SG1, plus Doctor Fraiser, stepped from their puddle into a ring of waiting people. O'Neill raised his eyebrow expectantly. Carter plastered a smile on her face. Jonas was smiling genuinely, and Teal'c seemed to be resisting the urge to open fire.
The MALP rested unobtrusively near the gate. The SGC had been using it to communicate with this planet for several weeks, learning their language and customs.
A man in a conservative business suit stepped forward. "Welcome, honored alien guests!"
O'Neill stepped forward also. "Good to be here in Prague."
"Pratg," Jonas coughed.
O'Neill smiled pleasantly.
"I am President Ordle Freeborn," the man said, politely ignoring O'Neill's wince at the name. Ordle introduced the rest of his entourage.
They'd gated into a museum. Carter scanned the room for exits for strategic purposes. "Hey," she murmured. "We're on TV."
O'Neill followed her eyes to the video camera set up in a back corner. "Cool."
"Ah, yes," Ordle said. "Our entire world is watching history happen. My government has proven there is intelligent life on other planets! You will bring us into a new age of prosperity and technological achievement that will revolutionize mankind."
"Your government?" Jonas frowned.
"Ah," O'Neill said meditatively. "We have seen the Aschen, and they are us."
Carter sputtered.
"Is it always like this?" Janet Fraiser murmured to her companion.
Carter shook her head faintly. "We're usually not on TV. That's a little...intimidating."
O'Neill leaned down to Fraiser. "It is typical in that Teal'c and I will stand around doing nothing, while Mr. and Mrs. Nerd here will do all the work. You'll lose all respect for me."
Fraiser raised an eyebrow.
"We're happy to help in any way we can," Jonas said cheerily to the crowd. "We think your world and ours will become good friends."
Freeborn bowed humbly.
O'Neill made the introductions for his team. "This is Doctor Janet Fraiser," he said when he got to the small woman. "You had requested our medical personnel?"
"Tomorrow, tomorrow," Ordle waved them off. "Tonight, we feast!"
"Woohoo!" O'Neill said.
The representatives of four worlds sighed in unison.
* * *
Sam and Janet had been shown to a suite in the presidential palace. The three men of their party were staying in another suite several floors away. Weird civilized alien modesty issues, Sam mused. Less technologically advanced planets usually shoved them all into a horsehide tent together.
She did not intend to complain about the lack of men or the accommodations. The suite had two bedrooms on either side of an elegant and tasteful sitting room. A bathroom at the back with gazebo windows was built to overlook an interior courtyard. "Nice..." Sam commented, studying the shower mechanism.
Janet disappeared into the room on the right.
Sam stayed in the bathroom and took several minutes to figure out how the shower worked, and then several more minutes improving the system. When she finally stepped under the shower head, she let out a groan of pleasure. She'd had a long day. First contact missions always involved taking in a lot of new information, not to mention the walking and feasting, walking and feasting. At least this planet had cars, but there was still a lot of standing on ceremony. Sam ached all over, but the gentle spray of hot water was soothing. "Wanna join me?" she called out to the suite, while she experimented with an oddly minty native soap.
"Ha!" Was the only response.
Sam finished and stepped gingerly from the tub. A robe hung on the back of the door and she slipped into it, noting that the fabric was thin and clingy. She felt rather feminine wearing it, so she made the effort to glide into the living room, where Janet sat in a tall chair, scanning a sheet of paper. The doctor's feet were curled underneath her, and Sam caught her breath. Janet was made for the elegance of the setting. She'd taken off her gear, and was wearing a simple black tee shirt.
"Shower?"
"Thanks." When the smaller woman had disappeared into the bathroom, Sam took her place on the chair, picked up the memo--"Pratg Phrases for Beginners"--And tried to look sexy. She wasn't sure it was working, especially because she was mumbling to herself in a rather ugly-sounding language, but she heard Janet pad back from the bathroom, and then she heard Janet's breath hitch. She looked over at her partner with a wide smile.
Janet, re-dressed in an olive green tee shirt that brushed her thighs, walked over and ruffled Sam's damp, spiked hair. "Sam," Janet breathed. "The robe becomes you."
Sam grabbed the doctor around the waist and pulled her down into her lap. "Thank you," she replied.
Janet squirmed. "Sam, we're off-world."
"I know," Sam purred, dipping her head to kiss Janet's exposed throat.
Janet shivered and reached for Sam's shoulders, tangling her fingers in the soft fabric, urging her partner closer. "Is this what you do when you're off-world?" She asked.
"You're never here," Sam replied, nipping at Janet's neck, sliding one hand to the small of her back to hold her in place.
"Sam, we shouldn't," Janet protested, even as her nails dug into Sam's shoulders.
"I want to," Sam declared. Her free hand moved up Janet's front to squeeze her breast through the cotton shirt.
Janet gasped and pushed herself against Sam's hand. Her nipple was already hard against Sam's fingers. She moved her own hands to Sam's shaggy hair and drew the woman back for a kiss.
Sam responded hungrily, pressing her lips against Janet's and and sliding her hand under the tee shirt to grasp Janet's bare breast. She gently tugged the nipple in time to the flicks of Janet's tongue in her mouth.
When Janet pulled away to kiss Sam's face, licking her eyebrows and taking an earlobe between her teeth, Sam groaned, "Maybe we could just neck."
Janet nipped at Sam's jaw. "Okay."
They touched and stroked each other until the radio crackled to life.
"Ladies," O'Neill chirped.
Janet lifted her head away from Sam's exposed breast.
Sam reached for the walkie-talkie. "Here, sir."
"Looks like everything's a'okay here on Prague," O'Neill reported.
They heard static and Jonas mumbling in the background. "Pratg." Jack corrected. "So, we're not even bothering with watch tonight. We'll check in at 0600. Have a good night."
"You too, sir." Sam put the radio back on standby.
They'd disrobed sometime during making out, and Janet resumed laving Sam's conveniently exposed breast with her tongue.
"Bedtime." Sam announced, and scooped the doctor into her arms. She stood carefully and headed toward the bedroom Janet had already claimed.
"This would be romantic if I wasn't so afraid of being dropped," Janet commented, playing with Sam's nipple.
"Bite me," Sam grunted. Janet was about to when she was tossed unceremoniously onto the bed, face-first. She shifted in order to roll onto her back, but felt a hand on the back of her thigh.
"No," Sam said. She grabbed a pillow from the headboard and effortlessly lifted Janet's hips, slipping the pillow under her waist.
Janet stretched into a familiar pose, pushing her face into the blankets while spreading her legs imploringly. She was soaked.
Sam murmured appreciatively and straddled Janet's thighs, beginning to stroke her bare back.
"Sam," Janet complained, as Sam's warm hands kneaded her shoulder muscles. "There's a time for foreplay, and a time way past that."
"Hush," Sam commanded, swatting her bottom.
Janet shivered. "No kink off-world," she admonished.
Sam spanked her again. "Hush."
~Well, maybe just a little kink,~ Janet thought. Sam continued to massage her body, which was sore from the overexertion of the mission, and Janet began to relax under her touch.
When Sam replaced her roving fingers with her tongue, Janet offered no complaint. She only moaned and pushed herself back toward Sam's questing mouth. She'd been aching with need since she'd gotten out of the shower, and Sam's weight holding her down made finding relief almost impossible. She tried grinding down on the pillow underneath her.
Another spank.
"Sam," she pleaded, as her lover's tongue traced the small of her back. "I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out."
"I haven't even begun," Sam murmured, sliding her mouth over Janet's ass, stroking the red marks left by her hand.
~Fuck,~ Janet thought. ~I'm just going to die right here on this bed and let her explain it to the authorities of multiple worlds.~ She bit into the blanket as Sam's wet, determined tongue slid over her rear entrance.
A rim job? Here? In this beautiful, plush suite in the palace of a planetary government? On their fancy, alien sheets? Sam was shameless. Reckless. Dangerous. "I love you," Janet whispered.
She felt Sam grin against her flesh, and then Sam's tongue snaked out to taste her swollen lips and then lower, lapping her clitoris with firm, wide strokes.
"Fuck!" Janet said aloud, humping back against Sam's face, and then down against the pillow. No amount of ordering from Sam was going to stop her thrusts, and her cries became incoherent as Sam's mouth worked her. "I'm going to come," Janet panted.
Cued by those words, Sam pulled away and mounted Janet, pushing her full weight on the doctor's back, spreading her legs so that her clitoris could find the muscles of Janet's thigh, her arousal leaving glistening streaks on the olive skin underneath her. She thrust her hand between Janet's legs, stroking her from clitoris to rim.
Her other hand went over Janet's mouth, and Janet bit into Sam's fingers and tried to muffle her screams as they bucked and thrust together. Janet came first, shrieking and shivering. When she lay still in Sam's arms, Sam's hips rocked against her lover's thigh until she, too, fell into bliss. Janet suckled Sam's index finger like a clitoris, swirling her delicate tongue around the tip.
Sam bellowed as she came, her hand leaving Janet's thighs in order to brace herself above the woman while she shuddered and pressed herself against Janet's leg. When she was coherent again, she rolled off of Janet and onto her back.
Janet propped herself up on one elbow and smiled at Sam. "So this is what it's like to be on SG1," she said huskily, licking her lips.
"Ungh," Sam replied, her eyes closed.
"Do you think this is what the guys are doing right now?"
"Ungh!"
"You're so bad, sweetheart." Janet crooned. "So, so bad." She remained in that position, watching her wily, reckless lover drift off to sleep, enjoying the stillness of the universe.
* * *
Jonas Quinn walked into the suite the next morning at the appointed hour. He glanced curiously through the suite's various rooms, and then smiled at Janet, who was looking at herself in a wall mirror. "Ready to go?" He clapped his hands together.
"Five minutes, Jonas." Sam stepped out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her torso, and another in her hand as she vigorously dried her hair.
"Right," he answered. Sam disappeared again. He glanced questioningly at Janet.
She pointed to a chair. He settled into it with a sprawl. "We're going to tour the Engineering facilities today," he said, just to make conversation. "Did you know this world has spaceships with solar sails? Sam says that's a remarkable achievement, especially given their level of computer technology. They can only reach local space, of course, but with a renewable energy source like that they can get a lot done."
"Really?" Janet asked politely, putting the finishing touches on her makeup while staring into the mirror over the fireplace.
"Yeah. It's a good thing we came by 'Gate, not ship, or they'd have blown us to bits."
Sam came out of the bathroom in olive fatigues and graced them with a smile. "Ready."
"Great." Jonas stood. "We should go."
Sam grabbed her pack and headed for the door. "I'll see you tonight, Janet. Have a good time touring all those hospitals." She wrinkled her nose.
Janet stuck her tongue out.
"Bye, Doctor Fraiser," Jonas called, as he followed Sam into the world.
* * *
O'Neill and Teal'c sat at a round conference table with the Pratg delegation. They were negotiating a mutual exchange of technology.
O'Neill leaned toward Teal'c to whisper, "Why aren't Jonas, Carter, and Fraiser here doing this diplomacy crap? They're smarter than we are."
Teal'c looked over at his friend. "Precisely."
* * *
Janet hunched over, looking intently at a computer screen. "You've made great progress eradicating cancer."
"Yes. Now that our entire world is on the same system, it is easy to implement preventative measures. We have introduced into the diet several items that provide cellular protection against mutation."
"Back up." Janet cleared her throat. "Did you say everyone on the same planet is on the same health care system? There's 400 million people here."
The doctor's eyes widened. "Of course. Everyone receives the same care. Would you like to see the database?"
"That's all right."
Janet must have looked stunned, because Doctor Ulged frowned. "Is it not the same on your planet? Surely a race advanced enough to use the Stargate..." He looked despairingly at her.
"You'd think." She conceded.
She tapped the computer monitor. "You say you altered the diets. We do the same thing back on Earth, treating the water. What about DNA therapies?"
"What is DNA?"
Janet smirked.
* * *
"So, why the doc?" O'Neill asked Ordle.
"Our party ran on a platform of universal health care. We implemented it. We have already improved the life span of our people by ten years. If we were to stray from our purpose now, when we have such a momentous event as discovering extraterrestrial life... It might lead to upheaval."
O'Neill nodded sympathetically. "How long ago did you, uh, implement?"
"27 years ago."
O'Neill and Teal'c exchanged a look. "Sure is some creepy quest for immortality you got going there to keep you in power," O'Neill commented.
Ordle smiled politely.
* * *
Janet spent her day taking samples, meeting patients, and asking questions, and it was mid-afternoon when she emerged from the Red Maple Hospital Complex. Immediately she found herself accosted by reporters. Her security escort stepped closer, but didn't impede either her movements or theirs.
"Doctor Fraiser," one young, sandy-haired man in the front called to her, "If the incident at the Engineering complex does turn out to be a terrorist act, do you believe it intended to coincide with your presence in Pratg?" He thrust his microphone at her.
Janet's eyes widened. "What incident?"
The reporters loomed. "A large explosion occurred approximately 30 cycles ago," a woman said. "I assumed you were coming out to address us..."
"An explosion?" Fraiser lunged forward. "Get the fuck away."
The sandy-haired reporter looked perplexed. "What is a fuck?"
"Maybe she means our microphones," the woman next to him hissed.
Janet's progress was stymied by the crowd gathering in front of her.
"Doctor Fraiser," someone tried again, "There's speculation among the opposition that the aliens staged the attack in order to bolster a more totalitarian rule favoring your own agenda to take our technology."
Janet surged toward the man, but was stopped by yet another microphone. "There are reports of a large number of casualties, Doctor Fraiser. Do you have a response?"
"I--I'm sure the Tauri are just as aghast at this news as the people of Pratg," Janet started haltingly. "Our deepest sympathies go out to you, and as a member of the medical profession, I'd like to offer my own services to help in any way I can..."
Janet felt a hand at her elbow and looked up to see O'Neill at her side. "Get the fuck away from me!" He growled at the nearest reporter. The man glanced at his microphone, and apologetically lowered it. "We will release a statement as soon as we know our people are safe," O'Neill called to the crowd. "We'll be traveling to the site immediately. In the meantime, be assured that we respect the Prime Directive, and are taking no sides in the political dealings of this world. We are merely explorers."
With that, Jack moved forward, guiding Janet through the mass of people. An automobile was waiting at the end of the sidewalk, and Teal'c stood beside it. The three of them clambered into the back seat, and the vehicle immediately began moving.
Janet sat between the two men, dwarfed by their size and the armament they carried. She looked up at O'Neill.
O'Neill's brown eyes met hers. "Don't worry, Doc, we'll get you there. Don't want those alien quacks working on my people."
Her lips curved into a feeble smile. "Sir," she asked. "Do we really believe in the Prime Directive?"
"Sure," he said, leaning back and resting against the headrest, "Until we figure out which side we're on."
The rest of the trip was spent in pensive silence.
* * *
The damage to the Engineering complex startled Janet. She was used to war-torn devastation on more primitive alien worlds, or elaborate Goa'uld palaces, but this looked like an ordinary office park, and in a civilized setting the wound of destruction stood out distinctly.
Teal'c and Jack escorted her inside the nearest building.
"Hi," Sam said cheerily, glancing up at their arrival from a smoking console at the front desk. Blood matted her hair, and her right trouser leg was torn and stained.
"Sam!" Janet ran to her side. "Why aren't you--What are you doing?" She managed to ask.
"Analyzing some fragments. Trying to see if it was a bomb, or accidental. This is an engineering facility, though, and accidents don't really just happen. Jonas is looking for the epicenter now." Sam grinned at Janet, and then winced with pain. "Work before medical treatment. I can lie around the isolation ward all day when the mission's over."
"Not when there's a doctor on the mission." Janet dropped her pack and knelt. She pulled out antiseptic.
"Crap. That's gonna hurt." Sam exhaled.
"Looks like you and Jonas have the explosion covered and the Doc's got you covered, so we," Jack indicated Teal'c and himself, "Should stand around and look tough?"
Sam grinned. "You could start interviewing people, sir."
"Oh, right." Jack nodded. "Legwork. Teal'c?"
"I am prepared."
"Excellent." They strutted off, dragging the few bystanders in the atrium with them.
Janet dabbed at Sam's bloody forehead with a piece of gauze. "I was worried, today."
Sam reached up to grasp Janet's wrist gently. "Just think, if you weren't off-world, you'd never know this had happened."
"That's comforting," Janet muttered.
Sam tugged her closer. "I'm okay," she whispered.
Janet looked around warily, and then bent to press her lips against Sam's. Sam returned the kiss gently. Janet drew back to finish taping Sam's wound.
Sam turned back to the console. "Tell me what you think of this."
Janet leaned over her shoulder, and they got to work.
* * *
Teal'c held a compress to a wound on a man's head while O'Neill questioned him.
"Where were you when the explosion happened?" O'Neill asked.
"I--right here. I was pinned under that slab until you rescued me."
"Near the epicenter. Maybe you were running away before the blast hit."
"What? No! I was--"
"Why do you shake if you have nothing to hide?" Teal'c loomed over the man.
"Because you're aliens!" The engineer shrieked. "And you're really big."
Teal'c frowned. "Perhaps the native forces are better equipped for questioning."
"Yeah." O'Neill sighed. "I don't see sharing and bonding happening."
* * *
Ordle peered at them through the monitor. "Are you all right?"
"We're fine," O'Neill reported with exasperation. "Any news?"
"We've definitely determined that it was a bomb," Ordle informed him.
"How? We're _here_ and we haven't determined that."
"We received a claim of responsibility."
"Oh."
"I have also talked with Constable Unlun, who tells me your presence makes the rescuers uncomfortable. It's not that we don't appreciate your assistance, but perhaps it would better if you--"
"Reined it in a little?" O'Neill questioned.
Confusion crossed Ordle's face.
"Played the role of honored guests?"
Ordle smiled. "I'm glad you understand."
"Right."
* * *
O'Neill handed a stack of papers to a Pratg official and clapped his hands together. "Okay, let's get back to the itinerary, boys and girls."
"But sir," Sam protested, looking up from her console. "The bombing--"
"Is not our problem, Carter."
Sam looked forlornly at the ruined console.
"Solar sails, Carter."
Sam stood up so quickly she knocked her chair over. Satisfied, O'Neill led his team back to the trappings of diplomacy.
* * *
One dead, fourteen injured, including the wounds suffered by the aliens known as Carter and Quinn. In deference to the mourning and the investigation, SG1 was given a reprieve from the state dinner, and instead found themselves at a quiet table in a restaurant, discussing the suspicious nature of the day's events.
"Ever noticed how the more civilized the world, the more evil the government?" O'Neill commented. "What's with that?"
Teal'c tilted his head pensively.
"You know, I've been through this in Kelowna. It's so easy to blame the outsiders. You wouldn't believe it."
"Oh, we'd believe."
"What I'm trying to say is..." Jonas steepled his fingers. "We're not going to be able to help these people with their own problems. The bombing was probably planned months in advance. Maybe the timetable was adjusted because of our arrival, but we have nothing to do with it."
"So we do believe in the Prime Directive."
"I just think our main focus should be on technology. Petty planetary politics are just a distraction."
"They always are," O'Neill muttered. "Okay. We won't take it personally until they make it personal."
Jonas looked satisfied.
Carter frowned.
Janet saw the expression and leaned over her to her friend. "How often do they make it personal?"
"Always." Sam sighed.
"Pessimist," O'Neill commented.
"I'm a mathematician, sir." Carter said. "I play the odds."
Jonas silently took a sip of his drink.
"It's the technology, sir." Sam answered seriously, returning to O'Neill's original comment. "The more damage we can do, the more damage we want to do. Look at what the Kelownans did with their naquadria."
"And how we conveniently blamed the aliens," Jonas muttered.
Janet pursed her lips. "Small evils just have larger consequences."
"Temptation is truly universal," Teal'c mused.
Jack nodded thoughtfully. "Then how come the Asgard aren't evil?"
"They have the most powerful battleships we've ever seen, sir. Thor is the commander of a whole fleet. We've seen them murder hundreds of Goa'uld and Jaffa." Sam mused. "Who says their past isn't--"
"Troubled?" Jack quipped as he stabbed a vegetable with his fork. "I still like them." He paused. "How come we aren't evil?"
"Another race has sought our help only once," Teal'c recounted. "We betrayed them, destroyed their base, and executed their leader in cold blood."
"Hot blood," Jack said defensively, inhaling. "We have seen the Aschen, and they are--"
"Sir," Sam interrupted.
"So, how about those Broncos?" Jack said cheerily, and SG1 went back to polite conversation for the rest of dinner.
* * *
O'Neill, Teal'c, and Jonas walked lazily along the boardwalk. Jonas was still rambling about the cuisine at dinner and Teal'c occasionally rumbled in agreement. O'Neill kept his eyes on their surroundings. Pratg had dark alleys and quickly moving vehicles. SG1 had been assigned two bodyguards, but O'Neill felt they weren't paying very much attention to the evening. He found that lackadaisical attitude suspicious, but the palace was only a few hundred meters away, so he wasn't overcome with worry.
"That pastry tasted kind of like pizza," Jonas was commenting.
"No." O'Neill lost all focus as he turned to his companion. "Pizza comes from Chicago. That was _not_ pizza."
In O'Neill's moment of distraction, the guards turned on their charges, weapons raised.
O'Neill blinked and sighed.
Teal'c raised an eyebrow.
Jonas paused in mid-sentence.
"You think those puny weapons are a threat?" O'Neill asked, not unkindly, as he patted his P90.
"No," the forward guard smiled. "I think those weapons will be."
A dozen clicks were heard as armed men and women revealed themselves.
O'Neill shook his head. "Gotta stop asking those rhetorical questions. They always bite me in the ass." He lifted his hands in the air.
Teal'c and Jonas followed suit.
* * *
A pounding at the door interrupted the leisurely shower Sam and Janet were taking together. Glowering at Janet to stay put, Sam grabbed a robe and went to the front of the suite. She flung open the door, releasing 5'9" of pissed, soaking wet Air Force Major onto the unfortunate soul in the hallway. "What!"
An aide with a fearful expression gazed up at Carter. "I-Is Doctor Fraiser here, also?"
"Yes." Carter growled.
The aide looked relieved. "The rest of SG1 is missing. We believe they have been kidnapped. We have received demands."
Sam lunged forward and grabbed the aide's shoulder, hauling her inside the suite. "What?"
Janet Fraiser stepped out from the bedroom, fully dressed in fatigues. Her hair was already dry. Sam stared at her for a moment, until the aide repeated her news.
"What demands?" Carter asked, continuing to drip in her robe.
"That the ruling party dissolve, and the aliens leave."
"The aliens will happily leave as soon as we get our people back."
The aide looked distressed.
"Do you have any leads?" Janet asked quietly.
The aide knelt and opened her briefcase. "I have brought all the information we have on the group we believe responsible, and the schematics of the city. The palace is conducting its own search, which you are welcome to join, but we know you have technology beyond our own." She offered a minidisc to Carter.
"Thanks."
The aide remained where she was.
"That's all," Carter grunted.
The aide fled.
Janet came over and took the disc from Sam's hands. "Colonel O'Neill captured by a band of Pratg-ians? I would have expected more."
"If they were surrounded and taken by surprise, it's possible. They aren't superheroes, after all."
Janet smiled. "Well, we'll find them."
"Yes." Sam moved to the desk and began booting up a laptop. "We will."
* * *
Janet looked over Sam's shoulder at the scrolling lines of code on the LCD screen. "What are you doing?"
"It would take longer to explain it than for me to just do it."
Janet sighed. "Sam--"
"Janet."
"I feel useless."
Sam exhaled through her nose, and then swiveled to face Janet. "When we finally get out of here, we'll need our gear. Lay it out. Do an ammo count. Clean the weapons. Check the zat charges." She took another breath. "What do we know about Pratg physiology that will give us a field advantage? What about their tactics? Will water melt them?"
Janet allowed herself a half-smile at Sam's final remark.
Sam reached out and covered Janet's hand. "I need you to do the things I can't do. And I need you to do them right now."
Janet's smile widened. "But no pressure, right?"
"No pressure." Sam gave her hand a squeeze, and then turned back to the monitor.
Janet went into a bedroom and began inventorying their packs. Several times she opened her mouth to call Sam's name to ask for help, but stopped herself. Janet had been trained for this. Sam had confidence in her. She could make the right decisions to save SG1.
* * *
"Now that you see what I do..." Sam sighed as she leaned against a wall in the palace. She and Janet had been following the route Sam had mapped to where she thought the men were being held.
"You think I'll be less impressed?" Janet asked.
"Everyone thinks SG1 is made up of four big damn heroes, but you see us as we truly are--being kidnapped, fucking up perfectly legitimate systems of government, struggling just to stay intact. Look at me, sneaking through hallways and hiding from the very people I'm supposed to be befriending. I'm not a noble scientist and explorer."
"Sam."
"Janet, I--" Sam rested her head against the wall and closed her eyes.
Janet leaned into Sam, putting her hands on Sam's hips. "Do you think you can take any idiot off the street in Colorado Springs and send her in to rescue the Colonel and Teal'c and Jonas? You're brave, Sam."
Janet smiled when Sam opened her eyes and looked down. "And you've got me to be smart," Janet finished.
Sam laughed. She hugged Janet, finding it easy to wrap her arms around the small woman despite their tactical gear.
As they pulled apart, the ground began to shake underneath them. Janet looked up at Sam, panicked.
"Quick!" Sam yelled over the rising roar. She pulled Janet to the nearest doorway and they knelt against the supports, clinging to each other. Dust rose around them as the rumbling increased. Several ceiling panels fell in, and the wall that Sam had been leaning against earlier cracked.
The noise dissipated, and silence punctuated by the resettling building and their coughing resumed.
"What was that?" Janet murmured against Sam's vest.
"Another bomb, probably."
"Are they after us?" Janet coughed again, sending a mouthful of grit onto the blonde.
"No..." Sam speculated. "Probably the palace." She stood, helping Janet to her feet as well.
"What does that mean?"
"That we're running out of time to save the others and get off this planet."
* * *
O'Neill lifted his head when he felt a distant rumbling. "I hope that's an earthquake."
"You think they'd just leave us if the walls collapsed?" Jonas asked.
"Probably." O'Neill muttered.
"If the building collapses and we are not injured, it will presumably give us a means of escape," Teal'c commented.
"Well." O'Neill quipped. "Let's all look forward to that."
* * *
Sam peered around a corner and spotted two guards at the beginning of a long hallway that led to a vaulted door. The quake had not affected this underground area as much as the palace corridors the two women had already traversed. "That must be it. You know what to do."
Janet took a step toward the guards and then paused. "Hey, wait. Why am I the one who always has to do this?"
"You're prettier."
"With all this dust on me?" Janet rolled her eyes. "You're taller, with those blue eyes a man could get lost in... You're the supermodel. You go."
"You have dust, I have blood. Besides, you have those voluptuous curves and crimson locks and femme fatale features."
"Crimson?" Janet looked aghast. "Besides, your legs are longer."
"Your fingers are longer," Sam countered.
"Sam!"
"Janet."
"Ladies?"
They whirled around to see a guard with a rifle looking patiently at them. "May I help you--" He started. "Hey! You're the aliens!"
Janet and Sam swung simultaneously and punched him out.
Sam dragged the guard into a side corridor. "Well, that was easy."
"Sam, do you think the guys have to go through this sort of thing?" Janet was still miffed.
"With Teal'c's body? Oh yeah. All the time."
They made their way to the cell where the men were being held and disarmed two more guards on the way. "Keypad," Janet murmured, looking at the small rectangle on the wooden door.
"Guess we shouldn't have hit them so hard," Sam sighed, toeing one of the guards.
"Well, there's always what they do in the movies."
Sam nodded. "On three. One... Two... Three!"
They both kicked at the door, and it flew open, inward. They peered inside.
"What was that movie, anyway?" Janet asked.
"Damned if I know."
Jack O'Neill was lounging against the far wall. "See?" He commented to Jonas. "Toldja."
Jonas sighed, and began digging through his pockets.
Sam tossed an odd look in the Colonel's direction.
"Little bet," he explained, catching the rumpled dollar bills Jonas threw at him. "How's the head?"
"Fine."
"Then let's go find the Stargate."
* * *
"Hey, Doc, gimmie a gun."
Janet looked warily at the Colonel. They crouched together behind a pillar, waiting for Carter and Teal'c to clear the forward route. "Where's your weapon?" She asked.
"The bad guys didn't let me keep it when they threw me in a cell," he snarled.
She sighed, moved her zat to her left hand, and unclipped her sidearm from its holster. "Here."
"Why not the zat?"
"I don't want to kill anyone, Colonel."
"Fair enough," he responded.
Jonas, behind another pillar, made a hand signal. They moved forward.
The front doors of the musem were four hundred yards away, guarded by two Pratgian soldiers. No one else was in sight. Explosions echoed behind them, and Janet figured everyone was either participating in the attempted coup, or hiding in their homes.
"You've barely said two words since the bust-out." O'Neill commented. "I didn't expect you to be this good at the subterfuge thing. Did I miss black ops in your service record?"
"Oh yeah," Janet said. "Right there between med school and my Ph.D. in microbiology."
"Aw, Doc," he pouted.
They were still walking toward the museum, one cautious step at a time.
She exhaled. "Sorry, sir. I'm used to being on the defensive."
"Because of your height?" He grinned.
She rolled her eyes. "Remember the foothold situation where I was strung up in a pod?"
He nodded.
"After that, I got some field training. Even went out to Fort Brag."
"Seems like it paid off."
"Yes, sir." She paused. "It wasn't exactly to defend myself. I wanted to protect all of you, too. After foothold, I realized I had a part in all of this."
"Huh." O'Neill grunted. "Doc, you save our butts every day. This," he waved his hand at Pratg, "Is above and beyond. Medal stuff."
"Sir--"
"I'm serious."
"Is that why you do it, sir?" She asked.
"Nah." O'Neill grinned. "Just a job."
They climbed the steps of the museum and joined the others. The guards were looking at them curiously.
"Can we go inside?" O'Neill asked politely.
The guards pushed open the doors. "Sure."
O'Neill blinked, and SG1 moved inside. Behind them, they heard the guard radioing for Ordle.
"Should we run for it?" Jonas asked.
O'Neill shook his head. "We should be all right. Besides, I'm not quite sure which direction to run."
Jonas sighed and began rummaging for a map.
Carter smirked.
"So, Carter," O'Neill asked, as they wandered down a corridor. "What's your secret? How'd you find us?"
"Computer." She answered simply.
"Just like that?"
Sam shrugged.
"She spent three hours looking at a Pratg laptop before she pinpointed the room where you were being held. Just...staring." Janet reported.
O'Neill mulled the information and leaned down to Janet. "She is the most boring person _ever_. What do you two do when you're hanging out..."
Janet's eyes widened.
"...in the lab?"
Janet looked over at Sam with a dark expression. ~Sam, if you smack my ass, I will kill you.~
Sam pouted.
Janet turned back to the Colonel. "We dissect things." She said. "Then Sam attaches electrodes to their innards and makes them dance."
O'Neill looked at Sam.
"Dance, dance, dance," Sam sang.
"Fine," the Colonel pouted. "Don't tell me."
Jonas giggled.
"And no laughing on a mission!" O'Neill was out of sorts. "We're bettering mankind."
"Well," Jonas swallowed and looked sideways at Jack. "Not really."
O'Neill glared. "We're trying."
* * *
"Look," O'Neill said politely while Jonas dialed the gate. A crowd had gathered in the museum. Apparently the coup had failed, and their depature was big news. "It's not that we don't like you. We do. You're lovely people." He paused for emphasis. "We just don't think it's a good idea to talk about weaponry right now... At least until you get this whole stable democratic government thing worked out."
"But--" Ordle protested.
"We'll be back in a couple of years," Jack cut the man off. "Sayonara."
Teal'c bowed, and the group stepped through the Stargate and emerged uneventfully from the other side into Stargate Command.
"So, who did set off the bomb?" Jonas asked as they ambled down the ramp. Hammond waved from the control room.
"Who cares?" O'Neill grunted. "Did we get _anything_ out of that mission?"
"Schematics for the solar sails," Carter reported.
Janet added, "Downloads of their food treatment system."
"Do you think when we call them in a few years they'll be more receptive?" Jonas asked.
"I think they will destroy each other trying to conquer the Stargate," Teal'c responded.
"Pessimist."
* * *
Sam and Janet were on their sides on top of Sam's sheets, facing each other. "You did good," Sam whispered, reaching up to ruffle Janet's hair.
"I don't feel like I did much of anything," Janet sighed.
"We're a team. You made the team cohesive. And you didn't drag us down or put us in danger."
"I never do," Janet conceded.
"Never." Sam murmured. "You're a good soldier. And that whole guard ass-kicking thing was awesome. You weren't a doctor there. You were just...you."
Janet smiled and covered Sam's hand with her own, drawing it down to her cheek. "I'm glad to be back," she confessed.
"I can't wait to get out there again," Sam replied, grinning.
Janet turned and kissed Sam's fingers. They moved together, joining. Post-mission sex was a ritual made sweeter by their shared experience. Sam and Janet undressed each other slowly, never breaking their kiss. The exotic excitement of being off-world mingled with the familiar touch and scent of their skin as they merged.
Sam rolled onto her back and Janet knelt between her thighs. She explored her lover's folds, running her tongue over Sam's clitoris, then lower, to slip inside...
"Kirk!" Sam screamed.
Janet's head jerked up. "Did you say something?"
"Captain Kirk!" Sam's body was rigid, her face white.
Janet quickly moved off the long body. "Sam, what is it?"
"Charlie horse," Sam gasped. "Left..."
Janet reached down to Sam's left calf and dug her fingers into the muscle. "Stretch, honey..."
Sam panted, her heel pushing down toward the bed.
"That's it," Janet soothed, massaging the tendons in Sam's leg. "You're doing great."
Sam relaxed into the pillows and stared at the ceiling. She chuckled.
Janet couldn't stop a giggle. "Why did you go with the safe word?"
Sam laughed. "I figured it would be faster than trying to explain."
"You're probably right." Janet grinned and moved up to lie next to Sam, tucking her cheek into the woman's shoulder. "Do you want to try again?"
"No. I think I'm done for the night." Sam was still chuckling. "Does this mean I'm getting old?"
"No, Sam..."
"But you're going to tease me about it, anyway, aren't you?"
"Well..." Janet grinned, drumming her fingers on Sam's belly. "Never in public."
"Dance, dance, dance."
* * *
General Hammond and Doctor Fraiser stood together in the command room, watching SG1 step through the Stargate and vanish.
"After your big mission, do you wish you were with them?" Hammond asked, thoughtfully.
Janet answered without hesitation. "No, sir."
Hammond smiled.
THE END