by Geonn Cannon
“Fine. I’ll speak with them.”
“Thank you.” Sam took a step away, but there was something else she had to know. “Not to press my luck, but why are you helping us? It can’t be just because you want us out of your way.”
Sukhan thought for a moment. “Every woman here was sentenced to death, shuffled away and forgotten, for a variety of crimes. Some deserved their punishment but others were simply victims of a patriarchal society quick to silence any kind of sedition. The guards and the Overseers treated us all the same. This is our chance to transform Viaxeiro from a prison into something more. We can make it into a sanctuary.”
“I suppose I can respect that,” Sam said. She stepped around the other Cai Thior, wishing them a quiet “Good luck” before she headed down the stairs. She stopped next to Viona’s body and knelt down. Viona had given her life to protect her, and Sam didn’t want to forget that. She closed the woman’s eyes, rested a hand on her shoulder, and then went to find Vala.
~#~
Shein smiled when she heard the bodies fall just outside the holding cell door. She pushed herself up out of the chair and casually removed the restraints the guards had “secured” her with. The metal hit the ground just as the door swung open to reveal Tanis. She used her boot to move a fallen guard’s leg out of the way and stepped into the holding cell.
“I thought you might need a hand.”
“Oh, please,” Shein said as she stepped around the table. “They call me Mist and Shadows on seven worlds.”
Tanis grinned. “Eight now.”
“What’s the plan?”
“Absolute bedlam,” Tanis said as stooped to disarm the guards she’d knocked out. There had only been three guards in the building, but there were bound to be more outside. “Vala and Carter are going to need help getting out of here, and the guards aren’t likely to make that easy. What do you say we give them something else to focus on?”
Shein made a pleased sound in her throat. “The Cai Thior have been doing a pretty good job of taking them out already, but I’m willing to join in the fun.”
They headed for the exit, armed and looking to cause some damage.
~#~
Pemphero glanced back to see who had joined him in the cockpit. Carolyn had stopped at the threshold and was staring warily at him. He smiled and flicked his hand at her in a wave.
“Hello.”
“Hi.” Carolyn kept her distance. “You seem a lot friendlier than the last time we saw each other. You know, right before you tried to eject me into space.”
He sucked in air through his teeth. “Oh. Right, that. Yeah. Sorry. If you had just told me you were SG-1 to begin with, we could’ve started out as friends. I’m not trying to lay the blame on you, I’m just saying that maybe we — ” He trailed off as something on his console began beeping. He leaned forward and read the display, the humor leaving his face. “How, uh, how is the plan going?”
“I’m not sure.” She moved closer so she could see the display. “Why? What’s wrong?”
“Oh… I’m… sure it’s nothing…”
Carolyn said, “What’s that you were just saying about being honest with each other?”
Pemphero said, “No, it probably is nothing.” He scratched behind one ear. “But it looks like we’ve got incoming ships.”
“Friendly ships…?” Carolyn’s voice was blindly hopeful.
“Sorry. Our luck doesn’t seem to be running that way. Colonel Mitchell said that you knocked out the Overseers? Well, it looks like they got fixed and sounded an all-hands alert. Every ship that was currently docked on the station is coming to see what’s going on at the prison. You might want to tell your friends our time is running short. Those ships will be here in about twenty minutes, and I’m not going to stick around for them to ask questions. Clock’s running.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
SAM SPOTTED Vala on a running approach to the house. She held up the life support device victoriously, but Sam waved it away.
“We’re not going to be needing that.”
Vala dropped her arm. “I thought you found the generator.”
“I did, but Lokelani isn’t an issue anymore. The Cai Thior are in charge now.” She looked around. “Where is everyone else?”
“Tanis is freeing Shein, Carolyn got out — ”
“What?”
“Long story, they changed the plan. Last I heard, she was back on the ship.”
Sam said, “So the ship is here for us?”
Vala shrugged. “That’s what we’re assuming.”
Sam obviously hated the word ‘assuming,’ but there was little she could do at the moment. “Okay. God, what a mess… The Cai Thior are giving us a chance to make a run for it. We’re not going to get a better chance.”
Vala dropped the life support devices. “Lead the way, Samantha.”
They ran through the city. The guards were trying and failing to keep the peace, torn between fighting the Cai Thior and trying to keep the prisoners at bay. One guard had been backed into an alley by a group of prisoners who had taken his weapon. The Cai Thior was watching the bedlam unfold without intervening. Heads turned to follow Sam and Vala as they passed. Sam had a feeling that the women she’d freed from Lokelani’s basement had spread the word about their true identities.
Vala also noticed the attention they were getting. “Are they going to try to stop us or join us?”
“Neither,” Sam said. “They’re waiting to see if we succeed.”
The crowds parted as they passed, and Sam got the distinct feeling they were running a marathon. No one was cheering, however, and getting to the wall was only half the race. They passed Cai Thior who had subdued guards, prisoners who had armed themselves but looked unsure which side they were going to join, but every woman stopped to watch as Sam and Vala passed. She could hear them whispering but only picked up a few words.
“…SG-1…”
“Tau’ri?”
“…Carter and Vala…”
“…Goa’uld killers…”
Sam looked to make sure Vala was keeping up with her. “You good?”
“Not the first time I’ve been literally run out of town,” Vala said, only a little breathless.
Sam couldn’t help smiling, but she waited until she was facing forward so Vala wouldn’t see it.
A Cai Thior woman was standing at the entrance and moved to one side when she saw them. Just before they reached the wall, Sam spotted movement on a roof overlooking the entrance. Tanis was standing there, holding one of the guard’s guns in her hand. Shein was standing beside her, goggles down over her eyes. Tanis grinned and hoisted the weapon in the air, nodding her head to Sam and Vala as they drew closer. Shein saluted as well.
Sam tossed off a very sloppy salute in return, not willing to sacrifice speed to do it properly. Shein said something to Tanis, and they both stepped away from the edge of the roof and out of sight. Seconds later, she and Vala passed through the opening in the wall.
They were out of the city, with only a long stretch of open land between them and the ship. Behind her, a cheer went up that seemed to echo off every building in Viaxeiro. For the first time since she was zatted in that damn bar, Sam allowed herself to believe they were going home. The mission was finally over and she could start forgetting this whole FUBAR situation—
The ship’s engines fired up.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Sam shouted. She put her head down and pumped her arms, digging deep for an extra burst of speed.
Sam could see the ramp was still lowered, but now it was obscured by the dust devils being kicked up below the ship’s belly. She ran into the cloud of dust, blinded by it, Vala just a few steps behind her. Sound traveled strangely in the maelstrom, but she thought she heard Mitchell’s voice coming from directly ahead. Then she saw it: bursts of blue lightning followed by the unmistakable clicking of a zat gun being fired. He must have realized they couldn’t see or hear him above the sandstorm an
d was firing into the air to guide them.
She ran for the light and, just as she began to doubt herself, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her forward. She went weightless for a moment and let herself fall limp onto the hard metal floor of the cargo hold. Teal’c loomed over her, the lower half of his face protected by a rag and his eyes covered with goggles. Even with the majority of his face covered, she could tell that he was smiling.
“Hi,” she said, coughing the word out through the sand in her throat.
“It is good to see you again, Colonel Carter.”
Teal’c helped her sit up and she looked toward the hatch. Mitchell and Daniel were holding onto the struts with one hand, their other arms extended into the storm. Vala appeared, they grabbed hold of her arms, and twisted to haul her inside. Vala spread her arms and legs out as if she was leaping out of the ship, yelping at the feeling of weightlessness, and wrapped herself around Daniel like a koala. He stumbled back into the wall but managed not to drop her.
“Pemphero, take us outta here!” Mitchell shouted. He slapped a button on the wall and the ramp began lifting, closing off the still-swirling eddies of sand.
Sam coughed, and Vala leaned back to see the face of her savior. She grinned. “Hel-lo, Daniel! My hero!” She planted a big, smacking kiss on his cheek.
“Don’t call us heroes just yet,” Daniel said as he put her down. “We’re not exactly free and clear.”
Sam wearily climbed back to her feet. “Dr. Lam?”
“She’s watching over the, uh… the prisoners.” Sam raised an eyebrow. “Only technically. Long story. We’re going to let them go as soon as we get where we need to be.”
“Okay. So what’s going on? Why the rush?”
Mitchell said, “Ships. At least five, maybe more. Closing in on this location fast. Pemphero thinks the hijinks we got up to in finding this place tripped up some alarm bells.”
“There were hijinks?” Vala said. “And I missed them?”
“We’ll fill you in later,” Mitchell promised. To Sam, he said, “You know, we would’ve come back for you. We were just going to haul out ‘til the coast was clear. We didn’t come all this way just to give up on the first try.”
Sam said, “Noted, but I think we’d outstayed our welcome on Viaxeiro.”
“You can tell us all about it once we’re to safety.”
~#~
They trekked through the ship together, joining Pemphero in the cockpit. He smiled and waved hello to Carter and Vala, then twisted back around so he could focus on taking them out of the force field.
“Colonel Mitchell,” he said, “you snatched up a lovely little ship here. Think the Wayfarers would be willing to trade…?”
“Unlikely,” Cam said. “How are we doing on our uninvited guests?”
Pemphero said, “They’re coming in fast. Remember how I said there were at least five ships?”
“Yeah,” Cam said warily.
“That was just the ships within our radar range. There’s more coming.”
“How many more?”
Pemphero said, “You saw how many ships were docked at the Overseers’ station? Well, everything we’re doing right now is threatening their livelihood. A very lucrative livelihood, I should say. So pretty much all of them are coming to make sure Viaxeiro keeps its reputation.”
“Fantastic,” Cam said. “Can we outrun them?”
“I’ll need a copilot so I can focus on setting the course. Which one of you wants to take a crack?”
Cam looked longingly at the controls, but he knew he was woefully deficient when it came to operating alien vessels. This was no time to learn on the job. He turned to Teal’c. “Kills me to say this, big guy, but I think I have to let you take this one.”
Teal’c stepped around him to take the copilot seat. Cam went to Carter.
“Okay, bullet points. This is Pemphero. He’s a transporter for Viaxeiro, but apparently he’s a big fan of SG-1 so he decided to help us out. This is the ship of some nice people called Wayfarers, who supply the prison with food and sundries.”
“Where are the Wayfarers now?”
“We locked them in the kitchen,” Cam said. “You know. Like heroes.”
Carter smiled ruefully. “Sometimes you have to find the grey areas. I assume they aren’t fans of us.”
“No, not as such. So how’d things go in the prison? Any new tattoos?”
Vala said, “No, but Tanis did give me the address of a vault where she’s left everything she’s gathered on the Lucian Alliance.”
Carter and Cam both looked at her in surprise. “She did?” they said together.
“We were friends, you know.”
“Wow,” Cam said. “This mission might just pay off after all.”
Daniel cleared his throat and gestured at the viewscreen. “Assuming of course we survive the next few minutes.”
“Right,” Cam said. “Always assuming that.”
Vala had moved closer to the viewscreen, where the force field was just beginning to thin out and show stars above Viaxeiro. She spoke low enough that only Cam could hear her when she said, “Goodbye, Tanis. Good luck.”
“Boy-ee!” Pemphero laughed, drawing everyone’s attention. He let the chuckle die off slowly and shook his head. “Sorry. I’m sorry, I really am. But I just can’t believe I’m SG-1’s escape runner!”
“We call it a getaway driver where we come from.” Cam patted Pemphero on the shoulder. “Just make sure you aren’t our last getaway driver, and we’ll all sign something for you on our way to the Stargate.”
~#~
“This vessel does not appear to be equipped with weapons,” Teal’c said. His voice was tinged with the slightest worry.
“It’s a missionary ship,” Daniel said, “what do they need with weapons?”
“Said the armed archaeologist,” Cam countered. “If there are no weapons, we’re going to have to focus on being faster than them.”
Pemphero whistled. “Tall order, Colonel Mitchell. A lot of those ships were built for pursuit. They hunt bounties, they chase down people whose first instinct is always to run. Missionary ships aren’t built for war, but they’re also not really built for escape.”
Cam said, “Okay, how about communication? Were they at least built to talk to each other?”
“Of course.” He twisted to look around the cockpit and pointed at a small horseshoe-shaped station in the far corner. “There. Who the hell are you contacting?”
Cam said, “Hopefully some new friends.”
Carter moved to stand behind Teal’c’s seat. “How far is the nearest Stargate?”
Pemphero answered her. “We’re skimming by the edge of a system that has a Chappa’ai on the fourth planet. We can be there in fifteen minutes if we push the engines. Problem is, we’d have to push the engines the entire way and I’m not sure they can take that sort of abuse.”
“What if we hop back over to your ship?” Daniel said.
“Sure, it’s faster and the engines will get us to the Stargate. But we would lose time by docking and transferring.”
Carter put a hand on his shoulder before she turned to hurry out of the room. “Set a course for the Stargate. I’ll see what I can get out of the engines.”
Teal’c said, “Setting a course. The first vessels are almost upon us.”
“I see them,” Pemphero said. “Hold on tight, folks. Inertial dampeners can only do so much.”
Everyone lurched to the side as Pemphero swung the ship on a wide axis. Daniel was watching a screen which showed a cluster of vessels closing in fast on their position.
Cam was at the communication center, eyes closed so he could focus on finding sense amid the static hum. “Kimo, Adamaris. If you’re listening, we could really use a hand here.”
Vala said, “If those ships don’t catch up with us, aren’t they just going to land on Viaxeiro and make life hell for them?”
Pemphero shook his head. “Nah. One of them might land to see
what happened, and it’ll take them ages to sort out that mess. But all those ladies down there could kill each other and no one would bat an eye. Our job is just to get the women to the prison. Once they’re safely locked away, we couldn’t care less.”
Daniel said, “So why are they chasing us?”
“Because escape is the one crime the Overseers won’t abide. They have centuries of a reputation to protect. They’ll blow this ship to pieces on the off chance we have prisoners aboard.”
“Fabulous.” Daniel looked at Cam. “Anything?”
“Kind of hard to pick out one voice out of everyone using this party line, Jackson.”
An alarm sounded. Teal’c checked it. “The leading ships have locked onto us. They are adjusting course to intercept.” To Pemphero, he said, “Are we currently at the maximum speed?”
“That’s a yes, my Jaffa friend.”
“Then they are likely to be in weapons range in just over a minute.”
Cam grunted. “Kimo! Adamaris! A little intervention would be greatly appreciated! If you’re picking this up — ”
“If they’re picking it up,” Daniel said, “they might not want to acknowledge we’re friends when everyone else is listening in.”
“You’re right, but if there’s a chance we’ve got friends among the torches-and-pitchforks crowd, I’m going to take advantage of them.”
Daniel seemed to accept that logic as the ship was rocked by an energy blast. Cam abandoned the radio and ran out of the cockpit to the engine room. When he arrived, Carter had already shed the jacket she’d been wearing and was crouching next to what looked like a turn-of-the-century furnace. Her forehead was glistening with sweat from being so close to the hot metal.
“How’s it looking?” he asked.
“That guy up there was right about the limits of this engine. If there isn’t a Stargate on this planet we’re heading for, we might have to surrender just to get back to civilization.”
