A/N:
Calliope is a fickle Mistress... I'll try to get the next chapter out quicker... Enjoy!!
Introducing... Praemas of Vere Una
Malina heard her father's footsteps outside, scraping unsteadily on the worn wood of the steps. A second set of footsteps, firm and heavy, stalked her father's. Hurriedly she pulled the door of the oven open, feeling a gust of baking air wash over her. Wonderful. A bright red face would clash spectacularly with the pink of her best gown. Pulling the bread out of the oven, she wondered whom her father had chosen for her to marry. As long as it wasn't Gunt she would be happy Malina decided, quickly transferring the fresh bread onto a platter as the door opened.
Her father was the first through the door, rebounding off the frame and staggering over to slump in a chair at the table. Not Gunt, not Gunt, not Gunt, Malina silently chanted as she waited for her betrothed, a welcoming smile on her lips. Long seconds passed and her smile felt forced and frozen before a tall shadowy figure filled the doorway. Malina's breath caught in her throat and her stomach cramped painfully. This was it. The man she was going to marry.
As her betrothed stepped over the threshold, bending his head to fit under the lintel, his face was in shadow and so Malina's gaze was drawn instead to the twisted staff he held in his right hand. The fragrant platter of freshly baked bread fell from Malina's nerveless fingers.
She'd really rather marry Gunt.
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Slowly and silently, she crept down the hayloft ladder, desperately trying to remember which of the rungs had creaked earlier and placing her weight on the edges of those that didn't in case she got it wrong. Carefully, she dropped to the floor, looking around to check that no-one had seen her. Only Mallie and her pa lived on the farm at night but it paid to be extra careful. The last thing she wanted to do was alert the Prior to her presence.
Noiselessly, she made her way to the barn entrance and stood in the shadows for a moment while she decided what to do next. House or Kado? She could always make a run for the Stargate but given that she didn't know where the fuck it was and she'd be leaving Mallie behind, she decided that was a bad plan. A piercing whine from the dark shape huddled in front of the barn decided the matter and she dropped to her knees by Kado's head.
She was no expert, but running her hands over his still form, she felt no broken bones and judged it safe to move the large dog into the relative haven of the barn. He whimpered as she lifted him and she gently hushed him, moving him deep into the shadows of the barn before turning to look at the dark shape of the house. What the fuck was going on in there?
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Malina didn't know how she'd kept her wits about her as her father had introduced her Betrothed to her. A Prior! He'd Betrothed her to a Prior. Malina knew that her father had taken her mother's death hard, turning to strong drink to soothe the empty place in his soul, but she hadn't realised that he'd also taken leave of his senses! What had he been thinking to Betroth her to a Prior? Suddenly the Book of Origin that Faith had discovered earlier that day made much more sense to Malina. This Prior, this Praemas, must have given it to her father. He in turn had given his only child to him. Why?
Showing no outward sign of the torment in her heart, Malina turned to the two men waiting at the table with a large smile pasted on her face.
"Dinner will be ready soon." She assured them as she ladled large helpings of the stew she had made into the rough wooden bowls they used to eat.
How was she going to escape? Malina's eyes flitted from the heavy iron ladle, to the sharp knife she had used to chop the meat and settled on a small package carefully tucked away from any food. The poison they used on the rats. Of course!
Careful to keep her actions shielded from the men by her body, Malina carefully eased the poison from its place and folded back the paper edges. Her hands shook as she carefully poured a generous amount into her hand and folded the packet back up. Dividing the poison into two portions she carefully sprinkled it into the bowls she had intended for her Father and Betrothed. Picking up a horn spoon, she stirred the stew until the poison had thoroughly dissolved. As she turned back to the two men, she held up the bowls with what felt like her first genuine smile of the evening.
"Dinner's ready!"
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A floorboard underfoot began to creak and she froze, her dark figure clearly delineated in the sharp moonlight. Holding her breath she waited, all of her weight thrown onto her other foot, her ears straining to distinguish any unusual sounds. But what was unusual on a foreign planet? Gradually she began to convince herself that no-one could have heard her and moved on, her Doc Marten-clad foot brushing silently over the tell-tale board and onto the next.
She never was any good at sneaking around, she thought as she edged her way along the veranda. Probably because she was more of a hit 'em all 'til they're dead kinda girl. Crouching underneath the wide window she risked a peek into the well-lit interior.
The Prior was sat at the table with his back to her, Malina's father sprawled in a chair beside him, guzzling from his tankard. Malina was just sitting down as she looked in, her soft gaze focussed entirely on the steaming bowl in front of her. Pulling back out of sight, she frowned as she stared unseeingly over the farmyard. Did Malina actually want to marry a Prior?
"Stop." The Prior's harsh command easily reached her ears, in spite of the log wall between them and despite herself she froze.
Malina jumped slightly and beside her on her right, her drunken father fumbled with his spoon, eventually dropping it onto the floor.
"Oops." He exclaimed, and missed the table edge by a hairsbreadth as he ducked abruptly underneath it in search of the missing utensil.
Malina's vivid blue eyes met Praemas' pale gaze across the table as the Prior explained his outburst.
"It is customary," he said slowly, "Where I come from, to invoke the blessings of the Ori before every meal." The sigils engraved on Praemas' jaw shifted as he coughed slightly. "Would you have any objections...?" He asked, his voice trailing off suggestively.
Malina's father popped his head back up from beneath the table, his gaze anxiously fixed on Malina. Trapped by convention, Malina could only force herself to smile at her Betrothed and say,
"Then by all means..."
Praemas looked up and raised his hands to shoulder level. "Mighty and all-seeing are the Ori," He intoned, his gaze fixed piously on the beamed ceiling. "I, your faithful servant, humbly implore you who see all to bless this lowly meal." Malina's stomach clenched as Praemas' staff began to glow in the corner.
Malina's father slowly regained his seat, his gaze now firmly fixed on Praemas' face as the two men's bowls began to glow with the same eldritch light as the Prior's staff. Malina carefully schooled her her round face to remain expressionless as Praemas levelled his pale stare on her.
"Hallowed are the Ori." He intoned, and his voice seemed to come from very far away and yet be all around her at the same time.
"Hallowed are the Ori." Her father echoed.
There was an awkward pause as Malina said nothing, only stared calmly at the two men, her blue eyes betraying nothing of her inner turmoil. Picking up her horn spoon she smiled sweetly at the two men.
"Shall we begin?" She softly asked them.
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"So I told them I'd send some of us to find her." Buffy concluded.
Her friends stared at her in horror. The moment stretched on and on and for the first time since she'd flung the words at General Landry, Buffy began to have doubts.
"Why?" Robin finally asked with a frown. "From what you've told me about this... SGC... this is what they do, isn't it?"
Buffy shrugged. "They were being all que sera sera about losing Faith and it popped out." She explained.
"You lost your temper, didn't you?" Xander asked shrewdly.
Buffy shifted awkwardly in her seat. "Maybe." She admitted.
Robin sighed, picking up his pen. "Who were you thinking of sending?"
Buffy bit her lip uncertainly, not wanting to admit that she hadn't thought that far ahead yet.
"I don't think the Air Force is gonna be too happy if we send them a bunch of underage girls." Xander pointed out.
"We need to send Watchers." Willow said decisively.
Buffy frowned, her forehead scrunching up attractively. "We don't have enough Watchers to go round as it is."
"How many people do we need to send?" Robin asked, his pen poised over the paper he was using to take notes, trying to think about the problem rationally despite his fears for the safety of his girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend. Whatever the hell Faith was now.
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Malina's father belched as he stood, a long deep belch that seemed to come from the very guts of the man. He staggered a little as he stretched and yawned exaggeratedly.
"Goodnight Malina." He told his daughter, ruffling her hair as he spoke to her. "Don't forget to lock up after your Betrothed has gone." With a broad wink, he left the room.
Malina stared after him in disgust. Was he really so blind that he couldn't see how unhappy she was with the match he had made for her? Could a man who was willing to force her into marriage with a Prior, truly love her? Lost in her own thoughts, she barely noticed how the long silence stretched on and on. Praemas did however, and disapproved.
Bad enough that he was forced to marry, something which went against all the tenets of Priorhood and his own personal wishes without it being to a barely formed girl with no more idea of subtlety than conversation. As if to prove his point, she stirred and turned limpid blue eyes upon him.
"Where do you come from?" She asked impudently.
Breathing out heavily through the broad nostrils of his aquiline nose, Praemas considered giving the girl a taste of her own medicine and not replying. However, his innate sense of courtesy impelled him to at least give her the name of his village.
"Do your parents still live there?" Was the next question upon the prying child's lips.
Praemas couldn't help the annoyed cluck that fell from his lips but mindful of the orders he had been given when he left Celestis, he answered her in a reasonable tone.
"It has been many years since I returned to Vere Una, and I have not seen my father in that time."
She frowned, asking after his mother and his annoyance grew at the thought of her.
"She died when I was a child." He said roughly, hearing ancient grief in the roughness of his voice and hating himself for it.
Her eyes softened and her hand moved forward slightly, almost as though she meant to touch him. He pulled his own hand back sharply, wary of her womanly wiles, and with good reason too he thought as she softly commiserated with him for his loss.
"It was no bad thing!" He exploded forcefully, finding his feet and towering over his Betrothed. "She was a blasphemer, spreading her foul lies about the true nature of the Gods. When she was discovered, she was given over to the holy fires of damnation where she burns for all eternity."
The lack of fear in his affianced wife's eyes reminded him of where he was and just what he was dealing with. Falling back a pace or two, he drew himself up to his full height and apologised for his outburst with all the charm that he was capable of. He forced his eyes to gleam warmly at the girl as he smiled and made ready to leave. Finally, pausing on the threshold as she held the door open for him, he tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear.
"Your father has agreed that we shall be married in two days time." He told her gently. "That should give you more than enough time to pack your belongings." She stared up at him, her eyes wide at the thought of leaving her insignificant backwater of a home world.
"We're leaving Terluna?" She asked, her voice a breathy sigh.
He chuckled at her naiveté. It was reassuring to realise that, underneath her womanish exterior, she was still just an innocent child at heart. Perhaps, playing husband to a Slayer would not be the onerous task he had been instructed it would be after all.
"Did you really think to spend your whole life here?" He asked, stroking down one soft cheek with the tip of his finger.
She lowered her eyes, and a red flush rose in the hollow of her throat. Unbidden and unexpected, he felt the urge to possess her rise up in him until his heart pounded fiercely with desire. Allowing his hand to drop, he cocked his head slightly as he studied her.
"You may kiss me." He said gently.
That made her look at him, as her eyes flew to his and the red blush crept up her throat to her fair cheeks. Anticipation thrummed in his stomach as she slowly raised herself up onto her tiptoes and stepped closer. He closed his eyes and licked his lips, waiting.
Shock held him immobile as he felt her lips, instead of lingering on his mouth, briefly peck at his cheek, and he opened his eyes in time for her to close the door in his face, missing his prominent nose by a hairsbreadth. Astounded by what he considered to be the uncharacteristic behaviour displayed by his Betrothed, he stared dumbly at the door for moment before a strange presentiment prickled the hair at his nape and sent him whirling round in a flurry of robes. He planted his staff firmly on the ground as he peered at the hulking shape of a barn, ominously dark in the bright moonlight.
Focussing his will, he gestured with his staff and the interior of the barn flooded with the same light that issued from the large gem sent in his badge of office. No suspicious persons intent on harming him lingered there, only the mutt that had challenged his presence earlier in the evening lay sprawled on floor of the building.
Relieved, he swung his staff away and the light ceased also, plunging the barn back into darkness. But still the hair on his arms stood upwards and he was struck by an inexplicable sense that he was missing something. Shaking his head, he shook off the feeling as well and clumped heavily down the steps of the house.
Behind him, a dark figure crouched beneath the window, hardly daring to breathe in case he heard her. That had been close!
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Teal'c walked slowly through the makeshift tents of the refugee settlement. To the impartial observer, he might have seemed lost in thought, oblivious to his surroundings. In reality however, he was keenly aware of every Jaffa around him, registering the insignia they all bore on their brows, searching for the familiar sign of Apophis.
The tents thinned out as Teal'c reached the edge of the encampment without ever seeing a match for the tattoo that he himself bore. Somewhere close by a baby wailed and was not pacified. Staring out into the dark night, Teal'c permitted a frustrated sigh to make its way past his firm lips.
Pivoting on his heel to leave, he came to an abrupt halt in order to prevent himself from colliding with an old woman who had somehow positioned herself behind him without his realising. Rocking back, Teal'c stared down at the woman from his not inconsiderable height.
"Tek ma te, Honoured Mother." He said finally, giving the woman the respect her age entitled her to.
She smiled up at him, bending her head. "Tek ma te, Teal'c." She said, brushing her hair from her forehead and revealing the serpentine sign of Apophis. "Who do you seek among us?" She asked.
"A fearless warrior." Teal'c told her.
"Jaffa?"
"Tau'ri." Teal'c corrected. "A woman called Faith."
The old woman cackled, her mouth a gaping toothless hole. "A woman warrior?" She asked. "A strange thing indeed. But these are strange times, are they not Teal'c? What does your woman look like?"
"She is not my woman." Teal'c said stiffly.
"No, Ishta of the Hak'tyl is your woman warrior, is she not?" The old woman said knowingly. "But what does Faith look like?"
Slowly, Teal'c reached inside his robes and pulled out a rectangle of card. Rubbing his thumb along the smooth face of the photograph, he hesitated for a moment before holding it out to the woman. She snatched it from him, backing up a few steps into the light and pouring over the grainy security picture as she muttered to herself. Finally she nodded, looking up at Teal'c.
"A fearsome warrior indeed." She told him. "Over half those of Chulak living here owe our lives to her."
"You have seen her?" Teal'c asked, his rough voice barely betraying his excitement. "Is she here?"
The woman shook her head. "I saw her shot with an Ori weapon." She told him. "It did not hurt her, not then, but after she helped us all to safety she collapsed. The other girl told us she would care for her and so we travelled on. To here." The woman looked around her surroundings with disgust. "I have a sister on Mubastas. Tomorrow I think, I will go to her."
"What planet did you leave her on?" Teal'c asked in a deep rumble. "And in whose care?"
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Faith was slumped on the dirt floor of the barn, her head leant back against the third rug of the hayloft ladder and soft snores escaping her mouth in breathy sighs. Kado's head rested in her lap and as his mistress approached, it stayed there, although his eyes opened a crack and his tail flopped carelessly in the dirt.
Crouching beside Faith, Malina absently stroked Kado's soft head as she paced her other hand on Faith's shoulder to shake her awake. That light touch was all that was needed to catapult the ex-con to her feet. Rearing back into a defensive stance, Faith stumbled over the ladder behind her as she blinked the sleep from her eyes.
Kado's limp form lolled in the dust at her feet and Malina realised for the first time that there was something seriously wrong with her dog. Managing to find his front legs tucked underneath himself, Kado lurched upwards only to discover that his rear legs were AWOL. Slowly, he turned his large head towards his hips and sniffed noisily.
Frowning even as Faith relaxed, Malina stayed kneeling on the ground, stretching a hand out to run it quickly over Kado's spine. "Kado?" She whispered urgently and a long whine pierced the night air in reply. "What happened?" She asked numbly as a long pale tongue crept out to lick her hand.
"Your Beloved." Faith answered her rhetorical question as she sat down next to Kado. The dark-haired Slayer yawned as she knuckled her eyes.
Malina shuddered at the mentioned of Praemas, rocking back on her heels she stared at the other woman. "What the fuck do I do?" She asked Faith simply.
She stared back at her blankly, wondering how the fuck she was supposed to know. This was why B was the Queen of the Slayers and she had as little to do with the Newbies as possible... what the fuck were the PTB doing putting a screw-up like her in charge? Stymied, she stared at the agonised girl, her mind flailing for a solution.
"What do you want to do?" She asked finally, hating herself for not having a better answer for the girl.
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Bored by the deserted base, Vala wondered into the Control Room. Two technicians in white coats were hunched over one of the large servers. In front of the observation window, Walter sat, playing Patience on his workstation. Suddenly, about twelve lights on the control panel in front of him lit up red and Walter's hand slammed down on the handpad beside him.
"Off-world activation!" He cried into the microphone in front of him.
As the iris glided shut over the surface of the Stargate Walter shut down his game, glancing at his watch with a frown.
"SG-1 is early?"
The General's voice floated down from the Briefing Room staircase and Vala wondered if he realised how surprised he sounded. Curious, she stepped behind the staircase as a wormhole formed behind the protective barrier of the finest interstellar metals and an eerie blue light began to flicker on the walls behind the covered Stargate.
"Receiving radio transmission." Walter informed the General.
General Landry strode forward. "Let's hear it." He ordered.
Walter punched a few buttons and a familiar, if even more surprising voice flooded the room.
"'Gate Command, this is Teal'c, please respond."
"Teal'c!" The General's surprise was evident in his voice. "We didn't expect to hear from you so soon. How're things on Dakara?"
"Much as to be expected." Teal'c's deep rumble filled the Control Room. "Many of those displaced by the Ori army are making their way here. A refugee camp has sprung out outside the city walls."
"Faith?" General Landry asked, his face lit with hope.
"Is not here."
Vala noticed that everyone in the Control Room seemed to slouch a little as they listened to Teal'c speak. Stung, she wondered if she'd been as missed when she'd been transported to another galaxy to be impregnated by higher beings intent on becoming universally worshipped. She was so wrapped up in her own internal musings that Vala almost missed Teal'c's next words.
"But I have news of her, General Landry."
Suddenly, the room seemed to get a lot brighter. Despite being buried under a mountain.
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The half-light of dawn was turning everything a strange shade of purple when two figures appeared at the end of a long cart track. Each carrying a large bundle with ease, they moved quickly but quietly down the path. A squat cottage came into view as they turned a corner, its whitewashed walls looming palely out of the lightening night. They stopped for a moment, leaning against a low stonewall as they caught their breath.
"How much further?" The tallest asked softly.
The younger one shrugged in reply and adjusted her grip on the burden she carried. "Another four miles?" She whispered back.
The girls jumped as a light suddenly came on in the cottage and the door opened. Freezing, they both sighed as a small white dog shot out of the door before it closed. Their relief was short-lived however. As soon as the little dog caught sight of them, it began to yap frantically, racing up and down the length of the wall, searching for a way out to attack them.
With a quick glance at one another, they melted into the shadows on the other side of the road, hurrying past the cottage and further down the track. Behind them, the door opened again and a scolding voice called the dog back inside.
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Sally was just reaching for the planes door when the sound of running feet made her look up. Two beautiful young women were running towards her, closely followed by a handsome man with an eyepatch.
"Hold the door!" He shouted breathlessly as they neared and Sally obliged, easily stopping the forward momentum of the hatch.
She smiled as she waited for them to reach her because it was her job but also because they looked so young and carefree. Well, apart from the eyepatch. "Almost left without you!" She said as they slowed to a stop in front of her.
"Thanks!" The blonde woman said. As she handed over her ticket the Wormhole X-treme theme suddenly rang out in the small space. Buffy Anne Summers sighed, shoving a hand into her jeans pocket and pulling out the tiniest phone Sally hand ever seen. "General Landry!" She greeted the caller, moving past Sally and turning right into the First Class area.
Her eyebrows raised, Sally collected Alexander Lavelle Harris and Willow Anne Rosenburg's boarding passes and waved them past. General Landry? Not what she had expected. Sally liked to make a game of guessing which of her passengers were going where. She'd had these three pegged as backpacking around Europe before college but a simple phone call had her swiftly indulging in all her guiltiest fantasies. Were they spies? Sally wondered as she began the Safety Presentation for the benefit of the First Class passengers. Assassins? They didn't look like any armed forces Sally had ever seen. With satisfaction, she noticed Buffy flamboyantly turning her phone off a moment before Sally was supposed to remind them that electronic devices were to remain switched off for the duration of the flight. So they were seasoned travellers then... but who wasn't in this day and age.
She could tell this was gonna bug her all day.
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Cam yawned as he punched the final glyph on the DHD and the Stargate lit up with a woosh. Stepping back from the DHD, he tapped in his IDC code on the small device he wore strapped to his wrist at all times. Stifling another yawn, he shook his head, cursing the lack of foresight that had left them without coffee that morning. He'd left Sam trying to wake Jackson up while he trudged the four miles to the Stargate to make their check in. He was only, he checked his watch as he raised his hand to his radio, twenty minutes late.
His radio squawked to life before he could touch it. "SG-1, this is Stargate Command, do you copy?" General Landry asked.
"This is SG-1, go ahead." Cam replied, struck by the urgency in the General's voice.
"We've got a lead on Faith." General Landry said and Cam felt a rush of elation sweep through him. "We sent a MALP and Vala to investigate."
"Vala?" Cam questioned.
There was a pause and then General Landry continued. "All of our teams are currently off-world with our allies or on medical leave. Miss Mal Doran is familiar with P4X-32Z and volunteered to accompany the MALP until a team could be recalled to investigate."
"Jackson, Sam, pack up." Cam ordered. "We're on our way." He told the General.
"SG-12 is already in the Gateroom, ready to go." General Landry told him.
"Oh." Cam said, very quietly, just to himself.
"We've already attempted to dial P4X-32Z and failed to get a lock. We were about to try again when you dialled in." General Landry continued.
"Mitchell, you go." Jackson's voice was surprisingly alert for someone who'd been drooling the last time he'd seen him. "Sam can take over here." They must have managed to get some coffee, Cam thought irrelevantly.
"I'll hold SG-12 back another five minutes." The General agreed after a moment's pause. "Colonel Mitchell, you'll take command on P4X-32Z, Colonel Carter, you'll take over on PX1-767. Stargate Command out."
The Stargate shut down with a crackle of displaced energy and Cam grinned.
"Mitchell, the address glyphs in order are-"
"I know." Cam interrupted Jackson, rapidly dialling Faith's planet. "Thanks guys." He continued as the Stargate came to life. "I owe you one."
"Bring coffee." Daniel told him as he ran lightly up the steps to the 'Gate and through the event horizon.