Mother-In-Law
Chapter 7
Locked and Loaded
"We have confirmation."
Two hours ago, one of the Jacksons leaned through the interrogation room door, barely poking his head in, completely ignoring Jacek's rant about how in-laws get no respect anymore—stared him dead in the eyes and said while he said every single sentence.
He almost left Jacek behind, before jutting a thumb to the door, and telling him if this panned out, he could leave with his pockets bursting with naquadah in an hour—enough for a normal man to retire. Her father scurried out of the room after him, plating up half-compliments and asking more questions about her, about the baby, which he didn't have the time to answer.
They file into the command center, Harriman rolling back in his chair, allowing full view of the hand-sized CRT television because no one converted the video file to play on one of the computers that they basically just use for PowerPoint presentations.
There's no time.
In it, the MALP zaps to life on an unfamiliar planet. Oxygen levels are reading great, there are trees, and sand, and they appear to be in some sort of courtyard surrounded by buildings the color of gold. There are no traces of poison in the air, nothing detrimental to their health if he was to dial up the gate right now and jump on through—until a guard appears in sight.
Then another.
Then a dozen more.
They open fire in a flash and the video feed turns to static.
"So, they're not friendly." He crosses his arms, staring at the static on the screen scurry around until Harriman rewinds the video stopping when the entire screen is filled with guards.
"Apparently, Anat still has an army." The other Jackson on the far side of Harriman covers his mouth with his palm, doing the same thing all three of them are trying to do—think of how this can work.
"Of course, she still has soldiers." Jacek shakes his head, almost guffawing at their combined stupidity. "Why do you think she's still so strong?"
"The Hammond is reporting that an entire squadron gated through to the abandoned planet we used as a starting point." Harriman's face drops, knowing that it leaves out putting the ship into the space above the planet without it getting attacked, and that anywhere they gate in from becomes open for attack.
"So, you're saying we're screwed?" Jackson huffs from the corner—that must be the original, because two hasn't said a thing this entire time.
"We're always screwed though. Still tries to be optimistic, still plans on holding his newborn in his arms, and kissing his wife again.
"You boys are in over your heads," Jacek chuckles, clapping a hand down on his shoulder and turning to apparently leave. "She even sics those guards on me when I gate in to go to—"
"You gate in, Jacek?" Two perks up before anyone else does, connecting the dots first, and already pacing towards her father.
"Oh, that's—uh—it's a figure of speech," Jacek nods in agreement to this own statement and then makes a beeline for the door.
Only, when he opens it, Teal'c is on the other side.
Despite him and Vala staying on base for over a month while she recovered—and his frequent visits back since—neither of them have seen Teal'c in a while, as he's taken on a new role which is more political than anything—something Landry wanted to use her for too—show Washington that not all aliens want to blow up the planet, that not all of them mean harm.
He never talked about it with her, but from what Landry's told him., she basically just got up and left the room without saying another word.
"Ohhh, you're the big one. I remember you—" Jacek pats Teal'c forearm, expecting him maybe to move, but all he does is arc an eyebrow.
If it's possible Teal'c looks more imposing than he did before. He's buzzed off most of his hair, but his muscles rival the size of Jacek's fat head.
He can't help but flash a small grin, partly for seeing his old friend, but also because he knows now they have some muscle to throw around.
"Look, I've already told you fellas enough. You know where to go, how you get there, the rest of the plan is up to you."
"She's your daughter, Jacek." Jackson scoffs.
"And I keep telling you guys that I have seven other daughters—"
"You said she was your favorite," he reminds with a disgusted expression—she brushed off the compliment when Jacek gave it to her, how it was just more petty, empty talk.
Before Jacek responds, or before Two pops in, trying to convince her dad to not be a coward for once in his life—Teal'c steps up to the plate.
His massive hand falls on Jacek's shoulder, making the man tense and freeze on the spot. "I was ecstatic to hear that Vala Mal Doran was pregnant, and healthy after all her misadventures—however, when I learned that she'd been taken by Anat, who has no shred of conscience or remorse, I became displeased and returned to offer my aid."
"That's very—" Teal'c squeezes Jacek's shoulder, probably a little harder than necessary because of how strained the man's voice gets "—generous of you."
"I assume, as you father, you'll be aiding in constructing a retrieval plan for Vala Mal Doran and your unborn grandchild." Although it's a question, the way that Teal'c speaks, makes it seem like the answer is fairly obvious.
"Well—I—" Jacek doesn't get two words into his sentence as Teal'c glares him down, refusing to let her father tug away his shoulder. "Fine—fine—okay. You boys drive a hard bargain."
"No bargain." He has to hold on to the hope, the one grown in a room, with five men who care about getting Vala back, who care about the safety of their kid, because this is pretty much a kamikaze mission. "We either get her, or we don't come back."
The plan comes together a lot quicker this time around, it's pretty much widespread involving most of the old SG-1 players scattered throughout the world—universe—now.
The Jacksons and Teal'c are going to hitch a ride on The Hammond, captained by Sam. It's gonna make their arrival to Anat's planet a little delayed, giving him and Jacek a day in order to enact their escape plan.
It's dangerous, and stupid, and a Hail Mary play if he's ever seen one, but it's all they have, and that alone is worth risking his life.
What holds them up is the IOA who are still looking into all the risks they're going to be taking in order to rescue one person—one non-Earth native.
It's not just one person, but two.
Thankfully, the Jacksons have a better rebuttal that wiping Anat off the map would put a massive dent into the remaining Goa'uld, which makes them hum and haw a little quicker about it.
He spends the night before the mission sitting in her old room, because his double has staked claim to his old room, which is fine. They've only met once—he honestly can't stand the guy—to divide things that he owned that he didn't want to keep, and things that he did.
Somehow he came out with the jeep and their house, which now has a different door. They're not going to be that useful unless Vala decides she wants to move back to Earth one day.
In return the new him got his title, his accolades, any of the items he wanted from his house, all on the stipulation that he never contact his parents, because it would be confusing to explain why Vala wasn't there or where the baby was.
Knew the guy was a bastard because of how quickly he agreed.
Landry was right when he said that guy really has no heart.
There's no stars or swimsuit model above his bed, but he manages to find one of the notes she wrote him after he forced her away from a bomb and out of those temples. There's a pair of her loungewear shorts that make him laugh because she's never fit into them now, the size of her the last time he saw her—
He wants to cry.
Tries to watch the Late-Night Show, and still only asshole kids are the guests. He has no beer, no want to change into any pajamas, and while he's rifling through his bedside table looking for an aspirin for his thigh, he finds the ultrasound photo Lam gave them and ends up staring at it all night.
But that only gives him motivation for the next day.
Two soldiers walk Jacek in from where he's been secluded in a stately guest room—one that they would use for off-world ambassadors. He's dressed up in his gear, vest, P-90 and all, and Jacek is adorned in one of the outfits he left in that apartment Vala had to clean out after he booked it from Earth.
"Morning," he greets the privates with a nod, only to have them yawn in return. "How many escape attempts did we have last night?"
"I lost count after 11, Sir."
He shakes his head at Jacek, who shrugs and laughs nervously.
"Well, I got him now, you guys go get some sleep."
The gate room begins to swarm. The Jacksons come in to confer with Harriman about the plan, and The Hammond is within ringing distance. Teal'c comes in just because—maybe for unvoiced support, maybe to make sure that her dad actually goes through with the whole thing, because if this doesn't work, logistically, they're screwed.
"I still think this isn't going to work," Jacek mumbles fidgeting beside him, nervous at any SG employee who walks a little too close or speaks a little too loud.
"Not with that attitude." His answer is nonchalant, because he's thinking of all the risks, knowing that once he walks through that gate, they're going to shut it down so no incoming traffic gets through, so that Anat can't gate back here, and go on a rampage.
They're only going to be off-world for a little over a day—his longest mission to date was two weeks.
A day can be forever though.
"I didn't even get breakfast," Jacek whines, almost absently, like it's a defense mechanism in order to take his mind off of having to deal with his wife—ex-wife.
It can't be easy, to see someone you love—or even loved—puppeted by something so evil. Committing acts of violence—atrocities—that break your heart—that would break their hearts—because they can't control it, because there's nothing that can be done to stop it.
He only dealt with Vala as Qetesh for less than ten minutes, and he saw the way her body changed, the way her eyes glazed over and became sullen, empty of the emotion and joy she's always radiating. How her actions became jarred and violent missing the grace she adds to each of her movements.
When her hand was wrapped around his neck, he had the thought that he might have to fight her off, and how to do that when she was pregnant—if he even could—which he knows he can't—if he was going to let himself be killed by her in order to save her and the baby.
All of that in ten minutes.
It must have been how she felt when all the men started going aggressively crazy after chowing down on the anger fruit. Knowing that these were men she trusted—in some cases, men she loved—and not wanting to hurt them but doing so in order to save herself.
He's just glad he had the right mind to send her away before he got violent.
"Is there going to be breakfast, or—"
Jacek plays a good game, all the conning and scheming ingrained in him have made him a great actor. He practices the same subtle emotions she does, not allowing anyone to see how she feels, not when it really counts.
It's been entangled in his life—knowing when her grin is real and when it's just for show. Knowing when she speaks confidently about subjects because she's terrified and can't let the weakness show.
It's something he never takes for granted.
"We're going to get her back, Jacek." Has the confidence now because everything has already gone wrong.
It's been almost a month and Anat has already—they're gone.
In any sense of the word, Vala and the baby are gone—but the words from his mouth don't betray the leader position he still takes for whatever reason, the ability to calm others when his internal monologue is going insane creating fever dream nightmares about what's happened to his wife, stitching in the memory of finding her barely alive in the ruins, of their smoldering farmhouse where he and her were learning to live as a family.
Everything he's loved, destroyed.
"Huh?" Jacek questions as Harriman starts to go through the pre-gating checklist, and personnel start to dwindle from the room.
"I know you're afraid of seeing your ex-wife because of what she is now—I know you're afraid that Vala is going to end up the same way—but I promise you—"
"You don't get to promise me a damn thing." Jacek rolls his shoulders and straightens his back. "You haven't gone there before and seen what I've seen."
Chevron one is called, and for the remainder of the count down, neither of them says a word.