Company of Thieves

"Company of Thieves" is the ninth episode of the tenth season of Stargate SG-1.

Plot
There are political machinations at work in the upper echelons of the Lucian Alliance, and Netan, their leader, fears that one of his "seconds" may be planning to overthrow him. His decision to commit ships to the battle against the Ori invasion proved to be disastrous. Furthermore, the Alliance is losing much territory as the Ori sweep across our galaxy.

Netan sends a man, Anateo, on a dangerous assignment to capture the Earth ship "Odyssey", hoping that he will either die in the attempt or be disgraced. Instead, the menacing and ambitious Anateo succeeds in taking the ship -- with Samantha Carter on board. He threatens the life of Odyssey commander Colonel Emerson, whom he eventually kills, to force Sam to follow his instructions. Anateo believes that his victory will enable him to overthrow Netan, who he believes has failed the Alliance.

The capture of the ship is a great victory, but Anateo wants more: he uses it as bait to try and capture SG-1. He is partially successful, capturing Daniel and Vala.

Later, Colonel Mitchell reports back to Landry. Clearly the Lucian Alliance is behind this, prompting Cameron to hatch a plan to get his team back: he will go undercover as one of Netan's own seconds, and infiltrate the Lucian Alliance.

Mitchell visits Netan under the guise of Kefflin, one of Netan's close friends who runs a kassa operation on the outskirts of the galaxy. Kefflin is known to be extremely reclusive, and few of the other Alliance leaders knows what he looks like. When he is beaten and brought before Netan, he pricks him with the Reol chemical (the same one Daniel used to impersonate Yu's personal servant in Season Five's "Summit") to convince him that Mitchell is Kefflin, a dear friend. The plan works.

Mitchell covertly transmits their conversations to Teal'c, who listens from a cloaked cargo ship nearby. But when Teal'c is captured and brutally interrogated by Netan's men, Cameron must think quickly. He convinces Netan that he's the man who can get answers from Teal'c.

Meanwhile, on the Odyssey, Anateo forces Carter to bring the ship's systems back online, which she begins to do, stalling as long as she can while trying to secretly free the rest of the crew. She manages to cause a momentary brownout, which also unlocks a hatch in the cargo bay where the crew is being held. Daniel and Vala escape and begin taking back the ship. When Anateo discovers what Carter has done, he threatens to shoot her, but Vala manages to beam him into space at the last minute. The crew retakes the ship without any further apparent issues and set to work on fixing the ship, focusing mostly on the hyperdrive.

Word finally reaches Netan that the Odyssey has been found. The bearer of the news is Tenat, the Lucian Alliance trader that SG-1 double-crossed in Season Nine's "The Ties That Bind." He recognizes Mitchell but keeps silent, believing that whatever Mitchell is planning will be highly profitable, and demands a cut. Netan orders his and Tenat's Ha'tak ships to rendezvous with the Odyssey so that they can claim it and deal with Anateo's betrayal.

Upon reaching the Odyssey and learning of Anateo's demise, Netan demands that the Tau'ri ship, still without hyperdrive power, to surrender. Daniel takes command of the Odyssey to try to buy time for Carter and Vala to repair the hyperdrive so they can escape. Netan storms on to the bridge of Tenat's ship, accusing Tenat of hiding the truth of Mitchell's identity from him. To prove his loyalty to Netan, Tenat fires on the other Ha'tak, believing Mitchell (as Kefflin) to be in command in Netan's absence. He is shocked when Netan appears on the viewscreen, demanding to know why Tenat attacked him. In fact, it was Mitchell, who had previously jabbed Tenat with the same Reole chemical, that was posing as Netan on Tenat's ship.

On the Odyssey, Vala desperatly jams a control crystal into the hyperdrive engine system against Carter's better judgment. However, it is a lucky move as the system immediately begins to power up. Netan's ship starts battling Tenat's ship as Teal'c contacts the Odyssey for beam out. Marks beams Teal'c and Mitchell to the Odyssey and it jumps to hyperspace as Netan destroys Tenat's ship, killing him. As the Odyssey makes its way home, SG-1 reflects upon the fact that in addition to the Ori, Earth is now at war with the Lucian Alliance.