Disclaimer - I do not own or operate any of the characters and events portrayed on Stargate SG1 and no money changes hands. I wish!

-Beauty-

Chapter 1 - Stranger In A Strange Land

"Christ!"

Jack O'Neill came to with a start. His head felt like it was splitting in two and his gut felt like he had been on a three day Indian bender. Sweat poured from his temple and he fought the urge to lie back down while he assessed his surroundings. He remembered the first few times he had been through the Stargate. It'd been like a roller coaster ride mixed with a really good spinning around in place. Carter had done... something scientific sounding and the ride had become a lot smoother. The feeling he had now was like the old days, but amplified by about ten times.

Jack went through his mental checklist of things to do when waking up on a strange world. Number one was always finding the other members of SG1. Number two was if they or he were in any immediate danger and number three would be to figure out just where they were in relation to the Stargate. Jack took a few deep breaths to try and stop the spinning in his head and looked around carefully. He had been lying on a thick bed of straw and he could see bars from where he was.

Not good.

"Carter?" Jack croaked. He desperately needed water and felt for his canteen. It wasn't there. His fingers automatically checked for his weapon next and he found that to be missing also. So was his GDO and walkie. Stripped of equipment and seemingly in a cage of some sort the roiling in his stomach got a little worse. His only hope would be that the others weren't in the same predicament and could bust his arse out. He looked around again and could see a booted foot sticking up out of the straw. He crawled carefully over to it and saw it was attached to a leg and then to the rest of Samantha Carter, laying face down. Jack shook her foot, knowing that Sam would usually come up from unconsciousness swinging or biting from experience. He heard her groan and sighed in relief. "Carter!" He barked.

"Sir?" Sam rolled over slowly and groaned again. "Oh god." She sighed, pressing her fists into her eyes. "I feel like I've thrown up inside my head."

Jack grimaced at the imagery but was reassured that it was the same old Carter. He pulled himself up so that they were face to face. He didn't trust sitting up yet and was propped on his elbows. Carter regarded him. She was deathly pale, but Jack figured he would look just as bad, or worse considering the way he was feeling. "Daniel? Teal'c?" Carter asked.

Jack sat up slowly, the sick feeling in his head slowly receding and looked around the cell they were in properly. At first he didn't see anyone else but then he noticed that there was another cell right next to theirs and he could see just barely what looked to be Daniel lying prone on his back. Jack crawled over to the bars, not trusting his legs just yet and could hear the rustling of Sam doing the same. They both reached the bars to the adjoining cell at the same time. "Daniel?" Jack whispered harshly, not really wanting to draw the attention of whoever had put them in the cells to their conscious state just yet until they could formulate some kind of plan of escape or attack. He heard Sam make a small noise and he looked at her. What little colour she had had drained out of her face. He looked back at Daniel and saw what had distressed her. There was a splash of deep crimson across Daniel's temple and pooled in one eye and he hadn't responded to his name at all. "Daniel!" Jack barked a little louder, using the tone he had adopted to rouse Daniel out of sleep when he was being stubborn about waking up on missions.

There was no response.

Jack used the bars to pull himself to his feet, hoping that Teal'c would be in the cell with Daniel. Sam was reaching through the bars, her fingers mere inches away from the unmoving archeologist. She grunted in frustration. Jack couldn't spot the large Jaffa but risked calling his name anyway. "Teal'c!" He no longer cared if anyone heard. It was more important for them to be able to tend to Daniel. For all they knew, he was bleeding out, just out of their grasp. Getting no response, Jack dropped to his stomach and tried Sam's approach, reaching for Daniel in the next cell. His arms were longer but his fingers could just brush the material of Daniel's jacket and no matter how hard he strained, he couldn't get any kind of grip at all. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stir and looked around, knowing they were being watched.

Two men dressed in simple black stood at the cell bars on the outside, flanking a tall, lean, older man dressed in dark green. Jack wondered vaguely if he were G'ould, but the two obvious bodyguards by his side did not have the familiar tattooed foreheads. He had been watching Jack and Sam strain to reach Daniel with what looked like detached amusement. Jack pulled himself to his feet again and approached the front of the cell. "What the hell is going on?" He demanded. The man merely blinked and looked Jack up and down, making a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Mea Tar." He said and the two men by his side nodded in apparent agreement. Jack sighed heavily. "Ah great, not English and our linguist is out cold." Jack grumbled, his mind repeating the mantra 'not dead not dead not dead'.

The taller man moved to Daniel's cell as Sam came up beside Jack. "Our friend needs medical attention. He's bleeding." Sam hoped that even if they didn't understand her words, they might understand the pleading desperation in her voice. The man was gesturing at the cell and one of the guards opened the door and the two black clad men stepped inside. The man made another gesture and they grabbed Daniel under the arms and hoisted him to his feet. He was still out cold and hung limply between them. The tall man in green walked slowly around the unconscious archeologist, making thoughtful noises. He then stepped forward and pried open one of Daniel's eyes, grunting and smiling.

Jack felt his hackles rise. There was something wrong with this whole situation. His protective instincts were kicking into overdrive. Jack couldn't be one hundred percent sure but he thought he was reading malice and excitement coming off the man in green in waves. The man barked a harsh word that Jack didn't catch and the two men in black roughly stripped Daniel of his jacket and the t-shirt underneath. "Hey goddamit!" Jack cried, throwing himself at the cell wall. He could dimly hear Sam protesting as well but couldn't make out specific words through the red haze of rage that was rising within him.

The man in green was ignoring them both, instead concentrating on poking and prodding Daniel, nodding and smiling. He then jerked his head and the two men in black dragged Daniel out of the cell and down a corridor. Jack kicked the bars in frustration, his steel caps making a hollow ringing noise. Sam had lowered herself back to the floor, holding her head in her hands.

xxxxxxx

"Am I dead... again?"

Daniel had come to slowly to a bright light and a figure leaning over him. The figure was a slim girl with dark hair and snowy white wings. There was a sick pounding in Daniel's head and he vaguely thought it would be unfair to be in heaven, stuck with a hangover. "Not dead." The girl said matter-of-factly and Daniel felt a warm cloth pass across his forehead. Daniel was up on his feet with a start before the girl could react and Daniel fought the urge not to collapse, his body hadn't been ready for the sudden movement. The girl stood slowly, a red stained cloth in her hand and Daniel touched his forehead lightly and then brought his fingers in front of his eyes. They'd touched a tacky wetness and he realised the red stain had to be his blood. His fingers walked over his temple and found the deep gash just above his left eyebrow. He winced when he touched the spot.

"I must fix." The girl said, tapping her own temple.

"I'm sorry, where exactly am I?" Daniel turned about. He was in a simple room with a single bed and a chair. There was a heavy looking door and no windows. It looked as if he was in a slightly upper market cell. Daniel crossed the room, heading for the door but the girl darted in front of him, barring his way. "No, must fix." She said, tapping her temple again. Daniel stopped. "Um, thanks but I need to find my friends. Do you know where they are?" He asked.

"No friends now. Owned." She said, swiping at his head with the cloth. Daniel batted her arm away and stepped sideways, trying for the door again. He reached it successfully and turned the heavy brass knob. Nothing happened. "Okay, let me out of here."

"Can't." The girl said and shrugged. "Now sit. Let me fix." She gestured toward the bed. Hoping to get more out of her by being compliant, Daniel nodded and crossed to the bed, dropping onto it and letting the girl resume her ministrations. He didn't know what was on the cloth she was tending him with but it was sweet smelling and was making the raging headache he had recede to the background. "Look, I really need to find my friends." Daniel began again. The girl's eyes dropped from his temple to his own and a look of consternation crossed her face. "No friends. Owned." She repeated, sighing in exasperation, as if talking to a particularly dense or stupid child. Daniel grasped her wrist, halting her careful tending. "What do you mean by that?" He asked her, worry stirring within him.

"You are owned. No friends. Owner only." She said again, repeating herself slowly. Daniel's grip tightened on her wrist and the girls brow creased in concern.

"I don't really get what you mean, but I'm not 'owned' by anyone and I would have come here with three other people." The seed of worry that had grown within Daniel's mind was working up to a really good fear that something had happened to Jack, Sam and Teal'c. The girl's face cleared though and she nodded. "Woman, older man and scarred belly?" She prompted. Daniel blinked, but then realised that she meant Sam, Jack and the scarred belly had to be Teal'c.

"What's your name?" Daniel prompted, hoping against hope that he could get this girl on side. She was tending to him in a locked room. He was praying that she was a servant that would be permitted to leave the locked room. He doubted he would be able to. "Arie." She replied and then looked to the wrist Daniel had been squeezing tighter without realising it. He dropped her hand with an apologetic smile and she tucked it into her body. Her wings trembled and Daniel realised for the first time that they weren't actually part of a costume she was wearing, they were part of her.

"Arie." He began when he'd partially recovered from the shock that he was looking at a winged human. "I need to find my companions. I need to get out of here."

Arie was shaking her head. "The scarred one has already been placed in the labour pits to be sold. The woman is being assessed and the older man will most likely end up in the labour pits too." She said.

"What do you mean assessed?" Daniel's concern for all three of his companions was equal, but he prompted further information about Carter's fate because the other two were fairly self-explanatory. All he had to do, he mused wryly, was find a way out of the cell he was in, find these 'labour pits' and stage a daring rescue. He wished that Jack were the one in his position. He thought Jack would have probably already found a way out of the room and be on his way to save them all. He just had to get a better idea of where Carter was.

The girl was starting to look worried about the questions she was answering and had stood up. The last thing he wanted was for her to retreat. He stood up with her and captured her hands in his own. "Please. I need to save my friends." He said. Arie looked torn, looking towards the door and back at Daniel. She seemed to come to a decision. "When enslaved you can either be sold as labour or for quick pleasure -" Daniel winced, not wanting to think what that meant "Or as more expensive companion or most valued host." She said.

Daniel felt himself grow cold with her words. "What do you mean by host?" He could guess, but he didn't want to.

"Those that come in ships to buy the prettiest. My master chooses the best and adorns them and those that come in ships pay much." She offered in way of explanation. Daniel felt his heart sink. Obviously this girl's master was dealing humans to the Gou'ld. It seemed slavery was alive and well. Only the best and... something else bothered him. "What do you mean by adorned? Dressed up?"

The girl before him chuckled. "No, no. Adorn." She said and raised her wings.

Daniel blinked at her. "And I am..." He prompted, guessing by the room he was in that he wasn't likely destined for the labour pits. It scared him to think that he might be classed as 'quick pleasure' and he didn't like the sound of that. Arie sighed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I prepare you to be adorned." She said simply. It took a second for Daniel to realise what she meant.

"Wait, you mean ?" He stammered.

Arie was nodding. "Host." She said, touching a palm to his chest.

"Oh crap."