Our Legacy series - Episode tag

Season 10 Episode 9 - Company of Thieves

Episode summary: The Odyssey is captured by the Lucian Alliance. It is severely damaged and is transmitting its position with a subspace beacon, so the leader of the Lucian Alliance group who took the ship, Anateo, brings Sam to the bridge to shut it off, also bringing ship commander Colonel Paul Emerson. Emerson orders Sam not to do it, and he is shot, point blank and without warning. Sam is forced to shut off the beacon, under the threat of further harm to the crew. She is later shown being returned to the cargo bay where the crew are being held, crying, and Major Marks comments that she's been gone for hours. Meanwhile SG-1 have been attempting to locate the Odyssey. Daniel and Vala are captured and brought to the Odyssey. While Sam is still being forced to work on fixing the ship, she managed to open a hatch in the hold so Daniel and Vala can escape. They retake the ship. Meanwhile Mitchell has infiltrated the Lucian Alliance. Teal'c is captured and tortured by the Alliance. Mitchell manipulates the Lucian Alliance into in-fighting, saving the Odyssey from re-capture in the process, and then he and Teal'c escape to the Odyssey. At the end of the episode, Teal'c is in the infirmary due to the injuries he sustained during his torture, and the SGC have officially declared war on the Lucian Alliance.

Author's note: This is part of the Our Legacy 2 Episode Tags series, but as it gets a higher maturity rating, I'm putting it up separately. It's not essential to the progression of that timeline, I don't think I'll be referencing it in any future episode tags/stories. It could almost be a stand-alone, the only way in which it references my altered timeline is that Sam and Jack are married.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters not profit from the use. I merely toy with them for my own amusement.

Content warning: Sam has been raped. This is how she deals with it.

On the long journey as the Odyssey limped home, Sam threw all of her time and energy into fixing the ship. She ignored the shift rotation, working around the clock, stopping only to sleep or to eat the food an exasperated team mate shoved under her nose.

For the most part, the guys kept out of her way. Teal'c was recovering in the infirmary, Mitchell was commanding the Odyssey – at her request; she'd ceded command to him at the first opportunity, and if he'd found it odd he hadn't commented – and Daniel was running interference between all of them and generally agonising over the instigation of yet another war.

Vala, however, was spending most of her time helping Sam. It was touching, really, and in other circumstances Sam would have relished the chance to spend some quality time with Vala while engaged in an activity they'd both find interesting. Right now, however, she just wanted to be left alone to lick her wounds, away from concerned eyes.

With the ship's systems as they were, their journey back was going to take a week.

On the third night, Sam woke from a nightmare screaming.

Before she'd even fully registered that it had just been a dream, the door of her quarters opened and Vala slipped in, shutting the door behind her. She didn't say a word, just climbed right into the bed next to Sam, and wrapped her arms around her.

Sam stiffened, the human contact unexpected and not entirely welcome. Vala didn't let go though, and started stroking Sam's hair, murmuring soothingly in her ear. Her body started to relax, but her breathing became more ragged, and to her horror she started to cry.

An embarrassing few minutes later, she calmed down, and Vala disengaged enough to reach to Sam's nightstand for a tissue. Sam took it with a murmured word of thanks, and covered her whole face with it, taking a deep breath and then mopping at her eyes and nose.

"I don't want to talk about it." She said pre-emptively.

"It might help." Vala said.

"Do you know what happened?" Sam asked, curiosity getting the better of her. Did everyone know? She worried that they did.

"I do."

"How?"

Vala bit her lip and looked away. "A lot of little things. The way you've been acting. Something one of the crew said about how you were gone a long time and then came back crying. And I saw you deleting security footage of the bridge."

Sam winced - she had thought she'd got away clean on that one. She had intended to explain it away as being an unintended side-affect of the way she had de-activated the subspace beacon. She'd started the deleted section at the moment the beacon had switched off.

"Does anyone else know?" She asked, fearing the answer.

"I don't think so."

She sighed in relief. "Ok. I'd like it to stay that way."

"Not even Daniel?"

"Especially not Daniel."

Vala looked a little taken aback, clearly thinking Sam was nuts, but she didn't press the issue.

"You should visit with Teal'c. He's asked after you, and so far I've explained it away as you being really busy fixing the ship, but that's not going to work much longer."

"It's just … if he looks at me, he'll know."

"Would that be the worst thing in the world?" Vala asked, rubbing Sam's back.

"Clearly you've never seen the 'jaffa revenge thing' in action."

"Anateo's dead. I killed him with the wonky transporters. He can't take revenge on a dead man."

"He'll probably transfer it to the whole damn Lucian Alliance."

"Well, if he does, you'll just have to get your husband to reign him in."

Sam felt her eyes tearing up again, and she dropped her head into her arms, resting on her bent knees, feeling defeated.

"It's going to be ok, Samantha."

"You don't understand, Jack gets nervous every time I go on a mission. This is going to make it a hundred times worse."

Vala leaned close again and rested her chin on Sam's shoulder. "I assume this isn't going in your mission report?"

"Of course not, why do you think I deleted the security footage?"

"So … is not telling Jack an option?"

"No." Sam didn't even have to think to answer that one. She wouldn't keep a secret this big from Jack, even if she could – and she was under no illusions that Jack wouldn't know something was up, and he would guess what that something was exactly as Vala had.

Vala sighed. "He'll get over it eventually. You both will."

Sam lifted her head and looked at Vala, wondering suddenly if the other woman had any experience of this herself. Of course, having been possessed by Qetesh was worse than any rape.

"I'll go and see Teal'c tomorrow." Sam said softly.

"Want me to come with you?" Vala asked.

Sam thought for a moment.

"Yes please."

"Good morning, Muscles! Look who I brought to see you." Vala said, bouncing into the infirmary exuberantly. A bit too exuberantly in Sam's opinion – she was overdoing it a bit.

"Hey Teal'c." Sam said, pulling her face into a smile and approaching the bed.

"Colonel Carter." He acknowledged with a smile of his own.

"How are you doing?"

"I am feeling much better. Doctor Ibram says I am healing quickly."

"Tretonin has its perks." Vala commented. "Shame we can't shoot the ship up with some, eh Samantha?"

Sam rolled her eyes and smiled ruefully at Teal'c. "I'm sorry I haven't been by to visit sooner, I've been working on repairs around the clock so we can get the crew home as soon as possible."

"That is quite alright Colonel Carter, I know you have been busy." He turned suddenly to Vala. "Vala Mal Doran, might I have a moment alone with Colonel Carter?"

Vala looked uncomfortable. "Um …" She looked to Sam, who nodded. "Alright. I'll go and continue the hyper-drive repairs."

She jumped up from her seat and left, Sam watching her go with trepidation.

"Is everything alright?" Teal'c asked, his large, warm hand landing atop one of her own on the edge of the mattress.

Her breath caught in her throat. Damn, I knew he'd see through me.

"I'm fine." She said. It sounded unconvincing even to her own ears.

He said nothing, but looked at her, and she marvelled again at this man's ability to pry information from anyone without uttering a word. "Teal'c, you don't need to worry. Vala and I have it under control."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "You experienced a trauma of some kind while the Odyssey was under the control of the Lucian Alliance." He surmised.

There was no point denying it. "Yes. I don't want to talk about it with anyone, but Vala knows, and she's keeping an eye on me. I'm going to be fine." She said the last part tersely, and she wondered who she was trying to convince, Teal'c or herself.

"What did they do to you?" His voice was low and dangerous, and she didn't dare meet his eye, staring instead at his hand covering hers.

"I'd really rather not discuss it."

Teal'c watched her for a long moment, and then growled. That was the only word for it – a deep rumble came from the back of his throat, his hand tightened on hers, and when she looked up in surprise she saw fury smoldering in his dark eyes.

"Does he live?"

She could barely breathe. "Vala killed him."

"Painfully?" He drew the word out to maximum intensity.

"She beamed him into space. He died of exposure. It … it would have been very painful, yes."

"Good."

The pressure on her hand released back to the comforting hold, and she took a deep shuddering breath.

"You won't tell anyone?"

"If that is your wish."

"It could end my career."

"You must tell O'Neill."

"I will. I wouldn't hide something like this from him."

He nodded. "Then I will hold my tongue."

"Thank you." She turned her hand and laced her fingers through his. "I am going to be fine."

"I know you will, Samantha. You have the strength of a true warrior. I have no doubt you will conquer this as you have so many other trials."

Sam got through the rest of the journey home without any further agonising conversations. She hung out with Vala, worked on fixing the ship, visited with Teal'c, and avoided Daniel and Cam.

However, the closer they got to Earth, the more anxious she became, for at the end of the trip she would have to debrief with Generals Landry and O'Neill – confessing to them the tragedy of the circumstances of Colonel Paul Emerson's death and her powerlessness to prevent it – and she would have to face her husband for the first time since Anateo of the Lucian Alliance had raped her on the bridge of her own ship.

A relief crew were beamed aboard, and SG-1 went down to the SGC. Both General Landry and General O'Neill were waiting for them there.

Sam had thought she'd been prepared, but her chest tightened painfully when she laid eyes on Jack, especially with the way he surreptitiously roved his eyes quickly over her body, checking for injury. He wouldn't see any, but that didn't mean it wasn't there.

Vala had hooked her arm casually through Sam's as they appeared in the briefing room, and her grip tightened on Sam's elbow. She felt Teal'c step forward fractionally so she could feel his warmth at her back.

Jack's eyes narrowed, recognising the anxiety in Sam's eyes and the unusual closeness of her two team mates. She straightened, and firmly slid the heavy steel blast door shut on her emotions. For this briefing, she was Lieutenant Colonel Carter. Sam could go to hell.

She maintained perfect professional composure through the debriefing, and was pleased that both Vala and Teal'c seemed to relax their guard in the face of her determined calm. At the meeting's conclusion, she didn't interact with General O'Neill any more than was professionally appropriate, and then headed to the locker rooms with her team. It was late morning on a Sunday, and they were on stand-down until Tuesday.

Vala made an attempt to draw her out in the locker room, but Sam shut her down, and showered and changed in silence. She'd make it up to Vala later, but right now she just wanted to get the hell out of this mountain while her mask was still in place.

She got as far as the parking lot before realising she'd ridden her motorcycle to work when last she'd made the journey, and the mask crumbled completely. She made it to the scant cover of the back of Daniel's car, parked neatly next to her bike, before dropping to the ground and completely breaking down in tears.

"Sam?"

It was Daniel. He rounded the back of the car and looked down at her in alarm where she sat leaning against his car, sobbing into her arms, elbows resting on her knees.

"Sam, what's wrong?"

She took a few deep shuddering breaths, to compose herself enough to speak. "Will you drive me home please?"

He stared at her, concern carving a deep crease between his eyes.

"Of course I will. Come on." He gave her a hand up, and opened the passenger door for her.

Mercifully he didn't press her for an explanation before driving out of the mountain complex, and she had her tears and her frayed nerves back under control before he attempted it again.

When he did ask, it was the same simple question.

"What's wrong?"

For some reason, ever since the attack had happened, the person she had least wanted to tell was Daniel. Vala was almost easy – she was a strong woman like Sam, and understood her on a level that no one else could. Teal'c was a warrior, and had quashed more than his fair share of personal anguish in the name of carrying on the fight, so she was confident he'd let her do likewise. Cameron – although she sincerely hoped he would never find out – would likely hover and fret in a distressing fashion if he knew, but again, like her he was an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, and he would understand the way she chose to deal with it.

Jack was her husband. She needed him to know.

Daniel, on the other hand … this was just another blow he would take, and it would break him that little bit more. She couldn't bear to be the one to do that to him, and nor could she bear the way he would look at her from that moment onwards.

She couldn't tell him.

"They shot Emerson right in front of me. No warning, no ramp up, just …" She shivered in genuine distress at the memory. "I guess I've got a little post-traumatic … whatever."

He winced in sympathy, and reached a hand across to squeeze her knee. She forced herself not to flinch away. It's Daniel, you ass.

"Is that why you were avoiding us all on the ship? And why Vala was hovering around you so much?"

"I guess."

He sighed. "You could have talked to us about it."

"I had a job to do."

"And now?"

"And now … I'm going to have a long, hot bath and go to bed."

"I'm sure Jack will appear when he's done at the mountain."

She nodded listlessly.

"Would you like me to stay with you until he gets home?"

"No, it's ok. Thanks for driving me home, but I think I just want to be alone."

"Ok. If you change your mind, I'm only ten minutes away."

She smiled at him. "Thanks, Daniel."

"Of course."

He pulled up outside her house. "Are you sure you're going to be ok on your own?"

"I'm sure. I'll see you Tuesday."

It was almost 1900 hours when Jack got home. Sam had taken a bath, had an impromptu nap, and then cleaned every inch of her bathroom like a whirling dervish of nervous energy.

At the sound of the front door she jumped up, caught in a moment of warring fear and relief. "Jack?" She called.

"Hey." He called back, sounding exhausted.

She peeled off her rubber gloves and met him in the entrance hall. He reached for her automatically and pulled her into his arms. She tensed in preparation for the expected wave of anxiety that the physical contact would engender, but it never came, and she sagged against him in overwhelming relief.

"What's going on?" He whispered into her hair, and she chuckled mirthlessly that yet another person had seen through her so quickly. She was a lousy actor, it seemed.

"I have to tell you something." She whispered back.

"I'm listening."

She pulled back a few steps. "You should sit down."

"I'm fine right here. What happened?" He was looking her in the eye, and she could see he was already mentally prepared for that same blow that she hadn't been willing to hit Daniel with.

"The Lucian Alliance commander – Anateo – after he killed Colonel Emerson, and after he forced me to disable the Odyssey's beacon …" She choked on the words.

He took a tentative step closed to her.

"He raped me." She inhaled on a sob immediately after the statement, and closed her eyes. It was the first time she'd said it out loud in the week since it had happened.

Jack didn't say anything, but gently pulled her into his arms. She cried a little, predictably, but not in the out-of-control way she'd cried in the parking lot behind Daniel's car earlier. This was more cathartic.

"Who else knows?" Jack asked, an eternity later.

"Vala and Teal'c. No one else."

"Daniel called me earlier. He said you had a little PTSD because of Emerson's death, and that he'd found you crying in the parking lot and had driven you home."

"I couldn't ride my bike. I just – I couldn't."

He groaned and held her tighter. "I'm so sorry, Sam." He sounded broken.

"Don't be sorry for me." She said fiercely. "Just help me get over it."

He turned his face into her neck. "I've got your back, Carter."

She smiled on a sigh, and squeezed him a little tighter. "Thank you."

Sam knew from experience that Jack would be more help than any SGC shrink, and he didn't waste time in proving her right. He did much the same thing he'd done to help her recover after Fifth's torture two years previously. When he could be, he was there in Colorado with her, and when he couldn't get away from DC, he called her twice a day. She kept track of any negative emotional reactions to everyday stimuli, and talked about it all with him.

She also had a feeling that Vala and Teal'c were reporting back to him too, and much as she hated being fussed over, she couldn't begrudge him the extra sets of eyes given how all three of them were aiding her in keeping the attack off of her official record.

They marked milestones. After a week the panic attacks stopped. Ten days after that, she stopped feeling the urge to flinch away when one of her team mates touched her. At that development, Vala and Teal'c stopped hovering, and she started to relax a bit more around Daniel and Cameron, less fearful that they'd figure it out. A couple of days after that she got back on her bike. A week after that she stood in a crowded room, packed in like sardines with her entire body pressed up against the people around her – and felt only the level of uncomfortable annoyance shared by everyone else in the room.

After six weeks she had her first nightmare about something other than the rape. There had been a twisted sense of triumph, as she sat up in bed, sweating and shaking, the awful images still flashing behind her eyes, but relieved enough to laugh out loud at the knowledge that this one event wouldn't be a feature of every nightmare she'd have for the rest of her life.

After two months, at the cabin in Minnesota, fuelled by determination and desperation and worry that she was running out of time to have Beth, Sam had sex with Jack for the first time since the attack. She cried afterwards, but it was mostly relief that she could still enjoy sex with her husband. That Anateo hadn't taken that from her.

At four months, SG-1 were captured on a routine mission, strip searched, and the smirking, spiteful commander of the guard leered at Sam and Vala, trailing fingers down their bodies with lewd comments about his plans for them that night. Sam didn't flinch. She didn't panic. She didn't falter. She stared right back at him with contempt, power in her muscles, and dared him silently to try.

The prison security was laughable, they escaped as soon as they were left in a cell. On the way back to the gate, as they took a moment's rest in the cover of the dense forest, Vala slipped her hand into Sam's. "I'm proud of you." She whispered.

Sam just smiled. She had won.