Chapter 2 – Attempts at Flight

"I'm done. Now what?" Cynthia asked after changing the alien woman's clothes.

Daniel returned from the next room. "I'll lock her in the brig. You work on the controls systems and see if you can get us turned around. An Al'kesh appeared on our radar briefly before we jumped to hyperspace, and I'm hoping it's the one the crew are in.

"Great, I'll get to work." Cynthia fiddled with the controls for a few minutes while Daniel dragged away the unconscious Vala. Deciding she didn't have the right tools for the job, she retrieved her laptop from her room. When she returned, Daniel was watching the prisoner over the security camera.

"I see you!" he called.

Vala looked around and spotted the camera in the corner. "Did you have fun taking off my clothes?" she asked, moving closer to the camera.

"I didn't," Daniel stated directly.

"Oh? I certainly don't remember taking them off, and it's not something I'm liable to forget in a hurry."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but we aren't the only ones on the ship."

"Oh."

"And the other person does happen to know quite a lot about computer systems. Perhaps you could tell me where you attempted to take this ship?"

"I told you: to save my people. Could you please let me out of here?"

"Nope. Not happening."

Vala sat wearily. "Y'know, I haven't eaten in several days."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Perhaps you could save us some time and tell me how to access the navigation controls?"

"It isn't very nice, you know, starving a prisoner to death. Come on, Daniel, you've seen me naked. At least…"

"I told you, that wasn't me."

"Well at least one person on this ship has. So…"

"Did I mention she's fifteen years old?"

Vala seemed surprised. "I thought you said she knew a lot about the computers."

"She does."

"Oh. Well you'd better feed me before I start eating these silly-looking clothes."

"Fine, I'll get you some food."

A little while later…

The computer beeped happily, causing Cynthia to grin. She tapped a few more keys and Prometheus dropped out of hyperspace. Fortunately there were no immediate threats detected, as she had no idea what to do next. Since she knew they needed to turn the ship around and find the rest of the crew, she ran to find Daniel. He seemed to be saying something about camels being gone now.

"And Ba'al's forces are searching every inhabitable world in Camulus' territory. His ships are everywhere. It's only a matter of time before my people are found," Vala explained.

"Uh, excuse me," Cynthia interrupted.

"Ohh, aren't you tall for fifteen! Though what with differences in planetary orbits it's hard to be sure what that really means," Vala babbled.

Daniel shot her a disapproving look, as he wanted to know what the teen had to say. "Cynthia?"

"Navigation controls are unlocked, and we've dropped out of hyperspace. You can input a new course now," she told him proudly.

"That's great news. I'll just take Vala…" he caught a movement in the corner of his eye and turned in time to receive a banana peel in the face. "Wha…" Vala snatched the zat gun away from him before he had a chance to aim. He lunged at her but before he could do any damage, the pain of a zat blast washed over him.

Vala pushed the fallen archaeologist off her and aimed at the shocked blonde girl. "You have my sincerest thanks for distracting him."

"Uh… Please don't shoot me. I'm just a harmless kid. I can't do anything to you." Cynthia slowly edged closer to the black-haired woman, preparing to strike when she was close enough. "You've got the weapon, so you're in control."

"True." Vala calmly squeezed the trigger, giving Cynthia a dose of crackling blue energy. "As if I'd fall for that trick," she said to the unconscious girl. She dragged her prisoners to the brig and set about re-entering her flight path.

Daniel awoke first, and discovered that in addition to being in the brig, his hands were secured behind his back. Cynthia lay sprawled beside him. He gently shook her by the shoulder. "Hey, Cynthia, wake up."

"Uhhh… what happened?"

"Vala shot us both with the zat."

Cynthia looked ashamed. "Oh. Sorry, I distracted you."

"Don't worry, it's more my fault for taking my eyes off her. I should have known better. Anyhow, we're here now, so we should concentrate on getting out. Any ideas?"

"You'd hope the Air Force could build an escape-proof brig," Cynthia commented. She inspected the room and suggested, "The only weak point is the door. Perhaps…" She stopped as she felt a jolt run through the ship. "We just dropped out of hyperspace, didn't we?"

"I'd say so."

"What are the chances that Vala actually intends to use this ship to 'save her people'?"

"Slim," Daniel admitted.

"Then we'd better get out of here quickly. I'll see what I can do to the electronic lock."

Daniel gave her a funny look. "With your hands behind your back?"

"I didn't say it would be easy." It was a good thing she hadn't said it would be easy, because she would have been wrong. Five minutes of fumbling resulted in skinned knuckles, and five more minutes achieved the removal of a cover plate. "Perhaps I could try shorting out some of the connections."

"They all look insulated," Daniel observed.

"Then I'll scrape off the coating… hmm, this cover has a sharp edge." She succeeded in baring a couple of the wires, and oddly, this was enough to unlock there door."

"Huh?"

"That was easy. Way too easy."

"Just two, in here," said Vala to someone in the hall outside. She pushed the door open and smiled at her prisoners. "Good to see you're still here. We're going on a little side trip."

Daniel spotted the two decidedly non-human aliens beside Vala, who had changed back into most of the super-soldier armour. "Uh… are these your people?"

"I'll explain that later," she said evasively. "We need to take a little walk planet-side."

"I'm not going anywhere without my laptop," Cynthia declared firmly.

"Your what?"

"Portable computer."

"Oh. Fine, you can bring that. Daniel, want to collect anything on the way out?"

Thinking about the possibility of escaping through a stargate, Daniel decided he had to take a GDO along. "As a matter of fact, there is one small thing I'd like to bring along, for sentimental reasons."

"So long as it isn't heavy, or a weapon."

"You're wasting our time, Vala," one of the aliens growled.

"This won't take long. We'll soon be out of your tentacles, Tenat." She quickly escorted Cynthia and Daniel to collect the items they had collected and then led them outside.

"Where are we going?" Daniel queried.

"That little cargo ship to the left. Quickly, please."

Daniel had no choice but to increase his pace. He didn't want to give Vala any need to use her wrist blasters. Finally they were all inside the cargo ship. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to a large box.

"Weapons grade naquadah. Payment for your lovely ship."

Daniel groaned. "I can't say I'm surprised. I don't look surprised, do I Cynthia?"

"No, you don't look surprised," she agreed.

"Oh, don't worry. I don't intend to let them keep it for long," Vala admitted. She pulled on the rest of her armour and pressed the buttons to activate the ring transporter. Nothing happened. "Hmm, that's odd." She tried a few more times. "Well, it looks like they gave me a cargo ship with busted rings. That's no good. And they seem to be leaving the planet too."

"You mean you planned to cross them and never considered the possibility of them doing the same to you?" Daniel wondered, a little smarmily.

"Don't worry, I made sure they couldn't get far. Unless they're as smart as Cynthia here – which I know they aren't – they're stuck at sublight speeds. I'll sort the rings off later, for now we should at least follow them."

"I bet the engine won't work either," Daniel guessed.

"Hey, don't say things like that. I'm sure the… hmm… perhaps if I… no, you're right."

Daniel shook his head in annoyance. "This is not my lucky day."

"Does anything work?" Cynthia wondered.

"Ooh, yes, sensors are up."

"That's good." Daniel was now slightly less discouraged.

"It means we get to see the gliders before we hear them."

"Gliders?" the two Tau'ri asked in unison.

"They're heading for your ship. I think we were followed."

"Of course we were."

"On the bright side, the cloak works," Vala added cheerily. "So we're safe so long as a stray shot doesn't hit us."

"Let's try not to think about that."

"Alright, Daniel. Perhaps we should think about the two Al'kesh which are joining the fight, and the slim chance of those idiotic traders figuring out how to return fire. I don't think there's much chance of us using that ship again."

"Vala!"

"Though on the bright side, I did show them how to turn the shield on, so that buys them a little more time."

Daniel dropped his head to his knees.

"Cheer up, Daniel. I did remember to bring food."

Back on Earth…

Ivan threw on some clothes and grabbed himself a quick breakfast, as he did every morning before walking to the store. His father was already in the kitchen. "Hi Dad," he muttered.

"Morning, kid," Markus Sage replied. Then had added as an afterthought, "Happy birthday. I'll let you of work an hour early."

"Alright," Ivan replied blandly as he munched on a piece of toast. "See you at the store." He would be opening today, as his father had to pick up some deliveries from the freight depot.

Markus nodded absently and picked up his keys. He didn't really care much so long as Ivan did what he was told and kept out of trouble.

Ivan pulled on his shoes soon after his father had left, and locked up the house. He brought along a backpack with some clothes and a few personal items. On his way to the store, he dropped it off at his friend Mikey's place. Mikey was a painter and a dropout like Ivan. He occasionally got himself in trouble due to his habit of painting things without permission, even though he did a rather good job of it, in Ivan's opinion. Some called it graffiti, while Mikey called it art. In any case, he had a car and had agreed to give Ivan a lift to the airport after work.

The day went by slowly, with the usual flow of customers through the store. Apparently today's topic of interest was an alleged UFO sighting, pictures of which had been printed in one of the local tabloids. Ivan didn't bother looking for himself, knowing that with the quality of printing it was barely possible to tell whether it was a real photo of a hoax, a clever computer manipulation, or painted from scratch. Whatever it was, it was slightly amusing to see so many people excited about it.

Charlotte Mayfield and Athena were less amused. "Have the deliveries moved further out of town. And use a different truck," she ordered one of her underlings.

"Yes, Miss Mayfield."

"And as for this photographer…"

"Leah Lincoln?"

"Yes, her. It would be a pity if she were killed in a mugging attempt. Though it would be no great loss for me."

"I understand."

The Goa'ulded woman sighed. It was a pity to need to start killing so soon, but some people simply couldn't mind their own business.

Ivan left the store, feeling like an escaped prisoner. Though he hadn't quite escaped yet. He was still in the same town as his father, a situation which would soon be remedied. On the other hand, a couple of times he'd briefly let down his mental shield, just to defy the man. Since he was leaving, there would be no consequences, since his infractions would not be discovered.

The 18-year-old wasn't entirely sure what to make of his 'problem'. There was no rational explanation for images popping into his head, especially when they seemed to be related to the lives of his customers. He'd initially thought that they might be his imagination working on things they'd told him during previous visits to the store. However, some of the visions that had lasted long enough to understand were definitely things he couldn't possibly be aware of. He wondered whether they were right, or if they were just random, or even 'evil' like his father claimed.

His musings resulted in inattention to his surroundings, and he found himself walking right into someone. Fortunately neither of them quite lost their balance. "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going," she said in a familiar voice. He stared at her, knowing he knew this girl with flawless chocolate skin from somewhere.

The vision vanished, leaving Ivan a little disoriented. He was sure she was the same girl from his airport vision, but he had no idea why he was seeing things that clearly had not happened to him. He continued walking, confused as to the meaning of what he had seen. He wasn't the only person deep in thought, and as he reached the street corner, he ran smack into someone coming the other way.

"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going," Leah apologised to the young man she'd walked into. There was something very familiar about him. After a moment's thought, she placed him. "Ivan Sage, from school!"

That was right, he knew her from school. If only he could remember who she actually was, he might have a chance at finding a sensible answer. Figuring it was worth a try, he opened his mind to any pictures that might be relevant. There were. In a flash, he saw many memories of her at school, and many he was sure he hadn't known. "You're Leah Lincoln, the girl with all the cameras."

As she nodded, he saw another memory: two thugs with knives. "You should never have taken those pictures," one said coldly, before slicing her neck with his knife.

"Are you alright?" Leah asked, seeing how shaken her school friend looked.

"I'm alright, but… did you take any pictures someone might not be happy about?" It seemed like a crazy thing to ask, but it was worth a try.

Leah nodded. "The UFO pictures that were printed this morning. Have you seen them?"

Ivan was surprised. "You took those pictures? I haven't actually seen them, but I've heard about them."

"Yeah, I took them last night. Why do you ask?"

"I think someone wants you dead," Ivan admitted.

"What? Where'd you get that idea?"

"Uh…" Ivan suddenly found himself seeing men load crates into an unknown craft, which then lifted into the air and vanished. "You really did see four men loading crates into a UFO!"

Leah looked at him even more quizzically. "I never told anyone how many there were."

"Good. That means you're more likely to believe me."

"Huh? Believe what?"

"Well… I seem to be able to see things about people. Glimpses of their past, and sometimes even their future."

"Get outta town, Ivan! That's crazy talk."

"You saw men loading crates onto a vanishing UFO last night," he reminded her. "If you can see UFOs, I can see visions."

"Fair enough. But… have you always been able to do it?"

"I guess so, but my father got mad about it when I was a kid, so… I've made myself block it out, until last night. That's why I was so bad at school. I couldn't concentrate."

"And you saw that someone wants me dead because of those photos," she recapped.

"Yeah, two guys with knives had you in an alley. Will have you in an alley."

"Okay… I guess I'd better get home. It was… nice seeing you again. Been a few years." She turned to duck down an alley, which was the quickest way home, and a route she regularly took.

Ivan grabbed her arm. "Not that way, that's where they're waiting for you."

"Oh. You sure?"

"Certain."

"Alright, I'll find another way home. Thanks for the warning, as weird as it was."

"You're welcome, Leah."

The young woman hung back. "Do you know if I'll be alright if I avoid these guys?"

Ivan considered the matter, opening himself to further images. "I… no… break into your house… shot and…" He shuddered at what he was seeing. "Whoever these people are, they want you dead, and want it to look like a typical crime that went bad. I think you'd better make yourself scarce."

"Got any bright ideas?"

"Well… I'm about to take a flight to Colorado Springs. I'm 18 today, and I've had enough of my dad. You could come with."

Leah shrugged. "I guess that's as good a plan as any. You seem to have already saved my life twice, so I guess you can keep me safe. And since I have plenty of cash and my favourite camera on hand, I should be able to find work anywhere. Going back to my house would be a bad idea, right?"

"Yeah, probably. Mikey's giving me a lift. He can fit you in too."

"Ahh, Mikey, the guy who repaints his car every month, at least. And half the down, it seems. I've got some good shots of his work. Right, lets do this." From what Leah could remember, Ivan was a decent guy, though fairly withdrawn. Plus he was nearly a head shorter than her. He was not an apparent threat, plus after the whole UFO thing, he seemed to be telling the truth.

"Great, let's pick up the pace a bit. Don't want to keep Mikey waiting."

"Got a ticket yet?" Leah wondered.

"Naw, I figured there's less chance of my dad finding out if I just find something after I get to the airport and pay in cash. So it's not like we have a flight to miss. Actually… taking into account how slow Mikey likes to drive, we should still have over an hour to spare after we have our tickets. You'll probably forget, but we're departing through gate 5."

"Eh? How do you know that if you don't have a booking?"

"Oh, I saw it in a vision last night. Actually, we were both there. That's why I decided on Colorado Springs."

"If you say so. I say this is stranger than the UFO."

"Me too," Ivan agreed.

AN: Well Cynthia tried to be helpful.