Compliments and Gauntlets

Hathor

"You are an exceedingly beautiful woman."

"Thank you. So are you."

It's funny how some things don't strike you until later.

The 'exchange of compliments' seemed friendly enough at the time to my drug-hazed mind. The woman we were infatuated with was getting on well with our team mate. Getting along in a frosty I-really-don't-like-you-but-I'll-be-polite-because-they-said-I-should kind of way, but still getting along.

It was only after a few more months of knowing Carter that I realised what had happened at that moment was not about exchanging pleasantries. It was an exchange of gauntlets; the challenge of one woman's 'territory' by another.

Never make the mistake of thinking women aren't territorial; they are, in a different way to guys. Case in point: ever seen a drunken woman yanked off the guy she's just draped herself over by a furious girlfriend?

Say bye-bye to your men, darling! Hathor purred. They're mine now!

Keep your grubby paws off my guys, snake! Carter returned.

As it turned out, Hathor didn't need skin contact to get her little Goa'uld hooks into our minds. She did quite well with merely a breath of…that stuff she gave off. Those chemicals: pheromones, sodium pento-waffle and what have you.

I shudder to think of how it would have turned out if not for Carter, Doc Fraiser and the other women on base. With a little help from Teal'c and me, of course. Still…it puts a whole new spin on 'reasons for including women in front-line units'. After that incident, we made sure a few more women got assigned to the SGC - just in case another sex-goddess ended up strutting her stuff through the SGC to the tune of a hundred adoring men.

It occurs to me that Carter has her own set of 'pheromones' she gives out. Maybe nothing as crass as sodium pento-waffle, but certainly a charm to rival the redheaded snake. Not predatory, of course, or the SGC would be in big trouble - but just look at the way the alien guys react to her! First that Shavadai kid, then the Turgid-guy he sold her to, then Narim of the Tollan and the snakehead Martouf.

Heck, you only have to look at the way the guys on base react to her. One of the kid lieutenants - dunno his name - goes into a tailspin every time she's in the control room. I'll bet Siler is quietly of the belief that Carter can fix anything. As for Hammond, well, can anyone say 'Uncle George'?

Then there are the scientist-nerd types who drool every time she walks into the main labs. Of course, they don't get out very much and unleashing Carter's smile on them is like shooting fish in a barrel. No sport at all and you gotta feel just little bit sorry for the fish.

And of course, there's us - SG-1, her teammates and friends.

Danny-boy adores her. Of course, having someone who actually understands what you're talking about is always a bonus and there aren't too many people who think like Daniel and Carter. If it wasn't for Sha'ure, sometimes I think the adoration would cross the line into infatuation - or further.

Teal'c thinks she's fascinating. On Chulak, women tend to have 'traditional' roles of the kind Carter hates, so nothing in his experience has prepared him for a woman-warrior. You gotta feel sorry for any other 'women-warriors' Teal'c encounters hereafter - if Carter's set the standard, the others are gonna have a tough time living up to her.

And then there's me. The techno-babble can be a real pain in the butt, but given the number of times she's squeaked us out of trouble, I'm willing to overlook it. She's a scientist worth having on my team and a 2IC worth having at my back. I won't even deny she's a looker - I've heard the comments in the locker room about her as the SGC pin-up girl. Huh. They'll be waiting a long time for that poster. Like forever.

Carter has her own influence over the personnel at the SGC - no drugs, no sex and probably no rock 'n roll, either. Just Carter.

And it's not only the men, either; the women respect and admire her too. Doc Fraiser had no problem with following her lead and the other women looked to her as the kick-ass leader who would get them out of the mess Hathor made of the base. The Doc might have seen how the guys wandered around in a 'ad-libbinous' daze or whatever it was she said, but it took Carter to do the research, explain the situation, then say: "Let's neutralise the threat" and start the action. I figure even if Carter had been a humble Lieutenant, or a Sergeant - or even a civvie - she still would have been the ballsy one to take on the snake.

Which is kinda what it came down to in the end: Hathor vs. Carter. The stakes weren't just the SGC, but the Earth.

Down, but not out: Hathor.

Winner for this round: Carter.

You go girl!

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