FYI: I don't own Stargate. No surprise there.
Prologue
Vala had known hunger. As the daughter of a con-artist and woefully poor provider, she was more than familiar with that deep gnawing pain long before her world had been turned upside down by Qetesh. But still, the long weeks and months of hardships blemished her childhood could never compare to the insatiable desire that Qetesh held within her. She starved for power, sex and malicious deeds. After Qetesh died, Vala's appetite had never acquired malicious deeds. But riches and sex were on her menu.
Qetesh had taken her as her host decades ago. Admittedly, Vala had never been the wide eyed innocent that some hosts began as. But the bottom had fallen out on depravity for Qetesh thousands of years ago. Vala drowned and pounded against the glass box filled with water that her conscience was contained by Qetesh within her own mind. Mute but listening and watching from underwater through all the years. The horrors of how Qetesh used her body to inflict torment, anguish and suffering on the unlucky bystanders and enemies had never numbed to her. Deep down, Vala knew that the day Qetesh sensed that she wasn't tormenting her host, was the day that she would be replaced. While the sarcophagus kept her looking the same age as the day when she had been ripped from her life, she waited and duly noted and acknowledged her pain for Qetesh. Qetesh preened joyfully, like a child showing her artwork to her mother when she sense Vala's disquiet.
The day she was taken, she had joined Jacek Mal Doran on a job. He thought she would attempt and succeed with a young male target, close to her own age. A rich young target whose handlers would never allow the likes of Jacek come near. When the mothership appeared, so too did Jacek. But she shouldn't have been so surprised. She was still kicking herself for that. Random shots were fired to shock and awe the town. Followed by Qetesh's appearance behind a barrier of her most trusted guards and First Prime. The prior host had dark, flawless mocha skin and regal eyes. Seemingly strong, possibly invincible.
For unknown reasons, she had tired of her host and on the spur of the moment, collected Vala from the crowd without explanation. Vala had begun hopeful that she would find an escape or that maybe she'd be given a job to escape from. Instead, she'd been through bizarre ceremony and taken host. How does a host escape? She tried to think of it as her greatest con job. The same way that Jacek found targets and worked the angles. Vala spent much of her conscious thoughts, working the problem. Qetesh heard her every thought and enjoyed the youthful optimism. She looked forward to crushing every remnant of hope Vala contained.
Finally Vala had realised that she wouldn't successfully retake conscious control of her own body and mind by sheer force, she waited. Qetesh was clearly a damaged individual and not in fact a God. Qetesh would fail and Qetesh would experience weakness and Vala would have her opportunity. Qetesh was clearly all the more amused by Vala's confidence and faith. Qetesh took pride in the passing months that turned into years and decades. Vala's optimism served only to lengthen her pathetic existence in the far flung corner of her own mind while Qetesh strode through her thoughts and memories like a bull in a china shop. Vala had no secrets or privacy. Qetesh owned her by every sense of the word.
The day came when Qetesh was double crossed by Athena and injured. As Qetesh receded from the forefront of consciousness awaiting transfer by her loyal Jaffa to her sarcophogus, she let her host bear the brunt of the pain. After all, what was the point of a host if not to have someone else to suffer in your steed?
Vala took this opportunity to remove the ankh lodged in her side and jammed the blunt makeshift weapon into her own chest as hard as she could force it. Qetesh hadn't expected self-inflicted injury and thus her response delayed. The very idea that her host would attempt to snuff herself out (and fail) with a symbol of enduring life, was comical. Qetesh came back into control to pull out the ankh embedded in her hosts left breast where it was stopped by her rib cage.
As punishment, Qetesh had ravaged more towns. She took more men and more women, sodomizing them before execution knowing full well the guilt it would inflict on Vala.
Vala learned that if her body experienced enough injury, Qetesh would relinquish control. Her host had mourned greatly.
It was another 5 years before Vala took a moment of control over her own body. Again, Qetesh was injured and vulnerable. Vala cut her hair off down to a messy, uneven semi-bald looking mess under the confused watch of her Jaffa. Due to the lack of pain, Qetesh hadn't noticed and was shocked to find the results of Vala's efforts. Qetesh made her pay, but this time Vala had preened under mock regret. Qetesh recognized the need to better control her host lest she do some real damage. Hair grew back, but next time who knew what the human host would do?
The Tok'ra finally came to her rescue, after Vala had spent 25 years trapped in her own unfading body. Not that Vala had tracked the passage of time. She knew only that many years had passed and that her mother was dead, her father was out of the picture and she had made many enemies as Qetesh. She still looked 15 years old, but the age did not match her feelings.
When the Tok'ra returned Vala to her home planet after rejecting a symbiote, she was hated there. Her mother had poor standing in the community due to Jaceks previous handiwork. But Vala's mother had at least been one of their own before she passed away. Vala was Jacek's daughter, a con-artist, unnaturally unchanged by the passing of time and as Qetesh had tortured and murdered many of their own. They tormented and injured her at every opportunity until she stole a cargo ship and left.
That was when she made her way to a planet the Taur'i would later name P8X-412. A planet on the outskirts that wouldn't have reached news her Qetesh's undoing. Still their Goddess, she resumed her old persona for survival. The planet was an oasis for her. She filled her coffers with Naquadah, rejuvenated her soul and re-acquainted herself with her hunger. There were hidden treasures throughout the galaxy that she remembered from her time locked within the confines of Qetesh's dominion. They were hers for the taking. With the right connections and luck, she could stand to be a very rich woman.
Of course, life as a con-artist didn't fair any better outcomes for Vala than it had for herself.
AN: I want to explore Vala's perspective and to play with the characters. Next chapter should explore events more closely.