Chapter Ten

"Just. Ask. The. Question!" Vala exclaimed, enunciating each word slowly, getting fed up with Daniel.

"You can't just ask something like that!" Daniel retorted, "Besides, I think that would've been the first thing Dr. Weir would've done when we asked her to before coming here!"

"But what's the harm in trying?" she continued to push, "You can't spare five seconds to ask a simple question?"

They were in the Hologram room within the city while Sam, with the help of McKay, got everything ready to open a wormhole to the Supergate in their galaxy, making it impossible for the Ori, Priors, and their followers from coming with more ships. Daniel was trying to get answers to the three planets, using clever wording and roundabout ways to get the information, but none of it was working and Vala was getting tired of it. In the beginning, she had asked why he simply didn't just ask the question straight out, but he had continued to spout off that it wouldn't work, and her patience was about to run out completely. It wasn't a hard question and would barely take any time to ask.

"It's already been asked," he practically snapped as his patience was also wearing thin, "what makes you think the answer will be different with me?"

Alora fidgeted in Vala's arms and turned her little head towards Vala's chest. Vala looked down and sighed before undoing her black BDU jacket. "Daniel, we've been here forever," she pointed out, "What you've been trying isn't working so why not try something else? It never hurts to ask."

"Vala, what're you doing?" he asked as he watched her unbutton the shirt she was wearing that was not a standard Military issued shirt for the BDUs.

She moved the shirt away and messed with the nursing bra before she shifted Alora closer so she could latch on. "What does it look like, Daniel?" she retorted, "I'm feeding my daughter."

He stared longer than he should've and when he realized it, it was too late, and he was caught. He whipped his head back to the holographic woman in front of them but not before he caught the smirk on Vala's face, and he felt his cheeks heat up. "And you have to do that here?" he asked her, a bit snippy, trying to pretend that he had not been staring.

"Alora has made it pretty clear that we need to be here," she responded in the same tone, "All of us, so grow up and stop acting like this is the first time you've seen a pair of breasts."

He really wished she'd stop pointing it out. He wasn't squeamish or uncomfortable with her breastfeeding in front of him, in fact, it was kinda beautiful to watch, and that was the problem. Since reuniting on that ship, things between were…different than they had been before she had disappeared after destroying the first Supergate. They seemed closer now and he found himself wanting to be around her. They had grown in different ways during their time apart.

He had already noted that Vala had become more mature, something he never thought possible, but it went beyond his first observation. It was most likely due to the fact that she had to survive in enemy territory for the last nine months while carrying the enemy's child that was forced upon her. It wasn't the first time her body had been violated and used against her will and unlike last time, Vala had constant proof of that – it couldn't be easier for her, even more so when she actually came to love the child of the Ori, but at least she had hope that she wouldn't lose her daughter to the Ori, that she could actually keep and raise her.

Daniel had also matured in a similar fashion, but also in a completely different way. Whether he liked it or not, he felt the loss of Vala more keenly than he wanted to admit, and it was something he struggled with over the last nine months. He had intentionally kept himself away from any emotional entanglement that could potentially lead to something beyond friendship, but Vala had somehow snuck past those barriers he had set up. He was now just realizing how far past she had gotten and while he still fought it, he hadn't fought it as hard as he normally did, and he took that as progress. He was becoming more and more drawn to her and while he suspected that Alora played a part, Vala had become more appealing to him, and he wasn't sure what to do about it – fight it more or surrender.

He had a feeling that he was screwed either way and the only question he had to ask himself was if he wanted to be happy like that again or not?

"You could give a guy a warning," he said, still trying to pretend that he hadn't shown too much interest in…that.

Vala rolled her eyes. "Ask," she commanded sternly, "or else I will."

Daniel sighed and relented, knowing she wouldn't stop until he did, and he remembered how incredibly annoying she could be when she wanted to. "Fine," he said tersely and focused on the hologram, "Hello, we're looking for the names of two planets, known on Earth in ancient times in the dialect of old English as Castiana and Sahal. Satisfied?" he asked mockingly to the interface and Vala.

"Taoth Vaclarush and Valos Cor," the image of a woman replied.

Vala stepped to his side and gave him a smug look. "Now I'm satisfied."

Daniel continued to stare at the interface with a peculiar expression on his face, still bewildered that they had actually gotten an answer – it doubled when 'gate addresses popped up.

"See, Daniel, it never hurts to ask," she rubbed it in further.

He didn't reply but instead began to stare at the hologram in front of him.

"Daniel?" she questioned curiously.

"Hmm?" he hummed, still deep in thought..

"We got what we came for," she pointed out.

"I know."

"Shouldn't we be out there, telling someone?"

"Not yet."

Okay, now she was getting concerned. "She told us the names of the planets, complete with addresses, so what exactly are we waiting for?"

"Other than the fact that Alora wanted to be here for a reason?" he retorted, "There's something else going on."

"What?" she asked warily.

"Well, it shouldn't have worked," he said, "I mean, I didn't expect it to when I asked Elizabeth to try, but I thought there'd be at least some remnant, some vague similarity between the words Castiana and Sahal and their Ancient language counterparts."

"She's a hologram, a program," Vala reminded him, "she wouldn't lie."

"I don't know," he said, unconvinced, and looked at her, "But explain this to me: how can this database translate, in real time, a language spoken eight thousand years after the Ancients abandoned Atlantis?"

Vala thought about it and realized he was right. "You may have a point," she conceded.

Daniel focused back on the interface. "Is there a visual record of the Lantian citizens who fled to Earth?"

"There is," the interface projection replied.

"Display them for me," he ordered, "One at a time."

Oh boy, this way was going to take a while. "Settle in, darling," she murmured to Alora.

As she predicted, it did take a while as Daniel searched through all of the Ancient faces, but it wasn't a waste as they came across a familiar face – Moros, aka, Myrdin, aka, Merlin. But Daniel hadn't been done and Merlin wasn't who he had been looking for.

"You chose your words very carefully when you said, 'the first human to set foot in the city,'" he told the stern looking woman, "What about ascended beings?"

"Daniel?" Vala questioned.

He ignored her. "You're not really a hologram, are you?"

The holographic woman's eyes shifted to him. "You have your answer, Daniel Jackson. I suggest you act on it," she told him before disappearing altogether.

"Oh my gods," Vala exclaimed softly.

"Yeah," he agreed before he started shouting at the ceiling, clearly agitated.

Vala sighed and leaned against the console, letting him get his frustration with the ascended beings. "I promise you, darling, he normally isn't this crazy," she muttered to Alora, "at least to my knowledge – it's my first time seeing him shout at the ceiling."

He continued and probably would have for who knows how long if Dr. Weir hadn't come in, looking at him like he was crazy for claiming that Morgan Le Fey was here, she was an ascended being, and had just been pretending to be a holographic projection of the interface. Weir only believed them when they had her play back the last sentence the hologram said and the fact that no power had been used in the holo room since they had started this.

And that was when Morgan Le Fey broke the act she had been portraying.

"Well, since the jig is up," Vala looked to Daniel to see if she had gotten the expression right and smiled when he nodded, "why not stop with the whole mysterious, vague answers, and just skip to telling us what we need to know."

"As Dr. Jackson knows, it is against our highest law to interfere," Morgan told her.

"You're already interfering," Vala pointed out, "even if it's just a little – how is that worse?"

Weir warned her about being less confrontational and Vala looked to Daniel for support, but he just gently pulled her off the platform before questioning Morgan on her intentions and if they were indeed intended to help them.

Morgan Le Fey had admitted to being rivals with Merlin for a short time, but over the course of thousands of years, things had obviously changed in that regard. Skipping past the small history lesson she gave them, she eventually told them she and Merlin had lived in seclusion, dedicating themselves to mediation before ascending together. Moving forward a few thousand years, she admitted that Merlin was the first to see the threat the Ori posed and retook human form in order to create the weapon they sought.

Though Merlin had done everything he could to keep his research a secret, the other ascended beings feared his intentions and Morgan was sent to observe and stop him if necessary. Merlin essentially cheated by using his knowledge and power from his time among the ascended, making him the most powerful being on Earth at the time.

"If you were sent to observe him and stop him if necessary, how do we know you're on our side?" Vala questioned, seeing many discrepancies in the ascended being's explanation.

"Because Merlin was right," she admitted, "and the Ori are a threat."

"Then help us!" Daniel interjected, "Tell us what we need to know."

"You know I cannot," Morgan remarked, "you better than anyone."

"You just admitted to the Ori being a threat, but you won't do what's necessary in order to stop them?" Vala threw back.

Morgan turned to her, her eyes flickering to the baby resting on Vala's shoulder. "I could say the same to you."

Vala was taken aback. "I am doing what's necessary. I'm here in Atlantis and badgering an ascended being to give us the answers we need. What more do you want from a mere human?"

"Yet the Ori's offspring rests comfortably on your shoulders," she retorted, "alive no less."

Daniel inched closer to Vala. "What does that mean?" he asked defensively, "What the hell are you implying?"

"It means their offspring should have never been given the opportunity to live," Morgan replied coolly.

"She's a baby!" Vala defended her child.

"A child with the knowledge of the Ori inside of her," Morgan corrected, "A child that was forced inside your womb, yet you protect her."

"She's my daughter!"

"She is Orici," Morgan said forcefully.

"She's not a threat to anyone if she's with me," Vala shot back, "She's safe with me, on Earth."

"But should she fall within their grasp, the galaxy will be at an even greater disadvantage."

"I won't let that happen," Vala vowed, "They can't have her, and they never will. I will do whatever I need to do to protect her from them until that knowledge is gone."

"You cannot guarantee that," Morgan reasoned, "She could still fall into their hands before that happens and where would we be?"

"So the knowledge will fade," Daniel interjected, perking up a bit, "I was right. It'll fade only to leave behind a normal human child – well, maybe not normal since Vala is her mother, but you get it."

Vala smacked his arm hard, shooting him a glare at the same time.

Morgan glanced at him. "Correct."

"How long?" Vala asked quietly.

"It is impossible to say for certain," the ascended being admitted, "It depends on the amount and the rate she is trying to access that knowledge, but she will not be able to contain it for long – a month or two at best."

Vala and Daniel shared a look before focusing on Morgan. "I can keep her safe that long," Vala stated confidently, "she's almost a month already, I can do it."

"It is too risky," Morgan continued to argue, "she must not be allowed to live."

"Then it's a risk I will take!" Vala shouted, startling Alora out of her sleep, "I am not harming my child."

"No one will," Daniel chimed in and inched in front of the two females at his side, "Alora is more valuable to us alive and even if she wasn't helping us, there's no way we could harm an infant."

"That is a mistake," the ascended being warned.

"Then it is our mistake to make," Daniel responded diplomatically.

"We're taking a risk for the greater good of our galaxy," Vala shifted gears, "why don't you do the same? Tell us which planet the weapon is on, please."

"I cannot," the woman said and she gave Daniel an imploring look, "you, more than anyone, know why."

"That's not good enough," he stated calmly before going on how they could do so much more and how she and others must've have felt the same since she had gotten this far without any of the others stopping her. He gave a passionate speech about how this was the time to join in the fight against the Ori. He told her he knew what he was asking her to do and even emphasized with her fear of being punished, but maybe all she had to do was cross that imaginary line and others would follow.

Sadly, Morgan still couldn't bring herself and the struggle she was having with herself was evident. "Trust that you have your answers," was all she responded with.

"At least tell us which one of the planets to go to," Vala tried again.

"Please," Daniel added.

Morgan thought for a moment, struggling once again before she seemed to make up her mind. "Merlin's weapon is not – " she was stopped before she could continue and was zapped from the room.

"What happened?" Elizabeth questioned, staring at the empty space where an Ancient had just been.

Daniel tilted his head back, sighing in frustration, before straightening again. "Just what she knew would happen – they stopped her," he replied, "We won't see her again."

"Are they going to punish her?" Vala asked quietly, feeling a little remorseful, but not too much – the woman had suggested that she kill her own daughter.

"I don't know," Daniel confessed, "but I hope not."

There was a moment of silence before Elizabeth broke it.

"Did she say that your daughter was the child of the Ori?" Elizabeth questioned, looking over at Vala, "That she has their knowledge, and that she's a threat?"

"She's not a threat," Vala immediately replied, "not when she's with us. She's helping us."

"Dr. Jackson?" Weir questioned warily, shooting the man a questionable look.

"It's true," Daniel assured the doctor.

"How can that be?"

"It's…complicated," he said slowly, "but you have to trust us on this."

"You also can't tell anyone about it," Vala added, causing Weir to give her an odd look, "Only me, SG-1, Dr. Lam, General Landry and O'Neill know about Alora's…uniqueness."

"She's not a threat," Daniel reiterated, "You heard Morgan herself, the knowledge will fade and Alora will be just a baby – she'll never remember any of this."

Elizabeth still looked skeptical.

"Alora may hold the key to defeating the Ori," Vala told the other woman, "and she can't help us if she's being studied as a specimen, so I'm begging you to keep this secret. Please help me keep my daughter safe."

Weir glanced back at Daniel and saw him giving her the same imploring look. She didn't know Dr. Jackson well, but she knew his reputation and that of SG-1 and if all of them were keeping it under wraps, she had no reason not to trust them. "You have my word," she promised gently.

Vala relaxed. "Thank you."

"Of course," Elizabeth gave her a small smile, "Now if you excuse me, I need to go check in on a few things." And with that, she left the room.

"Do you think she'll actually keep it a secret?" Vala wondered aloud.

Daniel took her hand and squeezed it before letting it go. "She will," he said confidently.

She rested her head on top of Alora's and swayed her gently side to side, still thinking about Morgan's words – was she being selfish, reckless, for keeping Alora alive? Could she really keep her from the Priors like she promised?

Ortusa

The word echoed in Vala's mind and she frowned. Ortusa? She couldn't recall ever hearing that word, but it went off again in her mind. "Ortusa?" she murmured to herself.

"Hmm?" Daniel turned to her, "What was that?"

It got louder in her head and she had an idea on what she had to do. Vala stepped away from Daniel and up on the podium and the real hologram of Morgan Le Fey appeared and began spouting off her normal pre-programmed speech. "Ortusa," she said clearly.

"Ortusa?" Daniel questioned, coming closer to her, "That's Ancient. It can mean 'origin,' 'home,' 'beginning,' and 'source.' Where'd you hear it from?"

"Alora," she replied quietly, "I think."

"Ortusa," the hologram repeated, "the beginning point of the Alteran race, now known as the Ancients: their home galaxy, currently abandoned by the Alteran race."

"Oh my gods," Daniel said, surprised, "Alora?" he questioned.

"Alora," she confirmed. "Show me where it's located in relation to the Milky Way."

A map of the stars appeared above them, and two pinpoints appeared.

Another word popped into her head. "Now, show me where Celestis is located," it appeared within the second pinpoint in the star map, "Give me the coordinates based on the Tau'ri calculations for both locations," she commanded again and her answer appeared above them, "Daniel – "

"Already on it," he interrupted and grabbed a small notepad from his vest pocket along with a pen and quickly began to write them down, "Guess Merlin or Morgan really did leave some clues for us."

"Or someone else who agreed with them," she suggested, "but how would Alora know it would be here?"

"Maybe it was a guess?" he speculated, "Makes sense that they would keep a record of where they originated from. Maybe Alora couldn't give us that intel with her normal means of communication."

"But why do we need to know where it is?"

"How else will we get a weapon there to destroy them?"

She paused. "Fair," she relented.

"It's also possible she didn't know anything about the planets we needed," he continued, "or couldn't access that information without losing too much of other knowledge we still may need."

Vala glanced down at her child, who was staring at her with a serene expression. "I guess we'll never truly know," she said quietly.

Daniel came to her side. "At least we got what we came for and more," he told her, "We're one step closer."

"One step closer," she echoed.