After a cursory search of half a dozen planets close to P3X-269, Hammond conceded it was time to call the Tok'ra. He hadn't seriously expected to find anything, he'd just stalled for a few days, putting off telling Jacob Carter they'd lost his daughter until there was no help for it.
Jacob came with a contingent of Tok'ra. Jack and Hammond doubted they would have come at all if it hadn't been for Samantha being missing – Jacob could be pretty insistent when they wanted to be. The Tok'ra had never quite forgiven them for the death of Martouf/Lantash, like that had been their fault.
Actually, it was a pity Martouf wasn't still around. It would be good to have another Tok'ra who actually cared about Samantha. The Tok'ra, for all their honour and far-sightedness, didn't see the strategic importance of going to hell and back for one person. It kind of made sense, but it was hard not to take it personal when it came to someone as special as Samantha and Daniel. Humans and Tok'ra just didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things.
So they called in the Tok'ra, and Jack, in one of the few cowardly acts in his life, left the job of telling Jacob Samantha was missing to Hammond.
Jacob seemed to take it well, although maybe that was Salmac's influence. " Do you have any idea what happened to them? "
They procured the two darts that Jack and Teal'c had seen fit to bring back with them. Jacob/Selmac took them and studied them. After a few moments, he looked up at them, a look of horror and concern on his face. " The Dorsa, " he said simply.
" The Dorsa? " Jack asked, trying to look like he comprehended.
" They're a humanoid race – probably closer genetically to you then us, " Selmac explained. " They're quite advanced, more then us or the Goa'uld. "
" I don't suppose they'd be willing to share technology? " Jack asked sarcastically. Personally, he considered kidnapping half his team an act of war. He contemplated the legitimacy of snatching some technology while they were snatching back his team.
Selmac gave him a Look. Jack kept his mouth shut. " Like the Asgaurd, the Dorsa have difficulties with sexual procreation. While they still have some capability, unlike the Asgaurd, they haven't been able to clone themselves. So in the last few hundred years they've been studying other species and their procreation habits, trying to find a way to solve their own problems. "
" So let me get this straight, " Hammond interjected before Jack could say something. Jack looked about ready to burst – or search a million planets, looking for the Dorsa himself. " They catch different species like a science project, and…? "
" Observe their procreation habits, " Selmac said.
" He means have sex, " Jack blurted out, unable to contain himself anymore. He would scour a million planets to find those bloody Dorsa if he had to…
" Thankyou, Colonel, I figured out what he meant, " Hammond admonished Jack. He turned to Selmac. " They're going to have a pretty rough time with Major Carter and Doctor Jackson. They'd never agree to such a thing. "
" The Dorsa have ways of making their subjects do as they wish, " Selmac said vaguely. Though the symbiote was in control, somewhere in there was Jacob who was doing his best not to think about the matter at hand.
" Ways? Like what? "
" The Dorsa have created hormone stimulants that surpass anything we have seen, " Selmac admitted.
" What's a hormone stimulant? " Jack asked, wishing Samantha were here to translate the scientific gobbledegook. From the sudden silence that descended the room, Jack could work it out. " Jesus Christ, you mean they can make then want to do it? " Oh, Lord, that was a bad visual. Jack considered Samantha and Daniel to be 'his kids' which, although he'd never made that leap of logic before, made him think of them as brother and sister. They were Daniel and Carter. They didn't do 'sexual procreation'.
A thought occurred to him. " Can Carter really – ? "
" She has injections every three months, " Hammond reassured him. " Janet will be able to tell you the exact dates but let's just say that's not our most immediate concern. "
" No it's not, " came Jacob's voice, now in control of his body. " You have to find Sam. And Daniel, " he added as an afterthought.
" Hey, that's why we came to you, " Jack said. " We were hoping you know where their homeworld is. "
Jacob shook his head. " The Dorsa aren't that stupid. When you kidnap fairly advanced species all the time, you learn not to do it from your own planet. They use a serious of uninhabited planets as go-betweens. "
" So they could be anywhere? " Jack asked. Jacob nodded. " Great, that's just fucking terrific. What are there, millions of planets out there? So what do we do, scour the lot of them? "
" Unfortunately, as much as I'd like it to be, that's not an option, " Hammond said. " We just don't have the manpower for that. I've got McKay working on it. Hopefully he'll think of something. "
" Somehow I think this is beyond even him, " Jack said. " He's not all-knowing, as much as he likes to think he is. " Damn, while they were grabbing humans, why couldn't they have taken McKay and left them a scientist who you could actually work with? Samantha drove him nuts sometimes, but at least she wasn't condescending with her explanations.
Jack turned to Jacob. " So how come you know so much about these guys? "
" That's about the only piece of good news I can give you. The Dorsa pride themselves of treating their species with respect. We know what we do because once they were finished with some of our people, they sent them back. "
" So they've grabbed some of you guys? " Jack asked, a little smugly. The Tok'ra were always going on about how they knew better. Looks like they were not better at evading a race like the Dorsa then they were.
" They prefer to study the Goa'uld, it's easier to find them. One thing about having to stay hidden from the Goa'uld, it means your hidden from a lot of other things. I guess there are some advantages to being intergalactic fugitives, " Jacob concluded wryly. " But yes, we have had prior experience with them. It's how Selmac recognised the darts. "
" Great, so we know who we're dealing with – and how does that help us? " Jack asked with his usual sarcasm.
" Colonel O'Niell, it's not Jacob's fault – or Selmac's, " Hammond admonished him.
Jack looked just a little contrite. " Sorry, " he muttered to Jacob. " It's just that half my team is out there, and I let them be snatched from right under my nose. Excuse me if I'm feeling a little sore about it. "
" That's understandable, " Selmac said magnanimously. " We all want them back. "
" How long did you say it took before the Dorsa just sent them back? " Hammond asked hopefully.
" Long enough for the female to conceive… and carry the child to full term, " Selmac admitted. Hammond cringed. Clearly, just waiting for them to get back wasn't an option.
" I'll see what McKay's up to, " Hammond said, feeling helpless. In the mean time, he went to see Janet to inquire about the state of Samantha's birth control.
As a doctor, Janet was horrified by what Hammond told her. If she tried really hard she could almost kind of understand where the Dorsa were coming from – after all, humans were hardly innocent of experimenting of lesser beings – but she just had to think of her friends being treated like that and she became infuriated.
" Sam's got six weeks til her next injection, " Janet said. " After that the effectiveness will wear off gradually, it will depend on the frequency of – " she noticed Jack was looking at her strangely, like he really didn't want the visual that finishing her sentence would bring, so she decided to let the two of the work it out for themselves. " I'd say you've got two months before she's got no protection. "
" Two months, " Jack muttered, and he marched towards the labs where McKay was supposed to be working. The arrogant scientist was nowhere to be seen. Jack headed for the cafeteria, and ran into McKay on the way. " You! " he directed towards the younger man. " What are you doing, slacking off? "
" Me? " McKay asked indignantly. He got on even less with Jack then he did Samantha. At least Samantha had something close to his own IQ – Jack was like an amoeba. While someone was snatching humans offworld, why couldn't they take a dumb one like Jack O'Neill? " I've been working for twenty hours without a break. I thought I was entitled to something to eat. "
Jack tried to care, but first and foremost in his mind were his missing teammates. McKay was just a brilliant scientist who was conveniently around and hopefully could find them. " Go… find something worthwhile out, " he said irritably.
" Gee, I'm sorry Colonel, I may be brilliant but even I can't find a needle amongst a million haystacks, " McKay retorted. " It would help if I knew the first thing about what I was dealing with. "
Jack looked at McKay suspiciously, then decided since he was their best chance of getting Samantha and Daniel back anytime soon, gave him the details. " Doctor Fraiser says two months, but that's unacceptable to me, " he concluded.
McKay stared at Jack for a few seconds, for a while thinking this was something the Colonel had made up just to jerk his chain. That he had a two-month deadline didn't concern him ; by that time he'd either find a way to get them back or it would be beyond even his genius. No, what was on his mind right now was more immediate concerning Daniel and Samantha. " You mean right now they're…? "
Jack cringed and wished people would be a little more tactful about it. " Yeah, " he agreed. " They are. "
" Oh, God I love fucking you, " Daniel cried gutturally as he thrust hard from behind. It was their third time that day already, and if he'd been in his right mind, he would have realised it wasn't natural for him to be able to perform like this. But he didn't care.
" Harder, " Samantha urged. " Fuck me harder, Daniel. " With whatever they were giving her in her system, all she could think about was having sex with Daniel. If she'd been in her right mind, she would have been ashamed about how wantonly she was behaving, but right now, she didn't care.
" Scream for me, baby, " Daniel urged, knowing he was close to climaxing. He began stroking her, and she responded with a fresh round of moans and screams, increasing in pitch and urgency as she got closer and closer to climaxing.
" DANIEL! " she screamed as she came. Behind her, she felt Daniel thrust hard and climax ; she could imagine the expression on his face that she had come to know so well in the last few weeks.
He withdrew from her and lay on his back, pulling her into his arms. In the last few weeks sex had become like a drug, a fix they needed several times a day. The calmness following a hit was always followed by a building-up need for another hit. But there was a window immediately after sex when they were both sated that they were quite lucid. This was a good and a bad thing.
Although Samantha accepted his embrace, he could feel that she was unable to relax as, in a period of lucidity, she reflected on what had happened between them in the past few weeks. They were being given hormone shots every day (Samantha had an excellent sense of time, despite the Dorsa not being generous enough to give her back her watch – probably thought she'd do a MacGuyver and lead a daring escape with it) which, except for these brief periods, kept them insanely horny. She'd had behaved like a harlot, and most of the time she didn't care, except for these moments.
" They'd never understand I didn't have a choice, " she thought out loud.
" We didn't have a choice, " Daniel corrected automatically. They'd had this conversation before. Sometimes in these periods, Samantha's scientific brain kicked in and she pieced together as much information as she could about the Dorsa, and other times, like now, that she struggled to deal with her feelings of sluttiness. It made him wish for the lucidity to be over and the effect of the hormones to kick back in.
" Somehow I can't imagine McKay making snide little comments about what a slut you are, " Samantha retorted sharply.
" What is it with you and McKay, anyway? " Daniel asked. " He's a chauvinist. I thought you have more confidence then to care what he thinks. "
" You don't understand, Daniel, you're a guy. All the guys will be like, good on you, nailing Major Carter. You'll be a fucking hero. But I – "
Daniel propped himself up on one elbow, looking down at her. " You will have my absolute support, I promise you, " he said sincerely. This was another reason this lucid period was bad – he became very aware of what they were doing, and he hated himself for it. In the throes of passion, everything was amazing, but afterwards he always felt like scum. He felt like he was treating Samantha, a woman he loved and respected, like a whore. He vowed if this was ever over, he would make it up to her. " If we ever get out of here, I swear I won't let you go through it alone. I won't abandon you to the wolves. " Unfortunately, he was very aware that there were lost of people in the Stargate Command who wouldn't shed a tear to see Major Carter fall from grace – men who resented that a woman had gotten so far in a man's domain, women who resented that it wasn't them who had gotten so far in a man's domain. So much for feminism. " You know I will, don't you? "
Tearfully, Samantha nodded. There were a few moments like this one where they really connected over their predicament. They had become closer then they ever had been. She believed that he wouldn't abandon her to the gossip-mongers if they ever got home.
Daniel smiled encouragingly. It wasn't often that they connected like this – the hormones being pumped into them usually meant they had other things on their mind – but when they did, he realised how close they were, how much Samantha meant to him. He hoped they could build on that under better circumstances back on Earth. " Good girl, " he said, and he lowered his head to kiss her gently.
They rarely kissed, and hardly ever with any gentleness – their displays of affection were usually far more efficient then that. But there were times when it felt right, like now, to take their time. They exchanged soft, gentle kisses for a few minutes, both of them trying to push back the urges that were already building up again.
Withdrawing slightly so he could look into her eyes, Daniel ran his fingers through her hair. He would never dare say so to her face, of course, but he could see her hair was already getting longer and it preferred it that way. " I love you, Sam, " he said honestly. " I'm sorry for all of this. "
" It's not your fault, " Samantha said. " I don't blame you. " She leaned up to kiss Daniel, and this kiss was more passionate then their previous kisses. She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, pressing her body against his provocatively. The lull was over.
" What do you mean, the Asgaurd won't help us? " Jack demanded irritably when he was told that all the diplomacy in the world (not to mention a few none-too-subtle reminders that they owed Samantha) hadn't enticed them to give up the address to the Dorsa homeworld. " It's a few measly co-ordinates. What gives? "
" Apparently the Asgaurd sympathise with the Dorsa and their fertility problems, " Hammond explained. " They seem to have a standing arrangement – the Dorsa don't interfere with anything the Asgaurd do and the Asgaurd turn a blind eye to their… studies. " He didn't add that the Asgaurd felt, with Jack in possession of the address to the Dorsa homeworld, he'd annihilate the place either through determination to find Daniel and Samantha or just plain old American revenge.
" Studies? " Jack parroted. " I call it kidnapping and an act of war! And that makes them guilty after the fact! " he added.
" Yeah, because I think the Asgaurd are really concerned with our laws, " McKay piped up from behind Jack. Jack had been withholding information from him as always, so he figured he was entitled to eavesdrop. After all, he was their best chance of finding Samantha and Daniel, you'd think the Colonel would give him a little credit. Never mind, McKay got his own back by making a reference to what the two of them were probably doing right now whenever he could.
Jack gave him an Evil Look. " Just because I happen to care about Carter and Daniel… " he said condescendingly. In his opinion, McKay had shown a very unhealthy interest in what Samantha and Daniel were doing on a galaxy far, far away – particularly Samantha. More then once Jack had made snide remarks about McKay wishing it was him – that always shut the scientist up.
" Hey, I care about them, too, " McKay said indignantly. OK, that was stretching the truth a bit. He thought Samantha was hot, and truth be told, he missed having someone around who was approaching his own brilliance. He was almost sorry about calling her a dumb blond. " And besides, the way I see it, I'm the only one actually doing anything to get them back! "
" Well, if the Asgaurd would just remember who saved their asses, " Jack complained to Hammond. " Let me talk to them. "
" No way, " Hammond said. He remembered the last time Jack had 'talked' to the Asgaurd. " We just have to accept that that's their decision. We'll keep negotiating but hopefully we'll come up with something else. "
" Yeah, and we'll never bail them out again, " Jack muttered darkly. Ungrateful creatures. So what if they could sympathise with the Dorsa, when was the last time the Dorsa had bailed them out?
It took McKay over a month, but finally he hit on a solution. By adapting the memory in the Stargate Command's dialling computers – which, for all intents and purposes, was their DHD – he was able to create a program which, with some individual tinkering for individual DHDs, could recall all dialled addresses, theoretically back to the time when the Ancients first used them.
Needless to say, he was pretty smug about it. He told himself no-one could have done it but him. And he insisted on going with Jack and his hand-picked team of twenty on their rescue mission. He was sick of being shunted to the sidelines, the brilliant scientist who did all the research while the 'soldiers' got all the fun. If Samantha Carter – who McKay considered a lesser mind to him – got to go out into the field, then so should he.
Needless to say, Jack didn't want McKay on the mission with him. But the man had a point – there was no-one else in the entire airforce who was smart enough to operate the program McKay had created. While Jack would have been happy to get McKay to run his program from P3X-269, get them the address of to Dorsa homeworld and get himself back to earth, most likely the infuriating scientist would just follow them to the Dorsa homeworld. And since he had been working nonstop to create the program, Jack supposed, to some people's thinking – not his – they kind of owed the guy. So reluctantly, he let McKay come along.
McKay was like a puppy being let out of the house for the first time, strutting around commenting on everything until he had well and pissed off everyone else on the rescue mission. It wasn't until Jack made a very deliberate comment that he was as bad as Daniel had been when they'd first set foot on Abydos that McKay calmed down. God forbid anyone should compare him to that geek, Daniel Jackson.
After the initial headaches of creating the program in the first place, it was relatively easy for McKay to adapt the program to the DHD on P3X-269 to recall previous addresses. He became more smug then ever when it procured the dialling co-ordinates for the Dorsa homeland. Where the Tok'ra, the Goa'uld and God knew who else had failed, he, Doctor Rodney McKay, had succeeded. He began to envision what a bargaining tool that would be for all the races that the Dorsa had pissed off over the centuries.
" Don't get ahead of yourself, I plan on using that leverage to get them to leave us alone – and share technology, " Jack interrupted McKay's visions. In Jack's experience, it was far more effective to use information to blackmail then share it with anyone who cared out of revenge.
Although it was tempting to give the address to anyone who cared. Not to mention it would distract Anubis for a while – two birds with one stone!
" Alright, any sign of those dart things and shoot indiscriminately to kill, " Jack ordered. With twenty crack shots (plus one tagalong scientist) they were sure to hit something. Maybe they'd even capture a Dorsa and drag one home for experiments – that would be good revenge!
Hmmm, he was really starting to miss Daniel – the man could be infuriating, but he kept Jack in check. Jack didn't know how many times he would have gone off half-cocked on a revenge mission like the ones he was contemplating right now.
It didn't take long for them to find the base the Dorsa conducted their experiments from – they had been secure enough in the secrecy of their planet, although the place was heavily guarded. Jack didn't mind about that, he figured once they heard what he had to say, they'd give him what he wanted – namely, Daniel and Samantha.
" I'm Jack O'Niell from the Stargate Command on Earth, " he introduced himself to one of the guards. " I wish to see your leader. "
" Our leader does not wish to see you, " the Dorsa guard replied coolly, wondering how they'd found this address. " Please leave. "
Jack laughed. " You think we went to all the trouble of tracking you down just to go home politely? " he asked. " Here's the deal. You get me your leader of my General releases this address to anyone who wants it. "
At the thought of the hundreds of races that the Dorsa had pissed off by kidnapping their people knowing where they were, the guard visibly paled and went off to find their leader. Jack smirked at his easy victory. They weren't so tough now.
A few minutes later, a male Dorsa emerged, dressed in splendid regalia – some kind of king, no doubt. " What do you want? " he demanded crossly.
" I want my team back that you stole – Major Samantha Carter and Doctor Daniel Jackson, " Jack replied.
The leader shook his head. " I'm sorry, that's impossible. We need them. You can be assured they are being treated well and be returned when we have recorded the information we need. "
Jack snorted his derisiveness. " Listen, buddy, I don't think you quite get me. I want Carter and Daniel back. And if we're not back on Earth in twenty-four hours – with them – we release this address. Just imagine all the races you must have pissed off over the years, all of them with this address. There's this Goa'uld system Lord, Anubis, nasty piece of work – ascended being. Bet he'd love to know where to find this place. " Jack rocked on his heels smugly.
The leader paled even more visibly then the guard did. " If we give them back, will you leave us alone? " he asked.
" Yes… oh, and we might want to do some trading in the future. And by trading I mean, we ask and you give, " Jack added as an afterthought. Yes, blackmail always worked a treat.
" We need them. We have reproductive problems, " the leader insisted.
Jack yawned. " Tell it to someone who cares. Daniel and Carter, please. " God, it was good negotiating with someone who had nothing to negotiate with. And here was him thinking he needed Daniel.
Reluctantly, the leader realised he had no choice. " Follow me, " he said.
Turning to the rest of his tam and smiling in triumph, Jack gestured for them to follow him. He knew the Dorsa weren't stupid enough to attack them in the hope that would be the end of it – the very real threat of Hammond giving out the address to anyone who wanted it was enough discouragement against it. Another job well done, Jack congratulated himself, conveniently forgetting that McKay, tagging along at the back somewhere, was mostly responsible for this victory.
" Oh, God, yes… faster, Daniel, " Samantha urged. She was lying on he back, her legs pinned parallel to her chest, her ankles locked around his neck, a position she could thank her rigorous military training for. He was particularly dominating this time, keeping her pinned to the mattress while he pounded her hard and fast, and she got off on it.
They were far too absorbed in what they were doing to notice anything going on around them, and anyway, over the last month, the Dorsa had made a habit on coming in to watch them that they'd learnt to ignore the intrusion. The Dorsa had certainly made it easy for them to forget they were the subjects of a science experiment.
So when the door to their room – or their controlled chambers, as Samantha referred to it in her more lucid moments – they didn't stop what they were doing ; they were too used to it and too caught up in the moment to care. Let the Dorsa watch, right now they were both too horny to mind.
Neither of them, but Samantha especially, would ever live down the fact that their rescue mission had walked in on the most compromising position of their lives.