Chapter XXV: The What Of Whom
Like their arrival, leaving the Nox was a subdued event.
Vala spoke gentle good-byes to Lya and her family, receiving a hug from each. Daniel couldn't help but notice just how she appeared to be leaving her home again. The thought has occurred to him days before: this was Vala's family, in a way he and the crew could never hope to be, and he found it ironic it was only now that he felt the importance of her bringing them — him — here. When Lya granted him his own hug, he hugged back feeling even more humbled in her presence than he had before. Her smile afterwards lighten his heart in a way similar to how he had felt after Kafu had welcomed him to Desu family. The rest of the crew also expressed their thanks for the refugee they were allowed on the planet; the few that had spent time with the family on the occasions they had come to visit Vala and make sure that the crew had all they required also exchanged private farewells with Lya and the rest. Those farewells consisting mainly of Caro, Dr. Lee, Cameron, Teal'c and Evans, they did not take long. Lya also exchange a small farewell with Jack, in which she took the man's head and pressed a motherly kiss on his forehead. Being shocked at the action Jack didn't do anything but quietly accept the gesture and step back, nodding his gratitude for the safe harbour Lya and her people had provided them.
Pilar appeared nowhere to be seen, that is until they were just about to head inside the ship and the woman was there, standing on the platform, body leading against the entrance. Daniel thought she looked otherworldly as the warm Elysian sun played with her green skin. Her body half in the shadow of the ship, her skin tone shining. Two sides, two faces, like Janus, seeing time. Past and future.
Daniel wondered which she was seeing now.
"Didn't think I'd leave without a proper good-bye did you?" She walked over engulfing Vala into a strong hug. "Take care, princess." — "Hey, that's what I call her," came from Cameron making both women smile. — She kissed both of Vala's cheek in a sisterly fashion, "and remember, I'm always here if you need help. You know how to call. Even if you don't."
Turning to Teal'c she granted him a smile, "And Teal'c make sure she stays safe."
Vala chuckled and Teal'c nodded, saying his own farewell. Then there was then a silent exchange that happened between red and silver eyes once again, and Pilar engulfed Vala in a second hug. "I mean, be careful." With a smile, Pilar then turned to the rest of the crew still on the platform and went straight to Sam enveloping the other woman in a tight hug as well. "Samantha, I've never worked with someone with such natural skill. It's been my pleasure." She smiled, also granting the twin kisses on Sam's cheek.
"Mine too. Thank you so much for everything you've helped us with." Sam smiled.
"It was the least I could do." Pilar extended, lips curling a bit before turning to Jack. "Captain, I can honestly say it's been a interesting experience."
"Back at ya." Jack held out his hand. A clear sign that he had liked the woman more than he let on.
Pilar looked at the man, and the hand, for a second before grasping and shaking it. "I hope if we ever meet again it will be under better circumstances."
Jack's eyebrow quirked, "Don't you know?"
She smiled her shark grin. "Yes, but you don't."
The sound that escaped Jack was something between a laugh and a huff. "Yeah, I'm not hoping it's anytime soon then." He nodded and continued into the ship, Sam and Cameron trailing, the latter of the two sending Pilar a wave.
"It's been real," his friendly good-bye accompanied by a smile.
"He's a doll." Pilar commented, finally settling her eyes on Daniel and Vala again. Teal'c stood at Vala's other side, protective. "Now, you two. I don't think you need me to tell you that you're looking to battle someone that many have tried to stop before and failed at. What I am telling you that you need to stick by each other. It's the only way that you'll make it out this like you went in."
"Tired and cynical?" Daniel quipped, not liking the look in Pilar's eyes.
"Alive." She corrected, the word stiffening Daniel's spine, and with that she moved off the ramp, one last wave to them. When she turned her back to walk away, Daniel faced Vala, her lips set in grim determination.
"We'll be okay," he wrapped his arm around her waist guiding them back towards the bridge, Teal'c walking a few steps in front of them.
Vala met his eyes and he knew she didn't believe him either.
x
Back in space nothing seemed different to how they had been almost three weeks ago when they arrived to Elysia battered, tired and on the last inches of hope in stopping Anubis.
Now they just clung to the hope that they were closer to stopping Anubis than they had been fore. According to Daniel and Vala they were, the ship already heading to the co-ordinates that Daniel had presented Walter last week.
Vegonbrie was only about four days away and that was if they didn't encounter any trouble on the way. Or there.
Jack didn't think their odds were that good. Sitting back in his chair, he couldn't help think that despite his ship running as smoothly as it had in ages, well, that the proverbial shit was to hit the fan.
He was right.
x
Elizabeth was fielding what seemed like calls from almost every branch of every government in Lantea. It had just come on the network that Anubis had taken over Osiris' fleet. This meant two things: Osiris was gone and their luck was slowly running out.
In talks with their planetary allies, she knew that she could only count on less than half if it came to battle over Lantea and Anubis. Already half of their allies were either preparing for their own battles as the remnants of the System Lords became more brutal with each passing day trying to survive themselves in the galaxy. The others were either depleted in forces, much like Lantea was becoming, or they just couldn't fight anymore. Elizabeth hated to admit it, but in their fight to protect themselves against Anubis, they were all failing and with Athos attacked, a planet part of the Protected Planets Accord, all bets were off on every other planet on that list too.
"Elizabeth." She heard from across the room and looked up to see Peter at the door, his face reflecting a weariness she knew was on her own.
'Yes, Peter?"
"General Hammond is here to see you."
Elizabeth nodded, "Thank you, Peter. Please send him in." While Peter went to show General Hammond in, Elizabeth did a quick study of her desk and tidied the piles of papers that seemed to exploded on it. Hearing the door open this time, Elizabeth stood, smoothing the faint wrinkles her pant-suit had acquired in the last 20 hours.
"General Hammond, please, come in." She smiled, extending her hand at the man.
"Dr. Weir." He smiled pleasantly.
She offered him a chair and moved back to behind her desk. "Elizabeth, please. I think we've know each other long enough."
"Then I would insist you call me George, Elizabeth." Elizabeth nodded, but like in every other conversation she had with the man due to his long friendship with her parents and Jacob Carter, she couldn't help but refer to him by his title.
"I think we've had this conversation before." She teased back.
"We have." He let the light-hearted moment hang in the air for a moment before sighing and Elizabeth felt the shift in room as much as she was sure Gen. Hammond had intended.
"I take it you don't have good news?" She pressed, lips quirking sadly.
"I'm afraid not, Elizabeth. I've just heard from my Jaffa contacts. The word among the few spies they still have in the Goa'uld is that Anubis is making his way to Dakarra."
Elizabeth drew in a sharp breath, "So the secret of the rebellion is out."
"That's not all." Hammond stepped forward his General's hat, clutched tightly in hand. "It looks like after Daraka, Anubis seems intent of making his way to Lantea."
"Gods."
"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Elizabeth, I think we need to be preparing Lantea for war. And sooner than anyone of us liked."
"I'll need to make a call to the President and heads of Parliament. I might need you to stay a while."
Hammond only nodded. "I'm here for as long you need me."
Elizabeth was already calling Peter, telling him to set up the proper calls, but she met his eyes and whispered a thanks.
x
It was nightfall when the Prometheus came out of hyperspace above the desired co-ordinates on the planet of Vegonbrei, and down on the planet the sun was just finishing setting over the mountain range where Daniel and Vala had figured out the temple-fortress of Orlin to be. Alternately, for the ship it had just turned into 1500 hours and Vala was sitting in Daniel's office when Walter's voice came over the new and improved intercom system to announce their dropping out of hyperspace.
She was alone in the office, restlessly sitting on Daniel's chair, finishing his coffee and she couldn't help feel a sense of dread over come her. For the last few night she had been having dreams— dreams that were making it hard for her to feel any relief about what she and Daniel were hopefully about to uncover. Unfortunately she also had the distinct impression that her dreams were anything but. Her and Daniel's memories of their time ascended were brief and fuzzy at best. It had only been that first morning where she they had laid sharply in her mind's eyes, but then they had been too busy and worried about getting to Athos on time that neither had dwelt on them much. There hadn't been any time. Now, she wished they had remembered more, or at the very least that her dreams didn't leave her short of breath and with a speeding pulse when she awoke.
Sighing, she wondered why she hadn't spoken to anyone about them yet. She had a ship full of people that she knew would listen to her. She had an empath living one level down, a best friend who had spent the last five years travelling the galaxy with her, and a man she was more and more sure each day she was in love with in her bed with her every night, but every time she thought she had gathered the courage to speak to one of them something inside her would freeze up and she would smile and speak on something else. It was something inside her stopping her, she was sure. A fear she had that wasn't fully manifesting but had enough of a survival instinct to stay hidden.
This was what worried her the most. She was stopping herself from confiding in the people she cared for and she was sure that it was her own choice. Vala just wasn't sure why and that was scaring her the most.
Until this quest that Oma sent her on had begun, this feeling of being unsure was something that had been alien to Vala. Before she had always know her motivation for things: survival and money when she could get it. She had known why she was she did what she did: to make it to the next day. Everything now had taken a meaning greater than she had ever expected, there were people that were expecting so much more than she was used to giving.
As Walter's voice drifted from her ears Vala fingered the rim of Daniel's mug and stood, they'd still had to have brief meeting before they went down to the planet and she was sure that Jack's list was going to consist of a few more don't, but first she needed a shower.
Walking to hers and Daniel's quarter, she met with her partner just at corner to their room.
"Hey," Daniel brushed his hand across her waist, his hand finding home on her small of her back. "Jack wants a small debrief in thirty minutes."
Vala nodded, "I figured as much. I thought I'd hop in for a quick shower before that."
"Great minds." He waved his other hand in front of the sensors, opening the doors to the room. "Want to some company?"
"Always, darling." Vala leaned across the small space between them and pressed a smile to his lips.
x
"Now, I don't anyone to die this time around. Any levels of death." Jack ordered, eyeing the group.
"Noted. Jackson, Princess, pay attention." Cam smirked as Jack rattled of his List of Off-Ship Behaviour.
Jack gave Cam a look and promptly Cam closed his lips. "Also, I would also appreciate no injuries. And I'm sure Caro would agree with me there."
"Now, Jack, you know the probability of that is ten-to-one, and that's on a friendly planet." Sam added with a grin.
"Sam, I really don't want to hear how the math is against us."
"But, captain, I think it's very nice of Samantha to warn you before hand so you're not surprised when the injuries do occur."
Next to Vala, Daniel shrugged, "By Sam's statistics you should also remove this Don't from the list, it's counterproductive to mention it when you know it will probably occur anyway."
"I too agree with Daniel Jackson's assessment."
Jack glared and sighed at the group, "Oh, you all just think you're so clever, don't you?"
Cam chuckled, "You know you'd miss us if we were gone."
"Some days I wonder."
Grinning widely, Cam saluted, "Any more don'ts, captain?"
"Did I say don't be stupid and die?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then I think we're covered." Jack dismissed them. He let them all leave, only calling Cam back as he reached the door. "Hey, Cam, a second?"
Looking back at Jack, Cam nodded and turned back into Jack's office. "Yeah?"
"Just, watch out for them." This time Cam could see there was no joke in Jack's eyes and his nod of agreement held no teasing.
"You know I will."
x
The Fortress of Orlin was more of a decrepit building than the true military marvel it had been over a millennia ago. The gardens were overrun with gnarly, twisted trees whose moss covered both the tress and building. Their roots poked and bent out of the ground and heavy vines fell down from them. It had high turrets, with twisting stairways and grand arches that once would have been grand architectural feats. Now they were just memories of a once fruitful planet and civilisation.
The now inhabitants of Vegonbrie lived mostly on it's coast, the inner terrain of the planet's singular continent unliveable, the mountains villages long gone due to the fires and salted ground that had ravaged the land during wars long past. The fortress rested in the middle of one of the mountain valleys, forgotten in time, only visited during the rare bouts of teenage courage young boys and girls had. That said, no inhabitants of the planet were even that the Prometheus had slid out of hyperspace and rested in it's orbit as the team beamed down.
They beamed down into the empty courtyard at the entrance of the fortress. The sun was just setting over the valley and it's orange light reflected of the stones of the structure.
As they made their way inside the structure Vala breathed in the stale air that spoke of centuries of abandonment and degradation. In front of her Samantha was scanning the area for life signs and Cameron was already assessing the exit points. Without speaking to anyone she stepped up to the doors in front of their group and just as Daniel asked her what she was doing she pressed her hand to the side of the door and pushed gently, with her hand and mind. It was like her body knew what it was doing, what it was meant to do without her prompting.
Immediately things appeared to come back to life as a light illuminated from where her hand was against the stone wall opened, revealing a crystal interface underneath. The screen stretch out before her and a keypad extended from just under it. Smiling, Vala didn't wait as Daniel and Sam crowed around her before touching the keys.
"What are you looking for?" Sam asked, just over Vala's shoulder as Vala's fingers seems to move on their own accord as they typed.
Vala squinted, her eyes reading over the text, "If I'm remembering my lessons correctly, the Fortress of Orlin was said to be the hiding place of the Sangraal, a very powerful object. I'm hoping that one powerful object will lead us to another."
"Sounds like a plan," Cameron commented as he stepped up behind them.
Vala hummed in agreements, eyes still scanning the screen.
"There! Go back!" Daniel exclaimed next to her as he pointed to a line of text just at the top of the screen. Vala brought it into focus, silently thankful for Daniel's speed reading. The line spoke about a Keeper of the Clava. The Clava Thessara Infinita was a myth of her people. A fool's gold of sorts to tell kids, but like Daniel said every myth, no matter the world has some basis in truth, and this myth in particular spoke of a great treasure hidden in the stars. Vala knew most people thought of treasure in monetary values, kólasi, she did too, but as Tau'ri she also knew that the greatest treasure for her people had been knowledge. And there was only thing one thing that infinite knowledge gave you: Power.
This was their best clue yet.
"Keeper of the Key, that's what it says, right?" Daniel peered at the screen, shoving in front of Vala as he read the rest. "Like Janus back in Sahal. He was the keeper of time, and behind his mural we found the tapestry and Oma."
Vala nodded, "Yes, but no need to guess here. There's only one Clava in Tau'rian history and while it's was believed to be a myth, I don't think we'll be taking any chances today."
"So were are we heading?" Samantha asked as Vala stepped away from the crystal screen, plugging her data pad into the mainframe downloading all the information she could.
Nodding to Teal'c, Vala pointed straight head. "If I'm reading the map right, there's a large circular room in the center of it. Probably held a gate at one point in time. Best place to start."
"Okay," Samantha said, unplugging her data pad, "I've got the layout of this place. Follow me."
Samantha walked ahead, Cameron only a few steps behind her, both of them leading their small part of five. Teal'c didn't follow straight away, pausing at Vala's side.
"Are you all right, Vala Mal Duran?"
She tilted her face up at him and bumped his hip in a friendly manner, "I don't know. We'll see, won't we?"
He nodded and continued forward, but not before bumping her hip back, making Vala smile. With one last look at the entrance Vala moved forward, tugging Daniel, who for a brief second got lost in the architecture of the fortress, along.
The fortress was empty and cold, sunlight streaming through thin cracks that were the windows. If it had been built by her people, which Vala wasn't sure off, it had clearly been a very long time ago. Her people loved the sunlight and the architecture of Tau'ri before it's demises consisted to larger glass windows that spanned walls. As they continued down the hall, following Sam's lead, but Vala couldn't help but feel there was something about this place. It was unlike the anxious excitement she had felt in Castiana, or the nervous butterflies of Sahal, but an overwhelming sense of calm understanding.