Goa’uld and Jaffa that had come.

As he moved towards her, he locked eyes with O’Neill. His team leader gave him an almost imperceptible nod. Teal’c needed no more. He stood before her, towering over her. He felt his larval Goa’uld become excited within his pouch as she swept the scanner down his body.

"There is another being within," she stated, looking up into his face, she was almost smiling. She replaced the scanner then reached out and pulled his T-shirt up, exposing the deep cross slits on his abdomen. As she held her hands on either side of his womb, the larva came forth. In his peripheral vision to his right he could see O’Neill grimacing, whilst to his left Captain Carter and Daniel Jackson were watching with interest. She didn’t touch him or the infant Goa’uld but he could sense that somehow she was communicating with it, he could feel its pleasure and she was definitely smiling now. After a few minutes she withdrew her hands and the larva returned to its sanctuary.

She looked back at his face, her face an emotionless mask again. "Turn and kneel."

She was only a few inches from him. Although her eyes were on him, he knew she was relaxed, unguarded. But she was small. He would have to measure his strength; he wanted to disable her, he hoped not to kill her. He began to turn to his left. As he did so he raised his right arm, his hand a fist, and brought it down hard against her. Instead of connecting with her soft flesh he met something hard and unyielding which flashed brilliant violet and blue. Pain shot through his hand and up his arm. Simultaneously, Captain Carter and Daniel Jackson screamed in apparent agony. They fell forward and lay on the ground, convulsing violently. He could hear their groans as they struggled to breathe through their pain. The target of his assault staggered, the energy-shield surrounding her a luminescent purple. But she did not fall. She regained her balance and anger flamed in her eyes as she glowered at him.

Abruptly the two young scientists became quiet and lay still, their agony abated. Only the sound of their still ragged breathing broke the silence of the forest. Casting angry glances at both Teal’c and Jack, Jand-Ezri walked over to them. She directed a blue glow from the gems on both hands at each of them and gradually their breathing evened out.

PAIN. Suddenly his whole body was pain. Daniel screamed and writhed on the ground. Some portion of his mind clung desperately to consciousness and wondered where this intense agony could have come from. It didn’t matter. The pain was infinite and all consuming. There wasn’t any part of his body that wasn’t on fire, everywhere his muscles cramped violently. How could he feel this much pain and remain conscious? He felt his body jerk violently as convulsions wracked him.

He tried to drag breath in through his rigid jaw, into lungs that burned for it but his ribs were in immobile agony. He heard himself groaning as what little air he had was forced out by another intense spasm that contracted his abdominal muscles and curled him into a fetal position.

As suddenly as it began, the pain stopped. His tortured muscles slowly relaxed, twitching now with a residual ache. He rolled onto his back and lay gasping, his eyes closed. He became aware of another sensation, though he had no name for it in any of the many languages he knew. The nearest he could come was a soothing, healing balm. He opened his eyes and saw a blue glow and behind that Jand-Ezri stood over him.

Sam stirred beside him, he had forgotten she was there. She must have been affected as well. Soon she managed to push herself into a sitting position. Daniel didn’t think he could make it and so elected to remain sprawled but supported himself on one elbow.

"When the collar is in place, the Jaffa will know the pain his action caused you."

"No, please don’t," Sam pleaded.

"It is just. His action resulted in your suffering."

"What he did, he did for all of us. We don’t want to be your captives. You can’t really expect that we won’t try to escape."

"Escape is not possible. Resisting will only cause you more pain. Your fate was sealed the moment you set foot on Meri’ci. None ever leave."

Daniel pushed himself up further. "Yes, you already said that. What do you want with us anyway? What do you intend to do with us?"

"All will become clear in time."

"Yes, you said before as well. Look, we came here in peace to negotiate with the leaders of your community. Maybe if we could just talk to them?"

She looked blank.

"The government, the people who rule?"

Her expression indicated she still didn’t know what he was talking about.

"Who is in charge in your town, city, whatever?" Sam tried.

"In charge? No-one is in charge."

"She doesn’t know what we mean. They must have a completely different term for it here," Daniel murmured to Sam.

"No," their captor responded, "I know exactly what you mean." Then without explaining further she walked back to Teal’c.

Staying back this time, she again ordered him to turn and kneel. She fitted the collar to him with apparent vehemence and didn’t offer him the soothing relief of her gems as she had done for Daniel and Sam. To anyone who knew him well, Teal’c was obviously in pain as he came and sat by them.

"You okay?" Sam asked.

He nodded mutely.

As Jack watched the scene playing out before him, his dismay mounted and his hopes of extracting his team from their current predicament crashed. Teal’c had done exactly what was required, what he had silently ordered him to do. And it had ended in unmitigated disaster, just as his own attempt with the knife had. Carter and Daniel had suffered what appeared to absolute agony and for what? Their captor had momentarily lost her balance, nothing worse. She hadn’t even fallen. The pain the collars could inflict had been instantaneous. He had been watching carefully, the girl had no control with which she could have activated them. This worried him more than anything. How could they possibly overcome her if a personal shield surrounded her and she could immediately incapacitate them?

Her next move would almost certainly be to take them somewhere else. They were not much more than 2 klicks from the Stargate. Since there was no habitation for at least another 28 klicks they were in for a long walk. Unless she produced a vehicle out of thin air, like she had the cart… and herself. He really hoped not. If they walked, they might be able to engineer an opportunity to escape. But if they were transported away from the gate, their chances of ever being able to get back there and home would diminish to zero.

He stood in front of her as she used her scanning device on him. "Soooo, the Goa’uld have been here have they?"

"The Guld?" she repeated his mispronunciation.

"Yeah, snakeheads – the guys with adult versions of Teal’c’s larva possessing them." He indicated the Jaffa with a wave of his hand.

"Oh, yes."

"They’ve been here?" he tried to clarify.

"Yes."

"When?"

She thought for a moment. "The last time was more than twenty orbits of our sun ago." She looked at his blank face. "Before I was born," she explained.

"And what happened to them?"

"They were taken as captives."

"Your people overpowered the Goa’uld and took them prisoners?" Jack asked in surprise.

She nodded.

"Then what happened to them?"

"All will become clear in time. Turn and kneel."

He turned, knelt and braced himself to be stabbed in the neck. He had seen the reaction of his friends when their collars had been fitted, so he was prepared for it to be bad. He didn’t realize how bad. Fortunately, she took pity on him and removed the pain almost at once. He took a deep breath and began rising to his feet, glancing at his team-mates as he did so. They were looking at something above him. He followed their gazes upwards and immediately sank back to his knees. A vehicle, just like the one in the MALP video, was descending through the trees.

"Noooo! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

CHAPTER 3

Sam realized the implications as soon as she looked up. They were to be taken away from the Stargate, possibly a very long way away. Bad news. Very bad news. Despite this the scientist in her couldn’t help but be fascinated as she watched the vehicle descend. It was completely silent, technology beyond anything she could fathom. Under different circumstances she would have begged for a closer look at it, let alone a ride. But right now she didn’t want to be anywhere near it, especially not inside it. Not travelling in it to some unknown fate somewhere on this Godforsaken planet, prisoners of a very-technologically-superior female. If Sam's calculations of its speed were anything like accurate they would be miles from the Stargate in minutes. Miles from their only way home, their only hope of escape.

The thing came to rest a foot from the ground and, as she attached the cart containing their belongings at the rear, Jand-Ezri waved them inside.

"Where are we going?" Jack asked her.

"To the city."

"And then what?"

"You will be processed."

"Processed?"

"As captives from off-world." Then, seeing the look of alarm on his face, she added, "You will not be harmed. Enter." The last word was accompanied by a gesture and said in a tone of voice that indicated further questions or delay would be unwise. With a scowl, Jack led the way.

The vehicle was about 2 meters wide and 4 meters in length, with a door in the middle of its longer side. To the rear of the door were seats in a U-shape round the aft-end. At the front was a bench seat with a console, presumably for the driver/pilot. In the middle was nothing but space. SG-1 settled themselves on the seats at the back, which were hard and not designed for comfort on long journeys.

As their captor entered and closed the door, Jack was amazed to see her clothing change in color from dull brown to silver – so it had been a camouflage – but he still thought he should have seen her.

"You will be secured by an energy buffer. This is for your own protection, during acceleration and deceleration," she informed them and immediately they felt themselves surrounded by a force they couldn’t see. Before she had even sat down at the console, the vehicle began to rise through the trees like an elevator. One finger on the console and the vehicle, with cart in tow, shot forward. Sam and Teal’c, who were sitting on the rearmost part of the seat, were slammed backwards with a force of several G’s, the force-field around them preventing whiplash. Daniel and Jack, sitting facing each other on the sideways seats, were thrown against the invisible cushioning for several seconds before gradually regaining their equilibrium.

The trees below them were a blur. The land as far as the eye could see, which from this elevation was many miles, was featureless. No hills or valleys, no watercourses, no lakes. Nothing but slightly undulating land covered with trees. After a few minutes Teal’c pointed to something ahead of them. Rectangular shapes against the horizon. Buildings, glinting in the sunlight. Tall buildings, in the distance, still many miles away but they were approaching fast.

These structures could have been in the center of many terrestrial cities. But there the resemblance ended for this was like no city on Earth. There were no roads or rail-tracks leading to it. No houses in the suburbs with neat parks, schools or shops; no factories, hotels or restaurants with brightly lit signs. No tree lined malls where people strolled, cycled or roller-bladed. Just scores of identical buildings – plain, unadorned boxes that simply rose tens of storeys high from the forest floor, which continued unabated between them.

In moments they were travelling still at full speed between them. Their stomachs heaved as the vehicle ascended and descended rapidly to avoid interconnecting walkways at various heights, and turned impossible corners. Abruptly it came to a halt and they were all thrown forwards, thankful for the invisible cushions, which prevented them from becoming an untidy heap towards the front of the vehicle.

Their captor moved back to them and opened the door. A corresponding door in the side of the adjacent building also opened. She indicated with a wave of her hand that they were to exit. Daniel was nearest and looked out. They were about thirty floors up and the building was at least 2 meters away. It was jump-able, maybe, but the thought that the cost of failure would be to be splatted into the trees below did nothing for his confidence. He looked at the girl who waited patiently for him to go then at Sam behind him. She was clearly as unsure about this as he was. His eyes went back to Jand-Ezri who repeated her ‘go’ gesture with slightly less patience.

"You want us to jump?" he asked uncertainly.

"Jump?" a look of undisguised astonishment was on her face. "No, walk!"

He looked at her uncomprehendingly.

"Walk!" she repeated and, by way of demonstration, she stepped out of the vehicle and turned to face them, standing in mid-air.

Now it was Daniel’s turn to be astonished.

He heard Sam gasp then she pointed, "Look at her feet. There must be a force-field bridge."

Daniel looked down and, sure enough, around the edge of the girl’s shoes was a faint purple glow.

Comprehension was also dawning on Jand-Ezri’s face. “You cannot see it?" She paused for a beat. "Your eyes cannot detect the higher frequencies of light? Of course... that is why..." her voice dropped as though she was thinking aloud, "... in the forest, you couldn't see..." Looking back at them, she circled her arms wide and illuminated the force-field in sparkling indigo. “Do you see now?”

Indeed they did. It was not a bridge but a circular tunnel stretching from the vehicle to the building.

"Come," she said and, turning, she walked through the far door. The tunnel vanished.

Holding the doorframe for support Daniel stretched out his foot to feel for the invisible walkway before trusting his weight to it. It was still there. Feeling foolish for his lack of faith in something that he couldn’t actually see, he carefully transferred his weight to his front foot. He didn’t fall. He moved his other foot and took a step. For a moment he stood looking down at the trees some 300 feet below then, feeling every step before he committed to it and with his arms outstretched as though for balance, he crossed into the building ahead. Behind him, the rest of SG-1 followed with similar trepidation.

Inside they found themselves in a wide, open and virtually empty space. The only thing in it was a high desk to their left and behind it sat a woman. What could be seen of her clothing was similar to Jand-Ezri’s but it was pale yellow. She wore a similar ornate head-dress and bracelets on her arms. She was obviously much older than their captor was but her face was unlined and her hair un-grayed. She spoke to Jand-Ezri in a language none of them knew but the younger woman replied in English.

"They are captives from off-world."

When the other woman responded they heard English but her lips didn’t seem to be in sync, like a dubbed movie. Sam wondered if somehow they were hearing a translation.

"By space vessel?"

"No, through the Portal."

"ICD will have to be informed."

"They will need to be tagged first."

The woman came round the desk towards them holding something in her hand. She approached Daniel and looked at him searchingly. She indicated his glasses and, though her eyes were fixed on him, the question was addressed to Jand-Ezri.

"What is this – decoration?"

"It is a device to correct his vision."

Daniel glared at her. He felt quite capable of answering for himself.

The older woman spoke again, "He cannot be a warrior with defective vision."

"It will be corrected."

"Corrected? How? And I am not a warrior." Both women ignored him.

"What is your name?" the older woman asked.

She lifted the device that she was holding to his face to record his response then she turned to Sam.

"This one is female," she remarked as though she had only just noticed. Sam bristled but said nothing.

"On other worlds females can be warriors." Jand-Ezri sounded almost defensive. "She carried weapons like the males."

The older woman looked at Sam doubtfully then asked her name, recording her answer as she had Daniel’s.

"This one is old!" she exclaimed, peering at Jack.

"Hey! Who are you calling old?" he retorted, offended and angry that his team were being treated like this.

Ignoring him as though he hadn’t spoken she went on to Jand-Ezri, "How can a warrior live to be so old?"

"Perhaps he is very skilled."

"Humph," was the older woman’s only response before asking for and recording Jack’s name.

She came to Teal’c. "This one is Jaffa, is he not?"

"Yes."

"Jaffa are valiant warriors, it is said. Perhaps this one will make you a profit. But these others…" she waved a dismissive hand at them. Jack glared back at her, knowing they were being insulted without having any idea what she was talking about. She asked for and recorded Teal’c’s name then retreated behind her desk again.

"So, who or what is ICD?" Daniel asked Jand-Ezri.

"Information Collection and Dissemination."

"What?"

"I’d guess that’s their term for their intelligence agency," Sam told him.

"Look," Jack said to the woman behind the desk, "can we talk to someone in charge? There seems to have been some mistake here." He shot Jand-Ezri a hard glance before turning back. "We came here in peace. We’ve done nothing wrong." The woman completely ignored him again. He began to wonder whether she could actually hear them at all.

It was Jand-Ezri who answered him; "The mistake was yours. You should not have come here." He looked back at her but she was already accepting something from the older woman. It was cylindrical, like an oversize, fat pen but with a large needle on the end.

"Kneel," their captor ordered them.

"What are you going to do?"

"Insert id tags. The pain is momentary."

"Id tags? What for?"

"Insert? Where? How?"

The questions came together but she answered neither of them.

Daniel was nearest to her and had already knelt. Moving his long hair aside, she inserted the needle into the skin at the back of his neck, below his hairline and above the collar he already wore. He gasped in surprise and pain. She pressed a button on the device, which clicked, then withdrew it.

"Micro-chipped. Like animals," Jack said, disgusted.

She repeated the procedure with each of them.

"Come." Jand-Ezri led the way across the open space and down a hallway opposite. On their right were a number of openings without doors. She motioned them inside the first. It was a cell. It was about 4m in length and 3m wide with a full width window across the farther wall. On the wall to the left was what appeared to be a water-fountain and above that a dispenser of something that could have been, but probably weren’t, candy bars. On the right was some equipment, including a hose with a funnel-like object at the end, which might have been the toilet facilities but it was by no means obvious how it should be used. Around the rest of the walls was a continuous bench seat, as hard and uninviting as the one in the vehicle they had recently left.

Jack paused before entering, "Do we get to talk to someone in charge?"

"You will be able to tell all you wish to ICD during your Collection," Jand-Ezri replied.

"Collection? What is that?"

She seemed to be unsure how to answer.

"Is it some kind of trial?" prompted Daniel.

"No," she said slowly, "the Collection of your knowledge."

"Knowledge?"

"Information," she amended, "when information will be collected from you."

"As in," Jack hesitated, "interrogation? You mean we get to be interrogated?"

"Interrogation," she said it as though tasting the word. "Yes, I suppose in your terms, that would be it."

"Sweet!"

So they would be interrogated. That was not the kind of talking that Jack had had in mind and he was not in the least reassured. As soon as they were inside the cell and Jand-Ezri had walked away, he reached out a tentative hand and confirmed that there was a force-field across the opening preventing their escape.

"Interrogation! Great. This day just gets better and better, doesn’t it?" Jack’s team stood with their backs to him looking out of the window. In front of them were more buildings at various distances and angles, the sun reflecting in the windows. Long walkways stretched between them. Above the sky was deep blue and cloudless. Below there was nothing but trees and brown earth. The place was strangely deserted; no people were visible at all. Only the occasional vehicle passing to or fro indicated to SG-1 that they were not totally alone in this city.

"Next time you want to visit planets with advanced technology Carter, remind me to pass."

Daniel turned back to him. "I’m sure we can sort this out, Jack. I mean, they can’t imprison us just for coming here, can they? They’re an advanced civilization; they’ll understand. I’m sure when we explain our peaceful intentions, they’ll let us go."

"Daniel, weren’t you listening to her? Or did that thing round your neck addle your brain? ‘None ever leave,’ that’s what she said. Does that sound to you like they’re gonna let us go, whatever we say?" Jack was leaning forward, trying to hold in his anger. Daniel was bearing the brunt of it but, in truth, he was angry at their situation not at his friend’s optimism.

Sam felt the need to intervene. "Sir, Daniel’s right. We can’t take her word for it. This might just be a big mistake. They’ve seen Jaffa before. Maybe, because we have Teal’c with us, they think we’re Goa’uld."

"They spoke of warriors – and profit," Teal’c pointed out.

"Yeah, what was that about?"

"They assumed we were warriors. Perhaps they think anyone who comes through the Stargate is a warrior," Sam reasoned.

"But profit?" Daniel took up the argument, "Teal’c will make Jand-Ezri a profit but we won’t. Sounds like slavery."

"What?"

"Well, think about it. How do you make a profit out of somebody? Out of a captive? By selling them into slavery."

Sam was appalled. "But surely a civilization this advanced wouldn’t have slavery?"

Daniel shrugged. Privately, he thought it very possible. After all it had existed more or less throughout human history, still did exist in some places even on Earth. Just because most terrestrial societies had eschewed it in favor of a more egalitarian system didn’t mean that other civilizations would be as enlightened, even if in other ways they were more advanced. But her reaction told him Sam didn’t want to hear this. He was tired. It had been a bad day. He’d been captured, punctured by needles – twice, killed and then suffered pain worse than death. He lay down on the hard bench with his arm over his eyes, signifying his withdrawal from the conversation.

But Teal’c wouldn’t let him rest yet. "She also said your vision would be corrected, Daniel Jackson."

"Yeah, so maybe they like their slaves to be able to see clearly," he replied without moving.

"No, the other one said you couldn’t be a warrior because you have defective vision." Sam paused and sat down on the bench opposite Daniel, thinking. "We’re missing something here."

"I’m too tired to think about it now, Sam. Sorry."

"Guess, like the lady said, all will become clear in time." Jack moved to the far corner and settled himself in it. Teal’c passed his gaze over all three of them, before returning to his contemplation of the scene outside.

There was nothing to do but sit and wait. So that’s what they did. Intermittently dozing, occasionally one of them would volunteer some new thought on their situation, briefly renewing the discussion. But mostly they just sat in silence, waiting.

Thirst and hunger reminded Jack that it must be many hours since breakfast at the SGC that morning but just how many hours was impossible to determine, since they had no watches. He crossed the room to the thing which looked like a water fountain and started fiddling with it, trying to make it work. He discovered that it slid up and down on the wall. Great, he could get it to a convenient height for drinking but couldn’t turn it on. He moved his face closer to it, trying to see if there was some hidden control. Water suddenly spurted from it, onto his face and into his eyes. He heard Daniel attempt to stifle a snort of laughter behind him.

‘Gee, this is just so not my day!’ he thought.

Thirst finally quenched, he turned his attention to the dispenser, which held unwrapped brown bars, the bottom one of which could be removed. He took it and smelled it. It smelled of nothing. He took the tiniest possible experimental bite. It definitely wasn’t candy. Its taste was savory and not particularly pleasant. But it was food and he was hungry. He took a larger bite and, in reply to Daniel’s inquiring look, "It’s good," he lied. He extracted more bars and gave his team one each.

"Yeuch!" Daniel would have spit it out but there was nowhere to spit it but the floor.

"Are you sure this is food, sir?"

"What else could it be?"

"Soap!" spluttered Daniel.

"Why would we need so much soap? There isn’t even anywhere to wash."

Even Teal’c had a look of distaste on his face.

"Eat," Jack ordered them assuming his CO role. "First rule of survival: never miss a meal, eat whatever is available."

"With respect sir, I don’t think that particular survival rule applies to people who are confined in a cell."

"But if we get the opportunity – no – when we get the opportunity, we are going to make a break for it. And I don’t want to be screwed because any of us is too weak from hunger to run."

"Run to where, Jack? All the way back to the Stargate?"

Sam brought up another difficulty. "Sir, even if we found our way down through this building, there may not be any way out at ground level. We’ve seen no-one moving around down there. All transportation seems to be by vehicle and through those walkways. There may not be doors at the lower levels."

"What, no emergency exits, Carter?" Jack tutted, "Very dangerous."

"Even if we got out," she went on, ignoring the sarcasm, "we could be as much as a hundred miles from the gate, with no way of knowing even what direction to take. Without supplies, we’d never make it."

"So, we take a vehicle. Both problems solved." His look dared her to raise the obvious objections to this, so she looked away, shaking her head.

Daniel, however, had another concern. So quietly Jack hardly heard him he said, "You’re forgetting about the collars."

"No, Daniel, I’m not forgetting them." How could I forget them? How could I forget what they did to you and Carter?

"If you had experienced it," the younger man went on, "you would do anything to avoid that pain again."

"Maybe they were just a temporary restraint, until she could get us here." Jack knew that none of them was buying that but they didn’t speak their doubts aloud.

Softly he said, "Just eat, Daniel."

Although the bars were not large they were mercifully filling. Merciful in that one did not have to eat much to be satisfied. Then they sat in silence again; each lost with their own thoughts.

A woman appeared in the doorway. She was wearing the usual head-dress, jewelry and clothing, this time in gold.

"Daniel Jackson, come," she ordered.

Daniel began to rise to his feet but Jack, on his way to the woman, pushed him back down.

"I’m the leader, take me."

She held a device in front him, which apparently was able to identify him from the id tag in the back of his neck.

"You are not Daniel Jackson."

"No, I’m not. But I’m the leader, take me."

"Daniel Jackson, come," she repeated, ignoring his demand.

The archaeologist got up. "It’s okay, Jack."

"No, it’s not okay, Daniel. Whatever this is, I go first." The colonel turned back to the woman on the other side of the force-field who was now looking at his team-mate.

"Daniel Jackson, come."

Goddamn it! Was that the only phrase she knew?

Daniel took a step but his CO’s arm was in front of him.

"NO," Jack was shouting now, "I GO FIRST."

"No, the sequence is decided by the order in which you were tagged. Daniel Jackson is first. You will allow him to come, or I will activate your collar."

Guess she does know some other phrases after all.

"Jack, believe me. You don’t want that."

Jack gave his friend a long look. He was doing his best to appear confident but Jack knew him much too well to be fooled. Daniel gave him a half-smile and he reluctantly moved aside.

"Good Luck," he murmured as Daniel stepped through the force-field.

CHAPTER 4

Daniel was scared. Very scared. In fact, he couldn’t remember ever being this scared before. He’d tried to put on a brave face for Jack and the others but in truth he’d only just managed to force his legs to carry him out of the cell. Perhaps it was because he had a number of fears and none of them small, all rolling around inside. The only fear he didn’t have right now was of dying. Dying was easy. He'd done it. More than once. This very day even. Piece of cake. The end of awareness. No more fear. No more pain. No more worry about the still-living. The only regret he would have about dying would be leaving Sha’uri behind. But he could rely upon Jack to find her. If Jack got out of this. Which didn’t seem likely.

No, he wasn’t afraid of dying. Right now he was afraid of living – and just how badly he could screw up.

He forced himself to turn and look back at the outside of the doorway. As he suspected, there were no visible controls for the force-field that imprisoned them. He could feel his friends’ concerned looks but he turned away, not trusting himself to meet their eyes. He followed the woman down the hallway, past the other cells, which were all empty. He knew he was being taken to be interrogated.

That was fear number one. They were going to ask him questions. Some he would be unable or unwilling answer. Not likely that they would accept his refusal to reply. Much more likely that they would attempt to force the information from him. But how?

You didn’t have to be very knowledgeable about history, which he was, to know far too much for comfort about the methods that humans had devised to extract information from other humans. He was all too aware of the primitive ways, which tended to involve a great deal of physical pain. He’d attended some briefings about modern methods, using drugs and psychological techniques, even more devastating in their way.

But those were methods used on Earth. This wasn’t Earth and these people were much more sophisticated. So, in addition to any method ever thought of on Earth, they would have whatever techniques their superior technology could devise. Of course, if they really did want him as a slave, they wouldn’t want to damage him too much. Much more likely they would use less destructive methods. Like the collar. That was what he really feared, was terrified of, in fact. He’d only experienced what it could do to him briefly but he knew it was way beyond anything he could endure.

And that led to his greatest fear – that he would succumb. He was the weak link, he knew. Jack had had lots of training in resisting interrogation, practical experience even. More than anyone would want. Sam would have had training too. And Teal’c, well Teal’c was Teal’c. Even if his symbiote didn’t protect him, Daniel couldn’t imagine that anyone would ever get anything from him that he was unwilling to give. But all Daniel had had was a couple of briefings about irrelevant Earth techniques. No, if any of them broke it would be him. He would be the one to betray his friends, the SGC, his planet even. And if they used the collar, he knew he would be lost.

He could almost feel the adrenaline pumping, the flight or fight response causing his stomach to churn. How he regretted that disgusting food bar he’d forced down at Jack’s behest. He considered trying to overpower the woman leading him but even if he somehow succeeded he had no idea how to get the others out of that cell.

His thoughts were brought to a halt as the woman stopped at an opening in the wall. It looked like an open elevator shaft. She pressed the call button but instead of waiting for the elevator car to arrive, she stepped at once into the shaft. She turned and stood facing him in mid-air. Uh-oh, another force-field thingy. He stepped into space beside her. Immediately he thought he’d made a fatal mistake. They were falling. Instinctively, he flung out both arms, trying to catch onto to something to stop himself from plummeting to his death. His left arm struck the woman, who looked none too pleased. His right arm made contact with the smooth hard wall of the invisible force-field elevator-capsule, whose too-rapid descent now slowed so abruptly that Daniel was forced to his knees.

He was just taking a steadying breath when the capsule lurched sideways and set off at breakneck speed towards another building through one of the interconnecting tunnels they had supposed to be walkways. He was thrown violently against the woman’s legs. He didn’t dare look up. His stomach was churning before but it was nothing to how he felt now. A few seconds later another change of direction almost had him on his face. Humiliated, nauseated and on all fours, he wondered just how anyone could stay upright through all this. They came to another abrupt halt, which he just managed to cope with, and then they were travelling upwards. Suddenly they stopped. Yet again, Daniel’s stomach stopped later than the rest of him. He tasted that food bar again. It was disgusting enough first time round, now it was just totally gross. He held it in just long enough to be sure that their wild ride was finally over before scrambling into the hallway and throwing up.

He leaned against the wall, watching the woman out of the corner of his eye. She was totally nonplussed, her gaze dancing rapidly between him, the mess on the floor and some distant point up the hallway.

He had been worried about being interrogated. Stupid. Another ride in one of these things and he would tell them anything. ANYTHING. Another absurd thought occurred to him and he barely stifled a giggle. What if he hadn’t made it out of the elevator-capsule in time? What would have happened to the – urm – deposit when the force-field switched off? Trying not to laugh hysterically and remain upright were mutually exclusive activities. He had to choose. He opted for control and allowed himself to slide down the wall, suppressing, as well as he could, a grin.

Still the woman did nothing. He sat there for some minutes, his head between his knees, taking slow deep breaths to bring his nausea under control. She neither spoke nor moved. He began to wonder just how long she would permit him to stay there.

Eventually, even he thought he had been there long enough. He stood and gave her a ‘lead the way’ gesture. Looking immensely relieved, she walked off down the hallway. At least he had reaped some benefit for his physical lapse. The time it had taken for him to compose himself had also allowed him to get his runaway emotions under control. His fear, which he now thought had got totally out of proportion, had subsided and he was no longer so afraid.

They entered what Daniel could only think of as an auditorium. They were at the back of the lowest level, which was semi-circular. Ascending rows of seats, which were well filled, surrounded it. So, whatever his fate, it was to be a public one. He was not certain whether this was reassuring or not. In the middle of the semi-circle was a chair with what looked like a hood-type hairdryer from a ladies’ salon on a stand behind it. Arranged round and facing it were five more chairs all with ‘hairdryers’. Behind each of these was a desk at which women were already seated.

As soon as he entered, the hubbub of voices ceased and the audience fell silent. He already had the aftertaste of vomit in his mouth, which now went completely dry, making him desperate for a drink. Some women, who had been stood in a group to one side, came and sat facing the center chair to which he was led. A woman carefully bound his arms to the arms of the chair with something like broad Velcro cuffs and then his legs were restrained in similar fashion. She fastened his head to the headrest with a band around his forehead. Then she lowered the hairdryer-like thing until it covered his eyes, restricting his vision to a small area of floor around him and her legs beside him as she apparently made some adjustments to the device over his head.

Daniel became aware of someone talking to him, although he couldn’t make out the words. It was as though the voice came from a great distance. Somehow he knew it belonged to the woman sitting directly in front of him, although he had never heard her speak. The owner of the legs beside him continued to fiddle with something. The voice became louder, clearer but it didn’t seem to come through his ears. She was asking his name and was aware of his immediate response but he knew he had not spoken aloud. Daniel became very uncomfortable. There was something seriously wrong here. More voices joined the first – the other four women sitting round him. How did he know that? He began to have a very bad feeling about this. Either this hood was messing with his sensory perceptions or – no, don’t go there. The legs moved to the other side as their owner continued to make adjustments. Suddenly, he could see the women as well as hear them. His suspicions confirmed, fear flooded through him. They were inside his mind!

Pacing. Keep pacing. Can’t sit still. Tried. Right after they took him. Tried to be calm. Tried to sit still. Couldn’t do it. Legs crossing and uncrossing. Feet tapping. Arms moving. Fingers twitching. Better to pace. Pace to the door. Oops, sorry Carter – again – you really should move those feet. Turn. Back to the window where Teal’c sits. He looks irritated. It’s not easy to tell. Just a slight furrowing of his brow. But I know. Probably trying to do that Kel-no-reem thing. Probably distracting him. Can’t help it. Can’t stop, not now. Not ‘til he’s back and I know he’s okay. How long has he been gone now? Oh, who knows, no watches. Long time. Too long. Far too long. How long does it take to ask an archaeologist a few questions? Not this long. Shouldn’t take this long. What the hell are they doing to him?

In all Daniel’s wild imaginings about being interrogated by these people, this possibility had never occurred to him. There was no need to try to force him to answer questions. They had simply entered his mind and were accessing any information they wanted.

One woman, the one facing him, was questioning him. As soon as a question was asked, the response came unbidden into his consciousness and she was aware of it. It was impossible to dissemble. He’d tried. God, he had tried. Attempts to suppress the response were futile; it was totally automatic to think of the answer to a question posed. Trying not to be aware of the question hadn’t worked either. She was insistent, it was impossible to ignore her or her demands. He had tried to deceive her by concentrating on an untruthful answer. But before he could formulate the lie, he had to first think of the truth and by then it was too late.

The other four women were in the background, he was aware of them examining his memories. Some were good to recall, some not. Some he didn’t even know he still had, incidents he had long forgotten were brought to the fore. It seemed they could bring into his consciousness memories that he himself could not retrieve.

Nothing that had ever happened to him, nothing he had ever done or said or thought could be hidden from them. No secret, whether the SGC's or his own could be kept. No moment in his life, no matter how private or intimate or traumatic, was beneath their inspection. He was laid wide open and bare before them, being violated in the worst possible way. And there was nothing he could do about it.

O’Neill is pacing. Daniel Jackson was taken from us more than three hours ago. O’Neill has not been still since. He has been seated for brief periods but even then is restive. Then he returns to pacing. I do not see what purpose this constant activity serves. Better that he conserve his strength. If the opportunity for escape should present itself he may be too exhausted to exploit it. I too am concerned for our friend. But we cannot come to Daniel Jackson’s aid. And whatever befalls him, this does not assist him.

The movement is distracting. I am trying to achieve a state of Kel-no-reem but it is difficult. Perhaps I should recommend meditation to O’Neill. As he turns and approaches me yet again, I examine his face. His expression tells me that such a suggestion would not be welcomed. I close my eyes once more and turn my thoughts inward.

Daniel wasn’t resisting the intruders in his mind any more. Futile. Nothing he did prevented them from probing any memory he had. Even the ones he didn’t know about. If they came close to something he wanted to keep private his efforts to protect it only drew their attention. So he quietly withdrew to some small corner and tried not to care as they laid bare his very soul.

They were systematic. He could see their plan. They were working backwards from the present through his time at the SGC, including every single mission – lots of anguish to relive there. Every world he had been to, every alien he had ever met, every triumph and disaster were examined and catalogued in detail.

They reached his departure from Abydos, the loss of Sha’uri and he could no longer contain the tears. A little further back – his time with…

Sha’uri! No, not that.

Nights alone with Sha’uri.

No, no, you don’t need to know that!

Everything, absolutely everything was exposed. Nothing was left untouched. Nothing left unsullied. Sha’uri defiled. His memories of her defiled. He screamed at the intrusive women to go away, leave him alone. Angrily at first. They ignored him. Then he pleaded, begged them to stop. But still they ignored him.

Why, why are you doing this to me?

At last they acknowledged his distress. The leader of them tried to soothe him, calm him. In an effort to placate him she allowed him to see beyond himself, allowed him to understand the process of which he was an integral, but very unwilling, part. The five women were linked to him telepathically by the hoods over all their heads. His had been ‘tuned in’ to him. All the information from him was being collected in a storage device, something like a computer but much, much more than that. The concept of it that was placed into his mind was of something with its own intelligence, something – alive, a living brain. From there it was disseminated to the audience around him and relayed to everyone in the rest of the city.

Oh, God. The audience. He had forgotten about them. Daniel was appalled. Everything that was being taken from him was being shared by not just a few, but by thousands! Every detail broadcast to the entire city. The intention to placate him backfired. He strained against his bonds, screaming aloud as his entire consciousness filled with overwhelming horror and he wept anew.

The colonel keeps pacing. He can’t seem to keep still. Even when he sits, he’s not still. He fidgets. Then he’s up again, pacing some more. He’s trodden on my feet several times. Now I’ve got them up on the bench, out of harm’s way.

We’re all worried about Daniel. He’s been gone a long time. Not sure how long, because we’ve no watches but it seems a very long time. He would resist them. I know he would. He wouldn’t answer their questions if it compromised us or the SGC. They must be trying to force him. Wonder what they’re doing to force him. No, don’t think about it. Best not to think about it. Can’t help him. No point in speculating what might be happening to him. Just hope for the best. He’ll be okay. He’s got to be okay.

Daniel was enjoying himself. For a brief time. He knew it would only be brief because he knew what was coming.

They had taken him back to his childhood, his infancy in fact. He was reliving events from his earliest moments. Vague impressions of being inside his mother, hearing her heart, the blood rushing through her arteries on its way to nourish him. The crushing discomfort of his birth, the security of being held…

Daniel could recall very little of his early childhood, had almost no memory of his parents – except one. So he was fascinated to see these memories brought into his conscious mind. He hoped he would still be able to remember them when this was over. Trouble was, it wasn’t like watching a videotape. Every recollection was accompanied by the emotions of the moment. And any minute now they would be touching on some very powerful emotions. Daniel sobbed. Sobbed as a child seeing his parents die and life as he knew it ripped away from him. Sobbed as an adult as he felt himself falling apart.

The women swept inexorably on through his childhood, through his life. His emotions were on a roller-coaster. One moment elation with one memory, the next moment despair with the next. Every emotion he’d ever had, he felt again. He was in turmoil and it exhausted him, threatened to completely overwhelm him. No longer concerned about exposure, he was afraid of losing his very sanity.

He could hold on no longer. Tears streamed down his face. His hands gripped the arms of the chair so tightly he had lost all sensation in them. Coherent thought had long since fled and he cowered in the smallest space he could in some dark place in what was left of his consciousness.

Suddenly, they were leaving! The intrusive women were withdrawing from him. One by one they were gone, until only their leader remained. Then there was light, bright white light and noise. Too much light and too much noise. She suffused him with a feeling of peace and tranquillity. Then she too was gone and he was left alone again, quite alone in the sanctuary of his mind.

The light resolved itself into sunshine. A large yellow sun high in a blue, cloudless sky. He could feel the warmth of it on his bare skin as he lay on his back. The noise became the rustle of leaves on the breeze and something else. What? The sea. Waves lapping on white sand. Where was he?

Sha’uri!

Sha’uri was there. Her skin warm, her lips sweet. Not real. Dream. Couldn’t be real.

He could feel his physical body being released from the restraints as he sat in the chair in the auditorium. He felt himself being helped to his feet, supported out of the room, down the hallway. No, Sha’uri wasn’t real but he could be with her, for a little while, before he had to return to the real world.

Her lips were on his, he reached to embrace her but she pulled away from him, smiling, laughing, teasing. Then she was gone, running down the beach and into the waves. She was wearing a white and gold bikini and he’d never seen her look so gorgeous. He looked down at himself. He was wearing blue swim shorts.

God! She can’t swim!

No chance to learn to swim on Abydos. Panicked, he ran after her, followed her into the water. But she was swimming.

Stupid! This isn’t real. She can do anything you want.

She turned, smiling. Then he reached her, she was in his arms, their kisses salty. He pulled her to the shallows, fell with her onto the sand, held her as the waves lapped over them. Just like in a movie…

They were at the door of the cell. He could see Jack, walking away from him towards the window. Pacing. Worrying. Sam was sitting sideways on the bench with her back to him, knees drawn up. Teal’c sat under the window, cross-legged, eyes closed. He didn’t want to join them. Not yet. Stay with Sha’uri. Just a little while longer. Kiss her again. The hands holding him up abruptly let go and he was pushed into the cell. He tried to cling to Sha’uri but she was gone. Then he was falling…

Jack reached the window and turned, how many thousands of times had he done this? But this time as he turned he saw Daniel, framed in the doorway. He looked like crap. He was distraught, barely able to stand, being held up by a woman on each side. They let him go and he swayed, then they propelled him through the force-field. His momentum carried him forward a few steps, his red-rimmed eyes locked desperately on Jack’s. Then they closed and he was falling…

CHAPTER 5

Daniel was on his knees when Jack reached him and grabbed him to prevent him from falling further. Teal’c was instantly at his other side and between them they lifted him and laid him on the bench.

His eyes fluttered open but they were unfocused, looking at nothing. "Sha’uri?"

His companions exchanged worried glances.

"Daniel, it’s Jack. Can you hear me?"

"Jack?"

Jack put his hand on Daniel’s cheek, moving his head so Daniel’s eyes would meet his. "Daniel, it’s me. I’m here. You’re okay now."

Finally, Daniel’s eyes found his face and focused. He seemed to become even more distressed. "Oh, Jack. God, Jack. I told them. Told them… everything. Everything... Couldn’t… help… it… Inside… me… couldn’t hide… Sorry – let you… down… told them…" His voice trailed away as his eyes slid closed again.

"It’s okay. It’s okay, Daniel. Doesn’t matter. It’s over now."

Sam checked his pulse and noted his pale and clammy features, "I think he’s in some kind of shock, sir."

Even Teal’c was visibly alarmed at seeing his friend in this state. "I will summon assistance," he told them, an edge to his voice. He went to the doorway and eventually succeeded in attracting the attention of the woman they had seen when they arrived.

"Our friend requires medical attention." He indicated Daniel’s prostrate form to her. She moved away again without responding and he was left unsure whether help would be coming.

Daniel was semi-conscious but attempts to rouse him only resulted in greater distress as each time he became aware of them, he renewed his desperate attempts to communicate. But his speech was so incoherent they could hardly make it out. Then he would lapse back into some twilight world and in the end they decided that, for now, it was kinder to leave him there. Sam turned away as Jack examined him, looking for signs of physical abuse.

"Nothing," he reported.

Sam felt sick. They could have tortured him for hours using that collar and it would still have left him unmarked.

Both Jack and Sam still had their full attention on Daniel, so only Teal’c was aware that Jand-Ezri had entered the room before she spoke. They were both startled. Jack jumped to his feet, angry.

"What the hell have you done to him?"

"I have done nothing."

"Your people. Your… interrogators. ICD – whatever. What have they done? Look at him!"

Confused, she took Jack’s place beside Daniel, touching his face. "What is this… wetness?"

"Tears," Sam told her.

"Tears?"

"Crying. It’s a sign of distress. Great distress."

"Why?"

"You tell us," Jack exploded, "you must know what they did to him."

"The Collection should not leave him distressed."

"Well, he was okay when they took him and not okay when they brought him back. Go figure."

"He would have been given the Cleansing."

"The Cleansing?"

"Afterwards. To…" she searched for the right words, "to heal his mind."

Jack and Carter exchanged glances. It’s so bad they have to heal his mind?

She applied her gems to his temples and bathed him in a blue glow that gradually turned through green to yellow making him look even more sickly. After several minutes Jack was beginning to think it wasn’t going to work but then Daniel reached up and pushed her hands away. He opened his eyes and looked directly at her.

"Daniel, did you not go to another place?" she asked him softly.

"Wha…?"

"Did you not go to another place, another time… with loved ones?"

"Another…? Loved…?" He became slightly more animated as he finally understood her question, "Yes – Sha’uri. Sha’uri was there. Dream. Just a dream. Had to wake up."

"Dream?" Jand-Ezri queried but his gaze had slid away and he seemed not to hear her. She shook her head then stood. "I cannot aid him," she told Jack as she turned to leave.

The colonel grabbed her arm and was momentarily surprised that there wasn't a personal shield protecting her. He was so angry that he was almost shouting.

"What do you mean you can’t aid him? Get some-one who can!"

"I will do so, as soon as you unhand me." They both looked down at his hand on her.

Jack pushed her forcefully towards the door as he released his grip. As she stepped away she turned back to face him and a look Sam couldn’t identify passed between them. Then she spun on her heel and was gone.

Jack resumed his place by Daniel’s side, "Just relax, help’s coming."

To his relief, Daniel nodded his understanding, before closing his eyes again.

They waited and Jack resumed pacing, partly because he was worried but mostly to work off his anger and frustration. After a short time, Jand-Ezri returned with another woman. She ordered them to move back and sit on the bench beneath the window before they entered.

The woman sat by Daniel and used her gems on him as Jand-Ezri had done. "The Cleansing was not successful," she said.

"I have already told you this," Jand-Ezri replied testily, "Perhaps it does not work on his kind."

"We examined him carefully. The physiology of his brain is not that different."

"Sufficiently different obviously. Those two," she indicated Jack and Sam, "are of the same kind. What of them?"

"We will take extra precautions with them. You have my sincerest apologies. I assure you, this will not happen again."

"And what about Daniel?" Jack interrupted.

"We will return him to the Collection chamber and repeat the Cleansing," the woman replied to Jand-Ezri rather than Jack.

The bench beneath Daniel was floating. He was sure of it. He was moving yet he was lying on his back on something hard. He was a bit vague about recent events but seemed to remember returning to the cell and Jack sitting next to him as he lay on the bench. Jand-Ezri had been there. Strange that he couldn’t hear anything. Surely Jack would have plenty to say about the bench floating around with Daniel on it? Only one way to find out. He concentrated on opening his eyes.

When he managed to bring his surroundings into focus he found he was right about floating but he wasn’t in the cell anymore. Whatever he was lying on was moving smoothly down a hallway. After a few more minutes he was back in the auditorium where he had been interrogated. He was confused; why had they brought him back here, what more could they possibly want? There didn’t seem to be anyone near him but he felt himself being lifted. He was placed into a chair and the hood was lowered over his head. As soon as he became aware of a woman intruding into his mind again he began to panic. Instantly she calmed him. He felt all emotion flow out of him and his body slumped as he relaxed completely.

He was being touched, his face caressed by gentle hands. Lips locked onto his and his eyes flew open in shock. Sha’uri! He was back on the beach with Sha’uri. Some part of his still thinking mind told him it couldn’t be real but he pushed the thought away; real or not he was going to enjoy it. And this time he had no awareness of what was happening to his physical body to distract him. He took hold of her wrist; he wasn't going to let her go for a swim this time. Who knew how long this would last and he didn’t intend to waste a moment. Rolling over he pushed her down; he remembered how gorgeous she had looked in the bikini, now he was going to remind himself how even more gorgeous she was without it. She was just as eager and he saw no reason to restrain their passion…

"Daniel! Daniel, can you hear me?"

"Of course I can hear you, sweetheart," he murmured into her ear.

"Daniel! Wake up! Goddamnit, Daniel wake up!"

Now what was wrong with this? Firstly, he was awake; relaxed and dozy in the afterglow admittedly, but pretty sure he was awake. Secondly, although Sha’uri was still nestled in his arms and they were alone on their paradise beach, it wasn’t her voice. So who the hell wanted him to wake up?

"Daniel – if you can hear me, give me a sign here."

It sounded a lot like Jack… but that couldn’t be, because Jack was in a cell somewhere on another planet and he was here with Sha’uri.

Then the shock of reality hit him – none of this was real. Jack in a cell somewhere was real; lying here with his long-lost wife was a fantasy. He struggled to sit up, hands were helping him. Sam was crouched in front of him and for a brief moment he could see both the reality of his friends in the cell and the fantasy of Sha’uri on the beach. He knew he could choose. He allowed himself to slip back to say goodbye.

"Daniel, come on, you can do it, come back to us."

One last kiss then he closed his fantasy eyes and opened his real ones.

Jack was on one side and Teal’c on the other and they helped him to sit up.

"You back with us, Daniel?"

He nodded, unable to speak. He was trying desperately to sort out the jumble of thoughts and memories in his head, trying to work out what was fact and what was fiction.

"Take your time, Daniel. You’re okay now, you’re safe."

Safe? Being held prisoner in a cell on an alien planet and Sam thought he was safe? She reached out and took his hands in hers. He was surprised how reassuring her touch was; maybe it was because it anchored him to the here and now.

Eventually, he felt recovered enough to attempt speech but his voice still wavered, "Oh, Jack. I’m sorry."

"For what?"

"I let you down. Let you all down. I told them everything, Jack. Everything they asked me. I’m so sorry."

Sam sat herself on the bench opposite, "Did you tell them the GDO code, Daniel?"

"I... I don’t remember. I’m not sure. If they asked me, I would’ve told them. I couldn’t help it. They were inside my head. Couldn’t hide... anything. I tried. I really tried." As the memory of his interrogation came flooding back to him, he was becoming distressed again.

"It’s okay, Daniel. Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter now. It’ll be okay." Jack had reached out and was rubbing his hand up and down his friend’s arm. "We need to know what they did, Daniel. We need to know what to expect."

Daniel closed his eyes and took a breath to steady himself. He found he very much wanted to keep his eyes closed, didn’t want to look at his friends again. He had let them down so badly and now they wanted him to tell them about it.

"Daniel?"

Another breath and he forced his eyes to open, to see Jack’s concerned face looking searchingly at him.

"They were inside my mind. Some sort of telepathic link. We had these hoods over our heads linking us."

"Us?"

"Five women and me. They asked questions, it was impossible not to answer. I tried. I really did. Everything I could think of. I couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t help myself. Couldn’t even lie."

"What did they ask you about?"

"Everything. I don’t remember... Oh, yes. They wanted to know how many would come after us and when, they seemed especially interested in that. And Teal’c, they were interested in him."

"Teal’c, why?" Jack looked up to see the Jaffa’s reaction to this news but he merely raised an eyebrow.

"I don’t know."

Jack could see the thoughts swirling behind Daniel’s eyes. "There’s more isn’t there?"

"What? No."

"What else happened?"

Daniel’s head shake was almost imperceptible.

Jack’s voice was gentle. "We need to know, Daniel. We need to know before they do it to us. You can help us."

Daniel took another deep breath. "They... they can access memories. Look at... everything directly, without... they don’t need to ask questions to find out everything."

He had his head down so he didn’t see the worried looks his friends exchanged.

"What kind of memories, Daniel?" This time it was Sam probing.

"Everything, Sam. Everything." His voice was barely a whisper. More looks were exchanged.

"To do with the SGC?"

"I told you, everything."

Previous mention of Sha’uri made Jack suspicious, "Like memories of Sha’uri, Daniel?"

"Yes, Sha’uri, everything. My entire life!" Daniel looked up, tears threatening to overflow. "Everything, Jack," he finished plaintively. If his words had not told Jack all he needed to know, the look on his face did.

"Okay, Daniel. Rest now. Sleep." He pushed him back down onto the bench and keeping one hand on his chest, the other continued rubbing his arm. A lone tear leaked from under Daniel’s closed eyelids but it was not long before his breathing had slowed to the rhythm of sleep.

CHAPTER 6

Jack, Sam and Teal’c retreated to the corner furthest from Daniel to discuss their situation.

"Sir, if Daniel told them the GDO codes… if these people go through, with those energy-shields our weapons would be useless. The SGC could be compromised."

"I know that, Captain, but those are two big ifs. Spilt milk." Jack gave her a grim smile. "Nothing we can do about it now. But unless we can find a way to resist this interrogation that Daniel didn’t, they could find out a whole lot more – command codes and stuff."

"Yes sir, but we’ve had training, Daniel hasn’t."

"You’ve had training in resisting mind probes, Carter? I must’ve missed that one."

“No, sir. I meant—"

"I know what you meant. I’m just not sure any training is gonna help us here." Jack stood gazing through the window into the far distance but in his mind he saw Daniel framed in the doorway, so distraught he couldn’t stand without support. How had they hurt him so badly? There must be more to this than he had told them. Maybe he simply couldn’t. And this ordeal was in store for the rest of them. Despite Carter's optimism Jack didn’t kid himself that they would fare any better than Daniel had.

"Then what do we do?" Sam’s voice broke into his worries.

"I’m open to suggestions." He looked down at his 2IC sat on the bench beside him. She bit her lips together and looked away. "You wanna try sticking to name, rank and number?"

She looked back at him but didn’t dignify his question with a response.

"Damage limitation then," he went on, "Tell them what we can safely tell them and try, as best we can, not to tell them the other stuff."

"It is unfortunate that Daniel Jackson was not able to give us more information to enable us to prepare ourselves." Teal’c said.

"Yeah well, looks like whatever is involved is pretty bad." As Jack looked back to where Daniel was now sleeping peacefully, his eye was drawn to a woman who appeared at the doorway.

"Samantha Carter, come," she ordered.

As Sam followed the woman down the hallway, she considered her options. There was only one guard as escort and she had her back to her charge. Either these people were very naïve or they were supremely confident. She had no way of knowing which but, if they really were used to taking captives, it must be the latter. If she attempted to overcome her guard she might find a personal shield protected her. Or maybe Sam’s collar would be activated. Or maybe, just maybe, Sam would succeed. In that case she would then have to free her team-mates. This raised problems of its own. The doorway to SG-1’s cell was in full view of the woman on the desk by the external door and Sam had no idea how to de-activate the force-field across the doorway. She had been careful to look at the cell doors, there were no controls visible. Perhaps they were somehow hidden. They must be there somewhere, they couldn’t be controlled by thought, could they?

Before she had finished weighing the odds and reached a decision, the woman stopped by an opening in the wall and pressed a button. She motioned Sam into the apparently open shaft and when she hesitated, pushed her bodily into it. Sam was only mildly surprised to find herself standing on or in some kind of force-field platform or capsule, which immediately began to descend so rapidly her stomach somersaulted. By the time she emerged some minutes later, she felt so nauseated and dizzy she was barely able to stand. Giving her only a moment or two to recover, the woman grabbed her by the arm and hurried her along the hallway into an auditorium. Sam looked up at the assembled people sitting in raised ranks of seating around her. Her window of opportunity for an escape attempt had closed and Sam’s heart sank as she saw the six chairs with the hoods over them and the five waiting women.

Daniel was aware of being cold. He opened his eyes to bright light. He was in a ring of bright light beyond which was darkness. He was lying on a hard, cold surface, bound spread-eagled. And he was naked. There was noise – the noise of many people talking but he could see no-one. Suddenly the darkness was illuminated and he could see row upon row of seats ascending all around him and filled to capacity with people. A large number of beings appeared and surrounded him. They were very small humans, no more than a few inches high but there were hundreds of them and they all had very sharp pins, which they began jabbing into his skin. He cried out in pain.

"Daniel Jackson, awaken! Daniel, you must awaken."

He felt large hands grip him as the crowd jeered.

"Daniel Jackson! It is I, Teal’c. Wake up!"

"Whoa, what, what?" Daniel woke with a start and tried to sit up but Teal’c held him firmly as he failed and slumped back. A dark face swam into view above him.

"Oh, Teal’c. I was dreaming."

"Yes. And not pleasantly, I think."

"No, Teal’c. Not pleasant. Not pleasant at all. Thank you."

"You are welcome." Teal’c helped him to sit. Sam was asleep on the bench opposite and Jack was absent.

"Jack?"

"He was taken about an hour ago."

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Many hours."

"How was Sam – when she came back?"

Teal’c regarded Daniel gravely whilst he considered his reply.

"She was... very distressed. They accessed the memories of Jolinar as well as her own."

"Oh." That they would be able to do that had not occurred to Daniel. Not that he had been thinking particularly clearly about anything before. It must have been even worse for her than it had been for him, to have to relive two lots of memories. He felt a pang of guilt about his selfishness.

Teal’c added, "But she was able to discover our captor’s intentions."

"Really? How?"

"She asked, I believe."

"She asked?"

Teal’c inclined his head in confirmation.

"She... just asked? And they... they told her?"

"Yes."

Daniel was gobsmacked. Sam had asked for information and received it! Why hadn’t he thought of that? He berated himself that it was because he was so totally wrapped up in how bad the whole experience was to think about what he might be able to get out it for himself and for his friends. He knew the link was two-way, he had been given information, even though he hadn’t welcomed it. He should have asked for more, should have asked questions! Stupid! Screwed up again. Totally screwed up.

"Daniel Jackson?" Teal’c was looking at him with concern.

Pushing his negative thoughts aside, he turned to a more immediate need. "I’m really very thirsty."

"Do you require assistance?"

"No, I’m fine, I think."

He went to the water fountain and, having drunk, stood looking at the food bars but although he was ravenous he couldn’t bring himself to take one.

Teal’c, seeing his gaze, urged him, "You should eat, you must be hungry."

"Ah, the last one I had put in a reappearance. And trust me, it was no better second time round."

As he walked over to the window he asked, "So, what do they intend to do with us? Are we slaves?"

"Not exactly. These people are at war and have been so for many generations. We are to be warriors."

He turned and looked at him in horror as Teal’c continued, "They intend us to fight in their war."

Daniel stood staring out of the window without speaking for a long time, his arms wrapped around his chest. Teal’c couldn’t see his expression but the slump of his shoulders and his stance told the Jaffa much. He was very concerned for his young friend. The interrogation had affected him badly and now this unwelcome news. Daniel was not a warrior and whilst being forced to fight in an alien war would be an ordeal for any of them, it would be more so for him. If they did not succeed in escaping, they must ensure that they remained together so that they could support and protect him.

"Has it been dark?" Daniel’s voice intruded into Teal’c’s thoughts.

"No, the sun moves but slightly in the sky."

"Uh-oh."

Daniel slumped down in the corner and Teal’c joined him on the bench under the window. He very much wished to be of service to the young man. He had suffered a great deal in his short life and Teal’c held himself responsible for enough of it to give him feelings of guilt. He could see that Daniel was distressed and knew that humans considered it cathartic to discuss matters which troubled them. He wondered if Daniel would trust him enough to allow himself to do so. He hoped so. He said nothing but waited patiently and attentively.

It was so long in coming he had begun to think it wouldn’t happen. But eventually Daniel began speaking, haltingly at first but Teal’c encouraged him and, as he went on describing what had happened during his interrogation, his words came surer and faster. Teal’c was dismayed to discover how guilty Daniel felt about what he perceived as his failure and tried to reassure him. He was gratified to see the two food bars he handed him were consumed without being noticed. When the tears came, Teal’c moved closer and offered the only comfort he had. He opened his arms to Daniel and Daniel accepted without seeming to be aware of what he was doing. And Teal’c held him, as he wished he could have held his own son.

The tears and words had long dried up but they were still sat together when Jack was returned to them. He looked terrible. His face gray, his eyes red, he stumbled into the cell and collapsed onto the nearest bench.

"Don’t – don’t say anything. Don’t ask me anything. Just leave me alone." And with that he closed his eyes. They all sat in silence, until a short while later Teal’c was taken and Daniel was left with his two sleeping companions.

Kye-Talin was very pleased. Excited even. This was the best day of her long life. The pinnacle of her achievement. A mark of respect from her colleagues. Four off-world captives had been taken, one of them was Jaffa, and she had been elected to lead the Collection of his knowledge.

She had never before led a Collection from any but her fellow Kord’ah. They would all undergo the procedure at least once and always immediately before the appointed time of death. It was the way an individual passed on her knowledge and memories to her contemporaries. Thus their history and wisdom were passed from mind to mind throughout the generations. Of course the Kord’ah were used to sharing their thoughts but non-telepathic species seemed to be affected badly by the technique and had to be given the Cleansing afterwards to restore them.

It was many sun-orbits since Jaffa had last come to Meri’ci. Kye-Talin had been present at their Collections, though she was too junior then to assist. But even as a spectator the Collections from Jaffa were very stimulating and challenging.

First they would use the usual linking techniques to retrieve the memories of the host being. Usually these were not very interesting; they seemed to be a somewhat barbaric race and quite primitive. They were totally reliant on the beings within, which even provided them with protection from sickness.

Then they would adjust the linkage to retrieve the memories of the symbiote. These were much more interesting. Although they were invariably very young and had had no independent life yet, so they had few memories of their own, they contained the genetic memory of their entire species. Fascinating. And what a powerful and highly evolved race they were. They had colonized hundreds of planets and had advanced technology, travelling throughout the galaxy, by the Portal and in space-vessels, in search of further conquests. She admired them greatly.

She had attended the Collections from the other three captives. The males were not especially interesting, though of course their lives were very different from those of the males on Meri’ci. But then they were an unsophisticated people. Despite this they had used the Portal to travel to many planets (one too many now of course) and the younger one in particular had great insight into the cultures they found there.

The female had been much more interesting. They had found that she had two sets of memories within her. At first they had not understood how that could be, as she did not have a symbiote. But as the Collection progressed they discovered that she had been host to another entity but that it had died within her and bequeathed its memory. The dead symbiote had been of same species that the Jaffa host but had lived long. So they had gained even more information about this impressive race, even though this one had apparently been a renegade.

Now as Kye-Talin prepared herself, she was very conscious of the great honor she had been given as leader of the Collection from the Jaffa.

CHAPTER 7

Neither Daniel nor the colonel is really recovered yet either. At least the colonel found out that these people aren’t interested in invading the SGC, that’s what they told him anyway, if we can believe them. So that removes a major worry we had. Guess we’ll just have to support each other as best we can and hope we don’t get sent off to fight too soon. But concern about who might be sent to look for us and what will happen to them doesn’t help any of us. But the colonel, as CO, feels the weight of it.

Yet another woman appeared at the doorway to their cell.

"Come," she ordered.

"Who?"

"All, come."

Jack looked at his team. They all met his gaze. They knew what he expected of them. They were ready. He led the way.

The woman took them towards the force-field elevator and pressed the button but the journey was short, they only descended a few floors. As they were walking along a hallway Jack looked back, they were all set, no-one in sight. He struck and the woman crumpled unconscious on the floor. He was amazed how easy it had been. Too easy.

"Okay, Carter, you think you can get one of those elevator things to get us away from here?"

"Err… " She was uncertain, "just pressing the button seems to create a capsule. But I have no idea how you tell it where you want to go."

"To hell with that, I want to go anywhere away from here."

They returned to the elevator shaft and pressed the button. They felt for the presence of the capsule before stepping inside. It didn’t move and they could find no controls. After several fraught minutes, which involved some harsh words, they abandoned the attempt and decided to try to find some stairs.

Jack led them away from the unconscious woman. There were numerous doors, none of which bore any markings. Nor could they find any way of opening them, they were not automatic and, again, there were no controls. They had no alternative but to continue along the hallway hoping to find somewhere to hide. They wandered around for more than ten minutes and achieved nothing. They found no stairs and all the doors remained stubbornly closed, so they had no choice but to keep searching. On the plus side they hadn’t met any pursuers either but Jack was beginning to feel very uneasy.

He turned a corner and led them along yet another hallway. He was startled to hear of scream of pain from behind him and turned in time to see Daniel drop to the floor, writhing in agony. Sam was at his side first and as Jack reached him, he began convulsing violently.

"It must be the collar," Carter told him.

Jack looked up and down the hallway; it was empty. "How can it be, there’s no one here?"

"They must be able to control them remotely."

"What?" Jack's eyes were wide with shocked realization. "How?"

Concern for both Daniel and their situation made Sam exasperated, "How should I know! But there’s no other explanation, is there?"

"We will carry him." Teal’c was already stooping, preparing to try to lift Daniel, disregarding the near-impossibility of carrying him whilst his body was still jerking with convulsions.

Sam allowed her frustration and fear that they would all be similarly incapacitated to get the better of her, "Where to Teal’c? There’s nowhere to go. There’s no way out of this place." She had no sooner spoken than she too screamed and fell. Moments later there were two convulsing bodies on the floor.

Jack looked around, trying to control his rising panic. "Go," he ordered the Jaffa, "go, get away from here. I’ll stay. You go, try to get back. Warn the others."

Teal’c hesitated. He was torn between obeying his CO’s order and staying with his friends. Too late. He too cried out and fell.

Jack knew that he was doomed. They’d fallen one after another and he was next. He waited a few more minutes dreading what was coming. What had Daniel said? "You would do anything to avoid that pain again." Looking at his friends he could well believe it.

Then it hit him. And he knew exactly what Daniel had meant.

Jack had no idea whether it had lasted seconds, minutes or hours. Time ceased to exist, ceased having any meaning whatsoever. Nothing existed at all except the agony he felt. His whole existence was pain, every nerve in his body devoted to registering it and he prayed for death, for an end to awareness. But his prayers were not answered; he continued to be alive and continued to be aware of nothing but his suffering.

Gradually his awareness changed, the source of the pain was removed and he was able to drag ragged breaths into his lungs and stretch his tortured muscles. He could hear voices but whose? Daniel’s. Daniel’s voice but odd somehow. Pained, that was it. Of course, it would be. Daniel had suffered this too. And the other voice, knew that one too. Strange accent. Whose? Oh, no. Jand-Ezri!

He forced his eyes open and, as his vision finally returned, he realized he was still in the hallway where he and the others had fallen. Jand-Ezri was standing there. She was doing nothing. Not helping. Not stopping the effects of the collar. Not giving them that cozy glow from her gems. Nothing. Just standing there, looking very angry indeed.

Daniel had been pleading with her to help his friends but she had refused.

"This suffering you brought upon yourselves. It is just that you feel it in full measure."

"Just?" Daniel laughed ironically, "There is nothing ‘just’ in this situation. We came here as ambassadors for our people, to offer our friendship and you have imprisoned us. What is just about that?"

Jack marveled that Daniel could be so eloquent under the circumstances. He felt that, right now, he would have been hard pressed to get an intelligible word past his lips.

"We do not want your friendship."

"Fine! So you shoot the messenger? Not wanting our friendship doesn’t make what you’re doing right."

There was a pause then she inquired, "You have traveled to many planets, have you not? When you travel to alien cultures, do you obey the customs you find there or do you seek to impose your own?"

"We follow the customs of our hosts, of course," Daniel replied without hesitation.

"And it is our custom to take captive all who come to Meri’ci. So it has been for a hundred generations."

"Your custom is wrong! Unjust!"

"So, you wish to obey only those customs that are in accord with own? If you select which customs you will obey on this basis then, in truth, you do not obey the customs of your hosts at all. You obey only your own."

"Your custom is wrong, morally wrong," repeated Daniel.

"In your culture, Daniel. Not in this. And you have already claimed that you do not impose your customs on other cultures." Seeing that Jack, who was the last to be affected and so the last to recover, was now sitting up, she cut off whatever reply Daniel was about to make by abruptly ordering "Come," and, without waiting, she marched down the hallway, her anger obvious in every step.

They all scrambled to their feet, helping each other up and trudged dejectedly after her.

As soon as they were all back in the cell the tirade she had been holding back began,

"How can you be so stupid? Did I not tell you escape is not possible? Why do you not believe me? None has ever escaped. Even people much cleverer than you. Why do you persist with this foolishness?"

Jack leaned into her, eyes blazing, anger barely contained, "Because we don’t want to be here. We don’t want to fight your war! We want to go home."

"That is not possible. None ever leave."

"Will you quit saying that! We will not accept that. Ever! We will keep trying. No matter what!"

Privately he thought to himself that might not actually be true, Daniel had been right about doing anything to avoid the pain of the collar. But he certainly wasn’t prepared to admit that to her.

Anger suppressed, voice low she said, "Do you have any idea what you have done? What you have cost me?"

Jack knew very well what he had done but presumably she was referring to the consequences of his actions rather than the actions themselves. But why it should cost her anything, he neither knew nor cared. "Yeah, we tried to escape, just like anyone with half a brain cell would."

"You attacked Zan-Mayal. She is Kord’ah. The penalty for captives who attack a Kord’ah is death. You have cost me dear."

Jack was stunned. "Death penalty? For trying to escape?"

"No. For attempting to escape the choice of your punishment is mine, as you are my captives. But you are valuable to me therefore I will not permanently harm you. However, Zan-Mayal is not so constrained. For your attack on her, it is her right to demand your deaths ."

Deaths – plural! Jack's heart bounded with sudden fear. "Not them!" He indicated his team anxiously without taking his eyes off the angry woman in front of him. "They were only following orders. I was the one who attacked her. Just me. If there is punishment, I’m the one, not them."

Jand-Ezri regarded him without compassion. "It is futile to argue your case with me. The decision on your fates is no longer mine." And with that she turned and left.

"Don’t we at least get a trial?" Sam called after her but she did not answer.

"Oh, crap!" Jack groaned and sank onto the bench behind him, his head in his hands. He had had some low points in his life and this was definitely another. One of the lowest.

It was probably a couple of hours later when Jand-Ezri returned but none of them had spoken. "Come," she ordered, her eyes on Jack.

Daniel immediately stood, "Where to?" he demanded.

"I have persuaded Zan-Mayal to hear you."

He stepped forward.

"No, Daniel, not you. Only Jack."

"What? No! We all go. She has to hear us all!"

"She has agreed to hear only Jack. He may argue for you all."

"No! I’m the one who does the talking. I have to come."

"I’m sorry Daniel." And, looking at her face, he thought she probably was.

"It’ll be okay, Daniel." Jack's hand was on his arm and he tried to give him a smile as he followed her out but succeeded only in looking very weary and more than a little anxious.

Then they were left alone to wonder whether they would ever see him again.

Sam and Daniel slept fitfully. Even if the benches had not been so hard and uncomfortable they were much too worried about Jack to really rest. Teal’c retreated into meditation.

Jack lay on the floor in the small cell he had been placed in, trying to bring his breathing under control. The agony inflicted on him via the collar was at last receding. It had been utterly unbearable, yet he had had no alternative but to bear it. Perhaps it was fortunate that the pain made it difficult to breathe and so prevented him from crying out otherwise he would have screamed himself hoarse by now. He scrubbed his hand over his face, removing any traces of tears, not that there was anyone to witness them. The Kord’ah obviously didn’t consider the punishment of captives to be a spectator sport. Just as well – he really didn’t want anyone to see him in this state – naked and filthy as he was. It would be humiliating enough to have to face Jand-Ezri when she returned for him.

Before putting him in the cell, she had advised him to remove his clothing as, if he rendered it unwearable, he would not immediately be provided with replacement garments. He had searched her face when she told him this, but saw there only genuine concern and sorrow for him, so much in fact that it had increased his own anxiety, but he had stripped as she suggested. When he had suffered the first round of his punishment, which unbelievably was much worse and lasted longer than that which he had suffered in the hallway, he realized what she meant. That time he had managed to keep everything inside, just – apart from the tears. But the second time he hadn’t. Now the floor was a mess and so was he. He really hoped she would allow him to shower otherwise his team-mates were NOT going to be pleased to see, or rather smell, him.

Now he only had to endure the unendurable once more. Only the belief that he would have suffered this anyway prevented him from regretting that Jand-Ezri had persuaded Zan-Mayal against the death penalty. Even as the thought entered his head he felt guilty that he would rather have died and abandoned his team than suffer this fate. But at least they would not be punished, he was assured of that – they were safe – safe from this anyway. He was enormously relieved to have succeeded in convincing Zan-Mayal that the crime was his alone. Daniel would have been proud of him. Hell, he was proud of himself.

This was the worst part, lying here waiting for the next wave of pain to hit, knowing it would hit without warning but not knowing quite when, so remaining constantly braced. And knowing, as he did now, just how bad it would be. Although he didn’t know how, he was fairly sure someone, somewhere was monitoring his condition as any time he came close to passing out, the pain would recede just enough for him to recover, not allowing him the blessed release of oblivion. He could get through this. Hell, he’d suffered worse. Couldn’t remember when or where, but worse. Or maybe not. But it was only pain. Mind-blowing god-awful couldn’t-ever-imagine-anything-so-bad, but still only pain. He would get through it.

He had no choice.

Many hours passed and Jack had not returned; they began to fear the worst. Once, at Daniel’s insistence, they had called for attention and tried to get the woman who responded to tell them what was going on or at least to find Jand-Ezri for them. But she looked blankly at them and Jand-Ezri didn’t come.

At last Jack returned. Their relief was almost overshadowed by their dismay at his condition. He looked even worse than he had after being interrogated and he slumped face down onto the bench, his face hidden and his hair, for some reason, wet. But at least he was alive. He pushed Sam away when she inquired how he was and tried to examine him for injuries. So they waited patiently for him to tell them what had happened but for many minutes he said nothing.

When his voice eventually came, it was barely more than a croak, his face still hidden behind his arms, "You should’ve had more faith in me, Daniel. I got her to let you all off."

"What about you?"

"I... " He paused, swallowing, "she... accepted my apology."

His friends exchanged glances. They knew very well that there was much more to it than that. He had received some sort of punishment for sure but wasn’t prepared to discuss it. At least not right now. So they didn’t press the matter further and left him to rest.

"Daniel Jackson, remove your clothing."

Oh, no. Not this game again. They had been brought to a room in the hallway where they had attacked Zan-Mayal so they all surmised this was where she had been bringing them. A circle was marked in the center of the floor and around it were four vertical poles reaching up to another circle on the ceiling. On the far wall was a row of four small recesses like cupboards without doors.

Daniel looked at the woman giving him the order, "Why?"

"Remove your clothing," she repeated.

Daniel sighed. It seemed to be impossible to get these people to explain anything. He looked at the others; Jack shrugged then pointedly turned his back. Sam and Teal’c took his lead and also turned away. Daniel stripped off the few garments he was still wearing then, his cheeks burning, the woman led him to the circle and made him stand there with his arms straight out to the sides, parallel with the floor. She activated a control and light shone onto his body from above, the floor under his feet and the upright poles. He guessed that this might be their way of taking a shower.

She walked over to the recesses and waited. Some fabric dropped into one and she removed it then something else dropped into another and she removed that too. When she had removed something from all four she brought the pile to Daniel. He realized it was clothing – and boots. The clothing consisted only of a thin jacket and pants; and both those and the boots were of an indeterminate color somewhere between green and brown. Since underwear was not provided he turned to retrieve his own but she took it from him,

"No, you wear only this now," then immediately she went on, "Samantha Carter, remove your clothing."

"No, wait! Let me get dressed first."

The woman looked at him questioningly, "Why?"

Why? Wasn’t that obvious? Well no, it didn’t seem to be obvious to these people. Clearly they had completely different cultural norms regarding nudity. But Daniel was in no mood to discuss his cultural norms with this woman.

Trying her own tactic of ‘don’t explain, just repeat’ on her, he said slowly and carefully, "Let me get dressed first."

Then he began to pull the clothes on. He fumbled with the fastenings then, to his further embarrassment, she stepped nearer and completed the task for him. The clothes were a perfect fit, even the boots, and he began to suspect that he had somehow been measured rather than showered.

"Samantha Carter, remove your clothing."

"You decent, Daniel?"

"Yeah, it’s okay."

Sam turned and smiled reassuringly as she saw his red face, before he could hide it against the wall.

Jack glanced down at his clothes and smirked, "Nice outfit, I wanted one like that in blue for my sister’s wedding but the tailor couldn’t make it in time."

Daniel gave him a sideways glance, "You don’t have a sister," he said in a tired voice but he was secretly relieved that Jack was still up to making quips after the various ordeals of the last few days.

It was lucky for Sam that Jack stood between Daniel and Teal’c as she was stripped and re-dressed in her new clothing. Several times they had cause to elbow him in the ribs as he attempted to peek.

At last they were all clad in their new uniforms and the woman led them back to the elevator. This time the ride was much longer with numerous changes of direction. Three of them emerged looking and feeling decidedly green, Teal’c however remained his usual shade.

They found themselves in a large open hall, with rows of seats. A few people were waiting on the seats. SG-1 looked at each other in surprise. The people waiting were all men, the first men they had seen on this planet. They were all young, not more than 20 years old, and were wearing the same uniforms that SG-1 had just been issued. They sat down to wait with them.

CHAPTER 8

A short while later the external doors opened and they could see a vehicle adjacent to the building. It was somewhat bigger than the one that Jand-Ezri had used to bring them here. The waiting men got up and moved towards it. A woman held her scanner in front of each them; it read their id tags and she checked their names against another device she held in her other hand before allowing them to board the vehicle. Then she beckoned to SG-1.

"Where are we going?" asked Sam.

"To the Distribution Center," then seeing their blank looks, she continued, "and from there you will be allocated to battle zones."

They all had mixed feelings at this news. On the one hand they would be glad not to be confined in a cell with nothing to do and no hope of escape. On the other, none of them relished the idea of being in battle but at least they would be out in the open with the possibilities for escape they hoped that would present.

She processed Sam, Teal’c and Jack in the same way as the others.

Jack was half way down the force-field tunnel to the vehicle when he heard her speaking to Daniel.

"No, you stay."

He turned at once, "What’s going on, Daniel?"

The younger man shrugged unhappily.

"What’s going on?" this time he asked the woman.

"Daniel Jackson stays."

"Why?" Jack could sense that Teal’c and Sam had returned from the vehicle and were standing just behind him in the tunnel.

"Daniel Jackson stays," she repeated.

Goddamnit! Why couldn’t these people answer a question!

Jack stepped past her, out of the tunnel and back into the hall to stand beside his friend. "Then we all stay," he told her.

Sam and Teal’c moved to stand on Daniel’s other side.

"You three are embarked," she said, "you must go."

"We don’t go without Daniel. Why can’t he come?"

"You three will enter the vehicle," she said, ignoring the question again, "Daniel Jackson will remain." Then when none of them moved she added, "You will comply."

"You’d better go, Jack," Daniel said, a catch in his voice.

"No, Daniel, we’re not leaving you."

"You will comply, or I will activate your collars," the woman threatened.

"Please, Jack. You really don’t want that." Much as Daniel didn’t want to be left alone, he knew that they were in no position to resist. With those collars round their necks they could be forced to do anything.

Jack looked resolutely into his face then he said, "Carter, you and Teal’c go. I’ll stay."

Sam and Teal’c exchanged a look, understanding passing between them.

"I’m sorry, sir. We can’t do that."

Jack felt torn. He knew just as well as Daniel did that this was a battle they couldn’t win. But he wasn’t willing to simply abandon a member of his team without putting up a fight. He was prepared to endure the collar pain for himself. He hoped this woman would spare Daniel, since he had been urging them to leave him. But he didn’t want Carter and Teal’c to suffer for what was ultimately likely to be a futile show of resistance. Their only hope was that this woman would back down, the way Jand-Ezri had done over stripping them. But looking at her steely features, that didn’t seem likely.

"If you don’t…" Jack began.

"We know."

"Comply now!" the woman ordered, her patience exhausted.

"All go or all stay," he said with an air of finality.

"I will activate your collars," the woman threatened again.

They all unconsciously stiffened, awaiting the assault.

The woman in front of them shifted her gaze to something behind them. No pain came. Just a voice.

"What is happening here?" It was Jand-Ezri.

Before any of them could respond, the woman spoke, "These three have been cleared for embarkation but refuse to leave without Daniel Jackson."

"Daniel must remain here until his vision is repaired," Jand-Ezri explained to them.

"Then we all stay." Jack’s hopes had risen on seeing her.

"Daniel Jackson is not a warrior, we must be together in the battle to protect and assist him," Teal’c said.

Daniel was visibly embarrassed at this but said nothing.

"Even if you leave here together, you will be separated at the Distribution Center. You will be sent to different battle zones," the other woman told them.

Jack looked at Jand-Ezri, appeal in his eyes, "Oh, come on. You owe us this much!"

They stared at each other for a long moment.

"Return them to their quarters," Jand-Ezri finally ordered the woman.

"You would accede?" The woman was incredulous, "Why? You will lose money every day they are here!"

"I know it." Jand-Ezri’s eyes were still locked with Jack’s.

"Then why?"

"This decision is mine and it is made. I do not have to explain it to you! Return them to their quarters."

"I hope their skills as warriors repay you for your indulgence," the woman grumbled as she led SG-1 away.

As Jack past Jand-Ezri he whispered, "Thanks," but his tone was bitter.

As the others followed, Jand-Ezri said, "Not you, Daniel. You will come with me."

Jack turned at once. "Where to?" he asked sharply.

"His vision must be repaired." Then her tone softened, "Do not be concerned, I will return him to you shortly."

Jack looked into Daniel’s anxious face and tried to reassure him with a hand on his shoulder before turning to follow the others as they were led away.

"Come," Jand-Ezri ordered him as she set off in the opposite direction. They came to the elevator.

"You know, I really hate these things," Daniel remarked.

"Why?"

"They go way too fast, makes me feel sick."

"You wish to go slowly?"

"Is that possible?"

She nodded.

"Slow would be good."

When the force-field capsule set off it was no faster than the elevators at the SGC, though the changes of direction, which came without warning, were still disconcerting.

"You know I don’t want this, don’t you?" Daniel asked her.

"The choice is not yours. You cannot be a warrior with defective vision."

"I’m not a warrior. I’m an archaeologist!"

"No, Daniel. You were an archaeologist. Now you have come to Meri’ci you have a new life. Now you will be a warrior."

He was overwhelmed by the casualness with which she could write off his life. All their lives. He shook his head to clear it. "So what’s involved? How do you repair someone’s vision?"

"We are the Kord’ah," she replied cryptically.

"Right," he said slowly, "which means what exactly?"

"You are not Kord’ah."

"Ah, no, I guess not. So?"

"You cannot comprehend the ways of the Kord’ah."

"Right. In other words you’re not telling." He paused, "So do I get an anaesthetic or anything?"

"Anaesthetic?"

"Urm, pain relief."

She was surprised at the question. "There will be no pain." Then she recognised something in his expression. "You are afraid? You have no need to fear. You will not be harmed, you will be improved."

"Yeah, right. Improved – so I can fight in your war? Isn’t that something to fear? Why are you doing this to us, Jand-Ezri?"

"If I had not taken you captive another would have done so. For you the outcome would have been the same."

"Because your people think it’s okay to enslave others – to make them warriors, to force them to fight a war of which they know nothing?"

"This is our custom. Every captive we can take from the Vairish or from off-world improves the lot of our own warriors."

"The Vairish?"

"Our enemy."

"You capture your enemies and make them fight their own people?" Daniel was incredulous.

"Even as they do to our warriors."

He shook his head, disbelieving. "You people are as bad as the Goa’uld."

"The Goa’uld? Because they too enslave others?"

"Enslave millions and take others as hosts."

"It is necessary for their survival, Daniel. Without hosts the Goa’uld would be nothing."

"Then let them be nothing!" he replied with feeling. "Don’t you think it’s wrong for them to take sentient beings as hosts, imprisoning them within their own bodies? The host survives and remains aware of their situation you know!"

"Yes, I know. When a Goa’uld is taken captive knowledge from both the host and the symbiote is taken during Collection. The Goa’uld do what they must to survive, as anyone would. Who are we to judge that as wrong when the alternative for their race is extinction?"

Daniel was appalled, "I think I have the right to judge, because it’s mostly my race they enslave and choose as hosts." And they took my wife.

"Then you cannot be objective."

"How can you possibly condone what they do?"

"I neither condone nor condemn. I do not consider it my place to pass judgement on an entire race’s means of survival. If, for generations without count, your people had found it necessary to use others thus, you would think nothing of it. You would not question it."

"I think I would. It would still be wrong."

"But your sense of right and wrong is conditioned by your culture. If your culture were different, your moral values would be different. You, who have traveled to many planets, should know better than I that there is no universal code of ethics. Ethics exist only in the context of the society to which they apply."

"No, some rights and wrongs are universal. Using and abusing sentient life-forms has to be wrong anywhere in the galaxy."

"You speak only from your own parochial viewpoint."

Daniel knew that she could no more see his point of view than he could see hers. "I think, for all their superior technology, a people who find slavery acceptable haven’t advanced much in ways that really matter," he replied.

For the first time her challenging gaze slid away from his; she glanced down at the floor he couldn’t see but seemingly in sadness rather than defeat. The elevator-capsule came to a halt. When her eyes returned to his face, her look was momentarily unguarded and for a flash her expression betrayed a depth of despair that stunned and confused him. She bowed her head slightly as though conceding his final point and when she looked up again her emotionless mask was back in place. She led him out.

They entered a room containing three women and a fearsome – to Daniel at least – array of equipment. She directed him to a dentist’s type chair where one of the women immediately moved to restrain his arms and head. He looked at Jand-Ezri in alarm, as the chair was partially reclined.

"It is necessary that you remain absolutely still Daniel. You may experience discomfort but there will be no pain." She smiled at him but he wasn’t reassured. "First your eyes will be examined by shining light into them then they will be covered whilst they are repaired. Afterwards you will not be able to see clearly but during the next one or two sun-cycles your vision will improve until it is perfect." She put her hand on his forehead and he felt the anxiety wash out of him and his body relaxed.

One of the women applied clips to his eyes to hold them open while lights were shone into them. Being unable to blink or move definitely counted as discomfort as far as Daniel was concerned. And it went on far longer than he would have liked.

Eventually the chair was reclined further until he was horizontal and liquid was dripped into his eyes. The clips were removed and he automatically blinked several times, trying to clear his vision, but before he could do so something soft covered his eyes. Then for a long while nothing much happened, except a few vague sensations which he thought might be caused by the gems on the women’s hands.

Then the covering was removed, the chair returned to being upright and he was released from the restraints. Slowly, he opened his eyes. All he could see was light, colors and blurred moving shapes.

Jand-Ezri’s voice was beside him and a hand touched his arm, "Can you walk?"

"Yes, I think so." He began to lever himself out of the chair.

"Then I will return you to your friends."

She guided him to the elevator and they traveled at a sedate pace back to SG-1’s quarters.

Jack was pacing yet again. He couldn’t settle when one of his team was absent, especially if that one was Daniel. At last, Jand-Ezri led him into the cell and helped him to find the bench.

What the hell? She’s helping him – why? He can’t see! Oh my God!

"What the hell happened? What’s wrong with him? What did you do to him?"

"It’s okay, Jack. I’m fine."

"The hell you are! Can you see?"

"Not much."

Jand-Ezri held up her hand to forestall Jack’s next outburst. "This is to be expected. The procedure causes inflammation but his vision will improve as this subsides. Within two sun-cycles, it will be perfect – as perfect as is possible for your species."

As she turned to leave she added softly over her shoulder, "Then you must begin to earn your keep."

Locked in a small room with nothing to do, time really dragged for them all but especially for Daniel as he could see so little. He’d slept twice, so assumed it was well over 24 hours, and he could still detect no improvement. He began to fear that something had gone wrong and his sight had actually been damaged. He tried to hide his concerns but his friends were well aware of his condition as he bumped into them every time he tried to move about. Having soaked his face, hair and clothing more than once he had had to concede that he required help to drink from the water fountain. And fear of having an even worse kind of accident whilst trying to use the unfamiliar equipment had forced him to accept assistance with other bodily needs. Jack tried to make it easier by being very matter-of-fact about it as he helped, but knew Daniel well enough to know how mortified he was by such dependency. It compounded a situation that was embarrassing enough to start with, since the only privacy they could give each other was to turn their backs.

Sam had asked how his vision had been repaired and he had had to tell her that he didn’t know but he guessed it involved using the gems all the women seemed to wear on their hands.

"The men didn’t have them," Sam observed.

"And therefore?" Jack inquired.

She shrugged, then went on, "I wonder how they work."

"They’re a bit like the Goa’uld healing devices, "ventured Daniel.

"That is incorrect, Daniel Jackson. Healing devices cannot be used to kill."

"Kill?" he asked in surprise.

"Jand-Ezri killed you. Have you forgotten?" Jack asked him.

"Oh, that… yeah. I guess you remember that better than I do."

"Ya think?"

Sam speculated, "If they can be used to both heal and kill, it must be possible for the user to send different types of energy through them."

"Perhaps the various colors indicate the kind of energy," suggested Teal’c.

"Yes, that would make sense. They glow different colors depending on what they’re being used for."

"Do they?" Daniel asked, "I’ve only seen blue."

He couldn’t see them but they all looked at him, remembering when they had seen the different colors and why he hadn’t.

"You felt them rather than saw them, Daniel," Jack told him, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Oh," he replied uncertainly.

"Do you not remember the red flash as you were struck down?" Teal’c inquired.

"Red flash? Hmm… "

"Did it hurt?" Jack couldn’t stop himself from asking.

"No… Yes, I remember now. Everything went red then nothing. No pain, just nothing. Then she was waking me up."

Of course everyone but Daniel remembered another time when they had seen a whole range of colors from the gems but no-one wanted to mention that. It would remind them of being interrogated and that experience was still too raw, for all of them.

Jack broke the ensuing silence, "So how do they send different types of energy through them?"

Sam admitted, "I don’t know."

"Mind control," Teal’c stated with certainty.

"Mind control?"

"The gems transmit psychic energy, do they not? They are controlled by the mind."

"Psychic energy? Is that possible?" As a scientist, Sam found it difficult to believe in the existence of what she thought of as paranormal phenomena.

"Why shouldn’t it be possible?" Daniel said, "Goa’uld ribbon devices are controlled by the mind, aren’t they? Just because humans can’t do that, doesn’t mean that these people can’t."

"What makes you think these people aren’t human, Daniel?" she asked him.

"Well, urm. I think… I… I mean—" Now he thought about it, he wasn’t sure. He just knew they weren’t. Maybe it was because he had been on the receiving end of their glowing gems so many times... or maybe... As he considered, knowledge of their world flooded his mind. Knowledge he didn't even know he had. He must have been given it when they had shown him their way of life during his Collection. At the time, he had focussed on only one aspect, but he had been given so much more, which now hit him like a tidal wave and he barely suppressed a gasp. Not human. Couldn’t possibly be a human society. He was certain, but he was too overwhelmed to attempt an explanation.

"They obviously have abilities we don’t," he said finally and inadequately.

"That could be just down to their technology."

He looked to where he knew she was, although he could only see her vague shape, and shook his head. He had a lot to process and was unwilling to prolong the conversation by saying more.

At last Daniel thought he detected some improvement but he wasn’t prepared to say anything until he was sure. However, once the improvement had begun, it proceeded rapidly and within a few hours he amazed his friends by moving to get himself a drink without needing help or bumping into anything. Thirst quenched, he turned round with a big grin on his face. His friends were smiling back, relief evident in all their faces.

Jack got up a clapped him on the shoulders, "How’ya doing, Daniel?"

"Pretty good, now."

A few hours later they were taken back to the embarkation room to board the vehicle that would take them to fight in an alien war.

CHAPTER 9

I don’t see the point of this anymore. I’m on my own, living in hell with no hope of escape or rescue and I’m tired, so very tired. When Daniel was here, I had a reason to keep going, to keep him going. Now I don’t. I don’t see why I should carrying on fighting anymore…

Teal’c wandered round the Distribution Center looking for anyone he might know. He really wanted to find his friends from SG-1 but he was also on the lookout for anyone from the SGC. At least one more team had been sent to rescue them but they were captured and now they would be here somewhere, also forced to be warriors. So every time he was at the Distribution Center he would always search it carefully for familiar faces.

This was the fourth time he had been here. The first time was when they had been brought from the city. He and Captain Carter had heard their names being called and they had all gone to the caller. It was a woman waiting to load the two of them into a vehicle to transport them to one of the battle zones. They had been adamant that they would all remain together and be sent to the same zone, but to no avail. In the end the woman had activated the O'Neill 's collar and threatened to do the same to him and Captain Carter unless they entered the vehicle. They had had no choice. The last sight he had had of them had been of a distraught Daniel Jackson tending O'Neill as he convulsed on the floor.

The second and third times he had been here were after injuries. He remembered being struck down and had regained consciousness in the medical facilities with his symbiote strangely disturbed, though he didn't know the reason. Once they were healed, warriors were returned to the Distribution Center to be re-allocated to battle zones. Now he had been brought here directly from the zone and he had no idea why. His search completed without result, he settled himself into a quiet corner to meditate. There was neither time nor place to rest in the battle zone; he had been finding it very difficult to find enough peace to practice kel-no-reem and his health was beginning to suffer.

Sam had never met males like these anywhere, on any planet.

She had been in the Air Force long enough to know all about the sexual chauvinism and even harassment that was part of many servicemen’s natural behavior, even though officially discouraged. So when she discovered that she was the only female warrior she had feared for her own safety and Teal’c had stood by to protect her honor, should it be necessary to do so. But it wasn’t. Even after she had lost contact with him she had had no problems. Not of that nature anyway.

These men were respectful towards her whilst somehow, at the same time, treating her as an equal. She didn’t understand their language, so she couldn’t be certain about their attitudes but it seemed to her that females were not regarded as sexual objects. In fact, these men seemed to have no sexual inclinations at all. At first she wondered if certain parts had been surgically removed but as neither the washing nor toilet facilities had any screens she had ample opportunity to observe that this was not so.

This was something that really bothered her – these people had absolutely no concept of personal privacy and no-one seemed to think that she, as a female, warranted any special consideration. She did her best to expose herself as little as possible but sometimes there was simply no alternative. However, to her relief, no-one paid any more attention to her than they did to anyone else in the communal facilities. In this respect, as in all others, she was just ‘one of the boys’.

"Teal’c? Teal’c!"

The Jaffa’s eyes snapped open at once at the sound of his name.

"O’Neill!" His friend was crouching before him. At once Jack’s arms went round him and he was pulled into a hug, which he somewhat hesitantly returned.

"Am I glad to see you! Is Carter here?"

"I do not believe so."

"Damn!"

"Where is Daniel Jackson?"

"We were separated, Teal’c. He was injured, or worse. That was a number of days ago – well the equivalent of – and I haven’t found him again since."

"I regret to inform you that Captain Carter and I were also separated some time ago. I do not know her whereabouts, or status."

Jack eased himself into a sitting position next to him. "I’ve been brought here from the battle but I don’t know why."

"As have I. Perhaps we are to be allocated to a different battle zone?"

"Yeah maybe. We ought to rest while we can. I’ll take first watch, in case the others turn up."

"I have already rested. I will watch."

Teal’c realized how very weary Jack must be when he readily agreed and within a few minutes he was asleep. The Jaffa allowed himself light meditation only so as to be able to observe his surroundings.

Daniel sat cross-legged in the bank of bushes in which he had taken refuge, staring at the weapon he held in his lap. He was pretty sure that, at this range, it was capable of killing him. What he didn’t know was whether he could actually bring himself to press the button that would send the fatal charge of energy into his body and, if he did, whether he would simply be revived again.

He hadn’t seen Jack since the first time he had been injured or was it killed? Didn’t seem to make much difference here. Until then he had imagined that there was always a way out of this living hell. Not the Stargate, not to home and friends, not a resumption of his life. But the Ultimate Exit. If he finally decided he'd had enough, there was always that option. Knowing that escape was possible had helped him to carry on. But then he’d woken up in some kind of military hospital and he knew that that option didn’t exist. He'd seen the dead revived, and despaired.

He’d been allowed to stay and rest for a while; that had given him the chance to catch up on some much needed sleep. He was even more sleep-deprived now. When he'd been with Jack they had taken turns to watch while the other slept, lying on the ground where ever they happened to be and snatching what rest they could. But alone he didn't dare sleep for fear that the Vairish would overrun his position and capture him, then he would be taken to fight for them. That would really screw up his chances of finding the others again.

At the hospital the medical personnel wore silver outfits and, as color of clothing seemed to denote occupation, he had thought that Jand-Ezri might be there. He had looked out for her in the brief periods he had been awake but had not seen her. Then he’d been sent back to the battle zone, or to one of them. By its very nature it was difficult to move freely in the zone but he had searched as best he could for Jack, or Sam or Teal’c but had found none of them. It was after the second time he was injured or killed, he really wasn't sure which, and had searched his new surroundings without success for his friends, that he really lost interest in staying alive. He had long given up hope of getting home and now he didn’t think he would find his friends again either.

He was quite sure it was possible to be killed and remain dead. Otherwise there would be older warriors here and there weren’t. None was older than he was and most were much younger. Jack, much to his chagrin, had been treated as something of an oddity because of his age.

The sounds of battle drawing nearer shook him from his reverie. If he didn’t move now the enemy would find him anyway. And he really didn't want to be taken be the Vairish, alive or dead. He scrambled to his feet and rejoined his comrades as they fell back.

"O’Neill, you must awaken."

Jack was struggling to his feet even before his eyes were fully open and his friend reached out a steadying hand.

"We are being summoned," Teal’c continued.

"What for?"

"That I do not know."

"Then let’s find out." Jack set off, following the sound of both their names being called by some-one on the far side of the room. It turned out to be a woman who was waiting to load them into a transport vehicle.

"Where are we going?" asked Jack.

"You are to be returned to the city."

"Why?"

"There can be only one reason – your owner requires your return."

They were the only passengers in the vehicle and soon they were back in the city, checked in with the woman on the desk and being led to a very familiar cell.

A figure was stretched out on the bench, asleep. A figure with blond hair and…

"Carter! My God! Carter! Are you alright?"

This was the first sleep Sam had had for a long time and it was deep. She forced her eyes open and struggled back to consciousness. In front of her were two of the people she had most longed to see.

"Captain Carter, it is good to see you again. Are you well?" Simple words but even Teal’c couldn’t hide the depth of emotion they held.

Sam was finally awake and up and they were all embracing, words tumbling over each other in their haste to express how glad they were to be together again. Suddenly Sam’s features clouded,

"What happened to Daniel, sir?"

"I don’t know Carter. We were separated." Jack decided not to mention his fears for the archaeologist. Now that the three of them were together, he felt Daniel’s absence all the more keenly.

They talked for a long time, discussing what had happened to them since their separation and why they had been brought back to the city but they avoided speculating about why Daniel wasn’t with them. Eventually they were talked dry and they gave in to their pressing need for sleep.

CHAPTER 10

"Hi, Jack, Sam, Teal’c."

They were instantly alert…

"Daniel!"

…And hugging.

Jand-Ezri was watching them with something like amusement on her face.

"Are you guys all okay?"

"Yeah, Daniel, we’re fine, you?"

"I’m fine. Tired. I was injured. Jand-Ezri brought me here from the hospital. She’s some kind of medic."

"Yeah, we’ve all been injured, Daniel." Jack scowled at her, "All of us. More than once."

"I am well aware of your hit rate," she replied, all amusement gone. "The id tags you bear into battle are mine. When you strike down the enemy, I am rewarded – paid. When you yourselves are struck down, it is I who pays for your repairs, if I so choose. So far I have chosen to do so."

They were all stunned by this information but Sam was the first to realize the implications, "So, you took us captive to earn money for you. But… you must be losing money on us while we’re here. So, why did you bring us?"

"I have been reviewing the knowledge obtained during your Collections and I wish for more information from you."

"More? How much more can there be? You already know more me about than I do!" Jack said with feeling. Then, without giving her chance to reply he went on, "What’s in it for us?"

"In it for you?"

"You get information and we get what?"

"You mean reward? You seek reward?"

"Yeah, reward would be good."

"Whilst you are here you do not risk injury in the battle, is that not reward enough? Also, I have brought Teal’c to you although I do not seek information from him."

"Yeah, that’s really sweet of you," Jack said with all the sarcasm he could muster, "You enslave us, force us to fight your war and we’re supposed to be grateful?"

"I do not ask for gratitude. I ask for information. For clarification – details that are not easily discerned by examining your memories."

Jack continued to glare at her.

"You still do not fully comprehend your situation, do you Jack? I own you. You are mine to do with as I will, to send to the battle, to repair... or not. I have power of life and death over you. I could kill you all here and now, it is my right."

"Okay, okay, I think we get the picture," said Daniel attempting to defuse the situation, "We’re your slaves and our lives are in your hands. What is it you want to know?"

Jand-Ezri turned to him, "Daniel, you were not a warrior on your world. You were excused because your vision was defective?"

"Er, no." He licked his lips. "It’s because I didn’t choose to be."

"You did not choose?" she repeated, disbelievingly. "How can being a warrior be a matter of choice? Who would choose to fight and die if others could choose to remain safe and have long life?"

Daniel, not knowing how to answer, looked at Jack who took his cue, "Well, I would. I did, so did Carter."

"Why?"

"Urmm…" Jack had no idea how to answer. To his relief Sam began to explain.

"Being a warrior on our world is not the same as here. On our world war is intermittent, infrequent. At least our country’s involvement in it is. So the chances of being killed are small. Most of our warriors live to a ripe old age."

Jand-Ezri was beginning to understand, "So, this is how you have reached your great age Jack?"

"Less of the great, if you don’t mind!"

"The colonel, er – Jack – isn’t considered old on our world, even for a warrior."

"And you Sam, how many children do you have?"

Sam was completely thrown by the question, "Er, me? Er – none."

"Ah, you have been excused child-bearing because you are a warrior?"

Still thrown by the line of questioning Sam could only stammer another negative.

"But surely you are of child-bearing age for your species?" Jand-Ezri persisted.

Daniel came to her rescue, "Sam hasn’t chosen to have children."

"Er, yes that’s right. I haven’t – urmm – found the right man – anyone I want to marry and have children with."

"Marry?" Jand-Ezri’s eyes searched theirs. It was only fitting for their resident anthropologist to explain.

"You know, when a man and a woman – um… love each other and – promise themselves to each other and – er, have children." Daniel finished lamely.

Jand-Ezri looked stunned, "You mean a man and a woman choose each other then… physically join to create a child?"

"Yes, don’t you do that here?"

"No, not for many generations."

"Then, how did you have many gen—" Jack’s question ended abruptly as Carter elbowed him in the ribs and gave him a stern look.

"Shall I tell you how it is on Meri’ci?"

Jack shrugged, Sam nodded, Teal’c inclined his head and Daniel said, "Yes, please."

"The Kord’ah did not originate on this planet. The memory of our home-world that is handed down to us is of a beautiful place. The seas teemed with swimming life-forms. On land there was a great variety of animals and plants, not just the trees we now have here. The Kord'ah lived without conflict, females and males together despite the females' greater sentience.

"Then an asteroid on a collision course was detected. It was very large and attempts to deflect it were unsuccessful. Our technology was less advanced then and disaster could not be averted. Evacuation was our only hope. Scouts were sent through the Portal to find a new home. Time for searching was short and this was the best they found.

"Unfortunately, it was already occupied by the Vairish.

"Although they could easily do so, the Kord’ah would not annihilate them but drove them back from the area around the Portal, until each had half the available land. My people thought this fair but the Vairish have never relinquished their claim to their former territory and so the conflict has continued for more than a hundred generations. Over the centuries we have adapted to war as a constant, to such an extent that now the very structures of both our societies are built upon it and our way of life depends on its continuance. We are locked into a conflict that can never be ended, because if it did our civilizations would founder."

Her gaze tracked over her silent audience. Then she continued, "A female reaches maturity when she has lived for fourteen orbits of our sun and then she is impregnated with her first child – a daughter, the only one she will ever bear. One female to replace one female. When her child has lived for four orbits, she is impregnated with her first son and when that son has lived for four orbits, another son. And so on, all her fertile years. The daughter will be assessed in infancy and allocated to a task – a job that she will do as an adult. She will receive a wide education but always with her future task in mind. The males do not have the psychic abilities of the females and so for the sons there is only one task – that of a warrior and all their childhood they will train for it.

"When a male reaches maturity he goes to be a warrior. His mother takes his earnings and is responsible for paying for his repairs whenever he is struck down. So each woman must amass as much money as she is able so she can pay for repairs to her sons for as long as possible. If a woman can take other warriors captive and claim them for her own, she increases her earnings and can thus prolong her own sons' lives. This is why you are so valuable to me. Any warrior outside the battle zones may be fairly taken, whether Kord'ah, Vairish or from off-world.

"But however willing the owner, some injuries are not economic to repair. None is rich enough to waste money on these at the expense of her other warriors’ lesser injuries. Life expectancy is short, very few survive as warriors beyond ten sun-orbits."

SG-1 absorbed her information in shocked silence.

"Why didn't your people simply go elsewhere? There are hundreds of unoccupied planets out there." Sam asked her.

"There was not time to find another place before the evacuation had to begin. Do you know how long it takes to send a million people through the Portal?"

"But afterwards, you could have moved on?"

Jand-Ezri shook her head. "My people are – were – peaceable. Although we would defend ourselves against aggressors, we had never before been at war. We thought we were fair, we allowed the Vairish to retain half the land. We assumed they would act as we would have done in their situation – that when they realized they could not prevail against us they would call for an armistice. But it was not so. For the Vairish it is more dishonorable to sue for peace than to be vanquished. I do not doubt that had our ancestors known how long this war would last or how our once liberal society would be diminished by it they would have ended the conflict, one way or another. But prescience is a rare gift, even among the Kord'ah. They could not know what we would become."

Fearing that he already knew the answer but unable to stop himself from asking anyway, Daniel said, "So what happens to warriors if their owner won’t pay for their repairs?"

"The owner relinquishes her ownership then they are available for anyone else to claim and pay for the repairs. If no-one comes forward, their life is terminated." Her tone was as expressionless as ever.

"You kill your own people?" Jack was incredulous.

"Warriors who cannot fight have no purpose." No emotion.

"So you just kill them? Jeez! You people never heard of retirement homes?"

"Couldn’t they do some other work?" Sam asked quickly.

"They are trained only as warriors."

"Do you not value them for the service they have given?" Even Teal’c was finding it hard to conceal his repugnance.

"Those who cannot perform their task have no value."

Daniel shook his head and turned away. It was as he suspected. As an anthropologist he was trained to accept other cultures’ ways and values but even he was struggling with the reality of systematic euthanasia on what must be a huge scale. He didn’t know why but he was shocked and disappointed at Jand-Ezri’s apparently calm acceptance of it.

But Jack wasn’t an anthropologist and couldn’t get his head round what he was hearing. "And this is the fate you have in store for us, right? We fight for you and when we’re too badly injured you have us put down like some lame animal?"

"Jack, this is the reality of life on Meri’ci." Her tone was conciliatory. "Do not imagine that females escape this fate. The only difference is that we have choice as to timing. We have the opportunity to prepare. Our ancestors had a life span of more than 200 sun-orbits but now few females choose to out-live the last of their sons by more than a short time.

"Daniel." She waited for him to turn back to face her. "You have spoken much of slavery. But you see, on Meri’ci, we are all slaves, none is free."

Jack broke the ensuing silence, "Yeah right. You’ll forgive us if we find it hard to be sympathetic but right now we have our own problems and you’ve just made them worse."

"Perhaps, Jack, we are in a position to help each other."

"We’re listening."

"My daughter, Jand-Aya, approaches her fourth birthday, soon I will be impregnated with my first son. I do not wish to bear a child whose destiny is already decided, whose life will be foreshortened. You seek to return to your home world. I seek freedom from a life of being forced to bear children against my will, for myself and for my daughter.

"I offer you a deal, Jack. I will allow you to return to your world if you will take us with you and guarantee us the freedom I seek."

Sam turned immediately to the colonel, "Sir, this is our best – our only shot at getting home."

"No," Daniel broke in urgently, "Jack, we can’t. You know we can’t."

"Daniel?"

"We can’t take her back. You know what would happen – Maybourne would want her. It would be like the Tollans all over again."

"Daniel!" Her voice was restrained but Sam’s body language was screaming at him to keep quiet.

"As Jand-Ezri has already told us, if we are returned to the battle zone our life-expectancy will be short," Teal’c added.

"I’m sorry, guys. But I’m not prepared to buy my life with promises we can’t fulfil."

"What about our lives, Daniel. Don’t we get a say?" said Sam angrily. "We could always send her somewhere else, like we did with the Tollans."

"We only just pulled off that trick last time with help from the Nox, no way would Maybourne fall for it again. He won’t let anyone else slip through his fingers. Jand-Ezri would be just trading one kind of slavery for another," he replied.

Jack looked hard at Daniel for a minute, considering. "Much as I hate to say it Carter, Daniel is right. We can’t do this without Jand-Ezri understanding the score." Then turning to her he continued, "I think we can pretty much guarantee that you wouldn’t be forced to bear children. But a certain – urm – department of our government would be very interested in your technology. They would be quite prepared to confine you to get the information they want from you."

Jand-Ezri thought for a moment, "And my daughter, what would become of her?"

"Foster parents would be found for her, people to care for her." Daniel told her.

"So she would have freedom?"

"Yeah, I don’t think even Maybourne wouldn’t stoop so low as to imprison a child." Jack hardly kept the bitterness from his voice.

"This Maybourne, he is as you are, human?"

"Yes," said Daniel.

"No," said Jack simultaneously. Then he clarified, "Well, okay technically, yeah. It’s just hard to think of him that way."

Jand-Ezri considered again before replying, "Very well, I accept the risk. Jand-Aya at least will have freedom. I still offer you the deal."

Jack glanced round his team before replying, "Okay but we’re gonna need our stuff."

Sam jumped in, "Specifically a radio transmitter. There’s a – um – shutter on our Stargate, we have to send a signal through to tell them to open it otherwise, er, we won’t re-integrate, we’ll be killed."

"I understand. ICD still have your equipment, I will retrieve it."

"What?" Jack asked, "They’ll just give it back?"

"Of course, you are my captives, it belongs to me. There are preparations I must make, I will return when all is ready."

"Wait a minute!" Sam called as she turned to leave. "What about the others?"

"Others?"

"The others who came after us?"

"I do not own them. I cannot help them." Then seeing the looks on their faces she added, "They are in the battle zones and they are not mine to retrieve. I am sorry."

CHAPTER 11

"How long’s it been Teal’c?" asked Jack as he stood up then seeing Carter’s disapproving look, he sat down again abruptly. His pacing got on her nerves.

"More than a sun-cycle," Teal’c replied.

"And how long is that?"

"Around 33 hours, sir."

"Christ! What can take so long?"

"How long would it take you to get ready to leave Earth, Jack?"

"Not this long. Something’s gone wrong. She’s changed her mind. Maybe she couldn’t get our stuff back from ICD."

"I think she would’ve come back and told us if that were the case," Daniel said.

"She’s bringing her daughter, maybe making arrangements for her takes time," Sam suggested.

"And maybe some-one found out what she was planning and now she’s in trouble and the first we’ll know about it is when we get shipped back to the battle zone." Jack was determined to think of every possible reason for Jand-Ezri not returning for so long. Giving in to his urge, he stood again and began pacing. Sam looked at Daniel on the opposite bench and, rolling her eyes to heaven, lifted her feet out of harm’s way.

Some time later, Jand-Ezri walked into the room to find Jack, Sam and Daniel stretched out apparently unconscious. Teal’c was sat cross-legged, his eyes closed, also unaware of her presence.

"What are you doing?" The question burst from her lips in surprise.

They were awake at once.

"Whoa, what?"

"What are you doing?" she repeated.

"We were sleeping, what d’ya think?" Relief and annoyance mixed in Jack’s tone.

"Only infants sleep." She was smiling. It must be okay, she’s smiling.

"Here! Maybe here! But where we come from everyone sleeps! Y’know, it’s a basic human requirement."

Still smiling, she led them out of the cell, to the desk by the external doors and told the woman on duty there that they were leaving.

"Where are you taking them?" she asked suspiciously.

"I am travelling to Arbethan, I will take them to the Distribution Center on the way."

"This is not the usual procedure."

"I have lost enough money on them whilst they have been here, I wish to return them as soon as possible," Jand-Ezri told her briskly.

The woman accepted her story, recorded their id’s and checked them out. Jand-Ezri led them to her waiting vehicle. Inside it was a girl aged about five. She looked so much like her mother that Sam wondered whether these people used cloning techniques, since obviously they didn’t reproduce by natural means. Like all the females they had seen, the child wore numerous bracelets all down her arms ending in gold settings for the gems on the back of her hands, and her long golden hair was held by a miniature version of a head-dress.

"This is my daughter, Jand-Aya. She does not yet understand your language."

They all smiled and made ‘pleased to meet you’ gestures before Jand-Ezri secured them on the rear seats inside a protective force-field. Jand-Aya sat next to her mother up front. As they left the city behind they looked back at it, never so relieved to be leaving anywhere. As before the trees were a green blur below them but when the vehicle slowed and sank down, they found they were not in the same open forest they had walked through from the Stargate before they were captured. The trees were closer together and between them were bushes and undergrowth. In fact, the vegetation was very similar to that in some of the battle zones. Jand-Ezri moved back to them and released the force-field.

"The scanners do not indicate the presence of anyone near the Portal but scanners can be deceived by cloaking devices. I must go closer on foot and check for myself."

"You people have cloaking technology?" Sam’s eyebrows shot up, "That explains a lot!"

"You will remain inside the vehicle with Jand-Aya and await my return."

"Can we have our weapons back?" Jack caught her look and added hastily, "Just to defend ourselves, okay?"

"No, I have examined your weapons; they are designed to cause serious damage or death. I cannot allow you to harm anyone. You will remain in the vehicle. You will have no need to defend yourselves." She spoke briefly in her own language to her daughter and then left, closing the door after her. As they watched her walk away she suddenly vanished from sight.

"Wow! Guess she cloaked," breathed Sam, "I’d like one of those! Maybe for Christmas, guys?"

But Jack was not happy, "Anyone else feel like a sitting duck?"

"I do not feel like a duck, sitting or otherwise," Teal’c replied.

"No, Teal’c. It means… oh, never mind. Look, let’s get out of here." Jack went to the door and touched the control to open it.

"Sir?"

"We’ll take cover in the bushes."

"She told us to stay in the vehicle, Jack."

He spun back to face Daniel, "I know what she told us, Daniel. But however Teal’c feels, we are sitting ducks here without weapons. And I don’t trust her – does this look to you like the terrain near the Stargate?

"But, Jack…"

"No buts, Daniel! There," he pointed, "we’ll take cover over there."

Daniel sighed, he knew it was pointless to argue, "What about Jand-Aya?"

"Bring her with us."

This was easier said than done, Jand-Aya had no intention of disobeying her mother and resisted fiercely and vocally, though they couldn’t understand anything she said. In the end Teal’c picked her up and carried her. To their relief, once they got her out of the vehicle she stopped resisting and was silent. They crouched in the bushes to await Jand-Ezri’s return.

Jand-Ezri moved silently through the forest and approached the edge of the clearing where the Portal stood from the West side. She had judged it wiser to come from the opposite direction to the area where she had taken her captives so many sun-cycles ago.

Apart from the Portal and its pedestal, the clearing was empty. The robotic device they had sent through before they came was no longer there. Both it and the aerial device had been taken by ICD for examination. She supposed that, technically, they belonged to her, but there was no point in reclaiming them now.

She scanned the tree-line but found no-one. When SG-1 had revealed that more would be sent to look for them, many had hidden in wait by the Portal. So many that, when only eight humans had arrived, they had had to form a syndicate to share ownership of them. During their Collections, these eight had said that no more would be sent. So those waiting had dispersed.

She walked out in plain view towards the pedestal and apparently examined it, though her perceptions were actually concentrated in the surrounding trees. Then she turned a full circle, using all her senses to check again for anyone concealed in the forest. To her relief, she still found no-one.

Although they would not attempt to prevent her leaving, they would demand an explanation. She really didn’t want to have to justify her decision. They would disapprove, she was shirking her duty to society by not producing her quota of warriors.

It would be harder still to explain why she was taking her captives with her and would be even more frowned upon. Such a thing had never been done before. She wasn’t even sure whether, if anyone knew, they would try to stop them leaving.

Making one final check, she turned to go back the way she had come. But as she did so, she saw a transport vehicle pass nearby. Then it turned and went back, sinking into the trees near her own. Panicked, she broke into a run.

SG-1 had been sat in the bushes waiting for what seemed a long time but they had no idea how far Jand-Ezri had to go to get to the gate. Then at last they heard someone approach. Whoever it was stopped at the vehicle.

‘She’s going to be pissed we didn’t stay there,’ thought Jack.

Then she came directly over to the team’s hiding place. Wondering how she had located them, Jack was about to stand up and greet Jand-Ezri, when he heard a voice that he had never heard before, speaking a language he didn’t know. They all looked at each other, both stunned and alarmed. The voice came again. Before anyone could stop her, Jand-Aya stepped out and began speaking to the woman. After a few moments of conversation they heard the voice address them again but this time in English.

"I am Beda-Tasi, daughter of Beda-Zyan, and I claim you as my captives You will now follow procedure."

Jack groaned inwardly, shaking his head at the others.

"I know that you understand me now. I have assimilated enough of your language. You will follow procedure, or I will activate your collars."

Jack signed the others to remain where they were then he stood and walked out to face their would-be captor.

"Hi there." He waved his hand with a forced friendliness.

She already had a scanner in her hand and scanned his body from the head down.

"The others must also follow procedure."

"Others? I’m alone."

"Untrue. There are three others."

Jack looked down at Jand-Aya, "Nice work!" He made a circle with his thumb and forefinger to emphasize his point.

"I did not need the child to tell me. I was aware of the four of you and her before she spoke to me. If your comrades refuse to emerge I will activate their collars."

"I’m sorry to disappoint you but we’re already captives. We’re owned by Jand-Ezri."

"No, you were owned by Jand-Ezri but now you are my captives."

The others came out and she scanned them before revealing a vehicle not far from the one they had left and motioned them into it.

"Shouldn’t we wait for Jand-Ezri to return," asked Jack, trying to stall for time.

"Why?"

"We can’t leave the child alone," Sam pointed out.

"She will come to no harm," Beda-Tasi replied.

As they were reluctantly moving towards the vehicle Jack was planning to make a stand even if it resulted in his collar being activated. Although he wasn’t sure he trusted Jand-Ezri, she was their only hope and they couldn’t allow this woman to take them away before she got back and sorted this out.

Just then, to his immense relief, she walked out of the trees. She bent her forearms in front of her, the left one palm down and the right palm up, so that the gems on her the backs of her hands touched, at the same time bowing her head. The other woman returned the greeting.

"These are my captives," Jand-Ezri told her.

"No, they were your captives, now they are mine. They were on the ground and I claimed them fairly."

"I instructed them to remain in my vehicle."

"Then they disobeyed you. You have my permission to punish them."

Jand-Ezri stood looking at SG-1, her expression unreadable. They were waiting anxiously for her to say or do whatever was necessary to get them away from their new captor.

"Perhaps you would prefer that I punish them for you?" Beda-Tasi broke the pause.

Jand-Ezri held Jack's eyes a moment longer then shifted her gaze to the woman, "They are your captives, you may do with them as you will." She took Jand-Aya’s hand and turned back towards her vehicle. Her former captives were horrified – surely she wasn’t going to just accept the situation and walk away – from them and from the freedom she had sought?

"For God’s sake, you’re not gonna leave us here?" Jack called after her desperately.

For a moment, she looked back sadly then mother and child went inside the vehicle and it moved away.

CHAPTER 12

They were all too shocked to do anything but comply as Beda-Tasi ordered them into her vehicle and secured them on the seats with a force-field. All too soon they were back in the city that they had so hoped never to see again and entered the same building they had so recently left.

Beda-Tasi told the woman at the desk that they needed re-tagging to show that she was now their owner and, for a moment, they had feared that their necks would be pierced by that giant needle again. But no, apparently all that was required was some adjustment to their existing id tags, which was done by holding a device in front of each of them. The woman made no comment about their return with a different captor.

Then they were led back to the same cell and as soon as they were alone Jack thumped the wall so hard it must have hurt.

"Somebody wanna tell me what just happened back there?"

Very quietly Daniel replied, "We blew it."

"I don’t understand why Jand-Ezri didn’t do something," Sam said.

"It may be that, as Beda-Tasi said she had claimed us fairly, she could do nothing," Teal’c observed.

"She could have zapped her, like she did Daniel." Jack couldn’t hide his frustration.

"It is probable that such action is forbidden," Teal’c responded.

"So what? She was leaving the planet, for Godssake!" Jack thumped the wall again then threw himself down dejectedly on the bench. The others did the same.

A short while later Jand-Ezri entered, her face unreadable.

"I wish to know why you disobeyed my instruction to remain inside the vehicle." There was disappointment and sadness rather than anger in her voice.

Jack had calmed down sufficiently to be able to reply evenly, "We thought we’d be safer hiding in the undergrowth."

"Hiding? How could you hide in a bush? Do you know nothing? Have you learnt nothing of the ways of the Kord’ah? Even without her scanners, with just her own senses Beda-Tasi could smell you, hear you breathing, detect your body heat and sense your life-energy. You could not have been more obvious if you had set the bush aflame!"

Stunned, none of them made any reply.

She went on, "Inside the vehicle you would have been safe. She could not have taken you from there."

"We were even more obvious in there! She could’ve easily opened the door and ordered us out!" Jack said defensively.

"No, the door could not be opened from outside except by me. Even if she could have taken you, she would not have done so. Whilst you were inside you were still in my possession, once you left you made yourselves available for capture. Your disregard of my instruction has cost us all dear. Now you will never be able to return home and I am also condemned to life here. A high price indeed." She turned to leave.

"No wait." Sam stood, "surely you can still take us?"

"I no longer own you. You are not mine to take."

"So steal us! You’re leaving the planet anyway, what difference does it make?" Jack demanded.

"Steal?" She looked confused for a moment before understanding came, "You mean take that which is not mine? I cannot."

"Why?"

"It is… wrong."

"This is a fine time to go all moral on us." Daniel couldn’t keep the bitterness from his voice. "Slavery is acceptable but stealing isn’t, is that it?"

She said nothing but he could tell from her look that he was right.

He went on, "So you’re going to let us be sent back to the battle zone? You won’t help us get home?"

"There is nothing I can do! I no longer own you!" She turned away again to leave.

"So, what would happen to you if you sprung us? You won’t even be here to face the music!" Jack called after her.

Jand-Ezri paused with her back to them, took a breath then continued out of the door and returned to her waiting vehicle. She sat at the control panel without touching it, not knowing where to go. Damn humans, why couldn’t they, just for once, do as she told them? Just this one time, when it really mattered. Perhaps it was her own fault; she knew how recalcitrant they were. Maybe she should have explained, made them understand how important it was.

Tears. What had Sam told her about tears? A sign of great distress. What did they call it? Weeping. Yes, that was it. If it had been physically possible for her to weep, she would have done so. The chance of freedom, a better life for herself and her daughter, had been held out to her then snatched away, all because Jack wouldn’t obey her instruction.

And now they were suggesting that she take them anyway, even though they were no longer hers to take. Stealing. They wanted her to steal them. It was unthinkable. The Kord’ah didn’t steal. She had had no concept of such a thing until she had seen the thought in Jack’s mind. How would her mother and her mother’s mother live with the shame if she took another’s captives in order to leave Meri’ci? What would they think of her? She took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. Only one way to find out. She directed her thoughts towards her mother, seeking her location. She was with Jand-Ezri’s younger brothers in the crèche. Her destination decided, she touched the control panel and the vehicle moved away.

"Okay, Daniel. Spill it."

Daniel looked at Jack in confusion.

"I know you all want to tell me how much I screwed up back there, ordering us out of that vehicle. Carter can’t because I’m her CO, Teal’c won’t because he’s Teal’c. But you, what’s stopping you?"

"Would it do any good, Jack?" Daniel asked quietly, "What’s done is done."

"And now we all live with the consequences, right?" Jack finished angrily. He slumped heavily onto the seat, "Godamnit! We’d all be home now."

"I think," Daniel went on, "you’re gonna beat yourself up enough for this without any of us helping."

"Come," the woman ordered, as she de-activated the force-field across the cell door. She led them to the elevator.

"Y’know, this is getting really old," Jack remarked wearily.

One long and nauseating ride later and they were back in the hall from which the vehicle that would return them to the Distribution Center left. As before, a number of other young men were waiting. The vehicle arrived, their ids were checked and then they were on their way – back to hell.

They had been travelling for some minutes and were well outside the city when the vehicle came to a halt for no apparent reason, in the middle of nowhere. It sank down to the ground and the woman driving it got out and looked around. Jand-Ezri appeared suddenly, held up her hands, gems flaring with red light and the woman fell.

As soon as Jack saw her he urged his team out of the door, his heart in his mouth. She didn't wait for them to reach her but acknowledged them with a nod before leading them away at a run towards her own vehicle. Once they were all inside, she set off without even bothering to secure them and they fell on top of each other. They managed to disentangle themselves and sit on the bench. No-one had spoken. A few minutes later the vehicle slowed and they were all thrown forward, coming to rest against the back of the front seat. When she stood and saw them there at her feet, she seemed surprised but recovered immediately.

"This time you will remain inside the vehicle," she told them, "If you disobey me, I will kill you all, whatever the cost." She looked down at them with a severe expression. On the other side of them Jand-Aya stood smiling.

Jack was unable to stand due to Carter lying over his legs and having one arm trapped under Daniel but with all the dignity he could muster he replied, "We’ll stay here. Right, you got it."

Satisfied, she left, closing the door after her.

"Any broken bones?" asked Jack as they disentangled themselves for the second time.

"I’m fine, sir."

"No, I’m okay."

"I am uninjured."

Sam sat herself at the console to examine it.

Jack leaned towards her and said loudly and close to her ear, "Touch nothing, Captain!"

Sam waved her hands in the air to show she had no intention of doing so. In fact there appeared to be very few controls and none had any markings, so it meant nothing to her. Jand-Aya sat next to her and started trying to explain but Sam couldn’t understand her. Jack hovered, extremely concerned that an accidental touch of a button would send them shooting away and their chance getting home would be screwed again. In the end he was so worried he pulled them both away and they all sat in silence on the rear seat, waiting.

Jand-Ezri returned and motioned them out. She took Jand-Aya’s hand and led them, running through the trees. Suddenly she dropped flat, her daughter beside her. When Jack arrived beside them and saw that they were at the edge of the clearing containing the Stargate, his heart leapt. They were nearly there! He looked at Jand-Ezri; she had her head in her hands, her gems glowing faintly.

"What’s wrong?" he hissed.

After a few seconds she looked up, "The alarm has been raised, we should make haste." And then she was up and running towards the Stargate, with SG-1 hurrying after her. When she got to the DHD she stopped and looked around anxiously.

"Dial it up, Daniel. Where’s the GDO?" Jack called.

"What?"

"The radio transmitter, the one that tells our people to open the iris," Sam explained hurriedly.

She pulled something off the back of her belt but it definitely wasn’t a GDO.

"This isn’t it!" Sam cried in dismay.

"ICD un-made yours to examine them. It was quicker to make a new one than to repair an original," Jand-Ezri explained then, seeing the look of doubt on the captain’s face, she continued, "Don’t worry, it works in the same way."

"If it doesn’t send precisely the right signal, they won’t open the iris and we’ll all die," Sam said.

"It will."

"Carter?"

"Sir, we can’t be sure that this device will send the correct signal, any error will be fatal."

"It will send exactly the same signal as your own device. I am coming with you, do you think I would risk my life or the life of my daughter if I was not certain?"

"Good enough for me, Captain."

But Sam was not convinced.

Daniel, who had been distracted by the discussion, was now pressing the final glyph.

"I must protect us from the energy spike of the Portal," Jand-Ezri explained to them as she crouched beside Jand-Aya with her arms around her and her gems glowing purple.

Jack looked at them then back to Carter, with the unspoken question on his face, ~What the hell is she doing and why?~

After the kawoosh was over and the event horizon had settled back to a shimmering blue, she stood again.

Sam was in awe, "You can actually feel the energy output when the wormhole establishes?"

"It is not a pleasant sensation," Jand-Ezri told her.

"Okay, finish this at the SGC. Send the signal, Carter. Let’s go!" Jack called already moving towards the welcoming shimmer.

"But, sir…"

"Now, Carter!"

She was entering the code but still wasn’t happy. "Sir, if this wrong…"

"You wanna stay here, Sam? Go back to the battle? We don’t have a choice!" Daniel called to her as everyone but Sam moved towards the ‘gate. Then they were gone, whether back on Earth or dead she had no way of knowing. Crossing her fingers she ran the last few yards then, taking a deep breath, she walked into the event horizon.

CHAPTER 13

When Daniel stepped out of the event horizon onto the ramp in the SGC, he was so relieved to find himself alive and home, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Then, seeing the 20 or so SFs with automatic weapons trained on them, he judged it better to save any emotional release for a more private moment. Jand-Aya was between him and Jand-Ezri and, sensing the latter tense, he tightened his grip on the child’s shoulders and urged them forwards before Teal’c could step out on top of them.

"It’s okay, this is normal procedure," he reassured them sotto voce. Jack was already approaching the foot of the ramp where General Hammond waited to greet them.

"SG-1! How did you get home? We gave up hope on you weeks ago."

"Yes, sir. We’d given up hope ourselves."

"Then how?"

"It’s a long story, sir."

"General Hammond," Daniel interrupted, "this is Jand-Ezri and her daughter Jand-Aya. We offered them refugee status in return for our freedom."

"Colonel O’Neill?"

Jack looked uncomfortable, as though this was something he would rather Daniel had not mentioned right now, "It was the only way home, sir."

"I see. I’ll have to take that under advisement. In the meantime, welcome to you both," Hammond said to Jand-Ezri. She responded by touching the gems on her hands together in front of her, in the same way that she had greeted her fellow Kord’ah and Jand-Aya echoed the gesture. Teal’c had already arrived safely and, at that instant, Sam stepped out. Then, without warning, the wormhole shut down.

Jand-Ezri had known this moment was coming and that it would leave her vulnerable at a time when she could ill afford it. But the suddenness of the shutoff still caught her by surprise. For the first time in her life she was deprived of contact with a million other minds, a multitude of telepathic voices abruptly silenced, her own mother’s amongst them. She had been transmitting her farewells since exiting the Portal. Now only Jand-Aya remained to her and she was overwhelmed by the loss too. Jand-Ezri reached out to support her daughter with her arms and her mind, even as she herself fell to her knees.

"D’ezri! Pakat d’vrash?" [What is happening?] Jand-Aya clutched her mother in panic.

"Medics! We need medics here!" Hands reached out to help her, support her.

"No, I’m okay. I’m okay." Jand-Ezri told them, though clearly she wasn’t. "D’aya, Kord’ah gat. Rav di’enst." [The Kord’ah are gone. We are alone].

"We need to get you to the infirmary," Daniel told her.

"No! I will be okay."

"We need to go to the infirmary anyway. It’s routine and you know compliance with procedure is mandatory." Jack had waited a long time to be able to say those words to her and he took great pleasure in doing so, although her incapacity rather spoilt the moment for him.

It would have been much easier to raise her to her feet, if Jand-Aya hadn’t been so firmly attached to her mother. Daniel tried to pull her away but she only clung tighter. In the end he had to settle for supporting the child’s weight whilst Jack and Teal’c took Jand-Ezri between them and they made their way to the infirmary.

Jand-Ezri sat on a gurney watching as the doctors checked out the team. Jand-Aya had separated herself so far as to sit beside her mother and they chatted softly in their own language. Dr. Janet Fraiser approached Jack, who sat nearest them, stethoscope at the ready.

"What is that device?" their guest asked.

"It’s to listen with, internal sounds like heartbeat, breathing." The doctor held the instrument out to her and she took it and tried it on herself.

"Urm, Jand-Ezri is… was a medic, on her world," Daniel told Janet.

"This device is primitive," she said, handing it back. "Do you not have scanners?"

"Yes we do but for this purpose, this is quite adequate." Janet was slightly offended at the other woman’s tone.

Jand-Ezri looked unconvinced. She removed a scanner from the back of her belt and used it on Jack.

"He is in perfect health," she declared. "All life signs are within the usual ranges we have observed for your species. All body chemicals are at optimum levels. No tissue damage and no infective agents."

"That’s good to know." Jack smirked.

"I would not return you in a damaged condition." She smiled back.

Janet’s mouth dropped open. "You can tell all that with that?" she asked indicating the device. Jand-Ezri held it out to her so she could see its display screen but the symbols on it were meaningless to her. "You must show me how this works," Janet said looking back at the other woman’s face.

"Perhaps," was her only reply.

"What’s this? You pick up some jewelry while you were away, Colonel?"

"Actually, they all seem to have them, Dr. Fraiser," another of the doctors examining the team told her. They had been wearing the collars for so long now, they had forgotten all about them.

Jack fingered his collar and looked at Jand-Ezri, "You care to explain?"

"It is a means of controlling and coercing captives," she replied succinctly.

"How?" The doctor was both intrigued and disturbed by this information.

"It is capable of causing its wearer intense pain."

"How?"

"It is connected via the spinal cord to pain receptors within the brain."

"How do we remove them?"

"Remove them?" Jand-Ezri seemed surprised at the question, as though the idea had never occurred to her.

"We don’t want to keep them as souvenirs of the nice time we had on your planet, y’know," Jack told her.

"I’m not sure," she hesitated, "They are not intended to be removed, not during life anyway."

Janet was standing behind Jack examining how the thing was attached to him.

"Don’t! If you tamper with it, it can kill. I saw it happen once. It wasn’t pleasant." Daniel shuddered at the memory.

"He would have been revived," Jand-Ezri intoned without emotion. "On Meri’ci, there is only one method of death that is permanent."

SG-1 understood at once what she meant and even Teal’c could not suppress a visible reaction. It wasn't lost on Janet but she chose not to inquire into it just now.

"So how do we get them off?" she asked, returning to the subject at hand.

Jand-Ezri paused to consider, "Before extracting one, it would be necessary to disconnect it from the neural network but doing so would cause pain beyond endurance."

"Could we use an anaesthetic?"

"This is your method of pain relief is it not? I know of no way that the stimulation of the pain receptors could be suppressed."

"But if the patient was unconscious, they wouldn’t feel it, would they?" Janet suggested, feeling she might have got one over on this alien woman.

"Unconscious?"

"We could use an anaesthetic to render them unconscious," Janet went on, "would you be able to disconnect these things then?"

"Hmm, perhaps it could work. Perhaps… who shall we try first?"

"Ah, that would be me," Jack’s answer was prompt.

"There is a risk," Jand-Ezri pointed out, "If necessary, I can revive you but there may be pain."

Jack closed his eyes briefly, "That’s why it has to be me."

"Very well."

Without pausing, Jand-Ezri hopped down from the gurney and put the gems on her hands against Jack’s temples. They glowed orange, Jack groaned then his eyes rolled up and closed and he slumped back onto the bed.

"What have you done?" Janet cried in alarm.

"This is ‘anaesthetic’, you wished him to be unconscious, did you not?"

"Yes, but not like that! What have you done to him?"

"It’s okay, Doctor." Daniel took her arm, "She’s knows what she’s doing… I think. I told you, she’s a medic."

Jand-Ezri rolled Jack on to his side and used the gems on the back of his neck, now glowing blue.

"What’s she doing?" Janet asked.

"Those gems seem to produce some kind energy," Sam explained.

"Which does what?"

Sam shrugged.

"Captain?"

"The colonel volunteered, he trusted her."

"This is my infirmary."

"Let’s just let her finish, shall we?" Daniel asked.

After a few minutes Jand-Ezri pulled the pin out of Jack’s neck. He yelped in pain.

"Yeow! That hurt!" He rolled onto his back, rubbing his neck.

"My apologies. You knew the procedure was experimental. I warned you of the risk."

"Yeah, s’okay." He pushed himself up and took the collar from her. It was the first time he had actually seen it and he noted the smear of his blood on the pin. "Well, at least we know they come off. You kids up for it?"

"We don’t have much choice, do we sir? The military don’t go much on jewelry."

One by one Jand-Ezri removed their collars, refining her procedure so they felt no pain. For some reason, Daniel insisted on being last.

"You know, I’m going to have to ask you to hand over those gems," Jack told her.

"Why?"

"This is a secure facility. We can’t allow you to have weapons."

"The crystals are not weapons."

"You used them to kill Daniel and that other woman."

"I did not kill her!"

"Whatever, dead or unconscious, you struck her down. And you did kill Daniel." Jack was aware of Janet Fraiser’s eyebrows shooting up.

"You may not think of them as weapons but that's one of their uses, isn’t it?" Sam asked her.

"I have not come to your world as your enemy. Do you not believe that I wish to be a friend?"

"We came to your world as friends and look where that got us!" Jack responded.

Jand-Ezri looked visibly wounded.

"Then, as our friend, you don’t need the crystals," Daniel tried to conciliate.

"They are not weapons," she repeated.

"We know they can be used as weapons. We saw that for ourselves," replied Jack.

"No, you did not. The crystals are merely crystals. In themselves they have no power, as weapons or otherwise. What you saw was energy magnified and focussed through them."

"Energy?"

She nodded, but didn’t elaborate.

"You mean," Daniel said slowly, "the energy needed to kill someone?"

"Harm… or heal."

"So, are you saying that you don’t need the crystals to kill someone?" Daniel asked.

"Living bodies are fragile things. It takes but little effort to disrupt the life processes. A little more without the crystals than with."

"A Goa’uld without a ribbon device is powerless," Teal’c pointed out.

"I am not Goa’uld. I am Kord’ah."

Sam was curious, "So what is the source of the energy that you magnify through the crystals?"

"What energy sources do you think I possess?"

"Is it some kind of technology?"

"No."

"What then?"

"I possess only my own life-energy."

"And you can use that against us – without the crystals?" Daniel tried to clarify.

"Yes."

"How?" Sam was unconvinced.

"It is beyond your understanding."

"Of course, it would be," said Jack sarcastically. "I would still like you to take them off."

"I cannot remove them."

"Why not?"

Her eyes passed over them all as she considered how to reply, "I once asked you to remove your clothing." Janet’s eyebrows shot up again. "You refused and I permitted it. Asking me to remove the crystals is like asking you to go naked. Like your clothing, the crystals are worn from infancy, never removed."

"Aw, come on. This isn't the same at all!" Jack countered.

"Well, actually Jack, in her culture, it might be just the same," Daniel argued.

Jack gave him a skeptical look, and Daniel arched his eyebrows in confirmation.

"It would violate my dignity and cause me great distress. Do you wish to torture me?"

Jack recognised the reference at once. There was pause as he considered his options. If she was speaking the truth, it was impossible to disarm her and his attempt to do so was the equivalent of asking her to strip. If she continued to refuse was he prepared to use force against her? No – how could that work?

"Will you attempt to force me?" her voice cut into his thoughts.

Jack was too surprised that she had seemingly read his mind to make any reply other than a slight shake of his head.

She extended her arms towards him, "If your procedure makes their removal mandatory, I will comply."

As Jack looked down at the hands she held out he was astonished to see that she was actually trembling. She would allow him to remove the gems, yet she was obviously terrified. He could feel the tension in his team-mates as they waited to see what he would do. Looking back at her face pale with fear, he made his decision. "Jand-Ezri, we have to attend a debriefing with General Hammond. Doctor Fraiser will want to check you and Jand-Aya out. We’ll talk to you again later, okay?"

Her relief was palpable as she bowed her assent and SG-1 left the infirmary to go to their debriefing.

CHAPTER 14

"…So Jand-Ezri agreed to allow us to return if we would bring her and her daughter back with us and… here we are," Jack concluded his report to General Hammond just as Janet Fraiser entered the room and sat down.

"Report doctor?"

"SG-1 are all in good health with no injuries." She took a breath, "Apparently Doctor Jackson’s eyesight has been surgically corrected and he no longer needs glasses." She turned to him and continued, "You must brief me on how that was done."

"I’m sorry to disappoint you but I have no idea. You’d do better to ask Jand-Ezri, she was there."

"I’ll do that." Then she turned back to Hammond, "The downside is that they have all been under-nourished and lost weight, particularly Captain Carter and Doctor Jackson."

"Did they starve you?" The General was shocked.

"No, sir. There was plenty of food available. It’s just that…"

"It was disgusting!" Daniel cut in.

"…it wasn’t very palatable," Jack continued without missing a beat.

"Understatement!"

"Aw, come on, Daniel, it wasn’t that bad."

"Well, the first one of those bars you forced me to eat came back and…" his voice trailed away as he pulled a face, "…urmm, they tasted even worse after that."

Janet smiled, "I expect the situation to rectify itself within a week or so, now that they have access to good food again."

"What? The commissary has improved while we’ve been gone?" Jack asked, eyebrows raised.

Hammond ignored him, "And our guests?"

"I won’t have any definitive answers until I get the results of the DNA analysis which will take some time. But I can tell you now that despite their outward appearance of being normal human females there are physiological differences."

"Which means what exactly?" asked Jack, serious again.

"Well, their blood, for a start, cannot be typed as any human blood group. And it contains some kinds of cells which we simply don’t have."

"Are you saying, doctor, that they’re not human?" Hammond asked her.

"I won’t know for sure how different they are until I get the DNA results. But with what I know so far, not entirely, no."

"Maybe they’ve evolved since they were transplanted from Earth?" Sam suggested.

Janet shook her head, "Evolution is too slow a process. There hasn’t been enough time for them to have changed so much."

"Perhaps they didn’t come from Earth," Daniel said.

"What? How can that be?" Sam asked him.

Daniel just shrugged.

"They couldn’t have evolved entirely separately on a different planet and ended up so like us. The odds on that are…" Sam gave the slightest of shrugs, "astronomical. There must at least have been a common ancestor."

"You have already stated that you do not think they are human, Daniel Jackson. Do you have information that we do not?"

"They have abilities we don’t have."

"We’ve only Jand-Ezri's word for that, we’ve seen no proof. It could be just their technology," Sam countered.

Daniel shrugged again; he thought he might have already said too much. If everyone else wanted to believe their guests were pretty much human, he didn’t want to jeopardize their chances of being allowed to stay by persuading them otherwise.

Sam opened her mouth to ask him another question but Janet brought the discussion to a close, "The DNA analysis will tell us how like or unlike humans they are and whether there was a common ancestor. It will take a few more hours."

"Thank you, doctor. Keep us informed. Okay, people, the next question we need to discuss is how we retrieve SG-4 and 5 from that planet."

Jack looked round at his team. They all looked uncomfortable and no-one spoke. No-one wanted to be the one to break the bad news to Hammond.

"Colonel?"

"Urmm, I’m sorry sir, I don’t think that’s possible."

"Not possible? I understood from your report that they are most likely alive and well and being used to fight a war?"

"Yes, sir." Jack kept his eyes averted.

"And you’re trying to tell me that we can’t get them back? That we should just leave them there?"

"I hate to say it but I know of no way of retrieving them, sir."

"That is unacceptable. We don’t simply abandon our personnel, I would have thought that you of all people would know that."

"Sir," Sam cut in, "anyone else we send to that planet to rescue them will simply be taken captive too. We’ll just end up losing more."

"How about negotiation then? We could send SG-9 in."

"I don’t think that would work," Daniel said.

"Why not?"

"The Kord’ah aren’t open to negotiation. Like Sam said anyone we send, whether to negotiate or not, will be taken captive."

"They’re an advanced society, surely it is possible to reason with them?"

Daniel shook his head, "I don’t think so."

General Hammond was momentarily at a loss, then he recovered, "Then we get this woman you’ve brought back to help us. She can figure out a way to get our people back. Dr Jackson perhaps you would…"

"Jand-Ezri has already told us that she couldn’t retrieve them. If she could have, we would've brought them back with us." he looked resolutely at the General.

"I would like to discuss the situation with her myself. Dr Jackson please bring her here."

Daniel continued to meet Hammond’s gaze without moving, then Jack got to his feet, tapping him on the shoulder, "Come on, I’ll help you."

As they were walking down the hallway Daniel protested, "Jack, I really don’t think I need help with this, it’s not as though she’s going to resist."

"I know that but do you think I want to stay in that room with Hammond right now?"

"Ah, good point."

After a few minutes they arrived at the guest quarters and the two guards on duty stood aside to let them pass. Jack knocked, opened the door and walked in. As soon as he took in the sight before him, he turned back, bumping into his team-mate who was immediately behind him.

"Ah, Daniel, for Chrissakes!" He waved his arm behind him indicating the problem.

Daniel ducked his head, hiding his eyes with a hand, "Urmm, Jand-Ezri do you think you could put some clothes on?"

She got up from the table where she and Jand-Aya were playing with some toys someone had managed to find and stood, not attempting to conceal anything. Jack scowled at the guards, who immediately stopped smirking and resumed ‘eyes front’.

"Why?"

"General Hammond would like to talk to you. And you know we have a thing about nudity," Daniel explained from behind his hand.

"We find it too warm for clothing here. If it does not concern us, why does it concern you?"

Without thinking Jack started to turn back to her then remembering himself he quickly looked away again. "It just does, okay? So get dressed – please." Then under his breath he murmured, "Oh, yeah, outward appearance is definitely female – very – umm, female."

A short while later Jack led a fully dressed Jand-Ezri into the briefing room and showed her to the seat next to Hammond. Daniel followed with Jand-Aya holding his hand and carrying the toys she had been given.

Jand-Ezri glanced around the table, in addition to the humans she already knew, there was another male present. Daniel put a cup of hot black, bitter smelling liquid in front of her. Seeing others drinking it, she fought her way past its smell to risk a sip. This confirmed that it tasted as bad as it smelled. Perhaps this was a method of purifying the water to make it safe to drink. She put the cup down, she wasn’t that thirsty yet.

"Jand-Ezri," the General indicated the unknown man, "this is Major Kovacek of SG-9, our diplomatic team. We want to ask you how we can retrieve our people from your planet."

"It is not possible." She looked at him levelly as she spoke.

"That is not acceptable."

"They are lost to you. I am sorry."

"I am not prepared to simply abandon these people. Colonel O'Neill tells me it's impossible for them to extract themselves so we have to find a way to get them back."

"It is pointless to ask me a question and then reject my answer. If you will not accept what I say, what purpose does this conversation serve?"

Hammond clasped his hands together on the table before him, "These people have left behind families – parents, wives, children. People who care about them. I can’t tell those people that their loved ones are alive and well but that we can’t get them back."

"Then tell them they are dead. They are as lost to you as though they were. Then their families can grieve. It would be kinder."

"You want me to lie to them?"

Five weeks previously General Hammond had had the sad task of listing all twelve of those lost on P2X987 as MIA. Since none had reported back from that planet, their fates were unknown but hope was officially abandoned, unless they could find their own way back. To that end, their GDO codes had been left active, just in case. Three hours ago, against all odds and to his immense delight and relief, his premier team had walked down the ramp from the Stargate, rekindling hope for the others left behind. And now he was reluctant to let go of that renewed hope, whatever he was hearing from SG-1 and this woman.

Major Kovacek’s voice drew Jand-Ezri’s eyes away from the General. "Couldn’t we negotiate for the release of our people?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Anyone you sent to Meri’ci would be captured. There would be no negotiation."

"You could negotiate for us."

"No."

"Ma’am, your refusal to co-operate with us does not help your request for refugee status."

Jand-Ezri regarded the major for a long moment. "With whom would you have me negotiate?"

"With your government."

"The Kord’ah have no government."

"Whoever rules then."

"No-one rules."

"Urmm, I think we’ve had this conversation before," Daniel interrupted. "Jand-Ezri, who makes the rules, the – um – laws? Who administers justice?"

She shifted her gaze to him, "There are no laws. The Kord’ah are co-operative. We simply abide by the ways of our society. We have no concept of doing otherwise."

"Someone must be in charge," Kovacek said with a hint of exasperation.

"Well… In human societies the lack of some kind of ruling body is unprecedented…" Daniel’s fingers intertwined as he spoke.

"Exactly!" Kovacek responded.

"…but that doesn’t mean that it’s the same for Kord’ah society," Daniel went on, his eyebrows arching as he made his point to the major.

"Jand-Ezri," Sam began, "what would happen if someone broke the rules – like stealing? You said you couldn’t do that because it’s wrong, so what happens if someone does?"

"It is impossible because we have no concept of it."

"Ah, ah, ah!" Jack wagged his finger at her, "but you stole us!"

"If you had obeyed me it would not have been necessary."

Jack pushed away the pang of guilt he felt at that remark. Guilt not because of the trouble he had caused Jand-Ezri but that he had jeopardized his team’s chance to return home. "So the Kord’ah do steal!"

"No, you gave this idea to me. I am the only Kord’ah to ever steal."

"So what would happen to you if you went back?" Jand-Ezri visibly blanched at the question and Jack instantly regretted asking it. "If! I only said if!"

"Beda-Tasi would ask me to make restitution for your loss."

"Would you be punished?"

"There is no mechanism for punishment." Then, looking archly at Jack, she added, "Except for captives."

Jack winced.

"This is getting us nowhere," Daniel sighed, "Why can’t we just accept that they don’t have a government or judicial body?"

"Then who can we negotiate with?" Kovacek asked.

"The owners," Sam suggested.

"Your people are too valuable to their owners, they would not be prepared to release them."

"Could we offer something in trade for them?" Daniel asked.

"Your world is primitive. I do not believe you have anything that the Kord’ah would value."

"We could let them come here, like you have?" said Kovacek.

Jand-Ezri shook her head, "The Kord’ah do not aspire to leave Meri’ci."

"You did," Jack put in.

She held his gaze for a moment before looking at Daniel, "Not before I spoke with you. Many of your ideas are simply unknown to us. Although we assimilate your memories, your alien concepts elude us. From you I learnt the difference between slavery and freedom."

At this point Janet reminded General Hammond that SG-1 needed a good meal and some rest. As he looked round at his weary team he felt a twinge of remorse for having kept them so long in what had turned out to be a futile discussion and he belatedly dismissed them.

CHAPTER 15

As everyone rose to leave it suddenly hit Sam how hungry she actually was. She hadn’t eaten anything for many hours, long before they had left their cell on Meri’ci. "I’m going to the commissary," she announced to anyone who was listening.

"I’ll come with you, I’m starving," Daniel responded.

As they turned to leave they both saw Jand-Ezri looking unsure what she should do.

"You hungry? Want to come with us to get some food?" Sam asked her.

She nodded and they set off with Jand-Aya and her prized toys, followed by the two SF assigned to guard the aliens.

Daniel and Sam put plates of food in front of their guests. Jand-Ezri eyed the plates suspiciously.

"What is this?"

"It’s our kind of food."

She looked questioningly at Daniel.

"Ah, these are peas – urm – the seeds of a plant."

"A PLANT?" she looked from Daniel to Sam in amazement, "You eat – PLANTS?"

"Er, yeah. Don’t you?" he asked.

"You have eaten the food of Meri’ci."

"Those food bars?"

"We thought they were just field rations and prison food," said Sam, "Surely you eat other things?"

"They provide all the nutrition required."

"Well that may be," Daniel responded slowly, "but they taste disgusting."

Jand-Ezri held his eyes a moment then looked down at her plate again. She indicated another item, "Is this also plant material?"

"Ah, no. That’s chicken. It’s meat, urmm – the flesh of a bird – a flying animal." He was unsure how much detail she needed.

"So… you eat plants and animals?"

"Yes."

Under her breath she muttered, "This planet is more primitive than I thought." Then aloud she continued, "This food is unacceptable. Is there not an alternative?"

"Oh, yes. We have lots of different kinds of foods. Lots," Daniel replied enthusiastically.

"Er, Daniel. I think what she means is – do we have anything that doesn’t come from plants or animals. And the answer would have to be – no. Some things are more processed than others but originally everything we eat was alive."

A noise from Jand-Aya drew their attention to her. She was busy scooping the food into her mouth with her fingers and noisily chewing it. She had no idea what the knife and fork were or their intended purpose.

"Er, Jand-Ezri," Sam began, "if you don’t eat plant or animal material, what are those food bars made of?"

"Nutrients."

"Yes but where do the nutrients come from?"

"Some are manufactured and we recycle."

"Recycle what?"

"Organic material."

"What kind of organic material?"

Jand-Ezri’s eyes shifted from Sam to Daniel. A memory that wasn't his flashed into his mind and he suddenly felt sick.

"Erm, Sam, I don’t think we need to know that." He tried to convey to her in those few words that he thought she would really rather not know but either she missed it or chose to ignore it.

"No, Daniel, I want to know. We lived on those bars for six weeks, what were we eating?"

"Er, ever heard of ‘ignorance is bliss’?" he asked.

Sam ignored him, "The only organic material on that planet that I saw was trees. Do you somehow process them into food?"

Jand-Ezri’s eyebrows arched in surprise, "No."

"Then what?"

As though stating something that she thought was perfectly obvious she said, "You were surrounded by organic material."

Confused, Sam looked from Jand-Ezri to Daniel, who was grimacing and looking away.

Slowly she said, "The only other organic material was… urm – people… You don’t mean… Oh, my God! You mean… we ate… Oh, my God!" She covered her mouth and fled from the room.

Jand-Ezri looked at Daniel in surprise. Feeling slightly nauseous himself, he managed a tight smile. "It’s our greatest taboo."

Still surprised, she asked, "Then what do you do with your dead?"

"We bury them, or burn them."

"You waste the nutrients they could provide?"

"Uhm, yes. Even very poor societies without much food don’t choose to… urmm…" he couldn’t bring himself to actually say it. "We waste the nutrients, yes."

There was a pause and their eyes were drawn once more to Jand-Aya, busily finishing the last of her food.

"Ah, I think I’ll just go and see if Sam’s okay."

Jand-Ezri nodded as he rose from the table and quickly escaped to search for his team-mate.

Daniel was showing Jand-Ezri a video of the light side of P3X-797, trying to persuade her to go there. They hadn’t had time to send anyone to ask Tuplo but given his willingness to help with the Tollans, Daniel was sure there would be no objection. Except from the young woman at his side.

"I do not wish to live in this place, Daniel. It is even more primitive than this world. I could not raise my daughter there, knowing there is so much more she could be – and have."

"You would be safe. Time is short, Jand-Ezri. All reports from here go straight to NID. If Maybourne doesn’t already know about you he soon will. He may already be on his way here for you."

"I will not go with him."

"You can’t fight him. If you attack him, it won’t help your request to stay here."

"I will not fight him."

"Then what?"

She gave him a strange look, "Do you wish for a demonstration?"

He was unsure what, exactly, she was offering to demonstrate.

Seeing his uncertainty, she reached towards his forehead but before her fingers made contact his vision swirled like multicolored paints being mixed. When it cleared he found himself back on the beach where he had been with Sha’uri, in the dream after his interrogation. Jand-Ezri was standing beside him and, although her clothing had not changed, he was now wearing swim shorts again and he could feel the hot sand between his toes. He was aware of the sounds of the waves lapping and the scent of salt water, underlined with a hint of tropical fruit.

"This is a dream. How?"

"Not exactly a dream. Reality is in the eye of the beholder, is it not? Everything that you experience is merely electrical activity in the brain. Change the activity, change the experience. I have merely manipulated your sensory perceptions. Humans have so few senses, it is not difficult."

A young woman came towards them from the waves.

"Sha’uri!" Daniel murmured. He blushed with the memory of what had happened between them the last time he had had this hallucination and the thought that, perhaps, Jand-Ezri was somehow aware of it.

"She is your – mate?"

"My wife, yes. She was taken by the Goa’uld."

"Yes. This is why you are so passionate about them."

"You knew?"

"Not at the time."

Not at the time. Not at the time. So, she had found out later. She had mentioned 'reviewing the knowledge obtained during your Collections’. He hadn’t thought about it then and afterwards it had slipped his mind but obviously she had accessed the information taken during interrogation. How much of it? Enough, at least, to recognize Sha’uri. And maybe more, maybe a lot more. He groaned inwardly. He wondered how much she knew about the intimate details of his life but wasn’t sure he could bear to know the answer. Sha’uri reached him, smiling she wrapped her arms around him and he returned the embrace, burying his face in her hair and smelling her familiar scent that he remembered so well. But the knowledge that this was a dream created and controlled by Jand-Ezri, with whom he was sharing it, kept him grounded.

"So, you’re creating this from my memories obtained during – Collection?"

"Yes."

"Wait a minute though. I didn’t have this dream – hallucination, whatever, until afterwards."

"No, but it was given to you to heal your mind."

"Given to me?"

"Memories pleasurable to you were used to create the hallucination implanted in your mind before the connection was dissolved. It is known as Cleansing. Unfortunately the first time it did not work properly for you."

He absently-minded returned Sha’uri’s caresses, his mind elsewhere. "I don’t see how this helps with Maybourne. You don’t know what his memories are and even if you did, how can you use this against him?"

"You find this pleasant, do you not?" She made a sound that might have been a sigh. "The only oceans on Meri’ci border the land of the Vairish and extend into the Southern Hemisphere where it is permanently dark and frozen. No living Kord’ah has seen the sea. You have a beautiful planet, Daniel. I could help you protect it from that which you hate."

"Even though you don’t think the Goa'uld are wrong for what they do?"

"I have allied myself with you. Your enemy is my enemy."

"You still didn’t answer my question."

"Not all hallucinations are so pleasant. I do not need to know the man to know what he will fear."

"It will take more than a bad dream to scare Maybourne off."

She smiled at him. "You have no idea, Daniel. Think of that which you most dread and I could make it your reality. What would it be for you? The pain the collar can inflict? Or perhaps to be infested by a Goa'uld and feel it subjugate your mind?"

His eyes widened with the instant realization of what she was capable of, but her expression and voice were soft, "Wouldn’t you stand down in the face of such torment? Wouldn’t anyone? Even Maybourne?"

He shook off his sudden fear and tried to keep his voice light, "Ah… remind me never to piss you off."

She turned her head as though listening to a sound he couldn’t hear.

"We must return, Jack approaches. Say your good-byes."

Then she vanished, leaving him with the illusion of being alone with his wife but unsure whether Jand-Ezri was still somehow aware of everything he did. She had indeed given him a demonstration, but she had demonstrated more than she intended. She had shown him that she possessed more powers than even he had imagined. Her ability to manipulate their minds would make her a formidable enemy, or preferably a powerful ally, if she was allowed to be. That was more likely if no one else found out what he now knew, at least for the present.

Unable to resist her embrace and lips any longer, he kissed Sha’uri. She felt so real, he wanted it to go on forever but then Jack’s voice intruded.

‘Oh, I really wish you’d stop doing this to me, Jack.’ He broke off the kiss and murmured his goodbye then willed himself back to the here and now.

"Where were you, Daniel?" The colonel had obviously been trying to get a response from him for some time.

Daniel’s cheeks colored with embarrassment at the absurd thought that Jack knew. "Er, what?"

"You were a little out of it there, Daniel." Jack was puzzled that his friend should be so spaced out, and why the red face?

Jand-Ezri smiled a secret smile and Daniel couldn’t help returning it.

"Uhm, something going on here I should know about?" Jack was even more suspicious now.

"Um, ahem. No... no. I was just showing Jand-Ezri a video of the Land of Light but she doesn’t want to go there."

Jack looked dubiously from one to the other but whatever was going on they obviously didn't want to say. He decided to let it go. "You prefer to take your chances with Maybourne?"

"Yes."

"Well, you’ll probably get the opportunity soon enough. You have a plan?"

"Yes," she replied.

"No," Daniel said simultaneously. "I mean, that is… erm nothing you want to know about, Jack."

"Y’know, any overt resistance is not gonna look good."

"Oh, no, no, nothing like that," Daniel assured him.

"Ho-kay. Well, um, Doc Fraiser is waiting to do some more tests, Daniel, if you’ve finished here."

CHAPTER 16

Teal’c knocked on the door of the guest quarters and opened it carefully, without looking inside.

"Are you clothed?"

"Yes."

He walked in and announced solemnly, "Maybourne is here."

Jand-Ezri and her daughter followed him to the briefing room where General Hammond and the rest of SG-1 were waiting with Colonel Maybourne. They just missed some comment from Jack, which earned him a scowl from his CO.

Maybourne, however, ignored it and addressed himself to Jand-Ezri without waiting to be introduced, "Ma’am, I have orders authorizing me to remove you from the SGC, under my protection, in order for you to assist in our research and development facility."

"I do not wish to leave here."

"I’m sorry, you have no choice."

"I see," she paused, "I chose to come to your world because I understood that humans valued freedom. That slavery was an anathema to you. If I am to have no choice is that not slavery?"

"You can call it what you want."

"Maybourne doesn’t have the same moral values as the rest of us," Jack cut in icily, "in fact, he doesn’t have any moral values."

"What of my daughter?"

"You can bring her with you, or leave her here. Whichever you want," Maybourne told her.

Jand-Ezri knelt and spoke briefly to her child in their own language. Jack looked at Daniel but he shook his head, indicating he didn’t understand what was said. Then she stood and spoke to Jack, "You will ensure that she is cared for?"

He was taken aback by her question, where was her plan? Was she really prepared to acquiesce to Maybourne’s demand? He looked from her to Daniel, who looked equally surprised, and back again before saying, "Of course."

Then, without saying goodbye to any of them not even Jand-Aya as far as they could tell, she went with Maybourne, followed by his two henchmen.

"Is this part of the plan, Daniel?" Jack asked him as soon as they were gone.

Daniel shrugged helplessly.

Moments later there was a shout from the hallway. They all rushed out and found Maybourne on the floor where he had apparently collapsed. Sam immediately called for a medical team. Daniel looked questioningly at Jand-Ezri but her expression was enigmatic as she returned his gaze, then she took Jand-Aya’s hand and walked away.

Well, that was easy. He had expected the alien to resist more than that. She had hardly even bothered to argue. And SG-1, they had protested and there were the usual snide comments from O'Neill, but nothing like the opposition and delaying tactics he had expected. It had been easy – too easy. They wouldn’t have yielded without more of a fight, which meant the fight was yet to come. Feeling suddenly uneasy as they walked towards the elevator, he glanced around quickly.

"Heads up, boys," he instructed his escort. As he looked around he inadvertently made eye contact with the alien woman, and it seemed to him that her gaze pierced his very being. His head exploded with light, noise – and pain. He cried out as he fell into oblivion, aware of nothing but her presence.

Sometime later Maybourne opened his eyes and looked around. He found himself on a tropical beach with white sand and the sun shining down from a blue cloudless sky. He whirled around in confusion and there, sitting by the water’s edge, he saw Jand-Ezri dipping her toes in the water.

He stormed towards her, "Where are we? I demand that you return us to the SGC at once!"

"I cannot do that."

"You brought us here, where ever here is, I demand that you take us back, now!"

She glanced up, smiling, "I cannot take us back because we have not left."

He looked at her in confusion, "Then how…?"

"It is beautiful, is it not? I believe it represents somewhere on your planet. Somewhere Daniel knows, I hope he will forgive our intrusion."

Still not understanding, he considered his next words carefully, "How did we get here?"

"I brought us here."

He leaned down towards her and hissed loudly, "Then take us back!"

"I wished to talk to you, privately." She looked back up at him, still smiling.

He shifted his weight and said tightly, "Fine, talk."

"Your physical body lies in the infirmary. Even as we speak Dr. Fraiser is preparing to carry out a range of tests to determine why you are unconscious." She paused, watching him to gauge his reaction to this information.

"What have you done?"

The scene shifted abruptly and Maybourne found himself in the infirmary with Jand-Ezri at his side. Below him, as he apparently floated somewhere near the ceiling, lying on a gurney was his own comatose body. Nurses were busy removing his clothing and attaching monitors and IV’s, whilst Dr. Fraiser checked his vitals and barked orders. He winced as he saw his body fully exposed and one of the nurses inserted a urinary catheter.

"What have you done?" he asked again, his voice no more than a whisper.

"Nothing irreversible… yet."

"Blackmail? Is that it?"

"Blackmail?" She tasted the word. "Coercion," she corrected, "just a little coercion."

"Leave you alone or else?"

She inclined her head and looked at him without replying.

"I have orders," he told her, "how will I explain it if I don’t take you back? Shall I tell my superiors what you’ve done?"

"Perhaps you will not recover. Perhaps Dr. Fraiser will not be able to save you. Perhaps you will not have the opportunity to tell them anything… "

"You wouldn’t…"

She smiled at him again for a long moment. "Then you will tell your superiors that you decided that I would not be useful after all…"

"They won’t believe that!" he interrupted.

"Convince them!" she said menacingly. "If you or anyone else comes for me again, I will not be merciful. And do not imagine that distance will protect you. I have been inside your mind, I can find you again anywhere on this planet. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," he ground out.

His vision dimmed and he heard a rushing noise as he sank back into oblivion.

Daniel knocked on the door of the guest quarters yet again but this time he opened it without hesitation and walked inside.

"What have you done?" he demanded of Jand-Ezri.

"I? What makes you think I have done anything?"

"Because of our earlier conversation. You said you were going to give him an hallucination not put him in the infirmary!" Without giving her time to reply he went on, "Dr Fraiser has no idea what’s wrong with him but you do don’t you? Will he recover?"

"He is a thorn in your side, is he not?"

"Don’t kill him."

"Why not?"

"Because it’s wrong! Tell me, are you in the habit of killing people who annoy you?"

She shook her head, "No, Daniel. I will allow him to recover – this time. But I have warned him that if he tries this again…" she let the sentence trail away, her meaning clear.

"Soon, Jand-Ezri?"

She nodded and he left, satisfied.

"Hey, Janet, how’s Maybourne? "

"He’s regained consciousness but still seems disorientated. I’m going to keep him under observation for another 24 hours."

"What caused it?"

"Well, his brain chemistry was completely out of whack but I don’t know whether that was the cause or just a side effect of his collapse. I’ve never seen anything like it."

"But he’s okay now?"

"So far as I can tell."

"Have you got the results of the DNA analysis on Jand-Ezri?"

"Yes"

"And?"

"You’re not gonna like it, Sam."

"Hit me any way."

"They have an extra pair of chromosomes."

"Oh, so… Daniel was right, they’re not human."

"Yes but… their other chromosomes are very similar to human ones."

"So… I was right, there was a common ancestor?"

"Possibly. I’m no geneticist and I can’t exactly show alien DNA around to ask for another opinion. There aren’t any experts in this field with the necessary clearance. The problem is, Sam, that if there was a common ancestor and the differences we’re seeing are down to just natural evolution, it would have to have been a very long time ago, long before we believe the Stargate was first on Earth."

"So, what are you saying? The similarities are a coincidence?"

"That’s a possibility. Unlikely but possible. How about… genetic engineering?"

"What? You’re not serious?"

"Daniel asked Jand-Ezri about the origins of the Kord'ah. She claims that her people were genetically engineered by a race of aliens that traveled throughout the galaxy millennia ago, seeding suitable planets with humanoids.

It took Sam a moment to take in the implications of this information, "Yeah well, there are still some humans that claim that God made the Earth in six days and six nights."

"Okay, so choose your impossibility Sam: the common ancestor was so long ago, there must have been alien intervention to transport it through space; or it was more recent and there was alien intervention in the form of genetic engineering; or it’s all down to coincidence. Take your pick. Personally, I think genetic engineering has a nice ring to it!" And with that she gave Sam a sly grin and went back to her patients.

CHAPTER 17

"So, you’re not going to make me do all the talking, are you?"

"You’re his friend, Daniel. I’m only his subordinate. It’ll be better coming from you."

"Aw Sam, you promised!"

"Promised what?" Suddenly the object of their quest was before them.

"Oh, hi Jack. We were just looking for you."

"Well, you’ve found me." He looked from Daniel to Carter and back again but neither one seemed eager to tell him what they wanted. "So-oo?"

Daniel glanced at Sam, who was looking away unwilling to start this conversation, so he took a deep breath, "Uhm, … it’s about D’ezri and D’aya…"

"D’ezri and…?" Jack interrupted, his eyebrows going up in question.

Daniel had been intent on what he wanted to say and was thrown by the question. "Erm, yeah. Er, apparently calling her Jand-Ezri is like Teal’c calling me Daniel Jackson."

Jack waved his hand, meaning, ~Okay, carry on.~

"Well, er, Sam and I were thinking that since they’ve been given refugee status, the base is not really a suitable place for D’aya to live. I mean it’s not that great for an adult but for a child… she needs space to play and to go to school and…" he looked to Sam for support but all he got was a nod.

"Yeah, yeah," Jack said impatiently, not understanding why they were finding it such a big deal to ask him something so simple. "I'll support whatever case you want to make to the General. I'm sure we can persuade him that they present no threat to planet Earth. I can’t see any objection to them living off-base.

"Urm, that wasn't it, Jack…"

"Oh, right, gotcha." Jack thought he understood the difficulty now, "Well since Jand… er… D’ezri will be working here, there shouldn’t be a problem advancing whatever is needed to set them up somewhere." He turned to continue on his way.

"Er, no!" Daniel called after him.

Jack turned back to them, his eyebrows up again, "No?"

Daniel nudged Sam who reluctantly began speaking, "The thing is, sir, D’ezri isn’t capable of looking after D’aya or even herself really. I mean, even something as basic as food, she wouldn’t have any idea in a grocery store, she’s never seen food like we have."

"And she’s only just beginning to learn to read English," Daniel put in.

"So-o-o," the captain continued, "she can’t live independently, at least not for a while," she finished, still not confronting the real issue.

Jack looked from one to the other, "Why do I have the feeling I’m not going to like where this is going?"

Sam was looking down unwilling to meet Daniel’s eyes. If she was going to shirk it he’d just have to jump in, "You’ve got the biggest house!" he told Jack, "and a spare room and a yard for D’aya to play in…"

"Oh no, no, no!"

"Everything a kid needs!"

"Daniel! NO!"

"Why not? It would only be for a short time, just until D’ezri learns enough about our way of life."

"No! I am not having that woman in my house!"

"Neither Sam nor I have room in our apartments."

"Daniel, this is not SG-1’s responsibility."

"Sam and I would help. We don’t expect you to do it all. We’d spend time with them too, show them things, teach them things…"

"Daniel! What part of the word ‘NO’ do you not understand?"

"Okay, okay!" Changing tactics, Daniel turned to Sam, "See, I told you he wouldn’t go for it. I’ll just have to squeeze them into my place until I can find somewhere bigger. I can always sleep on the couch."

"They’re not your responsibility, Daniel," Jack told him.

"Maybe not, but no-one else is going to look out for them, are they?" and with that, Daniel turned and walked away.

Sam shrugged at the colonel and followed.

Jack met up with Teal’c as he was getting changed for their sparring match.

"Daniel Jackson tells me you declined to offer accommodation to Jand-Ezri and her daughter."

"Er, yeah that’s right, Teal’c."

"May I ask why?"

"Why? Isn’t that obvious?"

"It is not."

"After what that woman did to us, I’m supposed to offer her a home?"

"If she had not captured us, another would have done so. She made concessions to us where she could. We were fortunate."

"Oh, please!"

"I once betrayed my duty, my god even. I gave up everything to come to your planet. If she had not been prepared to do likewise, we would still be warriors on Meri’ci. I know what is to be alone on an unfamiliar world."

"Hey, you weren’t alone. I was always your friend."

"You were, O’Neill. Why will you not be hers? Are our circumstances so different?"

"Okay… okay, I’ll be her friend. But that doesn’t mean I have to have her live with me."

"Daniel Jackson made this request for the sake of the child."

The image of D’aya playing in his yard came unbidden into Jack’s mind and for a moment he allowed himself to toy with the idea of having a child in his home again. But then the thought that she came 2-for-1 with her mother intruded and he shook his head to clear it.

"Let’s go box, Teal’c!"

Jack sat in his office trying to catch up with his paperwork but in reality he was unable to concentrate. His mind was elsewhere, on other things. Specifically on two other people currently residing in the guest quarters. In the end he gave up and stood, about to go visit them, when Janet Fraiser appeared in his doorway.

"Colonel, I’d like to talk to you."

"You don’t usually make house calls."

"No, but it’s about Daniel—"

"Daniel? What’s wrong – what’s happened?"

She held up a hand, sorry now that she had started with that remark. "Nothing. Nothing’s wrong, he’s fine." She took a breath, "He tells me he’s going to move D’ezri and D’aya in with him because you won’t take them."

"Oh, that…"

"I’m very concerned about this, Colonel. D’ezri doesn’t sleep at all; D’aya sleeps for only 3 or 4 hours and is then awake for around 30 hours. How is Daniel going to get the rest he needs if they are awake all night in the next room?"

"Doctor, it’s okay—"

"No, sir, it’s not okay. Daniel’s going to be permanently tired if they move in with him. Apart from that, an apartment in town is hardly any more suitable for a child than living here, in fact she has more space on-base."

"Doctor, I—"

"I’d take them myself, but I don’t have the room either. And I have Cassie to consider—"

"Janet!" Raising his voice had the desired result. "It’s okay, I’ll take them. In fact I was on my way to tell them when you arrived."

"You were?"

He nodded. In fact, this wasn’t strictly true. He had been intending to go see them but he hadn’t been 100% sure what he was going to say. But Janet had made up his mind for him, now she pointed it out he realized there was no way they could live at Daniel’s place.

"So, if you’ll excuse me…"

The door to the guest quarters stood open, the guards having been dispensed with since D’ezri had accepted a job at the SGC. Not that she’d had much choice, where else could she get work? She was sitting at a computer monitor using some software designed to help children learn to read.

D’aya sat on the floor surrounded by yet more toys someone must have bought for her. The big cuddly dog that Jack had got her was sitting with a rabbit and a teddy on the bed. But she wasn’t playing, she was watching a children’s video. He remembered how, when they had debriefed D’ezri, they had been astonished at the complete absence of any recreational activities in Kord’ah society. They had no TV, theatre, sport, not even any books or music. D’ezri had told them that recreation was ‘all in the mind’ and Daniel had interpreted that to mean that they telepathically shared hallucinatory experiences. Jack didn’t like to ask him how he came to that conclusion. But as a consequence, D’aya was fascinated by all the different programs available on the small box in the corner and watched it nearly all the time.

"Hi."

"Hello Jack."

"How’ya doing?"

"Fine."

"Learning to read?"

"Yes. Daniel showed me the basic symbols – letters. And arranged for this… computer so I could learn more."

"Yeah... er-um, Daniel was asking me if you could come and stay at my place—"

"I know."

"You know?"

"He told me you refused. He thinks we should stay with him. He seems very keen for us to leave the base."

"Yeah, but Daniel’s place is kinda small, it’d be better if you stay with me."

"But you do not want us there."

"Hey, can’t a guy change his mind?"

She stood and faced him, her expression earnest, "There is no need. You have fulfilled your bargain. We ask nothing further of you."

He glanced at D’aya, who had switched attention from her video to listen to their conversation, "I know you’re not asking but I’m offering."

She looked as though she was about to argue, but he cut her off with a wave of his hand, "I’ll arrange it with Daniel."

Jack made up the bed in what had previously been his spare room with ‘Tigger’ bed linen he had bought for its new occupant. D’ezri could use the room to store her things and get changed in, but D’aya needed somewhere to sleep. He stood back to admire his handiwork just as the doorbell rang. Daniel’s face peered over the top of a large box full of possessions, which the two aliens had accumulated in their short time on Earth. It seemed to be mostly toys. Jack knew that most of the personnel at the SGC had bought presents for Jand-Aya since the little girl had arrived at the base with nothing but what she wore.

Daniel carried the box in followed by Teal'c with another box just as full, then Janet and Cassie who, between them, had several bowls of salad and bags full of burgers and steaks for their meal. It had been agreed that the two alien girls ought to get to know each other better. Next came Sam with packs of beer and soda. And finally Jack’s new house guests, hanging back and looking slightly bewildered. He was too stunned by their appearance to greet them. He vaguely remembered Sam mentioning going shopping with Janet to get them ‘street clothes’ but he'd had no idea of the transformation. D’aya was wearing jeans, a bright pink t-shirt and sneakers, her hair was in a ponytail that bounced up and down as she skipped into his house. Only her imperfect grasp of English belied the image of the all-American kid. D’ezri was wearing a shirt and cargo pants. She still had the crystals on her hands, almost concealed by the long sleeves, but the head-dress was gone and her hair flowed loosely around her shoulders.

Jack was anxious to see what D’aya thought of her new room so he took her there first. Her reaction was even better than he expected. The Kord’ah didn’t have homes, in fact they didn’t have any private space at all. The adults didn’t need anywhere to sleep and had no possessions except what they wore or carried with them. The children lived in crèches and shared toys with all the other children. So for D’aya to have her own room and two boxes of toys was luxury beyond imagining.

Jack left his team-mates to show D’ezri and D’aya over the rest of his house while he went to fire up the BBQ. In spite of his preparations he still wasn’t sure he could live with this decision. He had wanted to offer D’aya a home but still felt ambivalent about her mother. He heard snatches of conversation as Sam and Daniel tried to explain the functions of the various rooms. The kitchen and dining room caused particular surprise, a whole room just for preparing food and another just to eat it?

Eventually they came outside. D'aya was carrying a ball she had been anxious to try out and she and Cassie started playing, with much giggling and teasing; Janet, Sam and Daniel joined in. Jack was impressed by how much English D’aya had learned in so short a time. He sat on the deck with a beer and Teal'c stood, as though on guard, nearby. As Jack watched, D’ezri suddenly laughed as Daniel comically fluffed a catch. The sunlight caught her hair and it seemed to him that he saw her, really saw her for the first time since they had met in a forest light years away on another planet.

He saw a woman, almost young enough to be his daughter, as much a victim of her society as SG-1 or the other lost teams were. Now alone with her child on a world more alien to her than hers was to him. He could easily comprehend a complete lack of everything he took for granted in life but she was struggling to cope with all these new ideas.

He suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to protect her. Not physically, with those crystals she could easily defend herself. But from her own lack of knowledge. She really had no idea how to live on Earth. Only the previous day he had overheard some airmen on-base talking about her but, as she had no concept of romantic love, she would be oblivious if a guy came on to her. Maybe he should get Carter to talk to her about it.

As though she sensed he was thinking about her, she turned towards him, the laugh dying on her face. She had been as reluctant to accept his offer of a home as he had been to make it. He raised his beer bottle in salute to her and the smile he got in return was as dazzling as the sun.

© January 15, 2001 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

The ‘J’ of the name Jand is intended to be soft as in the French name Jacques. Although aliens on TV always seem to be able to calculate in terrestrial time units, mine don’t; and since a year on P2X987 is about 1.25 Earth-years, ages quoted by its inhabitants are that much lower than the Earth equivalents. Also, if you know more about DNA than I do and what's in this story doesn't make sense - forgive.