One more down, a couple more to go.

Enjoy.

M.

Chapter Twenty -three

"Why are we here, Malachi?" Fewashi asked as soon as they were inside the compound. Sam smiled sadly at her.

"It's time Fewashi," she affirmed sullenly, "after Semeni, Naysa and I must go."

"Are you sure you want to do this, Malachi? Are you sure you want to leave us?" The healer questioned. Sam gulped, feeling uncomfortable with the situation.

"Fewashi, I…" The colonel sighed, "Truth is I don't want to leave you, I don't want to go. I must confess I learned to feel this like home. Semayati is like a home away from home," she finished chewing her lower lip.

"Then stay," the doctor smiled, Sam inhaled wishing it was that easy.

"That's the thing, Fewashi. Semayati feels like home, but it isn't. I do want to go home; I need to go back… I don't want to leave you behind. You saved me, and I'll be forever grateful."

Fewashi nodded, Sam wasn't sure if the alien understood what she was feeling. She wasn't sure even if she understood what she was feeling, the only thing she was certain of was the fact that she had to try, and the longer she took to leave the hardest would be actually to do it. Carter was aware that the longer it took, harder would be for her daughter to adapt to Earth.

"Naysa needs a chance to know her roots, and I need to give her that," Sam whispered, Fewashi nodded again, this time understanding filled her expression.

"Then, let's enjoy what's left of Semeni. Come, let's head to the town and when the time comes, we all will be here to let you go. As we were all there to welcome you. Just know, Malachi, we will always be here in case you decide to return."

"Thank you," Sam smiled gratefully.

The big meal was emotional, to say something about it. People walked towards Sam and Naysa and expressed their thoughts. One by one they saluted them and thanked them for being there, for helping there. And even having learned more of the language since she could use the interface to understand it, Sam didn't know what to say.

The Colonel felt she could help more, that she could do more, but overall, Sam felt she was abandoning them without giving a hard try just because she was selfish and wanted to go home and having people thanking her put her in a very uncomfortable position.

And if that farewell meal of sorts was awkward, the walk to the mountain was even weirder since it was made in silence and it felt quite like the procession she had participated when one of the elders had parted to the next life. They walked with them to the base of the mountain, carrying some extra bags of food and water and final words were said. She would be missed they had said, and she knew she would miss them even if she were long forgotten to them before she could return. Embraces were exchanged, and soon, she placed Naysa little hands to power it up. The ship floated silently, and Sam saw the expression of the few who hadn't seen it work.

"Beyine, we are ready," she affirmed.

"Very well then. Farewell Samantha Carter. The trip coordinates are already set on your computer; the crystal should hold the information in case you find a ship to get to your final destination."

"Thank you, Beyine," she smiled, and the doors of the hangar opened, "here we go, Naysa." Slowly and steadily, she navigated the ship away from the mountain and out to space, before turning the hyperspace on.

"Well, honey we are on our way, and now, we wait…" she said clasping her hands.

Sam had made sure to collect enough water and food. Her military training told her she should ration it as well as she could since there was no tangible proof of the planet being in the exact spot in which Beyine had sent her. The hard part was keeping not only herself but Naysa entertained, which was a more complicated feat with each passing hour.

After the few first hours of purple lights filling her only window to the outside, she sighed. Traveling long ways was normally boring and awkward on the middle-sized ships. They puddle jumper was small, and after figuring a way to add a WC and a water cleaner they had created a playpen where she could leave Naysa. And between those and the food, there was barely space to move, and it made her wonder if that was what it felt to live in a trailer house.

"No, those are bigger than this thin can."

She had attempted everything to keep herself, and Naysa entertained, and once they were both a little too close to finally lose it, the jump had finally come to an end. Sam jumped to her feet the moment she felt stable enough to do so and ran the few steps to the window checking the neighboring planets. Using the ship's computer, she found a world in which they both could be out and walk around and be away from the tiny space of the puddle jumper.

She found one who looked nice weather wise and didn't have signals of being inhabited. Which sincerely, she couldn't be more grateful, finding people was always weird especially if they didn't know about 'aliens' and other languages but theirs. And having been on the little thing a bit too long, Sam decided that a couple of days in the wild wouldn't do much in the vast scheme of things, yet it would be perfect for her sanity.

During the following hours, they found a water body which luckily was a hot spring that was just at the right temperature and Sam couldn't be happier. Showering wasn't a big priority on her plans and therefore wasn't included in the ship, but it was very welcomed after so long. Taking advantage of it and the sun, she cleaned the few clothing items the villagers had given her, and after being there for a couple of days, she knew that waiting one more day would be stalling with a deep breath, she prepared everything for the second jump.

According to Beyine plans, the second travel should bring them straight into the system of a planet which was a market, and she hoped he was right. So far, he had, but she only had three more jumps before the ship was unusable. And it was unsettling; she knew that if the market weren't there anymore, she would face a complex decision between using the two more travels to move furthest away from Semayati or return to the safety of it.

"Naysa, I hope your father luck is with us," Sam said placing Naysa's tiny hands in the control. "Here we go again," she added with a huff.

The second part of their travel seemed longer than the first one, slower too. Somehow, they lasted longer, Naysa seemed to understand they were confined to the small space, and that they would, at some point, get out of it. Or at least that was Sam thought. Or maybe, it was the fact that Carter herself felt a little more at ease with the whole situation.

Either way, she was telling Naysa all she could about her dad and trying to keep her hard learned Semayati language. Apparently, something that her daughter found incredibly amusing if the laughter was something to go by. It was then, after long when between fits of laugh that they both were pushed forward and then backward.

"We arrived…" Sam whispered coming to a stand; she said a pray just for the sake of doing it, "there's nothing wrong in giving God a chance," she whispered to herself as she walked towards the front of the small ship. "I'm feeling like the end of one of the stars wars movies, or maybe I am in one," she grinned, noticing how several ships hovered around a planet close to where her ship had just starting to stop.

"Beyine was right; there's still a something down here. Naysa, we might have a chance!" Sam grinned, and her daughter followed her example. After a quick analysis of the planet, Sam eased the ship on what it looked like the parking lot of the market.

"Man, this look like Walmart on a Saturday." She huffed looking the swarm of aliens moving in and out of their ships.

She had been to many places, however, and truth to be told, she was almost disappointed with the lack of variety of the aliens she had met. Now, she was in front of different creatures, some with humanoid features and some as far away from a humanoid that it wasn't even funny. Some of them looked plainly scary, although no one seemed to care about the looks of the others and concentrated mostly on what they were moving to and from the market.

Sam adjusted Naysa on her front in the way Fewashi had instructed her, before mixing with them on the way in. Beyine had mentioned she would need to speak in a different language than her native English, so she also used her time to improve her Latin and Goa'uld, which the interface considered would be most understandable at the planet.

"Let's see how it goes," she muttered to herself, hoping no one would notice her slip.

She looked around to the hundreds of ships parked around nervously, she didn't know any of the ships and changing her not so battered puddle jumper for something she didn't fully understand could make her chances of getting home even scarcer than already were.

'Stealing one won't be smart,' she thought to herself, before huffing again. 'I guess I have no other choice but to check what's on that infamous market.'