Title: Misappropriation of Lives
Author: Milena D.
Rating: T+ for now
Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Action/Romance, etc. Daniel/Vala eventually
SPOILERS: Prometheus Unbound (8x12), Insiders (10x04), Threads (8x18) for Jacob, uhh Dominion (10x19) I guess but not really.
Disclaimer: Own my plot, that's it!
Summary: The past will always find you, especially if you have something it wants.
Author's Note: Posting this one before BF10, sorry everyone, I have 8 pages of it down but I've somehow convinced myself that it's all crap and it will completely sink my story…so I'm gonna have to go over that again. Hope you like this chapter, it was a pain in the ass to write!
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Chapter 3: Deprivation
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"Because we're the ones responsible for releasing Qetesh." Jacob said in his most apologetic tone. The remains of SG-1 sat speechless with dismay.
"You let the snake go?" Cam asked incredulously.
"How did you even get her? We were under the impression that Qetesh was dead." Sam asked, her mind racing with horrible possibilities "I mean, obviously she's not unless it's another Goa'uld impersonating her…"
She looked to her father with hope but he shook his head.
"She's the real deal." he said taking a deep breath. "I spoke to the Tok'ra who removed Qetesh from her last host."
"ValaMalDoran." Teal'c interrupted gravely.
"Right, Vala." Jacob corrected himself "Apparently, the symbiote removal process was in its infancy ten years ago and after inciting the rebellion on Qetesh's planet, the top Tok'ra specialists on the program requested they return to the planet to try to fine tune it."
"Fine tune? How?" Cam asked.
"They wanted a live subject." Sam said revolted and they all caught Jacob's wince.
"Okay, not exactly how I would have put it." he defended the Tok'ra even though he took objection with their methods himself. "Look, the way they saw it, Qetesh and her host were going to be tortured as soon as the rebelling people found them and the Tok'ra scientists figured the host would most likely prefer a small chance at freedom then certain persecution at the hand of angry villagers."
The table was quiet as they processed the argument, General Landry had many words but he'd spoken them all yesterday when he'd been informed about this. Jacob continued quickly.
"And besides, it worked; Vala was freed and Qetesh was locked away." he reasoned.
"Why imprison the symbiote? Why did you not dispose of it immediately?" Teal'c asked markedly.
"Yeah, I wondered about that myself." Jacob said "It turns out that we have, rather we had a small hoard of symbiotes stashed away. They were held aside while we tried to adapt the memory recall technology for the symbiote brain. When Vala refused to provide us with intel, keeping Qetesh became necessary."
"Why would she have refused to cooperate? Especially after you'd freed her from Qetesh?" Sam posed skeptically.
"The way they talk about it you'd think Vala was being an ingrate," Jacob sighed, thinking of how asinine Selmak's people could be "but I think that she was being pressured into using the memory recall device to dredge up Qetesh's memories when she'd only just been freed. Now I haven't seen any myself, but Selmak remembers his encounters with a few freed hosts; they were traumatized for a really long time. The Tok'ra should have known that no one coming out of that situation would willingly live through it again only days after the fact."
"The Tok'ra are often blinded by ambition." Teal'c accused. Jacob couldn't argue that but Selmak has something to say. Their eyes glowed for a moment, indicating the transfer of control before Selmak addressed them.
"Some of my people might not have seen the wrong in their actions but I would like to apologize on the behalf of the majority who do. Had one of us been present, events would have unfolded much differently." No one spoke but the level of tension that had accumulated in the room seemed to lessen.
"Interestingly, though not surprisingly, a great number of those who saw no fault in the events of Vala's symbiote extraction have been revealed as defectors. It is they who turn to the ways of the Goa'uld now and it is they who have liberated the captive symbiotes. That is how we are responsible for Qetesh's escape and we are very sorry that she has retaken Vala Mal Doran as host and taken Dr. Jackson as prisoner."
"Thanks." Cam offered graciously after a while.
Selmak's head bowed and his eyes glowed signaling the return of control to Jacob.
"So let's start thinking outside the box, people. We need a plan to find our people." General Landry spoke finally. The few members of SG-1 looked at him with surprise.
"I thought you said there was no way we'd be allowed to actively search for them." Cam asked delicately.
"I said there was no way the IOA would allow us to search actively without any leads. Now, we might not have any leads but we're good with ideas. We'll contact our allies, we'll use our ships' sensors but we need more. Your upcoming missions concerning the Ori have been reassigned to other teams so get to work, we aren't leaving our own in the hands of the enemy no matter what the Goa'uld or the IOA say." General Landry ordered.
Cam's lip twitched.
"It sounds like you're dumpin' those two in the same bucket, sir." he said cautiously.
There was an obvious twinkle in the General's eye though his face remained innocently slack.
"Does it?" he replied casually and they all smirked "Alright, get to work, people."
They left the briefing room with renewed hope and enthusiasm.
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"There, I left him alone, satisfied?" Qetesh asked the air as she left Daniel's cell.
I'll only be satisfied when I see your charred body roasting on a nice fire.
Qetesh sighed. This host hadn't been half as difficult to control the last time she'd inhabited it.
Yes well, there are things out there tougher than you and I've beat them. It's only a matter of time now.
"I wonder how defiant you would be, sweet one, if I were to eliminate the support." Qetesh asked scornfully.
You know I'd never let you touch him.
"Listen to me, human, I am your master! You do not control me, I control you." Qetesh roared in the empty corridor. "And one afternoon with my Lord will make you understand that."
Vala stayed silent and that suited Qetesh just fine.
"That's alright, sweet one, you really should save your strength for your God, he so does cherish your resistance." she bit sweetly before becoming silent when she reached her Jaffa guards. She walked past them regally and they followed her without question.
Vala wanted to curl up into a ball and weep until the world faded but she really wanted to scream and pound her fists against anything in reach. She couldn't though, she couldn't speak, she couldn't touch, she couldn't move. She was helpless to participate in whatever Qetesh wanted. All she could do was watch as the Goa'uld revealed her deepest secrets and used them against her friends, against Daniel. She interfered when she had to but that sapped a lot of her strength.
As it was, it was taking a lot of effort to hide her feelings of rage and misery from Qetesh but keeping her feelings of defiance and hope was taking most of her concentration. She was determined to shield her thoughts and emotions from the Goa'uld until the right time. She was already berating herself for letting Qetesh know she could influence her actions by stopping her from using the ribbon device on Daniel. She'd never regret saving him but she'd been hoping to keep that little factoid a secret for the time being. The element of surprise would have been useful later.
She took the symbiote's advice now, she conserved her strength because she had only one plan and she'd need every reserve of power she had to make it happen.
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Daniel was fighting the urge to give into his overwhelming hopelessness.
Qetesh had left his cell hours ago and images of what Vala might be going through had tortured him nearly into madness before he forcefully pushed those thoughts away and tried to concentrate on something else…like the accusations Qetesh had lain against him.
"No, darling, I simply felt a strong desire to understand the man who'd managed to wound my favourite host as deeply as I have."
He couldn't get over those words. He knew he hadn't always been the most patient or congenial of friends to Vala but to actually rank him near the level of emotional and mental abuse Qetesh had undoubtedly caused? The very idea was ludicrous, wasn't it? He wasn't by any means a saint but he'd never intentionally hurt anyone, especially not his friends, especially not Vala.
She'd come to mean so much to him and for the life of him he had no idea how. It seemed like an eternity had passed since the day she reappeared on their doorstep with the Ancient tablet and bonded herself to him with the Kor Mak bracelets thereby keeping him from Atlantis. That's all she'd been back then, a roadblock on the road to Atlantis. He hadn't seen her at all, hadn't cared, he'd looked past her to the Ancient stores of knowledge Atlantis held.
Then he'd lost her at the Ori beachhead and the emptiness and heartache he'd felt was much more potent than anything the effects of the Kor Mak bracelets were capable of creating. He had returned to his work, determined to defeat the Ori and find a way to reach her, make sure she was alright. He realized how little notice and attention he'd granted her during that time; he had trouble remembering which magazines she liked or the other people she'd met when he shooed her away. But he remembered how keenly he had always been aware of her presence, what it felt like to have her near…and he'd missed that.
Daniel sat back on his bench with a sigh. The more he picked apart the last two years, the more he hated himself. He'd been an ass when she was present, repentant when she was gone and an emotional rollercoaster when they'd found her again, or rather, when she'd found them again.
Maybe if Adria hadn't been in the picture, he might not have reacted like he did. Not that he associated Adria and Vala past the relationship of daughter and mother, there was a clear distinction between what they represented to him. It wasn't even Adria's connection to the Ori that bothered him but her how she was a link between Vala and Tomin. The thought that Adria united them, no matter how uninvolved in her creation Tomin might have been, made Daniel very uneasy.
But that wasn't the half of it, was it? If he was completely honest with himself, he could see that whenever the universe conspired to take her away from him, he pushed her away.
He'd been a jerk every time she'd used elements of her space pirating past to help them because they were a reminder that she had another life she was good at and could return to at anytime. He'd been almost caustic when they came into contact with Adria or Tomin because they were a family she was welcomed to return to and settle down with…evil family but family nonetheless. He hadn't been an ass when her father came to stay on Earth though, maybe because he knew what it was like to not have parents and he sympathized, or maybe because she'd expressed such dislike for him that he didn't pose a threat.
Daniel slumped himself on the bench and let his head fall against the wall behind him. This was great, he'd finally figured out why he acted so horribly with her and she was in no position to celebrate with him.
"I feel very confident in informing you that there was a vast emptiness within her, a great hole in her that you kept digging at. Everyday it got wider, and wider, and wider."
He'd played dumb when Qetesh had spoken to him about Vala's feelings but he was far from ignorant.
Holding her in his arms after the weeks of agonizing separation when Athena had kidnapped her from their 'non-date' had released a flood of emotions in him that hit him like a Mack truck…much like Vala's mere presence.
He vividly remembered the feel of her pressed again him, probably because he'd replayed the scene thousands of time in his head since. He could recall how confused and scared she had been and how relieved and overjoyed he had been to just be able to touch her again after fearing the worst for so long. And, of course, he now remembered what happened after the hug and after she'd gotten her memories back…he'd pushed her away with twice the callousness when they tried to rescue their people on the Odyssey.
Why had he been an ass then? He knew the answer to that one as well. It was because Vala had taken them to meet the man who'd essentially saved her when she'd lost her memories: Sol, the diner owner. He'd been a cheerful man and he and Vala got along together famously. She'd built a life alongside this man without a clue of who she was or where she came from in the span of six weeks. It was another testament to her resilience and he'd been so proud of her but it was another unwelcome reminder of how little she needed him.
God damn but he was a jackass, to her at least.
He wanted to tell her he was sorry. He wanted to talk to her, he wanted to kiss her, he wanted to hold her and never let her go, not for anything or anyone. And now that he'd figured that all out, he couldn't.
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The Next Day
Sam knocked on General Landry's door.
"Come in, Colonel." he replied.
"Sir, my father and I have run through some calculations and we think we can boost our ships' scanning range by 22." Sam said, handing him the report.
"Good work, Colonel." he said as he flipped through the pages of calculations. "You can see to the modifications yourself if you'd like."
"Yes, sir, I would." Sam nodded.
"And how are-"
The General's question was cut off by Sgt. Harriman's base-wide warning.
"UNSCHEDULED OFF-WORLD ACTIVITY!"
Both Sam and General Landry reached the control room just in time to see the iris slide shut. Jacob, Teal'c and Cameron showed up moments later.
"What's going on?" Cam asked and Sam shrugged.
"Alpha Site's IDC just came through, sir." Walter informed the General. "They say they're sending Dr. Jackson through."
"Open the iris, Sgt." he ordered as they all went for the stairs.
"Yes, sir."
They watched as the metal retracted into the sides of the stargate and kept their eyes on the event horizon for incoming travelers. A few moments later, a very familiar figured stepped through the blue pool and they all rushed to greet him.
"Daniel!" Sam said, hugging her friend.
He looked grim and his normally clear blue eyes were darkened by anxiety but he didn't seem harmed.
"Jackson, you alright? What happened?" Cameron said when Sam stepped back.
Daniel looked around in confusion, he was still trying to piece together his escape, he wasn't sure what to tell them. Actually he knew exactly how he escaped, it just killed him to think about it.
"Vala got me out." he told Cameron.
"She's no longer a host? Where is she?" General Landry questioned him and Daniel was startled by his voice, he hadn't noticed the crowd.
"No, she's still a host. And she's still on Ba'al's mothership." he told them quietly, going over the rushed scenes in his mind.
"How then could ValaMalDoran have aided you in escaping the ha'tak?" Teal'c asked him.
Daniel was silent for a moment before looking up at their concerned faces with anguished eyes.
"She fought."
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--An hour ago on Ba'al's mothership--
Don't you dare touch a hair on his head!
Qetesh's host was begging for the other human's life but she wasn't listening.
"You should of thought of your sweet Daniel before you disgraced me before our Lord." Qetesh snarled.
Qetesh and Ba'al had ensconced themselves in his chambers for a round of fun when she had suddenly lost control over the body and her host had used her Goa'uld enhanced strength to knock Ba'al unconscious. Qetesh had regained control over her twice-stolen body, thrown on a robe and decided to put an end to this insolence before her Lord regained consciousness.
She stormed through the halls of the ha'tak alone to reach Daniel's cell. Her guards had been dismissed when she'd entered Ba'al's chambers and she hadn't taken the time to call on them again. No matter, it didn't take a Jaffa to kill a human. The ribbon device was back on her left hand and it itched to be activated in the presence of her overwhelming rage.
You will not hurt him!
"Try and stop me, sweet one, just try." Qetesh sneered coldly as she reached her prisoner.
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--Still an hour ago, Daniel's cell--
Daniel had adjourned his deep thinking from yesterday and had begun planning possible escapes. When every idea on his list turned out to be impossible, he'd given in to sleep. He had hoped to dream of better times but his unconscious mind had been barren. He had awoken that morning when a guard brought him breakfast and he'd since been thinking of how things would be different when Vala was freed.
He was off in another such fantasy when his cell door opened suddenly. He opened his eyes to see Qetesh rushing in with a look of fury on her face. Oh this couldn't be good.
"What do you want?" he asked menacingly.
"Your death, darling, that's all." she gave him a sugary-sweet smile and lifted the active ribbon device to his forehead.
His last hope was that he might see Vala again like he'd seen Sha're before he died.
But like yesterday, nothing happened.
Qetesh looked bewildered, and with good reason. Vala shed her mental barriers and used her every bit of her strength to take over. Qetesh looked on helplessly as her right hand ripped the ribbon device off its partner and chucked it across the cell. Then the hand lifted to her neck for the key to Daniel's manacles.
"You can't hold this concentration forever!" Daniel heard Qetesh growl and understood what was going on.
"You can't control her, can you?" he taunted her joyfully and she turned her glare onto him as her body betrayed her. He took the key from Vala's open hand and unlocked his cuffs, he then stood up and checked the hallway for any guards.
"Come on, there's no one out here." he beckoned her.
"She cannot control this body to its full capabilities, she doesn't have the strength." she spat at him, frozen on the spot like a statue. He walked back to her with confidence.
"Vala has a hell of a lot more strength and determination than you can imagine." he assured the snake. Her eyes glowed brightly for a moment and Daniel was afraid Vala had lost control but her face was stone as she reached for his hand.
"Vala?" he questioned hopefully but received no answer.
She closed her fingers around his and pulled him out of the cell. Maybe Qetesh had been right, Vala could only command certain parts of herself at a time. Well he was definitely willing to compromise; she would return to Earth with him and they'd get that damn snake out of her and then she'd have possession of her every faculty again.
They walked quickly through the corridors, Daniel's eyes and ears staying alert for any Jaffa, and finally reached the set of rings. Daniel sped eagerly towards it but was yanked back as Vala stopped in her tracks without warning.
"Vala, what's wrong?" he asked, glancing around quickly for any signs of the enemy. Her face scrunched up and she gasped horribly for a few moments before calming. Her hand tightened painfully around his but he didn't let go.
"Vala?"
"We're in orbit around Nemer, it's an under-developed planet. There are some Jaffa but the gate shouldn't be guarded, they're raiding the village." her normally smoky voice told him haltingly and he beamed elatedly.
"Vala." he breathed, raising a hand up to her cheek. His heart thumped wildly as she leaned into it with closed eyes.
"Go." she said, her eyes springing open. She left him to activate the rings' crystal controls.
"What do you mean 'go'? You're coming with me." His tone was solid and left no room for argument. "She can take control again, I don't care, I'll knock her out and carry you back to Earth."
With her back still turned to him, she remained silent. She wanted to accompany him but beating Qetesh back was taking a lot out of her and she felt it could be only seconds before the Goa'uld took over again.
"Vala, did you hear me? I'm not leaving you on this ship. We both go or we both stay." he promised her sincerely as he approached her. She'd finished tinkering with the crystals and was now facing the wall with tightly closed eyes. He pulled on her shoulder to turn her around and saw her twitch. Qetesh was demanding obedience.
"Daniel," Vala said softly, looking up at him with urgent eyes "in case I don't get another chance…" She reached up and took his lips with hers and all rational thought left him. She reached up to hold him to her and he pulled her tightly against him in response, ravaging her mouth with all the passion he'd accumulated unconsciously over the last couple of years. She moaned with pleasure at the heat between them and he was jolted back into awareness. He broke the kiss with a smile, leaning his forehead against hers as they both tried to catch their breath.
"We have to go." he said and she nodded. They went to the panel to activate the short-length timer and turned to take their position within the rings. Before they reached it though, Vala's body lurched and stiffened.
"Vala?" Daniel voiced edgily.
Her wide eyes stare at him with fear. He reached for her arm to pull her into the center of the rings but her eyes turned furious and she punched him. He stumbled back and she followed him. Her expression was changing like a flickering lightbulb; Vala's face was fearful and Qetesh's was infuriated. Qetesh reached him in a few steps but Vala won back control for the last few critical seconds. She placed her hands on his chest and shoved him back roughly. He fell to the ground, confusion marring his face and her eyes lost their warmth again.
"NO!" Qetesh's voice thundered.
Daniel remained completely bewildered on the floor until the panels around him lit up and he was surrounded by the ships' rings.
"No, Vala!" he screamed helplessly as he was quickly delivered to the planet's surface, alone.
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Please review, I got lots of awesome reviews for the last chapter and it made this one happen so much faster!! BF 9 got some reviews and BF10 is uninspired and having a hard time getting written…-Sigh- I should go work on it now...