Female of the Species

by Geonn Cannon

  Sam realized the endgame. “And when you get bored or this body is injured beyond your ability to heal, you just choose a new host.”

  Lokelani grinned. “It does keep people from asking too many questions. After a few years, I announce that I’m passing on my role to a worthy successor.”

  “This whole prison is just your own personal host farm.”

  “Don’t be so crass,” Lokelani said. “They’re also my worshippers, willing or not. They obey me. They revere me. For centuries I craved this kind of adoration, a kingdom of this magnitude.” Her shoulders sagged and she rolled her eyes. “But every little inch of ground I claimed, there was always some System Lord around the corner waiting to take it from me. It was exhausting. Then I heard about this place and started investigating. A protected haven, loose among the stars. New followers delivered on a regular basis. And best of all, no Goa’uld would ever think of this place as a prize. No one wanted it. So I took it. And I will not allow SG-1 and the Tau’ri to take it away from me now.”

  Sam said, “Do the Cai Thior know they’re basically Jaffa without the pouch?”

  “They know what they need to know.”

  Now Sam could see that Lokelani’s left hand was gripping a circular red crystal set in a golden base. She recognized it immediately. “You’re threatening me with a healing device?”

  One of the prisoners said, “That thing hasn’t healed in a very long time.”

  Lokelani laughed. “It’s true. I’ve had many, many years to tinker. I didn’t have much call for a healing device, as you pointed out, so I decided to make this useful.” She lifted her hand. “Would you care for a demonstration?”

  Sam took a step back. “I think I’ll pass.”

  “I heard you were smart.” She gestured with the device. “Get into the cell, Colonel Carter. You should consider yourself lucky. I treat my potential hosts very well, considering I may soon be walking around in their heads. As wonderful as it would be to take down a member of the infamous SG-1, it doesn’t mean much if I can’t brag about it.”

  One of the cages was open. Sam reluctantly moved toward it, her mind racing as she looked for an opportunity to fight back.

  “What about Vala?”

  “She’s been a host before,” Lokelani said. “It’s uncouth to take a host another Goa’uld has chosen. Plus it just doesn’t feel right.”

  “You know I’ve been a host, too,” Sam pointed out.

  Lokelani said, “To a Tok’ra. No one cares about that, dear. To answer your question, Vala is far too dangerous to just let her run around. I’ll find someone with a grudge and tell the Cai Thior to look the other way for a few hours. Vala Mal Doran won’t be a problem for Viaxeiro much longer.”

  Sam was inside the cage. Lokelani kept the device trained on her as she pulled the barred door shut.

  “You know Vala’s reputation. You think she’ll be that easy to kill?”

  “I’ve always heard SG-1 was hard to capture,” Lokelani said, “but look at what I have here: a caged Tau’ri. Get comfortable, Colonel Carter.”

  Lokelani took a moment to examine the other cages before she returned up the stairs. Sam gripped the bars and tested the strength of the door by rattling it against the lock.

  “Are you really a member of SG-1?” a woman in another cage asked.

  “Yeah,” Sam said. “But she was wrong about one thing. It’s not particularly hard to catch SG-1. As a group and on our own, we’ve all been captured too many times to count. The real trick is keeping us in the cage.”

  ~#~

  Vala gingerly hopped over one of the guards splayed in the doorway, pausing just long enough to make sure his breath still fogged up his mask. Tanis caught her checking and rolled her eyes as she dropped the third man to the ground.

  “I know how to stop short,” she said.

  “I know, darling, I know. But who among us hasn’t gotten carried away from time to time?”

  Tanis shrugged.

  They were standing in the threshold of a cramped storage room. Vala had let Tanis take care of the rough stuff by knocking out the guards as soon as the door was unlocked and then rushing inside to fight the one standing watch inside. Vala crouched down and grabbed the boots of the guard blocking the door and dragged him inside. Tanis pushed the door shut so no one passing by would get curious.

  The room smelled like oil, dust, and men who had spent too long in a cramped room with no windows. Vala wrinkled her nose as Tanis began searching the shelves.

  “Look at this,” she said, holding up a weapon Vala vaguely recognized. “Can you believe they have crap like this just lying around?”

  “Tanis,” Vala warned. “Be good. We’re here to look for life support. Stuff we can use to stay awake when everyone else goes to sleep.”

  Tanis shrugged and put the weapon back. “It’s just something to keep in mind when I’m running things. Nice little armory just sitting here… someone is going to find it eventually, and I’d prefer it not be someone looking to take over.”

  “Someone like you, you mean?”

  Tanis said, “I’m not naïve. Even if this coup is successful, someone is going to decide they deserve to run things. So they’ll come after Shein and me. It’s the same thing on every world with a population greater than five.” She picked up a plastic cone, sniffed it, then put it back. “I don’t want to rule forever. Just as long as I can hold the throne. As it should be.”

  “Then I wish you a long and peaceful reign.” Vala lifted a pair of goggles off the shelf and held them up in front of her eyes. “There has to be something here we can use…”

  “Maybe they were just coming to get riot gear.” Tanis hoisted a Goa’uld pain stick and jabbed the air with it. “I’m surprised these goons have managed to resist breaking out some of these toys.”

  “I’m not,” Vala said. “Who would choose a planetwide riot over sitting around doing nothing all day? They might take out a few prisoners, but then they would be trapped here with all the rest. It would be chaos.” She tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. “You might consider you’re risking the same thing.”

  “It’s a non-violent takeover, thanks to the Tau’ri prude.” She examined Vala carefully. “You asked me if I was sure about what I’m doing. Have you asked yourself the same question?”

  “We’ve been over this.”

  Tanis said, “I want to be sure. I want to be absolutely sure that the Vala I used to know turned herself into this… crusading do-gooder.”

  Vala dropped her shoulders and rolled her head back. “For the last time, Tanis. Yes. There are bigger issues here. It’s not just about the next score. People are dying because of the Ori. And if I can help stop them, then that’s what I have to do.”

  “There have always been people dying. What makes this your fight?”

  “It’s my daughter,” Vala said, finally giving up the truth.

  Tanis went very still. “Your what?”

  Vala closed her eyes. “It’s a very long story. But I had a child. The Ori took her from me. They… they aged her rapidly. Then they made her into their leader, the figurehead of their war. She’s the Orici. That’s why I have to do everything in my power to stop the Ori from winning.”

  “I didn’t know,” Tanis said quietly.

  “It’s okay.” Vala sniffed and swiped at her face as if she’d disturbed a cobweb. “I don’t… um, I don’t talk about it a lot.”

  Tanis nodded. “I understand. Something like that, it could make anyone join the good guys, I suppose.”

  “Sort of like you and Shein.”

  “Yeah.” Tanis chuckled. “Caring about other people… what a way to go out.”

  Vala said, “We’ll be the laughingstock of every tavern where we’ve run a tab.”

  “Good thing I’m staying here. Can’t show my face anywhere else in the galaxy.” She looked at Vala again. “So what’s her name?”

  “Adria.”

  “Oh.”

>   “What?”

  “Nothing. It’s pretty.”

  Vala gasped. “Oh my G — I would not have named her Tanis.”

  “I didn’t expect you to!”

  “You most certainly did!” Vala said. “I saw the expectation in your eyes!”

  “It’s a good name!”

  Vala rolled her eyes and went back to the search.

  ~#~

  Lokelani was leaving the house as Sukhan arrived, and she paused to get an update. The alarms had stopped, but Lokelani could see the guards were still on alert. “Shein Pranassa was arrested by the guards for acting suspicious near an exterior wall,” Sukhan reported. “After a brief chase, she surrendered and allowed herself to be taken into custody.”

  Lokelani bit the inside of her cheek to keep from cursing. “Shein Pranassa. She’s in a relationship with Tanis Reynard, who used to be partners with Vala Mal Doran. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Where is Pranassa now?”

  “She’s been detained in the guard station at the entrance.”

  “Mal Doran? Reynard?”

  Sukhan shook her head. “They haven’t been seen. Ma’am, if those three are up to something, perhaps Sri Fraiser would know…”

  Lokelani shook her head. “Sri Fraiser is no longer a concern to us.”

  Sukhan began to say something but was interrupted by a shout coming from the wall. Lokelani looked toward it and saw a ship descending through the force field.

  “More prisoners?” Sukhan said. “Already?”

  “No, that’s a Wayfarer ship.” Ordinarily Lokelani would barely have paid attention to the supply drop-off, but the timing was suspicious. “Find Calyree and Onora. Supervise the unloading. Make sure there’s no trickery.”

  Sukhan hesitated but gave a quick nod. She stepped around Lokelani and went into the house to find the other Cai Thior.

  Lokelani narrowed her gaze at the Wayfarer ship as it descended into the wastelands. They’d never had issues with the Wayfarers, or any of their suppliers, but she wasn’t about to take any unnecessary risks. Not with the Tau’ri lurking around.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CAROLYN CLOSED her eyes and counted to ten. When she reached zero, she did it again. The wall was rough against her back, and it felt like she was standing in a desert even though intellectually she knew that there wasn’t even a sun to shine down on her. She used the cuff of her sleeve to wipe the sweat from her forehead and upper lip.

  When her heart stopped racing, she opened her eyes and looked around to make sure she was definitely alone. She was standing on the outside of the wall. Shein’s idea. The guards they were distracting had called for backup, and Shein quickly found all of her escape routes were blocked. Capture was inevitable. She was concerned about what the guards would do if they found Carolyn’s radio, so she came up with a hugely dangerous, incredibly foolhardy plan.

  Carolyn had jumped onto the wall and stretched out as flat as possible on top of the stone, holding her breath and praying for a lack of wind. She stayed there while Shein and Koty’r allowed themselves to be arrested, hoping the guards were distracted enough by them to not look up, then she jumped down onto the outside. The drop was only a few feet, but even a short fall could be dangerous. She’d been positive she would land wrong and break both her legs when she hit the ground. But Shein had told her the right way to fall without hurting herself and, despite the voices in her head screaming that it was crazy, she agreed. Now she was outside the walls, alone, and with no Plan B if the guys didn’t show up soon. She didn’t even want to risk walking too far forward because of the landmines.

  “Adventure,” she muttered to herself. “It doesn’t matter if your father is the commanding officer, this post will give you the chance for an adventure.” She laughed at her past self. “God, what I wouldn’t give for a boring assignment right now.”

  She had just started to mentally list her options if the guys didn’t show up when she saw movement in the sky. She looked up and watched as a ship broke through the barrier and began a slow descent toward the surface.

  Carolyn pulled the radio from her pack and closed her eyes to say a quiet prayer before she hit the button. “Guys? Is that you?”

  For a moment, there was only static. Then she heard a familiar Southern accent breaking through the interference. “ — just barely coming through. That you, Lam?”

  A grin spread across her face. “Hey, guys. Thanks for dropping in.”

  ~#~

  Cam watched the shimmering energy pass across the viewscreen, eventually fading to reveal the city stretched out below them. It was a massive sprawl of buildings from a seemingly endless variety of styles. It looked like someone had taken maps of Rome through the ages, stacked them all on top of each other, and then built it out of LEGOs. Maybe Rome wasn’t right… the part of the city they were closest to seemed more Asian-inspired.

  Daniel would have known, but he wasn’t exactly in a position to take a look. He was in a box by the cargo hatch, waiting to be offloaded onto the planet.

  A few minutes ago, Pemphero had told them that no one from the city would be close enough to hear a warning, so Cam was going to allow the Wayfarers to help unload the cargo.

  “And if one of them attempts to make a run for the city?” Teal’c had asked.

  “The guards wouldn’t let them get close enough to say anything. Anybody starts running for the walls, they’ll get a bullet in the head for their trouble.”

  “And how will they react when they find a stowaway in one of the boxes?” Daniel had said.

  Pemphero shrugged. “Don’t know.”

  At Daniel’s sigh, Cam had patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Jackson. You’ll do fine. We’ll poke a couple airholes in the top of the box before we leave you.”

  “Thanks. What could go wrong?”

  Now they were moments from landfall. Cam could see people gathering near the wall of the city, hands cupped over their eyes to watch the incoming ship. The radio had been on for a while, but Cam’s attention was drawn to it when the static suddenly hiccupped. He thought he heard a voice through the mess, so he used his thumb to press down the button.

  “Say again, caller, you’re just barely coming through. That you, Lam?”

  Her voice was clearer this time. “Hey, guys. Thanks for dropping in.”

  Cam ducked his head and smiled, quietly celebrating the victory. One small part of their plan had gone well, at least. “Glad to hear you’re in one piece. What’s the situation down there?”

  “Depends on who you ask,” Carolyn said. “I’m on the outside of the wall. Carter and Vala are both okay. They’re putting a plan in motion that will — ”

  Her voice suddenly cut out. “Lam?” He tapped the button a few times but she was gone. “You’ve got to be kidding me. What the hell just happened?”

  “Altitude,” Pemphero said. He had joined them on the Wayfarer ship to help pilot it through the prison’s defenses, attaching his own ship to it by a towline. “We were low enough that the shield didn’t interfere with the radios and high enough that the signal from the landmines didn’t scramble it. Now we’re too low for it to get through across the ground.”

  “The landmines have a signal? Is there a way we can block it from here?”

  Pemphero opened his mouth, probably to say it was impossible, but then cocked his head to the side. He ran one hand over the console he’d been drooling over from the moment he took the command chair. “This is a Wayfarer ship. Stands to reason they might have a way to disable the landmines while they’re going back and forth to unload the supplies.” Pemphero began entering commands. “Let’s focus on the positive. We know they’re here and they’re safe. And they’re working on a plan. Let’s run with that.”

  Teal’c was at the controls and set them down gently in the field of sand Pemphero indicated. Cam scanned the wall but couldn’t see Carolyn.

  “We unload the boxes - and Jackson - and then people from the city come to take
it all inside?”

  “Yep,” Pemphero said, “but they always wait until the ship is gone before they come out to get it.”

  The ship touched down and Cam went down to the cargo area. Kourash glared at him, so Cam offered his most charming smile.

  “Relax. You’re about to be rid of us for good.”

  “And we will not rest until the universe is rid of you as well,” he snapped.

  “Lots of people have dibs on wiping us out. I wouldn’t try jumping the line. You’re doing good work here. Helping people out. Just keep doing that, let it go. We want these ladies to get their supplies just like you do, so are you going to help us unload or are you going to make them suffer? It’s your choice.”

  Kourash bared his teeth but said nothing as the hatch door lowered. He made an unenthusiastic gesture to the others, who moved to the boxes and began the process of taking them off the ship. Cam and Teal’c took the box holding Daniel, grunting under the effort as they walked it down the ramp and placed it on the rocky ground. Cam looked up at the force field and took a second to gauge the weather.

  “Well, it may look like a desert, but it’s actually not bad. At least you won’t bake in there.” He patted the top of the box. “All right, Jackson, it’s all you now.”

  Teal’c looked toward the city and narrowed his eyes. “Did Pemphero not say that citizens waited until the ship departed to approach?”

  Cam looked and saw a shape moving toward them across the sand. “What the hell?” He put a hand over his eyes. “Is that Dr. Lam?”

  “It would appear so,” Teal’c said.

  Cam pointed at the guard towers. “Those guns…”

  Pemphero said, “Unmanned for now, looks like. Maybe there’s something happening in the city taking up their attention.”

  “Need a distraction, just add Vala,” Cam said.

  “Are you certain the landmines have been effectively disabled?” Teal’c asked.

  Pemphero said, “For your friend’s sake, I hope so.”

  ~#~

  Sukhan arrived at the city gate, pushing through the gathered crowd with Calyree and Onora. The women near the back of the crowd had identified the Wayfarer ship and were as always speculating about what might be in the supplies this time. As Sukhan neared the front of the crowd, however, the conversation shifted to a different sort of speculating.