Rabb looked to Admiral Chegwidden for permission before pulling the binder to himself. He flipped open the first photocopied page and began to read aloud to the rest of the group.
June 6. The jaffa patrol took us to another planet where we were immediately prodded close together. The patrol leader touched some control on the wrist plate of his armor and the biggest honking set of transport rings I've ever seen came down and transported us to this ship. We felt the engines activate a few minutes ago. So much for waiting for rescue. We're on our own. JO
"Transport rings?" Webb asked.
"Site to site transportation for short distances," Hammond explained. "They'll usually hold about a dozen people at most."
"Keep reading," Chegwidden told Commander Rabb. The goa'uld technology held no interest in him. He wanted to know what had happened to O'Neill and Carter.
June 10. We've been transported planet-side. I think Carter recognizes this place from Jolinar's memories. That can't be good. She's been pretty much out of it for the last few hours. Flashbacks. I'm going to give it a couple more hours then try to snap her out of it. As soon as we landed men began coming out of the crowd of slaves to claim the women in our group. I had to be very forceful in claiming Carter as my 'wife'. I've managed to get us into some sort of cell. It's a defensible position. I've got a bad feeling about this place. JO
June 10. The colonel is right. I recognize this place from Jolinar's memories. God help us. We're on Panersh. The colonel somehow brought me out of the flashbacks about an hour ago I think. When he told me he'd 'claimed' me I got really angry at him. He couldn't have known. Not that it would make a difference. The colonel's code of ethics would never allow him to let them...
"Let them what, Rabb?" Moore demanded when the commander's eyes widened and his voice trailed off into silence.
"Rape her, sir" he replied. He visibly got his emotions under control and returned his attention to the photocopied journal in front of him.
...rape me. This isn't a labor camp. It's a breeding farm for slaves. That's why they took the colonel as well when he claimed to be my husband. We've been brought here to be used as a breeding pair. SC
June 11. Carter freaked after she finished her entry. Finally got everything from Jolinar's memories out of her. She's sleeping now.
"If she's this unstable why was she on a team?" Rivers asked.
"Carter's stable," Hammond told them. "Jolinar's memories tend to be overwhelming. The human mind wasn't meant to carry the memories of another being. Certainly not thousands of years of memories."
"What?!" Moore asked.
Hammond sighed then quickly explained the incident that left Carter with the memories of the Tok'ra symbiote, Jolinar. "Let Commander Rabb read," he suggested as he finished his story.
The Tok'ra sent Jolinar here undercover as a minor goa'uld system lord learning about the running of such a farm for her overlord. There's no Stargate on this planet. The ship comes once a Panersh year to drop off new slaves and to take possession of the year's 'crop' of infants. The men are forced to mine naquada as well as stand at stud for the female slaves. The women grow what little food the slaves are fed, and it's all laced with fertility drugs. The new women are given six months to conceive or they're put down. If the 'defective' woman is married her husband dies with her. Seems grieving husbands cause too much trouble. Go figure. She wants me to let the gangs have her. Not going to happen. I've ordered her to continue to pretend we're married. We've got six months to find a way out of this. I'm not going to sacrifice her to save my own life. JO
"Carter's body chemistry was altered because of the incident with Jolinar," Hammond explained. "Our medical personnel believed she would never be able to conceive."
"Guess they were wrong about that," Clayton mumbled quietly to himself. Harm cocked his head at the CIA agent. The look on his face was a clear warning to behave.
"So your contention is they broke the fraternization rules to stay alive in the camp?" Moore said. "When did they stop pretending and begin..."
"Ten days," Hammond replied. "It's in the journal."
Harm leafed quickly forward several pages.
June 21. The colonel was flogged this morning. Before the morning meal all the new women were examined by some sort of jaffa medic. I guess the colonel and I aren't the first to pretend. They flogged him as an example to the others. One of the jaffa guards explained later that I wasn't punished because it would lower my chances of conceiving. He reminds me of Teal'c when we first met him on Chulak. They made the colonel work the full day after. When he returned tonight he was already running a fever. The gangs are milling around near our door. I think they're going to try to take me from him while he's incapacitated. This is what that jaffa was trying to warn me about. SC
June 22. It's morning. It's a good thing we had our knives when we were captured. The jaffa didn't even take them away. I had to kill two of them before the rest gave up last night. Not that I could sleep even after they were gone. The jaffa that warned me about the gangs yesterday came around our cell this morning. He just glanced at the bodies and ordered their removal. Then he told me I would stay in my cell today and care for my husband's fever. I've done what I can for the colonel. Now I need to sleep. The gangs will be back tonight. SC
June 23. More last night. Fought them off. Arm is broken. Won't be able to hold them off again tonight. Must rest. SC
Rabb paused to take a sip of water and let the words he'd just read sink into his mind. He didn't want to read any more. He didn't know much about these two Air Force officers yet, but already he respected them. Harm knew though that if he was going to help her and O'Neill he had to continue to read no matter what it revealed.
June 25. Carter's hurt bad, but she wasn't raped. My fever broke this morning. I woke to find another slave in our cell. An older woman. She was tending to Carter's injuries. I read Carter's entry and asked what happened. If I hadn't already thought the Goa'uld were sick bastards before, I would now. Seems its fine to rape a woman here as long as you don't damage her doing it. Cuts and bruises don't count, of course. The would-be rapist has to do real damage before the jaffa will intervene. Carter's broken arm qualifies. While it heals, she's safe from the gangs. She's got a serious concussion as well. She's drifting in and out. Fuck the regs. They can court-martial me when we get back to Earth. I'm not going to let her die. JO
June 28. We spent last night discussing options. We've only got two, and he left it up to me to choose. Said it was my body. We can break out of camp, but this planet makes Netu look like Shangri-la. The chances of surviving out there long enough for the ship to return are pretty much nil. The other option is staying in the camp. The colonel's right though. If we obey the regs in the camp, we're dead. He can't take another flogging, and in five months if I'm not pregnant it's a moot point anyway. I'm going to have him cut my birth control implant out of me tonight. We have to survive long enough to attempt escape in the ship in fourteen months. I have to try to get pregnant. SC
"O'Neill didn't have to offer to be the daddy," Moore declared knowing that Carter had made the only choice possible in getting pregnant.
"She should have chosen some stranger? Or maybe you'd have preferred it if she were gang raped?" Rabb demanded angrily. "At least with O'Neill she could be sure he wasn't carrying some sort of disease. She knew he wouldn't hurt her."
"It also kept them together in a defensible position," Chegwidden reminded them. "It sounds like if she'd chosen anyone else they would have been separated."
"That's not my decision to make," Moore replied. "That's up to the members of the court. Anything else?"
As the others argued Rabb had continued to leaf through the pages of the journal. He began reading from the journal again hoping to keep the argument from getting out of control.
Oct. 13. Sam's trying to get me to abandon her. She's not pregnant yet. She can just forget the idea of me leaving her behind. It stopped being a matter of necessity some time ago. If it ever was. I love her. We get out of this together or not at all. We've begun gathering supplies. If she's not pregnant next month, we're getting out of this camp. We'll just have to take our chances in the wilds. Besides, even if she is pregnant, if we can't think of a way to get ourselves on that ship, we've got to get out of this camp. Neerti's bought this year's crop of infants according to our friendly jaffa guard, Tarn'ac. There's only one reason she'd want that many infants. So far the only plan we've come up with is fairly suicidal. Not that that's ever stopped us before. JO
Rabb flipped forward several pages.
"Read us everything, Rabb," Moore demanded.
"Most of this doesn't make sense to me," Rabb admitted as he gestured at the text in front of him..
Hammond reached forward and snagged the binder from the commander. He glanced swiftly at the page the journal was open to before explaining, "Intelligence reports they were gathering from their fellow slaves. The six symbol combinations are Stargate coordinates. The symbols next to the coordinates designate if there's a Goa'uld in control of the world, and if so which one." He pushed the journal back across the conference table to Commander Rabb.
Rabb flipped forward another few pages before reading once more.
Nov. 30. The jaffa medics tell me I'm pregnant. Two months along. When I told Jack, we both started crying. If we were on Earth, this would be cause for celebration. A miracle. Instead all we can think of is what will happen to our child if I give birth here. I read his last entry. We've both stopped pretending now. I love him too. There's no point in hiding it. Time's running out for us. We both feel it. Our one plan may be suicidal, but it's the best chance the baby will have. I'll be far enough along by then the baby can be delivered by c-section post-mortem if necessary. We'd rather die making the attempt than see our child in Neerti's hands. SC
"Neerti?" Webb asked. "They mentioned her before. What's so awful about this Neerti?"
"She's one of the Goa'uld system lords. We've run into her before. She likes to experiment on human subjects," Hammond explained with a look of intense hatred on his face. "My CMO has adopted a girl O'Neill and his team rescued from one of Neerti's worlds. Cassandra nearly died from Neerti's experiments. She was apparently experimenting on the entire population of that world."
"My God!" Chegwidden whispered as he began to understand just how desperate O'Neill and Carter must have been to get their children to safety.
"Is there anything else relevant in there, Commander?" Moore asked. He was also clearly shaken to learn what had been in store for the two infants.
Rabb began quickly paging through the journal again. After a minute he stopped and began to read again.
September 7. The ship will return soon. Sam's so big now we worry she won't be able to move fast enough when the time comes. Our plan is to reveal ourselves as Tau'ri so we'll be taken aboard the ship. If we can't escape from the ship, once the bidding for us starts it's likely that a Tok'ra agent will hear of it and get the word out. Jacob won't let his daughter and grandchildren stay in Goa'uld hands. And we know Teal'c and Daniel and the rest of our people at the SGC will do everything they can as well. JO & SC
"That's crazy!" Rivers barked.
"I don't think they disagreed with that sentiment, son" Admiral Chegwidden replied soberly. "I don't think they cared though."
Rabb turned the next few pages in the journal. "These next few pages are goodbye letters to their friends and family, wills for both of them, and the guardianship papers we've already seen."
"Their plans are usually a little crazy," Hammond admitted with a small sad smile on his face. "They work though. They've saved the planet more than a few times."
"General Hammond, I realize these are your people, but that's a bit over the top," Moore chided his subordinate.
"No, it's not" Hammond replied. "Feel free to ask Dr. Jackson and Teal'c about some of their missions." All eyes in the room turned then to see the water within the pitcher on the table slosh gently around. "Excuse me," Hammond said as he quickly left the room even before the klaxons sounded and a voice announced over the PA another off-world activation.