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"I'm sorry, I know this was my idea, but I just can't make it today. The duty roster... "

Corry didn't have to read any further. Stood up. She rubbed a hand across her eyes.

Well, not really stood up. He did have a good excuse and he had sent a nice apology. Corry blanked the screen and nodded her thanks to the man at the desk. "There will be no reply, Sergeant."

"Yes, ma'am. Will you still be going through?" The sergeant made such a valiant effort to not stare at Corry's civilian clothes, that she almost laughed.

The reaction as she walked across Farpoint station to the Stargate room, had been just about the same. No one seemed to know what to think of Lieutenant Colonel Vrecken wearing a pale yellow sprigged muslin dress, rope soled sandals and a wide brimmed white straw hat.

Corry suddenly knew that she could not face that long walk back to her quarters. Might as well stick a giant sign on her back...

Besides, this was Corry's first full day off in three weeks and a visit to Alturana was still a good idea, even if she went alone.

"Of course." She smiled.

The sergeant nodded and checked out a GDO in her name. She was just slipping it into the picnic basket when she heard, "What's that get up for?"

This day just can't get any better. Now she had a witness. And not just any witness. It would just have to be Viper.

Viper continued without waiting for a response. He nodded to the large basket and scoffed, "That's your purse?"

"No, that's my lunch."

"Do you usually eat that much?"

She ignored the rudeness and the grin that accompanied it, and asked her own question. "Why are you going to Alturana?"

"Just a little business." Viper was wearing his dress uniform, his chest covered with the impressive array of ribbons which he seldom wore. Some business. Must be very official. She didn't press him further.

"And you?" His question was civil enough, so she gave him a real answer.

"Shopping at the bazaar, walking in the forest... anything that you can't do on Farpoint."

His reply was only a grunt, so she turned and headed for the gate room. He took another GDO from the sergeant and quickly caught up with her.

"At least let me carry that." He scooped the picnic basket from her arm and they finished walking to the gate room in silence.

Alturana

The weather on Alturana was perfect. Gentle breeze, little fluffy clouds, warm sunshine. Corry stood on the terrace of the arrival hall for a moment and let the breeze play on her face. It was much later in the day here than it was on Farpoint... early afternoon, local time.

Viper had brusquely handed Corry the picnic basket when they emerged from the wormhole, ground out, "Return time is 10 pm. Don't be late." and then quickly disappeared into one of the pillar lined corridors of the hall. She had found her own way to the entrance and now had to plan what to do with her day.

Alturana was several things that Farpoint wasn't. First off, it had extensive forests and mountain ranges; quite different from the rolling grasslands of Farpoint. But more important to Corry, Alturana's Stargate wasn't concealed in a military base.

Alturana's capital city was Highgrall, a bustling community built about the base of a granite mount. The top of the mount was crowned with a many columned temple, built ages ago to surround the Stargate. Impressive government, religious and judicial buildings perched on the sides of the mount, and the markets and urban areas stretched out across the plains below.

The most interesting part of the city was where Corry decided to spend the day... the market and bazaar.

The market was extensive and incredibly diverse. It took Corry a good four hours to wander through only half of the stalls and shops, stopping to look at everything, even haggling on a few items. She got so involved that she forgot about lunch. All too soon the afternoon shadows had lengthened into evening and the sellers were gathering their wares.

With the market closing up around her, Corry left the bazaar and began to circle the city. She stopped at the carefully tended public gardens to watch the sunset. The sky was shot with red and gold, and darkened slowly to a deep purple.

It was the perfect end to what she had really hoped would be a perfect day.

She started back across town toward the temple mount and the short gate trip home.

Inner Town

Corry realized that she was walking through what would be considered the seedy side of town. She had spent enough time in big cities to know better, but she let herself get lost in thought as she walked along. It wasn't that big of a town after all. The shadows had merged to darkness by now, but every block had a small lamppost and the lights of a few shop windows glared out every once and awhile.

The streets were almost deserted at this hour. Even so, Corry didn't really notice the nondescript older man shuffling along on the other side of the street. He was dressed in the local version of a dark shirt and trousers, his head down, his hands in his pockets. That is, she didn't notice him until he abruptly crossed to her side of the street and walked quickly toward her.

Normally, if a man grabbed Corry's arm and pulled her into a shadowed doorway she would have had an instantaneous and hopefully painful response for him. But this man was different.

Where a tired old man had struggled across the street, the man beside her was suddenly several inches taller, many years younger and decidedly Viper.

Viper pushed her into the darkest corner of the doorway and positioned himself so the light from the nearest street lamp didn't fall on his face. "Two men, on the far side, behind me. Are they there yet?"

"No.. " Corry peered around Viper's head and then changed her mind. "Yes. Two men just stopped by the cafe on the corner. They're looking around."

Viper cursed in some strange language and growled out, "Well, it can't be helped now. Just play along."

Viper pulled her forward so that they were more visible in the dim lighting, wrapped his arms around her and buried his head in the side of her neck.

Corry began to sputter in indignation, but she saw what was going on, didn't like it in the least, and didn't really have a choice. The two men had now spotted them. She dropped her basket in the shadows and wound her arms around his neck.

"I swear, if you ever tell a soul!" she whispered furiously.

"Shut up!" he hissed. "If you have to talk, make it sweet nothings."

This time Corry put a purr in her voice, but her words weren't any nicer. "Sweet nothings my eye! Is this your idea of a plan?"

Viper force a low laugh, not a pleasant sound, but somehow just perfect for the little drama that was going on. "Hiding in plain sight. It's too obvious, so it usually works."

"Usually?"

"Want to increase our odds? Pretend like you are enjoying yourself."

"Right. Before I was a bad actor, I was a scientist..."

"What?"

"Nothing." Corry grumbled.

Then she hissed, "General. Sir. If your hand goes any lower, you'll be pulling back a bloody stump."

Viper bit out. "Stop talking. I'm not getting any satisfaction out of this, you know. What are they doing now?"

Corry ignored the contradiction in his orders, shifted her arms from Viper's neck to his back and tried to find the two men. "They're moving closer, but they're still on the far side of the street."

Viper almost nodded, but stopped himself and said, "Let me know when they're opposite us."

Corry's eyes slowly widened and she whispered quietly, "Viper, there's blood on your back."

"So?"

"Is it your blood?"

He chortled, "Just so happens it is."

The full measure of what was going on hit Corry. She had no problem providing cover fire for Viper on missions, so she shouldn't be having a problem with this. But she did have a problem with this. Boy, did she ever.

"Oh, no." She almost joined Viper in cursing. "They've stopped. I think they are actually enjoying our little show."

Sixty extremely embarrassing seconds later the two men finally moved off down the broad street and disappeared around a corner.

Corry and Viper broke from their clench at the same time, each ready to spit if the other said the wrong thing.

Finally Viper said, "We can't just stand here. Let's go get a booth in the cafe and I'll figure out what to do next."

"Can't do that."

"Why not?" he growled.

"You're still bleeding."

"Not much."

"Possibly not, but your shirt is covered with blood. Anyone in there will be able to see it and you'll have all kinds of questions to answer."

Viper looked pained. "You're right. Well, this will blow a perfectly good safe house, but come on."

Safe House

Vipers led them through several back alleys, across a major road and down a long street before he reached his objective, a semi-respectable boarding house. Semi seemed to be indicated by the garishly colored lights advertising a vacancy.

Viper managed to get Corry inside without the attendant seeing her face. She was impressed enough by his maneuvering to taunt, "Worried about my reputation? Well after that little scene on the street corner it's shot, so don't bother."

He growled back, "Worried about your neck. And mine."

He made her wait in the deserted hall while he unlocked the door and checked the rooms. He had just finished a sweep for bugs when she came out of the refresher, a small med kit in her hands.

He sat down without arguing and striped off the dark homespun shirt.

Corry was shocked by the ugly, bleeding welt across his back.

"What kind of horrible... what did this?"

"Felt like a force whip." Viper seemed to take great pleasure in the pronouncement. "I miscalculated a bit."

"A bit? Remind me not to be around when you make a real mistake."

Corry couldn't stop herself. She had to ask, "Just what were you doing that earned you this?"

"Need to know basis. You don't need to know."

"Gee, that's original."

He shut up and hung on while she cleaned the wound and taped it up. He managed to get through the whole process only wincing twice.

While she repacked the med kit, he stood up and flexed his shoulders.

"Good enough. Now we have three hours to burn. We'd better make it somewhere obvious. Let everyone get a good look, so they'll remember where we were." He headed for a small closet and began to put on his uniform.

"Why wait?" Corry asked. "Let's just head back to Farpoint."

"We can't go back until after 10pm. Nick has the iris frozen until then. Even if he gets a GDO signal he isn't opening it until 10 Highgrall time."

Corry's jaw dropped, "But that violates every..." Then she blanched. "This is that important, is it? And what if I had decided to go home early? You were just going to let me end up a damp spot on the back of the iris?"

"No chance of that. You wouldn't have even tried to go home." Viper laughed. "You're missing your GDO. I took it from your basket this morning."

Corry was now glaring daggers at him. "And if you gotten yourself killed..."

"Oh, Nick would have gotten you home eventually. And thank you for your concern. Nice to know you've got your priorities straight. Now stop complaining and get dressed."

"I am dressed."

"Yes, and when those bums stop to think they'll be able to identify that dress. Try one of those."

He pointed Corry to the far end of the closet. A rather interesting collection of dresses hung there. "Aren't these a little small for you?" she asked cynically.

"Very funny. Hurry it up. We may have visitors any time now."

Corry grabbed a dark green velvet number and headed for the refresher to change.

"Ha! I thought you'd go for the red one." Viper laughed as she walked by.

"Not with that décolletage, thank you. This has the longest skirt and the highest neckline of the lot. And that isn't saying much." Corry sniffed as she slammed the door behind her.

She was dressed in three minutes, and fielded the small box that Viper tossed to her as she came back into the room.

"You might as well wear the jewelry too. This place is a bust after tonight anyway."

Dinner

Viper's idea of high visibility was an expensive restaurant on the upper levels of Highgrall's Needle Tower.

The maitre d' apparently knew Viper well and seated them at a table that was private enough for conversation, but public enough that everyone in the restaurant could get a look at them. It also had a wonderful view of the city lights.

Viper didn't even look at the menu. He knew exactly what he wanted and he ordered for both of them as soon as the waiter arrived.

Corry raised an eyebrow and leaned forward to ask, "Do you always assume your date will want what you want?"

Viper glared at her. "You're not my date."

She glared right back. "You better believe I'm not."

They quickly made a truce that involved three things.

First - This was not a date.

Second - She was not to ask him anything about Elizabeth Shelby.

Third - He was not to ask her anything about the man who was supposed to accompany her today.

The first half hour was rather strained, but by the end of the hour he had told her a rather gory story about how his covert ops team had once infiltrated an Imp data center dressed as janitors. Fortunately, it had a funny ending.

In turn, she told him about the first time she had met Jantz. That one actually made him laugh.

Two hours into dinner, Corry was no longer thinking of this evening as an ordeal. She didn't even complain when Viper ordered dessert without asking her.

Corry was trying to control her laughter as Viper explained the difference between a Tau'ri crème brulee and a Nal Shadda slug roll when a shadow cut across their table.

They were clean cut—a little too clean cut—and immaculately dressed in civilian suits.

They weren't the thugs from the street corner, but they weren't people Corry would like to meet in a dark alley either.

"General Moore. We'd like you to accompany us, please."

Viper didn't even miss a beat. He gave the two an appraising look and said, "I'm busy now. Try me tomorrow."

"That isn't convenient, sir. You'll come with us now."

Corry took her life in her hands, swung around in her chair and gave the lead man her best glare. "You're interrupting us. Just who do you think you are?"

Viper laughed softly behind her. "Can't you tell? I thought the smell gave it away. This is what Alturana's Military Intelligence considers to be their brightest and best. Kind of sad, isn't it?"

"Intelligence, eh?" Corry didn't like the sound of that at all. But she kept her voice level. "Well then, you must know exactly who he is."

"Yes, we know who he is." The man's expression said and we know who you are too.

"We also know that no female operatives were involved in an incident today, so you are free to go. We'll just detain the General for a short time."

Corry chuckled. "Oh, well. If you're interested in something that happened today, you have the wrong man. Tony was with me today."

"You don't expect us to just take your word for that, do you, ma'am?"

"From some people I would expect that courtesy. But from you? No. I don't suppose I do. Why don't you check your surveillance cameras? We spent the day in the bazaar. Your own recordings will back me up."

The lead man nearly bared his teeth at that. Instead he nodded to Corry and then gave a dark look and another nod to Viper and the two men beat a hasty retreat.

Viper waited until the two had left the restaurant before he said, "Damn. If we leave now they'll just grab us for looking guilty. But if we don't get back to the gate before they check the recordings... They've got us either way."

Corry shook her head and turned back to her dessert. "Take your time. We can leave whenever you like."

Viper gave her his "What do you know that I don't know?" look and Corry smiled. "The famous Viper luck must still be in action. Power was down in the bazaar area all afternoon. Some kind of a lightening storm last night. Everyone in the bazaar kept telling me what a great deal I'd get today because no one was looking over their shoulder."

Viper barked out a laugh and waved to the waiter. "OK, half an hour and we're gone. Then we'll be safe both ways." He added a hefty tip to the bill and handed it back to the waiter.

When the waiter had disappeared, Viper leaned forward and said very clearly. "I don't want to hear any stupid gossip when we get back to base. Just remember... this was not a date. "

Corry glared at him and swore, "Viper, by no stretch of the imagination would I EVER call this a date."

Gate Room

When it was safely past 10 pm, Viper dialed in Farpoint's sequence and joined Corry at the steps of the gate. There were just a few more minutes of play acting and they would be safely back at Farpoint.

Viper took Corry's hand and spoke clearly, so that the few people in the hall could pick up his words. "Thanks. I had a wonderful time."

Corry had her back to the hall, so she was able to give him a look, but she answered in a similar tone, "Oh, it was unforgettable for me, too."

As they stepped out of the slight suction of the event horizon, Corry and Viper moved to opposite sides of the ramp and descended into the Farpoint gate room. Nick was waiting for Viper as he entered, and though he raised his hand in greeting to Corry, he was clearly there for a purpose. She nodded in response and started out of the gate room.

A few steps from the door she heard Viper call. "Corry, check these in for me, will you?" She caught the GDOs that he tossed to her and then he and the Admiral left for the briefing room.

Corry looked at the two devices in her hands. Then she headed for the security post and then home to bed.