STARGATE SG1
Episode 103
"EMANCIPATION"
By
Katharyn Michaelian Powers
The team arrive offworld
DANIEL
What a mess.
TEAL'C
This temple was destroyed long ago.
JACK
Let's get a move on before we meet somebody
who remembers why.
DANIEL
There's no sign of human life.
TEAL'C
This could be some forbidden zone.
SAM
Wait, I hear something. It sounds like
dogs.
A young man is being chased by some dogs
ABU
Help! No! Help! Ahhh!
JACK
Hey, get out of here!
The dogs run away
JACK
You okay?
ABU
Yes I am. Thanks be to you. But forgive
me I am Abu of the Shavadai.
DANIEL
Shavadai
ABU
The people of the steppe.
DANIEL
Well hello! I'm Daniel Jackson this
is...
JACK
Jack.
DANIEL
Jack.
ABU
You are not from the people of the river.
JACK
Uh, no.
DANIEL
We are travelers from very far away.
ABU
The sea of Ogada?
JACK
Sure.
ABU
Never have we met anyone from that far
away. You will be doubly welcome in
my fathers camp.
DANIEL
This is Teal'c, and this is Dr. Carter.
TEAL'C
The dogs are gone.
SAM
For now.
ABU
This is a women.
JACK
Oh, yeah.
SAM
What do I, do I have something growing
out of my nose, or...
DANIEL
He looks really up set. It must be some
sort of cultural thing.
ABU
No! I cannot look at you.
SAM
Okay, now I'm hurt.
MAN
Abu!
ABU
You must take her. You must take her
and go! Go! These people, are from the
sea of Ogada.
MAN
One is a woman?
ABU
Yes.
DANIEL
Colonel, I think these people are Mongols.
JACK
Is this good news?
SAM
Daniel, find out what I did wrong so
I can fix it.
ABU
No, no, no, let them go.
DANIEL
He's right, will just take her with
us and go.
The man gets out a sword
Titles
Jack fires his gun as a warning. Another man approaches
MAN
My son, when you did not return, I feared
you were dead.
ABU
I would be in a dogs stomach now, but
for these.
MAN
Is this anyway to greet a stranger?
HORSEMAN
That one is a women.
JACK
Observant bunch.
ABU
Father, they come from the sea of Ogada,
they do not know our ways.
MAN
Law is law. What manner of weapon is
that?
SAM
It's a firearm, it shoots like your
bow shoots an arrow.
MAN
She speaks, she dies.
ABU
No! No! She saved my life.
MAN
A woman, saved a life. Hers cannot be
taken. Now, your my guest, if you will
travel this country, you must learn
our ways.
SAM
I'm thinking we should just go back
while were ahead.
DANIEL
If we learn there customs will be okay.
It's an incredible opportunity to study
an ancient culture up close.
They arrive at the village. Sam is taken into a tent
DANIEL
This is unbelievable. Uh, the Mongols
who settled on the Persian China adapted
to the local customs. But there was
one tribe the Chagatai that kept the
traditional life of the steppe-nomad.
Maybe these Shavadai are their descendents.
I mean this camp could literally belong
to belong to Genghis Khan. It's a living
exhibit of a way of life that's been
extinct for 900 years.
MAN
Ah. Please sit, now we may talk.
SAM
Good, cause I still don't understand
what happened out there.
MAN
Among our people, it is death for a
women to show her face in public.
ABU
Or to wear the clothes of a man.
MAN
The old laws weight heavily, it is well
you saved Abu from the dogs. It gave
me a way to prevent your death.
SAM
Thank you for that.
MAN
Soon, the old laws, and the old ways
will no longer serve us. Trade will
one day replace war this is the future.
We have strongest, fastest horses and
camels. The finest wool...
ABU
And medicines. Drugs of unheard of power.
JACK
Oh, we have some pretty swell drugs
of our own.
SAM
Colonel, a lot of breakthrough in medicines
are coming out of the mountains, and
the jungles, we should really see what
he's got.
ABU
I will show you, follow me.
Sam starts to follow
MAN
I'm afraid you cannot go until properly
attired.
SAM
Properly attired?
DANIEL
You should probably do what they want.
Um, anthropologists do it all the time.
They, dress and live the people they're
studying.
SAM
Well, I'm not an anthropologist.
JACK
You are today.
They leave without her
ABU
I use the medicine on the wound from
a fire arrow, in a recent skirmish.
Shoulder was badly burned. From the
moment I began treatment, there was
no pain.
DANIEL
This could be an antistatic we haven't
seen before.
JACK
We should take some back to test it.
DANIEL
Yeah.
They re-enter the tent. Sam is dressed in the local garb
SAM
Daniel, find me an anthropologist that
dresses like this and I will eat this
head dress.
ABU
You are the most beautiful women I have
ever seen.
SAM
I guess the kid doesn't get out much.
Look uh, I will not wear this thing
over my face. I don't care how much
embroidery it has on it. And this dress,
or whatever it's called, I mean I can't
move, I can't walk.
JACK
I don't know, It kind of works for me.
DANIEL
It's, it's you, it's...
JACK
It's you.
DANIEL
Definitely you. Uh, uh the good news
is, uh you were right. One of Abu's
plants seems to work as an anesthetic.
Were taking some home to get it anayised.
JACK
All things considered, Samantha, if
we have to come back here, it might
be a better idea to bring an all male
team. No offence.
SAM
Well, in view of the fact that you all
get to go to this party tonight and
I get to stay in the yurt, that smalls
like rancid yak butter, none taken.
I'll just get a good nights sleep, and
hope for better luck next time.
JACK
You going to be alright?
SAM
Still doubting me? I haven't been afraid
of the dark since I was two.
JACK
You look great.
Later that night, Sam is asleep in the tent, when a knife is
held to her throat and she is taken
Daniel walks into the tent the next morning
DANIEL
Doctor, were about ready to go.Doctor,
were about ready to..No.
.
Sam is with Abu. They are sitting amongst the tree's
SAM
You better kill me now, because I am
going to talk.
ABU
Here, you may eat and drink.
SAM
What the hell do you think your doing?
ABU
There is something I want more then
life itself. Until yesterday I thought
it was impossible. And then I saw you,
dressed like that. And I knew, your
beauty would buy it for me.
SAM
What do you mean buy?
ABU
I will trade you.
SAM
You can't do that.
ABU
I can.
SAM
I'm a human being, not property.
ABU
Where we are going, the men aren't as
tolerant as my father. Be warned.
Back at the camp. Daniel is in the tent, when Jack walks in
JACK
Any signs?
DANIEL
No, no one has seen her since last night.
JACK
Alright, find Teal'c, I want everybody
geared up and ready to move out in 15
minutes.
DANIEL
Okay, let me talk to Mughal first, this
might be another misunderstanding, cultural
differences.
JACK
The hell with culture, a member of my
team has been neutralized. That's a
hostile act.
DANIEL
How is it that you always come up with
the worst case scenario?
JACK
I practice.
(The old man will now be known as Mughal.)
TEAL'C
I found fresh hoof prints leading out
of the camp.
JACK
That's great.
TEAL'C
The horse should be identifiable. One
of the hoofs was splayed.
MUGHAL
The horse belongs to my son, he is also
missing.
JACK
Okay dad, what's going on here?
MUGHAL
I am as ignorant as you.
JACK
I don't think so. Now he tool Captain
Carter, I want to know why.
MUGHAL
Among the Shaved, women are valued highly
for trade. Foreign women, most of all.
JACK
can you help me track them?
TEAL'C
Now that I know what to look for, I
believe so.
DANIEL
If Abu gives her up peacefully, no one
will get hurt.Right?
JACK
We will do our best.
MUGHAL
I will give you horses, and guide you
myself. My son has betrayed me as well
as you.
Abu takes Sam to another village
ABU
Turghan, I bid you welcome. I have come
to trade.
TURGHAN
Then come Shavadai. See the son of my
enemy, how he pales in my presence.
You risk your head coming here. For
what, you think this interests me?
ABU
Yes.
He uncovers Sams face
SAM
I don't belong to this man, I was abducted
against my will.
TURGHAN
Where is she from?
ABU
The sea of Ogada.
SAM
My friends will come after me, they
have weapons more powerful then you
can imagine and they won't hesitate...
TURGHAN
Silence, or I will have you beaten.
ABU
You may do whatever you wish with her,
when she is yours.
TURGHAN
Then I would see her.
ABU
Turn around.
SAM
No.
Turghan places a knife against her throat
TURGHAN
Slowly.Your skin is very fair. Look
at me! Her eyes are the color of blue
river stones.Sit.
ABU
Are you satisfied?
TURGHAN
Name your price.
Turghans daughter enters
TURGHAN
Why do you hesitate? Name it, gold,
horses, weapons. I have the finest metal
craftsmen in the mountains.
ABU
No.
TURGHAN
Well, what then.
ABU
Nya.
TURGHAN
You would trade a woman, for another
women?
ABU
Nya is not just another women.
TURGHAN
No she is my daughter. She will marry
a chieftain. The desert warlord Chimaka.
NYA
Father, please.
TURGHAN
It is done! Chimaka will come on the
next moon.
NYA
That's three days.
SAM
How can you do that to your own daughter?
TURGHAN
Your beauty will not soften my anger
much longer. The offer of the women
is 300 weights of gold. Take it or die,
either way the women is mine.
ABU
Done.
Turghan hits Sam
TURGHAN
Here, a women does not speak, unless
she is spoken to.
The team are tracking Sam and Abu
TEAL'C
They stopped here.
MUGHAL
To rest the horses, and so must we.
For two marks. If we do not find them,
I will pay whatever you ask for the
loss of Carter.
DANIEL
We can't do that, we don't own our women.
MUGHAL
Truly?
DANIEL
Yes, and we heard stories about Shavadai
women, that once they were free, some
were even warriors, fought with there
husband in battles. Mongol women might
have been the legendary Amazons.
MUGHAL
Shhh, we do not speak of it. The laws
for women were made to protect and hide
them from the demons, who brought us
to this place.
TEAL'C
Demons?
MUGHAL
It is only legend, and long time ago,
the dawn of our time.
TEAL'C
If the demons are gone, why have not
the laws been changed?
MUGHAL
Some say they will return. I say it
is an excuse for my men to have their
way. Among the Shavadai, even the lowest
man is chief among his women.
DANIEL
Is that why you only have one wife?
To set a type of example?
MUGHAL
My people see it as a weakness.
DANIEL
Because you love her?
Back at Turghans camp, Abu is hiding. He goes to see Nya
NYA
My father will kill you.
ABU
Come away with me. Tonight.
NYA
You know I cannot, now go before they
find you here.
ABU
I have listened to the wind, you will
come. I will wait for you by the tem
tree.
Turghan and Sam talk
TURGHAN
Now you are Tugai, women of the forest.
What can you do? Can you cook? Spin
weave, make dyes?
SAM
I'm a lousy cook, and I couldn't spin
weave or dye if my life depended on
it. You made yourself a bad deal.
TURGHAN
Where you come from, you must have done
something.
SAM
In my world, I am a warrior and a scholar,
I do the work of men.
TURGHAN
A warrior. Let me tell you what I do.
I raid and burn the tents of my enemies.
I slaughter the men and trade the women
and children. For this, I am feared.
And because of that fear, I have the
allegiance of 22 tribes.
SAM
But you have to sell your own daughter
to make it 23?
TURGHAN
How would you like to be hung upside
down, with dust filled rags stuffed
in your mouth and nostrils? A slow death
from suffocation.
SAM
I'm sorry, I'm sure you know what's
best for her.
TURGHAN
The spirits have brought you here to
teach you, how to be a woman.
Later, Sam is sitting by a fire. Nya arrives and begins to cry,
so the other women take her away.
GUARD
You belong to Turghan!
SAM
Get your hands off me, let me go!
Sam is taken to Turghan
TURGHAN
What kind of women are you? Do you respect
nothing? Care for no one but yourself?
These were responsible for you, now
because of you, the will be punished.
SAM
No! It was my fault, if you need to
beat a women to feel like a man, try
me.
TURGHAN
I value spirit in my horses, not my
women. You belong to me, you will learn
your place, and be obedient. You will
suffer far worse then a beating.
NYA
I heard what you did for my mother.I
am grateful.
SAM
It's okay.
NYA
We are all afraid. If you do not obey,
my father will kill you.
SAM
I know.
NYA
My father's a good man, he never mistreats
a women unless she has done something
wrong.
SAM
There is no excuse to beat a women,
ever.
NYA
He's a powerful warlord! Our women and
children are always protected, always
have food.
SAM
How can you defend him, he's packing
you off to marry a total stranger.
NYA
I have no choice, I am not free to choose.
SAM
And you never will be until one of you
say's no.
NYA
I want to say it, will you help me?
SG1 arrive at the camp
TEAL'C
The tracks lead directly there.
JACK
Who owns the place?
MUGHAL
An enemy. A man who kills for pleasure.
This is very bad.
JACK
Well then we will go and get her tonight.
MUGHAL
If we attack, there will be war. Turghan
is allied with 22 clans. When he fights,
he takes no prisoners.
DANIEL
You mean they'd kill all of you?
MUGHAL
Yes. If you will wait until morning,
I will go, and request a trade, he cannot
refuse.
TEAL'C
But what will happen to Dr. Carter tonight
if we wait.
MUGHAL
Turghan will partake in his newest purchase.
JACK
Oh, there's not a chance in hell.
DANIEL
In our land, if a man wants a women,
she can say no.
MUGHAL
No one refuses, Turghan, and lives.
JACK
Then we go now.
MAN
Stop!
Sam see's the team
SAM
Yes! Go, go Nya, go.
TURGHAN
I paid 300 weights of gold.
DANIEL
Is that a lot?
MUGHAL
Enough to buy ten women.
JACK
How much are you willing to spend to
get her back?
MUGHAL
We will offer 350 weights of gold.
TURGHAN
She is difficult. But beautiful. A rare
prize.
DANIEL
Four hundred.
MUGHAL
Four hundred.
TURGHAN
I may even make her a wife.
JACK
Oh for crying out loud, 500!Will pay
you back.
TURGHAN
Why this one? I have others younger,
fit to bare many sons, enough to start
your own tribe.
DANIEL
She is a women of power for our people.
Not only a warrior but a...shaman, she
know the spirits of our land. They will
tell her when it's time to plant, when
water will be scarce, Things like that.
TURGHAN
You take me for a fool?
MUGHAL
He speaks truly. In the land of Ogada,
the women are as ours were long ago.
DANIEL
That and more! Carter is our chieftain,
our people need her.
TURGHAN
Get out. You have nothing I want.
JACK
Oh yeah?
Jack takes out his gun and shoots at something
TURGHAN
Done.
Outside, Turghan is demonstrating the gun, to his people
JACK
Alright, there are only five more rounds
in that clip, time to go.
They leave the camp. Later that night, Sam is changed back into
her uniform
SAM
What a relief, I have never been so
happy to see you guys.
JACK
Oh, sure you have, remember that time
on P3X-595, you drank that stuff that
made you take off..
SAM
We won't get into that now. Mughal,
I want to thank you for your help.
MUGHAL
Will leave at first light.
SAM
I don't blame you for what Abu did,
I don't blame him neither, now.
MUGHAL
He is suffering the madness, as I did
when I was young.
DANIEL
It's what they call love.
SAM
Ah, got it.
The next morning, Abu arrives
ABU
Please, you must help me.
SAM
What happened? Where's Nya?
ABU
She came to me, just like the wind said
she would. But before we could make
our way her father caught us. Now if
you do not help me, she will be stoned
to death. Curse me for the madness,
better to have left her to marry Chimakka.
MUGHAL
I would not see anything I cared for
go to Chimakka.
JACK
Can I get a little clarification here?
Her own father ordered her stoned to
death, is that right?
ABU
Because she broke the law of the land.
MUGHAL
Turghan is compelled to uphold the law,
even more if it applies to his own.
He must rule by example.
SAM
We have to go back, now!
JACK
Negative.
SAM
She can't be more then 16 or 17!
JACK
Captain, if we go in there and try to
get that little girl out, we could be
starting a war we could be starting
a war on this planet.
SAM
Since when are you a politician, Colonel.
JACK
Easy, Captain.
SAM
De Opresso Liber. To free from oppression,
special forces motto.
JACK
I know what it is. That's our world,
this is there's.
DANIEL
Do we have the right to interfere with
there customs or reinterpret their laws?
SAM
Maybe you guy aren't getting this, but
they're about to kill this teenage girl!
Simply because she fell in love with
this boy!
ABU
Please, use your weapons, and free her.
MUGHAL
The Colonel is right. It would mean
war, Abu. My son, you must choose, between
one women, and your people.
ABU
I cannot.
SAM
Neither can I, Nya broke the law because
of me. I can't leave her here to die.
TEAL'C
But if it is one life, or many.
DANIEL
Wait. Now there has to be another way.
Mughal, what about the old laws? Isn't
there something that we can.
ABU
Yes. If we fight with law, Turghan cannot
make war. Father, please, think, remember,
there must be a law.
MUGHAL
There is one.
Back in Turghans camp. Nya is about to be stoned
NYA
Father, forgive me.
TURGHAN
I forgive you. Stone her!
The team arrive
MUGHAL
Do not!
TURGHAN
You have no say here, Shavadai.
ABU
Stoning may be challenged. By another
chieftain.
TURGHAN
There is no such law.
MUGHAL
There is. In the song of Arkan-tyr,
the sprits will strengthen the hand
of the just.
TURGHAN
I will not fight a cripple.
MUGHAL
You must.
TURGHAN
You insult my honor by implying that
I would engage in such a slaughter.
You will lose and my daughter will still
die. So unless there is another chieftain
who will challenge my decision.
SAM
I challenge it.
TURGHAN
You? You plague me.
SAM
Then fight, here's your chance to shut
me up once and for all.
TURGHAN
I will abide by the wisdom of the spirits.
Let them decide justly.
JACK
So when your backs up against the wall
and there's no tomorrow, just take one
day at a time, and remember the bigger
they are, etcetera.
SAM
You don't think I can win.
JACK
Sure I do. I assume you have at least
some basic hand-to hand training.
SAM
Yeah, level three, advanced.
JACK
You'll do fine. Just out of curiosity,
how do the sprits determine who wins?
MUGHAL
It is a fight, to the death.
JACK
Death?
Turghan gets out a large knife, so Sam is handed a smaller one.
A fight ensues, with Sam coming out as the victor.
NYA
Carter, please do not kill him.
SAM
I do not want to.
NYA
You have won, I am free to go with Abu.
SAM
I want to hear it from you.
TURGHAN
She's free to go.
SAM
And the Shavadai?
TURGHAN
By law, there can be no war between
us.
SAM
And me?And me?
TURGHAN
You have won. You are also free to go.
Back in Abu's camp
MUGHAL
You will not stay for the weeding?
JACK
Aw, a six day weeding, you know we really
should get back.
ABU
It is a joyous time!
DANIEL
But we all wish you and Nya many years
of happiness, and many sons too.
MUGHAL
All Shavadai, be free!
The women remove their veils
MUGHAL
It is how, you will be remembered, Carter.
The team begin their walk back to the Stargate
SAM
So you thing this new anesthesia will
be a new miracle drug on Earth?
DANIEL
Well if it is, I bet somebody else will
get the credit. We can never say were
it came from.
JACK
Damn. Guess I'm going to have to cancel
that Oprah interview.
TEAL'C
What is an Oprah?
THE END
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