Familiar Faces, Familiar Places.
Pairing: D/V
Disclaimer: Not mine and never will be...
Spoilers: Mostly season 10. Anything Ark Of Truth related comes from spoilers and from my own imagination. Some chapters will have specific episode spoiler warnings.
Other Warnings: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH. This chapter will be flagged as such at the start.
Other notes: The story begins at the end of the war with the Ori, perhaps at the end of Ark of Truth and will continue from then on. My first attempt at a multi-chapter D/V fic.
Chapter one notes: Potential spoilers for AoT. References to Crusade and Momento Mori. Two character deaths, not the major one yet...
Adria was dead but her army refused to believe it. SG-1 had joined the fight against her army on the planet she had fallen and along with the Jaffa, some of the Lucian Alliance, many of their other allies from across the galaxy, and the few Ori soldiers that had defected before Adria's death with Tomin as their leader. The fighting was fierce and not quite what Vala was used to. Instead of a spectacular fight between ships in space this was one mass of confusion fought on the ground. No one single shot from a weapon could kill many like it could if they were on the Daedalus, instead they broke into groups trying to convince the Ori soldiers that their leader was dead once and for all.
It wasn't working. Vala was with one of the many Jaffa groups, Teal'c with another. Cam had ordered the Daedalus to stay in orbit but not beam them out until he gave the order and Vala agreed with him. For the Tau'ri to leave before the battle was won would not be sending good signals to their allies. She wanted to fight until the end, until no more Ori believers intent on destroying their worlds were left.
Somewhere Cam was with a group of Lucian Alliance, Sam was on the Ori ship, Daniel with some of their other allies, and Tomin was working with the group he commanded, trying to reach out to his one time friends and comrades to let them know what had happened in the hope they could stop this before too many were killed.
Tomin had defected a while ago after what he claimed began with a disagreement over the translation of a text with a Prior. He had thought about it for many days after he had helped Vala escape. He would not say what event happened that caused him to leave the army of the Ori but would only say that it had gone against everything he believed in. Despite that, he still followed Origin, as did many of those that defected with him, claiming that the book was true and the Prior's bent the words to their needs.
He had contacted the SGC through the Jaffa and after some discussion it had been agreed that Vala would not see him at first. The chances of Adria discovering what had happened was too great especially if the information that Tomin bore was true. The result was that Vala had seen Tomin only twice, briefly, and always in the company of several others.
He had brought the news of Adria's return, her de-ascension and bits and pieces of their future plans. Under the guise of protecting a Prior he had escaped only to be captured by the Jaffa. Vala was proud of him, of what he had done. She knew that in his heart he was a good man, that the Priors had slowly changed his ideals until his breaking point. He was a trustworthy ally despite the thoughts of the IOC and had proved it over and over again.
The sounds of Ori Staff blasts came nearer and nearer as she followed the Jaffa towards the village under the cover of the trees and thick undergrowth and she readied herself for another attack. So far the goal had been to disarm the soldiers and then to inform them of the latest developments, keeping them secure until Sam had the Ori ship ready to go. The plan was to transfer the soldiers to the ship and hope that some time in the very near future they would see what had happened and be offered the chance to settle down in their galaxy or returned to their own if they could find a working Supergate.
This group of Ori soldiers had been in the village firing on the Jaffa led by Teal'c for most of the battle so far. There would be several Prior's with this group, she guessed, and taking them all out would not be too easy. As they entered the village the fighting shifted from the outlying forest to each other until a faint blue shield encompassed the Ori soldiers.
Hoping that the other half of their group had managed to plant the anti-prior device close by before the shield went up, it was only a matter of time before the shield fell.
When it did there was a small amount of shock that rippled through the group as it was determined that the anti-prior device had not yet been activated. Cautiously one of the Jaffa approached and when he signalled that the shield had in fact fallen, they all continued as did the shooting.
Vala spotted the Prior through one of the open doors in a dwelling and aimed. She wondered why he was hiding indoors when usually they were leading their troops relying on their personal shields from their power to protect them. Indicating her intentions to several Jaffa she approached, finger ready on the trigger. When she entered the Prior turned and banged his staff on the wooden floor. A wave of light rippled through the air and Vala was knocked off her feet. Expecting to be held in the air, perhaps tossed out of the building, or choked, she hesitated before reaching for her weapon.
Nothing happened and the Prior had closed his eyes, muttering what she assumed to be a prayer under his breath. Standing she looked to the other Jaffa who had been knocked out of the still open door and shrugged. The blow had not been anything like she had experienced before and the expression on the Prior's face was one of concentration and frustration as he banged his staff several more times, only sending out a brief flicker of light.
Vala took the chance and fired several rounds at him. She watched as he managed to stop them but fired again anyways. Sudden shock pierced the Prior's face as one of her bullets sank into his outstretched palm but Vala took the opportunity and continued to fire until the Prior was on the ground, bleeding profusely. She watched as his eyes closed and the markings on his face began to diminish. Nervously she approached but before she could try and take his pulse to assure her he was dead, a strong hand grasped her wrist. The Jaffa shook his head and the two left the building, the Jaffa shouting of the Prior's death to his comrades and for the soldiers to hear.
It took less than half an hour to defeat the group of soldiers and when they were tied up in the various fashions of Jaffa, and Tau'ri, Vala radioed Cam to let them know what had happened and to update him on their victory.
"Good, we were beginning to worry if this was some new Prior trick."
"Trick?" Vala asked.
"Yeah, Daniel thought that they might be doing it to see if they could ascend." Cam's comment had Vala worried for a moment. She ran back to where the Prior had fallen, relieved to find him still there, dead but not ascended.
"So have all the Prior's fallen?"
"Nope. Seems that for now it's just the ones that either were only recently made into Priors or those that are from our own galaxy. Teal'c reported that there's still several Prior's with all their powers running around."
After getting an update from Cam on the situations of the others in her team, Vala left with several of the Jaffa to join the group lead by Tomin who had encountered one of the Priors with all their powers. Arriving she was informed that while the Prior was still able to conjure up shields he was becoming weak and Tomin guessed it would not be long before he fell. The Jaffa reluctant to wait it out began planting anti-prior devices and trying to lure the Prior towards them.
Eventually the Prior was captured and while he struggled to overcome the effects of the anti-prior device, Tomin began his speech to try and convince the soldiers that this war was not what the Book Of Origin spoke of. Vala had not seen him do this before and as she watched the forest from her post for an ambush, she listened to his words. He spoke passionately, quoting the book, allowing his former comrades to question him freely and air their opinions. She knew that there would be several Jaffa, their staff weapons ready to fire watching the group, forcing them to listen to Tomin for a short while. Those that considered his words would be kept separate from those who refused to believe them in the hope that some could be let go or assist them in their battle.
This was not the only planet where the very same battle was occurring. This just happened to be the biggest as Adria had been here. All over the galaxy on Ori worlds and non believing worlds the same war was being fought and once they were done here, they would go to another world to help there. They needed as many people as they could get and ex-Ori soldiers on their side couldn't hurt.
"You are a traitor," one man called to Tomin.
"No. I believe in Origin, the message that the book gives, but I do not believe that the methods used by the Priors are true to the words of the Ori."
"She is the mother of the Orici and if what you say is true, she killed her own child."
Vala felt her blood turn cold. It was not the first time this had been brought up just as it had not been the first time she had participated in a plan to kill Adria. She schooled her face to one of uncaring while forcing herself to calm and not allow the deep feeling of guilt that rose up inside her to challenge her at this time. She would deal with that later but now she needed a cool head.
Several staff blasts caught Vala's attention and she spun around to where Tomin stood. Several of the captured soldiers had been killed and many more were dying as the blasts continued. The Jaffa were firing back at the few Ori soldiers who had entered the village and Vala fired moving towards Tomin. Once the captured Ori soldiers had been killed the blasts started to concentrate on the Jaffa, Tomin and herself. She ran for shelter radioing Cam as she did. He ordered her to fall back to his position and they would cover their retreat.
They ran the short distance to the trees with only a few blasts making contact with the Jaffa. None of the injuries were life threatening they assured her and they continued to run through the forest towards Cam's position. It was tough as there were many obstacles in their path and the injured Jaffa began to slow. Refusing to run ahead and abandon them they slowed the pace, hoping they had a good enough head start on the soldiers.
She heard the sounds of bullets overhead and knew they were close to Cam and his group. Jaffa staff blasts joined in as they began the dash towards the open grass. It wasn't a long run and hopefully Cam's group would be able to distract the Ori soldiers from firing upon them. The occasional blast did land close but no one was hurt until they reached the trees.
She heard him cry out and watched him fall onto the ground, the Jaffa he was helping falling also.
"Vala, you guys make it?"
"It's Tomin. He's been hit."
"On our way." Vala barely heard Cam's words as she approached Tomin and sank to her knees by his side. Gently she turned him over and felt her stomach rebel as she looked at the large wound on his neck. He had been hit just below his chin and the wound spread down underneath the collar of his armor. Desperately she tried to remove it, hoping to ease some of the tightness around his wound, but he grabbed her hand instead.
"Vala," Tomin gasped, his face loosing colour rapidly.
"Ssshhh. Save your energy. Cam'll be here soon and we'll get out of here."
"No time."
"Tomin..." She struggled with her words as she watched Tomin fight to keep his eyes open, a lone tear escaping down her cheek.
Tomin reached for her face and wiped the tear away. "Love you," he whispered.
Vala tenderly stroked his face, sobbing and calling his name, pleading with him to open his eyes.
"Domii," he gasped as Cam approached, Vala barely hearing the word.
Cam looked at Tomin briefly before ordering the Daedalus to beam them up, preferably directly into the infirmary. As the bright light faded he began to help the Jaffa into the safety of the trees.
It was several hours later before SG-1 returned to the Daedalus. They'd heard that Tomin had been beamed up earlier with Vala but had not heard anything since. The moment they were on board Daniel made the inquiry. Colonel Caldwell shook his head and Daniel left the bridge heading to the infirmary. He asked if Vala was there once he couldn't find her but was told that she had left. Hoping to find her in their temporary quarters he ran there, letting Sam know where he was headed and to give him a bit to talk to her.
He let himself in assuming she wouldn't and turned the light on. She was sitting with her back to the bed, staring at the wall, a book of Origin by her side. He called her name softly to let her know it was him and when she didn't respond or turn towards him, he approached her.
"He's dead, Daniel." Her voice was deep but not broken by tears.
"I know." Sliding down beside her he took in her tear stained face and red swollen eyes. When she didn't speak or face him he continued. "He died doing something he believed in. Many of the soldiers we captured today are willing to join us, most of them are ones that Tomin spoke to."
Still not receiving a response, Daniel shuffled a little closer and moved his arm around her shoulders, gently pulling her closer. He felt her sigh before she began to shake and knew that she was crying.
"He said he loved me and I couldn't respond," she sobbed out.
"He knew, you didn't have to say anything."
"No, I did and I didn't."
Daniel was confused by her statement and as he was trying to think of something to console her, Vala continued.
"I didn't love him, not as he did me. He was kind, caring and treated me like no one had before. He saved me when they left me to die, gave me a home, treated my unborn child as his even when he knew it wasn't. I cared for him, perhaps even loved him, but not as much as I could've."
"Vala, he knew, trust me."
"How would you know?" She looked directly at him, challenging him.
"We talked."
"You talked about his and my relationship?" Her sorrow turned into anger as she glared at Daniel.
"Yes." Daniel had not planned on it but Tomin had brought it up after one of their meetings which Vala had not been at. "He told me that he knew you loved him for who he was and what he had done for you. He understood why you wanted to return to us but he didn't think that if this all ended in a victory for our side that you would settle down with him. He was going to talk to you when it was safe to do so."
As Vala's anger subsided she pondered Daniel's words with her head resting on his shoulder, he remembered the conversation.
It had started with Tomin asking how Vala was doing, was she happy, was she content? Daniel had felt a little uneasy at first wondering what to tell him. He didn't know what Vala's true feelings for Tomin were and didn't want to mislead Tomin in any way. Tomin had surprised him by stating point blank that he knew Vala's love was not his but loved her the same. He spoke lovingly of finding her, caring for her and their marriage. He still had a hard time believing that she would care for him when he was a cripple but she did, allowing herself to become part of his life, giving him hope for his future. Tomin knew she did love him but there was something missing. Tomin had ended the conversation by telling Daniel to take care of Vala.
Before he had responded, Tomin had left leaving Daniel alone with his thoughts. He had wondered what Vala's feelings towards him were after she had lost her memory but had shoved the thought to the back of his mind. As the months went by the nagging thought resurfaced and he found himself becoming drawn to her. Now adding Tomin's words to his train of thoughts he couldn't deny it within himself anymore.
Coming out of his thoughts he realised that Vala had fallen asleep on him and his hands were softly drawing random designs on her arm and shoulder. He needed to take a little time and get his thoughts straight in his head and the moment he did he would talk to Vala. There would be no more excuses.