Chapter Seven: Negotiations

About three weeks into their mission on Gaia, Janet Fraiser was escorted to the council chamber by a very anxious looking Aria. It had been a quiet day. She had spent it with studying a couple of old medicinal scrolls and she was rather pleased with her progress. Initially she had had some problems with the ancient Greek in which they were written. And for the first time in her life she was thankful to her grandfather insisting on giving her a classical education. She had felt a certain amount of anxiety coming through her link with Samantha only a few minutes ago but it had quickly subsided; so she felt rather relaxed and didn't except any surprises.

Only the day before Gabrielle had told her that she soon would be allowed to witness a council session. The strange mixture of hierarchy and democracy the Amazons' government was based on intrigued her to no end; and she really was looking forward to personally see how it worked. The nervous energy the usually calm and easygoing younger woman put out nonetheless quickly had her worried. On their short way a number of reasons for this atypical behaviour popped up in her mind but outwardly she kept her calm.

To say that the atmosphere in the council chamber was tense would have been an understatement of vast proportions. The small doctor was surprised to see Samantha and even more intrigued when the taller woman immediately came over from her conversation with Xena and the Queen. She visibly was worried, and before she could reach her Janet asked. "It's Cassy, isn't it? She's been hurt? What…"

The blonde's arms closed around her. She felt soft lips on her head and heard the whispered words. "Everything will be all right, my love."

Before she had a chance to further question Samantha, they both were called to the throne. Though there were tables and chairs neatly arranged in the room they remained standing in front of the dais where Gabrielle's simple throne was standing. Xena was in her habitual spot slightly behind the Queen, one hand calmly resting on the smaller woman's shoulders. Janet had gotten to know Gabrielle well enough over the last few weeks to see that there definitively was something wrong, that she also was worried, really worried.

"Attention ladies! I'll make this as short as possible. About a candlemark after midday we received word from our outpost at the moon that a cloaked telt'ac has landed on Earth. We informed Stargate Command and sent a couple of scouts to observe them. They had orders to report back every other candlemark. They missed the last two calls. We only can presume that they are dead or were taken as prisoners."

To Janet's trained ears, the small Queen had to make a real effort to keep her voice calm and steady.

"Ten candledrops ago, General Hammond informed us that Cassandra was missing." Janet couldn't help but gasp at her words. Samantha's arms around her waist kept her reasonably calm. "She was on a hike with a small group of other children and one of the caretakers, a hike they all had done before and wanted to do again on their last day. The group apparently came under some kind of attack that left them all unconscious. When they came to, there was no sign of their aggressors, but there also was no sign of Cassandra. The telt'ac was marked with the sign of Nirrti."

Janet only needed to hear the name of this specific Gao'uld to have all her worst nightmares come alive. Gabrielle's determined voice called her back to reality.

"We all know that Nirrti was responsible for the genocide on Hanka, Cassandra's home world, and also for making the girl into a living and breathing bomb. We also know from the Tok'ra that Nirrti performed genetic tests on the population of Hanka."

This particular information caused Janet and Samantha to questioningly look at each other.

"It was a long time experiment by which she wanted to create the perfect host, a Hok'tar, someone stronger, smarter, faster, and with an almost perfect immune system.

"The Tok'ra also let us know that the System Lords didn't support her efforts. One Gao'uld would potentially become too dangerous to the others should they really succeed in creating the perfect host.

"But Nirrti never was one for playing by the rules. When she killed the inhabitants of Hanka it not only was to try and take us out; she also wanted to protect herself from the retaliation of the System Lords concerning her illegal experiments by burning the bridges, so to speak.

"Baring any hard proof, we are convinced that Nirrti is responsible for Cassandra's abduction. We will meet with SG-1 and SG-3 to get her back unharmed. All they are waiting for is us. Let's go!"

Janet found herself slightly surprised but also very relieved to learn that no one would object to her participation in this rescue mission, though she also was sure that she would have a hard time convincing General Hammond.


~*~


Only a quarter candlemark later, the group from Gaia stepped through the Gate and into the Embarkation room. The group consisted of Samantha and Janet, Xena and Gabrielle, Niva and six of her best warriors. They also had a lot of equipment with them.

For once, Colonel O'Neill showed some sensitivity by by-passing the others and immediately taking Janet in a big hug. "We'll get her back, Janet, that's a promise."

"Cassandra is one of us, Janet Fraiser, and we never leave our own behind." Teal'c confirmed Jack's words in his usual confident and straight-to-the-core-of-things manner.

"General Hammond, gentlemen, I think we have work to do."

"Yes, Consort Xena, we do. The helicopter is ready and waiting. The EM-impulse generator you requested already has been loaded. We're ready to go." The bald man answered. Like all the others he was dressed in a camouflage uniform, complete with weapons and radio. If nothing else this unusual behaviour would have told Samantha more than enough about the seriousness of the situation.

They immediately were ushered to the elevators and boarded a helicopter, completely equipped with a small medical facility and an impressive range of firepower. On their half-hour flight, they were informed that SG-7, sent as reinforcement earlier this day, had just reported back. They had found the body of one of the scouts, as well as clear evidence of a fight. The telt'ac was under observation from afar. Unfortunately, they had not been able to have a closer look at the ship or its crew due to some kind of force field they hadn't been able to penetrate.

While still in the air, Niva distributed small devices looking like very small PDAs to every member of the task force. The weapons' master explained. "We call them FFPs, force field penetrators. Emitting randomly changing EM-impulses they are able to let us pass through every Gao'uld created force field - and before you ask, Sam, no, they can't be used or modified to break the shields of a hatac or even a death glider. They're based on different technical principles. As long as the spaceships are on the ground they are vulnerable; and with the FFPs we'll use it to our advantage."

"As soon as we land, Sam and I will take point, followed closely by Colonel O'Neill, Master Teal'c, Daniel Jackson, and four of our warriors. Niva and the other fighters will take charge of the EM-generator. SG-7 and SG-3 will be our backup, together with Queen Gabrielle, Janet Fraiser, Daniel Jackson, and General Hammond. - I know that's not the way you're used to do things. I know you're used to be in charge, Colonel…"

"Stop it, Consort Xena, I understand. This is the perfect opportunity to prove to our government what the Amazons are capable of doing for us. We are just along for the ride - and for the first time I feel all right with doing so. I'm looking forward to see you kicking butt." Jack answered with a crooked smile.

"You probably will have to do more than just looking, Colonel," Xena said with a smile of her own. "Nirrti may be a typical Gao'uld, arrogant, overbearing, a pain in the butt, but she's not stupid. She knows that the force field will keep the Tau'ri out - at least for a while. But there still are at least three Jaffa patrols circling the ground. She also will have taken some precautions to take off as soon as she has what she came to get. That's what the EM-generator is for. It will not disable her engines but will make it impossible for them to take off. When we pass through the force field, their sensors will read it as an energy fluctuation. We have to be prepared for an attack."


~*~


Everything worked as planned: They all stepped through the force field and took out the patrol sent to investigate the power fluctuations. Niva and two other warriors set up the Em-generator while the others were getting ready to enter the telt'ac. Immediately after crossing the threshold two Jaffa patrols attacked and were effectively taken down. When they rounded the next corner, however, they suddenly faced two of Anubis' super soldiers. Xena and Samantha emptied the magazines of their Carter specials. O'Neill and Teal'c quickly took over but the warriors still seemed unharmed and unimpressed.

While the men were continuing their ineffective assault, the two women simultaneously reached into a pouch at their belts and dug out a Gao'uld ribbon device. Samantha aimed for the left, Xena for the right one of Anubis' soldiers; they flew through the air, propelled backwards by the bright light coming from the women's hands. They impacted the wall and stayed there, unmoving. Two of the Amazons stayed behind to guard the super soldiers, modified zats at the ready. The others continued on, towards the operations deck and the cargo bay.

The bridge was guarded by another two of Anubis' Super Soldiers but they quickly succumbed to the same fate as their friends. The last two of the Amazon warriors were left behind to guard them while the rest of the team entered the hangar bay. From the preliminary scans the moon station made they already knew that the ring device usually located there had been deactivated. The large room obviously was needed for something else.

Janet didn't dare to think what this could be and she desperately tried to keep her emotions in check; but just before Xena pushed the buttons to open the door she felt a wave of encouragement washing over her, coming directly from her link with the blonde Major. At the time she didn't know if it had been deliberate or not but nonetheless she relished the feeling. She closed her eyes to firmly store it in her memories -- but suddenly was yanked out of it by the distinctive sound of energy weapons bursting all around her.

Without giving it any conscious thought she took a defensive stance; getting up the staff she initially had found superfluous, and thus warding off a lethal hit coming from the right, aiming for her throat. Yes, she blocked them but Gabrielle knocked the two Jaffa warriors out with a few well-placed hits and sweeps.

Janet had been so intent on the things happening around her that she missed the few heartbeats it took Xena and the others to enter the next room. When she once again focused her attention forwards it took all her willpower not to freeze on the spot. -- She saw a couple of Jaffa lying on the ground, unconscious or dead. The remains of what only could have been another one of Anubis' super soldiers were lying in a far corner, torn to shreds by more than just a single blast of the ribbon device.

There was a medical examination table in the middle of the room and a whole load of other equipment similar to the things they had found on Hanka, all those seasons ago. At the time they hadn't been able to make heads or tails of it. Now Janet at least had an idea what they were designed to do and how to use most of them. The weapons of her companions were trained at a strange woman stretching a hand device in front of her as if for protection and pressing a knife to Cassandra's throat with the other hand.

"Let the girl go, Nirrti, and you have my word that we'll let you survive." Xena said calmly.

The Gao'uld answered with a sneer, the knife breaking the girl's skin slightly. A single drop of blood was slowly rolling down her pale skin. "Shut up, shol'va ka'taka. I will make no deal with the likes of you."

"Let my daughter go!" Samantha growled, the centre stone of her hand device already glowing.

"One day you will make a good host, Ta..." Teal'c who had used the distraction created by Xena and Samantha to sneak up behind her suddenly jerked the hand holding the knife away from Cassandra. The teen instinctively dropped to the floor and began to crawl towards the others.

Janet's sigh of relief was cut short by Nirrti next movement. She dropped the knife, turned her arm in Teal'c's grasp, and threw him over her shoulder as if the six foot five giant was nothing more than a rag doll. She trained the hand device on the escaping girl but before it could hit her in the back, the Gao'uld was bowled over by a certain blonde Air Force major. For a few seconds they rolled on the ground and then suddenly disappeared.

"Niva, SG-teams, battle stations! Nirrti and Major Carter are somewhere out there. If you see them, let us know but don't interfere. Neither Carter nor the host are to be harmed. Don't interfere." Xena's voice rang through the communication units with a certain sense of urgency. She then searched Gabrielle's eyes, the Queen answered with a nod, and the tall raven haired warrior left the room at a run, Teal'c and O'Neill hard on her heels.

The small doctor was kneeling next to Cassandra on the ground, holding her tight, and murmuring gentle, reassuring words to the frightened teen. The others left the laboratory and returned to the bridge where the two Amazon guards left behind were still training their weapons on the dead super soldiers. It was only then that Gabrielle began taking charge.

"Mari, help Doctor Fraiser with Cassandra. Torana, check the computer to find our missing scouts. Jora, come in, status report!"

"Yes, your majesty!" came over the small communicator the blonde was wearing at her left shoulder. "Nirrti's Jaffa resisted our attempts to restrain them and had to be killed. From the men in the hallway four are dead, three more are bound and sedated."

"Got them!" the woman called Torana muttered.

"Stand by, Jora. -- Where?"

"Cargo bay. It has been converted into a holding cell. You'll have to open the door by force - and better hurry, their life signs are anything but stable. They need medical attention."

"We're on our way. Permission to beam up, your majesty?"

There was the shadow of a smile crossing Gabrielle's face when she answered. "You spend entirely too much time watching science fiction shows, Jora. The force field around the tel'tac has been enforced by the EM-generator. We have to wait 'til Xena has taken care of the Gao'uld before we can use the transporter. We can't risk her getting away. I'll send Mari over."

"Is there anything I can do, Gabrielle?" Janet asked, her voice, despite all of her efforts, clearly betraying her anxiety about the sudden disappearance of her lover and instinctively knowing that there was nothing she could be doing.

However, military training had left its mark on her. She simply couldn't let anyone know how much she cared, so she tried to concentrate on the one person she was allowed to show emotions about, her adoptive daughter. Knowing this was one thing, to keep from acting on it quite another.

"Janet how is your daughter?" General Hammond asked, thus cutting short her slightly romantic notion of going in the field and keep her lover out of trouble.

Janet brought herself back under control with an effort. "It seems as if Nirrti only took a few blood samples and had her do some IQ and physical tests."

Seeing how comfortable her mother was with the blonde stranger and further calmed by General Hammond's silent presence, Cassandra answered. "You guys sure came at the right time. When we heard you they were just prepping for some sort of surgery or something. Where's Sam?"

"What do you think, Cassandra?" Hammond answered in an attempt to diffuse the tension. "Dealing with the bad boy, sorry, girl. She will be all right. - I'll stay with your daughter Doctor, you go and help the prisoners."

Janet hugged the teenager and jogged after the Queen towards the cargo bay where they quickly stabilised the wounded scouts. Shortly after a message came through the radio. "Your majesty, please come in."

"Yes, weapons' master?"

"The Consort has the Gao'uld restrained but Major Carter needs medical attention, ASAP." This was all they needed to hear to get them running once again. "EM-generator deactivated. You're clear to get the others back, Jora."


~*~


Samantha Carter slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times to better adapt to the bright light. She found herself in a very familiar environment: the infirmary at the SGC. She had been confined there so often that she could make a copy of every crook and cranny in the ceiling above her from memory alone. She could feel that she was not alone, and she also was sure whom she would find when she turned her head. Janet always was there when a member of SG-1 was hurt, even if it was the Colonel; and even if this hadn't been the case, she still would know who was waiting for her without the shadow of a doubt.

"Hey, sleepy-head. How'd you feel?"

"What happened?" Samantha asked with a hoarse voice.

"Here, take a few chips of ice."

The blonde let the ice melt in her mouth but when she tried to swallow it felt like liquid fire, not cool water. "Hurts."

"I know, baby. You took quite a beating before Xena took over. Just don't try to move, and everything will be all right in a couple of days. I'll give you something to relax your muscles. It will ease the pain. -- No, don't protest. I promise: it won't disorient you."

Samantha closed her eyes in acceptance; something cold touched her throat. There was a faint sound reminding her of an airlock closing, and only a few moments later, her muscles relaxed and she felt much lighter.

"I want to make sure that there are no nasty side effects from the beating. Just tell me what you remember; start with when you attacked Nirrti, okay?"

The small doctor already had a pretty good idea of what had happened. Sam's injuries had told her enough, more than she wanted to know but she also knew that her proud lover had to talk about it in order to forgive herself what in her eyes must have been a shaming defeat.

"It happened so fast; I attacked her and less than a heartbeat later we were outside bouncing off the force field as if it were some kind of rubber. She attacked me with the ribbon device before I could get back to my feet but I somehow was able to ward her off with my own. I saw the back entrance of the tel'tac and realised that we must be at the opposite side of the EM-generator. Somehow I got back on my feet prepared to keep her concentrated on my ribbon device as long as possible - but she changed tactics. She deactivated it, rolled out of the way of my beam; and suddenly she was right on top of me."

Samantha closed her eyes in remembrance. "The mesh of her ribbon device impacted with my stomach, time and again; her other hand closed around my throat. Both of my arms were trapped under my own body; I couldn't move. I tried to get her off of me, I bucked and wriggled but nothing worked. She kept on beating on my stomach and chest.

"My supply of air was getting short. It felt as if there was no air left in my lungs. Somehow, I finally managed to get my feet up and thus lift my upper body up, at least enough to get an arm free. I concentrated the rest of my energy on the ribbon device and she lost her hold on me.

"I'm not really sure what happened then. I know I somehow got back on my feet. She was about three meters away, and I knew that the sensible thing would be to use the ribbon device. But somehow it didn't feel right.

"Nirrti attacked and suddenly it felt as if I were trying to fend off Master Niva. She had a counter move to every counter move I came up with. I don't know how long it took. Out of nowhere a roundhouse kick caught me on the chest, and I was thrown backwards several feet. I tried to crab crawl away; of course I wasn't near fast enough. She jumped on top of me; the hand with the ribbon device held high, ready to strike. I don't know why she didn't use the damn thing. Instead she thrust two of her fingers on either side of my neck and I no longer was able to move my arms. I was helpless."

She felt her right hand cradled between Janet's smaller ones and reopened her eyes.

"She once again began to use me as a punching bag, all the while screaming at me. I couldn't make out most of it. It had something to do with having been betrayed, and that she had the right to avenge the wrongs she suffered because of us. She also said that I should feel the pain she felt while being tortured by Cronos, and that it was my fault.

"Then I heard Xena's voice. She said: 'You deserve all the suffering and more, you stupid snakehead. Come on, let's play, like true warriors. Or don't you have the spine to face me? Oh, I forgot, you simplistic snakeheads don't have a spine. That's what you need a host for. Don't you? Spineless bastard!' Her words did the trick. Nirrti let go of me. I expected to hear the crackling of the ribbon devices but nothing happened.

"Teal'c helped me to sit up and I saw Xena and Nirrti standing about a body length away from each other. Xena smiled but it was a cold smile, almost feral, her eyes were cold too and locked on Nirrti while she slowly stripped off the hand device, quickly followed by her combat jacket. Nirrti attacked as soon as the jacket hit the ground. She threw a series of kicks and punches. None of them hit their intended target. I never would have thought Nirrti capable of such moves. It was like a dance, a lethal dance. She was really, really good but not good enough.

"Xena hit her only twice and each time it took her breath away but she didn't press her advantage and she used only half of the openings the enraged Gao'uld was leaving. It was as if….

"Yes," Samantha spoke almost to herself, "Xena wanted to spare the host as much as possible. I understand: Nirrti's new host, she's an Amazon, an Amazon warrior. That's why none of them interfered. That's why I got my ass kicked. I guess I still have a lot to learn."

The blonde was somehow reluctant to dwell on her undeniable defeat any longer. Recounting the Gao'uld's defeat was much more fun.

"Nirrti didn't stand a chance against Xena, and when this finally sank in she once again resorted to the ribbon device. She missed, not only once or twice but six times. By then Xena was close enough to grip her hand. She jabbed two of her fingers in the side of her neck and her body crumpled to the ground like a scarecrow without its stick. That's when I lost consciousness. Do you think they can save the host?"

"Depends on how the negotiations go, Sammy. The Amazons want the host back at all costs, a few branches of special forces, NID, and a couple of the joint chiefs want to keep her blended to gain information from the symbiote. At the moment, Queen Gabrielle and Consort Xena are in a conference with the President, General Hammond, Senator Kinsey, Colonel O'Neill and a few others to discuss the situation."

"The Colonel and Kinsey? Together? In one room? That doesn't bode well." The blonde answered.

"When the NID insisted on Kinsey taking part, the Consort roped Colonel O'Neill in attending too. If you think about it," Janet continued, "it's diabolically sneaky. To the Senator the leader of SG-1 is more dangerous than devil himself. His presence alone will keep Kinsey unbalanced, off-key."

"So, in the end, he will approve of everything and even think that he gained a lot for his cause, but end up doing what the Queen wanted them to do right from the beginning."

"You saw the Queen interact with her people, Sam." The small doctor answered. "Do you really think any one of them stands a chance? I don't. However, I think there may have been another motivation behind the Consort's request."

"So she wouldn't have to suffer alone through a diplomatic function?" Samantha ventured with a smile, remembering the suffering sigh the Consort didn't bother to suppress whenever she was forced to attend a council session. "Is Cassy all right? What time is it? What happened when I lost consciousness?"

"You were asleep for almost 10 hours. Don't ask me how it works but they transported us back to the base in the blink of an eye. - Cassandra is fine. I ran a thorough check-up. It's just as you thought, Nirrti tested her mental and physical abilities but luckily she didn't have enough time to do her any real harm.

"Xena told her about the tree walking; and she can't wait for you to show her how to do it. She insisted on staying at the base until you're discharged. She will spend the remainder of her holidays with us at Gaia. I already have the General's permission; then you can teach her."

"Sorry to disappoint her. The way I feel it will be at least a week before I'm back on my feet again. Everything hurts. I don't want to whine, but I never thought a few bruises could hurt this much."

"It was more than just a few bruises, Sam. She broke five of your ribs; your kidneys were slightly damaged. You had a broken ankle and more bruises than I could count. Usually you would have been out for at least three weeks and on light duty for at least another three. Xena healed the worst of your injuries with a healing device. You'll be back to par by tomorrow morning."

Initially, Janet had been frantic when she learned the extent of her beloved's injuries. If not for Xena she could have died out there. She had been so angry at her lover for once again rushing headlong into danger, it had taken her almost the whole ten hours the blonde had been asleep to calm down and accept that Samantha had only acted in character and out of concern for Cassandra.

"I know you hurt, baby, but there's nothing I can do. The shot I gave you is a muscle relaxant; I can't give you anything else. Using the ribbon device has considerably elevated the concentration of naqada in your blood. It neutralises classical painkillers. No, don't look so worried. It's only temporary. The naqada level will go back to usual in a few days time. Xena assures me that it's perfectly normal. Now, try to rest and get some sleep."

"Janet, the host, who is she?" Samantha asked while stifling a yawn.

The brunette doctor smiled, and knowing that her lover wouldn't be satisfied with less than the whole truth, regardless of how tired she was, she answered. "Her name is Larina. She's the Captain of the Royal Guard - and the bondmate of the weapons' master."

"They're married?"

"They're joined; it's the Amazons' equivalent. Larina is the captain of the Royal Guard; that's why you didn't stand a chance against her."

"What happened? How did Nirrti take her?" Samantha wanted to know.

"About five moons ago, she accompanied the Queen and the Consort on their annual tour of the other Amazon planets. They were out hunting when she got separated from the others. She found Nirrti's body; there was so much blood, she was sure the Gao'uld was dead. She was wrong and she is still paying the price for her mistake. Nirrti and Larina are locked up in one of the holding cells -- under sedation. Queen Gabrielle told me that they have a method of separating the host and the symbiote, even against the symbiote's will, just like the Tok'ra did with Clorel and Skaara."

"Then I don't understand what there should be to talk about in the first place. Larina has to be freed from Nirrti."

"I have no doubt that she will be. Now close your eyes. Your body will heal faster when you sleep. I'll help you. Listen to my voice…" The small doctor closed her own eyes and concentrated on the light in her mind's eye that was Samantha's soul, making her feel safe and cherished above everyone else. She even managed to take away some of her lover's pain.


~*~


When Samantha woke up, she felt worlds better and she was alone - though she was rather surprised not to find her lover next to her. Janet always had been there for her. She slowly sat up and took a deep breath; she let her legs dangle down the side.

The pain that had held her captive only a few hours ago was almost gone. She tested her ability to stand and took a couple of experimental steps. Pleased with her progress she made it to the door and opened it to the familiar confines of SGC corridors where she found herself face to face with a very serious looking, older Amazon warrior, she vaguely remembered from the day prior, wearing the colours of the Royal Guard instead of the usual SF.

"Please go back to bed, Major Carter. You need to rest."

"Where's Doctor Fraiser? She never leaves me alone in the infirmary."

"Queen Gabrielle asked her to accompany her to Washington together with your President. Please go back to bed. I have strict orders to insure that you get lots of rest."

"Your orders mean nothing to me; you're in my world and you're outside of my chain of command." Samantha answered with irritation evident in her voice.

"My orders come directly from the Consort and Major Janet Fraiser, your chief medical officer. I'm honour bound to obey my commanding officer."

After a moment's deliberation the Major nodded and closed her eyes for the fraction of a heartbeat. "What's your name?"

"Ilianna, second in command of the Royal Guard."

"I apologise Ilianna. It wasn't my intention to insult you. I shouldn't have questioned your orders. You're right; Doctor Fraiser is my superior in all things medical. I'll go back to bed, but I'm not tired anymore. -- Could we just talk for a while?"

"It would be my pleasure, Major Carter."

"Please call me Sam."

"Sam, it is. -- The Consort was full of pride when telling us how you stood up to the Captain, to Nirrti."

"Stood up? I took the most thorough beating of my life. Are you kidding?"

"The Gene… ," the warrior answered while Samantha got back into bed. "The Consort said that it took her almost a quarter of a candlemark to get to you. She also said your training is far from being finished. The host Nirrti has taken is one of the best fighters the Consort ever has trained. It's an honour to serve under her command. I'm looking forward to her being reinstated. Ever since she was a junior, I didn't last longer than five candledrops when we were sparring. And I doubt anyone on this planet could beat her. On Gaia I only know of three fighters that can. Believe me, it's a major accomplishment to hold her off for as long as you did, Sam."

"I was just lucky, Ilianna."

"The Consort said you'd say something like that. - Is it really true that she evaded six shots with the ribbon device before taking Nirrti down? I was inside of the ship. I really would have loved to have seen that."

Samantha offered her a small smile. "Yes, it's true. Xe… the Consort was amazing. Her movements… she was so fast; I've never seen someone fight like that. It was deadly but also so beautiful. It was poetry in motion; I've never seen something like this. I know she had a lot of time to perfect her fighting skills but still … It was astonishing; no, astonishing is too weak a word to describe it. I doubt there are words adequate to make it real."

"Did you ever see her exercise or fight with a sword?" Samantha shock her head in the negative. "Now, that's a sight to behold. Perhaps you'll get a chance to see her spar with Larina soon."

"Larina, yes. How did the negotiations go?"

"The negotiations? Oh, yes, the talks with your leader and a few other males. I was one of the guards in the room. It's always a pleasure to observe our Queen at work. She even charmed this cold-eyed grey-head into submission."

"Kinsey?"

"Yes, that's how he introduced himself. He's such a… I don't mean any disrespect but he's an asshole."

"To put it mildly. First, he made it his life's mission to destroy the Stargate program, to shut it down. Now, he aims to control it, to use it; not to defend Earth against the Gao'uld but to control Earth, to control American politics. Most of the time he's just a nuisance but sometimes he can get outright dangerous.

"How did it go? What did they agree upon?"

"I don't know for sure, Sam, not the overall plan. As I said, I was one of the guards during the initial talks. After the break I was reassigned to guard your rest. Queen Gabrielle and her Consort are on their way to your capital, together with your lea…, your president. They will have to talk about a lot of things; I presume. On the other hand, your president agreed that we'd be the ones responsible for the Gao'uld and the host." The Amazon answered.

"This couldn't have gone down well with the NID and Kinsey. They'd do everything to get their hands on one of those snakeheads, believing they somehow could control it." Samantha said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Well, they were arguing a lot - though arguing isn't the term appropriate: This Kinsey guy was spouting insults, and only the Queen's hand on her shoulder kept the Consort from losing her patience, but you could easily see that it was by a hair's breadth. This man is so utterly self-centred; I never saw someone like him. Even the Queen began to get impatient, but then your president simply overruled him. He was blustering and then gaping open-mouthed like a fish on dry land; especially when the president told him that there were quite a few other suitable candidates for his position. He didn't say word one after that, and so they quickly decided that it would be up to us to deal with the Gao'uld and the host."

"Where are they now? What will happen to Larina?" Samantha wanted to know. "What will become of Nirrti?"

"She's still in your holding cell, sedated. As soon as we return home, she will be dealt with."

"Dealt with?" The blonde woman obviously didn't like the choice of words. "What do you intend to do with her?"

"The host will be restored and the Goa'uld will never again harm anyone. It never was done in my lifetime, but I heard that there are ways to neutralise a Gao'uld."

"I understand." Silence descended in the room. "I know it sounds childish but would you please tell me a story, about Queen Gabrielle and Consort Xena?"

"It isn't childish, Sam. I'm not very good at story telling, not gifted like our Queen and a few others but stories are an important part of our history and identity. Let me think about it for a moment.

"About every other moon Queen Gabrielle and Consort Xena leave Gaia to explore one of the worlds our deep space telemetry has come up with. Most of the time they can rely on the Ring system. One and a half year ago we got intel about an inhabited planet in the next solar system that had been hidden from our monitoring systems until then due to some sort of nebula.

"It's very small with only a few thousand inhabitants, no energy readings to speak of, but with what looked like very interesting geo-thermic readings. There were no permanent settlings, just nomadic tribes, nothing special. The Queen wanted to have a closer look and we took a ship to explore. It was a purely scientific endeavour.

"The monitoring didn't prove challenging enough for the Consort, and I believe, even the Queen was beginning to get bored because the irregularities the long range sensors had shown proved not to be irregular at all. The planet had a lot of big thick forests with lots of deer and other wild animals in it. So, it was decided to end this trip with a hunting expedition.

"The Queen doesn't particularly like hunting, though she knows how. She opted to stay at a small creek with a couple of guards. I think she wanted to work on her scrolls. The rest of us split in two groups. One group followed deer tracks; the second group went after the tracks of what resembled a very large boar. We were gaining considerably on the animal when the Consort suddenly signalled us to stop. She cocked her head as if listening to something, jumped to the treetops, and took off. We followed suit and soon also heard what had made her react this way: the voices of men, shouting and leering, the sound of whips hitting flesh, and the crying and begging of a woman as a faint echo in between.

"The Consort's lead was growing with every step and even before we finally arrived at the edge of the forest it was eerily silent, even the crying had subsided. We saw ten men lying unconscious on the ground, sticks and whips hazardously strewn around them. In the middle were two women. One of them, the older one, was prone on the ground, the younger woman was on her knees to her right, shielding the elder with her body as best as she could. Without being told to we bound the men and set a perimeter watch.

"The Consort was on her knees next to the women and checked on the older one first. I'm not a medic but even I could see that her left arm was broken and that she was in an overall bad physical shape. She was rail thin, as if she hadn't properly eaten in moons, her ribs were prominent under the threadbare dress. The Consort was carefully checking her neck while the younger woman simply looked on, wide-eyed and very obviously frightened.

"The Consort took her medical kit out of her backpack and gave her something to ease the pain. She then radioed the Queen and ordered a bunch of medical supplies sent down from the ship. She immobilised the older woman's neck with a brace and quickly set her arm; luckily there was no internal bleeding. Only then she turned her attention to the young woman."


~~~~~


Xena asked her if she were all right but didn't get an answer. Instead she said. "You came out of the forest like a demon and yet you cared for my grandmother like an angel. What are you?"

"I'm a woman; I come from very far away," the Consort answered. "Let me have a look at your back. You took quiet a beating protecting your grandmother."

The young woman whispered. "I've had worse." And she obviously had. Her whole back was covered with scars and they also didn't stop at the back.

The Consort began to gently clean the most recent wounds and to regenerate the skin while asking. "Can you tell me what happened? Why did these men want to kill you? No crime in the world warrants such ill-treatment."

The young woman slightly turned around to look at the Consort. "You really must come from very far away. My grandmother has reached 'the age', but I didn't want her to die. I gave her what I could of my food but my mother found out about it and told the men. They wanted to stone her. My sister warned me in time and we ran away. They quickly caught up with us and then you were there."

One of the guards then asked. "She doesn't look older than 60 summers, that's not that old."

The older woman opened her eyes. "51 season cycles I've seen. Are you a dream, raven head, or one of the guardians of the afterworld?" She asked the Consort.

"No, venerable elder, I'm not a dream, and you are well and truly alive, as is your granddaughter. You both are safe with us. My name is Xena."

"I see the wisdom of age in your eyes and yet your body still can give birth to strong sons."

"Strong daughters, venerable elder. Where we come from, there are no men." Xena answered softly.

"So, the stories we no longer are allowed to tell are the truth. You live without men and share your beds with women. You are free to do whatever you want without fear of punishment?"

"Not entirely; we have laws we have to obey. Every society needs laws and customs to stay stable, but every one of us has the freedom to choose. If one wants to one can leave," the Consort answered.

The younger woman gasped. "You're the oiorpata. You exist, the men slayers."

"Some men called us thus, but we only kill when given no other choice." Gabrielle said while leaving the cover of the forest.

Xena turned around, shifted on her knees, and bent her head. "My Queen!"

"I thought we agreed that we wouldn't interfere in the internal affairs of this planet, Xena!"

"I'm well aware of my transgression, my Queen, and I take full responsibility. I couldn't let them be killed by the misogynistic bastards," she answered, turning her head towards the still unconscious men.

"So, you acted within your right, my Consort. Saving the lives of the oppressed is our prime directive. Can they be transported?"

"I don't see any problems with… I'm sorry … I didn't even ask your name?"

"Aria, and this is Ariana. Are you really a Queen? The leader of your people? You're so young - and you're a woman. Women are not capable of ruling."

"That's what we were taught, my child," Ariana said, "but I'm beginning to doubt the truth of the teachings. We also were taught that no single woman would stand a chance against even the weakest of men in a fight, and yet I saw one woman taking out ten of our fighters in less time than it takes to take a deep breath."

She paused and asked. "Am I right that there's something wrong with my back?"

"Yes, Ariana. The bones in your neck are broken, that's why it would be very dangerous to move you now. But you don't have to worry, there's a way to repair the damage. Your other injuries will take longer to heal because you're extremely under-nourished. The only question you both will now have to answer is what you intend to do. You can come with us to our home planet or you can take your chances and stay here."

"It won't be worth your effort to heal me if we stay, if I decide to stay here. That's what you wanted to say, isn't it?"

"No, there's no condition on my help, on our help. It's totally up to you. However, we learned from past experiences that men as afraid of women as your men are tend to strike back as soon as we turn our back on their society."

"Men never are afraid!" Aria chimed in.

Xena was about to answer when the Queen interfered. "I know it's a lot to take in right now, Aria. It can't be explained in a few candlemarks' time. For the time being you'll just have to trust us.

"We intend to change the way women on this planet are treated but that's a long and arduous process. We learned that it's impossible to change any given society in one shot and from the outside. We can offer a choice to the people in your tribe and the whole planet. It will take time and especially in the beginning there always is a lot of resistance.

"Male dominated tribal societies like yours tend to take their anger and frustration out on whoever first made contact with us. So, it would be better for you if you didn't have any contact with your people, at least for the immediate future."

"I'm not sure, I understand half of what you just said, your majesty," Ariana answered. "It's not important what happens to me but I want my granddaughter to have a chance at a different life."

"Is this what you also want, Aria?" The Queen asked.

"Yes, it is. I never felt like I belonged but I have to return at least once. I have to offer the same chance to my sister. She risked a lot by warning me."

"I understand, Aria, and we will find a way. Ilianna, concentrate the perimeter watch towards the plain. I want everyone armed with stun weapons, just in case. Erect a force field around our prisoners; I don't want to be bothered by them tonight. Xena, I presume you'll use the HD to take care of Ariana's neck?" Gabrielle asked.

"Yes, my Queen. With your permission, I'd like to go back to the ship to prepare." As an answer the small blonde kissed Xena on the forehead.


~~~~~


The Amazon guard fell silent, convinced that her public had fallen asleep. "I'm glad, you guys saved Aria." Samantha suddenly said. "What happened to her sister, her grandmother, the other women of her tribe?"

"You're awake?"

"Yeah, just rested my eyes. So?"

"Ariana is living on Gaia, she works at daycare. Only two moons ago she joined with one of our head cooks. Aria's sister refused the offer to leave her world. She's married to the young Chieftain of another tribe, a tribe that is less misogynistic than her own. We also sent mediators from one of our other plan…"

This time Samantha really had fallen asleep. The Amazon tucked a light blanket around her and whispered. "Pleasant dreams, Princess."




Chapter Eight: Show and Tell

The next morning, Cassandra entered her room just a couple of minutes after she came to her senses. Samantha couldn't help but admit that she really missed Janet's comforting presence right next to her and decided that sleeping without her really sucked. Having Cassy here was at least something, in her book. However, it wasn't enough.

"Hey Sam, you all right? Mom told me you got hurt fighting Nirrti."

"I'm all right, little one. Got kicked around a little, but Consort Xena was there in time to stop her. Did she hurt you, Cassy?"

The teenager smiled reassuringly. "No, Sam, she didn't. At least I don't think so. She ran a lot of tests. Mom also put me through all kind of tests; she didn't find anything. However, she wants to do a few more when we arrive on Gaia."

"How do you feel about spending the rest of your holidays away from Earth, Cassy? You don't have to; you know. It's entirely up to you. Colonel O'Neill's offer to take you fishing still stands."

"Fishing? I don't think so. Uncle Jack is fun but fishing - it really sucks." Samantha raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, Sam, but it's boring. He never catches anything; I even doubt that there are any fish in this pond of his. I'd rather have you teaching me how to tree walk. Now, that sounds like fun. I'm really looking forward to this. Mom called. I'm to tell you that Queen Gabrielle and the President agreed on an alliance. Daniel and you are expected to join her, Uncle Jack, and the others in Washington; meanwhile Teal'c will help me pack. Mom put some clothes on the bed in your quarters. Do you need help?"

"No, I can manage but you still could join me and fill me in on what happened while I was confined to the infirmary."


~*~


Samantha and Daniel met the Amazons in the gate room. Soon after, a white light was enveloping all of them and a few heartbeats later they found themselves in what Samantha presumed to be the Amazon's base on the moon. Ilianna exchanged a few words with the woman apparently in charge and took a long, round packet from her. Once again they were enveloped in a white light and found themselves in some sort of hotel room.

The blonde major barely acknowledged the presence of her superior officer by nodding in his direction; her attention solely focused on Janet. Three steps forward and her arms closed firmly around the smaller body. "I missed you, Jan."

"Missed you too, Sammy-baby," the doctor whispered back while trying to give the impression of checking her patient. "We're making a show out of ourselves, my love."

"I don't care, love you."

Before Janet could answer, Colonel O'Neill chimed in. "So, now that Carter finally has ended her beauty sleep, can we get on with the program, your majesty?"

Janet used the distraction to place a quick kiss on her taller lover's mouth, very aware of the danger it put them in but also of how much Samantha right now needed the reassurance.

"You have a point, Colonel," the Queen answered. "Ilianna and two of the guards will accompany you to the Air Force Academy. We decided to start our co-operation with the implementation of a new hand-to-hand training's program. The Joint Chiefs want proof that it's superior to our usual routine. Daniel Jackson and the rest of us will go to the Smithsonian Institution to talk with his friend. Did you bring the scroll, Ilianna?"

"As you requested, your majesty, one of the early ones - about the Titans."

"Definitively not the one I would have chosen. I was such a wide-eyed, stupid child then. Well, I'll live. Let's go."

Neither Samantha nor Janet missed the friendly squeeze and the quiet words Xena had for her Queen. "Not stupid, my love, just a tad naive and excitable - and only you were capable of sending them back to sleep. I was so proud of you that day."

"Charmer!" The small blonde whispered.


~*~


Half an hour later, they asked for Doctor Levinson at the reception desk and were directed to the basement and a place called 'the hole'. It was Sunday morning, and the only light streaming out of a door was at the far end of the basement corridor. It was a room without the slightest bit of natural light; all visible walls were decorated with overflowing shelves from floor to ceiling, filled with books and artefacts.

In the middle of the room was an old wooden desk equally stacked with piles and piles of papers and folders, not facing the door but at an almost 30° angle. Behind the desk a head could be seen, dark brown hair with a strand of white at the left temple bent over and concentrated on something.

On the way over they had decided that Daniel would do the first round of talking without the others barging in or intimidating her. They still would be close enough to hear the entire conversation.

"Doctor Sabrina Levinson?"

There was no answer. "Doctor Levinson!"

"What the hell! It's my day off! I was told that I would be left alone on my days off; it was a guarantee. Put your request in my work-file and I'll tend to it as soon as possible." The head answered without looking up.

"Sabrina, it's me, Daniel. Please look at me." He unconsciously softened his voice, reacting to the cross of irritation, annoyance, distress, and frustration evident in his friend's words.

Finally, she looked up. "Daniel? Daniel Jackson? What are you doing here?" She placed her laptop on one of the piles at the front edge of her desk. She raised herself to her feet, taking a few steps forward and gathering the archaeologist in a hug. They finally parted.

"It's a rather long story but we don't have time to go into any details right now, Sabrina. A friend of mine gave me something and I want you to have a look at it. I think, it might confirm your theories."

"Confirm my theories? You've got to be kidding, Daniel. They didn't believe me then, and they won't now. My scientific fate isn't any different than yours."

"Please, just have a look at it." He handed the scroll to the red-haired woman who was only slightly shorter than himself.

She took it and slowly studied it from the outside, immediately recognising the fragments of the broken seal. She unrolled it and her eyes lit up in wonder. She stared at the handwriting, noting every familiar curve and dot. She began to read out loud.

"I am Gabrielle, bard of Poteidaia, and I sing of a time of darkness, when the Gods played with the lives of the mortals, when a world in turmoil and fear cried out for a hero. There was only one woman who took up the challenge. She was a warrior, her strength won in countless battles. Her soul had once been imprisoned by darkness, but she found her way back to the light. She now fights for those who cannot fight for themselves.

"Daniel, this is incredible. She always varies the introductory words but it's definitively her style and her handwriting. The parchment is old, but it's been perfectly preserved. I've never seen one in such a mint condition. I'm almost sure that it's genuine; there's only one thing I yet have to check."

She turned slightly to get a better angle in the artificial light, concentrated on the bottom of the scroll. Her elbow inadvertently brushed against the pile of papers the laptop was resting upon. It became unbalanced and started to fall down. Samantha, who had been watching from the sidelines together with the others, reacted immediately. She launched herself forward as if intending to save a rare artefact and caught the machine before it could crash.

"Gotcha!" The tall blonde answered with a grin.

"Nice catch, Sam! Need a hand up?"

"Always, Danny-boy." She took his hand, though they both knew that she didn't really need his help. "Care to introduce us?" Samantha asked as soon as she was back on her feet, had stepped around the desk, and placed the laptop securely on top of its seat.

"You're right, Sam. It's time to come clean." The Queen suddenly said.

She and her Consort, who had been nothing more than observers until then, now were standing in the doorway. Before she could say anything else the attention of the others was redirected to Sabrina Levinson when they heard a loud slap.

"And I thought you were different, Daniel." A very surprised archaeologist rubbed his cheek. "To put together a scam of such magnitude, just to once again humiliate me. Just get out of here, all of you, immediately! I refuse to take the bait."

"Doctor Levinson, I assure you, this is not a scam. The scroll is genuine," Gabrielle said, taking two short steps into the room. "Please give us at least the benefit of the doubt. I presume that you have been hurt before because of your dedication to your research. Had I known, we would have found another way to approach you. I apologise."

"I'm sorry, Brina. It never was my intention to hurt you. All I wanted was for you to know the truth. Is there anywhere we can go sit and talk?"

"It's I who's sorry, Daniel. I shouldn't have hit you. I apologise." Sabrina then turned her attention towards the two women still standing just inside the doorway. "You look like them. But you can't be they; they lived two thousand years ago."

"We know, that it's asking a lot. You don't know us, and you have no reason to trust us." Xena said in her deep voice. "Just give us a chance, please."

"But you can't be them. It's against every law of nature I know. It simply is unbelievable."

"I can imagine how you feel. I'm a scientist and until a few years ago I thought that everything in the world, in the universe has a logical, scientific explanation. Experience taught me otherwise. I can see the doubt in your eyes." Samantha said. "The stories about the warrior princess and the bard, don't they tell of them doing things that should be physically impossible?"

"Like coming back from the death and jumping a few hundred feet from a cliff onto the deck of a cursed ship, things like these?"

"Exactly, Doctor Levinson." The tall blonde said in a perfect, only half conscious imitation of Teal'c's deadpan manner.

"The things Xena does on a regular basis are one of the reasons no one believed me. Even I started to think of them as some sort of exaggeration, poetic licence, if you will." There was the sound of hurried footsteps coming closer. "Perhaps we should take this some place more comfortable and more private."

At this moment, a portly man wearing a dark grey three-pieces suit entered without even bothering to knock. He quickly looked around, dismissing most of the people present. His eyes locked on Gabrielle.

"Your Majesty, please accept my heartfelt apologies. It is just now that I was informed of your visit by the chief of staff to the President. I'm Doctor Rodney Tucker, the director of this institution. I'm sorry for the inappropriate welcome you received." He slightly turned his head. "This will have consequences, Doctor Levinson. I've been far too lenient with you. Now, your Majesty, if you would please follow me to the conference room; there are some refreshments waiting for you and your retinue."

"Director Tucker, I ass…" Xena's hand on her forearm effectively silenced the red headed linguist. The raven-head then turned her attention to the rather short man.

"Mister Tucker, this isn't an official visit. The Queen came here to meet with Doctor Levinson, and Doctor Levinson only. Her research is of interest to the Queen and our Nation. It has nothing to do with her work here. However, we accept the use of your conference room for the rest of our talks. You may be excused, Mister Tucker. Sabrina, can you lead us there?" She said with a smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

A strange mixture of indignation and anger crossed the man's face at the Consort's obvious dismissal but his official persona quickly reasserted itself and he insisted on personally escorting them to the conference room. On the way up to the second floor he didn't stop talking for more time than he needed to fill his lungs with air. Queen Gabrielle looked at her Consort, and Xena sent a barrage of hand signals to the blonde Major, leaving Janet with question marks in her eyes and Samantha with a vague smile.


~*~


Director Tucker courteously held the door open when they arrived at the stately conference room. Samantha was the last one to step through, but turned around half-way. "Director Tucker, may we have a word?"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" He retorted, seemingly not intimidated by her topping him more than a couple of inches.

"Major Samantha Carter, United States Air Force," the door closed behind her, "on temporary assignment in the service of Queen Gabrielle and her retinue. You're being alerted by an official channel equals a security breach of unacceptable proportions. I want you to give me the name of the person or persons who informed you of this private visit. Should this make the papers, you won't like the consequences."

"Queen Gabrielle is an official dignitary. I won't give in to military intimidation."

Samantha's eyes grew cold, blue changing to silver. "Mister Tucker, it would be in your best interest to listen to me, and listen carefully. Yes, I'm Air Force but that's none of your concern right now, and it has nothing to do with my current assignment.

"As Consort Xena already told you, this was intended to be a private visit, with the emphasis on private. The Queen is grateful for having the use of your facilities, but this won't change the nature of her visit, nor her need for privacy. I count on your sense of propriety to keep quiet about this visit - if only for the sake of future contacts with the Nation.

"Angering the Queen has the potential of seriously impeding diplomatic relations between our two countries, and I assure you, you do not want to be on the receiving end of the President's temper if anything goes wrong."

Once again anger flickered over the man's face; once again it was gone in the blink of an eye. "I understand the Queen's need for privacy and will respect it. However, Doctor Levinson should have known better. There's a standing order that all visiting dignitaries have to be reported to the administration immediately. She always has been an embarrassment in the scientific field and I won't put up with it any longer. She has outstayed my patience."

"You may not give in to military intimidation. - I don't give in to civilian posturing. Doctor Sabrina Levinson is not to blame. She has nothing to feel guilty for. We didn't introduce ourselves. She's a brilliant linguist, and I would consider it an honour would she be working with me. And believe me she really would be an asset."

"An asset? She's at best a pain in the behind, at worst a lunatic. She tends to get obsessed with details, to forget about the greater picture."

"The greater picture? Do you even know what the greater picture is?" Recognising the bland, self satisfied expression on the suited man's face - an expression she had seen more times than she cared to remember on her superiors, her commanding officers, her teachers, Samantha's temper snapped. "I don't think you do. You don't have the intellectual capability to do so. Doctor Levinson's research is more important than you can even dream to imagine. And this research has nothing to do with your institute, and it has nothing to do with you."


~*~


About half an hour and a still rather angry director later, Samantha closed the big doors to the conference room. She quickly turned around and scanned the room. As always the Consort was easy to pick out in an assembly, being the tallest. She dropped on her right knee in front of the raven head.

"Your highness, please accept my apologies. I failed you. I have the names you wanted and as we speak they will be taken care of, but I'm afraid my interference made Director Tucker even angrier than before and he possibly intends to take out his anger on Doctor Levinson. I take full responsibility and accept any punishment for my failure." She lowered her eyes on the ground.

"Rise, Major Carter!" The Queen said. "We all know that this man is an arrogant prick with a chip on his shoulder the size of Mount Olympus and far too much power. Should it be necessary, I'll smooth things over with him, but at the moment I'm still optimistic that Doctor Levinson will take us up on our offer. You by now know the rough outlines. It now is time to make some proper introductions. Please, stand up, Sam. Daniel Jackson, would you please be so kind?!"

"It will be my pleasure, your Majesty. Sabrina, may I introduce Major Samantha Carter, US Air Force, doctor in astrophysics and philosophy, leading expert in wormhole physics, and Major Janet Fraiser, Chief Medical Officer of Stargate Command, medical doctor, apparently, expert in virology and infectious diseases, oh and in taming mouthy Colonels and big marines."

"Don't forget accident prone, bespectacled archaeologist, Daniel." Sam chimed in.

"Or frequently injured brilliant blondes." He bantered back.

"You're really with the military, Dan? How could you bring them here? All they do is kill people. Your majesty, may I be excused? I don't want anything to do with these people."

"Brina, please, forget the past for a moment. What I do with them is important. It saves lives." Daniel implored but the redhead wasn't that easily swayed.

"Forget the past? How could I? Forget the army transport that rammed her car and killed her, killed the only family I've ever known. The driver was drunk. So, don't you tell me to forget her, Daniel. It's hard enough to know that he walked away without paying for his crimes."

Samantha saw the genuine pain in the woman's eyes and answered. "I know how you feel, Doctor Levinson. I lost my mother in a car accident when I was fourteen. My father failed to pick her up because he was too busy with his work in the Air Force. She took a cab and died in the middle of a multi-car pile-up caused by a drunk driver."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Major, but it was nothing more than an accident. She wasn't murdered by the military."

The blonde's eyes found her lover's face and her encouraging smile. "My father's an Air Force General. Then he was a Lieutenant Colonel, Doctor Levinson. He forgot to pick her up at the campus because of some stupid meeting. It wasn't a question of life and death, just bureaucracy. When he told me what happened, I accused him of murder. I told him that he loved his job and his career more than her life; I told him he could as well have taken his sidearm and shot her."

Janet now was standing next to the taller woman, rubbing the small of her back with one hand while the other rested reassuringly on the blonde's shoulder. "It took me a long time, but eventually I saw what having lost her had done to him and I forgave him."

"Doctor Levinson, before we came to you we ran a few database checks. The sergeant responsible for the death of your grandmother was sentenced to twenty years of prison. He killed himself two years later. He paid for what he did to you and the other two families who lost loved-ones." Xena's soothing voice said. "I think there is no one in this room who hasn't lost people we loved, and chances are that we will again in the future. That's the price we have to pay for living, but what we gain far outweighs this price, love, happiness, new friends, new experiences. This is what…"

The beeping of a cell phone interrupted her. Xena fished a small communicator out of her back pocket and flipped it open. "Yes, I understand. Give us a few candledrops. We're not yet finished here. Wait for my signal." The tall woman turned her attention back to the others. "I'm sorry; we'll have to cut this short. - My Queen, High Priestess Melosa relayed a message to the moon station. Egeria wants to speak with us as soon as possible, both of us. Melosa said that it's urgent."

"Both of us? That's strange. She tends to cut our conversations short whenever you come with me, and refuses to explain her reasons."

"We'll soon find out, my love, but I doubt that this request is about me." The tall woman answered with sadness tinting her voice.

"We'll see. We have to leave now. Our presence is needed at home, but first, please hear our offer, Sabrina Levinson. The scrolls about the warrior princess you know of are only a fraction of what I had written at the time. When we left Greece a lot of them were left behind and were lost. I sort of had to write new versions. We want you to find the rest of the missing scrolls and will provide you with all the funds necessary. There must be at least another score of them. To do this successfully you will have to familiarise yourself with our life here on Earth and all the things we did. We could give you digital copies but to really get a feel for them you should study the originals, on Gaia."

"Where's the catch?"

"We want your word of honour that nothing you'll learn will be revealed to the public on Earth without my permission. Earth is not ready to know. Samantha, Janet, and Daniel Jackson will answer all of your questions. Just keep your mind open for the unbelievable. - Major Carter, as of now, Sabrina Levinson has top security clearance. Just put it in your report as a direct order and the President will approve."

Samantha wanted to ask if the Queen were really sure about this. It had the potential to become a security nightmare, but one look at the Consort let her keep quiet. "Yes, your Majesty."

"Here, Sam, take this. We'll call as soon as possible." Gabrielle handed her another one of the tiny cell phones. Xena pressed a button on her own device; the two of them were immediately enveloped in a white light and disappeared.

Sabrina stared at the ground where they stood only a heartbeat before with her mouth hanging open.

"Doctor Levinson, I once again apologise for making your life here harder by further angering the director. Talking to the natives and calming them usually is Daniel's job."

"Dan, did I just drop straight into an episode of Star Trek or The Twilight Zone? Is this a trick? How did they do it?"

"You'll have to ask Sam for the technical details, Sabrina, but no, it defiantly isn't a trick. Just give us a chance to explain. The universe is much more intriguing than even the most imaginative of science fiction writers ever would have thought possible. It's all true: thousands of different worlds and different cultures, big bad enemies, new strange friends. It's all true, please, trust us."

"I'll try, Daniel. And there's nothing to apologise for, Major Carter. This man could easily exhaust the patience of an archangel. It is me who has to apologise. I tend towards aggression when I'm confused. At first I thought you all were totally nuts and now I wait for little green men to appear out of thin air."

"Actually, they're grey."

"Daniel, you've spent too much time with Colonel O'Neill." Janet chastised him. "I can understand that you're confused, Doctor Levinson. It's a lot to take in at once. Perhaps we should leave this place and go somewhere where you feel more comfortable; your office, our hotel, wherever. We could have room service and get to know each other better."

"Let's go to my apartment. It's only ten minutes on foot and there should be enough stuff in the fridge to put something together - if you don't mind vegetarian food."

The other three nodded enthusiastically. Home-cooked meals were scarce with their usual schedules, even for Janet who had a teenager to feed.

"I'm still not comfortable with you being part of the military or working with them, but I trust you, Daniel, and as strange as it sounds to me, I'd really like to trust you too, Majors."

"Why don't you start by calling us Sam and Janet? It could help you to see beyond our ranks." Janet answered.

"Let's go, and please, call me Sabrina." They left the Smithsonian through a back door after having picked up the laptop and jacket left in the 'hole'.


~*~


It was only shortly after midday, but the narrow street they followed was mostly dark. The creepy atmosphere sent Samantha immediately into soldier mode. Her senses concentrated on the outside world she almost jumped out of her skin when Sabrina suddenly asked.

"If you hold the Air Force responsible for your mother's death, why did you join them?"

"There are a lot of reasons. My godfather made me understand that any other job also had the potential to keep my father from picking her up. The Air Force was the only connection I had to my father, the only thing he could relate to. But that was only a bonus."

Samantha knew that she never was this open to her colleagues but she also had sensed the Queen's need to draw the redheaded woman on their side. If she had learned one thing during her sessions with the Consort it was that sharing one's feelings and thoughts was not a sign of weakness.

"From the moment I was big enough to climb a chair and look through my mother's telescope I knew that I wanted to become an astronaut. I wanted to be the first woman to walk on the Moon, the first human travelling to Mars. The Air Force was the only way to come close to that goal."

"And did you realise your dream?"

"I found something better, much bet… Danny, hostiles in front; cover our six. Janet, protect Sabrina. I'll deal with them."

The road in front of them was suddenly blocked by four broad shouldered men armed with baseball bats - and Sam didn't have her gun.

"Give us your money and jewellery, and we might let you go to live another day," the biggest of the thugs said, the bat resting almost casually on his shoulder. He topped Samantha by far more than half a foot.

"We don't have anything worth your efforts. It would be in your interest to let us go unharmed." Samantha said in the vain hope of reasoning with the men.

"Three good looking chicks! You bet your ass, there's something worth our efforts, blondie." The man to the leader's right said and tried to reach around Samantha to grab Janet.

He found himself on the ground, his arm at an off angle, obviously broken. The man to her far left started forwards, his cry "You bitch!" cut short by a roundhouse kick to his throat, which propelled him to the ground but left her slightly unbalanced.

The first one used this opening to his advantage and the club grazed her ribcage. She hissed in pain but immediately compensated. She dropped to the ground, grabbed the discarded bat from the second man, and brought it up in time to block another attack aimed for her head. The rebound hit the man in the head, not hard enough to knock him out but hard enough to give her a chance. Samantha got inside his defences, punched his throat, and followed up with a knee to his groin. He sank to his knees and a jab to the chin knocked him out.

Meanwhile her second attacker had regained his feet and drew a six inch blade. He still had some problems breathing from the blow to his throat but that didn't make him any less dangerous. Two down, two more to go. Samantha kept the fourth in her line of sight while she fended of his rather clumsy attempts. She simply knocked him out with her elbow and the fourth one suddenly wised up and ran.

Meanwhile Daniel had taken care of a fifth one sent to keep them from running.

"You okay, Sam?" Janet snapped to doctor mode.

"Yes, Jan. I'm all right. My ribs might need re-bandaging, that's all. Let's go before these guys decide to wake up."

A few minutes later they arrived at Sabrina's apartment. The linguist had been strangely quiet since the fight. Reading Samantha's and Janet's body language Daniel decided to give them some privacy and dragged Sabrina away to buy something to drink.

The liquor store was only half a block down, and a quarter of an hour later they re-emerged with a six-pack of bud and two six-packs of root beer.

"Dan, you could have asked. I have beer back home - and besides, shouldn't we report this to the police?"

"It's not about the beer, Brina. Sam and Janet need some time alone. Sam tends to act out the soldiers-know-no-pain routine when she feels observed."

"Typical military mind-set." Sabrina snorted.

"No, not really. Most soldiers I know are cry-babies as soon as they enter Janet's infirmary. Sam is different. She is stoic and calm and rational, a scientist to the core. Her IQ ratings are so far off scale one can get dizzy even thinking about it. At the same time she is the best friend one can have. She is funny and compassionate, kind-hearted and loving."

"Sounds as if you have a crush on her."

"It would be easy to fall in love with Sam, and I really love her, as a sister and one of my best friends. Stargate Command has forged a very strange, very big family."

An almost uncomfortable silence descended, so, Sabrina decided to change the subject. "The police; why didn't you call them? I even had the impression that you never thought of doing so."

"Do you really want to spend hours on end on a police station, waiting for someone to write down your testimony, having to tell the same story time and again, having to identify them in a line-up, being called to testify a few months later, and all this only to let them go free because Sam didn't warn them about her combat skills?

"No, Brina. But I'm sure that Sam or Janet already have arranged something that will keep us out of it and land them in jail."


~*~


They opened the door to find Janet closing the last button on the blonde's shirt. "Hey, Daniel, I hope you brought something non-alcoholic. The Doc insists on giving me painkillers." Samantha said with a pout.

"I swear you took lessons from Cassandra. - She doesn't get away with it, and neither will you. Sabrina, how about we go find something for lunch? Daniel, please help Sam to the couch."

The two women disappeared through the door and Daniel did as he had been told. "You okay, Sam?"

"Yeah, more or less. Janet said that one of the bruised ribs now is broken, but that it's not likely to cause any problems. The bone knitters on Gaia will take care of it. I'll be back to par in no time, Daniel. You didn't get hurt out there, right?"

"I'm fine, Sam. Give me some credit here, it was only one man, and you took on four of these guys. Jack never will believe me. I know you're good, but I don't remember you being this good."

"Gaia not only has good fighters but also good teachers, Daniel."

"Yes, it seems like you learned an awful lot, both of you." He let the silence linger for a moment. "I'm happy for you and Janet, Sam."

For a moment she looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights, and then she said. "Thank you, Daniel. Your support means a lot to us, both of us. We'll also have to tell Teal'c and the Colonel before we go back to the SGC. They deserve to know."

"Neither Teal'c nor Jack will let you down. Your happiness is all that counts for us, and for him. That it's someone as smart and beautiful as Janet will make it easier for him. You won't have to worry about SG-1, but at the base you'll have to be more careful than you were in this hotel room. Hammond probably will have a hard time, and I don't even want to think about what will happen should Kinsey or the NID find out."

"As Master Bratac would say: we'll cross that bridge when we come to the river. And General Hammond knows that I'm gay. I came out to my family when I turned eighteen."

"What about this Hanson fellow?"

"My one and only trip to boy-town - and the biggest mistake I ever made. He was the son-in-law my father dreamed of; career military, a good field officer. He didn't want to know that he also was an abusive bastard. - However, when I introduced them, it was the first time in the three years since I had come out that he spoke to me. He still thinks that being gay is nothing more than a phase, and that I'm just looking for mister right.

"In a way it's good that he's with the Tok'ra. That way it won't be so hard when he once again stops talking to me."

"Don't you think that blending with Selmac hasn't taught him a thing or two?"

"He has changed a lot but not that much. He's the most stubborn man in the known universe. - Pass me a root beer?"


~*~


Meanwhile Janet and Sabrina had decided to go for a vegetable lasagna, and had a similar conversation after the small doctor had thanked Sabrina for the use of her emergency kit. "You're welcome, Janet. Who's Cassandra?"

"She's my daughter - actually, she's our daughter. Sam and I raise her together. She just turned fifteen."

"You're not old enough to have a teenage daughter, Janet."

"I'm 33. It is possible. I adopted Cassandra when she was eleven. Her parents were killed and Sam saved her life. I didn't give birth to her, but nonetheless, she's my daughter." The small brunette said.

"You and Samantha make a cute couple."

"Thank you, I think."

"Cassandra is lucky to grow up with so much love."

Janet blushed. "It's a rather recent development. I only told her yesterday. She doesn't know yet. We have been best friends for years. But only a couple of weeks ago, we admitted to each other that there was more than friendship."

"Is it worth the risk? I mean this whole don't-ask-don't-tell thing?"

"We know the risk. We know this could ruin our careers and get our security clearances revoked. But, yes, it's worth it. Sam completes me. - Can you pass me the onions?"

They worked for a few minutes in silence. "You're a doctor; you took a vow to save lives. Why did you join the Air Force?"

"In the last year of my residency, I butted heads with my superiors. They threw me out and my career was ruined before it began. An Air Force General recruited me, and it was the only chance to continue doing what I wanted to do, work as a doctor and help people. I learned how to use weapons, but I have never had to kill anyone - and I hope I never will.

"My experience as a field medic as well as a CMO taught me that those who don't have problems with killing and hurting others are more of a danger to every team they are a part of than the enemy ever could be. It's reckless."

"What Samantha did out there in the street was pretty reckless in my book." Sabrina retorted.

"Our options were pretty limited. There was not enough time to call for backup. Sam was unsuccessful when she tried to talk to them; so, the only other option would have been to run, and that wouldn't have been possible with the guy behind us Daniel took out. Sam was injured not 24 hours ago. She had been badly beaten and wouldn't have been up to running. Taking them out as quickly as possible was our only viable option - and even then, this big brute broke one of her ribs."

"Shouldn't this be checked out at a hospital?" The redhead wanted to know.

"She not only is my best friend; I'm also her regular physician. It's a clean break that won't cause any problems. Her ribs now are tightly bound. She'll be okay."

"I didn't want to accuse her, and I don't want to sound like an ungrateful bitch. But I never saw something like that, and it's left me disconcerted. She fought for all of us and took these bullies on as if it were an everyday occurrence. It was scary and eerily fascinating." Sabrina said cautiously.

"Sam is a fighter at heart but she also is a scientist to the core - and she is a soldier, a very good soldier. But something like this is by no means an everyday occurrence. She spends days on end buried in her lab, surviving on coffee and blue jello alone. Everything she does, she does with great focus and intensity. She's a very complex woman and every time I think that I finally have figured her out, she goes and surprises me."

"I think you also are not easy to figure out, Janet. - You were right, talking to you helped to alleviate some of my fears. There's only one thing I still don't understand." Sabrina said while putting the lasagna in the oven. "Why are you so honest with me? You don't know me; you have no reason to trust me. I could sell you out to the next tabloid."

Janet chuckled. "Never going to happen. Daniel told us that you're a friend. All these years you had the chance to turn your back to your research and make a name for yourself but you didn't. No, you'd never sell us out, not even for enough money to finance your research for the next ten years."

"Our dinner will need another half hour. Let's go back to the others. I have a lot of questions, and I still cannot believe that the two women I've seen in my office really are the Xena and Gabrielle from grandmother's scrolls. It's against everything I've ever learned."

"As Consort Xena said: Prepare to believe the unbelievable."


~*~


They talked the rest of the day and the better part of the night with Samantha dozing off every once in a while in Janet's arms. Sabrina went from astonishment to disbelief to incredulity to fascination to wide-eyed wonder. When Janet finally also had fallen asleep the two archaeologist-linguists where sitting on the floor nursing the last two beers.

"Do you know how incredible this all is, Dan?"

"What? Travelling to other planets? Fighting parasites with delusions of god-hood? Meeting immortals?" Daniel asked with a smile.

"Well, yes. But what I was really talking about is us, Dan, you and me. They all were laughing about our theories - and you know what?! We were right all along."

"Damned ironic, isn't it?"

"Yeah!" They fell silent. After a while Sabrina had another question. "Doesn't it drive you crazy? To know that you were right and not being able to tell anyone?"

"Sometimes; I usually don't have the time to dwell on it, Brina. We really make a difference out there; it's ironic in a way. When I decided to follow the footsteps of my parents and grandfather, everyone thought that I was nuts. They told me that I was wasting my time and talent with dusty stones and dead languages, that it served absolutely no purpose. Then, I told them that knowledge about the past could help to understand the future and that's still true. But what I do now is different. SG-1 and the other teams save the world on almost a regular basis. We've freed a lot of people from oppression. Science fiction doesn't even come close to what we live through almost every day. There are times when I'm frightened out of my wits, but its well worth it. We gain so much."

"Now, you sound suspiciously like Consort Xena."

"Well, Brina, listen to the wisdom of age." He answered after having drained his bottle, and they both broke into giggles.

Blue eyes opened at the noise. She found herself outstretched on the couch, her head cradled in Janet's lap. The doctor's head was tilted backwards and she was snoring softly. "Danny," she whispered, "you're my witness. She does snore!"

"I don't hear anything, Sam. Don't forget, the woman you're talking about is in charge of my next physical - and believe me, I'm not brave enough to risk an encounter with her really, really…"

"Really big, honking needles. You're a wise man, space monkey." Janet mumbled still half asleep.

"Space monkey? Who did come up with this name?" The linguist asked.

"Jack O'Neill, our commanding officer," Samantha answered without giving up her comfortable position on Janet's legs, "another wise man afraid of a few measly needles."

"Not afraid enough to stop calling me names. Did you hear his last one? He really had the nerve to call me 'mini-Stalin'. Would you believe it? I rather prefer Napoleonic Power Monger." A suddenly very awake doctor said. "Colonel O'Neill has a very unique sense of humour. It's his way of dealing with things he cannot control."

"You know, he doesn't mean it in any derogatory way, Jan. It's also his way of showing respect without sullying his reputation as a cynic and without compromising the chain of command."

"There's no need to plead his cause, Sammy. Sometimes, he really can get on one's nerves, he does on yours, but he's a great commanding officer, and an even better friend. And, whether I like it or not, he's a great father figure and a good playmate for Cassy." - 'And he's in love with my lover, but we won't mention that.' Janet thought to herself.

Samantha struggled to sit up and then asked. "Will you take Queen Gabrielle up on her offer, Sabrina?"

"I don't know yet. It's a big step and quite a handful to take in. I just learned that reality is far more fantastic than even my wildest dreams. I learned that the Warrior Princess and her Bard are not figments of anyone's imagination, but living and breathing women who just happen to be more than two thousand years old. I was given a chance of a life time. And to make things even more confusing I learned that the Greek and Roman, Egyptian and Norse Gods are nothing more than a race of parasitical beings intent on enslaving all of mankind.

"To make things even weirder, I saw my peace-loving friend Daniel, the one who was at my side during more freedom marches than I can remember, I saw sweet Daniel take down a muscle packed bully half a head taller than himself without breaking a sweat. And the biggest surprise of all: I find myself genuinely liking two members of the military. I think I have the right to be royally confused."

"I can at least partially relate to what you must be feeling right now," Janet answered. "Before I joined Stargate Command I was working as a virologist at the CDC. The work was challenging and I had a good time. Then I suddenly was reassigned, to take over as the CMO of a base at Cheyenne Mountain, presumably dedicated to deep space radar telemetry.

"At first I thought that I finally had pissed off the wrong member of the brass and that this was to be my punishment. When General Hammond told me what they were really doing, I was full of disbelief. I saw the gate in action, and I still didn't believe it. I read the mission reports and didn't believe it. I had to deal with my first staff wound and almost the whole base being reduced to Neanderthals to begin to understand that I was in for the greatest adventure of my life."

Sabrina didn't answer immediately. "Do you think I could get to know them better before deciding, the Queen and the Consort?"

"I think that's a great idea, Sabrina. The Queen will certainly approve. What about your job? When do you think you can get a few days off?"

"My job… It's nothing to worry about. Last week, I was notified that my contract would not be renewed. I don't feel any obligation towards any of them, not Director Tucker, and not my co-workers. They're not exactly a friendly bunch. I'll have to go back to get my personal belongings, notes and books, and a few artefacts, leave my resignation note, and that's all I owe them."

Sabrina answered and the blonde astrophysicist instinctively knew that the Amazons would have to teach her more than just about the Queen's scrolls. They would have to help her get back her self-esteem and self-confidence.

"So, all we'll have to do is to wait for Consort Xena to call us on the cell she gave Sam and go and pack your things in the morning." Daniel said. "It's a quarter past three. We should all try and get some rest. I know we should go back to the hotel but I'm just to tired to move. I hope you don't mind when we crash here."

"Not a problem, Danny. Sam and Janet can snuggle on the couch and I'll get an air mattress and blanket for you."

"Thanks, Brina."

It was a short rest. The cell phone rang at five past six. Samantha got it on the second ring, with Janet still soundly asleep right in front of her.

"Yes, your majesty. - No, she hasn't decided yet. She asked for the chance to get to know you better, you and your people, before committing herself. - No, she wants to resign. - Yes, of course. Excellent idea. - Going the direct way might freak her out, your majesty. - I heed and obey, Queen Gabrielle. I'll do my best to prepare her. - Yes, I'll send word as soon as possible."

When she put the cell away, she was greeted by Janet's sleepily blinking eyes, Daniel adjusting his glasses and sitting up, and the sound of Sabrina rummaging in the kitchen. A few minutes later, Samantha eyed her companions over the rim of her coffee mug. Janet and Daniel as always celebrated their first mug with almost religious intensity, and Sabrina seemed to be no different. She knew from experience that she wouldn't get more than a grunt out of Janet, and not even as much from Daniel. On off-world missions Samantha always has a family-sized packet of espresso candies in her pocket to get him going.

All three of them were focused on the black brew right in front of them. For her, coffee was a way to stay awake when one had to but for enjoyment she personally preferred tea.

"So, Sam, what did the Queen say?" Daniel finally asked.

"She wants us to return to Gaia not later than midday local time; that gives us roughly seven hours to work with. She didn't go into any details but it has to do with some sort of ritual she wants us to participate in, Janet and me; and the rest of you to bear witness. They will activate the transporter on the moon station as soon as I give them the signal and we will return to Gaia through their gate. She also said that she will take care of your resignation letter, emphasising your worth for the Amazon Nation. It will also hold the door open should you decide to return. Cassy, Teal'c, and the colonel will go through the gate before us. Do you think this will give you enough time, Sabrina?" Before the redhead could answer Samantha continued. "Queen Gabrielle also wants you to know that you can return to Earth whenever you want."

"Well, let's get started. I'll take a quick shower and start packing my notebooks and stuff. I don't have much of a wardrobe but to speed things up, I would be grateful if you, Janet and Sam, could pack a few changes of clothing for me. You know better what to expect with the weather on Gaia."

"It will be our pleasure, Sabrina." Janet answered with a smile, silently wishing that she would have had the foresight to bring a change of clothing. Taking a shower would be high on her list of things to do after their return, after properly treating Samantha's injuries, of course.



Continued in GAIA pt. V