In the Choices We Make
By: Anjirika
CATEGORY: Romance
SEASON/SPOILERS: Season 10 “The Quest Part 2” (and beyond).
WARNINGS: Mild Violence and Death
AUTHOR’S NOTES: This is dedicated to my mum, my fiancée and the lovely lemmings of fandom who reviewed my story from the very beginning. It was because of them that I actually finished it. So thank you.
AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:
http://www.fanfiction.net/~anjirika and http://www.fictionpress.com/~anjirika
CHAPTER 1: Guardian
“Uh- Daniel,” Vala began, her weapon pointed at the large flying dragon over head. “I thought we agreed that the dragon couldn’t possibly be real.”
“Yeah…” Daniel agreed, trailing off.
“That looks real to me.”
“I know.” Daniel agreed, watching in amazement and horror at the dragon. “I-”
“DUCK!” Cameron yelled as the
dragon opened its mouth and a huge fireball fell towards them. Ba’al and Adria
ducked down along with
“That I do.” Ba’al agreed nodding as he shakily stood up. He took a couple of breaths as the dragon flapped its wings over head before he spoke the name.
“Mordred.”
The members of Sg-1 and Adria all waited intently for the dragon to disappear, but nothing happened. Instead it just flapped its wings some more and blew a lot of fire causing Ba’al to duck and the members of SG-1 to open fire.
“Nothing happened!” Cameron yelled at Ba’al as he fired a couple of rounds into the dragon, noting with dismay that the bullets seemed to bounce of the hide of the dragon.
“I know.” Ba’al admitted, ducking for cover along with the rest of them as the dragon let out another burst of fire.
“I thought you said you knew the name!” Sam pointed out as she fired at the dragon.
“So did I!”
“Clearly you didn’t.” Vala stated with scorn taking her attention off of the dragon to look at Ba’al.
“Clearly.” Ba’al echoed, ducking again just missing another fire ball.
“I told you this was a trap.” Adria mentioned looking towards Daniel. “You should have listened to me.”
“No,” Daniel argued. “The dragon’s clearly guarding something.”
“Yes, but what?” Adria asked.
“I don’t know.” Daniel admitted as he lowered his gun and tried to think.
“Daniel, maybe if you-” Vala began, only to be interrupted
by
“
“Not yet.”
“Well think quicker.”
“I agree.” Teal’c stated. “This dragon is most powerful, and our weapons seem to have little effect.”
“I know.”
“I know! I know!” Daniel insisted, his mind spinning with emptiness. “But I’ve got nothing.”
“Oh wonderful.” Ba’al muttered to himself.
“Okay,” Daniel took a deep breath and turned to Ba’al. “Did you get any other names?”
“No.”
“Daniel-” Sam began, only to be interrupted by another ball of fire. “What ever you are going to do, do it quick!”
“Right.” Daniel nodded and stood up and faced the dragon. “Okay, how about….Merlin?” They all waited with baited breath but again the dragon didn’t move.
“
“Uh- ok.” Daniel closed his eyes and pulled from his mind every Arthurian name he could think of. “Arthur, Gawain? Guinevere?”
“
“I know!” Daniel yelled back, still thinking. “Galahad? Halwan? Kilydd? Lancelot?”
“Lancelot?”
“Sam, if you have any ideas I’m open.”
“Sorry Daniel.”
“Right.” Daniel sighed and thought about some more obscure names. “Addane? Cabal? Cador? Dagonet? Drystan?”
“As in Tristan and Iseult?” Vala interrupted with a smile. “That was such a sad movie.”
“Vala!” Daniel yelled in frustration.
“Sorry.” Vala apologized. “Why couldn’t Morgan tell us what the name of the dragon w-w-?”
“Wait!” Daniel interrupted, noting that the dragon had paused momentarily. “Morgan?”
“Merlin named his dragon after the one who was watching
him?”
“Well, she supposedly did enchant the area.” Sam pointed out.
“Your name is Morgan?” Daniel asked, and he almost laughed when the dragon imperceptibly nodded. “Morgan, let us see what you are guarding.” The dragon seemed to nod again and flew up into the vast recess of the cave.
“Good work you two.”
“Indeed.”
“Right, but now what?” Vala asked looking around the cavern, not seeing anything new.
“I don’t know.” Daniel admitted looking around. “There should be something here.”
“Yes.” Adria agreed stepping forward. “But what?”
“Daniel,” Vala began pointing to the stele behind the pedestal with the sangraal. “What does that say?”
“What” Daniel asked, turning to face Vala. “What does what say?”
“That thing over there beside the sangraal…”
“Oh, that.” Daniel walked back across the bridge and studied the stele. “It’s a riddle.”
“Ooo!” Vala squealed in excitement running to stand beside Daniel. “What does it say?”
“That what you seek, is not what you find. To go ahead, speak your mind.” Daniel translated.
“Speak your mind…” Vala muttered. “What does that mean?”
“Well, maybe Morgan or Merlin wanted to make sure that who ever got this far was pure of spirit.”
“But why?” Vala asked confused. “Surely all the tests proved that.”
“I know.” Daniel admitted. “But still you could get this far and want to use the sangraal for-”
“
“No, not really…” Daniel answered glumly.
“It’s another riddle.” Vala stated simply as
“What does it say?” Sam asked, her voice carrying across the way.
“That what you seek is not what you find. To go ahead, speak
your mind.” Vala recited as Sam, Ba’al, Teal’c and Adria joined
“Speak your mind?” Ba’al echoed in confusion. “Why would we have to speak our minds?”
“Who knows.” Sam began. “Maybe this is one final test.”
“That’s what Daniel thought.” Vala pointed out. “But what does it mean.”
“Perhaps we are to speak the reason of our quest.” Teal’c suggested.
“Well, Adria wants to destroy the weapon.” Daniel stated simply. “Ba’al wants to use the weapon to destroy both the Ori and the Ancients.”
“While we want to use it to protect ourselves,” Vala interjected.
“Exactly,” Daniel nodded. “...only the pure of spirit will be able to open the gateway.”
“Go ahead then.” Adria prompted. “Speak your quest. It won’t lead anywhere”
“We’ll see.” Sam stated turning to look at Daniel. “After you Daniel”
“Alright then…” Daniel stood in front of the stele and placed his hand over the blue star shaped stone that was above the inscription. “We wish to find the sangraal to protect our people and the galaxy from the Ori invaders.”
They all waited with baited breath when suddenly there was a bright flash of blue light and the chasm vanished leaving a cavern with a tunnel leading away from the holographic sangraal
“I’d say that is somewhere.” Sam stated with a smirk, looking back at Adria.
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed. “That is definitely somewhere.”
“Wait!” Adria ordered as Daniel took a step forward.
“What?”
“It could be a trap.”
“Adria,” Vala began with an exasperated sigh before she was interrupted.
“Mother, there is nothing here.” Adria countered. “And there is probably nothing down that passage way.”
“I have to agree with the orici.” Ba’al interjected. “Everything we’ve done had led us nowhere.”
“No,” Daniel argued. “Everything that we have done has led us here. There is something here.”
“There is nothing here!” Ba’al argued. “Let’s just give up.”
“We can’t do that.”
“There is nothing here!” Ba’al argued throwing up his hands in frustration.
“Why do you think that there isn’t anything here?” Sam asked, turning to face Ba’al.
“Why do you think that there is something here?” Ba’al countered.
“Well-” Daniel began turning to face Ba’al. “Merlin wouldn’t have put the dragon here for nothing and Morgan wouldn’t have enchanted the area for nothing.”
“Then why did they do all that?” Adria asked, turning her head to face Daniel who just shrugged.
“Well what ever it is, I’m sure it’s in there.” Sam interjected, indicating towards to large cavern.
“Alright,”
CHAPTER 2: Unknown Treasures
They walked down a winding tunnel; their only clue that they
were going the right way was the faint undecipherable ancient symbols along the
walls.
“I wonder how the Atlantis expedition is settling down.” Sam mentioned to Teal’c as they walked side by side down the tunnel.
“I am sure that they are doing well.” Teal’c answered.
“I mean, it’s been six weeks…” Sam rambled. “…but still. If I- we ever had to leave the SGC- I’d be heart broken.”
“True.” Teal’c agreed. “But the members of the Atlantis expedition have adapted extremely well to new circumstances in the past.”
“I know but still it must be hard on them.” Sam countered simply when a thought struck her. “I wonder how Woolsey is making out.”
“Did O’Neill not go to assist him?”
“Well- yes.”
“Does that not mean that the negotiations with the ancients have not been proceeding well?”
“I suppose,” Sam answered slowly, dancing around what was really on her mind. “- that that’s one way of looking at it…..”
“Samantha Carter.” Teal’c began softly knowing the reason for Sam’s conversation. “Did O’Neill not come and see you when he left for Atlantis?”
“What?” Sam exclaimed, pretending to be shocked.
“You seem to have a pre-occupation with O’Neill and Atlantis.” Teal’c answered stoically.
“Oh,” Sam smiled shyly for a moment before answering his answer. “Well, as a matter of fact I didn-did…..Sorta.”
* *
“Carter!” Came the familiar voice that Sam had missed over the last
year and a half.
“Sir!” Sam exclaimed as she looked up from her
latest project.
“How are things?” Jack
asked leaning on her work bench.
“Uh- not good sir,”
Sam answered honestly. “But you know that.”
“Yes.” Jack stated
with a small smile. “Same as always.”
“Yes sir.” Sam nodded.
“Uh- Sir…”
“I was just popping in
Carter.” Jack stated quickly to Sam’s unanswered question as he stood up
straight. “I’ll leave you to your work now.”
“No Sir,” Sam
countered quickly, as Jack reached the door to her lab. “That wasn’t what I was
going to ask.”
“Then what is it?”
Jack asked with some curiosity although he knew what she was going to say. It
was the same thing that they had wanted to say for years, but every time one of
them dared to speak up- the other stopped them…one way or another. As Jack
contemplated this he noticed that Carter had the same distant look in her eyes
that he knew would be in his as well. “Carter?”
“What are you doing
here sir?” Sam asked bluntly, the wrong questions slipping out of her mouth.
“Oh…well.” Jack
mumbled, fidgeting with the lamp in front of Sam. “Just on my way to the
gateroom; it seems that Woolsey needs my help in the negotiations with the
ancients.”
“Really?” Sam asked surprised that Jack was actually
going and that no one had told her that he was leaving. “When?”
“I embark at
oh-nine-hundred today.”
“That’s now sir.” Sam
answered softly after a quick glance at her watch.
“Ah.” Jack replied
with a nod.
“Sir you’re-”
“A general is never
late Carter.” Jack reminded causing Sam to smile and look down at her hands for
a moment.
“I know that sir.” She
answered softly looking back up at Jack. “Sir-”
Sam paused and looked
at Jack. He was so much older than when she had first met him- all the worries
and battles showed on his face and his hair at one time had been brown was now
grey- almost white. Sam just blinked as she looked at him and for several
awkward seconds neither of them said anything...until of course, Jack broke the
stillness.
“Well, I guess I
should be-” He began pointing to the door, his sentence trailing off.
“Yeah.” Sam agreed, nodding her head vigorously. “I
have to get back to work anyways.”
“Yes,” Jack began as
he walking backwards into the hallway. “You go do that. Have fun.”
“You too,” Sam smiled
and looked down at her work for a moment before shooting her head back up
again, wanting to try one more time to say what was on her mind. “Sir-?”
“Yes?” Jack asked peering his head around the door frame into her lab.
“Nothing,”
“Carter, it’s never nothing with you.” Jack argued stepping back into her lab.
“-now what is it?”
“Well…” Sam began when
she was interrupted by her phone ringing. She picked it up and listened to the
speaker. “Hello? Oh, hi Walter...what? ...yes he’s here...yes I’ll tell him
that you’re expecting him.” Sam sighed as she put down the phone. “They’re
expecting you.” She restated to Jack. “You better go.”
“Carter-” Jack began,
trying to let her know with one word that he too was tired of stepping around
their issues and that he wanted her to talk about it.
“We can talk about it
later Sir.” Sam insisted. “When you get back...we could even go out for coffee
or something.”
”It’s a date then.”
Jack replied with a smile and before Sam could answer he was really gone.
* *
“By your account, it seems that you and O’Neill had a lengthy conversation.” Teal’c pointed out as they continued walking down the winding tunnel. “You two even have an arrangement to go out for hot beverages when he gets back.”
“Yes.” Sam admitted. “But it wasn’t a conversation about anything really-”
“Perhaps a more fruitful conversation will happen when you two get together?”
“No.” Sam stated shaking her head. “We won’t talk about anything when we have coffee either…we certainly didn’t say anything to each other in my lab.”
“I have learned that conversations can seem to be about nothing, yet they can hold great significance.” Teal’c offered.
“I suppose you’re right.” Sam admitted watching, bemused as Teal’c nodded. “We should probably catch up with the others.” Sam suggested indicating to Ba’al and the others who were several feet ahead of them. They jogged to catch up, and Sam surpassed Ba’al. “Hey Daniel!”
“Yeah?” Daniel asked, stopping and turning around to look at Sam.
“These symbols on the wall, can you decipher them?”
“No.” Daniel admitted as he walked towards one of the faded symbols.
“Hold up!” Sam ordered watching Daniel.
“Sometimes I think that they look familiar.” Daniel
whispered fairly loudly as he shone his light onto one of the faded symbols as
“So,”
“Well,” Daniel began turning towards
“So, we’re going the right way.” Vala offered as she moved to stand beside Daniel, smiling as Daniel nodded.
“Yes.”
“This is a waste of time.” Adria interrupted pushing her way in between Vala and Daniel. “We should take another route.”
“Adria stop it.” Vala ordered moving to the other side of Daniel so she could look her daughter in the eye. “Honestly, you’re sounding like a broken song…”
Vala paused as she realised that all eyes were on her. “What?” She asked innocently looking up at Daniel who just hung his head with a smirk on his face. “What did I say?”
“It’s record Vala.”
“But-”
“Just zip it Adria!”
Cam lead the team onward down the tunnel with the rest of the team in the same position as before except that he was followed directly by Sam, then Adria, Ba’al, Teal’c, Vala and Daniel who covered their sixes.
They walked for about ten more minutes before Vala hung back until Daniel had caught up with her. Once they were silently walking side by side, Vala asked Daniel the question that had been bugging her since they left the sangraal.
“Daniel,” Vala began watching as his face lit up when the tunnel opened out into a large spacious triangular cavern with ancient writing all over the walls, floors and ceiling.
“Yes?” Daniel asked turning to face the newest member of
SG-1 vaguely aware of
“That dragon was real.” Vala stated as she moved her light over the walls of the dark cavern.
“Yes it was Vala.” Daniel agreed, scanning the cavern as well.
“But the sangraal wasn’t.”
“No.” Daniel confirmed. “The sangraal wasn’t real. It’s a hologram.”
“Which begets the question,”
“I think I know.” Sam stated, her voice coming from a recess in the cave wall. They all rushed over and were amazed to find a repository of the ancients poking out from the wall. As well as a whole room filled with books and devices and several passages leading away from the central chamber.
“Oh…my…” Daniel breathed as he stepped up beside Sam who was standing a fair distance from the repository.
“What is it?” Vala asked coming up to stand beside Daniel.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“What?” Vala asked again. “What is it?”
“Now, this is most interesting.” Ba’al stated walking towards the repository himself, though he stayed behind SG-1.
“Yes.” Adria agreed, coming to stand beside Ba’al. “It is.”
“Think of what we could learn,” Ba’al whispered to Adria.
“Yeah,” Sam agreed, turning to face the bad guys. “Too bad it won’t work for you.”
“Would someone tell me what this is!” Vala asked again, her voice rising in anger.
“It is a repository of the ancients.” Teal’c explained coming up to stand behind Ba’al and Adria, preventing them from going anywhere.
“A what?” Vala asked again, not sure on what Teal’c was talking about.
“It’s a repository of all the knowledge of the ancients.” Daniel explained softly to Vala as he stared at the wondrous thing. “We’ve encountered this twice before. Both time Jack downloaded the knowledge into his brain.”
“Intentionally?” Vala asked not believing that someone would do that.
“Well,” Sam admitted turning to face Vala. “The first time was accidental, but the second was to stop Anubis getting the information, and to help us find a means to defeat him.”
“Which we did.” Teal’c explained with a triumphant smile.
“Yes,” Ba’al agreed looking uncomfortably around. “That you did.”
“With this, my people will be able to bring light into every corner of the galaxy.” Adria breathed serenely as she stepped towards the machine.
“Uh, no.” Daniel countered stepping directly in front of Adria. “It won’t work on you.”
“Why not?” Adria asked, challenging Daniel.
“Well, it won’t work on Teal’c or at least it wouldn’t
because he’s a
“And me?”
“You, you’re my favourite.” Daniel answered with a smile. “You Adria…you were created by the Ori, and you are their way of cheating. While being flesh and blood, you have their knowledge woven into your genetic makeup…there is no way in hell that the ancient repository will download into your mind.”
“That leaves Colonel Mitchell…and yourself.” Adria pointed out with a smirk.
“Yes,” Daniel agreed with a nod of his head. “It does.”
CHAPTER 3: Moment of Clarity
“So…” Adria began looking from Daniel to
“What?”
“Don’t worry.” Daniel interrupted shaking his head. “I would never ask you to do it.”
“So you would do it?”
“Daniel,” Sam warned as Daniel nodded his head to
“Don’t worry.” Daniel insisted as he interrupted Sam.
“What?” Vala asked, confused once more at what was going on.
“Nothing.” Daniel dismissed with a shake of his head “Don’t worry about it.”
“Daniel Jackson…” Teal’c began, worried about his friend and what he might do.
“Guys!” Daniel interrupted looking each of his team mates in the eye, while Ba’al was left very confused. “I said don’t worry about it.”
“Did we miss something?” Ba’al whispered to Adria.
“Apparently.” Adria whispered back.
“I have no intention of downloading the knowledge of the ancients.”
Daniel insisted looking from Sam to Teal’c to
“Are you sure?” Sam asked, her face showing the scepticism on her face.
“Yes,” Daniel genuinely insisted. “I’m sure.”
“If you say so…”
“I do say so.” Daniel countered. “Now, maybe there is something else here that can help us.”
“You think?” Vala asked looking around the chamber.
“Why not?” Daniel asked with a shrug. “It couldn’t hurt to look and I mean, look at this place! It would take months to go through all of this stuff. Who knows what might be here.”
“Well, we do not have months,”
“Okay.” Daniel agreed. “But I’m staying here.”
“Fair enough, just don’t do anything stupid alright?”
“I won’t.” Daniel promised with a smile.
“Alright then, Sam you go with Adria, Teal’c you keep an eye on Ba’al and Vala you’re with me.”
“I’d rather stay here with Daniel.” Vala stated simply
taking a step closer to Daniel and smiled as
“Alright, you stay here and I’ll go off on my own…”
“And why should we help you?” Ba’al asked as he stood his ground. “The weapon isn’t here.”
“Yes.” Teal’c agreed moving up to Ba’al looking as menacing as he could. “But destroying the Ori is not only in our best interest, it is in yours also”
“Very true.” Ba’al agreed. “Lets go then.”
“And what about me?” Adria asked, standing her ground as well. “I have seen that there is no weapon here that can help you.”
“Yes.” Sam agreed, “But how would you feel if we did find something else here and used it to destroy you?” Sam smirked at Adria and saw the orici once more bend to their will.
“Right.”
Ba’al and Teal’c went down one passage to the right while Mitchell went down one of the passages near the centre and Adria made her way to a passage on the left. As Sam followed the orici she passed Vala and paused long enough to whisper something in her ear. Daniel watched as Vala’s eyes went wide and she nodded vigorously.
“Right, I will.” Vala promised as Sam followed Adria down the left passageway. “At least, I’ll try.”
“Try what?” Daniel asked with curiosity once Sam was out of ear shot.
“Nothing…” Vala stated with a smile. “Now, Daniel. What did you want to stay here for?”
“Well I was hoping to find something…” Daniel picked up the nearest book and started flipping though it. “Start reading…”
“Daniel…” Vala began as she picked up a book and showed it to Daniel. “It’s in ancient.” Vala watched as Daniel looked up from his reading and gave her a look that said, ‘yeah? So what?’ “I don’t read ancient.” Vala answered Daniel’s unspoken question as a child would point out to an adult what they can not do.
“Well then, just take a seat.” Daniel offered, showing Vala the floor.
“I don’t just want to sit here.” Vala protested grimly.
“Well, you are the one who wanted to stay with me.” Daniel pointed out, smiling internally as Vala realised that he was right.
“Good point.” Vala muttered as she settled herself as comfortably as she could against the wall. “For our sakes Daniel, I hope you find something soon.”
“I know.” Daniel agreed. “Me too…”
Ba’al and Teal’c walked in absolute silence as did Adria and
Sam.
“This is great, we finally find where the sangraal is
supposed to be, and its not here. Now we’ve found a room with a repository of
the ancients along with a bunch of books and there is a chance that
About 20 minutes later, Daniel had leafed though about two dozen books and Vala was getting extrodinarily board. She got up off the cold ground and meandered her way over to Daniel and finally settled behind him and looked over his shoulder. She stayed still as stone for several minutes until her proximity to Daniel distracted him.
“Vala!” Daniel exploded as he slammed the book down, causing Vala to jump. “What do you want?”
“You know,” Vala chastised. “You needn’t be so rude. You could have said ‘Vala, how can I help you? or ‘Vala, can I help you with anything?’ I mean, honestly Daniel.”
“I’m sorry.” Daniel apologized as Vala took a seat beside him. “It’s just so frustrating. There are so many books here and none of them seem to have any reference to the sangraal or the repository-”
“Then what are they?”
“They are just stories.” Daniel stated glumly. “They are Arthurian stories, the same ones that I’ve read a hundred times before only this time they are in ancient.”
“Ah.”
“It seems like the only thing of any value in here- aside from the devices which I don’t have a clue how to work- is the repository.” Daniel ranted.
“Yes,” Vala agreed, her mind sharpening to the tone Daniel’s voice was taking. “But you aren’t supposed to touch it.”
“I know.” Daniel stated with a sigh. “But just imagine…imagine having the knowledge of the ancients in your brain. You’d know so much…you’d be able to do almost anything…everything…maybe there is something in there that can help us…”
“Yes Daniel,” Vala agreed half-sarcastically. “I’m sure that having the knowledge would be a fascinating experience, and maybe there is something in there that can help us- but Daniel, the human brain isn’t able to hold that much information.”
“I know.” Daniel stated wistfully as he nodded. “I’m just saying…”
“Well I’m saying that no matter what, no knowledge, no matter how powerful is worth dying over.”
“What?” Daniel asked, sitting up straighter and looking at Vala with interest.
“What?” Vala asked back, confusion in her voice and on her face.
“What did you say?” Daniel asked again coming to sit on his knees, excitement growing in his voice the way it always did when he had finally figured something out.
“Just now, what did you say?”
“I said that death isn’t-”
“No, no!” Daniel interrupted putting up one finger as a gesture to shush Vala for a moment. “Before that…”
“Oh that.” Vala stated with a shrug. “I just said that no matter how powerful the knowledge is-”
“That’s it!” Daniel interrupted again, jumping to his feet.
“What’s it?” Vala asked in confusion as she too also got to her feet, watching with curiosity and horror as Daniel started to make his way to the ancient repository. “Daniel…”
“The sangraal,” Daniel explained with excitement as he turned around coming face to face with Vala whom he grabbed on the shoulders. “The weapon that can defeat the Ori- it’s not an actual weapon.”
“Then what…..?”
“It’s knowledge.” Daniel explained further. “Knowledge is the weapon that can defeat the Ori and…”
“And the only knowledge is in that thingy there…” Vala finished slowly, her mind piecing together everything Daniel had told her however when she looked up she saw Daniel standing in front of the ancient device and the device activating. “Daniel?” Vala asked fearfully. “Daniel, what are you doing?”
“Getting the knowledge that we need to defeat the Ori,” Daniel explained as he leaned his head into the device.
“No!” Vala exclaimed, fear and worry evident in her voice. “No, Daniel…” Vala ran to Daniel but it was too late, the machine grabbed his head and Daniel writhed in pain. “DANIEL!” Vala screamed running up behind Daniel and doing her best to get the machine off of him but it was no use.
Vala was in the process of hitting the clamping device that held his head when it suddenly released him. Vala saw that Daniel was very unsteady on his feet and as he fell backwards, she slowly lowered him to the ground. “Daniel,” She pleaded, holding Daniel around his shoulders and leaning him back against her body. “Daniel please, wake up.” She leaned her face close to his ear and tried again, tears coming to her eyes. “Daniel, you have to wake up.”
“What’s going on…”
“I tried to stop him.” Vala insisted as
“I’m sure you did.”
“He wouldn’t listen to me.” Vala insisted. She got even more
upset at the whole incident because she thought that
“Of course he wouldn’t.”
“What’s up
“Daniel’s down.”
“What?” Sam exclaimed in shock and both Vala and
“He downloaded the knowledge of the ancients into his
brain.”
“He did what?” Sam asked stopping dead in her tracks, not noticing that Adria followed suit.
“I know.”
“Is he hurt?” Sam asked worriedly. She knew that last time Jack had been able to handle it, but he had the ATA gene and she wasn’t sure how Daniel would react to such a shock to his system.
“Well…”
“I’m on my way.” Sam interrupted turning to face Adria. “Come on, we have to go.” Sam waited until Adria began running down the tunnel and as she followed she contacted Teal’c. “Teal’c. This is Sam, Daniel’s down. I repeat Daniel is down, fall back to the main chamber.”
“Ugh, I’m not unconscious.” Daniel muttered as he struggled to sit up, and only did so with the help of Vala.
“
“Daniel…” Vala whispered worriedly as she felt Daniel subtly shaking.
“Daniel!” Sam exclaimed as her and Adria came running into the main chamber and she ran to Daniel’s side. “Are you alright?”
“Yes.” Daniel stated opening his eyes and looking at Sam. “I’m alright.”
“No,” Vala argued as she held Daniel. “You’re not. You just got the repository of the ancients downloaded into your brain. You were writhing in pain, you fell unconscious, you’re shaking-”
“I’m not shaking.”
“You were.” Vala countered as she held onto Daniel still. “And you still are. Tell me, how can you be fine?”
“Vala…” Daniel began only to be interrupted by
“I’m with Vala on this one.”
“Daniel Jackson!” Teal’c began as Ba’al and he entered the chamber and he ran to Daniels side as well. “Are you injured?”
“No Teal’c” Daniel insisted. “I am not injured.”
“Daniel, what were you thinking?” Sam chastised her anger and worry evident in her voice. “You know what the knowledge does to human brains.”
“Yes, but I figured out what the sangraal is.” Daniel paused
and looked at his team, Teal’c was to his left, Sam was to his right,
After a couple of moments after Daniels revelation, all eyes turned to Adria who was standing by herself in a corner and each of them wondered what they would find in Daniel’s mind that could be used to defeat the Ori.
CHAPTER 4: Explanations
“So,”
“
“He said that knowledge can neutralize the Ori,”
“Oh there’s a weapon.” Daniel stated with a smirk.
“There is?” Vala asked as she helped Daniel sit up.
“There is?” Adria asked, equally surprised.
“Yes.” Daniel nodded. “And I know where it is.”
“So, where is it then?” Ba’al asked crossing his arms. “Where is this all powerful weapon?”
“Yeah, like he’s going to tell you.”
“He does not know.” Adria muttered, looking Daniel in the eyes.
“I do-” Daniel insisted, “At least, I will-” Daniel paused to look at the rest of his team. “I know that it’s in there somewhere. I can feel it. I just have to find it.”
“Alright.”
“No.” Daniel argued. “We have to stay here.”
“Daniel-”
“Sam, there is more here. I have to go through the rest of these books, maybe there is something her that will jog my memory or something…”
"...or something." Vala echoed softly.
“Daniel, there isn’t time.” Sam argued.
“Jack had loads of time.” Daniel pointed out walking towards a stack of books. “So, I have time to look though these.”
“O’Neill had the ancient gene,” Teal’c pointed out. “You do not.”
“Yes,” Daniel agreed. “But I was ascended.”
“That doesn’t mean that you can handle the knowledge any better than General O’Neill could.” Sam pointed out.
“That doesn’t mean that I can’t try.”
“Daniel…” Sam began with a shake of her head before she was cut off.
“This is all well and good.” Ba’al interrupted. “But what you Tauri are failing to realise is that even with Dr. Jackson having the knowledge of the ancients in his mind, we still do not have a way out.”
“I hate to say it, but I have to agree with Ba’al.”
“I know the way out.” Daniel confirmed.
“Alright then, let’s get going.”
“Mitchell…”
“
“But what if one of these devices is the key to defeating the Ori?”
“
“Right,” Daniel sighed and began walking to one of the many passages when he stopped suddenly and grabbed a strange spherical device off one of the shelves and shoved it in his pocket. “This way…”
Vala fell in behind Daniel,
“Well,”
“You’d think that wouldn’t you.” Daniel stated with a smile. “This passage only goes one way, out.”
“Ah,”
“The time dilation field is that way.” Sam stated, pointing in the direction that they came. “So the village is beyond that…Daniel is there anyway that we can go around it?”
“No. But I know of something that might help.”
“Alright then,”
“What about them?” Sam asked turning to look at Adria and Ba’al. They don’t serve any purpose now do they?”
“Well you can not kill us.” Ba’al pointed out.
“We can not kill her.” Teal’c stated solemnly walking towards Ba’al his P-90 pointed at the Goa'uld. “But we can kill you.”
“That won’t be necessary Teal’c.” Daniel interrupted as he walked to the left of Ba’al and ran his hands over a dark patch of rock.
“
“Here.” Daniel stated as the dark patch of rock disappeared leaving a panel that was distinctly ancient in its place. “If I just do this…” Daniel pressed a couple of clear buttons and a force field went up around Adria and Ba’al.
“What?” Adria asked in shock. “What is this?”
“A trap by the look of things,” Sam smirked as she walked towards their two trapped enemies. “Good work Daniel.”
“Thanks.”
“This will not hold us forever.” Adria pointed out.
“No it won’t.” Daniel agreed looking very pleased with himself, “But it will hold you until we go through the gate and by that time you’ll have no idea where we are.”
“I am the orici.” Adria challenged. “I know everything.”
“You keep thinking that.” Daniel whispered with a smile as he turned to leave. “But it won't do you any good.”
“You’ll never make it past my soldiers.” Adria declared with what little confidence she had left. “So, you’ll never make it to the gate.”
“Then you’ll never get out of there.” Daniel called over his shoulder as he walked away. “So you better hope that we make it to the gate.”
“Daniel Jackson-” Adria pleaded, but Daniel was not listening and Vala and Sam were already following him.
“You know, I think we’ll manage.”
“Indeed.”
“Wait!” Adria called out in frustration. “Come back.”
“Oh, give it a rest Adria.” Ba’al muttered as he sat down on the ground, resigning himself to his fate. “They won’t come back.” Ba’al watched bemused as Adria sighed and joined him on the ground, and knew that she was hoping they would make it to the gate as much as he was.
Meanwhile, SG-1 was following Daniel though a forest and each of them hoped that Daniel knew what he was doing. They all remained silent on their trek, with the exception of Vala who caught up to Daniel and fell into step with him.
“Daniel?”
“Hmm?” He murmured, not really listening to her.
“Why’d you do it?” Vala asked softly, catching Daniel off guard.
“Huh?” He asked in surprise.
“Why did you download the knowledge of the ancients?” Vala asked again, slower this time and watched with concern as Daniel sighed before answering.
“The last time we found a repository of the ancients, death gliders were firing on our position. Jack wanted to rig the device to explode, but we couldn’t loose the out only chance at finding the lost city-”
“Atlantis.” Vala interjected.
“Right, only we didn’t know that it was Atlantis back then-” Daniel shook his head and continued with his story. “Anyways, when I realised that there was only one course of action I made a run for the device.”
“You were going to download the knowledge.”
“Yes.” Daniel confirmed, nodding his head. “But he pointed out that there would be no one to translate once I went Ancient, because I was the only person who could translate. So, he downloaded the knowledge into his brain.”
“You felt guilty.” Vala stated with amazing insight.
“I did.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you-”
“Well, with the Ori being the threat that they are…I figured that having some of the ancient knowledge would even the playing field a bit.”
“But you already have the knowledge from when you were ascended before.” Vala pointed out as they came to a clearing with a bunch of stones protruding from the landscape.
“I know, but I’ve never been able to access it,” Daniel explained. “At least, not with out outside help…”
“
“No,” Daniel argued. “We found it, I have it up here.” He tapped his forehead. “All we have to do is wait until I find exactly what we need to neutralize the Ori.”
“Okay, but do you have the knowledge to stop their ships
right now?”
“No.” Daniel admitted as he rubbed his forehead, smiling as the information came to him. “But I do know who does.”
“Who?” Sam asked, walking towards her dear friend.
“Merlin.”
“Merlin is no longer around.” Teal’c pointed out.
“That’s right.” Vala agreed. “He ascended, de-ascended and died…didn’t he?”
“No,” Daniel affirmed with a smile. “No, he ascended again.”
“And you know how to get in contact with him?” Sam asked surprised.
“I know how to get in contact with him.”
“Spit it out
“Camelot.”
“Where?” Vala asked, unsure if she heard Daniel right.
“The hologram in Camelot.”
“Camelot it is then.”
They all watched with interest as Daniel scrunched up his face searching for an answer. It took a couple of minutes but Daniels eyes shot open with excitement.
“Leave that to me.” He smiled and looked around and saw a standing stone with a blue gem on it. “This way-”
“Daniel...” Sam asked Daniel led him to a stone that was similar to the stele that was behind the sangraal and watched him run his fingers around the edges. “what are you doing?”
“Trust me.” Daniel asked as he managed to pry to stone off revealing more ancient technology.
“Oh, she trusts you.”
“Daniel?” Vala asked standing beside him, watching as he fiddled with the ancient controls.
“I know what I am doing…” Daniel began when there was suddenly a spark.
“
“Sorry.” Daniel apologized and he went back to work on the ancient panel ignoring the gaze of his friends as the minutes ticked by.
“Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c began, minutes later. “Have you almost completed your task?”
“Yep.” Daniel confirmed with a smile as he put the blue stone back on the standing stone. He held out his left hand and placed his right hand on it. He pressed it in three different places and five personal shields appeared in his other hand. With a grin he turned and held them out to his team.
“Uh- no.” Sam shook her head and stepped back from Daniel holding up her hands. “I’m not putting one of those things on. McKay told me how hard they are to get off.”
“Huh?” Vala asked confused at what was going on.
“They have a mental component built into them. Once it’s on, it’s extremely hard to get off again.” Sam explained when another thought struck her. “Not to mention the fact that they require the ATA gene to work.”
“
“Don’t worry.” Daniel comforted with a smile. “That was what I was doing, I was re-programming them to work on us.”
“You can do that?” Sam asked impressed.
“Yep.” Daniel confirmed with a smile.
“But what about the mental component? Rodney-”
“Rodney didn’t have the password.” Daniel interrupted Sam, his face showing how excited he was.
“Password?” Vala asked looking from Sam to Daniel.
“These things have a password
“Well, it’s more of a command really.” Daniel admitted as he put one of the devices on, amazed as a green wave encompassed him. He looked giddily at his team.
“Alright shoot me.”
“Daniel- no one is going to shoot you.” Sam stated shaking her head.
“Okay then, hit me.” Daniel looked from Sam to
“I will not physically assault you Daniel Jackson.”
“I need to prove to you that this works!”
“Alright.” Vala interjected. “I’ll do it.” She smiled and stepped in front of Daniel. “Like the first time we met…”
“Vala, just do it.” Daniel interrupted, trying not to think about their first meeting on board the Prometheus.
“Alright, alright…just know that I am deriving absolutely no pleasure from this so-” She took a swing at Daniel and recoiled in pain after her fist made contact with his face. “Ow! Daniel!”
“Didn’t feel a thing.” Daniel stated with boyish giddiness.
“Alright, you’ve proven that they work
“Mayu semina est liam videlicen.” Daniel stated in ancient.
“What does that mean?” Sam asked.
“My path is now clear,” Daniel translated. “In ancient of course.”
“Of course.” Vala muttered.
“Nothing happened.”
“That’s because I didn’t think about it, watch.” He closes his eyes and muttered under his breath and scrunched his eyes tight and the device fell off his chest and into his hand. “See!”
“I’m convinced.” Vala smiled taking a device from Daniel.
“Me too.”
“As am I.” Teal’c stated taking a device from Daniel as well.
“Alight.” Sam sighed taking the last device from Daniel’s left hand. “Me too.”
“Now that’s what I’m talking about.”
CHAPTER 5: Back to Camelot
They walked though the forest until they came to the time-dilation field. With out hesitation Daniel walked right though and Sam noted with interest that by going this way though the dilation field with the shields, the path that they took was an ever expanding winding road of normal space-time.
They crossed the time-dilation field with no incident and
they made their way back to the village. As soon as they came close to the
village they heard nothing but silence.
“Why are we stopping?” Vala asked whispering to Daniel.
“It’s too quiet in the village.” Daniel answered back, and
upon seeing
“But we have these personal shield thingies on.” Vala pointed out, indicating to the green device on her chest.
“Right.” Daniel stated shaking his head in amusement. “Lets go then.”
With out warning Daniel stood up and resumed walking towards the village with Vala close behind him. Their sudden bravery momentarily shocked and startled the remaining members of SG-1 until Sam realised that they would be protected no matter what.
“Of course,” She whispered, more to herself then
“Let’s go then.”
“Mitchell!” Daniel exclaimed turning around. “Why?”
“So we can all go into the village together.”
“Can’t we get to the Stargate quicker by going around the village?” Vala asked, once they were outside the western gate, the back door that they took to escape the Ori soldiers at the beginning of their quest.
“Normally yes,” Sam agreed momentarily. “But the soldiers no doubt are waiting just beyond this side of the village; most likely they won’t expect us coming though the village.”
“But, what’s the harm?” Vala asked, slightly confused. “We do have these personal shield devices.”
“Yeah, but I’m guessing that even these shields don’t have
an eternal power source,”
“No.” Sam confirmed. “They don’t, by going around the village we run the risk of depleting our shields.”
“Right…” Vala paused and listened closely to the silence and within the silence she heard the sound of a patrol coming. “…well if we’re going to go through the village we should go now because someone’s coming.”
“She’s right.”
“So much for the soldiers not expecting us through the village!” Vala exclaimed, firing at a couple of Ori soldiers and brining them to the ground.
“I know!”
“
Meanwhile Daniel, Teal’c, Vala and Sam had made it to the
gate and Daniel was already in the process of dialling when
“Alright!”
“Done!” Daniel called back as the gate initialized.
Together, they ran as a group to the Stargate but Vala tripped and stumbled slightly. This moment of weakness gave the observer in the bush the opportunity to act.
“Vala?” It was Tomin and he took a step forward to help her, but Daniel was already there.
Daniel didn’t notice that he was there, but Vala did and for a moment their eyes locked- and in them he could see all that she had gone through in the last couple of months and that she was unwilling to share it. Tomin, took another step towards her wife but she subtly shook her head and allowed Daniel to take her through the gate leaving him and the other Ori soldiers alone.
Meanwhile, Vala and Daniel arrived on Camelot and were
greeted by
“Welcome back to Camelot.”
“Thank you.” Daniel smiled and helped Vala down the steps of the Stargate. “I think she twisted her ankle.”
“Oh Daniel, it’s not that bad.” Vala protested wincing though the pain.
“No, I think it is exactly that bad.”
“Fix it at the library.”
“Of course, but what about you Colonel
Mitchell?”
“Me? I need to stay behind to contact General Landry, let him know what we’re doing.”
“I will remain behind as well Colonel Mitchell.”
“Okay,” Sam interrupted, looking from Teal’c to
“Will do.”
Meanwhile, at the SGC, Walter was monitoring gate functions when the gate suddenly activated. He immediately patched a message to General Landry, apprising him of the situation.
“Incoming wormhole sir.”
“Is it Colonel Sheppard?” Landry asked walking into the control room.
“No sir.” Walter confirmed. “It’s Colonel Mitchell.”
“Patch him through.” Landry ordered and he waited a couple of seconds before Walter nodded, letting him know that he could talk. “Colonel Mitchell.”
“General?” Came Cameron’s voice through the gate.
“Yes. Tell me colonel that you have good news.”
“Not exactly sir.”
“What happened?” Landry asked, rubbing his forehead, feeling another headache coming on.
“Well sir,” Cameron began, “First we ran into Ba’al, and then we found out the entire trip had been orchestrated by Adria-”
“Did either of them get their hands on the weapon?” Landry asked, slightly dreading the answer.
“No sir.”
“So you have the weapon?” Landry asked again, his interest rising.
“No Sir.”
“Then what happened?” Landry asked once more, realising that he was asking a lot of questions.
“Well sir,”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Daniel Jackson now has the knowledge of the ancients in his conscious mind General. He downloaded the repository.”
“But that will kill him.” Landry stated.
“I know,”
“I’ll try in contact the Asgard.” Landry offered, nodding to a Sergeant in the gate room to get on that. “Maybe they will be able to help.”
“Good thinking sir…”
“What about Adria and Ba’al?”
“Well, Dr. Jackson used some of his newly acquired ancient
knowledge to trap them on PL7-159, the planet that we thought the sangraal
would be on.”
“So, where are you now?”
“Just outside Camelot Sir,”
“Daniel Jackson believes that we will find further answers here.” Teal’c interjected.
“Yeah,”
“
“I know sir,”
“Alright, go check up on them and report back in six hours.” Landry ordered.
“Yes sir, Mitchell out.”
In the SGC the wormhole disengaged and Walter turned to Landry in surprise.
“You didn’t tell them about General O’Neill sir.”
“No sense in worrying them.” Landry pointed out, making his way out of the control room.
“Sir,” Walter interjected, causing General Landry to stop and turn around. “You know that they would want to help with the rescue.”
“Yes Walter,” General Landry agreed. “But even if they could, Colonel Sheppard and his team took our only means of getting to the Pegasus galaxy quickly- not to mention that they are more than qualified to save Jack and Woolsey…and right now this galaxy needs them to find that weapon.”
“Yes sir.” Walter agreed and sat back down in his seat, waiting for Stargate to engage and news of the galaxy to come through.
CHAPTER 6: Merlin
“So Daniel,” Sam began as they entered the library with Vala
alone,
“If you’ll just let me through I’ll osteno you.” Daniel replied as we walked around Vala and Sam to the control panel that sat in the middle of the room. He bent down and was about to open a panel when he sensed their eyes on him. He paused and then turned around looking the girls squarely in the eyes. “What?” He asked his mind trying to figure out what he said, and then it dawned on him. “I spoke ancient,” Daniel answered hanging his head. “- didn’t I?”
“Yes.” Sam answered softly. She knew as well as Daniel did that once the language centre of his brain started to go, his time was severely limited.
“What did I say?” Daniel asked, his eyes staying on the floor and his hands rubbing the bridge of his nose, trying to alleviate his growing headache.
“Osteno.” Vala stated out of the blue. “You said Osteno.”
“Osteno.” Daniel repeated looking up at them. “Show.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that out.” Sam muttered to herself before speaking louder to Daniel. “Daniel what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.” Daniel admitted honestly, knowing what Sam was referring to. “I’ll see if I can control what language comes out of my mouth.”
“That would be most helpful.” Vala agreed with a nod. “That means we won’t have to figure out what you’re saying.”
“Right.” Sam agreed as well looking from Vala to Daniel. “Now, Daniel…”
“Right, right.” Daniel muttered to himself, remembering what he had come to Merlin’s library to do. “Now, I just need to press this…and open that…switch these two around…”
Daniel kept on tinkering with a panel in the ancient device and Sam took this opportunity to sit Vala down and wrap her ankle. Sam finished far before Daniel and they found themselves waiting until he closed it with a triumphant smile.
“…There! Now…” He stood up and pressed the master button on top and smiled as Merlin appeared in front of them. “Volia!”
“Didn’t that thing have a message before?”
“Yes.” Daniel confirmed. “I’ve disabled it for now, but watch…”
Daniel bent over the consol and began pressing button while Sam talked quietly
to
“What did the General say?”
“He told us to keeping look and to check back in six hours.”
“Merlin,” Daniel stated unknowingly interrupting Sam and Cameron’s conversation. “Merlin, I know it’s you.”
They all stared at the hologram for a couple of seconds and then all of a sudden it blinked and its eyes glanced at Daniel and his brow crumpled in confusion.
“Yes?”
“I’m Daniel Jackson.” Daniel answered pointing to himself. “This is-”
“Ah Daniel,” Merlin began, his voice jovial and bright. “It’s good to see you again…oh yes,” Merlin went on, seeing the confusion in Daniel’s eyes. “Yes, we knew each other well when you were one of us.”
“Isn’t he breaking the rules?” Vala asked, whispering to Daniel, remembering what happened with Morgan.
“No my dear,” Merlin explained, overhearing Vala’s question. “You see, unlike Morgan I have my ways of staying hidden. I have been off the- how do you say it Daniel- ‘radar’ of the others for many, many years now.”
“
“No.” Daniel answered
“Ah…!” Merlin sighed, his face lighting up even more. “You found my sangraal did you?”
“Yes we did.” Daniel nodded, quite pleased with himself.
“About that-” Sam began stepping forward, excited to talk to a real ancient.
“What’s up with having no actual weapon?”
“Knowledge is a weapon.” Merlin stated simply. “And it is the only weapon one needs when fighting their enemies.”
“Yes,”
“Like an actual weapon.” Sam interjected coming up to stand on the other side of Vala.
“Do you now?” Merlin asked, looking the five-person SG-1 over carefully. “You wanted an actual weapon?”
“We still do.” Teal’c answered stepping up to stand beside
“Well then,” Merlin began a twinkle in his eye. “It would please you all greatly to know that…”
“…that the sangraal as a weapon really does exist…” Daniel finished, looking up in awe at Merlin.
“You mean there really is a weapon?” Vala asked, trying to blink away her confusion. “An actual weapon…like something we can really use?”
“Oh yes.” Merlin stated with a smile.
“Then where is it?” Sam asked with excitement.
“It doesn’t exist!” Merlin answered a jovial laugh.
“But you just said-”
“He means that it doesn’t exist right now.” Daniel
interrupted looking from
“Right as always Daniel-” Merlin praised, “The weapon does not exist right now.”
“But it did at one time?” Vala asked looking from Daniel to Merlin. “You actually made a weapon?”
“Oh yes.”
“And it worked?” Sam asked excitedly.
“Oh yes,” Merlin confirmed. “It neutralized Morgan until I turned it off.”
“So what happened to it?”
“As I prepared to ascend,” Merlin began, “-I realized that I could not simply leave my weapon intact.”
“Why not?” Teal’c asked.
“Why? Why? Why because if I had left it intact, some young soul may have stumbled upon it and neutralized us all”
“So what did you do?” Vala asked, enjoying the story.
“He dismantled it.” Daniel interjected, opening his closed eyes.
“Right again young Daniel,” Merlin praised. “It was a relatively simple device to construct, once I knew the pieces that I required. And once I dismantled it I incorporated the pieces into other devices and scattered them across the Milky Way.”
“And where are these devices?”
“Well, one of them I believe you already have in your possession.” Merlin simply stated.
“The personal shields,” Daniel answered as he dug out us, knowing that the rest of his team was doing the same.
“Yes. Once combined and working in tandem, all five shield polarities can be reversed.”
“So instead of keeping stiff off of us,” Sam began collecting the personal shields.
“Like bullets.” Vala interrupted, providing an example.
“It keeps the ascended in.” Sam finished.
“Yes.” Merlin confirmed with a nod of his head. “These five shields, along with the other pieces put together create a beam that is powerful enough to stop the Ori, and any dangerous ascended being.”
“Alright,” Sam nodded her head and tried to think what the next logical step was. “Can you show us the schematics?”
“No.”
“What?”
“I can not show you the schematics of the device because they do not exist in this terminal.” Merlin explained apologetically.
“Then where do they exist?” Vala asked, her frustration also mounting.
“Where indeed…” Teal’c echoed.
“Daniel…” Merlin began, indicating with the tone of his voice that Daniel knew the answer.
“
“I have the knowledge.” Daniel stated slowly as the realisation washed over him. “Don’t I? I have the plans to actually build the sangraal weapon.”
“Yes.” Merlin confirmed.
“So, that was all that was in the repository?” Sam asked, her hopes gaining for Daniel. “The plans for the sangraal weapon and nothing else?”
“Oh no my dear,” Merlin corrected with a heavy sigh, “Daniel Jackson now has the entire library of my people in his mind- just like General O’Neill did. The plans to make the sangraal were a late edition, and it was made only to the terminal that you found.”
“So he’s still going to die.” Vala stated gloomily.
“Oh no.” Merlin countered. “Within Daniel is the means to not only create the weapon, but a way to re-download the knowledge back into the device.”
“You can actually do that?” Sam asked, both amazed and frustrated at the same time. ‘If only we had known about that for Jack…’ She though wistfully to herself.
“No.” Merlin countered, seeing the wistful expression on Sam’s face. “Well, yes. You can only download the information back into the terminal that it came from, and it only a feature of the terminal that Morgan the Dragon is guarding.”
“Another late edition?” Sam asked looking Merlin straight in the eye and watched as he merely nodded.
”Alight, so we have the plans to the sangraal weapon, the
way to download the knowledge of the ancients back into the terminal that we
got it from….”
“The knowledge to ascend on one’s own,” Merlin answered.
“You mean I could ascend on my own?” Daniel asked, his mind recoiling at the possibility of ascending-again, and being powerless to do anything-again.
“Daniel…” Vala began, mistaking the look on Daniel’s face for excitement.
“Don’t worry.” Daniel soothed after he saw the worry on Vala’s face. “I have no intention of ascending again.”
“I thought as much.” Merlin muttered with a chuckle. “But Daniel,” He advised. “When stuck between death and-” Merlin paused and sighed before continuing. “-ascension is the best course of action to take.”
“What?” Daniel asked, confused at what Merlin meant.
“You have your answers at last.” Merlin stated as he began to fade away.
“Wait!” Daniel called out, hoping to keep Merlin around for a couple more moments.
“I am sorry Daniel,” Merlin apologized. “But the others have found me at last.”
“What will happen to you?” Daniel asked worriedly.
“They will punish me.” Merlin answered, his light flickering.
“What about Morgan?”
“She is being punished Daniel.” Merlin answered as his light began to fade.
“And Oma?” Daniel asked, wondering how his first teacher was doing.
“Eternally in conflict,” Merlin answered again. “Unless you…”
“I will.” Daniel promised, knowing what Merlin wanted him to do.
“Good luck…Daniel Jackson…” Merlin whispered faintly before he vanished into nothing.
“Will Merlin be alright?” Vala asked her voice housing a new level of concern.
“I think that Merlin can deal with what ever the others can throw at him.” Daniel answered honestly, though in the back of his cluttering mind he found himself wondering if he really believed it.
“He did survive all this time undetected.” Sam pointed out. “He seems to be very powerful.”
“Indeed.”
“I know…” Daniel sighed. “It’s just, I seem to be causing a lot of ancients to get punished lately…”
“Hey
“Not yet.” Daniel agreed.
“Right, so
“I think…I already I have it…” Daniel answered slowly pulling out the spherical device that he had grabbed.
“The device...” Sam began taking the device from Daniel. “What does it do?”
“I don’t know.” Daniel answered honestly. “But I think that it is a power converter…”
“Alright,” Vala interrupted. “We have the first two pieces, now where do we go?”
“I don’t know…” Daniel answered softly as he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the location of the next piece of the weapon sangraal.
They all stared at Daniel who remained lost in thought and each of them wondered if Daniel would be able to remember the locations of the other devices before the barriers that he had erected in his mind crumbled, allowing the full force of the ancient knowledge to consume him.
CHAPTER 7: Continuing Journey
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Vala asked Daniel, looking at him as he opened his eyes. “You have the knowledge of the ancient, repository thing in your mind…don’t you?”
“Yes Vala.” Daniel confirmed as he took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I do.”
“Then why don’t you know where we are supposed to go from here?” Vala asked as she watched Daniel slump to the ground and sit with his back against the control panel in Merlin’s library.
“I don’t know Vala…” Daniel trailed off and looked at Vala and for the first time since they had started on their quest she noticed how tiered he looked and a pang of guilt struck her suddenly.
“
“I know…” Daniel stated with an exasperated sigh. “I did…”
“It’s alright Daniel.” Sam comforted. “Take your time.”
“We don’t have that much time.”
“
“Wh-”
“No,” Daniel began interrupted
“We can not proceed until you give us the next location Daniel Jackson.” Teal’c pointed out.
“I know…”
“Well,” Vala began, guilt gnawing at her as she kneeled down beside Daniel. “We’re all rooting for you, at the very least.” Vala smiled at Daniel and was taken aback at the blank stare that she received in return. “What? I’ve been on Earth for a while now Daniel, you shouldn’t look so surprised that I’ve gotten one of your saying right.”
Vala flashed Daniel one of her classic grins and Daniel couldn’t help chuckle in amusement at Vala. She truly was one of the brighter spots in his life- especially in the war against the Ori.
‘You know, one day I’m really going to have to tell her how glad I am that she’s back.’ Daniel thought to himself as he closed his eyes. ‘And tell her how much she means to me…’ Daniel sighed and let his mind go blank, all the while hoping that the location of the next piece of the sangraal weapon would come to him and then suddenly- it hit him...
“Proklarush Taonas At.” Daniel muttered to himself in amazement
“What?” Vala asked quietly, realising that she was the only one who had heard Daniel.
“I know where the next device is.” Daniel replied with a boyish smile as he stood up suddenly.
“Daniel?” Sam asked walking over, seeing that her long time friend was suddenly in a good mood.
“I figured it out.” Daniel replied as Sam, Teal’c and Cameron walked towards him. “I know where we have to go.”
“Now, that’s what I’m talking about.”
“Proklarush Taonas At.” Daniel explained slowly- waiting for Teal’c or Sam to remember.
“You mean P2X-989?” Sam asked with sudden realization.
“Yes.”
“What’s on P2X…” Vala began, her sentence trailing off as she tried to remember the last three numbers of the planet designation.
“P2X-989.”
“Indeed.”
“Oh right.” Vala nodded in mild understanding.
“But I thought that P2X-989 was covered with lava flows.”
“It is.” Sam confirmed.
“Then how are we going to get there?”
“Same way we did last time.” Daniel explained, his boyish smile still there.
“But Daniel,” Sam countered, “There’s no guarantee that the dome will even be there still. It was collapsing when we left.”
“I know.” Daniel nodded.
“And you want us to go there anyway, right?” Vala asked raising her eyebrows in worry.
“Yes.”
“Daniel-” Sam began, only to be cut off.
“Look,” Daniel interrupted, knowing where Sam’s frustration was coming from. “I know that Proklarush Taonas isn’t the best place to go, but it is the only place that we will find the next device.”
“Alright,”
“Agreed.” Sam nodded and together, they made their way out Merlin’s library and headed towards the gate.
As they walked,
“Here’s a question for you Jackson.”
“Yeah?” Daniel asked, looking at
“How are we going to get to that outpost?”
“It was-” Daniel began with a nod when
“That’s my point. We’re going to have to go by ship. The Dedalaus and Odyssey are both getting refits and won’t be ready for the next couple of weed and no offence Jackson, but I don’t think that you’ll last that long.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Daniel replied sarcastically.
“I’m just saying-”
“You know I could-”
“No.” Daniel cut Vala off with one look behind him before she could finish her sentence.
“But Daniel…” Vala protested.
“Vala, last time you got us a ship it barely held together.” Daniel pointed out, stopping so he could come face to face with Vala. “Now, no offence but I actually want to live to be able to use the knowledge of the ancients that is in my brain.”
“I know that Daniel.” Vala said softly, trying to brush off his slightly rude and frustrated attitude. “Bit I was thinking that I could go to-”
“If you’re about to suggest that we go to that guy- the fake
monk dude…”
“Caius.” Daniel interjected with a sigh remembering that interplanetary scavenger hunt they had to go on to find the answers about the kor mak devices and why he and Vala had still been linked together. “His name was Caius.”
“Right, Caius.”
“Why not?” Vala asked with a pout. “He’s the only lead we possibly have.”
“Actually,” Sam interjected looking up from her thoughts. “I have a better idea.”
“Excellent.”
“Well we’re all forgetting one thing here-” Sam paused and looked at her team who was just giving her empty looks. “We do have a ship of our own that can travel to Proklarush Taonas- the only downside is that it’s a lot smaller then the Dedalaus and the Odyssey but it’ll get the job done.”
“You are referring to the ship that Colonel Sheppard and his team brought through from Atlantis.” Teal’c interjected. “The puddle jumper.”
“That’s right.” Daniel agreed as he realised where Sam was going with her line of thinking. “Dr. Lee is studying it- bet Rodney wasn’t too pleased with that.”
“You mean Meredith?” Sam asked, enjoying the look on Daniel’s face and even though she knew that Daniel knew Rodney’s real name- it was still funny- even after all this time. “Uh no,” Sam replied with a chuckle. “He really wanted to study the jumper in more detail.”
“Is Meredith that man who-” Vala began when Daniel nodded, knowing where she was going. “Ah, say here’s another thought-” Vala explained. “Why don’t we just go to Atlantis and get the Ancients who are there to help Daniel- and us.”
“I thought of that too Vala.” Sam agreed nodding at Vala’s idea in approval. “But with Richard Woolsey and General O’Neill trying to- well- negotiate with them…let’s just say that it would be better if we just handled this on our own.”
“So, we’ll contact the SGC get Colonel Sheppard to fly his
jumper and the rest of the stuff we need here,”
“Exactly.” Sam agreed as they approached the DHD and Daniel began to dial home. “I’m sure that General Landry and his team won’t mind us borrowing him for this mission.”
Meanwhile, in the gate room Walter jumped to attention as the sirens began to sound, indicating that an incoming wormhole was imminent.
“Incoming wormhole Sir-” Walter began as Landry came to stand beside him “And it’s not Colonel Sheppard sir,” Walter stated solemnly before Landry could ask the question. “It’s SG-1, they’re just checking in it seams.”
“General Landry Sir-”
“You’re early Colonel-” Landry teased. “I’m impressed.”
“Yes sir,”
“It’s on Proklarush Taonas General.” Daniel interjected, answering Landry’s unasked question.
“P2X-989 Sir,” Sam explained, knowing that Landry would have turned to Walter for a translation. “It is the planet that we got our first ZPM from back when Anubis was attacking Earth.”
“Yes Colonel Carter.” Landry agreed, “I know all about that, but isn’t that planet covered by lava and don’t you have to get their by ship only?”
“Yes sir.”
“That’s a mighty big thing to bank on colonel.” Landry warned. “Especially since the last time SG-1 visited the planet it was almost three years ago.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Of course.” Landry agreed with a sigh. “Just tell me what you’ll need.”
“We’ll need five hazmat suits Sir,” Sam began. “As well as more food and supplies and a small storage box to hold the devices that we are finding in.”
“Anything else?” Landry asked as he looked at Walter, indicating with his eyes that Walter was to look after everything that SG-1 needed.
“Yes Sir.”
“What are you going to tell them sir?” Walter asked in the
silence that resulted from
“Sir?” Came
“The truth.” Landry stated simply as he looked back at the gate.
“Sir?” Sam asked, wondering what was taking General Landry so long to respond.
“I’m sorry SG-1,” Landry apologized. “But Colonel Sheppard and his team stole the puddle jumper and went to rescue Richard Woolsey, General O’Neill and Atlantis from the Asurans.”
“WHAT!?!??” Exclaimed Sam and Daniel at the same time, after which they both looked at each other in horror and a stunned silence and then to Teal’c who just widened his eyes further.
“Who are the Asurans again?” Vala whispered to
“How did such a situation occur?” Teal’c asked, hoping that his friend was alright.
“Are they alright?” Daniel asked, gaining his composure just after Teal’c and trying to figure out some more information.
“Pegasus Galaxy Replicators,”
“Do we have any information on how the rescue mission is going sir?” Sam asked on the heels of Daniels question, equally concerned as he was.
“We don’t know what’s going on.” Landry admitted. “Colonel Sheppard and his team stole the jumper hours ago-”
“Well maybe they need back up, maybe we should come back and-”
“Colonel Carter-” Landry interrupted sharply. “We have had no contact with Colonel Sheppard and his team since they left. Now, if you and the rest of your team want to come back to the SGC to regroup before you head off to P2X-989 that is fine but there are more pressing matters at hand.”
“He’s right Sam.” Daniel agreed quietly. “Jack wouldn’t want us to go gallivanting across the universe to save him while putting this galaxy in jeopardy.”
“I know but-”
“But we never leave a man behind, I know.”
“What’s your decision SG-1?” Landry asked, wondering what his flagship team was going to do.
“Ok.” Sam agreed, nodding in defeat. “We go back to the SGC and regroup…hopefully before we leave we’ll have heard of something.”
“I agree.” Daniel nodded.
“As do I.”
“Great.”
“Very well SG-1, the iris is open and we are awaiting your return.”
CHAPTER 8: Proklarush Taonus
The minute SG-1 stepped through the gate General Hank Landry knew that they would be royally pissed off and he was right. The looks on Colonel Carter, Teal’c and Daniel’s faces were enough to let him know that they were angry at him for not telling them about the predicament that Jack had gotten himself into.
“You should have told us.” Sam argued at the briefing half an hour later once Daniel had been checked out by Dr. Lam who deemed Daniel fit for active duty still.
“We tried to get in contact with you.” Landry explained patiently. “But by your own accounts you were still in the caves- our radio signal didn’t reach you.”
“I know- but still…”
“What happened exactly General?” Daniel asked turning his attention from Sam to the General. “How did the Asurans gain access to Atlantis? I thought that they couldn’t attack their creators.”
“That’s what the Ancients thought too.” Landry agreed. “But it turned out that because Rodney McKay tried to overwrite their base code and purge their violent tendencies he opened the way to allow the rest of the Asurans to do the same. The ancients were completely unprepared and took Atlantis by surprise. General O’Neill radioed us explaining the situation and that he and Woolsey were going to evacuate but they never made it to the gate.”
“That doesn’t explain how Sheppard and his team managed to
steal the jumper.”
“The department of defence wanted us to nuke Atlantis-”
“What?” Daniel and Sam exclaimed at the same time again.
“How could they even think of that?” Sam asked, sickened to her stomach.
“Especially with the possibility that Jack could still be alive,” Daniel pointed out, like Sam sickened to his stomach too at the thought at nuking Atlantis. “-not to mention the wealth of knowledge that they would have destroyed- knowledge that we might need one day…”
“I know, I know.” General Landry held up his hand to silence Daniel. “That was Colonel Sheppard’s reaction when we asked Dr. McKay to find a way past the Atlantis gate shield. They all argued that Atlantis needed to be saved at the very least and that they had to rescue Woolsey and Jack too. I told them no, but they had other ideas. Apparently Dr. Weir and Dr. McKay ambushed Dr. Lee and distracted him long enough for Dr. McKay to input his card-key in the puddle jumper’s security database. With that they managed to steal the jumper, commandeer control of the gate and slip away.”
“Did you try to contact them?”
“I sent a message through the gate telling Colonel Sheppard that he would be court marshalled when he came back, and by all accounts he received the message but cut it off before the end of my transmission.”
“Sounds familiar,” Sam muttered to herself.
“Uh, you do realise General, that if Colonel Sheppard manages to pull this off you’ll have to give him a medal or something.” Daniel pointed out, thinking back to how they had all been honoured when they had saved Earth from Apophis and Klorel all those years ago.
“I don’t think so.” Landry disagreed shaking his head in denial.
“With all due respect sir,” Sam interjected with a small amount of amusement. “When General O’Neill comes back he’s going to vouch for Colonel Sheppard- Sheppard and his team will be considered heroes for saving Woolsey, General O’Neill, Atlantis, Earth and this entire galaxy from the Asurans.”
“That may be,” Landry agreed with a small smile as he realised that if the young colonel could pull off this rescue mission he would have validated himself in the eyes of every military commander on and off world. “But right now we have a more pressing matter. We’ve heard from our off world allies and planets are falling to the Ori quicker than we can count.”
“We are aware of this.” Teal’c interjected.
“Yes, I know you are.” Landry agreed. “What I’m saying is that you five need to figure out a way to get yourselves to P2X-989 because….”
“UNAUTHORIZED INCOMING WORMHOLE” Walter’s voice rang out in the briefing room as the sirens started to whine, signalling the gate’s activation. With out speaking all six members of the SGC rose from their seats and made their way to the control panel where Walter was receiving something.
“What is it Walter?” Landry asked coming to stand behind Walter.
“It’s Bra’tacs IDC sir.” Walter replied, seeing from the corner of his eye SG-1 leaving the control room to enter the gate room.
“Let him in Walter.” Landry ordered as he left the control room, leaving SG-1 to greet Bra’tac.
“Tec’ma te Master Bra’tac,” Teal’c welcomed as Bra’tac walked through the Stargate and down the ramp towards him. “It is good to see you.”
“It has been to long my friend.” Bra’tac agreed, clasping Teal’cs arm in their customary greeting. “I have come with news.”
“Ah, Bra’tac,” Landry welcomed coming into the gateroom. “Welcome.”
“General Landry,” Bra’tac answered, nodding to General Landry. “I have news concerning the battle against the Ori,”
“Good I hope?” Landry asked optimistically hoping that something would go right for him.
“I’m afraid not.” Bra’tac answered sorrowfully.
“I see.” Landry replied with a small nod. “This way,”
Landry motioned for Bra’tac and the rest of SG-1 to leave the gateroom and they all followed with the exception of Daniel who stood staring at the gate. The only one who realised that Daniel hadn’t followed them was Vala and she turned and walked back to Daniel to see what was keeping him.
“Daniel?” Vala asked softly.
“It’s out there Vala.” Daniel answered still looking at the gate. “The key to defeating the Ori is out there.”
“And we will find it Daniel.” Vala stated firmly as she tentatively placed a hand on Daniels shoulder. “But right now, we need to see what Bra’tac has to say.”
Daniel finally turned to look at Vala and nodded. He smiled slightly and together they made their way out of the gateroom and caught up with Landry, Bra’tac and the rest of their team.
“What news do you have for us Bra’tac?” Landry asked as he sat down in his customary seat and the rest of SG-1 and Bra’tac following.
“As you know well, the Jaffa Nation has fractured since the
loss of Dakara. Because of the fracturing of the
“300?” Daniel asked shocked. “How could it be 300? Is our intelligence really that bad?”
“Well, I guess Adria has been making things difficult for us because our last count was just over 60.” Sam theorized looking at Daniel.
“I assure you,” Bra’tac continued. “Our intelligence is not
wrong. With out the
“What else has brought you here old friend?” Teal’c asked, sensing that something else was on Bra’tacs mind.
“I have come to see how you have been progressing in your search for Merlin’s weapon?” Bra’tac asked looking around at SG-1. “I fear that it is the only thing that will help us now.”
“Well actually,”
“Really?” Bra’tac asked with a newfound hope. “What have you found?”
“Daniel Jackson deciphered what he thought was the location of Merlin’s weapon.” Teal’c answered.
“But the weapon was not there?” Bra’tac asked disappointed.
“Not exactly,” Daniel answered looking at Bra’tac. “We found a repository of the ancients there and I downloaded the knowledge into my mind. With it, I’ve been able to figure out the location of several devices that when put together the sangraal weapon, unfortunately we have no way of getting to the next location.”
“Is there not a chappai on this planet?”
“No.” Sam answered. “It’s P2X-989.”
“Proklarush Taonas.” Daniel translated, watching as Bra’tacs face went from confusion to understanding and then from understanding to happiness.
“It is the planet that O’Neill found the ZeePM.” Bra’tac answered with a smile. “This is good news indeed.” Bra’tac paused to look at the confused faces of his Tau’ri knowing that the next words he would speak would bring them great joy… “I am in possession of a cargo ship- I can take you there like I did long ago.”
* * * *
SG-1 had wasted no time in packing and debarking to the new
strong-hold of the
Once they had arrived on the planet they quickly boarded Bra’tacs ship and headed to Proklarush Taonas. Bra’tac told them that it would be roughly two days before they reached Proklarush Taonas giving SG-1 ample time for rest and rejuvenation and it was during this time that a most interesting conversation took place.
“So,” Sam began breaking the stillness in the main cockpit. “How’s Rya’c?”
“Rya’c is on Soaré.” Bra’tac answered stoically not taking his eyes off the controls.
“P3Z-274” Teal’c translated.
“Isn’t that an occupied world?”
“It is indeed.” Teal’c answered with a note of disappointment and worry in his voice.
“Then uh- what is Rya’c doing there?” Sam asked, not understanding.
“He is a refugee.” Bra’tac answered.
“I didn’t know that Ishta and her people had been attacked.” Daniel stated with shock.
“They have not.” Teal’c answered simply. “He and Kar’yn have gone there to have their first child.”
“Their expecting a baby?” Sam asked a smile spreading across her face, it spread further when Teal’c nodded. “That’s great, congratulations Teal’c.”
“But, they are on an Ori world.” Daniel pointed out watching as Teal’cs brows furrowed it obvious worry.
“Yes.” Bra’tac answered simply. “They have accepted Origin into their hearts.”
“But Rya’c would never-” Sam argued when she was cut off.
“At least,” Teal’c interrupted looking suddenly pleased. “That is what they have lead the prior to believe.”
“But the priors know if you believe or not.”
“Not always.” Vala remarked sleepily as she wandered into the conversation.
“Vala’s right.” Daniel replied just after flashing Vala a smile. “When we were sent to the Ori galaxy the priors only knew that there were people who didn’t believe in them. They didn’t know who they were specifically.”
“So, Rya’c is safe?” Sam asked, concerned for Teal’cs son…
“As safe as one can be on a planet occupied by a prior.” Teal’c answered, clearly concerned for his son. “As we speak he is slowly building a new resistance. Those who join our cause and do not feel save travel through the Stargate to various strongholds spread through out the galaxy.”
“Well,”
“Indeed we do.” Bra’tac agreed watching as they approached a planet. “But we still need Merlin’s weapon,”
“Yeah, well we should have it soon.” Daniel predicted with a smile as he rose from his seat to head to the ring room in the back of the cargo ship, the rest of his team minus Sam following him.
“Do all of us really need to go?”
“Yes.” Daniel nodded. “I don’t know exactly what we’re looking for so we’re all going to have to look around.”
“We’re in luck.” Sam stated joyfully as she joined her team and started putting her hazmat suit on. “Scans show that the dome is still intact. Air is toxic, but that shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Excellent.”
“Wow.” Sam remarked, her voice echoing in the ears of the rest of her team as they walked around the stalagmites towards the still standing ancient chair. “It hasn’t changed.”
“Indeed.”
“This place looks exactly as it did 3 years ago.” Sam stated again still in shock. “I can’t believe it.”
“Well, maybe the ancients really are looking out for us.”
But again there was no answer; Daniel was too lost in thought. He was lost in the memories of the last time they had visited the dome. They were nothing but flashes, but they momentarily overrode his senses.
“Radiation seems
pretty high.”
“Daniel?” Vala asked walking in front of Daniel trying to get his attention.
“It seems a shield
once protected this structure.”
“Maybe he’s thinking about where the next device is.” Sam suggested.
“Sir, be careful.”
“I thought he didn’t know, that’s
why he needed all of us to be here.”
“Jack
do you know what you’re doing?”
“I know,” Sam agreed. “But we’ve seen his access the ancient knowledge before.”
“The atmosphere is
safe.”
“But still,”
Sam was momentarily at a loss for words but at that moment Daniel seemed to spring into life and he walked over to the control chair and kneeled beside the left armrest and started to tinker with the bottom of the portion of the chair that held the crystal-gelatine control device.
“Daniel…” Sam began walking over to her friend. “What are you doing?”
“Getting the third device,” Daniel answered suddenly after a moment of silence just as he managed to get the control device free. He then stood and turned to face his friends. “Alright, one device down, two more to go.”
“There are two more?” Sam asked as they walked back
“Ataima, ilieas dosu magista” Daniel answered with a nod, but as soon as the words left his mouth he knew that he had spoken ancient. He frowned and corrected his mistake. “Yes.” He repeated solemnly. “Ilieas-” He stopped and took a deep breath in, well aware that the rest of his team were looking at him with concern. “Yes.” He repeated once more frustrated that he had let his barriers slip. “Yes there are two more m-” Daniel paused and forced himself to say the right word “-devices.”
No one said another word except Teal’c who let Bra’tac know that they were ready to be ringed up. Once aboard the cargo ship again Daniel immediately found himself his own corner and didn’t speak to anyone. As far as anyone could tell he was sleeping, but Teal’c could see that he was meditating and when he passed this on to the rest of SG-1 they all looked at Daniel with concern. Wondering how long it would be until he lost his speaking ability completely.
CHAPTER 9: Te’lemissan
The two day trip back to Earth was almost unbearable for the team. Daniel kept mostly to himself and when he wasn’t sleeping he was meditating. Vala was the first to notice that Daniel had withdrawn into himself and her first several attempts to get through to him were highly unsuccessful. He either feigned sleep or feigned to be meditating to deeply for him to hear her. Knowing that Daniel needed to talk to someone, Vala managed to catch Sam’s eye and motioned to a silent Daniel who was just staring into space.
“Daniel?” Sam asked moving to sit beside her long-time
friend as Vala moved to the cockpit and started to superficially chat with
“Hmm?” Daniel asked, blinking his eyes back into focus but still not fully conscious of what Sam was saying.
“It’s getting harder for you, isn’t it?” Sam asked, articulating the problem that they all figured out.
“What?” Daniel asked, blinking away all confusion and fully looking at Sam.
“Containing the knowledge,” Sam elaborated. “It’s getting harder to do so, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Daniel admitted dropping his gaze to the floor. “It is…I had no idea…”
“You know, all it would take is one call to the Asgard…” Sam suggested.
“I know.” Daniel replied with a nod. “But I –”
“You won’t do that.” Sam interrupted, knowing how Daniel was thinking. “Not yet.”
“No.” Daniel agreed. “Not yet. There are still two devices out there and only I know where they are.”
“You know, you don’t have to put so much pressure on yourself Daniel.” Sam stated with a worried look on her face.
“Yes I do.” Daniel argued.
“Daniel-” Sam protested angrily but Daniel cut her off.
“Sam, I’m the one who started all this.” Daniel argued fiercely. “I alerted the Ori to this galaxy; I put the entire population out there at risk.”
“Daniel, you shouldn’t blame yourself.”
“But I do.”
“I know,” Sam sighed. “But you shouldn’t. You stopped blaming yourself for Shar’es death ages ago, why can’t you stop blaming yourself for this…?”
“Hmmph.”
“Daniel-” Sam began warningly realising that some small part of Daniel hadn’t really forgiven himself yet for what happened to Shar’e.
“I couldn’t protect her Sam,” Daniel stated looking defeated. “I couldn’t protect her and I lost her…I don’t want to loose anyone else that I care about.” Daniel’s eyes wandered over to Vala who at that moment turned to see how Sam was progressing with Daniel, and for a moment their eyes locked.
“You won’t loose us Daniel,” Sam promised, causing Daniel to break his gaze with Vala. “We’ve been through so much together over the years and we’ve always come through.”
“I know.” Daniel agreed. “But I always felt that the only reason that we triumphed over everything was that we had something on our side.”
“What? Luck?”
“Maybe luck…” Daniel theorized with a shrug. “Maybe something else…”
“Well, we’ll just have to make our own luck then.” Sam suggested with a smile.
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed with a small unconvincing smile. “I guess.”
“Daniel,” Sam chastised with a smile, playfully mocking him, hoping that her optimism would give her friend some optimism too. “You can’t guess. You have to be sure. Now, I’m sure that we’ll defeat the Ori eventually. Are you?”
“Yes.” Daniel sighed with a growing smile that he was putting on for Sam. “I’m sure.”
“Good.” Sam stated with a triumphant smile, knowing that she had gotten through to Daniel. “Now, rack that brain of yours and figure out where we are supposed to go from here.
“Alright.” Daniel stated with a genuine smile as he closed his eyes and tried to sift through the vast amounts of information contained in his mind.
Sam stared at her friend for a moment and then left Daniel in his little corner alone. She made her way to the cockpit when she was interrupted by Vala who pulled her off to the side away from the rest of the team.
“Thank you Sam.” Vala thanked with a smile. “He just wouldn’t let me in, but I know that he needed to talk about it.”
“You’re welcome.” Sam replied placing a hand on Vala’s arm for reassurance. “And give it time. Daniel will let you in eventually.”
“If you say so,” Vala agreed not looking to sure.
“I do say so.” Sam insisted with a smile as she led Vala into the cockpit of the cargo ship.
Later, a mere hour before they reached home, while Daniel was lost in thought- it came to him. It was like a bolt of lightning out of the blue and he knew the name of the planet that they had to go to next. Excited, he got up from his spot and rushed to the cockpit where he found the rest of his team and Bra’tac talking.
“I got it!” Daniel interrupted with a triumphant smile interrupting them. “I’ve got it!”
“Great!” Sam replied with a smile. “Where is it?”
“Te’lemisaan.” Daniel replied, still looking pleased with himself.
“Uh, translation?”
“Uh…” Daniel closed his eyes and ran the name through his mind. “Te-le-mi-sa-a-an.”
Daniel pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil from his pocket and scribbled down the six symbols that correlated to the syllables of the name and handed it to Sam. Sam took the piece of paper and opened her laptop and entered Daniels address into it. It took a couple of moments but soon the database found a match.
“We have a match.” Sam replied joyfully as she looked over the top of her lap top. “P9Y-202, it’s one of the addresses that General O’Neill imputed into the database the first time he had the ancient knowledge in his mind.”
“P9Y-202 it is then.”
The rest of the trip back to Earth was spent in silence and when they arrived back in the SGC they were greeted by Landry.
“Welcome back SGC-” Landry welcomed as he led them into the elevator that wouldtake them to level 28. “I heard that your mission was successful.”
“It certainly was sir.”
“And you know the location of the next artefact?”
“Yes General,” Daniel confirmed. “It’s P9Y-202.”
“It’s one of the worlds that General O’Neill entered into our database.” Sam explained, however the mention of Jack brought back her worry about how he was doing and if he was dead or alive. ‘If he was dead though- surely I…’
“And speaking of O’Neill,” Landry answered happily, breaking off Sam’s train of thought. “I am pleased to tell you that Colonel Sheppard and his team were able to get him and Richard Woolsey back to the SGC safe and sound.”
“What?” Daniel asked in shock, while Sam was just in stunned silence and Teal’c stoically watched as always. “They’re back? When did this happen? Can we talk to Jack?”
“No.” Landry stated, feeling sorry for the original members
of SG-1. “He was recalled to
“Well-” Daniel began only to be interrupted by Landry again.
“I’m sorry.” Landry apologised, knowing what Daniel was going to ask. “But the President has ordered that the General have no contact with anyone until a solution to the Asuran threat has been reached.”
“I gather then that we should continue with our mission
sir?”
“Yes.” Landry agreed as they exited on level 28. “I’ll let Walter know to prepare a malp to send to P9Y-202.”
About an hour later, SG-1 (minus Sam) stood before the gate as it whooshed open allowing the malp to travel to P9Y-202. The picture that the malp sent through was that of a planet bathed in darkness, leaving Sam to see that they were heading to a planet that was experiencing its night.
Thankfully the infrared camera indicated that the land in front the gate was stable and void of any humanoid life. Landry gave the mission a go and together SG-1 stepped through the gate and was amazed at what they saw on the other side.
“Now this is what I’m talking about…”
They were in the middle of a mountain range and in the .3 seconds it took to travel the sun had begun to rise and illuminate the massive area that they were in. The gate was situated near the edge of a cliff with a sheer drop into a misty nothingness and across from that there was a sheer mountain cliff with large and ornate carved opening.
“This is incredible…” Daniel stated with awe as well as he looked at the specific carvings in the cliff side opening.
“What is it Daniel?” Sam asked stepping forward with interest.
“It’s just- these carvings…” Daniel mumbled coherently, trying to process what he was seeing. “They are representative of the four languages of the four races…see here…” Daniel stopped and began pointing to each of the races. “Ancient, Asgard…this is Nox and this is Furling…”
“So what does it mean?” Vala asked coming up beside Daniel.
“It means that we are defiantly in the right spot…” Daniel whispered amazed at what he was reading. “And listen to this, it seems that in each of the four languages, the same thing is repeated. ‘Welcome to our mountain sanctuary, where the power of the stars shall be given to those who are pure of heart and noble of spirit. Enter here to meet the guardians…”
“Which guardians does this inscription speak of?” Teal’c asked.
“I don’t know,” Daniel admitted with a frown, “But I think we should go in there.”
“I agree.”
And with that the team walked into the entrance.
Inside was pitch black and they had to use the
flashlights on their guns for light. They walked in silence along the
straight path until suddenly a bright light appeared in the distance.
Excited, Daniel rushed past
“Oh…my…”
Daniel couldn’t finish his sentence and when the rest of his team caught up with him, they too were amazed. They had come out on the other side of the mountain and were facing a small circular valley that was surrounded on all sides by snow capped mountains and covered by a glass-like dome. In the valley there was fields of green grasses and colourful flowers and in the centre of it all, a large temple that looked distinctly ancient.
No one had to say anything because they all knew that the temple was their destination. Silently they followed the winding trail into the valley and within moments were at the doors of the temple.
“Here it is again…” Daniel stated with awe as he read the inscriptions on the large three metre high temple doors. “In all four languages; Welcome to our mountain sanctuary, where the power of the stars shall be given to those who are pure of heart and noble of spirit. Enter here to meet the guardians and witness the arising of a new dawn.”
“Well what are we waiting for..?”
Daniel silently nodded and together the five members of SG-1 managed to get the large temple doors opened. Daniel walked inside first and saw that they were in a small anti-chamber with a small golden door on the far side.
“Hello?” Daniel called out into the darkness. “Is anybody here?”
“I am here Daniel Jackson.” A voice in the dark replied and before Daniel could ask who it was and how they knew his name; the lights in the anti-chamber sprang to life and illuminated a familiar face before them.
“Lya…” Daniel whispered in amazement.
“Lya!” Sam remarked with the same amazement as Daniel. “What are you doing here?
“I am here to replace someone.” Lya answered cryptically.
“Replace someone?” Daniel asked confused. “Lya, what are you talking about?”
“After the alliance of four had fallen, the Alteran Mirdin came here and asked for one of each race to stay and guard this place.” Lya explained with a knowing smile. “Since then one of each race have stayed and guarded this place, rotating once every five years.”
“Excuse me-” Daniel interrupted holding a finger up. “One of each race?”
“Yes,” Lya confirmed as she turned and before their eyes four people appeared out of thin air. One was a human- or looked human, the other was a Nox, the third was an Asgard and the fourth had a long bushy mane of orange hair, soft yellow skin and emerald green eyes. The fourth figure was clearly male and was dressed in leather boots, breeches and a tunic.
“This is Penra,” Lya introduced indicating to the Nox woman. “This is Odin,” Lya introduced indicating to the Asgard. “This is Guinevere…” Lya introduced indicating to the human woman.
“As in Guinevere and Arthur?” Daniel interrupted with awe. “As in Guinevere and Lancelot?”
“Yes Daniel Jackson,” Guinevere answered. “Lancelot was the other half of my heart, yet Arthur was the other half of my soul. I loved them both dearly and while both were human, I was-”
“An ancient.” Daniel interrupted softly. “An Alteran, from Atlantis.”
“Yes.” Lya confirmed. “And this is K’than.” Lya introduced indicating to the fourth and final figure.
“A Furling…” Daniel breathed in awe before he remembered his manners. “I’m Daniel Jackson, this is Vala Mal Doran, Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell and Teal’c.” He introduced pointing to himself and the rest of his team sequentially
“Wait,” Vala interrupted coming to stand beside Daniel. “Do you mean Furling as in those Ewok creatures from that script that Martin gave us?”
“Yeah,”
“No.” K’than answered with a small laugh. “One of our race made the mistake of visiting your world decades ago and a young child saw her. Her name was Ewo’klana and she interacted with a young boy.”
“And the rest was history.” Sam interjected with a grin. “Nice to know where that idea came from.”
“Indeed.”
“Um,” Daniel interrupted, astonished. “Then you really are a Furling.”
“Indeed I am,” K’than confirmed. “And it is an honour to finally meet the fifth race.”
“No,” Daniel argued with a smile. “The venerata is all ours.” Daniel paused and scrunched up his face with frustration. “Honour,” He repeated. “The honour is all ours.”
“You are speaking Alteran!” Odin remarked coming forward to study Daniel. “How is this possible?”
“You found the knowledge of Mirdin,” Penra theorized. “Did you not?”
“Yes.” Daniel confirmed looking sheepish, knowing that he had acted rashly.
“And you took that knowledge into your mind?” Lya asked with concern and wonder.
“Yes.” Daniel confirmed again a headache growing.
“Why would you do such a thing?” K’than asked, his deep voice a soothing Daniel’s headache.
“I did it to save our galaxy from the Ori.” Daniel explained. “They are taking over planets by the hundreds and they need to be stopped.”
“That is why you are here.” Guinevere stated with a small smile walking over to Daniel, her long golden blonde hair falling waves down her back and her blue-green eyes sparkling with wisdom. “You are here for the power of the stars,” Guinevere offered with a knowing smile. “The fourth device on your quest and the place in your journey where realisations shall happen..”
“Yes.” Sam confirmed looking surprised that Guinevere could know all that she did. “Well, I don’t know about the realisation part but we are looking for the fourth device or the power of the stars…what ever it is…Daniel led us here and he hasn’t been wrong so far.”
“I see.” Lya turned to the others and waited till they all nodded before she turned back to Daniel. “The guardians have decided that your quest is worthy. You Daniel and you Vala shall go through the golden door alone.”
“Why?”
“Because it is Daniel who has the knowledge of the Alterans in his mind,” Guinevere explained with a knowing smile.
“And because it is Vala who gave birth to the orici.” K’than explained.
“Both of them need to go through the door.” Odin explained stoically.
“Alright, we will stay here.”
“Be careful.” Sam told Daniel as he and Vala turned towards the golden door.
“We will be.” Daniel promised with a smile looking over his shoulder to smile at Sam.
“Yes.” Vala agreed linking her arm with Daniel’s. “He’ll be safe with me.”
And with that Daniel and Vala walked towards the golden door that disappeared to reveal a passageway that curved to the left a mere foot in front of them. Daniel and Vala just looked at each other and walked forward into the opening and left the rest of their team to watch as the golden door reappeared behind them.
CHAPTER 10: Through the Labyrinth
The rest of Sg-1 stared at the closed door, all of them hoping that their team mates were alright. Meanwhile, on the other side Daniel and Vala realised with a sudden rush of dread that the only way they were going to be able to go is to the left.
“Well this is just great.” Daniel mumbled as he tried to get the door to open again. “This is just great…”
“Don’t get angry at me Daniel,” Vala protested, “It was those guardians who told us to go that door.”
“I know, I know.” Daniel nodded, knowing that Vala was right. “I just hate when things close behind us.”
“Daniel…Vala…?” Sam’s voice crackled over Daniel’s radio and he breathed a sigh of relief that they could still keep in contact with their friends. “Are you there?”
“Yeah, we’re here Sam.” Daniel responded into his radio. “Listen, I don’t see how Vala and I are going to get out though this door- so we’re just going to go ahead and see what we can find alight?”
“You do that
“Be careful Daniel.”
“I always am Sam,” Daniel replied with a small grin. “Daniel out…” Daniel turned off his radio and turned to look at the path beside him. “Well Vala,” He stated with grim determination as he held out his hand, indicating that Vala could go first. “I guess we go this way.”
As Daniel and Vala walked through, what Daniel deduced was a labyrinth, on the other side of the golden door in the anti-chamber of the temple, Teal’c approached Lya like he had many years ago after conferring with Sam and Cameron.
“Lya…”
“Yes Teal’c?” Lya asked turning to look up at her friend.
“Have the Ori visited your world?”
“Yes.” Lya replied calmly. “They came, found nothing and left again.”
“I am pleased to here that.” Teal’c responded with a small smile. “I am in need of your assistance.”
“My assistance?” Lya asked, confused- but not really confused on what Teal’c had come to speak to her about. “Of what do you speak Teal’c?”
“The Free Jaffa Nation has fractured,” Teal’c began, hoping that Lya would agree to his plan. “My brothers and sisters are fighting each other and are falling into servitude of false gods once again.”
“I am truly sorry to hear that Teal’c,” Lya apologised. “But what can I do? I am of the Nox.”
“Yes, and just as before I required your help to protect the Tollan, I need your help once more.”
“Go on.” Lya insisted, nodding to Teal’c to continue.
“The Ori are winning their crusade to convert this galaxy,”
Teal’c explained. “And I believe that if we can stop them from converting the
“How can I help?” Lya asked, “I cannot assist in the destruction of another race. It is not the Nox way.”
“We’re not asking you to do that.”
“Right,” Sam agreed coming over. “All we’re asking is that you share with us the technology to hide the people of this galaxy. It would be a defensive method only.”
“You only want to hide the Ori’s potential followers?”
“Yes.” Teal’c confirmed. “That is all we want to do.”
“I will have to bring this up with our council.” Lya responded after a couple of moments of thinking. “But I do believe that you have grown wise enough for our help.”
“That’s great!”
“Indeed, we can.”
While the remaining three members of SG-1 celebrated the prospect of having Nox technology to help defend the defenceless planets across the galaxy, Daniel and Vala came silently to the centre of the Labyrinth.
They arrived in a circular room, with a golden pedestal in the centre and a white light illuminating it and the chamber. The pedestal had a large circular top that was on a forty-five degree angle towards them. Daniel stepped towards it curiously and saw that around the very edge of the top were the four languages of the great alliance all saying the same thing.
“Well,” Daniel began as he deciphered the writing. “Looks like this is it.”
“How can you tell?”
“Well,” Daniel began slowly observing their surroundings. “It seems like we’re at the centre of the labyrinth- and then there’s this.” Daniel paused to look back at the pedestal. “This is a good indication.”
“What does it say?”
“Oh…” Daniel paused to translate the ancient writing into English. “You have travelled through our mountain sanctuary. Here the power of the stars shall be given to those who are pure of heart and noble of spirit. Here you shall witness the arising of the new dawn for only the pure of heart and noble of spirit can raise the stars.”
“So what does that mean?” Vala asked looking over Daniel’s shoulder at the pedestal.
“I don’t know.” Daniel admitted squinting at the edge of the pedestal where he saw more writing. “But there is more written here, on the rim of this top.”
“So, what does it say?” Vala asked with interest.
“It says, ‘Patience, Generosity, Kindness, Wisdom and Faith have led thee thus far,’” Daniel translated as he walked around the pedestal. “To find what you seek, be who you are. If you are pure of heart and noble of spirit, then the power of the stars shall be yours if you are willing to extend your hand to greatness.”
“Now what does that mean?” Vala asked exasperated at all the cryptic words
“I think,” Daniel began slowly returning to Vala who stood right opposite the pedestal. “I think that one of us has to put our hand on that.”
“Really?” Vala looked at the pedestal again, and in addition to seven odd shaped indents there was a hand shape indent in the centre of the pedestal. “Well then…” Vala walked up to the pedestal and raised her hand, ready to place it on the pedestal when out of nowhere Daniel grabbed her wrist and prevented her from doing anything, “What?” Vala exclaimed exasperated as she whirled around to face Daniel. They stared at each other for a moment and Vala figured out what Daniel’s silence meant and for a moment she was really and truly shocked and hurt.
“Oh Daniel,” She whispered, choking back the involuntary tears that suddenly threatened to fall down her face. “I thought you said I had changed, that I had proved you right for taking a chance on me.” Vala let her arm drop and she turned away from Daniel. “I’ve never known you to be a liar Daniel.”
“I didn’t lie.” Daniel insisted softly as he turned Vala back around to face him. “You have changed, and you have proved me right a hundred times Vala, I swear. But look-” Daniel turned Vala’s attention back to the pedestal and an odd looking raised symbol that was situated in the palm of the hand indent. “You see this symbol?”
“Yes.” Vala confirmed with a nod as she blinked her tears away, realising with some growing embarrassment that Daniel was probably being noble in stopping her from placing her hand on the pedestal. “What about it?”
“This isn’t any ordinary symbol.” Daniel explained carefully.
“It’s not?”
“No.” Daniel stated, shaking his head. “It’s not. It’s the symbol for death in the ancient language.
“D-death?” Vala asked clasping her hands around her back. “That meant death?”
“Yes,” Daniel answered with small smile as he realised he had gotten through to Vala. “I think it was meant for a warning. Merlin probably didn’t want this ‘power of the stars’ or what ever it is taken unless the person seeking it was actually building the device.”
“How can you tell that’s what Merlin wanted?”
“By these recesses in the pedestal,” Daniel replied pointing to the seven odd shaped indents on the pedestal.
With out saying another word Daniel took his backpack off and was immensely glad as he rummaged through it that he had chosen to take the devices with him. Silently Daniel placed the five personal shield devices face down in the recesses that were spread out like a five pointed star. The control panel from Proklarush-Taonas went in the recess closest to him and the large spherical device was paced in the upper right-hand recess.
The moment Daniel had finished placing the devices in their proper places there was a click, and the white light changed to blue. The moment the light changed Daniel stepped back warily allowing Vala to try and place her hand on the pedestal again, when Daniel once again stopped her by grabbing her wrist.
“Daniel?” Vala asked with confusion as she turned to face him.
“You are not doing this.” Daniel insisted softly.
“Yes I am.” Vala insisted trying to shake her hand free but Daniel’s grip held.
“No you’re not.” Daniel insisted again dropping her hand. “I am.”
“Daniel,” Vala began, knowing that she would have to explain to him why that was a bad idea. “If this doesn’t work then they-” She paused and pointed with her free left hand to the way that they had come indicating to the rest of SG-1 who were waiting beyond the labyrinth. “-they are going to need you.”
“I need you.” Daniel muttered quickly and quietly letting Vala’s hand drop.
“What?” Vala asked, shocked and surprised that Daniel had said what he said- if he said what she thought he had said.
“I mean, we need you.” Daniel answered quickly, amazed at his quick timing. “Adria is still your daughter and there is still a chance, a good chance of you getting through to her.”
“Do you really believe that?” Vala asked sceptically placing her hands on her hips watching as Daniel realised that his quick cover had crumbled.
“No.” He admitted as he hung his head. “Do you?”
“It doesn’t matter if I do or Daniel.” Vala insisted. “I am going to do this.”
“I can’t let you do it.” Daniel countered grabbing her shoulders in an attempt to stop her.
“But I want to do this Daniel.” Vala insisted. “Even if I’m not as pure of heart and noble of spirit as this thing requires. I still want to do it- I have to try.”
“I know.” Daniel replied softly looking Vala in the eyes. “And I don’t know if I am any more pure of heart as you are but I need to do this…” Daniel let his sentence trail off as he looked straight at Vala. “Please…”
“Alright.” Vala agreed after a sigh. “Alright Daniel, go ahead.” Vala smiled softly as Daniel nodded his thanks to her. She stepped aside and Daniel took his place in front of the pedestal and was about to place his hand on it when Vala interrupted him. “Daniel…be careful.”
“I always am.” Daniel insisted, echoing his words to Sam earlier.
Daniel took a deep breath and placed his hand in the hand print on the pedestal. Vala closed her eyes and waited for something horrible to happen, but all she heard was the sound of something clicking. She opened her eyes and saw the pedestal spinning and after a moment the handprint opened allowing a small disc to levitate out of the opening. It was shining with an internal light and the light was pulsating like a light beat.
Daniel just looked at Vala who shrugged in ignorance. She hadn’t seen anything like it ever before but she figured that the little disc was the ‘power of the stars’. Daniel reached out tentatively and grabbed the device. He opened his hand to look at it and saw that it had six tiny holes that looked like something thin was to be inserted into it.
“Well Daniel,” Vala began slowly, interrupting Daniel’s analysis of the device. “I guess you are pure as heart and noble of spirit after all.”
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed with a sigh of relief. “I guess I am.”
Daniel turned to Vala with a smile when suddenly the room began to shake. Daniel and Vala instantly turned to where they had entered the chamber but found that it had completely disappeared. However, before any of them could say anything there was a low grumbling sound like two rocks moving against each other and before their eyes the walls of the chamber changed, allowing a straight and narrow path all the way out of the central chamber to the golden door that they had entered though. Needing no further encouragement, Daniel placed the disc in a zip-lock bag and placed it along with the rest of the devices back in his back pack and then he and Vala exited the labyrinth.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the golden door the three remaining member of SG-1 had heard the rumbling sound and had panicked. They had their guns trained on the golden door and were pleasantly surprised when it opened revealing Vala and Daniel in once piece and un harmed.
“
“Etiama,” Daniel confirmed in Ancient. “Ega usu vax uta astram. Nostram vax frabrici”
“Uh- Daniel…” Vala began warily indicating to her throat to let Daniel know that he had been speaking ancient.
“Yes.” Daniel restated again after a groan of frustration. “I have the power of the stars. Our power device.”
“It’s getting worse.” Sam stated looking worriedly at Daniel.
“I can handle it.” Daniel insisted with a look of determination on his face.
“We could take it away Daniel-” Lya offered, stepping closer to him.
“No.” Daniel refused shaking his head. “No thank you. Not yet.”
“Daniel-” Vala began placing her hand on Daniel’s shoulders in a silent attempt to get him to agree to Lya’s proposal.
“Daniel Jackson-”
“No Teal’c.” Daniel insisted to his old friend. “No,” He insisted softer to Vala. “Not yet, we’re not peraga—finished.” Daniel continued, concentrating hard on speaking English. “– we’re not finished yet. I still need this knowledge.”
“You do not have to prove yourself to anyone Daniel Jackson.” Guinevere stated with a knowing look in her eyes.
“I’m not trying to prove myself to anyone,” Daniel insisted, frustrated. “I am trying to put an end to something that I started.”
“
“No.” Daniel interrupted
“Alright
“Thank you all” Daniel said to the guardians after a sigh. “K’than I’m glad our two races finally got to meet.”
“As am I Daniel Jackson.”
“Take care Daniel Jackson.” Odin stated. “And you must know, that whenever you need it, the Asgard-”
“Will be there to help me out when I need it.” Daniel finished Odin’s sentence with a smile. “I know, and thank you.”
“Daniel Jackson…” Guinevere began
“Guinevere.” Daniel answered back.
“Daniel, there is more contained in your mind than you know. More than even Merlin let on. Guard it well, for it has made you a target of the Orici and her army.”
“Etia-” Daniel stopped and closed his eyes and concentrated again on speaking English. “Yes.” He stated with a nod. “I will be careful.”
“Come on
“The Nox will be in contact with you,” Lya promised as SG-1 left the temple. “Even if the council chooses not to help you, they will contact you.”
CHAPTER 11: Misdirected
They exited the temple silently and as Lya’s voice floated to their ears, Daniel realised what she had said but didn’t understand why she had said it. Therefore as the temple doors closed behind them Daniel turned to Sam to find the answers to his question.
“What did she mean?” Daniel asked, turning to Sam. “Why would the Nox council be in contact with us? And, why would they help us?”
“While you and Vala were in the labyrinth, we figured that if the Nox could help us hide the people of the galaxy then the Ori would have no followers because the priors wouldn’t be able to convert anyone.”
“That’s the most-” Daniel paused and thought about it for a moment. He was about to say that it was the most stupid idea that he had ever heard of but he realised that it wasn’t. “That’s the most amazing idea…” Daniel paused again and smiled. “That would give us the time to put the sangraal weapon together and not worry about the Ori gaining strength.”
“Exactly.”
“Hey
“Uh- no.”
“No?”
“I know!” Daniel exclaimed fiercely as he turned on his team. “I know that we need to know where to go and I know that I have the knowledge up here-” He paused to tap his forehead. “It’s here somewhere. You just have to give me time.”
“Alright,”
Silently, SG-1 made their way back up into the mountain and through the tunnel that took them back to the Stargate. As they were walking, Daniel furiously tried to figure out where they needed to go and by the time he stood in front of the DHD, the location popped into his mind.
“I know where we need to go.” Daniel stated with a smile as he turned to face his friends. “I know the address.”
“That’s great Daniel.” Sam replied smiling too, even though inside she was deadly worried about him.
They watched as Daniel turned back to the DHD and began to dial and as soon as the gate whooshed open, none of them noticed the confused look on his face as he stared at the symbols that he had dialled.
“Come on
“Right,” Daniel replied, shaking his head internally as he
took one last look at the DHD. He decided that he must have been
imagining things and he followed
When they arrived on the other side, Daniel and
As they entered the partial ruins, Daniel got the feeling that something was terribly wrong. He knew that they were on the wrong planet and as he moved to tell Sam his qualms they suddenly came under fire.
They all scattered and ducked behind whatever piece of wall they could get to first and began returning fire on their attackers- whom by their weapons fire, they knew that they were being attacked by Ori soldiers. They were all about 3 feet from each other and could therefore communicate effectively.
“
“Uh no.” Daniel answered back honestly. “It’s not.”
“What do you mean its not?”
“I mean that we shouldn’t be here.” Daniel explained between firing his gun. “This is not the planet that I dialled.”
“Then what planet did you dial?” Sam asked, looking over to Daniel.
“I can’t remember.” Daniel replied frustrated as he fired at the Ori soldiers who were hiding behind some blocks about 50 feet from them. “But I know that we are not supposed to be here.”
“Then how did we get here?” Vala asked, her voice barely heard above the sound of their guns.
“I don’t know.” Sam called back. “It’s possible our wormhole jumped to this location.”
“But how would it do that?”
“Perhaps we passed though a black hole.” Teal’c suggested while he paused to reload his weapon.
“I doubt that.” Sam replied shaking her head. “I think-”
“Daniel?” Vala called out interrupting Sam’s thought. All of SG-1 turned to look at Vala and followed her gaze to Daniel who was ducking around Ori fire and heading farther into the palatial complex. None of them except for Vala saw the glazed look in his eyes as he left and it was Vala who reacted first. She took off to follow him, but she lost him in the maze like hallways of the old palace.
The rest of SG-1 had no choice but to keep firing, if any of them had tried to follow they would have been hit instantly. Their only course of action was to eliminate their attackers and then follow Vala and Daniel.
Meanwhile, Daniel was wandering aimlessly though the more complete palace as though in a trance. When he came to a large circular room with a single individual in it he snapped out of his daze and raised his weapon only to have it snatched out of his grasp.
“Adria.”
“Dr. Jackson.” Adria replied. “You are surprised to see me?”
“No, not really-” Daniel answered with a smug smile. “I knew that you would escape sooner or later. What I am surprised about is why you are here. I mean, this isn’t the place where the sangraal is.”
“Then where is it?”
“Sorry,” Daniel replied crossing his arms in front of his chest. “I’m not telling you.”
“Very well,” Adria replied in her usual creepy calm voice. “I have other ways of getting the information out of you.”
And with that, Adria raised her hand and with the power of her thoughts brought Daniel to his knees. She was telepathically attacking his mind and was specifically breaking down the barriers in his mind that he had been working so hard to keep up. She smiled as she realised that he could barely contain the knowledge of the ancients and just as she was about to make a final push to destroy them completely her attention was drawn away by another person entering the circular room.
“Daniel!” Vala cried out with concern as she entered the room, breaking her daughters’ concentration which allowed Daniel to slump to the ground. “Daniel.” Vala repeated as she rushed to his side and made helped him up onto his feet. “Come on, I’m going to get you out of here.” Vala managed to get Daniel to take a couple of steps away from Adria but the pain in his mind was too much and he collapsed on the ground. Vala fell beside him and brought him to his knees and held on to him by his shoulders. “Come on Daniel, We have to get out of here.”
“Vala.” Daniel stated through gritted teeth as he struggled to keep speaking in English. “I’m not getting out of here.”
“Of course you are Daniel.” Vala insisted. “Now come on, we have to get out of here.”
“Vala,” Daniel began looking Vala in the eyes. “Ega mas nom” (I can not)
“Daniel-” Vala stated worriedly her eyes boring into Daniel’s and within them she saw the battle raging within his mind. Her head snapped up and she stared at her daughter who was just calmly looking on. “What did you do to him?”
“I broke the barriers that he had erected in his mind.” Adria stated simply. “With out them, the knowledge of the Alterrans is taking over his mind. It will only be a matter of moments before he can no longer understand you.”
“No.” Vala whispered to herself panicking. “Come on Daniel,” She pleaded looking back at Daniel. “You have to fight this.”
“Try-ing.” Daniel spoke through gritted teeth as he let his backpack (which had been in his hand) fall to Vala’s side. “Vala.” Daniel began regaining his ability of speech of a moment. “The last device is locas Terra- Atlantus.”
“Atlantis?” Vala whispered but Daniel shook his head. “But it’s on Earth?” Vala watched as Daniel nodded. “What is it?”
‘Is esta uat quof mog suoa ceteria unali”
“Daniel.” Vala pleaded, not understanding him.
“Link.” Daniel whispered, fighting hard to get that one word out.
“Link?” Vala repeated with confusion, “Daniel, what does that mean?” She looked into his eyes she saw for the first time in them fear and she could also see him slipping away. “No.” She cried out and impulsively she drew Daniel up into a hug and held him as tight as she could. “Come one Daniel,” She pleaded quietly into his ear. “You have to fight this. I can’t lose you.”
“Bos nunquaym mod.” Daniel whispered back, holding Vala as tight as she was holding him.
“I can’t understand you.” Vala whispered her voice breaking and a tear leaking out of her eye. More tears fell as Daniel pulled out of the hug and looked Vala straight in the eyes.
“You. Never. Will. Loose. Me.”
“Daniel-” Vala cried moving to give him another hug, but as she moved to do so Daniel disappeared and her arms embraced nothing. After a moment of shock Vala realised what had happened and she turned to face her daughter. “Bring him back.” She demanded but Adria simply turned from her mother. “Bring. Him. BACK!” Vala ordered again as she stood up, her voice full of desperation but Adria simply ignored her mother and disappeared. Vala sat there dumbfounded and empty as one of the things her daughter had said to her floated across her mind.
“We have plans for him.”
The sounds of gun fire disappeared and Vala slumped back to ground looking at Daniel’s pack. She just stared at the bag, knowing that within it were the reasons for Daniel’s disappearance and somewhere in her mind she was vaguely aware that people were calling Daniel’s name- and hers as well.
The remaining three members of SG-1 found their way to the
circular room and found Vala facing towards them on her knees, her eyes lowered
to Daniel’s bag.
“Vala, you’re alright.”
“Vala?” Sam asked softly kneeling
on the other side of her. “Are you alright?” Sam and the rest of SG-1 watched
as Vala shook her head. “What happened here?” Sam asked, and together with
Teal’c and
“…she took him.”
“What?” Sam asked wheeling around to face Vala again, this time meeting her eyes.
“She. Took. Him.” Vala repeated slowly.
“Adria took Daniel Jackson?” Teal’c asked, instinctively knowing what the ‘she’ meant.
“Yes.”
“Where?” Sam asked worried.
“I don’t know.” Vala answered, burying all her emotions deep as she pulled herself together. “All I know is that she broke down the barriers that he had in his mind- he was speaking ancient…I think he tried to tell me where the fifth device is.”
“What did he say?”
“I’m not sure.” Vala began, trying to remember what Daniel had said. “He said something about Terra-Atlantus, but when I asked him about Atlantis he shook his head. I asked him if it was on Earth, and he nodded.
“The outpost in
“It has to be.” Sam agreed, noting in her mind the irony that the last piece of the device would be found in the same spot that saved Earth from their last big threat. “Did he say what it was?”
“Yes-No-well…he said ‘Is esta uat quof mog suoa ceteria unali’.” Vala repeated, hoping that one of them would know what that meant.
“It is that which will join the others together.” Teal’c translated.
“Cables maybe?” Sam suggested.
“Alright, so we know where we’re going, we know what we’re
looking for- don’t suppose
“No.”
“Sorry Sam,”
“It’s alright
“We can do that?” Vala asked, looking up in shock. “We can find him?”
“Uh yea.” Sam confirmed, surprised that Vala had forgotten about it. “We can track him through the transmitter in his arm- remember?”
“Now I do.”
“Well, shock can make you forget the simplest details.” Sam replied softly.
“Alright gang,”
They made their way through the ancient palace and back through the gate to Stargate Command where they were greeted by General Landry.
“Welcome back SG-1- wait,” He paused and realised that someone was missing. “Where’s Dr. Jackson?”
“He was taken by Adria sir.”
“I tried to stop her sir…”
“Don’t worry Vala, I’m sure you did your best.” Landry comforted Vala. “Do we know where the last object is?”
“
“Do we know what it is?”
“Something about links.”
“Cables.” Landry suggested.
“Yes sir,” Sam agreed. “That’s what I think.”
“Very well.” Landry stated with a sigh. “You four have had a rough couple of days. Rest up- we’ll debrief at 0800 tomorrow.”
“Yes sir,” Sam and Cameron answered. Teal’c, Vala and
“Looks like I’m going to have to make a long distance phone call.”
“Uh- sir?” Sam asked, turning to face her CEO.
“Yes Carter?”
“Are you going to tell General O’Neill about Daniel?”
“Yes.” Landry answered slowly. “Why?”
“I don’t think that is a good idea.” Sam answered biting her lower lip.
“Why not?” Landry asked, not sure at what Sam was getting at. “Jack wants to know how SG-1 is doing- especially if one of you gets in trouble You know how he is about you, Teal’c and Daniel.”
“I know.” Sam agreed, knowing full well that her former CEO would want to know about Daniel’s disappearance. “But sir- after his experience on Atlantis I thought…”
“You thought that he should be allowed to relax.” Landry interrupted with a knowing smile. “Is that it?”
“Uh- yes sir.” Sam agreed. “Besides, I’m going to get the Odyssey and our deep space sensors looking for Daniel’s transmitter. Hopefully we’ll know where he is before our briefing tomorrow.”
“Very well.” Landry agreed, leaving Sam alone in the gateroom.
“Oh boy,” She whispered to herself as she made her way to the control room to contact the Odyssey. ‘I hope that I made the right decision.’
CHAPTER 12: Missing You
It had been a mere couple of hours since Daniel had been taken when Vala finally and silently made her way out of the locker room showers and towards her quarters. She had been in a state of shock since she came back through the gate and while Sam had told her that the Odyssey was searching for Daniel’s transmitter she had the horrible sinking feeling in her gut that she would never see Daniel again- even though she desperately wanted to believe that she would.
Still, she walked silently and subdued towards her quarters and normally the trip wasn’t bad because by going to her quarters she could peak in on Daniel in his room because they’re were still across the hall from each other. The SGC had left Vala’s quarters the way they had been when she left and Daniel quite often just crashed in the temporary quarters that he had on base instead of going back to his home.
Vala stopped for a moment as she passed Daniel’s quarters and got lost in thought as she looked at his closed door, totally overwhelmed by a memory of her arrival back at the SGC a few months earlier.
She was totally
surprised when she realised that Daniel had led her right to her old
quarters. She certainly didn’t expect to be welcomed back to the SGC, and
she was even more surprised when she realised that they had kept everything the
same for her.
“You mean,” Vala asked
Daniel with a touch of surprise in her voice. “You mean that you kept my room?
You didn’t give it away to someone else? I get to keep it?” Vala turned to
Daniel who merely smiled and opened the door and Vala was once again surprised.
“You kept it exactly as I had it.” Vala smiled inwardly at this joke because
the base quarters all looked the same- although Vala had managed to import a
green plaid comforter for her bed after the incident on P8X-41. Vala was
truly touched and she wanted to know why- so she turned and Daniel and asked
and was surprised when he actually blushed.
“Yeah, well…” Daniel
began, trying to shrug it off as no big deal, “I-uh- we always thought that there
was a chance that you were alive in the Ori galaxy and you uh- certainly proved
yourself last time you stayed here.”
“You never gave up on
me,” Vala stated softly. “Did you?”
“No I- uh- we didn’t.”
Daniel replied with a smile.
Vala pulled herself out of the memory and found that she had a tear in her eye.
‘Daniel was so nice to me when I came back,’ Vala thought to herself as she let herself into her room. ‘I mean, we might have bantered a lot but it was different than the first time I was here. Last time he despised me, but when I came back…’ Vala shook her head and simply laid on top of her green plaid blanked. ‘He hasn’t been stuck with me- I mean I was asked to stay...Daniel convinced General Landry to let me stay…why would he do such a thing?’
Vala sighed and rolled away from the door, trying to stop thinking about Daniel but it wasn’t working. As she fell asleep she was totally unaware that she wasn’t the only one who was missing Daniel terribly.
Sam was sitting in the very empty and quiet mess hall eating her customary blue Jell-o while her mind was spinning off in a million different directions. She had contacted the Odyssey and it was now searching for Daniel’s signal but after an hour there had been nothing- hence why Sam was sitting alone eating her Jell-o thinking.
‘It’s not like this isn’t the first time we’ve lost Daniel,’ Sam rationalized, trying to chase away the sinking feeling in her gut. ‘I mean, we had barely been together a couple of months when-’
“I felt that blast
kill me. I mean…I thought I…I thought we were dead. Weren’t we dead?”
“Yeah.”
‘Then –’ “He’s gone, isn’t he?” ‘- I was blinking back the tears.’ “He screamed and…and there was this fire, and…he called out for help, and then he…screamed…and then he…he was gone! He was just…he was just...” ‘I couldn’t stop crying, that was horrible especially when we had his memorial…’
“Daniel Jackson…made
this place…happen. As a member of SG-1…he was our voice; our conscience. He was
a very courageous man. He was a good man. For those of us lucky enough to have
known him, he was also a friend.”
‘One of my best friends…one of the few best friends that I’ve had for a long time…and on that mission we…’
“Oh
my god, Colonel. We left him
behind.”
‘But we got him back. We always managed to get him back- but Kalowna –’
“Just so you know, Jonas had a change of heart. He stole some naquadria for
us. He took a big risk, he said it was because of what
you did. I think it could be important and I wanted you to know that…You
have an effect on people Daniel. They way you look at things...it changed
me too. I see what really matters...God, I don’t
know what we wait to tell people how we really feel...I guess I hoped that you
always knew.”
‘He is my best friend…’ Sam thought to herself as she pulled her mind out of the memory. ‘He has always been my best friend, and we’ve been through so much together and I haven’t- I never…’ Sam dropped her spoon to the table and barely cringed when it clattered and echoed through out the mess hall. ‘God! He’s done this to us so many times…and he’s always gotten through…why does this feel different.’
“It was one of the hardest things I have ever been through. You were—you are—brilliant. One of the most caring, passionate… You're the type of person who would give his own life for someone he doesn't even know... If you had one fault, it was that you wanted to save people so badly, y—you wanted to help people so much, that it tore you apart when you couldn't make a difference.”
Sam buried her head in her hands and let a few stray tears leak out of her eyes as the memories kept running through her head. “Daniel-” She whispered quietly. “You better make it easy on me to find you- or General O’Neill with have my head…” A few more stray tears leaked out of her eyes and Sam let them fall onto the table. “…I miss you already…we have to find you…”
Just as Sam and Vala were thinking about Daniel, Teal’c too while being surrounded by candles in the comforting attempt at kel'no'reem was also thinking about him and how much they had been through together.
Teal’c remembered the first time he had seen Daniel Jackson seemingly die- it had been on the planet inhabited by the Nox. The then Colonel O’Neill thought that it would be a good idea to try and capture Apophis and Teal’c was in agreement. He remembered how he had thought that if they could bring down Apophis and show his dead body to his brothers and sisters on Chulak then the Jaffa Rebellion would gather strength.
‘That was not the case.’ Teal’c thought to himself, his eyes closed in remembrance. ‘We were not successful in our attempt at capturing Apophis- that would not come time much later.’
Teal’c then went through all the times that they had lost
Daniel in one capacity or another. There was the incident with the
touched, the time where they thought that he had actually died, the time that
he had stayed behind on one of Apophis’ exploding ships only to use the gate to
escape to another planet. Teal’c remembered the time that Daniel had
saved the people of
“If you are to die,
Daniel Jackson, I wish you to know that I believe that the fight against the
Goa'uld will have lost one of its greatest warriors…And I will have lost one of
my greatest friends.”
Teal’c remembered how upon Daniel’s return he had come to himself when he remembered who Shar’e was and how Teal’c thought that Daniel would not forgive him for being the cause of his wife.
“Her name is Shar’e.”
“Yes.”
“No one told me
that...I remembered that by myself. I dreamed about her and when I woke up, I
knew her name.”
“That is good news,
Daniel Jackson.”
“Yeah, it's the first
time I've believed I might have a chance. You know? If I can remember a name,
then there's a chance it's all in there somewhere, right?”
“Indeed.”
“So-so where is she?...She's dead…And I loved her very much.”
Teal’c went on to how Daniel had confided in him after that.
“I guess I should—I
should be thanking you, actually. You see I used to—used to feel like I didn't
belong…anywhere, really. I think I thought the—whole ascension thing would
change that. Now I'm realising that the sacrifices were far too great. My life
here is too important to just leave behind. I guess what I'm trying to say is
that for the first time in my life I feel like I'm a part of something. Something important.”
‘Our fight is still important,’ Teal’c thought to himself his eyes opening and his gazed fixed upon the flame in front of him. ‘Daniel Jackson has always managed to survive. He is a warrior, and he will be able to withstand Adria and her powers.’
Teal’c, with the memories of Daniel flowing through his mind, continued his meditation- wondering subconsciously if Daniel would be able to get out of this latest conundrum and whether he would be the same man that they had last seen on the planet that they had been ambushed on.
Meanwhile, while Vala was tossing and turning and being subjected to horrid nightmares, while Sam was helping herself to another bowl of blue Jell-o and Teal’c was meditating, Cameron Mitchell found himself alone in pseudo basketball court that they had erected in one of the old gyms. He just went through his drills, but kept getting distracted by his memories of his time with Daniel.
“You boys aren’t going
to let people from two different planets beat you at your own silly game, are
you?”
“’Silly game’ isn’t
over yet.”
“That’s my wingman”
‘He was a great wingman in that game…’
“I just remember
feeling this insane anger. I don't know why. I picked up the statue, and I hit
her with it. She was lying there, helpless, and I uh…”
“It wasn't you, okay?
These people can implant memories.”
“Yeah, I've been
trying to tell myself the same thing all morning. It doesn't stop me from still
seeing her face. What if I told you everything that happened to you yesterday
was a false memory? How would you know the difference?”
‘He was so understanding…’
“Oh, I was wrong...there
is someone home.”
“Wait! Wait!
“What? I was looking
for the light switch.”
“New
guy!”
“Hey, you touched
that!”
“I know how to read
that”
“Guh!” Out of frustration
Vala who had finally fallen asleep was stuck in a nightmare, one that she couldn’t escape from. It was a nightmare based upon her memories and that made it all the more terrifying.
She was back in the Ori galaxy, only it was the first time she had been there and the villagers were standing around the stone circle with Vala in the middle with liquid fire making its way towards her and Daniel was caught on the outside unable to get to her.
“What the hell did you say?” Daniel asked. He was angry and his anger made her cringe a little inside but she decided to brush it off and explain with rising panic what had a happened.
“I think at first it's what I didn't say. You see, apparently there's a blessing you're supposed to recite over the leaves before you drink, which nobody warned me about. Then I think it's what I did say. I was trying to politely explain what was going on and then his wife started screaming and accusing me of being overcome. At which point I believe I suggested she might want to think about procreation…with herself.”
“Oh! Oh!” Daniel exclaimed, a cross between sounding disgusted and actually worried. “Listen! Please! Listen to me! You have to believe me! This is not what it looks like. Sallis is not possessed, okay? Now this going to sound crazy…but we're from another galaxy. That's right we're using a communication technology that allows us to take over a body from very far away…and—and—and make us talk to you. We just want to talk to you!”
Vala looked at the rising panic in Daniel face and then turned to the croed who didn’t buy his story. There was utter silence as the liquid fire crackled its way towards her and then it poured into the centre where she was sat and lit her skirt on fire and while she tried to put it out she could see out of the corner of her eye how Daniel was trying his hardest to get free…but she knew that it wouldn’t work and that she was going to die.
“Daniel!” She called out terrified looking towards the only man who had a remote chance at saving her and she could see in Daniel’s eyes that he was afriad of loosing her, only she didn’t know if he was afraid of losing her because he thought that he would die or if he really didn’t want to lose her.
“Okay, listen to me! Listen to me!” Daniel called out his voice etched with dispar. “You have to believe me! You're killing an innocent person!”
“Daniel!”
“Blessed are those that deliver us from evil.”
She screamed in pain as the fire continued to move up around her and as it began to engulf her she could hear Daniel scream out- but it was the last thing she heard as the immense heat engulfed her and she fell into blessed darkness.
Suddenly the heat was gone and Vala found herself alive but stuck within something. She pushed against the barrier in front of her and saw that it was a wall of ancient writing. After a moment of wondering what was going on she found that the wall began to go transparent and between the letters she could see.
What she saw shocked herself however because she saw Daniel through a reflective surface and it hit her- she was inside Daniel’s mind. She didn’t know how, or why, all she knew was that she was and she knew that she had to get Daniel’s attention.
“DANIEL!” She called out but she found that she had no voice. She tired calling out again, and again but all she was doing was shouting within her own mind. Then suddenly she heard a voice coming from the other side of the barrier. It was weak and faint, but it was Daniel. He was thinking, and he was thinking in English.
‘Vala…’ Daniel stared into space and mentally shook away the feeling that Vala was right there beside him. ‘…she’s on Earth, with the rest of my team…god, I hope that they’re alright.’
“It’s getting harder
for you isn’t it?”
“What?”
“Containing
the knowledge. It’s getting
harder to do so, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is… I had no
idea...”
‘God… Daniel scrunched his eyes shut and tried to block out the pain ‘...if this is what Jack felt like…well-’ Daniel seized up in pain as a memory floated across his mind.
“Well what are we
waiting for...? Let’s get this temple open.”
‘Mitchell…’ Daniel smiled inwardly to himself as the pain receded. ‘I’m sure he’s keeping the band together…I wonder if they have-’
“...have you almost
completed your task?”
‘-Teal’c.’ Daniel smiled, thinking
about his
“…won’t lose us
Daniel. We’ve been through so much together over the years and we’ve
always come through.”
“I know. But I always
felt that the only reason that we’ve triumphed over everything was because we
had something on our side.”
“What? Luck?”
“Maybe luck...maybe
something else...”
‘I thought that the ancients were helping us,’ Daniel thought to himself as the pain subsided ‘-or something even more powerful- but they-’
“They’re not going to
help us…We’re in this alone.”
“We’re not in this
alone Daniel.” Vala stated firmly, causing Daniel to look at her in surprise
and upon seeing his surprise she went on. “We’re in this together, and that
means that we’re not alone.”
“No.” Daniel agreed
with a small smile on his face as he looked at Vala. “I guess we’re not alone,
are we?”
‘No.’ Daniel told himself firmly. ‘We have never been alone in this fight. We have our allies, and we have each other, I have my team- Sam, Teal’c, Mitchell and Vala…’ Daniel sighed inwardly at the thought of Vala and the last time he had seen her.
“No.” She cried out
and impulsively she drew Daniel up into a hug and held him as tight as she
could. “Come on Daniel,” She pleaded quietly into his ear. “You have to
fight this. I can’t lose you.”
“Bos
nunquaym mod.” Daniel
whispered back, holding Vala as tight as she was holding him.
“I can’t understand
you.” Vala whispered her voice breaking and a tear leaking out of her
eye. More tears fell as Daniel pulled out of the hug and looked Vala
straight in the eyes.
“You. Never. Will. Lose.
Me.”
“Daniel-” Vala cried
moving to give him another hug, but as she moved to do so Daniel disappeared
and her arms embraced nothing.
‘I lied to her…I said that she’d never lose me and look at me… I got myself captured by Adria.’ Daniel sighed and wished that he could apologize to her. ‘God Vala, I’m so sorry that I lied to you.’
“No Daniel!” Vala called out her voice returning but it echoing off the wall of ancient writing. “You didn’t lie to me, well alright you did- but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are still alive so you have to fight. Fight Daniel fight?”
“Vala?” Daniel blinked and moved his eyes around. He had gotten that feeling again, the feeling that she was right there with him but all he (and Vala) saw was Adria advancing towards him and as Adria began to speak Vala found herself ripped from Daniel’s mind and Daniel felt as through the final barrier in his mind has finally broken down, allowing the ancient knowledge to come pouring in.
CHAPTER 13
“Daniel!” Vala exclaimed as she sat straight up in her bed. Her room was dark and for a moment she was completely disoriented as she tried to process what had just happened to her. ‘It was a dream.’ She told her self finally as she laid back down on her bed. ‘It was a dream nothing more.’ Vala sighed and a few tears leaked out of her eyes as she turned her head to face her clock and groaned inwardly as she saw that it was 0730 in the morning. She had a briefing in half-an-hour and Vala decided reluctantly that she should get ready.
*
* * *
“Any sign of Daniel Jackson?” Landry asked bluntly… It was 0800 hours the day after Daniel had been taken by Adria and SG1 was in their debriefing.
“No sir,” Sam replied with a sigh. “None at all…yet”
“That’s not what I wanted to hear.” Landry stated with a
sigh. “But at least the team in
“That’s great.” Sam replied with a smile.
“Yes,” Landry agreed. “But what are we going to do about Dr. Jackson?”
“I know sir,” Sam agreed, her voice showing the strain and frustration that she was feeling. “-but there is just no way to track him now, I mean hopefully his signal will be picked up on one of our deep space radars but until then…” Sam paused and shook her head in defeat, clearly not knowing what else to do.
“But we have to do something!” Vala exclaimed hitting the palm of her hand on the table. “We can’t just leave him out there.”
“I know that Vala.” Landry soothed, “That’s why I’m open to suggestions.”
“Well, what if we went to Langara, or to another planet with your allies on it, maybe they will have heard something- anything…”
“Vala-”
“I know that Langara has been occupied by the Ori as have many of your allied planets but this is Daniel we’re talking about.” Vala protested. “He’s been kidnapped by my daughter and-”
“Vala,”
“Of course it’s my fault.” Vala argued. “She’s my daughter, and she kidnapped him. You can’t deny that.”
“No,” Teal’c agreed. “We can not.”
“So what are you proposing?” Landry asked again.
“I’ve already told you my-” Vala began again frustrated, only to be cut off by Walter who entered the briefing room looking most upset.
“Sir?”
“Yes Walter?” Landry asked, turning to the technician. “What is it?”
Meanwhile, out in space, aboard an Ori super ship…
“Dr. Jackson, you are making this extremely difficult.” Adria sighed as she stood in front of Daniel.
“What?” Daniel asked, vaguely wondering why he was still speaking ancient. “Did you actually expect that I would give up anything?”
“I thought that you would welcome the change to unload some of the knowledge that you carry.”
“Well I’m so sorry Adria,” Daniel apologized sarcastically, looking from Adria to the silent viewer who was also in the room. “You’re not going to get anything out of me.”
“Please Orici,” Tomin asked stepping forward out of the shadows. “Let me talk to him, perhaps I can get him to talk.”
“Why would you want to talk to me?” Daniel asked curious.
“Because we share the same thing,” Tomin responded bitterly before turning back to Adria. “Please Orici…”
“No Tomin,” Adria refused softly. “Now please, go.”
“As you wish Orici,” Tomin replied with a bow before he left Adria and Daniel alone.
“Poor Tomin,” Adria sighed as she watched her mother’s husband go. “He has been so worried about my mother.”
“He loves her,” Daniel stated his voice void of emotion. “Doesn’t he?”
“Yes.” Adria replied with a small smile. “He cared for my mother when she was delivered to us.”
“Did she love him?” Daniel asked, biting his tongue the second the question was asked.
“My mother?”
“Yes.” Daniel confirmed, knowing that he needed to know the answer.
“My mother is incapable of love,” Adria stated simply. “She does not love me, or Tomin though we love her dearly and want her to find the path. My mother does not love anything in her life and with Tomin she did what she has always done and what she will always do- use people for her own personal gain.”
“That’s not true.” Daniel defended, his anger rising at hearing Adria speak that way about Vala.
“Yes it is.”
“No,” Daniel countered again. “No it’s not. I know Vala, she may have been that way once, but she’s not that way now.”
“If you say so,” Adria stated simply, looking most unconvinced and after a moment of silence she turned back to Daniel. “Have you given my proposal any more thought?”
“What about becoming a prior for the Ori in exchange for you wiping the knowledge of the ancients from my mind?” Daniel asked leaning his head to one side in a mock attempt to think about her offer. “Um… No. I’ll stay just as I am thank you.”
“But you are dying.”
“I know that.” Daniel spat back, wincing in pain. “But that doesn’t change anything.”
“You would rather die than submit to our light?”
“You are not light.” Daniel countered.
“Aren’t we?” Adria asked a creepy smile spreading on her face. “Tell me Daniel Jackson, you thought highly of the ancients once- did you not?”
“Still do.”
“Really?” Adria asked, not convinced. “Even though they’ve abandoned you and this galaxy?”
“They haven’t abandoned us-” Daniel argued, although he knew that she was speaking the truth. “Well, not all of them.”
“Yes,” Adria began her smile widening. “Yes, there are some who could resist us, who want to resist us and yet they do nothing. Why?”
“Because the others will stop them,” Daniel answered truthfully. “The majority of the ancients don’t see you as a threat, but they’ll see the truth eventually especially since they actually ascend those who are enlightened enough.”
“You think that you will ascend?” Adria asked with a laugh. “You do, don’t you? But who would help you Daniel Jackson? Oma Desala? No, she is busy fighting Anubis. So who then? Merlin? Morgan le Fay?”
‘They’re not the only ascended beings that I know.’ Daniel thought to himself.
“Or perhaps,” Adria continued slyly. “-perhaps some one you knew well. Do you think that Skar’ra will help to ascend you? That pathetic Abydonian child could not do anything to help you.” At this comment Daniel struggled against his restraints causing Adria to laugh. “Or do you want to die?” She asked thinking about Daniel and all she had learned from him. “Do you think that dieing is the best thing? Do you want to meet someone in death?”
“Enough-”
“Do you think that you will meet your dead wife on the great path?” Adria continued with malicious intent. “Well I can tell you that Shar’e is-”
“STOP!” Daniel ordered. “That’s enough.”
“Very well…” Adria agreed solemnly. “But sooner or later, I will get you to agree.”
“Never.”
“Are you sure about that?” Adria asked in such a way that it seemed that she knew something that Daniel did not.
“Like I told you the first time, I would rather die then work for you and the Ori.”
“Yes,” Adria agreed. “You said that you would rather die, but I wonder would you want your team to die?”
Daniel’s heart stopped in fear at Adria’s words and his visions were flooded with scenes of his team dying at the hands of the priors and the Ori soldiers. Scene after scene were images of Mitchell, Sam and Teal’c all falling on the front line of colossal battle. And through the images he tried calling out to Adria to stop and he heard her laugh in return.
“Perhaps,” She began, allowing Daniel’s vision to clear, “-perhaps I should kill them my self one by one. Starting with-” Adria paused and a scene of Vala dying crossed Daniel’s mind and that scared him to his core.
“You’d kill your own mother?” Daniel asked scared that she would actually do it. “I thought that you wanted Vala to ‘see the light’?”
“Yes,” Adria agreed. “But I grow impatient with my mother and even I can not wait forever.”
“But she’s your mother.” Daniel argued.
“There is little of her in me.”
“Oh, there is more of her in you than you know Adria,” Daniel responded with a sad smile. “And I know that you won’t kill her.”
“Do you really want to take that chance Daniel Jackson?” Adria stared Daniel down, and his silence confirmed her suspicions. “I thought as much. There is no choice for you here but to join me.”
“My friends would rather that I be dead then join you.”
“But I thought that living for another day was worth something to your people.” Adria pointed out.
“That only goes so far.” Daniel pointed out. “You and the Ori are a plague, just like the Goa’ulds and none of us would have ever thought about joining the Goa’ulds to save our own skin.”
“But the Goa’ulds were false gods…”
“And so are the Ori.” Daniel countered, knowing that this conversation was going to hit home, as it always did.
“The Ori are not false gods.”
“Yes they are and you know it.”
“You have been blinded by evil.”
“So you say,” Daniel sighed, finishing the debate that he knew was fruitless. “- but my friends would never want me to join you, and I don’t want to do it either.”
“Even if it means your life and theirs?”
“Yes.” Daniel said sternly although he knew that somehow, someway he would never, ever let it come to that.
“You are a very strong individual Daniel Jackson,” Adria praised, knowing that she would crack him eventually. “But I wonder, could you endure the sight of this?”
Daniel’s eyes clouded once more and instead of seeing his team die he saw the Ori attacking earth. There were millions of innocent people running for their lives and in the midst of it all he saw his friends that he had outside the SGC get slaughtered and killed.
“Join me,” Adria stated again, her voice wafting through the image. “and I will spare Earth, refuse me and allow this to happen.”
“That’s going to happen anyways.” Daniel countered as his vision cleared for a second time. “So what does it matter? You’re going to invade Earth, and we won’t surrender so you’ll destroy them whether I am a prior or not.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Oh, I know so.” Daniel confirmed. “You see, I’ve been in this bargaining situation before. I know that although you’re promising Earth’s safety you’ll revoke it as soon as I am on you’re side.”
“There is much about us that you do not know Daniel Jackson.”
“That may be.” Daniel agreed. “But you know what? I don’t care! I never will care and I will never join you and you can threaten me all you want but it won’t work.”
“Threatening won’t work but what about actually doing Daniel Jackson?” Adria asked slyly. “Will that change you’re mind?”
“What are you talking about Adria?” Daniel asked, noticing that the ship had dropped out of hyperspace.
* * * *
“Walter?” Landry asked again, not liking the look on his face.
“Our deep space radars picked up something.” Walter answered, looking very shaken up.
“Daniel?” Vala asked hopefully.
“No.” Walter replied shaking his head. “No, sir- there is an Ori ship heading our way.”
“When will they get here?” Landry asked, his mind racing for possible solutions.
“Any minute now sir.” Walter answered to every one’s dismay.
“I’ll go alert the president.” Landry stated getting up from his seat quickly and rushing into his office.
“We need a plan.” Mitchell pointed out. “Can we evacuate?”
“No.” Sam replied with a shake of her head. “Even if there was enough time the Ori would follow us where ever we go.”
“So we need to fight.” Mitchell stated.
“With what?” Teal’c asked. “The Dedalaus is still in Atlantis and the Odyssey will not get here in time.”
“And the Apollo is still in construction. There is no way that she can fly.” Sam pointed out.
“There just isn’t enough time to do anything.” Vala stated with a gulp.
“So what do we do?” Mitchell asked looking around to his team who just sat there with blank faces.
“I don’t know.” Sam answered solemnly biting her lower lip.
* * * *
“Take a look Daniel Jackson.” Adria ordered, releasing Daniel from his restraints and mentally guiding him to the window that he had been unable to see from his chair.
“Earth.” Daniel whispered in fear, realising that his team wouldn’t have had enough time to put the sangraal together, if they had found the fifth piece at all. “What are you going to do?”
“I am going to destroy it,” Adria stated coldly. “Maybe then you will see that there is nothing left for you and you will join us.”
“What?” Daniel asked in shock as he whirled around to face Adria who was leaning over a consol pressing a button. “Wait!” But it was too late, Daniel whirled back to the window and saw a beam shoot out from the ship and head towards earth. “Adria stop!” He pleaded and miraculously, before his very eyes the beam scattered and entered the atmosphere illuminating the sky in borealis’ that were seen all over the globe. Sighing with relief Daniel turned and faced Adria with a dead calm certainty in his stomach.
“You can’t harm Earth.” Daniel stated solemnly. “And you can’t harm my team.”
“Yes.” Adria agreed with a nod of her head, very pleased with herself.
“Do you swear?”
“You have my word as Orici.” Adria promised as she waved her hand over another consol and Daniel saw that Earth disappeared from his sight and Daniel hung his head knowing that he couldn’t back out now. “Come Daniel Jackson,” Adria beckoned, holding out her hand for Daniel to clasp. “Let me show you the light.” Daniel walked over to Adria and faced her down for a second before, with childish glee inside Adria and dread in him, Daniel took her hand.
* * * *
“Alright people,” Landry began entering the briefing room where SG1 sat arguing about the best course of action. “This is what we’re going to do-”
“Sir!” Walter interrupted as he barged once more into the briefing room.
“What is it now Walter?”
“Amazing news Sir!” Walter explained. “The Ori ship is turning away.”
“What happened?” Landry asked in shock as SG1 sighed in relief.
“We don’t know sir.” Walter emitted. “It looked like they had launched a weapon against us but it dissipated in our atmosphere. There were Aurora Borealis’ all over the world- even in places where it was light.”
“We’re going to have a hard time covering that up.” Mitchell muttered quietly.
“We’ll think of something.” Sam snapped turning to face Walter and Landry. “What I don’t understand is how-” Sam paused mid-sentence as a notion dawned on her and her eyes widened. “What if-”
“It is the only possibility.” Teal’c agreed catching Sam’s eye.
“What?” Mitchell asked, wondering what the two veteran members of SG1 were talking about.
“You think that Daniel was on that ship?” Vala piped up knowing what Sam and Teal’c were discussing because that was the first thought that had crossed her mind- especially when she thought about the dream that she had had the night before.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense.” Sam stated with a sigh. “But how-”
“How would he get Adria to leave us alone?” Vala finished, her voice void of emotion even through her heart was pounding inside. “That’s the real question.”
“Perhaps
“Any deal wouldn’t have been good.” Sam pointed out.
“Indeed.”
While the remaining members of SG1, Landry and Walter looked at each other with wonder, speculation and worry on their faces and in their minds and hearts across the stars in another galaxy Daniel found himself once more in front of the fires on Celeste and as he stared at him he was confronted by the memories of what he had said the last time he had been there.
“Respect, yes,
certainly. But that doesn't mean I would murder innocent people in their name.
I guess what I'm trying to understand is whether the Ori have spoken to you
directly and told you to worship them, or whether you've…misinterpreted some
evidence you've found along the way and developed this religion on your own.
I can't speak for everyone in my galaxy, but in my own humble opinion, I don't
believe that any individual or society can achieve enlightenment through
fear-mongering and forced servitude, no matter what power is presented as
evidence. That's something the ascended beings I know very clearly seem to
understand.
Don't get me wrong, I mean, we should all be trying to better ourselves. I mean
if-if ascension is the ultimate end we're trying to achieve, then so be it, but
we should all be allowed to get there or not of our own free will. You can kill
me for saying that, but that is what I believe and nothing you say or do will
EVER change my mind.”
‘Boy how things can change,’ Daniel thought despairingly to himself as he stared into the fire. ‘I never thought that I would find myself here.’
“Daniel Jackson, open your heart and mind to origin.” Adria commanded and Daniel looked at her one last time before looking back into the fire.
‘Oh guys, I am so sorry.’ Daniel apologized mentally to his team. ‘But sometimes things do change-’ A flash of Vala’s smile crossed his mind and Daniel knew what he had to do. ‘- and besides, I can do more this way.’
“That’s what you think.” Adria whispered maliciously in his ear and before Daniel could react the fires of Celeste entered him and he was changed.
CHAPTER 14: The Shroud
As the fires of Celeste consumed Daniel, Sam and Mitchell were arguing about the implications of the sudden disappearance of the Ori ship back at the SGC and Vala whose thoughts were resting solely on Daniel’s well-being, felt a bone-chilling shiver travel down her spine and a knot of pure dread settle firmly into her stomach.
“Daniel-” She whispered fearfully to no one, not noticing that Teal’c was the only one who heard her outburst.
“Vala…?” Teal’c asked turning his attention from the fight to Vala.
“Daniel-” Vala repeated her eyelids blinking and her eyes vacant. She was lost in her own little world of emotion, yet by now she had caught the attention of the remaining members of SG1 and General Landry.
“What is it?” Sam asked curiously, directing her question to Teal’c.
“I am unsure.” Teal’c answered looking from Vala to Sam. “I merely heard Vala speak Daniel Jackson’s name twice.”
“Hey Vala,” Mitchell asked, snapping his fingers in front of her eyes in an attempt to break her out of what ever she was in. “-you okay?”
“W-what? S-sorry.” Vala responded blinking away her confusion. “Um- what was that?”
“I said,” Mitchell repeated slower. “Are you okay?”
“Of course I’m okay.” Vala snapped, irritated by the way Mitchell had asked his question. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“You spoke Daniel’s name.” Sam explained softly, knowing what Vala was going through.
“Twice.” Teal’c elaborated.
“So…we were just wondering if you were alright.” Mitchell stated again hoping that Vala wouldn’t snap at them again.
“I’m fine.” Vala insisted crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“That’s good to hear.” General Landry piped in. “But what was with you saying Dr. Jackson’s name?”
“I uh-” Vala stumbled over her words, that feeling of dread growing stronger again.
“Vala?” Sam asked worriedly.
“I uh…um-” Vala began again, trying to put her worries into words but it was too late. The moment was gone; the shiver had long since dissipated and the knot in her stomach was slowly loosening. “I don’t know.” She answered honestly with a sigh. “I really don’t know.”
“Are you sure?” Sam asked again and they all watched as Vala struggled to put her feelings into words.
“It’s just- I don’t know,” Vala sighed running a hand through her hair. “I just feel like something’s happened. Don’t you feel like something, something critical has changed?”
“What are you talking about?” General Landry asked, wondering what Vala could be going on about but he was shocked when Sam nodded.
“I know what you mean.” Sam agreed placing her hands overtop of Vala’s. “I feel like something crucial has happened too.”
“As do I.”
“Would someone please tell me what is going on?” General Landry asked looking to Mitchell for support.
“What I think they’re saying sir,” Mitchell explained, feeling the same way. “Is that their spidey senses are tingling.”
“Is that a fact?” Landry asked.
“Yes.” Vala nodded, trying to shake away the horrible feeling. “Something…something terrible has happened…somewhere.” Vala sighed and blinked back a tear or two. “I know that it sounds impossible and I can’t explain it but something- something has happened.”
“I believe you.” Sam insisted.
“I’m with Sam,” Mitchell agreed with a smile.
“As am I.”
“But what does this mean?” Landry asked.
“I don’t know.” Sam answered honestly looking to her team-mates, especially Vala who seemed more troubled than the rest of them. “But I’m sure we’ll find out.”
With nothing they could do, the members of SG1 decided to leave it at that. Vala couldn’t remember anything else and the members of SG1 couldn’t explain away their feelings either. However, after being checked out by Dr. Lam, Landry saw no point of pursuing the issue and he tried to get SG1 back on track.
A week passed and it was a long one for SG1. Almost every day Sam got in reports from the deep space sensors but they hadn’t picked up Daniels transmitter yet. On the few days that they had gone on reconnaissance missions they scrounged around for every and any bit of information that they could get their hands on, but nothing seemed to lead them to Daniel.
To their dismay it seemed as though Daniel had completely vanished from the universe all together and to make matters worse, they couldn’t account for Adria’s ships either. It seemed as though they too had mysteriously vanished although the priors continued to convert planets. While the remaining members of SG1 longed for the tiniest tidbit of information about Daniel, they acquired some other information that required their immediate attention.
“What’s this new information sir?” Mitchell asked as General Landry entered on the briefing room.
“Does it have to do with Daniel?” Vala asked hopefully, perking up in her seat.
“Unfortunately no,” Landry answered reluctantly. “It does not concern Dr. Jackson.”
“Then what is it sir?” Sam asked, settling down in her seat, wondering what could be more important than finding Daniel. ‘Nothing could be more important than finding Daniel,’ Sam thought to herself, ignoring Landry’s answer. ‘General Landry isn’t going to let me keep this a secret from Jack for long…hell, I’m surprised that he doesn’t know already…but Landry did say that Jack has been basically un-contactable lately…’
“What?” Mitchell exclaimed, breaking Sam out of her thoughts. “This prior is doing…what?”
“Bra’tac tells us that this new prior,” Landry repeated again, “-seems to be using the softball approach to convert the inhabitants of P9X-484. Instead of threatening to kill them, he is supposedly trying to show all the beneficial aspects of Origin.”
“That’s what I thought you said sir-” Mitchell began, shaking his head. “But I don’t believe it.”
“Neither do I.” Landry agreed. “However, if this prior is doing what these people say he is doing, then perhaps we can use it to our advantage.”
“You mean, try and convert him to our side.” Vala chirped up, clearly showing her reservations by the tone of her voice.
“Is that even possible?” Sam asked sceptically, thinking back to all their past experiences with priors and trying to get them to ‘see the light.’
“I was able to get through to Garak.” Teal’c pointed out. “So perhaps that we can get through to this new prior”
“But we don’t even know who this new prior is.” Vala pointed out again as she tried to swallow her growing dread. “How can we possibly get through to him- whoever he is he would have grown up in the Ori galaxy worshiping him, how can we possibly convince him?”
“I’m confident that you’ll find a way.” Landry stated smiling.
“So- we have a go for a mission sir?” Mitchell asked turning from Vala to Landry.
“Yes.” Landry confirmed with a nod. “You embark at 1000 hours today…dismissed.”
Landry was to leave the briefing room with Mitchell, Teal’c and Sam following close behind but Sam paused when she realized that Vala wasn’t with them.
“Guys,” Sam called out to Mitchell and Teal’c who were still within hearing range, unlike Landry who was already in his office. “I’ll catch up.”
“Alright Sam,” Mitchell nodded turning back for a moment. “But don’t be long.”
“I won’t be.” Sam replied with a smile as she watched them go, however her smile disappeared when she re-entered the briefing room and tentatively walked over to Vala who was staring out the window into the Gateroom as an SGC team returned from a mission. “V-”
“I don’t want to go on this mission.” Vala stated simply, answering Sam’s unspoken question.
“Why?”
“It’s just- I don’t know…” Vala answered honestly as she leaned against the glass sighing before she faced Sam. “There’s just something wrong about it. I can’t explain it- but something is wrong.”
“Do you think that it’s a trap?” Sam asked, wondering what the newest member of SG1 was worried about. “Cause if it’s a trap we can take precautions.”
“No,” Vala answered shaking her head. “No, it’s not a trap…” She trailed off, lost in thought.
“Does this have anything to do with what happened last week?” Sam asked, feeling that she was still shaken up by Daniel’s kidnapping.
“You mean that strange feeling we all got?” Vala asked, smiling slightly when Sam nodded. “Yes. It has everything to do with that Sam. The feeling didn’t disappear for me, I still have it. Chills run down my spine and there is this knot in my stomach that I just can’t get rid of.”
“I’m sure it’ll go in time.” Sam assured. “It always does.”
“Really?” Vala asked, hopeful that her feelings of dread would disappear soon.
“Well, not completely.” Sam answered honestly, provoking a small exasperated laugh from Vala. “But that’s just a part of our jobs, our senses just get so finely tuned that we instinctually know what is going on in the universe.”
“Okay…” Vala replied, feeling less than convinced but she put on a face for Sam’s sake and pretended that she believed her.
“Now,” Sam began with a smile. “SG1 has a mission to complete.”
“But it’s not SG1 without Daniel here.” Vala pointed out as they began to walk out of the briefing room. “Is it?”
“No,” Sam agreed putting an arm around Vala in understanding. “It’s not.”
“I miss him Sam,” Vala admitted as they paused in the door of the briefing room.
“Me too.” Sam agreed with a solemn smile. “But we’ll find him, we always do.”
And with that, Sam and Vala made their way to the locker room and prepared for their mission
* * * *
It was 1020 on Friday October 13th when SG1 entered the
“Father,” Rya’c exclaimed joyfully as he and his father grabbed arms. “It is good to see you.”
“It is good to see you too my son.” Teal’c agreed, a smile on his lips for the first time in days.
“Rya’c,” Sam began after he had hugged her. “I thought that you and Kar’yn were on P3Z-274. Soaré?”
“We were” Kar’yn answered solemnly holding her belly protectively.
“What happened?” Mitchell asked.
“It got too dangerous for us to be there.” Rya’c explained solemnly as he brought Kar’yn in to his side. “Many of our friends went missing mysteriously yesterday and Kar’yn, I and many others fled to several different worlds through the Chappai where Marlin here, welcomed us into his village.”
“Welcome friends.” Marlin welcomed, walking forward and grasping each of their arms. “Friends of Bra’tacs and Teal’cs are always welcome here.”
“Thank you for your welcome.” Teal’c thanked, being the last that Marlin welcomed. “But we have come at the request of Bra’tac who tells us that this new prior is not following the general trend to convert you.”
“No.” Marlin confirmed shaking his head. “It is very strange indeed- this prior seems almost regretful in converting us.”
“Really?” Sam asked, quite surprised that a prior would be sorry or regretful about anything. “Who is he?”
“I do not know.” Marlin stated simply, “But Rya’c, when the prior came to us yesterday did you not say that you had seen him before?”
“Yes.” Rya’c confirmed, as he realised that he had to tell his father and his team. “I must warn you,” Rya’c began, turning to his father and SG1. “The prior is-”
“The prior is coming!” A little
“Quickly,” Rya’c urged motioning to SG1 that they must go. “You must hide.”
Teal’c, Mitchell, Sam and Vala all had
“Have you come to a decision?” The prior asked causing Sam to be taken aback in shock. She looked through the crown and caught Teal’cs eyes and she could tell that from his raised eyebrow that he had recognized the voice as well. In the silence she made her way over to him and looked at him with alarm
“Doesn’t that-” She whispered urgently unable to finish her question while looking to Teal’c for confirmation or denial
“It does.” Teal’c finished solemnly.
“Hey guys,” Mitchell whispered as he came up to them as Marlin began to speak to the prior about how they had come to their decision. “Didn’t that-?”
“Yeah,” Sam interrupted shaking her head in disbelief. That was three out of four members who recognized the voice and she knew that they needed to find their fourth member. “Where’s Vala?” She asked and as soon as she did so they scanned the crowd and saw a raven-haired women making her way through the crowd towards the prior.
“Over there-” Teal’c pointed and they started making their way through the crowd towards Vala.
“Are you sure that it’s him?” Mitchell asked as they wove
through the
“I know,” Sam agreed. “It can’t be him but-”
“But-” The prior interrupted, causing SG1 to freeze where they stood and as they scanned the crowd they saw that even Vala had frozen too and from the look they could see on her face, she had frozen in terror and despair. “Have you made a decision yet?” The prior continued.
“We have.” Marlin stated firmly facing the prior head on- he could see into the hood of the prior but for SG1 his face was still a mystery.
“And that is?” The prior asked tightly gripping the book of Origin in one hand and his staff in the other.
“We will never accept Origin into our lives.”
“I thought you might say that.” The prior responded with a sigh looking down to the ground and Marlin had been right, the prior sounded truly regretful. “The Ori gave us the will to choose, and you have chosen…I just wish that you had chosen differently.” With that, the prior looked up and as he did so his hood fell back to reveal…
“Daniel…?” Vala whispered in shock as she gazed upon his face. It was pale and scarred and his once bright blue eyes were now clouded, dull and ghastly cloud grey.
“Oh god-” Sam choked out in horror as she saw the state that her friend was in. All along, from the moment he had begun speaking she knew and yet all along she feverishly hoped that it hadn’t been Daniel. But it had been, and was. The prior standing in front of them was Daniel and Sam looked to Teal’c who was stone cold silent and then to Mitchell who looked as shocked as she felt.
“Is there nothing,” Daniel began looking at Marlin, hoping to change his mind. “- nothing I can say that will change your mind?”
“No.” Marlin stated firmly. “Our resolve is strong.”
“Very well,” Daniel stated with a sigh as the
And so, Daniel turned and began to walk away from them all and Vala, who had been frozen in place since his hood had fallen back now suddenly came to life, her heart racing in panic.
“Daniel!” She cried out, rushing towards him but Mitchell and Teal’c got to her first and held her back as Daniel walked to the DHD and began dialling.
“Vala,” Sam began stepping in front of Vala, choking up still. “He’s a-”
“I know what he is Sam, I’m not blind.” Vala snapped tears in her eyes as Daniel finished dialing and looked at the now open wormhole. “But he’s still Daniel, maybe I can get him to talk to me.”
After a look between the three other members of SG1 they let her go and Vala ran to Daniel who was climbing the stairs leading to the gate.
”Daniel!” She called out, “Daniel, please wait!” She
pleaded with so few words that he would stop and talk to her.
She desperately prayed and he stopped just as he approached the event horizon. But it was only for a moment and in that moment Vala could have sworn that she heard him whisper something- but the moment passed and Daniel stepped through the gate and Vala felt her world crash around her.
“DANIEL!” She cried out again but it was too late.
Daniel was gone- again- and Vala just stood there trembling in stunned silence as the rest of SG1 walked up to her. There was nothing that any of them could say, all they could do was dial home and Teal’c did just that. Mitchell led the way through the gate and Sam wrapped a comforting arm around Vala’s waist and led her towards the gate.
“Come on Vala,” Sam whispered quietly leading Vala up the stairs. “Let’s go home.”
CHAPTER 15: Matters of the Heart
“Come on Vala...lets
go home.”
‘Home,’ She thought bitterly to herself as she walked through the gate. ‘It isn’t my home is it…it’s his…his home and he…he…’ Vala couldn’t complete her thoughts, she was too caught up in her shock and horror at what had happened to Daniel, and as she and the rest of SG1 arrived in the gateroom she looked away, hiding her tears as Landry addressed them.
“How did it go?” Landry asked looking at SG1 and by doing so he could instantly tell that something was horribly wrong, especially since Vala, who was usually so strong was hiding her face from them all- but he could see the tears in her eyes and that worried him. “SG1, how did it go?”
“Not well sir.” Mitchell answered realising that he was the only member composed enough to speak.
“What happened?” Landry asked, afraid to hear the answer and SG1 was reluctant to give it to him, causing him to ask again. “What. Happened?”
“It was Daniel sir,” Mitchell answered simply.
“Dr. Jackson?” Landry asked, confused for a moment about what Mitchell was talking about.
“He-” Mitchell paused and turned to the rest of his team before answering Landry’s question. “He was the prior.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes sir.” Sam interrupted, “We were all there. We all saw it.”
“It was indeed Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c confirmed, his usually stoic voice holding a note of sorrow in it.
“Dear god…” Landry muttered under his breath, shaking his head at the same time and in the moments that it took him to collect his thoughts Vala fled the room unable to be anywhere near the gate. They all watched her go and Landry realised that until Daniel was back at the SG1, things were going to be rough around the mountain “Briefing in one hour…” Landry ordered watching Mitchell and Teal’c nod and leave. After that, Landry sighed and muttered to himself. “God, what am I going to tell Jack?”
“Uh- sir” Sam interrupted stepping up to her CEO.
“Yes Carter?”
“Sir, I was wondering if I- could I…” Sam trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.
“Go right ahead.” Landry nodded watching Sam nod back and leave the gateroom and he knew that the conversation that she was about to have would not be a good one for her or Jack.
* * * *
“
“Hello?” Jack asked, but got nothing in reply. “Hello?”
“Uh S-sir…” Sam stuttered unsure of herself or how she should proceed
“Carter?” Jack asked, surprised to hear her voice. He hadn’t seen nor heard from her since Mitchell’s 200th trip through the gate when they had pizza and cake on the Alpha site…
“Yes sir.”
“Carter! How are things at the SGC?” Jack asked, not realising the time difference nor hearing the initial nervousness in her voice.
“Well…”
“Not good.” Jack interrupted with a smile on his face. “I can tell you know Carter, it’s your voice. Honestly you work yourself too hard sometimes.”
“Yes sir…” Sam replied, her voice shaking, but Jack wasn’t really listening. “Uh, sir…?”
“Well, actually,” Jack continued not listening. “You work yourself hard all the time.”
“Sir…”
“I mean, how many times have I told you to get a life?”
“Many sir…”
“Yes,” Jack replied with a nod. “Many. Now, Carter, I think that you’re due for some leave, how bout you leave the saving of the world for another day- or better yet to the other competent SG teams and get yourself, Teal’c and Daniel to my cabin for some nice…”
“Sir!” Sam interrupted loudly, nearly on the verge of tears.
“What is it Carter?” Jack asked softly, realising now that something was horribly wrong. “What is it?”
“Sir…” Sam began slowly, trying to collect her thoughts and words. “It’s Daniel sir…”
“…what happened?” Jack asked after a moment silence and then when Sam didn’t answer he asked again, “What happened Carter?”
“Sir…”
“Carter?” Jack asked, his voice insisting that she tell him right away.
“He was kidnapped by Adria earlier in the week sir and…”
“…and this is the first I’m hearing about it?” Jack asked, furious that she hadn’t told him, and even more furious that she had clearly and deliberately kept it a secret from him.
“Sir…” Sam began again, trying to make him understand in that one word what had really happened how horribly she felt about it.
“Honestly Carter, was a rescue planned…no don’t answer that.”
“Sir!” Sam interrupted again, tears in her eyes.
“Yes?” Jack asked, his voice holding another note of worry in it?
“There’s more.”
“More?”
“Yes sir.” Sam confirmed wiping away a tear
“What kind of more?” Jack asked warily.
“More as in the sense of…” Sam took a deep breath and told Jack what had happened. “Daniel’sbeenturnedintoaprior.”
“What?” Jack asked, not hearing what she had said.
“Daniel has been turned into a prior…” Sam stated again and after Jack’s stunned silence, she continued. “…we encountered him off world today. He was trying to convert a planet to worship the Ori and he…he was a prior sir.”
“Carter?” Jack asked tentatively, a thousand emotions running through him.
“Yes sir?”
“Have you had a briefing yet?”
“No sir.” Sam answered, “…that’s in about half an hour.”
“Good.” Jack responded curtly, followed by the click of the phone and Sam realised that he had cut her off.
There was suddenly a flash of light and Sam turned to see Jack standing in her office. At first she was stunned and then, at the sight of seeing her old friend and confidant she felt herself starting to lose control of her emotions.
“Carter?” Jack asked stepping forward, seeing that Carter was in pain- as was he.
Sam didn’t say anything, she just walked towards Jack and for the first time, she willingly allowed herself to break down in front of him. He drew her into a comforting hug and he held her as she cried. She cried because of everything. It had been a long two weeks. The stress of worry of Daniel being gone, kidnapped by Adria, was compounded by the fact that when they did find him he was a prior – and it pushed her over the edge. There was nothing that Jack could do, but hold her.
* * * *
The briefing came and went and while Jack sat in, Vala was nowhere to be seen. Landry didn’t think that that was a problem seeing how the debriefing was just a run down on what had happened on the mission - but Sam was worried. She was worried about Vala. After the debriefing, Landry told them to think of plans to get Daniel back and Sam, after excusing herself, left to find Vala.
After about a half- hour of searching, Sam found Vala in Daniel’s office, sitting on his chair, her head buried in her arms.
“Hey,” Sam began quietly walking up to Vala and placing a hand on her back. “-are you alright? You missed the debriefing.”
“He was a prior Sam…” Vala choked out turning her head to the side. “A prior…”
“I know.” Sam sympathised, pulling up a stool to sit on beside Vala. “…it – it shocked us all.”
“We’ve spent the last year and a half fighting them, and he joins them?” Vala asked rhetorically running her hands through her hair. “He becomes one of them?”
“I know.”
“Why would he do such a thing?” Vala asked herself getting more frustrated than upset.
“He wouldn’t.” Sam pointed out.
“I know that he wouldn’t” Vala snapped. “-but clearly he did. Why?”
“I don’t know,” Sam admitted with a shrug of her shoulders “-maybe he was brainwashed or something.”
“Maybe…” Vala trailed off as she wiped away a stray tear that had leaked out of her eye. “I just- I know what Adria wanted with him, he was ascended once and then he downloaded the knowledge of the ancients in his mind. He’s another way for them to cheat.” Vala stated bitterly. “And to make matters worse, it was my daughter who kidnapped him. My own flesh and blood…”
“Adria is a weapon of the Ori,” Sam explained sympathetically. “You may have bore her, but I don’t think that she is your flesh and blood Vala…I just wish that the ancients would do something.”
“The ancients seem to be as arrogant as the Goa’uld Sam. They wouldn’t help us even if the Ori had found the sangraal and used it against them.” Vala spat out bitterly.
“I know.”
“Ugh- this is so frustrating.” Vala sighed leaning back in the chair.
“I know.”
“We need to do something.” Vala stated firmly.
“I know.”
“Will you stop saying ‘I know’!” Vala snapped again. “I know, you know!”
“Vala…”
“…sorry.” Vala apologized, tears coming to her eyes. “So sorry…”
“Hey,” Sam stated softly hugging Vala, “I miss him too…and I’m royally angry at the fact that he’s a prior.”
“It’s not that…” Vala stated with a sigh.
“Then what is it?”
“It’s just- he’s done so much for me Sam and I’ve always wanted to tell him- but I never- I hoped…”
“Oh Vala…” Sam interrupted with a knowing smile. “I understand, totally. When Daniel ascended the first time, I couldn’t believe that I had waited five years to tell him how much he meant to me. He’s one of my dearest friends and-”
“No.” Vala argued shaking her head and blinking away the tears. “No, Daniel and I were never, have never been dear friends Sam. I was always an annoyance to him.”
“Vala, you were not an annoyance to him.” Sam insisted, amazed that the strong and self-reliant former thief was letting her guard down so much.
“I was.”
“Vala,” Sam began softly, looking Vala in the eyes. “He cares for you more than you know. He believed in you, more than he’s believed in anyone- or anything for that matter in a very long time. You brought out the old Daniel that I knew ten years ago and let me tell you this Vala, he was very proud of you.”
“I know.” Vala admitted with a smile. “And he told me once- I just wish that he was here to tell me again.”
“I know.”
“We have to get him back Sam.” Vala insisted firmly
“We will.” Sam promised. ‘Though I don’t know how.’
“He’s one of us.”
“Yes he is.” Sam agreed, shaking herself out of her negative thoughts. “-and I promise you Vala, we will not let him go with out a fight and Adria’s going to be sorry that she ever took Daniel away from us…”
“Sam….?”
“Yes Vala?” Sam asked turning to face her new friend.
“Do you love him?” Vala asked bluntly.
“Daniel?” Sam asked, surprised at Vala’s question.
“Yes.” Vala confirmed with a nod and repeating her question slower “Do you love him?”
“Uh- no.” Sam stated. “Not in that way- the way that you mean.”
“What does that mean?” Vala asked confused.
“It means…” Sam paused, trying to think of the words to describe her feelings for Daniel and while she knew that she wasn’t the most articulate person when it came to her feelings she knew that she had to try and make Vala understand. “- you see Vala, what you have to understand about Daniel and I is that, well….we’ve been through so much together over the past ten years so we’re really, really close and-”
“-and you do love him.” Vala interrupted looking down at the table.
“Well…yes.” Sam admitted, feeling totally awkward. “-but it’s not a romantic love or anything Vala, it’s platonic.”
“Like between siblings?”
“No, more like family.” Sam clarified. “I love Teal’c in the same way. Daniel is a part of my family, and I would do anything for him.”
“Oh….okay.”
“Why do you ask?” Sam asked, still confused on why Vala had brought it up.
“No reason.” Vala said hastily shaking her head.
“Vala?” Sam asked again, knowing that something was wrong. “What is it? You can tell me.”
“How-” Vala began after a moment of silence. “How do you tell the difference between platonic love and…and romantic love?”
“Vala….” Sam began very slowly, looking Vala in the eyes. “…do you love Daniel?”
“I don’t know.” Vala admitted. “I haven’t gotten close to anyone for a really, really long time…I’ve forgotten what it feels like.” Vala paused and looked to Sam for guidance. “What does it feel like Sam? What are you willing to do for romantic love?”
“Well,” Sam began slowly thinking it over. “When you’re romantically in love, you’re willing to do anything for that person. You’re willing to die for them.”
“But you feel that way about Daniel-” Vala pointed out. “-and you said that that was platonic love.”
“It is,” Sam insisted trying to think of another example. “…well- when you’re romantically in love, you always want that person in your life and you want to spend the rest of your life with that person. You want to build a home with them, a family, a future…” Sam trailed off thinking of Jack and was pulled away from her thoughts when Vala sighed.
“I see…”
“…does that help?” Sam asked and watched as a flurry of emotions flew across Vala’s face and she wondered what was going on within her mind.
‘I am willing to do anything for Daniel,’ Vala thought to herself ‘Even die for him- hell, I’ve already sacrificed my life for him once. And I do want him in my life, and I want…I want to spend the rest of my life with him. For the first time in a long time I want to build a home with him, I want to build a family and a future with him… Does that mean that I-’
“Vala?” Sam asked, breaking Vala out of her thoughts.
“Hmm?” Vala responded looking up into Sam’s eyes.
“Does that help?” Sam asked again and watched as Vala thought some more.
“…yes.” Vala confirmed after a moment. “Yes it does. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Sam stated with a smile. “Now come on…we’re going to brainstorm ways to get our Daniel back.”
‘Yes…’ Vala thought to herself as she silently followed Sam out of Daniel’s office. ‘…our Daniel back. We need to get our Daniel back.’ Vala blinked away a tear and shook her head. ‘…no, I need to get my Daniel back.’
CHAPTER 16: Line in the Sand
‘…I need to get my
Daniel back.’
‘Whoa,’ Vala thought to herself suddenly, blinking away her last thought. ‘My Daniel? Since when is it my Daniel…?’
‘Thanks! While I would
normally be thrilled to have so much testosterone at my disposal…Where's my Daniel?’
‘That was a long time ago,’ Vala admitted, ‘-and back then I didn’t…well….’ She stopped her thoughts short as a blush came to her face and she cast her gaze downwards provoking a response from Sam as they walked down a hallway.
“Vala are you alright?”
“What?” Vala asked looking up suddenly, smiling softly as she saw Sam’s worried face. “Yeah, I’m alright.”
“Good,” Sam replied with a smile. “-cause we have to…”
“INCOMING WORMHOLE…SG1 TO THE GATEROOM…”
“-come on.” Sam prompted turning Vala around. “Let’s go see what that is about”
* * * *
By the time Sam and Vala made it to the gateroom, they joined Landry, Mitchell, Teal’c and Jack in welcoming a very familiar face to Earth.
“Lya!” Sam exclaimed as she and Vala came up to the quartet. “You’re here!”
“I am.” Lya replied in her soft calm voice. She smiled warmly at Vala and Sam but then looked around curiously. “Where is Daniel Jackson?”
“He’s a prior.” Mitchell explained placing his hands in his pockets. “Adria kidnapped him a week ago and turned him against us.”
“Daniel’s heart can never be turned against you all.” Lya explained knowingly. “But it is imperative that we get working right away.”
“Wait,” Jack interrupted not quite getting why Lya was here. “What are you doing here Lya? Not that we’re not happy to have you here but-”
“You’re going to help us,” Vala stated with a sudden understanding. “-aren’t you.”
“Yes Vala,” Lya confirmed with a soft smile. “I am here to help.”
“That’s great.” Sam exclaimed in relief. “We really could use your help.”
“Help with what?” Jack asked again.
“You mean no one told you Jack?” Landry asked, turning to his friend.
“No.”
“Sir,” Sam began with a smile on her face. “Lya is going to help us build devices that will shield whole villages from the priors.”
“Really?” Jack asked, amazed that the Nox were actually giving them technology.
“Really,” Sam answered with a laugh. “With any luck we will be able to hide whole villages from them.”
“Yes,” Lya agreed with another smile. “The people of this galaxy will be able to evade the Ori just as the Nox have, now come…we have much work to do.”
Over the next two days, Lya showed Sam how to build the defence technology and how to maintain it as well. And near 17 00 hours on the second day, Sam with Lya’s guidance placed the last piece and the newly dubbed ‘invisibility machines’ were finished.
“There,” Sam stated in triumph as she showed SG1 the four devices that she and Lya had so recently completed. “Done.”
“Excellent!” Mitchell exclaimed with glee. “Now all we need is an opportunity.”
“INCOMING WORMHOLE…SG1 TO THE GATEROOM…”
“Now what,” Mitchell muttered as the base sirens went off and Walter’s voice filtered through the PA systems.
“You know,” Jack began with a sigh, even though he had missed the sound of the alarm. “-we should go see what that is about.”
And with that SG1, including Lya and Jack left Sam’s lab and made their way to the gate room.
“Who’s coming through the gate?” Sam asked as they entered the gateroom and joined Landry at the base of the ramp.
“Bra’tac.” Teal’c answered as his long time friend and mentor once more walked through the event horizon.
“Teal’c,” Bra’tac began clasping Teal’cs arm. “My old friend, I am afraid that I come with bad news.”
“What bad news Bra’tac??” Jack asked curiously, not liking
when the
“I have just received word that almost the entire Milesian cluster has fallen to the Ori,” Bra’tac explained solemnly.
“Isn’t that where Ishta and her people resettled?” Sam asked, worried for Teal’c sake.
“Yes,” Teal’c confirmed nodding his head at Sam before turning back to Bra’tac. “Bra’tac is she-”
“I am afraid that we have not heard from her yet old friend.” Bra’tac answered solemnly.
“Oh no…” Sam trailed off looking at her old friend. He had no idea what had happened to Ishta, just like they all had no idea about their allies on planets that had fallen to the Ori. Sam often wondered about Jonas, if he was still alive…
“You said almost the entire Milesian cluster,” Mitchell pointed out, interrupting Sam’s thought. “What do you mean by ‘almost’?”
“There is one planet that has yet to fall.” Bra’tac explained simply.
“Which one?” Teal’c asked, wondering what planet could have been left untouched so far.
“G’nesis.” Bra’tac answered simply again and Vala guessed by Sam, Teal’c and Jack’s reaction that that was an important planet.
“I take it that this is a special planet?” Vala asked looking from Bra’tac to her team members.
“Indeed.” Teal’c answered stoically. “G’nesis is the planet where the SGC won a great victory against the Goa’ulds.”
“P3X-666,” Sam continued, tears welling up in her eyes. “- is also the place where…where…” Even after almost three years, Sam still couldn’t speak of it with out getting emotional. Jack saw this and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“It’s the planet where Janet died.” He answered simply. ‘And where I almost died…’ He added silently to himself.
“Janet?” Vala asked, trying to rack her memory to see if Daniel, or anyone had mentioned this Janet to her before.
“Dr. Janet Frasier was the doctor here before Dr. Lam.” Mitchell explained. “I remember reading that report- it was a shock to the entire SGC.”
“It was indeed.” Bra’tac agreed, he was well acquainted with Janet himself and even he had felt a loss over her death. “But come, there isn’t much time- the prior will be arriving any day now and we need to prepare the settlement to fight.”
“Wait,” Vala spoke up suddenly, her mind working a thousand miles a minute. “The prior, Master Bra’tac is…do you know if…”
“Daniel Jackson is indeed the prior.” Bra’tac answered with a heavy heart. “What happened, Rya’c did not tell me that the prior who had visited his world was someone that we all knew.”
“Adria kidnapped him.” Vala explained, her face stony and void of all emotion. “We don’t know what happened to him after that.”
“General Landry-” Bra’tac began but Teal’c interrupted him.
“Bra’tac,” Teal’c began worriedly. “What has happened to Rya’c and Kar’yn?”
“Oh god,” Sam choked out, realising suddenly that they had not heard from Rya’c yet. “What happened after we left?”
“The entire population scattered after you all left.” Bra’tac explained with a heavy smile. “Your son Teal’c is safe once more…now, General Landry…”
“Yes, yes.” Landry interrupted. “SG1- you have a go.”
* * * *
Less than an hour later, SG1 accompanied by Lya and Bra’tac
made their way to P3X-666/ G’nesis and were welcomed by Zelendra, the
“Master Bra’tac,” She welcomed warmly. “Thank the stars that you have returned, and with your friends from the Tau’ri no less…”
“News of our sister planets falling have left us concerned.”
Another
“This is Ilan,” Zelendra introduced. “And he is right, our fellow
“Died?” Sam asked in shock.
“You mean to tell us that
“Oh no,” Illan stated “-it is not the warrior of the Tau’ri. It is true that he arrives first, but if the planet does not accept origin, and there have been many in our cluster that have not well-”
“Another prior comes to finish the job off.” Zelendra answered solemnly. “Your friend takes no part in the killing.”
“At least that is some good news.” Mitchell pointed out with a semi-smile.
“Some,” Teal’c agreed.
‘It’s more than good news.’ Vala thought hopefully to herself. ‘If Daniel isn’t killing people, then maybe….just maybe…’
“Now please,” Zelendra began, interrupting Vala’s thoughts. “-you must hurry. The prior’s first visit always comes at mid-day and it is nearly mid-day now.”
“Alright,” Sam began taking charge of the situation and knew
that Mitchell wouldn’t mind in the slightest. “Lya and I will go set up the
four devices.
“How much time exactly is not much time?” Vala asked, wondering what kind of timeline they were working with.
“Less than two hours Vala,” Sam explained her eyes oozing worry, concern and a bit of panic. “Now let’s get to work.”
* * * *
Exactly two hours later, Mitchell went to Sam (who was on the other side of the village) to see how she was doing, knowing that Daniel could come through the gate- that was within sight of the village- any minute.
“Is everything set up?”
“Yes.” Sam stated triumphantly as she pressed one button on the last device. “The devices are on- Daniel shouldn’t be able to see or hear us.”
“And he won’t be able to walk into us either?”
“No.” Lya answered softly. “The Nox technology shifts the desired space into another plane of existence that is parallel with our own.”
“But
“This is different.” Sam answered Mitchell’s unanswered question. “We are now in another alternate dimension; different to the ones that the crystal skull and Merlin’s device sent Daniel into.”
“So, an alternate, alternate, alternate plane of existence then?”
“Yes.” Lya answered with a smile. “In a manner of speaking.”
“Colonel Carter,” Teal’c voice crackled over Sam’s radio. “-the gate has activated.”
“We’re on our way.” Sam answered back. “The gate’s active.” She answered Mitchell’s unspoken and un-thought of question quickly.
“Then it’s show time.” Mitchell answered back with a determined grin. “Let’s go.”
Time passed excruciatingly slow for SG1 and Bra’tac as they
waited for Daniel to step through the gate. It was a mere couple of minutes but
for them it seemed like an eternity. He appeared through the event
horizon with his head bowed down. Sam and Mitchell looked at each other and
then behind them at the
Daniel kept walking and he stopped mere inches from the barrier that Sam had erected. Most of them were afraid to move, somewhere deep in their minds thinking that if they moved Daniel would know that they were there- especially once they saw Daniel raise his head giving them a clear view of the confusion and surprise on his face.
Vala, who was not like the rest of her team, took a defiant step forward and was a mere couple of inches away from Daniel and she saw a different emotion along with the confusion and surprise in his eyes.
‘Why Daniel,’ She thought softly, her heart breaking all over again at the sight of him as a prior. ‘-you look almost…amused….to see no village here. Are you still on our side? Is that why you haven’t been killing the poor innocents of this galaxy?’
“Vala-?” Daniel muttered quietly, his mouth barely moving and because Vala was standing in front him, none of her team mates could see or hear what he said.
Vala however froze and her heart seemed to stop beating for a moment. She knew that she hadn’t said anything, and even if she had, Vala also knew that Daniel shouldn’t have- no wouldn’t have-couldn’t have heard her.
Daniel walked a few feet either side of Vala before returning directly in front of her and he scanned the area, allowing his gaze to fall squarely on her- and she let her gaze fall upon him as well.
Their eyes locked and for one brief, shinning and fleeting moment Vala got the distinct sense that he was proud of them for finding away to protect the innocents from the Ori and Vala could almost feel his regret for his part in the war now. Vala could also hear the near in-audible statement that he gave before he turned and left.
He walked to the gate, dialled it up and walked through the event horizon. It wasn’t until the gate had shut down that the entire camp let out an audible sigh- yet Vala still stood still as a stone. Shocked at what she had heard.
The rest of the village were
extremely happy. They had done it- they had protected their home and now
they knew that since the devices worked they could expand the field to
accommodate a number of refugees from different planets. G’nesis would become a
shining light to all free
“That was too close.” Mitchell remarked to his team as the gate deactivated.
“Way too close.” Sam echoed with an audible sigh of relief.
“He looked right at me.” Vala whispered, her stoic stance still holding as her eyes were fixed on the gate and the path that Daniel had taken. “Daniel looked right at me…” There was a touch of disbelief in her voice but her team mates did not hear her.
“It may have been close,” Teal’c agreed with a rare smile. “-but now we have a way to protect all in this galaxy.”
“He looked at me,” Vala repeated, a little louder this time and she caught Sam’s attention because of it.
“What?” Sam asked, coming up to Vala. “What did you say Vala?”
“Daniel…” Vala repeated turning around to look at her team, her eyes still wide as saucers. “He looked right into my eyes. He knew we were here, yet he did nothing.”
“Now how could he know that we were here?” Mitchell asked, scepticism rampant in his voice.
“I don’t know.” Vala answered shaking her head, clearly still in shock. “But he did know that we were here, and he let us go…” Vala’s face broke out into a wide grin as she looked at her team mates. “…don’t you know what this means?”
“Vala,” Sam began sympathetically. “As much as I wish…I just don’t think that there is any way that Daniel could have-”
“He said my name!” Vala exclaimed, interrupting Sam. “He said my name- he knew we were here and he was proud of us.”
“Now how could you-” Mitchell began again, when Vala snapped and cut him off.
“I saw his smile…” Vala interrupted, her anger fading and her excitement returning. “…I know that he was proud of us.”
“Vala,” Sam began sympathetically again. “-you’ve only known Daniel for what- a year maybe? How could you-”
“What does that matter?” Vala exclaimed. “I know what I know!”
“How.” Teal’c asked simply.
“I-” Vala paused, unsure if she should say what Daniel said. “I know because- because” Vala sighed and decided that she should tell them. “I know that Daniel was proud of us because he said that he was proud of you.”
“He said what?” Sam exclaimed, not believing what she was hearing.
“Just before he turned and left,” Vala began softly, explaining what she had heard. “- he looked straight at me and said and I quote ‘…way to go SG1…way to go.’”
CHAPTER 17: One of Our Own
SG1 retuned from P3X-666/ G’nesis both shocked and amazed and doubtful of what Vala had told them. They all agreed that they should wait till the debriefing to tell General Landry what Vala had ‘heard’ and it was during this briefing that Vala found herself having to defend her position against those whom she had come to call ‘friends.’
“Our Daniel is in there somewhere.” Vala protested, staring down General Landry, Mitchell, Sam, Teal’c, and Jack who all looked at her as though she was crazy. “We just need to bring him to his senses.”
“How?” Asked Landry, sounding doubtful about what Vala had told him just moments ago.
“Now tell us again
Vala,” Landry stated with a concerned look in his eyes. “-what
exactly happened while you were on P3X-666 staring Dr. Jackson down?”
“I’ve already told
you…” Vala answered impatiently. “Daniel first said my name, then he looked
right at me and then he said and I quote once again ‘…way to go SG1…way to go…’
How much clearer can I be?”
“You know,” Jack stated. “I’d like to know how we’re going to turn him away from the dark side.” He looked around the table. “I mean it’s Daniel we’re talking about- we can’t go about this like we- you have in the past.”
“I know.” Mitchell interjected, agreeing with Jack. “We all know what happened when a prior turns against the Ori…They go up in flames.”
“Indeed.” Teal’c confirmed. “When Gerek healed us, the Ori took there revenge on him. He willingly sacrificed his life to save this world- we do not want Daniel Jackson to make such a sacrifice”
“Of course we don’t want Daniel to make that kind of sacrifice.” Vala snapped, her mind thinking back to the planet and what Daniel had said and done.
Vala, who was not like
the rest of her team, took a defiant step forward and was a mere couple of
inches away from Daniel and she saw a different emotion along with the
confusion and surprise in his eyes.
‘Why Daniel,’ She
thought softly, her heart breaking all over again at the sight of him as a
prior. ‘-you look almost…amused….to see no village here. Are you still on our
side? Is that why you haven’t been killing the poor innocents of this galaxy?’
“Vala-?” Daniel muttered quietly, his mouth barely
moving and because Vala was standing in front him, none of her team mates could
see or hear what he said.
Vala however froze and
her heart seemed to stop beating for a moment. She knew that she hadn’t
said anything, and even if she had, Vala also knew that Daniel shouldn’t have-
no wouldn’t have-couldn’t have heard her.
Daniel walked a few
feet either side of Vala before returning directly in front of her and he scanned
the area, allowing his gaze to fall squarely on her- and she let her gaze fall
upon him as well.
Their eyes locked and
for one brief, shinning and fleeting moment Vala got the distinct sense that he
was proud of them for finding away to protect the innocents from the Ori and
Vala could almost feel his regret for his part in the war now. Vala could
also hear the near in-audible statement that he gave before he turned and left.
‘….way to go SG1…way
to go.’
His words echoed in her ears even now and Vala knew, she just knew that Daniel was in there somewhere- she just needed to convince the people who had known him the longest to believe her.
“Daniel won’t have to make that kind of sacrifice.” Vala insisted, not really knowing where her confidence was coming from. “He’s not like Gerek.” She continued looking around the table. “Daniel is-”
“Vala,” Sam interrupted with a sympathetic smile. “I know that you’d like to think so but-”
“I am right.” Vala insisted. “I know I’m right.”
She couldn’t believe it, she thought that she had earned their trust, but they didn’t believe her about Daniel. She couldn’t believe it.
‘If they won’t help me,’ Vala thought solemnly to herself. ‘Then I will just have to help myself…I never needed their help before’
“I’m sure you think you’re right,” Mitchell began sympathetically, as well trying to formulate a plan. “Perhaps if we-” Mitchell was cut off by a whistle.
“I think we should listen to her.” Jack ordered, causing Sam, Landry and Mitchell to fall silent and look at him surprise. Vala just looked to Jack and smiled. They were very similar she knew, the way that they had teased Daniel initially. But Jack like Vala had grown to love the archaeologist and while Vala knew that her feelings were vastly different then the ones Jack held, it comforted her to know that at least someone was on her side.
“Thank you,” Vala smiled at Jack. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,” Vala snapped a little not looking in Sam’s direction. “Daniel is different than Gerek.”
“How?” General Landry asked, ready to believe Vala know that she seemed to have Jack’s support.
“He was an ascended being once.” Vala explained with a knowing surprise though she was amazed that they hadn’t thought of this before her. “Think of it,” She continued with a smile, telling by the looks on their faces that she was getting somewhere. “He has all the knowledge of the ancients in his sub-conscious. In fact- he’s the only one in this galaxy who has access to this knowledge.” She smiled and turned to Jack. “The General here is the only other being that has perhaps ever downloaded the knowledge and you sir-” Vala said with a smile. “-got the knowledge downloaded by the Asgard if I remember correctly”
“You remember correctly.” Jack replied with a smile.
“So you see what I’m saying,” Vala implied turning to face the rest of her team, hoping that they would get it now.
“Of course,” Sam muttered, amazed at Vala’s deduction. ‘How could I have missed that?’
“You mean, she’s right?” Mitchell asked, totally surprised that Vala could be right.
“Yeah,” Sam explained leaning forward. “With the exception of Adria, Daniel is the Ori’s most valuable asset- even if he goes against them, they won’t kill him.”
“Can we be sure of that?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow. He had full faith in Vala, and he knew that she knew that but even he had to hold a little doubt. From what he had heard of the Ori though the grapevine, they were not the type to give up easily and somewhere deep inside him he knew that it would take more than a little brainwashing to get one of their own back. “I mean I have full faith in this plan, but I don’t want to get Daniel killed or anything….so can we be absolutely sure that the Ori won’t kill him if he turns?”
“Well, no.” Sam admitted, knowing that nothing was certain but also knowing that this was the best course of action to take and with all the parts they needed to created the sangraal weapon in the SGC, things were finally looking up. “But the fact-”
“The fact that he isn’t spouting the whole worship us or die tagline that the priors usually use means that-” Vala interjected only to get interrupted herself.
“Means that he is in there somewhere,” General Landry finished with a smile. Things were working well, and it seemed that a plan was formulating right in front of his eyes.
“Exactly.” Vala stated simply. ‘They believe me,’ She thought happily to herself. ‘They’re taking a chance on my plan…’ Vala sighed inwardly when Daniel’s words echoed through her mind.
“Thank you for… for
proving me right when I said we could take a chance on you.”
“Even Gerek was not immune to reason.” Teal’c pointed out. “So there is a chance, a good chance that we can reach him.”
“So,” Mitchell began, “That means that if we managed to capture him, we should be able to brainwash him back to our side.”
“I should think.” Sam nodded. “It will probably be hard, and difficult, but in the end, I’m confident that we can make Daniel see reason.”
“Wait-” Jack interrupted, holding up a hand. “We are sure really that Daniel won’t die if we do this, right?”
“Well, there’s no way to be sure-” Sam admitted again.
“We have to do something!” Vala interrupted once again. “I know Daniel would want us to do something.”
“Then I say that we will do something.” General Landry stated, agreeing with Vala. “I agree with this plan. You will find Daniel, bring him back here and you five will try to get through to him.”
“Now we’re talking.” Mitchell stated out loud with a grin.
“Jack,” General Landry began. “I think that you-”
“Will be working with SG-1 one on this?” Jack interrupted. “Hank, I wouldn’t have it any other way- I mean this is Daniel we’re talking about.”
“Yes it is.” Sam agreed nodding her head when a thought struck her. “I just thought of something…”
“What?” Vala asked, turning to look at Sam.
“What are we going to do once we have him?”
“What do you mean Carter?” Jack asked, not liking the look on her face.
“I mean, once we have him- how are we going to de-priorize him?” Sam stated, biting her lower lip. She looked at the rest of SG-1, the general, Jack and Vala and saw in their faces that none of them had thought about that.
“I think,” Vala began slowly after a couple of minutes. “That we should get him back first, after all- he is one of our own.”
“That’s right.” Jack agreed. “He is one of us.”
The rest of them nodded in agreement. Daniel was one of their own, and they would do anything and everything that they could to get him back.
“Now,” Landry began interrupting. “This is what I need you people to do-”
“UNAUTHORIZED IN COMING WORMHOLE…SG1 and GENERAL LANDRY TO THE CONTROL ROOM…UNAUTHORIZED INCOMING WORMHOLE…”
With out saying a word, General Landry, SG1 and Jack made their way rapidly to the control room where to their horror the iris was still open.
“Get that iris closed Walter,” Jack ordered.
“I’m trying general,” Walter stated rather flustered. “-but nothing seems to be working.”
“Carter…?”
“I don’t know sir,” Sam stated shaking her head as she tried to close the iris. “-nothing is working.”
“There has to be something that you can do!?” Vala exclaimed.
“I know,” Sam agreed, trying some more codes “-but…”
“Sir-” Walter interrupted with awe in his voice. “-we have incoming travellers.”
“Who in the world…” Landry began as everyone stepped a little closer to the window and watched as two figures stumbled through the gate. Sam was the first one to instantly recognize one of the figures and she spoke her name in shock.
“J…Janet?” Sam choked out amazed as she saw her long dead friend look up at the control room with worry and concern in her eyes.
“Please!” Janet begged calling up to them. “He needs medical attention. I need to get him to the infirmary.”
“What’s going on here?” Landry asked looking at the people around him.
“That’s Janet Frasier,” Jack stated in awe.
“And that,” Sam continued as the man Janet was holding lifted his weary head. –that is my…dad.”
CHAPTER 18: Back to the Fold
“Sir-” Walter
interrupted with awe in his voice. “-we have incoming travellers.”
“Who in the world…”
Landry began as everyone stepped a little closer to the window and watched as
two figures stumbled through the gate. Sam was the first one to instantly
recognize one of the figures and she spoke her name in shock.
“J…Janet?” Sam
choked out amazed as she saw her long dead friend look up at the control room
with worry and concern in her eyes.
“Please!” Janet begged
calling up to them. “He needs medical attention. I need to get him to the
infirmary.”
“What’s going on
here?” Landry asked looking at the people around him.
“That’s Janet
Frasier,” Jack stated in awe.
“And that,” Sam
continued as the man Janet was holding lifted his weary head. –that is my...dad.”
“Oh my god- that is my dad,” Sam repeated, trying to comprehend what she was seeing in front of her. “That is my dad…!?!?”
“Carter,” Jack’s voice snapped watching as Jacob collapsed on the ramp. “Get down there.” He watched as she curtly nodded and left the gateroom quickly. Jack then turned to Landry, “Hank, the rest of us should get down there too.”
“If you insist Jack,” Landry stated. He only vaguely knew how much Janet and Jacob meant to SG-1 but he definitely knew that it was important to his people and Landry watched as Jack, followed by Teal’c, Mitchell and finally Vala left the control room and made their way down to the gate. He himself peered into the gate room and saw Sam draw Jacob up into a huge hug before moving on to Janet whom she hugged with equal ferocity and he wondered just how he was going to incorporate these two ghosts from the past into the SGC once more.
* * * *
Jacob had been taken straight to the infirmary and Janet found herself pulled to the side as Dr. Carolyn Lam took over.
“What happened to him?” Dr. Lam asked as Jacob was laid onto a bed.
“He was attacked,” Janet stated simply. “I think Selmak was hurt-”
“Dr. Lam,” Sam began worriedly. “You have to do something.”
“I’ve never treated a Goa’uld before.” Dr. Lam stated honestly as her nurses began preparing Jacob. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
“Well then let me treat him,” Janet suggested frantically, knowing that Jacob and Selmak didn’t have that much time left.
“I’m sorry,” Dr. Lam stated shaking her head, not noticing that Sam and fled the room. “But this is my infirmary and-”
“It was my infirmary for almost 10 years,” Janet pointed out furiously. “I think that I have more of a right to be here than you do and-”
“Wait a minute,” Sam interrupted, re-entering the infirmary with the Goa’uld healing device. “Maybe this will work,”
“Sam,” Janet began shaking her head. “You don’t know how to use that thing properly- think of what happened to Daniel…”
“But I managed to save Cronus,” Sam pointed out thinking back to when Earth formed a tentative treaty with the Goa’uld with the Asgard’s help.
“Here,” Vala interrupted snatching the healing device from Sam’s hands and moving over to Jacob.
“Who is that?” Janet asked watching as Vala ordered the nurses and other medical personal to leave Jacob/Selmak alone.
“That is Vala Mal Doran,” Teal’c explained watching as well as Vala closed her eyes and activated the healing device.
“Vala…Vala…” Janet let the name roll around in her head and she remembered an incident on the Prometheus. “You mean that space pirate that tried to steal the Prometheus 3 years ago?”
“That’s our girl.” Mitchell stated with a smile.
“What is she doing here?” Janet asked looking from Sam and Teal’c to Vala who’s brow was knitted in concentration. “What in the world made General Landry trust her?”
“Well-” Mitchell began trying to explain to Janet how Vala had come into the fold but he was interrupted by a moan that was emitted from Jacob.
“Jacob?” Janet asked worriedly rushing over to his side.
“Dad?” Sam asked following suit. “Are you alright?”
“He’s going to be fine Sam,” Vala replied with a smile, taking off the healing device and placing it on a table nearby. “The damage was nothing compared to the people of P8X- 412. Healing your father was rather simple in comparison.”
“Thank you Vala,” Sam replied with a grateful smile before turning to Janet giving her old friend the look that said ‘That’s why we trust her.’
“Sam…” Jacob moaned reaching out for his daughter.
“I’m here dad.” Sam replied, choking back the tears that threatened to spill over as she clasped his hand. “I’m here.”
“Thank goodness…” Jacob sighed as he opened his eyes and saw his daughter alive an well. “…it worked…Janet?”
“I’m here Jacob,” Janet answered with a smile. “It worked, we’re safe.”
“What, what do you mean ‘safe’?” Sam asked looking from Janet to Jacob, “What happened to you guys? How did you guys get here?”
“That’s a long story,” Jacob stated with a sigh as he lifted himself to a sitting position.
“We have time Dad,” Sam pointed out with a small smile. “I want to know what happened to you guys, and how you knew to come here.”
“You remember last year when you got bombarded by all the SG1 teams?” Janet pointed out, beginning the story for Jacob.
“You mean that you were one of those teams?” Sam asked looking to Janet. “Are you the Janet that came through the gate?”
“No,” Janet replied with a small smile. “No, it wasn’t me. But one of my teams did come through the gate and when they returned they told me of what the black SG1 did. Our General Landry told us to keep that in reserve.”
“But that doesn’t explain how you managed to get through our iris.” Sam pointed out.
“Well that was relatively simple.” Jacob stated with a smile. “Rodney managed to get our gate working and he sent a program that disabled your Iris.”
“McKay managed to do that?” Sam asked amazed that he would have been able to do something like that. “But how? Where was I?”
“Oh Sam,” Jacob began with a sigh. “You, you were dead.”
“What?” Sam asked, her eyes going wide with shock. “I was dead? What happened?”
“It was Daniel,” Janet said sadly, tears coming to her eyes. “Daniel killed you- all of you.”
“What?” Vala exclaimed in shock; the thought of Daniel killing her, even though it was in another reality unnerved her soul. “Daniel killed us?”
“Well not you.” Jacob stated. “You weren’t in our reality.”
“How did it happen?” Teal’c asked, thinking that if they knew how Earth had fallen in another reality, they would be able to prevent it here as well.
“Daniel…” Jacob began shaking his head, still not able to believe it either. “…he led the attack on Earth. It was horrible…” Jacob paused and turned to Sam. “…Sam are we-”
“-dead?” Sam finished with a tear in her eye. “In this reality, yes you are. You both are, but we are so glad to have you here…..and Cassie-”
“Cassie’s still alive here?” Janet asked, her heart racing.
“Yeah, why?” Sam asked noticing the excitement that was in Janet’s eyes. “What happened in your reality Janet?”
“We never found Nerti.” Janet replied with a sigh. “Cassie died then…I couldn’t save her.”
“Oh Janet,” Sam sighed moving to hug her friend. “I am so sorry..”
“There was nothing we could do….nothing I could do.” Janet replied shaking her head. “Do you think that your General Landry will let me see her?”
“Oh I have no doubt,” Sam replied with a soft smile. “Your death hit her hard Janet…it hit all of us hard. And even though your not ‘our’ Janet-” Sam paused and turned to her dad and grabbed his hand. “-or ‘my’ dad…I am so, so, glad to have you both back.”
“Do you think that Cassie will be glad to have me back?” Janet asked, doubt still evident in her voice. “Do you think that she’ll accept me?”
“Why wouldn’t she?” Sam asked. “You’re her mom.”
“But am I really?”
“Of course you are.” Sam insisted. “You lost her- she lost you. I’m positive that she’ll want to see you-”
“But Sam-”
“Don’t worry about it Dr. Frasier,” Landry interrupted walking into the infirmary much to the surprise of all who were in there. “-Cassie is already on her way,”
“Really?”
“Yes.” Landry replied with a smile. “And to top it all off, I’ve called the president and he has agreed to let you both stay here. Permanently.”
“Hank,” Jacob piped up with a smile. “That’s great news, thank you.”
“You’re welcome Jacob,”
“Wait a minute,” Janet interrupted looking around the infirmary, realizing for the first time that someone was missing. She looked from Landry, to Mitchell, to Dr. Lam to Jacob to Jack to Teal’c and finally to Sam. “Daniel, where is he?”
“Oh god,” Jacob muttered looking around, realising as Janet had that Daniel was no where to be found- and that worried him because he knew, as Janet did that if Daniel was around he would have been here. And even though Daniel was no where to be found, Jacob knew what had happened to him. “Sam,” Jacob began slowly. “-is Daniel a prior?”
“Yes.” Sam replied with a small nod. “Yes he is.”
“How long ago?” Janet asked fear gripping her heart. She and Jacob had already had to endure the sight of Daniel destroying Earth and neither of them had the strength to see it happen again. “Sam, how long ago?”
“Uh- it was a week or so ago.” Sam replied, her sense of time all out of whack. “He was kidnapped by Adria and the next time we ran into him- he was a prior.”
“Then we still have time,” Janet replied with hope in her eyes.
“What are you talking about Janet?” Jack asked stepping forward and speaking up for the first time.
“In our universe, Daniel had been a prior since the Ori invasion.” Janet explained. “He managed to escape the Korelev explosion and made it onto an Ori ship, but we couldn’t get to him in time.”
“But since he was only taken a week ago,” Jacob continued. “-there is still a chance to get through to him. I know that none of us could, but that was because he was too far gone and-”
“I have a question,” Vala began stepping forward. “-in…in your reality…did you…was I there?”
“I don’t understand what you’re asking dear,” Janet asking looking towards Vala.
“What I mean,” Vala began again taking a deep breath. “- is…well…in your reality was I a part of the SGC, and did I have a chance to get through to Daniel?”
“No,” Jacob replied shaking his head. “The one and only encounter that you had with Daniel is when you tried to steal the Prometheus from him, the SGC never saw you again.”
“That’s good then.” Vala answered with a smile.
“Why is that good?” Mitchell asked curiously.
“Well, I’ve been doing some reading of SG1’s reports, especially the ones pertaining to alternate realities and the one reason that this one has been so successful compared to the rest is because of your dynamic.” Vala explained with a smile. “You were able to defeat Apophis because you had Teal’c on the team and Sam was a part of the military and it’s because of your original dynamic that Earth and the galaxy have survived so long… In your reality you didn’t have me,” Vala continued with a smile. “So that means, with me here- we have a better chance of getting through to Daniel.” Vala stopped and turned to look at everyone and watched with amusement as they all shared curious and amazed glances between each other. “What?” Vala asked with a smile. “I’m not the only one who’s been researching the past of the SGC.”
And with that, those in the infirmary just smiled at each other. Vala was right, this dynamic that they had was unique and perhaps it would be that uniqueness that would bring Daniel back to their fold.
CHAPTER 19: The Road Not Taken
The members of SG1, old and new left the infirmary along with Jacob whom Dr. Lam was in perfect health once again. Sam took her father to an empty guest room and helped him get settled in. They were only there a couple of minutes before Sam lost it and embraced her dad, throwing him totally off guard.
“Hey now,” Jacob began quietly hugging his daughter back with equal ferocity. “-what’s wrong?”
“N-nothing.” Sam muttered, shaking her head pulling away from her dad’s embrace. “It’s just…I’ve just-” Sam paused and wiped a stray tear out of her eye. “I’ve just missed you that’s all dad…..”
“Now, I’m not really your-”
“Don’t start.” Sam interrupted warningly through gritted teeth. “Don’t you dare start!”
“Sam…”
“I don’t care what anyone thinks- you are my dad.” Sam explained her eyes pleading. “You are Jacob Carter and just because you’ve had a few different experiences than I have-” Sam had to stop to take a breath. All the emotions that had come rushing back at her once she had seen her father stumble through the gate came rushing back and she was momentarily thrown back into the memory of Jacob dying.
She walked into the
infirmary not knowing what to expect, she thought that perhaps her father had
done something minor to himself- but what she found was far from what she had
expected
“Dad?” She asked worried, but slightly curious as
to why her father was lying in the infirmary.
“I’m sorry kiddo,”
Jacob apologized, tears in his eyes. “We both are”
“About
what?” Sam asked still not
understanding. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t want to ruin
everything like this.”
“Dad?”
“It’s Selmak. He’s
dying.”
“Oh my god, I’m
sorry…”
“It’s okay. He’s okay…He
led a pretty full life.”
“I didn’t live with
Jolinar that long, but I think I have some idea of what it’s like.”
“Well…this is a little
different Sam. As you know, when a Tok’ra symbiote dies they can prevent their
host from dying, as Jolinar did with you”
She nodded, fear
building in her stomach.
“The problem is, that last selfless act requires a certain amount of energy
and a conscious effort.”
“What are you saying?”
“By all rights, Selmak
should have been dead weeks ago. I wouldn’t let him go. I thought we needed
him, that I needed him to help you stop the Replicators.”
“…Dad?”
“He hung on as long as
he could. Then he slipped into a coma just after we activated the weapon on
Dakara.”
That news hit her like
a ton of bricks…
“You’ve known all this
time…since then?”
“I didn’t want to
spoil your wedding…I thought we could make it.”
“We?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing,
she wouldn’t believe what she was hearing and even though she knew what her
father was going to say next she didn’t want him to say it.
“He’s barely alive.
I’m gonna die with him Sam…”
“…I lost you.” Sam continued, choking back the tears. “It broke me
up inside…” Sam explained barely looking at Jacob. “…and at the time I would
have done anything to have you back…we even found a time machine…” She
continued with a laugh, knowing what she was going to say next and how ludicrous
it was, especially coming from her.
“…and when you died dad, I even considered using it to bring you back. To stop Selmak from getting hurt…me…the one who is always telling everyone else about the dangers of messing with the timeline…I was ready to mess it up so bad…” Sam took another breath, tears flowing down her face now. “…because I missed you so much Dad. And I know…” She continued on taking a deep breath that calmed her down a bit.
“…I know that you aren’t really my dad- you’re not the one that I lost and I’m not the daughter that you lost either…but we are still the same people. You are my father and I am your daughter and I’ll be damned if I lose you again…”
“Oh Sam…” Jacob didn’t know what to say and in his heart he knew that he didn’t have to say anything.
All he did was move towards his trembling daughter and hugged her as tight as she had hugged him earlier. The pain of watching his Sam die was still so freash and even though he had Sam right before his eyes he knew that a part of his heart will always mourn the loss of the daughter that had died by Daniel’s hand. But he also knew, that he would make room in his heart for this Samantha.
She was right after all, they were the same people will just varying memories- but that didn’t matter. They were still father and daughter and they had each lost one another once and he was damned if he would lose her again as well.
Sam just rested her head on her fathers shoulder and let him rock her like he used to do when she was a little girl not believing that he was here with her again. And in the midst of her happiness her mind wandered to Janet and wondered how Cassie would take the news of her mother coming back from the grave.
* * * *
In another guest quarter in another part of the base, Janet paced furiously around the cramped enclosure, waiting patiently for her daughter to come through those doors.
“Mom?”
The sound was music to her ears and Janet turned and found herself face to face with her adoptive daughter Cassandra. She had matured so much from the 15 year old child that she had lost. She was now a young adult of 20 and as Janet glanced her daughter over she noticed that she had a gorgeous looking ring on her engagement hand and Janet vowed to ask her daughter about that once they had gotten re-acquainted.
“Cassie?” Janet responded looking her daughter in the face and there she saw a flurry of emotions course through her eyes. Janet watched as Cassie went from shock to acceptance, from joy to sorrow and then back to joy again only the joy was coloured with confusion and Janet could see that she was quickly losing her daughter all over again. “Cassie, it’s me.”
“But its not.” Cassie responded angrily, shaking her head. “My mom died four years ago…”
“Yes and you died five years ago,” Janet snapped back, watching as Cassie’s eyes went wide with shock.
“Five years ago…” Cassie muttered to herself trying to think of what could have happened to cause Janet to lose her. And then, it dawned on her, “…you mean you never…?”
“We never found Nerti...” Janet confirmed, tears welling up in her own eyes. “…I lost you, and you lost me…”
“…but you’re not really my mom.” Cassie whispered quietly, tears in her eyes. “How can I possibly…I don’t know you.” Cassie finished solemnly.
“Of course you do,” Janet insisted stepping towards Cassie who took a step back. “Cassie, it’s me…”
“No,” Cassie argued shaking her head, tears coming to her eyes, the act of facing her mother too painful. “No, you’re a Janet Frasier from another universe not this one…”
“I know sweetie.” Janet replied softly taking her daughter in for a hug. “…but that doesn’t really matter, does it?”
“Yes.” Cassie insisted pulling away. “It does.”
“Why?”
“Because, you have no idea what the last four years have been like for me…”
“Cassie I understand that,” Janet began softly. “-but look at it from my perspective. I lost you five years ago, you were 15 and I couldn’t save you and I know that you were only 16 when the Janet here in this reality died but the point is that we’ve both lost each other and we have both found each other again…so what does it matter if I’m not really your mom and you aren’t really my daughter. All that matters is that we are together again, right?”
“Y…Ye…Yes…” Cassie agreed with a smile as she hugged her mom tightly. “…that’s all that matters.”
“That-a-girl.” Janet whispered softly stroking Cassie’s hair.
“M-mom?” Cassie began after a moment of comfortable silence.
“Yes?”
“What happened to you?” Cassie asked, looking in Janet’s eyes. “In your reality.”
“Earth was destroyed,” Janet replied softly, trying to push down her own grief of the friends that she had lost and had found once again here, in this new reality. “It was taken over by the Ori…Daniel led them.”
“But Daniel’s already a prior here!” Cassie exclaimed worriedly. “Does that mean that we’re-”
“No.” Janet interrupted adamantly. “No, my Daniel was taken when the Ori first invaded this galaxy, your Daniel was only taken a week or so ago…we still have time.”
“How much time?”
“I’m not sure…” Janet admitted holding her daughter close. “…but I’m sure that we have enough time.”
* * * *
Meanwhile, Sam had left her dad to settle down into his new room and made her way to the mess hall where she found Jack sipping some coffee. With a smile she grabbed a bowl of blue jello and joined her former CEO and current friend.
“Hello sir,”
“Hello Carter,” Jack replied with a smile as he watched Sam sit down across from him. “How’s your dad settling in?”
“Just fine actually.” Sam answered with a smile, remembering how she and her father had come to a mutual understanding. “I just left him in his room,”
“And Janet…?”
“I’m not sure,” Sam admitted looking uncomfortable. “But I’m sure that Cassie is warming up to her…”
“Its kinda weird having them back,” Jack stated after a moment of silence. “Isn’t it…”
“Yeah,” Sam agreed nodding her head. “I never though that I’d see Janet and my dad again ever…”
“…and now they’re here, from another reality.” Jack finished.
“Another reality…” Sam trailed off thinking about it. “…you know, you would think that after all this time in the SGC I would be used to the concept of alternate realities but the thing is-”
“You can never quite comprehend the changes in the alternate reality.” Jack finished again, smiling as Sam caught his eye. “I know what you mean…I never could get the idea through my head either.”
“…um, Sir?” Sam began nervously eying Jack’s coffee.
“Don’t worry Carter,” Jack stated with a smile completely changing the subject. “- this does not count as the coffee you promised me.”
“Sir?”
“I know that look,” Jack began, lightening the mood. “You eyed my coffee because you thought that you could get out of our coffee date”
“I thought nothing of the like sir,” Sam insisted with a smile
“Of course not Carter,” Jack stated with a small smile, raising his coffee mug towards her and nodding. “Of course not.”
CHAPTER 20: Confrontations
The next few days around the SGC were relatively quiet for SG1. Landry had decided that the members of SG1 minus Daniel but including Jack would be the perfect people to ensure that Janet and Jacob were totally settled and comfortable in their new homes until they were ready to put them back in the field. Jacob of course, would try and get in contact with whatever Tok’ra was left out there and Janet would resume her medical duties.
‘Poor Carolyn,’ Landry thought wistfully to herself. ‘She’s not going to like being regulated to second banana…’
* * * *
While Landry wondered how his estranged daughter would take
his orders, he let another part of his mind contemplate the progress on
building the sangraal weapon and he couldn’t help but wonder if Sam was smart
enough to build the weapon.
“Well, what if this goes here…” Jacob suggested handing Sam a wire and indicating how it would connect between the two shield devices.
“I don’t know Dad,” Sam stated with a shrug of her shoulders. “All we have is a bunch of random devices. A bunch of wires, a spherical shell, five personal shields, the control device for the chair and this little shining disc thing…”
“And you haven’t a clue on how to put it together Sam?”
“No,” Sam admitted shaking her head.
“And Daniel didn’t give you a blueprint or anything?”
“No,” Sam admitted again slumping over her work table, tears coming to her eyes again. ‘…Daniel…’
“Sam?” Jacob asked, worriedly stepping beside his daughter. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah dad,” Sam assured, wiping the tears away. “-I’m fine…I just, I just miss Daniel. That’s all.”
“I know kiddo,” Jacob stated sympathetically. “-I miss him too, but look on the bright side.”
“What bright side?” Sam asked sarcastically. “Lya’s gone back to her home planet, having done her part to help us even though she’s the only other person in this galaxy who might have been able to help us…and-”
“And what Sam?” Jacob asked interrupting his daughter, smiling despite everything. “There is a bright side here.”
“Yeah?” Sam asked dejectedly. “What?”
“At least you- we-” Jacob corrected. “-we have a chance to save him still. In my reality he was taken by the Ori when they constructed their first supergate.”
“That long…” Sam breathed, not comprehending the thought of Daniel being gone more than a year and a half.
“See kiddo,” Jacob insisted with a smile. “-there is a bright side, to everything.”
“And speaking of bright sides-” Came a familiar and welcome voice from the door to Sam’s lab. “-it’s time for a break.”
“Sir-” Sam began with a crumpled face as Jack came into her lab.
“Now none of that Carter,” Jack chastised walking up to Sam and her dad. “- you need a break.”
“Sir-?”
“Have you gotten anywhere Carter?” Jack asked looking from her guilty face to the multitude of scattered devices before them.
“Well…” Sam began with a shrug,
“Cause by the looks of things, you haven’t gotten anywhere.”
“No sir,” Sam admitted hanging her head. “We haven’t gotten anywhere.”
“Go on Sam,” Jacob prompted, giving Sam a little nudge towards Jack. “-go have a break.”
“Thanks Jacob,” Jack stated with a smile as Carter walked towards him. “Glad to have you back.”
“It’s good to be back J-”
“INCOMING WORMHOLE…SG1 TO THE CONTROL ROOM…INCOMING WORMHOLE…SG1 AND GENERAL O’NEILL TO THE GATEROOM…”
“Go on kiddo,” Jacob stated with a smile. “Go save the galaxy,”
“But dad-”
“I’ll stay here and see if I can make heads or tales of these devices.” Jacob promised looking at his daughter. “Who knows, maybe by the time you avert this crisis, I’ll have built the sangraal for you…”
“Alright…” Sam nodded and then took one final look at her dad before she and Jack made their way to the control room.
* * * *
“What’s going on Hank?” Jack asked irritably as he and Sam joined the rest of SG1 in the gateroom.
“That’s what we’re trying to discern-” Landry agreed, nodding his head in Walter’s direction. “-Walter?”
“I’m not sure sir…” Walter admitted when all of a sudden his screen started fluctuating and as SG1 and the rest of the SGC personal looked around the control room they noticed that all the computer screens were behaving the same way.
“…Carter?” Jack asked worriedly, hoping that she could figure out what was going on and fix it.
“I don’t know either sir,” Sam admitted moving to a computer terminal, when all of a sudden sparks started flying out of the machinery and all the screens went black- along with the entire base.
“Just when we thought that things couldn’t get any worse…” Mitchell muttered quietly to himself when suddenly the screens re-initialized however instead of showing the normal SGC screens they were all red with a distinct gold emblem spinning in the centre.
“Oh god…” Sam whispered in horror as she instantly recognized what that symbol was and what it meant.
“Is that what I think it is?” Jack asked curiously, taking a step forward towards one of the screens.
“Yes sir,” Mitchell confirmed, his stomach twisting into knots. “-that is the symbol of the Ori.”
“Get it off my screens-” Landry ordered when all of a sudden the iris opened and a holographic of Daniel was projected for all in the control room and gate room to see.
“People of Earth…” Daniel began, his voice cold, empty and void of any kind of emotion. “…this is a warning…”
“…Daniel…” Vala whispered, her heart breaking as she stepped closer towards the glass in a vain attempt to discern if any shred of humanity was still in him.
“…and consider this your one and only warning…” Daniel continued. “…you have twenty-four of your hours to deliver the pieces of the sangraal to the Ori…”
“He’s got to be joking,” Jack muttered to himself.
“…if you don’t, we will destroy you.” He continued and as Vala looked into his eyes she thought that she had glimpsed a flash of regret in her beloved Daniel’s eyes. “…and please,” Daniel begged, causing everyone to perk up a little more. “…heed our warning because as you can see, we have the power to disable your Iris, the one and only defence mechanism you have…”
“…we could always bury the gate-” Mitchell suggested but Daniel continued speaking.
“…and if you think burying your gate like the ancient Egyptians did will deter us from coming, you are mistaken…” Daniel took a breath to let his warning sink in before he continued speaking again. “…we will come in ships and decimate your planet from above…so please…” Daniel begged again, his eyes showing some compassion and mercy even if his voice remained stoic and neutral. “…heed my warning…”
And with that his image disappeared, the computer screens went back to normal and the gate disengaged. For several moments there was stunned silence as they all just stared at the gate, wondering what had just happened and if they had been imagining or not.
“That was…” Sam began, unable to put her thoughts into words.
“…our Daniel…” Jack finished, his voice betraying the shock and horror that we was trying to contain.
“…that wasn’t our Daniel,” Vala whispered quietly, ensuring that no one could hear her.
“…god he looks terrible.” Jack stated again, breaking the unbearable silence that had descended once again on the control room.
“What are we going to do?” Vala asked turning around to face the rest of her team.
“Well we can’t give up the sangraal, that’s for darn sure-”
Mitchell pointed out looking at Vala, knowing what she was going through. “
“Yes,” Sam agreed. “But do we risk Daniel leading an attack on earth?” She paused and composed her next thoughts carefully. “Janet and my Dad have told me what happened in their reality. Daniel led the attack on Earth and I know that the circumstances were completely different, the event still happened and-”
“What are you suggesting?” Jack asked, interrupting Sam’s sentence.
“-what I am suggesting sir,” Sam began calmly. “-is that we find another option.”
“What option might that be Colonel Carter?” Teal’c asked looking his team-mate in the eyes.
“-well…I haven’t figured that one out yet,” She admitted sheepishly, “-but there has to be a third option.”
“While you guys put ideas forward, I’ll contact the President-” Landry began, hoping that they could figure something out.
With that, Landry had left and SG1 decided that it would be advantageous of them to shut themselves in the briefing room to throw ideas back and forth, but instead of any deliberation, any brainstorming or anything at all there was just stunned silence. They were all waiting for General Landry to report back to them hoping that the President would offer them something.
It was well over two hours later when Landry re-emerged from his office looking less than pleased. And when General Landry walked into the briefing room, his usually stoic face betrayed his emotions and the conversation that he had.
“What happened Hank?” Jack asked, wondering what the President had decided to do. “Is the President giving us the go ahead, or do we have to come up with option C.”
“Well,” Landry began slowly, not really knowing where to being. “- the President has been in contact with the IOA and they have been holding extensive meetings since I told them about Dr. Jackson’s transformation.”
“…and what did they say?” Mitchell asked, not liking the look on his CEO’s face as he prepared to tell them what the conversation had entailed.
“The IOA has decided, in all their infinite wisdom that with Dr. Jackson being such a security threat, especially with this latest incursion…”
“…what did they say General?” Vala asked quietly as Landry took a breath
“…they said that Dr. Jackson was too much of a threat to be left out there.”
“So they’re asking us to bring him in.” Vala stated with glee, not noticing the crestfallen and horrified looks of her team-mates. “We can bring him and de-brainwash him, just like I suggested.”
“That’s not what the IOA meant Vala,” Sam said quietly, looking from the newest team-member to the oldest.
“Then what did they mean?” Vala asked, her happy face falling as she noticed the look that everyone had. “What do they want us to do to Daniel?”
“They want to eliminate him.” Landry stated bluntly causing Vala to explode.
“WHAT?!” She screeched in horror her eyes widening. “How can they SAY that!?! This is Daniel we’re talking about, he’s done so much for this program, for Earth and your IOA want us to murder him? I can’t believe that a race that has been-”
“Don’t worry,” Jack interrupted flashing Vala a smile. “-I have no intention of letting Danny-boy go.”
“So I take it you have an option C sir?” Sam asked, hoping that Jack had thought of something.
“Oh, I have something.” Jack replied with a mischievous grin. “They want the sangraal right? So let’s give it to them…”
“But-” Vala interrupted but Jack shot her a look that shut her right up.
“So Hank,” Jack began with his usual cocky attitude. “Can you give us a go?”
“Letting the Ori attack is not an option,” Landry stated simply. “-so whatever you do to ensure our safety is fine by me.”
“Alright then,” Jack responded with a smile. “-let’s go then”
* * * *
“So,” Vala began as they quietly surveyed the forest glen around them. “-how did we find out that this planet is where Daniel was transmitting from exactly?”
“Our gate stores in coming addresses-” Sam stated simply. “-it wasn’t that hard.”
“One of the many advantages of creating your own DHD,” Jack added with a smile as he came up to walk beside Sam holding a metal box under his arm watching with amusement as Vala just nodded her head in understanding.
“Yes,” Came an eerily familiar voice. “-your ingenuity impresses me-” They all looked up to see Adria standing before them with Daniel behind her. “-but your naivety does not.”
And before any of them could speak Adria raised her hand and called the metal box towards them however quicker than her was Teal’c, and before her and Daniel’s eyes the metal box was hit by the jaffa’s Zat gun three times causing it to disappear before all their eyes before it even reached Adria’s hand.
“You fools…” Adria muttered quietly as she saw the box containing the sangraal pieces disintegrate. “…you do realise that you have destroyed your only hope to destroy us.”
“Oh, I’m sure that we’ll find another Ori-buster.” Jack answered confidently as he walked forward to stare Adria down. “So you’re this Orici that I’ve heard so much about…well I must say, you don’t look like much.”
“Who are you?” Adria asked searching Jack’s face for an answer but received only sass in return.
“Me?” Jack asked smiling. “Why I’m nobody of consequence, but I have saved the galaxy a whole bundle of times so I guess that makes me someone…” Jack paused and laughed at the hatred on Adria’s face. “…well if you must know I am Brigadier General Jack O’Neill…with two L’s…”
“General Jack O’Neill…”Adria’s face dawned with recognition as she glanced back at Daniel. “…yes, Daniel has many memories of you. He thought that you would be a threat to me,”
“I’m flattered,” Jack interrupted with his usual cocky smile.
“-but be warned human,” Adria stated quietly and murderously. “-you are no threat to me.”
And with that, Adria stalked by them all on her way to the gate leaving Jack to laugh and call after her.
“You are such a clichéd bad guy Adria, you know that right?” Jack chuckled and turned around only to be face to face with… “…Daniel.”
“Jack…you look well.”
“You not so much,” Jack answered back, smiling inwardly at their usual banter.
“Yes well,” Daniel answered with a laugh. “I have seen the light now.”
“How clichéd…” Jack muttered shaking his head.
“What do you want Jack?” Daniel asked with a sigh. “I know that the pieces of the sangraal weren’t in that box you had Teal’c disintegrate-”
“Why Daniel,” Jack began in mock innocence. “-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“What do you want Jack?” Daniel stated again, his face and tone of voice holding a ‘no-nonsense’ air to them.
“I want you to wake up!”
“I am awake Jack,” Daniel explained calmly.
“You know what I mean,” Jack shot back exasperated. “-I want you to wake up and see what they have done to you.”
“Jack, they’ve done nothing to me.” Daniel explained slowly.
“Look at you.”
“I chose this” Daniel answered truthfully causing all their hearts to stop at his words.
‘He choose this...?’ Vala thought to herself as she looked past the rest of her team, her heart thumping wildly. ‘…how could he choose to become a prior…?’
“You what?!?” Jack exclaimed looking at Daniel in shock.
“I. Choose. This.” Daniel repeated again.
“Nah,” Jack stated shaking his head and dismissing Daniel’s statement. “-that’s a load of bull because the Daniel I know would have never let this happen to him willingly.”
“I’m not the same person I was two years ago Jack,” Daniel stated softly so only Jack could hear him.
“What about when I came to the mountain a couple of months ago?”
“A lot can change in a couple of months Jack,” Daniel explained, equally as quiet. “-things can change.”
“That’s for damn sure…” Jack muttered looking away from his best friend for a moment.
“Listen,” Daniel began, his voice holding some humanity in it. “-even if I could change b-” Daniel paused when he saw Jack look up at him again. “-there is just no way that I could.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Believe me Jack,” Daniel pleaded, his voice softening. “This is my path now, I have to travel it to its end.”
“But Daniel…”
“Goodbye Jack” Daniel muttered quietly as he turned to leave.
“Daniel!” Jack cried out but he found that he couldn’t move, and as Daniel walked in between and around Sam, Teal’c and Mitchell they too found that they couldn’t move either, nor could they talk.
Only Vala knew that she could move and she silently watched as Daniel walked by her in the direction of the gate when she whirled around and ran at him managing to topple him and cause his staff and book to go flying.
Daniel regained his balance quickly and he merely turned and looked Vala in the face. What he saw broke his heart, though she never saw it breaking. There before him was his strong and competent Vala - now an utter mess. With her hair pulled back as she usually wore it now she looked like a child and with her face crumpled and her eyes blinking back the tears she looked heart-broken as well. And as Daniel studied her face their eyes locked.
A thousand messages were passed between their locked eyes. Vala tried to plead with him to do something, anything to let her know that he really was still in there somewhere and Daniel tried to plead with her to understand why he had done what he did- but none of this registered in their minds.
Instead, Daniel just called his staff and his book of Origin to him and continued on his way, allowing SG1 to move again once he was within the tree line.
Vala just stared for a moment in his direction before her vision travelled to the forest floor where his book had fallen and she was shocked to see a rock that was eerily familiar. She walked over to it, bent down and picked it up and after examining it closely she saw that it was a communication device of the ancients.
The thought raced through her like a shot of adrenaline and she quickly pocketed the small device before her team asked her any questions about it.
‘Hopefully…’ She thought wistfully to herself as SG1 made their way back to the gate, her hand on the device in her pant pocket. ‘…hopefully I’ll be able to get some answers with this thing.’
Little did she know, how right she was.
CHAPTER 21: Connecting Dreams
She was dreaming, at least she thought she had been dreaming. She had been reliving the moments of when she and the rest of SG1 returned through the gate from their deception with Adria and their loss of Daniel once again
“So SG1,” Landry began
as they walked down the ramp. “- how did it go?”
“Well she bought it Hank,”
Jack stated with a semi smile. “Teal’c did a bang up job of destroying the
empty canister...-but Daniel has totally lost it!”
“We knew that Jack,”
Landry stated sympathetically looking at his friend. “-but the Ori aren’t going
to attack us...are they?”
“No sir,” Mitchell
interrupted. “I think we fooled them good.”
“Daniel knows that it
was a ruse though,” Jack stated nonchalantly, shocking the other members of his
team who had not heard Daniel’s admission.
“Will he tell Adria?”
Landry asked worriedly, thinking that their carefully crafted plan might have
been for nothing. “He is on their side now.”
“I don’t think so
Hank,” Jack stated semi-certainly.
“You don’t seem too
sure about that Jack...”
“He won’t tell,” Vala
stated softly, causing all eyes to turn to her. “-he
may have lost it,” She continued softly, “-but he is still our Daniel and while
Adria may have his mind he still belongs to us...” Vala paused and looked at
her team, certain in her claim. “...he won’t tell my daughter what he knows.”
“You’re right you know,” Came a familiar voice breaking the memory. Vala whirled around and found herself in Daniel’s office staring Daniel down.
“...d…Daniel?” She choked out, not believing that he was there before her.
“I won’t tell.” Daniel stated, his voice holding a promise and as Vala looked at him she saw no signs that he had ever been turned into a prior. He was just himself, her Daniel as he remembered him; glasses on his face, hands in the pockets of his green SGC uniform and most importantly he smiled at her and for a moment she forgot that it was all a dream. “I promise Vala,” Daniel stated again with a small smile. “I won’t tell Adria about the sangraal pieces still being in your possession. You guys need to finish it if you want to save the galaxy.”
“D-Daniel!” Vala exclaimed with joy not registering a word he said. She was just shocked and un-imaginably happy that he was before her. Before Daniel could answer her she had flung herself at him and threw her arms around his neck. “Oh thank the stars that you’re alright! I’ve missed you so much!”
Vala held him tight, tighter than she had ever held him before and all the memories of the past couple weeks came crashing down upon her and she saw them in her mind’s eye
From the moment that he had downloaded the knowledge of the ancients into his mind to the moment she had lost him. Over and over again they flew through her mind until she focused on the last thing he had said to her.
She looked into his
eyes she saw for the first time in them fear and she could also see him
slipping away. “No.” She cried out and impulsively she drew Daniel up into a
hug and held him as tight as she could. “Come on Daniel,” She pleaded quietly
into his ear. “You have to fight this. I can’t lose you.”
“Bos
nunquaym mod.” Daniel
whispered back, holding Vala as tight as she was holding him.
“I can’t understand
you.” Vala whispered her voice breaking and a tear leaking out of her eye. More
tears fell as Daniel pulled out of the hug and looked Vala straight in the
eyes.
“You. Never. Will. Lose.
Me.”
“You didn’t lose me Vala,” Daniel comforted, hugging Vala a little tighter. “- I’m right here.”
“No,” Vala argued shaking her head and pulling away from Daniel, her heart breaking as the reality of the situation dawned on her. “No…” She repeated again, looking Daniel squarely in the eyes. “…I did lose you.”
“Jack, they’ve done
nothing to me.” Daniel explained slowly.
“Look at you.”
“I chose this” Daniel
answered truthfully causing all their hearts to stop at his words.
‘He chose this...?’
Vala thought to herself as she looked past the rest of her team, her heart
thumping wildly. ‘…how could he choose to become a prior…?’
“You
what?!?” Jack exclaimed
looking at Daniel in shock.
“
“I didn’t choose that Vala,” Daniel insisted taking her hand, trying to make her understand. “-I swear to you that I didn’t…not intentionally…not really…”
“Not really?” Vala asked, her voice shaking. “How can you ‘not really’ become a prior Daniel?” Her voice held such venom in it that it hurt his heart. “You told us that you chose it. How could you choose it? How? Adria and her people are our enemies. We have been fighting them for almost two years…you said that you would never accept Origin and yet you became a prior…how could you do that to us…”
‘…to me…’ she finished silently in her mind.
“Alright,” Daniel admitted, hanging his head in shame. He had heard Vala’s silent admission but he couldn’t speak to her feelings (and his) yet. So instead he chose to explain to her why he had done what he did. “-I did choose to become a prior, but only for a moment and only because-”
“No,” Vala interrupted taking a step back from him. “-no, I don’t care what your reasons are because you aren’t real. This is just a dream,” She repeated to herself, even though it felt more real than anything she had ever dreamt about before. “-it’s not real.”
“This is as real as it gets Vala,” Daniel insisted taking her by her shoulders and pulling her close to him. “-I am here, and I am real. I just… I don’t have enough time to tell you-”
“Tell me what Daniel?” Vala snapped back, her eyes blazing with hatred. “What could you possibly have to tell me?”
“I need to tell you why I did what I did…”Daniel finished quietly, watching as no flicker of resentment passed over her face. This he took as a good sign but he saw doubt in Vala’s face.
“You’re a figment of my imagination,” Vala said more to herself than to Daniel who wouldn’t let her go. “-I don’t care what you have to say.”
“Vala please,” Daniel begged and for a moment Vala was compelled to believe him especially when a memory floated across her mind with an addition that was new to her.
‘Vala...’ Daniel
stared into space and mentally shook away the feeling that Vala was right there
beside him. ‘...she’s on Earth, with the rest of my team…god, I hope that
they’re alright.’
‘Vala….’ Daniel sighed
inwardly at the thought of Vala and the last time he had seen her.
“No.” She cried out and impulsively she drew Daniel up into a hug and
held him as tight as she could. “Come on Daniel,” She pleaded quietly into his
ear. “You have to fight this. I can’t lose you.”
“Bos nunquaym mod.”
Daniel whispered back, holding Vala as tight as she was holding him.
“I can’t understand you.” Vala whispered her voice breaking and a tear
leaking out of her eye. More tears fell as Daniel pulled out of the hug and
looked Vala straight in the eyes.
“You. Never.
Will. Lose. Me.”
“Daniel-” Vala cried moving to give him another hug, but as she moved
to do so Daniel disappeared and her arms embraced nothing.
‘I lied to her…I said
that she’d never lose me and look at me…I got myself captured by Adria.’ Daniel
sighed and wished that he could apologize to her. ‘God Vala, I’m so sorry that
I lied to you.’
“No Daniel!” Vala
called out her voice returning but it echoing off the wall of ancient writing.
“You didn’t lie to me, well alright you did- but that doesn’t matter. What
matters is that you are still alive so you have to fight. Fight Daniel fight!”
“Vala?” Daniel blinked and moved his eyes around.
He had gotten that feeling again, the feeling that she was right there with him
but all he (and Vala) saw was Adria advancing towards him and as Adria began to
speak Vala found herself ripped from Daniel’s mind and Daniel felt as through
the final barrier in his mind has finally broken down, allowing the ancient
knowledge to come pouring in.
‘No Vala…’ Daniel
fought as hard as he could, and for a moment he held the ancient knowledge at
bay. ‘…Vala,’ Daniel whispered to himself as he pictured her face smiling at
him. ‘…I am so sorry...’
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Vala asked taking a step back, overwhelmed with the emotions that she was feeling. ‘What am I doing...?’ She thought warningly to herself. ‘…Daniel would never feel that bad about…about…’
“Vala when are you going to open your eyes…” Daniel asked exasperated as he took her hands and held them to his heart. “…and your heart to the fact that this is real? I am here, with you now. This is real.”
“This can’t be real…” Vala told herself again as she struggled to get away but Daniel held her close.
“It is,” Daniel insisted his face inches away from her own. “This is real, and I am really here with you right now.”
“You can’t be…” Vala argued shaking her head, not bothering to hide her tears anymore. “You are a prior, you-” She choked over the words but said them anyways. “-you chose to be a prior….”
“Vala,” Daniel begged as he brought her into another hug, “-please understand!”
And before Vala could say anything else, she was swept up in another memory that was not her own.
“Take a look Daniel Jackson.”
Adria ordered, releasing Daniel from his restraints and mentally guiding him to
the window that he had been unable to see from his chair.
“Earth.” Daniel whispered in fear, realizing that
his team wouldn’t have had enough time to put the sangraal together, if they
had found the fifth piece at all. “What are you going to do?”
“I am going to destroy
it,” Adria stated coldly. “Maybe then you will see that there is nothing left
for you and you will join us.”
“What?” Daniel asked
in shock as he whirled around to face Adria who was leaning over a consol
pressing a button. “Wait!” But it was too late, Daniel whirled back to the
window and saw a beam shoot out from the ship and head towards earth. “Adria
stop!” He pleaded and miraculously, before his very eyes the beam scattered and
entered the atmosphere illuminating the sky in borealis’ that were seen all
over the globe. Sighing with relief Daniel turned and faced Adria with a dead
calm certainty in his stomach.
“You can’t harm
Earth.” Daniel stated solemnly. “And you can’t harm my team.”
“Yes.” Adria agreed
with a nod of her head, very pleased with herself.
“Do you swear?”
“You have my word as
Orici.” Adria promised as she waved her hand over another consol and Daniel saw
that Earth disappeared from his sight and Daniel hung his head knowing that he
couldn’t back out now. “Come Daniel Jackson,” Adria beckoned, holding out her
hand for Daniel to clasp. “Let me show you the light.” Daniel walked over to
Adria and faced her down for a second before, with childish glee inside Adria
and dread in him, Daniel took her hand...
‘She was going to destroy Earth,’ Daniel stated, his voice resonating within Vala’s mind. ‘And you were on Earth,’ Daniel continued as Vala watched another memory unfold. ‘I couldn’t let that happen…I couldn’t lose you.’
Daniel found himself
once more in front of the fires on Celeste and as he stared at him he was
confronted by the memories of what he had said the last time he had been there.
“Respect, yes, certainly. But that doesn't mean I would murder innocent
people in their name. I guess what I'm trying to understand is whether the Ori
have spoken to you directly and told you to worship them, or whether
you've…misinterpreted some evidence you've found along the way and developed
this religion on your own.
I can't speak for everyone in my galaxy, but in my own humble opinion,
I don't believe that any individual or society can achieve enlightenment
through fear-mongering and forced servitude, no matter what power is presented
as evidence. That's something the ascended beings I know very clearly seem to
understand.
Don't get me wrong, I mean, we should all be trying to better
ourselves. I mean if-if ascension is the ultimate end we're trying to achieve,
then so be it, but we should all be allowed to get there or not of our own free
will. You can kill me for saying that, but that is what I believe and nothing
you say or do will EVER change my mind.”
‘Boy how things can
change,’ Daniel thought despairingly to himself as he stared into the fire. ‘I
never thought that I would find myself here.’
“Daniel Jackson, open
your heart and mind to origin.” Adria commanded and Daniel looked at her one
last time before looking back into the fire.
‘Oh guys, I am so
sorry.’ Daniel apologized mentally to his team. ‘But sometimes things do
change-’ A flash of Vala’s smile crossed his mind and Daniel knew what he had
to do. He had to become a prior, he knew that he could do more from the
inside then he ever could do from the outside ‘- and besides, I can do more
this way.’
“That’s what you
think.” Adria whispered maliciously in his ear and before Daniel could react
the fires of Celeste entered him...
Time seemed to slow
down for Daniel as he felt every pore and cell of his being infused with the
fires of Celeste. It was a horribly painful process and as he felt his
control slip away, he clung to the one thing that had always made him smile.
The memories seemed to
last an eternity and he played them over and over again in his mind.
‘Fancy’
‘Well, I know you don’t get off the base much except for official
business, so I thought I’d take you somewhere nice…’
‘Well, I don’t mind telling you, I’ve been looking forward to this
little date all week
I wouldn’t exactly call it a ‘date’ it’s-’
‘Oh, I’ve watched enough of your television to know what a date is
Daniel. It’s a romantic event, typified by diner, movie and-or karaoke and
usually culminating in a night of…’
‘O-okay, this is…this is definitely not a date. It’s…it’s
two friends and co-workers out for dinner…’
‘She came so close to
finding out that my excuse was just a lame cover up...’ Daniel thought solemnly
to himself as the fires consumed him. ‘…but I had to tell her something,
anything. She had to know...’
‘...um, look. I know that it hasn’t been easy for you adjusting to your
new life here, learning to trust other people and most importantly, refusing
the temptation to fall back on your old ways…but you have worked hard to make a
place for yourself with us and…and dinner tonight is my way of saying thank
you. Thank you for, for proving me right when I said we could take a chance on
you...’
‘I don’t know what to say…’
‘...and then she went
missing…’
‘He's got people querying hospitals in the area where Vala disappeared.
It's possible that she may have been injured and has been unable to contact
us.’
‘Hey, listen, I, um… I spoke with the Medical Examiner's office.
They're doing DNA testing on the remains recovered at the blast site. But it's
gonna take a while.’
’You know, when Vala first disappeared, when the Ori
gate was destroyed, I refused to write her off. Although the odds were against
it, I believed somehow she'd found a way to survive. And it turned out I was
right. I wanna be right again.’
‘....and I was right,
again.’
‘Vala? Vala, it's me, Daniel. We know
you're in here. There's nowhere else you could've gone...Vala? I know you're
scared. But we're not here to hurt you. We can help you remember.’
‘...and then we came
face to face again, she was so lost and confused. I had to get through to
her somehow, even though she didn’t remember me...’
‘Get out of my way…Get out of my way, or I will shoot you.’
‘You don't remember who you are, but I do. You won't shoot…If I let you
go, I know you're gonna make yourself disappear. You've been running so long
it's almost second nature to you. You don't remember it, but you made a
decision to stop running. It's over. Now it's time to come home.’
‘...Daniel...’
‘...Dear Vala,’ Daniel
thought to himself painfully as the fires consumed his mind. ‘-my dear Vala, at
least you’ll be safe...’
‘Why Daniel,’ Vala thought sadly to herself. ‘I never knew you cared so much…’
“Vala,” Daniel began softly, trying to get her to understand. “I c-”
“No.” Vala said vehemently to both herself and to Daniel as she completely pulled away from him, and the memories that he had shared.
“Vala?” Daniel asked questionly as she pulled away, only to double over in pain knowing that his prior-ness was reasserting itself and he had no time left.
“This isn’t real.” Vala said sternly to herself, upset that she had played into her delusions for so long, especially when she saw Daniel becoming a prior right before her eyes. “This can’t be real. I know that it isn’t real.”
“Vala,” Daniel pleaded with her, feeling his essence being pulled away. “This is as real as it gets…”
“I don’t believe you,” Vala shot back, tears coming to her eyes as he echoed his previous comments. “-I can’t believe you…” She argued, her voice shaking and her body trembling with hurt, fear, rage and an overwhelming feeling of sorrow and loss. “…how can I when you chose to become a prior…?”
“Vala…!” Daniel pleaded urgently, seeing her image go translucent before his eyes. She hadn’t understood and at the very core of his being, he had to make her understand. “You have to understand why I did this!”
“No.” She shot back, the tears falling down her face. “I will never understand, nor do I ever care to.” Vala turned away and didn’t look at him when she spoke. “You betrayed us Daniel,” She whispered quietly, “- you became a prior and betrayed us…you betrayed me. They burnt me alive, and you join them…”
“…Vala,” Daniel pleaded. “I didn’t have a choice…”
“…you always have a choice Daniel…” Vala yelled back as she whirled around to face him again, using his own wisdom against him. “…you taught me that…” she whispered a bit quieter as she lowered her gaze to the floor. “…you always have a choice.”
“Whether you believe me or not Vala,” Daniel whispered back, his image fading from view, their eyes meeting one last time. “…I didn’t have a choice…not really…and I am really and truly sorry…I know it’s not enough, but I don’t know what else to say to make you understand. I did what I did because I l-”
He was gone before he could finish his sentence and Vala felt a huge pang of loss and the sense that she had been a fool. He had been trying to tell her something, even if it was a dream. The scene faded to black and Vala could feel the bed under her and the covers above her. She knew it was a dream, and yet as she awoke she couldn’t shake the feeling that Daniel had been right there with her.
“Oh Daniel…”She whispered mournfully as she opened her eyes to stare at her darkened room, her right hand still clutching the communication device.
It had connected them once and she realised with utter horror and despair that the Daniel in her dreams probably had been the real Daniel. Vala realised that he had left the communication device for her so that he could communicate with her and in her dream she had been so stupid to think that it wouldn’t connect them again. Clearly it had, and Vala wished that she had realised it sooner. This above all else broke her heart because instead of listening to Daniel, she had pushed him away and somewhere inside her told her that she had lost her only chance to talk to him.
“…you really were trying to tell me something weren’t you…and I didn’t listen.” Vala rolled over and buried herself under her covers, lamenting the fact that he had communicated with her and she had shot him down. She had lost her only chance and it killed her inside. “…gods Daniel, I’m sorry too.”
‘I don’t know if you can hear me…’ Vala thought to herself as she shut her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could on the communication device in her hand. “…but I am so, so sorry. I only acted the way I did because you’ve hurt me so…’
She choked back the tears as she thought back to Daniel’s last words to her
‘I know it’s not
enough, but I don’t know what else to say to make you understand...I did what I
did because I l-’
‘…Daniel…’ Her heart and mind cried out for him as she curled up in a fetal position, the pain of losing him a second time becoming almost unbareable. ‘…I love you too…and I want to tell you in person someday…you have to come back to me…’
Meanwhile somewhere, across the galaxy Daniel Jackson blinked out of his meditative state and gripped his staff a little tighter, saddened at the loss of what was his only chance explanation. But then suddenly a thought flashed through his mind. It was partial, but he knew who it was from and he allowed it to replay over and over in his mind
‘...and I want to tell
you in person someday...’
Her voice was so mournful, Daniel couldn’t bare it in his heart and soul but there was nothing he could do but listen to her voice in his head.
‘...you have to come
back to me...’
‘I will Vala…’ He promised as he felt Adria’s control grow over him once more and his will began to disappear as it always did. ‘…I will do all I can to come back to you…I promise.’
And with that, Daniel was once again under Adria’s control and against his will he made his way to the gate and headed off to convert yet another unsuspecting planet. But in his heart, the promise he had made still burned strong, ready to find another crack to escape through. All it needed was an opening…
CHAPTER 22: Onward Journeys
“Whether you believe
me or not Vala,” Daniel whispered back, his image fading from view. “…I didn’t
have a choice…not really...and I am really and truly sorry…I
know it’s not enough, but I don’t know what else to say to make you
understand. I did what I did because I l-”
His voice kept reverberating in her mind, heart and soul.
Over and over again, Vala heard his last words to her, and as she tossed and turned trying to get back to sleep, she dissected the one phrase that bugged her as much as the last one.
...I don’t know what
else to say...
‘What else could you have possibly said Daniel?’ Vala thought mournfully to herself as she opened her eyes and stared into space. “What else could you have said?”
...and I am really and
truly sorry...I know it’s not enough, but I don’t know what else to say to make
you understand. I did what I did because...
‘…what are you trying to tell me Daniel…’
...I know it’s not
enough, but I don’t know what else to say to make you understand...
‘…I don’t understand…’
...I don’t know what
else to say to make you...
‘…wait…’ Realization was dawning on her and Vala’s face split into a smile.
...what
else to say to make you...
‘…I’ve got it…’
...say...
‘…alright Daniel,’ Vala thought to herself as she sat straight up in her bed. ‘- you couldn’t say anything else to me, but was there something else that you wanted me to know?’
Vala thought long and hard, and in the silence the answer that was so elusive slowly came to her. It built itself up in her mind and then, like a bolt of lightning it hit her and before she lost it she fled from her room to find Sam.
Vala sprinted out of her room in her black top and cargo pants and she stopped in front of Daniel’s base quarters and felt the familiar pang of guilt and sorrow but that was tempered with the excitement of the knowledge in her mind.
She sprinted down the halls of the SGC to Sam’s lab only to find that she wasn’t there. Disappointed, but not frantic yet, she raced to the mess hall wondering if the scientist was having a late night snack of blue jello…but Sam wasn’t there either.
Nearly distraught by this time Vala figured that the only place left to look for her would be in her own room, so she raced through the SGC one more time and came to a screeching halt before Sam’s room and banged on the door.
At first no once answered, but when Vala banged again, and then a third time a bleary eyes Sam opened it and stared Vala down.
“Do you have any idea what time it is…?” Sam asked sleepily.
“No,” Vala admitted as she held out the communication device for Sam’s inspection and began telling her story at a thousand miles per hour. “But that doesn’t matter at all because I’ve figured something out.”
“What?” Sam asked sleepily as she rubbed her eyes.
“WhenwewereonthatplanetIranintoDanielandhedroppedthisandthenIjusthadadreamabout
himandIthinkthathewastryingtotellmewhyhejoinedwithAdriabutIwasn’tlisteningbutthe
reallyimporantthingisthathecontactedmeandhetoldmehowtoputthesangraaltogether.”
“Wait, what?” Sam asked, waking up a bit. She only caught two words from Vala’s little rant and they were ‘Daniel’ and ‘sangraal.’
“When we were on that planet,” Vala began more slowly, hoping that Sam would understand her this time. “-I ran into Daniel and he dropped this and then I just had a dream about him and I think that he was trying to tell me why he joined with Adria but I wasn’t listening but the really important thing is that he contacted me and he told me how to put the sangraal together.”
“What?” Sam asked again in shock, she understood all that Vala had said, but she hardly believed it. “Daniel did what…?”
“Here,” Vala stated simply holding out the communication device for Sam to look at. “He dropped this on the planet deliberately,” Vala explained excitedly. “-and he used it to contact me in a dream. I didn’t pay much attention to him,” She admitted reluctantly, “-but he did leave me with the knowledge of how to put the sangraal together.”
“Really?” Sam asked still in shock as she studied Vala’s face. “You know what to do? How the pieces fit together?”
“Yes.” Vala nodded excitedly as she took a hold of Sam’s arm and pulled her in the direction of her lab. “…come on Sam, I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to remember where everything went…”
“Alright, alright…” Sam held up her hands in defeat and threw on her blue flight suit and followed a bouncing Vala to her lab.
* * * *
After grabbing Jacob from his room and dragging him down to her lab at 0440. Sam watched as Vala ordered her and Jacob around. They were both amazed as Vala took control and took apart the control device and personal shields and hooked them together before she completed the circuit and hooked the entire thing to the glowing disc. It was simple, and with Sam and Jacob’s help, she was able to dismantle the small spherical object and found a glowing red stone within it.
“The sangraal…” Sam whispered, recognizing it from the hologram version and from the pictures that Daniel had showed her.
“The one and only,” Vala said with a stifled yawn as she placed it on top of the light disc, smiling inwardly as the entire device hummed with power. Vala then placed the entire thing in the spherical shell, arranging it so the control panel was the only piece that was exposed while the light of the red stone filtered through out the cracks.
“Vala,” Sam asked curiously as she looked from the device before her to the time on her watch which read 0939. “…are we done?”
“Uh-huh…” Vala nodded with a yawn. “…we’re done.”
“How does it work?” Jacob asked looking the device over.
“I dunno…” Vala muttered to herself as she leaned her weary head on Sam’s work bench. “…Daniel didn’t tell me how to work it, just how to build it.”
“Daniel?” Came a third voice. They all turned to see Jack looking curiously at him. “What does Vala mean that Daniel didn’t tell her how to work it, what is it?”
“It,” Sam began with some awe. “Is the sangraal, Vala thinks that Daniel left a communication device of the ancients for her on our last mission. She grabbed it, had a dream and he told her how to put this thing together.”
“Really?” Jack asked stepping into the room, surprised that Vala could have done so much so quickly. “I’m impressed.”
“So am I…” Jacob admitted looking over at Vala who was falling asleep. “…what I’m more impressed with is that she managed to get something out of Daniel. I thought, from everyone’s description that he was too far gone.”
“So did I,” Jack admitted, “-but I guess he really is in there somewhere…”
“So now what,” Vala mumbled sleepily.
“Now we call a meeting with General Landry…” Sam explained with a smile as she left Vala’s side and made her way to the phone to gather the troops.
* * * *
Less than half-an-hour later, General Landry along with Dr. Lam, Mitchell, Teal’c, Sam, Vala, Jack, Jacob and Janet were all sitting around the briefing room table staring at the sangraal and its builder.
“What?” Vala asked in the uncomfortable silence. “I told you what happened.”
“Could you tell us again please?” Landry asked, leaning forward showing interest.
“Alright,” Vala agreed, swearing to repeat what she had said word for word, just as she done for Sam earlier. “When we were on that planet,” Vala began once again. “-I ran into Daniel and he dropped this,” She held out the communication device before returning it to the safety of her closed hands. “-and then last night, or rather early this morning, I had a dream about him. I think that he was trying to tell me why he joined Adria and the Ori, but I wasn’t listening to him. I thought that it was all a dream and even though he showed me things that I had no recollection of, I still didn’t believe him. That’s when he told me that there was nothing more that he could say to me. When I woke up, I figured out that he must have given me something subconsciously. I concentrated, and the sangraal built itself in my mind. In that moment I knew that he had told me how to put the sangraal together.”
“Could I see that thing,” Jack asked, holding out his hand for the communication device. “I would like to give Daniel a piece or two of my mind…”
“No!” Vala answered quickly, holding the device in her clenched hands. “I mean,” She paused and looked around the table realising that they were all staring at her. “-I’m not sure that it would work on you General,” She explained quickly. “-you see, ever since our first encounter with the Ori Daniel and I-”
“-have had a connection,” Jack finished. “Yes I know…but hand it over.”
“I’m sorry,” Vala argued shaking her head, reluctant to hand it over. “-but Daniel left this for me…”
“-how can you be sure of that?” Jack asked, eyeing Vala suspiciously.
“Vala,” Daniel pleaded
with her, feeling his essence being pulled away. “This is as real as it gets...”
“I don’t believe you,”
Vala shot back, tears coming to her eyes as he echoed his previous comments.
“-I can’t believe you…” She argued, her voice shaking and her body trembling
with hurt, fear, rage and an overwhelming feeling of sorrow and loss. “…how can
I when you chose to become a prior…?”
“Vala…!” Daniel
pleaded urgently, seeing her image go translucent
before his eyes. She hadn’t understood and at the very core of his being,
he had to make her understand. “You have to understand why I did this!”
“No.” She shot back,
the tears falling down her face. “I will never understand, nor do I ever care
to.” Vala turned away and didn’t look at him when she spoke. “You betrayed us
Daniel,” She whispered quietly, “- you became a prior and betrayed us…you
betrayed me. They burnt me alive, and you join them…”
“…Vala,” Daniel
pleaded. “I didn’t have a choice…”
“…you always have a
choice Daniel…” Vala yelled back as she whirled around to face him again, using
his own wisdom against him. “…you taught me that…” she whispered a bit quieter
as she lowered her gaze to the floor. “…you always have a choice.”
“Whether you believe
me or not Vala,” Daniel whispered back, his image fading from view, their eyes
meeting one last time. “…I didn’t have a choice…not really…and I am really and
truly sorry…I know it’s not enough, but I don’t know what else to say to make
you understand. I did what I did because I l-”
The pang of loss still reverberated within her heart and soul and as her feelings flew across her face Janet realized what the former space pirate was going through and she knew instinctually that they couldn’t push this.
“Leave her alone sir” Janet stated quietly, interrupting Vala’s thoughts and Jack’s glaring.
“Janet?” Jack asked curiously as he looked at her. “She didn’t answer my question.”
“I know that sir,” Janet answered with a smile as she caught Vala’s eye, knowing what was in her heart. “-but she knows why Daniel left the device for her and it’s not up to us to pry…we have what we need.” Janet continued with a smile. “We have the sangraal and with it, we can defeat the Ori.”
“I agree.” Jacob stated with a nod. “You guys have done more than we could do in our reality,” Jacob explained, indicating to Janet and himself. “-I don’t think it matters why Daniel gave Vala the information all that matters is that Daniel did give her the information.”
“So, all we need is a plan.” Mitchell added, thinking back to the conversation that he and SG1 had a couple of months previously when they had rescued Vala and Daniel from the Ori the first time.
‘In a war, you’ve got
two sides fighting. All we have is a lot of winning by the bad guys. They have
troops and ships in our territory, and a supergate to bring in more anytime
they need.’
‘I remember when we first
opened the gate. The Goa’uld had total domination over the galaxy. They had
massive superiority over us...a lot of people didn’t think that we had a
chance.’
‘I’m not saying we
should give up. I’ll fight to my dying breath....I just think that we need a
new plan...a damn good one’
“I assume you have a plan Colonel Mitchell?” Teal’c asked with a knowing look in Mitchell’s direction.
“I have one,” Mitchell admitted leaning in to the table. “- but it will need all of us and more to complete it…and it depends heavily on one person.”
“I’m all ears.” General Landry offered and listened while Mitchell launched into his plan.
CHAPTER 23: Attack Plans and Allies
They listened to Mitchell’s plan carefully, and as the young Lieutenant Colonel spoke, hope began to rise within them. The plan that Mitchell was proposing was risky, very, very, very risky and each of them who sat at the briefing table knew that instinctually. They also knew that if the plan was to be successful they would each have to make choices and even perhaps risk everything to save everything and everyone.
“Does everyone understand?”
“It’s a daring plan Mitchell,” Jack stated obviously with a nod. “-and probably the wackiest plant that any of us have ever come up with…ever.”
“You say that all the time sir,” Sam pointed out with a smile, thinking back on all the times that Jack had said that, one time in particular sticking out in her mind.
‘We all know it’s an
extreme long-shot sir’
‘Well, my big problem
with it is that all this depends on us trusting a Goa’uld to back us up’
‘This is our only chance
to take Anubis completely out of the picture and Yu has come through for us in
the past.’
‘All I’m saying- just
for the record, this is the wackiest plan we’ve ever come up with!’
‘Wackier
than strapping an active Stargate to the bottom of the X-302?’
‘Oh
yeah.’
‘Wackier than...than
blowing up a sun?’
‘Yep’
‘...He’s probably
right’
“I know Carter,” Jack stated with a smile. “-it doesn’t make it any less true.”
“I know.” Sam agreed. “This is a pretty daring plan…but it is a good one.”
“It all comes down to you Vala.” Janet pointed out with a small and sad smile knowing that the responsibility that Vala had was immense.
“Indeed.”
“Do you think you’re up to it?” Dr. Lam asked curiously, turning to look at Vala.
“Of course I am.” Vala stated firmly. “I know what I have to do.”
‘…and there is no way that I am going to fail…’ Vala added to herself silently. ‘…again.’
“Very well people,” Landry interrupted with a clap of his hands. “-we have a lot to do in a short amount of time so let’s get moving.”
* * * *
The first thing that they had to do was to assembly an army. That meant mobilizing the entire resources of the SGC, and while Landry spent hours upon hours debating the facts with the ministers of defence and the President the rest of SG1 wondered if their plan would even get the go ahead.
“This isn’t fair…” Janet muttered as she checked the vitals of an old friend who had been injured off world.
“…I know.” Dr. Lam agreed coming up to her. Carolyn,
to her fathers surprise had let Janet resume her old duties under the
conditions that they would be co-heads of the
“You would think,” Janet echoed turning away from the marine
wondering how Jack was doing in
* * * *
“You have got to be kidding me,” Jack muttered as he leaned back against the back of the chair he was sitting in, not looking at Richard Woolsey who was the bearer of bad news. “They’re not going to let us do this?”
“I’m sorry General,” Woolsey apologized and when he looked at Jack’s fact, the IOA representative knew that the General understood. “-I don’t understand it myself. You are the Head of Homeworld Security; you would think that the President and the IOA would listen to your recommendations. They have in the past.”
“Yeah,” Jack agreed with a sigh. “-I don’t understand it.”
“They want to put all our resources into the Atlantis expedition,” Answered a familiar voice and when Jack looked up he saw someone whom he had not seen in a while.
“-General Hammond!” Jack stated
with surprise as he jumped up off the couch, noticing
“It's George now Jack,”
“I know that sir,” Jack admitted with a nod. “But you know, old habits and all that...”
“Yes,”
“Yes we do George.” Jack agreed with a sigh. “We certainly do”
“We?”
“Yes,” Jack confirmed “I'm going to help them defeat the Ori and buy SG1 enough time to get our friend back”
“I heard about Daniel...”
“A damn shame,” Jack agreed with a sigh. “- but Colonel Mitchell came up with quite a brilliant plan to save him. Unfortunately the IOA and the President are stonewalling us."
“There's nothing I can do Jack,”
“I know that George,” Jack sighed, “But surely you can do something….”
“My hands are tied,”
“I know…” Jack muttered slumping back onto the chair. “-but this is Daniel we're talking about. He's died more times for this planet than I can count...”
“I know that Jack,”
“If he was such a security risk we would all be dead by now.” Jack pointed out bitterly. “That Adria person gave us 24 hours to give her the sangraal...that deadline has been well past…and here we are. Still alive…”
“There has to be something that we can do...” Woolsey stated obviously when a secretary of the President came out to meet them all.
“Major General O'Neill, Mr. Hammond, Mr. Woolsey, the President will see you now”
“You're coming with me?” Jack asked turning to both the men beside him.
“I may be on the IOA’s payroll,” Woolsey stated with a smile. “-but I agree with you.”
“And my opinion used to be worth a lot to him,”
“Well...” Jack muttered to himself as he and the two men beside him were escorted into the Oval office. “...here goes nothing.”
* * * *
“You’ve got to be kidding me...”
“I'm sorry,” President Henry Hayes apologized. “-but my hands are tied.”
“Surely you can override the IOA…”
“Normally I could, but we still need them,” President Hayes pointed out. “-not only for the Atlantis expedition but for the SGC as well...”
“-I don't quite get your drift.” Jack stated bitterly.
“If I override the IOA on this and the entire plan goes to hell, then they will demand that the leadership of the SGC be taken away from us. They will want it to be like Atlantis, you don't want that to happen do you?”
“M- Mr. President…” Woolsey interrupted with a nervous ring in his voice. “-surely you and the IOA understand that this is a matter of great importance.”
“Of course we do.” President Hayes admitted. “And if I could, I would allow Operation Restoration to take place, but the IOA have already made their ruling...”
“...well then I guess it is high time I talked to this IOA face to face.”
* * * *
“-do you people have any idea what is at stake here?” Jack yelled angrily at the panel of the IOA who just stared at him with blank eyes and stone cut faces. He didn’t know them, but Jack knew of them. The three IOA officials who were staring him down were the same three who had gone off world with SG1 the year previous and Jack figured that experience would make them a little more agreeable to his proposition.
“The survival of our entire galaxy General O’Neill,” Miss Shen stated with a nod. “-we do understand”
“Then why aren't you guys giving us the go ahead?” Jack asked angrily as he looked each other them in the eyes.
“Because the plan presented by your Colonel Mitchell is shaky at best.” Mister LaPierre scoffed, his thick French accent hurting Jack’s ears.
“Oh and you have so many years of military service under your belt to know this...” Jack muttered under his breath angrily.
“Careful Jack-”
“I know that”
“Our decision is final…” Mister Chapman stated firmly.
“Oh for crying out loud...” Jack muttered furiously. “...you people don't get it.”
“-get what?” Miss Shen asked curiously. “We all have been
off world General O’Neill. We know what the teams of the SGC have been going
through, but we do not think that the plan presented by your Colonel Mitchell
is a strong one. It requires the entire mobilization of
“The
Jack’s admission shocked the three IOA representatives and they hurriedly leaned their heads together to deliberate on what he had just said. Woolsey, from his seat on the bench looked at Jack in alarm and while the IOA representatives weren’t looking Jack smugly put a finger to his lips. Woolsey’s eyes went wide as he realized that Jack was bluffing but before Woolsey could make any more signals the IOA representatives raised their heads and looked at Jack.
“The plan has already progressed so far?” Mister Chapman asked cautiously, trying to determine if Jack was lying to them or not.
“Oh yeah...” Jack stated with a smug grin. “...and when they lose, and don’t get me wrong, the Jaffa and the Lucian alliance along with the humans that are rallying will give the Ori a run for their money…but they will lose with out us.
And when that happens my dear IOA, the Ori will come right here to us. Now, you three and your colleagues might think that we’ll be safe with the completed sangraal in our possession but let me tell you. We will be no match for their armies, and our ships are no match for theirs.
You know what happened at the
That is, unless you choose to accept Origin, in which case you can live the remainder of your life under the rule of bunch of tyrannical and evil ascended beings who have abilities that are more powerful than you can imagine.”
“...how do you know this?” Miss Shen asked slowly, absorbing the rant that Jack had retaliated with.
“Because it has already happened before-” Jack snapped. "I don't know if you bureaucrats with your fancy suits and your snung desks are aware but a couple of days ago two old friends of mine came through our gate from an alternate reality. They sought refuge and our President accepted because their Earth and universe was destroyed by none other than Daniel Jackson. and..”
“That is why we think that Dr. Jackson is too much of a security risk.” Mister Chapman snapped. “That is why he needs to be eliminated.”
“YOU JUST CAN’T KILL A PERSON WHO HAS DONE SO DAMN MUCH!” Jack shouted, his voice snapping with anger and rage. “Daniel…” Jack took a breath to calm down before addressing the panel again, his voice calm and void of emotion. “Daniel has done far too much for this planet to be destroyed by us.
He’s risked his life for the past ten freaking years to protect you three and he’s died more times than I can count…besides if it wasn't for him we wouldn't even have the sangraal-” Jack pointed out. “And if we didn’t have the sangraal, we would really be screwed.”
“Be zat as it may, your plan…” Mister LaPierre began before he was interrupted by Jack who had totally lost his patience.
“Our plan is a damn good one!” Jack snapped as he slammed his hand down on the table in front of the three representatives. “It not only stops the Ori threat, but it gets Daniel back as well.”
“It rests on the ability of an alien…” Miss Shen pointed out, disgust in her voice.
“That may be true...” Jack argued; his voice full of venom and hate for the three civilian bureaucrats in front of him. “...but that 'alien' is the only one who is going to be able to pull this off...” Jack shook his head, tiered of all the debating and ready to end the conversation at that minute. “…now do we have the go ahead, or do you want the destruction of the entire galaxy to be on your conscience’?”
Jack watched as there was more deliberation between the IOA representatives and as Jack watched their faces, he knew that he had gotten through to them.
“General O'Neill...” Mister Chapman began looking straight through Jack’s eyes. “…you have a go.”
“But be warned,” Mister LaPierre stated with a furrowed brow. “We are only giving your plan a go ahead because you believe that the ‘alien’ will be an asset…”
“Is that it?” Jack asked his eyes wide with disbelief at what he was hearing.
“No,” Miss Shen admitted.
“Thank god,” Jack muttered, glancing back at Hammond and Woolsey.
“We have decided to give your plan a go,” Miss Shen continued with a small smile. “-because we understand the threat that the Ori pose, and based on the reports that we have been getting it seems like the final battle is imminent and we-” She paused to look at her two colleagues. “-are at a loss on how to prevent the utter annihilation of Earth. Therefore, because we do not have a plan of our own, we have no choice but to accept your recommendation and we give you three days to attack the Ori otherwise we are transferring command of Stargate Command to someone of our choosing.”
“Three days is no where near enough time to-”
“I am sorry General O’Neill…” Miss Shen interrupted showing no sympathy what so ever. “…but by your own admissions your plan is progressing well. Now, you have our permission to go ahead, so go.”
“Well thank you.” Jack stated sarcastically as he beamed
away in a flash of light with
* * * *
“How did you do sir?” Mitchell asked as he entered the briefing room and stood across from Jack.
“Huh?” Jack asked looking at her, blinking his eyes in confusion. “What did you say Mitchell?”
“I just asked how it went sir.” Mitchell repeated with a smile. “Did you get the IOA to let us go through with this plan?”
“Oh yeah,” Jack nodded nonchalantly with a shrug. “They’ve given us the go ahead, but there are a few problems.”
“Like what?”
“Well, sorta told them that we had the entire
“WHAT?” Mitchell exclaimed shocked. “We’re no where near there yet…”
“I know,” Jack admitted with a roll of his eyes.
“There’s more, isn’t there sir?”
“Yeah, about that…” Jack sighed and told Mitchell what the IOA threatened to do. “…they’re giving us three days to attack or else they’re going to rip command of the SGC away from us and give it to some civilian.”
“WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?”
“At least they’re giving us some time…” Jack pointed out, trying to look on the bright side of things.
“Three days…” Mitchell muttered in disbelief. “…three days…”
“Sir?” Sam began as she entered the briefing room, clearly out of breath and very worried. “Oh thank god sir you’re back…”
“Sam,” Mitchell interrupted, turning from Jack to her. “-we are so screwed.”
“I know.” Sam admitted with a sigh.
“You do?”
“You do?”
“Yeah,” Sam confirmed with a sigh. “…wait here, there’s going to be a briefing in like five minutes.”
“Carter,” Jack began stopping Sam from leaving. “…what’s going on?”
“An-well-” Sam sighed and shook her head. “…you just have to wait and see sir.”
And with that Carter was gone, leaving a very shocked and confused Jack and Mitchell. They both looked at each other seeking answered but got none and after a mutual shrug Mitchell sat down across from Jack and just twiddled his thumbs, waiting for Sam to return.
CHAPTER 24: Dominion
Five minutes later, Sam returned with Teal’c, Vala, Janet, Jacob, Hammond, Woolsey, General Landry and Dr. Lam in tow, but as Jack and Mitchell observed, there was someone else behind the rest…someone that five of them knew well.
“Jonas?!” Jack exclaimed with shock as he stood up and looked at Jonas who other than looking a little ragged seemed just fine. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come with a warning General…” Jonas explained with a solemn smile as he shook Jack’s hand. “…but first, congratulations of the promotion sir.”
“Thank you Jonas,” Jack stated sincerely as Jonas took a seat with the rest of them while Sam took her usual position at the projection screen. “But what’s all this about.”
“You’ll find out Jack,”
“Alright,” Sam began slowly once she saw that everyone was
settled with the briefing report in front of them. “This,” she stated clicking
the projector on displaying the image of a galaxy. “-is our galaxy. This…” she
continued after another click. “…are all the worlds that the SGC that are known
to have human or
“What does that mean?” Jack asked pointing to all the red dots.
“That,” Sam began with a deep sigh. “-is the number of planets that Jonas has visited…”
“You’ve been busy…” Jack muttered under his breath as Sam continued knowing that Jack was not the only person in the room who didn’t know this information.
“…and those are the number of worlds that have been converted.”
The statement hung in the air and Jack could swear that had a pin dropped it would have shattered their ear drums.
“You have got to be kidding me…” Jack muttered with a soul crushing sigh as he put his head in his hands. “…you have got to be kidding me.”
“I only wish I was General…” Jonas stated with a deep sigh himself. “…but once my planet fell to the Ori, I escaped and went to every planet that I could remember…”
“…you remembered a lot of planets.” Vala pointed out as she stared at the screen.
“I know,” Jonas said with a sigh. “And nearly all of them had been taken over by the Ori. Now, I figure that out of the 300 billion stars in this galaxy only about 100 million planets encircle them. From that, I figure that even at their height, the ancients must have been able to colonize about a fraction of that.”
“What’s your point Jonas?” Jack interrupted.
“My point General,” Jonas explained patiently. “-is that with only 21600 planets that we know of having Stargates on them and ¾ of those being occupied by the Ori…well, my point is that we have a ¼ of the planets in the Stargate system to work with.”
“That isn’t a lot…” Jacob stated solemnly.
“No,” General Landry agreed. “-can we still go through with our plan with this new Intel?”
“I don’t think so sir,” Mitchell stated honestly. “-I mean…”
“We can’t give up!” Vala exclaimed suddenly, startling everyone there- especially since her voice wavered a little with emotion. “We’ve come far too far…”
“We understand that,” Woolsey stated with a small smile. “-but there are more problems than just this.”
“What do you mean?” Sam asked her eyes shooting from the screen to Jack. “What happened?”
“Do you want to tell them sir,” Mitchell began sarcastically looking Jack in the eye. “-or do you want me too?”
“No I’ll tell them,” Jack agreed with a sigh, bracing himself for the carnage to come. “The IOA wasn’t going to let us go through with our plan, and I got so damn frustrated that in the heat of the moment I told the IOA that we had the entire Jaffa Nation and the Humans out there as well…”
“That isn’t so bad…” Janet stated optimistically even though she knew that there was more.
“I also told them that we had the support of the Lucian
“What?” Came the collective gasp of all there.
“Sir how could you do that?” Sam exclaimed.
“Jack,” Landry chastised. “You have got to be joking.”
“The Lucian Alliance are our enemies O’Neill…”
“Jack are you insane?” Jacob asked.
“Sir how could you say that?” Janet demanded.
“General are you out of your mind?” Jonas inquired.
“Is there anything else?” Vala requested, breaking the chatter and causing all eyes to focus on either her or Jack.
“Yes.” Jack admitted, hanging his head. “They gave us three days to attack or else they’re going to split the command of the SGC from us and give it to an IOA appointed civilian.”
There was no outburst after Jack’s admission; just the stone-cold, soul-crushing silence that permeated almost all of their hearts and minds remained. The plan, risky as it was, really did have a chance of working and now it was crushed before it had even begun.
They all just stared at each other; Sam locked eyes with
Jack, Landry locked eyes with his daughter, Janet locked eyes with Jacob, Teal’c
locked eyes with Jonas,
While the remaining eleven personal in the briefing room thought about how screwed they all were, Vala stared at the communication device and thought about how much the galaxy needed them, she also thought about how much Daniel needed them and how much she owed him.
‘…Daniel…’ She whispered to herself as she shut her eyes and concentrated on the communication device that was clenched in her hands. ‘…please. What are we supposed to do now?’
* * * *
Across the galaxy, as Daniel left another converted world he felt a rush of sorrow and confusion course through him and he too clenched his communication device in his hand and cast his mind to the stars and thought of Vala.
‘…Vala…’
* * * *
The voice resounded in Vala’s mind and her eyes shot open in shock. Daniel had communicated with her, he had spoken to her- but the moment he had, he was gone again. This didn’t sadden her because in that one word, in that one single tiny word- her name- she had been given everything that she needed.
“We need to fight.” She stated strongly, her voice ringing out in the dead silent briefing room.
“Pardon?”
“I said,” Vala repeated, her voice strong and sure. “-that we need to fight.”
“How can we possibly fight against such odds?” Woolsey asked, his face full of defeat. “Even the mighty SGC can’t win every battle.”
“You never win a battle unless you fight.” Vala pointed out, but she was met with a wave of resistance. But only one spoke up.
“There is no way we can even attempt this fight,” Jacob agreed waving his hand in dismissal “The danger is too great.”
“One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run from it.” Vala stated in a calm, cool, collected and centered voice; causing all to turn and stare at her. “If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half…”
There was silence after that and Vala was once again the one to break it.
“What?”
“You were quoting Churchill…” Dr. Lam pointed out, amazed that Vala had learned that.
“And…?” Vala asked as though it was no big deal.
“And we had no idea that you knew such intimate details of our history.” Landry explained further.
“Daniel was giving me history lessons…” Vala admitted shyly. It had been something that they had kept quiet, something that she had coveted during their down time at the base. It had begun only a couple of months ago after their so called ‘dinner’ date. Vala had come to him one quiet night in the SGC, and it was a night that she remembered well.
“Daniel...” She
whispered after knocking on the door, causing Daniel to jump up, startled.
“Geez Vala,” Daniel
muttered, shaken for a moment by her sudden appearance. “...don’t sneak up on
me like that.”
“Sorry...” Vala
apologized lamely, her gaze falling to the floor.
“What do you want?”
Daniel asked, “I have a lot of work to do.”
“N-nothing.” Vala stated guiltily. “I just wanted to ask
you something, but I can see that you’re busy, I can come back later...”
“Hey wait,” Daniel
pleaded, getting up from his desk and walking up to Vala, sensing that something
was up. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong...”
Vala muttered, avoiding the question.
“No,” Daniel argued
shaking his head. “No, you came here for a reason, what is it?”
“Well...I just,” Vala
sighed and mumbled it all out at once. “-I wanted you to teach me about the
history of Earth, that’s all.”
“You
what?” Daniel asked, shocked
that Vala was asking that of him. “You want me to what?”
“I would like you to
teach me about the history of this blue planet,” Vala repeated slowly, slightly
embarrassed that she had even come to him in the first place. “-is that a
crime?”
“No,” Daniel assured.
“No of course not, I just- I don’t understand why you would want to learn about
our history.”
“Well,” Vala began
slowly. “Believe it or not Daniel, this is the first place that I have felt at
home for a long time and...and I always know the history of my home.”
Daniel
just stared at her with awe, amazement and pride; this caused Vala to blush
slightly.
“Is that alright?” She
asked again, wondering if Daniel would actually teach her.
“Is that alright?”
Daniel echoed, his face lighting up. “Of course that’s
alright. When do you want to begin?”
“Right now,” Vala
stated with a small playful half-smile. “-if that’s okay by
you.”
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed
with a smile. “Yeah that’s great, just let me clear a few things...”
“Earth history 101 he called it.” Vala explained, smiling
thoroughly at the thought of Daniel’s teaching. “He started with a 10 minute
summary of your pre-history and each week we covered a period in time.
“How very interesting…” Janet murmured, amazed that Daniel had taken it upon himself to teach Vala. ‘…I didn’t think that Daniel would ever invest that much time in anyone…’
“How very interesting indeed” Jonas agreed, breaking Janet’s train of thought. “But that has nothing to do with your-our current situation.”
“I agree…” Teal’c stated. “…our situation is indeed dire.”
“Teal’c right,” Jack pointed out, his voice holding defeat in it. “The danger we’re facing…with our limitations…even I don’t know how we can face it.” Jack sighed and looked out the window to the Stargate. “…maybe we shouldn’t even try.”
“A coward turns away,” Vala countered, “but a brave man’s choice is danger…” She smiled sheepishly and finished with the original speaker of the quote. “…Euripides”
“Meaning?” Jack asked exasperated and defeated.
“Meaning that we should go through with our plan sir,” Sam explained with a knowing smile as she looked at Vala. “-we should contact Bra’tac, see what he can muster up in three days, and we should contact all our human allies and the Lucian alliance.”
“Are you crazy?” Jack asked standing up and facing Sam. “The Lucian alliance nearly killed you.”
“And the
“That doesn’t matter.” Vala countered. “It’s high time the people of this galaxy came together to stop the Ori…”
“When you’re part of a team,” Sam whispered quietly looking towards her Dad for support. “-you stand up for your teammates. Your loyalty is to them. You protect them through good and bad, because they’d do the same for you…” Sam finished and looked sheepishly at the rest of the people around the table. “…my dad took me to a couple of Yankee games when I was a kid…” Sam admitted with a smile. “…that quote of Yogi’s always stuck with him…and me.”
“And he was right kiddo.” Jacob agreed with a smile. “We’re all just one team, and we have to pull them together.”
“Not to mention Daniel,” Janet added, also on board. “-he’s one of our own, he’s a member of this command and more importantly, he is our friend. We have to save him.”
“-and the entire galaxy…” Mitchell added with a half-grimace.
“…again.” Teal’c stated, his face showing no emotion.
“Yes again,” Dr. Lam agreed with a smile. “But that’s what we do, isn’t it?” She directed her last comment to her Dad who just nodded. “Save the galaxy…”
“It is what we do,” Landry agreed, looking from his daughter
to
“Impossible odds never stopped this command before,”
“It has indeed.” Woolsey agreed. “The IOA has nothing but the highest confidence in this command.”
“Yeah right,” Jack scoffed. “-that’s why they’re giving us three freaking days.”
“We’ll do it sir,” Sam comforted. “-we always do.”
“…we always do, don’t we…” Jack echoed with a smile. “…I guess this time will be no different…”
‘…I hope…’ They all added silently.
“I just have one question though,” Jack began, “-how am I supposed to work that damn sangraal?”
“I actually know the answer,” Vala piped up, seeing that no one else knew. “-the control device from the chair, that’s how you control it. I, I think that you have to concentrate on who you want to neutralize and as soon as the sangraal is initialized we just leave it and all our problems will be solved.”
“Sounds simple enough to me,” Jack stated with a grin. “-let’s get going, shall we?”
* * * *
The next three days were a flurry of activity for the SGC. They got their personal together and focused on the battle plan ahead.
Teal’c contacted Bra’tac about their plan and to everyone’s
surprise the
Vala contacted the Lucian alliance, and while everyone
thought that she would be captured or worse, she came back with the new leader
Kirra; a women of both strength and wisdom. She had taken over command
once the fiasco with Netan was over and she was ready and willing to disperse
the claim of war and enter into an alliance with Earth,
They even got a message through to Adria that they had found the location of another sangraal on G’nesis though Vala. For, as they were all surprised to find out, Adria wasn’t the only one who would reach out and deliver messages.
Vala, through her blood connection with Adria managed to let it slip that G’nesis, though it had no village, did have a weapon capable of destroying her. And thanks to the grape-vine, just before the clock ran out they heard that Adria and her army was on her way to G’nesis. Not through the gate, but through ships…
…and so, as quickly as they could, the men and women soldiers of the SGC embarked from the gate room and set up camp within the safe confines of the ‘invisibility cloak’ as it had been renamed and waited.
SG1 was the last to embark with Sam and Jack bringing up the rear. They both paused before the Stargate as they had more than ten years ago, and it was during that moment Sam turned to Jack and took a chance.
“Sir,” Sam began quietly, making sure that no one could here her.
“Yes Carter?”
“M-maybe after this is all over, do you think that we could…I dunno, go out for dinner or something?”
“…will there be coffee?” Jack asked after a brief moment of silence, thinking back to her original promise.
“Of, of course sir,” Sam confirmed, worried that he wouldn’t accept.
“Well then,” Jack began, his voice calm, centered and soft. “-I would be delighted to.”
And with that, they stepped through the gate, ready for whatever was coming next.
CHAPTER 25: Last Stand
They had been on the planet for what had felt like an
eternity, even though it had only been a couple of hours and yet there was
still no sign of Adria. The G’nesis camp that they had set up, SGC personnel
along with other humans, the Lucian alliance and the
“Ishta…” He said her name so softly, afraid that she was a dream. “…how did you manage to escape?”
“Teal’c…” Ishta began with a smile. “…of that I am uncertain, but I found myself with Rya’c and Kar’yn after you had left. They took care of me, but I could not get a message to you… ”
“I’m sorry father,” Rya’c apologized. “…if I could have, I-”
“There is no need to apologize son,” Teal’c interrupted.
“-everything is as it should be, and when this is all over and we are victorious,
we shall re-build the
“That we will Teal’c,” Ishta agreed. “-that we will.”
* * * *
A full twenty-four hours later the gate activated and the soldiers of the Ori came pouring forth and the ships landed in the general vicinity of the area.
Everyone was stone cold silent but ready, the village had
long since been evacuated of
They would wait till the very last minute to drop the ‘invisibility cloak’ and attack. SG1 were scattered amongst the army. Sam and Jack took up one position while Mitchell was in another beside Jonas and Teal’c was at a third. Vala hung near the back, not because she was afraid but because they couldn’t afford to lose her until she had completed her task.
‘…I need to find Daniel…’ She thought firmly to herself. ‘…I will get him back…’ The simple affirmation was repeated over and over in Vala’s mind and it became her mantra as the Ori army got ever closer. It also helped keep the fear at bay; it surprised her, she was scared, frightened out of her boots and every instinct was telling her to run away and hide but something stronger than instinct was telling her to hold her ground and as the ‘invisibility cloak’ fell and Chaos erupted all around her, Vala did just that.
* * * *
Chaos erupted all around them and it was clear that allied army was immediately in trouble. They got the order to scatter and Vala took cover behind a broken wall and took as many shots against the Ori soldiers as she could, the entire time keeping her eyes peeled for Daniel. At the same time, she kept looking for her friends and team-mates, but she couldn’t see them and silently, amidst the sounds of battle, she prayed that they were all alright.
* * * *
Teal’c, Ishta and Rya’c all fought side by side. They formed a triangle back to back and they destroyed any enemy that came within their sight. Unfortunately, the allied army was vastly outnumbered and they were forced to split apart as they became surrounded. And in the midst of the chaos, Teal’c heard his name be called out and he turned to see Rya’c dive at an Ori soldier who was prepared to kill his father and Teal’c was forced to watch while the Ori soldier placed his weapon and Rya’cs stomach and shoot him.
“NOOOOOOO”
The cry was ripped from his throat, and although Teal’c longed to run to his son, he knew that doing so would mean his death. So Teal’c did the only thing that he, a warrior could do. He continued to fight…
* * * *
Mitchell and Jonas had good cover, and therefore they were able to defend their position along with SG-17. Together the six of them held their own, and yet as Mitchell and Jonas took a shot at an Ori soldiers, they both saw Rya’c fall and internally Mitchell cursed.
Cam Mitchell knew that war was bloody and that they would lose a lot of good people, but he didn’t think that Teal’c would lose his son and as Mitchell and Jonas continued to fight for their life they both prayed to what ever benevolent deity was listening to ensure that the people he cared most about would make it through the fight safe and sound.
* * * *
Sam and Jack were in worst shape than the rest of SG1.
They had been completely cut off from the main army and therefore were
fighting off their Ori intruders from inside and crumbling
“Sir,” She began in between shots. “I don’t think that we’re going to have that dinner, or coffee…”
“Oh come now Carter,” Jack chastised as he shot some more Ori soldiers down. “-we’ve been in more dire situations than this.”
“No sir,” Sam argued, being realistic, even though it pained her so. “-we haven’t…I- I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry Carter,” Jack muttered as he put a new mag in his P-90. “-just promise me one thing Samantha…”
‘…Samantha?’
“If we make it out of here alive you have to promise me something…” Jack asked again, his voice full of urgency.
“Anything sir…” Sam promised looking towards Jack, shocked by the look she saw in his eyes. “…anything.”
“Marry me…” Jack blurted out causing Sam’s breath to catch in her throat.
“M-marry you?” She echoed, the battle forgotten and the love of her life consuming her attention. “You want me to marry you?”
“More than anything…” Jack replied with a small smile. “…I wanted to ask you when I was transferred but with Cassie having such a rough time I thought…”
“Yes.” Sam blurted out, a smile breaking out on her face.
“Yes?” Jack asked, not believing what she had said.
“Yes.” Sam repeated and the two of them shared a smile before the door of the house they were in blew open and they were confronted by three Ori soldiers.
* * * *
While the present and past members of SG1 were all dealing with their own crises, Vala finally saw Adria and Daniel walking through the battle. They were heading towards the tree line and Vala knew that their destination would be a cave and she took after them unaware that a certain Ori Soldier who held her in his heart saw her and followed her.
* * * *
Vala came to the tree line and was about to follow Daniel in when suddenly a voice called out to her and made her stop.
“Vala…” The voice held such pain, and Vala couldn’t help but turn to face the person it belonged to.
“Tomin,” Her own voice was laced with a mixture of regret, sorrow but more importantly urgency. “-What do you want?”
“Come with me…” Vala’s husband pleaded extending his hand to her. “…come with me.”
“Tomin I can't do that…”
“Yes you can Vala,” Tomin argued. “-you are my wife and for your own safety you must come with me.”
“Tomin-”Vala began turning to face the trees, catching a glimpse of the cave beyond before turning back to him “Tomin...”
“You’re not going to leave with me are you?” Tomin asked, realization dawning.
“No,” Vala stated her resolve strong and with that she turned to enter the forest but Tomin ran ahead of her and blocked her way.
“But I thought you loved me...”
“I care for you Tomin,” Vala admitted a sad smile on her face and utter panic rising in her chest. “-but I never loved you.”
“You love him, don't you…” Tomin stated coldly. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement and he already knew the answer.
“Him who...?” Vala asked, honestly confused on whom Tomin was referring too.
“Adria's newest prior-” Tomin snapped. “-you’re in love with him, are you not?”
“Daniel?” Vala asked, her eyes widening. “You think that I love Daniel?"
“I can see it in your eyes...” Tomin stated coldly. “…I have been able to see everything in your eyes.”
“Tomin…”
“Tell me the truth...” Tomin demanded, watching as a flurry of emotions fluttered over Vala’s eyes.
“Yes,” Vala admitted after a moment. “I do love him."”
“And your daughter?”
“I love her only because I bore her,” Vala stated firmly. “-but that is as far as my affections go. I will kill her if necessary.”
“Then you must be stopped.”
“Tomin…” Vala whispered as she watched Tomin raise his weapon. “No Tomin...STOP!”
The energy weapon courses towards her, she shielded her face and braced for the impact but none came.
‘…what the hell…’
She looked up to see it frozen, right before her eyes. She looked at Tomin who was just as shocked as she was and when she looked beyond him she saw someone else. Tomin whirled around following her gaze and came face to face with Daniel.
Even from her distance Vala could see the rage in Daniel's eyes and when Tomin raised his gun to Daniel, Vala saw her beloved's staff glow and the energy weapon that was meant for her hit Tomin in the back instead. With wide eyes, she watched him fall to the forest floor and when she raised her eyes to see Daniel again he was walking into the forest, headed towards the caves.
“Daniel...” Vala cried out her voice full of desperation. “...Daniel wait!”
“Vala,” Mitchell called out over the radio. “-what's going on?”
“I ran into Tomin,” Vala explained as she ran into the forest chasing Daniel. “-he tried to kill me-”
“-what happened?” Mitchell asked worriedly. “Is Tomin following you?”
“No,” Vala stated, pausing at the mouth of the cave. “No Tomin is dead…”
“What happened?” He asked worriedly, but there was no answer. “Vala?”
“It was Daniel.” She blurted out.
“What?” Mitchell asked, totally shocked.
“It was Daniel...” She repeated, still reeling from the experience herself. “He saved me.”
“That means that there is more of our Daniel in there than we thought-“
“That thought had crossed my mind.” Vala stated as she unloaded her gear from her body.
“Do what you have to do Vala, but be careful” Mitchell order, his voice softening.
“I will.” Vala promised. “Vala out.”
* * * *
“Mitchell to team…” Mitchell stated, not knowing who was hearing his voice. “Good news...Daniel just saved Vala. This should all be over soon- so hang on...”
'Come on Vala...”He thought to himself as he continued fighting. “-you can do this…'
“Let’s keep fighting Jonas…” Mitchell ordered and smiled when Jonas simply nodded and continued fighting.
* * * *
Meanwhile Vala had entered the cave, and made her way through the cave system till she came to the main cavern. There she found Daniel and Vala staring at the fake sangraal that they had created to draw Adria into such a confined and safe space.
“Daniel?” Vala called out tentatively walking towards him.
Daniel didn’t say anything, nor did he make any move to show her that he registered her presence. Her daughter however, did register Vala’s presence and she whirled around angrily and stared at her mother.
“This is not the sangraal…”
“No,” Vala answered smugly. “No it’s not…” Vala glanced once more at her daughter before returning her attention to the person who needed the most. He still had his back towards her, but Vala knew that she had to get through to him “Daniel…?” She asked again, her voice softer and less desperate even though her mind was telling her that she didn’t have much time left.
“Vala.” Daniel answered as he turned to face her and for a moment- a brief moment- Vala wasn’t sure if she was really staring at her Daniel.
His hair and skin where a ghastly pale and his eyes were a milky blue with no iris’s at all and he was clad in the usual prior attire but for the first time, Vala looked past all that and saw her Daniel. The archaeologist who had somehow captured her heart; she could see his brown hair and his beautiful clear blue eyes. She could see him as he had appeared in her dream, the same Daniel who had taught her Earth history and had taken her out for dinner. Vala could see his true self and as their eyes locked she knew that she had to reach him some how.
“Y-you know me.” Vala stated with a smile. “You know who I am.”
“Of course.” Daniel answered with a curt nod. “You are the mother of the Orici.”
“Yes,” Vala stated reluctantly as she took a couple steps towards him. “But do you have any memories of me-us-your life before you became a prior for the Ori??”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you helping them?” Vala asked, her voice exploding with pent up rage, fear and sorrow. “WHY?”
“Because the path of the Ori is the enlightened path,” Daniel recited emotionlessly.
“Daniel,” Vala chastised, biting her lower lip as he right hand snaked into her pocket and held the communication device. “-you know you don’t believe that.”
“But I do…” Daniel answered; his left hand holding on to his staff and his right hand lowered at his side and covered by his robe.
“Daniel,” Vala retaliated her eyes pleading with him. “-you told me once that no one could ever make you believe in something by force. You also said,” She continued holding up her left hand indicating that he shouldn’t answer. “-you also said that nothing, nothing would ever change. What changed?”
Vala watched as Daniel simply closed his eyes, and she wondered what he was remembering.
“Take a look Daniel
Jackson.” Adria ordered, releasing Daniel from his restraints and mentally
guiding him to the window that he had been unable to see from his chair.
“Earth.” Daniel whispered in fear, realizing that
his team wouldn’t have had enough time to put the sangraal together, if they
had found the fifth piece at all. “What are you going to do?”
“I am going to destroy
it,” Adria stated coldly. “Maybe then you will see that there is nothing left
for you and you will join us.”
Vala watched as Daniel
squeezed his eyes tighter and she was convinced that Daniel was remembering
something important and as she clenched the communication device in her hand
harder, she could almost get the sense of what he was thinking about.
“What?” Daniel asked
in shock as he whirled around to face Adria who was leaning over a consol
pressing a button. “Wait!” But it was too late, Daniel whirled back to the
window and saw a beam shoot out from the ship and head towards earth. “Adria
stop!” He pleaded and miraculously, before his very eyes the beam scattered and
entered the atmosphere illuminating the sky in borealis’ that were seen all
over the globe. Sighing with relief Daniel turned and faced Adria with a dead
calm certainty in his stomach.
“You can’t harm
Earth.” Daniel stated solemnly. “And you can’t harm my team.”
“Yes.” Adria agreed
with a nod of her head, very pleased with herself.
“Do you swear?”
“You have my word as
Orici.” Adria promised as she waved her hand over another consol and Daniel saw
that Earth disappeared from his sight and Daniel hung his head knowing that he
couldn’t back out now. “Come Daniel Jackson,” Adria beckoned, holding out her
hand for Daniel to clasp. “Let me show you the light.”
Daniel walked over to
Adria and faced her down for a second before, with childish glee inside Adria
and dread in him, Daniel took her hand...
Daniel found himself once more in front of the fires on Celeste and as he stared at him he was confronted by the memories of what he had said the last time he had been there.
Vala closed her eyes too and thought back to the dream she had had four days previous, and what Daniel had told her.
‘She was going to
destroy Earth,’ Daniel stated, his voice resonating within Vala’s mind. ‘And
you were on Earth,’ Daniel continued as Vala watched another memory unfold. ‘I
couldn’t let that happen…I couldn’t lose you.’
“Daniel,” She began softly walking towards him. “Why?”
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Daniel stated and Vala was taken aback.
“T-that…that’s a proverb from Earth, not origin.” She stuttered, her face lighting up. “That’s from Earth!”
“Be that as it may,” Daniel agrees solemnly. “-it is still true. I took one step in front of the fires of Celeste and it led me here.”
“But Daniel,” Vala argued, finding flaw in his logic. “-what if you take the wrong step? What if that one wrong step leads you down the wrong path? What then?”
“You can not change him mother.” Adria stated, her voice cold and slightly arrogant. “He is mine.”
“Adria,” Vala ordered walking to face her daughter. “-let him go!”
“No,” Adria countered. “No mother, he is too valuable to us.”
“I said,” Vala stated again her voice brimming with anger. “-let—him—go! He is of no value to you.”
“Mother,” Adria corrected. “Daniel was once ascended and he is in possession of all the knowledge of the Alterrans. He is ours- forever.”
“Oh there must be something that I can do…” Vala muttered more to herself than to Adria.
“If you let Origin into your life mother,” Adria began slowly. “-then I will consider letting him go.”
‘…let origin into my life…’ Vala thought fearfully to herself as she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and clenched the communication device a little harder. ‘..my life for Daniel’s…not a bad trade…’
‘Vala don’t do it!’ Daniel ordered, his voice resounding in her mind.
‘Daniel?’ Vala thought snapping her eyes open to look at the Daniel in front of her and that’s when she saw that his right hand was clenching something too. ‘Is that you?’
‘Of course it’s me.’ Daniel stated his mind sounding furious but his face projecting an outward calm. ‘-Adria has control of my will Vala,’ Daniel explained. ‘-it’s very hard for me to do even this much.’
‘I can save you from this Daniel…’ Vala pointed out, averting her gaze from the Daniel in front of her to the floor.
‘No!’ Daniel’s voice cried out frantically. ‘No I did this to save you Vala, you can’t do what you’re planning to do.’
‘What?’ Vala asked, not understanding what Daniel was talking about. ‘Why can’t I do what I’m planning to do? I’m going to save you Daniel!’
‘You are not going to save me at the expense of your own life!’ Daniel argued vehemently. ‘You have to keep fighting and let me go…’
“NO!” Vala cried out causing Daniel and Adria too look at her. ‘I will not let you go!’
‘Vala?’
“Mother?”
“I will never accept origin into my life Adria,” Vala exclaimed passionately. ‘-not even to save Daniel…he wouldn’t want me to make such a sacrifice,” Vala paused and looked at Daniel, her eyes brimming with tears. “But I’m not going to let him go either.”
“Mother,” Adria berated. “I have his mind, and I shall have it for all eternity.”
“You may have his mind Adria,” Vala argued her voice calm and sure. “-but you will never have his heart or spirit. They are free and pure…”
‘If you are pure of
heart and noble of spirit, then the power of the stars shall be yours if you
are willing to extend your hand to greatness.”
“Now what does that
mean?” Vala asked exasperated at all the cryptic words
“I think,” Daniel
began slowly returning to Vala who stood right opposite the pedestal. “I think
that one of us has to put our hand on that.”
“…nothing will ever change that!” Vala continued and even though she didn’t know it, Daniel was getting flashes of his memory back and unbeknownst to her, the silent promise that he had made was beginning to crack the net that Adria had him under.
“You are a fool mother,” Adria chastised shaking her head. “-and I was a fool for not realizing it earlier…”
“Well Daniel,” Vala
began slowly, interrupting Daniel’s analysis of the device. “I guess you are
pure as heart and noble of spirit after all.”
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed
with a sigh of relief. “I guess I am.”
“…nothing will turn you to the true path, will it?”
“Um-” Vala began, sarcastically thinking about her daughter’s question. “-nope.”
“Very well then…” Adria nodded, her eyes glowing orange for a moment before she raised her hand to her mother, ready to strike.
CHAPTER 26: In the Choices We Make
“Orici…” Daniel began stepping forward but it was too late. Red energy shot out of Adria’s hand and encircled Vala. It settled to the ground and created a large circle around her which then sprung up into a circle of flames.
“Daniel…” Vala began looking from the fire to Daniel, her eyes pleading with him, just as she had done so long ago.
“...Daniel!” Vala cried out as the fire came closer.
“No!” Daniel cried out
in panic. “You’re killing an innocent person!”
“Daniel...”
“…Daniel!” Vala cried out again. She caught his eyes and knew what he was thinking. “Daniel, you thanked me once for proving you right when you said that you could take a chance on me-please Daniel! Please prove the same for me…”
‘...um, look. I know
that it hasn’t been easy for you adjusting to your new life here, learning to
trust other people and most importantly, refusing the temptation to fall back
on your old ways…but you have worked hard to make a place for yourself with us
and...and dinner tonight is my way of saying thank
you. Thank you for, for proving me right when I said we could take a chance on
you...’
“…prove that I was right by taking a chance on you!” Vala pleaded through the fire as the circle closed a little more. “Please Daniel! I always believed in you, I never once gave up on you! I’ve always known that you were inside there somewhere…” Vala stopped to cough, the smoke from the ever increasingly smaller fire choking her watching as Daniel took a couple of painful steps away from Adria and closer to her. “…please Daniel, it’s over…come home!”
“... You don't
remember it, but you made a decision to stop running. It's over. Now it's time
to come home…”
“Daniel!” Vala pleaded as she struggled to take a breath, the circle less than a foot away from her now. “You saved me once…please save me again! Pl-” Vala’s pleas were cut short by a scream as the fire began to lap its way up her legs.
“NO!” Daniel cried out his right hand dropping the communication device and shooting up dousing the flames while his heart, mind and soul reached out to Vala. She was still alive and not badly burnt.
Vala swayed unsteadily for a moment, her eyes staring at Daniel blankly.
“…Daniel…” She muttered quietly before she fainted unaware that Daniel cradled her fall with his thoughts.
“NO!” Adria cried out from behind Daniel. She too shot out her hand to crush him but Daniel was quicker than she.
Daniel whirled around and in one fell swoop shot out his own hand towards her and snatched her necklace away. It flew to his hands before she could do anything and she just stared at him in disbelief as he held it out in front of her.
* * * *
“NOOOOOOO”
The cry was ripped from his throat, and although Teal’c longed to run to his son, he knew that doing so would mean his death. So Teal’c did the only thing that he, a warrior could do. He continued to fight…
...he fought as hard as he could, for as long as he could with Ishta at his side but it was not too long before Ishta had fallen as well and his only weapon had been knocked out of his hand. Defeated, Teal’c could do nothing when several soldiers apprehended him and led him away.
* * * *
“Mitchell to team…” Mitchell stated, not knowing who was hearing his voice. “Good news...Daniel just saved Vala. This should all be over soon- so hang on...”
'Come on Vala...”He thought to himself as he continued fighting. “-you can do this…'
“Let’s keep fighting Jonas…” Mitchell ordered and smiled when Jonas simply nodded and continued fighting. But before long SG-17 fell and he and Jonas were quickly surrounded. Out of ammunition Mitchell and Jonas had no chance when the Ori soldiers grabbed him and led them through the fray.
* * * *
“Anything sir…” Sam promised looking towards Jack, shocked by the look she saw in his eyes. “…anything.”
“Marry me…” Jack blurted out causing Sam’s breath to catch in her throat.
“M-marry you?” She echoed, the battle forgotten and the love of her life consuming her attention. “You want me to marry you?”
“More than anything…” Jack replied with a small smile. “…I wanted to ask you when I was transferred but with Cassie having such a rough time I thought…”
“Yes.” Sam blurted out, a smile breaking out on her face.
“Yes?” Jack asked, not believing what she had said.
“Yes.” Sam repeated and the two of them shared a smile before the door of the house they were in blew open and they were confronted by three Ori soldiers.
“Oh this so not good…” Jack muttered as he raised his gun to the soldiers, but he knew that there was no way that he was going to escape this one.
“We’ve been in worse before…” Sam whispered her hands behind her, taking the sangraal out of her bag and placing it on the ground behind Jack who had jumped in front of her once the soldiers had entered. “-we’ll find a way out of this.”
“No Sam,” Jack stated sadly, taking one last look at his fiancée and the woman he had loved for the past ten years. “-we won’t”
Sam’s heart stopped at his words and before she could do or say anything Jack fired at the middle soldier but before the shot even hit they other two fired and Jack collapsed against Sam.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”
The cry was ripped from her throat as Jack collapsed against her, barely breathing. She took one look at her fallen fiancée and love of her life and grabbed her own weapon and fired it at all three soldiers catching them unawares.
“That was for Jack,” She muttered bitterly, tears spilling over and falling down her face.
* * * *
Vala swayed unsteadily for a moment, her eyes staring at Daniel blankly.
“…Daniel…” She muttered quietly before she fainted unaware that Daniel cradled her fall with his thoughts.
“NO!” Adria cried out from behind Daniel. She too shot out her hand to crush him but Daniel was quicker than she.
Daniel whirled around and in one fell swoop shot out his own hand towards her and snatched her necklace away. It flew to his hands before she could do anything and she just stared at him in disbelief as he held it out in front of her.
“You know Adria,” Daniel began, his personality showing through his prior exterior and his milky-blue eyes blazing with absolute hatred. “Merlin was right. Knowledge really was- is the key to destroying you. I just needed to see both sides to understand just how to put that knowledge together.”
And with that Daniel clenched Adria’s necklace in his two hands and concentrated. After a split second it shattered. At that exact moment, Adria burst into red light and Daniel’s prior exterior shattered as well, leaving him as he was when he was taken.
He blinked in a stupor for a moment, a voice resounding in his head.
‘Be free my Daniel...’
Shaking the voice away he looked at his bloody palms and saw that he was normal again. That thought of relief washed over him, but it quickly dissipated when he looked around the cavern and saw Vala lying in a crumpled heap on the floor.
“NO!” The cry was ripped from his throat when he saw that she wasn’t breathing. He rushed to her side and cradled her fragile body against his.
“No Vala please…” He begged, tears welling up in his eyes as he stared down at her lifeless body. “…please you can’t be gone. I did all this for you, do you hear me? I did what I did for you…I didn’t want to lose you…Adria threatened your life and I didn’t want to lose you. I couldn’t lose you-” Daniel’s voice broke with emotion and a few tears fell onto her cheek. “-but it looks like I’m going to lose you anyways…”
Daniel pulled Vala’s still body against his and rocked it back and forth. He had lost her, after all he had done to protect her and after all she had done to protect him. She was gone…
“God Vala…” Daniel mournfully whispered to himself as he cried. “…how could you leave me like this…I….I…” He could barely bring himself to say it but somehow, even though he knew that she couldn’t hear him he knew that he had to say it anyways. “…I love you.” He admitted his voice breaking. “…I love you so much…I never thought that I would love anyone as much as I loved Shar’e but I do…I love you more Vala…I love you more…”
As Daniel mourned within his subconscious mind, thoughts began to emerge. Memories of his time among the ancients were finally available to him and although the information from Merlin’s device had totally dissipated, these new memories provided him with the knowledge that he needed. He blinked away his tears and pulled Vala away from him. With a trembling body, he placed a shaky hand on her face gently, squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could and concentrated.
‘Please…’ He prayed to everyone and anyone who might be listening at this point. ‘…please let me save her…I love her.’
And as Daniel prayed he felt a warm glow surround him and Vala. He didn’t open his eyes, but he could see when the glow climaxed to a blinding flash of light.
Daniel didn’t dare open his eyes, but when he felt Vala stir beneath him, they snapped open.
“…V…Vala?” He asked frantically, his hand still on her face while he watched her stir to life.
“Mmmm…Daniel…?” She murmured as her eyes fluttered open to lock with his.
They just stared at each other for a moment, both too shocked to say anything at first but it was Vala who snapped out of the trance first; she realised that Daniel had his hand on her face and she raised her right hand up and placed it on top of the one that was cradling her face.
“Daniel…” She whispered, afraid to shatter the wonderful dream that she was in. “…is it really you? Are you really here?”
“Yes.” Daniel whispered back, tears of joy brimming in his eyes. “…It’s really me. I’m really here.”
“Oh Daniel!” Vala cried with joy as she threw her arms around his neck and embraced him, her heart bursting with joy and her eyes brimming with tears as well, especially when Daniel’s hands snaked around her back and held her even tighter. “I was so afraid that I had lost you…” Her voice broke with emotion and her voice was racked with sobs as she let out every bit of pain, worry, fear, rage and sorrow out of her system.
“Vala…” Daniel murmured into her ear as he buried his face in her neck, almost too over come to speak himself, “you’ll never lose me I promise….…I thought that I had lost you. I thought that you had died on me and I-”
“Oh Daniel…” Vala interrupted in between her tears. “…you’ll never lose me. N-” Vala stopped suddenly as her peripheral vision caught a movement of red energy swirling beside them. She could see it rising in intensity quickly and she knew that is was going to attack.
“Daniel…look out!” She cried as she pushed herself away from him watching as he rolled away too, just before a blast of energy scorched the spot that they had just been sitting on.
Daniel staggered to his feet, looked up and saw the swirling mass of energy and for a split second, he wasn’t sure what it was but when the energy began to form itself into a face he knew who it was.
“Adria…” He muttered, his teeth clenched with hatred. “…what do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m finishing what I started.” Her disembodied voice answered as it echoed around the chamber. “If I can’t have my mother, no one can.”
“D-” Vala cried, but before the word could even leave her lips, Adria (in her ascended form) shot out another bolt of energy at Vala and she watched as Daniel threw himself in front of it. Her heart nearly stopped when it came near him but she watched with amazement when it bounced off a blue shield that Daniel was emitting.
“Vala…” He ordered, his voice strained. “…get out of here.”
“No way Daniel,” Vala argued as Daniel pushed Adria’s energy back at her. “-I’ve gone through too much to abandon you now.”
“Vala!” He exclaimed in frustration broken and Adria took that moment to fully attack him and Daniel was sent flying.
“NOOOOOOO! DAAAAAAAAAANIEL!” The cry was ripped from her throat as she watched Daniel land on the cavern floor with a sickening thud. “DANIEL!”
* * * *
Meanwhile, with sobs racking Sam’s body as she cradled Jack, she didn’t notice when his left arm moved against her side and reach for the sangraal. His finger stretched and he reached it. With all his strength Jack placed his fingers on the control panel and concentrated hard on the neutralization of Adria, the rest of the ascended Ori and any ascended being who was bent on universal domination-one last thought crossing his mind as his hand went limp.
‘Please let this work…for Sam…’
* * * *
“It’s over mother,” Adria gloated, her disembodied head floating within a mass of red energy. “…we have won. And you will be destroyed!”
Vala watched with horror as Adria’s red aura began to glow again and she just sat there, frozen with terror as Adria raced towards her…
CHAPTE R 27: Awakening
Vala watched with horror as Adria’s red aura began to glow again and she just sat there, frozen with terror as Adria raced towards her…
…but then, something extraordinary happened.
Adria was stopped. Vala watched as a mass of white light appeared out of nowhere and stopped Adria before she could hit her. Vala could hear Adria’s cries of frustration and rage as the mass of white light utterly surrounded her and extinguished her from existence. She looked at the white light and saw familiar faces within it, Guinevere, Morgan, Merlin and several others that she did not recognise at all. She then watched, as the white light exploded outward, sending a warm glow through out the cavern…
* * * *
…it exploded out of the mouth of the cave as well and enveloped the entire planet and dispersed through out the entire universe. Those who were still fighting stopped at the presence of the warm light and those who had fallen began to heal.
* * * *
Teal’c and Mitchell and Jonas were reunited with the other prisoners and they were about to be executed when the white light hit them. It stopped the Ori soldiers in mid-fire and dissipated the weapons blast.
“What in the world…” Mitchell muttered as he stood up to get a good look at what was going on. He looked around the battle field and could see that all the fighting had completely stopped and those who had fallen were now rising. “Good god Teal’c look-”
“Colonel Mitchell what…” Teal’c began standing up as well. He too saw what was happening on the battlefield but his gaze was drawn to two figures who simply rose up from where they had lay dead.
With out saying a word Teal’c rushed through the rising people and he embraced
them both at the same time. His son, and his
love were back from the dead.
“I think…” Jonas began slowly, watching in amazement at what was happening around him. “…I think we won…”
* * * *
Meanwhile, Sam was still sobbing, the last few moments replaying over and over in her mind.
“Anything sir…” Sam
promised looking towards Jack, shocked by the look she saw in his eyes.
“…anything.”
“Marry me…” Jack
blurted out causing Sam’s breath to catch in her throat.
“M-marry
you?” She echoed, the battle
forgotten and the love of her life consuming her attention. “You want me to
marry you?”
“More than anything…” Jack
replied with a small smile. “…I wanted to ask you when I was transferred but
with Cassie having such a rough time I thought…”
“Yes.” Sam blurted
out, a smile breaking out on her face.
“Yes?” Jack asked, not
believing what she had said.
“Yes.” Sam repeated
and the two of them shared a smile before the door of the house they were in
blew open and they were confronted by three Ori soldiers.
“Oh this so not good…”
Jack muttered as he raised his gun to the soldiers, but he knew that there was
no way that he was going to escape this one.
“We’ve been in worse
before…” Sam whispered her hands behind her, taking the sangraal out of her bag
and placing it on the ground behind Jack who had jumped in front of her once
the soldiers had entered. “-we’ll find a way out of this.”
“No Sam,” Jack stated
sadly, taking one last look at his fiancée and the woman he had loved for the
past ten years. “-we won’t”
Sam’s heart stopped at
his words and before she could do or say anything Jack fired at the middle
soldier but before the shot even hit they other two fired and Jack collapsed
against Sam.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”
The cry was ripped
from her throat as Jack collapsed against her, barely breathing. She took one
look at her fallen fiancée and love of her life and grabbed her own weapon and
fired it at all three soldiers catching them unawares.
“That was for Jack,”
She muttered bitterly, tears spilling over and falling down her face.
“That was for you Jack…” She whispered as the white light enveloped the two of them. “That was for you…”
“…mmm…Sam?” Jack murmured, feeling all his injuries healing. “Sam?”
“J-Jack?” Sam whispered, stuttering over his name as she opened her eyes and looked down at him. “Y-you’re alive?”
“Of course I’m alive…” Jack replied with his usual cocky smile. “…it takes more than a couple of Ori soldiers to kill me…”
“God-” Sam choked out as she embraced Jack again; tears of joy now spilling down her face. “- I thought I had lost you.”
“You haven’t lost me yet-” Jack whispered as he hugged her back “-and you never will”
“Sam…General…” Mitchell’s voice crackled over the radio. “…are you both alright?”
“Yes,” Sam replied after she had pulled out of the embrace. “…yes
we’re both still here
“We’re all still here too…” Mitchell answered, his relief showing though the radio. “…and you both won’t believe what’s happened out here. Every one who had fallen in the battle, everyone is alive- and the Ori Soldiers are just confounded.”
“What do you think happened?” Sam asked, looking at Jack and smiling. “Was it…”
The question hung unanswered in the air and Sam, Jack and Mitchell knew what had happened and who had caused it.
“Daniel…”
* * * *
Vala was a daze. She just sat, unblinking into space after the white light had dissipated and it wasn’t until she felt a hand on her shoulder and someone calling her name that she snapped out of it.
“Hey Vala,” Mitchell asked again, his face filled with concern. “-do you hear me?”
“Mitchell?” Vala mumbled as she looked up at him. “You’re still alive?”
“Yeah,” Mitchell replied with a smile. “…I don’t know what happened, but something caused everything to change…what happened here?”
“It’s a long story…” Vala mumbled as her mind tried to process everything that had happened and it only took her a moment to realise the most crucial thing as it flew across her mind
“NOOOOOOO! DAAAAAAAAAANIEL!”
The cry was ripped from her throat as she watched Daniel land on the cavern
floor with a sickening thud. “DAAAAAAAANIEL!”
“Daniel!” Vala cried out in panic.
“Over here!” Sam called out and with some help from Mitchell, Vala managed to stumble her way over to Daniel’s side.
“Daniel!?” She half exclaimed, half asked as she collapsed beside him. “Daniel can you hear me?” She waited breathlessly for a response, but there was none.
“He’s breathing,” Sam re-stated after she had checked his pulse. “-and his pulse is steady…Daniel…?”
“Daniel Jackson?” Jonas asked, standing over Daniel’s head.
“
“Daniel Jackson you have prevailed.” Teal’c pointed out from up above, gazing down at the scene. Vala and Mitchell on one side of Daniel with Sam and Jack on the other…
“Daniel?” Vala asked again, the panic rising inside her. “Daniel you can’t die on me now…” Vala waited a couple of seconds, but there is still no response. “No,” She cried, tears threatening to fall again. “-come on Daniel…we promised each other that we wouldn’t lose each other… you can’t break that promise…”
“…I never break my promises…” Daniel murmured as his eyes fluttered open.
“He’s alright!” Sam stated with utter relief as Daniel turned his head towards them and smiled.
“Jack…”
“Daniel…” Jack replied with a smile. “…how you feeling?”
“Not so good.” Daniel admitted with a grimace.
“Well you look normal…” Jack pointed out with a smile. “…that’s a bonus.”
“Yeah,” Daniel laughed and turned his head to the other side, his eyes locking with Vala’s. “Vala…”
“Daniel…” Vala whispered back, taking the hand that he had raised to her.
“…thank you…” Daniel whispered gratefully. “…thank you for believing in me.”
“Hey,” Vala began sheepishly, blushing under the praise. “-you believed in me first…I was only returning the favour.”
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed with a smile. “Guess we proved each other right then…”
“Guess we did…”
“Come on folks,” Mitchell began standing up. “Let’s get back to SGC, we have a lot to report.”
“You mean,” Daniel began as he was helped to his feet by Vala and Jack. “-you mean we won?”
“Hell yeah…” Mitchell answered with a huge grin. “…we were totally screwed, but then this big honking white light enveloped everything and the people who had fallen were healed and the Ori Soldiers just stopped.”
“What happened in here…?” Sam asked curiously, looking around at all the scorch marks.
“…and what happened to Adria?” Jack added.
“She was destroyed O’Neill…” Came a familiar voice and SG1 past and present watched in amazement as Skarra appeared from the white light that had suddenly appeared. “Adria is no more…”
“Skarra…” Jack muttered in amazement.
“Skarra….” Daniel muttered in equal amazement, but his gaze was drawn to another white light that had appeared.
Daniel watched as Shar’e came from that light looking as beautiful as the last time he had seen her. She was wearing the traditional Abydonian robe and her smile still made Daniel’s heart flutter. Although, Daniel did feel Vala stiffen beside him.
“…Shar’e…?”
Shar’e just smiled and floated over to Daniel and whispered something in his ear. Daniel looked, with wide eyes from Shar’e to Vala and the members of SG1 past and present just stared at the three of them for a moment until another couple of lights flashed and three ancients that most of them had met before approached them.
“Well done…” Merlin congratulated smiling.
“Yes…” Morgan agreed, a smile gracing her features as well. “…well done indeed.”
“We never thought that you would get this far,” Guinevere admitted, smiling as well. “…but we all knew you when you were ascended the first time so we shouldn’t have doubted you.”
“Well,” Daniel began sheepishly. “-I wouldn’t have been able to do as much as I did without Oma…where is Oma anyways, is she alright?”
“I am fine Daniel…” Oma Desala stated with a smile as she materialised out of white light, just like her colleagues had.
“What happened to you?” Daniel asked curiously. “How did you get away from Anubis?”
“When Jack here activated the sangraal, he not only neutralized Adria and the Ori, but Anubis as well.”
“Who knew I was so talented…” Jack stated to no one in particular.
“Morgan,” Vala began, speaking for the first time.
“Yes Vala…?”
“-don’t think that this is a stupid question or anything, but was that you- I mean all of you- the white light that stopped Adria from destroying me…that was you all wasn’t it? ” Vala asked, and smiled when the ancients before her nodded. “Thank you…I don’t know what we would have done with out you.”
“That’s for sure.” Sam agreed, unconsciously reaching for Jack’s hand. “Thank you.”
“You are most welcome.” Oma acknowledged with a smile.
“Oma…?” Daniel asked stepping forward, away from Vala and Jack who were supporting him.
“Yes Daniel?”
“…How…” Daniel didn’t even know how to ask his question, but he asked it anyways. “…how did you guys save us? I thought the others…”
“The others saw the light Daniel,” Merlin answered with a smile. “-they now realise the error of their ways.”
“But they’re still going to not interfere here, right?”
“Yes.” Oma confirmed with a nod.
“Well that doesn’t seem fair…” Vala muttered.
“It is fair,” Oma responded softly. “-for the rules for interference will be considerably lighter.”
“That’s great.” Daniel stated honestly. “Oma-”
“I am very proud of you Daniel,” Oma interrupted with a smile. “-you have done all that was foreseen for you…and you have given us a great gift. You gave us our sense of responsibility back…and for that we will be forever grateful.”
“You’re welcome,” Daniel stated with a smile, sensing that their time was up. “-and good luck”
“You too Daniel,” Oma replied. “—When you are ready to ascend in this lifetime, you won’t need my help to do so.”
“Thank you.”
“Think nothing of it.”
And with that Oma, Morgan, Merlin and Guinevere vanished into the light again, their voices resonating around the cavern.
“It was good working with you SG1…keep the galaxy safe…”
The members of SG1, past and present looked at each other and then to the two remaining ascended beings Skarra and Shar’e who were among the last to leave.
“Goodbye Daniel…Goodbye O’Neill.” Skarra whispered in their ears before he too disappeared.
Finally there was only Shar’e left and the remaining members of SG1 took a step back and let the former husband and wife say their goodbyes.
“Shar’e…”
“Be still my husband…” Shar’e whispered, her face inches from Daniel’s. “…you need not say anything, for I know all that is in your heart. Be content in the fact that I am free from the demon and it is time you were too. Be free and happy my husband and know that you will see me again someday on the great path…”
“Someday…” Daniel echoed, looking in Shar’es eyes and as he did so he realised that all the guilt he had been holding onto was gone and that his love would always remain. “…goodbye Shar’e.”
“Goodbye my Daniel…” Shar’e echoed back, planting a small kiss on Daniel’s cheek before vanishing as well. Daniel’s hand absentmindedly went to his cheek and he was lost in thought when he heard Mitchell behind him.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about…”
CHAPTER 28: From the Heart
A couple of days after the Battle of G’nesis, once he (along with everyone else who had been injured were) were cleared by Dr. Lam and Janet, Daniel found himself in his office that was being packed up with the last couple of boxes being towed out of the room by a couple of young captains.
“So,” Came a familiar voice from the doorway of his now almost empty office. “-you’re really leaving?”
“Yeah Jack,” Daniel replied with a smile as he continued to pack the last box. “-third times the charm…”
“So when will you be back?” Sam asked, stepping into Daniel’s office to.
“For the wedding,” Daniel stated with a smile, looking at his two friends. “-hopefully.”
“We haven’t made any-” Sam began quickly but Jack took her hand and Daniel cut her off.
“I know.” Daniel interrupted, immensely proud of his two best friends, “-but keep me in the loop, alright?”
“Of course…” Jack promised shaking Daniel’s hand but that turned into a hug and when they pulled away Sam stepped forward and hugged Daniel as well. “…Good luck” Jack finished with a smile.
“Thank you…” Daniel replied with a smile. “…you too.”
“We’ll miss you Daniel,” Sam stated, tears in her eyes.
“I’ll miss you too…”
“Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c began entering the near empty office.
“We’ll see you at the gate…” Jack promised, his hand snaking around Sam’s waist as they left his office.
“See you there…” Daniel smiled at his two friends and then turned back to Teal’c. “Are you going back to Chulak?”
“Yes.” Teal’c answered with a smile. “It is being rebuilt as the New Jaffa Homeworld”
“Makes sense,” Daniel agreed as he continued to pack up his remaining positions. “-that’s where the rebellion began.”
“Indeed. Bra’tac, Rya’c and I will be overseeing the creation of the Free and Democratic Jaffa Nation.”
“That’s wonderful Teal’c-” Daniel praised sincerely. “I hope that it all goes well for you.”
“And you Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c stated, “-I hope that you find what you are looking for on Atlantis…”
“I’m sure I will,” Daniel stated with a smile, watching as Teal’c turned to leave. “-is there something else Teal’c?”
“I wish to thank you Daniel Jackson.”
“For what?” Daniel asked, slightly taken aback.
“For being such an integral part of our victory, twice,” Teal’c explained.
“Ah…” Daniel muttered, remembering the battle with the Replicators. “…it was nothing.”
“It was more than nothing,” Teal’c argued. “-indeed it was quite something. If it were not for you, my people could very well be dead by now, or still in the service of the Goa’uld…” Teal’c bowed his head out of respect and thanks for all Daniel had done. “…thank you Daniel.”
“You’re welcome,” Daniel stated honestly, accepting the praise with grace.
“
“I will take my leave Daniel Jackson.”
“Yeah,” Mitchell agreed, patting Teal’c on the back as he
left the office. “-see you at the gate…
“Hello Mitchell,” Daniel stated, hiding his smile behind a pile of books that he placed in a large box.
“You’re actually going then?”
“Oh yeah,” Daniel answered with a grin. “-so long as something or someone doesn’t come up…”
“Listen about that-” Mitchell began, clearly looking guilty. “-I don’t know if I ever apologized for making you miss the Dedalaus the first time but-”
“Don’t worry about that,” Daniel interrupted shaking his head. “I forgave you a long time ago for that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Daniel confirmed with a small smile. “Actually, I wanted to thank you.”
“Thank me?” Mitchell asked, not sure on why Daniel would have to thank him. “For what?”
“For getting the band back together,” Daniel answered with a smile. “-I didn’t realise how much I missed it until you got us together again…”
“…it didn’t last very long though,”
“No,” Daniel agreed. “-but nothing lasts for ever Mitchell.”
“No I suppose not,” Mitchell muttered, looking really disappointed. “-you are coming back right?”
“Yes,” Daniel promised with a nod. “-eventually.”
“Eventually…” Mitchell echoed
“You’ll find a new team,”
“If I wanted a new team,” Mitchell began somewhat bitterly. “-I would have done that in the first place, but I wanted to learn from the best.”
“And you have,” Daniel praised. “-you may not know it, but in these past two years you have learned so much…you’re going to do SG1 proud.”
“Thank you
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed, getting back to work ignoring Vala. “-see you.”
Daniel bustled around the room for a couple of moments, clearing the last of his stuff into the final box, clearly ignoring Vala. She wasn’t hurt though, in the days after their confrontation at G’nesis and the re-emergence of his wife, Vala didn’t know what to do- so she had stayed away.
“Ahem,” Vala began clearing her voice.
“Vala I-”
“Daniel I-” Vala paused, speaking at the same time as Daniel. She smiled at the feeling of déjà vu that washed over her. “-you go first.”
“No,” Daniel argued with a shake of his head. “-no you go ahead. I went first last time, remember?”
“I remember,” Vala confirmed softly as she took a deep breath and blurted out what she had wanted to say. “-DanielIdon’twantyoutogo!”
“What?” Daniel asked, his eyes wide as he realised what she had said. “Why?”
“I know that going to Atlantis has been a huge dream of yours for like three years,” Vala began, trying to keep her composure. “-and I know that I’m being horribly selfish by asking for this, but I’ve just made a place for myself here and with out you, I…” She paused for a moment taking a moment to regain her composure that was completely crumbling. “…I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“Oh Vala,” Daniel sighed as Vala finished speaking. “-you’ll be fine without me. You’ll be able to help Mitchell and the SGC in their cleanup of the galaxy and you’ll be able to create a new SG1-”
“I don’t want to create a new SG1-” Vala mumbled but Daniel didn’t hear her.
“You’ll be plenty busy without me here.” Daniel continued, “-in fact, I’m sure you won’t miss me at all.”
“No Daniel!” Vala exclaimed, frustrated by how he hadn’t understood. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what do you mean?” Daniel asked, unsure of what Vala was going to say.
“I mean that I’ll-” Vala paused and looked into his beautiful clear blue eyes, wondering if she was making the right choice saying this. ‘I mean, I’ve watched enough movies to know that people often say things when people are in trouble…’ “-I’ll miss you.” Vala finished, deciding to take the plunge.
“You’ll- what?”
“I’ll miss you.” Vala restated. “That’s right, me- Vala Mal Doran has actually found something in her life that she doesn’t want to lose- you.”
“But Vala-” Daniel began confused. “-you said that you had just made your home here.”
“My home is here-” Vala admitted. “-but I only made my home here to be near you Daniel. I wanted to be close to you so that you could see how much I had changed…I stayed because I wanted to prove to you that I could be a good person…I wanted to prove it to you Daniel,” She finished softly. “-only to you Daniel, no one else.”
“Well you certainly-” Daniel began, but he quickly realised that what he was going to say was not what he wanted to say. “-Vala, you had nothing to prove to me.”
“But I did,” Vala argued. “I did, ever since our first encounter on the Prometheus. That was the first time that lying to someone actually got under my skin, I lied to you Daniel and for the first time it bugged me. I wanted to make it up to you.”
“Vala,” Daniel began softly, closing the distance between them. “I did believe in you from the beginning?”
“Really?” Vala asked quite shocked. “Why? I stole your ship.”
“Well, first off it wasn’t my ship,” Daniel joked with a smile, before getting more serious and continuing on. “-and secondly, I could tell that you were stealing it because you honestly thought that you needed to…you had nothing to prove to me.”
“Then stay,” Vala begged. “-please?”
“Vala,” Daniel began softly. “-I can’t.”
“Why not?” Vala asked quite upset. “Why can’t you stay?”
“Because I’ve done all I can do here,” Daniel began. “-and because Atlantis is my next step.”
“Then, then…” Vala began, a plan forming in her head. “-then take me with you.”
“What?”
“Take me to Atlantis with you.” Vala restated. “I promise I’ll be super quiet and I won’t get in anyone’s way-”
“Oh Vala…” Daniel whispered with a laugh. “…that’s not what I’m worried about.”
“Then what are you worried about Daniel?” Vala asked, looking him in the eyes again, searching for an answer.
“I’m worried about the Wraith and the Asurans, and every other baddie the Pegasus Galaxy throws at them…”
“You’re going.” Vala pointed out, “-those threats aren’t stopping you. Why should they stop me?”
“Well they shouldn’t,” Daniel admitted, “-but don’t you want to stay in a peaceful place?”
“Daniel,” Vala chastised with a smile. “-places are rarely peaceful for long- there are always bad guys out there, you can’t run from them…besides, peaceful is boring.”
“If you say so…” Daniel stated with a shrug. “…you really want to come with me?”
“More than anything!” Vala exclaimed, a horrible thought creeping into her head. ‘…doesn’t he want me to come with him…is that it? Is he trying to get me to stay so I don’t feel bad….?’
“Why?” Daniel asked firmly, still not understanding why she would want to come with him.
“I’ve already said why,”
“I know,” Daniel interrupted. “I know, but there’s something else…so I’ll ask again. Why? Why in the world would you want to come with me Vala?”
“Well…believe it or not Daniel,” Vala admitted with a shy smile as she looked up into his eyes, the distance between them almost non-existent now. “-I’ve grown quite attached to you and the mere thought of you being in another galaxy…well it’s…it’s unbearable…I’d miss you far too much.”
“Oh Vala,” Daniel began as he took her hand and pulled her even closer together.
“Besides,” Vala continued with her usual smirk. “-we haven’t finished out date yet.”
“Vala,” Daniel began warningly, his eyes glaring at her. “It wasn’t a date.”
“Daniel…” Vala countered with a glare of her own, daring him to contradict her again.
“Oh alright,” Daniel admitted with a sigh. “-it was a date…and I’d miss you too much too.”
“Really?” Vala asked, her face lighting up. “You would?”
“Of course I would,” Daniel stated as though her questioning the fact that he would miss her was the craziest thing in the world. “-in fact-” he continued leaning his face in, closing the distance between them completely. “-I’ve grown quite attached to you too-”
“How attached?” Vala asked, her voice low and whispery. She got her answer though Daniel’s actions. He leaned down a little closer and kissed her. It was a small nervous kiss at first but when Vala fiercely kissed him back her gained confidence and snaked his hands around her back, pulling her into him. Vala wrapped her arms around is neck, and reluctantly pulled away from the kiss- breathless. “Wow…that much.”
“Yeah,” Daniel admitted as he caught her eye and after a moment they both giggled softly. “-wow…I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”
“Yeah,” Vala agreed, running her hands through his hair. “-me too. Me too Daniel…”
CHAPTER 29: Unending
“Yeah,” Vala agreed, running her hands through his hair. “-me too. Me too Daniel…”
They were about lean in for another kiss when the phone in Daniel’s office rang causing them both to groan. Vala tried to stop Daniel from answering it, but he reached behind him and did.
“…what?” Daniel asked into the phone, waiting a moment while the person on the other end spoke. “Oh right…sure Walter, I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Guess you’re going now,” Vala stated quietly as Daniel hung up the phone. “-aren’t you?”
“You mean us.” Daniel stated simply, turning around to face her, watching as her eyes lit up with joy.
“You’re taking me with you?” She asked, a grin spreading across her face.
“Yeah,” Daniel confirmed as he placed his hand around her waist and led her out of his office which only held a few boxes in it. “-but what about your stuff?”
“My stuff?” Vala asked innocently, her hand snaking around his back as well.
“It’s already packed,” Daniel stated, figuring out Vala’s innocence with a grin. “-isn’t it?”
“Hey,” Vala began with a huge mega-watt smile as she picked up her small duffle-bag that was waiting out side his office. “-a girl in love has got to be prepared.”
“That’s my Vala,” Daniel stated with a laugh as he (like the gentleman he was) took her bag from her and swung it over his own shoulder.
“Your Vala…” Vala echoed, pulling herself closer into Daniel as they entered the elevator. “…I like the sound of that.”
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed as the elevator doors closed and he leaned in for another kiss. “…me too.”
* * * *
Vala and Daniel entered the gateroom hand in hand and they both ignored the looks and unasked questions that their friends were shooting in their direction. Daniel glanced up at the briefing room and saw Hammond, Jonas, Ishta, Rya’c, Kar’yn, Janet and Jacob all staring down at hi, smiling.
Daniel still couldn’t believe that Janet and Jacob had come from a different reality, but he knew that they would be a welcome addition to the SGC and since they had already said their goodbye’s to him, Daniel appreciated them even more because he could have his final goodbye with the members of his team- the people whom he had laughed with, died with, saved the galaxy with…
…they were SG1 and they were his friends and even though he was super excited to be finally be getting to Atlantis a small part of him was tugging him back and telling him to stay. Daniel looked at them all in a row, from Mitchell to Teal’c to Sam and finally Jack. They all meant so much to him, and it was killing him a bit inside to leave them, even though he knew that it was the right thing.
“So,” Jack began with a smile, eyeing Daniel and Vala’s clasped hands. “-are you sure that you really want to do this?”
“Jack…it’s a new adventure…” Daniel began smugly, getting the double meaning to his question- choosing to answer only one. “…don’t tell me that you wouldn’t want to come to Atlantis too.”
“Oh I wouldn’t,” Jack assured with a smile. “-Atlantis and me don’t mix…besides,” Jack continued looking at Sam who just beamed up at him. “-I’m going in a different direction in my life now…”
“Right,” Daniel muttered, knowing what Jack meant. “-my life’s going in a different direction too Jack,” Daniel continued as he as he pulled Vala into him. “-in more ways than one…”
“Guess Vala’s going with you Jackson?”
“Uh yeah,” Daniel answered with a nod before calling up Landry who was in the control room. “-hope you don’t mind General!”
“Not at all Dr. Jackson,” Landry answered into the microphone. “-I’m sure she’ll be a great asset to the Atlantis expedition…” Landry then turned to Walter. “…start dialling Walter.”
“It’s strange to see them go,” Dr. Lam whispered to her father as she came to stand right beside him.
“I know what you mean…”
“Well…” Daniel began suddenly as the gate behind him sprang to life. “…I guess this is it.”
“Chevron one encoded.”
“Goodbye Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c stated first, taking
Daniel’s hand and clasping it in the usual
“Goodbye Teal’c,”
“Chevron two encoded”
“Bye Teal’c,” Vala stated with a smile, amazed when Teal’c repeated the gesture to her as well.
“Farewell Vala.”
“Take care of yourself
“I will,” Daniel promised as the third chevron locked. “I promise.”
“And if he doesn’t, I will.” Vala promised, shaking Mitchell’s hand once Daniel did. “Bye Mitchell…”
“Bye Vala...take care of him.”
“I’ve already said I would…” Vala stated with a smile.
“Chevron four encoded.”
“Bye Sam…” Daniel whispered as Sam drew him up in a huge hug.
“Have fun Daniel,” Sam whispered back. “Don’t get into too much trouble.”
“I will…” Daniel promised with a sigh. “I won’t…at least, I’ll try.”
“Chevron five encoded.”
“Goodbye Sam,” Vala stated with a smile as Daniel released her and Sam pulled her into a hug too.
“Bye Vala,” Sam answered back once they had pulled apart. “You know, it was nice having a ‘girlfriend’ like you around…I’m going to miss you.”
“I know what you mean,” Vala agreed with a smile, though she bit her bottom lip and looked up at the briefing room and caught Janet’s eye. “-but you have Janet now, you won’t miss me.”
“Yes I will…” Sam insisted, relieved when Vala nodded.
“So will I.”
“Chevron six encoded”
“Jack…” Daniel began, coming face to face with his best friend.
“Chevron seven encoded”
“Daniel…” Jack answered his hand in his pockets.
“Chevron eight locked”
“Looks like you’re really going,” Jack stated obviously as the gate whooshed open.
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed looking over his shoulder at the gate. “-I guess I really am.”
“Take care Daniel,” Jack wished, taking Daniel’s hand to shake but pulled him into a hug instead. “-give those bad guys the Daniel Jackson charm.”
“I’ll do my best.” Daniel promised with a laugh, pulling out of the hug. “I really will.”
“Goodbye General.” Vala stated shyly as she approached Jack.
“Ah call me Jack,” Jack insisted with a smile as he pulled Vala into a hug as well. “And you take care of Danny-boy there-” He ordered when she pulled away. “-make sure he doesn’t get into too much trouble.”
“I will Jack,” Vala promised with a laugh. “I really will…”
SG1 laughed, but when Daniel looked at then all, their moods sobered considerably.
“…I really will miss all of you…”
“We’ll miss you too Daniel…” Sam whispered, tears coming to her eyes as she leaned into Jack for support. “…don’t be strangers now.” She added smiling to Vala, knowing that the raven-haired former space-pirate turned SG1 member knew that saying goodbye to Daniel was hard for those who had known him the longest.
“I won’t.” She promised, taking Daniel’s hand.
“I hate to rush goodbyes-” Landry interrupted with a smile as his voice blared through the gateroom. “-but Dr. Jackson, you know how much it costs to keep that thing open, don’t you?”
“I know General,” Daniel assured with a laugh as he took one last look at all his friends, in the briefing room, control room and those right in front of him as well. There was nothing else to say so he simply picked Vala’s bag out and held out his arm to her. “…Shall we?”
“We shall…” Vala answered with a grin as she took his arm.
Together they walked up the ramp and through the gate to Atlantis. Vala went in first, letting Daniel pause and take one last look at the gateroom and he was surprised to see everyone, the military personal who had been hanging around the edges and those civilians like himself such as Dr. Lee salute him. Daniel, with a tear in his eye but a smile on his face, saluted them all back and went through the gate himself.
“He finally made it to Atlantis…” Mitchell said with some awe as the gate shut off.
“I can’t believe it…” Sam murmured quietly so only SG1 could hear her. “…Earth with out Daniel…” She turned to Jack with a questioning look. “…do you think that he’ll ever want to leave the city of the ancients?”
“Willingly?” Mitchell asked with a grin as they turned to leave. “…It is a Daniel Disneyland…”
“…I’d give it six weeks…” Jack bet with a smile as he took one last look at the gate, knowing that their wedding would be in a little more than a month…..
“I’ll take that bet,” Sam agreed, linking her arm with Jack’s.
“As will I…”
“Oh come on,” Mitchell argued as they left the gateroom. “…that’s not fair, of course he’ll be back in six weeks, and you two are getting hitched.”
Jack said nothing but just smiled. He knew Daniel, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to stay away from SG1 for long.
CHAPTER 30: Continuation/New Steps/New Beginnings
Jack was right, of course. Once they had contacted Daniel about the date of their wedding, he and Vala came through the gate not the day of the wedding, not the day before the wedding, not even a week before the wedding. No, they came through two weeks ahead of schedule to help Sam and Jack with the preparations.
* * * *
Two weeks after Vala and Daniel had returned from Atlantis the wedding took place. It was the last weekend in November and they had rented the chapel of a nearby church for the ceremony. Daniel and Teal’c were Jack’s best men while Jonas was the groomsman. Vala and Janet were Sam’s maids-of-honour while Cassie was the bridesmaid. Jacob walked Sam down the aisle and everyone had their eyes on the beaming blonde as she floated in her white wedding dress. From the crowd, Woolsey, General Landry, Dr. Lam and Hammond- who had politely declined to be a groomsman- were all watching with smiles as the two love-birds tied the knot…
…finally.
*
* * *
The reception was a smashing success and after several dances, Daniel took Vala outside to look at the stars. It was a chilly night, and he placed his suit jacket around her bare arms to keep her warm. They stood in a comfortable silence for quite a while, Vala snug with Daniel’s jacket around her and Daniel with his arms around her waist…but after a while Daniel knew that he had to tell Vala something, something that he had missed telling her among the craziness of settling into Atlantis and the panic of the last two weeks.
“That’s where I met you,” Daniel whispered softly looking up at the sky. “-out there…among the stars.”
“On the Prometheus…” Vala continued, looking up as well. “…it’s funny how you chose to be on that ship during the exact time that I needed one.”
“Yeah it is funny,” Daniel agreed with a small chuckle. “…though some would say it was fate, or destiny…”
“How…?”
“Well Jack didn’t want me to go,” Daniel began with a smile, looking down at Vala. “-even though I wanted to…it took an order from George Hammond to let me go.”
“I’m glad he made that order,” Vala whispered turning around to look into Daniel’s eyes.
“I’m glad too…” Daniel echoed as he closed the space between her lips and kissed her. It was a normal kiss, like the hundreds of others that they had already shared over the past six weeks and once it was over she moved to his side and leaned her head on his shoulder while his arm was wrapped around hers. They stayed like that in a comfortable silence, till Daniel once again, broke the stillness.
“Vala?”
“Yes Daniel…?”
“Do you ever regret seeking me out?” Daniel asked, almost afraid of the potential answer.
“What with the tablet and the bracelets?” Vala asked curiously looking up at Daniel watching as he nodded. “No,” She answered honestly, something that she had enjoyed doing since she met him. “Do you have any idea how long it took me to find the tablet that led me to Earth?” Vala looked at his face and saw that he had no idea. “Well it was a long time…”She smiled but then looked down at her shoes, asking softly. “…do you regret it?”
“I did, for a while,” Daniel admitted honestly, tightening his grip on her shoulder. “But after the first supergate- when you left- I…I realised that I missed your presence around the base…more than I thought I would.” Daniel paused and smiled. “You have no idea how glad I was to find you again, how glad I was to have you on SG1…you have no idea how glad I am that you were able save me.”
“You saved yourself Daniel,” Vala whispered softly. “-I only helped a little.”
“You helped a lot more than a little Vala,” Daniel insisted wrapping her up in a hug. “…and I’m glad that you came to Atlantis with me.” He continued softly, unconsciously rocking back and forth to the music that was filtering in from the reception hall. “It’s more fun seeing it together.”
“It is…” Vala agreed, pulling her arms into his jacket and wrapping them around his waist.
“Vala…”
“Yes…?”
“I was wondering…”
“What?”
“Well,” Daniel began taking a deep breath and holding Vala out a bit so he could look at her “When I lost Shar’e, I swore to myself that I wouldn’t let myself love anyone like I loved her…”
“…and? …” Vala asked quietly, getting the sense that she had heard everything before.
“…and then you came along.” Daniel continued with a small smile. “…you got under my skin,” He stated with a teasing smile which instantly softened. “-but you also got into my heart.”
“I got into your heart?” Vala asked, her own heart touched. “Really?”
“From the very beginning,” Daniel answered honestly. “From that very first kiss”
“Daniel…” Vala began slowly. “…what are you saying?”
“What I’m saying,” Daniel continued, his breathing shallow and his hands trembling slightly as he took hers in his. “-is that I want to share many more kisses with you Vala…” Daniel smiled and kissed her again, after which he whispered. “I want you to be my wife…”
“Oh Daniel…” Vala murmured her heart fluttering with joy.
“Vala Mal Doran…” Daniel began softly as he pulled a simple silver ring with a heart shaped diamond out of his pocket and slipped it onto her finger “…will you marry me?”
The was a moment of silence as Vala registered what he was saying and the ring on her finger and then with tears in her eyes she threw her arms around his neck and half-laughed, half-cried into his shoulder.
“Of course Daniel!” She cried out, more happy and more content than she had been in a long, long time. “Of course…”
After a passionate kiss, Daniel took her into his arms and together they stared at the endless sky. Wondering what the future would hold, but knowing in their hearts that they would face it together, always…
**
The End **
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