Tour de Force (1/1)
Tour de Force
Mature
Genre: Het (Daniel/Vala), Slash (Jack/Daniel), Multiples (Jack/Daniel/Vala), Slash (Sam/Vala), Challenge
Episodes: Season Ten or later
Warnings: None
Synopsis: Sam and Vala spend twenty hours trapped aboard an alien ship... how should they pass the time?
Notes: Written for my " A-to-Z Stargate" challenge; campylobacter requested a Sam/Vala story with the prompt "apsis"; also mentions Cam/Teal'c, Sam/Janet, Sam/Heightmeyer, and hints at future entanglements involving any combination of Jack, Daniel, Vala, and Sam :D
Tour de Force
"Oh, thank god."
Vala's eyebrows rose. "Which one?"
"The..." Sam trailed off, shaking her head. "Never mind. The point is, we're heading back the way we came."
The former Goa'uld host hopped off the console she'd been sitting on and came to a stop at Sam's shoulder. "So you've fixed it, then?"
The colonel shook her head, pointing to an algorithm on her laptop screen. "I don't think it was ever broken. If I'm getting this right, this observatory is merely following a pre-programmed route around the sun. Every thirty hours-give or take-it leaves orbit of Stinol and heads out to the edge of the solar system, and passes through the comet cloud before circling back. We just reached the apoapsis-or farthest distance from the orbital focus-and we're now on our way back toward the sun. We'll loop around it, then come back to Stinol in approximately twelve more hours."
Vala rested her hand on her right hip, grinning. "It's a sight-seeing tour?"
"Possibly, but it could also be science vessel, an asteroid mining ship, or even a military patrol ship. We beamed aboard very close to the end of the ten-hour overnight layover at Stinol, but we won't be able to tell the rest of the team where we are until we get back this evening."
"In space, no one can hear you scream," Vala quipped.
Finally able to relax now that the two women were no longer in any immediate danger, Sam laughed. "Let me guess: Teal'c showed you that?"
"Naturally! I thought it was a very sexy movie."
"Alien? I mean, the first time I saw it, I wanted to be Ripley when I grew up, but I never thought of it as 'sexy'."
"What, with all the phallic imagery and creepy alien reproductive techniques?" Vala waved her hand dismissively. "Honestly, you'd think the Goa'uld came up with that movie."
"No, in their version, Ripley would have stayed on board as the alien's love-slave." Sam briefly regretted her flippant reply, but the former Goa'uld sex goddess seemed unperturbed.
"In that case, wouldn't it have spared Lambert, too?" Vala answered, smirking. "Well, all this talk about alien invaders has me curious about the rest of this facility. Surely they wouldn't have spent all twenty hours of the tour cooped up in this little control room, now would they?"
"At the very least, there have to be dining and sanitary facilities," Sam agreed, disconnecting her laptop and putting it on standby mode. After putting everything away in her pack, she clipped the bag and her P90 back onto her vest, then headed for the door leading back to the small receiving area.
When Sam accidentally activated the platform on the surface of Stinol, she and Vala were whisked away to the orbiting observatory by means of transportation technology seemingly half-Asgard beam, half-Ancient rings. There had been multiple doors leading out of the receiving room, but the first one they investigated-the first door to the right-had led to a command station. It was there that they'd discovered they were aboard a spaceship, and that said ship was traveling away from Stinol at a high rate of speed. Granted, it was less than light-speed, but it was still much faster than the Odyssey's sublight engines could manage.
The two women re-entered the receiving room and headed to the next door. It opened smoothly to reveal a curving corridor decorated in a tasteful color scheme. "The power source for this place must be incredible," Sam remarked, eyeing the ornate wall sconces illuminating the hallway. "There's no way to know how long it's been since anyone was here last, but all the lights work, the air is fresh, and there's no dust anywhere."
"So someone could have been here yesterday? Or today?"
Sam shook her head, taking point and moving down the corridor. "Only if they'd come up some way other than the transport platform. From the amount of dust and debris on it, I'd say it had been abandoned for a few centuries, at least... which fits in with what Daniel had learned about the regression Stinolan society experienced."
"And he's still working to find out why it happened," Vala added. "So while he's swapping stories with the local historians and digging through musty libraries, we're exploring-" the end of the hall opened out into a large room "-the hotel bar?"
"Wow," Sam breathed, eyeing the restaurant-like chamber. As Vala noted, there was what looked like a bar along one wall, while the wall opposite their entrance held two curving staircases and several sets of double doors. Tables and chairs were placed at regular intervals, and the final wall was a floor-to-ceiling transparent pane, allowing the diners to watch the shimmering nebula which encompassed the entire solar system. Streaks of ice and dust slid smoothly past the window, indicating the ship was once again passing through the comet belt.
"Ha! And you Tau'ri think your Caribbean cruises are romantic," Vala marveled, walking down the few steps to the dining room floor and crossing to the window. "I bet we find honeymoon suites onboard."
"No bet," Sam declined, making a sweep of the rest of the room. If not for the incredible vista beyond the large viewing pane and the gentle rumble of the ship's engines beneath her boots, she could easily imagine this restaurant in an upscale district back on Earth. "I should have downloaded the schematics while I had my laptop hooked up."
Vala scoffed. "No need for that. Places like this are all the same: ensure the customer's traffic patterns are as dummy-proof as possible, while keeping employee routes short and largely invisible." She pointed to the double doors next to the bar with her right hand. "That's probably the kitchen there." Her left hand swung to point to the wall beneath the stairs. "That's probably a conference room or banquet hall there. Close proximity to the kitchen, and the elevators and stairs are right there."
Sam couldn't fault her logic, but nevertheless felt compelled to walk over to the alleged conference room, push the button to open the door, and take a quick look inside. The tennis court-sized room was devoid of any furniture at all, but it was easy to assume the long-gone hotel staff set out tables and chairs only as needed.
"Told you," Vala grinned, walking up next to her. "I wonder if there's anything still edible in the kitchen?"
Sam blanched. "After a few hundred years?"
"Why not? Everything else is in great shape, so maybe they have some sort of really great food storage system that never lets stuff go bad."
"Well, it's certainly possible... but I think we'll stick with our energy bars and canteens for now... it wouldn't do for either of us to get food poisoning while we're stuck out here."
"Hmm... good point. Regardless, shall we investigate the kitchen?"
They did, and as Vala had predicted, there was a walk-in storage unit which presumably used some sort of stasis field to keep its contents fresh. Between that and the sublight engines, Sam couldn't wait to make her report to General Landry, though she knew she wouldn't get to be part of the science team which would come to study the ship's technology. "I want one of those for my house," she joked, leading the way back out of the kitchen and up the stairs. The upper level of the room contained a stage, several low couches, and an abundance of presumably-artificial plants.
"Ugh, yes. No more tossing-out moldy casserole from Daniel's fridge after a two-hour recon turns into two weeks."
"So you two really are...?"
"Well, yes," Vala replied, looking at her as though Sam had just said something incredibly stupid. "It's not like we go out of our way to advertise that we're together, but I thought you knew."
"But what about General O'Neill?"
"What about him?"
Sam stopped, shook her head, and entered one of the elevators. "Never mind," she sighed. It wasn't any business of hers if Daniel and the general had separated, and it certainly wasn't worth outing her former CO trying to find out. She'd learned on her own that long-distance relationships were nearly-impossible in their line of work, as her brief relationship with Kate Heightmeyer had ended almost before it began. Of course, sleeping with the psychologist who was helping her get through Janet's death hadn't been the best idea anyway...
"Oooooh, you're wondering why I'm sleeping with him instead of General O'Neill!" Vala exclaimed, bouncing off the elevator when it reached what was assumed to be the top deck. "Well, Jack is a sexy beast, but other than the time Daniel was captured by Adria, we don't have sex without Daniel there."
Stopping so abruptly she nearly fell over, Sam spun about to stare at Vala in complete shock. "The three of you?"
Vala rolled her eyes. "Yes, the three of us," she chided. "I invited Cameron to join us once, but Muscles got jealous and sort of loomed. So I asked both of them to join us and Cameron objected. Silly man is afraid Teal'c loves Daniel more than him... which he does, of course, just not like that."
Well, at least she knew about Cam and Teal'c, so that didn't come as a surprise. But if Vala, Daniel, and General O'Neill were sleeping together, and they'd invited Cam and Teal'c... Why hadn't anyone asked her?
Holy Frickin' Hannah, could she get a table for Pity, party of one?
"Oh, look, the honeymoon suite!" Vala exclaimed, opening the door across the hall from the lift.
"Looks like a sitting room."
"It's just the entrance, I'm sure. I mean, you'd want to have some way for room service to leave you post-coital munchies without disturbing your... 'coital', yes?"
Sam rolled her eyes. "Vala, I don't think there's anyone in the universe who thinks the same way you do."
"I'll take that as the compliment I'm certain you meant it to be. Ah! And there's the bridal bedchamber. My, what a lovely bed. Oh, and look at those skylights!" Vala laughed. "I sure hope this ship doesn't offer spacewalk tours, or someone's sure to get an eyeful!"
"Maybe this is the USS Voyeur," Sam joked, knowing Vala had gotten an education in the various Star Treks.
"Certainly would be a rather interesting entry in the entertainment schedule: 1600, shuffleboard... 1700, yoga... 1800, dinner and karaoke... 1900, watch the newlyweds consummate their marriage..."
Sam laughed, shaking her head. "Depending on the couple, that could be... disturbing."
Vala leaned against the wall next to the large window. "And if that couple was, say, me and Daniel?"
A rush of warmth worked its way through Sam as the image rose in her mind, unbidden. She'd seen Daniel naked a dozen times, but never in any context that allowed her to take a moment to admire his long legs, lean muscles, smooth skin... Okay, so maybe she'd noticed after the fact.
And Vala? The way the younger woman strolled around in the women's locker room before and after showering, completely uninhibited by any notion of modesty, it wasn't a stretch at all to picture her naked and sweaty.
But both of them, naked, sweaty, and wrapped around one another? That was just... just... hot.
Vala chuckled, a low, throaty sound that sent a bolt of pleasure straight through Sam's belly. "I thought you wouldn't object." Setting her weapon and pack aside, the brunette began to unzip her vest.
"Newlyweds? You two planning to get married or something?" Sam asked, dry-mouthed as the vest hit the floor. Moments later, Vala's jacket joined it.
"Jack wants us to for the sake of the kids Daniel and I want," Vala purred, propping her right foot up on the plush-looking bed to untie her boot. "I keep saying any children we have will be just fine. Besides, I think he and Daniel should wait until he retires, then have a big gay wedding in Hawaii. Invite the whole SGC."
Almost without thinking of what she was doing, Sam also began removing her gear. "But you'd stay on with them?"
"If we do end up having children, maybe... but then again, maybe not. Depends on what-or who-happens between now and then." Now completely nude, Vala stepped forward and slid her hands beneath Sam's t-shirt, helping her to pull off both it and her sports bra at the same time. Casually tossing the garments aside, Vala traced her thumb over Sam's left nipple, smiling enigmatically at the gasp her touch elicited. Stroking the tightening bud again, she leaned forward to press her lips against Sam's, crushing their breasts together pleasurably.
"I'm happening," Sam murmured, letting her own hands ghost down Vala's spine before skimming around to rest on her slender hips.
"So you are," Vala smiled, fingers tripping down to Sam's belt buckle. "We have less than twelve hours until we're back at Stinol. What say we find out what happens between now and then?"