Jack awoke to find himself laying on a cold flagstone floor, a dull, thumping ache behind his eyes. The room was dimly lit and dank. "Ooooh," he groaned "I knew we shouldn't have eaten the local cuisine." He hauled himself up off the floor and was shocked to find he was in a prison cell, his weapons gone.

Carter was passed out on the single cot in the cell. A man he had never seen before cowered in the corner of the cell. The young man had very short brown hair and wore an earth tone tunic and baggy pants.

"Who are you?" Jack snarled at the man, although he didn't mean to snarl, it was just that waking up in a cell never made him happy.

"My name is Lo'jess." The man stammered.

"What is this place, why are we here?" Jack asked as he walked over to check on Carter. He checked her pulse. It was strong, she was apparently passed out as he had been.

Jack turned back to look at Lo'jess. "Well?" He asked.

"You, you don't know?" Lo'jess stammered.

"No! I don't know!" Jack nearly shouted.

"We are all to be sold into slavery." Lo'jess confessed timidly.

"What!" Jack spun around and glared at the young man. "Why are we being sold into slavery?"

"I don't know why you are" Lo'jess began, "but my amator is very sick. I could not leave her alone so I did not go to my work. They came and got me and put me here to be sold as a slave"

"Have you seen any others like us?" Jack asked as he indicated the clothes he was wearing.

"No." Lo'jess shook his head. Then he nodded toward the still sleeping form of Major Carter. "Is she your amator?" He asked.

"My what?" O'Neill asked

"Your, uh,... your mate."

"Oh. No. She and I ah,... work together"

"That is too bad." Lo'jess said dropping his eyes to the floor and looking profoundly worried.

His demeanor made Jack nervous. "Why is that?" he asked.

"Well," Lo'jess stammered "She is a beautiful woman. They will sell her to the brothels"

"What!" Jack exclaimed.

"It is very bad there. Many men will attack her. If she resists they will kill her." Lo'jess paused for a moment. "It is too bad she is not your amator, your ah, mate"

"What would happen to her if she was?" Jack asked.

"Then the two of you would be sold together, as a pair, and she would not be sent to the brothels"

"Here in your land, how do you prove that someone is your mate? Do you have papers, rings, what?"

Lo'jess looked confused. "We do not need proof. We merely declare in front of a witness that we wish to claim one as our mate."

"And this is binding?" Jack asked.

"It is." Lo'jess replied

Jack knelt on the hard flagstone floor by the cot where Sam was still passed out. He grabbed her shoulders and gently shook her. "Sam, wake up!" He said in a tone that was urgent but not harsh.

"Huh?" She reached up and put her hand over Jack's.

"Sam, you've got to wake up." He insisted.

"Colonel? Where are we?" She asked as she struggled to get up. "Oh!" She put her hand to her head and sank back down on the cot.

"Yeah, I know." He said. "But we have bigger problems. I have no idea where Teal'C and Daniel are, but we are going to be sold into slavery. You have to pretend to be my ...ah..." He looked up at Lo'jess.

"Amator" Lo'jess supplied.

"Yeah, what he said, or you will be sent to a brothel!"

"What!" She nearly shouted as she jumped up off the cot.

"I hear the guards coming!" Said Lo'jess.

"Ok, Lo'jess, what do I do to make her my mate?" Jack asked.

"Tell her that you claim her as your mate and kiss her. I will be your witness"

Jack turned to look at Sam who looked totally confused. The footsteps were getting louder. "Sam, I claim you as my mate." He said in a rush. He grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a quick, chaste kiss then turned to Lo'jess. "Ok, is that good enough?"

"Yes. She is now your mate." He said. Just then four guards appeared outside the cell.

The guards wore black tunics, black pants, knee high black boots and carried staff weapons. Jack wondered how the SS fit into this society that seemed to be more ancient Greek or Roman than Nazi. They were not Jaffa, but still carried staff weapons.

"What's going on here? Where are our friends?" Jack demanded of the guards.

"Silence slave!" The head guard shouted and the other 3 guards immediately aimed their staff weapons at him.

The head guard signaled to one of his subordinates who unlocked the cell. The three guards then entered while the head guard kept his staff weapon trained on Sam. He said "Do not attempt anything slave or I will kill the woman."

Jack figured this was as good of time as any to make his claim on Carter. "No! Don't hurt her, she's my mate!"

"What!" Exclaimed the leader. "She is to be sent to the brothels by order of the Protectorate."

"It is true." said Lo'jess. "She is his amator."

"Very well, the Protectorate will get more money for a man and his mate than a mere woman." Sam bristled but said nothing. To his men the guard said "Shackle those two together." He indicated Sam and Jack.

"Yes m'lord." Said one of the guards as he placed an iron shackle on Sam's left ankle and Jack's right ankle. Then he placed a wrist shackle on Sam's left wrist and Jack's right wrist. The other guard put ankle and wrist manacles on Lo'jess and shoved him toward the open cell door.

"Colonel, what the hell is going on?" Sam demanded to know.

"Major, I don't know any more than you do." He hissed back.

"Move!" Shouted the head guard as he shoved his staff weapon into the Colonel's back.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm moving!" Jack growled.

The guards led them down a long corridor with rough hewn rock walls illuminated by torches set at 45 degree angles out from the walls.
The corridor opened up into a small auditorium with the prisoners standing on what appeared to be a stage. From another corridor Jack and Sam heard a familiar voice.

"Um, look, there must be some mistake here, we are friends of the Protectorate." It was Daniel Jackson.

Daniel and Teal'C were shoved onto the stage along with a haggard looking woman and an old man.

"Daniel, Teal'C! Are you guys alright?" Sam questioned.

"We are physically unharmed Major Carter." Teal'c said.

"Daniel, what the hell is going on here?" Jack continued "The last thing I remember was that wine the Protectorate had us all drinking."

"I don't know Jack, but it appears that we were drugged." Said Daniel.

"Ya think!" Jack said in his most sarcastic voice. "I warned you about not eating and drinking the local cuisine but did you listen? NO!"

Just then the Protectorate himself appeared on the stage with Adjeck at his side.

"Um, Protectorate, thank goodness you're here to rescue us." Daniel Jackson blurted.

"You are mistaken Doctor Jackson. I am the one who had you sent here."

"But, ...why?" Stammered Daniel.

"The Tauri!" He nearly spat the word in his hatred. "You think we are simpletons! That we don't know the value of our naquada?"

"Uh..." Daniel stammered.

"We have a very delicate balance here Doctor Jackson." The Protectorate went on. "Our people, our slaves, mine the naquada and the Gou'ald send a ship every 3rd lunar cycle to collect. We send it to them through the ring device. In return for the naquada they leave our world alone. As long as we mine it for them they see no reason to bother with us. There are not many of us on this planet, they have no need to enslave us when they get what they want for free"

"But you're enslaving your own people for cryin' out loud!" Jack said, a little too boisterously.

"They are our people Colonel O'Neill. We are free to do with them as we please. At least they are not enslaved by an alien race." And with that comment the Protectorate sneered at Teal'c.

"So, why didn't you just say you weren't interested in trading? Why all the subterfuge?" Asked Daniel "We would have gone away, I mean we will still go away, and not bother you again."

"We can lock your planet out of our dialing computer." Sam added helpfully.

"No!" Responded the Protectorate. "We cannot risk the Goa'uld finding out that you made contact with us. We have a delicate balance here and you are a threat to our very existence!"

Adjeck spoke up "Not to mention that because of our very small population we are always in need of more slaves to work the mines. It couldn't have worked out better for us"

"You know our people will come looking for us." Jack piped in.

"We are counting on it Colonel. They too, will become slaves in our mines." Stated Adjeck.

"My Captain tells me that you, Colonel, claimed the Major as your mate to save her from a life of prostitution."

Daniel and Teal'C exchanged worried glances.

"How noble of you. But no mind, that works in our favor too. Our population is small and your children will be taken from you immediately and become citizens of our world." The Protectorate gloated.

"Our children! What the hell are you talking about! We are so NOT having any children, I can guarantee you that!" Shouted Major Carter.

"That is too bad Major. I'm sure the men who guard the slaves in the mines will be quite pleased when I make a present of you to them!" The Protectorate's voice was oily.

Suddenly one of the Nazi guards approached the Protectorate and bowed deeply. "Sir," he said, the men are here for the slave auction and are anxious to begin."

Another Nazi ushered in one more woman, who looked to be about 18 and a young man in his 20's. The Protectorate pointed toward the young man who had just been brought in "He looks strong, he will fetch a high price. As for the Major and the Colonel..." he turned toward them, "Colonel, although you have claimed Major Carter as your mate our marriage laws are not binding on you. You may work in the mines and Carter will be given to the men"

"No!" Jack responded vehemently. "I claimed her and I meant it!"

"Very well." Said the Protectorate. "Send the four Tau'ri to the mines. Do not sell them."

"This is worse than Simarka!" Samantha Carter couldn't contain her anger. But she had learned from years of field experience that this was one fight that she couldn't win. She would let Jack 'claim her' any day over being sold into prostitution.

"And what of this one?" The head Nazi indicated Lo'jess.

"I have worked in the mines before, Protectorate, when I had a debt to pay." Lo'jess confessed humbly.

"Very Well." said the Protectorate. He turned to the head Nazi and with a wave of his hand said "Send this one with the Tau'ri. All the rest of these go on the auction block." With that the Protectorate was gone.

The Nazi guards shoved the rest of the 'slaves' into a straight line on the small flagstone stage as the prospective buyers shuffled to the stone benches facing the stage.

The slave buyers were an eclectic group. Some wore filthy clothes and looked like escaped criminals. Others appeared to be upper middle class and a few even wealthy. The bidding began with the young woman. She wept silently as two rival brothel owners haggled over her. Finally, the wealthier looking of the two won the bidding and she was taken off the stage. The other brothel owner purchased the haggard looking older woman. He said to his rival "My patrons won't care, as long as she is breathing."

His cold comment sent a shiver down Sam's back.

Several of the men were showing great interest in Major Carter until the head guard told them she was not for sale.

"I feel like a piece of meat on display in a butcher shop!" Sam whispered to Jack

"Silence slave!" shouted one of the guards as he shoved her in the back with his staff weapon.

"Hey! Everybody just play nice now!" Jack said which earned him a painful crack in the back with the staff weapon.

Two of the Nazi guards approached carrying a heavy chain between them. "Captain!" One of the men addressed the head guard, "here is the chain for these slaves"

"Good. Hook them up!"

The chain circled around each prisoner's waist, with 2 separate chains with wrist shackles attached to the chain at each individual's waist. Teal'C was chained at the head of the line. A three foot length of chain separated him from Daniel, who was second in line. Lo'jess was in the middle of the line, followed by Colonel O'Neill and 3 feet of chain later, at the end of the line, was Major Carter.

The Captain addressed the new slaves. "Do not attempt to escape. My guards carry modified staff weapons that inflict great pain. While it will take several simultaneous hits from one of these weapons to kill you, that is not their main purpose. They are meant to keep you in line with the pain they will cause to be endured."

With that he walked away and mounted his horse. Some of his higher ranking guards also rode horses but the rest walked, some in front of the SG1 officers, some behind them and half a dozen on either side of them.

"Move slaves!" Shouted one of the guards from behind the group and gave Sam a shove in the back causing her to stumble forward.

SG1 and their new friend, Lo'jess moved out in a single file line, trudging along in silence.