Ways and Means
By: sorrel_rowan
CATEGORY: Drama, Humor
WARNINGS: None
SEASON/SPOILERS: Season 10 “Family Ties”
AUTHOR’S NOTES: Okay, another one of my speculative future episode fan-fics. This time it’s Family Ties, so clearly SPOILERS for Family Ties. Title from the Snow Patrol song.
AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:
http://www.fanfiction.net/~sorrelrowan
Vala tossed her wet hair back in a band as she ran from the women’s locker room, shrugging on her jacket as she dodged people and knowing grins. Darting out of the elevator, she ran to the briefing room and took the steps two at a time, grabbing the door frame to take the last turn as she began her explanation.
“I’m sorry, I’m late, I know, I was just-” She stopped, looking at the photo on the large screen and feeling her jaw clench. Her eyes snapped to Landry’s, then back to the photograph.
She felt her eyes dart around the room, taking in Sam,
Teal’c,
“Yesterday, SG-10 met a trader on P4X 561. They talked for a-” Mitchell started, but Vala shook her head and looked at Daniel.
“Not fast enough,” She snapped. “What’s going on?”
Daniel sighed after sharing a look with Mitchell and explained, “He’s requesting asylum. Says he has vital information.”
“Asylum I said was contingent on your vouching for him,” Landry finished.
Vala nodded and stared at the screen for a long moment. “What did he tell you? About how he knows me?”
“He says you’re old business partners,” Sam filled in.
Vala snorted and shook her head, then looked at them, eyes icy. “Is this why we’re having this briefing?”
Landry nodded.
“The answer’s no. Let the iris hit him on the ass on the way out,” She said sharply and nodded to him, walking out at his sigh and nod.
* * * *
Daniel thought he had some idea where she had gone if the barely contained fury coming off of her in waves as she’d walked out had been any indication.
Walking down the small corridor in his training clothes rather than his SGC uniform, he stopped by two airmen he knew standing outside the inconspicuous door.
“….the main gym today, Captain,” He heard as he approached. “I don’t want to be in there just now.”
“Hey!” The other man shouted as Daniel put a hand on the door and put a hand on his wrist, “Seriously. You don’t want to go in there.” He blinked when he realised who it was and let out a sigh of relief. “Dr. Jackson.” He let go with a small smile and nod.
Daniel walked in to find her pounding on a punch bag as if her life depended on it. Or as if she could kill someone else by hitting it enough.
“He’s not just an old trading partner, is he?” Daniel asked quietly from the doorway.
“Oh, he is,” Vala replied casually, punctuating her words with punches and not turning. “He’s also untrustworthy beyond what my vast eloquence allows me to express.”
“You betrayed people,” Daniel pointed out quietly, taking off his jacket and shoes and moving to a position where he could steady the swaying target.
“Yes, but I didn’t do what he did,” She argued in return. “In earth terms he’s a leech – bottom feeder, parasite. I didn’t know that when I partnered with him. I was a thief, Daniel, but I had decency. Ethics.”
“Like when you zatted everyone on the Prometheus?” He asked. “You’d steal it but you wouldn’t kill to get it.”
“Exactly,” Vala practically hissed, throwing a particularly ferocious blow. “Be thankful it was me, not him. He’d have killed the lot of you.”
“So you guys had a deal, and it went south because his methods weren’t yours?” Daniel asked, shifting his grip on the bag.
“More like I wouldn’t let him go through with it when I found out the consequences,” Vala said forcefully, “I stopped him from killing a ha’tak full of thousands of jaffa.”
“There’s something else,” Daniel said as she took a drink of water and sat on the bench at the side of the room, leaning her head back against the wall. “It’s not like you to get this angry about a single unscrupulous trader.”
She didn’t answer.
“You’re a realist,” Daniel continued softly, with a small smile. “More so than I am. You know the kinds of things that happen out there. What is it about him?”
She stood up and made to leave but turned at the last moment, looking at the floor. “You’re right, there’s something else. I’ll tell you someday, but it’s not particularly important right now.”
Daniel narrowed his eyes and tilted his head a little. “He managed to break your heart, didn’t he?” He asked hesitantly and slowly with a small smile.
Vala looked away with a shake of her head and a glare that spoke volumes. Looking back with a small smile of her own, she met his eyes. “Not in the way you’re thinking, but yes. And that I can’t forgive.” She smiled and shook her head again, as if to clear it. “I’m going to hit the showers. See you at dinner?”
Daniel nodded. “The McKay special today,” He replied with a grin, catching the bottle of water she tossed to him as he pulled on a sweat band and began to bind his own fists for a work-out.
“Good,” Vala answered, returning the grin, “I’ve grown to like lemon chicken.”
* * * *
“You have a minute?” Daniel asked, turning the corner into Sam’s lab.
Sam put down the capacitor unit she was toying with and nodded.
Daniel pulled up a stool. “I just wanted to um, ask what you thought of-”
“Vala’s reaction this morning?” Sam finished. Daniel nodded. “Has she said anything else?”
“Only that they were old partners, his methods weren’t particularly ethical and that he managed to hurt her,” Daniel filled her in. “But not in a romantic way, apparently.”
Sam nodded, frowning slightly. “I think I might have an idea what’s going on.”
*
* * *
After a quiet dinner with the team, Vala went back to her quarters. As she unlocked her door, she heard footsteps behind her.
“Vala,” Sam called out. Vala turned and smiled as the older woman caught up and Vala linked an arm through hers, contact Sam had more or less gotten used to. “I’m in no rush to head off tonight. Want to finish that film?”
Later, sitting cross legged like teens on Vala’s bed with a bowl of crisps between them, Vala laughed at something on the screen and Sam looked at her curiously then laughed herself.
“It’s not meant to be funny,” Vala said with a grin. “But it is.”
“It’s the music,” Sam nodded. “Definitely the music. It’s so heartfelt.”
“This is a … classic?” Vala asked curiously.
“Oh yes,” Sam answered. “The Breakfast Club is most definitely a classic.”
“It’s strange, but I can see why,” Vala tilted her head at the screen. “I know in my head that it’s not that good, but I’m compelled to watch nonetheless.”
“Exactly,” Sam replied, tossing her a chocolate from the open bag next to the bowl. “I remember it being so much more profound when I was a disgruntled teen.”
“Everything’s profound at that age,” Vala answered with a smile.
They sat in companionable silence until the credits began and Sam asked, “So why won’t you vouch for your father?”
Vala turned to Sam very slowly. “How- He’s not my father.”
“I recognised the look on your face this morning,” Sam said, “Because until I became a captain in the air force, or round about that time, it’s the same look I had every time someone mentioned mine.”
Vala looked away. “We can’t trust him.”
“Or you can’t?” Sam asked. “I’m not asking what he did.”
“I can’t and we shouldn’t,” Vala confirmed.
“Did you ever work together?” Sam asked, curious.
“Once,” was all Vala said in reply. “It was a mistake.”
“Because he raised you to be better than he is?”
Vala looked at her and looked away. “More or less. He believes the end justifies the means. I don’t.”
Sam stood up, brushing the crumbs from her trousers into Vala’s bin. She looked at the dark-haired woman as she put a hand on the door. “The Stargate program gave me the chance to get to know my father in a way I never could have otherwise. Maybe it could do the same for you,” Sam paused and grinned at her. “And if he’s not on the level, we can always lock him up or shoot him. Whatever it is, you know we’ll all be there. I’ll hold your jacket while you punch him, if it comes to it.”
Vala bit back a grin and looked at her with a nod.
* * * *
Vala took a deep breath as the iris retracted. This isn’t a big deal, she repeated over and over in her mind, her thoughts somewhat knocked by the fact that she couldn’t stop twisting her hands.
Stubbornly locking them behind her and putting her shoulders back, she returned her eyes to the event horizon, a cautious smile and nod for Daniel on the way.
Daniel watched Vala worriedly and turned his eyes to the
event horizon at her tentative and reassuring smile. He noted that she was
wearing her SG uniform, patches and all as if to convey loud and clear that she
was older and wiser now. It amused him to note that her trademark pigtails were
also absent. They’d all come to the gate room separately and stood by her in a
single file line with Daniel and
The event horizon rippled and SG-10 stepped through, a tall man of average build in the middle. He stopped mid-way down the ramp when he saw Vala. Daniel noted he did the same thing Vala was guilty of, emotion raw in her eyes then pushed aside behind joviality. Any minute now he’d make some form of-
“Haven’t you been feeding her? I can see daylight!” He said loudly, with a smile that was a little too forced.
“She’s right here, you know,” Vala remarked icily, attempting to summon more bite into her voice. “And it’s called keeping fit and working for a living.” She looked him up and down. “You should try it some time.”
“One to talk about working for a living,” He retorted and then looked at Landry. “Jacek Alleran.”
There was a beat and Daniel realised this was the bit he was supposed to jump in at.
“Mr. Alleran,” Daniel ignored Vala’s soft snort at the title, “This is General Landry, leader of this facility, Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell…”
When the introductions were done, Jacek held Vala’s eyes for a long moment. “And me you know,” Vala said quietly.
“Very true,” He affirmed. He squinted and sighed. “Go on. You know you want to ask.”
“What?” Vala said innocently. He held her eyes and she smirked, giving his foot a significant look. “Would I ask where the weight behind your ankle is? The shadow behind which you cower? Me?”
Jacek glared at her and looked again to General Landry, who promptly suggested they head to the briefing room. Daniel noticed that both Vala and her father let out a breath at the same instant as the group moved from the gate room.
Vala held back slightly, and Daniel bumped her shoulder with his own softly, smiling and giving her a questioning glance. She nodded and followed the others, Daniel walking at her side.
* * * *
“There was no one else?” Vala asked him with a groan, interrupting her father’s narrative. “You had to leave it with them?”
“Short notice, Vala,” Jacek responded in a long-suffering tone, rolling his eyes. “It was them or the Ori and I didn’t think that would help anyone.”
Vala also rolled her eyes and shook her head, muttering darkly.
“Who are these … Taledrians?” Sam asked.
“Traders from my-” Vala paused with a look at Jacek, “Our home world, set up not long after Katesh was overthrown. They run a fencing, brokering and storage operation with maximum confidentiality under the ‘mere simple villagers’ cover. They’re semi-legitimate as in they don’t ask questions. They’re expensive, but they’re secure and they won’t cheat you unless you try it first.” She said the last with a significant glare at her father, who again rolled his eyes.
Mitchell continued, “So Jacek and I go in and-”
“Not a good idea,” Vala interrupted quietly. Blinking with a sigh, she looked at her father, eyes defiant. “You know as well as I do you’ll need me to deal with the Taledrians.”
“And why’s that?” He asked hotly.
“Because they won’t deal with you,” Vala said with a smile. “You always try to cheat them on their cut of a sales commission. In fact, I bet you only got them to store it by using my name in the first place.”
He paused and coloured as Vala smirked. “I don’t try to-”
“Skimming is cheating no matter what part of the galaxy you’re in,” Vala replied sharply. “And they know when you try to undersell to them. So you’ll need me. They’re tricky – very clever, very smart traders. No offence,” Vala said quietly, looking at Mitchell, “But they’d see you coming with him-” Vala jerked her head to her father, “And either get the skinning knives out or shoot you on sight for being stupid enough to partner with him. They know me better than that.”
Mitchell looked at Landry and shrugged. “Never did do well with buying used cars, sir.”
“So who’s going in?” Sam asked.
“The sensor on the safe-stash I stored with them is biometrically keyed to me,” Jacek answered.
“And me,” Vala said reluctantly, “Because you know they’ll try to milk this. I can limit the damage.”
“To me?” He protested, “I went to great personal danger to secure that data pad-”
“Because you have a price on your head that’s almost as big as mine,” Vala cut in with a small smirk, “And needed somewhere to go to ground. So yes, you.”
“Excuse me,” Sam broke into the argument, “What’s on this data pad? Exactly.”
“Ship schematics, I think,” Jacek answered. “That’s what it looks like, and I acquired it-”
Vala raised an eyebrow.
“Stole it from an Ori operative looking for raw materials at the Dendalegi scrap yard,” He finished.
“Where?” Daniel asked, feeling rather dizzied by the unfamiliar names and places and a little unnerved by the fact that Vala seemed familiar with them all.
“Ship yard for spare parts, operating in space around a small moon in the Dendal system,” Vala said with a disparaging look to her father. “And yet another trading station I wouldn’t be caught dead associating with that you naturally frequent.”
“You’ve always been too prissy that way,” Jacek replied with a glare. “And you wonder why you’ve got a price on your head.”
“Actually, I don’t,” Vala remarked, “I’m pretty clear on how I got that and being prissy had nothing to do with it. Not by associating with parasites, murderers and ship-wreckers, that’s for sure.”
“Enlightening as this discussion on the ethics of space pirating is,” Landry broke in, “Could we stick to the point?”
“If they’re looking for parts and they have schematics, they’re looking to start building ships in this galaxy,” Mitchell said, blinking and returning to topic. “We can’t let that happen. We should find it and attach something that goes boom with a -” He looked at Vala with a smile, “Pithy message attached.”
“Not to mention the potential benefit of getting a hold of what could be a how-to manual of Ori technology,” Sam added, looking between them.
“Would we then be able to manufacture our own technology of their design?” Teal’c asked Sam. Jacek seemed surprised that she gave it due consideration.
“Toilet-bowl ships of our own?” Mitchell asked with a wide grin, “Let the good times roll.” Daniel returned his boyish grin with a shake of his head.
“Probably not,” Sam admitted, “But we might be able to improve our own or find weaknesses in theirs. Either way, it’d still be a massive advantage to have that kind of look at their technology – particularly their power sources and shield generators.”
They all looked at Landry. He looked at Vala and asked, “You’re confident you can handle these people?”
“I’ve dealt with them before, we have established rates and protocols I can use. And they trust me,” She confirmed, unable to resist the comment. “It wouldn’t hurt to have Daniel with us as well – he can verify right off whether it’s real or fake, at least language-wise.”
Daniel nodded and looked at Landry, “And it might be an idea to get the Odyssey to take us in case we need to leave in a hurry.”
Mitchell agreed, “That’s not the kind of intel. we want lying around, sir, if this pans out.”
Landry nodded and stood. After a beat, everyone else followed, Jacek a confused beat behind. “I’ll make the calls – as far as I can see, you have a go.”
* * * *
A few hours later
“Vala,” Jacek was running after her in along the corridors of the SGC and becoming convinced that everyone else was complicit in her plan to avoid him. Where she seemed to melt through the corridors and crowds, walking at a briskly efficient pace, he seemed to run into people constantly. “Would you wait?!”
Eventually catching up and noting that she was breathing easily and he was winded, he fought not to agree with her earlier accusation that he’d let himself go. Most likely because she was the one that had made it.
They turned into the small gym Vala had used earlier that week and the place she found herself whenever she needed to work out tension or anger.
He almost ran into her when she turned at the gym entrance, wrapping linen around her knuckles as she spoke. Jacek threw a disparaging look at the would-be threatening gesture.
“What?”
“If we’re going to do this,” Jacek said quickly, attempting to inject some authority into his voice, “You’re going to need to be civil.”
“Oh, I will,” Vala shot back, stepping in front of the bag, “Just not when I have another choice.”
“Oh, great,” He said sarcastically, matching her tone and glancing meaningfully at her posture, “Fate of the galaxy and you want to be immature and prissy and you can’t even punch properly nowadays.”
Vala wordlessly whipped around from her position in front of the bag to level a punch at his left cheek, which he blocked out of habit. He was momentarily surprised by the lightness of it until he felt a much heavier blow hit his right jaw and his backside hit the mat.
“You taught me,” She retorted.
“Better, that second one was better,” He said with a wince and a nod, “Got that out of your system now?”
“Just put on the palm pads and shut up,” She replied, dragging him roughly to his feet. “Or get out of here before I use you as a punch bag.”
After a few silent rounds, she looked at him. “Why do you always have to call me prissy?”
“It annoys you,” He replied, expecting the slightly heavier shot she took after that even though it still jarred, “Why do you always get so angry around me?”
“Because you annoy me,” She said fiercely, “You’re smart and a decent thief. You don’t need to act the way you do.”
“That’s crap and you know it,” Jacek replied bluntly, “You’ve been hiding behind that for years.”
Without warning, Vala spun and pushed the punch bag at him, knocking him off balance.
“Could you please stop hitting me?” He asked, “You know I’m not going to hit you back.”
“That’s the fun part,” Vala bit back, “And why not? It’s not like I’m not giving you every excuse. I walked away with enough bruises when you were training me.”
“Because your friends would maim me or shoot me and you know it,” He retorted. “Especially that one …Daniel,” He added, knowing how to send her into a rage. She’d never appreciated his input in her love life.
It worked. Except she wasn’t lying about working out - he couldn’t remember her kicks being quite so fast, especially the one that impacted just below his knee and swept his feet from under him.
“You know,” He said, standing up again, “I’d really like it if you stopped hitting me and told me why you’re hitting me.”
She levelled him again with a punch and sat on the bench, breathing hard. “You could’ve told me he was married,” She said icily.
Opening his mouth in a small ‘o,’ he sat up and stayed seated cross-legged on the floor, knowing her mood and knowing she’d just knock him back down. “You couldn’t have told me that ten years ago? You’d have saved me a lot of bruises.”
“Saving you bruises wasn’t exactly my plan. In fact, at one point I’d have happily shot you myself,” Vala answered, voice heavily sarcastic. “You put me in that room with him knowing I’d be overjoyed to see him,” she said, quietly furious, “And you let us be happy for about a split second before he realised I was alive and he’d married someone else.”
“You can’t blame him for moving-”
“I don’t,” Vala said, fighting the urge to throw something at him. “The people the goa’uld took were dead to us, we all knew that. But you didn’t tell him I was alive and you didn’t tell me he was married.”
“Okay, so I didn’t handle that-”
“Then,” Vala interrupted sharply, “You let them lock me up for a week with barely any food or water before getting me out of there. You let that witch turn me over to them without so much as a word.”
“Okay, so I didn’t handle that well either,” Jacek replied lamely, “But you’d just appeared out of nowhere and Katesh had been overthrown – what were we meant to think? I did leave Adria, you know.”
“Oh that makes it so much better,” Vala said, voice rising, “I pushed the engines of that cargo ship to over 40 beyond maximum capacity to get home - ” She almost spat the word, “A few hours sooner. And that’s what happened when I got there. Then there was that stupid-”
“That I won’t apologise for,” Jacek interjected fiercely, “We have different methods, you know that, and it was probably a mistake to work together in the first place.”
She waved it off with a hand and threw the pads at him before walking out. Jacek let out a long breath in the now empty gym, knowing his security escort would be outside the door.
Almost empty gym, he amended, watching Dr. Jackson emerge from the shadows near the back with a book and a dry smile.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen her get so angry at anyone except me,” He said slowly. “And she throws things bits of paper at me for ignoring her, not punches.”
“We should start a club,” Jacek replied tiredly, running a hand through his hair.
“I’m surprised she didn’t notice I was here,” the archaeologist said lightly. “I got here before she did. You know, if you weren’t so similar you’d probably get on more.”
“She has my temper and not a lot else,” Jacek said and shook his head. “She’s her mother through and through, even looks like her. Probably the reason Adria hated her. And the reason she was never cut out to be a thief – too much of a kind streak in her.”
Ah, Daniel said, suddenly realising why Jacek had stopped as if stunned when he first caught sight of Vala at the bottom of the ramp.
“You don’t approve of me,” Jacek said bluntly.
“No,” Daniel replied, still maintaining the same light tone, “I don’t. I’m more a means than end kind of guy.”
Jacek nodded, “Can we push that to the side for a bit? She’s my daughter regardless. Tell me how she really is, beyond pissed and throwing a good punch or three in my direction.”
* * * *
Daniel knocked on Vala’s door just before seven, heading from his office to the mess hall and thinking she’d probably be hungry by now.
She opened the door and Daniel stopped, putting a hand to his ear. She blinked and then realised, reaching over to turn down the CD player and taking her place sitting cross-legged on the bed again.
“Sorry,” Vala said a bit bashfully, indicating her chair, “I felt the need.”
“Lucky these walls are almost sound-proofed then,” Daniel replied with a smile and raised an eyebrow. “The Ramones?”
Vala looked at him. “The Cure. Rather large difference, Daniel.”
He shrugged slightly, “I spent most of my time in libraries before mp3 players were invented. Most music passed me by.”
She shook her head and skipped to a track, then looked at him. “How is it I know more about your culture than you do?”
“My head’s always in a book or off-world?” Daniel replied with a shrug. “Why are you listening to the Cure? And what’s-” He waved a hand at the piles of paper on her bed, noting the “classified” front on most of them.
She smiled and indicated to the piles. “
Vala stopped and looked at him a little guiltily. He narrowed his eyes, guessing what they were.
“Ones you’ve stolen from my office about the Ori?” Daniel finished.
“I figured out which disorganised pile had the ones you were done with and kept to those,” Vala quipped, standing up and walking past him with a pat on his arm.
“Dinner, darling?”
“You could just have asked me,” Daniel responded with a dry smile and shaking his head. “I wouldn’t have said no.”
She nodded with a smile. “Wouldn’t have been as much fun, though. I like smuggling them back in to see if you noticed they’d been gone, the state your desk is in. ”
Daniel gave her bed a significant look, the quilt barely visible under the papers. “And the Cure?”
“Felt the need,” Vala answered, “I’m pretty simple, Daniel. Loud, upbeat music and hitting things makes me feel better.”
As he put a hand on the door, he stopped, feeling a little guilty himself.
“I thought about asking your father about you when I was talking to him earlier,” Daniel admitted, letting go of the door handle and turning to face her. “About when you were taken and when you came back.”
Vala stopped in the middle of shuffling a pile of papers, slowly sitting them down on the bed and facing him. “I assume from that that you didn’t?” She asked, the tension coming back into her voice and posture.
He nodded, “I almost did. But then I didn’t.”
She smiled and looked at him a little ruefully, “You could just have asked me. I wouldn’t have said no.”
He tilted his head with narrowed eyes and she rolled her own, holding up her hands.
“Well, depending on what you, obviously,” She amended, “But there’s not much that my father knows that I wouldn’t tell you if you asked me.” Vala smiled, “And I’d use less words.”
Daniel smiled a little sheepishly in return, “Maybe someday I will.”
“And maybe I’ll tell you,” Vala nodded and smiled playfully, “You’d love the stories about my rebellious phase – and those my father can’t tell you.”
“Secretive teen?” Daniel asked, opening the door with a smile as she turned off the CD player.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Vala replied with a somewhat evil grin and bumping her shoulder with his as they walked down the corridor, “Dodging Adria was my favourite game and I was good at it.”
He bit back a grin, trying to imagine a teenage Vala and failing, only coming up with the grinning Vala in front of him.
“I’ve mellowed with age, though,” Vala continued thoughtfully.
Daniel laughed and then met her accusing eyes. “Oh, you were being, um,” He put a hand up to push his glasses up as she put a hand on her hip, “Serious. About that.”
“Well, I’m certainly not feeling mellow now,” She retorted with a mock-indignant glare and walked ahead, stopping about ten feet away with a laugh and waiting on him.
* * * *
“Now this is a nice ship,” Jacek said expansively as they exited the ring room on the Daedalus, the Odyssey being currently unavailable.
“I stole one just like it,” Vala said a little smugly.
“Hope you changed the décor,” Jacek muttered, smiling when she swatted his arm.
Daniel viewed their interactions with an amused curiosity, noting that most of the bite had left them since Vala had punched him and they seemed to be niggling each other from force of habit more than anything else.
“She didn’t get the chance,”
“Oh?” Jacek asked, raising an eyebrow. Vala rolled her eyes and looked away.
“Daniel stole it back,” Sam put in with a smile at Vala.
“You stole it from him?” Jacek asked, looking between them with a smirk that said something had just been explained.
“How we met, actually. She shot me, I punched her, rinse and repeat – good times,” Daniel said with a rueful grin. He narrowed his eyes. “What?”
Jacek shook his head. As the discussion turned to other subjects and the group walked along the corridor to the bridge, Jacek looked at him with that smirk again.
“Okay, what?” Daniel asked again, Vala’s father joining him about six feet behind the group.
“Nothing,” He replied innocently.
“You’re forgetting I know Vala,” Daniel said in a low voice, “And I know that look. I usually start hiding things like my credit card and other priceless artefacts.”
“Then you don’t need me to explain what’s right in front of you,” He answered, “You’re intelligent, you’ll figure it out.”
* * * *
“Vala?” Sam’s voice crackled in the small comm. she was wearing in her left ear as they trampled through the forest earth. “Close enough?”
“Just under half a click from the right farm,” She replied with a smirk, “So perfect walking distance for the old one that’s been flying ships too long.”
“What happened to being civil?” Jacek protested in a low voice. “And I’m not that old.”
Vala patted his arm, feeling surprisingly sanguine about the whole thing – and actually enjoying that she could rip into her father without him having the slightest recourse for replying. Both refreshing and liberating, she thought with a smile.
Stopping at the equivalent of a stone mile marker, she radioed the Daedalus to request radio silence. Turning to Daniel, she paused before she spoke.
“You’re in charge,” Daniel pre-empted her.
“Not usually,” Vala countered, eyes on his.
“You know the situation and the people,” He said with a shrug, “And I trust you.”
Vala smiled and nodded, before bending down to tilt the stone backwards. Seeing what she was trying to do, Daniel and Jacek also leant their arms and the heavy cube of stone’s base faced them. Vala wiped away the dirt in the centre to reveal what appeared to be the equivalent of a camera lens with a smile and wave. A light turned from red to blue next to the lens as Vala stood, brushing dirt from her knees and nodding.
It looked very much like a normal farm. When Daniel queried this, Vala answered, “That’s because it is a farm, Daniel.”
“They run the farm entirely separately – you can’t get a better cover than that. And they have to eat,” Jacek elaborated, “You can’t maintain this kind of cover if you send spaceships for your food constantly.”
“Or this kind of acreage without a pretext,” Vala finished distractedly, smiling to the tall, thin man who emerged from the cottage.
Daniel nodded, understanding and turning his eyes to the newcomer, who said, “So come back to swindle me, Vala? Or just break my heart?”
Jacek growled under his breath. Of all the slices of Vala’s reputation, that one disturbed him the most.
“Ah, and you came back, too, Jacek,” He continued with an amused look, “Another joint venture destined for success?”
Vala glared and rolled her eyes with an amused smile. “Kan Taledrian, this is Daniel Jackson.”
Putting an arm through
* * * *
They’d used a hidden rings platform to gain entrance to an underground … Daniel could only think of the word ‘suburb.’
“Vala mentioned you moved a lot in the past,” Daniel
remarked to
“We’re experts with Tok’ra crystals and can manufacture
large facilities like this rather quickly,”
“It’s a ship,” Vala cut in before Kan could spin the tale
further and sharing a rueful grin with her father, “They use the crystals to
hollow out a big enough underground cavern for their ship then use
reverse-engineered Tok’ra crystals to deposit that material back on top of the
ship.
Daniel ducked his head with a smile as
“We’re not fencing, we’re collecting,” Vala argued, falling into step beside him, “And it’ll be 110 percent of my usual rate since the scruffy one deposited.”
Daniel fell into step with Jacek, allowing Vala to move up
beside
“She’s smart,” Daniel said, not realising until Jacek looked at him strangely that he’d sounded proud of her. Jacek gave him another one of those looks he refused to explain.
Daniel was glad when they reached the storage room not long after – Jacek’s smirk was rather painful.
“Well?” He asked Vala, who was grinning.
“120 my normal fee for the arbitrary ‘inconvenience’ of
father depositing,” Vala said with a smirk as
“I always feel like I’ve missed something and came off the worst for it when I deal with her,” He remarked quietly, “But we’re fond of her, so we don’t mind. And she’s always good for payment.”
“She has that effect on people,” Daniel said with a smile.
“Even her father, it would appear,”
“That they aren’t hitting each other?” Daniel asked.
“Either that or trying to con each other,”
* * * *
A few hours later, Daniel sat in a quiet part of the farmhouse, rifling through the data pad. He stopped and scrolled back, reading part of the coding again. And then once more before shooting out of his seat.
“Vala, Jacek!” Daniel shouted, running through the farmhouse
to the room where
“You’re right – but I don’t know how we didn’t pick it up in the first medical exam,” Sam’s voice answered worriedly.
“When I activated the pad and started using the menus,” Daniel theorised, “I activated it.”
“And I’d suspect it’s a bit like what happened to Cassandra – it’s keyed to going through the gate. The gate trip the second time triggered it,” Sam answered.
“And it doesn’t help them to know he’s on earth with the weapons platform active and our phase shift generator, so it would make sense to activate it when he went back through,” Daniel concluded as Vala rolled her eyes and stood, tugging his sleeve lightly.
“What’s going on, Daniel?”
“You’re transmitting our location to the Ori,” Daniel said matter-of-factly to Jacek. “A combination of the data pad and something it released into your system. That’s as much as we know.”
“What do we do about it?” Vala asked, looking at
Daniel was about to answer when Mitchell’s voice came over the radio, “Jackson, Vala – we’re taking fire from an Ori ship. The ZPM shield is holding but we can’t stay here, we’re taking damage.”
“Beam us out, then,” Vala said obviously, hand on her radio
and a nod to
“Negative,” Mitchell replied sharply, “Beaming drive’s been hit and might turn you into goo. Can’t chance it. Lay low on the planet and we’ll come back for you in the Odyssey in a few hours, we’ve put through a subspace communication to Earth saying we need it and now. Daedalus out.”
“Come with us,”
“I’m suddenly glad we wore BDUs,” Vala said brightly to Daniel, then shook her head slowly and met her father’s eyes. “All we’d do is lead them to you. Our people will come back for us in twelve hours or so.”
“If we could take some supplies we’d appreciate it,” Daniel asked politely, “Food and water, maybe some medical supplies or Tok’ra crystals.”
“Ammunition that might be compatible or weapons if you have it to spare,” Vala added with a nod and continued, “You know their ship might not let you escape.”
“We have to try,”
* * * *
They heard the dull thumps as the first drops of muggy rain began to penetrate the green canopy. Daniel and Vala shared an alarmed look and dived behind trees, Vala pulling her father along.
“What is it?” He asked, accepting her nine mil and worried it was bad enough for Vala to give him a gun.
“They’re dropping ring platforms to ring squads to the ground,” Vala hissed without looking at him. “Small enough number spread thin enough we might stand a chance.”
Ten fire-filled minutes later and Jacek had a momentary crisis of conscience. “This is stupid!” He shouted over the gun- and staff-fire, “I can lead them in another direction.”
Without waiting for an answer, he stood but felt a small insistent hand drag him back to the damp forest floor.
“Don’t be stupid yourself,” Vala said with a gasp, putting her hand to just above her hip and below her vest, wincing at the staff wound now bleeding freely. Jacek took her P90 and slung her arm around his shoulders as Daniel finished the last of the Ori foot-soldiers with renewed fervour.
“That’s the last for now,” Daniel said quietly, examining the wound with gentle fingertips and digging in his pack for a temporary field dressing. “But they’ll send more and this is too exposed – and too damp,” he continued, looking at Vala in concern. She’d gone pale quickly, the blood loss taking affect and he was worried about an infection or fever setting in if they stayed in the cold and wet forest for too long.
She grabbed his hand and took a breath, but looked at her
father. “My caves.” Jacek looked at her, puzzled. Vala rolled her eyes and
looked at Daniel. “Would naquadah block the signal?” At his uncertain nod she
smiled tightly and took a small compass from her vest pocket. “Then we need to
head up to the
“Won’t that mean staff blasts and gunfire are a bad idea?” Daniel asked, finishing dressing the wound.
“What’s your plan?” Vala bit back with a small glare and hiss of pain as he tightened the bandage.
He muttered an apology and met her eyes, “I don’t have one.”
Daniel squeezed her hand and let go, taking a morphine pen out that she batted away, “Not a chance, I need to be awake to fire a gun.”
“You also need something in your system to fight infection,” Daniel argued.
“Not the time or place, Daniel,” Vala dodged.
Daniel met her eyes and rolled his, “When we get to your caves then. Compromise?”
She didn’t answer but physically paled further as they helped her stand. She met his eyes with an ironic look as Vala took deep, steadying breaths. “I can do that.”
*
* * *
They entered the almost camouflaged cave entrance and Jacek appeared to know exactly where he was going, leading them to a small and short side tunnel a safe distance from the entrance.
Vala gasped as they entered the ‘room,’ motioning for Daniel to let her go. He slowly and hesitantly took his hand from her waist as Jacek fidgeted by the door. Lifting a sheet and dropping it again, Vala turned to look at him, eyes wide.
“You kept it… all of it?”
“I couldn’t keep all of it, but the things that mattered….” He trailed off.
Both Daniel and Jacek steadied her as she swayed, Jacek pulling a sheet off of a bed made for a child and laying her down with a worried look. Daniel put a hand on his arm and moved next to Vala, using the morphine pen on the exposed soft skin just above her hip whether she wanted it or not. As she lost consciousness, Jacek and Daniel wordlessly left the small room and began more thoroughly concealing the point of entry to the cave.
“What is all that stuff?” Daniel asked quietly after a few minutes.
Jacek sighed, “Her things from when she was a child. She used to play up here… and anywhere else I told her not to. When the goa’uld took people, we usually sold or got rid of their things. They were dead to us.”
Daniel raised an eyebrow, “Practical.”
“Painful,” Jacek corrected, “Having the reminders. But I couldn’t – she was my daughter.”
Daniel nodded and handed him another branch.
* * * *
The Odyssey radioed in from a distance five or six hours later to announce that the transmitter was still active, albeit much reduced and generalised and to give an ETA of two hours.
The three sat in the silence of the little room, sharing some of the food the Taledrians had given them.
“Vala-” Jacek began slowly, but was cut off as she glared at him.
“Not a chance, so don’t even think about it.”
“I was going to say I’m not going anywhere until you’re on your feet.”
“Oh,” was all Vala could summon, allowing him to put a larger hand over hers for a moment.
An hour and thirty five minutes later, Daniel reported in from his watch that at least one prior was with a contingent of guards in the far distance and appeared to be heading unerringly, if slowly, in their direction. Sam’s voice came in over the radio to say that the Odyssey would be in beaming range within half an hour.
“We don’t have that kind of time,” Daniel said softly.
Vala and Jacek shared a long, dark look before Vala looked away.
“Give us a minute?” Vala said quietly into the radio between them as Daniel nodded and went back to look-out duty.
“We’ll check back in a few minutes,” Sam answered after a hushed conversation on the other end.
“Papa,” Vala took a breath and met his eyes squarely, trying to keep her emotions under control. “You said-”
“That was before I-” He replied, ducking his head and sighing. “You’ve looked at me like that before, you know.”
“Oh, when? Before I could walk?” Vala bit back sharply.
“When you could climb, actually,” Her father replied with a smile.
Vala laughed suddenly and winced when it sent shockwaves of pain through her ribs. She looked at him. “The tree in the back garden at the old house?”
He nodded, smiling. “The summer after your mother died.”
“I was ten,” Vala continued softly, “And you told me not to climb it.”
“You did anyway, practically lived in the damn thing,” He nodded. “It was almost autumn-”
“And I didn’t realise the leaves would be wet,” Vala closed her eyes for a second, remembering. “I landed at the foot of the tree with a broken ankle-”
“Bashed head-”
“And my shoulder out of place,” Vala finished, smile fading. “I was-” She looked away and then back at him. “I was scared,” she admitted quietly. “I didn’t think I’d be able to get back to the house. I didn’t know you watched me from the kitchen.”
He nodded. “Every time I could. By the time I got to you, you were already babbling about freezing to death,” His eyes were distant as the radio crackled with a hesitant inquiry they both ignored, “Do you remember what I told you when I had to put your shoulder back in place?”
“Just breathe and look at me,” Vala said, swallowing and nodding to him. “That hurt you know.”
“I know,” He replied, eyes bright. He clicked the radio and repeated himself more insistently to someone else, but Vala wasn’t listening. “But I had to.”
“This isn’t a wrenched shoulder,” She said and nodded, neither of them noticing or caring the radio was still active.
“What if-?” She started hesitantly.
“You remember you stopped asking me questions years ago and stopped caring about my answers long before,” He answered fiercely. He pressed her side arm into her hand and clenched his own larger hand around it. “And then you use that on as many of them as you can. You fight, you hear me?”
Vala nodded and made to sit, letting out an involuntary hiss at the pain. “Can you help-?”
He wrapped a strong arm around her and pulled her into a sitting position as quickly as he could, trying to limit the pain and keeping his arm around her shoulders a moment more than necessary. “And even though you don’t care what I think, I approve and he’s good for you, so don’t screw it up.” There was a beat of silence broken only by Vala’s ragged breaths as she nodded with a bashful smile.
“I have no idea what you mean,” she said softly.
“Sure you don’t,” Jacek answered with a roll of his eyes. He was kneeling very close to her and after a moment, tilted her head to meet his eyes and kissed her forehead. “You’re smarter than me,” He said, eyes bright, “And tougher than her. You can do this.”
Tears spilled over Vala’s eyes as he stood and left without another word and without looking back.
It wasn’t until a moment later that she realised he’d left them all the weapons.
* * * *
Later on board the Odyssey, Vala saw people’s lips move- doctors, nurses, people in uniform. She still only heard Sam, eyes sombre as she had stood by the beside and quietly telling her they were no longer 'picking up a signal' and the Ori were leaving. She had told her she was sorry and put a hand over hers as Vala swallowed and looked away, trying to block out what Sam said next.
‘From the telemetry we
have … he led them in the opposite direction. Bought us the time to get there
and beam you out.’
She saw without seeing and heard without listening, not quite realising when staring became dosing and dosing became dreaming.
*
* * *
Daniel sat by Vala’s bedside as the Odyssey began the trip back to Earth, slower this time because they weren’t using the ZPM. She very slowly blinked, head moving slightly from side to side and eyes turning bright as memories returned.
Jacek walked past him
out of the cave as Daniel stood. He paused and spoke without looking at the
younger man, “You’re the only one I’ve met that actually deserves her for the
right reasons and not as a cosmic punishment. Take care of her.”
With that he’d began
to run.
“Daniel?” Vala’s voice was soft as she met his eyes, a stray tear making its way down her cheek.
Daniel reached out and brushed it away, smoothing her hair back and covering her hand with his larger one.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
** The End **
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