Atlantis

Carter was practically fizzing. Her eyes were shining with that light of discovery which Jack always found so endearing, even if he knew he was in for a session of completely incomprehensible geek-speak. Those eyes made him think that the sooner they could settle this blasted Alliance problem the better - he and Carter were way overdue some downtime, together. And he still hadn't managed to tell her about...

"Jack, you haven't heard a single word I've said."

The shiny-eyed beloved of his fantasy was standing in front of him, hands on hips and frowning. Jack quickly pushed thoughts of blissful civilian life aside, and assumed an expression of intense interest. Not fooled in the slightest, Carter snorted, and went back to her explanation.

"See, we just assumed that it couldn't possibly be anything to do with Ancient technology and so we didn't even look there." That was Rodney. Sam took up the thread.

"Then Rodney said that the way I was carrying on, you'd think they were sentient." Sam glanced at Jack for confirmation, and he nodded obligingly - he remembered that being said just before he made his escape.

"Well, it struck me - not sentient, but it did seem as if they were being controlled by some sort of intelligence."

She stopped, and looked at him expectantly. Next to him, Daniel let out a light-bulb-on-top-of-the-head "Ah!" Now all three of them were watching him. He flung his hands up.

"Nope, I got nothing. What??"

Three voices chorused simultaneously.

"Ancient Drone Weapons!!" Cue excited grins all round.

Jack frowned. It seemed the kids were missing an important point here.

"Carter. How the hell did the Lucian Alliance, or its remnants, get their hands on Ancient technology? This is not good news."

Carter and McKay visibly deflated, and Jack felt suddenly sorry for his abruptness. His point held, though.

"I'm impressed you guys worked it out," he offered as consolation. "Good work."

Actually, sir," Carter bent over to fiddle at a console. "It's not exactly the same. The Alliance's bolts are definitely based on that piece of Ancient technology, but with a few significant modifications." She turned the console screen towards him.

"For one, they need far less energy to operate." More fiddling.

"Then you'll see from this reading here that there is a controlling force behind the bolts." Daniel and Jack, neither totally sure what they were looking at, nodded cautiously.

"And when I evened the readings out," she pressed some buttons, "and compared them with the data we received from the Tokra," more readings appeared, "we noticed that this pattern here was identical."

She paused, and McKay took up the narrative.

"This pattern is, essentially, the signature of the weapons operator. As you know, the Ancient Drone Weapons require a human with the Ancient gene to operate them."

Jack, drawn in despite himself, nodded. Daniel, further ahead, pointed to the two patterns.

"Hang on, though, these patterns are identical." He looked at Sam and Rodney, his expression quizzical. "How can that be? These incidents happened light years away from each other."

"Exactly!" Sam was grinning again. "Rodney dug a bit deeper, correlating data from here and here and..."

"Sam." Jack felt that if he didn't step in now, the explanation could take longer than the Ori War. He had, after all, past experience of the Carter and McKay show. "What's the bottom line?"

"It's an AI, sir," she stated, then, elucidating, "an Artificial Intelligence. And there seems to be just the one, built in on all ships."

She paused, and drew in a deep breath.

"And that means we can beat it."

***

Tokra World

Vala came to with a shudder. Forcing herself to remain still, she carried out a mental inventory and came to the conclusion that everything was still there, although most of it ached. More worrying was the thought that she was most likely in the hands of the Lucian Alliance. Considering she had a price on her head, this was not good news.

She devoutly hoped that the Alliance had been so reconstituted that this little lot wouldn't realise who they had. Considering Netan had been dead some time now, perhaps there wasn't even anyone left to pay the bounty...

Hopeful musings aside, she needed to get out of this spot. She was outside the Al'kesh, thankfully in the shade, and her hands were fastened above her head with some sort of chain attached to the craft. The hat pin she carried concealed in her sleeve should sort that out quickly enough, but she needed to be alone to achieve that.

As it was, she could hear voices. She couldn't make out words, but the rough accent and intonation confirmed that she was, indeed, a prisoner of the Alliance. Vala grimaced. This hadn't been in the plan.

A few minutes later a group of people came into view; they were carrying a large chest, presumably containing kassa, between them. Vala slumped, feigning unconsciousness, and watched through slitted eyes as they made their way towards the local village. She was just thinking that her luck was in when a small, rather weaselly looking man came round the other side of the ship. He seated himself morosely in the shade, and began a thorough excavation of his nasal cavity.

Vala felt her gorge rising, and twitched reflexively. The tiny movement caught the weasels eye. Breaking off his explorations he got to his feet, grinning a trifle foolishly. The injunctions to not sample the goods appeared to have passed him by, as he had the slightly dazed look of a regular kassa user. Vala reminded herself that this didn't mean he would be easy to overcome. Kassa users could fly into sudden, terrifying rages, and it would be a foolish thing to underestimate him.

Still, he didn't appear to be quite as sharp as she remembered her old Alliance contacts being. Perhaps he would have no idea who she was...

His first words disabused her of this notion.

"Vala Mal Doran, the great thief!" His voice was as weaselly as his appearance. "What a price you will fetch!" He nodded in a self satisfied way, then glanced towards the village where the rest of his fellows had gone. "And Letu's gang will be feted throughout the Alliance!" He preened.

Her eyes narrowed. A possible route of escape was forming in her mind. He was conceited; she could use that.

"Letu's gang, hmm??" She made her voice as sultry as possible. "You must be the great Letu himself" his eyes popped open a bit at that, but he didn't correct her. His uneasy glance towards the village, however, spoke volumes.

"I'm flattered they left their very...best... man (her eyes raked his body) to guard me." Her smile started out slow and grew increasingly lascivious.

"How clever of you to capture me, when no-one else has managed it in all these years. I'm... impressed." Her tone implied that this was a truly erotic emotion. The greasy little guard, enthralled, was coming closer.

"You'll have to tell me EXACTLY how you found me," Vala purred. The little squirt stopped, and frowned. (Whoops, she thought, maybe too much?) He started backing away. She narrowed her eyes and dropped her voice an octave.

"Your, um, colleagues, won't be back for hours. We have - time - to 'discuss' these things."

He was back on the hook. Chest puffed out he advanced again. Vala thrust her chest out in return, which had the effect of distracting him from the fact that she was bracing her legs, ready to spring. His stench almost derailed her escape plan altogether, and it took her a dizzying moment to fight her nausea back into place. A second later his grabbing hands were all over her, pulling at the laces of her bodice and pawing at her skin.

Retching slightly, Vala sprang upwards and in one swift movement wrapped her legs around the would-be Letu. His kassa-fuddled brain reacted too late to stop her spinning him around, and a second later she had his neck in a leg lock, and was squeezing. She felt him grow heavy, and for a moment was tempted to put him permanently out of his misery (such a nasty little man! She'd have to burn this top) then half reluctantly decided unconsciousness was sufficient. She was already using her fingertips to dig for the concealed hatpin as she kicked his inert form away. A second later she was free, and rubbing life back into her wrists.

My grandma always used to say," Vala's head whipped up, residual adrenaline making her heart pound and her vision darken for a second, "as how the best damsels were the ones who didn't need rescuing." Cameron Mitchell covered the last few feet between them and caught her as she swayed, taking over rubbing her wrists. "Having fun, princess?" His blue eyes were keen, and she could tell he was scanning her for other injuries.

She nodded, unable to speak for a moment, then, as Teal'c came round the side of the ship, frowning, she reached out her arms, and enveloped them both in a hug.

"I assume you guys brought a ship?" Her voice was only a little bit shaky. "I had planned on stealing this Al'kesh, but it would be easier if I didn't have to, to be honest."

A sudden shout from the direction of the village startled them. Whippng round, Cam saw the kassa dealers returning at speed, followed by what appeared to be irate villagers.

"Whoops, we're gonna have company any minute." Releasing Vala, he bent down, and started pulling the little guard's body away from the ship. Teal'c, moving swiftly, was setting charges of C4 against the Al'kesh's walls. Within seconds, he was done. The kassa dealers, following a circuitious route due to having what appeared to be rotten fruit hurled at them, were by now noticeably closer.

"Time to go, kids," and without further ado, the three of them ran for their ship. Behind them, the Alliance's Al'kesh exploded in a satisfying belch of flame; by the time the now deeply unhappy Letu's Gang were shaking their guard into wakefulness, SG-1, cloak firmly in place, were rising away from the planet below.

Longer than usual; hope it works! Please drop me a line if you enjoyed it - I do love reviews xxx