A WORK OF STARGÅTE SG-1 FAN-FICTION—by Van ©2010
		Chapter 10

STARGÅTE COMMAND

---

Smiling broadly, Hailey entered the Astrophysics Lab carrying a bulging plastic bag bearing the "Toys 'R' Us" logo.  "I found some good stuff!" she beamed.

"Oh, show me–show me–show me!" Janet responded, hopping up and down with girlish glee.  She was still wearing the makeshift bandeau and loincloth of white cotton medical gauze from the clinic.

Hailey carried the bag to the lab table and began removing its contents, one item at a time, and displaying each for the hopping, giggling fairy.  "The Barbie Garden Party Fashion set!" she announced.  The item named was various items of doll clothing mounted behind clear plastic on a rectangle of brightly printed cardboard.  The Lieutenant produced a second set.  "Summer Fun!"  And another.  "Award Show Glamour!"  This was followed by "BBQ Party!" and "Birthday Surprise!"

"They're all beautiful!" Janet sighed.

"A little big, maybe," Hailey conceded, "but we can alter them.  I chose stuff that for the most part was either topless, spaghetti-strap, or halter-top, so it'll be easier to accommodate your wings."  She reached back into the bag.  "There's more!"  This time she produced a box with a plastic window revealing tiny cups, saucers, plates, and other doll-sized tableware.  "The Just-Like-Home Fifty-Piece Deluxe Dining Set!"

"Oooooh, thank you, Jennifer!" Janet giggled, lifted into the air on fluttering wings, hovered close to the Lieutenant, and planted a kiss on the right cheek of her blushing face.

"Uh, you're welcome," Hailey muttered, then pulled out one last card.  It held a tiny brush, comb, and hand mirror  "It was the best grooming set they had, for our purposes.  All the others were made for a kid's hands and were way too big."

Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c watched this display of blissful, feminine consumerism with tolerant smiles.  Hailey had removed the grooming set from its packaging and Janet was running the brush through her auburn locks and admiring herself in the tiny hand mirror.

"Uh, ladies?" O'Neill said.  "Now that the Lieutenant has returned, can we get back to the task at hand?"

"Yes, Jack," Janet cooed.  As she was no longer a Major in the United States Air Force (and was a tiny, winged, pointy-eared fairy), she'd taken to calling the others by their first names—except for General Hammond.  He was still "sir" or "General", never "George".

"What have I missed, sir?" Hailey asked.

"Not a lot," O'Neill sighed.  "Technical Services says it'll be at least ten more hours before the rest of the equipment is ready."  He nodded towards another lab table.  On it were prototypes of the equipment in question.

First was a weapon, essentially, one of the original T.E.R.s that had been supplied by the Tok'ra.  However, a new amplifying module that could be clipped to the user's belt or equipment vest was linked to the T.E.R.'s trans-phase illuminator by a flexible cable.  In addition, the T.E.R.'s plasma beam module had been modified so it could be dialed down to a non-lethal level that would stun rather than kill any attacking fairies.

Next was what amounted to a trans-phase lantern, a globe designed to flood an entire area with the radiation that would reveal any "invisible" fairies.

Last was a compact but powerful version of the "fairy-screen" generator that Hailey had invented.  Its attached cables could be clipped to a net of copper wire to secure a cave entrance or doorway from fairy intrusion.

Hailey was still unwrapping the various Barbie fashion sets and handing the clothing items to Janet, who was holding them against her body and admiring herself in a "giant" mirror propped up on the lab table.  It was a small vanity mirror borrowed from the guest quarters, but to the tiny fey it was the equivalent of full-length.

"Why don't you brief me, Lieutenant," O'Neill suggested (ordered).  "Phase one?"

Hailey straightened the front of her combat uniform blouse and slid into parade rest.  Her boots eighteen inches apart and hands clasped behind her back, she stared straight ahead as she answered.  "Phase one: transit through the stargate with all supplies.  Secure the immediate area, locate a defensible position, and establish a secure base."

O'Neill nodded.  "Phase two?"

"Phase two," Haily responded.  "Reconnaissance.  Locate fairy positions and observe.  Attempt to determine Major Carter's location."

"Phase three?"

"Contact," Hailey said, and nodded at several carefully bundled packages of silk scarves, thin chamois, spools of thread and wire, and other miscellaneous odds and ends on Sam's desk.  "Use 'trade goods' to negotiate for access to Major Carter.  Gain as much intel as possible and look for an opportunity to extract the Major; but act only on your direct orders.  The action code phrase is 'rattlesnake'."

"Phase four?"  O'Neill asked.

Hailey grinned.  "There is no 'phase four', Colonel.  After we make contact... we wing it."

"As always," O'Neill nodded.

"You're leaving out 'Phase two–foxtrot'," Janet said, still admiring herself in the mirror.  "Janet infiltrates the fairies and finds out everything we need to know."

"The General still hasn't given you permission to join the mission," O'Neill reminded the primping fairy.

"Jack," the tiny fey said, smiling sweetly, "if you think I'm going to stay here trying on Barbie outfits while you go after Sam—"

"You'll follow orders," Jack interrupted, "or—Hey!"

Janet had disappeared.  One moment she was there, holding a doll dress against her tiny body—and the next, the dress was falling to the tabletop and she wasn't there.

"I've told you not to do that," O'Neill sighed, rolling his eyes.

Janet reappeared, hovering directly in front of Jack's face.  "Do what?" she inquired, batting her eyes in exaggerated innocence.  She then giggled, settled to his shoulder, and crossed her legs.

"If you keep phase-popping like that," Jack muttered, staring straight ahead, "I'm going to have the Lieutenant rig up another fairy jail."

"Oh, Jack," Janet cooed, leaning to the side and stroking the Colonel's "giant" ear.  "Don't be such a spoilsport."

O'Neill jerked his head away.  "Stop that!" he barked, and glared at his subordinates, "and wipe those smiles off your faces."

"I don't know what you mean," Daniel said, as he concentrated on cleaning his glasses.

"Indeed," Teal'c added, despite the ghost of a smile curling his lips.

Hailey was doing a terrible job of concealing her amusement, but she went to the Colonel's aid.  "Janet," she said in a warning tone, and held out her hands.

Janet giggled, lifted into the air, kissed O'Neill's cheek, then fluttered to Hailey's cupped hands and settled into a graceful semi-lotus.  "Seriously," the tiny fey told O'Neill, "I'm going, like it or not.  You need me.  All I have to do is take off my clothes and I'll blend right in with the Lightlings.  I'll be able to go anywhere.  I might even be able to rescue Sam and get her back to the gate, right off the bat."

"Yes, strip," Daniel agreed, then blushed.  "Uh, not that I want you to strip, or—ahem."  He removed his glasses and started cleaning them, again.  "Uh, I've been meaning to ask you," he muttered, "why?  Why the nudity, I mean."

Janet smiled at the still blushing archeologist.  "Well, Doctor," she purred, "to satisfy your academic curiosity, no fairy wears clothing during the Great Hunt.  It's the law."

"What could be more logical?" Hailey chuckled.  Like Janet, she was enjoying Daniel's embarrassment.

O'Neill was enjoying the situation, as well, but he had to maintain his authority.  He glared at the tiny fairy smiling back at him from Hailey's hands.  "Anyway, I'm not taking you through the stargate if you can't follow orders and continue to pop in and out of phase and flitter around like... like..."

"Like a fairy?" Hailey suggested, smiling at her CO.

"Watch it, Lieutenant," O'Neill growled, but the smile curling his lips defused the warning.

"Jack," Janet said, "in all seriousness...  You need me.  And you need to tell the General to let me go."

O'Neill sighed, then nodded.  "I've already told him I want you along," he admitted, "several times."

Janet gasped and tilted her head in a display of mock petulance.  "Well, why didn't you say so?"

"And what would be the fun in that?" O'Neill grinned.  "Besides, it's manifestly obvious that we do need you.  Who else is gonna be able to restore the Major to her normal size?"

"Oh!" Hailey gasped.  "I need to pack a uniform for the Major!"

"No need to over-pack," O'Neill shrugged.  "This is a combat mission."

"Colonel!" Hailey and Janet scolded.  Teal'c and Daniel merely smiled.

Hailey's lips curled in an unmistakably mischievous smile.  "I suppose if we can't restore Major Carter to her former, statuesque self, I could special order her some 'Air Force Barbie' outfits."

Daniel, Teal'c, and Janet laughed, but this time O'Neill did manage to mask his amusement.  "Let's hope that isn't necessary," he intoned.  "Now, everybody back to work, and I'll go respectfully remind the General that he owes me a decision."

"Yes, sir," Hailey said, carrying Janet back to the doll clothing cluttered lab table.

"I'll go see how Anise, Felger, and the techies are doing with the rest of our equipment." Daniel said, and headed for the door.

"I shall be in the gym," Teal'c announced, and followed Daniel.

O'Neill watched them depart, then focused on Hailey and Janet.  He couldn't help but smile.  The diminutive, blond Lieutenant looked like a girl playing dress-up with her doll, only the doll in question was playing, as well.  It was clear SG-1, himself included, had already accepted Janet—Janet the tiny, winged fairy—as a coequal member of the team.  He suspected George Hammond felt the same way, but only he knew what pressures were being brought to bear by the I.O.C., the Pentagon, and Area 51.  No doubt they all wanted a chance to study Janet and her "fey powers".
 
Jack shook his head and headed for the door.  There was no way he was going to let Janet disappear into an Area 51 lab, never to return.  His features were grim as he strode towards the elevator.  There was also no way he was going to let Sam remain a prisoner on the "Fey World".

THE FEY WORLD

---

Sam watched as the fairies discussed this new development, that the 'Machine of Life' was making a 'huge egg'.

"The Snake-Lady slaves will be Biglings?" one of the Darklings demanded, shaking her head.

"We can't have Bigling servants blundering around," a Lightling added, "can we?"

"The Machine of Life knows what it is doing," intoned another Lightling.

"Of course it does!" a Darkling huffed, "but you'd think it would tell us when it decides to change The Plan."

"We don't know that it has changed The Plan," a Lightling responded.  "We just know that the egg is huge."

Sam was attempting to follow the discussion, but it was difficult.  It was hardly news that the Janet-fairies knew a great deal more about the Fey World than she did.  After all, she didn't know anything beyond what she'd actually seen since being kidnapped and brought here.  It was clear that whatever had made the Janets—the "Machine of Life"—had given them some special knowledge, and until Sam learned more, all their discussions would make only limited sense.

"We should go and see what is happening," a Darkling suggested, and this was met with general agreement.

"Ready the transport net!" a Lightling ordered.

"No," a Darkling objected.  "We have ordered the trolls to construct something better, and it should be ready."  She gestured to one of her Dark Sisters and she nodded and fluttered away.

"Construct something better?" the Lightling demanded.  "The trolls should be busy improving the kitchens and workshops.  You have wasted their time with Dark tasks during the Great Hunt?"

"Don't be silly," the Darkling purred.  "The Elemental Machines are producing tools and teaching the trolls, as is The Plan.  But what better way for them to learn how to build... than to build?"

"You haven't won the Great Hunt, yet," the Lightling warned.

"I don't know what you mean?" the Darkling answered, the very picture of innocence.  "We act for the good of all."  She looked in the direction her Sister had flown, smiled, and made a grand gesture.  "Behold: The Queen's Star!"

Sam watched as five Felger-trolls carried something towards the group.  It appeared to be a light wooden framework of some kind.  As they came closer, the trolls tilted their burden and she could make out more detail.

Basically, it was a circular hoop, between six and seven feet in diameter—meaning six or seven feet on the fairy scale. Five straight arms met near the hoop's center, like spokes of a wheel, but they didn't form a true pentacle.  The origin points were all evenly spaced along the hoop, but the lower two arms met the vertical arm about a foot below the hoop's center, and the other two arms met it about a foot above.  It was like a stick figure, a primitive caricature of a spreadeagled human body inside a circle.  All elements were crafted of polished, rounded wood, no more than two to three inches in cross section.  The outer hoop was a uniform ring; however, the interior arms were bent, curved, and gracefully flared in various places.  Sam realized they were sculpted to follow the curves of the torso and limbs of an outstretched human form, and—

The truth dawned.

"No!" Sam huffed, shaking her head.  "You're not tying me to that thing!"  She balled her hands into fists and prepared to fight—but her handlers pulled on her wrist-bonds, they snapped taut, and she was helpless.  "No!"  Her ankle bonds were pulled taut, as well, and she couldn't even kick.

A dozen laughing, giggling Darklings grabbed Sam's squirming, struggling body, carried her to the "Star", and stretched her against the interior frame.  The Felger-trolls held the rim steady and watched with leering grins as the pale, raven-haired fey used thin cords to lash her in place.

The assembled Lightlings and Hailey-fairies crowded around and watched the process with mildly annoyed expressions and innocent, wide-eyed awe, respectively.

"No!" Sam continued to object.  "Let me go—Nrrrf!"

"Temper, temper, my Queen," a Darkling cooed as she crammed a silk wad in Sam's mouth and tied a cleave-gag to hold it in place.  "You know we must keep you safely bound.  It is the law."

"It is the law!" the fairies chanted, including the Hailey-fey.

"It is a clever design," a Lightling conceded, "light and easy to handle.  Better than the net."  Several other Lightlings nodded in agreement.

"The positions of the lashing points are carefully chosen," A Darkling explained, "as is the placement of the areas that support and protect the Queen's pressure points."

Sam continued to squirm and mewl through her gag, but her struggles grew weaker and weaker as a net-like web of cordage tightened around her outstretched form.  There were pads of rounded wood under her butt-cheeks, at the small of her back, and behind her shoulder-blades, but mostly her ever more elaborate bonds were what was supporting her body and holding her in place.

"M'mmmfh!"

Loops of cord was tightened around her breasts, lashing her upper torso down and causing the firm, tan globes to bulge.

"The nipples?" a Darkling suggested in a whisper.

"Perhaps later," another purred.  She seemed to be the one in charge.  She locked eyes with Sam and her smile turned truly evil.  "Bind the Queen's pussy," she ordered.

"Nrr—RRRF!"

Sam shivered in her bonds as fairy fingers gently pinched her labia and stretched them to either side.  Cords tightened and were lashed through her crotch and to the frame, taking over the job of parting Sam's labia and holding her most intimate anatomy wide open.

"M'mmf!" she complained, again, as a knotted band of cord was tugged between the parted labia, snugged tight, and tied off to a cord lashing her waist to the frame.  More adjustments were made, and the cordage formerly parting her nether-lips tightened and now held them closed over the braided invader.   It wasn't painful, but it was cruel... and humiliating.

"Fingers and toes?" A Darkling suggested.

The Darkling-in-charge shook her head.  "It will be easier for the Hailey-fairies to lick and suck the Queen's extremities if they are not bound... the fingers and toes, I mean, not the Haileys."  She reached out and combed her fingers through Sam's short, tousled, blond locks.  "We could bind your head to the frame, Zam," she explained, "with cords across your forehead, reinforcing your gag, and hitched under your chin, for added security... but not this time."  She kissed Sam's gagged mouth.  "After the triumph of the Dark, we shall order the Felger-trolls to make you a Star of metal, with manacles and thin wire to bind your limbs.  And wait until you behold The Throne of Darkness, my Queen."  She continued gently combing Sam's hair.  "It shall have many wonderful attachments and accessories, and—"

"Ahem!"  It was one of the Lightlings, a wry smile was curling her lips and dimpling her cheeks.  "Best not to tease our Queen with your Dark Nonsense before the issue of her fate is decided, don't you agree?"

The Darkling favored her Light Sister with a mildly annoyed expression.  "Very well.  To the Machine of Life!"

"To the Machine of Life!" the fairies chanted.

A dozen Janets grabbed the hoop of the "Star" and lifted Sam from the Felger-trolls' grasp with no difficulty.  The brown, shaggy trolls watched with sad pouts as the entire fairy host, Lightlings, Darklings, and Haileys, carried the Queen—their beautiful, beautiful Queen—across the pool and down a wide, Bigling-sized corridor.

And then they were gone... she was gone.

The Felger-trolls sighed, then shambled back to the ever-growing labyrinth of workshops their kind were establishing among the side-chambers and tunnels of the vast Temple complex.

Dim light from what appeared to be light tunnels blinked by overhead as Sam and the fairies zoomed down the otherwise dark corridor.  They were holding Sam's "Star" framework slightly reclined from the vertical, and the wind whistled past her skin and fluttered her hair as they flew.  Far ahead, she could see flickers and flashes in all the colors of the rainbow.  The light-show grew in intensity as they approached—and then zoomed into a cavernous space nearly as large as the area under the Temple's main dome.

Sam's eyes popped wide above her gag.  In the center of the rough-hewn chamber was a colossal pyramid of Goa'uld control crystals.  To a Bigling, the complex structure would have been the size of an office building.  To Sam and the fairies... it was a small mountain!  The smallest of the crystals were the size of a fairy, a size the Bigling version of Sam would have considered to be typical.  However, the largest crystals were something like two meters in length, taller than the average Bigling, and this was something Sam had never seen before.

The crystals flickered and glowed in complex patterns, and as Sam stared at the tiers of glowing crystals, she began to perceive patterns—here, a tendril of violet fire that rippled across the entire array—there, a double helix of green, blue, red, and yellow light that spiraled around the pyramid's sloping perimeter like a garland on a Christmas tree.

The chamber was silent.  There was no sound, other than the flutter of fairy wings—or was there?  A voice seemed to be whispering in her ear... or was it just noise?  Perhaps it was a trick of the wind whistling down the corridor.

"Sam."

Sam shook her head and blinked.  Now she was sure a voice had whispered her name, and it was her father!

"Sam."

No, it was Jack's voice and her father's voice, one layered over the other.

"Be brave, Sam," the voice continued.  "I know this is a mistake.  I shall fix it.  Be brave."

"Mrrmfh?"

"It is the Machine of Life," a Darkling whispered in Sam's ear, pointing at the glimmering mountain.  "Is it not beautiful?"

"They cannot hear me, Sam," the whispering voice continued.  "I do not choose to speak to the Light-Dark-Janets at this time.  Be brave in the face of what is to come."

Sam continued to stare at the vast light-show.  Is the voice in my head? she wondered.  Who is it?  Is the pyramid, itself, talking to me?

"Look, the egg!" a fairy gasped, and Sam's frame was turned to one side.

Sam tore her eyes from the Machine of Life, and gasped through her gag.  The egg was dimpled and green, like an enormous avocado, and it was, indeed, the size of a Bigling.  It rested on the floor of the cavern, several meters from the base of the crystal pyramid.

"It's huge!" a Lightling cried.

"Did you think we were lying?" a Darkling and Lightling demanded, in unison.  Apparently, they were the pair that had brought the original news of the egg's appearance to the feasting host.

"No, no," the Lightling said, bowing in apology, "it's just... it's huge!"

Several Janet-fairies and all the Haileys nodded in agreement.

"Over here," a Lightling said, pointing to one side.

Sam and her "Star" were carried to the indicated spot and propped against a pair of boulders protruding from the rough stone floor.  The host settled around her, sitting on other boulders or reclining on the floor, itself.

"We shall wait for the Snake-Lady-slave to hatch, and see what we shall see," a Darkling announced.

"Why not?" a Lightling agreed, stretching and yawning.

The Darkling smiled at Sam.  "Hmm... What should we do while we wait?" she purred, then her smile turned evil.  "I know!"  She went from Hailey-fairy to Hailey-fairy, pulling them to their feet and whispering in their ears.  The Haileys all stared at Sam, smiling, their eyes wide... then, one by one, they began pattering in her direction.

Sam squirmed and tugged on her bonds, but it was hopeless, as always.

"M'mmmpfh!"

A Hailey was sucking on the toes of her right foot!  Another started sucking on the fingers of her left hand!

"Nrrrfh!"

A pair of Haileys were kissing her rope-framed breasts and licking her nipples.  More and more of the Haileys joined the "party".

Not again!  Sam tugged on her bonds.  Her eyes were welling, but another pair of Haileys were licking away her tears as quickly as they appeared.  Please... I'm tired.  Sam stopped struggling and shivered in her bonds as the Hailey's tongues sucked and lapped.  They were licking her corded, cleaved pussy, as well, and one of the little vixens was tugging on her pubic hair with her lips.

Sam lay in her bonds and tried to relax... but it was impossible.  She could tell that probably, eventually, she'd cum... again.

I'm getting used to this, Sam realized.  They're breaking me.  I'm getting used to this and they're breaking me... and licking me.

Sam closed her eyes, shivered, wiggled in her bonds, and endured.

Time passed.

Sam had managed to cum, but it was hardly her most thrilling orgasm of the day... or of the last several hours... or however long it had been since her fairy lovers—Captors, Sam reminded herself, my captors!—since her fairy captors had brought her to the Fey World.  After all, her pussy was still bound with cord... and she was tired.

The giant Machine of Life continued to flicker, casting eerie, ever-changing, multi-colored shadows across the cavern walls and the green egg.  Most of the fairies were fast asleep, including all the Haileys.  Apparently, licking The Queen until she came was exhausting work.

Sam lifted her head and gazed at the sprawl of naked, winged, pointy-eared fey.  Despite her captivity, despite the aches growing in her pinioned body, she felt a thrill of affection for all of them.  After all, the Darklings and Lightlings were Janet.  And the Haileys were... Hailey... after a fashion.

One of the lounging Lightlings not asleep noticed that Sam was awake, and smiled.  The thrill rippled through Sam, again.  The naked creature was smiling with Janet's dimpled, incredibly cute smile.

Suddenly, Sam noticed movement from the corner of her eye, and it was the egg!  It was rocking back and forth.  At first, the motion was barely noticeable, but, as time passed, it became quite noticeable, almost violent.

By this time, all the fairies were awake.  The Janets were sitting in groups, often arm in arm, and were watching the egg.  The Haileys remained clustered around Sam and her "Star".  Wide-eyed, they huddled together.  Several were resting their pale hands on some part of Sam's lower anatomy, as if hoping that somehow she would protect them.

Sam craned her head and looked down at the cowering, blond fairies that so recently had been licking her to the point of distraction.  And how exactly am I supposed to protect anything? she wondered.

Then, with an audible snap, a crack appeared in the egg!  The fairies gasped as the crack grew... and branched... and continued to grow.  The egg slumped, slightly, as the shell splintered.  Liquid oozed from between the splinters, and then—a long, reptilian claw appeared!  More shell fell away, and the claw became a hand, a huge, scaly, greenish-gold hand!

And then—the shell and huge droplets of fluid exploded in all directions, revealing—A DRAGON!

It had bat-like wings, a long neck, and an equally long tail, and it was a dragon—like the transformed Evil Queen from the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty, or Smaug from Tolkein's Hobbit, or the monsters from any one of the seemingly endless series of crappy dragon movies that aired on the SyFy channel—A DRAGON!

Its scales were a pale gold with a greenish tint.  Its eyes were gold, as well, with slit-like, vertical pupils.  Its elongated, lizard-like mouth was full of pointed, dagger-like, ivory teeth, and long, needle-sharp talons tipped its surprisingly human-like hands and feet!

The dragon shook out its wings and stretched its long neck and tail.  Then, it put its head back, opened its jaws, and roared!  "GO AWAAAAAY!"

The fairies screamed and jumped to their feet.

"GO AWAY!" the dragon roared, again.  "GO—NOOOW!"

The Janets lunged for Sam's frame, but the dragon was quicker.  It scrambled forward several thundering paces, reached out, and grabbed the hoop of the Star, hooking it with two claws.  "THE QUEEN IS MINE!" the dragon roared.  With Sam and the Star in its scaly right hand, it grabbed a Hailey-fairy with its left, then lumbered away down the corridor, towards the main dome.

The Janets followed, but could do nothing.  Sam and her frame were facing backwards, and she watched the dismayed Darklings and Lightlings flutter behind the dragon's lumbering hind feet and swinging tail.  They were just managing to keep up, but what could they do?  It was a dragon!  A giant, scaly, winged dragon!

The flickering light of the machine of Life faded into the distance as the dragon lumbered down the corridor.  Its loosely folded, leathery wings fluttered and shook, like the luffing sails of a schooner.  Whatever egg fluid remained was drying, rapidly.

They emerged from the corridor and were under the main dome.  The dragon stretched its leathery wings full-length, and launched itself into the air.

Sam screamed through her gag as the beast reached the largest of the dome's cupolas with three massive beats of its wings.  She heard a high-pitched, un-gagged scream, and swiveled her head.  The Hailey-fey was still clutched in the dragon's left hand, the giant reptile's fingers and talons forming a cage.  The poor little blond was terrified, and Sam could do nothing to help her.

The dragon tucked its wings as it neared the dome, but its momentum was enough to carry it through the cupola's arched window.  It spread its wings, again, and, with a dozen rapid beats, surged upwards until the Temple was far below.  It hovered in place for several seconds, turning in a slow circle.

Sam looked down.  The pursuing fairies were only just now emerging from the cupola.  From this height they looked like a milling swarm of insects.

Apparently having chosen its destination, the dragon started flying with strong, even strokes, continuing to gain altitude.

The sun was beginning to rise, and the yellow dawn played across the mammoth beast's golden scales with scintillating, greenish flashes.  With a deft manipulation of its taloned fingers, it spun Sam's frame around so she was facing forward.  She could see a distinctive peak in the mountains, far ahead.  It was shaped like a cluster of sharp daggers, with its central peak ringed by a tilting spiral of pale rock.  The direct sun touched the peak, and the spiral flashed a milky pink, like quartz reflecting the morning light.

Sam glanced to the side, at her fellow prisoner.  The Hailey appeared to have calmed herself, but she was still very frightened.  She stared at Sam between the dragon's talons, her eyes wide and her long, blond hair fluttering like a silk banner.  Sam sent her a reassuring wink, but the distance might have been too great for the expression to carry.

They were traveling several times faster than Sam had ever seen a Janet or Hailey-fairy fly.  She shivered in her bonds.  The air was cold at this altitude.  Her captor—her latest captor—alternated soaring glides with rapid flaps of its massive wings.

Its beautiful, Sam thought, despite her current circumstances.  The dragon is beautiful.

Her short hair fluttering in the cold, stiff breeze, Sam continued to shiver.  If this kept up, she knew she was in for a case of hypothermia.

Kidnapped by fairies, she mused, and now, kidnapped by a dragon!  There's never a Prince Charming around when you really need one.

STARGÅTE COMMAND

---

Colonel O'Neill watched his team make their final preparations.  SG-1—Teal'c, Daniel, and (temporarily) Lieutenant Hailey—was augmented by the Marines of SG-3, Major Warren and his three subordinates.  One of them was new, a female Lieutenant with red hair and a light dusting of freckles across her cheeks and nose.  Her name was Laura Cadman, and although Jack hadn't had a chance to do more than glance at her file, Warren spoke highly of her, and that was good enough.

Rounding out the mission was Doctor Keller, who would be providing medical support.  The diminutive civilian looked slightly uncomfortable in her newly issued Air Force combat uniform, equipment vest, boots, soft cap, and bulging, fifty-pound pack.  Hers was a light burden, compared to the full combat load of the members of the two SG-teams (including the diminutive Hailey), but she wasn't in the same shape as the Zoomies, Jarheads, Teal'c (the former First Prime), or Daniel (a.k.a. "Indiana Jackson, Space Monkey").

With the exception of Doctor Keller, all were armed with the modified T.E.R.s, zats, and at least one weapon of earthly origin that was holstered on their hips or slung beside their packs.

The gate activity alarm sounded, the red warning lights began flashing, and the stargate's outer ring began to turn.

"Okay, people!" O'Neill said in his command voice.  He focused on Warren and SG-3.  "You ready, Major?" he inquired (unnecessarily).

"Yes, Colonel," he answered.  "Marines?"

"Oorah!" his team responded, as one.

"SG-1?"

"Ready, sir!" Hailey answered.  Teal'c and Daniel merely nodded.

"How 'bout you, Doc?" O'Neill inquired in a more conversational tone.

"Yep—erp—I mean, yes, sir," Keller responded, with a dimpled, somewhat nervous grin.

O'Neill suppressed a smile.  He wasn't really sure he wanted the Doctor along on this mission.  It would be her very first trip through the stargate.  But, she'd insisted, Hammond had approved, and he'd finally relented.

Just then, Janet Fraiser popped into phase, hovering near O'Neill's face.  She was wearing another makeshift bandeau and loincloth outfit, but this one had been cut from a silk scarf printed in a mottled riot of forest colors.  She presented about as martial an appearance as could be expected from a tiny, semi-naked, incredibly cute, hovering fairy.

"Oh, good," Warren muttered.  "The air support has arrived."

All present laughed, including Janet.  Then, the tiny fey zoomed to Warren, leaned close, and planted a kiss on his cheek.  "I've been here all along, silly," she cooed, and zoomed back to hover beside O'Neill.

The final chevron locked, the stargate swooshed, and then settled into the rippling plane of the event horizon.  As always, it looked like a vertical pool of water lit from behind by a blue light.

"Colonel O'Neill!"  It was General Hammond, speaking from the control room.

O'Neill turned to face the control room window and rendered a smart salute.  "Sir!"

Hammond returned the salute.  "Go get Major Carter!" he ordered.  "Godspeed, people!"

O'Neill nodded, then turned to face the gate.  "Follow me!" he said, and the rescue mission clattered up the ramp, T.E.R.s at the ready, with Doctor Keller bringing up the rear.

They crossed the event horizon, one-by-one or in pairs... and were gone.