Author's Note: Well, like I said before, I already have a number of chapters written up. This story was originally supposed to be just a bit of Daniel and Vala fluff, but it didn't end there when I was writing the story. I actually came up with an "adventure" of sorts to send the team out on. Thanks for the reviews, they were useful in the rewrite of this chapter. It isn't a very long one, but I've tried to fix the way I was writing some of the characters. They still feel a little OOC to me, which is just disturbing. So read, enjoy, and review!
Disclaimer: Again, nothing to do with Stargate: SG1 belongs to me, though I truly wish that it did.
Chapter Two: Distractions
Coffee, he wanted coffee. Trembling hands clutched a hot cup between them, bringing aromatic liquid up to his mouth. It burned his lips, burned his tongue, the top of his mouth and all the way down his throat and into his stomach. Blue eyes shut when the bitter taste registered in his brain, heaven was in that cup. Paradise was in the pot it had come from. He had woken up with the worst sense of loss yet. He felt jittery and…needy was the best word his foggy mind could think of, since aroused just did not cover it.
He was sitting at the debriefing table at an ungodly hour of the morning. He was fairly certain that the sun was still set, that dawn hadn't even come about when Sam had barged into his room to wake him up. He'd woken up shaking, feeling as though he'd just been ripped from a deep sleep. Actually, it felt worse than that. He wanted to go back to sleep. He'd been dreaming of Vala and this time he hadn't wanted to forget the dream. He wanted tog o back to it. He wanted the sense of peace he had found, finally, in his sleep.
But, no, he was now sitting in the briefing room; trying to wake up wile they waited for General Landry to arrive to begin the briefing. Whatever it had been, had better have been important. He didn't have enough coffee in his system to make the wake up call even worth it at the moment. His eyes were burning behind his closed eye lids; he hadn't even had a chance to brush his teeth he was dragged so quickly out of bed.
General Landry walked into the room; another man was following behind him. Taking a seat at the head of the table he looked at those gathered about the large table. Daniel Jackson looked as though he had just gotten out of bed, but everyone else looked wide awake. "Lt. Dayton here has some news that I believe we should all hear this from him." Looking up to the slight man standing at the side of the table, he said, "Go ahead, Lt. Dayton."
Daniel opened his eyes to look at the man. He was a little on the small side and average looking. He also looked as though he wanted to slink out from under the bright lights in the briefing room. "We just came back from P7X-882, I'm sorry, but the light is still bothering me." Moving to the end of the table he passed out a stack of reports to those gathered. Daniel took the one Sam passed to him, Mitchell took another and so did Teal'c.
"When we arrived on P7X-882 we came in contact with a humanoid race. They avoid light, living in underground chambers of their moon. They had never come in contact with Goa'uld, and they have managed to destroy the only Prior of the Ori-"
"What do you mean they managed to destroy a Prior?" Daniel jumped in, looking wide awake now, if a little ruffled.
Lt. Dayton looked up to Daniel and nodded, as though understanding what he was asking. They hadn't been able to find a viable weapon to even make a dent on the Priors, and now they were being told that someone had been able to do what they all wanted to do. "The little information I was able to gain from them in the week we spent there told me that they used some sort of technology as well as mental abilities." Looking around the table Lt. Dayton turned his gaze back to Daniel and added, "Actually, Dr. Jackson. They wouldn't tell me that much. They had apparently encountered what they called a 'mordra-eshu' – we think they meant humanoid female. And they refused to speak to anyone but her kadra, we still aren't sure what that word means, but they did say your name, sir.
"Actually, sir, they refused to talk to any one but the mordra-eshu's kadra Daniel Jackson."
Daniel had just gotten out the shower, a towel wrapped around his waist while he went searching for something else to wear. They were shipping him and the rest of SG-1 off to P7X-882 to have a talk with the people there. The General had decided that if they wanted to talk to Daniel Jackson, they would get to talk to Daniel Jackson. Daniel wanted to know how they hand managed to destroy a Prior. If they could tell him that and show him how to do it, then it would be alright to step back from his search for Vala in order to find a weapon against the Priors of the Ori.
Truthfully, he'd rather stay behind and continue to look for Vala. He had only vague memories about his dream last night. She has said something about finding her today if he would only continue to look for her like he had in the beginning. But now he was being shipped off world to talk with some subterranean race about their technologies and mental capabilities. Frowning slightly, Daniel grabbed a pair of pants and pulled them on. He was trying to figure out what language these people were using.
Lt. Dayton's team, SG-8, didn't have a linguist with them. This meant that these people spoke English, or had learned to speak English in the week that Dayton and his team had been there. That in it's self was interesting. They had to be highly intelligent or at least very advanced, to learn English so quickly. Pulling on a shirt Daniel scratched the back of his head and frowned even harder. It wasn't like any language that he had heard before. And while he found the prospect of learning another language intriguing, it wasn't what he wanted to be doing.
Pulling on his boots Daniel grabbed the rest of his gear and went back to the briefing room. They were scheduled to leave within the hour. Lt. Dayton was going to give them a quick overview of the people they were about to encounter. General Landry seemed to believe that getting as much information first hand from Lt Dayton was important. And so Daniel found himself sitting in his seat again, listening to Lt. Dayton lecture them about the peoples of P7X-882.
"They live in underground chambers of their world. They almost never come in contact with the surface, stating that for as long as they can remember they have lived underground. They have…" And here Lt. Dayton hesitated before going on. "They have supper sensitivity to 'vibrations' in the air." He said vibrations as though the word was meant to be spoken with quotation marks. "Physically, they look much like us, except for the fact that a large part of the surface of their skin is exposed nerve endings and blood vessels, which is what we believe gives them that heightened sensitivity."
Daniel and the others listened for another twenty minutes as they were told more about the hierarchy of what they called their "colony" and their society in general. Their language seemed to be, in large part, a mystery to Lt. Dayton. He said that it took less than half a day before these people were speaking fluent English to them. They called themselves the Drakin. And on and on he went. It was all valuable information, but Daniel wanted to get there and get back. He needed to continue looking for Vala. Something told him that he would find her today.
It was not long after the half hour briefing that the team – Daniel, Sam, Mitchell, and Teal'c – was waiting for the address for P7X-882 to be dialed into the gate. "So what do you think about these Drakin?" Mitchell asked Daniel.
"They sound interesting. Actually I'd like to know how they know about me. I know I never encountered them before. And I haven't the faintest idea what kind of language they are speaking. The words don't even sound familiar. And if they have a way to destroy the Priors ... well…" Daniel looked up at the event horizon and walked up the metal grates towards it.
Author's Note: Like I said, it's a short chapter, more to introduce the idea of the adventure I have planned for SG1. I'm still a number of chapters ahead of what I am putting up. Your reviews are much appreciated is helping keep the story enjoyable, and hopefully the characters believe able. So, review if you wish. Constructive comments are always welcome, though flaming because you don't believe in Daniel/Vala tales aren't.