Chapter Ten: Dreamscape…
Carter had no idea how long she'd been in that cell. She lay curled in the corner of her darkened prison with no way of keeping track of the passage time. How long had it been? An hour, a day, a week? However long it was, her parched throat and her hunger pangs did help to somewhat gauge her time here, since Carter had never been fed once she had awakened.
They might have left her to die here for all she knew.
Carter didn't care all that much, for the time being anyway. She was asleep at the moment, an exhausted sleep that her battered body and mind needed more than food or water. And, as she slept, the blond Major hummed a gentle dance melody. She dreamt that she was dancing in her safe place again. For a while, Carter blocked out the ongoing nightmare surrounding her.
A sound from the cell door awoke her just before the heavy steel door slid open and Carter was nearly blinded by sudden bright light flooding into her cell. She tried to use her arms to cover her face to block out the painful light. Two large Peacekeepers marched in, grabbed her wrists, and dragged her out into the lighted corridor.
They weren't gentle and didn't bother to wait for Carter to try and gain her footing so that she could walk on her own. The two Peacekeepers seemed to be in a hurry to get her somewhere. So they dragged her by the arms with her boots scraping over the marble floor beneath her.
After a few moments, her eyes adjusted to the light and she tried to get an idea where she was. Unfortunately, she couldn't tell much beyond the fact that she was inside a Goa'uld fortress, being hauled down a winding corridor. These Peacekeepers must have captured it, she thought fuzzily. The System Lords aren't known for having non-Goa'uld allies.
Soon she had a horrible thought. Were they taking her back to the aurora chair again? The mere idea of returning to it terrified Carter to her very soul. In those few seconds she decided that, if she got even the smallest chance, she would try to grab a weapon from one of the guards. Carter doubted she could escape, but perhaps she could provoke them into killing her. At the very least she could take her own life. It was the better option than having the aurora chair drive her into insanity.
The guards eventually dragged her through two enormous sliding doors at the end of the corridor and into a huge room beyond them. What she saw next baffled her. They'd brought her to a stargate chamber, but what got her full attention was the sight of Scorpius sitting in front of a white cloth draped dinning table at the foot of the stargate platform. The table was covered with a multitudinous variety of dishes and plates of food, including the centerpiece which resembled a roasted pig, except for the fact that it had scales. The exotic aroma of food reached her nose, causing Carter's stomach to knot with painful pangs of hunger.
"Ah! There you are!" Scorpius beamed joyfully as he looked over to her. "Major Carter. I was about to eat and decided I could use some company."
He gestured to an empty chair situated across from him. Before she could answer him, the two Peacekeepers dragged Carter over and unceremoniously sat her down in it.
"Leave us." Scorpius ordered to the two Peacekeepers.
After they left, Carter slowly pulled herself upright in her chair, staring at Scorpius and the table full of food before her. She was desperately hungry, but she realized that this was simply another attempt to gain information. She was trained to be aware in the classic methods of torture. First the cruel interrogation, then left to starve in a dark cell to weaken her resolve before making with the sudden gentle approach. Good cop, bad cop. It was an obvious choice to the victim, either co-operate and be cared for, or resist and be made to suffer more.
"Would you like something to drink first, Major Carter? Or can I call you Samantha?" Scorpius said, reaching for a pitcher and poured some clear liquid into a large glass. "Perhaps some water?" He offered.
Carter stared wantonly at the water filled glass. Just seeing it was making her parched throat worse, but she wasn't going to play Scorpius' game.
"Major Carter will do and I know that your chair doesn't work on me. So I no longer care what you do with me."
"And I am not asking any questions," Scorpius replied, as he rose up from his chair, walking over to the other side of the table to place the glass of water before her. "Drink it."
Scorpius sighed when Carter still refused to touch it. "I give my word that the water is not drugged, is that better?"
Carter stared up at him suspiciously. Why should she believe the word that this murdering bastard said? Then her eyes were drawn back to the glass of water.
After a long moment, logic slowly won out over Carter's hatred of Scorpius. She had to keep up her strength to survive, and pray that O'Neill and the SGC could make a successful rescue attempt. Right now, fatigue and hunger could become an enemy just as deadly as Scorpius. Carter hesitantly reached out and took the glass in her hands. Bringing it up to her lips, Carter slowly took a desperately needed drink.
"There now, was that so hard?" Scorpius smiled with satisfaction.
After she had emptied the entire glass, Carter decided if she was going to be interrogated, she might as well dig for her own information.
"Where are we?" She asked.
Her captor looked amused. "If I answer your question, will you answer one of mine?"
Carter mustered what defiance she could and said, "Forget it."
"A compromise then. I will not ask you any questions about the stargate or this SGC. How's that?"
Carter nodded, still holding the emptied glass in her hand. "Okay."
Scorpius sat on the edge of the table, facing her. "You are on a planet, which was named Tobin by the former, and the now quite deceased, System Lord who ruled here." He leaned slightly toward Carter, his eyes almost staring through her.
"That particular Goa'uld didn't answer my questions as he should have."
Try as she might, Carter couldn't stop herself from trembling under Scorpius penetrating gaze and dark threat.
"Now, it's my turn." The Scarren hybrid now assayed a friendly smiled that simply ended up looking vicious. "Do you enjoy dancing?"
Carter blinked in surprise, she hadn't been expecting that one. "I... I always wanted to, but never did. My studies had priority. Why?"
"Oh, just curious," Scorpius replied innocently. "It's just that you looked so radiant in that red dress and with your hair being so much longer. The way you moved to that strange music was simply divine. I could have watched you for hours."
In that eerie moment, Carter's heart nearly jumped up in her throat. He knows about my dream?
She struggled to speak. "How did you know..."
Scorpius ignored her and pressed on, enjoying the evident fear flooding over her. "And who was that man that you were dancing with? That blue uniform he was wearing was rather dreadful. No sense of style at all. Actually, now that I think of it, I've seen that particular outfit in someone else's head before... Ah, yes! Crichton. You are from Earth!"
"You... You can read my mind?" Carter cursed her weakness as she stammered.
"No. Although I can tell when someone is lying to me, I cannot read a person's mind without a little help." Scorpius stood back up and produced a small coin shaped object, showing it to Carter. "Do you know what this is?"
Carter looked and her eyes widen. There was no mistaking it.
"That's a Goa'uld memory recall device." She answered with growing dread.
Scorpius was pleased with Carter's acknowledgement. "You really have faced the Goa'uld's before, haven't you? It is a remarkable little invention and with a few added modifications of my own, it will work on you. I planted it on you when you were unconscious in you cell. As you can tell, it worked quite nicely. It allowed me see your dreams. My compliments Samantha. You do have a beautiful imagination."
It was then when Carter noticed a sudden peaceful lassitude settling over her. As her eye lids grew heavier, Carter stared at the empty glass in her hand. She knew what was happening to her.
"You drugged me! You said..."
Scorpius gave a cold chuckle. "And you actually believed me? Come now dear, you should know better than that. You've dealt with the Goa'uld. And next to me they are a basket full of playful puppies."
"Bastard!" Carter tried to get up, managing clumsily struggle to her feet, but her legs gave out and she tumbled over onto the cold solid marble floor, landing hard on her left side and shoulder. Groaning in pain from the fall, Carter rolled onto her back as it became ever more difficult to keep her eyes open. Staring upward, she found Scorpius now standing over her, like a predator would over it's wounded and exhausted prey.
"Can you still hear me, Major Carter?"
Her world was going black, but she still could see Scorpius. His cruel features were still quite visible. He reached down and placed the memory recall device on the side of her forehead.
"Yes... I can hear you..." Carter answered weakly. "Please... Let me go..."
Pulling up a chair to sit beside her, Scorpius placed a strange glowing metal band over his head. "I can't do that my dear. You are far too valuable and, although this method of extracting information will be far from efficient, it could prove to be very entertaining."
Carter rallied all of her inner strength against the drug to stay awake crying aloud.
"Stay... Out... Of... My... HEAD!"
But it was all for nothing. She was hopelessly fighting a losing battle as her remaining strength was steadily failing.
The lights started to pulsate on the band that Scorpius wore. This time when he spoke his lips didn't move, but she heard his voice clearly as Carter's world faded to darkness.
"Too late. I'm already in."
A moment later, the drug finally placed her into a deep sleep. Alone with Scorpius.
***
They were on course for the Peacekeeper base, which O'Neill hoped was where the Peacekeepers were holding Samantha Carter. What did Anise call the planet... Tobin, wasn't it? He fervently prayed that the Tok'ra had the location right.
It was a long boring trip and they did what they could to pass the time. Thankfully the Tok'ra had a layout of the actual Goa'uld base from a previous espionage mission. It wasn't very informative and it couldn't tell the SG team how much the place had changed under new ownership, but it was a start. It allowed them to at least plan out a few possible tactics and strategies before they got there.
Also, Anise had some intelligence on Peacekeeper technology and tactics. After she had briefed them, the information that O'Neill had heard worried him some. They were pure fighters and had the weaponry to match. Lt. Hailey and Teal'c gave their own observations from their fight against them. The good news was that, advanced as their weapons were, at close range with Earth weapons they were about even with them in a quick slugging match. This fact gave O'Neill some comfort.
Anise also stated that the Peacekeepers' sensors could detect cloaked ships, but she added that the Tok'ra had modified the cloak on their shuttle so it should be undetectable. O'Neill didn't really like hearing this, especially with the words should be attached to it, half way to their destination.
A while later, everyone was relaxing. O'Neill was quietly cleaning his weapon and reassembling it. Off in the corner in the shuttle rear compartment, Hailey was curled up in a camping bag, asleep. Teal'c was in deep meditation, and Anise was busy piloting the shuttle. Just across from O'Neill, Daniel was reading a book.
Daniel glanced over to Jack for a second before saying. "You know, that is about the third time I have seen you take your gun apart."
"It's called a rifle, Daniel," O'Neill replied with his attention still on his weapon.
Daniel chuckled. "Minor oversight. Are you okay?"
Still focused on his P-90 O'Neill said, "Ya, I'm fine."
Daniel wasn't fooled. "Sure, but are you okay?"
O'Neill looked up with annoyance, ready to shout, but he managed to keep his voice down so as not to disturb the others. "I said, I'm fine. Considering two amongst us were almost killed and another kidnapped."
Daniel sighed. "Don't blame yourself, Jack."
O'Neill shook his head at the archaeologist. "Why shouldn't I? I should have sent a full team back to the gate. Instead I sent an understaffed one with a green kid in support." He looked over to the sleeping form of Hailey.
"She's a lot tougher than she looks, Jack and she's not a kid," Daniel responded.
"Ya, a 4 foot 9 inch fighting machine." O'Neill went back to reassembling his weapon. Then adding quietly. "She's a lot like a mini-Carter."
After a long moment of silence, Daniel said. "We are going to get her back."
"That we are." O'Neill replied as he slapped and locked down the final piece to his P-90. Problem was, he wasn't sure of the how they were going to do it just yet.
A few hours later, the Tok'ra shuttle dropped out of hyperspace. They had arrived in the outer system of the planet Tobin's star. Anise immediately activated the cloaking screen. The plan was for them to go in and scout out the planet and its defenses. Once the status of the place was determined, they would decide if it was possible to launch a rescue mission.
O'Neill just hoped that nothing unexpected would happen.
He hated surprises.
***
"Are you ready?"
In their private quarters on Talyn, Crichton had his eyes shut tight with a wide and silly grin plastered across his face at the sound of Aeryn's voice. He liked surprises... At least ones of this nature.
"For you, always," he answered.
"Okay," she said, "you can open them."
Opening his eyes he took in the sight before him. She was gorgeous. All that Crichton could say was simply, "Whoa! Look at you!"
Aeryn glanced self-consciously down at herself in her new Colonial warrior's uniform. The tan colored uniform hugged her body nicely. As did the brown leather flight jacket that was decorated with the insignia patch of the Silver Spars squadron. To top it off, Aeryn was sporting a Colonial blaster holstered on her right hip. It was a grudging acknowledgement that the Colonial weapon was superior to her Peacekeeper pulse pistol.
She looked back up at John, frowning. "What? Is something out of place? Did I forget anything?"
"No, no." Crichton softly reassured her, stepping toward Aeryn, eyeing her affectionately. "You make that uniform look good. How does it feel?"
Aeryn smiled before answering. "Strangely, very comfortable. So do the people I'll be serving with. I like them, John."
Crichton smirked. "Even their quirky human behavior?"
Aeryn wrapped her arms about Crichton who returned her embrace. "I learned to put up with you, didn't I?"
Crichton pulled back slightly. "Does this mean you would like to stay here with them?"
"I was born in space, I belong in space, John. These people... My new friends offered me a chance to be a pilot again."
Crichton stared at her a moment before smiling wryly. "Is that a yes?"
Aeryn sighed. "As long it's with you."
John grinned happily. "Sunshine, I wouldn't have it any other way."
