Sam's cries as she was paralyzed and taken away still rang in the Colonel's ears as he, Daniel and Teal'c hatched a plan on how to rescue her. Daniel went to talk to the natives to ask questions, and found out anything he could. In the meantime, Jack and Teal'c waited for him in a tavern. When Daniel returned he was wearing a frown on his face. Jack and Teal'c looked up from their meals. Daniel reached their table and raised an eyebrow at their plates.
"We had to order something or the owner would've thrown us out." Jack explained. Teal'c nodded to confirm the statement.
"What have you learned about the fate of Major Carter, Daniel Jackson?"
"Nothing good, unfortunately." Daniel replied.
"Well spit it out." Jack demanded.
"Apparently they've taken her to a pleasure slave establishment."
"What?!" was Jack's first reaction. Several guests turned their heads at his outcry. He so didn't give a damn about that now.
They had left the tavern immediately, Daniel had stayed back to pack the food and caught up with them on the way. Walking at a fast pace they soon reached the street that the tavern owner had directed them to. As they approached the building Jack took a second to take it in. He was no expert at architecture but to him, it looked like from the 18th-century earth. The windows were long, its facade was decorated and the colour palette consisted mainly of bronze, gold and silver colours.
"Hmm, looks steampunk-ish." he heard Daniel say.
He turned to him, raising his eyebrows. "Steam- what?"
"It's a style associated with the age the first steam engines were made and-" he coughed catching Jack's eye. "But that doesn't matter now, I'll enlighten you later. Let's get Sam."
"Thank you." Jack replied.
"Greetings," said a man at the door, in a buttoned-up striped suit.
"Greetings," Jack replied nodding his head, with Teal'c and Daniel following suit.
"You look like an accomplished man." the man in the striped suit said.
"What gave it away?" O'Neill asked with a smile.
"Your strong jaw and broad shoulders for one. You have the statue of a warrior and the eyes of a leader."
"Well, thank you." Jack replied, overplaying his prideful reaction. He did not yet know why the man was paying him compliments. "Mr?" he looked at him questioningly.
"Williams." the man replied.
"Well Mr. Williams, we heard your establishment has one of the richest assortments to offer." Jack asked, trying to sound appreciative and like he too was paying a compliment.
"Well I can't argue with that." the man chuckled, putting a hand on his belly. "Our slave market is known far and wide."
Jack and Daniel shared a glance. So they were at the right place.
"Well come in, come in gentlemen. Will you all be buying?"
O'Neill hesitated a fraction of a second before replying: "Just me, I am the leader here as you correctly assumed. These two are my servants." he said pointing behind him at Daniel and Teal'c.
"Ah I understand. Yes, we do have a rich assortment of males if you are looking for another one."
"I already have one with muscles and one with brains." Jack replied, leaving it to the man to figure out which was which. Not that that was very hard.
"Perhaps one for pleasure then? We have a new arrival from Vignet 3, their species has extraordinary colorful-"
Jack coughed, "I -can imagine." he said quickly. 'Too much detail, too much detail' his brain was yelling. "How about a female. For now..." he added, nodding at the man with a smile.
"Of course, of course, we have many of those. Come on in."
"Should my servants wait outside?" Jack asked.
"They can wait in the inner yard," the man said.
"You heard him, come on." Jack said waving at Teal'c and Daniel. All three followed the man in the striped suit through the door, which servants closed behind them, down a corridor. The lamps on the ceilings were circle-shaped and gave of an amber-coloured soft light. They reached another set of doors, again opened by servants and they were lead into an inner yard. It reminded Daniel of East-Asian gardens. There was a little stream, with several bridges, cute bushes and tiny trees, and lots of flowers all over. There were a few circle-shaped tables with chairs.
"Your servants can wait here, Mr.-? the man looked at O'Neill questioningly.
In a split second O'Neill had to decide whether to give his real name or a fake one. As a safety precaution he decided for the latter: "Octavian. Mr. Octavian." this place reminded him of the 18th century and the name Octavian was somehow connected to that time period in his memory. He must've heard it in a history lesson at some point. The man nodded at home while Daniel and Teal'c sat down at one of the tables.
"Behave boys," O'Neill said to the two of them. Teal'c raised an eyebrow and Daniel smiled though he would have liked to frown. Jack was enjoying this far too much.
"Follow me Mr. Octavian," said Mr. Williams and led O'Neill around the year to a set of stairs. They ascended one level higher. The inside of the building seemed the same as the entrance had been. Similar circle-shaped lamps on the walls and ceiling. Most of them amber-colored but a few had shades of blue, violet and rosy pink as well. Williams led them down another corridor. Jack glanced at the doors on both sides. As the corridor took a turn, a silhouette emerged. It was a man with long green hair, charcoal black eyes and what looked to jack like a skirt made from big leaves. That was the only thing he wore, leaving his chest bare. Jack squinted his eyes as the man's skin seemed to glitter, even from this distance. Perhaps he was an alien. He threw a gaze at O'Neill, which was decidedly seductive. Jack thought he forgot to inhale once and felt his face get a little warm.
The man passed by and headed for a door. Glancing behind Jack saw that at the back the male had a sort of long tail of feathers. That must have been the colorful something Williams had mentioned. The sexy man reached a door and as it opened Jack heard what sounded like the sound of rainforest, coming from inside. The chirping of many birds and animals.
He turned back around and saw Williams looking at him. "A specimen from Vignet 3." he said winking at Jack. "Still not interested?"
Jack needed a second to find his voice. "Per-Perhaps later." he sounded husky.
Williams nodded. "We have attractive prize deals for a male and female combo."
"How thoughtful." O'Neill said.
They reached a set of doors. Which was actually a lift O'Neill realized a moment later, as they stepped into the small bronze coloured room. Williams pushed a button on a panel next to the door and with the tiniest of rattles, the lift began moving. They did not need long to reach the desired level.
They stepped out of the lift and as Jack saw the number of doors that lined the long corridor he realized that it might not be easy at all to find Sam in such a big place.
"Where would you like to start?" Williams asked. "Is there a preference?"
Jack thought. What feature of Carter's was most recognizable and possibly unique?
"Natural blonde? Golden-haired? Maybe a bit shorter." Jack asked.
William winked at him. "I might have just the thing. There's one female - a new arrival, I think she might catch your eye."
'If you're talking about Sam's then she's already done that.' Jack thought to himself.
They entered through a double door. The room was big, divided into a kind of caged cell-rooms. They passed many diverse looking females. One with dark blue skin and luminescent white hair. Another with short dark green hair and what looked like spiral tattoos all over her body. There was one which looked a bit like a cat and her skin, or fur? was orange. She clasped the bars of her cell and purred at O'Neill. He coughed and hurried to catch up with Williams.
"Ah, there she is." Williams exclaimed. "Isn't she a beauty?"
Jack's gaze fell on the creature inhabiting the cell in front of him and he found himself utterly speechless.
