Set one week after 'Unending'. Hope you enjoy :)
As Vala Mal Doran wondered aimlessly along one of the corridors in the SGC base, she found herself strolling through to Daniel Jackson's vacant office, her SG1 team member as of recent, and possibly her closest acquaintance within Stargate Command.
She collapsed onto his chair, feeling welcome to rest her feet on his desk, despite the fact that she knew it would annoy him, and as she always enjoyed getting a rise out of him, it didn't bother her. She flicked through some of the files on his desk completely mindlessly before opening his file cabinet and sifting through classified material, the thrill of doing something she wasn't supposed to had long gone, but her wanton disregard for authority compelled Vala to do it anyway.
Daniel walked through the door reading the military classified papers in his hand, but looked up to see Vala going through what she wasn't meant to see. "Vala, get out of there." He said impatiently, closing the drawer without consideration for her fingers. He breezed past her and sat in his chair, continuing to examine the papers.
As a woman fond of attention, Vala found Daniel's ignorance of her irritating. She jumped up on his desk, swinging her feet childishly. "I'm bored."
"What's new?" Daniel murmured rhetorically, not paying Vala the attention she so desperately wanted. Vala stroked Daniel's ear with her finger, hoping to distract him long enough that he'd agree to do what she was thinking, though he'd refused so many times before. "Vala." He grabbed her hand and gave her a hard stare. "Isn't there someone else you could annoy?"
"Teal'c got boring." Vala pouted, showing no offence at Daniel's remark. "He's being so uptight about what happened to us on the Odyssey."
Daniel sighed, pausing from his work to look up at his impatient, childish, yet undeniably beautiful teammate. "Vala, ever think maybe it's better if we don't know?"
"Please," She retorted. "You're telling me you don't want to know what happened between…" She averted her eyes, her slight pause unnoticeable to Daniel. "Everyone over a period of 50 years?" He kept his eyes on his work and kept silent, though she waited for a response. "You want to know as much as I do." She scoffed.
"Well, Teal'c has made it clear that he's not going to tell us, so I suggest you drop it." Daniel advised, but knew only too well that Vala was not likely to give up on this easily. She stayed silent; Daniel aggravated furthermore when she pretended to consider his advise before disregarding it completely. "Vala, why don't you go and find something useful to do?"
"Come on Daniel, I should think you know me better than that." She smiled flirtatiously. "Besides, they already kicked me out of the Control Room."
Daniel laughed, unsurprised. "Of course they did." She shot him a warning look. "Look, Vala, I'm really busy right now, so if you could…" He motioned for the door.
She sighed and jumped on his desk. "Fine. What are you doing anyway?"
"I'm going over some of the symbols Teal'c described, I'm hoping they might speed up learning about the time dilation field should we ever be in the same situation as before, no matter how unlikely." Daniel explained.
"Wouldn't Teal'c have remembered all that?" Vala pointed out.
"This is a back up in case Teal'c's memory should…" Daniel searched for the right word, silenced as Teal'c entered his office.
"My memory will not fail me." Teal'c stated.
Daniel half-smiled. "I wasn't going to suggest failure, just… mild clouding."
Teal'c raised his eyebrow questioningly. Daniel still couldn't get over how Teal'c, who still looked the same as ever despite the grey streaks in his hair, could be fifty years older than the rest of them. "Daniel Jackson, I came here to speak with you." He was met by expectant stares from both Daniel and Vala; Teal'c stared at Vala and added, "Alone."
Vala rolled her eyes, but agreed. "Alright, I'm going." Once she'd left the room, Teal'c ascertained her leaving before stepping before Daniel's desk.
"What's on your mind, Teal'c?" Daniel asked, happy to give his full attention to his friend.
"I wish to know how to prevent Vala from asking such questions about the future which I cannot answer." Teal'c admitted, Vala too much to handle even for him.
Daniel laughed. "You came to me? Teal'c, if I knew how to stop Vala from being… well, Vala, I would have done it a long time ago." He half-joked.
"If no one else, she seems to listen to you." Teal'c said, though Daniel had no idea why.
"Teal'c, she never listens to me." Daniel pointed out; by the look on his face, which no one but a close friend could detect anyway, he could see there was something in his last statement that was beneath the surface. "Unless… you know something I don't?"
"Of that, I cannot say." Teal'c replied neutrally, aware Daniel's curiously was as strong as the others, but his was more confined.
Daniel nodded his head. "Of course. Look, Teal'c," He rose from his chair and gave him the best advise he possibly could. "Eventually Vala will get bored asked, until then, just ignore her. Seems to work."
Teal'c slowly nodded gratefully, though Daniel Jackson's advise was not as helpful as he'd hoped for. "I will take your advise into account."
"Was that it?" Daniel asked, happy to be in Teal'c's company though his work was pressing.
"Yes, I –" Teal'c response was cut short by a voice blaring through the base, 'Unscheduled Off-World Activation'.
Daniel and Teal'c looked to one another before rushing to the Control Room, where they met Colonel Mitchell, Vala and Sam, who had taken over the computer.
"It's the Asguard IBM." Sam revealed, completely surprised, as were her teammates, having believed all the Asguard to be dead. She tapped a few keys on the keyboard, and the Iris automatically opened, the precaution of armed guards surrounding the gate.
SG1, the occupants of the Control Room and the armed guards surrounding the gate waited expectantly for a figure to appear through the sea of glistening blue gel, unsure of what to expect.
Suddenly, a small alien appeared as the Stargate shut down behind it: it was one of the Asguard. He looked up to the Control Room to see their faces. "Samantha Carter, greetings."
"Identify yourself." Carter commanded, hearing Thor's voice but deeming it impossible, as they all knew he had died.
"I am a clone of the Asguard, of Thor." It replied. SG1 exchanged skeptical and disbelieving looks with one another, not sure what to believe, but knew they had to, at least for the moment, take this at face value.
Within moments, the SG1 team all suspiciously greeted the alleged Asguard clone, Colonel Mitchell ordering two of the armed soldiers to guard their visitor as they escorted him to the Briefing Room.
For a half hour, they'd interrogated the Asguard clone, finally ascertaining his story to be the truth, and had moved onto how and why he was here.
"What… how are you alive?" Mitchell asked the obvious question.
"I was created for emergency use in case the Asguard gene degradation solution should fail. I was placed on a separate world in case I should be needed." The clone explained.
"But if you're a clone of Thor, you would have the gene degradation problem as well." Sam worked out.
"My DNA was tampered with before production and although I possess the illness, it has been temporarily neutralized." Thor explained.
"How temporary?" Daniel asked.
"It shall take effect in 48 hours." Thor answered, his tone holding no sadness or emotion at the thought of his death.
"Is there nothing we can do?" Mitchell offered, the thought of such a powerful species dying out was hard for him to cope with.
Sam looked at him regretfully. "Asguard technology is so far beyond our own, I barely understand what we've been given so far, so if they couldn't find a cure…"
"It is all right, Samantha Carter, I did not come here for medical reasons." Thor relieved her, all sets of eyes fixed on him.
"So, you're not here to have us help you repopulate your world?" Mitchell asked, suddenly confused.
"My world is beyond help." Thor stated. "I have come here because as the new possessors of the Asguard technology, it is my job to instruct you exactly how to use it. My race knew you would need help which their illness prevented them from giving to you."
Daniel looked to his teammates. "So you're saying that you're here, the reason you were created was to make sure that we handle your technology correctly?"
"Indeed." Thor confirmed.
Mitchell looked to Teal'c, Daniel and Sam skeptically. "Seems like a lot of effort just so we don't break anything."
"Colonel Mitchell, as the fifth race, you have a duty to protect the galaxy now. It is crucial that this technology is protected and used wisely." Thor instructed.
"What do you mean now? Protected from whom?" Teal'c finally talked, seemingly quiet up to this point as well as Vala, though most assumed that was just out of boredom.
"There is a threat most dangerous heading for this planet who know of the Asguard's technology being passed to you." Thor revealed. "The Ori are coming for this technology, and they will not rest until it is in their hands, even if it means destroying this world to get it." Mitchell, Daniel, Teal'c, Sam and Vala all traded worried glances. "The Orici, Adria, has already destroyed hundreds of worlds to gather forces and technology. I fear this planet is next."