"Thank you for your assistance, Teal'c."
Once again, Princess Leia Organa had to look up as she spoke to the big warrior.
Teal'c responded with a slight bow. "You are most welcome, Princess Leia. It is good to see that you are well."
As befit her role as ambassador, the princess bowed in return. She also responded in a diplomatic fashion.
"And you as well, Teal'c."
"That you are well as well," Vala Mal Doran said with her customary big smile.
Leia smiled, not as broadly as Vala, of course. More like the way she smiled at the awards ceremony for Luke and Han when R2-D2 made a lot of noise and rocked back and forth.
Though she smiled for a while, Leia then made a face.
"I feel like we've done this before."
"I also feel that, Princess Leia."
While Luke Skywalker joined Leia in a look of confusion, Daniel Jackson wore a more serious studious look.
"We do this every day," he said with a very Daniel-like matter-of-fact quality.
"Yes, I know, Daniel, but…." Leia looked puzzled and concerned, similar to the way she looked when the second Death Star blew up and she sensed Luke was still alive.
"I know what you mean," Vala said. 'I may not have your Force-thingy. But it does seem like things are repeating."
"You are attuned to the Force in your own way, Vala. Just like Han or Sam or Colonel O'Neill."
"I've got the Force, do I?"
"Yes, Colonel O'Neill. And so does Vala. Neither of you has to be a Jedi."
"Good to know, Luke. I was afraid it might be something left over from when I was Qetesh."
Luke gave her a serious and sympathetic look. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Vala. It must have been tough being taken over by a Goa-uld. I'm sorry about any guilt you might feel about your past. You and Teal'c both."
As Teal'c gave a slight bow, Luke could see Vala was trying to hide what she felt, as she often did. Just like Han: all gruff bravado and jokes on the outside. A lot more on the inside. With Vala, Luke sensed her struggle, the way she really cared.
Naturally, she changed the subject.
"What about you, Luke? Are you also getting the sense that things are repeating?"
"I am."
As the Star-Child watched the events with the Rebels and SG-1, he was able to, at times, sense the thoughts of some of the participants.
That Luke, Vala thought. Always so succinct. So matter-of-fact. So businesslike. So buttoned up. Even thought that black Jedi outfit of his has no buttons.
With a serious look, Vala looked around. "Things are definitely repeating."
"Teal'c and I felt that way all that time we were in that time loop," O'Neill said in his own kind of matter-of-fact way.
If Vala had the kind of rationality possessed by the team's science officer, she might have asked, "Do you think that's what's happening now? A time loop?" Instead, she asked, "Did Teal'c kiss anyone in the time loop?"
"That is classified."
"So! You did kiss someone."
"Can we get off that subject?" O'Neill said. "I don't think it's anybody's business who kissed who in a time loop."
"Was it me?" Vala asked. "Did Teal'c kiss me?"
"Or me perhaps?" Leia asked with a sly look in which she shifted her eyebrows as she grinned.
Vala was surprised. Like Luke, Leia could be very buttoned down. It was rare to see her so playful and impish. Impish? Was that the right word?
Vala looked at Han Solo. It was hard to tell if his smile was bemused, wry or rueful. With Han, you couldn't always tell.
"What's going on, Leia? You got some kind of secret thing for Teal'c?"
"Who doesn't?" O'Neill quipped.
"Is that so surprising?" Vala asked with an impish grin of her own.
Leia gave Han a wry smile as her brown eyes widened slightly.
"Don't tell me the ever-so-confident swaggering Han Solo is jealous."
"Of course not," Han said.
"Han is too swaggering and confident for that," O'Neill insisted. "In fact, I would say Han is so confident that he's a swaggering tin-plated dictator with delusions of godhood."
"I wouldn't go that far," Han said.
Vala blinked in surprise. Where did Colonel O'Neill get that?
The Star-Child chuckled. It was fun having O'Neill say that. Now, what could he have Daniel say?
"Han has a confidence bordering on self-aggrandizing narcissism." After he said this, Daniel made a face.
Naturally, the confident Han Solo took it all in stride.
"I try."
"You succeed," O'Neill said.
"We all do," Daniel insisted.
"Thank you for your input, colonel. And you, too, Daniel," Leia said with a saucy grin.
"Yeah, Thanks, guys," Han said in his kind of confident mumbling way. "But it's okay."
As the princess raised an inquiring eyebrow, her rogue husband looked demure as he mumbled his clarification.
"I'm not jealous of Teal'c. I'm not."
"He's a big help to us."
"Of course he is."
"As are you, Han Solo."
"Thanks, Teal'c."
"Nice to hear," O'Neill said.
The chubby-cheeked princess grinned as she folded her arms.
"Methinks thou dost protest too much, general."
"Oh?" Han said, raising playful eyebrows. "You thinkest that, dost thou, Leia? Well, let me tell thee something." He pointed to himself, in the chest, as he often did. "I don't need to be jealous of Teal'c. I can take him."
"Whoa!" O'Neill objected.
"'Whoa' is right," Vala said.
Chewie growled his skepticism, nay, outrage.
Han shot his Wookiee partner a look. "What? You don't think I could?"
As Chewie shook his head and grunted, a murmur went up from the group with Daniel and Luke looking off.
"Don't go there, Han."
"Yeah. I'm with Daniel on this, Han. Don't go there."
Vala waved a discouraging hand. "Believe me, Han, you don't want to do that."
"Sure I do."
"I'd rethink that," Daniel said in his usual mild tone.
"What Daniel said," O'Neill said, jerking a thumb toward his friend. "Teal'c may seem like a pussycat but he's tougher than an Ewok."
"I appreciate your confidence in me, O'Neill. Though I would say I resemble neither a pussycat nor an Ewok."
"That goes without saying, T."
"Nevertheless, I have said it."
"Yes, you have."
"I am also prepared to do battle with Han Solo or anyone else."
"There! See? Right there. Don't mess with Teal'c."
"I believe the point has been sufficiently made O'Neill. We shall speak of it no more."
"Right you are, T.!"
Han threw his hands up. "Okay, I'm sold. You know what? I'll stick to smuggling and fighting the Empire and going after the Goa'uld!"
"Good plan!" Vala said with a broad smile as she shook a congratulatory fist.
"Yes, good idea, General," Leia said. Vala noted her voice was light and playful.
"As we fight together, Han Solo, we shall be victorious."
"Can't argue there, Teal'c," Han said as they shook hands.
"Sounds good to me," O'Neill said.
Teal'c raised his staff weapon. "Let us vow that we will not fight each other in any way."
Various responses went up from the group. Vala saw the loudest was a roar by Chewie as he raised his crossbow-thing.
"Never argue with Teal'c," O'Neill said. "He's got a mind like a steel trap."
"I do not believe my mind functions like such a contraption, O'Neill. I believe your description to be more fitting for See-Threepio or Artoo-Detoo."
"Like Daniel says, Teal'c is so deep you wouldn't believe it."
As Leia said this, Vala thought that her brown eyes danced or twinkled just a little bit.
That Leia. She seemed all serious diplomat/ambassador/warrior-princess. (Wouldn't that make a great TV show?) But there she was with her fun playful impish side again.
"My depth is immaterial," Teal'c stated stoically with an equally stoic look.
"Can we talk about something else?" Han asked.
That was when the team's science officer arrived.
Navigating her way through the bazaars of Naboo (where, oddly, she had to dodge Jawas and Ewoks in addition to Gungin), Major Samantha Carter approached. She was moving with a sense of urgency, and Vala saw she had a very serious look on her face. Maybe not like Luke's serious Jedi face or Daniel's serious-but-confused-yet-thoughtful Jedi face. No, this was Sam-in-her-own-way-serious. And if Sam was serious about something, it was likely very big.
The colonel must have seen it, too.
"What's the situation, Carter?" O'Neill asked.
"Judging from the look on your face, it looks serious, Sam," Han said in his own somber and serious voice. His face was quite serious as well, almost droopy in fact.
"Just what I was thinking, Han."
"Nice to know we think alike, Vala."
"I wouldn't go that far."
"You do look pretty serious," O'Neill said. "You're moving like there's a sarlacc right on your six."
"Whoa! Please, Colonel O'Neill. Don't mention sarlaccs." As he spoke in his laughing voice, Lando Calrissian held up both hands. Though he sported a big white smile, he still had discomfort in his brown eyes.
O'Neill made a comical inquiring face, his head drawn back slightly.
"Brings back bad memories for you, does it, Lando?"
"You bet it does!"
Lando spoke with the usual laugh in his voice. Vala thought how Lando always had a laugh in his voice. He could announce that the Furlings were at war with the Ewoks and the Bothans, and he'd still have that laugh in his voice.
Which, as Vala thought about it, would be somewhat insensitive.
As Vala frowned, O'Neill said, "Carter, please tell Lando you aren't being followed by a sarlacc."
"No, sir. In fact, sarlaccs aren't very mobile."
Carter seemed very distracted. Her friends weren't the only ones who noticed.
The Star-Child noticed as well.
Yes, Major Carter was distracted but she was still, as usual, all business. Not only was she holding a portable device but her face said "high alert."
The worried look she had on her face was similar to the one she had when Daniel was trying to shut down the time loop machine. Or when Daniel was locked up in a padded room muttering incoherent nonsense about Ba'al and Darth Vader and Machello.
Carter gave her report.
"Another portal has opened up, sir. We've got another visitor."
In giddy fashion, the Star-Child clapped his chubby pale hands.
"Who is it this time?"
"He's here, sir."
A brown-haired man wore a gold tunic, black pants and a very earnest look on his face.
"Hello. I'm Captain James T. Kirk of the starship 'Enterprise.'"
"