In A Moment
Briar Elwood
A/N: So at this point I was still kinda wondering if I was insane to consider the DV possibility. And then when he fainted…well, I totally had forgotten about the bracelets and was like "HA! PROOF!" until they cruelly shot that down in the next five minutes. Suckers. Anywho. I still kinda think he fell over a little too quickly, however…
Another thing. Have you ever realized how much more sense things Sam says make when their on paper?
Reach for something when there's nothing left
And the world's feeling hollow
-Hillary Duff, "Fly"
"Planetary collapse is speeding up exponentially. I estimate singularity formation is minutes away, and there will be a significant shock wave. Whatever we're going to do, we have to do it now." Sam's voice was steady but fast, revealing how urgent she was feeling. All of our eyes were fixed on Kellana as it shrunk rapidly.
"Sir, someone has just activated the ring transporter," Marks suddenly announced, sounding confused.
"What?" Pendergast demanded. I looked around quickly on impulse and my stomach dropped when I realized a certain black-haired thief was missing.
"Oh no."
"Hey, don't leave without me," her confident voice soon called over the radio after a few panicked heartbeats.
"Vala? Where the hell are you?" I demanded, hiding my worry behind annoyance.
"Oh, you care now?"
Yes!
"Vala!" I yelled angrily. I tended to get impatient around her, didn't I?
"I'm aboard the cloaked cargo ship that Gerak left behind to watch us," she replied, sounding occupied. I glanced at Mitchell.
"How did you find it?" I asked, surprised.
"Good guess," was the cheeky reply. I bit my tongue, shaking my head and rocking back on my heels in a familiar frustration.
"When controls are set a certain way, rings seek out the nearest set," she continued after a moment, "which happen to be aboard this cargo ship, cloaked or not "
A cargo ship flickered onto the monitors and it began to move.
"What are you doing?" I asked, accidentally letting my worry slip into my voice as I watched the blinking light known as Vala's cargo ship intently.
"Trying to help, Daniel," she said, voice sounding determined. "Someone had to do something, and you wouldn't listen." A bout of guilt clutched at my innards. "Actually, I got the idea from Colonel Carter. The objects are being held in some sort of energy field like links on a chain, and I intend to take the place of the last link."
Wait a minute. Wasn't that dangerous? Sam answered my question almost immediately.
"Vala, when that singularity forms, there will be a powerful shock wave. The cargo ship won't survive."
And the cargo ship included everything in it…like Vala. Oh crap.
"I'm counting on it," Vala replied. I did a double take. She was planning suicide?! "I'll ring back before it hits, and you can all thank me immensely."
Oh. This was for her personal gain. Made sense. Though part of me didn't really believe she was doing this for completely selfish reasons…
I sighed and stared at the ceiling, sending a silent prayer to whoever (hopefully not the Ori) was out there. Then I looked back to the spectacle in front of us, watching Vala's little ship as it steered directly towards one of the last openings in the Supergate, outpacing one of the oblong objects.
"Shields to maximum," Pendergast ordered tightly. Klaxons began to blare as Marks adjusted the controls. Sam glanced at her screen.
"She's running out of time," she muttered, sounding almost as worried as I felt.
Oh, thanks for the pick-me-up, Sam.
Finally, the cargo ship settled in between the ring sections and stopped. Blue lightning spread from the ship across neighboring sections and enveloped it. My stomach clenched unhappily. Where was Vala?
"It's working," Sam suddenly announced, sounding relieved. "She disrupted the energy field holding the objects in place."
Okay, so that was great and all, but…what about Vala? The strange blue lightning had been to travel farther through the ring.
"The singularity is forming," Sam said. Kellana was still shrinking and was soon gone entirely. A large energy wave burst from where the planet had been and reached the ring, blasting the sections and the cargo ship every which way. The crew cheered loudly, but the happy celebrations sounded dull to my ears.
"She did it!" Sam exclaimed. "The gate's been destroyed."
Finally, I could hold my fears back no longer. "Did Vala make it back on board?"
"Negative, sir," Marks replied grimly.
No! NO! No, she couldn't…she mustn't…she can't have…My mind and thoughts went haywire and I forced myself to simply sigh and show the slightest bit of upset. However, the turmoil inside of my heart and head seemed to be too much for my body and fell over backward, grabbing Pendergast's chair for balance. Mitchell hurried to my side.
"Jackson?!? Infirmary."
And the last thing that went through my head before I passed out was the briefest hope that Vala might still be alive.
A/N: Oh…what's the next one? Oh yes. Flesh and Blood.
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