Dr. Daniel Jackson had been a member of SG-1 for eight years. He was the first discover the secret behind ancient devices known as the Stargates, and after a brief little adventure on a primitive alien planet he decided to settle down there. It wasn't that he liked the locale--he hated travel--it was all for a woman. His wife. A gorgeous, exotic and passionate woman that didn't see Daniel as an intellectual eunuch. He liked that. He was addicted to that. So when alien overlords and galactic powers conspired against his reinvented life, he went back to Earth, joined Stargate's Command, and ... became just another poindexter surrounded by military hunks. Granted, he was the best in his field still--more so, since he was embedded in a post-Goa'uld civilization all that time.

But he was just another intellectual to the women around him.

No one even seemed to notice the pains he'd been taking to reinvent himself. He was working out almost to a religious degree, palling around with his alien thug-buddy Teal'c in the base' gym from time to time. And yet still, no respect. No recognition. No one seemed to notice him the way Sha're had.

Daniel Jackson was fit to pop, basically.

Vala Mal Doran was a one woman wrecking crew. She was a former host for an evil Goa'uld overlord, one of the parasitic brain-slugs Daniel Jackson and SG-1 loved to depose and expose for being alien shams. She was rescued by some alien do-gooders who took pity on the beaten and abused victim she was when they found her. But the pity only lasted so long, and once Vala was on the mend, she was on her way.

It was hard, not having anything to go home to. Her homeworld saw her as the face of their former tyrant, and would happily lynch her on sight. And she had some of the residual knowledge and skills--including access to genetically-linked Goa'uld technology--to make a very interesting life for herself in the galaxy. So she took to the stars in whatever ship she could get, making deals with whoever she could trust or successfully double-cross, and in general threw herself into being a space scoundrel.

When the two of them met, it would inevitably result in sparks.