Vala still had not moved since Daniel put a rush on marrying her. The team was hearing footsteps coming towards them once again. They all feared the worst, that the guards had come back to assault Vala again. Daniels stomach was in knots as well as the rest of his friends, and they braced themselves for what was to eventually come. Daniel thought; hadn't she been through enough? Why can't they just leave her alone? Why not just kill us and be done with it? Is she dies; then I'm dying with her. She's not dying alone. We all will die with her, if this keeps up. Please don't hurt her anymore, please.
Sam, Teal'c and Mitchell all looked up, anticipating more torture was in store for Vala. They couldn't fathom Vala taking much more of this onslaught of debasing her any further, not to mention she was not eating as well as they were, but only from what they threw on the ground. They all had one thought, but it wasn't conveying to whoever was causing Vala this much pain. The lead man walked in with more guards. They grabbed Vala up, while Daniel tried in vain to move to help her, to fight, to do anything, but they were all helpless as puppets on a string. One of the guards slapped Vala; Daniel went nuts shouting obscenities.
"Leave her alone you bastards. Why don't you pick on someone who can fight back? I bet you feel like real men, hurting a helpless woman. Why don't you bring that over here?" Daniel was trying to draw their attention away from Vala.
The lead man and guards ignored him, as well as the rest of them, cursing at them. "Wake up slave. You have others to feed. You are caretaker for other slaves. You cannot rest until your task is done." This time the lead man slapped her. Vala was moaning, from the hit. Daniel could see her slightly open her eye, the other one was still swollen shut. Vala looked up slightly, barely standing without the guards help.
"That's right, wakey, wakey. Take her to the other slaves and make sure she feeds them also. If she drops one morsel of food, make her eat it." They practically dragged Vala away, her clothes barely staying on her.
"Keep it up people. Everytime you complain, she takes your punishment. Chew on that for awhile." The lead man smiled and walked out, with the rest of his guards following.
"AAAAAhhhhhhhhhhh." Daniel screamed in frustration.
"Daniel, Daniel, you have to think about Vala." Said Sam. She too was frustrated at not being able to help. "We have to think about Vala and her well being. All we are doing is making it easy for them to hurt her. We're all angry…………….
"No, no, no one knows what she's going through. She doesn't even speak. She doesn't even speak." Daniel shook his head as if wanting this nightmare to go away.
"Listen to me Jackson. We can't change what's already happened. We know what we have to do, but you've got to stay focused. If they wanted Vala dead, and us, then we would be dead already. Someone is playing with her and we are just thrown in her face to amuse them. You have to survive while there's a chance to save her."
Daniel understood what Mitchell was saying, but it didn't help. Not for him to see his wife treated like this. Daniel shook his head and said nothing. Sam and Mitchell already knew he felt defeated, but they also knew they were trained to endure torture, but this was an added twist. Daniel noticed that Teal'c was silent. When he looked over to his friend, it almost scarred him to see a look he had never seen before. Deadly silent rage.
The guards had thrown Vala into a water stall and turned on the water. It was cold to Vala's skin and even though she felt like it were a thousand needles piercing her skin. She welcomed the numbness and a chance to wash, even though she barely knew where she was. Her mind was awash with memories of torture when Quetesh was removed and other horrific incidents she had tucked away in her sub conscious. But she understood one thing that propelled her to survive. She couldn't let her friends die for her. She had to continue in her fuzzed up mind, that she have to assure her friends stayed alive no matter what. She could care less about her own life and care less about why this was happening to her. She had given up on who was doing this to her, when she had tortured so many, so long ago. She could hear voices, whether in her own mind, or someone saying something to get her attention.
"Hurry up slave. You're clean enough. Get her out of there and have the others fed. Take her back to the cell after she's finished. I have other matters to attend to."
The guards understood and retrieved Vala from her makeshift wash and pushed her to feed the other slaves, including the girl locked in a special cell. Vala finally limped from slave to slave. It wasn't many, maybe 20 – 30 slaves. But she could barely hold the bowls, and when she did drop any food, they made her lap up what was on the floor. When she came to the small girl in the cell, they pushed her in and closed the door. The commander made it very clear that she was to be well taken care of, and now they used Vala to accomplish that task. Vala was practically prostrated on the ground in front of the girl. The girl moved to help Vala sit up. The girl cocked her head as Vala could only sit up against the wall to hold the bowl. One of the guards threw in a shirt to the girl. The girl understood and slowly removed Vala's wet and torn clothes and helped her into the dry shirt. Vala moaned at the bruises that had been made all over her body and the warmth from the dry shirt was a small comfort. The girl took the bowl from Vala and began to eat. She fed Vala some of it and one of the guards moved to stop her, but they remembered that this small prisoner was not to be harmed; so they watched but said nothing.
Vala was weak, but still managed to look up at the small girl, trying to convey her thanks for helping her. "I am Taika. You must eat. They will not harm me if you eat."
Vala took the food, saying nothing. She knew she was being watched and didn't want the girl to suffer if they came in to attack her. Vala could not move her eye away from the girl, but she ate the food in silence. The girl watched Vala intently and took the wet clothes and wiped her mouth and Vala's brow. Vala couldn't even smile, but her face shown her appreciation for the gesture from the little girl. Vala looked as if she was seeing something old and ancient in the girl's eyes. But the girl only continued to feed Vala.
"You are stronger than they are. They will find out the truth." Said Taika.
Vala barely registered what Taika was saying. Soon, they were interrupted by the guards and Vala was taken from the girl's cell and thrown to the floor. She was dragged once again to the cell of her friends. Before leaving Vala in the cell, again there were bowls of food, waiting for her friends so that she could feed them. But this time two of the guards pulled her up again. They started punching her and slapping her around. When Vala fell to the floor she was bleeding from her mouth and nose. Her friends wanted to say something, but they had been warned that if they said anything, they would harm Vala. They left, once again leaving the doors open. Daniel knew this had to be some sort of trick to get them to escape or Vala to leave them. It was just a matter of time what they would do to stop this madness.
Commander Kraco was watching from his quarters everything that had transpired. He watched Vala being raped, beaten, and her friends yelling to save her; and even the so futile effort from one of them to marry her to protect her. But the one thing that interested him the most was the communication between the girl and Vala. The girl had said nothing since being taken as a slave with her race, but this was the first time she had said a word. He had planned on toying with Quetesh for as long as he wanted, but he also had an agenda to make a profit and gain certain powers within his reach. He had been informed that the prisoners he held were enemies to his clientele. He was informed this was the elite SG1 and somehow Quetesh was a part of this crew. They had made considerable enemies across the galaxy, especially the Ori. But the girl was going to make him rich beyond his expectations. He had been contacted by this Orici, and wanted SG1 delivered to her, and a Gou'ald by the name of Ba'al wanting to reward Kraco special compensation for his capture of this special cargo. But Kraco knew when he had a good thing. And he was holding all the cards. No one knew where he was, and certainly he realized neither did their people, know where SG1 was. He was good at gaining loyalty amongst his crew as well as letting them enjoy the spoils of his cargo and the fortune they amassed. Slaving was still profitable and he was the best. There were no competitors, he made sure of that. He was the best of the best and well equipped with superior weaponry to handle anyone who antagonized him or felt they were not worthy of his slaving efforts. Most steered clear of cheating him, knowing he was not a fool and those who did think he was one, were easily eliminated. But he found security in knowing what to look for in slaves and what to compensate himself for long and dangerous hauls. But in the recesses of his mind, he had a debt to pay, for all his troubles that started in a mine, with his mother. That he could never forgive. His mother was his world and that was so brutally taken away from him by Quetesh. He had nightmares about his mother's torture for as long as he could remember and was beaten, when this was considered weak by the previous Captain. This made him hard, mean, emotionless and distant himself from any emotional contact. He relished in the fact he had nothing to lose by someone using his family against him and made sure he used Quetesh's tactics in motivating slaves to do what they were told or die a painful death.
He watched more as Vala slowly and painfully fed her friends to keep them alive. What disturbed him slightly was that Quetesh never said a word during all the beatings and humiliations. He wanted to break her and nothing in her face or demeanor showed any. He decided that there needed to be a personal touch in making this snake bend to his will. Quetesh would remember he thought of what she did to him and his mother. She would beg for her life in the end and he would make her associates watch.
A/N: I plan to work on this one all day. The muses are attacking with a vengeance. So look for more chapters sometime today.