Female of the Species

by Geonn Cannon

  “So we stick to the plan,” Sam said. “Shein, get into position.”

  Shein touched Tanis’ arm as she passed. Tanis watched her go and then faced Sam. “You never said where I’d be.”

  Sam said, “That’s because I didn’t want you to be too excited about what I need you to do.”

  ~#~

  Fifteen minutes later, Sam was positioned in the doorway of a shop with Vala standing across the street from her. From Sam’s position, she could see Shein on a rooftop two blocks away. Other prisoners moved around them with disinterest. It wasn’t just that they were being ignored, it was as if their behavior was just part of the scenery. It made Sam wonder just how many escape attempts happened on a daily basis. She ignored that thought as it made her think of the success/failure ratio.

  “All it takes is one successful escape,” she muttered.

  The women around her didn’t seem to have escape on their minds. They seemed to be almost comfortable with their lives. It made a kind of bizarre sense to her. She’d seen many planets where the inhabitants were worse off, at danger from the Goa’uld, the Ori, the Lucian Alliance, or any number of threats that could sweep in with advanced technology and make life hell. It was probably why so many of these women had turned to lives of crime. All the talk about “worst of the worst, most hellish place you could ever end up” was manufactured by the people in charge.

  Viaxeiro was a prison, yes, but it was self-contained. It was isolated and insulated from threat. She wondered how many women around her were happy to stay here in the “suburbs” of the galaxy. She could certainly see the appeal of it, if she’d come to this place by choice. The building across from her stakeout had little yellow flowers mounted in the window. She wondered how that was possible on a world without sunshine or weather patterns, but it only proved how dedicated the condemned were to make this place into a home.

  Her reverie was broken by movement from Shein. She had raised an arm high over her head, an indication that Lokelani was on the move. Sam stood up straighter and watched as the woman tracked movement in the street below. When she dropped her hand, Sam left the stoop and began walking. Vala took that as her cue to move as well, hurrying to catch up.

  “Hey! Hey, Fraiser. Where in the hell have you been?”

  Sam stopped and turned. “I’ve been looking for a way off this godforsaken rock.”

  Vala held her arms out to either side in indignation. “When were you planning to clue me into these plans of yours?”

  Sam laughed. “You? I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you. I’ve had a lot of time to think since we got picked up, Mal Doran. I think you knew you were going to get caught. You were just hoping to throw me to the sharks and get away while they were tearing me apart. Admit it. The only reason you took me on as an apprentice was to sacrifice me at some point and save your own skin.”

  “That is an outrageous lie!” Vala said, raising her voice. Now people were starting to take notice of them. Vala stepped forward and jabbed a finger against Sam’s chest. “I gave you everything. You were a tiny little nothing when I found you. I took pity on you because no one else would be caught dead with you. Hah! Caught dead is exactly what they’d be if they were expecting you to watch their backs. What a joke you are. We walked right into that trap and you had no idea we were in danger until it was too late. I wish I had thought of throwing you to the sharks, because then you might finally have been of use to me.” She jabbed Sam’s chest again.

  “Don’t poke me again.”

  “Or… what?” Vala asked, punctuating each word with another jab.

  Sam put her hands on Vala’s shoulders and shoved. “The day I crossed paths with you was the worst day of my life, Mal Doran!” she shouted.

  “You?!” Vala said. “It was my downfall! An epic career, untarnished by imprisonment, and after a few months with you weighing me down, look where I end up!”

  “I seem to remember we were captured because of you, not me,” Sam said, “and if you poke me again, I swear…”

  “You’ll what?” Vala said. “I hear a lot of talk but nothing to back it up. You want to take a swing at me?” She twisted her neck to present her jaw. “Come on! Take your best shot!”

  Tanis said, “Don’t you touch her.”

  Sam turned toward Tanis’ voice, and Tanis punched her in the face. The blow was stunning, even though Sam knew it was coming. Her stumble was completely real, causing her to trip over her feet and land on the ground in a tangle of limbs. Tanis pounced, grabbed the front of Sam’s blouse, and hauled her up onto her feet. Sam clutched both of Tanis’ forearms as she was shoved back against the wall of a building. The impact knocked the wind out of her so she couldn’t warn Tanis that she may be overselling the fight, and she once again saw stars.

  “Tanis, stop.” Sam heard sincere concern in Vala’s voice and hoped she wasn’t about to ruin the con. “She’s not worth breaking your hand.”

  Tanis let go of Sam, who slumped down to the ground. She touched her cheek and grunted with pain as she looked up at the brunette women towering over her.

  “It might be a small planet,” Tanis said, “but find a way to make yourself scarce. Because if you don’t, I’ll make you invisible next time I see you. Trust me on that.”

  She turned and walked away, leaving Sam in the dirt. Vala looked back once, but quickly turned away and slung an arm across Tanis’s shoulders.

  “It’s going to be good to have a partner I can really count on again!” Vala said loudly enough that everyone could hear it.

  Sam spit on the ground. There was blood in it, and she sighed heavily as she struggled to get back onto her feet as gracefully as possible.

  Lokelani approached and extended her hand. Sam stared at it, then looked up into the older woman’s serene, smiling face.

  “Damn,” Sam said. “I was hoping you wouldn’t hear about it, let alone get a front-row seat.” She clapped her hand against Lokelani’s and allowed herself to be hauled up. There was another frisson of recognition, an awareness of the Goa’uld’s presence, and Sam worried Lokelani felt the same thing. But she didn’t react and Sam tenderly probed her jaw. It was probably going to bruise. She’d told Tanis to make it look real, and she’d prepared herself for the full brunt of an angry fist, but she was still surprised by how much it had hurt. “So I guess Vala Mal Doran doesn’t take very well to cutting ties.”

  “No,” Lokelani said, “it would seem not. But consider yourself fortunate. There are many others who suffered far worse fates upon leaving Vala’s company. Do you have anywhere else to go? Do you know anyone else here?”

  Sam tried to look pathetic and frightened. She glanced around at the crowd, most of whom were already getting back to their normal morning procedures. “No. Vala… Vala was pretty much it.”

  “Wrong.” Lokelani smiled again. “You know me. Come. Let’s go back to my home, and we can discuss options.”

  “Options?” Sam said.

  Lokelani put a hand on Sam’s elbow to guide her as they began to walk. “There is a hierarchy to this prison population. The guards, of course, are like the gods. Silent and unmoved by our plight, and yet we strive to not anger them. And then there is the Cai Thior,” she said, nodding at the orange-and-black garbed women lingering at the edge of the crowd. “They are above the general prison rank. They’re granted special privilege because of the uniform they wear. Because of who they serve.”

  Sam noted that Lokelani had placed herself one rung below a god, even though she hadn’t said it explicitly.

  “The women who wear the uniform of my Cai Thior are looked at with respect. They have dignity which every condemned quickly learns to recognize. Even Tanis Reynard and Shein Pranassa show deference to this uniform… as will Vala, unless she wishes to learn the consequences of disrespect.”

  Sam played dumb. “What… what exactly are you saying, Lokelani?”

  Lokelani smiled at her. “I’m asking if you would like to change your outfit, Sr
i Frasier. Perhaps something in orange.”

  As they passed underneath Shein’s lookout post, Sam lifted her head and saw the blonde sniper watching her. She gave the slightest of nods, and Shein vanished to report back to Vala and Tanis. Sam looked at Lokelani again and managed a nervous smile.

  “I think I’d like that very much, Sri Lokelani.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CAM AND TEAL’C left the elevator first, just in case the other guards had somehow gotten free and alerted the rest of the station to what had happened. No alarms sounded and they weren’t immediately surrounded by people with guns, so Cam motioned for the rest of the team to step forward. He scanned the faces of everyone they passed and tried to figure out which of them would be most receptive to offering them a ride.

  “Okay, look for anyone carrying a lot of junk by themselves. Anyone struggling. We’re going to have to work for our place on a ship, and given the secrecy of this place, only the most desperate person will agree to it.”

  Daniel looked back at Teal’c. “I don’t want to throw a wrench in your plans, but I don’t think Teal’c should be doing any heavy lifting.”

  “He has a point,” Carolyn said, then immediately turned and raised a finger as Teal’c opened his mouth to speak. “And don’t say that you can handle carrying a few hundred pounds, because this is exactly why I tagged along on the mission. I only agreed to let you into the field if you took it easy. Taking a job as a dockworker doesn’t fit the bill.”

  Cam sighed. “Then what do you suggest?”

  Carolyn looked around. “Well…” Cam could see she had come up with an idea, but he could also see that she hated it. “Suppliers aren’t the only people who go to Viaxeiro. They also send prisoner transports.”

  Daniel was the first to realize what she was saying. “It is a women’s prison.”

  “Whoa, whoa,” Cam stopped in the corridor and turned to face them. “We’re supposed to be getting our people out, not sending more people in.”

  “We’re going to need a go-between anyway,” Daniel said. “Once we get to the planet, we’d have no reason to stick around. Sam and Vala would have no way of even knowing we were there. This way, we can send Carolyn in to let them know we’re around.”

  Teal’c said, “If she is able to conceal a radio on her person, we could establish contact with Colonel Carter and Vala Mal Doran. We may even be able to devise a viable escape plan.”

  Daniel said, “At this point we’re just guessing about what’s happening on the planet. We need her in there, at the very least to let Sam and Vala know we haven’t abandoned them. We get a ship, we drop her off, and then we stick around.”

  “What if whoever gives us a ride doesn’t want us to stick around?” Cam asked.

  Teal’c raised an eyebrow. “We convince them.”

  “Yeah. Okay, that was a stupid question. Doc, if you’re not up for this…”

  Carolyn rolled her eyes. “It was my plan.”

  “Right. Then I guess this is the plan we’re going with.”

  “And if we’re going to pretend I’m a criminal in your custody…” She held up her hands and tapped her wrists together.

  Daniel looked down at the belt he’d taken from the guard. “Oh, right. Uh… here.” He pulled a small infinity-shaped object from his belt and held it toward her.

  Carolyn withdrew her hands. “Want to make sure you know how to open those before you stick them on my wrists?”

  “Oh.” Daniel examined the side of the device. “If Sam was here…”

  Teal’c reached out and took it from Daniel. He examined them silently and Cam realized Sam wasn’t the expert they needed in this case. Teal’c probably had more experience with alien restraints than the rest of the team combined. He didn’t say anything and, after a moment, determined how they worked. He looked at Daniel’s belt.

  “There should be an oblong key.”

  Daniel searched the pockets and handed over a small object. Teal’c inserted it into the side of the device, and the cuffs relaxed. He looked at Carolyn.

  “I am confident I will be able to remove these.”

  “Thank you,” she said, extending her arms again.

  Teal’c secured her hands in the device. He checked to make sure it was secure without being uncomfortable and stepped back so he was bringing up the rear, leaving Daniel and Cam in the lead, with their supposed prisoner in the center. Cam examined the crowd again, but this time he was looking for something different. The people loading and unloading crates were of no interest to him. “Teal’c, were you paying attention on our way in? I thought I saw a food court or something, but I can’t figure out…”

  Teal’c brushed past Cam and began walking. The rest of the team fell in as he retraced their steps, pausing from time to time to examine the embedded tracks. There were multiple places where the tracks branched off so the robotic escorts could go anywhere in the station, but Teal’c seemed to know exactly which one would take them back to where they had started. Sure enough, it didn’t take long before they found the area Cam remembered.

  “Mind like a steel trap,” Cam said, patting Teal’c on the shoulder.

  Teal’c arched an eyebrow but said nothing.

  The food court was a wide oval with food carts clustered at the narrow ends and a variety of tables in the center. Cam moved slowly among the diners. He didn’t know exactly what he was looking for, but he hoped he would recognize it when he saw it. The vast majority of people looked human, but there were also aliens. He still couldn’t get over a room full of very alien-looking aliens. Some of them had tentacles on their heads, some looked reptilian, while others were dressed head to toe in protective suits to defend against what was, to them, a toxic environment. He got the feeling it was something he would never get used to, like traveling through the Stargate, and he was fine with that.

  A few tables away from him, a man was hunched over a plate to shovel something that looked like dry chips of beef into his mouth. He was older than most of the other people in the room, human by the looks of it, and didn’t look like he could hold his own in a brawl. Everyone else was seated with at least three or four other people, crew members, but this guy was alone. A monitor had been propped up in front of him and he kept reaching up to tap the screen. Cam moved into a position where he could see what the man was watching. One side of the screen showed a woman lying on the floor in the fetal position, while the other side seemed to be a health monitor.

  Bingo, he thought as he made his way over.

  “Troublemaker?” Cam asked as he came up behind the beef-eater.

  The man sat up straighter and locked a suspicious gaze on Cam. He was a wiry man, smaller than Cam but with strong shoulders which came from years of heavy lifting. He was bald, scowling, and looked like he wanted to jam his fork into Cam’s gut. Cam kept out of reach, just in case.

  “Who the hell are you?” the man growled.

  “Lee Majors,” Cam said, sticking with the fake name he’d used earlier. He sat across from his new friend and extended his hand. “And who might you be?”

  The man stared at Cam’s palm as if the target for his fork had shifted. He went back to eating his food, eyes shifting back to the screen. “Pemphero.”

  Cam dropped his hand. “Nice to meet you. So…? The woman on the screen. She a troublemaker?”

  “Aren’t they all?”

  Cam chuckled low in his throat, wondering what any of the women on the base would do if they’d heard him say that. “Boy howdy, you don’t have to tell me. Lock ‘em all up, let them give each other headaches for a while, am I right?”

  Pemphero snorted, neither agreeing nor arguing.

  “Can’t help but notice you’re on babysitting duty here. Don’t you have someone in your crew who could watch her while you grab a bite to eat?”

  “Crews like to get paid,” Pemphero said. “And I don’t like cutting up my profits. This works just fine. She’s drugged to the gills. No way she wakes up bef
ore I get back.” He poked the screen with one finger. “I’m watching everything here. Heart, breathing, nervous system. It’s physically impossible for her to regain consciousness before I finish eating.”

  “Thorough,” Cam said. “But you know how it is with these women. As soon as they’re conscious, they’re always trying to find a way to trick you. I have this friend, right? A lady tried to steal his ship once. She knocked out the entire crew, save for him, and just walked away with it. He turned the tables on her a few times, but she still managed to get away. She was a wily one, boy, let me tell you.”

  Pemphero said, “You are irritating me.”

  “That wasn’t the intention, big fella. In fact, I was hoping we could be friends.”

  “Friends have something to offer me. You don’t.”

  Cam held up a finger. “Now that’s where you’re wrong, Pemphero. I have a couple of buddies who can help you out. We’ll work as guards for your troublemaker here, and in exchange, you just have to take us where you’re already going.”

  Pemphero looked skeptical. “You need a ride to Viaxeiro.”

  “Got a troublemaker of my own.” He pointed over Pemphero’s shoulder to where Carolyn was standing with the rest of the team.

  Pemphero smirked and tilted his head to the side. “You’re not my friend yet, and I’m not about to turn my back on you. Where I’m from, that’s considered an old trick.”

  Cam chuckled and bobbed his head. “Yeah, it’s pretty old where I come from, too. If you did turn around, you’d see we have a prisoner ready for transport. One little lady, no problems, no fuss. Counting me, there are three guys watching her, but she hasn’t made a peep since we picked her up. But we have another problem.”

  “I assume you’re getting to how this involves me.”

  “Exactly. See, we borrowed a ship to get here. We dock at the station and the second we’re onboard, the damn thing fires up again and heads back out on autopilot!”