URL: http://www.area52hkh.net/asr/rysler/justanot.php
Summary: "I'm so glad you didn't say anything about being good guys."
"Now, there's something I didn't tell you," Vala said, the moment the event horizon vanished behind them.
Sam braced herself. She scanned the tree line. The area looked like it hadn't been touched in a thousand years. The clearing around the Stargate had knee-high grass. Vala skipped down the steps. Sam realized that she wasn't talking. "What didn't you tell me?" she asked.
"Oh. Right. Well, they're going to recognize me, of course. A former host. Freed. Something of a mythic figure, you know. Legendary."
Vala was telling her what she already knew. That couldn't be good. That meant Vala was stalling. "And?" Sam prompted.
"And to the spoils go the victor," Vala said.
"What?" Sam asked, and then was immediately sorry she did. She tugged at her ill-fitting tunic. Daniel had insisted that she and Vala dress like the rest of the universe, instead of in uniform. Blend in, he said. She'd come back with a rash. How was that blending in?
"These people will only be impressed with God-killers. Which, you are. Right?"
"Sure."
"And God-enslavers is even better."
"Vala..."
"They'll respect you for capturing me," Vala said.
"You're not a Goa'uld!"
"I am a thief."
"Yes," Sam conceded.
"And we came here to steal something, didn't we?"
"I wouldn't put it like--"
"And to do so, we have to gain their trust. And their respect. So that they won't suspect us--"
"Of being fakes," Sam said.
Vala shot her finger at Sam.
Sam rolled her eyes.
The gate began to light up.
"Let's hurry," Vala said, taking her hand. "We want to make an entrance."
A few feet beyond the steps, they found a ring platform. "Two to beam up," Vala said.
"If you're my slave, we wouldn't be holding hands."
"Very good, Colonel."
Sam looked skyward as she dissolved into light.
* * *
"Tau'ri, welcome." The man was big, and reminded Sam uncomfortably of Bynarr. She tightened her grip on Vala's shoulder. Vala didn't look at her. Probably for the best.
"I'm Colonel Samantha Carter. This is--"
"Qetesh," the man said. "The sex goddess."
"Oh, fuck," Sam said under her breath.
Vala smiled brightly at him.
Sam said, "Her days as a system lord are well over. She's an Earth asset now."
"Asset indeed. Goa'uld or not, she must retain quite a bit of...experience."
"Every minute," Vala muttered.
"It speaks?" The man asked.
"No, it doesn't," Sam said. Vala pouted. Sam said, "You have not done me the honor of introducing yourself."
The words felt awkward in her mouth. Stiff. They would have been Daniel's words, but he was tired of infiltrating Goa'uld motherships for fancy parties, and Vala thought "a couple of broads" would be more likely to complete the mission and remain under the radar. Daniel had agreed.
Sam had not agreed, and yet, here she was. The official reason for the gathering was to create a united front against the Ori, but Sam assumed that they were really just seeing who the most powerful gang in the quadrant was. Invitations were sent to a select few. Secret location, no security, no Jaffa of any kind, and the man in front of her, surely a Goa'uld, but she smelled like naquadah just as Vala did.
Maybe Daniel had been wise.
The man smiled and said, "I am Sani." The rings activated behind them. He walked past them and said, "I must greet the warriors of Morrigain. Tover will show you to your quarters."
Sam smiled politely at Tover.
* * *
"I do too speak," Vala hissed as soon as they were locked into an oppulent room that had a mat in the middle of the floor, and enough gold to finance an intergalactic war on the walls.
"Hey! Your idea."
Vala fumed.
Sam threw her pack on the mat on the floor. She asked, "He was purposely insulting us, wasn't he?"
"Of course he was. Why isn't Daniel here? He can read a room."
"Hey! Your idea."
"Stop saying that."
"Fine. There are other things we need to get straight before 'dinner.'" She said the last word with air quotes. "Like...sex goddess?"
"Not anymore," Vala said.
"But?"
"How do you think I got all those ships? And Baal's surrender? And Athena?"
"But not anymore?"
Vala looked away.
Sam moved closer, and put her hand on Vala's shoulder. "When you were a host--They did things to you."
"It was no worse than the killings or the other brutalities. What do your people say? Life sucks?"
Of course it was. Sam sighed. She said, "Not this time."
"If we want to pull it off--"
"We'll do it my way. You'll have to trust me, Vala. I'll take care of you."
Vala grinned.
"What?"
"Well. This is exactly how it would work. If it were real."
If it were real.
* * *
If Daniel had been here, he'd be talking non-stop about the displayed relics and armaments. The mothership, permanently in orbit around Sani's planet, it seemed, was beautifully appointed, not by Goa'uld opulence, but by a mishmash of cultural items, some even from Earth--Sam recognized a New York cityscape framed above a Jaffa staff weapon--Sani was trying to place himself as the post-Goa'uld enlightened center of the galaxy. He had converted to the Ori early on, and they had left him mostly alone as they struggled with non-believers.
If Daniel had been there, he'd have speculated that Sani was half-ascended, or half-Goa'uld, or something to have a bargaining chip. Though Sam speculated that it was simply that Sani's planet had a large, docile population of believers to radiate good will. Still, he could host this negotiation without interference, even with the Tau'ri there, though she wondered if she'd made the guest list.
Maybe Sani had wanted Daniel to show his collection off to. Maybe she should have brought some sort of knick-knack as a present.
"Vala," she hissed, "Did we bring presents?"
"Only ourselves," Vala said.
"No, really."
"Yes. But I am the captured. I will present it."
"Great," Sam said, but what she meant was, "Oh, crap."
The meal was salon-style. Sam settled onto a comfortable couch covered in something luxurious that she hoped wasn't lamb fur. Vala was provided with a tray of cheese, fruit, and bread, which she held above her head. The couch was near the back. More important guests were closer to the central table where Sani sat, telling jokes about ancient battles, occasionally slipping in a plug for the Ori, even though everyone in the room was probably thinking of how to rid the galaxy of them.
"Do you think it's an insult that we're in the back?" Sam asked Vala.
"I don't care, we're closer to the door." Vala waved a berry at her.
Sam sighed.
"Open the hatch," Vala chided.
"This is demeaning," Sam complained, and Vala shoved the berry between her lips.
"To who?" Vala asked.
Sam swallowed the berry. "Hey, that's good."
"Do you think they're poisoning us?"
Sam reached toward her throat. Was it swelling shut? She glowered at Vala.
Vala shrugged and ate a berry.
A pirate settled onto the couch nearest Sam, and his own slave, a young man Vala stared at until Sam kicked her, fed him berries. The pirate kept looking at Sam suggestively. Vala picked up her game. She slid one arm around Sam's calf and put her chin on Sam's knee. That was all right. Vala had done that to her before, in meetings at the SGC, and Sam had adjusted to Vala's giddy personal presence.
But then the pirate's manservant slid between his knees, and gave a sharp look to Vala. Vala put her hand on Sam's knee, and a jolt of arousal went through Sam, taking her completely by surprise. "Don't," she said, as Vala arched up, leaning closer to her belly.
"He's watching," Vala said.
And that was part of the problem. Sam couldn't hide what she was feeling. She was sure a blush was reddening her face as Vala massaged the tops of her thighs.
Sani wasn't even glancing at them. The groups nearest his table were getting progressively more drunk, more loud, more clumsy. But Sani sat calmly, drawing the attentions of his friends to him when they strayed to the rest of the room.
"I don't think we're the only ones fleecing here tonight," Sam said.
Vala looked at her like she had two heads.
"We should go, before Sani gets bored," Sam said.
Vala slid her hands up Sam's sides, to her ribs. Sam shivered. Vala said, "It should look like we've stepped out to be amorous."
"Please, do you think that would ever work? That Earth would send its most important delegate to a meeting of the greatest men of the galaxy and then get distracted by some harl--mmf."
Vala kissed her. She pressed her mouth to Sam's and pressed her hand between Sam's legs, finding, surely, unexpected heat, and Sam's welcoming groan against her lips. Vala kissed the corner of her mouth, and then murmured, "My."
"This is never going to work," Sam murmured.
Vala's hand squeezed.
"But it's worth a shot," she conceded. She shoved Vala off her lap and onto the floor. The plate went clattering. The pirate glanced over, and smirked. If Sani had looked up, his attentions were back on the main table by the time Sam sought him out. She took a fistful of Vala's hair, and said, "You're done for the night."
Vala moaned and grabbed her arm, scooting out under Sam's firm guidance. In the hallway, Sam let her stand up. Vala straightened her outfit and said, "You certainly have a mean streak."
"You have no idea."
Vala pulled out an electronic map and said, "This way."
"Shouldn't I lead?" Sam asked.
"Why start now?"
* * *
Sam took the tube from the safe in Sani's chambers. "Back to the ball?" she asked Vala.
"Let's skip the ball and go straight to bed," Vala said, sliding her hand over Sam's shoulder.
Sam shrugged her off. "We'll be missed."
"By who? No one cares that we're there."
"Everyone cares. We're Tau'ri."
"Please. I'd never heard of you until I stole your big warship, remember? You've been killing gods for too long," Vala said.
"This is not my ego. This is experience."
"I wouldn't have pegged you for experience," Vala said. "But now I'm intrigued."
Sam dragged her back to dinner.
Sani met her Sam's gaze when they walked in, and her couch was occupied by guests she didn't recognize. She took another, closer to the central table, and Vala stretched out with her head in her lap, which aroused her so much that she couldn't concentrate, and Sani had to ask her twice.
"Will you tell us, Tau'ri, just exactly what Earth has to offer any of us?"
"Tacky question," Vala murmured.
Sam stood. She said, "Ask any Goa'uld. Any one that we haven't killed."
A murmur went through the crowd.
"Ask any Jaffa. Any free world. Now, I know many of you don't care so much about the freedom of others," Sam said, keeping her eyes on Sani. "But we have succeeded. More than once. More than twice. Over and over again. You cannot hope to defeat us. You should join us."
"So say the Ori," said Sani, challenging her.
"So said Anubis."
The murmur quieted, as all eyes turned to her.
"So said Apophis."
The pirate stood, and said, "But the Ori will kill us if we do not comply. You will not kill us. What will you pay?"
Sam pulled Vala to her feet, and said, "We offer the promise of a better life than the one you will have under the Ori." She slid her hand across Vala's belly, and Vala leaned back into her, so that Sam was supporting her weight, stroking her through the filmy fabric of her dress.
"We have no interest in being system lords," Sam said. "We'll leave the whole galaxy to you, as spoils."
The pirate laughed, and then the whole room was laughing, and no one believed her. Sani sat down at the head of his table, and took a sip of wine.
Vala arched her neck to whisper in Sam's ear, "Now we can go."
"Now we can go."
"I'm so glad you didn't say anything about being good guys."
"Only a man can sell crap like that."
"And what did you sell?"
"Didn't you see their eyes? All I sold was you." Sam turned and walked out of the banquet hall, not wanting to see Vala's eyes, or the expression they held that echoed that for Vala, wasn't the first time she'd been offered for mere political gain.
* * *
"I like it, you know," Vala said, tossing her shawl onto the mat in their chamber.
"Like what?"
"Using my body."
"What?" Sam knelt to tuck the tube they'd taken from Sani into her case, so she didn't have to look up for Vala's answer.
"When I was a Goa'uld--Or even when I was a little girl--I didn't have control. Any." Vala knelt, forcing Sam to meet her gaze. "Now I do. And it's glorious. The things I can do. I've seduced system lords. I've gotten Daniel to--Well. Sometimes power is the only thing that gets me out of bed in the morning."
"I didn't think much got you out of bed."
Vala grinned. She brushed bangs away from Sam's forehead, and said, "Surely, as a woman, you understand."
"I never really thought about it."
"Earth is such a sad place," Vala said, and leaned in to kiss her. They were both kneeling on the floor, and it was awkward for Sam to pull back.
"Vala!" She wiped at her lips.
"They're probably watching on the security cameras," Vala said.
"That doesn't mean--"
"Of course it does. Our mission is complete. We can't leave until the morning. We might as well enjoy ourselves."
"We could just leave."
"They'd know something was wrong," Vala said. "Besides..." No answer was forthcoming from her lips, so the word, in Vala's heady, alien accent, lingered, echoing in Sam's ears.
She finally asked, "Besides?"
"You want it," Vala said.
"That isn't--"
Vala took Sam's head in her hands and kissed her, hard, pushing Sam onto the mat and straddling her. Sam struggled, pulling at Vala's hands. Vala had startled her; for a moment she couldn't breathe, just floundered as if she were drowning, and then Vala released her and sat up, triumphantly.
Sam panted.
Vala ran a finger across Sam's throat, down between her breasts, over her tunic. She said, "Are you going to say no?"
Sam twisted her hips, sending Vala sprawling onto the mat. She knelt, one knee between Vala's thighs, and said, "In my poor, depraved culture, Vala, we use our bodies for pleasure. Our own pleasure." She ground her knee against Vala.
"Well," Vala said, rolling her head against the mat, "You are the dominant power in the galaxy. I bow to your superiority."
Sam considered the mechanics of removing Vala's dress.
"Just rip it," Vala said.
"I can't--"
"It's practically paper. Come on!"
Sam took the bodice of Vala's gown in her hands and tore. The fabric came apart in her hands. She asked, "How did that stay on?"
"It doesn't matter," Vala said. Her breasts were bared to Sam's gaze. Sam covered them with her hands, and squeezed. Vala bucked underneath her. Sam let go and pulled off her tunic. She let Vala pull her down by her shoulders, until she was pressed against Vala, breast to breast, abdomen to abdomen, legs entangled.
She kissed Vala, opening her mouth to Vala's urgent, seeking tongue, letting Vala pull her hair. Vala had been right; her lust had not gone away in the intervening hours since Vala had touched her. She wouldn't last the night without touching Vala, without Vala's hand, yes, there, sliding under the waistband of her pants to squeeze her ass.
Vala was regaining control with each brush of their lips, with each caress of her hand. The way she must with any partner, to stay alive. Sam crawled backwards, and took the hem of Vala's dress and tore it, from knee to waist. Vala smiled at her, and stretched her hands over her head, to arch invitingly, nipples straining, belly concave. Sam, giving into temptation, licked Vala's stomach. Vala hissed. Sam kissed her way down Vala, pausing to nuzzle her thigh. Vala's hands settled in her hair, just stroking the strands, fingertips gently brushing her temples.
Sam held Vala's thighs apart and kissed her. Her tongue snaked across Vala's core, flicking at the swelling she found, tasting the wetness, dipping between folds. Vala let out a cry to shake the mothership before Sam had even settled in. She worked two fingers inside Vala, and pressed firmly with her tongue, not teasing, just giving as much as she had, her back straining.
Vala screamed, and pulled Sam's hair so hard her head ached, and then let her go and fell back, panting. "Stop," she begged.
Sam stopped, and crawled up to kneel over Vala's body, not touching her.
Vala opened her eyes and said, "Not what I was expecting."
"Did you think I'd be shy?"
Vala cupped Sam's face, and said, "A little."
"I've been traveling through the gate for ten years," Sam said.
Vala grinned. She said, "So you wanted to come on this mission after all."
"I always make the best use of...the time I have."
Vala nodded. She lifted her chin and kissed Sam, lingering to taste herself on Sam's lips, and then fell back. She said, "I'm recovered now."
Sam raised her eyebrows.
Vala pushed at Sam's shoulder. Sam dutifully rolled onto her side, and Vala propped herself up on her right elbow to face her. She said, "Tau'ri. So methodical. Suns are dying, Sam. By themselves!" She kissed Sam's mouth, and then her forehead, and then her nose, and moved to half-straddle her, still mostly on her side. She unbuttoned Sam's pants with her left hand and reached inside.
Sam groaned.
"My God," Vala said. "Your self-restraint is admirable."
"You have no idea," Sam managed, before Vala's fingers began to stroke her. She bit her lip, moving against Vala's hand, her eyes squeezed shut. She convulsed, shuddering against Vala, who clung to her until she stopped shaking, and kissed her eyelids.
Sam inhaled deeply, and rolled onto her back. The ceiling, she decided, was beautiful.
"Well. When do we go again?" Vala asked.
Sam closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep.
* * *
Landry was waiting for them at the end of the ramp. Sam offered him the tube.
"Go well?" he asked.
"Just as planned. Sani slipped us the information. I checked last night. It's all there."
Vala slapped Sam's ass. Sam sighed.
"I trust everything will be in your reports?" Landry asked.
"Not everything," Vala purred, and walked past them toward the doors.
Sam said, "It was a fun trip, sir." She rolled her eyes.
"I'll bet." He clapped her on the shoulder and said, "Take a shower. And a nap. And burn that tunic."
END
