by Geonn Cannon
Sam watched the bored-looking guards. “They don’t seem very alert.”
“Of course not. They have nothing to be alert for.” Lokelani looked at Sam again and smiled. It was a rather cold smile, at odds with her otherwise friendly disposition. “We’ve gone to great lengths to make this world comfortable for its inhabitants. Why would we attempt to escape when we have everything we need right here?”
“No men,” Vala muttered under her breath.
Lokelani stared at her again, and Sam wondered if Vala was risking her celebrity status. “There are sacrifices which had to be made in the name of peace and solitude, yes. Fraiser… I’ll leave you now so you may take in your surroundings. While you are exploring, we will prepare a place for you to stay. Only temporary, until you find a place that suits you better.”
“We appreciate that,” Sam said. “Thank you.”
Lokelani touched Sam’s shoulder and started to leave.
“There’s one other thing,” Sam said. Lokelani paused. “We think someone we know was sent here, maybe a few weeks ago. Her name is Tanis Reynard.”
Lokelani’s smile wavered. Her new expression was impossible to read. “There’s a wine district not far from here.” She gestured to the right, again using her lips and chin, a move Sam assumed was cultural. “You can normally find Miss Reynard there at this time of day.”
“Thank you,” Sam said again.
“Settle well,” Lokelani said.
When she was gone, Vala moved closer to Sam. “Thank you for asking about Tanis.”
“Sure.” Sam was still watching Lokelani and the Cai Thior women. “Did something seem off about her to you?”
“Well, she’s not a fan of Tanis, that’s for sure.”
Sam nodded. There was still a small crowd of people around, watching them while keeping a modest distance. Sam wondered what these women had done to deserve confinement. Every person they’d seen so far, presumably with the exception of the guards, had committed a crime so heinous they were thrown into the deepest, darkest dungeon in the universe.
“Welcome to the island of misfit toys,” she said under her breath.
“What’s that?”
“Never mind. Come on.”
They started walking. The streets were narrow and without any rational arrangement. Some points were wide enough for two cars to pass each other, while others were so tight that Sam could have reached out with both hands and touched a building on either side. Occasionally the street would widen into a common area, where prisoners had created community gardens, somehow forcing plants and vegetables to grow despite the apparently arid ground.
Vala stuck her hands in her back pockets as they walked. She finally broke the silence. “So what changed your mind about Tanis?”
“We just found out there are two different levels of authority to worry about. The guards who were assigned by whoever runs this place, and also the internal force run by Lokelani. I still believe our priority should be escape. The best way to do that is with allies, and right now Tanis is as close as I think we’ll get.”
They paused at the corner. Sam was about to ask which way Vala thought they should go when there was a sudden shout from their left.
“You! Carter!”
They turned and saw a flash of movement, a slender brunette woman shoving a bystander out of the way as she charged toward them. She grabbed the baton of a guard as she passed, flicking her wrist and making its tip spark with energy. Tanis Reynard yelled again and lifted the weapon high over her head as she closed the distance between herself and Sam with long, loping strides. Sam reached helplessly for a weapon but she had nothing. She brought her fists up and prepared for a fight.
Just before Tanis could swing the baton, Vala stepped forward and smashed a clay pot on the back of her former partner’s head. Sam stepped out of the way and Tanis hit the ground hard, arms splayed, face covered by her hair.
Sam stood over the unconscious woman. Vala stepped up to stand beside her and regarded Tanis with a tilted head.
“Well,” Vala said, “it definitely seems as if she remembers you.”
“Lucky me.”
A blonde woman in a dark brown sleeveless top muscled through the crowd. She kept one hand by her side, so expertly hidden from view as she got closer that Sam knew she was holding a weapon. She moved like a fighter, jaw set and shoulders squared. Everyone on the street moved to get out of her way, and a circle of empty space cleared around the scene. She didn’t take her eyes off Tanis until she was within striking distance, and only then did she look at the two new arrivals. Sam held her hands up in what she hoped was a universal placating gesture.
“Sorry,” Vala said, “hello. This was just a misunderstanding, I swear. Tanis and I really are very good friends. This is, uh, Fraiser, and my name is Vala Mal Doran.”
The blonde looked harder at her, narrowing icy blue eyes. “Vala? The Vala Mal Doran?”
Vala’s grin reappeared. “I’m the one!”
The woman looked at Tanis. Some of the aggression faded from her posture. “She’s going to be pissed when she wakes up.”
Vala said, “Then let’s make sure she wakes up someplace familiar, shall we?”
Tanis’s friend lifted the hem of her shirt and secured her weapon somewhere out of sight, then motioned for Vala to help her.
Vala winked at Sam. “See? Now we have two friends.”
Sam sighed and crouched to help them lift Tanis’ limp body.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE BLONDE introduced herself as Shein Pranassa as Sam helped carry Tanis off the street. Surprisingly, no one seemed concerned about what had just happened. Even the guard, who retrieved his stolen baton after it fell from Tanis’ grip, didn’t seem particularly interested in the altercation. The indifference to violence was the first thing Sam had seen since her arrival to remind her this was a prison and not just an oddly feminine border town from any number of worlds she’d visited in the past.
With little help from Vala (she insisted she was clearing the path, though no one seemed to be in their way), they carried Tanis a few blocks to what Shein called their “cold-water” because it lacked amenities like heating, hot water, or electricity. Sam expected something similar to a prison cell but was instead directed down a flight of stone steps, which led into a cavern blocked off by a heavy steel door. Shein used a key to let them in, revealing a spacious and sparsely decorated room. The walls were striated with geodes that shone a pale blue and provided enough light to see. It was a hell of an apartment for someone who was supposed to be in prison. Sam couldn’t help but think Cassie would kill to have a dorm room this size.
Sam lowered Tanis onto the bed which filled an entire nook on the far wall. Shein sat on the mattress to examine the wound and clear out any shards of pottery. The thief looked different from their last encounter. Her hair was much longer, fuller. Even unconscious she seemed somehow stronger than she’d been on that abandoned world where her prison ship had crashed. In just four years she’d gone from random crony to a leader. As dangerous as she was back then, Sam knew she had only become more fearsome and a bigger threat.
Shein was almost finished applying a bandage when Tanis grunted and began to stir. She opened one eye. The defensiveness vanished from her face when she saw who was tending her wound. “Who the hell hit me?” she growled.
“Hi!” Vala said, stepping forward with her hand raised in greeting. “Sorry about that. But I seem to remember you have a pretty hard head.”
“Vala?” Tanis sat up, gently swatting away Shein’s hands. “Damn it, I went to a lot of trouble warning you to stay away. You know how much it cost me to get that message out?”
“Yes, well, unfortunately I got a maliciously-edited version of the message you originally sent.”
“Even if the entire thing had been gutted, you should have realized what I was trying to say,” Tanis said. “The name Viaxeiro should be enough to make you run full-speed in the opposite direction.”<
br />
“That’s what you get for thinking I’m predictable.”
Tanis finally noticed Sam, who had been trying to blend in against the stone wall. She shot to her feet and reached for a weapon on her belt. Vala jumped forward and put her hands on Tanis’ shoulders to hold her back.
“Wait!” Vala said. “This is Samantha Carter of SG-1… She—”
“I know who she is. What is she doing here?”
“I’m a member of her team. I’m a member of SG-1 now.”
Tanis looked at her with betrayal in her eyes. “You’re what?”
“I know, I can hardly believe it myself some days,” Vala said. “But when they thought you were in trouble, they leapt into action to come save you with no regard for their own well-being.”
Sam said, “That’s not entirely — ”
Vala shot her a silencing look over her shoulder, but her eyes shifted to one side and the admonishment turned to surprise. “Look out!”
Sam moved just as Shein grabbed for her, the other woman’s hand closing on the empty air Sam had just occupied. She bared her teeth, shifted her weight, and thrust her other hand forward. The dim light of the room glinted off a blade. Sam crossed her hands at the wrist and hit Shein’s arm, forcing it up and away from her torso. Shein was thrown off-balance and Sam managed to twist one arm behind her back. She pressed Shein against the wall as gently as possible, but with enough force that she couldn’t get free. Sam looked at the bed, the last place she’d seen Shein, and tried to figure out how the woman had gotten behind her.
Tanis was smiling, proud even though Shein had been thwarted. “Now you know why they call her Mist and Shadows on seven different planets.”
“Guess I won’t be adding Tau’ri to that list.”
“There’s still time,” Tanis said. She still hadn’t stopped glaring at Sam.
“Tanis has told me all about what Samantha Carter of SG-1 did to her. I’m no fan of do-gooders.”
Vala sighed and waved her hands. “Look, can we just put a pause to all this hostility? We came here as friends! We set out on this mission to save you, and just happened to get caught up in a net.”
Tanis pointed at Sam. “She and her friends humiliated me. They had me lead Pender and Corso into a trap. I told you that I made sure they ended up in a deep dark pit? That’s because I had to. They both would have killed me if I’d given them the chance, all because of her and SG-1.”
“You were criminals,” Sam said. “You tried to use our computers to find new worlds to loot.”
Vala patted the air with both hands. “Let’s just say mistakes were made on both sides. But that’s no reason we can’t all get along now. We’ve all done things we’re not proud of in the past, right? Sam, I tried to steal your ship. But you’ve all forgiven me for that. Bygones! Right?”
Tanis relaxed slightly. Vala gestured for Sam to let go of Shein.
“Good!” Vala said. “We’re making progress. We’re all friends.”
“You still haven’t said how you got here,” Tanis said.
Vala said, “The original plan was to help you escape.”
“So you and the ribbon girl here got yourselves captured?” Tanis arched an eyebrow. “Brilliant plan there, Vala. I’m starting to feel really lucky we parted ways when we did.”
Sam caught Vala’s eye. “What’s a ribbon girl?”
Vala turned and spoke sotto voce. “It’s a cultural thing. Just assume it’s a compliment and move on.” She cleared her throat and tugged at the hem of her jacket. “Professional courtesy, Tanis. We used to be partners. We watched each other’s backs. I thought you were calling for old times’ sake. Trapped in the worst place the galaxy has to offer and you can only think of one person to save you. I had the resources of the SGC at my disposal so of course I came running to the rescue. You’re welcome.”
Tanis said, “I appreciate your intentions, but you really just screwed yourselves over in a monumental way. You’re here now, and there’s no getting out.”
“That’s why I’ve brought Samantha along. You’ve heard of Hadante? Netu? Samantha here found ways to break out of both of them.”
“Well, I had help,” Sam said. She was momentarily distracted by the sneaking suspicion Vala really had known it was a trap and went barreling in regardless. She dismissed it to analyze at a more appropriate time. “And just from my first look around this place, I have to say I’m not liking our odds.”
“You’ve barely even investigated!”
Sam looked at Tanis. Shein had moved back to sit on the bed and, once again, Sam hadn’t seen her move. “Do any ships come closer to the city, or do they all land out in the salt plains?”
Tanis shook her head. “We watch them come in, we watch them go out. When they drop off supplies, the boxes are left at the landing site. We have people go retrieve them once the ships are gone and the landmines are disabled. If anyone goes beyond the walls while the ship is still here, the landmines get reactivated and changes their minds real quick-like.”
“The landmines can be disabled?” Sam asked, with as much hope as she dared.
“Not by you,” Tanis said. “Lokelani knows how, but I doubt she would do it for you just because you asked nicely. To her, this place isn’t about justice. It’s about power.”
“Are there any spaceworthy vessels on this planet?”
Tanis shook her head again. “Nope. There are a few land-based vehicles, but nothing that can fly. Basically, if it can leave the ground, you won’t find it here.”
“And I suppose I shouldn’t even ask about a Stargate, since there’s no possible way a lock could be achieved on a rogue planet.”
Vala said, “That’s not the Sam Carter I know! Come on, where’s that can-do attitude?”
“Your new pal is right, Vala.” Tanis moved forward and stood in front of Sam. She smiled smugly, thumbs hooked in her belt. “In fact, there’s a sort of poetic justice to this. Four years ago, the Tau’ri found me on a rock with no hope of escape. Now she’s the one who doesn’t have a way out. It’s almost worth everything just to be here and see her trapped like this. All that self-righteousness and you still ended up in here with the rest of us lowlifes. Funny how life works out, Major Carter.”
Sam kept her face neutral. “It’s actually Colonel now.”
Tanis’ smile widened and she shook her head. “Not here it isn’t.”
Vala cleared her throat. “And actually, she gave her name as Fraiser because, well, the whole Tau’ri-as-prisoners thing would draw more attention than — ”
“She can call herself whatever she wants,” Tanis interrupted. “It doesn’t matter in here. Come on, Shein. Let’s give our new friends some time to settle in. Don’t touch our stuff. The door will lock automatically when you leave.” She brushed past Sam. “Sorry you got caught up in this, Vala. I really did intend the message as a warning to stay away. As for you, Tau’ri Carter or Fraiser or whatever you want to call yourself… welcome to your new home.”
~#~
Daniel felt bad when he knocked on the door of Major Escher’s office. The desk was covered with notebooks open to pages full of quickly-scribbled notes and diagrams. A message board across from the door was covered with photographs connected by stretches of red string that linked each person to someone else. To an outsider it would look like the room of an unhinged conspiracy theorist, but Daniel knew the threat Escher was tracking was all too real.
Escher himself looked exhausted when he gestured for Daniel to have a seat, then quickly moved to relocate a pile of binders and notebooks from the chair.
“Sorry about the mess,” Escher said.
“Are you kidding? This is pristine and catalogued compared to my office. Thank you for shifting your focus on such short notice.”
Escher waved him off. “It’s Colonel Carter. No one on the base can count how many times she’s saved our bacon. All of SG-1, really. So I’m happy to help.”
Daniel said, “So you were able to find
Ventrell?”
“That depends on how you define ‘find.’ I know where he’s been and where he’s most likely to be, but beyond that it’s mostly guessing.” He shuffled the papers on his desk and somehow divined which notebook he needed from the bottom of the stack. “After the situation in Kansas, SG-12 was assigned to identify the bounty hunters who had been sent after you. Colonel Carter was able to cover up her sniper easily enough, but we had a very hard time explaining the woman who was hit by the bus when she came after you.”
“Right.” Daniel winced. Sometimes he still saw the woman being hit. His brain didn’t seem to care she’d been on the verge of taking him captive or even killing him. A life was a life, and that was a horrifying way to die. “I imagine it was hard explaining a corpse without any identification or discernable footprint.”
“We’ve actually gotten pretty good at creating false identities for aliens who have come to live on Earth. It’s a skill I never thought would come in handy without turning to a life of crime. Uh, anyway, we gathered intel on the bounty hunters and were able to determine where they came from and where they got the order to capture you.”
“There’s a whole planet of bounty hunters?”
“No, there’s a planet where bounty hunters go to find clients, and vice versa.”
He turned the notebook around as he handed it to Daniel, who skimmed what was written as Escher summarized.
“Their records called the planet Far Scythia. I’m sure you’ll recognize the name…”
Daniel closed his eyes. “Uh, nomadic Eurasian tribe. One of the first to master the art of mounted warfare.” He looked at the notepad again. “You’re thinking this place was founded by their descendants.”
Escher nodded. “Displaced by the Goa’uld, and then however many centuries removed. Your would-be assassin had the gate address programmed into a device we found on her body. My team was going to explore it further when there was an opening on the schedule, but I would say SG-1’s needs take precedence right now. I’m just basing this on what we’ve seen, but the people who came after you were freelancers. Freelancers need jobs, and jobs seem to come from Far Scythia.”
